₦airaland Forum

torkaka: You called for a war, looted the banks and burnt all the available records. Months later, you lost the war and was given 20 pounds (which was a lot of money then, if I may add) to rehabilitate yourselves.

And you have the guts to complain? Awolowo should be worshipped by each and everyone of you, for in a war, the winner takes all.

If Awo had not given that 20pounds, I bet you, non of you would be talking war here!

But you want 5% first-line-of-charge/terror incentive from our national purse and wonder why we're standing in your way...
Who's the beggar and Almajiri now? How do you like us now?

Wow! How does a sane man survive 3 wives in this day and age. Add to mix - he's relatively young which means the chances of ending with 6 wives at 60 years of age are as bright as ever. I mean he did marry because he loved them or to fulfill a 'destiny?' Well, I suppose women are more desperate than I thought. 3 young women sharing one one young man, that's more like manage-trois + one, or should I say manage-quatre. Good luck with starving some of your kids much needed fatherly attention due to some 'destiny.'

emiye: What was the saner option to the 20 pounds policy?

Is it to open the central bank vaults, and dole out cash to every ibo people who claims to have money in the banks ? , claims that can not be substantiated . Records were lost in the war.

Awolowo fought and ensured everyone gets at least 20pounds rather than nothing, which some other stakeholders wanted.

Same defense all the time. At least you're not being rude about it so I will reciprocate a bit. Ask yourself, what's the value of 20 pounds both then and now? Where was the war fought? in Biafra or Nigeria? If you say claims could not be verified what did Nigerian Govt do to at least verify or pretend to verify? The documents in Nigeria banks did they go up in flames with the war? Did Nigerian govt order the banks to verify names of Igbos who claimed they had money in the said banks using their names and photos? Or was the policy a flat policy/punishment irrespective of the validity of claims? Tell me exactly what they did to verify even a single claim. Parroting that most Igbos had taken their money in their flight to Biafra does not mean everyone did, so what the did govt do to verify one single claim. That line of argument is unreservedly shallow at best. The point is this: It happened it happened, and I accept that. But its insulting to our sensibilities when you come back 44 years to defend evil and think it does not have the possibility of creating monsters out of the victims. Nations apologize and make atonement for past ills but you defend and justify this evil by saying nothing could be better than 20 pounds. Well, looking at the peace and pieces of Nigeria today, are you amazed how things turned out the way they did? Tell me now, do you have the 'One Nigeria' you coined because of the war? After these years are we not back to square one killing and threatening each other? So, how do you like the policy now?

And please for God's sake! would you folks stop this Awo fought and made sure we got gold and silver, that's utter BS. Taking my gold and giving me a cast iron is not fighting for me - its one of the greatest sleight of hand in this hemisphere.

semitunde: Its funny how you guys pull facts from different directions and marsh them.together...

First from a neutral perspective, the $20 policy was the right thing. You won't get that in the aftermath of many wars. Secondly, $20 at that time made anyone a rich man. And since its difficult to know exactly those who had more, I must say there we're lots of those who had less and were grateful for this policy as a grant for business start up. This is apart from the fact that most igbo got their properties in the west back. But good historyis easy to forget when its necessary to hate.

But then everything that had happened to the Igbo has been seen from a myopic perspective anyways.

I don't know if you're being smarter by half when you wrongly spelt Jakande. I won't be drawn into such though.

I'll leave your other point for someone else to to put holes in. My last post on this thread.

You wrote the emboldened and yet you wonder why our relationship is tenuous. I 've stopped x-raying why supposedly intelligent and normal people support evil. The support for that policy was, is, and will eternally be evil. If the architects of that policy wanted a people to rob only, then fine. But to rob a people you starved to death, destroyed the land, and are still to be included as citizens and patriots in their dream all inclusive one Nigeria, then I say they lost their dam** minds. Tell me what Nigeria would have lost if they avoided that 20 pounds and abandoned property policy? Tell me now, how has the one Nigeria paid off given the policy in question? Perhaps it was good policy for some folks back then but as action and reaction set in, it turns out that the policy only succeeded in creating a bulk of people with burning rage against their country. There's absolutely no Easterner who believes Nigeria is capable of delivering justice and if you think its only an Igbo thing then go ask Gov Akpabio. War is war and robbery is robbery. When you rob those you defeated, common sense dictates you, at the very least, don't intend or pretend to live with them in the same enclave - you take your loot and off you go. So you see, when you support 20 pounds policy and I see you praise the same Lord with me on Sundays or claim you're fighting an unjust fuel subsidy removal or that you sincerely feel the pains of the Boko Haram devastation, I cringe.

Anyways, I believe its imperative that I correct an impression you got from my last post which is that Igbo will go to war because of pride. While we would not be the first nation to do that in the history of humanity, I'm unshakably certain that such stupidity will never take place. In 1967 we went home but Nigeria, with a coalition of vultures, jihadists, headhunters, and Christian-islamists butt-lickers, followed us leaving 3 million of us dead and our land desolate. Today, by God's mercies we're here and the same people are talking about launching another campaign in the East should Nigeria crumbles, when they should be talking about how to secure their borders. Well, I wish them luck in this 'dream' war effort in the Eastern front but its obvious we'll be waiting - and let it be clear that we wont engage because of pride rather we'll engage because of the existential threat posed by same people with same agenda - that's what I and others have been trying to get across.

semitunde: Well, I guess I understand the emotions that come with having to do something, help notwithstanding.

But I'm not talking about if Yoruba will fight or not. I'm talking about how the war might play out. Yorubas will fight if and when they have to. Nothing will change that. It is the how that's up for debate.

Look, your points are somewhat valid as regards defending your territory from an aggressor, the mistake you and many others make is not realising that you do the same, I mean being aggressive to others. But you may not realise it, just like those you accuse don't too.

If you see any part of this country being aggressive, they are reacting to something.

Northerners are mainly represented by their religious people and their extremists are showing their hands. What gets me confused is that Igbo use most opportunities to hit at Yoruba, deservedly or not, and even when the issues have no connection with Yoruba.

Verbal attacks are made on other tribes but the most vitriolic is saved for Yoruba; funny enough Yoruba are the closest to allies the Igbos can get. Its a strange method igbos have chosen to have friends.

