₦airaland Forum

As one close to players of the pre 2015 elections in the APC I can make the following declarations without any fear of a honest contradiction

1) Buhari and Tinubu had an understanding to run on a joint thicket before the formation of the APC

2) immediately after the presidential elections the nPDP wanted the Vice presidency for themselves by proposing Ameachi who was the then DG of Buharis campaign organisation. They had gone far in their campaign against the Vice presidency of Tinubu on religious grounds in order to push Ameachi successfully

3) Tinubu's thinktank quickly proposed Osinbajo unknown to the nPDP members as a last resort.

4)The meeting was fixed for the last day of the deadline for Vice presidential nominations to make it a fiat accompli for the nPDP

5) Osinbajo was asked to proceed to Abuja 48hrs to the meeting bý the Tinubu camp unknown to the nPDP.

6) Saraki led the onslaught against Tinubu on religious grounds and was extremely rude about it assuming it to be a fiat accompli for the nPDP.

7) Tinubu as a grand master in the power game started by nominating his wife who is a Christian and who was with him in Abuja. As expected it was rejected by the nPDP on filial and gender grounds

Tinubu then nominated Osinbajo who most of them didn't even know about and being a pastor of RCCG and a professor the choice was unassailable. To meet the INECs deadline for Vice presidential nominations Tinubu informed them that Osinbajo was already in Abuja. That was how nPDP lost out in their attempt to usurp Tinubu's Vice presidential nomination prerogative.

Anyother thing you hear is fabricated. You can take this to the bank

It just did not add up to the characteristic and characterization of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu: what the embattled senate president, Dr Abubakar Olubukola Saraki, said of the Asiwaju in his response to the open letter said to have been written by the Asiwaju, pinning his reasons for the defection of Senator Saraki from the All Progressive Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is faulty. It is evidential that Senator Saraki has not fully learnt, neither has he imbibed enough of the history of the Asiwaju’s democratic struggles for Nigerians.
His (Saraki’s) continued stay upon a false, uninformed and ill perceived ground in the notion that Asiwaju Tinubu is after him for his (Saraki’s) contribution to the Asiwaju forgoing his Vice Presidential ambition is quite beggarly of popular sympathy, which only the helpless of societies donate freely, being vulnerable in quick militant reasoning. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was never forced to nominated Professor Yemi Osinbajo as Vice Presidential candidate for President Buhari in 2014 to warrant Saraki’s thinking.
The Asiwaju conceded to the sacrifice demanded of him by his party men, lest the so much “change” envisaged by his party may not collapse on the alter of his self glorification – that much should be made clear. It was not the first time Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would be asked to relinquish his ambition and nominate his replacement – he is a veteran of political sacrifice. In the face of this historical fact, it is clear that Senator Saraki is, by the target of his response, forgetting history badly. This is bad and unfortunate for , and in any category of leadership recruitment.
It is therefore wrong for Senator Bukola Saraki to cast the Asiwaju in his own mold. Senator Saraki assumes, repeatedly, that the Asiwaju is after him because he joined others to stop his (Asiwaju’s) Vice Presidential ambition. What Senator Saraki forgot to remember was that the Asiwaju, in Nigeria’s political framework, is the most tasked, denied, and sacrificial politician in Nigeria today.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu willingly relinquished his mandate as the running mate personally nominated, and stuck to by President Muhammadu Buhari, on the night of his nomination as the presidential flag bearer of the APC in 2014. It was already an agreement reached between Tinubu and Buhari, and only Buhari had the powers to nominate his running mate and he did and left it there – this is the picture of the Asiwaju’s sacrifice. He did not run away from dialogue to “steal” any mandate.
First, let it be proven to Senator Saraki that his opposition to the Asiwaju’s vice presidential ambition was not because he was fighting for democracy. The man was fighting to sustain and nourish his personal interest in becoming the senate president. The way and manner Senator Saraki ascended the senate presidency makes it absolutely clear that the seat was on his mind when he was opposing Asiwaju Tinubu’s vice presidential bid. It is dodgy for him (Saraki) to attempt the use his opposition to the Asiwaju’s ambition in 2014 as a ladder to ascend his justifying the pursuit of his presidential ambition, acting sneakily as if he is fighting for democracy – democrats are known when seen.
There was nothing wrong with the Muslim/Muslim, Buhari/Tinubu joint presidential ticket originally intended by the APC – it was not unlawful, it was constitutional and meets acceptable universal standard for personal and findamental rights. For Nigerians, it was “lets change the PDP” after 16 years, and not even a Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket would have stopped the APC’s victory. The Legacy Parties (ACN, CPC, ANPP, and part APGA) had accepted the ticket already. It was only the nPDP members that opposed the Asiwaju’s emergence as vice presidential candidate to President Buhari when they made it into the APC and on the night of the national convention – a crafty bunch indeed.
Saraki/Dogara machinations towards taking over the leadership of the 8th Assembly was an enlarged nPDP project. At the time the nPDP joined the APC, there was no time to hold any meaningful talks. So naturally, as a bargaining chip to get things heading on, the Asiwaju willingly gave up his ambition to accommodate the views of the “new” PDP members he graciously accommodated. Truth can only be denied, it cannot be shielded.
Senator Saraki’s heart knew that Nigerian politicians will not tolerate a Muslim president, a Muslim vice president, and a Muslim senate president together in one government if he thinks that Nigerians would not tolerate a Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket – this was Senator Saraki’s faulty assumption that led him to his treachery against the “spirit” of the APC. Today, he has been made, by the same “spirit”, to sing a strange and an outdated song monotonously.
It is certain that if “tenure elongation” for the former NWC members of the APC had succeeded, people like Senator Saraki would have engineered defections into the APC to outsmart President Buhari at the presidential race – he should remember the act of “cutting Tinubu to size” and now he is running away from a “cut” Tinubu and spiritualizing in a frenzy. No one can hide under his shadow. It is important to point it out to the senate president that he is sounding like a broken record – eardrums are aching instead of itching.
Let Senator Saraki showcase himself competitively against Senator Tinubu’s Democratic credentials. Tinubu gave up his senate presidential ambition in 1991 under the SDP and nominated Dr Iyorchia Ayu as a replacement, and he did same for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo: let Bukola Saraki tell Nigerians what he has forgone in his life as a democrat. Bola Tinubu holds onto Lagos, while Bukola Saraki holds onto Kwara: the difference is clearly in the fact that no robbery has been traced to “Alausa”.
Lagos enjoys a continuous leadership advancement and economic development, standing as a role model of succeeding progressive governance with expansive human and material developments amongst the States of the federation – who
BETWEEN SARAKI’S GREED AND TINUBU’S SACRIFICES.docx
would deny this? The difference is in long term governance planning, geared towards modernizing the society.

