Omoawoke: Do you know you don’t have sense. No be insult.
The countries you listed as top 10 poorest, most of them are landlocked. And yes, Lesotho is among the poorest countries in Africa. They are economically and politically dependent on South Africa. South Africa can wake up tomorrow and decide to cut off Lesotho from the world. I am happy you are comparing your southeast to countries like Lesotho and Chad
I usually have a problem when I’m talking with someone and instead of sticking to facts he degenerates into emotional tantrums and vituperations.
All the claims you’ve made before, I disproved them with facts. Now, if you are reasonable, what you were supposed to do is counter my facts with contrary facts. But you aren’t doing that. You have resorted to calling me names.
You claimed no country is encircled, I showed you Lesotho.
Then you shifted the goalpost to them being poor. And I supplied top 10 poorest countries in Africa and Lesotho wasn’t there. And instead of bringing contrary facts you are calling me names.
Ok. I’ve increased it to top 15 poorest countries in Africa and Lesotho isn’t still there.
Where’s the fact to support any of your claims, sir?
Jogs1900: Why not do well to include the source of this information .
Done.
Have you seen it?
It’s not everything I was able to post here. I only posted excerpts. But following the link will help you read the full story and help you understand better.
Ragmerr: I'm not talking about voting pattern, if we're being truthful, Nigerians from SS, SE, NC, and NW voted for obi. I'm alluding to the igbos trying to force Rivers people into their Biafran thing, you are Igbo and you probably hate wike because he doesn't do things that pleases your people that's why call him a lousy character, unfortunately for you his people are in support of the actions he took against the agitators in Obigbo, notwithstanding what played out during the election, he is still loved and respected by his people but hated by the igbos, come to Rivers and ask questions.
Which of what I wrote here suggested Biafra to you?
Tukpa8: see my brother, let's called a spade a spade...just 1999 election votes cannot draw a conclusion of ss had same voting pattern with SE..no it is a concoction of history and twisting of events.......ok what about the SW that have been having same consistent voting pattern with SS since 1999 to 2011? have in mind that, Yorubas massively voted for GEJ in 2011 election..
Since 1999 when the country return to democratic, PDP has been a dominant party for the southern people including SW,SS and SE... infact SE had their own called APGA.
You are just a waste of intellectual time and energy.🤦
You don’t even know the accurate occurrences of events.
You don’t know when they occurred.
You just lump things together.
I just imagine you feeding your children with this kind of takes you have in your head.
Please help yourself further below. Hopefully it will help cure some of your ignorance; that’s if you are willing to learn.
2. What is now Edo and Delta state ,everything,was part of the Western Region Two states 3 . What is now Cross River,Akwa Ibom Bayelsa,and Rivers state ,Four states were part of the Eastern Region 5. In 1957 just before independence the colonial power organised the Willinks commission which was to hear from ethnic minorities which were worried about their fate after independence and that was when agitation from Middle Belt Southern and other minorities was first given official recognition and where agitation for entitiess such as Cross River Rivers were first articulated 6. In 1963 to whittle down the influence of Awolowo in the Western Region,Balewa and Azikiwe who were together in a coalition government ganged up and arranged a referendum leading to the creation of the MidWestern region but cynically kept the Northern and Eastern Regions Intact 7. Of course when the Biafra war broke out 4 years later Akwa Ibom Cross River,Rivers and Bayelsa were all forcefully incorporated
YOUR CLAIM ABOUT VOTING IS FALSE IBOS DID NOT VOTE ABIOLA OR AWOLOWO EDO AND DELTA DID
IN 1979 BENDEL VOTED AWOLOWO CROSS RIVER AND RIVERS VOTES SHAGARI IBOS VOTED AZIKIWE Nnamdi Azikiwe did not get 25% in any SS state
Igbos didn’t vote Abiola…
Anambra is what?🤔 They are Tiv people?
Please cure your ignorance in the thread below. You will learn that even though the Benin-Delta province were part of the Western Region, they politically aligned with the Eastern Region and Azikiwe’s NCNC. In fact, in 1952, out of 24 members of Western Regional Assembly from Midwest Province, 21 of them were elected on Azikiwe’s NCNC. Go and learn your history.
