₦airaland Forum

texazzpete: ^^^ Jumping Jehoshaphat in a jumpsuit!! Who's gonna read all this block of text you dolt?!!

Now I remember you as the 'Rhymz' from all those crazy conspiracy theories about the moon landings and the CIA/Mossad. I thought you an unintelligent, gibbering buffoon then, i'm well on the way to being proven right.

you are a hypocrite Mr Man, if you could read Awolowo's report abi na letter una call am, then this should not be a problem if realy you cared about getting balanced accounts of what happened.
4ucking slowpoke!!

texazzpete: So..to counter sound arguments from katsumoto, you reach for words from Ojukwu?

<sarcasm> Because, as we all know his opinions can be taken as FACTS and 100% free from bias </sarcasm>

What next? We ask Charles Taylor for the 'truth' of what happened in the Liberian Civil war and document his words as facts?

Truly, i am extremely unimpressed with the dearth of brainpower you folks have put into your responses to Katsumoto's assertions.

My friendly advice to you is to stay out of this while Dede1, ACM and bashr8 tarnish their reputations with their feeble defences. Flee now and fight Katsumoto another day!

So by your logic, I am supposed to take as fact the 2nd hand stories and 3rd person's accounts of what may have caused the war over the words of one of the real actors of the war?
You sure know how to pick your stories to suit your purpose. Ojukwu is a far more veriable source of whatever that transpired before and during that war than your Oguiyi writer or whatever names they call me, neither is Katsumoto, who is reading accounts of the war that supports his already foreclosed stance any better.
If Ojukwu has lied in his account of the war, then all we need is to get those real players who participated in war to give their own side of the story that puts a lie to Ojukwu's claims. No matter what anyone tries to conjure up here, it must be noted that there's no such thing as an unbias writer, everyone write with a certain degree of preconcieved bias or at least on such premise.
Like the saying goes, "in war, the first casualties are not even women and childrien but the TRUTH". There's no denying the fact that each side employed propaganda during the war, so stop trying to ram "your so-called facts" down my throat when obviously, it still a product of a continued propaganda.

