₦airaland Forum

With this happening again, answer the following questions:
1. Is this getting closer to 1966 massacre in the North?
2. Were the Igbos justified to figth back and ask to form their own country?
3. Was Awolowo, though I respect him, right in using starvation as a weapon of war to punish Igbos for saying enough is enough.
4. Did the Yoruba and Middle Belt make a mistake supporting the brutal execution of the Civil War?
5. Was Ojukwu right?
6. Are you now happier with the decisions of 1966?
7. Was Gowon not a Christian and from Middle Belt?
8. Are Gowon's people happier today with their 1966 decision?
9. Now then, who will bell this new cat?
10. Have you spilled the milk already or not?
Finally, what the child climbed the Iroko tree for forty five years to see, the wise elder had seen it while sitting down Forty five years ago.

With this happening again, answer the following questions:
1. Is this getting closer to 1966 massacre in the North?
2. Were the Igbos justified to figth back and ask to form their own country?
3. Was Awolowo, though I respect him, right in using starvation as a weapon of war to punish Igbos for saying enough is enough.
4. Did the Yoruba and Middle Belt make a mistake supporting the brutal execution of the Civil War?
5. Was Ojukwu right?
6. Are you now happier with the decisions of 1966?
7. Was Gowon not a Christian and from Middle Belt?
8. Are Gowon's people happier today with their 1966 decision?
9. Now then, who will bell this new cat?
10. Have you spilled the milk already or not?
Finally, what the child climbed the Iroko tree for forty five years to see, the wise elder had seen it while sitting down Forty five years ago.

With this happening again, answer the following questions:
1. Is this getting closer to 1966 massacre in the North?
2. Were the Igbos justified to figth back and ask to form their own country?
3. Was Awolowo, though I respect him, right in using starvation as a weapon of war to punish Igbos for saying enough is enough.
4. Did the Yoruba and Middle Belt make a mistake supporting the brutal execution of the Civil War?
5. Was Ojukwu right?
6. Are you now happier with the decisions of 1966?
7. Was Gowon not a Christian and from Middle Belt?
8. Are Gowon's people happier today with their 1966 decision?
9. Now then, who will bell this new cat?
10. Have you spilled the milk already or not?
Finally, what the child climbed the Iroko tree for forty five years to see, the wise elder had seen it while sitting down Forty five years ago.

With this happening again, answer the following questions:
1. Is this getting closer to 1966 massacre in the North?
2. Were the Igbos justified to figth back and ask to form their own country?
3. Was Awolowo, though I respect him, right in using starvation as a weapon of war to punish Igbos for saying enough is enough.
4. Did the Yoruba and Middle Belt make a mistake supporting the brutal execution of the Civil War?
5. Was Ojukwu right?
6. Are you now happier with the decisions of 1966?
7. Was Gowon not a Christian and from Middle Belt?
8. Are Gowon's people happier today with their 1966 decision?
9. Now then, who will bell this new cat?
10. Have you spilled the milk already or not?
Finally, what the child climbed the Iroko tree for forty five years to see, the wise elder had seen it while sitting down Forty five years ago.

With this happening again, answer the following questions:
1. Is this getting closer to 1966 massacre in the North?
2. Were the Igbos justified to figth back and ask to form their own country?
3. Was Awolowo, though I respect him, right in using starvation as a weapon of war to punish Igbos for saying enough is enough.
4. Did the Yoruba and Middle Belt make a mistake supporting the brutal execution of the Civil War?
5. Was Ojukwu right?
6. Are you now happier with the decisions of 1966?
7. Was Gowon not a Christian and from Middle Belt?
8. Are Gowon's people happier today with their 1966 decision?
9. Now then, who will bell this new cat?
10. Have you spilled the milk already or not?
Finally, what the child climbed the Iroko tree for forty five years to see, the wise elder had seen it while sitting down Forty five years ago.

For sure it is only Igbos who rush to zambia in search of economic opportunities like selling spare parts and other merchandise to their people.

that is to tell you the igbos are potential economic imperialist,

How many Zambians do you see rushing to Nigeria and how many Nigerians do you see rushing to Zambia and you will your answer.

WTF are you talking about,do they have the population as Nigeria?do they have the economic resource to spare for leisure and to visit other countries as Nigerians? are they as exposed as Nigerians? can they even stand near a Nigerian without inferiority complex? are they as ambitious as Nigerians?These are some questions you should  have answered before posting that crap. Don't forget some of all these small African countries beg Nigerians to come to their countries to work because they are short of /lack skilled & semi skilled manpower, to remind you again,there only three countries in black Africa,South Africa,Nigeria and the rest

could not upload the pictures because of their large sizes but,go to the link below and get more from saharareporters.it's very revealing.May God help us in this sick nation.

I've always feared the dimension & potentials of the conflicts in Northern Nigeria assuming a transborder nature. This is going to be a difficult one for the Nigerian law enforcement agencies. Intelligence & monitoring of human movements accross the open Northern frontier is going to be more difficult due to the lack of ID card system in Nigeria. This factor or loop hole has been used in the past to rig elections & import mercinaries from other West-African countries to Nigeria to make trouble. There are too many people in the North of Nigeria who are not really Nigerians & its difficult for the Authorities to assertain, cos the Government over the decades have neglected delibrately the Birth & Death registration system with the aim of creating bogus Population figures for resource allocation from Abuja. Now, this loop hole has come back to hunt Nigeria today

Leaked Nigeria Police documents have revealed separate plans, one by Fulanis in Kaduna State to carry out attacks on Christian-dominated parts of Southern Kaduna State, and another by Boko Haram to attack selected targets nationwide.

In a restricted 16th November memo, Reference CB.0900/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL.47/473, addressed to Commissioners of Police in Kaduna, Jos, Bauchi, Makurdi, Lafia, and Jalingo, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, said that some Fulani herdsmen were “particularly angry that the State Government ignored their agitation for payment of compensation.”

Mr. Ringim disclosed that the planned attack was targeted for between November and December, and extensively detailed the routes which the herdsmen would pass through.

In the memo, which was signed by Murtala U. Mani, the Principal Staff Officer to the IG, the police boss further told the commissioners that for the planned offensive, the Fulanis had secured the support of other herdsmen across West Africa, and would also take advantage of the southwards movement of cattle-rearers to distribute weapons to the targeted areas at odd hours. 