Where was Senator Saraki during the Sani Abacha years of political terror? Tinubu was facilitating NADECO and Radio Kudirat. The pressure he exerted from his self exile drove Abacha to his grave. Where was Senator Saraki when the Asiwaju was deepening our democracy by founding and refounding political parties until he gained a ruling party upon which he is senate president?
The answer is in the fact that though Bukola Saraki has a Yoruba man’s outlook, he loves the nomadic nature of the Fulanis. Here lies the conflict between “Abubakar” and “Olubukola”. When a man has a clippy identity and is sneaky about his ambitious, which, to a large extent, is inordinate, then error must be made on the side of caution.
It is a danger to listen to people who forget history. Democratic struggles go beyond mere talking. Talk is cheap and affordable. Defection is easy, go…found a political party, nurture it under so many grievous battle of survival, and come out with a ruling party where a greedy politician can sneak in to take the senate presidency, then seek and embrace him happily at the end – Mr Democrat. It is not amala, gbegiri and assorted meat. It is interesting to watch anyone eat that deliciously.
This is the picture of who political party defectors are: gluttonous diners on ready made tables. Senator Bukola Saraki can never be a democrat. Period!
Ini Akpan Morgan is the Convener of the APC Patriots Grouping (APCpg) in Akwa Ibom State, and writes from Uyo.

Mosesm:
You and fake news. Ooni supporting Adeleke? When Omisore an Ife man is contesting! APC will trounce PDP again.

AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!!!!!!

aragonchuks:
Yea right ?..So tell me Child of love how many Northerners have been killed in southern Nigeria since the invention of Nigeria ..The truth is that every hatred the southeast has for the North or Buhari .. The North started it first

Saraki, kwankwaso and Atiku aren't Moslems or northerners abi?

Oga park well

SourGrape:
aaah! don't tell me that,insecurity of lives is high now. I don't need to mention them but fact remain that we sleep with our eyes wide open now. Can a benue or Plateau man sleep wt his eyes well closed nw?

While not supporting the killings but just answer my question honestly: WERE THEY SLEEPING WITH TWO EYES CLOSED IN BENUE AND PLATEAU BEFORE BUHARI? OR WEREN'T THERE HERDSMEN KILLINGS DURING PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS?

Cut Buhari some slack he is much better than all previous administrations

Zinny25:
Some of you are turning the scriptures upside down.. Jesus turned water into wine, the Bible didn't say alcoholic wine. Let your conscience be the judge here, a true Christian shouldn't take any alcoholic drink.

Interesting!!! The chairman of the feast told the groom that you don't serve such sweet tasting wine at the end of a feast but at the beginning (Jesus's wine) so after they are drunk (tipsy) you now serve the initial wine which wasn't as sweet

The question is: IF JESUS'S WINE WAS NON ALCOHOLIC WHY WOULD THE OCCASION CHAIRMAN SAY AFTER THEY ARE DRUNK ON IT

Let's be careful lest we become holier than God Himself. Alcohol has NEVER being and ISN'T a sin. It is heresy of the highest order. Even Jesus our Lord and Saviour drank wine (alcohol) and the bible records that He knew no sin.

Alcohol isn't a sin

Bit by bits APC is shutting up the wailers. Watch out it will be on an upward trend between now and 2019.