I guess you understand this and that's partly why you go with the "we can do it alone anyway" line? Its called pride. It goes before a fall.

You touched on few interesting points that I feel the need to hash out so we be clear. These points are as follows:
1. That you understand where Igbo people's emotions are emanating from.
2. That Yoruba can and will fight if need be.
3. That Igbos are as aggressive as core north but do not realize it.
4. That Igbos unjustly and maliciously attack Yorubas for no reason, and this is one issue that confuses you.
5. That Yorubas are potential Igbo allies, perhaps.
6. That Igbos believe in go alone attitude due to pride (I inferred from your tone that you meant we have humongous pride).

Lets will deal with #6 first, and this is what I have to say: I strongly believe its essential that humans have a good dose of pride, in fact I doubt the world would be this developed without a huge amount of pride which the West infused into their pursuit of philosophy and study of natural laws. Roman empire, Greek city states of Athens and Spartans, British empire, French and German empires, Soviet Union, and USA, all these great societies have at one time or the other demonstrated immense pride and even used it in different occasions to rally their people together for a common cause. If anyone believes that pride had no place in the space race between the super powers then that person is indeed an alien. Pride, fear of domination, and intent to dominate were the potent mixture that spurred and pushed the British, french, German, Russia, American, and Japanese to exceed the limit knowledge/science arbitrarily imposed on humanity the dawn of 18th century. There's nothing wrong with pride, ignorance is where the wrong is resident. If I didn't have pride as an individual I'm sure I would not be who or where I am today. Pride makes a man choose death over slavery, domination and/or subjugation. It made men choose confrontation with murderous military dictators rather than be humiliated and bossed by barely literate men in uniform. You said we have it a lot, perhaps you're right and I thank God we did because without it we would not have risen past the decimation, lack, and economic impotence imposed on us by the Nigerian state at the end of civil war. Many of us today were destined by the Nigerian state/civil war victors to be lower than Almajiris. This truth is lost in many of you whose parents, friends, and relatives benefited from our near extermination and artificial destitution. So, do we have pride? Yes we do and in great quantity. Should we change it? Why should we change what catapulted many of us from imposed Almjiridom to success. Think about it for a second - from complete decimation and genocide to 20 pounds in a harsh black African country, and in less than 40 years we've grown a visible population of vibrant and enterprising men and women with little or no physical scars of the civil war. If you ask me, I'm extraordinarily proud of my people. The coast is still foggy and a lot needs to be done but we'll get there.


1. That you understand where Igbo people's emotions are emanating from:
Moving on to number one, I would say its highly unlikely you understand where the emotion is coming from. Saying you entirely understand it is akin to saying you fully understand the emotions of Holocaust survivors. I hear this lot: let's 'move' on, the war's in the past, we have a future together, you're playing victim - choose whether you're a Nigerian or Biafran so we may have peace. My answers have always been: move on to what and where? what future are these people talking about? Of course you dragged us back in this hell-hole so you might as well go deaf 'cause I'll speak of Biafra if and when I want to. If you cared so much about not hearing it why then did you have to kill 2-3 million out of 12 million Igbos/Biafrans that lived in 1967. You don't slap a baby and impose silence on her. If you loved or cared so much about 'quiet' then don't slap the child. Of course its humiliating to be dragged back in a house you ditched. As a man my soul feels wounded, its akin to being violated in a market square in full glare and amusement of both the young, old, and the perverted. No matter what I do or where I go the shame goes with me and to make matters worse, the principal architects of my public violation never fail to gloat or remind me of the sad episode. They wonder why I refuse to partake in their community church aka 'One Nigeria.' They preach how great the oneness is but when I look up I only see the same perverts and/or their children hanging on to my personal effects their parents stole during my public undressing. For a people to have successfully carried and internalized that shame for 44 years and now waking up to a new reality of possible attack and humiliation by the same people? And you say you understand where the emotion is coming from? No you don't. Hell would be 3 orders of magnitude colder than the explosion of the 44 years of suppressed anger, furry, vengeance, and most importantly humiliation. Perhaps, now you understand why the threat from Muslim north and the issue of who's our ally and who's not is infuriating.

2. That Yoruba can and will fight if need be:
I completely agree, not because all humans posses the courage to fight any battle they find worthy but also because the Oyo empire successfully halted Fulani spread southwards. Without taking anything from any group, I believe that its highly likely that Oyo empire saved the whole south from unprepared head-on collision with very organized and murderous Fulani jihadists. And as is always the case, the emaciation of a lion does not negate the size or ferocity of his heart. So, the Yorubas still posses and will continue to posses that lion's heart.

3. Igbos are as aggressive as core north but do not realize it:
This assertion is a huge joke and to make it interesting I would dare anyone to produce an article from our national dailies or from the internet in which there's a flicker of evidence that a non-Igbo was killed in the East because of his or her ethnic group. Of course with the exception of Hausa-Fulani which, as we're aware, receive reprisals after their usual slaughter of southerners in the north. If you can't produce that then I would expect you give us the rationale under which you designate Igbo as aggressive people. Unless you meant we should always keep quiet and roll over for peace's sake or count our body-bags and wait on God.

4. That Igbos unjustly and maliciously attack Yorubas for no reason, and this is one issue that confuses you:
This assertion cuts both ways. To say one group does it while the other is saintly is disingenuous. Its high school so let the high schoolers knock themselves out with it.

5. That Yorubas are potential Igbo allies, perhaps:
Yea, I agree but given the age-old mistrust and the toxic politics of the last 4 years I'm not sure if I'm ready to bet on that.

semitunde: I conceed that my post you quoted may be taken as a humiliation for the south east , but without emotions, that is one of the possibilities that lie ahead if we take the war route.

And please, boldness and even having enough armaments doesn't win wars. Did USA win the war in Vietnam?

More importantly, have you considered what will happen after the war? If you win, will that be the end? If you keep alienating yourselves with the "we can do it alone" mentality, is it after the war you want to form alliances?

Yet alliances you will need, because realistically the south east is not in any position to do anything alone. I wont want to elaborate on this for now. Bestbelive though that you don't win wars these days, you only win momentary battles, the victim keeps coming back to haunt and taunt. You can ask yorubas, they will tell you that their post war effort is being shoved up their throat today.

