₦airaland Forum

SmartyPants:
You are missing the point because you are fixated on labels. Region, province, state, or whatever, this is the point: Ironsi abrogated the autonomy of the regions and concentrated power in the central government in a unitary military system of government.

The regions remained in principle after this, but their autonomy was stripped, and their governors were military governors answerable to Ironsi in the military hierarchy.

Look i like what you said that the regions remained in principle that is my own crux of the matter that in itself exonerated Ironsi because when he took over in 1966 he placed Nigeria on Martial law in a bid to restore law and order that must have broken down as a result of the Jan coup so in hindsight he assumed powers after the remaining vestiges of Balewa government handed over to him. So in Martial law you do not expect the military to give you the same privileges that you had in a civilian setting. Mind you it was martial law all over Nigeria that is the fact that Nigerians have alllowed their tribal bias to not understand. In martial law you want absolute control to restore order that is why there was some form of concentration at the center, via the centralization of the civl service in his regime, but the regions in principle were never dismantled or Abolished. we have to understand that.

Deadlytruth:
Please who and who were the premiers of the Northern, Eastern, Midwestern and Western Region during and after Ironsi's reign?

Eastern Region Lt. Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

Mid-Western Region Lt. Colonel David Ejoor

Western Region Lt. Colonel Robert Adeyinka Adebayo

Northern Region Lt. Colonel Hassan Usman Katsina

gidgiddy:
I also suggest you go and find out who abolished the 4 Regions we had and created 12 states

Abolishing regional government was just after unitary government promulgated by Ironsi

emapeteum:
Abolishing regional government was just after unitary government promulgated by Ironsi

So explain to us how Ironsi introduced unitary rule without abolishing the 4 Regions that existed, and taking resource control and fiscal federalism from them.

Tell us the action Ironsi took to introduce unitary rule

christistruth01:
I was explaining to you how it was Gen Ironsi that unconstitutionally dismantled the Regional System and the attempt to install a new Prime Minister Dipcherima as provided for by the Constitution

And you changed the topic when I provided the evidence of Mbazulike's Testimony as a minister in Balewa's Government

If you say that Ironsi started military rule in Nigeria, nobody will argue with that

But if you say he dismantled Regional system, you will have to explain how it is that the 4 Regions existed throughout Ironsi's rule, and with full resource control and fiscal federalism

How exactly did Ironsi dismantle Regional system?

gidgiddy:
He did not remove federalism in any way, it was Gowon that did that when he abolished the 4 Regions that existed at the time, and created 12 states

Those who came after Gowon kept subdivided those 12 states until we got 36 states we have today

If memory serves me right from Ikeja to Asaba were all in the old western Region. All with one Permanent secretary. Imagine how much money that Country could be saving on governance if they can go back to Federalism. 80% of that country's budget is spent on governance that people is craziness.

This man has more blame for the Nigerian civil war than any foreigner

nickyvil:
24th of may,
Decree law(1966) Ironsi passed law and change Nigeria to Nigeria republic which he abolished regional. You can go find a copy of that.

I like the fact you back up your claims with evidence. That's how intellectually sound people make their points.

gidgiddy:
If you say that Ironsi started military rule in Nigeria, nobody will argue with that

But if you say he dismantled Regional system, you will have to explain how it is that the 4 Regions existed throughout Ironsi's rule, and with full resource control and fiscal federalism

How exactly did Ironsi dismantle Regional system?

Go and do your research. Ironsi made the Unification decree no 34 that started Nigeria on the path of unitary system of government.

SmartyPants:
You are missing the point because you are fixated on labels. Region, province, state, or whatever, this is the point: Ironsi abrogated the autonomy of the regions and concentrated power in the central government in a unitary military system of government.

The regions remained in principle after this, but their autonomy was stripped, and their governors were military governors answerable to Ironsi in the military hierarchy.

