₦airaland Forum

Chineke mehhhh.

No wonder they are always running to Lagos, small London and Dubai of ibos.

ELDER STATESMAN and stalwart of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has urged the Igbo and Yoruba ethnic nationalities to join forces and develop the country, arguing that recurring mistrust between them has stunted Nigeria’s socio-economic development.
According to the octogenarian, if the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo had closed ranks, collaborated and ruled Nigeria, the country would have been an oasis of development.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos at the presentation of a 771-page book: “The Untold Story of the Nigeria-Biafra War,” written by Dr Luke Nnaemeka Aneke.

Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello – founding fathers of Nigeria
Adebanjo picked holes in age-long comments blaming Igbos for the 30-month civil war that claimed about three million lives, saying “When we chronicle the diary of what led to the Nigeria-Biafra war, a lot of people felt the Igbos must be blamed. There is no doubt that mistakes were made but the principle on which war was fought was on the ground of a person who does not want to be cheated.”
The major mistake
Said Adebanjo, who is in full support of ongoing efforts to hold a national conference: “The major blunder the Igbos and the Yorubas made was that they misinterpreted friendship. I, Azikiwe and Awolowo had come together, will we be where we are today? So, that was the major mistake that we made. If Azikiwe was Prime Minister of Nigeria then and Awolowo was Minister of Finance, where do you think Nigeria will be today? All the wonders of what happened in the West would have been replicated in the entire country, with such collaboration. But, it was never so.”
He continued: “The history of the war has to be told very honestly. There has been a lot of prejudices here and there. And a lot of friends have been made enemies all because of book presentations. The meticulous way, intelligent manner and chronological order that the author put the book is commendable. The author has been able to move from the trend whereby previous authors make unnecessary comments in their books at a time we ought to ensure that Nigeria is united and the various ethnic nationalities live in oneness. This is not a time when we should be emphasizing what separates us.
At this point, I want to direct your attention to what is captured in the book, how long the Yorubas and the Igbos have been coming together to ensure the unity and progress of Nigeria. When we discuss this, we have to talk about the crisis of 1963. When the crisis came, the President at that time, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe waded in to ensure there was peace in the West.
“I must also mention that we must not allow minor things to separate us because we committed a lot to keep this nation one, especially the Igbos and the Yoruba. Therefore, the Igbos and the Yorubas have no cause to quarrel. We have our differences, so, I’m also not oblivious of the fact that the tongue and the mouth at times do quarrel. In those days, in spite of the fact that Zik was a non-Yoruba, he was very popular in the West.
You hear Zik this, Zik that. In fact, when the Football Club of Azikiwe is going to play in Apapa, we all thronged to that place to watch the team play. But, we must remember where we are coming from and go back to the old times. In view of what is happening in the country today, let us learn our lessons.
“It was surprising to some people when President Jonathan recently sued for a national conference because of his earlier arguments that there was no need for it. According Chief Obafemi Awolowo, only an unreasonable man will see a superior argument and not change his mind. In case many of you don’t know, Azikiwe during his time sued for one Nigeria based on Unitary government, The likes of Awolowo preached Federalism, which Azikiwe later got convinced and in 1956 said that federalism was imperative.
“Federalism gives room for each region to develop at their own pace. After the 1956 conference, it was then Azikiwe and others were convinced that Federalism was imperative for there to be a healthy competitiveness among the regions. The West established its own university; the East did the same and likewise the North.
National conference is imperative
On ongoing debates trailing national conference moves, he said: “Our unity in this country should be that of unity of purpose. We should not allow minor things to disunite us. That’s why I’m grateful to the author in the way he has presented the book. It will make the young ones see the war from an unbiased perspective. Our unity should not be like that of a horse and its rider.
That’s why this national conference is imperative at this moment. And one thing previous governments had used to confuse Nigerians is that a national conference will disintegrate Nigeria and bring the sovereignty of the constitution to question. But come to think of it, is this present constitution ours? Even when Obasanjo was been sworn-in in 1999, he swore to uphold the tenets of the constitution.
Which constitution, is it the constitution, which he doesn’t know anything about the content? Even Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar himself said before the swearing-in that he doesn’t know the content of the constitution. So, why do you want to tie us down with a constitution that you don’t know the content? In fact let me say that the constitution that we had at independence was a better one because it preached that each region must be allowed to grow at their own pace. That was why the West had free education, the East had free education. Let us go back to that constitution. The sovereignty we all sue for should be that of the people.”
