₦airaland Forum

You are an ediot. So asking for democracy dividends, their right, makes them greedy. Igbophobia is a deadly disease.

DonaldGenes:
What's wrong with few greedy Igbos (Not All) for crying out Loud?

Watching.

NO.

Your group is so obsessed with power. Power you get by sabotaging others.

xtayle:
If you are not naive, then u should have observed that since ironsi was killed, power at d centre has moved between d SW and d NORTH until obasanjo took pity on Jonathan. What did he do? He told all Nigerians, including Obasanjo by his actions and inaction that we are fools. what did we do? we removed him. when power leaves d north now, its coming to SW and back to north and back to SW. SE and SS will never rule Nigeria again. They cannot be trusted. They are losers and f000000ls

powerful.

Shut up. And the Obi of Onitsha forced all the non-indigenes to vote his favoured candidate.

vemmawealth:
In my opinion, I think that the Igbos in Lagos should start cooperating with their Yoruba hosts and landlords. If they dont foster a good relationship, one day is coming, their host is going to be fed up and it will be their loss. No set of non-indigene can openly work against the interest of the Obi of Onitsha. If anyone does that, he calling for banishing. Yet, in the last election, igbos in Lagos openly worked against the wishes of the majority of the people of Lagos and their Oba and unrepentantly so.

This is a dangerous development and they need to watch it as everyone has an elastic limit.

There are three major tribes in Nigeria. Granted Yoruba and Igbo don't trust each other but don't sit in your house and conclude that the other tribe love you more. Browse the net and get their view about you instead of writing trash here, feeding yiourself with propaganda and believing your own propoganda. Check this ou:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpwgbXPhh70

xtayle:
There you go again!!! Whatever gave you the impression that Igbos now own Nigeria? Mind you, the discuss above is not about Yorubaland but about Lagos. Why not just pick up the lesson therein and move on? That the igbos recovered from the war is a good thing but are you aware no major tribe really trust them? And instead of them to work on that and earn their trust they continually exhibit attitudes that breeds more distrust. Wisdom is profitable to direct but thats not what we are seeing.

EDWARD WILMOT BLYDEN
(1832-1912)
THE FATHER OF PAN-AFRICANISM

Edward Wilmot Blyden was the foremost African intellectual of the 19th century. His brilliant career, in both Liberia and Sierra Edward Wilmot Blyden Leone, spanned the fields of religion, education, journalism, politics, and philosophy. He is best remembered as an African patriot whose writings contributed significantly to the rise of Pan-Africanism.

Edward Blyden was born in the Virgin Islands in the West Indies, a descendant of Ibo slaves from Nigeria. He was a gifted student, and at the age of eighteen, attempted to enroll at a theological college in the United States. But the college would not accept him because he was black, and he experienced many frightful scenes in the U.S. at a time when slavery was still lawful. In 1851, young Blyden emigrated to Liberia with the intention of building a new life in Africa. He would remain there for more than thirty years, rising gradually to the highest levels of Liberian society. During his Liberian career, Blyden was a Presbyterian minister, a newspaper editor, a professor of classics, President of Liberia College, Ambassador to Great Britain, Minister of the Interior, and Secretary of State. In 1885, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency.

But Edward Blyden was also well known in Sierra Leone, where had spent two years (1871-73) as Government Agent to the Interior, leading two official expeditions—one to Falaba and other other to Futa Jallon. In 1885, after his unsuccessful bid for the presidency of Liberia, Blyden based permanently in Freetown. In fact, Blyden was in many ways a greater intellectual force in Sierra Leone than in Liberia. He stirred controversy and lively debate in the Krio community by opposing the indiscriminate emulation of European culture. He told the Krios that they were "de-Africanised," scolded them for holding themselves aloof from the upcountry peoples, and advised them to remember always that "you are Africans." After the 1887 publication of his masterpiece, Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race, some Krios under Blyden's influence began to adopt African names and even to emulate traditional African dress.

