₦airaland Forum

Ileke-IdI:
hmm hmm, and I walked on water last night.

If you live in the North, I can believe that, because it is very cold and the water is probably frozen.

Nigerian convicted faking marriages for US citizenship

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Nigerian native has been stripped of U.S. citizenship after he was convicted of brokering sham marriages so other Nigerians can obtain the American citizenship.

Ibraheem Adeneye's U.S. citizenship was revoked during his sentencing hearing on Monday after a jury convicted him in May of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, naturalization fraud, making a false statement to a federal agency and marriage fraud, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement. He now faces deportation upon his release from federal custody.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security officials began investigating Adeneye in 2008 after becoming suspicious that he was paying U.S. citizens to marry Nigerian nationals and help them get them U.S. citizenship.

Detectives contacted Adeneye through an ex-spouse and used an undercover agent to broker a sham marriage with him. Adeneye then arranged a marriage ceremony at the Harris County courthouse three days after the undercover detective and a Nigerian acquaintance met. County officials were aware of the investigation, so the fraudulent marriage wasn't performed.

During the investigation, detectives that Adeneye's own marriage to his ex-spouse from 2002 through 2007 was fraudulent, and that they never actually lived together. His spouse applied for U.S. citizenship and during the naturalization process, Adeneye lied to authorities about them being married and living together for three years.
The jury convicted Adeneye on May 7 after 45 minutes of deliberation, following a four-day trial. He remained in federal custody until Monday's sentencing hearing.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7829035

Ileke-IdI:
roll eyez. EzeUche, you can run but you cant hide. Dont play coy with me

Sorry but I am not "EzeUche." I am a old poster, but I am not him.

Nigerian Environmental Activist Nnimmo Bassey Wins Right Livelihood Award

Longtime activist Nnimmo Bassey has been awarded the 2010 Right Livelihood Award for "revealing the full ecological and human horrors of oil production" by multinational corporations in Nigeria and for his leadership in advocating environmental justice and human rights throughout the world. During his speech, Bassey blasted rich nations for their efforts to use carbon markets as a mechanism to mitigate global warming. [includes rush transcript]

http://www.democracynow.org/seo/2010/12/7/nigerian_environmental_activist_nnimmo_bassey_wins

Nigerian to be Poland's first black lawmaker

WARSAW, Tuesday

A Nigerian-born Protestant pastor will become Poland's first black member of parliament, a landmark in the overwhelmingly Catholic country which has a tiny minority community, he told AFP Monday.

"I think this is a historic change," said John Godson, 40, after it become clear he would enter the lower house of parliament, or Sejm.

"I think that Poland has changed a long way. Comparing Poland to when I came here almost 20 years ago, in 1993, there's a lot of difference. I think these are very positive changes," he said.

Godson, a councillor in Poland's second city Lodz, made an unsuccessful Sejm bid in the 2007 general election.

He has now obtained a seat after a fellow member of the governing liberal Civic Platform quit parliament having won office as mayor of Lodz in local elections Sunday.

In Poland's political system, by-elections are not the norm when a lawmaker resigns. Instead, the seat goes to the best-loser candidate from a party's list in the previous election.

Godson said he would learn in coming days when he was due to be sworn in.

He first came to Poland as a Protestant missionary -- in a nation where over 90 percent of the population is Catholic -- and also taught English at a polytechnic in the northwestern port city Szczecin.

"I've been to about 30 countries in the world, and there's no place I've felt at home as I have in Poland," he said.

Godson, who is married to a Pole and has four children aged from five to 15, became a Polish citizen in 2000. He has retained his Nigerian passport.

At around 4,000, according to Godson, the black community is minuscule in Poland, a nation of 38 million.

He said he had encountered prejudice and even violence.

"There have been a number of intolerant acts, but that was in the beginning. I remember twice I was beaten up by skinheads," he recalled.

He said he prefers the term "low intercultural competence" -- ignorance of other cultures -- over racism.

Godson said he was not the black community's spokesman.

"I was elected by the electorate of Lodz. I see myself as a Pole of Nigerian origin and I'm working towards bettering the life of the people of my city," he said.

"Of course, I do a number of things to help foreigners, the Africans. I'm president of the African Institute, which is a platform for promoting and facilitating cooperation between Poland and Africa," he added.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/Nigerian%20to%20be%20Poland%20first%20black%20lawmaker/-/1066/1067932/-/y1awlp/-/

Ileke-IdI:
I see you, Edem. Hope your finals went smooth.

Who?

ChinenyeN:
This was before we Africans had fully abandoned our ideology of "complimentary sexes", buying into the ideology of "opposite sexes". I like this.

Correct my brother!

MShittu:
Point of correction, its more like 30%.
Our oil exports are only about 75 billion PPP dollars in value while our GDP is over 300 billion.
Not trying to belittle the ND's contribution though.

