₦airaland Forum

Kobojunkie:
Reading throiugh what you have above, I thjink it is definitely relevant. We just dealt with and are still dealing with this issue right here in the America with the President involved. Allegations where made against him and his party and any american who is on the side will tell you that the President knew to take it upon himself to answer to these allegations, not for the groups alone but for the people of america to know the truth of the situation. It is election year in the United states. Obama could have easily played the MY ENEMIES ARE AT WORK AND SO I WILL NOT SAY ANYTING card. He could have easily said it is election year so no need to do anything . He didn't really need the people to vote on HealthCare before he signed it. Allegations where made. There was no need to call in the FBI, CIA, US ARMY, INTERPOL, ACLU for him to know WHAT TO DO AS A Governor in a democratic system.  Check the government site to see where he has been, the many interviews he has conducted in order that he can clear the air on what healthcare is about or not about. COME ON!!!

IF YOU THINK TO APPLY ONLY 50% of that to this particular case, and do so UNBIASED, you would realize why LAGOS needs to do more than Play the SILENCE IS GOLDEN CARD. Look again at the details on the site I gave you. Where is that option even available?  Why do we like moving the Marker when convenient? Why do we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot and pick sides when we ought not to?

The health care debate and hypothetical dooms day scenarios as painted by repubs = corruption allegations? And you accuse someone of moving the marker. Obama had to politik to win the health care bill or you think the undecided house democrats just magically swung he's way cos he had videos up? Wonder why it took over a year to get it passed?  No be political (yes that ugly word again, politics) horse trading eventually pass the bill?

Unflippingbelieavable. Accusations about the outcome of a possible government policy as opposed to a corruption case? Night and day pal.

You need to stick to debating the issue at hand and not fly off on wild tangents. What next, quotes from  Jed Bartlet 

How about the down right ridiculous allegations that Obama illegally obtained visas for he's Kenyan family or that he is not a US citizen? You need him on TV squashing that one too? Or you think it has completely died down now he is in charge?

And once again, the health care bill needed political weight/PR spin to push it over the finish line. No one will accuse him of anything but political naiveté if he did not get on the bully pulpit.

Kobojunkie:
Can I ask what Country and state you live in? Maybe I can better find you an example that way to help you understand this cause I am beginning to think that as long as the Fashola name is involved, no sense will come of this my trying to explain why the fundamentals of democracy should always apply whether it is fashola we are discussing or Peter Obi or Kalu Orji Or even Obama, or Blagoyevich.

No need to chuck the toys out the pram. This is as clear as night and day and there is no need to pull the Fashola fan club card cos someone disagrees with you. Fashola has being accused of corrupt practices, want a reference point? You pulled one up with Governor Blagojevich.

Care to go through the timeline of that case? At what point did he start responding to allegations? was it not after the FBI (yes the Feds, not the state police) had concluded investigations and filed charges against him. Remember the press conference they called? evidence piled to the hilt. No 'watch out, part 2 is more explosive than part 1' type BS. Was there not a press leak at least a week in advance of impending investigations?  Did the state legislature demand a news letter or they demanded he appear before said body to state he's case and impeached on that basis.

Clear enough for you? As I said before a corruption case should be treated with all severity and not treated with press packets and TV PR dress ups. If there is a process that can be followed by all means ask that due process be followed and that Fashola not be allowed to taint the exercise with undue influence. You fear the house of assembly is tainted? EFCC and ICPC de to investigate and precedence has already being sent with Alamsco and Dariye already.

Mariory:
I have read the thread up to the point I made a post. No one is moving the "marker".
You are requesting a public official to respond publicly (in my opinion to get into a public argument) to very serious allegations made against him publicly, by people not authorised to enforce the laws they are claiming he has broken. In addition, said allegations are being made close to an election year. Did I miss anything?

As an after thought, what exactly is Fashola responding publicly to these allegations suppossed to achieve?

Pretty much sums it up M8.

Kobojunkie:
@Mariory, when you come in on a discussion, please take time to review and make sure you understand what it is about. This has nothing to do with posts on the internet or nairaland.

Telling people to go to EFCC or ICPC is like telling people to go to the FBI, CIA Or even the US ARMY OR INTERPOL when they need to get answers from their state government.   

Like I said, let us STOP moving the marker on what Democracy gives us access to. It is in clear English what it does.

