₦airaland Forum

Katsumoto:
Were you not born of a woman? The man has said several times that his father is Igbo.

Suddenly a mad dog has a "mother". Mothers are for humans. Dog "mothers" are b11thces. Some rogue Igbo dude lowered himself to mate another specie, and the strange offspring is here harassing innocent folks.

I've warned my Igbo brothers several times about untamed third legs, but some of them won't listen.

Igbo boys, please keep your third legs in the house!

Some of your wild progenies are spreading rabies in town.

The moment you mate a dog, you become one too. Take one look at bk/babe97 and be warned.  

To-chi:
@ezeagu,

It is indeed a shame to know that some of the different groups of people that was forced into that contraption pretend not to see that the very ''contraceptive'' into which they were boxed does not and will never allow for the free flow of growth and development to permeate into that contraption called Nigeria. Haba after 48 years, we are still discussing food, shelter and clothing issues.

He who have ears let him hear.

LoL!

I love this my brother To_chi to the bones. What a refreshing mind.
In the protracted mass hypnosis and delusion that is Nigeria, this guy comes across quite refreshing. 

48 years is not enough for Nigerians, they want another 50 years!

Key word is ENTRAPPED NATIONALITIES

[size=14pt]1999 Constitution misleading – Kanu, Akinrinde[/size]

As the National Assembly amends the 1999 constitution, Rear Admiral Ndubisi Kanu (rtd) and Gen. Alani Akinrinde (rtd) have said that Nigeria’s problems cannot only be met by electoral reforms, elections, amendments, war against corruption, amnesty for Niger-Delta nationalists/freedom fighters and emergency votes on electricity.

The duo, as Chairman and Deputy, respectively, of Change Nigeria, CN, said “the problems are rooted firmly in a unitary constitution deceitfully called federal”.

They said, yesterday, that any attempt to conduct the 2011 general elections, with the 1999 constitution will spell doom for the country and that the only way forward was to use a constitution agreed to by all the ethnic nationalities in the country.

They said the country should “to return to its original federal structure without further delay.” They rejected the conduct of any further elections on the basis of the 1999 constitution, as this can only prolong the frustrations of the people of Nigeria and “probably drive us faster to an implosion.”

Battle for Nigeria’s soul

They also identified three camps rooting for the soul of the country, which include “the ruling party, whose sole concern is how best to retain power for ever, never mind the pursuits of the reform forum or the mouthing and animated distractions about zoning/rotation; vociferous alliance of some opposition interests/civil society, whose driving concern is how to take over power or grab a large chunk of the political space, with no verifiable plan to be different from those they seek to supplant.

“The third are Western powers with business interests in Nigeria, whose primary concern is ‘stability’ that guarantees an uninterrupted flow of oil, no matter what happens to the peoples of the country.”

But the group said events in the last six months have brought to the fore the faults threatening Nigeria’s foundation, which they blamed on the 1999 constitution.

Anti-Nigeria forces

They noted that the United States of America had warned about Nigeria’s breakup in 2015, Muammar Gaddaffi advised that Nigeria break up along ethnic/geographical lines, presence of MEND, MASSOB, OPC, MOSOP and calls for a sovereign national conference, adding that already, Nigeria is ranked world’s 12 most unstable countries.

They also said that Anthony Enahoro, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Wole Soyinka, Bankole Oki, Bolanle Gbonigi, supported by Asari-Dokubo, Ralph Uwazuruike, and Yerima Shettima are at the Federal High Court in Abuja and Lagos, asserting that the 1999 constitution is a fraud that must be terminated forthwith. They also reminded that Governor Fashola of Lagos State is asking a Yoruba Solemn Assembly about their position on the country.

Accordng to CN, “all stakeholders, including governments should be courageous enough to do like the Government of South Africa did under Fredrick De Clerk, when it took steps to dismantle the apartheid order by convening a sovereign meeting, which worked out a fresh constitution. “The alternative is the escalation of ongoing unilateral actions by the nationalities to throw off the illegitimate suzerainty of the Nigerian country over their suppressed sovereignties/territories in exercise of their inalienable rights to self-determination as defined by the United Nations in September of 2007.