fergie001: Some Commissioners of Police in no order
Patrick Kehinde Longe - Ikole LGA, Ekiti State Olatoye A. Durosinmi - Yewa LGA, Ogun State Iwo Nemi Edwin Osigboka - Okrika LGA, Rivers State Ambrose Sunny Onah - Udenu LGA, Enugu State Rhoda Adetutu Olofu - Okene LGA, Kogi State Yetunde O Longe - Lagos/Island LGA, Lagos State Tajudeen Akinwale Abass - Ede LGA, Osun State Taiwo Olusola Jesubiyi - Abeokuta LGA, Ogun State Julius Alawari Okoro - Sagbama LGA, Bayelsa State Adelesi Ebunoluwa Oluwarotimi - Sagamu LGA, Ogun State Mohammed Ussaini Gumel - Gumel LGA, Jigawa State Romokere Godsgift Ibiani, fsi - Bonny LGA, Rivers State Zubairu Abubakar - Patigi LGA, Kwara State Joseph Fom Pam (psc+) - Jos South LGA, Plateau State Emuobo Fred Ekokotu - Ughelli LGA, Delta State Garba Musa Yusuf - Gusau LGA, Zamfara State Garba Ahmed - Kafur LGA, Katsina State Hayatu Kaigama Ali - Mayo-Belwa LGA, Adamawa State Aliyu Abubakar Musa - Chanchaga LGA, Niger State Salman Dogo Garba - Ilorin LGA, Kwara State Dungus Ali Monguno - Monguno LGA, Borno State Audu Ali Dabigi - Nagere LGA, Yobe State Dan-Mamman Shawulu, fsi - Donga LGA, Taraba State Clement Robert - Akuku-Toru LGA, Rivers State Patrick Adedeji Atayero - Atakumosa LGA, Osun State Olaiya Victor Mobolaji - Shomolu LGA, Lagos State Olaolu Adebowale Adegbite, MFR - Boripe LGA, Osun State Disu Olatunji Rilwan - Lagos/Island LGA, Lagos State Mohammed Shehu Dalijan, fsi - Gwandu LGA, Kebbi State Augustine Nwuka Ogbodo - Enugu South LGA, Enugu State Samuel Titus Musa - Pankshin LGA, Plateau State Olufemi Aderemi Adeoye - Abeokuta LGA, Ogun State Stephen O. Olanrewaju - Ilesa West LGA, Osun State Alamatu Abiodun Mustapha - Mushin LGA, Lagos State Godwin Aghaulor - Ika LGA, Delta State Adebola Ayinde Hamzat - Ifelodun LGA, Kwara State
Out of 36 police commissioners, only 2 are from Southeast while a state like Lagos and Osun has about 4.
And somebody will say that Southeast cry of marginalization is imaginary.
You don’t have to lie to yourself to sound woke. If you have a problem with Asari, face him like a man and stop trying to drag Yorubas into what is non of our business. There are historical accounts of Binis, Itshekiris and Ijaws raiding Igbo villages and capturing them as slaves. Above is a YouTube link from 2021 where Reno Omokri said the same thing. Did Yoruba also commission Reno to say same thing in 2021?
History is history. It’s a stubborn past occurrence that can never be changed. It is what it is. Accept your history and stop spewing nonsense around.
You and your paymasters must be pained that we refused to grant Asari “Pig” Dokubo the audience he so much craves from us which has defeated whatever agenda you were trying to set with him.
Tukpa8: if you are smart, you will quickly called to mind that I meant 2011 election.
1999, 2003. and 2007 we voted for PDP...but you Igbos voted for APGA.......but since no other person supported the apga party owned by igbos, it became failed and crashed..not even your ikwere, anioma, etche brothers that speaks similar to Igbos support that party..
Ijaws are not the only ones in ss but you mentioned ss and not particular groups, that's why I came to make things straight.....we shouldn't twist event or things.....Izon mean truth and the truth part we shall forever stand on......
even though, history has been removed from school, one can still get the histories in library.
Leave that IDP camp refugee you are in, then come back home and go to library, please...I nor fit argue blindly
APGA was formed in 2002 before the 2003 elections.
How did Igbos come to vote for APGA in 1999?
Again, who was APGA presidential candidate in 2007?
Omoawoke: Have you checked the list of the poorest African countries, Lesotho is among them
Your argument was that there’s no country encircled by another country and I just showed you Lesotho to counter your fallacious claim.
Now you have shifted the goalpost to that Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in Africa.
But let me ask you… If Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in Africa are you therefore suggesting that Biafra would be one of the poorest countries in Africa if becomes a country? Isn’t that fallacious?
But that aside, your claim of Lesotho being one of the poorest countries in Africa is equally false.
Below is the the top 10 poorest countries in Africa and Lesotho is not there. Where did you see your own statistics?
Ragmerr: You call wike a lousy character? Have you asked an Ikwerre person in Real life what he thinks about the whole Biafra thing, what you don't understand is that wike is loved in the Riverine area in Rivers because of his stance on Biafra and IPOB, unfortunately for you and your people his views are the views of the majority of people in his state.
The voting pattern of his state in the last election doesn’t suggest a people that are happy with Wike. Does it?
Awolowo never wanted the Midwest to become a separate region. And it’s very likely he instigated the COR (Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers) to demand for a separate region away from Eastern Region as payback for NCNC’s support for the creation of the Midwestern Region.
1961-62
The years 1961 and 1962 moved with dizzying speed. At the Midwest regional conference of the AG, Chief Awolowo kept up his oft repeated statement that he would work for the simultaneous creation of the Midwest, COR and Middle Belt States. In the Midwest, however, his comments were regarded with skepticism, all the more so considering what was regarded as his preference for a balkanized version of the Midwest. In any case, in March 1961, the NCNC – urged by Chief Okotie-Eboh - formally opposed the exclusion of Akoko-Edo and Warri from the Midwest minority area. When Chief Awolowo was confronted with the commitment the Western regional House of Assembly had made to creation the entire Midwest back in 1955 by approving the Sowole motion, he replied that he was no longer bound by that motion because the country was under colonial rule at the time [Federal Parliamentary debates, April 4, 1961]. The comment merely served to confirm suspicions that he did not support the creation of the Midwest – under any circumstances – even though he challenged Balewa to create the Midwest before the end of May 1962.
They did not start selling propaganda today. To cause disaffection between Benin and other ethnic minorities in the proposed Midwest Region, Awolowo boys started writing about supposed “Benin Domination”.
