₦airaland Forum

RichyBlacK:
Please, let us try not to extend the wicked actions of OBJ and Awo to the entire Yoruba people. Awo's theme was sectionalism and tribalism. OBJ was and still is a common thief. The vast majority of the Yoruba people do not fall in either of these categories.

Obasanjo followed the foot steps of Awolowo, and eventually who that comes After Obasanjo would follow Obasanjo's foot steps, it would pass on from generation to generation, a thing that is in the blood is very difficult to flush, the actions of these two individual has created a perpetual divide between the east and the western region, there would never be a united south.  The south East can't change these things, the only thing there,  is that the south east should not think of any political alignment with the south west, they do not deserve it,  the actions of the south west would leave them isolated at the long run, their prostitution with the north would not even help them, cause though the north uses the plutocrats in the south west for now, but do not have any regard for a spineless group.


Saying that the wicked actions of OBJ and Awo should not be used to judge the entire Yoruba people is a dumb statement, because the said people would not hesitate to identify with the successes of the said people, who seemingly represented their ethnic group, the entire German race are regarded as fascist today because of the actions of Hitler. most leaders tends to carry out actions they view as being beneficial to their ethnic group, and they portray character that could in most cases be traced down to their people, so we beg to be speared of any subsequent preaching.

chidichris:
obj shld be made to answer questions over his inhumane acts over imo and abia people as relates to the oil wells.
such actions if not well treated and taken care of will definitely repeat itself in future.
abia and imo gov have to sue the fg to claim all the unpaid funds on these stolen oil wells over the years.
obj did that to frustrate the tow states especially abia as the gov was sturborn to him. what a shame for a president to stood so low as to punish the whole state for his hatred for their gov.

Why are you surprised? what ever snake gave birth to, will always have a long tail, did Awo not punish the whole of Igbo race, because of a misunderstanding between him and Zik, people that hate you, will always do, now I feel bad over my bitter arguments with chxta, he was always telling me the Northerners are better than the people of the Southwest, but I 've always thought the other way round, fortunately I know better now, Obasanjo also single handedly carried out the destruction of Anambra state, which Yar' Adua equally resolved by the restoration of governor Obi, so far so good, I hope the 52 oil wells would be returned to Abia state in due course.

[b]I often tease my Yoruba friends [/b]who hail from Lagos & Isale Eko, as 'Eko for show' or party rockers, as a joke, but I wouldn't insult their sensibilities

There is nothing guilt won't do. This fraud is so beautifully orchestrated, I almost believed it, sure the author is almost at the brink of doing so too, jeez I like it.

As a non-Yoruba person who has spent several years in Lagos, such comments make me want to puke

Very fraudulent,, yada! yada!

[b]It seems that most of us are very convenient with this so called status of perpetual myrmidon. people are always talking about managing our resources, managing our resources, what about creativity, when you talk of managing our resources am sure as hell you mean selling our resources, what about using our resources to create things, I guess most of our leaders are equally not into creative thinking like a lot here, like somebody said, if we know the value of research and invest in some, we would not need anything from the west, I know what I ve been able to single handedly create technologically, I would rather be talking about a revolution here than talking about some stupid foreign aid.



The people you people think are so crazy about giving you aid and pulling you out of your doldrums, sees you as a fun thing, the UN just recently opened a museum probably in the UK where they showcased many pictures of Suffering Africa faces, for people to come around and see {is on the EURO news}, under the pretext that they want to create awareness on the degree of problems in Africa, what a very interesting way of chilling out, only people with big brain would understand what is actually going on. A light hearted person would buy into the rhetoric's they would have used in supporting such action, how they were allowed to take such photographs? I don't know. The Chinese or the Indians wouldn't have allowed their people to be presented in such manner {nothing short of savages}, but what do you expect, an Africa Dumbo would think they are taking those pictures because they are trying to help, people are truly naive.


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Bankole01:
I understand your argument. It was a good ieda, when we had autonomous regions geared towards development at their own pace. Things have changed for the worse and this is part of my argument.