“The entrapped nationalities should expedite actions to generate their respective constitutions in formations they deem fit in readiness for the inevitable sovereign meeting at which those constitutions will be federated by the cession of certain powers from which a federal constitution shall be derived while the units retain all other powers residually.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/05/20/1999-constitution-misleading-kanu-akinrinde/

Biafra is not about inferiority or superiority of one human over another. That mindset is almost the opposite of what Biafra stands for. Our detractors and permanent liars are hell bent on slapping that tag on us to deviate from the truth. Biafra is about socio-political and cultural homogeneity of peoples to form a single nation. Peoples of different socio-political values have no business forming one nation.
Even some of those who fought against Biafra are now calling for setting up of congruous entities out of the conundrum and quagmire that is Nigeria.
However, I cannot help those who still feel inferior to a Biafran nation. Na dia problem be dat!

ChinenyeN:
SEFAGO, you're doing exactly what I urged Oyinda to not do; reading too much into what I wrote. Let me state it simply for you. The desire for Biafra (or whatever other sovereign state) is a mainly a matter of socio-politics. It has nothing to do with a group of people being better and/or brighter. Neither does it have anything to do with being intrinsically more successful. It is as simple as I stated it; no hidden messages and no insinuations. So please, do try to not read more into my posts than I write. I like to state things as simply as I interpret them.

LOL!

The idiot is incapable of simple comprehension. Things must be complicated for him to understand -much like Nigeria. Nothing is simple in Nigeria; that is why simple electric supply has become the most complicated topic in Nigeria, stuff far less endowed countries have taken for granted for many years.

Believe me, this SEFAGO character represents most things wrong with Nigeria. "Intelligent idiots" in positions of authority.
Guess who is the most trustworthy governor in Nigeria today? He is a guy whose name is simply Peter Obi.
No "Chief", Dr, Engr, Arc, Alhaji or General, SAN, . . . just Peter Obi. My kind of leadership. My kind of values. My kind of nation.

Federal government owns MMA in Lagos and Abuja airports. Imo state government built the Owerri airport.

Not to start repeating stuff.

When we have that airport (it is really inevitable) we shall see which airports in other places still survives.

Stop all these tricks. It can't work for ever.

Gimme an INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN THE EAST.
QED.

Anyway, we need a REAL international airport in the East.
Let me say what most people already know, any such airport in the East will be viable. Worst case scenario, it would deflate Lagos and Abuja airports, but how is that my business?
Place a fully functional international airport in Enugu or Asaba, or even Calabar and Uyo.
Stop fearing the inevitable.

Onlytruth lands with a big thud!

Scares away a couple of ofemmanus and chuckles wryly.

udezue:
So moving. http:///biafra_national_anthem.htm

BIAFRA NATIONAL ANTHEM
Land of the Rising Sun

Land of the rising sun, we love and cherish,
Beloved homeland of our brave heroes;
We must defend our lives or we shall perish,
We shall protect our hearts from all our foes;
But if the price is death for all we hold dear,
Then let us die without a shred of fear.

Hail to Biafra, consecrated nation,
Oh fatherland, this be our solemn pledge:
Defending thee shall be a dedication,
Spilling our blood we’ll count a privilege;
The waving standard which emboldens the free
Shall always be our flag of liberty.

We shall emerge triumphant from this ordeal,
And through the crucible unscathed we’ll pass;
When we are poised the wounds of battle to heal,
We shall remember those who died in mass;
Then shall our trumpets peal the glorious song
Of victory we scored o’er might and wrong.

Oh God, protect us from the hidden pitfall,
Guide all our movements lest we go astray;
Give us the strength to heed the humanist call:
‘To give and not to count the cost" each day;
Bless those who rule to serve with resoluteness,
To make this clime a land of righteousness.

There is something mystical and original about this Biafran anthem that basically connects with me as an Easterner. I've never really done this before, but I actually sang the anthem using the tune "the Finlandia" -Land of the rising sun we love and cherish.
Watch this white guy sing it, and try it.
It is by far more original and meaningful than the Nigerian anthem can ever be.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaoX8OWjYIM

Ndigbo, please think carefully.

This is really about our survival as a people.

If none of the PDP candidates can deliver those for us, we must NOT vote for PDP.

In fact, I say we vote for APGA ONLY and then negotiate at the center with our block votes using representatives who actually represent us, instead of thieves who are in the pockets of our oppressors in Nigeria.

Next year is crucial. I say we vote APGA ONLY.

And woe betide them if they try to rig again.

So, as I was saying before a band of  trained liars tried to derail me, how can anyone in his right senses marginalize the most enterprising and business minded Nigerians and expect the country to remain intact?

