₦airaland Forum

ndu_chucks:
Wadoooo or kedu to my brothers/sisters, whatever the case might be. It saddens me however to conclude, after reading many posts on this thread, that the people from the so-called South South, are not necessary in love with the Igbos among them. Nna, even the people who speak Umuekpili will soon come out and disown their Igboness.

It is fair to say that there will be a series of good mornings (to paraphrase Ojukwu) in the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Those of you suffering from identity crisis remind me of the following idiom: Enwe si na o bu onye iro ya na-kpo ya monkey, na ezigbo aha ya bu Mike (The monkey said that it is his enemies that used to call him Monkey, that his actual name is Mike)

May be true, but I'm still voting for Bro Jona though. lmao! hehehe!
ndu_chucks fails again.

^^

I'm beginning to think that SapeleGuy thrives on division schemes. That has been his special tool. First, he tries to present Igbo as trying to dominate their Eastern minority by ALWAYS citing COR movement and the Eyo Ita issue. And he also conveniently forgets that even Eyo Ita rejoined the NCNC in 1956 after the COR thing.

But I have a question for him:

Eyo Ita was once the Leader of Eastern Nigeria between 1951 - 1953; was there EVER a time a western minority was the Premier of Western Nigeria? 

When he answers this question, the bottom will fall off his constant subtle accusation of Ndigbo.

His part of Nigeria (Midwest) was NEVER part of Eastern region. They were in Western Region. I have not seen them look into the history of Western region at all. Shouldn't one be more concerned with ones own history?

The fact that current South south comprises minorities from Eastern and Western regions makes it more likely that views from non-easterners (who really faced REAL discrimination and marginalization) will likely corrupt those of Eastern minorities who never even saw any or much of those.

Edwin Clarke is an example.

SapeleGuy:
There is no hatred in this matter, just facts, so stop drawing rain and answer the question. Did Ohaneze or the South East Caucus support the creation of Anioma state ?

You dodged the issues I raised earlier and still came back to ask your question. I was really thinking you were honest and want to address the real issue of geopolitical zones involved. You also avoided answering the question raised by [b]abadaba [/b]who is an Igbo from south south. Why didn't you answer his question or address his points? What are you really trying to do?

Na im be say bro Jona don win landslide!

OBJ
OBJ
OBJ
OBJ
OBJ
OBJ
OBJ
OBJ
OBJ
OBJ

hehehe!

stranger:
May be you should learn to spell first before you jump in on a conversation that is clearly over your head

Your mates are in Alaba, not on NL!

And your mates are hunting heads for gbomo gbomo in the bushes of Ijebuland. Omo ale.
Did you wash your nyash this morning? It stinks and I can smell it from here.

stranger:
It is Ph.D., not Ph.D
Ode!

Hope you see the difference, anuofia!

Sharrap dia, Atulu Yoruba!

SapeleGuy:
Houvest no vex, I should have been consistent and used Ohaneze Ndigbo committee on state creation throughout my responses. There was also a Senate  south east caucus committee constituted by Ken Nnamani on this same matter. Both of these committees went for Adada & Njaba states and not Anioma.

I don't believe that by stating this I am propagating hatred. Anioma is the oldest agitation for state creation in Nigeria's history but has not materialised to date.

Anioma did not materialize for the same reasons Njaba, Etiti, Aba state, Adada state and others have not. The south east only has so much national slot for state creation. Now, if Anioma were to become part of south east, I can assure you that it will get Igbo backing ahead of other agitations in south east. Let's keep things honest and avoid sensationalism.

^^

Bro Jona is working VERY HARD!

[size=16pt]Enugu Airport Reopens [/size]

AFTER many months of closure, occasioned by major repairs, the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu will now receive flights from December 16, 2010.

The airport was closed to flight operations in February for major rehabilitation. The project, which is being handled by PW Nigeria Ltd., is in two phases. The first phase involves the asphalting, expansion and extension of the runway from 2,400m to 3,000m and the extension of the width from 45 metres to 60 metres.

The second phase of the project includes the construction of a new taxiway, the extension of the existing apron, and the installation of Category 2 airfield lighting system (AFL).

The first phase of the project has been completed and this will enable the airport to operate daylight visual operations for now, while work continues on the second phase, which is expected to be completed by June 2011.