So who are your friends? North? They are the enemy. South south? They are not good enough. Yoruba? You wrongfully abuse them consistently yet you always expect them to either be on your side or be neutral. How can you guarantee that?

But yes, I maybe I need to get of your lawn...

Unfortunately, we do not see issues the same way, and we don't need to because govts and law courts would be extinct if we did. One of the reasons I say this is because you stated that humiliation is one of the options in the kitty for the East. You see, this is where we irredeemably and regrettably diverge. When the bubble bursts everyone will be in need of friends and allies. The East is not in the business of threatening anyone and has never threatened anyone, and this is why its shockingly ironic because the section where the threat is endlessly coming from is consistently been adjudged to be ally worthy by people who are supposedly endowed with wisdom, while the recipients of the threats are considered dangerous and delusional. If this is not insanity I don't know what is. Anyway, not to get off the subject - when the bubble bursts, it will burst evenly. If you care to join us or them you're more than welcomed, and if you choose to be neutral while some barbarians are laying claim to part of your ancestral land, then good for you too. As for us, we will dig in and eliminate this insanity once and for all. One thing I have decided not to do is to, henceforth, beg people to join in resisting against their own subjugation or domination. You choose to fight, you fight. You don't - no offence taken. As for humiliation, that'll be over my dead body.

semitunde: Unfortunately this is a possibility our south eastern people are not seeing presently.

The way I see it, the Igbo's continued vocal calls for war can make it easy for strategists to negotiate with middle belt. For the price of safety from war and not making it a "buffer zone" for the east; they can give any zone that guarantees its safety thoroughfare to the south east.

This will be an advantage for those in the west. They won't want a humanitarian crises from those fleeing the middle belt westward; and restricting the war to south east will make it easier and cheaper to round off.

The emboldened is why I said you can positively join or get off my lawn. Its clear where your interest lies. What I see are folks who want the East to be humiliated masquerading as advice purveyors. Let me put it in clear terms: The East will meet the core north fire for fire, viciousness for viciousness, and bomb for bomb if and when Nigeria crumbles - this fact is not lost on the northern intelligentsia. One of our God given roles in this hemisphere is to halt and roll back wahhabi islamic contagion pushing southwards. We're not compromised in anyway. We have nothing like a muslim cousin and christian nephew working against each other, so I expect you completely understood my drift on 'we're not compromised.' We're particularly suited to knock some sense into those who predicted, at the dawn of the century, to dip Koran in the Atlantic.

At any rate, I hope when you said you would be neutral you literally meant that. We would not like surprises.

semitunde: I have not said the war will be mainly between north and south east. It can however turn out like that depending on the way their thinkers play their cards with regards to moves by their counterparts in other regions.

Even during a war situation, a strategic negotiation with even the enemy can end a war before the bloodbath begins and if you have the right thinkers, you can even come out of the situation better without your opposition realising it.

For example, if your negotiation tactics is conceeding what you know can become worthless in a few years time, or that you can regain economically by proxy, then you can even conceed and the enemy will assume your are not smart or brave; but just a few years later, they realise their folly. I think Cameroun actually gained bakassi from us during the civil war.

Strategic thinking can save even a war from immense bloodbath. USA does this all the time

That's ok in peace time. But when an extremist religious Hausa-Fulani is amassing 10 million man army close to the border of a predominantly Christian nation, an army filled with illiterate Almjiris who believe their enemies are infidels, you tell me the name of the negotiation that'll halt such earthquake. We're not pretending to be in love, that's the difference. We know what we're faced with and we know where our strength lies. Its ridiculous hearing people tell the East what they should or should not do yet they haven't told us what they're going to do. We're a predominantly Christian nation with an aggressive islamist nation as a neighbor, our fate lies in our hands. We can't depend on other sections of the country for help or advice because our fate and challenges are unique and we accept them in good faith. So, in the language of Clint Eastwood, you can help or get off my lawn.

torkaka: And who says kogi and the east can not be simultaneously bombed? Like I earlier said, a part of kogi will automatically align with the north, if the route is through nasrawa/benue/taraba, you might have a point. But kogi will not be much of a challenge, it will be balkanized.
The hit and run against boko haram is suprvised and cordinated by your cousin, Goodluck

At least now we know Kogi is the weakest link in the array of natural buffers between core north and East. In other words, Kogi has to be taken and fortified before Arewa comes to party. Its good to know this sharing might be peaceful between East and Arewa, lol! You take north Kogi we take the south, sounds like Germany and Russia sharing Poland. One more thing, you haven't told us how you intend to pay for this campaign, its going to cost you know. Of course you're not oil money, are you? Because that would be a heck of suicide.

torkaka: Oh now the MB has strenght to weaken them before they reach you? Just one thing, a fighter jet will take about 30mins to to reach the eastern lands from minna, the MB weakening ground troops for you I understand, but the guys in the air, nah that's a different sorry story!!
From point one, you will be on the offensive!!

You have a point, but at the same are you saying you will leave your troops in the middle Belt without air support while you shoot at East from the air? To win you need boots on the ground. It sounds like your strategy is hit and run. The same hit and run that's ineffective against a rag-tag boko haram.

torkaka: Firstly, only an insecure person talks about his wages online.

To the matter, how does the SE intend to attack airbases without air capabaility? yes there are igbo pilots as there are northern, MB, SW and SS pilots. But where are the fighter jets to be used by these pilots parked? In as much as groups can decide to buy their fighter jets, the fact remains that at the beginning of the war, the ones without aerial power are at a sad disadvantage.

You need to look towards Gaza to realise the damage that can be done from the air, especially when the area involves a jam packed city state called biafra.

Sadly you have not mentioned one factual military capability the SE has, all you and your lot talk about is we will buy this, we will buy that!!

Carry on, and history will repeat itself in a foul way!!

Hurry along now, and earn your wages!!!