How can there be an international airport in Yorubaland and Hausaland but none in Igboland?

Am I not entitled to support any presidential candidate who can deliver that and other things to my people?

Ndigbo, please think carefully.

This is really about our survival as a people.

If none of the PDP candidates can deliver those for us, we must NOT vote for PDP.

In fact, I say we vote for APGA ONLY and then negotiate at the center with our block votes using representatives who actually represent us, instead of thieves who are in the pockets of our oppressors in Nigeria.

Next year is crucial. I say we vote APGA ONLY.

And woe betide them if they try to rig again.

Kobojunkie:
Interesting!! So now, connection flights are a NO NO and reason why Iboland cannot develop even with the international Airport? So, let me get this right. Having 3 or 4 connection flights have not stopped these same businessmen on their flights to Nigeria. Heck, it has not stopped people from flying across America, and out of America to European or African destinations but it is the STUMBLING BLOCK for development in Iboland? Chai!!!
ROFLMAO!!!!

Ewoooo!!!! 

Tinapa is now being UNDERMINED by the non-existence of a ‘TRUE’ international airport? Do you know what Tinapa is? Have you been to the place to see what could really be upsetting the project? Do you know how many international firms were in Tinapa in the beginning and have had to pull out since then for reasons definitely not ‘true’ international airport related?  Most all of the businesses down there are waiting to connect with your enterprising lot yet barely anyone shows up to take advantage of the few international businesses left there yet you are bold enough to claim that an airport,  wait, a ‘true’ international airport is reason why Tinapa is currently not being explored by Ibolands many businesses?

KAI!! Nigerians! Well, Can you suggest you go back to business school, if you already been there to learn why businesses are set up where they are. You have an UNDERUSED international airport in Calabar, a BARELY used airport in Owerri, and a $3 Billion dollar airport in Akwa Ibom which is now operational, and a free trade zone in the same area and you feel spending billions more is what will solve the problems of the people?
I am the dishonest one here? ROFLMAO!!! Dude, you are unbelievable!!!

No, no need to reduce yourself to another certified nairaland im-becile now, keep the _irrationals excuses coming! ROFLMAO!!

Look here you hermaphrodite goat, I'm tired of your idiotic lies.
I know you are a paid agent of lies, but try to be believable sometimes.

Ignored forthwith.


To the rest of readers interested in facts:

If Yorubaland and Hausaland both have international airports, why is one denied Igboland?

Why can't I land directly from Europe and America into Igboland? Why must I land in Lagos or Abuja, and then risk local flights or armed robbers on the road to get to Igboland?

Katsumoto:
I get you, I just don't have to agree with you. Your them against us mentality will work against your aspirations. The best business deal is the one in which all parties walk away happy. You can either try to work with others in the realisation of a common goal or you continue to blow hot air without actualising anything. You continue to pontificate that Obasanjo, IBB, Abacha enriching themselves is equal to Westerners and Northerners being wealthy. As Igbo people are being marginalised, are Yoruba, Ijaw, Hausa, Tiv, etc people not being marginalised?

Which rational person does not want his father's land to be developed? As you agitate for development, I join in that agitation but not just for the East but for the whole of Nigeria. What is the point of being a Nigerian and not being able to visit other parts of Nigeria (I am referring to incidents of accidents in both Road and Air travel). I haven't been to the East since my secondary school days to see old friends because of safety concerns.
It is also for the benefit of Lagosians that International airports exist in other parts of Nigeria. I doubt New Yorkers would be happy if JFK was the only airport on the East coast.

You don't understand me my friend. It's okay to occasionally accept that someone might be operating at a slightly higher plane than you. We are not all created equal.

You advise me to work with others to achieve my aims, but when I take my position on presidential candidates for next year, you become befuddled again.

You are a very dishonest person because your claims (by implication) that all parts of Nigeria is "equally marginalized" is a big fat lie. It is like saying that all sicknesses are the same -malaria, headache, cancer, AIDS etc. Okay suffer from AIDS na?  Since all of them are diseases.

I've asked you before, if you a Yoruba can live in Yorubaland, why not me an Igbo living in Igboland You went about talking things you cannot possibly understand.

You admitted that you are afraid of traveling to the east because of safety concerns, so why is that? I thought you said all parts of Nigeria are equally marginalized. I know you'd come up with other explanations as to why Igboland is unsafe, I'll give you the simplest and most honest explanation: it is an economically and logistically strangulated region. Now try your numerous lies again.