Please you sound very vague here, I can't really understand what you are saying. When we were practising regional system things were ok, The military prefered the federal system because is easier for peasant leaders to run such system which encourages corruption, is very obvious that a right winger like Obafemi Awolowo by his actions does not believe in federalism. He never knew how lucky he was not to have ruled Nigeria, because in the National level his ethnocentric nature would have encouraged more corruption, he would have concentrated more on his people and corruption would have blossomed, believe me any leader would fail in the current system we have in place. forget about rhetoric's.  

If our so-called leaders had manged the affairs of State well, we have enough to feed, clothe and educate every Nigerian, tax-free like in Saudi Arabia.
The present crop of mega thieves now parading as leaders have made things worse and the situation is worsenniing daily.

How can a leader manage a system he does not believe in? he would more like try to reap it off, I insighted an example of Ojukwu using his fathers money to fight for his region, would he have used his fathers money to defend Nigeria, NOT.  would Awolowo have given free Education to the whole of Nigeria? NOT.

Apart from aid of medices which we do not produce, Nigeria does not need finacial aid, as it contributes to the corruption in the land.

I would rather think we should create a situation that would encourage the manufacturing of drugs in Nigeria instead of a quick fix thing like aid that would eventually leave us needing more aid tomorrow.

My main argument is not in favor of aid but to showcase the abuse of African leaders. This has made them and us to loose face and respect in the Western and among other nation leaders.

showcasing their abuses would not solve the problems, but altering and improving the settings that created bad leaders would solve the problem, believe me my brother no matter how eloquent you are, you are a potential bad leader with the current system we have in place.

Bankole01:
@9 2 5

Do you feel much better now?
You will need to grow up and learn how to write your opinion without resorting to abuse or insulting someoneelse for his/her opinion.

Sorry if that is how my outburst came across, I wasn't really trying to insult, I was just surprised that people I was sure as hell should know better are equally buying into this foreign Aid thing, sorry if you feel offended but look at the logic of my argument, then you would know where am coming from.

[b]Am so disappointed that people I thought should know better, do really think we need foreign aid, talk from now till tomorrow if we did not get to the bottom of the cause of corruption in Africa which is the fact that people are more loyal to their regions, is never going to stop full stop. If people are more loyal to their regions , then make the regions autonomous, is not quantum physics that people would be more determined in making their regions better, at this junction Obafemi Awolowo comes to mind, he was a hero to his people, he believed in his region, when Obasanjo was the president, he made sure that the control of Nigeria petroleum were in the hands of his tribesmen. What governor Ngige did in Anambra state within two years, he wouldn't have done for the whole of Nigeria, Ojukwu spent his fathers money to fight for his region, do we smell anti corruption? The average Nigerian liberal is an idiot, Nnamdi Azikiwe was a liberal and a believer in one federal Nigeria and he was a waste to his people, what we need to do is learn how to do things by ourselves, how do you do that? claim your education by studying in your local dialect. follow the examples laid down by the Chinese, stop being morons by being eloquent about foreign Aid. Is there any continent that developed on foreign aid? I guess NON.[/b]