On completion, the new runway will be able to take wide-body aircrafts in the range of Boeing 747, in line with recent upgrading of the airport to international category by the Federal Government (FG).

The rehabilitation is part of a major programme embarked upon to improve infrastructure at all airports in the country, especially major ones.

It will be recalled that the re-modelling of five major airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu was recently approved by the FG to improve on facilities in these airports.

A pilot project for this remodeling has already commenced with advertisement for the construction of a new terminal building for  Akanu Ibiam International Airport , Enugu and Mallam Aminu Kano  International Airport, Kano terminal building, respectively.

The Managing Director of FAAN, Richard Aisuebeogun, however thanked all major stakeholders in the aviation industry and the general public for their patience and understanding while the rehabilitation of the runway was going on.

Aisuebeogun further said that the airport improvement programme, based on the implementation of the 2009/2010 capital project, which includes the rehabilitation of runways, terminal buildings, construction of perimeter fences, rehabilitation of existing control towers, provision of fire tenders and improvement in power and water supply, as well as security services, has already begun in several airports.

He said he believes that this programme will mark a major improvement in airport quality service delivery at all airports, as this is the major drive of Airport Council International (ACI) for airports in developing countries of the world.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31372:enugu-airport-reopens&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

Goat. see map.

Obiagu1:
Damn! Where did you get this song from?
I'm loving it 

Stumbled upon it!

jason12345:
bruv, that was a lovely song!!! love nwantinti!

To spice up this joint a little. Too much strict political talk causes diarrhea.

^^

A truly Igbo classic!

Something to properly Igbonize this joint.

[flash=480,385]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hACfqnbP704?fs=1&hl=en_US"[/flash]

Facts presented in this debate have finally laid to rest the issue of whether the eastern minority wanted political self determination or just  "mere autonomy" thanks to points made by Sapeleguy. I hope folks like PhysicsQED take correction.

It has always been about self determination - to have a national voice, and that is what the Ekwueme-led Igbo team articulated in coming up with the 6 zone structure. They merely gave vent to historical agitations. So, I won't call it dumping.  PhysicsQED tried to make it look as if Igbo intellectuals killed a fly with a sledgehammer; but, it is more like they killed an elephant with a pellet gun! 

Now, fast forward to 2010; a south south son is vying for the presidency of Nigeria and reaching out to Ndigbo for support, one is compelled to wonder whether Ndigbo owe him such support in light of that historical agitation which led to where we are today with a south east separate from south south politically. In essence, once south south materialized, Ndigbo ceased to be senior brothers to south south. Both regions became equals, which is great. But then, both regions must contest for power independently of one another, don't you think?  Both regions should cooperate of course, as with other regions, but neither owe the other any political patronage. That has been settled.

I like Jonathan as a person though Ibime from the same south south thinks he is a bushman  , I support him nevertheless. My support for him will never cease in this election.
He comes across as a quietly penitent man with a sane view of Ndigbo and eastern Nigeria. So I support him on his own personal merit, no more. Of course I still take a strategic view of Nigeria as always, and hope that there is a few more Jonathans in Ijawland. If not, I don't see how Ijaws will out-compete Ndigbo in Nigerian national politics, but that is their problem, not mine.

There are folks like myself who want to give Jonathan the benefit of the doubt in Igboland. However, as events unfold and politicians start making deals and throwing mud around heading into elections next year, our numbers (Igbo supporting Jonathan) may dwindle.

Obiagu1's points on this issue stands as a shinning light; I won't let it blind me though. 

^^

What you are saying still doesn't make sense. Notice that I cannot address your obvious fallacies quote by quote because it will be tantamount to spamming this site. You make long posts which is why the spam bot keeps kicking you out.

Back to topic. As I said earlier, the only thing Ijaw agitated for was POLITICAL self determination. They wanted it from the regional government, and even as the national government didn't bow to their requests, they went for independence from Nigeria. The independence was two stages: one from regional "domination" and the other from NATIONAL domination as was demonstrated by the 12 day "revolution".

The quest for a state dated back to the days of the Ijaw State Movement, an organisation which was nipped in the
bud by some apprehensive politicians from the neighbouring area.

Even during the civil war, the same Adaka Boro schemed to give the Ijaw the upper hand in Nigerian politics by joining the Nigerian army and leading troops against his fellow Easterners.
When the war ended, Ijaw elements also championed the abandoned property saga while working furiously with the conquering army of Gowon to seize Igbo properties in Port Harcourt.