@kobojunkie

Dude or babe or whatever , I'm starting to lose my cool with you again. Why can't you just say the simple truth?
So, you expect a businessman or woman who flies to Japan, China, India, USA, and Europe and Dubai to use Calabar, and then connect many times through un-safe and hostile African countries to accomplish something he can do cheaper and directly by using Lagos or Abjua or even Kano airports?

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN TRUTH AT ALL?

Na wa o for this character.

I'm sure you've never heard that Tinapa is being gradually undermined because of lack of a true international airport.
Personally, I would fly into Calabar anytime I won't have to land in a silly African airport where they steal my luggage or a rickety aeroplane throws me into the Atlantic or bushy mountains all over Africa.

Answer my question: What is wrong about having a truly international airport in Igboland, when there is one in Yorubaland and Hausaland?

I can't fight for Calabar because I could be misunderstood. My people say that "a native doctor that claims a cure for cholera must first demonstrate a cure for himself first, else others would be suspicious of his true intentions."

If you continue in this your line of open dishonesty, I would start abusing you soon.
Meanwhile answer my question first.

Kobojunkie:
@Onlytruth, Only last year, you whined that because no Ibo has been made president in Nigeria, Ibo land cannot be expected by anyone to develop more than it has and so is  reason why life remains unchanged in most areas for decades. Now you have a president, how is Ibo land doing? Let me guess, Jonathan should not be considered an Ibo man? Not until all offices in Nigeria are occupied by Ibos will Ibo land be expected to wake up? Um . . . Jonathan is not good enough because you suspect he might have non-ibo blood in him? Which excuse we go get for this one?

You complain today of not being able to fly out of Ibo land, yet you have actually had a functioning international airport in calabar for at least 5 years now. Thousands of people have flown, and continue to fly directly from Atlanta to Calabar and out for years now. So is it the case that Calabar is not part of Ibo land now? You need the airport to be right in your own backyard to stop you from whining. People who speak Ibo are not allowed to fly out of Calabar? Which is it this time?

Lagos has had an international airport for decades yet it is one of the biggest slums in the world. Are the only developed towns/cities in the world cities that have an international airport of some sort? 

When does the whine-fest end and you start urging Ibos to take initiative? When do you start actually CARING about the lives of people, poor and impoverished in Iboland to start looking in to understand why it is wrong for the governments there to continue stealing from the people?

I doubt that I ever said that an Igbo president is the panacea to the ills of Igboland as a marginalized area in Nigeria. I remember saying that anyone who can normalize Igboland as a part of Nigeria, gets my votes. As for Goodluck Jonathan, my gradual withdrawal of support for him is because he has increasingly deployed stratagems designed and packaged by Obasanjo. I would extend the same treatment to even my blood brother because I believe that Obasanjo is out to cheat my people.
As for the Calabar airport, I give thanks to[b] FACE[/b] for his curt and credible answer. I love Calabar, so no shaking. When they let it operate as a true international airport, I would fly directly into it.
My last experience at the Port Harcourt airport was awful.
My other argument is that if other two major tribes (Igbo peers in Nigeria -Yoruba and Hausa) have international airports in their lands, why not Igbo? What is wrong about having an international airport in Igboland?
For the umpteenth time (not that kobojunkie is interested in truth ), having an international airport in Igboland would enable enterprising Igbos like myself to create big businesses in the east and employ people which would decrease emigration from Igboland.

I don't for once buy the myth that Igboland is overcrowded or too dense. That is one of the biggest lies of Nigeria.
If you don't stop marginalizing Igbo in Nigeria, the country won't last long. Period.

EzeUche:
^^^^^

Igboland is too densely populated. The South-South should be made for living space for us Igbos. If we had our own nation, it would only be a matter of time when all these minority languages would die out.

Nna EzeUche [/b]na wa for you o!

Which kain yarn be dat?

[b]tpia was right to ask whether you are Igbo. I'm truly alarmed by your comment.

I have not seen an Igbo with those types of views.

Katsumoto:
Talk is cheap

I guess you can never understand me then.
Now I can see why you are puzzled by my posts.  Why am I agitated then?
Frankly I shouldn't have a problem then if I was lying.
Your problem is that you are too crooked in the head to imagine a man truly unhappy about his marginalized and oppressed status in the land of his birth.

