I've never liked this concoction "South-South" and knew it made very little natural sense, but now I have confirmation of what I had always suspected: There is simply no way that this strange motley of very different minority groups, with very different interests, would just decide to group themselves together out of nowhere.  Eastern minorities would have stayed together (Calabar, Ijaw, Ogoni, etc.)  and Edo, Itsekiri, Urhobo, would have stayed apart. The only thing making these group stick together  in this South South idea is that most of them are calling for much much more local resource control. But that is nothing unique, many non-minority Southern Nigerian states are calling for more resource control! So how did this political construct come about? Some enlightened Igbo politicians saw it as a way to realize a six-zones idea slightly similar to the "six-regions" idea that had always been in the political lexicon of Nigeria since the 1950s (except that the North is split into three zones in their proposal whereas in the original six regions idea the North was only split into two regions). The six zones plan and the accompanying idea of "zoning" or rotation of power among zones was approved by Abacha and the rest is history. Well the attempt to split the North completely failed to stick, especially that of there being three zones in the North, but the South South stuff stayed. So the zoning idea and the South South idea was the result of a clever initiative of some 1990s Igbo politicians to reduce conflict (lol @ the irony) between Igbos and Eastern minorities [ Ijaws ?] that were strongly for the idea of having a political will and interests separate from that of Igbos or a majority group that might be against Igbos.

Anyways, here's the article. The story sounds legitimate to me, although I'd be perfectly willing to accept otherwise with evidence.



How Igbo created South-South
People & Politics Aug 16, 2010

By Ochereome Nnanna
TODAY I have decided to answer a question from a reader. The person who asked this question sounds like a young man.

It is important to bring our youth up to date with history. Here is the question: “I have just read your piece: “Politics of TA’s PDP return” in today’s ( Monday, August 9, 2010 ) Vanguard newspaper. Quite an interesting read.

Could you do an expose on your assertion that ‘…South-South is a creation of the Igbo intelligentsia’. I am sure not a few people are uninformed on this”.– Chijioke Ononiwu.

The questions now are: How did the Igbo elite create the idea that resulted in the birth of the South-South zone? And why?

The answer starts from the 1940s. The various minority groups in Nigeria were never happy to be lumped with their majority neighbours because they feared that they would fall into local colonisation after Nigeria gained her independence.

The creation of the regions by the British colonial masters for administrative convenience had put them under the control of the Igbo in the East, Yoruba in the West and Hausa/Fulani in the North. The uneasy cohabitation held but not for long.

The carpet crossing in the Western Regional House of Assembly forced Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe to relocate to Enugu, and the process of creating room for him to become the first Premier of the Eastern Region generated bad blood between the Igbo and the minorities.

The minorities started asking for the creation of the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers(COR) state. Majority of the leaders of the Eastern minorities started supporting rival political parties from the North and West against the Igbo. The Western minorities and their colleagues in the North were also fighting for autonomy, and the Western minorities succeeded in the getting their own region created in 1963 (Mid-Western Region).

The sad events of 1966 which saw a military coup and counter-coup being painted in ethnic and sectional colours led to an attempt by Eastern Region to pull out of Nigeria and declare an independent state of Biafra.

However, the British ex-colonialists helped the North in building a national coalition to prevent the actualisation of Biafra. The Eastern minorities pulled out of Biafra when General Gowon created the 12 states and gave them Rivers State and South Eastern State.

It became possible for the federal side to win the war with a blockade of the seaboards which were home to the minorities.

When the war ended, relations between the Igbo and those who fought them during the war remained suspicious. Particularly the West and the Eastern minorities probably felt that the recovery of the Igbo would affront the gains they made while the Igbo were absent from the system.

The minorities appeared to have discovered some gain in siding with the North or West to protect their new-found political space.

The South-South idea was, therefore, a deliberate gambit hatched by the Igbo intelligentsia to give the Southern minorities their own turf in order to reduce the national gang-up against the Igbo. With their own home zone, they would be able to project their own interests rather than being the cat’s paw of Igbo rivals from the North or West.