Yes, like the Illinois case right?   My bad, make dem go lagos state police command run by the state?  

You seem to have it all backwards, you cannot expect a self correcting executive  in any democratic system. The allegation was that of corruption and one of the possible ways to to seek redress was put forward and you dismiss that?

I will assume this is the bit you are referring to:

Accountability entails a public right of access to information about the activities of government, the right to petition government and to seek redress through impartial administrative and judicial mechanisms.

We have cycled through this already, notice how there is a process in that quote you posted. The 'face' have asked the legislature to investigate Fashola (right to petition government), They have started the investigative process (administrative mechanism) hit a speed bump by judging a case they are defendants in (judicial mechanisms) and the 'face' have restructured their case and the process is on going.

Which bit their is a subversion of democracy? This can turn into an endless,pointless and downright ridiculous cycle where you will try and blur the lines between good public relations and rule of law. Fashola responding buys him nothing but more goodwill (which he has in abundance) it will not and should not stop the investigations against him especially if the motives are political as I suspect and not some group on an anti corruption crusade.

It will give those of us on the sidelines/fringes an extra bullet point in an argument but I will guess Kobojunkie will not be on the Alausa frontlines battling Fasholas case because he appeared on tv to say "It wasn't me"

Me sef, i no use big grammer  . I no know how to split am even easier than I already did. There is no unwritten rule that says ALL allegations need to be responded to as at when made. That is why rules like immunity are put in place, it is why legislatures exist, why subpoenas exist, why Watergate dragged on for as long as it did (did Nixon get impeached on allegations  and silence which he was for the most part or the fact there was indeed a smoking gun found or several sef).

Some people can choose to address the allegations and change public opinion and possibly commit a blunder (read Lewinsky) or just keep silent and build up a possible defence case as at when needed.

Bending the rules or breaking them is a subversion of democracy, not responding to every allegation is not. I don add my own 2 kobo and we can agree to disagree

Kobojunkie:
Again, There is NO PROVISION in a Democracy for any government to play the “'my detractors’ or enemies of progress”. It is clear that Government is OBLIGATED to provide information necessary to help answer questions, criticisms etc of the administration to individuals, groups, companies etc in the area. It is just that simple!

And where did I mention any of that? The face of Lagos put an ad in a paper and asked the house of assembly to investigate the Governor. No be over to the house? To use your own lingo, where is the evidence they attempted to take this up directly with the Governors office?

We can argue about the process all day regarding our suspicions on the motives of either side, until there is a deliberate attempt by Fashola to obstruct justice all is moot.

You can argue the public relations angle but that is just it, PR. There is no legal obligation for Fashola to respond. Fashola's goodwill quota is still pretty high and will only take a hit if he is found guilty of fraud/abuse of office by a competent panel not in the court of beer parlour gist or if he is seen as using he's office to stop the truth from coming out.

Even in western democracies, the executive can choose to not comment on a corruption allegation until legally required by the judiciary/legislature and no competent body will take their silence as an implication of guilt. Journos and papers can opine as they are prone to doing and press statements can diffuse a potential ticking bomb but they can also prove to be legal suicide if your legal team have not properly dotted i's and t's.

This is not an allegation of incompetence/negligence but of corruption. Two very different things and I am sure a Michael Bloomberg or Boris Johnson will not be defending corruption charges on newspaper pages either (just as in the case of Blagojevich you brought up as well)

@Kobojunkie

What allegations did I make against them that I need to substantiate again? I said if they have proof let them bring it forward already rather than the piecemeal release and you asking me to bring evidence that they have no proof? Where did I imply they had no proof?

I posted a news article where the leader of the group said:

“We hereby communicate to the Lagos State House of Assembly that we have since discovered that those who collected money under the pretext of bribing the Assembly in order to cover up governor Fashola’s glaring misdeeds and abuse of office only scamed the governor,” the letter stated.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we would like to state categorically that we are dropping the allegations against Mr. Speaker and the Assembly that they collected money.”

I will post it again:
http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5527800-147/group_retracts_bribery_allegations_against_lagos.csp

Maybe you should read what I actually wrote first eh.

Erring on the side of the law means following due process and allowing all parties involved to state their cases in full (not the piecemeal nonsense we are getting). How is Fashola's silence against the law? 