Edward Blyden was one of the most original thinkers of his time, and although some of his ideas seem archaic today, he was a major force for the defence of Africans and of black civilisation. Blyden looked forward to the rise of an independent West African nation, and he encouraged British colonial efforts as a means of uniting this vast area. At the same time, Blyden regarded Africans as having a unique "personality" and a distinctive culture equal to, but different from, that of Europeans. He urged the British to allow Africans more autonomy in political and church matters, and argued against the imposition of European culture. As early as 1872, Blyden called for an independent West African University to be run solely by Africans, teaching African languages, cultures, and values. Blyden, though a Christian himself, viewed Muslims as more authentically African, and he repeatedly urged the British authorities to involve Muslim Africans in various ways in their colonial enterprise. Blyden taught himself to speak Arabic, and maintained close relations for many years with the Muslim community in Freetown. In his later years,, he was Director of Mohammedan Education in Sierra Leone.

When Edward Wilmot Blyden died in 1912, his funeral was attended by many hundreds of people from throughout the Freetown community, including both Muslims, who bore the coffin, and his fellow Christians. Later generations of black intellectuals, in both Africa and America, have looked to Edward Blyden for inspiration in the areas of Pan-Africanism and cultural nationalism.


AFRICANUS HORTON
(1835-1883)
SCIENTIST AND AFRICAN PATRIOT

Africanus Horton was a surgeon, scientist, soldier, and a political thinker who worked toward African independence a centuryAfricanus Horton before it occurred.

Born James Beale Horton, he grew up on Gloucester Village, the son of an Ibo recaptive who worked as a carpenter. Horton was educated at the CMS Grammar School and at the Fourah Bay Institution (later Fourah Bay College), and in 1853 received a War Office scholarship to study medicine in Great Britain. He studied at King's College, London and Edinburgh University, qualifying as a medical doctor in 1859. While a student, he took the name "Africanus" as an emblem of pride in his African homeland.

Africanus Horton joined the British Army Medical Service the year he completed his medical studies, and was appointed assistant staff surgeon. He was one of the first Africans to qualify as a medical doctor, and one of the first to serve as an officer in the British Army. He continued in the army for the next twenty-one years, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He spent most of that time in the Gold Coast (Ghana), where he took an active interest in scientific research. He published several studies involving tropical diseases, climate and meteorology, and geology. But despite his dedicated and professionally competent service, the British authorities were not anxious to see an African advance too far. They shifted Horton constantly from one post to another, and rejected his application in 1872 for the position of governor of the Gold Coast.

But, despite his disappointments, Horton continued to believe that Africans could advance under the banner of British colonialism. In 1865 a Select Committee of the British House of Commons had suggested that Africans be given increasing responsibility for administering their own affairs. The same year, Horton published Political Economy of British Western Africa, a book calling for the establishment of a West African University along British lines. Three years later, he published his popular West African Countries and Peoples, calling for nothing less than the establishing of independent West African nations in the Gambia, Sierra Leone, etc. He argued for British assistance in moving these African countries toward self-rule, and presented plans for education, economic development, and medical improvements. But the Select Committee's recommendations were not popular with British authorities, who looked toward increasing their control, not decreasing it—and Horton began to be seen as an enemy of British policy.

Africanus Horton retired from the Army in 1880, and returned to Freetown. Ever the optimist and believer in progress, he set up a commercial bank to assist struggling African entrepreneurs. But only three years later, at the age of forty-eight, he died suddenly of blood poisoning. Horton had left funds for the setting up of a secondary school of high standard, but his endowment proved insufficient. Much of his estate went for the funding of scientific education at the Sierra Leone Training School. Africanus Horton's countrymen would have to wait for almost a century before his dreams of political independence would be realised.


Source: http://www.sierra-leone.org/Heroes/heroes3.html

Always obsessed with the past and the Igbo. To help redeem you now check this.

1. Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa The African an Igbo slave published a book in London, 1789)

2. The first Igbo doctor Africanus Horton qualified from Kings College and Edinburgh in 1858/1859

3. Edward Blyden the great historian was Igbo.

Btwxt apart from Ajayi Crowther, the tribe of the others you mentioned as first doctor and lawyer remain unknown today. Indeed, that first doctor is Ijaw, a freed slave who settled in Lagos.

