₦airaland Forum

From the Heart of Rumuaholu: A Cry for Help Amidst the Flood Disaster

In the once peaceful neighborhood of Rumuaholu, life has been upturned by the merciless flood that swept through, leaving a trail of ruin and sorrow. Road 2 to road 20 along the pipeline stretch are now engulfed, their streets no longer bustling but eerily quiet as the relentless water claims every inch of space. Over 500 houses, once filled with the warmth of families, now stand drenched in despair, their occupants forced to flee as their belongings and memories are submerged or swept away.

For many, this disaster has brought unimaginable hardship. Some families are now cramped in the homes of relatives or friends, trying to make sense of their losses while managing the overwhelming strain on their hosts. Others have taken refuge in community schools, turning classrooms into makeshift shelters, uncertain of when they might return to the comfort of their own homes. The situation is dire, and health complications are worsening by the day. The stagnant floodwater, laced with unseen dangers, has sent several individuals to the hospital, suffering from infections and diseases. They battle not only the flood’s physical effects but the emotional toll of watching their homes and belongings crumble before their eyes.

This is not just a plea; it is a desperate cry from all the landlords, youth, women, and children resident in Rumuaholu, whose lives have been torn apart. We call upon the compassionate leadership of His Excellency, Governor Sim Fubara, to intervene and offer hope to those bearing the brunt of this disaster. They need immediate assistance—not only to save lives but to preserve the dignity of those displaced. With urgent support, the suffering can be eased, and the threat of further tragedies avoided. Now, more than ever, Rumuaholu’s displaced residents need their government’s help to rebuild their lives and reclaim their homes.

Peter Obi, former Anambra governor and presidential hopeful on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says it is sad that federal universities are on strike while politicians are campaigning for the 2023 elections.

Obi said this on Wednesday while appearing as a guest on the Berekete family radio in Abuja.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is currently on strike over the federal government’s failure to honour an agreement on issues bordering on funding universities, as well as salaries and allowances of lecturers.

According to Obi, such a situation in which students are not attending classes and election campaigns are ongoing can only happen in Nigeria.

“It is very very sad. It is intolerable that schools are closed and we are campaigning and we are even talking about elections. It would never happen in any other country except Nigeria,” he said.

“Education is the most important investment a nation can do for its citizens, which we are playing with here.

“The scourge of this problem is because we have an uncaring government. The agreement was made in 2009 that they will give universities N1 trillion to renovate universities, and that they will pay lecturers’ allowances.

“If they were to be paying N100 million yearly, the payment would have been paid in full. Even N50 million yearly would have done it to some extent.”

He said the ASUU strike shows the inability of the government to keep to agreements.

“The problem is the government made empty promises. So, this made everyone fight. Money collected from presidential aspirants can feed ASUU’s demands,” he added.

Obi said if he is elected to rule the country, he will make primary and secondary education free, but not for tertiary level.

“I won’t make tertiary education free. Primary and secondary will be free, but we must find a way to fund tertiary education,” he said.

Source: BBM

As an outsider or even a floor member in any organization small and large, there are many things you will not comprehend except you give your ear ignorantly to an insider, an engineer in such organization.

Even within a small group of about a dozen or half, misunderstanding abound to the point that no amount of explanation can clarify the doubts and suspicions of outsiders and insiders as well if they hold on to prejudice. How much more a large group and a society of people of great number and divergences?

When you are criticizing people in power, remember you are doing that as an outsider that knows little to nothing about what is actually going on in there.

So be as speculative as you can but don't be too judgemental because you are standing on a shaking premises. You could be pretty wrong.

I have never travelled abroad for Medical checkup even as a Governor, I won't start now - Peter Obi

The issue of tackling corruption and reducing the cost of governance is simple as it will start with me and my family members ..... - Peter Obi

We shall use percentages to share Nigerian budget to the critical sectors like Hunger, Health, Education, Security etc, before talking of the office of the president... - Peter Obi

There is no need creating an office of the first lady to pacify women, when I can make them handle critical positions in Nigeria.... - Peter Obi

I will save and invest NIGERIA'S money just as I did in Anambra State.... - Peter Obi

I will ensure restructuring because is a critical component of development.... - Peter Obi

State police will be core in our agenda to tackle insecurity - Peter Obi

Could Obi be the leader we have been looking forward to having?

