The recent rape and deliberate murder of Uwavera Omozuwa, Tina ezekwe and Barakat Bello have sparked considerable outrage across country, and consequently led to many other women coming out on social media to talk about their gruesome ordeals at the hands of rapists and predatory men. It is only rational to condemn the very beastly and psychotic actions of men who prey on woman for sexual gratification, men who objectify women and think consent is merely an inconvenient formality. However, what we must also condemn is the disturbing rise in feminist extremism and the misandrous inclination of women who are hell bent on hijacking the clamour for social justice and twisting it to fuel their narrative of men hate.


As feminism continues to shift from the ideal struggle for equal opportunities between the sexes, to a more extreme narrative of men hate and female domination, the world must be wary not to deliberately allow the replacement of one form of social injustice with another more dangerous and destructive one.


It is very disturbing to see the recent trend, where women are coming out to tell fabricated stories about how a man assaulted them in one form or the other, when in truth, there was clear consent at the point of intercourse. A good number of these women, driven by jealousy, revenge, hate, desperation and anger, would take advantage of the social outcry against rape and domestic violence to level spurious accusations and defame men for a perceived past slight or to settle scores. While it beats one's imagination to know that some women can stoop to violating their own honor and womanhood just so as to throw a public tantrum and gain attention, it still doesn't erase the fact that innocent men are increasingly becoming targets of such attacks.
Further alarming is the fact that these morally bankrupt people seem to be in unholy alliance with radical feminists who buy into such fabricated stories without questions asked and whip up anti-men sentiments.


Radical feminists would want us to believe that women are always the victims of sexual assault and men are always the perpetrators, this perception is however a laughable misconception. In the society we live in, a huge percentage of men usually experience various types of sexual abuses right from childhood, most especially from older females. Infact, many older men have at one time or the other had to deal with psychological manipulation from women with the intent to engage in a transactional sexual relationship, which in itself, is a form of sexual assault!. It is indeed ironic that in a society where women use sex as an instrument to bargain with and manipulate men, radical feminists would rather prefer to tailor their narratives to paint an entirely misguided picture.


Men who speak up again this trend are tagged anti-feminist and patriarchal. Unsuspecting people allow their emotions and the protective instincts towards women cloud rational thoughts. Matters of alleged sexual violations are now decided in the court of public opinion instead of the court of law. It would seem every man is now guilty of rape until proven innocent, even when proven innocent by the courts, many would still question the competence of the judge, as if once a man is accused of rape, he is expected to be guilty by default. It would seem the emotionally bankrupt opportunists and their radical feminist accomplices are winning the battle to systemically degrade menfolk and make every man a criminal suspect.


Apart from the fact that the concept of equality of the sexes is fundamentally improbable, the idea behind feminism is fast becoming contradictory; from the Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminists (TERF) who denounce the rights of transgendered women to access equal opportunities as cisgendered women, to the extreme sexists who wouldn't mind to see a world without men. These sort of feminists keep clamoring to be given handouts and preferential treatments in the name of gender balance. In a world where men face consistent risks and dangers in obtaining and maintaining social and economic opportunities on a daily basis, these brand of feminists are more amenable to seeking for the benefits and leaving the men to suffer the risks. Such irony!.


It would indeed appear that the growing trend of radical feminism is more of a ploy towards female domination than a sincere attempt to call for and work towards social justice and the even distribution of opportunities between sexes.


We must therefore rise against this dark tide. We must not allow the memories of Uwa, Barakat, Tina and a host of other innocent victims be desecrated and sullied by bigoted women wearing the cloak of feminism and wokeness. We must resist the attempt by women without conscience to take advantage of our righteous emotions and prey on innocent men for the flimsiest reasons. We must shake off the oppressive boots of both the viperous feminists and the bitter mistresses. That is the only way to achieve a society with fairness and social justice.

By Yemi Itodo

A 'Free Image Entertainment' model, Miss Esther Ene Daniels, on Friday, launched an aggressive social media campaigns against rape in the Nigeria's society.

Queen Daniels, who currently wears the crown of Miss Idoma Ambassador in Benue State, took to her various pages on social media with the campaign titled, 'Give Her Pen, not Penis', apparently saying the girl child deserves best education, not to be sexually molested.

Recently, there have been reported cases of rape across Nigeria, ranging from the cases of the UniBen student, Uwa Omozuwa and one Tina ezekwe, to other cases in Makurdi and most recently, Ene in Otada, Otukpo, amongst others.

Queen Daniels felt that the male dominated and porous society was not been fair to the girl child, whom she said has constantly been the victim of rape.

"World over, the girl child has been centrifugally positioned in the society as the inglorious recipient of this heinous social vice.

"Every now and then, a story is told of how a helpless and hapless girl, lady or woman is sexually molested, with many cases resulting to death", she said.

The Idoma born beauty Queen expressed great disappointment in the Nigeria's Justice system, which she said has been the reason why many rape victims could not speak up or approach the court.

She said, "In our today's Nigeria, it is practically impossible to prove a rape case in court. Thus, it gives a greater chance for a donkey to pass through the eye of a needle than a rape victim successfully prosecuting a suspect in Court.

"Bad as this may sound, it has been the Nigeria's story. This has accounted for the low rate of reported rape cases in the Nigeria's court, despite the increasing rate of rape actions in the society.

"Often times than not, the victims had had to live with the agony, trauma and personal shame, with a perpetual fear of not narrating her story. Many atimes a story is told but not believed or badly judged by the public".

Miss Daniels, while calling on parents/guardians to give listening ears to their children/wards and believe their stories; also called on the government to strengthen its system, in order to make rape victims pay for their ungodly acts.

"What the girl child deserves is a pen and not a penis. The society needs to reassure the girl child that she is still secured, in a male dominated and porous environment.

"Parents and Guardians, on their parts, owe the girl child the duty of a confidant by giving her the listening ears and not acting the role of a prosecutor and a judge same time.

"The National Orientation Agency and the Civil Society Organizations must live up to the occasion of reorientating the society, with the view to disinfecting the corrupt mindset of the male folk who enjoys inflicting pains on their fellow humans.

"Also, the Nigeria's National Assembly must come up with a legislative piece to define stiffer penalties to those found guilty of rape. The Judicial system must also wake up, wash its face and buckle up to the onerous task of dispensing justices to the rape victims", Daniels, who is also a screen goddess, added.

To get the country back on the path of righteousness, Miss Daniels urged Nigerians to go to God in prayers, "to seek God's mercy for the many atrocities committed on this land".

https://www.idomavoice.com/2020/06/rape-benue-beauty-queen-ene-daniels-launches-give-her-pen-not-penis-campaign.html

Justice for Uwa and Tina: Let me be clear: we are failing women and girls - HE Toyin Saraki


This year marked the start of the United Nations’ Decade of Delivery, where we were promised that things would change for the empowerment of women and girls. Armed with research to prove how much better off our world would be with the rights of women and girls realised, we in the global advocacy community declared that it is well past time to start living in a gender equal reality.

But instead of keeping our promise to protect and empower women and girls, in Nigeria in 2020, we are still burying them.
Vera Uwaila “Uwa” Omozuwa was a 22-year-old student at the University of Benin who went to her church to read in a quiet space when she was brutally raped. The viral photos of her bludgeoned body have reverberated around the world, adding fire to the flames of the conversation about brutality, violence and lack of a framework for social justice and responsibility; she died of her injuries on 30 May.

In Lagos, 16-year-old Tina ezekwe was trying to get on a bus when a drunken, corrupt police officer attempted to bribe the driver, leading to a sloppy confrontation and shots fired: the bullet pierced through the upper left side of her lap. The battle to save her life lasted for two days, and she died on 28 May.

In Jigawa, Jennifer, a twelve year old girl was allegedly raped by 11 men, who have been arrested.

In 2018, promising young girls Anita Akapson and Linda Angela Agwetu were murdered in similar, senseless fashion, again by trigger-happy officers around their own homes. These cases spotlight what has been blindingly evident since the forced abductions of the Chibok and Dapchi Schoolgirls: we are failing our women and girls.

Last year I was honoured to join the International Conference on Population and Development, full of hope to deepen Nigeria’s consultations on gender. I called to build political commitment from leaders and policymakers to speak out, condemning violence against women. But with the heartless, thoughtless violent deaths of Uwa and Tina it is clear that we have thus far failed to engage leaders and policymakers to implement meaningful mechanisms to protect them.

I had declared in 2018, after the death of another innocent girl victim of sexual and gender based violence, Ochanya, that we were standing on a gender precipice from where good actions could flow, if together, we determinedly took the right actions to protect women and girls.

I declared that I envisaged a world where everyone can decide freely when to have children, and has the information, education and means to do so. With sexual and reproductive health care deemed “non-essential” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and consequent restrictions implemented all over the world, we have failed to protect women’s rights to her own body.

At the United Kingdom-France consultations on the Prevention of Sexual Violence Initiative last year, we said with such hope that we would uphold the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1325 on women peace and security. While at the African Women Leadership Network and the African Union with UNWomen last year, we vowed to invest in women’s groups, to ensure that we give women the leadership opportunities to better shape their own futures, and we did. But when globally, only 1% of gender equality funding is going to women’s groups, we have failed to invest in women.

At the Commonwealth of Nations last year, we made a promise of No More Violence, yet, here we are, from our leaders, and right down to our grassroots, failing women and girls. Frankly, I am outraged. The gruesome deaths of Uwa and Tina are a visceral notice of our failure in Nigeria, and that’s why I am joining the WACOL Tamar SARC and Social Intervention Advocacy Foundation to call for radical reform of our police, to end the impunity of sexual violence against women and girls. In the name of all our global and national commitments to women and girls, the Nigerian state must make systemic changes to protect our young girls. Uwa and Tina’s lives will not be lost in vain.