All these tie to the same goal- taking advantage of Igbo downfall to gain the upper hand as the predominant POLITICAL voice from eastern Nigeria. They didn't see the futility or delusion in that.
So it was never about "automony". It was always about competition with ( some say envy against) their majority neighbors. The same feelings are accurately demonstrated by the actions of Ijaw leaders like Edwin Clarke.

So, please stop this your lie that Igbo intellectuals merely created south south for NO JUST CAUSE EXCEPT TO DUMP minorities. That is a blatant lie.

The minorities -specifically Ijaw- have always agitated for POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE from Ndigbo with the delusion that they can survive national politics on their own or even thrive in it, thanks to Biafran fears still haunting Nigeria.

That the VP came from their area was not because of MEND or militancy. It was merely because a civil war actor called Obasanjo played his last anti-Igbo civil war games. If we had another leader who never harbored civil war grudges against Ndigbo, there is no amount of militancy that would have given Ijaw the VP ahead of Igbo. FACT.

So lets keep things honest.

udezue:
Lol @ OnlyTruth. U na go wound Chineyen.

I dodge that dude these days mehn. I don't have time for oafs.

PhysicsQED:
Well if that's how you see it, fine. But the article even alluded to the idea that it was about both removing a liability ("dumping" in my frank terms) so that the "Ijaws and other minorities" would not be used against them. It seems here more like you are trying to portray the move as[b] granting these groups what they were clamoring for but what they were clamoring for was actually more local autonomy, not a political voice equal to that of the North, East, or West. [/b]I don't remember them stating or thinking that they could have a unified political voice of minorities as against that of majorities, so this 1990s move seems to be about giving the minorities enough political power on their own so that they are not dependent on Igbos rivals for political power and in ensuring that they and even Northern minorities have a greater political voice on the national scale (which is the positive, idealistic aspect of the plan which I think you are referring to as "what they were clamoring for since the 1950s" .

But I don't see how that exactly translates to what those Eastern minority groups were clamoring for: local autonomy. To put this in perspective, the "Western minorities" were clamoring for autonomy out of the Western region and they got it with Midwest state creation in 1963, but they did NOT have a voice in national politics but were instead allied with, and had no problem being allied with, the majority-Igbo East (NCNC) and were thus beholden to NCNC interests without having a specific minority political voice independent of the three majorities. Just as the Midwesterners were never clamoring for political power or national political relevance at that time, I have never read anywhere were Eastern minorities were actually clamoring for independent political power on the national scale. Rather they were clamoring for political independence and autonomy from their former region. Had they got it, in some sense they might have been beholden to the interest of the AG. So I think this may be a case of conflating seeking autonomy with seeking national political relevance. I can't see where Ijaw, for example, said they or they together with other minorities wanted to be the 4th voice in politics during the 1950s. That's why I interpreted this as mostly about stopping the North from using the minorities in the Eastern region against Igbos (by giving Eastern minorities access to a  whole 1/6 of national political power) and weakening the North (giving the minorities their own zone). But, to each his own.

Again your comment is full of contradictions. Also, if you have never heard of the term "fourth dimension" as opposed to the Nigerian tripod in Nigerian political discourse, then you have not read enough of Nigerian history.

Why do you think we have an Ijaw VP who succeeded a core northerner as president in the first place? 
What do you think inspired people like Adaka Boro to launch his "Niger delta republic" (read Ijawland) in the first place? 

Even as I write this, some south south people think they can simply form an alliance with minorities in the north and other northerners irrespective of what Ndigbo may think about it?

Bros, in Nigerian political parlance, "autonomy" is the same thing as "national voice".

Now, a day may come when (if sanity returns to south south) we may have what you spun out -a south south autonomy with south east national voice. You may be living in la -la land though.

PhysicsQED:
By "dumping" I was just being frank. Not trying to incite division, not trying to portray it as a move motivated by contempt, not trying to exaggerate or be "sensational". It seemed like dumping to me because the plan directly dissociated them from Igbos in terms of political interests when they might normally be argued to have more in common in most other areas with Igbo than with others (something which has been argued continuously on here and which I and most sensible people agree with). So dumping means removing a liability even when the group that you are dissociating from yourself might be the most similar to  you in terms of culture, history, etc. I used a negative word because it seemed like a negative action to me- removing something burdening you out of frustration. I think using dumping in that sense is not really sensational. If you have something which is some sense a burden or liability to you, you dump it. That doesn't necessarily mean you're insulting it or have contempt for it. I think my frankness was taken for something other than it was.