I do not see the widespread demand for Fashola to answer the allegations that you imply (note the overall support for Fashola in the comments on that article and the comments from pretty much any report on the allegations from Nigerian dailies available on the web), so far we have had the face of Lagos,true face of Lagos, gbengapro and he's merry men on nairaland. Hardly a representation of widespread revolt against the Governor, in fact most people seem to see this as political jousting between Fashola and Tinubu.

Yes, everyone should have their say but the verbiage used suggested a criminal offence by the Governor 'mega fraud/biggest fraud of all time/jumbo fraud'  and it should be treated as that. We have seen this script acted out too many times where some proxy is used to fight someone else's battle and with all due respect I will rather give Fashola the benefit of the doubt and let the process run its course (my personal opinion of course) . The state house of assembly have being removed from the list of defendants by those chaps so they should be free to run their investigation now and they will likely summon Fashola for questioning.

He has being accused of inflating contract sums arbitrarily and crony-ism and the accusers promised to supply 'more' evidence + more allegations in due time, the Governor keeping silent in the face of what appears to be a smear campaign is he's prerogative, he will either suffer politically or come out stronger for it. He has already said he will respond and the wave of allegations has not ended yet and he has chosen not to go back and forth on the pages of news papers.

Kobojunkie:
Do you have proof of this or are you yourself only throwing around mere conjectures to paint the other side silly?


Actually, conjectures or not, I believe it is hightime the Government sets the record straight. We are curious and we want to know the truth. Are we wrong in demanding the truth from a democratic leader?

You are not making any sense there, I should go get proof that they do not have any solid evidence?

The other side do look silly, they say Fashola bribed the lagos assembly, then someone gets a court injunction stopping the assembly from investigating Fashola since they are co-defendants and next thing the story changes to 'the bribe money did not get to the assembly, Fashola was duped by he's go between' Laughable stuff.

Erring on the side of the law = innocent until proven guilty. Fashola does not have to answer to every allegation, I mean come on how many more parts does this home video potentially have? Part 15/16? Maybe he should be holding weekly sessions to counter the allegations? Get off it. Let them conclude their expose and add evidence, forward them to the EFCC/police/house of assembly (after all they have now being excluded) and then wait for a response.

The comparison with Blagojevich is off base as well, he was outed by the FBI 9which had being tracking hom for years) NOT the face of chicago or face of mama put and in he's case there was substantial evidence against him. There was no room for 'my detractors' or enemies of progress. If I remember clearly, the rumours of an impending investigation and impeachment started appearing well before the evidence was made public and he's response was always along the lines of no comment based on legal counsel which was reasonable at the time

In regards to the public cry, maybe you should get evidence of this wide spread demand for him to answer the allegations as I have personally not seen it and I suspect neither have you or maybe gbengapro/forpeace spamming the place is the barometer you are using? He was asked about the allegations when they first broke out and impeachment proceedings looked inevitable and he said he will respond at the appropriate time which can either mean he will be making some type of statement or he was expecting to be summoned to the house of assembly to answer the allegations.

As i said before seeing the end game makes a lot more sense politically than engaging in a back and forth with those individuals. That the face of lagos allegations are politically motivated is beyond obvious. This is not a bunch of concerned citizens doing their civic duties (the language used in their write ups clearly show that), this is political and I see no reason why it should be treated as anything but that. If at the end of the day they come out and lay the evidence that shows Fashola has dipped he's hand way too deep into the cookie jar, fair play to them by all means they can go ahead and see it through to the logical conclusion.

I certainly will not be loosing sleep or getting on my soap box over what may either be an AC in house power play or some PDP mud slinging hoping to arouse a response. Instead of all these piece meal 'watch out for part next' BS let them include substantial evidence and be done with it.

felele:
Frankly, I think the "True Face of Lagos" guys are just a bunch of disgruntled party apparatchiks who have lost their usual feeding troughs in the Fashola administration.

The true meat of the matter is the WAY and MANNER the Lagos-Epe expressway expansion concession was granted, to whom it was granted and what Lagos State Government paid - over N22.5 billion - for the privilege of giving away a major arterial road for 30 years!!!
.
The true meat of the matter is how Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to be the owner of:

1. 4 Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi.

2. The Lagos State Government Guest House in Abuja

The true meat of the matter is how Trojan Estates Ltd came into ownership of the 250 hectare Royal Gardens Estate, Ajah.

