₦airaland Forum

McKren:
since that is what you want to talk about lets talk about it then. Ojukwu then one of the few Nigerian Oxford graduates, led a war with his father's resources. He used his resource to fight courageously for what he believed in. If 40years latter some of the things he tried to achieve are still haunting us then maybe Ojukwu was not wrong after all.

I also like to point out that, he did not engage in criminal acts like kidnapping people for ransome claiming he is fighting for freedom, he did not engage in armed robbery claiming he was fighting for freedom, he did not engage in gangsterism claiming he was fighting for freedom. He fought gallantly like a man for a course he believed in not the cowardice and gorrilla warfare seen in the delta today.

Guess what, yes the Igbos met the might of the Nigerian state but held sway for 3years. But I tell you what if the Nigerian Army decideds full scale military action against MEND, they will sort them out in 24hours like Gen Martin Luthar Agwai pointed out last week.

This country has other resources to survive so lets hear something, your criminality disguised as struggle is not popular anymore. Your game will soon be up.

I will like to know what it is that's Ojukwu's belief. While you must appreciate the fact that MEND do not have the backing of responsible people of the Niger Delta, it is on record that the whole of Ndigbo supported the cause of Ojukwu's secession. Their claims dwell majorly on the sectarian killings in the north and other inhuman treatment meted out to them. At the height of the brouhaha at the time, they carved the lands of the Delta along with their Biafran lands. That was the last straw that broke the camels back for them and incurred the wrath of their other majority ethnic groups.

Ojukwu fought galantly indeed. But he lost ''gallantly'' too.

But that's not what I'm discussing here. You can bring up that issue in the tribalism blog.

I long to see the day every other parts of this country will depend solely on their own natural gifts and talents.

While not trying to overflog issues here, I will dwell on each of the points raised by Levi.

1. An eerie and deliberately skewed policy of national development in which non-oil producing areas of the country receive federal attention and infrastructure more than the oil-producing states.

It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that the Nigerian state (herein called the majority ethnic conflagaration in Nigeria), after the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities in the Delta, decided that whatever proceed is realised from the sale of crude would be used in transforming the lives and areas of the people in the majority ethinc groups in the country, first, before any other tribe can share of the proceeds from the sale of crude oil. So, they went about exploiting and plundering the resources of the Delta people without the consent and approval of the people of the area. They armed a handful of selfish ones among the delta people and used them against their people in achieveing their objectives.

At the height of this injustice is the promulgation of Decrees that were destructive, dehumanising and completely immoral in the late 70s by the then Head of state - General Olusegun Obasanjo. He later metamorphosed into Babacratic OBJ in 1999 and never repeal those draconian laws throughout the duration of his stay as President. This is for obvious reasons: The continuos plundering of the resources of the Niger Delta people for the benefit of the majority ethnic groups.

The Igbos went to war with the Nigerian state because of crude oil deposits in the Delta. They want complete and unhindered ownership of the resources there. But their greed was met with the ''might'' of the Nigerian state. They were forced to settle the matter out of the war front.

Some advice here can drive one crazy!

.

McKren:
I guess the govs and LGA chairmen have the vision and political desire to make a difference. Yet states like Rivers and Delta with Annual Budgets more than some west african states have simply achieved nothing.

How about comparing what the Abuja FCDA earns yearly with what ALL the Local Government in the Niger Delta receives? Get the stats and feedback asap. On what grounds are you going to compare what other places in West Africa have with what obtains in the Delta? Do they have the type of resources in the Delta, so that we can compare apple for apple and draw conclusive inference or what? If they don't have anything that can earn as much wealth as obtains in the delta, then there's no basis for comparison.

See point number 5: Dishonesty and corruption at the highest level.

GNature:
How do you explain the 13% derivation fund for oil producing states ? Rivers State collects over $100 million monthly sometimes, more than any other state in Nigeria. There is also the Niger delta development commission (NDDC).

What about the remaining 87% What have the FG done with that figure? Besides, we have been told severally that the problems in the Niger Delta requires the kind of will the FG put into building and making what Abuja is today, in order for the people of the area to ''feel'' the sincerity on the part of the FG to want to develop the area. What have the FG done in that regard? - This brings to fore point number one: Deliberate and criminal neglect of the area.

All these stuff about the credibility or otherwise of Jeff Koinange's false ''video'' is just a waste of precious time. The current realities on ground in the Delta is something known to a kiddie. Even if CNN decide to stage-manage the story, how far are they from the truth? I know a lot of the Nigerian home videos people like Afam and Donzman watches actually mirror the reality on ground in many homes and societies across Nigeria.