As for whether there would always be an Eastern region, that really isn't clear to me from available historical evidence. What does seem clear is that a Rivers state may have been created but that the movement was too weak politically even in their own region compared to the powerful and long established NCNC, which had adopted an anti-state creation stance within the East. As for a COR state, I don't know how likely that would be from what I've read so far because the movement didn't seem that strong either, but Rivers at least, was most strongly pushed by Ijaw, who were in a very low position, in terms of development, so they had to take matters into their own hands- something which people in far away Enugu might not have understood. So I think because of the Ijaw alone, the fracturing of the East would have been inevitable. It isn't like they would suddenly just stop pushing for the right for self-determination just because they didn't have the political power or connections to do so. These are just my personal thoughts so feel free to ignore them. I'm not trying to get into too much debate on this particular issue though because that might be for another thread.

I never said they were forced to group with Midwest. Rather I pointed out that it's unlikely that they would have done so. So no one can blame them for being in a weird and unstable grouping with people that are possibly less similar to them than Igbo and then claim they are doing it out of Igbo spite.

As for "anti-Igbo" politics, I simply think that that is an Edwin Clarke thing or an Ijaw-empowerment thing by a few people because I haven't seen any evidence that other groups of former Eastern minorities have voiced the kind of sentiments he had (as against Peter Odili, for example). Not trying to insult the Ijaw or make them anyone's enemy, I'm just calling it how I see it so correct me if I'm wrong on that. I really can't think of anyone else from the South South playing anti-Igbo politics or ever doing so, but once again I could be wrong.

I think they gave the Ijaws and other minorities what they had clamoured for since 1950s. I don't know why you keep avoiding this CORE ISSUE. The carving out of south south was to stop people like Edwin Clarke who accuse Ndigbo of murder when none occurred. I won't call it dumping. I would call it setting your "wife" free.
Today, they are playing national politics independent of Ndigbo. That's fine.

To use my husband/wife analogy, if you love your wife but she keeps nagging you and demeaning you in front of your neighbors, and even sleeping with some of your neighbors just to spite you; what do you do?

At a stage, you may tell her to go out and enjoy herself as much as she wants! Some people do that steadily.

The problem is that she may return after you have married a new wife.

udezue:
Rebuilding and maintaining a much stronger relationship with our SS ppl the non-Igbos of south and also the Igbo of SS should be our main priority and vice versa. It makes no sense trying and bend over backwards just to be with a set of ppl we have nothin in common with. They hate us with a deadly passion.

I totally agree with you udezue, but I have some questions and maybe you can help provide the answers:

Do you believe in your heart of hearts that Ijaw share the same feelings of joint political future with Ndigbo in Nigeria?
If we don't have a solid answer to that, we may be attempting to clap with one hand.

I would like to believe that Jonathan's letter to Ndigbo in 2006 should lay that question to rest, but still the question lingers until people like Edwin Clarke change, which may not happen in this life.

Now that I have Obiagu1 and you here, maybe I can enjoy the privillege of playing "neutral". hehehe!   at least until wolves (ufu) like ChinenyeN leaves the scene.

Obiagu1:
The SE is not going to lose at all. GEJ is there because Yaradua was imposed on us, that trend will soon end when one wins an election by actually winning the highest votes cast. I wonder who on his right mind will pick a minority as a running mate and expect to win an election.

The SS actually need the Igbos and together can be a force but their unreasonable shout of unwarranted "Igbo domination" (in the process unleashing their disdain on the Igbo) has made that near impossible. Ekwueme is not silly by refusing to support GEJ. He helped create SS, he is not supporting GEJ. Does that tell you something? ,The SS has always supported anything by the Igbos even the Igbos in the same SS how on earth do they expect me to support them

All the Igbos need to do is to rebuild the pact established with the North in the first republic and everything will be history. Let's see who will be begging for support on some issues that concern them. Now is SS time, they should live it to the fullest.

Did you mean to say "The SS has always NEVER supported anything by the Igbos even the Igbos in the same SS"?