Your desire to end your father's interference led you to join the army? How could he, he did everything possible to stop me from going into the army. He tried everything, went to the Governor-General, James Robertson to prevent my joining the army. And they all laughed quietly at their ability to get me stymied, particularly my own favourite governor, Sir Clem in the East, who told my father not to worry that I could not take it. Because I could not be taken for cadet training, I joined as a recruit. By the time my father knew it, my hair had been shaved, I had joined the Nigerian army, I was in a uniform, and I was in a depot in Zaria. People shortly knew who I was and they treated me like an eccentric, with a benign amusement.There was another funny episode; but I escaped all that, and again I say there was a divine intervention; because I was in this class for a weapon training, and there was this sergeant major, who put ''s'' in every word he uses, so on this particular day, he came and said "good morning gentlemans. My lessons today is the teachings for the soldiers, it is the assemblies of the rifles. But before I start my lessons this mornings, I want to make revisions. "Gentlemans," he pointed at some thing, "what is this"?, yes, somebody answered butt, "good, good" he responded. What is this? he pointed at another thing, "barrel, good, good" he said. He went on and on, until he came to this little button under the catch, and this one was the difficult one, I put up my hand and he said " you, yes Bature ". I said 'safety catch', he said "damn fool, you sabi nothing". I said wait, he went on "Damn fool, you sabi nothing". I kept quiet and listened, we went on, another two people, then one said 'na sapler ka', he said: "good, everybody na sapler ka". Which could have been all right if I had kept my mouth shut, but I put up my hand and he said " what do you want" ? I said there is no such word in the English dictionary, no such word as ''sapler ka''. He was very angry "damn fool, me you teach am English?" He ordered immediately that I should be taken to the guard''s room. I was marched like that across the parade ground. I was then pushed into the cell and locked up. The problem was that he had to file a charge. He thought about what to write and decided to put there: ''no sabi English'' which saved me because the adjutant, an Englishman, saw it and found it odd, then decided that there must be something going on. So he tried to get to me to find out what was going on, I told him what happened, he started laughing, he could not take it alone so he called his second in command, and they found the whole thing ridiculous. They knew I was an Oxford graduate, they knew that I spoke the English language better than they did. So they decided that the only way to get the sergeant major off my back was to push the case beyond them and place it before the commanding officer, and it would be the adjutant alone who would take me to him and that was how I escaped. The sergeant major was very happy that he won but the commanding officer did not even have to listen, he knew what had happened. But when we discussed, he said "I do not see what you are doing here, but you know best, but I can tell you one way that you can be useful to me." He said to me: "I have a wife, stupid fella; I have a daughter, that is all she could produce. I want you to take them wherever they want to go. I do not want them within my sight." I said yes sir. In the morning, they would go shopping, they would go horse riding, the man just wanted to spend his life not even in the officers mess, but at the European club in town. And that was actually the sum total of my recruit, and naturally, when the time came, he put my name forward for office training. On the whole, you spent 10 years with the Nigerian Army, what was it like and how did you end up in Kano? The Nigerian Army, I say this not to denigrate anyone, is the remnant of a force that had grown steadily from the West African Frontier Force, until it became at independence, the Nigerian Army. When I was there, it was a force with five battalions, and we were sort of inching our way to the six battalions. And every officer knew brother officers; because of my peculiar type of education, when I came into the army after my training, I was selected to be either an instructor, or a staff officer. But my calling was for infantry; and if you remember, a lot of British officers had a tired approach and really I was looked upon as that officer that you could leave with minimal supervision. In fact, at one stage, my annual report had these words that I was one officer ''who never served under anybody but we all served under him.'' Naturally, I was a senior officer, my number was 29, and I moved up every year since my commission, and I had created quite a bit of jealous, enmity by my rapid promotion, and that sort of alienated me from my military colleagues. And if one was not within range, I was a friend. The army, for effectiveness, was very good ceremonially, we were also good for internal security actions, but I would not vouch for its war efficiency, which you found during the war, that the army proved itself. It was the biggest and most effective defoliating agent, they would shoot through any amount of leaves and miss out the enemy. And for propaganda sake, people were given so much reputation, reputation for what? And they go about prancing about; 'we did this, we did that,' no. We have this latent problem, because we have been given this bullshit about their efficiency, they began to believe it. When I say this, I am also recognising the limitation of my own training as an officer. By Nigerian standards, I was good, but I cannot go into modern war with other people who are better trained. I was all right as an infantry officer, I was all right as a small formation officer. But I do not think that internationally, at the power points that I would go beyond the command of a brigade. That is me, so when you see pipsqueaks prancing around as divisional commanders, core commanders, I just laugh. The army today is blamed for the instability in the political system, when in your opinion do you think the army began to eye a role in the political system? The army lost discipline with the appointment of Yakubu Gowon. It was Gowon that rooted indiscipline into the Nigerian Army. This is the basis of my disagreement with the Nigerian Army Officers Corp, nothing more than that. In a way, it is the politicisation of the officers corp; I have always been committed to the professional army. We argued the appointment of Ironsi as the major-general, who would take over from Maj-General Wilbe Everad, the last British commanding officer. I maintained the position that for the army to remain, we have to follow the natural chain of command of the hierarchy. Despite the disruptions of the Ifeajuna coup, we still held together as an army. Later, it became a question of how to handle the disruption of the demise of Ironsi. If you remember, I had been posted to Enugu, so I was not in Lagos to argue this. But I kept on the telephone arguing the point, that Ogundipe should take over; no problem then, because there was a chance of resolving the issues. Nigeria was let down by Ogundipe, because his action tended to give more strength to people who believe that anybody could be the head at any time; I say no to that kind of thinking. Those who designed the military structure knew what they were doing. When I finally learnt that Ogundipe had fled, I did not stop. I then proposed Adebayo, he should take over by seniority, then of course, Gowon proclaimed himself commander over and above so many senior officers. It is true that people acquiesced but that was when discipline broke down. So I was not in Lagos, but I did what I could, but Gowon became head of the army. The danger was that some of those who acquiesced did not have the guts to move across to Gowon, they remained under command, here in the East. That confused the whole thing, but basically, that was what the whole war was about. The question is: 'do we have an army or don''t we?' Some people chose to have an army of war lords, anywhere you are, if you look outside the window and you command more rifles, you become the boss. No, you should have a superior loyalty; loyalty to the institution not so much to the men. If I had been in Lagos, we might have saved the situation; but I had won two arguments: the one that made Ironsi the general and the one that made him supreme commander. I gave him the direction the army should go, but because I was in Enugu, I was not as effective to prevent the aberration of Gowon being placed at the head of the army, at the time he did. At the time of the coup against Ironsi, it was obvious that Ogundipe did not enjoy the support of the officers and men and had to go? When you use the word obvious, you tempt into the obvious question. How do you know, give me proof? How did it become obvious if it had not been fed into you? I was in the army, I did not see anything obvious, so tell me how? Nigerians are not interested in my thoughts, it is you they want to hear... No, the point is that a lot of these things you people take and digest, and once you are confronted with the true situation, you are so reluctant to shift, why? When Ironsi became head, was there a military council vote? He was appointed, he took over and you saw the result. Ogundipe should have taken over, why did he not? Or that he ran away, who threatened him? And they threatened him, he ran away from being in command, but ran into the arms of Nigeria and became an ambassador. I am glad we are talking about this because this is part of the half-baked beliefs of many Nigerians, and it is significant they accept these things on matters they are not experts in. That the NCOs were not taking orders from Ogundipe, who are these Non- Commissioned Officers? What rank? I am being deliberately mischievous to make a point, forgive me. Why should you know. It is my profession and I wish that you would be a little hesitant with these statements that come from Nigerian propaganda to legitimise Gowon. It is just like the propaganda that says you have to be very careful in the North, the North does not like Ojukwu, and you journalists, you continue saying it, when in fact even the Northerners in ANPP, and quite a number in PDP, say if Ojukwu stood for election side by side with Buhari, we do not know who would win. Because we are very popular with the North of today, but the Eastern journalist of today say, no, no, the North will not do this, or do that. And it becomes the truth of our misguided era. No, the only way we would have known what the reaction would have been was for Ogundipe to take up his position, and then we would know. Even today, wherever I go to talk, even at the war college, they recognise the commanding presence of their superior officer, and that is it. One of the reasons adduced by observers for the July coup , is that it was a revenge coup since the January 15 attempt was inspired by mostly Igbo officers (interrupts) And Ogundipe was Igbo? That is not the point(interrupts) That is the main point. That it was an Igbo coup did not make it a Yoruba coup. Between January 15 and July 29, do you think that Ironsi had taken steps to put back some discipline in the army, as a way of correcting the breakdown of order the January coup caused? I would be very honest with you, and I would ignore certain Nigerian propaganda. You see, we were brought up as one Nigerian Army, when the British were pulling out, they left one commanding officer, we found ourselves being pulled by ethno-centric forces, we found ourselves being pulled apart. The idea that Ironsi, after serving the world as Major-General, Force Commander in the Congo, should come back to Nigeria and be relieved of his rank, sharpened the ethnic divide of the army. Even when I moved and argued that the important issue was the chain of command and the military hierarchy, that the institution we inherited, we should keep inviolate. It was easy for many people to say you, Ojukwu would say that, after all you are an Igbo man. The mere fact that he took over the Nigerian Army remained, and he went round and spoke to so many people, it is possible he could have done more. But I do not think that he saw the danger, so he dealt with it at the level he understood it. Ironsi, a good soldier perhaps, I never saw him in war, but I saw him in the Congo, and the way he was appreciated showed he had very good military instincts. I think he did enough to reassure everybody of the brotherhood of the officer corp. Enough! I saw him doing it when he went round. But my own personal feeling was that he did one of the things I blame Igbo leaders for, because they always think the answer is to cry mea culpa, mea culpa. You can do it without accepting guilt, but he leant over backwards accepting guilt. For example, the appointments he made were in accordance with our own rules, he believed in Nigeria. Even before his death, I told him that I did not like the congregation of Northern officers in Benin, he said no, no "they are my boys". I said yes, but it would be better because of what has been going on, that he should try and mix them up even those around him, but he did not. It was the same thing when I said there is danger in these meetings being held in Nasarawa and Kano. Our good friend, JS Tarka, gave me a tape to listen to, and I gave it to him to listen to and he listened and he was quite upset. He called Kam Salem, he gave him the recorder and the tapes "to go and listen to what your brothers are planning for me." To reassure me of his solidarity with the North right there, he dialled to speak with Sultan Abubakar, and he spoke to him in fluent Hausa, and all that was to convince me that Tarka was wrong and that he was on very close personal contact with the Sultan, what could be better! So he did what he could within his understanding of the best he could. Those who planned the coup against Ironsi said their grouse was Decree 34 which created the unitary system and the second was that Ironsi was reluctant to punish the January coup plotters? What was said was that those who plotted the coup would be investigated, I was there at the Supreme Military Council (SMC). General Ironsi said that those who were involved would be investigated and would, if found guilty, be charged accordingly. But who was in charge of investigating this matter? It was Gowon. That he did not do it was wrong, that they then took action after how many months, four or five months, is odd. Blaming Ironsi for a promise unfulfilled after four months only; you know that all of these are mere rationalisations for the actions that they had taken. It was because of what happened on January 15, 1966, that we started having difficulties, and Ironsi decided to go round. If you notice in his moving round, it was so anti-East that Enugu was not even on the list for Ironsi to visit, which was wrong. The Decree 34 that you talked about, what actually was in that decree? The point is that I was in the SMC, and I do not think that there was any decree that Ironsi issued which we in the SMC did not sit round and we all discussed. I know that there was a move for the creation of a unitary government at the SMC, but it had not been written at all. Nigeria was not unified, that was why I remained military governor in the East; if it had been, I would not have remained governor in the East. The other person they hated was F.C Nwokedi; but if you remember, what the SMC told Nwokedi and the nation, was that he should go round and discuss, and come back and report; but the rationalisation you find is that he had gone and reported and it was clear a decree was going to be promulgated, not that it had actually been promulgated. Ironsi did not do anything to the contrary, the government was not unified, rather, it was the civil service. How does one command areas that he actually had no jurisdiction over? And if they say that is the reason for killing Ironsi, and killing Nigeria, why is that since they have taken over, they still retained the system of appointing governors? What the decree did was to unify the civil service under a military system. At the time you were in touch with Ogundipe, you knew Ironsi had died? No, not officially. I had the rumour that he had been assassinated, so I began making contacts because I wanted to force them out in the open so that we could start dealing with the real situation. It was said that you told him that if he makes radio announcement that you would follow from the East, giving your support, was that what you said? It is a long time now, but I can tell you that to establish Ironsi was a question of something like 'please do not keep the nation waiting, whatever it is, now that the rump of Tafawa Balewa government had vested authority, you speak to the nation and get to work.' That if that happens, I would from the North lend some support, and the various commanding officers would also show support. We manage it and stabilise the situation, but this second one, I told him I did not like the crowd around him in Benin, the officers were from a particular grouping; it is possible that because of the seniority, he did not identify the tendencies, I was a lieutenant colonel, so I was closer and I knew their tendencies . When the upheaval then took place, I began first to talk to Murtala Mohammed, who was in Ikeja, we understood each other, and what he said to me was very straight forward and simple: " I do not want to stay with Nigeria. I just want us to separate the North from Nigeria, which would mean that we would move the Northerners of a certain standing to the North". I said to him: 'if that is the case, okay, go ahead with it.' But as I later on understood, some western diplomats, the British, and Americans and some permanent secretaries, told them not to break up Nigeria. I learnt they told them everything they wanted, they now have, so why leave the country? But I said no, if we have to do it together, we must return to the chain of command, the hierarchy of the military. Then I started to get in touch with Ogundipe, it was difficult at that time, but with my own Yoruba connections, I found him. Apart from Ogundipe and Adebayo, who else might it have fallen upon to lead the Army? Ogundipe was then a full colonel, after him it would have fallen probably to Bassey, who was senior to all of us, the only person he was junior to was probably Ironsi. When Gowon made his national broadcast, you followed up with your own broadcast, was that when you made up your mind to secede? I told you earlier that the whole question was that we return to hierarchy as we had it in the Army. Gowon was in Lagos and he took over, he spoke to me and I told him no, that he can''t take over. I made it clear that it was not his right. By accepting to negotiate with him at Aburi, was that not a recognition of a fait accomopli? I do not know what you call a fait accompli. When you suddenly caught a robber that invaded your house and carried your belongings, what do you do? You start talking with him, is that a fait accompli? If it were a fait accompli, there would have been nothing to discuss. This thing got accomplished at the end of the war. There is the suggestion of the rivalry between you and Gowon being a factor... (interrupts) I will not let you finish, because you are feeding ideas into my mind. Please, if you have to use a little courtesy to respect me and let me know what you are talking about. Your were administratively senior to Gowon, even though he joined the army two years before you did, and it is suggested that it provoked some rivalry having him assume command... It did not, you are the one reading that into it. Where did you find that? There are many people who were in the army long before me that I was ahead of eventually. Do you honestly think having been to the university and gotten two degrees would not even give me an advantage? It did! There were many people who joined the army before Gowon, it did not provoke rivalry. What I am opposed to is to encapsulate a national tragedy and reduce it to a mundane level. For instance, Col. Hilary Njoku might even argue that he was senior to me, and I might disagree, but technically, he would be right because even though I became a lieutenant colonel before him, by virtue of military seniority, he was senior to me and once he became a lieutenant colonel, he assumed seniority. But Gowon''s case was a little bit different. Like you said, he joined the army two years before me, but at my commission, I had caught up with him anyway; because I got the advantage due to my university training. So that he was in the army two years before me by this time did not come into thought, I hope I have explained myself well. It was suggested that Decree 8 suspending