How Ocean and Oil Petroleum (Oando) was able to buy Agip with Lagos State Government funds

How that deal impacted upon who eventually became the Oba of Lagos.

How Oando was able to corner one half of the Gas distribution network concession for metropolitan Lagos (to be fair to them, they are actually performing, as opposed to Atiku's Gasland, which cornered the other half, comprising Lekki, Epe, Lagos Island, Victoria Island and Ikoyi)

These, amongst others are the real questions that the Government of Lagos State, and not necessarily the person of Babatunde Raji Fashola, need to address, and immediately too.

For Fashola, I understand his position, but a true man dies but once. Cowards die several times before their actual death. To use the fear of Tinubu as an excuse to turn a blind eye is to open yourself to allegations, possibly provable on the probability of guilt by association, of collusion in the BLEEDING of Lagos State by the self same Bola Ahmed Tinubu!

Reasonable points, however you forget they said watch out for part 4  

I think we will be deluded to think there isn't any corruption going on in the present administration and I have no problems with individuals being prosecuted and jailed if they are found guilty, the very presence of characters like Afikuyomi in the administration shows we are not there yet.

Fashola has earned my benefit of the doubt over the past couple of years with he's exceptional performance and I expect him to respond at some point in time. I do not see why he should respond to every one of these paid adverts since

1. The adverts are styled as personal attacks on him without any substantial evidence, if you are going to go around calling a public official a thief you cannot use mere conjecture there has to be a smoking gun which we clearly have not seen.
2. We are not sure who is behind the adverts, clearly not the person in that picture with the speaker, is it the Lagos state house/Tinubu/PDP/some other vested interest?

Surely from a political standpoint he is better off waiting to see what the end game is for these guys before responding.

News stories like the one below make me question the motives/veracity of these face of lagos people. It is clear this is all politics so Fashola not responding is probably in he's best interest.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5527800-147/group_retracts_bribery_allegations_against_lagos.csp

You cannot expect him to reply to allegations made in newspapers, if they have tangible evidence they can send them forward to the law enforcement agencies or even the court of public opinion. Even sahara reporters 'exposes' sef back up their claims with documents (not that I am discrediting them as a news source). A year to elections and all of a sudden all sorts spring up conjuring names and figures is the stuff of pepper soup joint discussions.

A bit more on the water issue:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnotaQSsUoQ&feature=player_embedded

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5521267-146/story.csp


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Health/5522272-147/story.csp

nateevs:
I am taking a very strange position here and this is it.

It is okay and actually rightful to say "because he has done good for the state does not mean he is above the law" . . However, I can only accept this statement when there is a total structure and a near fool-proof code of conduct for the legislative and judicial arms of government.

Do we have a system that protects a governor from being removed from office by legislators acting in their own self interests? If the answer is yes, then carry on with the probe.

Do we have an ordinance that governance lives by which protects the office from political party lords? If the answer is yes, then continue with the probe. 

Will this process open up a catalogue of cases of alleged corruption and financial misappropriation by past and present leaders for scrutiny and investigation. ?

Until we can provide a yes to these questions. . . This whole process is bullsh.it. I love to see Fashola probed and probably removed if guilty of the allegations. However only if I can be assured that the investigations will spark a chain of other investigations to follow. Past and present Presidents and Heads-of-state, governors, ministers, legislators, councillors, directors in public establishment and so on.


Until I can be convinced that we are prepared to take these steps, I cannot help but see the current on-goings as a one-off attempt at system correction which looks, feels and smells like another politically motivated campaign.

Let no one tell me it's about transparency. . . If you think so, you are a f.ool. Until we can fully probe the process of how the legislators got elected, how they raised their money, who gave who what, how much money was spent, how they got the money, how much money they have spent since they got elected, how much they allocated to their personal coffers, no one . . Not one single one of them can claim moral uprightness to call someone corrupt.

I know how this will end. BRF will be found guilty, impeached and a new man will be moved into office and then:

1. All contracts awarded by the previous administration will be reversed.
2. As a result, all works on major projects by the previous administration will grind to a halt.
3. After a few months of contractors chasing money, they'll get fed up, abandon part completed roads, gutters and buildings, count their losses and walk away.