On April 4th, 1961, what is now known in history as the first Midwest motion was moved and carried by voice acclamation in the federal House of Representatives [Federal Parliamentary Debates, 4 April, 1961, col. 802]. It was a private member’s motion, which would run into legal trouble later because no formal count had been taken, as constitutionally required, of those in favor or against, and many complained that they had left the council chamber before the voice vote was taken. The April 1961 Midwest motion in the federal legislature was followed by initial approval in June 1961 in the Eastern region and in September 1961 in the Northern region. During this period newspaper articles written by AG loyalists appeared in which various ethnic groups of the proposed Midwest were warned of “Benin domination.” In the smear campaign, designed to derail Midwest unity, rumors were spread about how certain posts were going to be dominated by “Benin.”
In 1962, the Eastern and Northern Regional Assemblies passed the bill to create the Midwestern Region but Western Region Assembly passed a motion countering the passage of the bill in Northern and Eastern Assemblies.
This is the Awolowo they said “willingly” granted the Midwest their region.
Late on March 23rd, 1962, Senator Dalton Asemota of the Benin province received an important visitor in his apartment at the federal legislator’s Legco Flats in Victoria Island, Lagos. His visitor was none other than Chief Anthony Enahoro, Vice President of the Action Group and leader of the Midwest Regional Executive. Enahoro stayed on in Senator Asemota’s flat until the early hours of the morning lobbying him to adopt the party position of the AG to vote against the second Midwest motion. The Senator, who was not a party man, was nonetheless reminded that he owed his position to the goodwill of the Action Group government in Ibadan. Early on the 24th, late Senator Asemota’s wife, late Mrs. Onaiwu Asemota (nee Obinwa family of Onitsha) rushed to my parent’s house to report the conversation Enahoro had with Senator Asemota. On this basis, the Senator’s brother in Benin, late Pa Elekhuoba Asemota was contacted emergently by phone with a report of what had transpired. My parents rushed to the Senator’s flat to ask him whether he had decided to oppose the motion. The late Senator, to his eternal credit, smiled and told my parents, “Do not worry, my children, even if it costs me this position, I shall not act against the interests of my people.” (personal communication, GO Omoigui)
After overcoming an attempt by Action group legislators, therefore, to amend the motion by deleting Akoko-Edo, Warri and western Ijaw from the definition of “Midwest” and then obfuscate issues by adding the creation of 11 new states as a pre condition, the Federal House of Representatives and Senate approved the second Midwest motion by 214-49 on March 24, 1962. The final count-down had begun.
Six days later on March 30th, 1962 the Midwest referendum Bill was passed. It was followed on April 17th and 18th by the Midwest Parliamentary Bill which specified the addition of Akoko-Edo, Warri and Western Ijaw areas to the proposed Midwest. No sooner did this vote take place than Barrister S. O. Ighodaro, Attorney General of the Western region, went to court to challenge the validity of the Midwest Parliamentary Bill and the Eastern region’s approval of the federal Midwest Bill. Separately, the Olu of Warri and Chief Reece Edukugho filed court proceedings to contest the inclusion of Warri in the Midwest.
Meanwhile, on April 4th the Eastern region passed the second Midwest motion, followed on April 5th, by the Northern region. On April 13th, a counter-motion was passed by the Western House of Assembly, opposing the federal Midwest motion [Daily Times, April 14, 1962].
How the Midwest Bill finally scaled the hurdle of the Western Region Assembly and got their Referendum.
On April 19, 1962, one day after S. O. Ighodaro went to court on behalf of the Akintola government to challenge the Midwest motion, Chief SL Akintola was expelled from the Action Group by Chief Obafemi Awolowo after an unsuccessful attempt at reconciliation. The Governor of the West, Sir Adesoji Aderemi was advised by a majority of Action Group legislators at Ibadan to dismiss Akintola as Premier and replace him with Alhaji D. S. Adegbenro – an act that was challenged all the way up to the Privy Council in London. On May 26, 1962 an attempt by the Western House to meet and ratify Akintola’s dismissal ended in confusion, leading to Police intervention. Armed with his wet handkerchief as an antidote to teargas, V.E. Amadasun was one of the first to rush to Lagos from Ibadan to inform the Midwest community in the federal government of the development, which led to the eventual declaration of a State of Emergency in the West on May 29 [Federation of Nigeria Official Gazette, supplement to No. 38, Vol. 49, May 29, 1962]. Although the Privy Council eventually approved the Governor’s action, its “approval” had been overtaken by events in Nigeria because of a constitutional amendment by the Federal House of Representatives. Meanwhile, under the “emergency administration” of the West led by Senator MA Majekodunmi, a fresh slate of predominantly pro-Midwest Midwesterners became ministers, including Mark Uzorka, T. E. Salubi, Webber Egbe, A. Y. Eke etc, with Oba Akenzua II and the Olu of Warri as “advisers.” It was the emergency administration in the West which gave the Western region’s approval for the Midwest referendum to proceed.
In May, there was an All-party Midwest conference in Benin at which Senator Dalton Asemota of Benin was made Chairman of the Midwest United Front Committee (UFC). The conference – which was boycotted by most members of the Action Group - was a confidence building measure designed to iron out party differences and differences between ideological and ethnic interest groups. The conference resulted in the creation of many committees to plan for the future Midwest. In addition to the UFC, these committees were the constitutional and legal, finance and general purposes, civil service, delimitation, and minority protection committees.
In June, the Majekodunmi regime filed a motion to withdraw the court cases that were pending against the Midwest motion. Both motions were eventually dismissed in July by the Supreme Court.