IGBOS BY PROF TEKENA TAMUNO

I always insist that the greatest merit for Igbos in recent times is not simply the advent of the internet on the surface! It is the social media aspect of the internet which now allows independent thinkers to challenge the lies of history. In Nigeria, our little corner of the world, through social media presentations, scholars are now debunking the false stories perpetuated by the Yoruba press (with the help of the north who has always been paranoid about Igbos). The Yorubas took advantage of their civil war take-over of the press to rewrite the history of Nigeria as it favors them..., and if you believe them, "every post independence success in Nigeria was Awolowo influenced" and every problem in Nigeria was "instigated by Azikiwe, Ojukwu and the Igbos!" "The truth is reluctantly coming out" and _Igbos are gradually being vindicated!!!_ Read this masterpiece below by Professor Tekena Tamuno, a great historian and former Vice - Chancellor University of Ibadan. By the way, he's not an Igbo man!��
===============

"IGBO ARE THE MAKERS OF MODERN NIGERIA" -- PROF TEKENA TAMUNO

The problem with writing skewered history is that it equally misinforms its target: Kayode Esho was a great jurist, but Akunne Oputa was the "Socrates" of the Supreme court. Enahoro was a young editor, but Azikiwe made him that young editor with Osita Agwuna as his assistant, at his paper, the Southern Nigerian Defender in Ibadan, where my own father incidentally started as a rookie before shortly abandoning journalism for the stable berth of the civil service. The myth of Awolowo as building the first this and that does not match the documented economic history of the period.

Between 1954 and 1964, Eastern Nigeria was described as "the fastest growing economy in the world," by the Harvard Review; faster than China, faster than Singapore, and all the so-called "Asian Tigers." Awolowo is often credited with "free education".

But no one yet has pointed out any surviving school buildings of the period built by Awo. But all over the East there were quality schools built by the various communities using the Town Development Unions from 1954, and acessing the matching grants of the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation. And this was the East with the poorest revenue resources of any of the regions. The Mbaise secondary school exists, the National High School Okigwe exists, the Ngwa High school exists, the Enyiogugu Grammar School exists, etc. These were solid schools built all over the East with matching goverment grants. But where are the buildings of the Modern schools in Western Nigeria? They do not exist. They were makeshift.

The Catholic church forced the Azikiwe government from its scholarship program, but it is also on record, that the Eastern government was the only government in the world that invested 45% of its revenues in education. The East had the highest number of schools; the highest school enrollment; the broadest penetration of medical services; and the best modern road network in west Africa.

Indeed if we look carefully, the only public hospitals and most of the schools still standing in the East today, at various stages of run down are the schools and hospitals built by Azikiwe/Okpara. Every division of the East had a Joint Hospital as part of the Eastern Medical services. So it is often claimed Awo built the first television station; the first sky scraper, and the first Sports stadium, the liberty stadium in Ibadan. Well, these are prestige or white elephant investments.

First, the Eastern Outlook, the government paper of Eastern Nigeria was the first newspaper established by any government in Nigeria, and it was of such quality and impact that the literacy level of Easterners, and the depth of public information retailed by Outlook was without compare. This is besides the fact that Western Nigerian Broadcast Services, WNBS-TV founded in 1958 only preceded the ENBC-TV founded in 1959, by only seven months. But Outlook preceded Sketch by about 15 years.

Now Azikiwe built the Onitsha Modern market, the first modern mall or trade emporium in West Africa. Onitsha was effectively Dubai before Dubai. People traveled all over Africa, from as far as the Congo and Sudan and Egypt, to come and buy and trade in Onitsha. The economic impact of this was humonguos. So, give me the vast Onitsha modern market over Cocoa House in Ibadan. Azikiwe built the first Nigerian University at Nsukka with the first School of Law, the first School of Engineering, the first Business School; the first school of journalism, and the first school of music and performance, etc. By the time its first graduates took the Nigerian civil service exams in 1963, everybody began to raise the cry of "Igbo domination" starting with Akintola and Ayo Rosiji. Give me UNN over Liberty stadium.

Azikiwe began the first modern library system in West Africa. The East had a system of city libraries starting with the very modern Ziks Library in Enugu. I Literally grew up in the Umuahia Divisional Library. These libraries were built all over the East. Schools in the East were built with libraries. Moreover the Eastern Nigerian Library Board had a sysem of rural amd mobile libraries. There was nothing like it anywhere else in Nigeria: kids having library cards and able to borrow or order books from the public library. Give me the the first library over the first TV. I do not by this mean that Awolowo did not make his contributions, but the regular skewering of the facts, and angling of contemporary national narratives often makes it seem these days like the greatest contributor to the founding of Nigeria and its development is Awolowo and the Yoruba, when the actual facts speak differently.

The great Ibadan historian, Tekena Tamuno, was unambiguous in stating once at NIPPS, Jos, that " the Igbos are the makers of moderm Nigeria. When they abandoned their project, Nigeria collapsed." We must remind Nigerians, particularly Igbo children, daily of these fact, to achieve what Achebe called " a balance of stories." And that also means we must read beyond the surface of things. Babarinsa's Guardian essay is angled carefully to maintain a revisionist narrative. And that is to be always challenged, however innocent it might seem.