There's a good and potent buffer between the East and the core north that you've never factored into your own war permutations. For you to make a military dent in the East, first you have to overcome the implacable foe you have in the peoples of the Middle Belt. That will, at the very least, sap a good measure of your military strength leaving you overstretched and possibly thin before you engage the East. Even with all the outdated hardware you claim to posses in huge quantity would be in need of restocking and refueling by the time you meet your Eastern nemesis. So, even if the East starts at a disadvantage, according to you, they would be the greatest fools and, quite frankly deserve complete extermination, if they didn't source and accumulate a fiercer fire power by the time all Middle Belters are subdued. But like I said earlier, I would be worried to start an aggression if I were you. The consequences of failure are too great if you buckle under the anger and furry of vengeance that 'll greet you on the Eastern front.

semitunde: The advantage for the southwest is that they will be able to observe the direction the war would be taking and make a "USA" out of the situation. Dialogue is key. Not grandstanding.

What makes you think its entirely an Eastern vs core northern slug-fest? When Nigeria breaks down the old playbook will be out the window. A fierce contest for position, supremacy, land, and resource will likely ensue leaving behind unimaginable proportion of trail of blood, tears, rubble, iron, and gun-powder. This reality, as dark and unfortunate as it is, the people of the East have regrettably accepted it. WWI just about shaped the first 20 years of the 20th century but WWII sealed the fate of humanity for the last 75 years, and will shape even more as man and beast trudge on.

The people in charge of humanity today are the same people who, in 1939, set aside the notion of neutrality and met iron for iron, bomb for bomb, and viciousness for viciousness. When Nigeria crumbles on its weight of injustice, lopsidedness, triumphalism, born-to-rulism, jihadism, and black-Arab-wannabe islamic radicalism, the illusion of neutrality will be shattered by a single shot. The new order in the hemisphere 'll be laid down by men who struck fear and terror in the eyes of their fellow men while the carnage lasted. And just like in WWII, the outcome of Nigeria's precipitous dissolution will set the tone and conduct in much of West Africa for many generations to come.

My people, there are no neutrals, angels, or saints in Nigeria's fate.

torkaka: On the contrary, I'm only trying to put the truth to you lot without sentiments, a war between the north and the south west will take a long toll, over stretching both armies and both these regions are aware of that, hence they thread carefully. On the other hand, a war between any of these two and the east(without the east making alliances) will spell doom for the east!!

You can all beat your chest, but you can't change the sitting duck geographical location of the east!!

That sitting duck gave Nigeria with all her powerful Russian, British, Egyptian, and Arab allies 3 gruesome years to defeat. Add to the mix middle belt , south west, riverine south south and yet the sitting duck lost 30000 soldiers while Nigeria with 7 times Biafra's resources lost 50000 soldiers. Do the math and tell me what will happen to the core north when they come alone. East went through genocide and no one paid for it. If your people want to pay for it then I urge them to open a front against 'the sitting duck.' It will be east fighting with eastern resources and core north with arewa resources. What a great show that'll be. No more one Nigeria to the rescue.

Francis5: Why would the SS and SW support the North? Don't they love their own independence? In all your argument you measured the strength of the North but completely dismissed that of the SE. YOU ARE A BIG IGBO HATER.

I don't consider him a hater. He is trying to survive in the murky and treacherous political-scape of Nigeria. He's job is to put a suck on your desire for a break-away using intimidation and threats of terror. Your job is to either buy it or dam** his torpedoes and push through your desire. It's earth and people who live in it have interests. The north needs the south now more than ever so put yourself in their shoes and you'ld perhaps do the same. I would so the same if I were in his place. However, nature is wired such that I do not have to consider him when I'm seeking to free myself. Hes job is to cling on me while mine is to shake him loose even if he dies in the process. Such is life. He's a survivor that needs my oxygen bottle to live and I'm a survivor that must take my bottle back. One of us will die. Of course it doesn't have to be that way.....if only he can choose reason over aggression perhaps both of us would live.

torkaka: And if you have read me very well, you will understand that all I have been trying to do is look through the glasses of the supposed enemy!

War is not chest beating on your computer or phone, neither is the outcome ever in line with boardroon premutations, in as much as a tribe as small as angas can stop an invading army, so it is that an army as large as the 10million igbos(like someone said) fall within a day!!!

I gave scenarios of how things might happen as against some peoples straight line conclusions, that islamist will take advantage of an outbreak in Nigeria shouldn't be rocket science for any one with a brain in his head!!

As you measure your strenghts, try to also measure the strenght of your enemy and never rule out anything!!

Like you said, the north will not have a field day without the support of the MB, SW and SS. So it is the east will not stand ground for long without alliances from the rest, that's a fact!!

Proud people don't win wars, smart ones do!!

So in the event the East and core north fail to get support from MB, SW, SS what do you think happens? And by the way about 12% of SS is Igbo so don't forget that.

Its imperative you recognize that terrorists cells joining the core north in its fight for supremacy and oil resource 'll be north's greatest undoing. The reasons are simple: (1) Terrorists will turn on Northern minorities just like they did in Homs (Need I remind that you stated Homs would be replicated in the East) which will galvanize minorities against Hausa-Fulani. (2) The East is the bastion of Christianity in Nigeria so the inclusion of terror cells always shouting Allahu akba at the drop of a hat will likely be enough to convince Easterners they're fighting against jihadism, which, by implication, will bring the worst in the Christians of the East and South. And I have no doubt Yoruba Christians will, at that point, realize what's at stake. (3) Either right or wrong, the Hausa-Fulani has little or no empathy from a wide breadth of Nigerians given how much friends and relatives many of us have lost in their hands. They're the current scapegoat of Nigeria's backwardness which is why they've lost almost all the old friends they made at the end of civil war. With that in mind, its possible that many Nigerians might be tempted to look the other way, like most are doing in this Boko Haram season, if and when the aggressive north's blitzkrieg loses steam and they start receiving Hutu-Tutsi treatment. (4) Terrorists' involvement in a civil/independent war is more likely to involve world powers like it did in Bosnia and, recently, in Mali.

In the nutshell, the core north has everything to lose by engaging the services of terror cells. And if they fail in their mission, chances are that the terrorist mercenaries will stay put and take Arewa citizenship, perhaps sack legitimate Arewa leadership in the end - which will ultimately be hell for you guys because the Southern Nations you earlier terrorized in the war would have absolutely no empathy for your plights should you decide to migrate southwards. The terror upsurge ravaging the north now should be a bitter lesson not to let terrorists get a foothold.