the constitution and putting into effect some of the understanding that was reached at Aburi, was promulgated but you did not accept it, do you still remember some of the aspects that offended you? If you put the decree on the table I will look at it and tell you. As I said to you, I did not agree with the actions taken, we quarrelled and eventually, we went to war. There must be so many things that we could not agree on because it is the right of the people we are trampling on. And whilst we are on this because I believe journalists have done a terrible service to Nigeria, forgive me, but the problem is your baked legalisms. During that period I was legitimate having been duly appointed, by a duly appointed head of state to look after the east. The quarrel to a large extent was that nobody of any legitimacy appointed Gowon. So Gowon should be arguing and explaining, what you are asking me to explain; there was nothing illegitimate about my appointment even Gowon knows because Ironsi appointed me. You met Awo on May 4th 1967, and as part of your conversation he asked you about your attitude of southeast leaders to question of the north, it was said that you responded that: " on the specific question of whether there is a possibility of contact with the north, the answer is at the battle field"? This is what I have been arguing all morning, I mean this is another Nigerian propaganda, that is okay. This quotation is all wrong, I do not even speak that way; if I am going to waste my time the least that you can do is to play me the tape. If people are putting out their own account, I will write my own. But if you on my 70th birthday are going to ask me questions, first you are not going to be given my memoirs, secondly, you are not going to have the extracts of the book; I am going to do what I agreed to do with you which is to talk to you generally. If you then come with matters that I consider false, then before I start I would demand for the authenticity of the claims you are making because I am very much aware of the burden of history. I am the final Biafran truth, and that is why I would not be irresponsibly dragged into areas to justify Nigerian propaganda. Do you also know that I released Chief Awolowo from prison? Do you also know that I also maintained contact with Awo that when I had problem with Nigeria that he came to see in exile. Do you know that there is nowhere in the written annals of Nigerian history where you would see a harsh word from me against Chief Awolowo. If you take all these into consideration you would find why some of your questions are provocative. And incidentally at the time you were talking who was Chief Awolowo? On the Nigerian side, who has just been released from prison, that Gowon sent on a mission. He did not come to impose the federal might otherwise he would not have crossed the Niger bridge. Before the war broke Gowon talked about creating the COR states ( Cross Rivers, Ogoja and Rivers state), as a way of reducing your area of influence. But did you anticipate that if you went ahead that you would still have the support of the people of those areas? That is a good question, but in any case as the head of state of Biafra, what you expect me to do is to sit beside the radio to listen to what Gowon had to say. No. We were running a republic of our own. Ont the creation of states he had no powers over us; remember that technically at that time Gowon was a rebel. In your book '' Because I am involved'' you said of Gowon, " An aspect of him which I found often disconcerting, was his ability, when pushed to the wall in any discussion, to close off his mind, to close his door, as it were, to all logic", at Aburi did you push to him to the wall? Aburi presented immense opportunity to present our case before the international community , I went there as a leader of eastern regional faction, and it was not a question of pushing him to the wall. Should I tell you what I did? You judge from what you heard'' Aburi you have the complete transcription of what happened. You have the record of all the discussions, you can read with objectivity. And you sit here after many years and ask whether I pushed him to wall; you want to reduce everything to personal dispute, I resent that I must tell you. You and Zik never agreed? Me and Zik never agreed?, how can who am I, no. He carried me on his laps when he came back from America and visited my father. All my life I referred to him as pa, my mate was his son Chuma. We were not contemporaries, he might have disagreed with my father if ever; but remember at the Foster Sutton, it was my father that bailed him out. So at least he and my father were quite close, if you feel that you are not getting all the facts no problem, but that is the fact. I found him amiable, and in Biafra I gave him maximum protection, and he even led some of delegations abroad; when he found the rings around the enclave had become tighter he took a step when I sent on a delegation he decided to flee to Nigeria, so where did you get this information about my not agreeing with him? You removed him as Vice-chancellor of University of Nigeria? I removed him as Vice-chancellor for certain reasons, but the bigger reason was that it was the only place available to me in an emergency; I brought in Ado Bayero as the chancellor it was in the midst of the crisis and I decided that the Emir should come here to show the positive attitude of our people. What particular reason do you have for removing him? Has he got glue to his buttocks, he had done a good job up to that point , but the issue as I pointed out earlier is that it became very necessary to relieve him of that position. Given the way the war ended would you have fought it differently? Well as I look back I would say yes I would have for those battles I lost, but for the ones I won I would not change anything. One of the things that I would like to do since I came back from exile is that I would like to hold a plebiscite, not that it would have changed much, but that it would have shown it was the wish of the entire people of the southeast. When you went into exile there are those who thought that you would have organised resistence to save Biafra (interrupts) Even today there are those in Nigeria who still think that I am organising some resistence. But you did not do that why? Because I did not think that it was necessary. My dear young man when you fight a war you do what you must do to define your war aims very clearly, and that is what you fight for. Well some times having achieved it you might be tempted to raise it further, but in this case my war aim was to ensure the survival of the Biafran people from the former threat of genocide. In the end many pronouncements have shown that we succeeded. At the beginning of hostilities, you had said that no power in black Africa could stop Biafra, did you really mean it? I am terrible sorry I will not reduce myself to that level of discussion. '' No power in black Africa did you really mean it'', there are ways of talking; at that time with the temper of the moment, that was it. And in any case I proved it, not borrowed power from Europe I am talking about power from black Africa. That I had a battalion of weapons?, everybody knew what I had , I said even the grass would fight. Did I mean that even blade grass would put on a uniform and start fighting. When you came back people expected you to play the oracle, but you said you would not; the present crisis of leadership in Igbo land has been traced to that fact, do you agree? There is no doubt that some people want me to play the oracle, but I do not look like an oracle. I remember telling the people that I am not a politician, but it is there being in the north, west and elsewhere that forces me into their defense, but if they want me to stop they should withdraw and come to the east; and not every time you would shout and complain that you''ve been massacred, that their shops have been destroyed and looted you look for me. So for as long as they are out there they need protection from here, that was what I said. And then finally, I enjoy talking to you, I really do; but I wish that you did a lot more reading. But tell me actually, what leader in history had gone into exile, and returned with certain youthfulness and then became an oracle? When you say something you should be able to say like x, or z, tell me.? Do you realise that whenever you try to take certain stage in Igbo politics you evoke passion not only amongst other Nigerians, but even within Igboland? So I should commit suicide, give me a suggestion. God created me that way or what do I do, cut off my tongue? Go to a cosmetic surgeon to change my face; that is a question you should pose to the almighty God, and ask him why he created me. But clearly I intend to use every ounce of energy to nudge Nigeria into the right way. When APGA was been formed your were not central to it, at what point did you then develop interest? As an idea I found it very fascinating; I would normally take interest in any existing party. But in this case I took passionate interest watching, and evaluating APGA until after it received INEC certification; but don''t forget I was the person Ohanaeze entrusted with the task of ensuring a closer interaction between it and the party, so I got the opportunity, and later I found it was the right way. Why then was it difficult for Ohanaeze to adopt APGA? They must have their reason, and I felt personally insulted that Ohanaeze should even consider some else too. I know what effort I have made to protect their interest and integrity; now for Ohanaeze to even look in the direction of a man who had the chance of fighting alongside Ndigbo, but decided to fight along side the north during that war was too much. I said no. I can take most things but not that one. So these are the problems with Ohanaeze, they are not clear where they are going, and I am the one that said Ohanaeze is dead. Maybe now they are trying to find life, I wish them luck. You were reported to have proscribed Ohanaeze, a statement many have wondered what gave you the right to say so? It is a God given right, and I would say what I think is appropriate in a democracy. And we are talking about a political situation, and we are facing an election, and I say that Ohanaeze is dead and you say who gave me the right? It is a God given right, that is my opinion. So because it is an umbrella organisation, there are certain things you are not allowed to say, come off it. It is my right and you job is to prove me wrong, and not to say that it is not right. Your forming Igbo National Assembly (INA) is seen by many people as not helping in forging a common front lacking in Igbo land, what do you say? Ohanaeze is an organisation born out of strife, I can understand the reason why they decided to be socio-cultural organisation, with that we were able to function under a military government. But as we evolve such there are greater freedoms, we have reached a stage where I think that Ndigbo needs a political organisation. We have a party which is national, it needs INA charged with mobilisation of Ndigbo. Nobody quarrels with Ohanaeze, if they continue with being socio-cultural, no problem. If I am invited to an mmanwu festival, I will be there. But remember that Ohanaeze and its leaders over the years have been a group pregnant with politics, but very cowardly they could not express it, actually they are jealous of political initiatives. I cannot dismiss the organisation totally, even despite the question of conflict, but the problem with Ndigbo today is particularly political. Nobody under the pay of the state or federal government should be an executive of Ohanaeze, this is simple and requires nothing more than commonsense. Nobody aspiring for federal appointment should be in position in Ohanaeze. In INA I hope we would be able to do what Nigeria needs Ndigbo to do constructively, which is critical opposition. Are you aware Ohanaeze is being restructured? Yes I am aware, we are watching them, but I am not satisfied because I do not think they have got to the bottom of their problem. They first thing they have to do is to separate the politics from the socio- cultural, and there are so many things to be done. The other is that organisational I do not think they can command a lot of fellowship amongst Ndigbo. One of the reasons is that the leadership does not inspire the confidence of Ndigbo, there are so many factors that at my age and position it would be almost irresponsible of me to go into details. There is the observation that you do not get along with many Igbo leaders? Since the end of the civil war, you would find people from the north, from the army barracks and everywhere tell you these are the leaders of Ndigbo, and people go trudging after them, they are our leaders. Emeka Offor is your leader and they go after him he is our leader. They are told Chris Uba is your leader, they go after him he is our leader, come of it; soon or later we should be able to say no. These people are not our leaders, and that is what a political organisation should be able to do. Now they have ended up telling us somebody who was on the Nigerian side during the civil war is our leader and they say yes sir, he is our leader. That cannot go on. Can you confirm that you said in Owerri that you handed over the baton of leadership of Ndigbo to Chekwas Okorie? Wishful thinking, I did not say that. I said I would hand over to the likes of Chekwas Okorie, and the other thing I want you to know is that I have no intention of dying yet. In your book, you said that Nigeria is crippled by four fears: fear of change, fear of truth, fear of unity and fear of man. Have you discovered more fears? The worst fear is actually the fear of unity, at every step as I reflect about Nigeria I find that one thing we all agree on is the fear of unity. That is why I said that the beginning of wisdom of Nigeria must be a national conference, let us come together around the table. Let no subject be made a taboo, and design a Nigeria that can accommodate all of us. Nigeria should be restructured. You see when I say a national conference I never like going into details, because I would prefer everything to be discussed. And for everybody to understand me I would say if the people of this area want a Biafra, why not? And if some other people want an Oduduwa republic, why should it not be discussed; to try then to spoon feed a constitution to the Nigerian people is wrong. And the people who want to this are the military, who are the least qualified of the lot to do so. And whilst we are on it, do not tell me that every time we are changing the document the point is that the constituion is made for the people, not the people for the constitution. If we have to change the constitution every year, why not?, provided we are easing the situation for our people, there is nothing wrong with that. From your book, you said about the surrender of Biafra: " when the news of the capitulation of Biafran forces under Effiong reached me, first it was anger: anger that perhaps I had been tricked into going out on a fruitless and futile mission." Did you mean to stay back? My intention was to stay back, but whether I would have stayed is another thing. We like to beat our chest and be the great baboon, pillars of courage; but I do not know what I would have done. The intention was to stay. You described Obasanjo in our book this way: ''Here was a man who without being a great statesman in his time grew to become the greatest elder statesman of his time, what is your view of this statement now?'' I repudiate it. I think I do so unabashedly, because my in latest statement I said Obasanjo is a fraud, and I think that captures him better than anything else I have said. He is not that which he presents himself to be. He is not a civilian; he is not a democrat; he is not a Nigerian. He is not a Yoruba as such. You wrote in your book, that: '' we treat electoral opponents as malicious enemies instead of as persons with opposing view points.'' Do you today feel vindicated? Yes I do feel vindicated. Election opponents in Enugu here are being hunted by assassins, in Anambra it is not much better, in Abia it is not better. Do you think that the civilians have re- imposed order over the army? Not so long ago when I said to you that Obasanjo is a fraud, I indicated that he says he is a civilian, but he is not. When you say whether the civilians have control over the army, I say to you that it has not been tested. The Obasanjo regime in my view is not totally civilian. All his massacres are military, he clearly gave orders to some people and they carried them out. So it is difficult for me to say right now that they are under civilian control. But once we get to the constitutional conference, procedure would be established for better control of the armed forces. Do you have some ideas that you may like to share with us? In the constitutional conference it would be a passionate interest of mine to serve in the group that would try to cage that beast called the army. You see the army came out of the barracks in 1966, it would be duty of all patriotic Nigerians to see that the army is caged back to their barracks again. They have to be made professional again, what you have today are an officer corps of land lords. No efficient army can run with land lords in command, and at the end of each month they had to go back to the town to collect their rents. The army in Nigeria is a heavy burden to the national economy, and this is so because of black mail. I have argued for years that the army can be made productive, but people do not believe me they prefer we continue the colonial all- consuming army. And this does not fit well into the economy of a third world country. They should be divested of their obvious intimidatory role. For instance, a soldier can only be in uniform whenever he is on duty, and if he is moving from barracks to duty other arrangements could be made. But one thing I will not support is an army in uniform on the roads, and on foot carrying weapons it is intimidating, and when they are hungry to extort, and when they feel randy to rape. I am saying this not as an accusation, because whatever I say about the army affects me. But I am saying this to point these loopholes out to the new commanders of today. A lot of privileges you can grant the army, you do so because you look at them not as super humans. The Nigerian army has to be drastically restructured. When we were being trained, we were told that as soon as you have taken part in a coup, the entire force is disbanded, and then you build a new army whether it is a battalion, a brigade. What has happened is that in Nigeria they have tried to cover up treason. What right has Theophilus Danjuma, to butcher his general officer commanding in Ibadan, what right? What right has Gowon to benefit from such a crime, what right? The things they did led us to a grotesque situation where for six months Nigeria was being ruled from a grave. Murtala Mohammed was effective dead and buried in the grave while an inscription was in every wall as part of Murtala- Obasanjo regime; Obasanjo did not have the courage to repudiate it, it was grotesque, but we had it. On this Danjuma's role there is the view that says killing Ironsi was not part of the plot, but at Ibadan the NCO's pushed him aside and then took Ironsi and killed him? My answer is that you are either a commander or your are not. And I loathe this situation where those who committed crime remain faceless. Is there any book where you have been told which NCO''s pushed aside, and he went on to benefit from that act. And would you tell me which NCO reinstated him. What message do you have for Nigerians at your 70th birthday? I want to thank every Nigerian for one thing or the other contributing to making my day a success. The situation in Nigeria is very bad, but I want to assure them that it is not a situation that is irreparable, it can be repaired. It requires wisdom and wit. Whereas some people say we are one nation, I want to tell my country men and women that we are not. We are an agglomeration of people seeking to become one nation, the search for one nation has become very valid. We have not arrived there and the only way we can get there is through a sovereign national conference. We need and should design and re-design a polity that accommodates not one group but everybody. My fellow country men and women, I have a strong belief that we can make it. What has transpired in the past is an aberration; the concept that might is right is an aberration. It is only through a national conference that we can create a Nigerian of ourselves, instead of patching it up . My beloved people I believe that together we can make it. When is Ikemba going to retire? I will retire a few months after my death.