On September 9th, there was another all-party round-table at the Oba’s Palace in Benin which most members of the Action Group, except Ja Isuman and JE Odiete boycotted. At this meeting, a 75 man Midwest Planning Committee including all Midwest legislators at regional and federal levels was created. It too was chaired by Senator Dalton Asemota, assisted by EB Edun-Fregene, JAE Oki, Dr. Christopher Okojie, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Dennis Osadebay and Humphrey Omo-Osagie. Various sub-committee chairmen were Olisa Chukwura for the constitutional and legal, Chief A. Y. Eke for the finance and general purposes, J.I.G. Onyia for the civil service, Chief Obasuyi for delimitation, Ja Isuman for the Plebiscite, and Chief Odiete for minority protection. About one week later a new political party called the Midwest Peoples Congress (MPC) was formed. It was allied to the Northern Peoples Congress and led by Apostle Edokpolo. [Vickers, Op. Cit.]
A week later on September 22, Chief Awolowo and many others were arrested for an apparent plot to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Balewa. Chief Anthony Enahoro initially escaped into exile in Ireland but was extradited back to Nigeria in May 1963 to stand trial.
Contrary to the lies that propagandists would want the public to believe that the Western Region willingly granted Referendum to the Midwest, the true story is that Awolowo tried to assassinate the proponents of the then Midwest Region.
The Action Group had in the meantime conceptualized a plan to seize political control of Benin by co-opting the Oba and destroying Chief H Omo-Osagie.
According to testimony from Dr. Obas. J. Ebohon,
“My father was the personal driver of Chief Omo-Osagie through out his political career and what both himself and B2 went through before, during, and after the creation of Mid-West is unimaginable and sometimes better than some of 007 epic films. My father once told me that the journeys to and from the Western House of Assembly in Ibadan was the type of journeys one makes to and from the battle field. Firstly, they never exceeded four people and they travelled by Bedford Lorry instead of a car to which his status demanded. The reason for this was security as his life was threatened openly by those enraged by his demands for Mid-West State. He said on approaching Ore, they would disembark and B2 would come out of the comfortable second row and climb into the back of the Bedford lorry and be covered with trampoline and that is where he would remain through the numerous roadblocks put out to hunt him down and, that is how he would remain until they arrive Ibadan. Sometimes, for the need to confuse his detractors, he would be hidden in lorries carrying plantain to Ibadan and guess where he would be sitting - buried among the plantain and that is how he remains until the outskirts of Ibadan and be transferred into the Bedford lorry again. On numerous occasions they escaped death with the skin of his teeth. My father indicated that when they are travelling, it usually was like preparing for a funeral at B2's house and those of his entourage and the worst is expected and, when they return unharmed, it was jubilation.” (Source: OJ Ebohon. Edo-Nation Egroup, July 5, 2002. RE: [Edo-Nation] The Last Edo Political Titan: Chief Humphrey Omo-Osagie)
Under these circumstances, on March 8th, 1955, Obafemi Awolowo invited Oba Akenzua II for a meeting in Ibadan. According to the minutes of the meeting, Chief Awolowo told Oba Akenzua II to disengage himself from politics before it becomes a disadvantage. Awolowo told him that he had planned to preserve the position of traditional rulers as an "important part of the social and spiritual life of the people" outside the political arena. In response, Oba Akenzua II politely but firmly drew a distinction between politics and his activities with the Midwest State movement. He went further to query why the Ooni of Ife and the Alake of Abeokuta were open supporters and contributors to the Action Group but were not being similarly advised. Awolowo reacted by promising to give other Obas similar advice, but also told Oba Akenzua II to go back to Benin and seriously reflect over his comments. [National Archives, Ibadan; File B.P.215 Correspondence with the Oba of Benin.]
Another development in the Western Regional Assembly that created consternation in the Benin and Delta provinces was the attempt in 1956 to enforce Yoruba as a language medium in all schools throughout ALL the provinces. The British Lt. Governor, Sir John Rankine, vetoed compulsory implementation in the Benin and Delta provinces, explaining that it was a time–bomb. It is not clear what role Oba Akenzua II played in securing this veto. [personal communication, D. A. Omoigui]
In May of 1956, Benin people voted against the Oba of Benin’s son because he was in Awolowo’s Action Group. They voted for the candidate of NCNC.
Meanwhile on May 26, during Western parliamentary regional elections in Benin, Otu-Edo secured victory once again. Notably, G.I. Oviasu of Otu-Edo/NCNC defeated S.O. Ighodaro of the Action Group and the Oba’s second son, Felix Akenzua, lost to VI Amadasun. One irritant during this election was the complaint that many students from the Benin and Delta provinces at the University College Ibadan were so mistrusted by Action group operatives on campus that their names were surreptitiously removed from voters’ registration lists in Ibadan.
.
It was so bad that a leader of the then Midwest Province preferred Midwest being bombed by nuclear weapons than remaining under Western Region.
Before settling down to prepare for the Willink Commission visit, reaction to the outcome of the London Conference among members of the MSM was extremely negative. Chief Omo-Osagie, for example, said,
“The people of the Midwest would willingly submit to the use of nuclear weapons, devastating bombs or machine guns to annihilate them, rather than remain in a self governing West.” [West African Pilot. July 14, 1957)
Some testimonies of some Midwestern people before Henry Willinks Commission which was set up in 1958 to look into the agitation of the Midwestern people.