Military rule is not the same as civilian rule. Nobody expects to get the same autonomy in military rule, as they got in civilian rule

However, the false narrative that has been put out there is that it was Ironsi that abolished Regionalism and introduced unitary rule

How is that possible when all 4 Region of the time existed throughout Ironsi's time in office with full resource control and fiscal federalism? Its simply not possible

Contrast that with Gowon who came and promulgated Decree 14 which abolished all 4 Regions, created 12 states and took away resource control

gidgiddy:
If you say that Ironsi started military rule in Nigeria, nobody will argue with that

But if you say he dismantled Regional system, you will have to explain how it is that the 4 Regions existed throughout Ironsi's rule, and with full resource control and fiscal federalism

How exactly did Ironsi dismantle Regional system?

He collapsed the regional civil services into one and was already planning on cross posting the military governors.

gidgiddy:
Military rule is not the same as civilian rule. Nobody expects to get the same autonomy in military rule, as they got in civilian rule

However, the false narrative that has been put out there is that it was Ironsi that abolished Regionalism and introduced unitary rule

How is that possible when all 4 Region of the time existed throughout Ironsi's time in office with full resource control and fiscal federalism? Its simply not possible

Contrast that with Gowon who came and promulgated Decree 14 which abolished all 4 Regions, created 12 states and took away resource control

The regions had no such financial autonomy. Decree 34 was quite clear. Look it up.

gidgiddy:
Military rule is not the same as civilian rule. Nobody expects to get the same autonomy in military rule, as they got in civilian rule

However, the false narrative that has been put out there is that it was Ironsi that abolished Regionalism and introduced unitary rule

How is that possible when all 4 Region of the time existed throughout Ironsi's time in office with full resource control and fiscal federalism? Its simply not possible

Contrast that with Gowon who came and promulgated Decree 14 which abolished all 4 Regions, created 12 states and took away resource control

So what was decree no 34 about? When they say Ironsi started unitary rule, they are not talking about regions but about federalism. He ended it. Cross posted civil servants across regions, removed the autonomy of regional civil service and reduced the share of revenue that went to the regions. Gowon only continued from where Ironsi started.

You could have regions but if the centre controls everything, it is not federal. That's what you don't understand.

Thanks

bitbillionaire:
I like the fact you back up your claims with evidence. That's how intellectually sound people make their points.

einsteine:
Go and do your research. Ironsi made the Unification decree no 34 that started Nigeria on the path of unitary system of government.

Go and do your research on Gowons Decree 14 that abolished the 4 Regions we had, embarked on state creation with 12 new states, took away resource control and started Nigeria on the path of unitary system of government

SmartyPants:
The regions had no such financial autonomy. Decree 34 was quite clear. Look it up.

Stop lying and show us where Decree 34 took financial autonomy from the Regions. The 4 Regions enjoyed resource control throughout Ironsi's 6 months in office

einsteine:
He collapsed the regional civil services into one and was already planning on cross posting the military governors.

Ironsi did not collapse Regionalbcivil services into one, but even if he did, that does not amount to unitary rule as the 4 Regions were existing under him, and all 4 had resource control. It is not possible to have unitary rule where Regions have resource control and financial autonomy

gidgiddy:
Stop lying and show us where Decree 34 took financial autonomy from the Regions. The 4 Regions enjoyed resource control throughout Ironsi's 6 months in office

You're already getting aggressive and confrontational when you can google decree 34 yourself.

I have no reason to lie. It is history.

How about you? Feeling defensive about something maybe?

emapeteum:
Abolishing regional government was just after unitary government promulgated by Ironsi

I don't know why some are not getting it
The parliamentary and regional status was desolved and a unitary government installed with decree.
People are just looking for excuse lorisi risi

Sergio103:
Igbo race......the greatest of blacks.