The planted seeds of the past 3yrs are just germinating and harvesting has just begun

PDP and IPOB warriors go cry tire

[quote au3thor=babaolofin post=69739431]Amosun is a fraud. Most accountants are expert when it comes to fraud. Amosun has brought his long years of experience in accounting to loot Ogun State. I thought Gbenga Daniel is the best looter until I examined Amosun tenure. The difference between OGD & Amosun is that OGD fraud was small & not neatly planned while Amosun' corruption is packaged being an accountant.

Ijoko, Akute & Alagbole bridges can never be completed by Amosun. Last year after series of loans, Amosun applied for $350 million loan which I am sure he got. I wrote against this loan on nairaland. sarki a nairaland commentator said the loan is for infrastructure development. I said no, it is for end of tenure benefit of Amosun. Where is the infrastructure development?

https://www.nairaland.com/4073109/350m-loan-request-amosun-plans

It is not good to allow accountant to rule a state, the will operate a packaged corruption the type Amosun brought to Ogun State[/quote]Blame the person not the profession
. Ambode Nigeria's best performing Gov is an accountant so what are you saying?

Why is it that a lot of people don't understand the undertone of the elections? With a margin of less than 20000 voters, less than 3% of voters Fayose could have won conveniently and convincingly if he hadn't chased out some political heavy weight from the party in the state, he lost the elections to His megalomania and i must say he really deserve it

thewarrior72:
I can bet my toto that u are a yoruba muslim, becos only muslim support terroris buhari

Unfortunately for your toto am a Yoruba Christian but not to worry that toto is too repulsive for me to have any use of it. Am sure it's as vain and empty as your brain

You'll be alright last last

magoo10:
The dullard should throw away pride and congratulate Jonathan for the 85% completion of the light rail.

IPOB miscreant, OBJ and Yaraduas administration worked on it before Jonathan and jonathan put the least investment on it rather your hero was busy stealing all the money

BE GUIDED

Idiata what % of the project did Jonathan inherit from Yaradua and what % did his administration personally add to it?



Dino is a clown and a stupid and immature one at that.

Irrespective of who wins between Fayemi and Elena, i think it's a very tight race. I never gave Fayemi any chance of doing well, i actually thought his choice was going to be APCs undoing but from these results i was wrong.

Congratulations to the eventual winner

phemmie06:
starting from the road (ona ti ó ń sọ̀rọ̀) is it only Osogbo or Iléṣà that make up osun state.
The salary you referred to is true, but can you tell me what a level 8 officer receive in osun state?

No 1 the infrastructural developments in Osun is even both for roads school's and hospitals. From Ikirun to Ile ife, gbogan to Iwo.
No 2 the schools are evenly disturbed across the states even the medical emergency services.

For your information am not from Osun but Epe in Lagos state but my 2yrs stay in Ede on a project site that covers about 3 states of the South West made me appreciate the ingenuity and progressive mindedness of Aregbe. Osun is indeed blessed to have an Aregbe in power at this time

Wages in states are as dictated by the FG so the wages of GL8 worker in Osun is same as rivers and borno or delta and Anambra. So that question is irrelevant

biznesstime:
stop spamming please, political party is not our problem. lagos is doing fine under APC but the case is not the same in Osun State, Oyo State, Ondo State

Stop saying what you don't know. Osun has the most advance infrastructural developments in the SW outside Lagos inspite of it's low IGR. And to educate all you ignoramus, 87% of civil servants made up of GL1-7 collects 100% of salaries, GL8-14 have been collecting 75% of their salaries made up of 8% of the civil servants. Only directors and PS on GL15 above have been on 50% of their salaries. That is what the state can afford from it's income and it affects only negligible % of the civil servants, but IPOB youths and PDP miscreants will always engage their stock in trade which is lying so Osun indegenes know the truth and APC victory will be a landslide one.

May God heal your ignorance

NwaJozi:
Buhari is worst I'm tired of people bringing PDP up when Buhari incompetence is highlighted, PDP was voted out for a reason 3 years is enough for a FG with all the resources that Nigeria has to make an impression, Nigerians are used to this nonsense of blaming the past Govt when the present one is under performing

A 3 storey building will take you minimum of 6months to erect while it can be pulled down under 6 hours. Sir development isn't automatic it requires time. A year ago the narration on the streets was non performance few months ago the result of what was being done the past 3yrs began to show forth. Inasmuch as we are hungry for development one undeniable fact is that infrastructurally and Economically we are on the right track and if this had been the case in the past we won't be where we currently are.

Though on security i score him low but on all other indices of development he has done much better than all previous past Govts

NwaJozi:
Buhari is a failure, it is plain to every non biased eye to see. If You travel to other African countries and see You wont need Obasanjo to tell You that Nigeria is not working don't let Lagos substandard infrastructure deceive You

Of the 19 years of democratic governance Buhari has had 3 and PDP i6. Who then has the larger blame?. For the first time we are having fast rail track from Lagos to ibadan, 2nd niger bridge left paper under PDP to actual construction under Buhari, the whole nation is being linked by fast rail and enugu-onitsha highway is good to go,
Who is the actual failure here, why so much hatred for the reformers and love for the destroyers,
Nna you need to check yourself

ZorGBUooeh:
May the calamity that fell on the pipul of benue ad platue state fall on every sai baba chanting gorilla.