Awolowo gave scholarships to only Yorubas.
He taxed the Benin-Warri province excessively and used the money to develop Ibadan while Benin had nothing.
The position of the MSM was based on fear of colonization by the Yoruba. Detailed testimony was heard from a broad range of witnesses, including Chiefs Ezomo, Oliha, Ineh and Osula. Other witnesses included the Chairmen of the Iyekovia, Uhunmwode and Benin City councils, namely Messrs Adonrin, Atohengbe and Ogbebor. Edo women made a submission through Madam Eweka. Complaints included lack of rubber markets and processing facilities, excessive local taxation, including “head taxes” which would then be remitted to Ibadan, poor infrastructure, and discrimination in the award of scholarships and opportunities for Edo women traders at Ibadan. More recently, Mr. Isaac Asemota recalled that, “While Benin- City stayed in the dark with no electricity, running water, good roads, separate and unequal schools and grossly inadequate health clinics, there in Ibadan, Edo tax monies were being squandered in the construction of Cocoa House, Mapo Hall and Commercial Broadcasting Service Radio Station whose frequency we couldn’t even pick up in Benin-City. The best we could hope for was Redifussion radio which had a very low frequency and could not be heard more than two miles away from the broadcasting booth. “ (Isaac Asemota: “The last Edo Political Titan: Chief Humphrey Omo-Osagie” unpublished manuscript, Edo-Nation Egroup, July 2, 2002.)
The most powerful and emotional testimony from Benin came from Chief H Omo-Osagie. He lamented the insidious cultural role of Ifa divination and Ogboni activities in inserting Yoruba values and ways into Benin society. He explained that Ifa divination required knowledge of Yoruba, while the Yoruba derived Ogboni society, was, according to him, “more dangerous than freemasonry.” In fact he openly stated that after independence, laws would likely be passed, making membership of the ROF compulsory. He went on to criticize the Western region Chiefs Law No. 20 of 1957 which was being used with effect to intimidate traditional rulers and influence the selection of chiefs and Dukes inside the Midwest. The Chief also went into additional detail about perceptions of Yoruba domination of the Police, government boards, the public service, and the use of scholarships as a tool for punishing separatist divisions. The Benin division, for example, had not, under the period of review, received any scholarships, while the Ijebu province (home to Chief Awolowo) had secured 17 such awards. Another complaint was that Rubber was being developed in the Ijebu province when investment in the promised Ikpoba Rubber processing factory for already established rubber plantations of the Midwest was being help up. A similar shenanigan affected the Koko port. He went on to use examples of the decision by the Action Group government to dissolve the Benin Divisional Council in 1955 as an example of arbitrary misuse of power. In conclusion, Chief Omo-Osagie opposed the new “Welsh-type” arrangement implemented by the Action Group through the establishment of the “Ministry of Midwest Affairs” and the Midwest Advisory Council, and demanded either the creation of a Midwest region or a return to a unitary government at the center with provinces at the periphery.
In trying to dissuade the Midwest people from demanding for a separate region, Awolowo’s Action Group threw the ethnic card.
This shows that these guys have always been tribalistic and using the anti-Igbo sentiments since the pre-colonial period.
In response to testimony of pro-Midwest witnesses, a shadowy organization called the “Anti-Midwest State Movement” was put forward by the Action Group. It asserted that Edos had more to fear from Igbo than Yoruba domination, and that creation of a Midwest region would expose Edos to Igbo domination.
What the Henry Willinks Commission Observed.
Among its observations, the commission noted that actual expenditure on road development in the Midwest area up to March 31, 1957, was only 15% of the estimates, compared with 50% in the Yoruba West. It also made the following observation:
“What is feared is a permanent Action Group majority in the Western House of Assembly. The Action Group drawing its inspiration from a Yoruba society, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa expressing itself….through the Ogboni Fraternity, controlling Boards, Corporations and Commissions, eventually even the Magistracy and Judiciary, aiming at the obliteration of all that is not Yoruba. That is what is meant by Yoruba domination.”
We owe it as a duty to the next generation that the right history is preserved and not allowed to be rewritten, retold or diluted by liars.
When I made a post earlier today where I noted that since the 1952 elections, the region that is now known as Southeast and Southsouth have always voted in same direction, I, expectedly, got some negative reactions from proponents of falsehood who tried to remind me that some part of the region now known as Southsouth were geographically and politically part of the Western Region before they became a distinct Midwestern Region.
The question they have refused to answer however is why did the people Benin and Delta fight teeth and nail to be separated from the Western Region? And the answer was because the Yorubas who formed the larger ethnic group in the old Western Region wanted to “Yorubanize” everything to the extent of trying to make Yoruba the lingua Franca and having a Yoruba who lived in Sapele representing Benin Province in Western Assembly at some point until Benin people agitated against it.
These attitudes forced majority of the political leaders of the then Midwest Province to go into alliance with Azikiwe led NCNC instead of Awolowo’s Action Group (AG). So, even though they were administratively under Western Region, the Midwestern people aligned with Azikiwe’s NCNC politically. The implication was that they voted in same pattern with the Eastern Region where NCNC dominated.
And that was how in 1952, out of 24 elected representatives of Midwestern Province in the Western Regional Assembly, 21 of them were of NCNC and only 3 were of Awolowo’s Action Group.