The House of Representatives spent over two hours on Thursday to debate the rising spate of sexual violence across Nigeria, calling for stricter measures to check the crime .
A member , Mr Rotimi Agunsoye, had moved a motion titled, ‘ The Need to Condemn the Rising Cases of Sexual Violence and Other Social Vices Against Women , and Police Brutality : Justice for Uwa Omozuwa, Tina ezekwe and Others. ’
The House , based on adoption of the motion , urged the Inspector -General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to “ immediately cause investigations into the cases of Uwa Omozuwa , Tina ezekwe, the reported rape of minor in Jigawa State , as well as all other reported cases of violence against women, with a bid to bringing the criminals to justice . ”
Punishments recommended for rapists by the lawmakers , while debating the motion , included castration, death sentence and amputation.
The House , however , voted on only one of the recommendations , castration, which was rejected by the lawmakers.
Last week, a 100-level student of the University of Benin was raped to death at a parish of The Redeemed Christian Church of God in Benin . On Monday , a student of the Federal College of Animal and Production Technology , Ibadan, Oyo State , Brakat Bello , suffered the same fate.
Also on Monday , three armed men gang-raped a 17 -year-old hawker at Oja Oba Market in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
Angered by the rising cases of rape , the House urged the Federal Government to launch a more effective campaign against it and other violence against women and girls.
Also, the House “ mandates all members to dress in black at the next sitting , show solidarity with the victims: Uwa Omozuwa, Tina ezekwe and others. ”
However, the lawmakers voted against a prayer seeking to recommend castration for rapists.
A member , Mr James Faleke , had recommended that persons found guilty of raping minors should be castrated .
Just before the prayer was subjected to voice vote, the Speaker , Femi Gbajabiamila, asked what would happen to an older female who raped a younger male .
The comment had generated a noise in the chamber . Putting the prayer to vote, the nays had it .
The resolutions were referred to the committees on Women Affairs , Human Rights and Justice, which were given four weeks to follow up on the cases and report back to the House .
Agunsoye, while moving the motion , noted several recent nationwide reports of gender-based violence against Nigerian women and girls.
He said, “ The House is worried about the disturbing , growing spate of violence against women and girls recorded throughout the country . It is worrisome that the most common violence against women and girls are : rape , sexual harassment, emotional and psychological violence and socio -economic violence. ”
He also said the police in Jigawa State , on May 30 , 2020 , arrested 11 men , including a 57 -year -old man , who lured and raped a 12 -year-old minor .
During the debate , the Speaker lamented the incidents , saying, “ This is such a sick , despicable and ungodly act . Ordinarily, I would have allowed the women to contribute but because of the nature and the seriousness of it , and to show that it societal cuts across gender. ”
A member , Chinedu Obidigwe , stated that the future of the country would be bleak if women could not be protected. He decried that female Nigerians were suffering a similar fate in other countries where they had been trafficked.
Another member , Ebun Olanrewaju, called for capital punishment for rapists. He noted that males are equally molested .
The Deputy Chief Whip , Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, recalled that earlier in May , the House passed a resolution that the police should check their men “ who are killing people recklessly . ” She said two weeks after , a policeman from Bariga Division allegedly shot a 16 -year-old Tina ezekwe in Iyana Oworo area of Lagos State .
In his submission, Shehu Koko said while the punishment should be life imprisonment like in other climes, the challenge would be how to prove rape cases in court.
Contributing, Henry Archibong said while he agreed that laws should be made to regulate a society , the laws alone could not solve the problems .
Achibong however drew the ire of members, especially females , when he also blamed rape victims for how they dress.
A female member , Linda Ikpeazu, was seen disagreeing with Achibong and raising her voice from where she was seated.
The Chief Whip , Mohammed Monguno , raised a point of order to say that “ the honourable member that is contributing is not properly dressed , as you can see , he does not have a tie . ” He also said , “ Based on our dressing code , he is supposed to have a tie , so he is naked in the eyes of the House . He is not properly dressed . ”
The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila , upheld Monguno ’ s point, saying that Achibong should not have been called to contribute to the debate in the first place. He then called on another member to speak.
Kabir Ibrahim Tukura (Kebbi ) , in his submission, called for amputation of rapists.
He said, “ Every day you hear people talk to girls , ‘ protect yourselves, stay in your lane , ’ but nobody talks to the boy-child. Nobody tells the boy-child ‘ you need to respect women , you need to respect girls around you, you don ’ t touch girls inappropriately. ’ Nobody tells a boy that, and that is a fundamental issue.
“ If that is achieved, we need to also bring stiff penalties ; penalties like capital punishment, castration , amputation (sic) of the manhood. If you can stoop low to rape a child, I don’ t think you deserve to have manhood. You don’ t deserve it because it controls you , you don’ t control it . And as a man if you cannot control your manhood, you don ’ t deserve to have it. ”

A member , Chinedu Obidigwe , stated that the future of the country would be bleak if women could not be protected. He decried that female Nigerians were suffering a similar fate in other countries where they had been trafficked.
Another member , Ebun Olanrewaju, called for capital punishment for rapists. He noted that males are equally molested .
The Deputy Chief Whip , Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, recalled that earlier in May , the House passed a resolution that the police should check their men “ who are killing people recklessly . ” She said two weeks after , a policeman from Bariga Division allegedly shot a 16 -year-old Tina ezekwe in Iyana Oworo area of Lagos State .
In his submission, Shehu Koko said while the punishment should be life imprisonment like in other climes, the challenge would be how to prove rape cases in court.
Contributing, Henry Archibong said while he agreed that laws should be made to regulate a society , the laws alone could not solve the problems .
Achibong however drew the ire of members, especially females , when he also blamed rape victims for how they dress.
A female member , Linda Ikpeazu, was seen disagreeing with Achibong and raising her voice from where she was seated.
The Chief Whip , Mohammed Monguno , raised a point of order to say that “ the honourable member that is contributing is not properly dressed , as you can see , he does not have a tie . ” He also said , “ Based on our dressing code , he is supposed to have a tie , so he is naked in the eyes of the House . He is not properly dressed . ”
The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila , upheld Monguno ’ s point, saying that Achibong should not have been called to contribute to the debate in the first place. He then called on another member to speak.
Kabir Ibrahim Tukura (Kebbi ) , in his submission, called for amputation of rapists.
He said, “ Every day you hear people talk to girls , ‘ protect yourselves, stay in your lane , ’ but nobody talks to the boy-child. Nobody tells the boy-child ‘ you need to respect women , you need to respect girls around you, you don ’ t touch girls inappropriately. ’ Nobody tells a boy that, and that is a fundamental issue.
“ If that is achieved, we need to also bring stiff penalties ; penalties like capital punishment, castration , amputation (sic) of the manhood. If you can stoop low to rape a child, I don’ t think you deserve to have manhood. You don’ t deserve it because it controls you , you don’ t control it . And as a man if you cannot control your manhood, you don ’ t deserve to have it. ”
https://punchng.com/rape-reps-propose-death-sentence-castration-amputation/

‘Their lives will not be lost in vain’ — Toyin Saraki seeks justice for UNIBEN student, Tina


Toyin Saraki, wife of Bukola Saraki, former senate president, has sought justice for Vera Omozuwa and Tina ezekwe, two Nigerian ladies, saying that “their lives will not be lost in vain.”

Tina was last week hit by a stray bullet after a police officer fired shots in a bid to apprehend a bus driver at the Iyana-Oworo area of Lagos.

At about the same time, Uwa, a microbiology student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) in Edo, died after she was attacked and raped while studying in a church in Benin.

Their deaths have triggered a wave of outrage and protests on social media platforms in the past days.

Joining public figures who have pressured both the federal government and security agencies to arrest the situation, Toyin, in a blog post on Monday, also lamented that Nigeria is failing its “women and girls”.

Re-echoing the country’s resolution in the international community, the former senate president’s wife charged the federal government to make systemic changes towards protecting young girls.

“This year marked the start of the United Nations’ Decade of Delivery, where we were promised that things would change for the empowerment of women and girls,” she wrote.

“Armed with research to prove how much better off our world would be with the rights of women and girls realised, we declared that it is well past time to start living in a gender-equal reality.

“But instead of keeping our promise, in Nigeria in 2020, we are still burying them. Uwa was a 22-year-old student who went to her church to read in a quiet space when she was brutally raped.

“The viral photos of her bludgeoned body have reverberated around the world, adding fire to the flames of the conversation about brutality, violence, and lack of a framework for social justice.

“In Lagos, 16-year-old Tina ezekwe was trying to get on a bus when a drunken, corrupt police officer attempted to bribe the driver, leading to a sloppy confrontation and shots fired.”

Toyin also listed Nigeria’s yet-to-be-realised commitments to the girl child.

“In 2018, promising young girls Anita Akapson and Linda Angela Agwetu were murdered in similar, senseless fashion, again by trigger-happy officers around their own homes,” she added.

“These cases spotlight what has been blindingly evident since the forced abductions of the Chibok and Dapchi Schoolgirls: we are failing our women and girls.

“But when globally, only 1% of gender equality funding is going to women’s groups, we have failed to invest in women.

“In the name of all our global and national commitments to women and girls, Nigeria must make systemic changes to protect our young girls. Uwa and Tina’s lives will not be lost in vain.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edjbbZXYRyY



Over the weekend and up until now, the hashtag #JusticeForUwa has been trending. In addition to this, are hashtags: #SayNoToRape and #WhyIDidntReport. All three hashtags are bringing a spotlight to the horrific amount of rape cases we hear in Nigeria and how as a nation, we must do better.

This was all prompted because of the horrible story of 22 year old student, Uwavera Omozuwa.

Genevieve who hardly ever posts on Twitter was so appalled by this story and the story of Tina ezekwe, a young woman who was killed by the police in Berger, Lagos.

She tweeted a powerful statement about the constant fear of men that women have to endure, a heartbreaking tweet that sadly is the norm for a lot of women.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has lent his voice to the call for justice over the rape and murder of Vera Omozuwa, a 100-level microbiology student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Edo state.

https://gistsfanz.com/2020/06/justiceforuwa-today-i-rise-in-solidarity-with-women-tinubu-declares.html

Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), took to Twitter, rising in solidarity with all women, decrying the unjust treatments that have been unleashed on women over the years.

The APC stalwart in a series of tweets on Tuesday, condemned the recent killings of young ladies across the country, saying there is nothing that can defend the wrongdoings.

He tweeted, “All of us are born of woman and nurtured of woman. Vera Uwaila Omozuwa is the most recent name on a list, far too long, of women who have lost their lives at the hands of these vile criminals. Today, I rise in solidarity with women in Nigeria to say #enoughisenough.