The only thing I see that is wrong in all this is how Jeff went about it. If the story is not true, why go on air to show it? Why paint a gory picture of another African country just to garner some form of attention or whatever from your employer?! The Niger Delta people could have given him all he wants if he only asks them to show it. The militants would have willingly transport him to all the spill sites and well head locations if he had asked them to; they would have shown him all of the primitive lifestyle of the Delta people in the midst of plenty if had asked.

But that this ''story'' of his is not true is like looking in a mirror and saying you're seeing the image of someone else.

1. An eerie and deliberately skewed policy of national development in which non-oil producing areas of the country receive federal attention and infrastructure more than the oil-producing states.

2. Lack of vision and political will by the present group of political leaders to correct the roguish conduct or policies of their predecessors.

3. Lack of conscience on the part of national policy makers

4. Perverse personal attributes of the military and political leaders the nation produced in the past 47 years.

5. A high level of dishonesty and unhindered corruption at the highest level of national leadership, endless conspiracy between oil exploration companies and political leaders.

6. The predatory instincts of federal officials who are more interested in what they would receive rather than what the local communities would get from increased oil exploration activities.

Culled.

We shall discuss and analyse each of these excellent points as raised by Levi Obijiofor in this thread. And I would like Niger Deltans, and friends of the Niger Delta people (including inlaws) to contribute.

Well folks, aside from politicking on Nairaland, I'm happy I could make some people cry some. Tears of joy, fear, pity or what? Well, I wish and pray that every marriages should last till death part either of the couples. The writeup was culled, like[b] naijacutee [/b] rightly said. Not my experience.

Viga,
I have taken this stand of yours some time in the past but was fraustrated out of that way. The more I reason out to know why this country is in the current state, the more it dawned on me that some ''so called influential people'' just want things to continue like this to satisfy their selfish interests - never mind that such interests could be ethinc inclined. And like Donzman said before me, I don't think we sincerely, as a nation, want to progress as things stands. Reason?

Someone listed out one of the big reasons in his/her words: The fear of the Truth

When issues bordering on national matters are brought to the fore, the typical Nigerian (the ones that feel they are the owners of this country) fear to face the truth - even when it stares them in the face! For the records, I did not mention any tribe here. We went to Abuja for the Constitutional Debate where we felt everyone can voice out what it is that's causing grief in his/her domain. Credible as the exercise did turn out to be, the fear of the truth made the rulers of the land not to implement the outcomes of that wonderful discourse. Rather, it was thrown into the wastebin of history! When some segments of the country, who knows they have been contributing to the nations purse at the expense of their own comfort and wealth brought the attention of the rulers of the land to the marginalisation they are experiencing, they were outrightly ignored! In fact, the other segments of the country used that ''opportunity'' to spell out how they too were being marginalised by the central govt - even when they know they're contributing nothing to the national purse.

Taking a look at the current trend of event in the land, and where the ship of state is being led, I can only hope and pray that we will be one indivisible country in the next 20 years.

Ha! even Kola is back. O ma kaabo ke. Ki lo happen? Se ko si wahala? Welcome back.

As per Asari, ehn, they just have to release the man o. You know I will support my people any day - even if the man na Alhaji!

This MILITIA woman, I feel you. I say fire on. There are several posts on the niger delta problems in here that will keep your hairs straight for a while. As for me, I'm tired of discussing them. I agree with you that action not words, is what we need. We have said so much, now it's time to match words with deeds. May God help us.

For all those Married, Dating or thinking of marriage out there!!!

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly.  Again I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?  I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man!    

That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our  marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer, she had lost my heart to Dew. I did'nt love her anymore, I just pitied her! With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces.  The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger.  I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Dew so dearly.  Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I did'nt have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Dew. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing.  I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again. In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce.  She requested that in that one month we should both struggle to live a normal life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a months time and she did'nt want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me.  But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that everyday for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door every morning.  I thought she was going crazy.  Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Dew about my wife s divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully. My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed.  So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mummy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly, don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest, I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realised she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her.  For a minute I wondered what I had done to her. On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Dew about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger.  I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin,  that was the reason why I could carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit me, , she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head. Our son came in at the moment and said,  Dad, it's time to carry mum out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life.  My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly, it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I had'nt noticed that our life lacked intimacy.

I drove to office, jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind, I walked upstairs. Dew opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Dew, I do not want the divorce anymore. She looked at me, astonished. Then touched my forehead.  Do you have a fever? She said.  I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Dew, I said, I won't divorce.  My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other any more. Now I realise that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart.  Dew seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship.  It is not the   mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank, blah, blah, blah.   These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.  So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy.  Do have a real happy marriage!