[b]Nigeria has announced a “retaliatory” foreign policy, warning that any country that presents Nigeria as corrupt without showcasing the intellect of Nigerians would be declared a “hostile nation”.
The new foreign policy tagged “Citizenship Diplo-macy” was unfolded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, yesterday.
It is geared towards “protecting” the image and integrity of Nigeria and retaliates against countries who are hostile and who brand Nigeria as “corrupt”, he said.
Ojo, who spoke at a book presentation by former Minister of Education, Professor Tunde Adeniran, in Abuja, disclosed that Nigeria’s foreign policy, without any fundamental change in content, “is now what we like to call Citizens Diplomacy. It is going to be a citizen-centred foreign policy, which is: how does this benefit Nigeria and Nigerians? It is a way of strengthening our commitment to Africa.
“We believe that it is time to let the world know that Nigeria is not a beggar nation that has to be made to feel ashamed by the actions of a few criminals who disgrace us at airports in the world by their activities.
“So we have urged that for every Nigerian drug pusher arrested or 419 arrested or a suspect arrested in the major stations of the world, they have a responsibility to showcase those Nigerian surgeons that are making a difference in their communities of those countries.”
Accordingly, he said, “failure to tell the good story about Nigeria from now on, would be considered as a hostile act. Because if you brand us a nation of scammers, as a nation where nothing works, you will be undermining our self-esteem, you undermine our national unity and you make it difficult for investors to come to our country and that could bring unemployment and poverty and of course there is a linkage between poverty and insecurity.”
In this regard, Maduekwe said “we are simply saying, this diplomacy would be a diplomacy of consequences. If you are nice to us, then of course, we should be nice to you. If you were not nice to us, then of course there would be a cost. This is called the concept of reciprocity. This is called the diplomacy of consequences.”
He explained further: “Our foreign policy has come of age and the age of innocence is over. We remain proud of our track record right from Tafawa Balewa up till now. The country that has the largest black nation in the world could not have done otherwise. A world where every six black man is a Nigerian could not have done otherwise, or where every four Africans is a Nigerian could not have done otherwise.
“We should ask ourselves some hard questions: to what extents has our foreign policy benefited Nigerians? To what extent has our foreign policy put food on our tables? In other words, where is the citizen in our foreign policy?”
Quoting Williams Dubois, the Minister said, “The colour of the skin remains the defining paradigm of international relations. And I think that it would not be out of naivety for the largest black country in the world not to be conscious of the fact that colour of corruption is black, so long as the colour of corruption is black, so long as the colour of HIV/AIDS is black, so long as the colour of ethnic conflicts is black…all black people all over the world, whether they are Congress men in the United States or the United Kingdom, they will never walk proud any where in the world.”
He said that Nigeria carried enormous burden to be the symbol of the success of the black nation and there could never be a black success story, “unless it is a Nigeria success story.”

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Very very inspiring! I like it.

laudate:
Point of correction. I'm not a Bini man. Am a full-fledged Nigerian with relatives from all parts of this country.

Point of correction, before us is a full fledged bigot, with a lot of hate for a particular part of the country, somethings would never change, you are killing yourself over nothing.

willywilly:
True!, IBOS are Marginalised, but it's hand work of YORUBA and HAUSA/FULANI, they want to make sure that IBOS are finished. so as to have easy way of finishing me in the N.Delta ,that is part of there plan.
Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani, don't want a strong challenger in Nigeria. them seeing IBO as a barrier to there evil plans.
What 99% of YORUBA /Hausa Fulani Wishes IBO is his DOWN FALL. 99.9% of Nigerians knows that.
Yoruba/Hausa Fulani want a weak IBO, So that they can continue to dictate the affairs of Nigeria.
I'm still alive today because, this tribes believe that declaring total military assault against NIGER DELTA, they still don't know which people they IBOS will side, which may cause a backclash ( lead to Nigeria disintegration).

IBO MARGINALISED ( YORUBA AND HAUSA/FULANI CONSPIRACY)

If this is not a logical analysis, then I wonder what is, please dont mind those trying to bully you, there is a big corelation in every thing you 've said, is only a fool that would not see it, kudos.

A lot of people think this thing is joke, you might want to look at these videos  http://youtube.com/watch?v=z8BCL5T6ebs
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nk9-Xsmdepo&mode=related&search=   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R0WxiLKgYE&NR=1

tonesky:
The Ibo's are the most marginalised zone in Nigeria. Nigerians independent came under the tripod stand IE, North,South and East, but now Ibo's are still the most marginalised. For instance since after the civil war which is still a result of marginalisation, no Ibo man had ever become the president of this country, inspector General of police, chief of defence staff etc. There is this rumour that the Hausa's and Yoruba's signed an agreement that no Igbo man will ever become the president of this country - Nigeria again. To buttress this, Dr. Alex Ekwueme was best positioned to win 1999 president but because of that it was denied him. Moreover, unemployment is predominantly in the south east, every zone in Nigeria has six states and above only south east has five. Ibo's are known for their sojourn to other countries or states to look for their daily bread because of the quest to pull them down in the last census Obasanjo and the Northern power brokers insisted that state of origin would not be included in the census form the implication being that Igbo's living outside the Igbo states were counted as non-Igbo's. Since we believe in one Nigeria why not live and let live. Why is uwazuruike still incarcerated?