“For far too long women and young girls in our nation have suffered the pain, hurt and stigma of gender-based violence and abuse. Too many have been hurt, intimidated and bullied. Too many have died. Such violence is inexcusable. There is nothing that can defend this wrongdoing.

“#JusticeforUwa #JusticeforJennifer #JusticeforTina #JUSTICE for all victims of gender-based violence.”

A few days ago, Miss Uwa, a student of microbiology, died after she was raped and killed while studying in a church in Benin.

In a similar vein, Tina ezekwe, a 16-year-old girl, was hit by a stray bullet after a police officer fired shots in a bid to apprehend a bus driver at the Iyana-Oworo area of Lagos.

Both student’s death comes weeks after Jennifer, an 18-year-old girl, was allegedly gang-raped by five boys who were said to be her friends in Kaduna state.

The deaths of these Nigerian females have triggered protests on social media as Nigerians have called for justice over the killings.

https://gistsfanz.com/2020/06/justiceforuwa-today-i-rise-in-solidarity-with-women-tinubu-declares.html

The heavily pregnant actress has voiced out her opinion via her Instagram page, she captioned her post… “These past few days have been extremely saddening and depressing around the world. Police brutality and rape ??

My heart is heavy beyond words, I don’t wanna birth my child in a society like this …TINA ezekwe and UWA OMOZOWA are the recent victims to the inhumanity! Will they be the last?”

“The same men that are supposed to protect us are out here killing us and raping us ?? ? It’s heartbreaking. These men in uniform have been taking lives and treating humans like animals.

My heart goes out to the families of this victims and to everyone who has experienced police brutality or rape and it’s being reminded of the experience because of what’s going on right now. You will find peace and we will get justice. We want justice for these beautiful souls, we want a better Nigeria. We want to feel safe in a country we call home.

THE GENERALIZATION FALLACY

Genevieve Nnaji MFR
@GenevieveNnaji1
They either abuse their power, or have the power to abuse. In or out of uniform, we live in constant fear of men. Tina ezekwe. Vera Omozuwa. Rest In Peace my darlings. We will get justice.�� pic.twitter.com/e9c4ODcEri
https://mobile.twitter.com/GenevieveNnaji1/status/1267110627664896000?p=v

THE COUNTERARGUMENT

Rape against women, just like rape against men, is always a crime against humanity. No sane man condones rape because women are mothers, sisters and daughters of men. Nevertheless, in every society, there are psychopaths with twisted mind that go out of their ways to sexually abuse or violate women. Interestingly, many men have known to have been killed defending helpless women against attacks by rapists. Remarkably, in some cases women have known to have rented such men with twisted mind to rape other women to settle scores. So, the truth is rape is NOT a common pastime of all men but a social ill, a form of insanity and a punishable crime involving a few men.

Granted that there seems to be an epidemic of rape against women of different ages in Nigeria lately but the truth is that rape like murder, stealing and other such crimes have been in existence from time immemorial. As far as there is human society of composite genders, there will be social ills including rape. That's why we have the police, the court and the prison.

Crimes are integral part of human society and have continued to be inspite application of deterrent measures. For example, inspite of wave of public executions of convicted armed robbers in the 80s and 90s, armed robbery continues to take place till today. In spite of drastic measures taken by advanced countries to control rape, it still happens there. The reality is if far-reaching legislations and strict punitive actions have not eradicated rape even in those advanced countries, then mere social media advocacy and placard protests after each rape incident can not do much.

As in the fight against any other crimes, the expectations in the fight against rape are, first, it requires citizens to take personal safety precautions: If you don't protect your valuables, they are likely to be stolen. If you walk on lonely path at night, you are likely to be robbed. If you consider your body a precious thing, guard it jealously and wisely. Second, citizens should work with government through the security agencies as they provide protection and facilitate justice where rape has taken place. In line with this, victims and witnesses should make prompt reports to the police to enable immediate gathering of fresh evidence. Delay make conviction difficult. Forunately, one can proudly say that the courts in Nigeria have over the years given justice to many victims of rape.

In view of the foregoing, it is therefore illogical for Genevieve Nnaji to have employed infantile overgeneralization to portray Nigerian men as rapists on her official and verified Twitter account that is viewed globally in real time. This fallacious allusion is an unjustified show of negative emotion, which makes her sound like the biblical accuser of our brethren. This jaundiced statement can not and will not guarantee justice for Vera Omozuwa and other victims of rape including those raped by their fathers or uncles. What Genevieve did was to simply discolour the fight against rape and turn it to gender hate campaign.

Let's face it, men and women interact everyday in offices, markets, sportsgrounds, gyms, movie locations, buses and trains, religious gatherings, weddings, clubs, etc. If, according to Genevieve, women live in "constant fear of men", the deduction is that she is preaching gender physical segregation to ensure that women are safe from menacing men and their tendency to rape. However, gender segregation is impossible in civilized human society. So Genevieve is simply an alarmist. Her attempt to sow the seeds of misandry in our women will fail.

Let's assume that she may have been enraged when she wrote this comment but it still sounds like a product of poor thought process and bitter heart. Make no mistake about that, her being feminist, misandrous or a highly successful actress do not excuse her because the eternal fact remains that all men are not rapists.

Imagine how Genevieve would react if a male celebrity wrote that whether married or not, women have constant tendency to cheat on their partners. I am sure Genevieve would protest the generalization.

As the Governor of Edo State has made a solemn promise and IGP of Nigerian Police has assured, Nigerians in unison are hoping that the 'animals' that raped and murdered Vera Omozuwa will be caught and made to face justice.

May the souls of Miss Vera Uwaila Omozuwa and other victims of rape rest in peace.

ExAngel007:
A Nigerian man who joined the rape
conversation triggered by the deaths Tina
ezekwe and Vera Omozuwa, ignited an outcry
after sharing graphic details of how he raped
two women.

According to Ogimex Aka Obonblingz, he used
to rape women who refuse to have sex with
him when he was much younger. He said he
stopped raping women after his second victim
placed curses on him.

He wrote;



https://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2020/6/nigerian-man-shares-graphic-details-of-how-he-raped-two-women.html

This is appalling

An unidentified family member of a 16-year-old girl indentified as Tina ezekwe, shot dead by police officer said, the police intentionally, because this policeman had promised Tina’s mother that he was going to show her.

This was disclosed in a short video clip covered by LegitTV: The family member said. “I see this matter as intentional, because this policeman had promised Tina’s mother that he was going to show her. Showing her is what led to this incident.”

He added that: “Tina’s brother wanted to carry her from the ground after she was shot. But the policeman who shot her said ‘you get luck say she no die. I will shoot you again.

“Tina was a jovial person. She was calm and she wanted to become a doctor in future. But now that this has happened, I don’t think it can happen again.”

Source: https://insidenaija.com.ng/2020/06/01/policeman-deliberately-killed-tina-a-family-member-revealed/

Watch the video below

[flash= 450,300] https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=nNoYGKZ4UQw[/flash]

Popular Nollywood Actress, Genevieve Nnaji has aired her thoughts on the tragic murder of 16-year-old Tina ezekwe and Uwa Omozuwa, 22-year-old.

Genevieve Nnaji who took to her official Twitter page to air her view was followed with a series of comments from diverse Nigerians on social media.

Recall Uwa Omozuwa was brutally assaulted and raped inside a Redeemed Christian Church God, RCCG where she went to read in Benin, while Tina was unfortunately killed from a stay bullet by two police officers, who appeared to have drunk on May 26 in Lagos.

Genevive has now reacted to the trending topics and she took to her social media page to write; FULL GISTS: https://theupdates.net/genevieve-nnaji-rape-comment-evokes-mixed-reactions-from-nigerians/

A Nigerian man who added his voice to the rape conversation triggered by the deaths Tina ezekwe and Vera Omozuwa, ignited an outcry after sharing graphic details of how he raped two women.

According to Ogimex Aka Obonblingz, he used to rape women who refuse to have sex with him when he was much younger. He said he stopped raping women after his second victim placed curses on him.

See graphics details:

https://newsmag.com.ng/nigerian-man-narrates-how-he-enjoys-raping-ladies-when-he-was-younger-see-details/

Singer, Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz, has condemned the killing of Tina ezekwe, who was shot by a policeman in Lagos and Uwaila Omozuwa, a student of the University of Benin who was raped and killed in a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Benin City, the Edo State capital, Igbere TV reports.

The 29-year-old demanded justice for the two women in a post he shared on Twitter on Sunday.

He wrote, “It’s so exhausting to see injustice continue to thrive time after time. Every time we say not again, and then there is a new story. Enough is enough. It’s too disheartening. Justice must be served for the innocent souls we keep on losing. #JusticeForTina #JusticeForUwa.”

The ‘Bop Daddy’ singer also stressed the need to people to make their voices heard through peaceful protests.

“It is important that we are fearless and we are ready to challenge the government through peaceful protests. It’s not enough to sit in our houses and post on socials. Justice must be served #JusticeForUwa #JusticeForTina,” he added.

Igbere TV reports that two policemen identified as Theophilus Otobo, an assistant superintendent of police and Oguntoba Olamigoke, a police inspector attached to Bariga Police Station, have been arrested in connection with ezekwe’s death.

While the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has called for an immediate investigation into the rape and murder of Uwaila, who was raped and killed while studying in the church.

“I have ordered the Nigeria Police Force (@PoliceNG ) to thoroughly investigate the circumstances that led to the death of Miss Vera Uwaila Omozuwa, a 100-level student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN),” he tweeted on Sunday.

“The @PoliceNG has been mandated to identify, arrest and prosecute anyone found culpable in her death. The Violence Against Persons (VAP) Law is in effect in our state.

“Using this law, we would ensure to investigate what exactly transpired and deal decisively with the those found complicit in the dastardly act, whoever they might be,” he added.

https://igberetvnews.com/1353612/falz-reacts-police-killing-teenager-rape-murder-uniben-student/

Lalasticlala

Nollywood A-listers, Genevieve Nnaji and Rita Dominic have condemned the rape of 3 Nigerian girls, Tina, Uwa and Jennifer.