The Inspector-General of Police directs you to employ conflict-resolution strategy to douse tension and stave off hostility,” the memo said.  “You are to beef up security in all aforementioned areas to prevent actualization of the heinous acts, please.”

The second document entitled “POLICE WARLESS MESSAGE,” authored by the Assistant Inspector General (FIB) in Abuja, said that information from a publication entitled “Al Qaida Organization In the Islamic Maghreb Genocide Against Muslims In Nigeria” revealed that Boko Haram planned “coordinated attacks” on targets throughout Nigeria.

It said the information accused the ruling minority of “killing Muslims in Plateau and Kaduna States.”

Recently, Nigeria security agencies denied a warning by the United States which said that Boko Haram planned to attack specific targets in Abuja.



http://saharareporters.com/news-page/police-militant-herdsman-planned-attacks-southern-kaduna-boko-haram-eyeing-nationwide-targ

muma gee na cougar no b small.she don find husband tire she no see na com make she marry her young boi wey for dey fuc.k am,

anyway congrat to her sha

this trend is officially closed and nobody should comment on it again after me.Eze ndigo has approved it.Thanks to all the contributors and we hope and pray that we the youths of today will not make the mistakes some of our leaders in government are making today when we get to that office.it must be development,industrialization,job creation and most importantly peace,love and unity.thanks to you all.we love you all.peace,unity & love to igboland including rivers and delta.More development project in igboland and more job creation in igboland cos we are the future of this sick nation.



THANK YOU ALL>>>>BYE BYE>>>>>MOVE TO THE NEXT TOPIC/TREND.

@Onlytruth @bandit C and the rest please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Stop all this gadam baseless arguments.are you guys not ashamed of yourselves

i warn you for the last time.it is ok.just ignore is the best solution at this point.@ onlytruth remember your position.you must also respect it.you shouldn't be in a position to reply carelessly with a commoner.NL is a community and you must recognize that we are being watched by the non igbo community on NL.

Pls let all this arguments end.it is ok.we love enugu, anambra, imo, aba, ebony, rivers, delta.


Am outta here

@Bandit C.onlytruth,


Biko nu,ozugo

@ Bandit C & Onlytruth

Guy its ok.calm down.we are all igbos. no need for all these baseless argument cos you are just setting more grounds for igbo haters to stand on.


Am from Owerri(which is a city than you cant ignore in the SE and probaly the most develop and sophisticated city in the SS/SE after portharcout).

Obviously we cant denial Onistha,Nnewi,Aba are the most important commercial cities in the SE with each city and state in the SE having their own uniqueness.

Enugu is the eastern capital city with education/civil/agric and tourism based economy.while owerri is a cilvil/tourism/education/oil based.which are all consumer based economy.only anambra and abia are production based. with ebony as the agricultural headquarters.

Enugu and Owerri being  tourism destinations in the SE due to their better infrastructure,cleanliness,planning,civil servant and high educated class based.but owerri is more because of its calm weather,more spending rate and influx of people from rivers,onistha,aba and enugu and also its central location in the east and it has direct connection to all the states except ebony.Owerri has more hotels than private home, lol!!!

all the same please this trend is a beautiful trend and enugu is worth celebrating and i want to move a motion to end all this unnecessary argument btw onitsha and enugu before igbo haters start using it against us.

Eze ndi igbo Nairaland,i move the motion that this argument should stop and someone should second it.

love you all(FULL BLOODED IGBOBOI  ,  FBI)

The stupid Nigerian Police that are releasing teargas on peaceful protesters against Lekki Tolling is a sign of SHAME!!

BTW,Who is the Senator representing #Lekki? I guess is Remi Tinubu. Someone need to call her attention to this Police brutality.

Mehn!! Stuff just got real in Lekki oooo. A protester is dead
and d police and army are beating people up!! Tear gas everywhere!!
Naija which way?#SadMuch





http://talkofnaija.com/News/newsdetailsone.aspx?NewsId=EBE45F44-CCFB-4119-9DD1-0813F0ACCAFC

no be small thing for jos.more troubles ahead ooooo.

May God help them,

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/group-writes-letter-to-wish-plateau-christians-a-bombing-christmas

The constant persecution of christians in the northern part of Nigeria seems unabating as an unnamed muslim group has threatened violence by promising to bomb Jos at Christmas.

In a recently released letter, the group made bold their threat to bomb places of worship/merriment. The letter states thus: "We the entire muslims of Plateau State, will never give up until we have our rights, we will use your boys to destroy you. Nothing can stop us from bombing these areas before December 26, 2011". The letter of which was signed by one Idris Musa, named the targeted places to include Archbishop Court, ECWA churches, West of Mines, Civil Service Club, Lamed Pharmacy, Living Faith Church, Saminaka Viewing Centre, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Alheri, and St. Mulumba Church, Alheri. Others include Melody Guest House, El-Kasim Guest House, Rukuba Road, Kowa Guest House, among others.

The Special Task Force (STF) on Jos crisis known as Operation Safe Haven has placed its men on red alert following the fresh threat of violence by the unnamed muslim group.

In a statement by the STF Media Officer, Captain Charles Ekeoha, he advised residents not to take seriously the threat, as the intension of the unnamed group was just to create panic. “I am assuring you that this Christmas will be the freest and most peaceful the residents will celebrate in recent times. We gave the same assurance during the Sallah celebrations and I am repeating the same assurance now.

“I know there are apprehensions and it’s written all over the faces of people. But they should not be afraid and allow some misguided people to spoil their day. We are equal to the task,” he assured.

Foool, who told you there are no ultra modern shopping malls in Osun?

Oga please name them cos i know Osun very well, by the way we are not talking about supermarkets or grocery stores here, Obor

watch out for Owerri.cos Owerri will be next cos that is where they will make their biggest money,

I love my Owerri.too much fun,high life,money spending,clubbing,Oringo, call it what ever.that is why Owerri has one of the highest concentration of hotels in Nigeria,even with that finding a reservation at weekend is always difficult cos all the lodges have been booked.


i cant wait to see eastern Nigeria's biggest Cinemas and malls being sited there cos that is what Owerri is all about.(Activities and tourism)Those that know owerri will understand what am talking about.