IdomaLikita: OP, God Bless You!
Since 2011, I have spent at least 30mins of every single Day thinking about this eventuality!
The MB will suffer Tremendously irrespective of any action she takes!
1st, the War will assume a Religious Dimension and the Persecution of Christian Minorities all over the Core-North will Lead to a Southward Migration of Huge Numbers of People leading to a Massive Humanitarian Crisis in so-called Safe Heavens like Benue, Kogi,Nassarawa,and Southern Taraba!
The Sheer Responsibility of Catering to these New Arrivals will surely Cripple whatever Coalition Government that may be in charge then(a good number of Middle beltan Elites would fly abroad and leave their people to their fate)!
2ndly, I expect the East to quickly shut its Border and concentrate its forces there(having learnt few lessons from the Civil War regarding "Father Christmas"! The west may or may not follow suit!
Then there'll be a Lull, with Negotiations going on and Humanitarian Corridors being negotiated, all the while, Starvation and Disease would be ravaging my people!
Lastly, the North would be expected to go on Full Offensive. Feeble Attempts would be made by the MB to resist! But in-fighting, lack of trust amongst the numerous tribes and greed for power will work to the North's advantage!
The East may only offer economic assistance and maybe, just maybe send some Weapons across, to ensure an effective Buffer zone between herself and the North!
The only Option left to the MB is to get weapons through the Camerounian Border, which will also teem with Refugees or a UN intervention (which ALWAYS comes when half the Population have been decimated)!

Either way, the Consequences would be Catastrophic for me people!

Kosovo, Darfur, Kashmir, etc come to mind!

God Help Us All.

East is the nucleus of Nigerian Christians just as Core north is the bastion of Nigerian Islam, so to say the East would shut its doors on fellow Christians is not entirely accurate. After you objectively digest Ojukwu's speech titled Ahiara Declaration then you would understand why the East may not fold her hands while the core north rides a shotgun in the middle belt. Right now Middle belt's problem is Nigeria's problem but in the event of a full Nigerian govt collapse it'll cease to be. The major ethnic groups will move in. Some will go for aggressive slicing and dicing while some will go in to halt and possibly roll back deadly religious extremism breathing close to her border.

torkaka: You must be a poor student of history to think western international support will favour the SW, SE and SS.

On the contrary, it is the support from the islamic jihadist that will ultimately count, recent events have shown that where ever the west steps in, those places head deeper into crisis and eventually fall to the islamist, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan come to mind!!

There's a new frontier in warfare now, quit playing the ostrich and get yourself in tune with evolving events around the world!

Nigeria has the largest muslim population in Africa, and I bet you, in the event of instability, the islamist will have a field day. What ISIS is presently doing in iraq and syria will look like child's play.

CAR as you mentioned has a small muslim population with not oil, Nigeria on the other hand, has lots of oil with a staggering muslim number!

WESTERN COUNTRIES WILL PLAY FROM AFAR!!

I've carefully read all your posts and it amazes that your permutation for Core North coming out on top should war break out in Nigeria is hinged on the collaboration and support of islamists from Middle East (i.e ISIS, Al qeada, etc). Even though it might not make sense to many average secular minded Nigerians that a section of Nigeria would align with terrorists to achieve a supposedly national or sectional goal, it actually makes sense to people like us who have studiously x-rayed the complexities of core northern polico-religious admixture. What you're saying is not mere bluffing, not at all. You're just stating your previously hushed but obvious strengths and strategies in a country beaming and brewing with secession and threat of war. You're being honest, and I wished your elder brothers - Junaids, Bugajes, and Angos would be magnanimous enough to bless us with such frankness on the reason for establishment and sustenance of Boko Haram, after all both Boko Haram and middle eastern terror groups share the same ideology.

However, just as in all crises situations, friends and allies are not limited to one side. Friends and allies help in times of crises to tip the edge to the 'chosen.' They tip the edge if actually the battle front is more or less a stalemate. If you're not at a point where the crises is neither going your way or your enemies way then allies may not help that much. Their participation at that point only help in deepening and extending the war with catastrophic consequences for the parties involved.

You've stated your strength in the event of a showdown which is: that you have a sealed brotherhood with terrorist cells in the middle east who're ready to join you in clearing out the South and appropriating Nigeria's current oil resource. So, consequent upon your stated goal I would like you to go back in time and appraise the feasibility of the core north 'clearing out' the East in the past civil war without the unalloyed support of the Middle Belt, South West, and Riverine South South. Now, 44 years after your premature triumphalism, do you think you still can garner such support to face East should war break out again? Perhaps you might comfort yourself and pretend the support over 250 ethnic groups gave Hausa-Fulani was inconsequential - that core north would have won anyway. But I think its imperative you take a load off and inquire from a wide breadth of Nigerians if your initial answer to my question is indeed accurate.

You see, no man with Igbo blood flowing in his arteries is in doubt in anyway shape or form of the outcome of a full fledged war between 'that tiny sitting duck Eastern city states' and your 'mighty and vast core north.' That tiny sitting duck city state, like you wrote, is somehow blessed with a heart and furry that'll make you tremble if you're to face her in a war of attrition with no friends. To be honest, I'm worried that if Nigeria goes down precipitously the Igbo I know might deliberately find an excuse to open up a front, commit genocide against your 'massive' region, and call it even. In the end we all can mouth off and jab any region anyhow under the protection of 'one Nigeria' but when that is gone.....hmm! it'll be an interesting show.

Lol! ACF is a joke. I guess Zakzaky's Shia/Quds protest rally was not insensitive to the plight of Northern victims of Boko Haram. Nigeria is in real deep trouble with these fellas. These so-called core northerners have never for once protested against the killing of any section of Nigeria. Just check our history, you'll see that core north always supported and/or benefited from the slaughter of other sections of Nigeria. They've never protested any injustice perpetrated on any other section, never in our history. However, they're always quick to protest events outside Nigerian shores no matter how inconsequential the event is. Today they're lecturing us on sensitivity. They're telling us to 'mind our utterances.' What a load of BS. Bugaje, Junaid, and Ango have been entertaining us for over 3 years with unimaginable utterances without Afenifere or Ohaneze raising any eyebrow.

ISP1KSDATROOF: I know quite a few Ibo muslims, just like I know Northern Muslims.