Same way the INFRASTRUCTURAL STAGNATION of the SE region under the PDP will also affect every area of your life

resurgent2019:
This is a sneak peek to what Buhari’s 2nd term will look like.

Nigerians go hear wuen! It is imperative that we avert the coming disaster. The man is just unlucky all round. His aura is not good.
Sura e oda rara...

Sura ko sura de tailor ni.

CSTR1003:
But Buhari has not done well.

The Niger bridge is in limbo.

Erosion is ravaging the eastern region, while the FG is looking.

The Enugu airport terminal that had been budgeted for in 2017 was rebudgeted for in 2018 again only for the national assembly to cancel it.

So what exactly has buhari done,atleast for the eastern region?

Enugu -Onitsha road is in Fulani land abi? Bitter Ignoramus

freshvine:
that road is an abandoned road project of okorocha. it tee off from the popular banana junction and terminate at the town centre. a stretch of 1.5km. it can be passed for a farm road and federal govt dont handle feeder roads.

Yorruba muslims must be stopped driving the narratives with their usual propaganda!

You didn't see FERMA signpost or is FERMA your state or Local government agency?

May bitterness not kill all you IPOB miscreants

I spend 2k every weeks for 3.5gig making 4k monthly for 7 gig

http://www.amazingstoriesaroundtheworld.com/2018/06/historical-perspective-of-hatred.html?m=1
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Image result for igbos and yoruba meeting
I had the privilege of attending some meetings of the Yoruba and Igbo Leaders. I was not a leader but a youth who knew how to wash his hands. At one of those meetings in Owerri, I think in 1989, I think, I listened to Uncle Bola Ige and other Yoruba Leaders take the likes of Mbakwe, R. B. Okafor and others to the cleaners when the Igbo said the Yoruba were betrayers, citing that Chief Obafemi Awolowo led them into secession with a promise that if the Igbo left Nigeria, the Yoruba would follow suit.

They accused him of not following up on his promise. Trust Uncle Bola Ige! He pointed to Chief Mbakwe and said, "you were there in the meeting between Awolowo and Ojukwu as I was. Is that statement correct?".He turned to two other Igbo and two Yoruba Leaders who were at that meeting and asked the same question, saying he had transcripts of the meeting between Awolowo and Ojukwu.

Image result for awolowo and ojukwu
They kept quiet while the Yoruba Leaders affirmed that Awolowo never promised to follow the East into secession. What he said was that if the Igbo were "driven" out of Nigeria the Yoruba would take it seriously and reassess their own position. Igbo Leaders DID NOT CONTEST this version. Then Chief Bola Ige threw in the clincher! "Who are you to accuse the Yoruba of betrayal?" he roared, and continued:

1. At Independence, Awolowo offered a joint government between the NCNC and AG, with Zik as Prime Minister and Awo as Finance Minister. Awo and Zik "were still negotiating" when it was announced that Zik would be President in a coalition with NPC of the North. The East then collaborated in destroying the West and sending Awolowo and his lieutenants to jail!

2. What of the 1965 elections which the West and the East agreed to boycott? We met all night and reached agreement about 3am on the day of the election. In the morning, while the Yoruba boycotted the election, the Igbo went to vote

3. After the 1979 elections Yoruba (UPN) and Igbo (APP?) Leaders were still at the negotiating table for a coalition when to their surprise, an announcement was heard that the Igbo (NPP) had agreed to a coalition with the North (NPN)

4. After the 1983 elections, 1979 repeated itself. Not giving up, Awolowo reached out to Azikiwe again for cooperation. Talks started and they met in Benin where Awo pleaded passionately that only a collaboration between The Igbo and the Yoruba could save Nigeria. They didn't reach agreement but promised to meet again. Before the next meeting, the Igbo had again teamed up with the North

Uncle Bola paused and then continued "we can go on and on. So how dare you accuse the Yoruba of betrayal? How many Igbo have been killed in Lagos, Ibadan, Akure, Oshogbo (he mentioned other Yoruba towns)? You have your businesses in the West and went to Western schools. Yet you count the Yoruba as your enemy. You get killed in Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi, Zaria etc and have your goods looted yet you consider the Hausa/ Fulani your friends. It's your choice. If you want to be slaves forever, we can't help you"
I had never been so scared in my life. I thought the roof was going to fall. There was a pin drop silence and no Igbo dared interrupt Uncle Bola Ige because he was telling the truth. The Yoruba Leaders ended the meeting at that point and left. I hope Chief C. O. Adebayo's memoirs will give more details of those exchanges.
Now to make three points from all this:

A. The Yorub3a have been stretching their hand across the Niger for a handshake for a long time. The Igbo refused to take it for a long time until recently

B. Many Igbo Leaders of the 70s, 80s and 90s deliberately perpetrated the legend of Awolowo's role betraying them into the civil war and his role in prosecuting the war, to rally the Igbo population behind themselves. The Igbo agreed on Yoruba hatred than on any other issue. So it was the fabric that held them together for a long time

C. Time heals all things. Many Igbo reading this will be hearing for the first time that their leaders of old knew for a truth that Awolowo did not break his word to Ojukwu as alleged.