The truth must be told, Nigerians should remember that the last laugh is the longest and the sweetest,[size=18pt] LET UWAZURUIKE GO[/size]

Okongwu 67, who said he had lived all his life in the North also claimed to have been responsible for the creation of most of the South-south states. He also claimed to have been the brain behind the South-south Movement, accusing the present South-south campaigners of bad fate and breakaways from Igbos.

I wonder why people are getting so worked up, the handwriting is clearly written on the wall, while the Sonny Okogwu guy is literally trying to kiss the asses of his inlaws, he is also crabwisely trying to signal the fact that the south south is already dividing along ethnic lines, because there is a notion that the Ijaws has a different agenda all together, the Igbo speaking people in the south south knows that they are at the brink of getting a raw deal, so they don't want to be part of it, though this man is going about it entirely the wrong way.

ono:
Interesting answers to thesame questions by 925 and david( I hope you don't mind calling you that). Thanks guys.

To my last question: Any way out. 925, why do you think there will be anarchy, system deterioration and revolution? Beside, that's not a clear cut answer; it seems you have an answer but feels it will lead to all of the bad stuff stated before.

as a realist I think the only way out is to run the region autonomously, there is no alternative way to go, and is very easy to predict the out come of ignoring this, am a afraid the only option is a raw deal, an adverse effect of allowing a problem to linger for so long.

As things stands, this fear of ''loosing out'' on free oil money seems to be the bane of most feudal lords in the North and Western part of the country. Truly, the South East and South South regions have stated categorically that they want out of the present arrangement, if the country cannot practice true federalism. Isn't there something people from the South East and South South can do to sway the minds of the people from the other regions?

the South East and the South South might be forced to unite in their struggle as partners on the same level and not on the level of 1967, now that the south East recognizes that the south south has the right to control its territory, is very easy to predict this, since I 've seen in the news that some people in the East are beginning to copy the styles of the militants in the South South, you can agree that  Nigeria is heading for total anarchy, the possibilities of mutually swaying the minds of the other regions would be an up hill tax, since is all about greed and exploitation on their own side.

ono:
925, some questions:
1. Who are these people preventing Nigerians from running the regions as autonomous entities?

the north is responsible in  larger scales, followed by the west being afraid to go against the northern political will, not really that the west can not run autonomously, but the political elites or the plutocrats in the west are kind of suffering from endemic cowardness [ this is not an attack on an ethnic group], which has created a lot of bad blood in the south, the South south are asking for autonomy let them go autonomous, the East are equally asking for autonomy let the go autonomous, the West equally wants autonomy.

2. What do they stand to gain by doing so?

They want to stay lazy, in the 60's when regions were autonomous, all the regions had their source of revenues and exports

3. Is there any way out?

the system would deteriorate and there would be total anarchy, and eventually a revolution.

PTH:
925 makes a good point. But here is my question as regards his post, is it possible to have a system fall down from heaven? The Americans today owe their system we so much praise to the few men who sat down in one room and drafted the destiny of this great country more than 300 years ago.

It is such leaders, the type who can seflessly take it upon themselves to right the wrongs and ensure a future for us that we lack. What is the difference between 1961 Nigeria and 2007 Nigeria? simple, we had men with foresight, today we have men who can't see beyond their noses.