Onijogbon is still talking about highest bidders. Well, if they have so much money to bid with, why can't they just go and build a brand new refinery somewhere else and leave the ones already built with our resources?

I ask this question because I think the money they are putting up there as theirs is not really there. I smell rat in the whole deal.

Hey guys, I think we should look at the writeup closely,

I see someone who's wants to employ ''academic'' means to resolve a crisis we all know is difficult to tackle ''crudely'' at the moment. Our fellow Nigerians (non-Niger Deltans - Hausa, Igbos, Yourubas and Midle Belt) feels and believe that if they ''let go'' (not that they own the oil resources or can deprive us of the ownership of the resources anyway) of the oil resources in the Delta, we, the people of the Delta will become so powerful and uncontrollable that we might decide to secede! - well, at least that's the much I know as the major excuse given by the other tribes in this country for holding what belongs to us for everybodys use. Somebody should correct me if I'm wrong.

So, lets wait and see how Umoru and Goodluck, after employing this academic means will help drive home the truth to the hearing of other tribes in this country, that the resources of the Niger Delta belongs to them and their generations yet unborn, and that the authority to ''share'' the proceeds from the sale of crude oil and other resources of the area rests with them and not some idiots at Abuja and other places.

Another JJC.

Please read up all the liks below, and when you're done, join me in the cooler.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-5553.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-21679.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-22829.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-3723.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-7415.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-4159.0.html

Big B1:
Day number: 3

I haven't heard of any successful arrest!

I bet you'll only hear of unsuccessful arrests. Lets just wait and see. Just one month, and then we shall see who we're dealing with in Umoru.

Let us pray for our country and the Yorubas, especially. They need a large dose of it at this time.

What a piece of disturbing story about our Nigerian ''leaders''.

Omo Niger Delta le mi sha. E le so gbogbo Yoruba (Ijesa, Ijebu, Isale Eko, Oyo, Ilorin - anyone to ba wun yin) Mo ma decode re fun awon ara MEND. So, e so'ra yin o. Ki se gbogbo awon to n'so Yoruba ni  awon omo Oduduwa. Awon omo MEND wa l'ara won.


LOL.

Well guys, I've got a number of stocks in some coys - Firstbank, Union Bank, UBA, OandO, Unilever, and Nigerian Brewries.

Aside from the bank stocks, I think something strange is happening at OandO. Ayala, do you know if the folks at OandO are planning to do something big? I've tied my money (a good fortune at that) for some 3 years now, and I think, I'm not getting any good dividends. Their share price drive me crazy everyday, and I'm thinking I should not have purchased those shares when they came out with their yeye public offers a couple of years back. Is that company one of OBJ's firms or what? I've got myself to blame for not looking before leaping.

The banks shares are doing perfectly well. I've got shares in Firstbank that are in the tens of thousands range. And I bought them cheap that time (N15:00 or something less - from the secondary market) You can't believe how happy I get whenever I look up their share prices everyday on the stock market report. I'm tempted to sell some off. But I won't. I'll buy more and with this IPO, I'm going to triple my stock base with them.

Unilever, well, I guess with the crisis that rocked them sometime last year, they'll take sometime to pick up again.


There's no reason on earth for not buying shares; big or small.

Looks like I've missed out on this one. But I'll still try and chip in something.

All of the Godforsaken people of the Northern and Western part of this country should cower their heads in shame. I will come back to deal with all you lot who turned this greatly blessed country into a greatly impoverished one! Lousy lazy lot!,

oshkosh:
Hmm,  so now they should be condemned for supporting a party of their choice? This is politics everywhere in the world. In the UK, business leaders in the city of London are waiting, hedging to figure out which party policy would promote their interest (bottomline, profits) before pledging support. This is capitalism at play and Dangote/Otedola should not be crucified for exercising their civil right in participating in our democracy.

Well, because that's what is obtainable in some ''Capitalist'' economy like the UK, why in the world should we tow their pattern of governance? Can't we fashion out a governance model that's totally ours and it's fit for purpose? Must we borrow everywhere everything we need from abroad?

oshkosh:
Lakshmi Mittal, the richest man in England and a major supporter of the ruling Labour party has donated £2 million pounds to the party. He has, and continues to enjoy goverment support in the acquisition of assets, locally and abroad.  And this is in a developed economy where there are few, if any, companies left to privatize.

Truth is that one can easily trace the history of people like Mittal Lakshmi. We can see where he's coming from and can beat our chest that he acquired all he has in a very transparent way. The Brits won't let him go very far if he has his hands soiled at any point in the process of acquiring anything anywhere - including evading taxes.

oshkosh:
Yes, I'm happy, because I see these little steps as steps in the right direction. As progress in a nation where nothing works. We've had Nitel, NEPA, NPA etc in a comatose state for decades and I certainly won't loose sleep over private hands bringing them back to life for the benefit of our nation.