I see your point, but there are other reasons why Ndigbo are not abandoning south south just yet. For instance, there are Igbos in south south, and some speculate that Jonathan might even be EKPEYE Igbo. So, you see that it won't be so easy to do.  Also, proximity of the two regions means that if either is to develop in a sustainable way, we must necessarily plan for both regions; eg, transportation, environmental impact (sea encroachment for instance), regional planning, etc.
Ideally, both regions should share national views. I am sure that even Ekwueme would understand these points too though it can also be argued that Igbo politicians can better protect both regions at the national stage because of Igbo population factor. I like your perspective, though we may differ.

PhysicsQED:
Maybe some do (you or Afam) , but Dede1, Ezeuche, and a host of others did not seem to know.

from a response of yours to Beaf in the "definition of Middle Belt" thread:

The first  statement in bold above means that South South was created out of realignment of Eastern minorities with Northerners out of spite for Igbos. Or is there some much more complicated interpretation of that statement I should have made?

The second statement in bold states that they are being "unreasonable" to still want to be separate (politically, etc.) from Igbos. Yet, clearly the reason the Eastern minorities are separate politically from Igbos, and not still being viewed as "Easterners" together with Igbos is because a bunch of 1990s Igbo politicians decided to dump them because of their "unreasonableness." So how could one say that their unreasonableness is the reason for their continuing a bizarre union with Edo, Urhobo, etc. rather than the "only real unifier"- the Igbo, when they would never necessarily have unified with Edo, Urhobo if not for a tactical move by Igbo politicians?

Maybe I misinterpreted this statement, and correct me if I'm wrong but this statement seems to clearly indicate a perception of the South-South union as being created by the minorities of the former Eastern region as a realignment out of stubbornness or unreasonableness, when[b] in fact that grouping was made by the "husband" that was supposedly waiting for the return of these minorities.[/b] It would seem then that if there was any chance of reunification of the entire East, it was shelved by 1990s Igbo politicians in favor of 1) dumping groups that were becoming too great a liability and 2) creating a seemingly more equitable balance of power and interests (esp. weakening the mighty North).

So when you make statements that seem to attribute the existence of the South South to Eastern minority hate of Igbos, maybe you should instead just state that the existence of the Eastern minorities as a political unit separate from Igbos is a result of that hate/contempt, not the South-South idea itself, because that was created by Igbos and it seems that the Eastern minorities never tried to unite with Midwest to form an unstable political unit.

I did a course in communication skills and I know when someone is trying to be sensational. You allude to a "dumping" of Eastern minorities by Igbos, and since you are educated enough to know what you are doing, I would not take the intents of your arguments in good fate. So, please reframe, unless you don't want to.

Yes, the Igbo wanted to bring equal voice to everyone in Nigeria both north and south. By advocating a six geopolitical zone structure for Nigeria, Igbo leaders wanted to give the eastern minorities what they have agitated for since the 50s, as well as free up northern minorities. How is that a "dumping"?

Like I argued earlier, if not for the suspicions and unfounded minority fears of Igbo domination which led to their several alliances with western and northern political enemies of the East, we would still have Eastern region today. The fact is very simple, so stop trying to confuse it.

As for their ending up with midwest minorities, well, they felt safe with them, didn't they? Did anyone force them to follow midwest? NO. All that Igbo leaders tried to do was allow them to play national politics independent of the Igbo, even though they knew that the East would lose out in such arrangement, they did so anyway.

Today, if any of them play anti-Igbo politics, the fact will stand on its own, and not supported by some red herring "Igbo domination".

Frankly, that is why some Igbo opinion is still strongly against support for Jonthan because, we don't have to.
This is national politics, and south south is free to play it, just as Ndigbo are also free to play it. The problem is that both regions may end up losing at the end.

Here is a list of quotes from the original article that nailed the points.

The minorities started asking for the creation of the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers(COR) state. Majority of the leaders of the Eastern minorities started supporting rival political parties from the North and West against the Igbo.

When the war ended, relations between the Igbo and those who fought them during the war remained suspicious. Particularly the West and the Eastern minorities probably felt that the recovery of the Igbo would affront the gains they made while the Igbo were absent from the system.

The minorities appeared to have discovered some gain in siding with the North or West to protect their new-found political space.

The South-South idea was, therefore, a deliberate gambit hatched by the Igbo intelligentsia to give the Southern minorities their own turf in order to reduce the national gang-up against the Igbo. With their own home zone, they would be able to project their own interests rather than being the cat’s paw of Igbo rivals from the North or West.