BTW Imolites,aw this Xmas wan be na?? i dey fly down on the 23th and How is Kanu Nwankwo's Hotel in Owerri,has he finished it?cos i heard it is a 7 star Hotel.I hail O,the only city full of Oringo!!

mo nna don see shopping mall.

no u no go live yoruba man to rest .

make all of una move to enugu and leave us alone.

i laff.

kai, nyamiris and their copy copy ways. monkey see monkey do Cheesy. must u always copy the SW? the thing can't work in iboland cos poor okoros aint gonna buy overpriced items. congrats to Igbos, u now have your own failed Tinapa

let me tell you lagos is not yorubaland.Lagos is nigerialand. so,saying we should relocated to the south east just explain your low IQ.

by the way if you want to compare states in the SW,SS,SE then don't include Lagos because it is not Yoruba wealth that is building Lagos (i think i don't need to talk more on that)

Compare your filty states like Ogun,Oyo,Osun,Ekiti&Ondo to any state in the SS,SE i tell you u will be very ashamed of urslves.upon all your so called big gra gra,all you get is fake Education,pach pach infrastructure,tatad houses,dirty and smelly streets.

I want to know if this kinda mall is in ondo,ogun,osun,oyo ekiti.

when comparing states the SW has 6 states with only 2 gallant ones(excluding Lagos) with Osun& ekiti being a shame to yorubaland and ondo doing fairly ok and coming up,SS has 6 states with 4 gallant states with Akwa ibom fast growing to make it 5 very soon and bayelsa being the backward state, The SE have 5 states with 4 gallant states and ebonyi being the backwards state.

so tell me which region is doing better collectively.remove Lagos from the SW and you will see that the SW is just as Unclad as a hen after the wind has blown. upon all the bigmouth,self acclaimed most illiterate or what have you.Lazy id!ots.

What an irony of fate!
Atimes i find it difficult to believe that this so-called poor North and their collaborators from the West gave the Igbo man just 20 pounds in 1970 to start life after seizing their bank savings and confiscating their property?
Just 20 pounds and just 41 years ago?
God is never asleep.
The North and their Western collaborators have been ruling Nigeria since 51 years of Independence (the North alone 38yrs). They have been looting the treasury of this country ever since.
Yet, the North is crying of poverty! What happened?
What have they done with all the trillions of dollars earned by Nigeria throughout these past decades?
They wanted the Igbo to be paupers and beggars. They are the ones who have become paupers and beggars.
God does not sleep!He is always there for his people, He who fight the children of God shall be visited by the sword(anger) of God.

So, according to Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the writer of this article,
'The ACF Conference on Peace and Security in the North, could not invite attention to the emerging unity between the political elites of the South east and the South south around a strategy to further reduce northern political influence.'
By the above statement, this article meant to say that the emerging political unity of the SE & SS will further reduce the (prostate) Northern influence? Okay, noted.
That goes to affirm that the old disunity of the SE & SS has been the handiwork of the evil North to maintain their old political influence and relevance. So SE & SS political elites and masses, take note and shelf your hatred for each other. Your manipulators have written their Northern names on this wall again today in this article.
Like most other Nigerians, I have always thought that our national problem is mainly the old and long Northern manipulative leadership mis-directions.
How can I region that has long headed and stirred the political affairs of this blessed nation take pride in the constant disunity of some zones of the nation, just to maintain relevance? Can a good father do tjat to his children?
And how so foolish of the zones involved! Will they learn? Time will tell.
Again, why is the North feeling threatened and offended by the efforts of the SW 'to build political and security infrastructure that will give them the paraphernalia of a quasi-state'?
A quasi-state? That sounds more to me like the ABURI ACCORD dream of Ojukwu for Nigeria, which the North and the SW jointly rejected about 40 years ago. I am amused that the North is raising alarm that the SW is now dream-developing into what the Northern Gowon rejected. The North killed, not just Biafra, but the old tried and tested Regional developmental competition of Nigeria. Today, because they have turned their blood-stained swords against themselves in their own zones, they are holding a conference of peace. What comes around goes around. The Peace they have denied the various zones of this country has now ELUDED THEM, thanks to their self-made Boko Haram.
Northern Nigeria, i say "Good morning".

By Hakeem Baba-Ahmed
ON December 5 and 6, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) organised a Conference around the theme of “Peace and Unity” in Kaduna, the political and spiritual heart of the North. By any standard of judgement, the meeting was well attended. The Vice President, a former Governor of the State, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, all northerners, were there.

So were General Yakubu Gowon, Vice President Atiku Abubakar; an assortment of former Chief Justices and Presidents of the Court of Appeal, former Inspectors-General of Police, former Governors, including an impressive turnout of former military governors who are now politically active; traditional rulers and the clergy led by the Sultan; a sprinkling of Northern Christian elite, including Bishop Matthew Kukah; northern captains of industry and intelligentsia; active, inactive and undecided politicians, and many young people who turn up at these occasions for some pickings. Significantly, a large number of Northern Governors and Deputies were also there.

There were hundreds of heavily armed soldiers, policemen and plain cloth security officials with enough arms to form a small army. It is fair to say that the beleaguered city of Kaduna has not seen a gathering of this nature for a long time; at least not since its political and security volatility chased away many people, businesses and groups, including the periodic meeting of Northern Governors.

A most notable presence was the large number of elderly northerners, not just those who have made Kaduna their homes, but many others who travelled long distances in the hope that they can find out some explanations, or offer some, over the state of insecurity, disunity and increasing underdevelopment of the north.

Opportunity for self-assessment

The Conference could have provided a good opportunity for the North to undertake a critical self-assessment at a time of rapid changes, and in the face of new challenges, all of which are placing it at a great disadvantage in a federal arrangement in which it had firm control of the political process, until the last decade. It was obvious however, that the ACF had been aided by substantial injection of funding from political sources which wanted a predetermined outcome.

The audience could easily see this, and although many people stayed until the end of the poorly-handled Conference, this unseen hand took much of its credibility away.

In a region where faith has become a major player in politics, the selection of three Christian and one Muslim speaker also caused substantial ripple. But by far the biggest blow to the credibility and integrity of the Conference was the virtual absence of Northern Governors for most of its two days.