Reacting via her Instagram account, Rita Dominic wrote:

There is nothing that these 3 GIRLS have done to deserve the atrocities that has befallen them.
Tina was killed by a policeman whose job was to protect her. She was 16years old

Uwa a university student went to a church to read and she was raped and murdered. She was only 22 years old.

Jennifer was raped by 11 men. She is just 12 years old. 12 years old for goodness sake!
What are we doing wrong that boys and men think that it is ok to continue violating girls and women in this manner?

Let me tell you what. We are not punishing the men who commit these atrocities in this country. We are not doing enough to hold RAPISTS accountable. We are not doing enough to check POLICE BRUTALITY.
We demand justice for these young girls! Our government and our justice system must respond to these matters PROMPTLY. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA3AlUGHqC1/?hl=en

Genevieve Nnaji reacted via Twitter. She wrote:

They either abuse their power, or have the power to abuse. In or out of uniform, we live in constant fear of men. Tina ezekwe. Vera Omozuwa. Rest In Peace my darlings. We will get justice.

https://mobile.twitter.com/GenevieveNnaji1/status/1267110627664896000

A Nigerian man who joined the rape
conversation triggered by the deaths Tina
ezekwe and Vera Omozuwa, ignited an outcry
after sharing graphic details of how he raped
two women.

According to Ogimex Aka Obonblingz, he used
to rape women who refuse to have sex with
him when he was much younger. He said he
stopped raping women after his second victim
placed curses on him.

He wrote;



https://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2020/6/nigerian-man-shares-graphic-details-of-how-he-raped-two-women.html

Few days after an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Theophilus Otobo and a Police Inspector, Oguntoba Olamigoke were arrested for the death of a teenager, Tina ezekwe another police inspector, Monday Gabriel, has been arrested for unruly behaviour which led to the death of a Sergeant in Ikoyi area of Lagos.
The Police Inspector attached to Police Mobile Force Squadron 21 Abuja, was on Special duty in a Federal Government facility in Ikoyi Lagos when he went berserk and started shooting sporadically.

It was gathered that at about 4:00 am on Sunday 31st May 2020, Sergeant Felix Okago who was on Special duty with the Inspector, died from the gunshot injuries while others escaped unhurt.

However, in an attempt to escape, he took a patrol van and headed towards third mainland bridge, shooting as he was escaping.

He was intercepted by Policemen from Bariga Division along Akoka, disarmed and handcuffed Confirming the incident, the spokesperson Lagos state police command DSP Bala Elkana said on Sunday 31st May, 2020 at about 4:30 Area A Command received a distress call that one Inspector Monday Gabriel from No 21 Police Mobile Force Squadron Abuja, on Special duty in a Federal Government facility in Ikoyi Lagos went berserk and started shooting sporadically killing his colleague in the process”.

https://www.marvelzglobe.info/2020/05/police-arrested-for-shooting-fellow.html?m=1

The Lagos state police command says it arrested an inspector over the death of his colleague.

In a statement on Sunday, Bala Elkana, Lagos police public relations officer, said Monday Gabriel, the inspector, went berserk and shot sporadically leading to the death of Felix Okago, a sergeant.

He said Gabriel was transferred from Abuja to a federal government facility in Ikoyi, Lagos, on a special duty.

The police spokesman said the incident which happened around 4:30am left several other persons wounded.

He said the inspector was arrested while trying to escape through the third mainland bridge.

Elkana said investigation has commenced into the incident as the police inspector is undergoing medical examination having “presented signs of depression”.

“On 31/5/2020 at about 0430 hours, Area A Command received a distress call that one Inspector Monday Gabriel from No 21 Police Mobile Force Squadron Abuja, on Special duty in a Federal Government facility in Ikoyi Lagos, went berserk and started shooting sporadically,” he said.

“One Sergeant Felix Okago who was on Special duty with the Inspector, died from the gunshot injuries while others escaped unhurt.

“In an attempt to escape, he took a patrol van and headed towards third mainland bridge, shooting as he was escaping. He was intercepted by Policemen from Bariga Division along Akoka, disarmed and handcuffed. The rifle and vehicle were recovered.

“The corpse of the deceased Sergeant is deposited in the mortuary for autopsy while the Inspector is taken to Police Hospital for medical examination as he presented signs of mental depression.

“The Commissioner of Police has directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of investigation to take over the investigation. The Command deeply condoles with the family of the fallen colleague who paid the supreme price in service to his fatherland.”

There has been a rise in cases of policemen killing citizens in Lagos.

On Friday, the state police command arrested two officers over the death of Tina ezekwe, a 16-year-old girl.

Last week, the command announced the arrest of Okoro Charles, an inspector attached to Ikotun division, for allegedly killing Fatai Oladipupo, a resident.

In March 2019, Kolade Johnson, a football fan, was killed during a raid by the anti-cultism unit of the Lagos police command.

Kolade was hit by a stray bullet when men of the anti-cultism fired shots to disperse a crowd in Mangoro area of Lagos.

See Uncover Photos Below
https://www.nairafame.com/2020/05/in-lagos-police-inspector-arrested.html

#JusticeForUwa trends in Nigeria after student murdered in church

There is outrage in Nigeria following the murder of a 22-year-old student, Uwavera Omozuwa in a church.

The hashtag #JusticeForUwa is trending in Nigeria, with her family appealing for help to track down her killers.

Uwavera had been studying in a "quiet" church near her home in Benin City when she was killed, her sister, Judith, told reporters.

The student, who had wanted to become a nurse, died in hospital on Saturday, three days after the attack.

Judith Omozuwa said her sister had also been raped.

Her family said they received a call from a woman at the Redeemed Christian Church of God on Wednesday evening.

Uwavera was taken to hospital after a security guard found her, her skirt torn and her shirt covered in blood, Judith Omozuwa said.


'Failure to curb gender-based violence'
However, a police spokesperson in southern Edo State, whose capital is Benin City, told newsmen that they were treating the incident as a murder, not a rape, case.

The student died following a fight at the church, the spokesperson added, without giving more details.

Uwavera had only just been admitted to the University of Benin to study microbiology when she was killed.

She often went to sit and "read" at the church near her house as it was quiet, her sister added.

Unconfirmed reports in local media said a group of men had entered the church, raping Uwavera and hitting her with a fire extinguisher.

On Tuesday, many Nigerians were angered after a policeman allegedly shot dead a 16-year-old girl, Tina ezekwe, in the commercial capital, Lagos.

The officer was arrested, police said.

On Twitter, many Nigerians expressed concern about the government's failure to tackle gender-based violence and questioned whether parents were bringing up boys properly.
Continue reading...

NIGERIAPEN MEDIA

Trigger-happy officers of the Nigeria Police have struck again in Lagos. The victim this time around was 17-year-old Tina ezekwe.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣The police say the officers behind the killing will be arraigned in court “if found culpable.”

WATCH FULL VIDEO BELOW;


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beJmUg-7z6o

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE FOR MORE NEWS UPDATE. IT'S ABSOLUTELY FREE.

Many Nigerians on Friday via social media demanded justice for a 16-year-old girl, Tina ezekwe, allegedly killed by a trigger-happy policeman in the Iyana Oworo area of Lagos on Tuesday.

The cop was said to be from the Bariga Police Division.

Reports indicated that the policeman was trying to arrest a bus driver for violating the nationwide curfew imposed by the Federal Government to check the spread of coronavirus.


In the process, the policeman was said to have shot the bus driver and Tina standing by the roadside.

It was learnt that Tina, an Imo State indigene who resided at Bariga, was rushed to a hospital after the incident. However, she died on Thursday evening.

A video posted on Twitter by Oworo TV (@OworoTv), which went viral, showed Tina’s body being dragged amid a panicky crowd.

As of Friday, the video had gathered about 160,000 views on the social media platform.
to demand justice for the murdered teenager. “This is all too much! Police brutality needs to stop! #JusticeForTina,” she wrote.

Another Twitter user, @aproko_doctor, asked all Nigerians to demand justice for Tina.

He wrote, “All she did was stand at a popular junction and she was shot by a Nigerian policeman. It could be any of us, and we will not stop until we have a reform of the Nigeria Police Force.

“I don’t want to mind my business and still be shot.”


Source:
https://punchng.com/two-cops-arrested-as-nigerians-demand-justice-for-slain-lagos-girl/?amp=1&__twitter_impression=true

Over 500 families in Abagana, one of the towns in Njikoka Local Government Area in Anambra state recently danced with great joy and happiness as the Prince Paschal ezekwe Foundation provided bags of rice and other food items as palliatives to cushion the effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Speaking through his Media aide, Prince ezekwe stated that the foundation was moved by the sufferings of the people during this lock down and as a measure to cushion the effect decided to provide succor to families in the town.

He further urged the people of Abagana to ensure that they stay safe and adhere to preventive measures of washing hands and social distancing to prevent the spread of any outbreak of the virus in the community while also assuring the people of his constant support to their well-being.

However, the beneficiaries expressed appreciation to the Foundation for their benevolent deeds to the community, adding that the foundation had previously aided in the provision of water to the community and also provided scholarship awards to indigent students of the community.

They also assured the Benefactor of adhering to the preventive measures of washing of hands and social distancing to staying safe and healthy.

Frankdoz8:
"What Do The Igbos Really Want?",Buhari Asked During His Media Chat.

And now, I want to answer the question, "What do the Igbos want?"

Enjoy:

In Biafra, under three years, they were making their own rockets and calculating its distances; distilling their own oil and making aviation fuel, creating in their Chemical and Biological laboratories, new cures for diseases like Cholera, shaping their own spare parts, and turning the entire East into a vast workshop, as Ojukwu put it.

At the end of the war, the Ukpabi Asika regime brought together these Biafran scientists and set up PRODA. The initiative led, in the first five years between 1970-1975 under the late Prof. Gordian ezekwe and Mang Ndukwe, to designs of industrial machinery models and prototypes for the East Central State Industrial Masterplan, which remain undeveloped even today. The Murtala/Obasanjo regime took over PRODA in 1975 by decree, starved it of funds, and basically destroyed its aims.