What Id like to know, however, is why Ibos are so intolerant of other people, their way of life and their beliefs.

First, purge yourself of unbridled animosity towards anything Igbo.

Yea right! One day you people accuse Igbos of always taking up other people's culture, another day its Igbos being intolerant of others' cultures. Where do you get off really? Where is the line for you guys? I would like to know the name of any Nigerian that has lost his or her life in Igboland because of whatever he or she chooses to worship. Hausa-Fulani is the only ethnic group that has lost a few in Igboland and we all know why. We know its because of the endless massacres perpetrated by Hausa-Fulani on folks who don't look and worship like the Hausa-Fulani. Yet Igbos are the intolerant ones, really? I guess Igbos would be considered tolerant if only they subscribed to Almajiri lifestyle and joined Boko Haram. I've read where people, on countless occasions, derided Igbos for dressing in Agbada and babanriga while the owners of the said attires never wear Isiagu or any other traditional Igbo attire in reciprocation, yet your pathological monger and incurable knack for stories with Igbo headline wouldn't allow you rise above Igbo-phobia.

Nwanne, its time you dropped the ' I'm American' baloney and be the real ndu_chuks we know you are. I had more respect for you when you dam*ned all the torpedoes with your real handle and represented Arewa in broad-daylight. Now..........its just so silly hiding in a tiny political closet claiming 'American citizenship' and still parroting the same conservative and jihadist hard line.

What happened is called "a house divided.." Nigeria is fighting Nigeria and Nigeria is sabotaging its fight against Nigeria. Nigeria's day of reckoning has come, perhaps, much earlier.

With what I'm seeing, Nigeria will never make it. There's an infinite gulf between the regions. Religion, politics, local and international events - there's no point of convergence. Stuff happens in a Mosque in the moon Nigeria gets a few people maimed and decimated. Israel and Hamas squares off - our president is accused of genocide and terrorism. There's no end with these people. Its all anger and war! war! war! kill! kill! kill!

The fellow told 'us' to protest in support of Israel if we cared that much, but what he didn't tell us is if any openly Israeli supporter in or around Zaria would make it back alive.

Are these not the same people who violently stood against Miss Universe pageant in Abuja? If I didn't know this was Nigeria I would have believed the ZakZaky fellow was a human right champion. I would've thought he and his ummah were always for freedom of expression and association. But courtesy goodness, I know they've always supported, enacted, and enforced laws that punished people for drinking alcohol. I know they've used religious laws to encroach on non-muslim rights. Yet with bare face he's pretending to the world that what he and his band of illogical army espouse is in consonance with universal freedom.

Boko Haram is endlessly having their way up-north, Shia Iran is burning a non-fast (ramadan) observer's lip with flaming cigarette, and ISIL is busy blowing up temples, banning christian worship, imposing Jizra, killing, and purging Iraq of non-sunni muslims. Where's muslim outrage? Where is ZakZaky outrage? Its only a spirit being named Lucifer that's capable of coming up with a composition such as Nigeria.

Blackfire: where are the so called moderate muslims what can they say about this?

When adherents of other faiths are dead and buried what do you think will happen to the so-called moderate muslims? Nothing. They'll still be going to Friday service with the same hardliners in the same Mosque. That's why I don't buy the the 'moderate muslim' baloney anymore. The same way I would not subscribe to 'moderate Christians' if the church goers were endlessly decimating non-church goers.

I have said this before and I will say it again. The solution to religious inspired bloodletting is partition. Any society where muslims (or any other religion for that matter) are on the offensive against other faiths should consider iron-curtain approach. Put the adherents of the implacable religion on one side and others on the other side. Its better for the faiths on the defensive, no matter how small, to be have a secure home where they can properly defend themselves and where the so-called 'moderates' can go and help. I believe Nigeria should adopt this approach too.

As much as I consider myself a Christian I also take cognizance that the world is not only for the religious. Its a world for prostitutes as much as it is for the virtuous. I have a feeling a religious world would be one hell to live in.

My goodness! I can't believe our govt lets the youths study in such environment. It breaks my heart. What is Chime doing? Why did he let a good university rot like that? And is this how other universities in Nigeria look? If the school and govt can't even provide funds for facility upkeep how can they fund and sustain academic research? This is wrong. Students deserve better. The facility looks worse than a mad-house.

ISpiksDaTroof: What has the above got to do with the fact that anyone that can think logically understands that your President is behind (maybe not all, but some of) this chaos to divert attention from other illegal acts hes carrying out with his chronies. You Africans need to learn how to start thinking critically and logically. You just displayed the typical African way of reacting emotionally, instead of rationally, above.

You referred to Nigerians as "you Africans." Really? I guess it'll be nice if you tell us what you're doing here.

nduchucks: My disappointment with many of the elite, hopefully you excluded, is that they believe that the Boko Haram problem is a "North" problem and they even jubiliate at the terrorist acts perpetrated against fellow Nigerians simply because the same terror is not directly felt in their homeland.

Nigeria is at war, yet some are happy that the BH affair will bring down the "North". Terrorism perpetrated against any nigerian should never be a happy affair.

Just read through this thread and watch the posters gloating about terrorism potentially consuming and destroying the "evil North". What a sad state of affairs

There's a reason people feel the way they do. If too many people are, according to you 'gloating' over the upsurge of terror in the 'evil north,' again your words not mine, perhaps its important you find out why a supposedly normal and rational individual would enjoy a disaster of such magnitude. What did the north do both before and now- are they in denial of the truth?

Personally, my beef with the north or should I say my interest in this whole shabang is to secure a good and nice space from the core north. I do not want them dead except if they seek my death. Somehow, I think I'm probably speaking the minds of many Nigerian folks which is: we don't hate the north but we don't want the same old union/political structure where the core north determined who got what.

Folks ain't playing. They, including me, are determined to do anything to break the grip of the core north on Nigeria. So the onus is on the Hausa-Fulani to read the time and back-off. SW and SE got new states and state police from the conference so I don't see what the core north's political migraine is about. Of the 3 major ethnic groups its only Hausa-Fulani that has refused to let go of their own "minority inheritance." Universally, people want to be free. Even the Irish that speaks the same language (somehow) do not want to be with UK. Portugal is not with Spain, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Austria are not in Germany, Italy and France are not one country. I can go on and on. Point being that at some point you have to let go and be on your own.