Ol boy, if you a Yoruba can live in Yorubaland, why can't I live in Igboland? I will give you one reason: you have international transportation access in your land, I DON'T. I Was NOT born outside Igboland.
For your information, I obtained primary, secondary and tertiary education in Igboland.

Like I keep saying, you don't have to understand me if you can't.

ezeagu:
Not targeting anyone in particular but many Igbo kids out of Igboland are confused. Either they aren't bothered about their identity (if they even know what 'Igbo' is) or they are really fanatic about it. There's also the rare case of people who have a grudge with their father (if they have one) and then take it out on all their people. . . . .

My experience is that kids living in or have lived in Igboland have a better 'balanced' attitude. This clannish attitude is gradually fading out with the younger generation, although there's still regional identity, that is emphasis on 'I am an Igbo of Owerre' even if you're from Illah, instead of 'I am an Owerre Igbo' even if you've never seen Owerre, e.g Jay jay Okocha is an Igbo from Enugu even though his family is actually 'Anioma'. The biggest hurdle for Igbo people is the Anambra versus everyone else problem. After this it will be a full fledged 5 star (well soon) unified nation.

Linking back the general theme of the thread, it is the lack of acknowledgment of each other that has held the Igbo back, not the lack of a king. As someone had suggested, I think the parliament idea was the best option for leadership. Still this does not mean people shouldn't concentrate on bettering their own community. Regional identity may change but will never go away.

The fact of the matter remains that all this talk is unnecessary if all of you successful people are going to ignore your villages for Abuja and Lagos, that is if you'll ever go back to Nigeria at all. I'm not saying don't live in those places or you must live in the village, but if you don't do your best to make some kind of mark on your place what's the point of all this talk?

Great point.
As far as I am concerned, one of my biggest grouse with Nigeria is the fact that Igboland is deliberately denied an international airport (I hope that changes soon with Enugu and Asaba). You cannot blame most Igbo for living outside Igboland until there is at least an International airport and maybe a seaport (though Warri or Port Harcourt could do too if they are upgraded).
Personally, I would choose to live in Igboland above anywhere else in the world. I just don't have a choice for now. Which is why I am here campaigning.

EzeUche:
It would seem that Nigeria is about to move back to regional parties. If all this news is true, then we are starting to see the first steps of Regional parties springing up again. PDP is making a lot of people angry especially among the elite of the north and many people of the southeast. And we know how AC is spreading throughout the Southwest so this may be an interesting election. I actually believe regional parties are beneficial for Nigeria.

Smart observation.

In fact the regional parties make more sense than all these lies at the center. That way, people can be true to their values.

I know for sure that most Igbo wants to pull together than pull apart. It is a no brainer. We can "unwind" if Nigeria changes or if we separate from Nigeria. For now, "Igwe bu ike". Simple enough.

I don't respond to morons

If Jonathan doesn't RUN AWAY from Obasanjo, he is doomed with him next year. Even if my brother runs with Obasanjo being his puppeteer, I won't support him or vote for him. Obasanjo is marked down and his clock is ticking.
I won't want to go down with a sinking ship.
I know Nigeria and I know where the power is.

ndu_chucks:
@Onlytruth,

(1)Kindly itemize what MASSOB represents
(2)Are you a member of this organization
(3)Have you donated money to their cause(s) or do you even know how/where to donate money to the organization or
(4)Are you simply an internet warrior who will only kill the fly which is trying to enter his cup of coffee, while you are firing missiles and bombs through your computer keyboard?
(5)What are the specific crimes that their leader has been accused of and why is he in jail?

Dalu o.

Imagine these type of crazy questions. You think MASSOB is about any individual?
You think I am a financial member? I honestly wish I can be a member of this organization.
EVERY IGBO or EASTERNER is a member of MASSOB one way or the other. They may not know it, until the are affected by the situation. I am only acknowledging the inevitability of our fate as Easterners or Biafrans.

Kobojunkie:
ROFLMAO!!!! Ok, @Onlytruth, over to you. Someone here is calling your dear Jonathan Obasanjo's boy-boy. So, what is new?? ROFLMAO!!!

This obsession with Obasanjo is so out of hand . . . if the man removes himself from the picture, some folks will not have much else to live for or even say. ROFLMAO!!

The guy articulated my earlier position very well. My problem with Jonathan is that he is allowing himself to be Obasanjos "boy boy". That is the point of this thread. If Jonathan drops Obasanjo tomorrow and tows the path of REAL moral rectitude, I would support him.