The Yorubas have always loved the Igbos more than the Igbos loved the Yorubas. Awolowo and his Action Group were ready in 1959 to form a coalition Government with the NCNC which would have given the NCNC and the Action Group coalition Government a narrow majority to push the NPC into the Opposition in Nigeria in preparation for Nigeria’s independence on October 1st, 1960.
The Yorubas and the Hausa /Fulani block also share part of the blame. Just like the Igbo-dominated NCNC under Azikiwe did not want any meaningful collaboration with the Yoruba dominated Action Group led by Awolowo,, the same Action Group did not want any collaboration with the North for the reasons I stated in part 1 and the North was always going back into a coalition with the Igbo-dominated party without making any serious attempt to woo the Yoruba dominated Action Group for a change. There was plenty of blame to go around.
The only Nigerian politician who made a serious attempt to change the status quo was Samuel Ladoke Akintola but he did it in a way that made him look like a Judas Iscariot. But what he did was the right thing to do in hindsight. He drastically changed the calculus of Nigerian Politics by rejecting Awolowo’s intransigence never to consider going into a coalition with the NPC. He immediately formed his Democratic Party in the Western Region which went into a coalition with the NPC/NCNC coalition at the Federal level thereby creating a counter force to the Igbos in that NPC/ NCNC coalition.
The Igbos did not appreciate what Akintola did because they knew their game was over. They could no longer continue to dominate most of the federal jobs that could not go to the northerners because they did not have the education to hold such positions in the Public Service. Richard Akinjide became Federal Minister of Education because of the move and one of the first things he did was to start correcting the lopsided imbalance. The Igbos did not forgive Akinjide or Akintola till tomorrow but the two Yoruba leaders did the right thing. I was in the Federal Public Service at the time and I knew that Richard Akinjide did what he had to do to put the Yorubas back in contention at the federal level.
The Igbos preferred a Government headed by Tafawa Balewa to the one proposed by Awolowo which would have been headed by Azikiwe as Prime Minister and Awolowo as Finance Minister. More than 60 years later, the Igbos are still of the same mindset, sad to say. My intent was not to insult either the Igbos or the Hausa Fulani in making the case. I did not say anything about the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy that their respected political leader, the late Sardauna Bello of Sokoto had not said about his own people in a moment of candor.
Sardauna publicly admitted at a press interview aired on You Tube that there was less than 23 indigenous northerners in the Northern Regional Public Service of Nigeria by the time he first became the leader of Government Business in northern Nigeria. He confessed that the Igbos had dominated his public service up until that time. He crafted and passed into law his “northernization” policy out of necessity and he justified his decision to appoint many British, Indians and Pakistanis and Egyptians on contract basis as public servants while turning down the applications of Nigerians from the South because he felt the Igbos were bent on marginalizing the northerners and he was not going to allow that. He admitted the northerners at that time were far behind the East and the West in education and that was one of his reasons for rejecting independence for Nigeria in 1956 or 1957 ahead of Ghana as proposed by Awolowo and Azikiwe. He told the British the North was not ready and he won the debate. He knew the northerners needed a lot of catching up to do and he said it loud and clear at the London conference.
Most Igbos would tell you they love the Yorubas. They just don’t like or appreciate Awolowo or Benjamin Adekunle, Olusegun Obasanjo, Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Fani Kayode. I say to them “Foul or over the bar” like late Ishola Folorunsho, the best Nigerian football commentator used to say in the 50s and 60s. Igbos cannot hate all of our best leaders and turn round to tell us they love us. By the same token, the Yorubas cannot tell the Igbos we love them but we hate Nnamdi Azikiwe, Odumegwu Ojukwu, Chinua Achebe, Michael Okpara and Alex Ekwueme to mention a few.
The idea of Igbo-dominated and Hausa/Fulani dominated parties always forming a coalition to rule the rest of Nigeria in perpetuity is not the kind of thing we all must embrace if Nigeria is to become a nation of our dreams. The former ACN of the Southwest and the Buhari-led CPC merging together to challenge the PDP is the kind of a major re-alignment I am talking about. It should be seen as a step in the right direction and a change to the status quo in Nigeria. It is a novelty which ought to be given a chance to succeed.
The two mega parties can then alternate power from one election circle to another based on performance like is done in very stable countries like America, Britain, India, Canada and Australia to mention a few. That is what I am advocating with the two serial articles.
I am also saying with emphasis that the Yorubas love the Igbos more than the Igbos love the Yorubas. Kenneth Olawale, an Igbo young man born and raised in Akure was elected and selected as the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly which is third in rank to the State Governor. I knew it because Kenneth came from my constituency in Igbatoro/ Ala Ajagbusi /Igunshin area of Akure North Local Government. Who voted for Kenneth to become an Honorable member and Speaker? It was the Yorubas. We knew he was an Igbo man but we loved him and we knew he could do the job well. Once upon a time, Ogbuefi Nnamdi Azikiwe as I hinted earlier, was on his way to becoming the first Premier of the old Western Region in 1954. Who voted for him? It was we the same Yoruba people.
When Awolowo launched his Free and compulsory education and free medical treatment in the old Western Nigeria, many Igbo parents and their children emigrated to the Wet in huge numbers to take advantage of the program. Many of their children were my classmates in the primary school at Akure. Awolowo did not exclude them and the Yorubas never resented them at all for coming to the West to enjoy a program the Azikiwe Government in the Eastern Region could not offer them. Many of those Igbo sons and daughters including Elias Ibe Opadike an Engineer who now lives in Detroit and Mr. Alex Omeke, a good friend of mine, were some of the beneficiaries of the Awolowo ‘s free education and free medical coverage in the old Western Region.
The two gentlemen are alive today and living in America. They are encouraged to feel free to issue a rebuttal if they think I am lying. As a matter of fact I would be sending them copies of this article for that reason. I write about what I know and never about hearsay