Secondly, Federal government policies centralized all potentials for innovation and entrepreneurship. Before 1983, states had their Ministries of Trade and Industry. These were charged with local business registration, trade, and investment promotion, and so on. But today in Nigeria, if you wish to do any business, you'd have to go to Abuja (it used to be Lagos) to register under the Corporate Affairs Commission. It used to be that local business registration was state and municipal functions. The concentration of the leverage for trade utterly limited Igbo entrepreneurs, particularly in the era of import licensing, once your quota was exhausted, you could not do business.

This affected the old Igbo money in Aba and Onitsha, who were the arrow-heads of innovation and traditional partners in the advance of Igbo industrial economy. It is remarkable that as at 1985, a least by a book published by the Oxford Economist Tom Forrest in 1980, The Advance of African Capital, the Igbo had the highest investment in machine tools industries in all of Africa, and the highest depth of investment in rural, cottage industries. In his prediction in 1980, if that rate of investment continued, according to Forrest in 1980, the Igbo part of Africa would accomplish an industrial revolution by 1987. Now, by 1983/85, Federal government policies helped to dismantle the growth of indigenous Igbo Industry through its targeted national economic policies. As I have said, there is a corollary between industrial development and innovation.

Thirdly, the severe, strategic staunching of huge capital in-flow into the East starved Igbo businesses and institutions of the capacity to utilize or even expand their capacities. There were no strategic Federal Capital projects in the East. There were no huge infrastructural investments in the East. The last major Federal government investment in Igbo land was the Niger Bridge which was commissioned in 1966. Any region starved of government funds experiences catatony and attrition. Private capital is often not enough to create the kind of synergy necessary for innovation. Rather than invest in the East, from 1970 to date, the Federal government has strategically closed down every capacity for technological advancement in the East and stripped that region of its capacity.

By 1966, the Eastern Nigerian Gas masterplan had been completed under Okpara. But in its review of a Nigeria gas masterplan, the Federal government strategically circumvented the East. Oil and Gas are under Federal oversight. The Trans-Amadi to Aba Industrial Gas network/linkage had been completed in 1966, to pipe gas from Port-Harcourt to Aba. The Federal government let that go into abeyance and uprooted the already reticulated pipes. The East was denied access to energy with the destruction of the Power stations during the war.

The Mbakwe government sought to remedy this by embarking on two highly critical area of investment necessary for industrial life: the 5 Zonal water projects, which were 75 completed by 1983, and set for commissioning in 1984, which was to supply clean water for domestic and industrial use to all parts of the old Imo state, and the Amaraku and Izombe Power stations, under the Imo Rural Electrification Project. These were the first ever massive independent power projects ever carried out by any state government in Nigeria which would have made significant part of Igbo land energy independent today. The supply of daily electricity was possible in Imo as at 1984. The Amaraku station had come on stream, and the Izombe Gas station was underway, when Buhari and his men struck.

In simple English ,what do they want?

"What Do The Igbos Really Want?",Buhari Asked During His Media Chat.

And now, I want to answer the question, "What do the Igbos want?"

Enjoy:

In Biafra, under three years, they were making their own rockets and calculating its distances; distilling their own oil and making aviation fuel, creating in their Chemical and Biological laboratories, new cures for diseases like Cholera, shaping their own spare parts, and turning the entire East into a vast workshop, as Ojukwu put it.

At the end of the war, the Ukpabi Asika regime brought together these Biafran scientists and set up PRODA. The initiative led, in the first five years between 1970-1975 under the late Prof. Gordian ezekwe and Mang Ndukwe, to designs of industrial machinery models and prototypes for the East Central State Industrial Masterplan, which remain undeveloped even today. The Murtala/Obasanjo regime took over PRODA in 1975 by decree, starved it of funds, and basically destroyed its aims.

Secondly, Federal government policies centralized all potentials for innovation and entrepreneurship. Before 1983, states had their Ministries of Trade and Industry. These were charged with local business registration, trade, and investment promotion, and so on. But today in Nigeria, if you wish to do any business, you'd have to go to Abuja (it used to be Lagos) to register under the Corporate Affairs Commission. It used to be that local business registration was state and municipal functions. The concentration of the leverage for trade utterly limited Igbo entrepreneurs, particularly in the era of import licensing, once your quota was exhausted, you could not do business.

This affected the old Igbo money in Aba and Onitsha, who were the arrow-heads of innovation and traditional partners in the advance of Igbo industrial economy. It is remarkable that as at 1985, a least by a book published by the Oxford Economist Tom Forrest in 1980, The Advance of African Capital, the Igbo had the highest investment in machine tools industries in all of Africa, and the highest depth of investment in rural, cottage industries. In his prediction in 1980, if that rate of investment continued, according to Forrest in 1980, the Igbo part of Africa would accomplish an industrial revolution by 1987. Now, by 1983/85, Federal government policies helped to dismantle the growth of indigenous Igbo Industry through its targeted national economic policies. As I have said, there is a corollary between industrial development and innovation.

Thirdly, the severe, strategic staunching of huge capital in-flow into the East starved Igbo businesses and institutions of the capacity to utilize or even expand their capacities. There were no strategic Federal Capital projects in the East. There were no huge infrastructural investments in the East. The last major Federal government investment in Igbo land was the Niger Bridge which was commissioned in 1966. Any region starved of government funds experiences catatony and attrition. Private capital is often not enough to create the kind of synergy necessary for innovation. Rather than invest in the East, from 1970 to date, the Federal government has strategically closed down every capacity for technological advancement in the East and stripped that region of its capacity.

By 1966, the Eastern Nigerian Gas masterplan had been completed under Okpara. But in its review of a Nigeria gas masterplan, the Federal government strategically circumvented the East. Oil and Gas are under Federal oversight. The Trans-Amadi to Aba Industrial Gas network/linkage had been completed in 1966, to pipe gas from Port-Harcourt to Aba. The Federal government let that go into abeyance and uprooted the already reticulated pipes. The East was denied access to energy with the destruction of the Power stations during the war.

The Mbakwe government sought to remedy this by embarking on two highly critical area of investment necessary for industrial life: the 5 Zonal water projects, which were 75 completed by 1983, and set for commissioning in 1984, which was to supply clean water for domestic and industrial use to all parts of the old Imo state, and the Amaraku and Izombe Power stations, under the Imo Rural Electrification Project. These were the first ever massive independent power projects ever carried out by any state government in Nigeria which would have made significant part of Igbo land energy independent today. The supply of daily electricity was possible in Imo as at 1984. The Amaraku station had come on stream, and the Izombe Gas station was underway, when Buhari and his men struck.

Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State Charles Ezekwem has defected to All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a letter of January 25, Ezekwem said his decision to abandon PDP followed approval by his supporters and circumstances facing his party.


The letter reads: “In view of the prevailing circumstances within my party, vis-a-vis my present standing as chairman of PDP in Imo State, and after due consultations with my family and with the approval of my supporters, I tender my resignation as chairman and member of the party in my Okigwe ward.

“I thank the people who elected me as their chairman. I sincerely regret the inconveniences the party faced. I thank the party for the support they gave me and the opportunity to serve in that capacity.”

An official of APC described Ezekwem as a big catch.

He said: “We’ve shifted the celebration of Ezekwem’s defection to a later date because of the tragic death of one of us, Ndubuisi Emenike. But I can assure you Governor Hope Uzodinma will officially welcome Ezekwem into the party in a large ceremony.”

He added that a former senator on PDP platform would soon join APC to give credence to the fact the Imo is an APC state.

Ezekwem’s resignation follows the defection of PDP’s Deputy National Auditor Regis Uwakwe to APC following Uzodinma’s victory at the Supreme Court.

Nine Assembly members defected to APC. Four left Action Alliance (AA); two from All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and three from PDP.

PDP has accepted ezekwe’s resignation. A statement by Publicity Secretary Damian Oparah reads: “The attention of Peoples Democratic Party in Imo State has been drawn to the resignation of the Chairman, Charles Ezekwem.

“The party accepts the resignation, and notes that this is a trying time for the party and its members. We thank Ezekwem for his selfless services to the party.

“We wish Ezekwem well in his future political endeavours, and assure him that if he needs to return our umbrella will still be big enough to accommodate him.”


https://thenationonlineng.net/imo-pdp-chair-ezekwem-defects-to-apc/amp/

I came across this story somewhere in facebook:

https://web.facebook.com/madu.abuchi.14?__tn__=%2CdCH-R-R&eid=ARDAwEvQ4G4g4B_SZhb1WCeCOzSNP5FusHvkqFiMh4Hd7qgXWS2KFt5LKbsGxY70T4yiN_hNbgHJSA2C&hc_ref=ARQIoHwzxsSJmY0FI1Vl0_c-TM9lWmf4azAIMYaW6L_4DBUhMk2SyJkvL1r5S4gZpqY&fref=nf

Have you ever wondered why University of Nigeria Nsukka doesn't offer chemical engineering as a course? Here is the reason..
This University now known as UNN, had it's Chemical Engineering
department permanently closed down after the war, because of the level of research, developments and inventions it churned out for the Biafran soldiers.
Kudos to the renowned Professor Gordian ezekwe who led a team of scientists in what was known as Biafran Research and Production Unit, RAP. This think-tank group made up of
Sylvester Akalonu, Benjamin Nwosu,
Willy Achukwu and Okezie Confidence and more were tasked to develop rockets, bombs, telecommunication
gadgets and develop the fractionation model used for operating the modular crude oil refineries designed and operated by Biafrans.
The refinery that Nigeria can't build today was single handedly designed
and operated by these Biafran wizards.They refined aviation fuels
that powered their amarnents and planes.
If you had wondered why UNN doesn't offer Chemical Engineering as
a course, know that the federal government of Nigeria closed down
the department for fear of the devasting knowledge base of the Biafran man.

©️ Kamso Nweke


How true is this?

LabDNA:
"What do the Igbos want?",Buhari asked during his media chat.

Obi Nwakamma answers him.

And now, Obi Nwakanma, a Poet, journalist, biographer and literary critic, has written an article in answer to the question, "What do the Igbos want?"

Enjoy:

In Biafra, under three years, they were making their own rockets and calculating its distances; distilling their own oil and making aviation fuel, creating in their Chemical and Biological laboratories, new cures for diseases like Cholera, shaping their own spare parts, and turning the entire East into a vast workshop, as Ojukwu put it.