Ha ha ha we were both wrong.

Oil and gas exports accounted for more than 98% of export earnings and about 83% of federal government revenue, as well as generating more than 40% of its GDP. It also provides 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of government budgetary revenues.

Capitalistic

^^^^^^

In one word please.

texazzpete:
For the Ambassador, you mean when he said the people had to vote in credible leaders, abi?

For Amaechi, i'd much rather he did something about the ginormous craters in the road to the International airport. I cringe with shame for Rivers State everytime i have to weave around and within those gullies.

Did you read his statement? The Niger Delta has been held hostage by the rest of Nigeria. 80% of the nation's GDP relies on Niger Deltan oil. That speaks volumes. The Niger Delta doesn't need Nigeria, but it would seem that Nigeria needs the Niger Delta a lot more. The people are suffering.

Kobojunkie:
Undermining the US? Did everyone else here miss the cables from other embassies that have been released on the same site or what?

Yes, he is undermining the U.S. What do you think releasing private discussions are doing  to the U.S. credibility as it pertains to foreign diplomacy? It shows lapses in their security network as well. Indeed he is causing problem for the U.S. government.

I have been studying the issues of the Niger Delta very carefully, and it does seem that the Niger Delta is under internal 'colonial rule.' The ambassador and Gov. Amaechi is right on the money

Yes, human factor does play a role, but what about the conditions of the roads?

He is undermining U.S. national security, it doesn't surprise me that he has been arrested. This man should be in Guantanamo with the rest of the terrorist.

I actually heard some unflattering things about this man. Some people in the Ogoni community do not see this man as a hero. Can anyone discuss this in more detail?

RIP Bawomolo. I enjoyed our heated debates with each other.

AN ODE TO THE SOUTH EAST
Placed in the space of the rising Sun
A rising checked and chequered by your imprimatur
Ravaged by gullies
Torn by erosion
A space led by the egocentric and the banal
And a political class at best short-sighted.

Great space of the learned
For lucre you let the unlearned lead
For a mess of porridge you spite your philosophers
For the mundane you salute paths profane
Your ageless morals trampled by the godless
And your primordial mores desecrated.

To return to heights befitting
Your values you must rediscover
Your wisdom re-valued
Your youths must pride in hard-work over quick fixes
Your adulation of lucre tamed
And your children schooled in the beauty of excellence over crash opulence.

O’ South-East why have lost your charm
Why has the banal become your guards?
Your Ivory Towers shut because your watchmen despise ivory
Your Road gullies and your land erosion ridden because of politricks
You shame your philosophers gone
And you embarrass your living greats.

CHRIS NWAOKOBIA JNR


Aba is in such disrepair and it is quite sad, because the city has so much potential. Blame the government in Umuahia for this nonsense. It is utterly corrupt.

I really hate Africans with an inferiority complex. It is actually appalling. I think Africans who have this view should be culled from our population. That would keep them from passing their idiotic DNA into the next generation.

Don't know how the word Igbo is involved in this thread, since this was not an Igbo village.

Anyway, it is a shame how our military kills indiscriminately.

This is very sad indeed.

Why don't Africans value human life?

Ekumeku War of the Anioma People
by Emeka Esogbue

The Anioma-British war popularly referred to in history as Ekumeku or Ekwumekwu in some Anioma quarters occurred between 1883-1914 and involved Anioma and the British. The Anioma are mostly Igbo therefore all Anioma speak Igbo beyond the enclaves of non Igbo ancestry of the Anioma region. It is therefore easier to recognize that Ekwumekwu is an Igbo word. However, different sources have interpreted "Ekumeku" differently.

Ekumeku is indigenously known in Anioma historical context as "Aya Ekumeku". Aya in Igbo language denotes "war" while Ekwumekwu in Igbo onomatopoeia connotes "Do not talk about it" or "Not to be spoken about". This is a portrayal od secrecy associated with Ekumeku movement. The terribly fast, devastating and invisible nature or strategy employed to wage the war couples with the initiation requirement necessary for the recruitment of soldiers may have warranted the word "Ekumeku" In the years of the Ekumeku war, it was a taboo to reveal the secrecy behind the activities of the cult regarding initiation, operational bases, movement and sources of the cult group.

This situation posed the British with so much difficulty as they were unable to manage the activities of the Anioma perceived worrisome to their imperialist policies. The mystery surrounding the activities from which the people derived unexplainable strength puzzled the British who perhaps were hasty to abolish what they believe could become established in the socio-cultural society of the Anioma and constitute hindrances towards realizing their economic aims if nothing was speedily done.