I think the problem we all should be battling with is that of leadership at all levels. When theses parastatals were established, government had very noble objectives for setting them up. They were up and running until the military came to power. Now that the military have left the scene, whey can't we just allow these things to go back to how they used to run? I think the answer ain't that far from us. The present crop of leaders in the country are the most corrupt we have ever seen (or probably would see) in the history of this country.

If the private hands that are angling to buy over these parastatals were clean hands, no one (including myself) would loose sleep on how this is done. But here, we have bootlickers, goons, party loyalists in a corrupt and worm infested party called FeeDeeFee calling the shots. Where is that Irene Chigbue woman of the privattisation board? How is it that the woman was not empowered to make the process of privatisation transparent? Why can't we do things right in this country? Where did all these bidders for the PHC refinery get their wealth from? How is it they are so rich stupendously, compared to the average Nigerian? Many questions that need to be answered.

oshkosh:
BTW, was'nt the bid by Dangote, Rivers state, Otedola and Transcorp the highest tabled for PH refinery? Or it should it be handed to the second highest bidder because Dangote and Otedola are buddies of the ruling party?

The mere fact that the People Deceiving People party is not popular with the people of the country is enough to discourage any investor from associating with the occultic party. Why would Otedola, Dangote associate with this party? To satisfy their selfish thirst for stealing peoples property, of course.

oshkosh:
If we allow sentiments  to overcome our judgement, our future as a nation will be imperiled and no different from our past. If the refinery had been sold to an Indian consortium for $300 million instead of the $561 paid by Bluestar group,  I'm sure it would not have been a problem to many.

At this point in the history of this country, I don't think we have any future to talk about until the burning issues of nationhood is critically addressed at a roundtable by the true representative of our people in all spheres of life.

oshkosh:
Our progress as a nation is slow, but I choose to acknowledge these developments as a welcome departure from the inactivity, lethargy and ineffectiveness of the past.

I'll rather we don't ''progress'' at all than have all these crooks feasting on our heritage.

Thanks docokwy. Enuf said. This takes me back to what Oshkosh said about us accepting the fraudulent sale of the refinery. Well, in the light of the above, we now know those who wants to take over the refinery. And we can all see where the likes of Aliko Dangote, Otedola, Odili and others stand.

This why, as bad and evil as they may seem, I support the MEND guys sometimes. I think we need them around until somebody somewhere restore sanity to the system.

My dear, the ''thing'' be say, militants dey everywhere for this country - they come in different shades (Political militants, Attorney militants, bootlicker militants, Godfather militants, Loyalty militants etc etc).

You see, names like Niger Delta militants is a euphemism for freedom fighters in the Niger delta. Ain't nothing wrong with having a handful of such peeps to wreack havoc on lunatics and cursed thieves milking their lands dry, or what do you think?

It only goes a long way to prove to the rest of the people of this damned country that their perception of the average Niger Deltan is warped. The Niger Delta people are just the type of people you'll see any other place in the world.

And to think these two peeps are from the Niger Delta - The Core Niger Delta states of Delta and Bayelsa. Folks I'm clapping at the roof top for my people. I will vote 50:50 for them.

[quote author=Iyke-D link=topic=55098.msg1139192#msg1139192 date=1179961245]Finally, the fact that Rivers State government also got a piece of the refinery as part of the consortium
has been conveniently left out or ignored so as to make the story "juicer", we are a funny people
indeed.[/quote]I'll like to see where this was clearly stated (media or otherwise).

Nigerians are indeed the ''Happiest People on Earth''. And I think the likes of Oshkosh are at the fore front of those who love living ''happily'' and being in the midst of ''happy people''.

Because Dangote ''acquired'' the FG stake in the PHC refinery, we (as the unhappy lot in this cursed country) should swallow the news hook, line and sinker. We should not criticise the acquisition objectively and in the light of what we know and see around us. Well, you guys can count me out of the happy folks in this country, because, the way I see it, we're being robbed daily by people whom we think have the interest of us all at heart, in broad daylight.

For me sha, I have stopped contributing to talks on the ND (at least for now). But for the benefit of many of you new joiners - especially Onijogbon, take a little time out and read the below links.


https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-5553.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-21679.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-22829.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-3723.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-7415.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-4159.0.html

and a host of others. When you get tired of reading, come and join me in the cooler.

Could you please shed more light? We need facts and figures to ''live'' with your assertion.

Nice pics. Hmn.

Well, Oriki has done justice to the thread already. Need I say more?