At the end of the war, the Ukpabi Asika regime brought together these Biafran scientists and set up PRODA. The initiative led, in the first five years between 1970-1975 under the late Prof. Gordian ezekwe and Mang Ndukwe, to designs of industrial machinery models and prototypes for the East Central State Industrial Masterplan, which remain undeveloped even today. The Murtala/Obasanjo regime took over PRODA in 1975 by decree, starved it of funds, and basically destroyed its aims.

Secondly, Federal government policies centralized all potentials for innovation and entrepreneurship. Before 1983, states had their Ministries of Trade and Industry. These were charged with local business registration, trade, and investment promotion, and so on. But today in Nigeria, if you wish to do any business, you'd have to go to Abuja (it used to be Lagos) to register under the Corporate Affairs Commission. It used to be that local business registration was state and municipal functions. The concentration of the leverage for trade utterly limited Igbo entrepreneurs, particularly in the era of import licensing, once your quota was exhausted, you could not do business.

This affected the old Igbo money in Aba and Onitsha, who were the arrow-heads of innovation and traditional partners in the advance of Igbo industrial economy. It is remarkable that as at 1985, a least by a book published by the Oxford Economist Tom Forrest in 1980, The Advance of African Capital, the Igbo had the highest investment in machine tools industries in all of Africa, and the highest depth of investment in rural, cottage industries. In his prediction in 1980, if that rate of investment continued, according to Forrest in 1980, the Igbo part of Africa would accomplish an industrial revolution by 1987. Now, by 1983/85, Federal government policies helped to dismantle the growth of indigenous Igbo Industry through its targeted national economic policies. As I have said, there is a corollary between industrial development and innovation.

Thirdly, the severe, strategic staunching of huge capital in-flow into the East starved Igbo businesses and institutions of the capacity to utilize or even expand their capacities. There were no strategic Federal Capital projects in the East. There were no huge infrastructural investments in the East. The last major Federal government investment in Igbo land was the Niger Bridge which was commissioned in 1966. Any region starved of government funds experiences catatony and attrition. Private capital is often not enough to create the kind of synergy necessary for innovation. Rather than invest in the East, from 1970 to date, the Federal government has strategically closed down every capacity for technological advancement in the East and stripped that region of its capacity.

By 1966, the Eastern Nigerian Gas masterplan had been completed under Okpara. But in its review of a Nigeria gas masterplan, the Federal government strategically circumvented the East. Oil and Gas are under Federal oversight. The Trans-Amadi to Aba Industrial Gas network/linkage had been completed in 1966, to pipe gas from Port-Harcourt to Aba. The Federal government let that go into abeyance and uprooted the already reticulated pipes. The East was denied access to energy with the destruction of the Power stations during the war.

The Mbakwe government sought to remedy this by embarking on two highly critical area of investment necessary for industrial life: the 5 Zonal water projects, which were 75 completed by 1983, and set for commissioning in 1984, which was to supply clean water for domestic and industrial use to all parts of the old Imo state, and the Amaraku and Izombe Power stations, under the Imo Rural Electrification Project. These were the first ever massive independent power projects ever carried out by any state government in Nigeria which would have made significant part of Igbo land energy independent today. The supply of daily electricity was possible in Imo as at 1984. The Amaraku station had come on stream, and the Izombe Gas station was underway, when Buhari and his men struck.

The first order of business under the Buhari govt in January 1984, was to declare all that investment by Mbakwe "white elephant projects." They were abandoned, and left to decay.

Ground had already been acquired and cleared on the Umuahia-Okigwe road to commence work by the South Korean Auto firm, Hyundai, under a partnership with Imo for the Hyundai Assembly plant in Umuahia, to cater to a West African market. The first order of business under the Buhari government in January 1984, was to declare all that investment by Mbakwe "white elephant projects." They were abandoned, and left to decay. The equipment at the Amaraku power station was later sold in parts by Joe Aneke during Abacha's government. Some of the industries like the Paint and Resins company, and the Aluminium Extrusion plant in Inyishi were privatized, and sold. Projects like the massive Ezinachi Clay & Brick works at Okigwe are at various stages of decay, as memorial to all that effort.

Forthly, you may not remember but Odumegwu Ojukwu founded and opened the first Nigerian University of Technology - the University of Technology Port-Harcourt in 1967, under the leadership of prof. Kenneth Dike. He had also compelled Shell to establish the First Petroleum Technology Training Institute in Port-Harcourt in 1966. All these were dismantled. The PTI was take from Port-Harcourt to Warri, while University of Tech, P/H was reduced to a campus of UNN, until 1975, when it became Uniport. You will recall that for years, up till 1981, the only institutions of higher learning in Central Eastern Nigeria were the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, IMT Enugu and Alvan Ikoku College of Ed, in Owerri. There is no innovation without centers of strategic research.

Mbakwe and Jim Nwobodo changed all that in 1981, when they pushed through their various states Assembly, the bills establishing the old Anambra State Univ. of Tech (ASUTHECH), under the presidency of Kenneth Dike, and the IMOSU with its five campuses under the presidency of Prof MJC Echeruo. The master plan for these universities as epicenters of research and innovation in the East were effectively grounded with the second coming of the military in 1984, and the diminution of their mission through underfunding, etc. As I have said, I have given you the very short version. After a brief glimpse of light between 1979-83, Igbo land witnessed the highest form of attrition from 1983- date, and the destruction of the efforts of its public leadership to restore it to its feet has been strategic.

Some have been intimidated, and the Igbo themselves have grown very cynical from that experience of deep alienation from Nigeria. I think you should be a little less cynical of Igbo attempts to re-situate themselves in the Nigerian federation: starved of funds, starved of investments, subjected to regulatory strictures from a powerful central government which sees the East in adversarial terms, and often threatened, the Igbo themselves grew cynical of it all. You may recall, the first move by the governors of the former Eastern Region to meet under the aegis of the old Eastern Region's Governors Conference in 1999, was basically checkmated by Obasanjo who threatened them after they called for confederation in response to the Sharia issue in the North.

Their attempts to establish liaison offices in Enugu and create a regional partnership was considered very threatening by the federal government under Obasanjo, that not too long after, they abandoned that move, and that was it. If people cannot be allowed to organize for the good of their constituents, then it only means one thing: it is not in the interest of certain vested interests in Nigeria for a return of a common ground in the Eastern part of Nigeria because establishing that kind of common ground threatens the balance of power. It is even immaterial if such a common ground leads to Nigeria's ultimate benefit. There are people who just find the idea of a common, progressive partnership of the old Eastern Region threatening to their own long term interests. This is precisely what is going on - its undercurrent. This of course cannot be permitted to go on forever. A generation arises which often says, "No! in Thunder."

The Trans-Amadi to Aba Industrial Gas network/linkage had been completed in 1966, to pipe gas from Port Harcourt to Aba. The FG let that go into abeyance and uprooted the already reticulated pipes.

Igbo population is quite huge, and people who truly know understand that the Igbo constitute the single largest ethnic nation in Nigeria. Much has been made about how this so-called "small" Igbo land space could accommodate the vast Igbo population. But People also forget that Igbo land accommodated Igbo who fled from everywhere else in 1967. So, the question of whether Igbo land is large enough to contain the Igbo is a non-issue. In any case, Biafra is not only the land of the Igbo. It goes far beyond Igbo land. But even for the sake of building scenarios, we stick to Igbo land alone - the great Igbo cities of Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Owerri, Aba, Onitsha, Asaba, Abakaliki, Umuahia, Awka and Onitsha are yet to be reach even 30% of their capacities.

New arteries can be built, facilities expanded; there are innovative ways of moving populations through new transportation platforms -underneath, above, on the surface, and by waterways. The East of Nigeria has one of the most complex and connected, and largely disused system of natural river waterways in the world. New, ecologically habitable towns can be expanded to form new cities from the Grade A Townships - Agbor, Obiaruku, Aboh, Oguta, Mgbidi, Orlu, Ihiala, Amawbia/Ekwuluobia, Elele/Ahoada, Owerrinta, Bonny, Asa, Arochukwu, Afikpo, Okigwe, and so on. The Igbo will be fine. The Japanese and the Dutch, for example, have proved that there are innovative ways of using constricted space.

As for the economy: it is supply and demand. New economic policies will integrated Igbo economy to the central West African and West African Markets. The Igbo will create a new vast export network, unhindered by idiotic economic and foreign policies. The re-activation of the PH port systems will for e.g. open the closed economic corridor once and for all to global trade. As anybody knows, it might take a fast train no more than 45 minutes to move goods from the Warri or Sapele ports to Aba and even in less time to Onitsha. As Diette Spiff once observed while playing golf at Oguta, all it would take to connect Warri and Oguta is just a long bridge, and the vast economic movement will commence between Warri and its traditional trading areas of Onitsha and the rest of the East.

The quantum of economic activity will see the growth of that corridor between Aba-Oguta- Obiaruku down to Warri as the crow flies. The impact of trade between the Calabar ports and Aba will explode. In fact, the old trading stations along the Qua-Iboe River (the Cross River) at Arochukwu, Afikpo, down to Oron and Mamfe in the Cameroons will explode and create new prosperity and new opportunities. I am giving the short version. So, the Igbo will be alright. They would simply be just able to define their own development strategies, deploy their highly trained manpower currently wasting unutilized, and the basis of its vast middle class will create new consumers, and generate an internal energy that will thrive on Igbo innovation, industry, and know-how, which Nigeria currently suppresses. This is exactly one very possible scenario.

So, Tanko Yakassi is wrong. May be if the Igbo leave Kano, the Emir will no longer need to buy his bulb from an Igbo trader in Kano. He will have to buy it either from an Hausa, a Fulani, a Lebanese, or some such person. But those will have to come to Igbo land to buy it first before selling to the Emir. There was a time when all of West Africa came to Onitsha or Aba to buy and trade because it was safe, and those cities were the largest market emporia in the continent. People came from as far away as the Congo to buy stuff in Aba and sell in the Congo. It could happen again, only this time on a vaster, more controlled scale. The network of Igbo global trade will not stop if they left Nigeria. In fact, they will have more access to an indigenous credit system that would expand that trade, currently unobtainable and unavailable today to them, because Nigeria makes it impossible for Igbo business to grow through all kinds of restrictions strategically imposed on it, including port restrictions.