@Katsumoto
I have always stated that no matter what revionists like yourself read and write about the war, it can never be as authentic or nearer to the truth as some of the accounts given by Ojukwu himself about the war.
When one chooses to view issues with preconcieved conclusions and goes ahead to strengthen their stance by reading books on the war by authors whose views are bias, articles by propagandist, and distorted third party accounts from your likes.
One thing you can not fault Ojukwu on is the fact that unlike many of the officers of his time, he was the most educated and erudite with prolly the best ability to vividly tell the real story and reasons for the war.
I shall post some of his responses to questions posed to him by a reporter that
he exclusively granted an interview; the questions ranged from facts, distortions that have become some people's truth, suggestive statements in the mould of facts, rude embelishments, outright propagander down to the ridiculous. Ojukwu being a man of sound mind and judgement did not fail to nip it in the bud....anyway, enuf gisting....make I get down to bizness.....

Somebody is so unsure about their claims.

jt2010: Please tell me the date and not your bullshit one week before inauguration nonsense. Quote the date and put the record straight than speaking in vague and with two side of your mouth. Clueless slowpoke

I am done curing you from madness and ignorance. If you are looking for further indulgence, I will recommend you look for KOBOjunkie for the psychotic arguments you seem to be looking for.
Now 4uck off!!!