Testing your freedom of speech with men of God?

irunoobo:
[size=17pt]TIME TO TEST THE POWERS OF THE FAKE MEN OF GOD A.K.A GATE KEEPER OF HELL. THEY SHOULD GO HEAL THE BLIND IF THEY REALLY POSSESS HEALING POWERS. BIBLICAL THIEVES [/size]

Keep up the good work Okonjo. Ada di ora mma

You are a true historian. Up you. And somebody pressed the like button for you.

olapluto:
The greed of Igbos is showing its head again. You guys want to claim SS? so as to lay claims to their oil?
Anyways, I have long come to a conclusion about Igbos.
1. They are bluffers. Someone with a small shop selling 2nd hand cloth will claim to be the one feeding his billionaire landlord because the landlord buys rags for his househelp from the seller.
2. They are very very greedy and covetous. e.g Lagos was Yorubaland pre 1999, but once Lagos was improved by Tinubu and Fashola, the influx from the East started. Now they are laying claims to Lagos, even wanting to replace the Oba with an Eze. Give an Igbo a room in your house, and his plans will be to take the house from you.
3. They are not strategic, just lousy noisemakers. While others are planning for the future, Igbos will be gloating and abusing them. When the future comes, Igbos will be the first to line up for the goodies. E.g loss of senate presidency, wanting to be FCT minister, even currently laying claims to APC success.
Now the SS is their brother. The same SS they were ready to wipe out in their ill advised war of 1967. I can bet 99% of SS people want to form their own identity. In the last election, the SS had more voters than the SE, so why should the SS lose its identity to the selfish Igbos?

Sounds as if this was written about today. Igbo mma mma.

omonnakoda:
“THE WILLINK COMMISSION REPORT OF JULY 1958”

Posted by: admin January 4, 2014 in News

THE HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL BACKGROUND.

1. “More than 98% of people who inhabit this area (the ‘Ibo Plateau’ of the Eastern region) are Ibo and speak one language, though of course with certain differences of dialect. There are nearly five million of them and they are too many for the soil to support: they are vigorous and intelligent and have pushed outward in every direction, seeking a livelihood by trade or in service in the surrounding areas of the Eastern Region, in the Western Region, in the North and outside Nigeria. They are no more popular with their neighbours than is usual in the case of an energetic and expanding people whose neighbours have a more leisurely outlook on life.”

2. “Though there has been no great kingdom or indigenous culture in the Eastern Region, the coastal chiefs grew on their trade with the (European merchant) ships and they adopted customs, clothing and housing more advanced than those of the peoples of the interior on whom they had at first preyed for slaves. They came during the 19th Century to regard the people of the interior as backward and ignorant, and it was therefore a blow to their pride, as well as to their pockets, when the Ibos began to push outwards into the surrounding fringe of the country and particularly into the Calabar area, to take up land, to grow rich, to own houses and lorries and occupy posts in public services and in the services of large trading firms.”

“It was among the Ibos, formerly despised by the people of Calabar as source of slaves and as a backward people of the interior, now feared and disliked as energetic and educated, that the first political party formed.”

3. “It is important to remember that of this (Ogoja) Province’s 1,082,000 inhabitants, 723,000 are Ibos, almost entirely in Abakaliki and Afikpo (Divisions), while the census classifies 350,000 as “Other Nigerian Tribes.”

4. The Rivers Province …includes the two divisions of Brass and Degema, both overwhelmingly Ijaw, and the Ogoni Division. The former Rivers Division also includes over 300,000 Ibos of whom 250,000 are in Ahoada Division and 45,000 in Port Harcourt. Port Harcourt is a town of recent growth and of rapidly increasing importance; it is built on land that blonged originally to an outlying branch of the Ibo tribe, the Diobus, but is largely inhabited by the Ibos from the interior who have come to trade or seek employment….Of the total 747,000 in the Rivers province, 305,000 are Ibos, 240,000 are Ijaws and 156,000 are Ogonis.”

5. “The strip to the south of the Ibo block, is physically, divided by a block of Ibo territory, tipped by the important Ibo town of Port Harcourt and tribally divided between the Ijaws and the Ogonis.”

6. “In the whole of this non-Ibo area there is present in varying degree some fear of being over-run, commercially and politically, by the Ibos….. if Ahoada and Port Harcourt, which are really Ibo, are considered with the solid centre of Ibo population, there are 54 seats for the Ibo area and 30 for COR (Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers) in (Eastern Regional House of Assembly).”

THE FEARS AND GRIEVANCES OF MINORITIES

7. “It was suggested (by non-Ibo petitioners) that it was the deliberate object of the Ibo majority in the Region to fill every post with Ibos (in public post and services).….when, however we came to consider specific complaints about the composition of public bodies, we found them in many cases exaggerated or unreasonable.”