Thank you I equally like most of your post the points are deadly, in 1961 we had men who had and fought to get away from a common enemy, the colonial masters, now we have men who believe in their regions and not Nigeria, any smart person knows the only way out is to run the regions autonomously, systems don't fall from heaven, our system is porous because the people controlling it are trying to deny others involvement in formation of it, therefore not coming up with a system every one would be passionate of, and at the same time encouraging it to be loose in order to manoeuvre around it for their selfish purposes.

debosky,

am in line with what you are saying and the efforts Yaradua seems to be making in trying to emboss the rule of law into our society, but you would also agree that charity begins at home, to start with, the electoral process that brought about his government was staged and that makes his effort questionable and in lack of a lot of credibility. A system is highly in need of a scape goats to make in work, people always think that there is a need for a heavy militant enforcement of the system for it to work, no!, some part of the system needs only a subtle or aggressive propaganda for it to work, the very important aspect is just to bring it to the level of the people, for example in England if you go to the parks, you would see on the boards a telephone number you would have to call if you face something like anti social behavior or racism, only that alone sends a very strong massage and would discourage a potential perpetrator of such crime,

on chxta's write up, he made mention of Spain to deceive people, but he would not tell you that Spain is made up of 17 autonomous regions, the UK is made up of 4 autonomous regions, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, all the states in the Us are run almost autonomously, even not withstanding that America is a homogeneous nation, same language, same religion etc,  though America homogeneousness was formed artificially, again by the power of legislation, the Nigerian ethnic groups has gotten to the level of irreparable bad blood and distrust that running Nigeria as a federal state is pure encouragement of ''chop i chop'' politics because people believe in their region and not in Nigeria, am sorry I don't believe in very purblind Ngerian type of political correctness that encourages people to ignore what is obvious, Systems are not formed only by archaic constitutions but by sound legislation backed by heavy propaganda, the UK is a good example, the UK has no written constitution, which makes the UK laws to move with immediate day to day challenges, would be back.

Am not a great fan of this politics section, because we don't have a system in place to qualify for a political discourse, this may sound arrogant, but I beg in advance to differ, forgive me, before I get into the mute and not deeply taught out points that chxta raised, allow me to Analise or rather summarize the whole issue here with one statement ''in the land of the blind one eyed man becomes the king'' this statement goes to those who are are ever ready to accept any gibberish foisted on them without giving it a deeper thought, although is all about semantics, you can't really blame people a lot, I could not stop my self any further from posting on this topic.


A lot of people blame our problems on our individual leaders, the same circle of problems that now changes name, faces every 4 or 8 years depending on the out come of electoral processes selectoral processes, this kind of thinking is a very peasant line of thought born out of endemic mediocrity by a people who grabs anything foreign without fine tuning it to sooth their purposes, alas the system the non system is alien to Nigerians including the leaders who are equally Nigerians, If you think our leaders were not once eloquent about bringing changes once in their early political life, then the purpose of this discussion is defeated.


We don't have any formidable system, there is no system in place, and systems are created by string of legislation's, every area must be covered, hopping on people to have change of attitude is the dumbest thing to hear in 2007, is like hoping that racist would have a change of heart without coming up with proper legislation to combat racism or hopping that robbers would have a change of heart without coming up with proper measures to combat robbery. the system is like an equation or like a program, the system is like cooking, first you need money, second you need to buy your grocery, third you need to cook it, for something to happen some thing has to happen. All our leaders are peasants that rule the country from their homes or the telephones, Obasanjo was the President and he was doing the job of the petroleum minister, he was almost every thing, I don't see Yaradua being any different, cause mediocrity is inherent in Nigeria.


In a normal society where there is a formidable system, leaders don't rule, they only preside the system, the influence leaders have on systems are very negligible, for example a bad leader by world standard could perform averagely well in a well thought out system, Putin the president of Russia comes to my mind at this point, by world standard Putin is a despot and a dictator with a booming economy, isn't that Ironic, the Chinese leader by world standard is a dictator once again with a booming economy, George bush is a bad leader, but with a good system in place his influence in the real fabric of the system is negligible. a good leader can only come up with legislation's that makes the system works better,  when there is no system in place , what do you expect, we need to get back to the drawing board.


fools hope that one day the ethnic groups in Nigeria would unit, feeble minds, there would never be unity, is never going to happen by chance, but with a good legislation is possible, would come back to deal with all the other points raised by chxta.

:p

May the soul of this great Igbo son rest in perfect deserving peace, he was an inspiration to all of us, we will all miss him.