Dollarman101: @rhymz, you are correct. Dont disturb yourself anymore. That is his stock in trade. It is the voice of Kobojunkie masquerading as JT2010. Even when he comes face to face to truth, he will keep dodging.

PhysicsQED: This jt2010 guy is a joker.

GEJ declared his assets as president twice - in May of 2010 and in May of 2011.

The CCB can only release declaration of asset information under terms dictated by the National Assembly, which has yet to state under what terms/conditions the CCB can release GEJ's information to the citizenry:

"Specifically, Section 153 of the Constitution establishes a Code of Conduct Bureau to ensure, among other things, that all public officers, as defined in Part II of the Fifth Schedule, declare their assets on assuming office and immediately their terms of office expire. Paragraph Three of Part 1 (A) of the Third Schedule, empowers the Bureau to receive declarations made by all public officers, examine same and keep them in custody. Paragraph 3(C) says the Bureau shall have the power to "retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe."

The constitution is the highest law of the land and this is what the constitution requires as of right now - the NA's terms and conditions for any release of declarations.

That's all there is to it.

Abeg help me school these person that is just bustling with crass ignorance.
Like the FOOL is seriously competing with KOBOjunkie for the most insanely combative twerp on NL.

Dollarman101: @rhymz, you are correct. Dont disturb yourself anymore. That is his stock in trade. It is the voice of Kobojunkie masquerading as JT2010. Even when he comes face to face to truth, he will keep dodging.

PhysicsQED: This jt2010 guy is a joker.

GEJ declared his assets as president twice - in May of 2010 and in May of 2011.

The CCB can only release declaration of asset information under terms dictated by the National Assembly, which has yet to state under what terms/conditions the CCB can release GEJ's information to the citizenry:

"Specifically, Section 153 of the Constitution establishes a Code of Conduct Bureau to ensure, among other things, that all public officers, as defined in Part II of the Fifth Schedule, declare their assets on assuming office and immediately their terms of office expire. Paragraph Three of Part 1 (A) of the Third Schedule, empowers the Bureau to receive declarations made by all public officers, examine same and keep them in custody. Paragraph 3(C) says the Bureau shall have the power to "retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe."

The constitution is the highest law of the land and this is what the constitution requires as of right now - the NA's terms and conditions for any release of declarations.

That's all there is to it.

Abeg help me school these person that is just bustling with crass ignorance.
Like the FOOL is seriously competing with KOBOjunkie for the most insanely combative twerp on NL.

jt2010: You are a serial liar and clueless being, compare your two statements above and tell me if both are the same. After i have point you to loop-holes in the issue your put forward, you are now trying to playing smart with what I put forward to you. Even if you must openly lie about issue, please do so Intelligently and like your lie complement your facts.

nigga you are mentally inadequate walahi!! Apparently, your brains did not grow in accordance with your shoe size. Can you point out to me what I have said differently in my statements instead of splitting hair. You lack argumentative skill, resorting to misrepresentation only confirms that, point out clearly how those two statements contradict what I have been saying all along?
Your first claim was that he had never declared his asset to the CCB and I showed you how wrong your claim was, next thing you were talking about the dates and I equally presented you with facts that even after declaring his asset as acting President, that the CCB confirmed that since being sworn as substantive President he had also declared his asset. You still queried when and I presented you with a report to that effect from The Mirror in 2011 when he did so, all you could do in defence was point out irrelevant stuff that added nothing to yoyr argument. Home boy go drink hypo jare, you don run out of gas. . . . Now you are spewing BS and ranting like a mad biatch.

jt2010: Am sure you are not Mr. President spoke-man nor its aides to be capable of making such authoritative statement of fact that "[b]Mr. President has declare his asset" [/b]when Mr. President himself cannot confidently and authoritative said that to his subject through the Media chat. Tell me you did not watch the Presidential Media chat.

hahahahahahaha. . . . . You have obviously lost the argument and now want to resort to the antics of deliberate misrepresentation of what he said. Mr Man no be only you watch the tele chat, we all did too. Every honest and discerning Nigeria knows that Jonathan was talking about how he wont openly declare his assets. Jonathan may not have been skillful in the way he used declaration and open declaration when making his point but any honest person will know he was opposing suggestions that will force him to openly declare his asset. When he said it was a matter of principle, it was obvious he was talking about his discretion to make it public or not. Stop whinning like a biatch Nigga!! Abi KoboJunkie don infect you with her disease ni? Mehn, Nigerians can be so maliciously unreasonable and dishonest.
Jonathan may not be perfect but it is dishonest for anyone to exaggerate the man's mistake or even outrightly twist it to decieve the less discerning just to score some stoopid political points.

jt2010: Mr. man, Your first claim of Mr. President declaring his asset May 27, 2010, has now turn to one week before his inauguration in May 29, 2011!!! are you this stupid or you just choose to be dump in your reasoning . I will say no more on this matter with you.

now you are going to resort to misrepresenting facts and twisting what I wrote out of the context I made them.
Like I said before, Jonathan and his deputy declared their asset on resumption of of office on may 27, 2010 after the death of Umaru Yaradua. After the end of his term as acting President he did thesame and after winning his re-election bid he did it a week to the swearing in as president according to the leadership of CCB. Which part is it you do not comprehend as it is obvious comprehension is not your forte.
You are not objective and already have a preconcieved conclusion, all you want to do is find faults that will help you whine and criticize endlessly. Abeg go siddon for one corner jare. . .

As for those people arguing blindly if he declared his asset to the CCB, I hope we go here word now with this newspaper report.
EMMANUEL ONANI AND ROTIMI FADEYI 11/06/2011 02:03:00 President Goodluck Jonathan Even with the recently passed Freedom of Information Act, the Code of Conduct Bureau is still refusing to release details in the Asset Declaration Form of President Goodluck Jonathan. Following Saturday Mirror’s enquiry, the CCB yesterday, only disclosed that President Jonathan declared his assets one week before his inauguration on May 29 in line with the law establishing the bureau. The law requires public office holders to declare their assets and liabilities before assuming office and at the end of their tenure. A highly placed source in the CCB, who craved anonymity said, “A week before the President was sworn-in, two of his aides came here twice to make enquiries on the procedure required to declare his assets. He took enough time to fill the forms and returned same before swearing-in.” When asked why the president did not do a public declaration like he did after the late President Umaru Yar’Adua made his public in 2007, the source said, “The Constitution did not compel a public official to declare openly, neither did it stop them from doing so confidentially. It is a matter of choice.” Reminded that the FoI Act requires that a government agency should release information demanded by Nigerians, he replied, “Notwithstanding the FoI Act, the Bureau cannot give out any such information, until the National Assembly makes a law in that regard.” In 2007 the then Vice President Jonathan’s declared total assets at the CCB was put at N295, 304, 420. A breakdown of the assets showed that Jonathan’s private buildings are worth N67, 990,000. These included a fourbedroom duplex in Kpansia, Yenagoa, valued at N15m, a four-flat storey extension of the family house in Yenagoa valued at N10m and a four-flat storey building at Otuoke, Ogbia Local Council, which was bombed days before his inauguration as VP valued at N18m. There was also a fivebedroom personal residence in Gwarinpa, Abuja, worth N24.99m. Jonathan was said to have declared total assets of N41.8m under the vehicles and household items. They included a BMW car valued at N15m, generators, electronics, air conditioners, furniture, kitchen utensils and others in Kpansia, Yenagoa, Otuoke, and Gwarimpa all valued at N26m. The BMW was declared as a gift while the other items were said to be gifts or procured from savings. He also declared some vacant and undeveloped plots as worth N60.538m. They included five undeveloped plots of land in Bayelsa, two undeveloped plots of land in Cadastral Zone BO2 and AO6 in Abuja. He also declared that N62, 072, 200m was from income yielding investments in addition to four 16-seater passenger boats for hiring by companies and other agencies while N58.984m was declared as total cash in bank.

jt2010: Mr. Man, learn to accept the fact whenever you see one and argue the defend-able and state your hypothesis if you do not have fact. While i strongly believe that Mr. President is not require by law to telecast its declaration directly to the public but through the CCB but your claim now that Mr. President has declare it asset to CCB after May 29, 2011 is a big lie which you know and this clearly show you are not objective as you want to claim. From your point of view and Mr. President, it is obvious that the issue at hand is been downplay and Mr. President "wises" sorry Principle is been protected here through the Office of the Presidency. [s]"Such power come with been a President sha...[/s]

Please note that Mr. President principle is also against its party manifesto, please read http://www.punchng.com/news/asset-declaration-jonathan-violates-pdp-manifesto-investigation/

You are a desperado looking so much for reasons to fault the President. Stop trying so hard to ram your bias opinions as fact.
Where is your proof that he did not declare his asset to the CCB? Or you just relish in passing your own foreclosed opinion as a fact. Where was it argued that he did not declare his asset as to the CCB, if you can not establish such a wild claim with irrefutable fact then let it remain your opinion of what you think the president said.
If the CCB has confirmed that the President had actually declared his asset a week to his inuaguration, who are you to argue with them if it true or not. Take your preconcieved nonsense to whinny biatch that calls herself Kobojunkie am sure she will love to endlessly indulge your hypothesis, let me know when you have facts to back your claims.

jt2010: What did you have to say to the statement of fact below.