Jointly organised by Ndigbo Lagos, Aka-Ikenga and Lower Niger Congress, notable persons at the event included Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim (who was represented by his special adviser, Dr. Ferdinand Agu), Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd), Chief Raymond Obieri, Professor Laz Ekwueme, Chief Fred Agbeyegbe, Igwe NP Iloeze, Engr Mike Uzoigwe, Mrs Nkechi, Chief Martins Agbaso, Professor Joe Ezeigbo and Kalu Onuma.
Although, the event was meant to be a book launch, it became an avenue to rally the South and the Middle-Belt for President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposed national conference, for which a presidential advisory committee has been set up to tinker out modalities on how to proceed.
For instance, the Ijaw delegation was led by Chief TK Ogoriba, the Itsekiri delegation was anchored by Chief Fred Agbeyegbe and the Middle-Belt Forum was led by Abuga Onalo and the ceremony was chaired by Chief Ayo Adebanjo, who is from the South-West.
Speaking at the event, Dr Agu said Nigerians must do the needful to ensure that the country does not experience another civil war.
“Lamenting the massive destruction wrought on the polity by the war, he said:”It is our duty as a generation to ensure that, that history does not repeat itself… We need dialogue. Let’s prepare our minds for national conversation. Let’s hear one another out. We have many things to talk about. Without dialogue we are preparing for confrontation. We have a nation to build for ourselves and future generation.”
The Igbos have no problem with Yoruba — Anya
In a welcome speech, the President General of Ndigbo Lagos, Professor Anya O Anya, said The book is a must read, as we are all aware that we have a young generation who don’t know the history of this nation. Therefore, it’s important that we make them conscious of history has been. We the old ones must remind the younger ones that the rules have changed, through a book like this. Before the war, the Igbos had no problems with the North or the West. But the Igbos were only standing up against the injustice meted against them. But the fact remains that we wouldn’t have gone to the war.
The major problems we have encountered in this time past, is that Nigeria has been in disrepair in the midst of plenty and governance don’t face the welfare of the common people. It’s unfortunate that Nigeria has the highest level of poverty and youth unemployment in the world. It’s also sympathetic that I have never seen a nation like Nigeria where the people are dismissive and negative about their country.
“Our politics is so bad that most politicians are never concerned about building the nation but what they can take out of the nation, even if they can take it from the pockets of others. Imagine, the North that has been at the helms of affairs in this country for over 40 years is engulfed in poverty and insecurity even till date. Their contradictions caused it. We might as well say that it serves them right,but should we allow them to continue this way? The answer is no, because should this continue, it will soon engulf the entire nation. From now on, the Igbos and other Nigerians should come together to build a greater and indivisible Nigeria.
“Today, Jonathan out of pressure has bowed to National conference. Ironically, the earlier agitators for this conference are the ones saying no to it. This is why I say that our politics in this nation must change. It must no longer be the politics of nay saying.
Reviewing the book, Dr Douglas Anaele passionately recounted the genesis of the war, pogrom against Biafran children, sacrifices made by white nuns and others during the war, how the war could have been averted and the role of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and General Yakubu Gowon and described the book as a ‘window into the untold story of the Nigeria-Biafra war.”
He said if Awolowo had fulfilled his promise of having West Nigeria leave if East seceded, not joined Gowon to fight Biafra and used starvation as a weapon, the destruction would have been minimised.
He also wondered why Nigeria did not reap from the technological know-how of Biafran scientists after the war if the Nigerian government did not hate the Igbos.
Reacting to Anele’s review, Adebanjo, and Awoist said: “There has been a lot of misinterpretation on the part played by Awolowo before the war. Let’s not forget that during the war, Chief Awolowo went to see Ojukwu in Enugu, one of the things that is not on record is in fact, he went against the advice of Gowon and others. It was even said that he went to conspire with Ojukwu.
Those who have confidential access to the report at that time will see what was written about Chief Awolowo, when he came back from the East. What happened then was he went to convince Ojukwu not to go to war. Let us stay here and settle these things amicably. Ojukwu assured Awolowo that he was not going to go to war, but two weeks later Ojukwu insisted that there must be war.
That is the truth. Ladies and gentlemen, whether we like it or not, we are bound to live together, but I want you to imagine that until the starvation came, the war was on. Following the chronology of this book, Awolowo who was in Gowon’s cabinet, who never wanted the war said, the best way to end this fratricidal war is to stop the food allocation going to the Biafra region, because he said that anything that must allow the war end must be done.”