When the Western House of Assembly opened in January 1952, 21 out of 24 Midwesterners were allied with the NCNC while three – S.O. Ighodaro, Arthur Prest, and Anthony Enahoro - were allied with the Action Group. One immediate source of irritation was the government’s official pamphlet, which insensitively described the Parliamentary Mace with four ceremonial swords as representing the authority of Yoruba Chiefs. To aggravate matters, when the unicameral Western House of Assembly was formally declared open by then Lt. Governor Sir Hugo Marshall, the Alake of Abeokuta, rose to speak immediately after Sir Marshall and said:
“On my right sits the Oni of Ife; On my left, the Leader of our Government, Obafemi Awolowo. The Voice of the West is complete.” [Hansard of Western House of Assembly: January 7, 1952]
In other words, as the delegates from Benin and Delta saw it, the “voice of the West” did not include those of the people of Benin and Delta provinces. To compound matters, Benin and Delta delegates later complained too about derogatory epithets that had allegedly been hurled at them, such as “KoboKobo”, used to refer to persons (or barbarians) whose diction cannot be understood. (File BP/2328/1 National Archives, Ibadan].
From this point on, the Oba of Benin, Akenzua II, supported by the Benin and Warri (Delta) legislative delegation, began openly touring Benin and other Divisions of Benin province as well as the Delta province to campaign for the Midwest (Central) region. According to Professor Michael Crowder:
“In the Western region, as a reaction against the allegedly Yoruba-dominated Action group, the Mid-West State movement was started, supported largely by non-Yoruba-speaking peoples and in particular the people of the old Benin Empire.” [M Crowder: The Story of Nigeria. 3rd Edition, 1972. Faber]
Indeed, at the very next Benin Provincial Conference at Ogwashi-Uku in June 1952, attended by pro-Midwesterners like JO Odigie of Ishan, Chike Ekwuyasi of Benin and Dennis Osadebay of Asaba, separatist sentiments were strongly expressed, resulting in the creation of the “Central State Congress”. [File BP/2328/1 National Archives, Ibadan] [b]One of the criticisms of the Western region government was the alleged decision to spend 225,000 pounds in Awolowo’s home province of Ijebu with a population of 383,000, as compared with 169,000 pounds in the Benin province with a population of 624,000. Subsequently, a subgroup known as the Committee of the Midwest Organization emerged under R.O. Odita.
[b]Before the end of 1952 another significant event occurred. It was the decision of the Action Group government based in Ibadan to restore the title of the ‘Olu of Itsekiri’ to ‘Olu of Warri’ as it had been known in previous centuries. Non-Itsekiris in Warri Province reacted violently, concerned that there was an implication of suzerainty over the whole province. Thus a compromise was reached. In exchange for acceptance of the designation of the Olu as ‘Olu of Warri’, the province was renamed ‘Delta province’. [personal papers, Alfred O. Rewane] In spite of this compromise, the experience soured the relationship between many Urhobo leaders of thought and the Action group leadership, which they felt, had been beholden to a powerful Itsekiri lobby. It served to drive Urhobos, already so inclined, further into the warm embrace of the Midwest Separatist Movement.
In July/August 1953, Councilor J. Osadolo Edomwonyi moved a motion in the Benin Divisional Council praying the Constitutional Conference in London to include on its agenda, the creation of a separate region for the Benin and Delta provinces [Edomwonyi, Op. Cit.]. However, overshadowed by a bitter fight between Obafemi Awolowo of the Western region and Nnamdi Azikiwe of the Eastern region over excision of Lagos on one hand and Southern Cameroons on the other, creation of new States was overruled at the London Constitutional conference [Report of the Conference on the Nigerian Constitution, held in London, July-August, 1953 Cmnd. 8934, (London: H.M.S.O., 1953, p4)]. When he returned from London, Chief Omo-Osagie briefed Oba Akenzua II, who then made arrangements to host a conference of traditional and political leaders of the Benin and Delta provinces on September 18, 1953 in Benin City. Anthony Enahoro, S. O. Ighodaro, Arthur Prest and the Olu of Warri boycotted this well attended meeting. In his address, Oba Akenzua II said, among other things that Midwesterners were seeking freedom, “not only from the white man, but also from foreign african nations…” He went on to state that,
“Benin-Delta was a sovereign nation before the occupation of the country by the British.” Akenzua also said, “The divide and rule policy of the British Government had done much harm to the national solidarity of Benin-Delta Province in the past but as God now wants things to be what they were before the advent of the British Government, that is, the Yoruba State for the Yorubas and Benin-Delta State for the “BENDELITES”, that is, the inhabitants of the Benin-Delta Province, steps should now be taken without further delay or fear to move the British Government to repair the damage they have done by restoring the national status of Benin-Delta Province before they transfer power back to the Nigerians from whom they have taken it.”
Mr. JIG Onyia of Asaba then moved a motion, which said inter-alia:
“Be it resolved, and it is hereby resolved that:
1. We (the peoples of Benin-Delta Province) in a conference holding at Benin City this 18th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifty three, demand as of right an immediate creation of a separate State for the peoples of Benin-Delta Province…….” [Edomwonyi, Op. Cit.]