8. “The allegation was put forward by counsel (to petitioners) that the Judiciary (when not European) was predominantly Ibo, with the implication that this caused fear among those who are not Ibos. But it was clearly stated in evidence by Dr. Udoma, the leader of UNIP, that no occasion could be adduced of the judiciary acting with partiality. The fact is that the legal profession is largely Ibos and the reasons for this do not seem to be Government action. It is therefore inevitable that there should be an Ibo preponderance among Judges and Magistrates. Further, it is the declared policy of Government that the Judiciary should be federal and this does not indicate a desire to control it. Again, the operation and composition of Public Service Commission here, as in the West, appeared to us in no way open to reproach.”

9. “In the Police, which in this region alone is wholly Federal, the number of Ibos in the higher appointments is not out of proportion to the Ibos in the region. The force is now federally controlled and although there are a large number of Ibos in the lower ranks, this is due to the fact that it has for long been a tradition among the Ibos to offer themselves for recruitment in this force in far greater numbers than any other tribe.”

10. “we noted that in five years, 1952 – 1957, from a total of 412 secondary scholarships, 216 were awarded to persons living in the COR areas, while the figures for post-secondary scholarships were 211 out of 623. The latter is about the right proportion of one-third, the former considerably in excess. It was suggested that scholarships awarded to non-Ibos were of an inferior kind and that the best scholarships went to Ibos, but we were, unable to see that this claim held any validity. On the evidence before us, we conclude that the allegations of discriminations in the matter of scholarships are unjustified.”

11. “It was further suggested that loans by the Eastern Regional Finance Corporation, the Eastern Region Development Board, and the Eastern Region Development Corporation were made with some degree of preference to Ibos. It did appear that most of the loans made by these bodies were to Ibos, but that is not to say that this was necessarily improper. Ibos constitute two thirds of the population of the region and have a bigger share of financial and commercial responsibility than their numbers warrant.”

12. “That there should be modern streetlight in Onitsha, and not Calabar, was also quoted as example of discrimination; it proved however that Onitsha Urban District Council had financed this measure from their own resources.”

13. “The question of land was repeatedly raised, it being resented by the Efiks and Ibibios that the Ibos should acquire land at all in their territory while the methods by which it was obtained were also questioned. There is no doubt that on the Ibo Plateau there is insufficient land for the people and the Ibos ate thrusting outwards where possible they acquire land and use it either for cultivation or building…..This is a matter which will require legislation sooner or later and it will be delicate to handle, but the economic process is in itself healthy and we had little sympathy with a witness who remarked that there is much undeveloped land in district and he was anxious that it should not fall into the hand of the Ibos….We believe that Governments in Nigeria should be careful not to try to protect minorities by introducing measures that would restrict development.”

14. “A group of miscellaneous grievances and charges against the Ibos from Calabar may be treated together; we were told that the Ibos did not observe local customs in the markets….We formed the impression that jealousy of the Ibos successes in the markets was the main factor.”

THE PROPOSAL FOR NEW STATES

15. “The Ogoja state proposed to us would include former Ogoja province, whose population of slightly more than One million include more than 700,000 Ibos…the main intention would be separation from the central body of Ibo population, but in which they will still be linked together with as a minority with their Ibo neighbours in Abakaliki and Afikpo…A majority of evidence we heard from Ogoja was direct that they preferred the present situation to any association with Calabar and that they were at least as much afraid of domination by Efiks and Ibibios as by Ibos.”

16. “The (Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers or COR) state proposed would consist of Calabar, Rivers and Ogoja provinces excluding the two Ibo Divisions of Abakaliki and Afikpo. The population of this area is 2,649,000 and the following would be the five largest tribes:

Ibibio 717,000
Annang 435,000
Ibo 428,000
Ijaw 251,000
Ogoni 156,000

As already explained, the small but important Efik tribe of 71,000…The (COR) area is far from homogenous , and many of the other tribes expressed at least as much fear of the Efiks and Ibibios as of the Ibo. It would leave the Ibos of the Ibo Plateau surrounded by a state whose reason for existence was hostility to themselves: the Ibos are an expanding people…”

17. “The area claimed for Rivers state consists of the whole of the Rivers province, that is: The Division of Brass, Degema, Ogoni, Port Harcourt and Ahoada, together with the Western Ijaw Division from the western region, and two small sections in the Eastern Region from outside the Rivers Province, Opodo and Andoni being one, Ndoki the other.”