None of the properties left behind in Yoruba land by the Igbos during the Biafran war were confiscated or taken away by the Yorubas like the Rivers people and Ikwere people did to the abandoned properties of the Igbos in Port Harcourt and in much of the South/South. What more evidence of love and consideration do the Igbos want from the Yorubas?
Odumegwu Ojukwu the rebel leader who could have faced the firing squad had he been captured alive during the war was lucky to return from exile in the Ivory Coast to recover all of his father’s properties in Lagos. All Igbo properties in Akure my hometown were preserved and kept under lock and key for the Igbos to reclaim after the war. Akure Metropolis, Ibadan and Ilesha metropolis used to vote massively for the Igbo-dominated NCNC and Azikiwe when I was growing up in Nigeria. That was how Sir Odeleye Fadahunsi, an Ijesha man and a big wig in the NCNC became Governor of Western Nigeria after Sir Adesoji Aderemi. Pa Adegbola the greatest Akure community leader. Pa Faleye Igun “O sari mo sa ogun” Pa Gideon Arowolo of Akure were all big supporters of Azikiwe and the NCNC in those days talk less of Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya of Ikorodu, Chief J.M.Johnson and Theophillus Benson of Lagos, Adegoke Adelabu, M.A. Akinloye and the present Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Odugade who actually became a Parliamentary Secretary under the Tafawa Balewa Government at the Federal level as I recall. Who says the Yorubas do not like the Igbos?
The name “Azikiwe” was defined by the Yorubas as “Aisiki Iwe” meaning “a joyful embrace of education”. I do not know what the name means in Igbo Language but the Yorubas felt so good about Azikiwe that they define the name in their own way. Herbert Macaulay, the first nationalist in Nigeria and a Yoruba man handed over to Azikiwe as his successor in the Nigerian Youth Movement because he trusted Azikiwe. He loved Azikiwe like his own son. Azikiwe in return love the Yorubas, spoke Yoruba fluently and gave Yoruba names to all of his children.
Prominent Yoruba citizens like the late Tai Solarin and Nobel Peace Laureate Wole Soyinka all stood up for the Igbos’ right to live in peace and security in Nigeria and not be subjected to ethnic cleansing by the Northerners..
At a time no Nigerian of consequence from the North was willing to travel to the East to persuade Ojukwu not to secede, the same Obafemi Awolowo that the Igbos love to hate like poison was the only Nigerian who risked his life to travel down to Enugu to go personally talk to Odumegwu Ojukwu to reconsider his plan to go to war because the West was not mentally ready to collaborate with him at that point in time.
Igbo prominent citizens like Chike Obi, Kenneth Dike, Ojukwu Senior, Mbadiwe, Ikejiani and Francis Ibiam were all national heroes among the Yorubas, Samuel Ladoke Akintola defined the name “Mbadiwe” as” I would have become a book because I love education so much”. Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi of Ado Ekiti laid down his life to save the life of Aguiyi Ironsi at Agodi Ibadan because he viewed it as a betrayal of the Igbos to do that. Who says the Yorubas don’t like the Igbos
? We sure do without any doubt in my mind. It would have been a different story in Nigeria if the Igbos were just able to reciprocate a little bit of that love.
If the Igbos can point to anything they have done for the Yorubas, they should free to say it. The only positive thing I heard was that Odumegwu Ojukwu as first military Governor of the Eastern Region was the one who released Obafemi Awolowo from Calabar Prison. It is true that Ojukwu could easily have disobeyed the order issued by Gowon, his boss and Commander-in-Chief in Lagos at the time to have Awolowo released and flown back to Lagos. There is some truth to that statement.
Yes. Ojukwu could have found some ways to disobey the order from Yakubu Gowon, but he knew that if he did that, he would have antagonized the Yorubas and he did not want to antagonize the Yorubas at that point in time because it would have been suicidal or counter-productive for him to do that to the preeminent Yoruba leader of all times. Ojukwu the Oxford-trained Historian and leader could never have done such a stupid thing. He, sure, needed the psychological support of the Yorubas and he was also aware that the first coup led by Chukwuma Nzeogwu and Emmanuel Ifeajuna had occurred on January 15, 1966, because the coup plotters had wanted to free Awolowo and to put him in charge to rule Nigeria.
That was the original plan before the coup was hijacked by Aguiyi Ironsi and the coup plotters were all put in detention. Odumegwu Ojukwu could not have stopped Obafemi Awolowo from being released from Calabar prison, and being flown to Lagos. If Odumegwu Ojukwu had released Awolowo like he claimed in an interview with Rudolf Okonkwo of Sahara, I know for sure that Awolowo would have gone first and foremost to thank Ojukwu before flying to Lagos. Awolowo was a leader who could not be pushed around by any of those young boys leading Nigeria at the time including the 32 year old Yakubu Gowon who just returned from a training in the UK on the night of the coup or a day before to become the compromise choice to appease the aggrieved southerners because he was a Christian from a minority tribe in the North and was very colorful and charismatic.
I remember Awolowo telling Yakubu Gowon he would only serve in the Gowon Cabinet until a solution was found to the Nigerian stalemate because he did not like the idea of serving under an “unelected” Government to use his exact word. As soon as Awolowo felt he had achieved his set goal, he tendered his resignation. He was the first Nigerian leader of consequence to ever to keep a promise like that. He did not resign with a gun pointed to his head. That was Obafemi Awolowo at his best and that was one of the reasons Ojukwu had no reservation in describing him as “the best President Nigeria never had”. If Awolowo gave you his words, he kept it come rain or shine. He received his appellation as “Lion of Ikenne” because Awolowo did not fool around like most of his peers and Nigerians knew that.
The Igbos-dominated NCNC had every reason to want to warm up to the Yoruba-dominated Action Group and if possible to have formed a coalition Government with the Action Group to move Nigeria forward, but the NCNC was always very reluctant to do it because the Igbos think the Yorubas were just too educated and too smart and sneaky to be pushed around or micro-managed like the Hausa/Fulani. In the final analysis, the Hausa/Fulani proved to the Igbos they were not as stupid or dumb as the Igbos think.
The Igbos had always taken some joy in destabilizing the Yorubas at every opportunity. They were very happy to nudge their senior partners in the Federal Government to slow down the fast moving train of the West by creating the Midwest out of the Western Region in the hope of weakening or crippling the Awolowo Government and in the hope that the new regional Government of the Midwest could then be taken over by the NCNC with a Bendelite Ibo, Dennis Osadebe from Asaba as Premier. The move did weaken the Awolowo Government but only for a