Spurred on by stronger and stronger perceptions of discrimination in the West, exemplified by matters such as the state ment of Alake of Egbaland in 1952, Adegoke Adelabu’s emergence over Osadebay as NCNC leader of Opposition in the West, threats of Western regional control of Midwestern forests, etc. H Omo-Osagie urged the assembly to create a “party which will serve as the Vanguard in the battle for the Midwest.” The envisioned party was to be independent of parties based in other regions. After overruling an alternative concept put forward by JIG Onyia of Asaba, that the organization so created should be a “movement” rather than a “political party”, the Benin Delta Political Party (BDPP) was created.
In 1954, Obafemi Awolowo became Premier of the Western region under the 1954 Constitution that created the Federation of Nigeria. At the same time Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh of Warri, representing the NCNC, became the Regional Minister of Labour and Welfare. Dennis Osadebay emerged as NCNC Opposition leader in the West, while V.I. Amadasun became NCNC Chief Whip. Meanwhile the BDPP relied increasingly on the local NCNC operational infrastructure, even while foreswearing any party links in public. As time went on, therefore, pressure grew from within the BDPP to formally ally the party with the NCNC – which the Oba was opposed to. Meanwhile there were unconfirmed rumors at the end of 1954 that the Oba had reached a secret deal with Chief Awolowo. [Michael Vickers, Ethnicity and Sub-Nationalism in Nigeria, p93]
Stoplying: Can you shut up ? Speak for your own people and not for my Midwest people. Thank you.
For the records, we left the western region because of fanatical Yoruba who were trying to marginalise everybody whom the Yoruba didn't identify as Yoruba (that included all of the Midwest). Also, Lagos was never part of the western region.
“You left because fanatical Yorubas were marginalizing non-Yorubas”…
Can you define subjugation for us since you disagreed with me that the Western Region wasn’t subjugating the people of Midwest?
LOVEALAIGBO: Dude, hardly any geo-political entity in Africa today existed in its present form prior to the coming of the European colonialists! What you had prior were mainly political/economic/cultural interactions between and amongst clans, ethnicities and even empires contiguous and close to each other, and this is what obtained in the areas formerly known as Eastern and Midwestern Regions…even predating colonialism and slave trade.
Regarding the topic: Tinubu and his minions (both on ground and the e-thugs) have realised their arrogant emilokan stance can only take them so far, and if they’re to survive the cut-throat world of Nigerian ethno-religious inspired politics and governance, that they’d need (gullible) allies in the south as well when facing the unpredictable muslim core north and the political chicanery! The emilokans have ruled out the south-east, so they’re looking towards the south-south…and for them to succeed, they need to break whatever bond exists between the south-east and south-south by the divide-and-rule tactics of trying to cause disaffection and mistrust between the two regions even as they throw a few crumbs towards some south-south political and militant elite to butter them up and try to gain their servitude!
Lol!
Thank you for capturing it more succinctly.
These guys don’t know we always see their game from a million miles away.
Ttalk: Because they have self dignity and are self-reliant. They believe they have an identity and can stand on their own unlike some people who after being chased away are ready to die in SW
No sir!
It was Awolowo and the Yoruba were subjugating them in the Western Region until they could no longer take it.
Christistruth03: I can even remove Dave Umahi and a few others from the Plot against Akpabio but that your Ohaneze we will leave them to God
They are terrible People who lack Values
It was because of that Plot that Yari thought he had any chance at all
Thank you for the correction it was Yari of Zamfara
The Ohaneze you are quoting is the stupid Ohaneze that has always issued statements supporting Tinubu, isn’t it? That’s Tinubu’s Ohaneze that has nothing to do with Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide.
Meanwhile, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim from Ondo State was the Director General of Yari Campaign, should we take it to mean therefore that the Southwest did not support Akpabio??
J3susFr3ak: Not everyone in the NC likes the "Northern" tag either.
Why not actually create a new Central Region without the unattractive Northern tag? This way, many Middle Belt Christian minorities even in the NE (like Taraba) can also join?
The whole "north" thing....is one "baggage!"
Good point.
But you know it’s a sensitive issue that Tinubu may not wanna touch.
Northern cabals don’t like it that the MiddleBelt is trying to break away from their “one north”.
SmartPolician: You dropped a long comment for a thread without a credible source.
The article said it's a 2021 bill, and you are giving the credit to Tinubu that became the president last month.
That thing reeks of FAKE NEWS!
O ga oh!
That’s why I said in the end that the idea was pulled from CONFAB.
Meanwhile, you need to understand that sometimes policymakers deliberately throw out some information to the public to gauge reactions and they don’t do that through reputable media as not to damage the reputation of such media house should they deny the news due to backlash in case of hostile reactions.
So, that’s why I deliberately commented to help the researchers should it be that.
Long before Murtala took Asaba , your Biafran rogue soldiers occupied old Bendel driving out Ejoor and from there began rounding up non Igboid young men in places like Warri and from there killing and eating them.
The same thing happened in Cross River and present day Rivers.
Have you asked why the Niger Delta tribes treated you Ike invaders and celebrated the Nigerian federal forces
Professor Akpan wrote a well researched book on this hidden artrocities committed by your cannibal orcs on the Niger Delta minorities during the occupation.
There is even a community in Rivers that holds an annual remberence of their liberation from Biafra.
Why not provide links to some of the books you are making reference to if you are not concocting stories in your head?
seunmsg: Penguin2, why are you Igbos against the unity between South west and south south? Are we not the same southerners again? What is wrong in south west and south south working together over common interest and overall benefit of the south and Nigeria? Is there a law that says south west and south south must not collaborate?