When the June 12 presidential election was annulled and General Sani Abacha convened a constitutional conference to seek ways of restoring confidence in Nigeria, the Igbo leadership seized the opportunity to put their ideas into action.

At the Mkpoko Igbo pre-Conference summit in Enugu in April 1994, a document that called for the creation of six geo-political zones, the zoning of top political offices (especially the presidency) and rotation of power among the six zones was fashioned out.

There would be three zones in the North, including a separate zone for Northern minorities, and three in the South, including another separate zone for the Southern minorities.

The Igbo elite mandated former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme, to lead the presentation of this agenda at the Conference, with Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and Dr Sam Mbakwe as his able lieutenants.

Ekwueme did a fantastic job, but the North, which opposed the geo-political zones and zoning of the presidency, accused him of trying to break up the North and whittle down its influence, which was not far from the truth, anyway. This was one of their reasons for dumping him for Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999.

It was also due to the efforts of another group of Igbo intelligentsia led by retired Commodore Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe that led General Sani Abacha to create Bayelsa and Ebonyi states on October 1, 1996 , while also approving the geo-political zones, even though it is not (yet) in the Constitution as the Igbo recommended.

The creation of an all-Ijaw state was meant to give the Igbo-speaking groups in Rivers their own area of influence; a struggle that the late Dr Obi Wali, a disciple of Dr Azikiwe political school, symbolised. The original script for the creation of Bayelsa State was written by Azikiwe and handed over to Ukiwe to actualise.

Today, the Igbo gambit has worked to the benefit of both the Igbo and the minorities. The minorities now have their own region, a separate identity and economic and political interests of their own to pursue.

That is why a Goodluck Jonathan presidency became possible with full support from his home zone, the South-South. Now, rather than the Minorities ganging up against the Igbo with their Northern “traditional allies” they are bidding directly for power.

The truth or otherwise of that “alliance” has been proved and both sides now know who their real enemies or opponents are.

The creation of the zones is a charter of full independence and the equitisation of relations between the minorities and their majority neighbours.

It is working, and Nigeria will be the better for it in the long run.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/08/how-igbo-created-south-south/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+vanguardngr%2FdIeb+%28Vanguard+News+Feed%29

The six geo-political zones is the most thing to happen to Nigeria. I t is not perfected yet, but to perfect it, there should be same number of states in each zone.

That was a good moves by the Igbo. At the least we can rest from the restless folks down south.

I don't see why there should be a fight over the South South. It is here to stay and was born out of the far sightedness of Alex Ekueme. God bless that man for it, now lets have the cooperation (rather than rivalry) it was meant to foster.

@ PhysicsQED

So how will that spoil my day? In fact it has made my day!  

The gist of the article is that Igbo has ALWAYS borne the interest of southern minorities at heart contrary to what some of these minorities have been saying. We are the only majority group that acted on the feelings of our minority neighbors to have a political space and control their own affairs. As you showed in the "Middle belt" thread, it even began with Zik.

That does not mean that it is in Eastern interests to pursue disparate political goals in Nigeria since we are still neighbors and blood relations.  We did it just to allow peace and dignity. I would want these minorities to understand the context and take over the struggle to re-unite the Old eastern region. Our (South East/South) clout in Nigeria can only gain from it. We have nothing to fear or lose from such unity.

Beaf:

I don't see why there should be a fight over the South South. It is here to stay and was born out of the far sightedness of Alex Ekueme. God bless that man for it, now lets have the cooperation (rather than rivalry) it was meant to foster.

mumu u are still alive

mumu beaf or beef

alj harem:

mumu u are still alive

mumu beaf or beef

See this cow! I thought foolishness had killed you and your alter ego, jason1234. No?
Anyway sha, you're still evolving; so no biggie!

Beaf:

See this cow! I thought foolishness had killed you and your alter ego, jason1234. No?
Anyway sha, you're still evolving; so no biggie!

why are you getting me involved? are you ok?

Onlytruth:

@ PhysicsQED

So how will that spoil my day? In fact it has made my day!