You said Mr. President Declare its asset May 27, 2010 which we all know for sure that that was during the death of the late President Yar'adua and Mr. President elevate to the post of the President which end on May 29, 2011. This mean Mr. President is bond by law to declare it asset immediately after taking oath of office May 29, 2011. So tell me in clear term if Mr. President has done this.

The defend of CCB on such request is totally flat and lack any merits in any law and order country, from your submission, tell me that the Chariman of CCB is more knowledgeable in law than the AGF Adoke. The CCB claim they still need the direction of National Assembly of the matter but fall to recognize the FOI act which come from the National Assembly and signed by Mr. President himself. For me, this government is just speaking the two side of the mouth.

From all you have said,i can denote a fragmentation of realities from your statement because your analysis of public and public officers fall short of acceptable civilization and your argument and that of Mr. President is more concern about its mischievious political opponent than the public the public that elected him. You clearly are saying that Mr. President self-servicing and only concern about the seat-of-power which make him not better than the suppose mischievious political opponent. As me I will say THEM BOTH BE SAME SAME.

Are you seriously asking me what my argument is even when it is so glaringly clear in the article?
Until the NA spells out the terms and condition for them to release any documents to the public, doing so will be on discretionary basis, fact. As far as I know, constitution is yet to empower the FOI act to oblige the CCB to relaese any information to the public, neither did the constitution interpret the terms and conditions to be met as stipulations in the FOI act, until the NA amends that aspect of the constitution, the CCB will continue to have a free day hiding under the technicalities of the law to deny such request.
As for whether the President declared his asset to CCB after his election as president, it is still a yes as evidenced from the letters of CCB refusing to grant African Centre for media and Information literacy(AFRICMIL) who had dragged CCB to court for their refusal to honour a request letter they had written to them this same issue on october 21, 2011, so that is not the contention here. The contention here is whether Mr President president is bound by the constitution to publicly reveal his asset and the answer still remains a capital NO.

@Mr Jt2010
I already gave you a date as well, that should narrow your search.
As for your insinuations whether he truly may have submitted the form, that is a very ridiculous assumption to say the least. Why will the CCB leadership agree to have collected the forms to the press, after all there are ministers, senators and other public officers who collected these forms but are yet to submit theirs, I once read an interview where a senator agreed to have collected the form but was yet to submit. Do you know how grevious the crime is at all?
Anyway, that is just your suggestion and not a statement of fact.
While it can be argued that Mr President publicly declaring his asset will be a good example and all, it will be folly to rule out the possibilty of a mischievious opponent using it to distract the government, not to talk of the security risk associated with such revelations especially now that security cost like 5kobo in naija. Don't forget such revelations will be showing numbers, addresses, names, account and all that to all manner of people that call themselves public. Let's be sincere, nobody in his shoes will be so willing to make such revelations to the public just to assuage their suspicion. Besides Yaradua, name any Nigerian state governor or President that has publicly done so on the pages of newspaper and all that. . . I am sure even Obama was not asked to make that kind of asset revelation to the American public.
Whether the CCB chairman is acting based on the body language of President is immaterial as it is clearly your hypothetical guess and not neccessarily the case. Like they say, opinions are free but facts are sacred, so far, contrary to your claims, the CCB chairman has shown that his refusal to release the content of the forms is based on the realities of the constitution.
It is very nice and catchy to quote the constitution but it is also very important that in interpreting it, one must do so in all its entirety. I have already posted an article in which they legally defended their position using the stipulations of the Nigerian constitution which is supreme to the FOI acts and any other law outside of the amended 1999 constistution. Here is their response again, I hope this time you thread carefully in your arguments.
THE CCB letter IN DEFENCE OF THEIR POSITION
"The Code of Conduct Bureau wishes to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 3rd June, 2011 on the above subject and to inform you that the Bureau has adequately and carefully examined your request vis-à-vis the relevant provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the constitutional powers and obligations of the Code of Conduct Bureau. "It is the considered opinion of the Bureau that the provision of paragraph 3(c) of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has precluded the Bureau the liberty to oblige you what you have requested. The provision states thus: 'The Bureau shall have power to retain custody of Assets Declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe.'" It added that, "it is the contention of the bureau that: (a) The Constitution is Supreme Law of the land. Its provisions, therefore, take precedence over any other Act, Law or Regulation. "(b) The provisions of the Freedom of Information Act could not substitute the constitutional requirements of the National Assembly to prescribe the terms and conditions under which Assets Declarations could be released. "(c) The National Assembly, as of date, did not provide the Bureau, as custodian of Asset Declarations, those terms and conditions under which we could release the information to the public. "In the circumstances, therefore, until the National Assembly prescribes such terms and conditions, the Code of Conduct Bureau would find it impossible to grant your request," CCB said. Adoke's circular on FOI Act implementation Adoke's circular entitled, "Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 and the Reporting Requirements under Section 29 Thereof" outlined guidelines and modalities to be adopted by the various public institutions in implementing the law. It said that agencies are required to "work proactively and respond to requests promptly. Public institutions are enjoined to use modern technology to inform citizens of what is known and done by their government," adding that "agencies should readily and systematically post information online in advance of any public request." The document also urged the agencies to "make it a priority to respond to in a timely manner" any information not previously disclosed, warning that "long delays should not be viewed as an inevitable and insurmountable consequence of high demand."

FOI Act not binding on us - CCB
The Federal Government had in a circular
dated January 29, 2012, from the office of
the Attorney General and Minister of Justice,
Mohammed Adoke, ordered ministries,
agencies, departments and all other public
institutions to start implementing the FOI
Act. But the bureau argued that it needs the
National Assembly "to spell out the
conditions and terms" upon which it would
reveal such information requested by the
newspaper.
The CCB letter read thus: "The Code of
Conduct Bureau wishes to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter dated 3rd June, 2011
on the above subject and to inform you
that the Bureau has adequately and
carefully examined your request vis-à-vis
the relevant provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act, the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria and the
constitutional powers and obligations of the
Code of Conduct Bureau.
"It is the considered opinion of the Bureau
that the provision of paragraph 3(c) of Part
1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has
precluded the Bureau the liberty to oblige
you what you have requested. The
provision states thus: 'The Bureau shall
have power to retain custody of Assets
Declarations and make them available for
inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on
such terms and conditions as the National
Assembly may prescribe.'"
It added that, "it is the contention of the
bureau that: (a) The Constitution is
Supreme Law of the land. Its provisions,
therefore, take precedence over any other
Act, Law or Regulation.
"(b) The provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act could not substitute the
constitutional requirements of the
National Assembly to prescribe the terms
and conditions under which Assets
Declarations could be released.
"(c) The National Assembly, as of date, did
not provide the Bureau, as custodian of
Asset Declarations, those terms and
conditions under which we could release
the information to the public.
"In the circumstances, therefore, until the
National Assembly prescribes such terms
and conditions, the Code of Conduct
Bureau would find it impossible to grant
your request," CCB said.
Adoke's circular on FOI Act implementation
Adoke's circular entitled, "Implementation of
the Freedom of Information Act 2011 and
the Reporting Requirements under Section
29 Thereof" outlined guidelines and
modalities to be adopted by the various
public institutions in implementing the law.
It said that agencies are required to "work
proactively and respond to requests
promptly. Public institutions are enjoined to
use modern technology to inform citizens
of what is known and done by their
government," adding that "agencies should
readily and systematically post information
online in advance of any public request."
The document also urged the agencies to
"make it a priority to respond to in a timely
manner" any information not previously
disclosed, warning that "long delays should
not be viewed as an inevitable and
insurmountable consequence of high
demand."

jt2010: OP, Can you tell us where you get your fact that Mr. President has declared his asset to the CCB as stipulated in the constitution. Mr. President was on the nation TV and he has very opportunity to clearly refer who care to listen and check to the office of the CCB to cross-check. And not for him to be making vague statement on the issue. Please don't tell me you are referring to his declaration when he was a Vice-President!