Perhaps, many thought they had played their roles when they contributed in funding the Conference, but in walking out with the Vice President and staying away, they showed how little they thought of the state of the North, or the acute problems of security and poverty in their States.

The few who stayed behind took much of the virulent criticism of Governors and other current leaders, and they would have left the Conference with a deafening endorsement of the view that Northern Governors represent the biggest problem of the north.

Perhaps, the lamentations over the failure of the North to preserve its tenuous unity and limit the damage from the multiple threats to its security were being made at the wrong forum by the wrong people, to the wrong audience. The Arewa Consultative Forum is a collection of generally well-meaning but ineffective northerners who have little claim to anything of substance in the contemporary disposition of the North in Nigeria.

This, indeed, may be why the Presidency and the Northern Governors felt safe to support it to organise a talk shop with this level of sensitivity and importance. The Forum had been used extensively in the past by Northern Governors who can find no other platform to maintain some visibility.

The effect has been poor because the Governors’ agenda had been unpopular, and the vehicle of the ACF is weak and marginal in terms of the fortunes of the north. The political disunity of the north was largely engineered by the roles which northern governors played in the run-up to the general elections in April this year.

The ACF was a by-stander in the high stake manoeuvres of the Governors, and could not have mediated their roles with the core interests of the North, even if it wanted to.

The ACF was turned into a virtual cheerleader when governors called in those days, or wanted one position or the other supported. The Forum watched as the ill-fated consensus candidate project decimated the remnants of northern power and cohesion, and northern governors decided the fate of northern candidates and the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as President.

The Forum watched the effects of the destructive politics which used faith and ethnicity as prime instruments to engineer the emergence of the Governors’ candidate, as substantial portions of the north went up in flames.

The Forum watched the damaging distance being created between the far North and the middlebelt, largely as a result of the elevation of religion and region as key elements in the quest for power by Governors and the President. The Forum watched Northern Governors retreat behind secure walls and road blocks as violence spread and became a permanent feature in the lives of northerners.

And then the ACF reaches out to the Presidency and Governors to organise a Conference on Peace and Unity in the North. But there was little mention during the Conference about how the North came to its present position as the beggar region, wrought by poverty and insecurity, and led by people with little respect from their people.

The Conference couldn’t blame Governors because it is, in many respects, their Conference. It cannot blame the Federal government for its inability to engage the sources and consequences of insecurity in the North, because it is, in a way, its own Conference.

It cannot put foward options and strategies for building bridges between and across Northern communities, because governors in Plateau, Kaduna, Borno and Bauchi have created enclaves and no-go areas for anyone else, including fellow governors and other northerners.

It cannot mention the linkages between rampant corruption and gross ineptitude at the levels of northern leadership, and the economic poverty and political alienation in much of the north. It could not invite attention to the danger of the total reliance by the north on proceeds from the sale of petroleum and gas, when its endowments of a large population, rich and vast agricultural land and abundant solid minerals could make it a very rich region.

[b]The ACF Conference on Peace and Security in the North could not put forward options for the North in the rumoured attempts to re-engineer the Nigerian federal system and isolate the north even further. It did not have that capacity; and it could not risk annoying the Governors. It could not invite attention to the emerging unity between the political elites of the South east and the South south around a strategy to further reduce northern political influence.

This is likely to offend some strategists in the Presidency. It cannot raise alarm at the increasing tribalisation of South west politics, and the efforts to build political and security infrastructure that will give the South west the paraphernalia of a quasi-state.
[/b[b]]
It cannot raise the danger of a resurgent northern Christian and ethnic minority mentality which sees northern Muslims as the enemy in every facet of its existence, and which defines faith and political activity largely around fighting Muslims and Islam. And it certainly cannot raise the danger of increasingly militant Muslim sects which demand the creation of an Islamic State.
[/b]
Confab and Boko Haram threat

Significantly, the Conference did not mention the unacceptable failure of the President and the Governors to find some solutions to the threat of Boko Haram insurgency because the audience and participants are actually the source of the problem, and cannot therefore be its solution.

Bad governance and a political process that does not produce leaders but office holders under dubious credentials has largely alienated young people from elders, and the resort to violence is being elevated to the level of a credible Plan B in communal conflicts, and as a means of settling frustrations around unemployment and poverty.

The Conference nibbled around the issue of massive corruption of the electoral process; people who rule with questionable mandates; the alienation of the population from the democratic process and the collapse of older values of service, loyalty and hardwork.

But it will not raise the linkages between endemic corruption and the absence of respect for constituted authority, and the emergence of an entire generation of young Nigerians who believe that they have no obligation to respect the law or follow rules and regulation in their lives.

The Conference on Peace and Security in the North will go down as a missed opportunity by elders and politicians to take stock of the strengths and weaknesses of the north. It could not have achieved much because the organisers and participants are the problem, and cannot therefore be the solution.

If any good has come out of the Conference, it is the glaring evidence that the real poverty of the north is that of good leadership. It also lacks time to reorganise itself, in a context where the rest of the nation is moving very fast, and away from it.

The most critical requirement of the North today is that of a new leadership which will give it new energy, focus and a position in modern Nigeria in which it will be respected by its own people; and be respected by the rest of Nigeria.

Though at the end of the Nigeria-Biafra war, the Federal Government of Nigeria declared that there was No Victor and No Vanquished, Chief (Colonel) Joseph Achuzia was imprisoned for seven years after the war. During the Nigerian civil war, he was commonly known as Air Raid among Biafran soldiers. An engineer and former Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief (Colonel) Joseph Achuzia spoke with South East Bureau Chief, TONY ITA ETIM on demise of the Commander-In-Chief of the Biafran Armed Forces, General Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was two years his senior at Kings College, Lagos.


Can you tell us about the man, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu?

Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu has always been known to me right from my secondary school days, when we were in Kings College together. Then later, we met in Britain. And by the time Nigeria became independent in the sixties, he and I came home, we met again. By then, he had already become entrenched within his position in the Nigerian Army. We did not have to interact before the first coup took place; and immediately after the coup, I left back to Britain. And I was following events because he was a key player within the scenario that was unfolding. Then the next landmark in my relationship with him took place when he was appointed the governor and Ejoor (General David Ejoor, retired) was also appointed a governor. Ejoor was sent to Enugu and Ojukwu protested, which made Aguiyi-Ironsi change the postings and sent him to Enugu and Ejoor to Benin. When we got to Enugu, the situation was such that a townsman of mine was also the Secretary to the Eastern Region Government in the person of C. C. Mordi from Asaba. A lot of things were going on: the killings in the North, pogrom; so many Igbos from the North were rushing down home; and what was taking place made me have a closer look into the sort of programme the then governor of Eastern Region, in the person of Odumegwu Ojukwu had for the Igbo people because the trauma being created by the extensive killing was such that it required somebody with a proper insight into dealing with human tragedy, the only person that can handle such situation because both soldiers, civilians, civil servants were affected.

In fact, what took place affected the core inner group that held Igbo citizenship together, something that made the Igbo Union, which one regarded as all supreme in everything, of which Ohanaeze today, the Igbozuruome of today, were modelled in somewhere Igbo Union was. Igbo Union had two retreats back to the East. In doing so, every Igbo person, male, female, child everything was heading eastward. It seemed that Ojukwu foresaw tomorrow, what would happen in the future. That was the reason he protested towards Ejoor being sent to Enugu because I'm quite certain, in my mind now, not on hindsight but from what I saw around that time that the posting wasn't correct and that Ojukwu was right to protest. From then on, my interest became more firm and solid, in terms of support, which I made up my mind to give to him. He came to Enugu, we met and discussed briefly, then I left back to Britain. It was while I was back in Britain that during One O'clock news, in the afternoon, in London, it was announced that, Chief Obafemi Awolowo said that if the East went, the West would go. So I realised that the whole of this thing was heading towards a shouting match; and I felt that with the loss of so many experienced, trained officers from the East that they would need every hand, available, on deck. That made me to board a plane coming back to Nigeria then to meet another coup, the July coup, which brought Gowon on board. I spent two days at Airport Hotel in Ikeja. When Murtala was a Major, I knew him. George Miller, a friend of mine married to a German that I was going to stay in his house knew him (Murtala) but the instruction at the airport when we came out of the plane was that nobody goes out anywhere, so we were taken to the Airport Hotel. George Miller, being friendly with Murtala, brought him and we met, we discussed and he assured that I should wait for a day or so and there would be flight to go to Benin. He kept to his words. Two days, later the route to Benin was opened again; and myself, my wife and child were taken to the plane. We boarded to Benin and from there headed to the East. By this time, the situation was getting critical That second coup that we met was so devastating that it wasn't only the army that everybody of Igbo origin or that comes from the Eastern Region, including those Igbos from the Midwest became involved in the selective killings that were taking place. And the vision which Ojukwu saw, when he protested now crystallized itself because the Mid Western Igbos, who were returning from the North and from the West, heading home, on reaching Benin, were not welcome. Reliefs that were being distributed were not being given them. Placements in the departments where they were working, to enable them obtain salary or whatever would be given for succour, they were told go and meet their people in Enugu. So, they all trooped out and headed for Enugu. We were also around to assist in receiving them. In fact, that was when Ika Igbo Association was formed, just as today you are hearing Anioma, Anioma; Anioma wasn't in our lexicon then, what we had was Ika Igbo. And our interaction with Ojukwu and his government was concretised at that time. From then, even though the army in the Midwestern Command, the high echelon, was more of Midwestern Igbos but the civil service cadre, that should have lent weight to them and support were no more available, most of them had headed across the Niger. And it must also be borne in mind that the Nigerian boundaries vis-a-viz East and West weren't as they are today. Where you have as Ogbaru and those places used to be Midwestern Region. The Niger wasn't a natural boundary, it was the effect of the war that brought about the Niger at the end of the war being regarded as a natural boundary and the configuration that took place since then still makes it difficult for Igbos to settle down properly.

As I was saying earlier, we are talking about Ojukwu. Here is a man because of his vision, somehow prepared by God or providence, whatever it is, prepared him and placed him at this point in time in history at a place where he was to act as Moses for his people. This was a reason all his pronouncements have always been that efforts must be made to make sure that Igbos still remain recognised within the set up and arrangement called Nigeria. He made a lot of pronouncements and also, at the same time made a lot of requests from the Igbo people. I remember that there was a meeting he called of leaders of thought. During that meeting, he said what we are asking for is not separation but what we are entitled to by being partners in the arrangement called Nigeria. He said we were being pushed with intention of pushing us out of Nigeria and this we will resist. For the first time, he was the one who clarified what we meant in my mind and conditioned my attitude during the period of warfare, in the battle field. He said they push us, we will take our stand in our own soil with our back against the wall but we will not give up what we have already created in Nigeria. He said in terms of civilised norms implanted into Nigeria, it is the Igboman alone that feels he must build a decent house not only to accommodate his family but to accommodate those in whose land, in whose territory he acquired wealth and built these things. He said the Igbo man by education, self help, both within the commercial business group and within the civil service, the entrepreneurs are the Igbos, that we can't abandon these things but we must resist the push.

Having heard all these, one wonders why, what do we do to redress the uncalled for ferocious attack and traumatisation by the pogrom. Everybody encouraged him to go to Aburi. He went. What he came back with emboldened us to mobilise our people to wait for the onslaught of Police action when the army was unleashed on the Eastern Region as if on intruders. We tried to resist hoping that it would be just something that, well in a month or two, Nigeria would get tired; we will get back to the roundtable to discuss issues. But what we were getting back from senior civil servants that were out and envoys that we had outside telling us that this attack unleashed on us wouldn't last long, that if they pushed any further, that there were countries within the civilised community, who will then come to our aid. So, everybody girded their loins ready to continue resisting to be pushed out so as to give time and chance for help to come. That help never came. The help that came from a few African countries and the half-hearted help from the French side seemed to be the only help that we could expect. In the meantime, through his propaganda machinery and the way he interacted with the grassroots of our people, everybody was ready to lay down their lives to defend the cause he believed in, which he made us believe in. This was the reason young students, graduates from Nsukka University, everybody was clamouring for Ojukwu, saying "Ojukwu give us guns, we will defend ourselves". The guns were not there, those that were there were not sufficient to even equip the army, never mind giving young graduates, who didn't know how to handle gun.

Why and how did Ojukwu declare the State of Biafra.