Our zenith position must still be attained!

white Igbo supremacists

Whenever people feel they are supreme it might lead to conflicts because the people you are trying to dominate will realize it and push back.

baralatie:
I don't know why some are not getting it
The parliamentary and regional status was desolved and a unitary government installed with decree.
People are just looking for excuse lorisi risi

Ilaje1:
Mumu plenty for here. Obfuscating facts region with states. Before Ironsi, each region was independent hence they had their premiers. But Ironsi instituted Unitary government by appointing Governors who are answerable to him, they are not independent anymore. Hence central govt decides everything. That's the unitary they are talking about. You can have more states while in federalism. Some people are just closed minded that it is affecting their reasons faculty.

cyrilamx:
Oga stop attempting to rewrite history or deflate the evil the Ironsi govt did with such unification decree 34 of 1966. With an open mind whether u called it individual actions or not, a particular region not only ended the first republic but also destroyed our True federalism. That twin actions of 1966 got us to this pains.
https://guardian.ng/opinion/history-and-the-future-of-decree-34-of-1966/

the below comment provides an answer to your " I don't know why some ( I:gbos ) are not getting it " statement.

richie240:
Even till today the average Igbo man has not changed.
They always have two sets of judgments even for d same offence. Their jugement is determined by who's involved.

Na DNA tinz.
#follow_come_syndrome

[quote author=perez100 post=116492068]The Tinubu urchins are still spreading propaganda that Ironsi introduced unitary government. When Ironsi was killed we still had regional Governors (Military In charge). Ojukwu in the East, Adekunle Fajuyi in the West, Hassan in the north and David Ejoor in Midwest.

It was Gowon that scrapped it.[ The only general you can never forget is Gowon. Am i lying? Lol.]

lailo:
u can imagine Zik becoming western premier when the east is there and Awolowo and co are in the west. What the east can never take

I:gbos don't see anything wrong with it...

they will say that is why we are all "Nigerians" and that he merits that all the Yoruba candidates are corrupt...

Gen Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi Ironsi

perez100:
The Tinubu urchins are still spreading propaganda that Ironsi introduced unitary government. When Ironsi was killed we still had regional Governors (Military In charge). Ojukwu in the East, Adekunle Fajuyi in the West, Hassan in the north and David Ejoor in Midwest.

It was Gowon that scrapped it.

We still have states now and we are still practising a unitary system. Having regions doesn't stop that.

Idiot

Patriotsleague:
Foolish man, allowed tribal sentiments ruin his judgement, he should have killed that drug addict Nzeogwu and his killer gang that killed Sardauna and Ahmadu Bello, he could have saved Nigeria from counter coups and ethnic division. Very poor leader he was.

Its far more than an individual thing brah, its much more demographical than a one-of thing.

If 10 other igbos were in ironsi's position in 1966, I won't.be surprised if (at least) 9 out of them took d same steps he took in not prosecuting the coupists all for tribal reasons.

All he needed to have done was to try them and make them pay the necessary price for treason, but "blood is thicker than water" mindset won't allow him.

The average Igbo person is too clannish.
Even till today, its a tug of war to get a criminal of Igbo descent to pay for his crime. His brethren will take.over the airwaves/social media with cries of ''whataboutism'', ''victimization", "intimidation" etc.

gidgiddy:
If you say that Ironsi started military rule in Nigeria, nobody will argue with that

But if you say he dismantled Regional system, you will have to explain how it is that the 4 Regions existed throughout Ironsi's rule, and with full resource control and fiscal federalism

How exactly did Ironsi dismantle Regional system?

Read Decree 34 of 1966

Kagd10:
Even some Northerners were involved.

Point is Ironsi masterminded it with Azikiwe.

The leaders of the coup plotters were also Igbos too.

Ademoyega even said he didn't know a lot about the coup because the main leaders always had their meeting without him at times. Ademoyega was one of the naive stupid Yoruba brainwashed.

It was Igbo coup. The main leaders were Igbos! Every regional leaders were killed except the Igbo leaders.

It was the.incarceration of awolowo that saved his sorry asss, if not he too would've bn killed along with the other premiers.

Its only God that can forgive the igbos for the seed.of treachery they sowed in Nigeria.


@bolded: even till today they are still doing d brainwashing. One of d effect was d destruction of Lagos under d guise of 'endsars' with d active collaboration of gullible yorubas like falz and his father.

pongwa:
he only played the script of the colonizers

faste:
You nail it,bigots in this forum would not reason...the british masterminded the coup to disrupt our development.