Oga google is your friend, go make your research before typing ignorance in stupifying confidence.
After Umaru quench, Jonathan and his Deputy Sambo were reported to have submitted their asset declaration form on may 27, 2010 to CCB as the constitution demanded.
If the leadership of CCB refuses to make the content of the forms public, how is that Mr President's fault?
Mind you, the CCB has already pointed out some difficult legal technicalities of the law to defend its stance on the refusal to make it public. For starters, the Bureau according to the constitution is not bound by stipulations of the FOI acts.
Also, the FOI act is even weak an instrument for use to force the bureau to release the contents of the forms cos the act contains up to 10 paragraphs and many clauses that exempt access to certain kind of information that it is almost useless to its importance.
So before you write your argument be sure to do a little background check on what is it you are blabbing about, instead of blabbing in confidence of a dunce.

realwale: oga pls listen to urself......d president said he had already directed aganga to invite an international audit firm to probe nnpc.so my question..were they invited? Did they come? Did they probe nnpc? And who did they submit d report to? And were d report made public b4 now? An why is president just saying it now?
Srr i like ebele as aperson but he is unfit to captain my class in secondary school.he lacks everything,most important integrity.

Oga it is obvious you have not been following the goings-on in Nigeria's polity either.
Aganga invited KPMG, an audit firm to audit NNPC and PPPRA and they submitted their reports to the FG through the finance minister who then was Aganga.
Though the FG did not make the report public but they obviously acted on it by removing the subsidy regime Mr Bakare and his Friend Odumakin so vehemently want FG to instal. That report roped business men including the ones that are card carrying members of your darling opposition parties. Where did you think the claims of NNPC mismanaging funds in the tune of 1,6 trillion naira came from if not KPMG report? Most of what Lawal's report contains have already been revealed by the KPMG report.
Although it was clear the FG was reluctant to go public with it, however, the petroleum minister blamed it on the fact that she was not given a copy of the report. Whatever the reason, one fact is established here; the FG actually was the first to initiate any probe, investigation or auditing of the oil industry, Mr Odumakin can take his twisted tales to the pope. People should learn to criticize constructively and objectively, deliberately finding loopholes only shows insincerity and desperation to propagate a dishonest agenda. I too have not been impressed by GEJ's over all performance but I still think there is room for improvement and people, especially the SW critics should tone down on the way they politicize every action the man makes....na wa o

Kobojunkie: Question for you: Was Goldman Sach's ever hired to do any work for Government by the Government of Nigeria? simple Yes/No will suffice.

Once again Miss Junkie, you like I always tell you, are not all knowing.
Mr President of course ordered Segun Aganga to audit both NNPC and PPPRA when Aganga was Finance Minister. How do you think they came about the KPMG report, Madam oversabi?
Everyone has come to know you as unneccessarily argumentative and combative, the premise of your arguments are always petty and dumb. What has Goldman Sach got to do with if Mr President actually lied about starting the investigation of NNPC or not?
Bukky did not even make mention of Goldman Sachs, why are you so annoyingly arrogant to a stupifying degree? Abeg, let better people comment jare, oversabi numbskull.

eelvismd:
In summary, all engineering disciplines are important and I don't subscribe to the idea that one of them is more important because engineering is team work and in every product/system is contribution from all members of the family

Guy do you have any industry experience at all?
If the argument was about which of the two is more difficult to study then of course my answer would have been Chemical Engineering cos I know it deals with a lot of in depth mathematics and chemistry.
But in general terms with regards to which one of the two comes handy in industries generally, it is a known fact that mechanical engineering has wider applications in industries, even industries strictly limited to chemicals and pharmaceuticals still use mech engineers, go figure. Whereas you wont need a chemical engineer in a machine design and instrumention industry for instance. Compared to the Mechanical engineering field that very vast, versatile and old in study, chemical engineering is relatively new and still expanding, hence the field has more Research and Development grants, with loads of researchers in the field.
In terms of Job opportunities especially with regards to the Nigerian industries, mech engineers get 3 times more Job placements than their chemical engineer counterparts. It is easy cos most of our engineering firms are into assembly/packaging aspect of engineering, the parts that would have needed the expertise of chemical engineers usually are done by abroad before they are used here in Naija industries. What they need most of the times are maintenance engineers (who are usually mech and electrical engineers) to maintain and sustain production and equipments.
I agree that sometimes the chem Eng earns a little more tham Mech Eng but not in all cases though.
And yes, one can easily be self employed with a mech eng skill than with chemEng skills irrespective of how you want to look at it.

jmaine: https://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff390/ShaneDawg021/th_kanyethumbsup.png Thumbs up bro for this shut up article . . . Hopefully the blind critics do this now =======> https://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff390/ShaneDawg021/th_jonstewartwait.png

hahahahahahah....knowing how she likes to have the last word even when she sounds incredibly stooopid and dumb....free her jor...lol

Johndoe100: You are learning from kobo? Boy I think you should learn from someone who is actually in Nigeria. He, kobo is not all there.

hahahahahahha....kid is mesmerized by Junkie's incessant rant and round and round arguments...lol
na person wey never sabi her go dey yarn d kind jonesing wey the kid dey jones..... Kobo that can start a fight in a an empty room all by herself....lol

@Berni
To be honest, I find your legal summaries and personal opinions about what my arguments uncalled for and diversionary.
Like I have consistently pointed out in my responses, you do not have to agree with me but please, disagress with me with a superior argument or better still, leave it alone. Resorting to dismissive antics and clumping up my point in numbers and paragraph did nothing to counter my arguments any unbias spectator can see that.
Also, leave the summaries as they are, Anonym already did that but is yet to respond to the other issues I raised, prolly taking his time-like I did-to post a response.
About my remarks on many christians being intellectually lazy, I will say; "dont take that literally out of context", it was a comment made for effect, nothing against christians.
Anyway, I await your response to the issue and not some "legal summaries psychoanalyzing" my comments, you are better off giving strong arguments using verifiable sources and the bible to support your claims.

Kobojunkie: Rubbish . . . stop rambling like a to wo bo!!!

Assets are declared to CCB. Jonathan Goodluck HAS NOT declared his asset to the CCB. The media can easily get at the information if it were at the CCB since CCB, under Schedule 3, Section 3 of the Constitution, is required by law to make the information available to any and every Nigerian.

Stop reproducing the gobble-de-gook fed you by others. Your President told you yesterday why he has not declared his assets(declaring assets according to the Constitution means declaring the information at the CCB). If the man himself tells you that he has not declared his asset, don't you think you will have to be an imbe_cile of the highest order to expect that he has?


http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm#CodeOfConductBureau


This is what the law says in Schedule 3,Section 3.

The information from the declarations will be made PUBLIC! That is what Jonathan is afraid of and hence why he refuses to declare his asset more than a year into the term.

Madam the joke is on you. It is you who is oozing with stupifying ignorance. You can google it up yourself, We all know it your favourite hobby for you to argue based your googled up knowledge, you are not "all-knowing" as you seem to think of yourself, afterall. After Yaradua died Jonathan picked his Vice and on assunption of office, they filled the asset declaration form and submitted them on May 27, 2010 to CCB. However, CCB refused to make its content public, how is that Jonathan's problem?
The FOI act you are flaunting here was aggressively altered to the point of deficiency before the President assented. So, while you are busy shouting FOI act, it should be noted that the FOI Act contains more exemption sections and clauses than sections that grant access to information, alerting that some mischievous public officers can use these sections for unjust and mischievous purposes. For instance, only Sections 1 and 3 grant access to information; but as many as ten sections (Sections 7, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 26) are meant to deny the public access to information.
In view of all these challenges in the FOI act, the leadership of the CCB can easily hide under one of these ten sections to male their arguments and deny the public of such information, has it even crossed your mind at all?
You think lawyers have not seen these loopholes hence their possible reluctance to go to court.

Kobojunkie: Olodo!!! Go educate yourself and stop rambling. There is no such thing as Public or Private declaration of asset. Asset declaration is ALWAYS been to CCB, and CCB is mandated by law (Schedule 3, section 3 of the Constitution) to release all data it receives to any Nigerian who wants it. . . it has never been private and should not be confused with some OPTIONAL protocol out there.