18. “Port Harcourt is an Ibo town and it is growing rapidly and the indigenous branch of the Ibos who are original inhabitants are already out-numbered by Ibos from the hinterland.”

19. “The people of Ahoada, a Division of which a pan runs down to meet Port Harcourt, appear at one time to have favoured the idea of a Rivers state, but have changed their views and before us expressed themselves as strongly against it. Comparatively few of them live in the low-lying swampy country of the coastal strip and they have voted for the NCNC consistently, they said themselves that a main factor in their change of front had been the inclusion if the Western Ijaws in the proposed state. So long, they said, as the Rivers state was to consist of the River Province only, the Ibos would have been the most numerous tribe within it: but the inclusion of the Western Ijaw Division put them at a numerical disadvantage beside the Ijaws and they therefore preferred to stay out. Whether or not this was a line of reasoning that really had a wide appeal, the fact remain that before us they were opposed to the idea of the state. This is not surprising because their problems are different from those of the ijaws.”

I like Soyinka as Minister of education, like you as Minister of Planning but if ayouth is to be given youth minsitry let it go to M.I. Abaga. He is an inspiration.

lionness:
Education: Wole Soyinka
Power: Bart Nnaji
Agriculture: Akinwunmi
Finance: Pat Utomi
Works: Fashola
Defence: Fayemi
Petroleum: Pro Tam West
Sports: Kanu
Fct: Compensatory Chris Ngige
Justice: Falana
Information: L. Mohammed
Minister for Niger Delta: Amaechi
CBN Gov: Tunde Lemo
Health:
Minister for Youth: Don Jazzy
National Planning: My humble self, I will deliver 101%
Avaition:
Efcc: Comrade Oshiomole
SGF: Jagaban
Transportation: Yusuf Suleiman hasn't done bad
Scrap sure P
Scrap minister for police affairs: create state police.
Scrap ICPC
Return Ribadu to EFCC

And Most importantly, I recommend, an ANTI-Corruption Ministry to be headed my Colonel Umar or by Buhari himself.

Each minister should be disgraced out of office if they fail to deliver within a year. And there should be an 100 day accountability program by each ministry.
Nigeria should work with these leaders.

So the Almajiri school built by Jonathan in the North are for adults?

Thank you Mapet, very few persons here in nairaland has demonstrated the willingness to dialogue and to understand as you have done. The truth is, most of what I read here make me lose hope on this country. But if we make serious effort to understand each other the better for us.

Henceforth, I'm leaving the Oba's speech out of this as all objective minded persons tend to agree that he was in grievious error.

Your positions on learning other people's culture is somehow off the track. To speak a language, eat a people's food, marry them, wear their cloths, for me, is more sign of cultural adaptation than the example you gave with covering head among the Arabs. They all cost time, money, psychology to adopt than the example you gave. Interestingly, I have been to two Arab countries, one of which you used as example here, and I must tell you that at no time was I forced to dress like them as you proposed here. Indeed, in one of the outings I wore my Nigerian regalia (Northern brocade and a yoruba cap) to an event and they were all admiring it. What I am actually saying is that the IGBO have already done so much in terms of imbibing Yoruba culture. It was an argument in my office this morning for somebody to show an Hausa colleague who could speak Yoruba. None was found. I do not speak the language, but in truth up to ten percent of Igbo around could speak Yoruba.

"There are medium through which we could have dealt with can deal with all the ill feeling better if we have better understanding and acceptance of each other's ways." I am with you on this quoted line. Before now, the impression being given is that the burden of understanding lies with the Igbo alone. It is a mutual thing. Don't insist I understand you, yet you make no effort to understand me. And the truth is this, the Igbo were outraged because they did not understand that in Yoruba land, a king directs people on who to vote during elections. In Igbo land, you vote as it pleases you. About the threat from OPC, it is quite bad for you to expect that to cow the Igbo; the Igbo psychological make-up is to die standing than live kneeling. And about Yoruba's reverence of the throne, the Igbo also rever the throne but they have a proverb that when a king shits on the road you cover your head with basket and confront him. Perhaps, the king is infallible in Yoruba land. He is not in Igbo land, so more reason for mutual understanding.