Nigeria is not sacrosanct and its imperative we understand that. Accepting that self-evident truth is the recipe for harmonious and less abrasive coexistence. Unfortunately, it seems the core north believes Nigeria is a gift from God to them hence unbreakable.

Hopefully, I haven't strayed too far from the subject. But at any rate, I despise the current political structure just as much as I despise the carnage taking place in the north east. So when you think of how much you desire to end the terror up north, make sure you remember how much I desire to end this lopsidedness.

Nwanne m, we all desire the same thing - from southern Kaduna to Berom land. Everyone desires and deserves to live in peace and freedom. If you must come to equity endeavor to come with clean hands.

nduchucks: No love lost buddy, ramadan kareem to you.

We need to learn to be Nigerians and work together against any common enemy. Tha vast majority of the poor and average Nigerians have been victimized enough.

Asking for terror check is not victimization in my dictionary. But hey, to each his own.

nduchucks: ^^^^^ Delusions of grandeur

ndu Nwanne m, Oga eme gi vam n'anya.

On a lighter note, how is the Ramadan going for you?

nduchucks: This biafra that you guys could not obtain through war will not come to pass by wishful thinking and riding the coat tails of GEJ who is from a Ijaw tribe which will never allow you to make them subservient in your Biafra.

Stop this obsession and delusion. Stop worrying and feeling sorry for the 'North'. More of your people live in the North than in your land - they need your pity. Dalu o

Actually, I'm feeling sorry for your brothers because it seems you don't know what has hit you and what's about to hit you even harder. My people living in the north are collecting some change you overlooked due to enormous oil money you're getting from our national purse, thanks to unconscionable tons of states and LGAs you created for the north when you were the only alpha male in town. When that feeding bottle, aka - power and stolen oil money, is taken down, and its about to come off, there won't be any need for up-north migration.

And one more thing, there won't be any kinsman returning home in body-bag.

nduchucks: I most certainly can't resolve your language comprehension here.

I feel sorry for core north. For any sane walking breathing individual or group of individuals to bank on the indivisibility and complete subjugation of a geographical space inhabited by people as diverse, unyielding, and ethno-nationalistic as Nigerians, we really need to feel sorry for such entity.

Throwing up lies, even if they were true, won't save you. We're pretty done with the intransigence, belligerence, greed, jihadism, born-to-rule, and terror of the core north. I remember writing a piece before the inception of the confab in which I stated that GEJ should return our boys from North East theater and cut the core north lose. Some so-called southerners thought it was harsh. Well, after getting a sneak-peak of core northern mentality from this conference, I wonder if those fellas' still shared their old views. I guess folks can now see that the people we consider fellow citizens want to be paid for terrorizing us.

The Northern Delegates’ Forum at the National Conference has said the proposals by the Committee on Devolution of Power on the ownership and control of Nigeria’s mineral resources may split the country.

The forum said it was opposed to some of the proposals to protect the unity of the country.

The conference had witnessed rowdy sessions due to deep divisions among delegates on some proposals by the committee.

The rowdy session at the conference on Thursday had forced the chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi, to adjourn plenary abruptly till Monday.

Speaking to our correspondent on Friday in an interview, a former National Publicity Secretary for the Arewa Consultative Forum and spokesperson for the forum, Mr. Anthony Sani, stated that the deep divisions between the northern and southern delegates on resource control were based on their opposing views on how best to govern Nigeria.

The NDF’s spokesperson said, “The North believes resource control or ownership by constituent parts of the country would make the centre weak and tilt the country towards a confederal arrangement — a harbinger for split.

“The South is not bothered by such a notion, preferring, instead, that the federating units be allowed to develop at their own pace without minding whether some sections live on the cutting edge, while others live on the knife edge of survival.

“That is to say, it does not matter to such school of thought if Nigerians live as if they are on different continents.”

According to Sani, while the northern delegates believe in the concept of nationhood, where the people who were brought together to be one nation should be enabled to synergise and unleash their potential to promote balanced development, “the southern delegates think differently.”

Sani stated, “Any recommendations which hype the gap of incomes among constituent parts of the country is not good politics or good economics. This is because the nation is strong only with balanced development. Wide disparity in incomes among groups and among individuals is counter-productive.”

He stated that the stance of their southern counterparts on some of the proposals had shown that there might be a hidden agenda against the North.

The forum’s spokesperson said, “It is not correct to submit that the North is more firm on resource control than any other issue. The loud voice about resource control is not from the North but the South.

“The North never came to this conference with an agenda. This is precisely because the region did not consider the problems of Nigeria to be in the structure, form of government or in the Constitution but in the failure of leadership at all levels due largely to the collapse of national ideals, moral values, as well as in the way we do things.”

A delegate representing the South-West geopolitical zone at the confab, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, however, said resource control would not break up the country. According to him, “unity is not uniformity.”

“We reject that argument. Let everybody move at their pace. Let nobody holdsanybody down. Their idea of nationhood is what will lead to a break-up because there is a limit to which people can wait for their destiny to be held down,” Odumakin stated.

Odumakin, a member of the confab Committee on Government Restructuring and Forms of Government, accused the North of slowing down the progress of the country, saying that it was time to release the creative energy of every section of the country.

He said, “The argument (that the regions will not develop evenly) is so porous. The sections of the country cannot develop at the same pace. In fact, what they (North) have done over the years when they had power was to drag back sections that were moving ahead; to hold everybody down so that nobody would develop.


“They are not ready for development, yet they are holding everybody down and they have put the country in a bind over the years. If I cannot do this, you cannot do it; that is the cause of backwardness and that is why the country has remained in a mess.”

Odumakin, who is also the spokesperson for the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, argued that if the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo had relied on the North, he would not have been able to achieve great feats in the defunct Western Region.

“Over the years, all these feats were reversed that today, you may not be able to distinguish between the region and the rest of Nigeria. That is what they want; equalisation of underdevelopment and backwardness,” he added.

Also speaking, an Anambra State delegate to the confab, Prof. A. B. C Nwosu, faulted the argument of the northern delegates on resource control. He stated that there was nowhere in the world where all the sections of the society develop at equal pace.

He urged the North to place justice and fairness above other sentiments on the issue.