Kobojunkie:
The story is not the problem, your assertions here are. You claim he is doing it to, wait for it, VICTIMIZE ibos ( your favourite card there), yet, we know that the president is, yes, an ibo man, and the Governors who supported the move are behind, guess who, the president, so why do you blame Obasanjo for Vincent Ogbulafor's resignation?

Not to argue with you, but anyone working with Obasanjo cannot get my support. Andy Uba, Achike Udenwa, and all others working with Obasanjo had only terrible plans for their people. So, the sooner the president distances from Obasanjo the better for him. And time is running out.

^^

Here you go again refusing to even read the story. Did you even read this story at all? Why is Obasanjo insisting on a fellow with dent? Why is he afraid of a more decent fellow like Nnamani? What is he planning this time?
Oh I know! He is planning to plant his STOOGE as the party chairman so he can continue to pull the strings from behind the scene. It looks as if Nigeria cannot move forward with Obasanjo.

South East must rally round APGA. We have nothing to do with PDP. It will soon deflate. We should vote for the APGA Presidential candidate next year. The APGA candidate may not win, but at least we shouldn't vote for anyone working with Obasanjo.

North Plans to dump PDP

•North set to dump PDP
•Jonathan’s pact with governors
•Crisis deepens over Ogbulafor’s successor

As the reality of President Goodluck Jonathan’s ambition to contest the 2011 race increasingly dawns on Nigerians, politicians of northern extraction are getting set to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for an alternative platform.

The move regarded as a Plan B is aimed at stopping Jonathan’s ambition to join the race and to ensure that a northerner irrespective of party affiliation wins the next presidential election.

The development came amid fears that Jonathan is not likely to conduct a credible election because of his vested interest in the forthcoming poll.
A top member of the PDP told Sunday Sun that power brokers of different parties in the North are already meeting secretly to fine-tune strategies toward achieving the objective. According to him, the party that might be the rallying point of the politicians is the National Democratic Party (NDP).

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/may/16/national-16-05-2010-001.htm

I was very angry with Senator Nnamani for his role in removing Ogbulafor. How can some of our people (even the high ranking ones) be so naive? He has removed Ogbulafor, now Obasanjo will ensure he remains irrelevant in PDP. Did he think that the ape of ota has forgotten his lead role against his third term plots?

I have always maintained that the removal of Vincent Ogbulafor has nothing to do with fighting corruption. It has everything to do with Obasanjos continued war against Ndigbo and others who stood in his way against his third term plots.
Now he is openly playing his games.

If Jonathan doesn't distance himself from Obasanjo, he will lose next year. This is a war he and Obasanjo cannot win.

PDP Chair: Obasanjo, S’East Governors on collision course

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and governors of the South East elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party are set on a collision course over the choice of the successor to the outgoing National Chairman of the party, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor.

SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that the three PDP governors in the South-East – (Ikedim Ohakim (Imo); Sullivan Chime (Enugu ) and Martin Elechi (Ebonyi) have unanimously rejected the preferred candidate of Obasanjo as successor of Ogbulafor, who resigned his position on Wednesday.

Ogbulafor‘s resignation climaxed the intrigues thrown up by his trial for corruption.

The governors elected on the platform of the ruling party had on Wednesday agreed to withdraw their support for Ogbulafor, who was accused of corruptly enriching himself when he was serving as Minister of Special Duties in the Obasanjo administration.

It was learnt that President Goodluck Jonathan sealed the fate of Ogbulafor at a meeting with the governors in Abuja on Wednesday. Jonathan was said to have asked the governors, especially his South-East kinsmen to persuade the embattled party leader to throw in the towel on moral ground.

Consequently, the exit of Ogbulafor has thrown up succession crisis in the South-East, which is expected to produce his successor in line with the zoning arrangement of the ruling party.

Although the governors were reported to have settled for a former Governor of Enugu State and former National Secretary of the Party, Chief Okwesiliese Nwodo, SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that Obasanjo insisted that a former National Auditor and acting National Secretary of the party, Chief Benard Eze, who is one of his acolytes in the South-East, must succeed Ogbulafor.

Investigation by our correspondent showed that Obasanjo was vehemently opposed to Nwodo, whom he sacked along with former National Chairman of the party, Chief Barnabas Gemade, when he held sway at Aso-Rock.