I[b]t's a good thing you mention the Chinese and other tribes in Lagos (and I dare add the Hausas, the Itsekiris, Urobos etc). I think a critical question you probably need to examine is what are these others doing that make them to hardly clash with or incur wrath of the indigenes.
[/b]. Good question. And this is where I think you should also do an introspection. Recall what Utomi said was the nature of Oba's joke to him. Patrick return my land where you built your university. Utomi called that a joke, but the ordinary Yoruba who hate the Igbo think he has taken over all the land in Lagos. They feel they need to stop him and since they have not the political power to do that they hate him. By the way I stopped investment on a landed propert I had paid close to 80% when I started hearing that I'm being done a favour when I sacrifice my sweat to save, buy and build a house in Lagos. It takes financial discipline to do that and quite discouraging for somebody to come later and tell you he did you a favour for selling his land to you. Perhaps another point of cultural understanding; the Igbo trader feels that one who buys his goods does him favour but in Yoruba it seems the trader did you the favour. As regards the Itsekiri and the Uhrobos, the ordinary Yoruba does not distinguish him from the Igbo. They are all Igbo, any person from Benin down to Nsukka. As regards the Hausa, the day they start making the type of investment the Igbo are making in Lagos, they will be open to such attack as the Igbo. And again, the ordinary Yoruba looks down on the ordinary Hausa and it will be foolhardy for you to think he loves him.

We seem not to be in the same ship with our understanding of Igbo republicanism. As understood in Igbo context, it means autonomy, self rule, freedom, etc. But then it does not mean licence for among the Igbo actions have consequences. I do not deny, that many Igbo traders have loud mouth or that what you said about shoving money on other people's face is not true. These are excesses of some Igbo traders that is always condemned among the Igbo. They do not just tell you that, those of us who are educated also hear similar comments against us but we view it as one of the occupational hazards of their trade. But again, let me point out one practice that the Yoruba exhibit against the Igbo. They judge the Igbo mainly with what the traders do. 50% of the traders stopped their education at primary school level. So imagine me judging your race with the behaviour of primary school leavers among you. In this case, I will choose the alaye guys. You will come out the worst from it. The truth is that you will never hear such condescending comments from learned Igbo man or woman.

Yea, I agree with you that the Oba's comment has generated a lot of bad feelings between our ethnic groups. But to cow an ethnic group to submission because of what they stand to lose if they express their grievances is as bad as Oba's remark. The worst that can happen is to close the entire markets where Igbos trade and they have to create new markets elsewhere. If you raise the tax or levies on them, you are invariably punishing other non-Igbo Lagosians because they have to factor the unit of the tax in what they sell, and even still derive some profits from the tax. And by the way, have you made inquiries about why most Hausa traders, not Igbos trading in Hausa land, prefer to buy their goods from Onitsha instead of Lagos. Find out and you will praise the Igbo.

And what do you think, Mapet my friend, about Yoruba ostracising Jimi becuase he canvassed for Igbo vote. Also remeber Desmond Eliot. When he declared for lagos house of aasembly many Yoruba on nairaland disowned him His crime, he was acting with Igbos in Nollywood.

Take care.

mapet:
1. First off, I'm enjoying this discussion/debate with you, so feel free to express yourself intellectual. It's for our own benefit

2. On the issue of the Oba, It's not double speak. I base my submission on a scale of balance of the two sides. I have actually watched the expanded video clip and not the clipped edition that cause the uproar. That the Oba must humbly take some learnings in communication is something I agree with you, but I am yet to be convinced that the Oba purposely sought out to call a crusade on the Igbos. I stated that a discussion in the confines of the Oba's guest room may be a different context when interpreted on the streets. I'm sorry I'm partly a scholar and my orientation makes me to seeks facts to back up my submissions. In this Oba's case, I laid those facts on the balance of what the Oba said, what those that were in the meeting said and what had been said by those who are by extension associated with the issues. The truth for me is that the embarrassing consequences of the speech is a life lessons for us all - be careful with words. It is that simple. Adducing hatred for Igbos to it, for me, is pushing it far and unhealthy.

