₦airaland Forum

omicron: Describing his chat as 'verbose' and 'vague' is by no means sarcastic. To me nothing discreet - not to any meaninful question asked.

omicron: Professor, oya pls tell me what you learnt?

seanet01: You have problem. One day Our Pastors will start having their own republics. Brainwashed monkey.

Wadeoye: What is the sense in the above? "relative luxury"... What does that mean? How has jet acquisition becomes relative luxury? When has acquisition of limo become relative luxury? So, every christian must have private jet to be able to have the "relative luxury" required to worship God? You are thinking with your anus... Does christianity removes followers brain and forget to put something back there?

Wadeoye: No evil man - just to wake you up from your slumber. We can't fold our arms and watch our brothers being swindled in the name of miracle and prosperity. As someone said, the richest man in Africa is a muslim - Islam doesnt believe in all these prosperity through miracle as Nigerian christians want the world to belief. And you talked about tithe. Have you ever asked yourself why you pay tithe? Is the money for God or to be used for charity and help the needy? If it is for the later, why are the pastors (the prosperity preachers) turn this into their personal money and use the money to buy jets, cars, and things of the world that will end in the world. That man Dangote, worked with other people to rase N2.5B for flood victims. He has not claimed to be man of God like your pastors will claim. Tell me, who God will see as his man? Your pastors who are driven by love for money and cheating people and now collaborating with politicians to deepen corruption in the country? Or Dangote, who apart from working hard for his money and creating employment for people, he is now raising money for the needy? I know what your response will be - pastors are as corrupt in mind as their followers. Everybody lookig for shortcut to money - it doesnt matter how the money come and from where - all is God's blessing.