2elliot:
If the military, today, decides to wipe out the current crop of corrupt politicians, you will still blame the Igbo man and would say that they were saint. In your myopic mind, you think that regionalism would have been better than what it is obtained now. But because you lack history and even how the psychic of the black man works, you think that Nigeria would have been an eldorado, an heaven on earth. But believe me, it would have been worse. Far worse than it is obtained. Because the black man is a curse upon himself. He will always find a reason to be lawless and unproductive. It is not the Igbo man that has kept every black African nation on earth to be unproductive.
Regionalism was already showing symptoms of failure when regional politicians were beginning to be greedy and thuggish. The Akintoyes and the Awolowos of that time were starting brute and senseless politics(remember the wild wild west). Power was already getting into the heads of regional politicians, and it was only a matter of time before it would have exploded. In fact, dissolving regionalism helped to destroy those who would have made the power and resources of their regions their private properties.
Stop being an slowpoke. If you love regionalism so much, why don't you fight for it? Azikiwe has come and gone, and now you have that chance to make history by fighting to bring back regionalism.

obyno82:
Dude he centralized the civil service only let us stop twisting history. Many of us do not know why our resources are shared from the center. The reason is simple during the war the massive oil reserves in the Niger Delta which a bulk of it was in the Eastern Region was a worry to Gowon and so in a bid to reduce the influence of Ojukwu in collecting Oil royalties from Shell. Gowon instructed Oil companies to relocate their HQs from the Niger Delta to Lagos and ensure that all Oil Royalties are paid to the FG. He didn't change the structure after the civil war, and the arrangement still continued and subsequent administrations continued with this arrangement till now. The blame rests on Gowon he was young and naive, he didn't understand the administration of the Nigerian state.

bibe:
For those saying he abolished regional government, that's false. You have to put it into proper context. There was a breakdown in government/law and order following Awolowos incaseration for treason which led to the first coup. The first coup left a vacuum in leadership in the West, mid-west and North and to stabilize polity he centered the government but still appointed leadership from the West North, Midwest and East as regional administrators.
Basically, the regions still existed and had resource control. He didn't abrogate resource to the center.

His handling of the coup plotters leaves a lot to be desired but you cannot in all honesty criticize his handling of the remaining issues. If Bringing government to the center wasn't the right thing to do at the time, why didn't the counter coup plotters decentralize it? But they went even further by abolishing the regional government which he still left and went further to abrogate resources to the center thus truncating resource control. For that, blame Gowon and his enablers!

Truthdeypain:
Normally! The bastards are never getting away all the propaganda and lies they keep telling themselves over the years about the GENOCIDE. Them go continue they gaslight themselves. The IGBOS know their history and it's out there for anyone with a common sense and eyes to see.

Yorubas should keep deceiving themselves, same with Northerners. "Igbos are the cause of the civil war, they should suffer some more" "Chief Awolowo should have sacrificed more of those useless kwashiokor Biafran babies, by extending the blockade" "3.5 million biafrans was too little, the GENOCIDE should have been finished once and for all". "Useless IGBOS crying after loosing a war what did they expect hugs and kisses" . All these hate speeches and the most insensitivity is a tip of the gross wickedness and hatred these folks possess in their souls.

Till tomorrow not one single yoruba soul anywhere in the world has the decency or integrity to admit, not stand up for IGBO ni nioo ( that's practically impossible for fear of being called Omo Ale) , just admit a simple truth that the latter methods adopted in the war by the most heartless and evil "Chief Awolowo" who is basically worshipped and venerated by the yoruba race obviously for spearheading the most infamous blockade that starved millions of biafrans to death was a terrible act or was not good. Not one yoruba man can admit that this man did something bad in the eyes of God and men. I have searched the corners of this earth, if you have seen one show me.