Ojukwu tried to avoid people thinking or saying that he masterminded pulling out of Nigeria, when after the Aburi talks and the issue to some extent was reaching us that the central government led by Gowon was making arrangement to divide Eastern Region into states. First, we didn't understand but after looking through lawyers and people who could interpret the constitution and so on; it became clear that by virtue of the fact that there were or had always been agitation by a few minorities asking for them to be carved out as a state and so on, especially when Isaac Boro was already detained for clamouring for a statehood for his tribe. All of a sudden, we were given a date that on such and such a day, the Federal Government was going to carve up Eastern Region. Ojukwu than called a Consultative Assembly of the people, among whom were the Ika Igbos, also given a pride of place as part of the Igbo nation. Our traditional rulers from the Midwest, the Igbo speaking area attended that conference. I was privy. I was there. And around 1pm, a news flash came, what we were hearing as rumour became a reality: Eastern Region was carved out. They carved out Rivers State and South East State. So we went into the afternoon recess and by the time we came out of recess and went into afternoon session, a decision was quickly reached that we couldn't sit back and see ourselves divided. So, we decidede that the best thing to do was that we must ask Ojukwu to declare the State of Biafra. Before that, there had been a lot of argument, here and there, over the issue of what name do we go by. So many different names and configurations were bandied about but finally we asked the group of lawyers assembled to prepare a communiqué declaring the state of Biafra. Even that meeting, Ojukwu wasn't there, he was still in Government House. This meeting was being held within Hotel Presidential. So by the time the decision was reached, this was carried to him, we were surprised that he said No and that he would not do it. That he would not declare the state of Biafra. We thought either they didn't teach them militarily what is meant when somebody is trying to cut you to bits. If he didn't understand, we did. So message was sent back to him and an ultimatum was given him that if by eight O'clock that night he didn't declare the state of Biafra, not only will we remove him, we will declare and decide who led us. Later that evening, he finally announced the state of Biafra. So, we all rejoiced that now, at least, if Nigeria continued attacking us, we now know how we are going to fight. The Eastern Region we believed was one whole entity notwithstanding the earlier announcement by Federal Government creating three states out of Eastern Region.

So this is the man Ojukwu, whom everybody is calling a secessionist. Under these circumstances, is he a secessionist? Well, I have read books on reluctant heroes. In his case, he is a reluctant seccessionist but that notwithstanding immediately after that, within the army, the Eastern Command was made up of only a few handful of officers that survived the pogrom and a few other ranks. So, the question was how do we prepare for a war we saw coming. The only thing was to ask the Eastern Command of the Nigerian Army that we have to start mobilising. And the act of mobilising brought about what the Eastern Region of Biafra used to defend themselves against the onslaught of the Nigerian Army with the sophisticated weapons they used against a purely unequipped remnants of Eastern Command of the Nigerian Army. Looking back also I ask myself and I still ask reason for the Police Action, who was the Police Action targeted upon? Was it the unarmed civilians? Or against the remnants of the Eastern Command army? Then it showed the perfidy of a government determined to carry out pogrom. Otherwise, they shouldn't have, when a people you were chasing ran away from the field of activities to their home for safety, you still pursued them with tanks. Later day events we were hearing that we lost a place called Bakassi because to prevent us from continuing running. They made a deal with a country bordering us behind to make sure we had no way to run to, that meant that the exercise was meant for total extermination but thank God it didn't happen. And we survived it. A lot of things went through and took place during the war. First to keep the morale of the people going, Ojukwu performed like a magician. People say, ah Okokon Ndem, Uche Chukwumerije, so many of them within the propaganda machinery; it was somebody that gave them the inspiration. Without Ojukwu they wouldn't have risen to the occasion. The army quickly changed by creating a situation where civilians were quickly mobilised into what you called Civil Defence. It is this Civil Defenders that became the backbone of the Biafran Army and one would not forget that the Biafran Army was the Nigerian Eastern Command. Whoever was recruited there belonged to Nigeria and was part and parcel of the Nigerian Army. The strength infused in them by Ojukwu made for the staunch, gallant defence of that realm by that army. When there were shortage of arms and equipment, Ojukwu called on the Biafran educated engineers and they met and he said go and find an answer. Supposing we don't get arms from anywhere or no money to buy since that Nigeria is changing the currency, find an answer to these equipment. We quickly formed the Research and Production (RAP). The story of what RAP I will tell at a future date, not now. BOB was created, the story of who and who happened, I will tell at a later date because I was at the helm of all these groupings, to give direction and show them what to do.

Were you in the Nigerian Army before the war?

No!

Are you saying that Ojukwu was not interested in the Eastern Region seceding from Nigeria because many are of the opinion that his stubbornness and personality led to the war?

No! Like I said, we followed his actions from the first coup. If it wasn't for Ojukwu and the role he played, the North would have been the battle ground because Nzeogwu was holding the North and the army firmly in his hands; and the North could have been the battle ground. But that aspect of Ojukwu's action which favoured the people who are now saying that he caused the war, if he didn't take the steps he did, the story would have been different. The people who should be criticising Ojukwu are the Igbos because every Igboman, including the Northerners, were happy with the situation when the first coup took place. And the role Ojukwu played, like I stated by saying that he objected to his posting as governor, that he would rather be posted to Enugu, to the East and let Ejoor go to the Midwest. Had Ojukwu not been posted there, the story of Nigeria today would have been different, we wouldn't have a new Nigeria. And I don't believe that any Igboman, no matter how small would agree to be part of Nigeria as a slave within the soil where he was born.

Can you suggest how Ojukwu should be immortalized?

I'm not used to issue of this nature, immortalization of people. To me, I see like Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos, I would have asked what did he do to have the airport named after him? Or the currency notes, with different pictures, different people, what exactly did these people do, what signpost do they have to show for in this conglomerate called Nigeria? Or the avenues and highways that in some states, about six states, you find the name of one person, a high street named after the person, go to another street another high street. If we continue that way, where do we go from here? So I cannot say exactly how Ojukwu should be immortalised. Nigeria knows how they immortalize their people. I will leave that to those whose job it is to do so.

How should Ojukwu be buried; as an officer of the Nigerian Army, as a General of the Biafran Army or Eze Gburugburu of Ndigbo?