kingzizzy:
You guys make me laugh. You compare a human rights activist like Fela with a freedom fighter like Ojukwu who fought the military might of Nigeria for 3 years?
Fela who probably never held a gun in his life or heard the sound of mortar and bombs falling?

I think that the Yorub

a idea of a brave man is rather low

The difference between a Yoruba man and an igbo man is the difference between brain and brawn

MrBigiman:
I am more informed than u are. Thankfully, your daughter would eventually school u about how things are actually done. Hopefully u'll have the humility to be schooled by a young intelligent mind. Your daughter doing medicine puts her miles ahead of u in terms of reasoning, which is not a bad thing.

Who head hospitals in the UK, Lab scientist or nurses? If u cannot affirm that either does, then why fighting to lead hospitals here. For re-emphasis hospitals are either Doctor led or administrator led. These administrators are not medical staff but professional who have Bachelors and postgraduate degrees in administration. Thankfully such courses are not fully in place in Nigeria, so Doctors should continue leading for now. Also, research has it that Doctor led hospitals perform far better, again John Hopkins and Mayo clinic are glaring examples.

Good luck, in few years ur child will lead u if u are still in the health sector.Envy might ensue, but it doesn't change anything. Her 6 years of training leaves her with bragging rights that u can never attain.

Enjoy ur day.

Mr Bigiman

I laugh in Spanish. So because am so informed about happenings in the health sector means i must be a health professional?

Discussions with you is demeaning it's obvious that your 6years has actually diminished your reasoning.

You need to cast aside your bragging rights like you call it and allow yourself the humility needed to be taught. You sure need it desperately

Nnanna to prove to you that we are morons we will vote PMB again in 2019, you and your pigs and piglets can take a dip in the lagoon as ordered by Akiolu.


Ibos are the dumbest set of people world over. Your hero couldn't give you 2nd niger bridge in 5yrs and the man you love to hate has gone over 45% in 3yrs, yet you animals won't show appreciation even the ND aren't sulking like you children of hate.

You are DISGUSTING

As far back as 1996 my sister-in-law that was in Uniben was already on Bishop Oyedepos scholarship scheme. May God save freeze and his blind followers

chiedozie198100:
MKO Abiola was the electoral commision chairman in 1979 that denied Awolowo of his mandate and rigged the election in favour of shagari.

this is true facts of history.