The gist of the article is that Igbo has ALWAYS borne the interest of southern minorities at heart contrary to what some of these minorities have been saying. We are the only majority group that acted on the feelings of our minority neighbors to have a political space and control their own affairs. As you showed in the "Middle belt" thread, it even began with Zik.

That does not mean that it is in Eastern interests to pursue disparate political goals in Nigeria since we are still neighbors and blood relations. We did it just to allow peace and dignity. I would want these minorities to understand the context and take over the struggle to re-unite the Old eastern region. Our (South East/South) clout in Nigeria can only gain from it. We have nothing to fear or lose from such unity.

Spot on.

There is no constitutional backing to the 6 zone and there would never been an constitutional backing to it.

Pretty interesting. I guess a good idea. If you have a 5th column in your midst, then it makes sense to see it moved out, rather than letting it undermine you from within.

all they were trying to do, was getting more share of the national cake. this is how it looks like from satellite picture. but it has backfired on them.

Becomrich}:

Andre Uweh, Dr Alex Ekwueme and the rest of igbo at that time looks like they trick abacha to create the south south. thank God, it was never done. He died before it went through.  Dr Alex Ekwueme and the igbos must have knew that the Ikwerri people. Ndoni people where Igbos. when abacha was doing this. most nigerian never knew that ikwerri, ndoni  people were igbo, it was Peter Odili and Amachie who became governor that allowed every one to know that river state was mostly igbo people.


There is no constitutional backing to the 6 zone and there would never been an constitutional backing to it.

If you look at this picture below. over 90% of the people of this area are Igbo people.  We are looking at the satellite pictures, and we can tell you, over 90% of the people are Igbo people. Cross river state is not that populated with people.



look in your so call south west. We have Ijaw and egun people in your so call south west.
Why is this area in the picture is  not term whole of south east,  even include the annag and efik.  ?
Since Ijaw and egun people are also part of the so call south west.

90% of the people in this picture belong are igbo people.  You see how funny your so call 6 zone was. we are look at the satellite picture, it is telling us over 90% is Igbo.  Now you see how your wayo is working against you now for the presidency.

Imagine if Dr Alex Ekwueme and his fellow had done it right that, who do you think would be the present president of nigeria. An igbo. Wayo don put una for trouble.

So you see why your so call 6 zone can never work.  


The point it for abacha to want to force people then he lock up many people in jail. But thank God , he die. May be that is the reason God killed him.

Andrew you see how Wayo put una for trouble now. Una wayo backfire against you, I dey laugh now.

hehehehe! 

Become~kolo at his best! 

[Quote author=DapoBear]
Pretty interesting. I guess a good idea. If you have a 5th column in your midst, then it makes sense to see it moved out, rather than letting it undermine you from within.
[/quote]

Oga, what do you mean by 5th columnist?
The problem we have in the SS / SE corner of the Nigeria are different worldviews toward problems that are similar. We have a situation where the political problem and goals are an exact match, but the direction to take is coloured the Igbo need to match the political clout of the core North and SW with a sphere of influence of their own; and a dogged fightback by the minorities who do no wish to be dominated and relegated to the part of playing pun.

Whichever way you look at it, the SE and SS are missing a trick and Nigeria is losing out. How?
Any cooperation between SS and SE will need to be above ethnicity (just like is the case within the SS); as soon as the immense power of such a union is unleashed, it would not be long before that same sort of cooperation extends to the SW and radiates outward and Northward.

I believe the SE can see the real threat in not forming what should be a natural symbiosis with the SS before the SS extends its highly successful post-ethnic style cooperation to the Middle Belt.

Beaf:

Oga, what do you mean by 5th columnist?

No offense meant, I was just inferring from the article and trying to look at it from the Igbo perspective. The article pretty much says this exactly, btw:

The South-South idea was, therefore, a deliberate gambit hatched by the Igbo intelligentsia to give the Southern minorities their own turf in order to reduce the national gang-up against the Igbo. With their own home zone, they would be able to project their own interests rather than being the cat’s paw of Igbo rivals from the North or West.

Can Amachie or Odili become the president of South south Republic I dey laugh.

Beaf una dey put una self for trouble.