3. Learning other people's culture goes beyond speaking their languages and eating their food. Let me paint it further, If you are a tourist in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman, as a lady it is important to cover your head to your burst-line with a cloth. The west (especially the Brits) took some time in understanding that in business transactions there is provision for giving of gifts, unfortunately this was misinterpreted as bribe. The Americans did understand fairly quickly, hence their mileage in business forays into the middle east. Even if you speak Arabic, when you travel to these places, these are some slips that are made that upsets the hosts.

There is no way you can divorce culture issues from this case. I will explain. There are medium through which we could have dealt with can deal with all the ill feeling better if we have better understanding and acceptance of each other's ways. The OPC became enraged and gave out warnings that Igbos were insulting the throne. Even on NL a lot of people were insulting the Oba of Lagos, this is bound to enrage the indigenes. The Yorubas so rever the throne, regardless of who sits on it to the extent that they will not take it lightly with a desecration (or perceived) of the throne. This is one of things I believe many Igbos are either oblivious of or choose to ignore.

Please disabuse your mind of the profane; learning about culture should not be equated with forcing you worship some gods. I am talking about what is expedient for the collective development and well being in the society. It's a good thing you mention the Chinese and other tribes in Lagos (and I dare add the Hausas, the Itsekiris, Urobos etc). I think a critical question you probably need to examine is what are these others doing that make them to hardly clash with or incur wrath of the indigenes.

4. Let us assume I get some learning on Igbo republicanism. Tell me, do you think it will be expedient for an Igbo man to always refer to that republicanism as a basis of exchange with other tribes, much more when the later finds it offensive? When we accuse Igbos of arrogance, I think you'll probably do well looking at it from the other sides. Imagine a yoruba culture that continually demands humility from each person regardless of the size of your pockets now relating with someone who shoves supposed riches in his face as a basis of superiority. Do you think the non Igbo would naturally not find that offensive? Igbo republicanism should not rob you from relating to other people with respect. I have seen, heard and read on NL how some Igbos disparage our people, I gave example earlier on how Lagosians finds it offensive when you tell them their land is no-man's land, and how Igbos say they determine the economy of Lagos when there is neither empirical evidence or business theory to back such fact. Tell me how you want non-Igbos to interpret such behaviour.

Let me end here by making the analysis I earlier made. I opined that the Oba's saga is a hydra-headed problem that we did not nip in the bud. We have probably set another round of mutual suspicion and rancor in Lagos. Going forward, it is like a declaration on an apparent war. People will now see the Igbos as threatening. The Oba of Lagos would be forgiven quickly and his slip would be turned around as reference points. Subsequent government will stiffle Igbo dominated markets with regulations that were either to relaxed. Remember there's an existing issue on Aspamda where Lagos State government had challenged the FG on the right to consession the area without the state government's consent and involvement as stipulated in the law. Aganga was about to will over Aspamda to LSG but for the cry at national level. subsequent LSG will pursue that case. Computer Village is in the offing to be moved to Kantangowa, that may be followed through......and lots of other consequences..............

I argue that players in the society should continue to be forward thinking and weigh likely consequences of actions. I've stopped living in the world of "Right and Wrongs" because both are relative and contextual, but rather what is expedient.

The writer of the article has comprehension problem.

This is double speak bro. And after watching Oba's speech by yourself, do you still agree with Utomi that Oba was joking. For the benefit of doubt, if he was actually joking, he must go back to the basics and learn communication s

You also missed it on the Igbo not learning Yoruba culture. A lot of Igbo I know speak yoruba language fluently, eat yoruba food, attend yoruba ceremony in Lagos. And this does not tell you that they are trying their best to learn the culture. Abeit, culture was not the issue in this case. The issue was an attempt to force a people to vote a political party and threaten them by death by someone who by his position should have been apolitical. And by the way, don't you think that Lagos is a pluralistic society, no offence intended. If it is not we shall start immediately by forcing all Chinese, Indians, etc to learn Yoruba culture and worship the Gods of the three religions (Christianity, ATR, Islam). But in seeking that Igbo alone should learn your culture while others retain theirs, in a situation where more Igbos speak Yoruba, marry Yoruba despite strong objections from Yoruba parents, the promoters show a serious obsession with Igbo.