Already, Obasanjo and the governors, it was further learnt, were jostling for the backing of Jonathan in the battle for the leadership of the party.

A source in the Presidency told SUNDAY PUNCH on Friday that Obasanjo and the governors had met separately with Jonathan on the contentious issue before he travelled to Rivers State, on a two-day official visit to the oil-rich state.

The source said Jonathan advised the combatants to sheathe their swords until he returned to Abuja on Friday.

The source added, ”The exit of Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, as the National Chairman of PDP has led to succession crisis in the South-East of the country.

“In line with the existing arrangement, the position of national chairman was zoned to the South-East. It is clear that President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the national leader of the party, has also given a nod to the arrangement.

“But former President Olusegun Obasanjo is challenging the governors of the PDP in the zone, namely Ikedim Ohakim of Imo State; Sullivan Chime of Enugu State and Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State, on the choice of the new national chairman from the zone.

“Former President Obasanjo is insisting that his boy, who is a former national officer of the party, Benard Eze, should emerge as the new national chairman of the party at all costs. Former President Obasanjo, who is still basking in the euphoria that his political son (Jonathan) has taken charge of the Presidential Villa, is eager to take over the structure of the party.

“The former President is obviously enjoying the limelight that the new political dispensation had offered him and he is desperate to install Benard Eze to show that he is fully back into reckoning. But the PDP governors in the zone have vowed that Benard Eze, would only clinch the position over their dead bodies.

“The governors are backing a former Governor of Enugu State and a former National Secretary of the party, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, to take over the leadership of the party. The former President (Obasanjo) and the governors are mounting pressures on President Goodluck Jonathan, to do their biddings.

“They have met the President (Jonathan) and he asked them to wait until he returned from Rivers State, for amicable resolution of the impasse. But the former President believed that his relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan may help to push Benard Eze through,” added the source, who pleaded that his name should not be mentioned in print.

Meanwhile, the source also said the rating of two former Senate Presidents, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim and Chief Ken Nnamani, before Jonathan by Obasanjo nailed the former lawmakers and sealed their consideration for the coveted party position by the President.

SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that Obasanjo convinced Jonathan, who initially considered one of the former senate presidents that he would be committing a political suicide by allowing either of them to emerge as the helmsman of the party.

It was learnt that Obasanjo persuaded Jonathan, that either of them would become uncontrollable as head of the National Working Committee of the party.

The source added that Obasanjo reminded the President about the ”uncompromising and uncooperative posture” of the duo as senate presidents during his administration.

Obasanjo was said to have told Jonathan that Nnamani in particular scuttled his third term aspiration.

The source added, ”The hopes by former Senate Presidents Anyim Pius Anyim and Ken Nnamani, to emerge as new National Chairman of the PDP were sealed by a damning report on them by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

”The report which was presented to President Goodluck Jonathan allegedly projected them as disloyal personalities, who could not be trusted with such sensitive position. Former President convinced the incumbent President that Anyim and Nnamani, would assume full power as national chairman of the party.

”He (Obasanjo) reminded the President (Jonathan) about how Chief Ken Nnamani, scuttled his aspiration for third-term and the originality of Chief Anyim Pius Anyim as senate president. His report apparently discouraged the President from considering either of them as successor to the outgoing national chairman.”

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201005164214834

udezue:
Onlytruth,This issue also exisrfs among the Akwaibom and Cross Rivers people hence since the passing of Efiong its been hard pinpoint any1 leader that can speak for them. It makes no sense how people call the Ibibio, Oron, Annang, Efik, Ekoi, etc called ethnic groups when the differences btwn them are just dialects. The loss of Bakassi is a good example of what happens when people can't speak with 1 voice bcoz they lack cenral leadership. The Efiks were left alone to fight that battle when it should have concerned all of them.

Thank you for that example. I know that there is no way in hell a "Biafra" would have lost Bakassi or even a single football match to Cameroun. The funny thing is that of all Nigerian groups, the Camerounians fear the "Biafrans" most.
Anything that has to do with a "Le Biafrain" is handled with caution by Cameroun. Note that Eastern football clubs like former Iwuanyanwu (Current Heartlands) and Enyimba, never lost matches to Camerounian teams. Nigerian Super eagles has a humble record with the indomitable lions of Cameroun.
I pity my Efik folks for Bakassi. 250,000 people thrown under the bus by an unscrupulous nation.