Any of the caps fits him. I repeat, any of the caps fit him. But if you ask me, in everything there are always stakeholders, notwithstanding the relations which under our tradition are the first port of call for burial. By his position, he is now a public figure belonging to the Igbo race, belonging to Nigerian army, while at the same time belonging to the Nigerian civil populace. Everyone of these arms gained by the experience of coming in contact with Ojukwu. So, the burial should be such that all stakeholders should feel a sense of belonging within the process of his final interment.

Does the demise of Ojukwu signify the end of the Biafran dream?

No! Ojukwu only paved the way for the Biafran dream. The Biafran dream is the Igboman's quest for a place in the greater Nigeria. Today, everybody is saying we want a new constitution, that we want the regions as they used to be. States are now clamouring to replace the regions or maybe zonal arrangement be like the regions but they don't want to be in a straight jacket, where it seems as if the country is under military rule. So what one is really asking for in Biafran dream is that the Igboman will be part of Nigeria but will have equal say with every other component part. People who have tried to give a dog a bad name failed woefully. Ojukwu since he came back from exile had been consistent in the promotion of a pride of place for the Igboman, within the context of one Nigeria, that those who were still steeped in the act of the Igbos must go, just as what we clamoured about 'Ghana must go.' Ghana went, where is Ghana today? Ahead of Nigeria! There are people still in Nigeria who are still clamouring that the Igbos must go. These are the people that continued calling Ojukwu a secessionist, saying that Ojukwu levied a war against Nigeria instead of the other way round that Nigeria levied a war against a component part of Nigeria.

There is a fresh clamour for new states for South East zone. Should Anioma be joined with the South East to make a state or a separate state should be created for Anioma?

[color=#990000]If you notice, part of the effort to make the Igboman a second class citizen is within a plot used in the creation of states. In the creation of states, in terms of population in Nigeria, demographically, the Igbos are more in number than any other ethnic group in this country. I am happy that these states are 36 states. Go to any of these states, outside the indigenes, the next high population there are Igbos. So you don't need an expert demographer to be able assess the situation and know that in population, Igbos are more in number than any other ethnic group in Nigeria, that is one. Then two, when states were being created, Cross River didn't have a population to be a state: the old Igbo territory starts from Obudu-Ogoja all the way Bansara and all those places. Then all the way to Obubra down are all Igbos of Bantu stock. They have a particular facial configuration. Then you get to Rivers State, two third of Rivers State are Igbos and Igboland. But so as to reduce the Igbos in population, deprive them of their original lands, these were carved out and given states. To the Igboman, it makes no difference because, l look at Opobo, King Jaja, he was an Igboman. All these things we know. Midwest was created through the efforts of the Igbos and Zik and the others. After the West walked out on Zik after the elections and many of the Yorubas decamped, so they decided to fight to create the Midwest region. In other words, the Midwest region was meant to be another Igbo region, that is why Osadebe became the Premier of that region. Now the war finally shot up the groupings within the basket known as Mdiwest Region. Ejoor became the Governor of the region. During the period of Aburi, one expected Ejoor and Zik to work hand -in-hand because during the progrom, in the North, they didn't care whether you were Urhoboman, Ishekiriman, Ijawman, so long as you were from the Midwest, you are an Igboman that needed to be killed. This was the situation. But when they were going to Aburi, we the Igbos had confidence that Ejoor would be part and parcel of the programme but when the interpretation started coming, we realised that Ojukwu was standing alone and when we made a request for assistance from the Midwestern Command, the governor there did not respond. The preponderance of civil officers in the Midwest High Command were more than in any other command in Nigeria. We appealed to them and the war was moving steadily to Auchi, heading for Benin. It was obvious that none of the Igbo officers would remain alive if that machinery of war met them there. The rest you had to exercise your imagination, even though at the end of the war, Nigeria accused those officers of treachery.

That notwithstanding, you asked should there be more states, state to Anioma and state to the East. My answer is No! You see, the people that created the states always have an ace under their sleeves. They created six six states, the one that could have balanced these six states they gave one extra to a zone in the North making it seven states, only one zone with seven states while disenfranchising the Igbos by removing them from six states to five states. The only thing that can be done is take Anioma and give to the South East making them six states. And for equalisation, if need be, to avoid that one state skewed the table of states in each zone, give one one more states to the six zones that didn't have so that each has seven seven states. Anioma is an Igbo state.[/color]

Segun Adeniyi is a SNITCH!!!

It runs in their blood.Ngati Ngati blood.

At the end it was dora akuyili that faced the cabals with courage,called a spade a spade and that was what brought GEJ to power.

it just sick to know that these ngati people will never change their cowardly& snitchy ways

For those ready to fight, we should know that 98% of the infantry in the nigerian military is infested with the hausa/fulani former herdsmen armed with the nigerian apparatus of war.

even if the infantry is 101% hausa/fulani nko?most of the fighters that fought biafra war were not soldiers.what matters most is having men that are willing to fight not soldiers as you put it because there are also coward and fearful soldiers too.by the way,irrespective of the figure you gave am very sure the igbo have a very substantial number of troops that can fight in addition to men that are willing to died for their father land biafra.No shaking,the east dey kampe.am not worried or scared cos i know this time there wont be mercy for those blood sucking bastards.
but first of all,lets us bury our leader then the new era will begin.

i hope this country is not becoming another south Africa

Reported cases of rape and sexual molestation of women continue to rise as another girl in Bayelsa State was recently gang-raped by 10 men. Her offence: she refused to show any fear or “respect” to the leader of the gang after meeting him at the waterfront where she had gone to buy fish.

The victim (name withheld), in a live testimony at the launch of the white ribbon campaign by the Federal Ministry of Youth Development in Abuja yesterday, narrated her experience on November 15, 2011.

She stated that even though three of the men had been apprehended by the police, her family had continued to receive death threats.
Weeping, the girl disclosed that some of her family members were already pleading with her to drop the matter and settle with the family of the apprehended men.

This, they claimed, was because they could not afford more money than the N60,000 already spent for her treatment at the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa, and for providing “transport money” to the police.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, at the launch, called on private citizens to sponsor bills through legislators in the House to recommend stiffer punishment for rapists and examine the loopholes in existing rape laws.

Represented by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, the Speaker promised that the House would associate itself with such bills as there is an urgent necessity to ensure the protection of women and children.