4. After a year, we'll start throwing dirt on the streets again.
5. The homeless will return to the bridges - uproot all the flowers and make homes for themselves.
5. Area boyz will return to the bust-stops, tax the drivers and the drivers will pass the cost unto the passenger.  Bus stops will be knocked down. Orderliness at bus-stops will become a thing of the colonial era.

6. Traders will return to Oshodi.
7. Roadside trading will return and hence we will welcome back the traffic jams.
8. The new administration have suddenly discovered that Lagos state can generate more revenue that they imagined- N20b. They'll stick to tax collection and then share and spend the money, do nothing at all and come to back to tell you lot . . "What the F-u-ck can you do about it?

9. Big and life changing projects like the Expansion of the Badagry expressway, Lekki - Ikorodu road, Energy City, Eko Atlantic City, Lagos Rail and an array of privately owned idea and architectural edifices springing all over the place becos of the enabling environment will all come to a stand still. 

10. The Lagos State bond, if ever was successful will never be repaid to investors.
11. The BRT buses will all be sold off while they still have value and their drivers suddenly have no jobs; the CCTV cameras, Solar panels will all be stolen after years of inactivity.


12. The chaos and filth will all return and then we will go back to being just what we have always known Lagos State to be. - The dirtiest, filthiest and most corrupt state in the world. Status quo! 

Now I wonder what we will be agitating for then.


The people deserve the leadership they get. . . Simples!

A virtual Gulder for this guy! You will think this is not the same Nigeria we are talking about. A country were corruption IS the rule and not the exception. People de come here de talk 'but, rule of law'
.
Fashola is one of the few good things that has come out of the jamboree we call democracy in Nigeria.

Last I checked Lagos was a bigger economy than Ghana and they managed to donate $3m , Rwanda sef donated $100k

http://www.africanews.com/site/Ghana_donate_US3m_to_Haiti/list_messages/29554

http://allafrica.com/stories/201001170009.html

Maybe the question should be if the state is cutting back its budget to make this donation

To put this in context, the Lagos state budget for the year is approx $3 billion dollars, this is less than 1 percent of that amount. Considering the level of devastation I don't see the problem here.

adconline:
^{A dimwit like Shagari or maybe Tofa in 93? I believe the reception Ribadu got when he came to Lagos for Gani's burial runs contrary to this belief of yours}
Maybe you could wake Gani up and ask him about the treatment he got when he was pursuing a case against Bola Tinubu. University of Chicago and Chicago Sate University saga.

Does this even make any sense? How does that tie-in to the topic of discussion?

@ joeyfire

Still here M8, Duro Onabule did not lay any specifics on the table regarding the 51 REGIONAL elections he was referring to the process of SELECTING representatives to the federal legislature. Only members of the regional legislatures  are allowed into the Federal legislature so how could Zik have won the previous regional elections which would put him as leader of the regional government and then subsequently loose out on being sent to Lagos as representing the western region? That one's a non starter

You mention TOS BENSON, if the Benson article I think you are going to pull out is what it is then you will know he admitted in the same article to collaborating with Akintola to scuttle he's impeachment by arranging for NCNC members to grab the parliamentary mace and stop the process. He's justification? yep you guessed it the same election in 1951 where the NCNC was apparently cheated. He also mentions Ganiyu Dawodu's book in that article and how it was a 'total fabrication'  he's response to the evidence? Not unlike our man Mbu here 'He was an AG man and was distorting history'

I am not saying we should dismiss all evidence before us here but one side comes with a detailed list of who represented what party at said election and all I here in response is 'BIASED' and then numbers without actual names being put to them. I will expect a reasoned rebuttal to include evidence that actually invalidates the data put forward like say 'so and so was a card carrying member of the NCNC that jumped ship' and was wrongly listed as AG or independent rather than little anecdotes about people walking into parliament as members of one party and then running across the aisle which to say the least is far fetched.  The Tribune article i referred to earlier while possibly biased in terms of arriving at a possible predetermined conclusion included

1. Candidate names and constituencies for the actual election as published BEFORE parliament opened
2. Colonial office version the results BEFORE parliament opened
3. Zik congratulating the winning party BEFORE parliament opened

All of this is in the Dawodu book. Now I'd expect any response to either invalidate this as fabricated OR present compelling arguments on how the evidence is out of context. I still stand by my statement that the notion that a bunch of grown men scampering across the floor of parliament on the day of swearing in could not possibly be true

Eziachi:
So you think that OBJ is better than Buhari in 2003 and that why you changed from not voting for him in 1999 to just giving him almost 100% support 4 years later and sacrificing AD in the process?
Yes, if you pitch Akala against Ribadu tomorrow, you find excuse to reject Ribadu or even boycott it instead. When everything was 100% UPN in 1979, the late Prof Awojobi joked that "If a goat is a UPN candidate, his people will vote for the goat than to vote for another party that doesn't reflect Yorubaness.