You see am? 

PhysicsQED:
Well, I posted the article to inform people about where the South South comes from and people on both sides (Igbos and so called "South-South" minorities) are having trouble accepting it because it destroys their presumptions. Until I see proof otherwise, I will have to accept as true that idealistic Igbo politicians were the prime architects of the concept of South-South UNTIL I see solid evidence otherwise.

I only suggested that this might spoil some people's day because some people seemed convinced that the South South was some sort of move by Southern minorities aimed at preventing the resurrection of a unified Eastern Nigeria or that it was some sort of move by Southern minorities in the East born out of the fracturing after the civil war and existed merely to spite Igbos. The numerous statements by several people (Dede1,Onlytruth, EzeUche, etc.) that the "South-South" idea merely exists because of hate of Igbos and/or that it came about out of attempts to weaken the power of Eastern Igbos can now end. We know that Eastern minorities would have continued to be associated more with Eastern Igbos in terms of political goals, alignment, etc than with other Southern minorities if NOT for a very idealistic and tactical proposal by 1990s Igbo politicians.


A cursory glance through all the posts on this forum would give one the idea that numerous people, not just Igbos, are completely under the impression that the South South was either created by the minorites in the East themselves as a realignment to spite the Eastern Igbos or by the rest of Nigeria as some conspiracy against Igbos after the civil war. The only poster I've ever seen acknowledge that the South South was created by Igbo politicians was a poster called Afam (an Igbo) in a thread called "Latest - South South Threatens To Secede."

Okay, now that you have finally abandoned the Middlebelt thread, we can discuss here.
You would be dishonest if you continue to say that Igbos don't know how south south came to be.
I will get you a quote that proves it, but the main point is that without continued suspicion or fear of Igbo dominance, Ndigbo (represented by Ekwueme and crew) would NOT have created south south.
That region was created to defeat that accusation and suspicion once and for all.

Ibime:
I saw this woman speaking for the first time on AIT the other day. Shame catch me. E let me know say GEJ na real village man with backward mentality.

Lol @ Ibime!

Nna wetin be your problem sef?

I'm laughing again.

All these permutations are interesting. Onwa (Ngige) no be small fish o! De guy dey popular pass any other person for iboland.

I would be very worried if I were PDP if Onwa join with Buhari. 

Becomrich}:
His talking of the 6 zones, is what is putting jonathan into problem, and they would end up impreaching him if he continue. I am telling,, as someone who has lived in the north .

You mean that is what all the pastors in Nigeria are doing. . PREACHING to Jonathan.

Becomrich}:
you, if jonathan use the 6 zone again, they would impreach jonathan. This is one of the problem jonathan is having, he is trying to force 6 zone on nigerian, while majority of nigerian do not believe in the 6 zone. And I am telling you, he is walking the thin line. They would impreach him , if he continue to use the 6 zones.

So how many zones do we have?

Let me guess . .  2 zones: Nigeria and Benin republic zones! hehehe! 

^^
I'm still wondering when you will commit suicide because Igboman cheated you.

I have a very good twine (tough rope) that can even carry a 1000 pound weight ('cos I think you must be really overweight).
This rope will get the job done.

^^

So where is the map?

PhysicsMHD:
I would have liked to think Zik was looking out for other people’s interests as well, but on further examination of the statement, I see why the author of that book (R. Sklar) claimed that opposition to the realization of the COR state by the NCNC was due to their perception of the COR state movement as being based only on anti-Igbo sentiment.

You keep contradicting yourself with more and more evidence. Notice that I had since stopped debating you on this topic because you failed to see that without Eastern Igbo support (which Obiagu1 presented as being motivated by a feeling from certain Igbo elements in the East ) the Midwest would NOT have been created because the AG was firmly against it. The NPC was in national alliance with NCNC, hence they supported it as well. I doubt they would have done so on their own knowing the effect it could have on northern minority agitations. You have to wonder why NCNC supported it. The party didn't have to.

You talked about NCNC as if only Zik determined what happened in the party. I don't believe it was so, knowing how republican Igbos can be.

Let's allow ourselves to disagree on this topic and leave this thread for Middlebelters because I think it is unfair to hijack their thread.

Becomrich}:
half of bayelsa state was in the western region.

So since when did HALF become ALL?