[quote author=tee-y@]I don't understand why Nigerians allow this. This is the same reason why customer service will continue to be poor in that country. Everyone saying he should have been humiliated like that, are you sure you have manners at all? Even if it was a wrong place to park, there are ways to inform the person without barking especially when the bank has a fault too not displaying the relevant sign in a prominent place. It's called being in a civilised community. The way all these Nigerian workers shout at their customers like they are children is appalling and due to this general lack of respect for anyone, he would not even answer the manager's call. That's a stinking attitude right there.[/quote]Tell us where you are working first and let us based your supposed customer centric organisation against these banks customer relationship analysis.

Most of us are not better than them. Let us be real here. We are all Nigerians. How many times have we complained about poor network telecom service, airlines, civil service is even a no go area. How about shop owners abusing you, lectures working students out.

So what are we talking about here?

The OP was rude and arrogant and he is a potential security risk to the bank and was dealt with accordingly. If he likes, let him head to The Hague.

Some people are even funny. How will a poster here be claiming he is right by driving a car without plate number to the bank.

Is that not a security risk to the bank. How do they track a car without plate number in case of any robbery? What is written on your forehead that states you are not a potential robber.

When going to the bank, while we all want an excellent customer service, we should also realise it is an environment that is prone to security risk. I do not visit banks again, in this age of ATMs, mobile banking and Internet banking, basically because of the security risk.

Olamilekan08: u ar right. I was wondering if sum pple even read half of the post or they read it backward.
Maybe they nid sumone to do d explanation for them to undastand.
I even wonder if they knw he is usin a private bike and not d public one dat is nt suppose to b park there. So he is right, and he did not disobey any known rule.
But he maybe at fault 2, for ignorin d security man. But that does not measure up to the treatment he received.

Oga, whether privates or public, bikes are not allowed within the banking premises or at most they have a designated point for parking and monitoring. If it was a mopol that ordered the OP to park somewhere else, will he dare walk away.

2 branches of banks were robbed on the same campus last week with bikes. Bikes are always used to snatch customers money as they are stepping out of the banks and you think the guard is out of line to call in the school security. He is simply doing his job.

OP should realise bank is a customer friendly and extremely security sensitive environment. Why expecting you to be treated as king, they should not also compromise their security just because you want to be king. I have been in a Barclays Bank in London where the bank called in the police for a customer. So what are we talking about here. We have the wrong idea of what customer is always right nonsense is. Customer is always right notion also comes with a responsibility on the part of the customer.

No bank will allow you to disobey their security personnel because that is their first line of defense.

One of Manchester United’s targets this summer revealed that he was set to join the club, but the appointment of David Moyes scuppered a deal that was as good as done.

Benfica’s centre-back Ezequiel Garay claimed that he was set to join United for a fee believed to be around the £18m mark this summer, until David Moyes refused to match the Portuguese club’s asking price, deeming the Argentinian defender as too expensive.

“I believed I was going to join Manchester United in the summer. The deal was nearly closed but finally Benfica did not accept the offer.

“I believe the exit of Ferguson has influenced the deal. Moyes did not believe in me as much but that’s not a problem,” Garay told the Mirror.

“I am happy at Benfica and have a lot of dreams and ambitions for this season. Now I only think about the present which is Benfica but it’s never possible to discard anything in the future.”

Garay had been on Sir Alex Ferguson’s radar for months and United reportedly enquired about the 27-year-old’s availability last January, before deciding to finalise the deal over the summer as Sir Alex had identified the need to bring in an experienced defender, yet one younger than Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

United’s back four has looked unsettled so far this season, with Ferdinand and Vidic struggling to meet their own high standards, which has seen United conceding nine goals in seven Premier League games, as the Reds have so far managed only three clean sheets in all competitions – at home against Chelsea and Crystal Palace in the league and against Liverpool in the Capital One Cup.

Despite Ferdinand and Vidic’s poor form, Moyes has used Jonny Evans sparingly, preferring Chris Smalling and Phil Jones to the Northern Irishman, but neither Jones nor Smalling seem mature enough to establish themselves as regular centre-backs just yet.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it’s obvious how a centre-back like Garay would have been more than useful for Moyes.

chamotex: Don't be a liar!
It was you that made that statement...I only re-affirmed what you said...do you really have to lie? It's not rocket science now
Did I need to put it in quote to know I was emphasising on your point?

You claimed he is good but you expect him to be spectacular, so what is wrong with being good?
So we should let our youngsters leave even when we know they are good because they are not spectacular yet?

And your comparison to Vieira and Makelele is a disgrace to say the least...

You are entitled to your opinion. I gave mine.

I don't have energy for argument and going forth and back. No one will pay me for doing so.

If he is spectacular, he can be compared with the aforementioned people.

Messi and Ronaldo were being compared with Maradona, Pele, Zico and Platini from their early 20s. That is being sensational, exceptional and spectacular.

If he is not being compared with those people yet at early 20s , he is just good for good. Simple.

chamotex: He is good...but he has to be spectacular? Wow

This is where u claimed he is.

Read my post v well. I said he is good but not spectacular yet. I have watched virtually all Juve's matches from beginning of last season. He does not even enforce himself on the game. He could be lackadaisical atimes but he has te strength to hold and shield ball from opponents and his shots are powerful but accuracy is less than 10%.

chamotex: Wow, things I read on this thread.
So you expected him to be in the class of Makelele and Vieira at the age of 18/19?

Are you not the one claiming he is so spectacular that he should be vying for world footballer of the year?