However, although I do think that the Igbo would do quite well alone, they could do a lot better with Nigeria, if the conditions are right. This agitation is for the conditions to be made right; for Nigeria and its political and economic policies to stop being a wedge on Igbo aspirations. And Igbo aspiration is quite simple: to match the rest of the developed world inch by every inch, and not to be held down by the Nigerian millstone of corruption, inefficiency, and inferiority. The Igbo think that control of their public policies on education, research and innovation, economic and monetary policies, and recruitment, control and deployment of its own work force both in public and private sectors will give them the leverage they need to build a coherent and civilized society.

They point to the example of Biafra, where under three years, they were making their own rockets and calculating its distances; distilling their own oil and making aviation fuel, creating in their Chemical and Biological laboratories, new cures for diseases like Cholera, shaping their own spare parts, and turning the entire East into a vast workshop, as Ojukwu put it, while Nigeria was busy doing owambe, importing even toothpick, and creating new wartime millionaires from corrupt contracting systems by a powerful oligopoly. It is a fallacy much driven by ignorance that Igbo will not thrive and that Igbo land will not accommodate Igbo population if they leave. That is not true. There is no scientific basis for it.

The dynamics of human movement will take great care of all that. It’s a lame excuse. What people who wish for Nigeria to stay together should do is not to make such puerile statements, because it is meaningless. What we should all do is to find the strategic means of containing Igbo discontent by LISTENING to the Igbo, and seeking peaceful and productive ways of fully freeing their energy to instigate growth both of themselves and of Nigeria within Nigeria for everyone's benefit. Threatening them will not work. It has never worked, and it is important to understand a bit of Igbo cultural psychology: the more you threaten him, the more the Igbo person digs in very stubbornly. Igbo, with a long tradition of diplomacy, thrive on consensus not on threat of the use of force, or the like.

Frankly, those who continue to think that the Igbo have no options are yet to understand the complexity of this movement as we speak. They still look at the surface of events while the train is revving and about to leave the station. We need to work very carefully on this issue. I myself, I prefer Nigeria. I like its color of many peoples and cultures. That in itself is the very condition for growth and regeneration. A single Igbo nation may be more prosperous, but will be less interesting, and that is the more valid argument.

By Obi Nwakanma

This is fiction

"What do the Igbos want?",Buhari asked during his media chat.

Obi Nwakamma answers him.

And now, Obi Nwakanma, a Poet, journalist, biographer and literary critic, has written an article in answer to the question, "What do the Igbos want?"

Enjoy:

In Biafra, under three years, they were making their own rockets and calculating its distances; distilling their own oil and making aviation fuel, creating in their Chemical and Biological laboratories, new cures for diseases like Cholera, shaping their own spare parts, and turning the entire East into a vast workshop, as Ojukwu put it.

At the end of the war, the Ukpabi Asika regime brought together these Biafran scientists and set up PRODA. The initiative led, in the first five years between 1970-1975 under the late Prof. Gordian ezekwe and Mang Ndukwe, to designs of industrial machinery models and prototypes for the East Central State Industrial Masterplan, which remain undeveloped even today. The Murtala/Obasanjo regime took over PRODA in 1975 by decree, starved it of funds, and basically destroyed its aims.

Secondly, Federal government policies centralized all potentials for innovation and entrepreneurship. Before 1983, states had their Ministries of Trade and Industry. These were charged with local business registration, trade, and investment promotion, and so on. But today in Nigeria, if you wish to do any business, you'd have to go to Abuja (it used to be Lagos) to register under the Corporate Affairs Commission. It used to be that local business registration was state and municipal functions. The concentration of the leverage for trade utterly limited Igbo entrepreneurs, particularly in the era of import licensing, once your quota was exhausted, you could not do business.

This affected the old Igbo money in Aba and Onitsha, who were the arrow-heads of innovation and traditional partners in the advance of Igbo industrial economy. It is remarkable that as at 1985, a least by a book published by the Oxford Economist Tom Forrest in 1980, The Advance of African Capital, the Igbo had the highest investment in machine tools industries in all of Africa, and the highest depth of investment in rural, cottage industries. In his prediction in 1980, if that rate of investment continued, according to Forrest in 1980, the Igbo part of Africa would accomplish an industrial revolution by 1987. Now, by 1983/85, Federal government policies helped to dismantle the growth of indigenous Igbo Industry through its targeted national economic policies. As I have said, there is a corollary between industrial development and innovation.

Thirdly, the severe, strategic staunching of huge capital in-flow into the East starved Igbo businesses and institutions of the capacity to utilize or even expand their capacities. There were no strategic Federal Capital projects in the East. There were no huge infrastructural investments in the East. The last major Federal government investment in Igbo land was the Niger Bridge which was commissioned in 1966. Any region starved of government funds experiences catatony and attrition. Private capital is often not enough to create the kind of synergy necessary for innovation. Rather than invest in the East, from 1970 to date, the Federal government has strategically closed down every capacity for technological advancement in the East and stripped that region of its capacity.

By 1966, the Eastern Nigerian Gas masterplan had been completed under Okpara. But in its review of a Nigeria gas masterplan, the Federal government strategically circumvented the East. Oil and Gas are under Federal oversight. The Trans-Amadi to Aba Industrial Gas network/linkage had been completed in 1966, to pipe gas from Port-Harcourt to Aba. The Federal government let that go into abeyance and uprooted the already reticulated pipes. The East was denied access to energy with the destruction of the Power stations during the war.

The Mbakwe government sought to remedy this by embarking on two highly critical area of investment necessary for industrial life: the 5 Zonal water projects, which were 75 completed by 1983, and set for commissioning in 1984, which was to supply clean water for domestic and industrial use to all parts of the old Imo state, and the Amaraku and Izombe Power stations, under the Imo Rural Electrification Project. These were the first ever massive independent power projects ever carried out by any state government in Nigeria which would have made significant part of Igbo land energy independent today. The supply of daily electricity was possible in Imo as at 1984. The Amaraku station had come on stream, and the Izombe Gas station was underway, when Buhari and his men struck.

The first order of business under the Buhari govt in January 1984, was to declare all that investment by Mbakwe "white elephant projects." They were abandoned, and left to decay.

Ground had already been acquired and cleared on the Umuahia-Okigwe road to commence work by the South Korean Auto firm, Hyundai, under a partnership with Imo for the Hyundai Assembly plant in Umuahia, to cater to a West African market. The first order of business under the Buhari government in January 1984, was to declare all that investment by Mbakwe "white elephant projects." They were abandoned, and left to decay. The equipment at the Amaraku power station was later sold in parts by Joe Aneke during Abacha's government. Some of the industries like the Paint and Resins company, and the Aluminium Extrusion plant in Inyishi were privatized, and sold. Projects like the massive Ezinachi Clay & Brick works at Okigwe are at various stages of decay, as memorial to all that effort.

Forthly, you may not remember but Odumegwu Ojukwu founded and opened the first Nigerian University of Technology - the University of Technology Port-Harcourt in 1967, under the leadership of prof. Kenneth Dike. He had also compelled Shell to establish the First Petroleum Technology Training Institute in Port-Harcourt in 1966. All these were dismantled. The PTI was take from Port-Harcourt to Warri, while University of Tech, P/H was reduced to a campus of UNN, until 1975, when it became Uniport. You will recall that for years, up till 1981, the only institutions of higher learning in Central Eastern Nigeria were the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, IMT Enugu and Alvan Ikoku College of Ed, in Owerri. There is no innovation without centers of strategic research.

Mbakwe and Jim Nwobodo changed all that in 1981, when they pushed through their various states Assembly, the bills establishing the old Anambra State Univ. of Tech (ASUTHECH), under the presidency of Kenneth Dike, and the IMOSU with its five campuses under the presidency of Prof MJC Echeruo. The master plan for these universities as epicenters of research and innovation in the East were effectively grounded with the second coming of the military in 1984, and the diminution of their mission through underfunding, etc. As I have said, I have given you the very short version. After a brief glimpse of light between 1979-83, Igbo land witnessed the highest form of attrition from 1983- date, and the destruction of the efforts of its public leadership to restore it to its feet has been strategic.

Some have been intimidated, and the Igbo themselves have grown very cynical from that experience of deep alienation from Nigeria. I think you should be a little less cynical of Igbo attempts to re-situate themselves in the Nigerian federation: starved of funds, starved of investments, subjected to regulatory strictures from a powerful central government which sees the East in adversarial terms, and often threatened, the Igbo themselves grew cynical of it all. You may recall, the first move by the governors of the former Eastern Region to meet under the aegis of the old Eastern Region's Governors Conference in 1999, was basically checkmated by Obasanjo who threatened them after they called for confederation in response to the Sharia issue in the North.

Their attempts to establish liaison offices in Enugu and create a regional partnership was considered very threatening by the federal government under Obasanjo, that not too long after, they abandoned that move, and that was it. If people cannot be allowed to organize for the good of their constituents, then it only means one thing: it is not in the interest of certain vested interests in Nigeria for a return of a common ground in the Eastern part of Nigeria because establishing that kind of common ground threatens the balance of power. It is even immaterial if such a common ground leads to Nigeria's ultimate benefit. There are people who just find the idea of a common, progressive partnership of the old Eastern Region threatening to their own long term interests. This is precisely what is going on - its undercurrent. This of course cannot be permitted to go on forever. A generation arises which often says, "No! in Thunder."

The Trans-Amadi to Aba Industrial Gas network/linkage had been completed in 1966, to pipe gas from Port Harcourt to Aba. The FG let that go into abeyance and uprooted the already reticulated pipes.

Igbo population is quite huge, and people who truly know understand that the Igbo constitute the single largest ethnic nation in Nigeria. Much has been made about how this so-called "small" Igbo land space could accommodate the vast Igbo population. But People also forget that Igbo land accommodated Igbo who fled from everywhere else in 1967. So, the question of whether Igbo land is large enough to contain the Igbo is a non-issue. In any case, Biafra is not only the land of the Igbo. It goes far beyond Igbo land. But even for the sake of building scenarios, we stick to Igbo land alone - the great Igbo cities of Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Owerri, Aba, Onitsha, Asaba, Abakaliki, Umuahia, Awka and Onitsha are yet to be reach even 30% of their capacities.