Buhari and Obj primarily represent the same constituency so no he was no better than Obj. The UPN reference buttresses my point, vote for who? A dimwit like Shagari or maybe Tofa in 93? I believe the reception Ribadu got when he came to Lagos for Gani's burial runs contrary to this belief of yours.

Eziachi:
I had said what M.T Mbu had just said before about Chief Awolowo, that the guy never pretended to be a tribalist, who sees himself not as a nationalist but purely a Yoruba leader and there is nothing wrong with that, if that is what you believe and never pretend other wise.  That is the problem I have with modern Yoruba folks both here and other places. They pretend to be Nigerians patriots more than anybody but when it come down to it, they are as tribalist anything. So why pretend?  Its nothing to be ashamed of.

I have posed this question before, that people should look at the history of Nigeria and tell me any national election in Nigeria, where the Yoruba as a nation had ever in numbers voted for a non Yoruba candidate, when their folk is a candidate in the same election? It has never happened.

A good example was 2003, when everybody decided to kick OBJ out of office, and all of a sudden, the entire Yoruba race remembered that OBJ is one of them, and see it as a tribal protection of presidency including those in the AD party then.  When in 1999 the same people told us that OBJ is nothing but lucifer and refuse to give even 10% of their vote to him, including his own community. AD party even decided not to field a presidential candidate of his own, just to protect a Yoruba presidency in the same OBJ they did not vote for four years earlier, only for the guy to turn around months later and rigged all of them out, except Tinubu, who resisted the  idea in the first place.
That a great thinker like Bole Ige even left the opposition to join OBJ's govt and the same people had the affront to say anything when ANPP rogues joined Yar Adua's govt but forgeting that they invented it.

Everybody Kick Obj out? I may be wrong but didn't Obj win in most southern states in 2003? In regards to what you said about Yoruba people not voting for someone not Yoruba i will say how many times have Yoruba people being in a position where there was an obviously better candidate they did not vote for? 83? 93?  79? 2007?

Are you telling me an Alao Akala or Oyinlola will win if put up against say a Ribadu in Yoruba states?

joeyfire:
@nulldev

''flawed figures'' from a partisan source. Felix Adenaike (one third of the 3 musketeers of nigerian journalism as Awo christened him) was the head honcho at , you guessed it -  ''The Tribune''. Everything I've read is as I've acknowledged quite engaging but the sources are highly biased. I'm going to look up the election results you mentioned though

No worries. It is refreshing to see people chase facts rather than the dem say nonsense we like to indulge in.  Like i said before you can question the Tribune as a source and I will concede that but the NCNC position that people started doing cartwheels across the aisle ON THE DAY PARLIAMENT OPENED is down right ridiculous.

Also the fact that Zik and Awos biographies (which I have read in both cases) written long after this election did not mention any peculiar circumstances  surrounding this election should also raise a red flag with any discerning individual.

The Tribune position did throw names and constituencies in there which can be easily disputed by any one with contrary claims (and obviously better evidence), this is far more scholarly than anecdotes  from party members.

Also the 'flaw' in the evidence was possibly a typo which the author corrected later on the article here:

The total tally for the 1951 poll in the 80-member Western  Regional Assembly was as follows: Action Group 38; Independent/AG 15;  NCNC 24; Independent/NCNC 3. Three members of the NCNC who had been  elected to the House changed party allegiance that day ahead of the  House of Representatives vote. They were: Chief SY Kesington-Momoh, JG  Ako, and Awodi Orisaremi, from Urhobo and Kukuruku Divisions.

joeyfire:
@nulldev

Just read through it. Basically The writer Leye ige was quoting Felix Adenaike (a journalist) and gave figures that need to be reconciled though it makes for an engaging read. It however says nothing about Awo wanting to work under Zik as you posted earlier. It states that out of 80 seats the AG carried the day with 38 votes, NCNC/Independents 25, IPP-6 OIL - 2. That adds up to 81 not 80. The post doesnt give details about what transpired nor does it expressly deny that there wasnt any cross-carpeting. I'll have to look it up myself. Very intriguing reading I must say

The operative word being 'gave figures' . The tribune did a write up on this using nothing but newspaper clippings from the era a few years ago. They had a scan from I think the Daily Star with a list of candidates for that election and party affiliations (it was the edition on the day prior to the election) and there was also had scans of newspaper adverts from the Colonial office with election results and Zik congratulating the AG for winning the election!