“Any society that is not built on justice cannot stand. What they are asking for is not justice at all; it is not fair,” Nwosu stated.

He said communities where certain mineral resources are explored must derive benefits from the exploration.

He stated that, “It is not appreciating this fact that is leading to all kinds of funny arguments.”

Nwosu, who is also a member of the Devolution of Power Committee, said the problem started when the confab proposed an intervention fund for the North-East, which is mostly affected by Boko Haram insurgency.

A member of the Consensus Group at the comfab, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, had on Wednesday said the group had agreed that the oil producing states be given not less than 18 per cent derivation.

Gambari said the group had also agreed that a new fund to be established — the Fund for Stabilisation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction — which he put at five per cent of the Federal Allocation, would be out for principally the North-East, North-West and the North-Central.

But a majority of the delegates, including members of the Gambari group, had faulted the report and rejected it.

However, Nwosu said, “The unreasonable thing that stopped this is that the North wants it to include the North-East, the North-West and the North-Central. That is the ultimate in being unreasonable. What of those of us in the South-East? What of Biafra? What of what happened to us in the North? The professor asked.

He further asked why all the regions were concentrating on oil, when other valuable resources were being carted away by foreigners without proper taxation.

Nwosu said, “As I speak to you, they are taking away gold, barite and other resources from Nasarawa, Zamfara and other states. This is worth billions, according to NEITI, which cannot be wrong.

“No royalties are being paid but why is it that nobody is complaining about this. The Chinese and the Lebanese are carting away our gold, barite and precious metals and we are not getting royalty. But we are fixed on oil.”

He added that the proposed 18 per cent derivation and five per cent for mineral development was “right and just.”

In her submission, another member of the Devolution of Power Committee and Niger Delta activist, Annkio Briggs, said she was surprised by the position of the northern delegates.

She said, “I am not speaking for the South-South at the confab, I am speaking for the people in the Niger Delta that have not had electricity for over 50 years of exploring and exploiting oil and gas in the area.

“We have lacked and wanted it because our resources have been used to develop Nigeria, excluding us; when Abuja is having eight-lane roads being constructed day and night. Abuja may be the capital of Nigeria; it is in the northern part of Nigeria.”

She decried that a second runway had been approved for the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, while the airport in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, which had existed before the creation of Abuja, had not been built to international standards.

Briggs said, “That resource control may lead to the splitting of Nigeria is the most selfish thing I have heard since we have been discussing the issue of derivation. This is the most unreasonable and selfish reason.

“Are they saying that we should not develop until the rest of Nigeria develops along with us? The reason why everybody is thoughtful about what we are talking about at the conference today is very clear that everybody cannot develop at the same pace. There are people who want to go to school and there are those who don’t want to.”

The inability of the delegates to agree on the percentage of derivation to be paid to the oil-producing states had forced the confab to adjourn before time on Tuesday.

The conference adjourned at 12.58pm instead of the usual 3.30pm that the delegates had agreed to since the commencement of the Ramadan.

While some of the delegates, especially those from the South-South, were clamouring for increase in the 13 per cent derivation currently being paid to the zone, others, especially those from the North, said the status quo must be maintained.


http://www.punchng.com/news/resource-control-may-split-nigeria-northern-delegates/

cjrane: It must be noted that this country is in its last days. Our northern brothers continue to either misjudge the mood of others to continuous enslavement by the north or they have classically decided they didn't care. Either way, the attempt of the Op to post silly remarks about other regions expose the grave danger that continues to threaten the peaceful existence of Nigeria.

If the British in the height of their power, could not deny independence to Nigeria which was just under 50 million semi-illiterate Africans in 1960, the north should continue to delude itself that it can hold Nigeria together when its constituent parts decide it will be better for them to leave than be subjected to continuous slavery.

Nigeria is ready to go. The two things that still give many abused peoples of Nigeria a flicker of hope are the ongoing confab and GEJ's return in 2015. Not that folks believe GEJ will pull down heaven in his second term but the implication of his return is that he'll keep power away from the Junaids and Bugajes and, consequently, snap the irresponsible born-to-rule mentality out of the Arewas. The second one is the hope that the ongoing confab will correct some of the 50+ years anomaly in our system. However, it seems the Arewas and their hacks are misreading the times and underestimating how much yoke they're to our system. They do not see how much people in our regions can't wait to shake them off. At any rate, if they believe national assembly will kill any ray of hope, freedom, or distance we get from them during the course of this conference then they must be slow upstairs.

We've waited many years to correct some of the lopsidedness. All these years we've heard Jaw Jaw and compromise was better than Biafra's secession but they forgot that before the outbreak of the civil war Nigerians talked in Aburi. Today we're talking in Abuja, yet the same people who claimed to love peace and dialogue are pulling all manner of tricks to derail it. Somehow I wished they'ld succeed in derailing the conference so that all Nigerian peoples would see the kind of future we have together as a one Nigeria. Our people say when the gods want to kill a dog they first make it mad. Time has come for Arewas to check their heads.

Ikengawo: If anyone mentions war it should be know that the north would be completely annihilated in a war against the south. Conditions are no longer equal as they were during the civil war. Prior to US UK Russian and Egyptian intervention the igbos alone were already winning the war against the whole country. Lets see a situation where the phantom north believes that war is an answer for them against Igbo Yoruba Niger Delta Middle Belt and Northern Minorities. Even with western help the outcome will be disastrous. Please take the word war out of the discussion.

I've already given him a tip on what could be their fate should they lose. Let them go back and review the war they claim they won and see how they won it before instigating another one. Indiscriminate killing of both the learned and Almajiris is not war. Perhaps their endless slaughter of each other has erroneously over inflated their war-chest and/or strength.

Before the conference took off they pulled off all stops to kill it. They told us how they owned the oil with their landmass. Its funny how they include the middle belt in their landmass but will never hesitate to slaughter them from southern kaduna to upper Berom. Makes you wonder what kind of brotherhood exists up there.

I guess its becoming clear who now owns the oil. Isn't funny that of all the ethnic groups in Nigeria that do not have oil within their enclaves its only the Fulanis that are vociferous on this "we own oil" nonsense? I'm waiting for this war declaration if and when this lopsided structure is thrown out.