I am yet to believe this conjecture. I still need some kind of reaction to this by the supposedly involved persons. That God some of them are still breathing.

First off, i tried accessing the link provided, but to no avail.

My question here is, if the intention of creating this SS was to give the Igbos some breathing space, why then do we still have a large considerable chunk of Igbos and Igboid groups in the SS, especially in Rivers state?

It seems to me that some things aren't just adding up. Anyway, i need to google more to verify some stuffs.

from looking at the satellite picture, the igbos must have knew that Amachie and odili were igbo people. it looks like they just wanted to cheat the system that why they created it. So that they would have a large part of the national cake. revenue,

But it has put them into serious trouble that why jonathan from a small ethnics group is president. Even the Igbos in the south south like amachie and odili and others can not become president, if they zone it to the south south, if they create a zone like that. So they were trying to be smart. but it land the igbo people into serious trouble. And they now instead of an Igbo man as president, we have an ijaw man.

And as long as the igbo keep on talking about the south south, the igbo would never be president of nigeria. Because population is what they use in democracy.

Let igbo continue to talk about south south as see , if an igboman would ever been president. Population is what they use in democracy.  when they zone the president to south south again, Ijaw man go get it again. Who then do you think is mumu. Una or them.
Can Amachie or Odili become the president of South south Republic

excanny:

I am yet to believe this conjecture. I still need some kind of reaction to this by the supposedly involved persons. That God some of them are still breathing.

First off, i tried accessing the link provided, but to no avail.  

My question here is, if the intention of creating this SS was to give the Igbos some breathing space, why then do we still have a large considerable chunk of Igbos and Igboid groups in the SS, especially in Rivers state?

It seems to me that some things aren't just adding up. Anyway, i need to google more to verify some stuffs.

Bros, the thing is quite simple. The idea of 6 geo-political zones was really about bringing equal voice to everyone in Nigeria without ruffling too much feathers. It was the best option that the ruling Abacha junta could accept. The unspoken aim though was to disorganize the north like the north did in the east. If eastern minorities could enjoy political voice, why not the northern minorities? What is good for the goose must be good for the gander, right?

If we lose control over our minority neighbors thanks to the north, the north must also lose theirs thanks to Ndigbo. Recall that we lost control over our region after the war in 1970. These our leaders wanted to bring that feeling to northerners, and they did it.
Great scheme, masterfully executed. The north never forgave Ekwueme because of that, and they showed him their displeasure during the PDP primaries in 1999.
As for the Igbo in south south, I think it is to Igbo advantage that they stayed there. We lost nothing there.

Sometimes I wonder whether we the younger emerging leaders of Igboland can ever match the ingenuity of our fathers. Those guys are simply geniuses.

Becomrich}:

from looking at the satellite picture, the igbos must have knew that Amachie and odili were igbo people. it looks like they just wanted to cheat the system that why they created it. So that they would have a large part of the national cake. revenue,

But it has put them into serious trouble that why jonathan from a small ethnics group is president. Even the Igbos in the south south like amachie and odili and others can not become president, if they zone it to the south south, if they create a zone like that. So they were trying to be smart. but it land the igbo people into serious trouble. And they now instead of an Igbo man as president, we have an ijaw man.

And as long as the igbo keep on talking about the south south, the igbo would never be president of nigeria. Because population is what they use in democracy.

Let igbo continue to talk about south south as see , if an igboman would ever been president. Population is what they use in democracy.  when they zone the president to south south again, Ijaw man go get it again. Who then do you think is mumu. Una or them.
Can Amachie or Odili become the president of South south Republic

There will never be south south republic. What new tree are you smoking today? You can't even follow your own logic.
If Igbo is 90% of the East according to you, how can you create a south south republic?

excanny:

I am yet to believe this conjecture. I still need some kind of reaction to this by the supposedly involved persons. That God some of them are still breathing.

First off, i tried accessing the link provided, but to no avail.

My question here is, if the intention of creating this SS was to give the Igbos some breathing space, why then do we still have a large considerable chunk of Igbos and Igboid groups in the SS, especially in Rivers state?

It seems to me that some things aren't just adding up. Anyway, i need to google more to verify some stuffs.