Resistance was strong in western Igboland with series of wars waged to resist the British who had strong economic interest in the region and Ekumeku with well organized leaders joined in oath-taking secrecy to forestall the activities of the British in the region. Guerrilla warfare was the effective weapon if this was to be achieved. The Ekumeku became the greatest of the Igbo nationalism that instilled fear and discipline in the minds of the British on how and how not to deal with the Igbo people generally. It was from Ekumeku that other Igbo regions derived boldness to confront the British. Perahps, there existed no region in Southern Nigeria where the people ferociously and collectively rose to resist the British imperial conquest as in the Anioma region where the war lasted for 16 years with heavy casualties on both belligerents.

Attempts in the 19th and 20th centuries by the British to impose imperialistic and hegemonic measures that would subjugate the Anioma people for their own economic gains triggered-off the Ekwumekwu war. Anioma had viewed socio-economic activities of the British in the Anioma region as an intrusion that must be resisted at all cost and the British decided to employ the use of force to subdue the people. This became a threat in the Anioma society. Scholars of the Anioma History believe that while Britain because of its experiences derived from other parts of the country was well prepared for the outcome, the Anioma were little prepared and only ready to defend its territory from economic violation of the British. This gave the Britisn an upper hand over their Anioma counterparts. It was not until towards the end of the war that the rest of the Anioma towns prepared themselves for the battle the British.

The Anioma nation had before 1898 engaged in violent clashes with the British resulting in the identification of the Anioma region as a difficult terrain and it was the feeling of the British that the area needed to be purged if they would derive economic gains from the region and for the social activities of the British to be impacted on the people. Interestingly, the British had already noted the leaders of the region as violent because of their unpleasant experiences with the people. In 1830, the Lander Brothers reported their sour experiences in the hands of the Anioma back home as they were captured by the Anioma community who did not understand their reason for crossing through their territory. It was a crisis that put the Anioma in the bad book of Britain only waiting to explode.

By 1870, the crisis between Anioma and Britain had escalated culminating in the invasion of Ndoni, an Anioma community by the British in the same year. The British parliament had ruled that the use of force would be necessary to compel the people of Ndoni to cooperate with their economic terms among several others. Atani another Anioma community would suffer the same fate as it engaged the Royal Niger Company in 1880 in a bid to control the trade of the region. The Royal Niger Company with its charter perpetuated what Joseph Egwu an erudite scholar regarded as the first genocide against the Anioma people. Finally, in November 2, 1897, Onicha-Ado (Onitsha) an Anioma community was bombarded in what was to set the Anioma rulers against the British in many years of guerrilla warfare.

Ibusa-Royal Niger Company War (1898)
The real first of the Ekumeku wars was between Ibusa and Royal Niger Company. Dr. Joseph Egwu in an article titled"Ekwumekwu Movement" published in Anioma Essence Vol. 1, No. 4, 2008 edition delivers a beautiful account of the Ibusa-Royal Niger Company War in which the Royal Niger Company forces commandeered by Major Festing decided to attack Ibusa.

Strangely, the Royal Niger Company launched a surprise attack on Ibusa and thus won an initial victory which through was temporary. The Ibusa forces retreated and the feeling of the British was absolute victory.

Writing further, Father Zappa in 1898 emphasized that rather than surrender, the Ekwumekwu soldiers continued to resist as the Ibusa forces reinforced. Major Festing's further appeal and indeed reinforcement of troops from Lokoja that joined the forces of the Royal Niger Company helped the Forces to sustain victory over the Anioma community of Ibusa.

"Indeed it was not the possession of more sophisticated firearms that ensured Major Festing's ultimate victory, it was rather wanton and callous destruction of Ibusa farms and villages that forced them to sue for peace.

Ukwunzu/Owa-the British (1904)
On the 11th February 1904, severe fighting increased between Ukwunze and Owa on one side and the British as the other party. W. E. B. Crawford Coupland, the Divisional Commissioner ordered for 4 Connaught Rangers, 2.95 artillery and other weapons with which the people were subdued.

Owa-the British (1906)
The Ika people displaying prowess of the most war-like of the Western Igbo speaking people with the fierce wars fought to end S. O. Crave-Read and his British styled inhuman treatment. In this war, Ekute provided military support to the Ekwumekwu soldiers. The Ika people fought a well prepared battle as Lt H. C. Moorhouse would later put up a brilliant defence of himself on why he appeared prone to sustaining casualties stating that the Ekwumekwu soldiers operated with a well trained soldiers and geographical knowledge was an advantage. Mr. S. O. Crewe lost his life in the battle.

Ogwashi-Uku-the British
The Anglo-Ogwashi-Uku war which began on November 2, 1909 with a mandate to the British Forces to kill everybody proved to be a partial disappointment ion the part of the British and more than anything proved that the British Forces could collapse if matched with sophisticated arms and ammunition. In that war the British sustained 34 casualties with the death of Captain H. C. Chapman.