They then added the minutes from the AG's first meeting in Owo showing attendees which correlated with the results from the elections.

Of course you can make the argument the tribune is Awo's paper and you will be right but just like Leyes article and Ganiyu Dawodu's book which I can get access to when next I get to Lagos they dealt with the facts and not conjecture, anecdotes and beer parlour gist.

Awo willing to work under Zik was from the other link I posted which I think you already read.

It was addressed in the first link i posted. I will post it again:

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/rebutting-ralph-uwechues-lie.html

Also, from the link you did read you can also see there was little to do with ethnicity as Awo the 'tribalist' was ready and willing to work under Zik.

joeyfire:
@nulldev

I take it that you have the facts that matthew mbu doesnt?

Read the link i posted earlier. Also Ganiyu Dawodu wrote a book specifically regarding that election as well if you are seeking historical evidence you can look that up as well.

http://www.afbis.com/store1/product.php?productid=16137


Mbu accuses Awo of being a tribalist but undeniable 'facts;

1. The Ibo state Union pre-dated the Egbe omo oduduwa by nearly a decade! Zik was president
2. Action group was the only party that contested elections in every region in the country, NCNC only contested in the south
3. By Mbu's logic Zik going to kick out Eyo Ita was fine cos he was 'rigged' out in the West and we wont 'understand'? I think it's safe to file this under partisan BS

joeyfire:
Matthew Mbu's statements are especially heartwarming because it tells a true picture of Nigeria and what caused the country to fall on its head. I'm especially glad that he is someone that was there in the first republic and from cross rivers state thus a neutral commentator. I feel quite sorry for brainless young people who are full of hand-me-down ethnic bias and spout all kinds of crap about Igbos and how they ruined the country. They will NEVER learn because they simply dont have the capacity. Our rotten educational system has succeeded in keeping them silly.We need our elders in this country to speak out and save those who maybe can open their minds.

Yeah, don't let things like 'facts' get in the way

This nonsense about 'stealing' elections in 1951 needs to stop. Leye Ige put this one to bed here:

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/rebutting-ralph-uwechues-lie.html

Notice there are names and seats on here unlike the oft repeated tales by moonlight being peddled around.  You can also take a look at this if you really want insights into Nigerian politics in the 50's:

http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/showpost.php?p=158378&postcount=5

Jarus:
It will be unfair to accuse Awo only of tribalism. The politics of regionalism(North/Hausa,West/Yoruba and East/Igbo) being practised then made tribalism almost inevitable. Ahmadu Bello was idolized in the north, but his influence did not go beyond North, same thing for Awo in the West. Zik appeared more acceptable nationally because he saw Nigeria first before his tribe(and this did not go down well with many of his Ibo kinsmen). Furthermore, he was born in Zungeru(North) and spoke Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba fluently.

In the second republic when he wanted to go national, contesting Presidency, I read he was rigged out, and NPN's Shagari was made the President. But whether that was truth or just a fabrication by Awoists to explain the defeat, I can't say.

Personally, I'm not an Awoist, unlike my die-hard Awoist Dad, but I recognize he was very visionary and brilliant. His selfish, too-know style of politics is what I dislike.

Awo's Action group was the ONLY political party that contested every available seat in parliament in the first federal elections. NCNC only contested in the south and NPC in the North. Please expatiate on how he was 'selfish', the 'too know' bit makes no sense at all.

To the people going on about Awo being the 'father' of tribal politics, may i remind you Zik had headed the ibo state union before Egbe omo oduduwa was formed and Zik's statement about Ibo being born to rule Africa pre-dated the Action Group. In regards to the oft repeated 'tribal slant' in the 1951 election i suggest you read this:

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/rebutting-ralph-uwechues-lie.html