Its no conjecture. It is fact. The 6 Gzones were created in line with existing state boundaries. There was no attempt to tamper weith existng boundaries because of the sensitive nature thereof and the politicisation of the Nasir boundary Commission. That is why you still have Igbos outide the SE, Ijaws outside the SS and Yorubas ouside the SW,etc.

Nobdoy created the south south, my friend.

wetin happen be say, Igbo man think say, him want catch ijaw man mugu. But Ijaw man out smart igbo man. He land ijaw man into the presidency.  Why Ijaw man they tell Igbo man to they follow them shout south south.

Honestly who be mugu. Ijaw man or Ibo, who have become mumu.
continue they follow them shout south south? and see if any igboman would ever be president.

May be in 2048 when the igbo become president una go get the story.

Becomrich}:

Nobdoy created the south south, my friend.

wetin happen be say, Igbo man think say, him want catch ijaw man mugu. But Ijaw man out smart igbo man. He land ijaw man into the presidency.  Why Ijaw man they tell Igbo man to they follow them shout south south.

Honestly who be mugu. Ijaw man or Ibo, who have become mumu.
continue they follow them shout south south? and see if any igboman would ever be president.

May be in 2048 when the igbo become president una go get the story.

So how is that any of your business? I thought you are from Benin republic! hehehe!

i am only trying to make you see how democracy work. If we had 3 region. and northerner had been there, obasanjo  yorubas had been there, who do you think would have been president from the East now. Ijaw or Igbo?? Una no smart. continue to shout south south. Mugu. na wayo kill una.

Becomrich}:

i am only trying to make you see how democracy work. If we had 3 region. and northerner had been there, obasanjo  yorubas had been there, who do you think would have been president from the East now. Ijaw or Igbo?? Una not smart. continue to shout south south. Mugu.

Which "northerner" do you mean? Gowon? IBB?

What is the problem if an Easterner called Goodluck Jonathan rule Nigeria instead of Ojo Maduekwe? Same people, same fate, same destiny.

if una smart, una for done take style cut bayelsa and yoruba into benin republic. if una no do that , na 2048 una go wetin till

Becomrich}:

if una smart, una for done take style cut[b] bayelsa [/b]and yoruba into benin republic.

Bayelsa is Eastern Nigeria. It stays there. You can carry your Odualand to Benin jeje!

half of bayelsa state was in the western region. they try to cut off the ijaw into western region.

This is what lead to the story of Isaac boro and how the story of MEND started.

Becomrich}:

half of bayelsa state was in the western region.

So since when did HALF become ALL?

see map. You can see most Ijaw were in the west region
The igbos did not want to give up that portion to the west. You can see it is justified to be in the west and not the east. Since most of the land is in the west.


So when they igbo did a military coup. Isaac boro went to free the ijaw in the eastern region from the hands of the igbo.  This is how the Niger delta nonsense started.

Becomrich}:

half of bayelsa state was in the western region. they try to cut off the ijaw into western region.

This is what lead to the story of Isaac boro and how the story of MEND started.

That is not true. Bayelsa was part of Rivers state and Rivers state was once in the Eastern Region. See map :

Excanny, scepticism is a good thing. These so called minorities were actually the pre colonial kingdoms of the Niger Delta who in most cases had signed treaties with the British Empire. Did anybody ask them if they wanted to be part of the East, West regions? No.

This whole story of the geo political zones can't be told honestly without going back to Eyo Ita, the minority report, the proposed 7 states instead of 3 regions, the Richards constitution 1946, the pre colonial history of the regions and Adaka Boro. The seeds for this move were sown decades ago. As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun, only things people have  forgotten.

After the Midwest was democratically established in 1963 as an autonomous and equal region, the West lost resources and income. Northern and Eastern regions were 'concerned that similar things would happen to them.

I would take the benevolence and generosity theory with a large pinch of salt, nobody gives freedom you have to take it.
As you said keep doing your research and you will keep the revisionist historians at bay.

Having said all of that, I support zoning and believe we have a common interest in its proper and fair implementation- 1 term of 5 years, no returns.