You miss it here again when you say we do not permit a contrary voice. If you know what Igbo republicanism means you will see a people who thrive in allowing another voice to be aired. And I think our exhibition of this is what you often regard as our arrogance. We are not arrogance but we believe in our right to speak after you have spoken. We also extend the same right to you to speak after we have spoken. If you remember Awolowo's position on the war and Obasanjo's own which his fellow veteran has dismissed as packs of lies by the way, had been in the open for years and no IGBO person abused them, once Achebe's own came up, he was shouted down. Methinks, there is a conscious effort to silence a certain voice, the Igbo voice. And it pains.

mapet:
Ok, let me make this as practical as I can;

1. In the mid 80s, a scrap book/print outs came out. These book sought to rewrite the basis of relationship between Christians and Muslims. A lot of falsehood was spewed through the book. The book instructed muslims to attack and kill all christian leaders as their compatriots did in the North. Guess what? the book had no author, no publishing authority or any known source. More like a disgruntled fellow sat on his type-writer and wrote his personal opinions and started spreading it. Now I ask, Should we have taken that as the thought of all Muslims towards Christians? I still maintain that you're basing your assumption on an unverified source. All the Yorubas in the house will tell you that our study in Yoruba history and literature had no such report. Even if a family decides to feed their children with falsehood through printouts, it still does not make it a credible source.

2. The above brings me to a position I have take with regards to my perception about the problems facing us. I think we need to do more in critiquing points people lay in our fronts. Does it make sense? Your story of Prostitute/Monkey should have told your that is a questionable submission. Even mysticism will not paint it that lame.

3. I think you need to get out of a fixation. It would seem to me that you've taken a position about the Yoruba tribe, and isolated questionable cases like this simply "validate" your opinions. The danger is you'll give yourself away too often

4. I have tried to stay away from the issue of the Oba's saga. I tarried a while to get more facts and not the emotional laden speeches that pervaded the social media. An Igbo lawyer that was at the meeting had come out to state that the Oba was misrepresented and he was not talking to the generality of the Igbos but to a specific ones in the context of his discussion. They further stated that the meeting was a friendly mood all through. Prof. Pat Utomi came out to state that he'd known the Oba for well over 20years, and that he's misunderstood. He could come across as harsh, but those are his ways of engaging in friendly discussions. Now for me the Oba made a statement that had consequences; a big mistake on his part, even though from those that care to understand was a case of careless statement with altruistic intention.

5. I think many of the Igbos had allowed anger to becloud their judgements, going on the offensive without trying to understand the background. I understand some Igbos group have taken the Oba's case to Human Rights Commission and other stuffs like that. I stand to be corrected, but I think if we could xray many of the minds on these angry people, it's more about the opportunity to take a pound of flesh from a long standing enemy tribe and not the collective good of the Igbos. Some even gullibly followed without knowing the facts of the case. Many did not consider the spill over effects. Do you in all honesty think the Yorubas will be happy while you take advantage of this slip to make a fool of their Oba? What even gives you the impression that there are no reprimanding for the Oba in respectful form? The truth is also is that notable Yoruba's came out to condemn the Oba's statement. Femi Falana for instant advised that the Oba should apologise to the Igbos....

6. I did not I seek to desecrate your person. If you check my submission again, I wrote it from the perspective of what is fanning the embers of discord. On NL many write calling Lagos a no-man's land. If you looked at Omatseye's article, the "no man's land issue" was one of the fulcrum of his analysis. My position is, if we seek true and peaceful co-existence, why don't we shun positions that puts us in counter-productive state? This is one of the point of concerns of Lagosians that the Igbos should respect. Napoleon Bonaparte wisely instructed his army on conduct when they were on transition through the Arab world. He commanded that they learn the culture and orientation of the "Mohametans" so that they can engage in peaceful relationships and commerce, rather than disparage their institution and incur conflict.

7. My position on Achebe's book is that Achebe by his statement on Awolowo has set back the chances of wiping out the ill-feelings, painful memories and chances of true and contrite reconciliation by another 50years. I'm still saying it, I don't think it will serve any lofty purpose if Awolowo catalogue Ojukwu's sin on the war and expect no reaction from Igbo audience. The mistake you guys make is that you imagine your world view is the only legal view.

oo[/quote]

The Philistines that held you bondage shall be no more by this time tomorrow. And you shall locate your families. Amen

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