In 1985, Mr. Boniface Chukwunwike Ideh, an enterprising young mechanic bought a Bedford van, which he meant to resell for profit. But due to pressing family matters, especially as a newly married man, he decided to leave the car in the parking lot for a while.
When he later decided it was time to trade the van, he suddenly found out that one of the wheels was faulty. He therefore brought out the jack and set to lever the vehicle. But the soil was loose and the jack was shaky and could not hold. So, he called for help and some able-bodied young men helped to push the van to another position. And soon as he succeeded in loosing the tyre, Ideh was struck numb with an ugly sight, petrified.
A big python, which had occupied a space within the wheel, has just been crushed to death, while the vehicle was being push to its present position. And curiously, pythons are held sacred in the community. Thus, the killing of python by anybody was considered a taboo in the place.
The young Ideh, however, soon recollected himself from the shock and dashed into his house to inform his wife, Mary. But since the wife was married from a different community other than Ideh’s home-place, she did not understand the full import of what her husband was saying.
Solemnly, Ideh went to his uncle’s house to inform him about his ordeal. But his conscience was made worse when after listening to him; his aged uncle suddenly bowed his head and shade tears. Then after a brief moment he looked up and askedIdeh, why he had killed the sacred python. And the young man insisted it was an accident, as he did not even know that therewas a python there in the first place.
Given his explanation, Ideh’s uncle referred him to his grandfather in the next compound to tell him what to do. There, his grandfather, who was incidentally incharge of the village deity, told him to go and buy a small coffin and a piece of white cloth for the burial of the slain snake. Ideh did and was further told to dig the hole for the burial of the python. Before the earth was covered, he was asked to plead for forgiveness as he had only killed the python by accident.
According to Ideh from Enugwu-Ukwu in Njikoka Council Area of Anambra State, narrated the story to THISDAY in Awka recently. “I grew up to know that our people reverence the python. I also know that it is free to come into our homes and leave at will. But if you do not want it to stay at that moment, it is your duty to gently take it away, but not to kill it.
“But if accidentally our indigene kills a python, such a person will have to perform the burial rites as if the dead python was a human being. In the ancient times, if a child bed-wets, you tie a python around his or her waist and the bed-wetting would stop. If by mistake the python bites you, all you have to do is to simply present that part of the body to it and it will pour its spittle on it and then you are free from any trouble thebite would have caused.
“However, the python cannot come out and swallow hen’s eggs or their chicks as is the situation with snakes. If it does, then the children will gather and flog it and it cannot cause them any harm.” He pointed out, adding that the creature is only supposed to bring peace and protection to the communityand not harm.
THISDAY investigations revealed that beyond Enugwu-Ukwu, many other communities in Anambra State and adjoining states reverence or avoid the eating of one animal or another because they serve as totems of their deity or ancestral gods. Such animals include monkey, tortoise, crocodile, snail and antelope, among others. Other communities that reverence pythons are Abagana, Agulu, Ihiala, Nri, Ogidi, and other townsin Idemili, and neighbouring communities in Imo State like Oguta, Mgbidi, Njaba and Oguta, among others.
For instance, there was this other story of one Carol, who got married to Ikechukwu, an artisan from Ogidi in Idemmili North Council Area of Anambra State and gave birth to a set of twins. And like every other healthy mother, Carol fed her children, lured them to sleep and went outside to wash and hang their cloths on the lines.
But on coming back to the room, she met quite an ugly sight: Ahuge python was lying on the same bed with her babies, intertwining them! Her heart leapt and she suddenly rushed out of the room and let out her breath for help! Immediately, other villagers within the area who heard her wails rushed to the scene and accosted her. Rather than explain, as she was dumb-founded, Carol hurriedly led them into the room and pointed at the bed where the python was lying rolling around her new babies. Instantly one of them, an elderly woman turned around and held Carol, covering her mouth and led her outside and told her not to panic because the gods had come to see her children and offer them protection against evil influences.
However, much as the members of the communities believe in the efficacies of the totem, most of those from outside their areas especially married women like Carol see the tradition or culture as alien to them, but only try to adjust to the dictate.
For instance, Ideh’s wife, Mary from another community other than Enugwu-Ukwu told THISDAY that she is still trying to adjust to the phenomenon of the python, especially that: “it is strange to wake up and notice a python rolling around your bed at night.” She said that she so often insisted that each timeshe returns home with her children to the village that her husband should do “an all-round clean-up” of the house so thatnobody would be embarrassed.
Not minding that anyway, her husband, although a Christian still believes that there is still some spirituality in the python phenomenon, adding that all it required is to avoid confrontation with the ritual avoidance of any community youfind yourself in at any moment.
“If you are in Rome, behave like the Romans”, he advised adding that he had arrived at this conclusion from the various experiences he had had over time. Ideh recounted that during the civil war between 1968 and 1969, he was deployed as a soldier Lokpanta in Abia State, and noticed that the people revered Cobra. He said that from onset, the indigenes warned them not to kill such snakes because they were sacred and belonged to their deity. He said that while they crawled in the bush, the cobra crawled over them but did not harm any of them, but that soon as some of the soldiers began to kill them, there was trouble: the cobras revolted and struck.
“The snakes began to bite those soldiers that got in the habit of killing them. But they never touched any of us that did not harm them. Instead they joined us and fought the enemies of the war front,” he stressed. Still emphasising the practicality ofthe belief in the totem of the python, Ideh said, “when we were young, we learnt that if you live outside the traditions of Enugwu-Ukwu setting and there is an emergency at home, which affected you, the python would travel from Enugwu-Ukwu to wherever you live as the need may arise.
“When this happens, it is your duty to take it back home to Enugwu-Ukwu and consult the oracle on why the python had mysteriously visited you at the place you sojourned” he stressed. Ideh also recounted an experience he had in his Enugwu-Ukwu community last year where by his friend had begged him from his base in Awka to drop him off at his homeplace. But quite close to his house some thing strange happened.
He said as soon as they got close to the junction to his house gunfire rented the air and he was forced to scurry to safety in the darkness. But in doing that his mobile telephone handset fell and switched off as well as his house keys. But while he succeeded in picking the phone he could not find the keys and as such horribly left the key even as he marked the exact location in his sub-conscious mind.
According to Ideh, he was surprised that when he returned to the same place around 5am the next morning that a python had covered it self around his bunch of keys. And that on sighting him, the snake suddenly recoiled, leaving the keys andcrawled out of the vicinity, so that he can pick his keys.
Just like Enugwu-Ukwu is the case of its nearby community of Awka, which reverences monkeys and forbids any harm against them because they are totems of their ancestral deity, Imoka. However, there are three versions to the Awka monkey-myth. According to one of the prominent sons of Awka, Mr. Chukwujekwu Nnaemeka from Umuogbu village, the phenomenon began in the ancient times when on returning from a hunting expedition, the hunters stood before the Imoka shrine to share the games of their exploits, which included a live monkey. Nnaemeka, a businessman and traditionalist, said they were told that towards the end of the sharing, one of the hunters suddenly remembered that they had ignored to give anything to the Imoka deity, which live monkey to the shrine.
He nevertheless, gave another version whereby the monkeys were revered because they were quite instrumental to Awka in wining an unexpected invasion by providing some guiding signal to the Awka warriors at that time. We were told that warriors from Ndikerionwu had invaded the first village in Awka and were advancing to the next village Umuike. And on sensing the invaders the, friendly black monkeys journeyed down and began to wag their tails at the indigenes to warn them on the looming danger,” Nnaemeka explained.
Collaborating this version of the myth, another indigene of Awka, Chief Chukwuma Igwilo, from Umudioka village said: “according to my father we revere the black monkeys because when we were engaged in a warfare with our invaders the monkeys worked in our interest by providing our warriors with signals that helped them win the war.
Igwilo, a hunter and vice chairman of Omenala (tradition) Awka, never the less said there are three types of monkeys in the category: The brown monkeys, the milk-colour monkeys and the black monkeys. “Our people noticed that the monkeys involved in the warfare were particularly black in colour and we therefore resolved to adopt and reverence it in our tradition. So our ancestors decided to entrench the myth of theblack monkeys into our tradition and culture, which is celebrated in our annual Imoka festival” Igwilo explained.
“And since then any one that kills black monkeys within Awka kingdom would be held responsible as having committed a taboo, and such person would be subjected to its burial rites asif he had killed a fellow human being. If you are an Awka indigene and you see a stranger kill a black monkey, but conceded the fact such Awka person would definitely be killed by the Imoka deity,” he stressed.
In another interview with THISDAY, a prominent herbalist in Amawbia, Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State, where pythons are equally revered, Ozo Nweribe Nwekeodo, simply told THISDAY in an interview that the phenomenon of the python being held sacred in his community began “since the ancient times when after dinner, our children got a lot of troubles. Then our ancestors went to the oracle to find out the reason for the troubles. They were told that the people should stop eating crawling creatures.

Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema, has flagged-off the thirty mega watts of energy solar powered plant for the benefit of the people of the State.

Speaking at the flag-off on Friday, Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema urged the firm handling the project to ensure that it is completed within eight months from now, stating that the power plant project is being undertaken by the Nigeria-German Energy Commission under a partnership arrangement to boost energy supply.

The Governor assured of necessary support and cooperation to ensure timely completion of the project, adding that the partnership between Nigeria and Germany would help in tapping the hydro, gas and wind to source energy for societal development.

Shema pointed out that the German efficacy in energy is not doubtful and is intended to serve the needs of industrial and commercial purposes.

The Governor lamented that the shortage in power supply started for long, adding that the Federal Government is however working hard to tap all the energy sources in the country to address the matter.

He said the 30 mega watt electricity project on completion would encourage the development of industries, technology and the creation of jobs among the citizens, while expressed appreciation over the partnership and harmony especially on solar powered development.

In his remark, the commissioner for Resource Development, Engineer Musa Nashuni said the current administration of Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema had since its inception been trying to develop alternative source of energy.

Engineer Musa Nashuni disclosed that as a demonstration of itscommitment to the 30mega watt electricity project, Government had already issued the certificate of occupancy of the project site.

The German Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs. Dorothy assured of her country’s readiness to promote renewable energy through the use of wind and water.

PhinaBrown: What is so special about Ukwuani people that the igbos will not allow them to be. Please we are ok as Ukwuani people, do try to be ok as an igbo person please. Do not make us to be what we are not. After all, we did not wake up one day and decided to be known and called Ukwuani people. If we accept to be igbo today, what happens to the Ukwuani. Will you discard the tribe because they speak bia like the igbo do? Do not alter history. Even if we speak 100% the same word for word, it will not change the fact that we are Ukwuani people. So allow us to be. We are who we are. THE UKWUANI PEOPLE and not Igbo people ok.

subterfuge: Sorry for the wife of the slowpoke / coconut brain jonathan.
I wish he was the sick one!!!!
Nigeria would have been free from a Block headed Fisherman dullard / Mumu.

The selection process for a management contractor was started under the administration of former President OlusegunObasanjo in 2007, but was stalled by his successor, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who rolled back the power sector reform and privatisation programme.
However, when Jonathan took over in 2010 and launched the Power Sector Road Map that same year, the Federal Government directed the BPE to continue with the process from where it had been stopped, rather than re-advertising forprospective companies to express interest all over.
The decision was based on the fact that the government was eager to jump-start the power privatisation process without the bureaucratic red tape.
But presidency sources said the president based his decision to cancel the contract on a memo sent by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), which for several weeks, had been pushing for its cancellation on the premise that did it not pass through due process as provided under the Public ProcurementAct.
The Director General of the BPP, Emeka Eze, THISDAY learnt, was said to have kicked against the appointment of Manitoba because a few MATERIAL irregularities had been noticed in the process that led to the company's selection.
“It is better to correct these irregularities now to save the future of the management contract, than to have one that could run into hitches. Moreover, a stitch in time, saves nine,” said one official with the presidency.

karl max: The source said the BPP DG picked holes in the contract, querying why the designated managing director was 57 years old, which he felt was too old, insisting that the contract be cancelled because the BPE had misled the NCP by procuring the management contractor.

Eze was also said to have insisted that if the BPP had overseen the procurement of the contractor, it is the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that should have approved the selection of Manitoba based on the BPP’s recommendation.

Jarus: Noted.

Abagworo: Agbotaen is right and its not applicable to Igbo alone. That Igbo identity was more of an identification gotten outside by slaves as a result of language similarities and later brought home. There is no doubt that the word Igbo existed but the concept is yet to be absolutely ascertained. If you visit the Carribean thread you'll see where slaves listed their ethnic groups and notice that Etche, Isuikwuato, Isuama, Abala, Oratta, Ugiri, Omuma and a lot of what we consider today as merely Igbo towns or clans considered themselves distinct.

Agbotaens intention is however different from mine. He believes we should go back to the past and have 1,000 ethnic groups in Igboland not knowing that "Igwe bu ike".