The guys I listed initially defines being spectacular in the position pogba is playing

chamotex: He is good...but he has to be spectacular? Wow

Yes.

Is he in the class of Makalele. Viera Toure Busquet Keane Gattuso and Essien. Those are people that played his position and enforce themselves on the game.

He can't do that yet

coogar: cleverley is not average - he's one of the best english midfielders out there. he possesses a unique skill that most english midfielders don't have - keeping the ball!

You are right on that.

That was why I said I can even stand him being hyped.

He is still a work in progress and if he keeps working hard, he will come good. I prefer his calmness to Wilshere's gra gra.

montelik: pogba played a major role in juventus' title, while tom c contributed sparingly in ours? do you really want to stand by that assertion? maybe you meant that differently than it came out.

Have you forgotten Cleverly was injured throughout the greater part of last season and when he came back, he was not at its best which necessitated his sparing use.

dademola: and cooger wld be d same person castigating d english press for overhyping dia mediocre and average players. Smh

I can even stand Cleverly being hyped but definitely not Young And Welbeck

coogar: tom cleverley would start every game @ juventus. those italian clubs have all lost their spark. bebe would start at milan.

You got me cracking with bebe starting at Milan. Milan don finish sha!!!!!

I don't agree with Cleverly being better. They actually play different roles. Pogba is your natural powerful DM while cleverly was moulded into the likes of Scholes iniesta or xavi but he is not anywhere near it yet. He is majorly a substitute for the 3Lions and for United.

Pogba has won U20 and Serie A, which he played major role in whereas cleverly contributed sparingly to our EPL success.

dademola: frm wot u've seen of pogba, and d cleverley u knw, who wld u choose ATM?

I will pick pogba.

He has had a good run of games consistently and is performance is more consistent than Cleverly's.

StarBoard: Ok, pardon my assumption, but we cannot pretend Pogba wouldn't have made any difference to our midfield the way it is.
For one we might not have spent the 27 million quid we did on Fellaini if he was still with us.

You are right. We might not have had to throw money away on Fellaini.

StarBoard: You are a phoool. You not only lack knowledge, you are an ignorant jacka$$.

Darren Fletcher had only 8 league appearances for United in 2011/12 and 10 appearances in total that season for United.
His last game for United that season was in the Champions League vs Benfica in November 2011.
So how does a player who played 10 games only in a season manage to keep Paul Pogba out of the line-up?

I really don't know why you have to have this innate desire to yarn opaks.

Pogba?
Stop writing on what you don't know jare.



You really believe that?
I think you fall into the category of people who believe this "myth" that once people leave United, they do go down-hill. That's why you probably think Pogba's exit makes him look like he's ordinary.

Paul Pogba was voted best player at the last U-20 world cup. Just for starters for those of you casting doubts on his ability. So if we think that by trying to discredit him and his talent, like elampiro is trying so hard to do, then we should do a rethink because I have seen more than a handful of games he played in Juventus and he is by far a huge miss at Old Trafford whether we refuse to agree or not.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/nov/01/paul-pogba-juventus-bologna-seriea

Read through and see whether or not Fergie decided to just discard him flimsily as peeps here are trying to suggest.

I don't fall into that category. I have watched virtually all Juve's matches from beginning of last season till date. I was watching ou for them in CL because of their midfield but they fell like pack of cards.

The bitter truth is the guy is good but not exceptional and spectacular yet.

Messi performed at U20 and Olympics and was still busy ripping teams apart in the league. That is being spectacular and exceptional. Pogba was v good at the U20 championship, no doubt but presently in the league he is ordinary. Watch the next 3 Juve and give your verdict.

Pato was less than his age when he made a name at Milan. As well as Giovinco in Juve. He jogs around the pitch annoyingly, just like Mikel but has the ability and strength to hold the ball.

All these arguments won't bring pogba and Morrison back. Pogba dint really want to stay and Fergie dint rate him highly too. Morrison was simply as area boy and Utd as an institution has more to loss in terms of reputation/brand image by retaining the thug and him continuing in his truancy ways.

The club is simply bigger than any player. Players go, player come but the club go remain".

Let us be realistic and not sentimental, Pogba is not doing anything spectacular in Juve. Maybe as he grows older, he will continue to evolve into his mentor's role, Viera. I watch Juve's matches specifically because of pogba but my judgment is, he is good but not spectacular yet.

As for Morrison, can't say anything about that dude. Saw him against spurs in a very long time. I enjoyed his maradonic/messi runs for the goal, I hope he is able to sustain the tempo. I also hope he won't be the new Gascogne of our time.

Januzaj can only get better. He exhumes confidence and the aura of rare gem is all around him. I hope one injury will not let him regress cleverly. Cleverly was also promising before his injury. He was quite impressive in the last match though.