Now, again, go read up on what your law says rather than sitting swallowing up all the gobble-de-gook your politicians say as if they speak truth when they OPENLY BREAK THE LAW , and tell you they don't give a darn. http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm

Only fools will continue to choose to wallow in ignorance even after wisdom has been given them freely.

what exactly is your problem sef, this Junkie Lady, you just like to dey argue for the fun of it.
Has President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo complied with the constitutional provision which required them to declare their assets on assumption of office?
The answer is a bold yes.
It was reported in may 27, 2010 that they had submitted their asset declaration to CCB. Now, if CCB refuses to make it available to the public, it is an entirely different argument whose blame should rest more on the leadership of CCB than with Mr President, shikina.
If Mr President decides to make it a public show like his predecessor, Yaradua did, it is a "jara" that is based on his discretion and not a requirement of the constitution from him. There is no place in the 11th code of the bureau’s handbook for Public Officers, that says that the president must go public in declaring his assets.
Stop distracting Nigerians from the main issues with blind argument that seems to suggest that the man did not the what is required of him in the first place.
After all, Besides Yaradua that did it point to any other Nigerian President that did it.
Like the man said, "it is a matter of principle and not a constitutional requirement", let it rest or better still, get a lawyer and file a complaint.

The only aspect of engineering that can be compared to Mech Eng is Electrical engineering.
Even in the Universities, the engineering faculties are usually led by Mech and Electrical departments. Those departments usually take applications from the best prospective engineering students, FACT! It is in these two departments that one finds the créme de la créme of the engineering faculty.
Chemical engineering is good no doubt but not as good as mechanical engineering in so many regards.
1. Mechanical Engineering has wider applications than chemical engineering. You would be hard pressed to go to any kind of factory or engineering firms without mech engineers or department.
2. You are twice more likely to get a Job in today's Nigeria with a degree in mech Engineering than with a degree in chemical engineering. While one has limited job search, the other has a wider job search opportunities.
3. It is easier to switch jobs from one area of engineering field to another especially when you have a background in mechanical or electrical engineering.
4. With mechanical engineering skills, one can easily set up a mechanical workshop and be self-employed without having to worry about securing a huge loan to set up like would have been the case if it were chemical engineering skills.
5. And I beg to disagree with a poster that claimed that chemical engineers make more money than mech engineers in thesame firm, that is so not true. If you go to production, manufacturing firms or any other engineering firms, most of the times, engineers in thesame levels recieve thesame salaries in thesame range.
Unlike chemical engineering with limited areas of specialization, mechanical engineering has more specializations that can only be compared to say electrical or computer sciences. Chemical engineers can't work in the absence of mech engineers but the reverse is very possible and that is because to an extent, chemical engineering is subsumed in mech engineering, most of what one sees in chemical engineering is a branch in mechanical enginneering known as thermodynamics. I can go on and on.......

Mr Anony
I am still waiting for your response with regards to the issues raised unless of course you have no reply or prolly still making your research. Anyway, I shall avail you the time and space you availed me. Thanks.

There is something so unsettling about this new NSA guy having ties with the likes of IBB.
Anyway, Azazi's removal is long overdue, he realy handled security issues without tact and the finesse needed.
The defence minister was a total failure. However, Mr President must be careful not to surround himself with security chiefs whose allegiance are with former dictators that ran this country down.
My fingers are crossed and I am still watching events.

Apparently, the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims stemmed from political leadership. While one supports leadership from from Mo's assistants and comrades chosen by the people upon Mo's death, the other would rather it be a hereditary thing, they would rather the leadership go to Mo's cousin. This is all where it began, right? Also, majority of muslims follow the sunni islam ideology and leadership. Could that be the reason it is so easy for the faithfuls to usurp the Koran and use it to perform acts of terrorism? We need more explanations. And how come the wahhabi ideology is prevalent with the Sunni islam?

Both Sunni and Shia Muslims share
the most fundamental Islamic beliefs and
articles of faith. The differences between
these two main sub-groups within Islam
initially stemmed not from spiritual
differences, but political ones. Over the
centuries, however, these political
differences have spawned a number of
varying practices and positions which have
come to carry a spiritual significance.
Origins - A Question of Leadership
The division between Shia and Sunni dates
back to the death of the Prophet
Muhammad, and the question of who was
to take over the leadership of the Muslim
nation. Sunni Muslims agree with the
position taken by many of the Prophet's
companions, that the new leader should be
elected from among those capable of the
job. This is what was done, and the Prophet
Muhammad's close friend and advisor, Abu
Bakr, became the first Caliph of the Islamic
nation. The word "Sunni" in Arabic comes
from a word meaning "one who follows the
traditions of the Prophet."
On the other hand, some Muslims share the
belief that leadership should have stayed
within the Prophet's own family, among
those specifically appointed by him, or
among Imams appointed by God Himself.
The Shia Muslims believe that following the
Prophet Muhammad's death, leadership
should have passed directly to his cousin/
son-in-law,Ali bin Abu Talib. Throughout
history, Shia Muslims have not recognized
the authority of elected Muslim leaders,
choosing instead to follow a line of Imams
which they believe have been appointed by
the Prophet Muhammad or God Himself. The
word "Shia" in Arabic means a group or
supportive party of people. The commonly-
known term is shortened from the historical
"Shia-t-Ali," or "the Party of Ali." They are
also known as followers of "Ahl-al-Bayt" or
"People of the Household" (of the Prophet).
Distribution
Sunni Muslims make up the majority (85%)
of Muslims all over the world. Significant
populations of Shia Muslims can be found in
Iran and Iraq, and large minority
communities in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, and
Lebanon.
Differences in Religious Practice
From this initial question of political
leadership, some aspects of spiritual life
have been affected and now differ
between the two groups of Muslims.
It is important to remember that despite
these differences in opinion and practice,
Shia and Sunni Muslims share the main
articles of Islamic belief and are considered
by most to be brethren in faith. In fact, most
Muslims do not distinguish themselves by
claiming membership in any particular
group, but prefer to call themselves simply,
"Muslims."
Religious Leadership
Shia Muslims believe that the Imam is sinless
by nature, and that his authority is infallible
as it comes directly from God. Therefore,
Shia Muslims often venerate the Imams as
saints and perform pilgrimages to their
tombs and shrines in the hopes of divine
intercession.
Sunni Muslims counter that there is no basis
in Islam for a hereditary privileged class of
spiritual leaders, and certainly no basis for
the veneration or intercession of saints.
Sunni Muslims contend that leadership of
the community is not a birthright, but a
trust that is earned and which may be given
or taken away by the people themselves.
Religious Texts and Practices
Shia Muslims also feel animosity towards
some of the companions of the Prophet
Muhammad, based on their positions and
actions during the early years of discord
about leadership in the community. Many of
these companions (Abu Bakr, Umar ibn Al
Khattab, Aisha, etc.) have narrated traditions
about the Prophet's life and spiritual
practice. Shia Muslims reject these traditions
(hadith) and do not base any of their
religious practices on the testimony of
these individuals. This naturally gives rise to
some differences in religious practice
between the two groups. These differences
touch all detailed aspects of religious life:
prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, etc.
For more detailed information about the
historical context of the Shia/Sunni split,
and modern-day interpretations and
repercussions, please visit the links below.

LagosShia: for fear of being banned,i'd advice you to review the thread from page no.1.you'd get your answers.Maclatunji is practicing wahhabism and censoring others on nairaland.wahhabism is differnt from Islamic teachings as in the Quran.it is wahhabi teachings that makes it looks like everyone that does not believe as we do must be killed.Islam does not teach that.jihad in Islam is for defending the oppressed only.

Is MacLatunji a Mod? So he is now using his mod status to silence opposition, nonsense!!! I dont give a 4ck. . Let him sue me, And seriously, if I notice him promoting any ideology here that supports the BokoHaram ideology, he wont find it funny the extent I will go to stop him.

Thank God some honest Muslims are begining to speak up, once again you guys are the hope of Islam and the true representative of your religion.
@Fiqa
You said there are two groups in Islam, the Shia and the Sunnis but did not tell us the difference between them. I have always thought the Sunni and Shia classifications of islam were based on tribal colourations, perhaps, I am wrong.
Also, I have heard a lot about this Wahhabi ideology but do not understand how radically different it is from conventional islamic teachings. Is the premise of their ideology different from what is stipulated in the Koran. Let's not forget that there exist verses in the koran and hadith that exhaustively support jihadist act on unbelievers, verses that openly encourage islamic faithfuls to be violently hostile to unbelievers even without provocations. Were these verses exclusively added to the koran and hadith or better still are there other abridged versions of the koran and hadith that do not carry this verses or explain them in a less combative manner as opposed to what is actually case.
I asked these because one finds out that most times when muslims are openly confronted with these portion of their holy book they become defensive and sometimes dismissive without addressing the question.
Like Trogun once asked, why is it so easy for radicals and fundamentalist to hijack the Koran and interprete it in a way that supports their act, why is it so easy to do so?