We sabi say no be today IGBOPHOBIA start. For all their efforts to bury the SUN, it always keeps rising in their effing faces. We know our history and so will my kids and their kids after them. If you like eat the corpse of your suicidal Patron, venerate him to the high heavens, song hymns and praises to him. Evil and hate filled hypocrites! He will forever be known for what he is, Which is a suicidal, baby killing, envious, IGBO hating coward, who could not meet soldiers in the field even though they outgunned and outmanned them in every way possible, none is more evil than that guy. "All is fair in war" definitely the extermination of the third largest tribe in Nigeria. If it were not for maybe the cries of the foreign media and red cross these people would have poisoned the waters of biafra, even used chemical weapons if they knew how to. People who were forced to self preservation after being deliberately and regimentallly massacred and murdered in a series of POGROMS sponsored by the Nigerian state.

One thing that even us IGBOS don't know is that beyond our extreme bravery and ingenuity we have God to thank, I am sure I wouldn't be here typing if my grandmother had died during the war she was pregnant when it began and basically lost most of my uncles during the war, oldest was around 14 she was carrying my dad and later birthed him in the midst of debris, dead bodies and shrapnels. how they survived till date is still a mystery.

You people should keep masturbating on the Biafran war and wishing that the igbo was wiped off. I wish there truly was God some of you deserve the hottest part of hell. Because of self guilt and fear, the bastards had sworn that IGBO will never be president , they know the evil they have done, the fear of what we may do in retaliation freaks the whole nation, even when IGBOS have moved on and obviously are not the vindictive type, a fact I absolutely hate.

Long live IGBO the greatest tribe of Africa. May the sun continue to rise and prove that who God has blessed no man can curse!

hammer567:
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, IT WAS NOT AN IGBO COUP, HOWEVER THEIR ANNOUNCE WAS MANY IGBO LEADERS DID NOT DIE IN THE COUP, AS WAS THE CASE UP NORTH .



THEN AGAIN, THE NORTH WAS A LEGITIMATE TARGET, THEY WERE SELLING OUR INDEPENDENCE TO BRITAIN.



JUST LIKE BUHARI CRASH THE NAIRA TO 700 FOR 1DOLLAR FROM 100 IN 8 YERAS.


YEAH, WE WANTED THIS FOOL DEAD.

Christistruth00:
The British left 3 Autonomous Regions the North the West and the East

With their own Laws and Government

It was Gen Ironsi who believed his own unitary System where everything would be under him was better in 1966

Till today his People are not happy with it especially after the North got their hands on Power

and fell in love with Ironsi’s unitary System that gave them all control of Nigeria

Can you blame them?

The North wouldn’t have built Abuja without that Power

the below comments answers the unification done by Ironsi which was supported by Azikwe and Ojukwu until Ironsi was killed and no longer in power...

juman:
Igbos planned to re colonize Nigerians but failed.
They thought Nigerians are fools.

Igbos think in strange ways.

ADAMUdaCOWBOY:
I asked you to read and you are lazily asking me a stupid question. Ok I will answer. After independence, we were practicing a parliamentary system of government, very similar to the Westminster system practiced by the UK where power is decentralised and the regions were powerful. Ironsi came with his oversabi and "unified" Nigeria, making it a republic, insisting that appointments and promotion will strictly be on the basis of merit. Ironsi did not do that because he gave a fuçk about merit, he just knew igbos who had a majority in the civil service will dominate everyone. The northerners resisted the move knowing well how they will suffer under Igbo dominance but for where! Ironsi said we must dominate you. That, in summary is the story of how decree 34 came to be. When later on (not quite long after then), it was the turn of the igbos to shout "araba", for where! Aboki said we love you and we must stay in the marriage. And here we are.

obyno82:
Please let us stop the lies Ironsi didn't abolish regions technically. The person who actually abolished regions was Gowon.

This was formulated by the lawyer Ben Nwabueze....

SmartPolician:
This picture just reminds me that all will live and die. Only God knows where they are now. Therefore, for the few days you have on earth, use it to achieve something positive. Purge yourself of hate, tribalism and evils.

It's better you believe that heaven exists, live a good life and later find out that you were deceived than not believe that heaven exists and later discover that it does.

Good logic, but the problem is once you discover the deceptions of religions, it is very very difficult to believe again.
It is easier for those raised with beliefs through child indoctrination.