He also advocated the use of religious institutions to campaign against the scourge.

The Minister of Youth Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in his welcome address, lamented that the incidents of rape had continued to rise.

Speaking on the recent rape of a young girl by five men alleged to be students of Abia State University (ABSU), Abdullahi noted that the men had been able to evade arrest and prosecution because the young girl refused to press charges.

“, The victim failed to identify herself. I personally worked closely with the Human Rights Commission on the case, and when she was contacted, she denied that she was raped, so did her family. This has made it impossible to move forward with the case,” he said


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/teenage-girl-gang-violated-for-showing-no-respect/104370/

probably this is why the English speaking African countries dominate Africa socailly, infrastructurally and economically.even in the Africa's fastest growing economies,french speaking countries are not on the list.

France is just a pest on Africa.if i have my way i will help those french specking countries liberate themselves.France even went as far as having a permanent military base in their countries to intimidated and colonize them.that is why i will keep on hating GEJ for supporting gbagbo's removal.it was an imperialist agenda to remove gbagbo.

i can also remember that France in the past use to have a shaky relationship with Nigeria because it saw Nigeria as a dominant force and a threat to its power in west Africa.that is why west Africa has not been able to integrate well because France's influence in some of those countries.I cry for those countries.

France Robbing Africa through the Colonial Pact
It is the colonial pact that set up the common currency for the
Francophone countries, the CFA franc, which demands that each of the
14 CFA member countries must deposit 65% (plus another 20% for
financial liabilities, making the dizzying total of 85%) of their
foreign exchange reserves in an “Operations Account” at the French
Treasury in Paris.
Nicolas Sarkozy, French President:
They have been robbing Africa since long
The African nations therefore have access to only 15% of their own
money for national development in any given year. If they are in need
of extra money, as they always are, they have to borrow from their own
65% in the French Treasury at commercial rates. And that is not all:
there is a cap on the credit extended to each member country
equivalent to 20% of their public revenue in the preceding year. So if
the countries need to borrow more than 20%, too bad; they cannot do
it. Amazingly, the final say on the CFA arrangements belongs to the
French Treasury, which invests the African countries’ money in its own
name on the Paris Bourse (the stock exchange).
It is, again, the Colonial Pact that demands that France has the first
right to buy or reject any natural resources found in the land of the
Francophone countries. So even if the African countries could get
better prices elsewhere, they cannot sell to anybody until France says
it doesn’t want to buy those natural resources.
It is again the Colonial Pact that demands that in the award of
government contracts in the African countries, French companies should
be considered first; only after that can Africans look elsewhere. It
doesn’t matter even if Africans can obtain better value for money
elsewhere, French companies come first, and most often get the
contracts. Currently, there is a case where just before the elections
in Cote d’Ivoire, the Gbagbo’s government wanted to build a third
major bridge to link the central business district (called Plateau) to
the rest of the city, from which it is separated by a lagoon. By
Colonial Pact tradition, the contract must go to a French company,
which incidentally has quoted an astronomical price – to be paid in
euros or US dollars.
Not happy, Gbagbo’s government sought a second quote from the Chinese,
who offered to build the bridge at half the price quoted by the French
Company and payment would be in cocoa beans, of which Cote d’Ivoire is
a world’s largest producer. But the French said, “non, you can’t do
that”.
Under the Defence Agreements attached to the Colonial Pact (which were
run by the French defence ministry ), Paris had the legal right to
intervene militarily in the African countries, and also to station
troops permanently in bases and military facilities in those
countries, run entirely by the French.
Overall the Colonial Pact gives the French a dominant and privileged
position over Francophone Africa?
In short, the Colonial Pact has created a legal mechanism under which
France obtains a special place in the political and economic life of
its former colonies.
This is surely a big scam instituted by the French to continue to
steal resources from Africa in order to survive. France would be poor
and worst off without this “legitimate” neo-colonial day-light
robbery.
It is time Francophone Africa wakes up to this reality that although
they claim to be independent, there is hardly anything independent
from the French. Francophone Africa is not independent, the French are
choking them and making them poor when they should have been able to
reduce poverty and improve on their infrastructure.
It is a shame that the French should be living off the meager
resources of these poor African states and this has made worse the
poverty situation in most Francophone Africa. They say they are
developed and that they eschew corruption and embrace all those nice
virtues, but behind the back, the French are really starving Africa.
It is these resources that should have been used to alleviate poverty
that has made the French what they are. This should not happen in this
day and age. What right do these French people have to decide the fate
and destiny of Africans? Why can’t Francophone Africa tell the French
to get off their back, for them to have meaningful development? WAKE
UP FRANCOPHONE AFRICA.

lord have mercy.i wonder which kind of a country and government we have.Somebody that has been responsible for the death of many and you are giving him 3yrs?is this a confirmation that Bokoharam is political? I think it is high time MEND,OPC and MASSOD started their madness cos this judgement is bullsh!t and an insult to the families that have lost one or two persons to their activities.


BTW what has happened to the report of those indicted as being responsible for the post election violence.LOOTERTAN/PDP WE ARE COMING FOR YOU.THIS MADNESS MUST TO STOP.

BREAKING NEWS! Court sentences Boko Haram's ex-spokesperson to three-year jail


[img]http://premiumtimesng.com/thumbnail.php?file=/Screen_shot_2011_12_06_at_11.53.10_AM_674942220.png&size=article_large[/img]

An Abuja magistrate court has sentenced to three-year jail term an ex-spokesperson of the Nigeria's extremist Boko Haram sect blamed for scores of attacks, including the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters here, killing 23 people and injuring more than 80 others.

Chief Magistrate Oyebola Oyewumi had convicted Ali Konduga for felony on November 22 after he pleaded guilty to the one-count charge against him and asked for leniency.

The magistrate however deferred sentencing to a later date because the second accused person in the case, Ali Ndume, a serving senator, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

At the November 22 hearing of the matter, the prosecutor, whose name was simply given as C. I. Osagie, had told the court that the accused persons conspired to commit felony, breach of official trust, and criminal intimidation by sending anonymous text messages to some senior public officials, including the attorney-general of the federation, contrary to Sections 79, 98 and 398 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

http://premiumtimesng.com/index.php/news/3075-court_sentences_boko_haram_ex-spokesperson.html