With the fall of Ogwashi-Uku, the Anioma was doomed for balkanization. Dr. Egwu briefly summarizes what thereafter befell the Anioma as thus:

"Anioma Region was divided into four and joined to other groups neighbours who were then given political precedence over Anioma. Asaba Division was joined to the Benin Province and Aboh Division (Ndi-Olu) were joined with Urhobo, Ijaws and Itsekiris to make up the Delta Province. Onitsha, Oguta and environs were joined to the Eastern Provinces. This made political unity nearly impossible. This was the genesis of our woes!

With the fall of Anioma, the great price for losing a war was paid by the people. The region was balkanized by the British and many Anioma territories such as Onicha-Ado (Onitsha) and Oguta were permanently lost to the easterners. That of Onitsha was characterized with a change of the name that disassociated it from Onicha-Olona, Onicha-Ukwu, Onicha-Uku kinsmen but in all Anioma achieved for the Igbo nation a movement more extensive and resisting than what the British had experienced in Africa South of the Sahara.

Igbafe in his work opines "the ability to manipulate their Age Grade system and other associations building an extensive network of communication throughout the whole of Anioma…no matter its cost, honour, bravery and integrity which have been internalized and consolidated in their myths, legends, proverbs and typical behaviour patterns.

The Anioma Ekwumekwu commanders were:

Dunkwu Isusu (Onicha-Olona)
Ochei Nwayazia (Onicha-Olona)
Nwabuzo Olimagwo (Issele-Uku)
Mokobia Odiajo (Ogwashi-Uku)
Nwaiyogolo (Ogwashi-Uku)
Eninwizomo (Ugbodu)
Idegwu Otokpoike (Ubulu-Uku)
Monye Ukpe
Diei Nwobodo
Egbune Uza
Awunor Ugbo (Akumazi)
Abuzu (Idumuje-Unor)
Idabor (Issele-Uku)
Agbambu Oshue (Ibusa)

Some of the Anioma towns that participated were:
Isheagwu
Kwale
Ugbolu
Obiaruku
Aboh
Ebu
Ubulu-Uku
Ogwashi-Uku
Akumazi-Umuocha
Onicha-Ado (Onitsha)
Obomkpa
Ezi
Issele-Uku
Ilah
Okpanam
Issele-Azagba
Owa
Ibusa
Idumuje-Ugboko
Agbor
Igbodo
Umunede
Asaba
Ute-Okpu
Ashama
Idume-Ugbo


Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/culture-articles/ekumeku-war-of-the-anioma-people-2316537.html#ixzz174iWA1j7
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

This is crazy!

One in three South African men admit to rape, survey finds

More than one in three South African men questioned in a survey admitted to rape, the latest evidence in the country of a violent culture of patriarchy.

Researchers found that more than three in four men said they had perpetrated violence against women.

Nearly nine in 10 men believe that a woman should obey her husband – and almost six in 10 women also agreed with the statement.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape in the world. Last year a survey by the Medical Research Council (MRC) found that 28% of men in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces said they had raped a woman or girl.

A new MRC study in Gauteng, the country's wealthiest province, found that 37.4% of men admitted having committed a rape, while 25.3% of women said they had been raped.

The survey questioned 511 women and 487 men, of whom 90% were black and 10% white.

Rachel Jewkes of the MRC said: "We see a situation where the use of violence is so widespread that not only is it seen as being legitimate but I think quite often women forget it. They just see it as a normal effect."

Jewkes cited her survey's findings on gender attitudes. Although both largely agreed that "people should be treated the same whether they are male or female", 86.7% of men and 57.9% of women also endorsed the statement that "a woman should obey her husband".

Some 53.9% of men and 29.8% of women agreed that "a man should have the final say in all family matters", while 37.3% of men and 23.2% of women supported the view that "a woman needs her husband's permission to do paid work".

Asked about sexual entitlement in marriage, only 55% of both men and women said they thought "it is possible for a woman to be raped by her husband". Some 38.7% of men and 29.3% of women thought that "a woman cannot refuse to have sex with her husband" and 22.3% of men and 8.8% of women felt that "if a wife does something wrong, her husband has the right to punish her".

The survey also found that 32% of men and women agreed that "in any rape case, one would have to question whether the victim is promiscuous", while 20.1% of men and 15.6% of women said that "in some rape cases, women want it to happen".

Jewkes said: "What we see here is a set of attitudes reflecting men's views that they are legitimate in the use of violence against women, and women in many respects acquiescing to this."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/25/south-african-rape-survey?CMP=twt_fd

This is not a move that I support.

Igbo names are so beautiful!

Come to America where they welcome all people.

I would support that. We need an Iron Lady in charge. That would be a progressive move.

Egele713:
im waiting for the time when the presidency is decided by who would do the most good for the country as a whole and not a matter of the tribe the person is from

You will be waiting for a long time. And it will most likely not happen during your lifetime. This is the African way to vote. Nigeria is not different from other African nations.