Abiola must have been an electoral commission chairman in biafra land definitely not Nigeria

MrBigiman:
U are a warlord on N/L. They don't call MBBS holders in UK Doctors?, rightly ur son should be ashamed of u. Your ignorance will eventually make him avoid u when the time comes. We know who own the title Physician in Medicine and it is such a big title, that it cannot be used anyhow by Doctors, but I leave u in ur ignorance.

U left hospital leadership and quickly drifted to health minister, which was never in the argument. That is called Circumstantiality, and it's a symptom of a serious mental problem. Thank goodness ur boy is joining the initiated in the health sector, he'll eventually cure u of ur manic attitude.

John Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Harvard Medical have been headed by Doctors for over 5 decades and no one has asked for a change. You should start a Johesu branch there. The Internet is not only for beefing, browse up the CEOs of those clinics, u are not too old to learn.

I have over a couple of years played a heavy part in restoring the sanity, Johesu workers have trampled with. Your son like their children read Medicine, but they make the environment unpalatable.

Your ignorance will resound for ages as Doctors will continue to be leaders in the hospital, and drivers of the health sector in Nigeria.

Expecting something better from people like you afflicted with a superiority complex based on your shallowness is like expecting to see snow in summer.
The most contentious issues of misguided fools called doctors started with having doctors as health ministers.
Next is idiots like you because you managed to pass through medical school which has turned out more killer doctors than sane one now feels you should dictate the condition of service of your colleagues. What impudence?
An ordinary employee in a Govt hospital wants to dictate the entitlement of other co employees. Just because you happen to be your community's first medical doctor.

I will refer you to same internet to find out how many hospitals in the UK are headed by non medical doctors.
May God cure you of your insanity

[quote author=Ellabae post=68222906] Leave to do what exactly?[/quote

Bond with your new baby and his/her mother of course

MrBigiman:
Such embittered view. So In the UK, South Africa, Ghana, Australia and all other countries of the world Doctors are reserved for Consultants alone? This showed ur deep sitted envy. It's only in Nigeria MBBS shouldn't be called Doctor, they should be called what?

Anywhere in the world when someone says I need to see my Doctor, it's known that it's is his Medical Doctor. For PHD they'll simply say, I need to see my lecturer or my supervisor.

Despite ur envy dieticians, lab Scientist, nurses all have a doctorate proposal before the NUC that they are pursuing vigorously.

Tell me any hospital among the top 50 in the world that is headed by a pharmacist, to a Lab technician or a nurse. All over the world it's either Doctor lead hospital or administrator led, who did BSC and masters in hospital administration. No pharmacist, lab technician or nurses led, why then in Nigeria do we seek to distort a clear narrative?

Stop envy and pray your kids are smart enough to study Medicine that you craved to study.

Ignorance isn't a virtue, in the UK and even Canada theirhealth ministers aren't medical doctors. MBBS holders are called physicians and talking about my kids by God's grace one is a 300 level medical student of Unilag (ie an intending MBBS holder) the brother is a first class Engineering student in his final year in the best private university in Nigeria.
Your ignorance is as appalling as your insufferable ego an overblown perception of your self worth am extremely sure you are the first medical doctor in your community, i congratulate you on this achievement of yours.

Let me educate you young cocky boy, my son studying Engineering has always been more brilliant than the sister studying medicine but in your perverted reasoning studying medicine means she's more brilliant. Listen to yourself to appreciate your level of reasoning but anyway as the first medical doctor in your community you deserve to keep celebrating

MrBigiman:
Such embittered view. So In the UK, South Africa, Ghana, Australia and all other countries of the world Doctors are reserved for Consultants alone? This showed ur deep sitted envy. It's only in Nigeria MBBS shouldn't be called Doctor, they should be called what?

Anywhere in the world when someone says I need to see my Doctor, it's known that it's is his Medical Doctor. For PHD they'll simply say, I need to see my lecturer or my supervisor.

Despite ur envy dieticians, lab Scientist, nurses all have a doctorate proposal before the NUC that they are pursuing vigorously.

Tell me any hospital among the top 50 in the world that is headed by a pharmacist, to a Lab technician or a nurse. All over the world it's either Doctor lead hospital or administrator led, who did BSC and masters in hospital administration. No pharmacist, lab technician or nurses led, why then in Nigeria do we seek to distort a clear narrative?

Stop envy and pray your kids are smart enough to study Medicine that you craved to study.

Ignorance isn't a virtue, in the UK and even Canada theirhealth ministers aren't medical doctors. MBBS holders are called physicians and talking about my kids by God's grace one is a 300 level medical student of Unilag (ie an intending MBBS holder) the brother is a first class Engineering student in his final year in the best private university in Nigeria.
Your ignorance is as appalling as your insufferable ego an overblown perception of your self worth am extremely sure you are the first medical doctor in your community, i congratulate you on this achievement of yours