Igbos have made it clear they don’t want to work with the south west on any issue. What then is wrong if we decide to work with our south south brothers? Why can’t you mind your business and leave the south west out of your wailing mouth? Why the obsession with the south west?
Finally, let me correct the impression that the SE and SS belong to the old eastern region. That’s a lie you people always tell to yourself. Edo and about 80% of the current Delta state were never at any time a part of the old eastern region. They were part of the western region before the Midwestern region was formed. Traditionally, Edo and Delta always vote alongside the south west as we are brother’s geographically and ethnically. In fact. Ambrose Ali of Awolowo’s UPN was elected the first Governor of Old Bendel state (Edo and Delta). In 1993, Edo and Delta voted overwhelmingly for MKO while the Igbos voted for Bashir Tofa. So, it is even politically incorrect to claim that the SS and SE always vote along the same line. Even in the last election, the SE gave over 90% of their votes to LP while LP barely got 40% in SS. So, what’s your point again?
Nobody said you should not form a union with people of Southsouth but must have to denigrate the Southeast in order to do that?
Do you have to try to rewrite history and sell lies to Southsouth people in order to paint Igbos as their enemy just so you can form a union with them?
Do you have to commission fat pig Asari Dokubo to try to stoke up ethnic friction between the Igbos and Ijaws?
And talking about the history of the Southsouth, 80% of the territory that is now called Southsouth was with the Old Eastern region. So, it’s not out of place if the entire Southsouth is considered to have been part of the Old Eastern region by approximation.
Why didn't the Igbo accept SS turn as their turn since they benefitted more in Jonathan's government than the sons and daughters of the SS?
Why did the Imo state drag oil well with Rivers state?
Why didn't Igbo support Wike in PDP during the primary?
Why the majority of Igbo Senators voted against Akpabio in the last Senate presidential election
Why didn't the Igbo leader grant Calabar autonomy when the SW peacefully did?
If the Western Region was such a darling to the people of Mid Western Region, why did they ask for a separate region and made troubles until they were granted referendum?
Tranquill: It is you that need the night schooling the most.
The South South ethnic minorities never voted en bloc with you people so stop spewing out trash.
Your parents may not have told you but, in the late fifties during the federal election, most minority ethnic groups like the Ogonis gave Awolowo's party the majority vote. How did the Igbos react? A teenage student like Ken Saro-Wiwa (may his soul rest in peace) who was not even old enough to have voted in that election, was bullied and harassed by Igbo staff members at Government College Umuahia. They were insulting him and his Ogoni people, the same trait that over 90% of you have inherited.
Old Rivers State during the second republic was an NPN state while Igbo States were NPP so stop deceiving yourself by imagining vain things.
You still haven’t answered my question of the election that took place in 2010 and who your Ijaw people voted in 1999, 2003 and 2007.
Omoawoke: I know you are not technically sound. Actually, Most of you are not and that’s why you don’t know what you are asking for.
Let me educate you small.
See the map of Nigeria below. Tell me how you want to carve out southeast from a country that surrounds you? Meaning your country will be in the middle of Nigeria. Those countries you mentioned may be landlocked but they are not enveloped by a single country. Even Niger is not enveloped by a single country.
And you talk of river, you think na canoe dem they use carry containers? Ships cannot pass through rivers oga!!! Stop disgracing yourself and update your knowledge
Southeast can never ever stand on its own
Take a look at the map below.
It’s the map of Lesotho 🇱🇸 enveloped by South Africa.
Has Lesotho died?
And when I talked about River, I wasn’t telling you that seaport will be built on the River. I was telling you about the Southeast’s route to the sea against your narrative of Southeast being landlocked.
onumadu: Any restructuring that does not give South East DIRECT connection to the outside world should not acceptable to the Igbo. All other geopolitical zones - ALL OF THEM - each has DIRECT connection to a neighboring country, or the sea. Igbo zone should not allow itself to be encircled again. Hoo haa! Ndigbo should keep this in mind as "they" fly this kite.
Christistruth03: I was just going to ask if Ohaneze Campaigned for Akpabio to be Senate President
We know those who had no shame and who Shockingly Campaigned for Yari of Kebbi to get the Position instead of Akpabio of Akwa Ibom
They will later Claim that they love the SS
Tinubu was left with no option but to go about literally begging on his knees PDP and APC Senators many of them Northerners he was close to to change their minds at the very last minute on the night before the vote and still then it was close
If Tinubu had mistakenly slept that night Yari would have been the Senate President by now because Yari had the numbers
Orji Kalu was the ring leader of the Yari Supporters
Raskimonojendor: Which bond? Like the Biafrian soldiers massacre of people of the Midwest region which now includes part of South South during the Biafrian war.
I am sure GEJ is still regretting for associating himself with the SE. They were one of the cause of his losing the election.
Azikiwe fought against secession clause proposed by Awolowo twice. He was hoping to become the Nigerian Prime minister. He quickly formed an alliance with the North thinking the northerners were mumu that he could ride over till they gave him a ceremonial president position
Oh!
So it’s no longer Murtala Muhammed that led Nigerian soldiers to murder people in Mid Western Nigeria, it is now Biafran Soldiers?
Ose, Agba Nairaland historian.
Meanwhile, Awolowo died with a pain and sore in his heart because even ceremonial presidency he never saw.
Politics › Re: Why Is Tinubu And His Men Trying To Severe The SE/SS Bond? by Penguin2(op): 10:08am On Jul 01, 2023