New arteries can be built, facilities expanded; there are innovative ways of moving populations through new transportation platforms -underneath, above, on the surface, and by waterways. The East of Nigeria has one of the most complex and connected, and largely disused system of natural river waterways in the world. New, ecologically habitable towns can be expanded to form new cities from the Grade A Townships - Agbor, Obiaruku, Aboh, Oguta, Mgbidi, Orlu, Ihiala, Amawbia/Ekwuluobia, Elele/Ahoada, Owerrinta, Bonny, Asa, Arochukwu, Afikpo, Okigwe, and so on. The Igbo will be fine. The Japanese and the Dutch, for example, have proved that there are innovative ways of using constricted space.

As for the economy: it is supply and demand. New economic policies will integrated Igbo economy to the central West African and West African Markets. The Igbo will create a new vast export network, unhindered by idiotic economic and foreign policies. The re-activation of the PH port systems will for e.g. open the closed economic corridor once and for all to global trade. As anybody knows, it might take a fast train no more than 45 minutes to move goods from the Warri or Sapele ports to Aba and even in less time to Onitsha. As Diette Spiff once observed while playing golf at Oguta, all it would take to connect Warri and Oguta is just a long bridge, and the vast economic movement will commence between Warri and its traditional trading areas of Onitsha and the rest of the East.

The quantum of economic activity will see the growth of that corridor between Aba-Oguta- Obiaruku down to Warri as the crow flies. The impact of trade between the Calabar ports and Aba will explode. In fact, the old trading stations along the Qua-Iboe River (the Cross River) at Arochukwu, Afikpo, down to Oron and Mamfe in the Cameroons will explode and create new prosperity and new opportunities. I am giving the short version. So, the Igbo will be alright. They would simply be just able to define their own development strategies, deploy their highly trained manpower currently wasting unutilized, and the basis of its vast middle class will create new consumers, and generate an internal energy that will thrive on Igbo innovation, industry, and know-how, which Nigeria currently suppresses. This is exactly one very possible scenario.

So, Tanko Yakassi is wrong. May be if the Igbo leave Kano, the Emir will no longer need to buy his bulb from an Igbo trader in Kano. He will have to buy it either from an Hausa, a Fulani, a Lebanese, or some such person. But those will have to come to Igbo land to buy it first before selling to the Emir. There was a time when all of West Africa came to Onitsha or Aba to buy and trade because it was safe, and those cities were the largest market emporia in the continent. People came from as far away as the Congo to buy stuff in Aba and sell in the Congo. It could happen again, only this time on a vaster, more controlled scale. The network of Igbo global trade will not stop if they left Nigeria. In fact, they will have more access to an indigenous credit system that would expand that trade, currently unobtainable and unavailable today to them, because Nigeria makes it impossible for Igbo business to grow through all kinds of restrictions strategically imposed on it, including port restrictions.

However, although I do think that the Igbo would do quite well alone, they could do a lot better with Nigeria, if the conditions are right. This agitation is for the conditions to be made right; for Nigeria and its political and economic policies to stop being a wedge on Igbo aspirations. And Igbo aspiration is quite simple: to match the rest of the developed world inch by every inch, and not to be held down by the Nigerian millstone of corruption, inefficiency, and inferiority. The Igbo think that control of their public policies on education, research and innovation, economic and monetary policies, and recruitment, control and deployment of its own work force both in public and private sectors will give them the leverage they need to build a coherent and civilized society.

They point to the example of Biafra, where under three years, they were making their own rockets and calculating its distances; distilling their own oil and making aviation fuel, creating in their Chemical and Biological laboratories, new cures for diseases like Cholera, shaping their own spare parts, and turning the entire East into a vast workshop, as Ojukwu put it, while Nigeria was busy doing owambe, importing even toothpick, and creating new wartime millionaires from corrupt contracting systems by a powerful oligopoly. It is a fallacy much driven by ignorance that Igbo will not thrive and that Igbo land will not accommodate Igbo population if they leave. That is not true. There is no scientific basis for it.

The dynamics of human movement will take great care of all that. It’s a lame excuse. What people who wish for Nigeria to stay together should do is not to make such puerile statements, because it is meaningless. What we should all do is to find the strategic means of containing Igbo discontent by LISTENING to the Igbo, and seeking peaceful and productive ways of fully freeing their energy to instigate growth both of themselves and of Nigeria within Nigeria for everyone's benefit. Threatening them will not work. It has never worked, and it is important to understand a bit of Igbo cultural psychology: the more you threaten him, the more the Igbo person digs in very stubbornly. Igbo, with a long tradition of diplomacy, thrive on consensus not on threat of the use of force, or the like.

Frankly, those who continue to think that the Igbo have no options are yet to understand the complexity of this movement as we speak. They still look at the surface of events while the train is revving and about to leave the station. We need to work very carefully on this issue. I myself, I prefer Nigeria. I like its color of many peoples and cultures. That in itself is the very condition for growth and regeneration. A single Igbo nation may be more prosperous, but will be less interesting, and that is the more valid argument.

By Obi Nwakanma

A group, Association of Imo Patriots, has called on the Governor of Imo state, Emeka Ihedioha to apologise to the immediate past governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha following the recently released Second Corruption Survey in Nigeria by the National Bureau of Statistics, which ranked Imo as the least corrupt of the 36 States.

In a statement issued on Monday by the Spokesman of the group, Emma ezekwe, said that the report was especially timely, considering the enormous resources being wasted by Ihedioha in his bid to malign his predecessor.

He stated: “We have received with delight the recently released “2nd Corruption Survey in Nigeria” by the National Bureau of Statistics, which ranked Imo as the least corrupt of the 36 States and the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory.”
ezekwe noted that over the last seven months, Ihedioha has set up more than 20 probe committees and allegedly sponsored over ten protests, aimed at portraying Okorocha as corrupt in the eyes of the people.

He said that fortunately, these probe committees have mostly returned empty files and in some cases, made sweeping statements without facts to buttress allegations of corruption against Okorocha.

“As non-partisan patriots from Imo State, we demand an immediate apology from Ihedioha’s administration over their several lies against the Okorocha administration.”

The group noted that the apology should be personally addressed to Okorocha and another addressed to Imo people, whom the Ihedioha administration has insulted severally through his malicious campaign of lies.

The group stressed that while majority of Imolites of good conscience are not surprised about this rating by the NBS, which c Okorocha’s prudence and transparency in the management of Imo’s resources within the eight years he held sway as governor.

It said it was unfortunate that Ihedioha is reluctant to accept the credible review of the Okorocha administration by an independent agency of the federal government, with support from the United Nations. Index: Ihedioha Must Apologise to Okorocha, Says Group
Adedayo Akinwale ín Abuja

A group, Association of Imo Patriots, has called on the Governor of Imo state, Emeka Ihedioha to apologise to the immediate past governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha following the recently released Second Corruption Survey in Nigeria by the National Bureau of Statistics, which ranked Imo as the least corrupt of the 36 States.

A statement issued on Monday by the Spokesman of the group, Emma ezekwe, said that the report was especially timely, considering the enormous resources being wasted by Ihedioha in his bid to malign his predecessor.

He stated: “We have received with delight the recently released “2nd Corruption Survey in Nigeria” by the National Bureau of Statistics, which ranked Imo as the least corrupt of the 36 States and the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory.”
ezekwe noted that over the last seven months, Ihedioha has set up more than 20 probe committees and allegedly sponsored over ten protests, aimed at portraying Okorocha as corrupt in the eyes of the people.

He said that fortunately, these probe committees have mostly returned empty files and in some cases, made sweeping statements without facts to buttress allegations of corruption against Okorocha.

“As non-partisan patriots from Imo State, we demand an immediate apology from Ihedioha’s administration over their several lies against the Okorocha administration.”

The group noted that the apology should be personally addressed to Okorocha and another addressed to Imo people, whom the Ihedioha administration has insulted severally through his malicious campaign of lies.

The group stressed that while majority of Imo people of good conscience are not surprised about this rating by the NBS, which confitms Okorocha’s prudence and transparency in the management of Imo’s resources within the eight years he held sway as governor.

It said it was unfortunate that Ihedioha is reluctant to accept the credible review of the Okorocha administration by an independent agency of the federal government, with support from the United Nations.

- thisdaylive.com

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Corruption Index: Ihedioha Must Apologise to Okorocha, Says Group
editorDecember 9, 2019 3:12 Pm
By Adedayo Akinwale ín Abuja

A group, Association of Imo Patriots, has called on the Governor of Imo state, Emeka Ihedioha to apologise to the immediate past governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha following the recently released Second Corruption Survey in Nigeria by the National Bureau of Statistics, which ranked Imo as the least corrupt of the 36 States.


In a statement issued on Monday by the Spokesman of the group, Emma ezekwe, said that the report was especially timely, considering the enormous resources being wasted by Ihedioha in his bid to malign his predecessor.

He stated: “We have received with delight the recently released “2nd Corruption Survey in Nigeria” by the National Bureau of Statistics, which ranked Imo as the least corrupt of the 36 States and the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory.”

ezekwe noted that over the last seven months, Ihedioha has set up more than 20 probe committees and allegedly sponsored over ten protests, aimed at portraying Okorocha as corrupt in the eyes of the people.


He said that fortunately, these probe committees have mostly returned empty files and in some cases, made sweeping statements without facts to buttress allegations of corruption against Okorocha.

“As non-partisan patriots from Imo State, we demand an immediate apology from Ihedioha’s administration over their several lies against the Okorocha administration.”

The group noted that the apology should be personally addressed to Okorocha and another addressed to Imo people, whom the Ihedioha administration has insulted severally through his malicious campaign of lies.

The group stressed that while majority of Imolites of good conscience are not surprised about this rating by the NBS, which Okorocha’s prudence and transparency in the management of Imo’s resources within the eight years he held sway as governor.



https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2019/12/09/corruption-index-ihedioha-must-apologise-to-okorocha-says-group/