Even today, most Yoruba think that Awolowo founded the Universities of Ibadan and Lagos. No one has reminded them that it took Azikiwe's pressures for a university for Nigeria, in his meeting with Arthur Richards in 1946, that led to the constitution of the Eliot commision and subsequently the founding of the University College, Ibadan. This fact is even clearly conveyed in Michael Crowder's eponymous book, The Story of Nigeria. Nsukka was Azikiwe's critique of what he felt to be the conceptual limitations of Ibadan. The University of Lagos was the result of NCNC's ideological contributions to the federal policy during the ill fated coalition government with the NPC. UNILAG was an NCNC project, shepherded by Aja Wachukwu as minister for education. Even the great UNILAG in her 50th anniversary failed to mention Prof Eni Njoku as the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the university, a man that layed the solid foundation of what made Unilag is today.

These facts must be made known and put as forcefully accross as possible. Again, until the lion tells his own story, the story of the hunt will belong to the hunter.

onuman:
Number 2 above, Nnamdi Azikwe, was never Head of Nigeria's government. Tarawa Balewa was.

Go better informed when next you write.

This was a point of concern while writing this. I understand that Balewa being the PM still hard more power more than the president even after we got our independence. It is plausible to assert the Zik never had real presidential Power because of Balewa

dialfa:
This is the result of not teaching History in schools.

Anybody will just write up anything and kids on internet will believe it.

Dear, if you have got a counter opinion or better understanding of the topic, put it down let's go through it together and learn from the best of the case.

Nigerialabalaba:
2. Nnamdi Azikwe | 1963-1966 - South East
3. Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi | 1966 - South East

why dos liars con dey lie say Ibo never rule befor

The South East and the North East had a taste of power, that's, led Nigeria in the first republic. Since then, both has never been opportune to lead the country again. So when reference is made, it is usually to the fourth republic.

Emphasis is placed on the Igbos not leading Nigeria for long because the Igbos fall under the majority group in the country.

Hence, for fairness, South East ought to lead all things being equal. Then North East.

yamunla:
BOLA AHMED TINUBU

ON YOUR MANDATE I STAND


BAT 2023

Waoh, like you are presenting an aged Tinubu to lead Nigeria?

All things being equal, Tinubu is too old to be president.

Heads of State and Presidents of Nigeria Since Independence till date and their Zone

By Onyeke Ejike

1. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa | 1960-1963 - North East
2. Nnamdi Azikwe | 1963-1966 - South East
3. Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi | 1966 - South East
4. Yakubu Gowon | 1966-1975 - North Central
5.Murtala Rufai Mohammed | 1975-1976 - North West
6.Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo | 1976-1979 - South West
7.Alhaji Shehu Shagari | 1979-1983 - North West
8.Muhammadu Buhari | 1983-1985 - North West
9.Ibrahim Babangida | 1985-1993 - North Central
10.Ernest Adegunle Shonekan | 1993 - South West
11.Sani Abacha | 1993-1998 - North West
12.Abdulsalami Abubakar | 1998-1999 - North Central
13.Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo | 1999-2007 - South West
14.Umaru Musa Yar’Adua | 2007-2010 - North West
15.Goodluck Ebele Jonathan | 2010-2015 - South South
16.Muhammadu Buhari | 2015 - 2023 - North West

In the past 62 years of leading Nigeria post independence, the North through military heads and democratic presidents has led this country for 39 years. By the time Pa Buhari completes his tenure in 2023, the North must have led Nigeria for 40 years why the South has only led the country for 23 years. And I ask, should the North be in the ballot come 2023 presidential election?

This question brings us to issue of zoning. Zoning is always a beloved topic every time election is around the corner in our various locals, states and in the federal government. But in one way or the other, the greedy politicians who selfishly think leading is their birth right always find a way to subvert the interest of the less represented group. I say the interest of the most represented group because often time, it’s not because the marginalized group is the minority but because they have been intentionally removed from the spheres of influence and power even when in many cases, they are the powerful. This is not even my pain. My pain is the silence and should I say cluelessness and unpatriotic nature of the representatives of the marginalized. For instance those in the opposition party PDP who seems to have been bribed or cajoled into throwing the party ticket open because they may not have been able to build up a good argument for a Southern PDP presidential candidate.

Zoning may not be a constitutional provision in Nigeria but a social contractual obligation. According to social contract principle, we all agreed to come together to rest our political power in one man or group of men to represent our interest not merely according to the provision of the law nor the predispositions of gods but by the rational moral principles tending to the social good otherwise called the COMMON GOOD.

Although laws are explicit social contract such as that of the American constitution constituted by Americans from the circumstances of their co-existence, we cannot depend wholly on ours that was not entirely the dictate of our people hence do not always represent our whole experience as a conglomeration of nations. I hope the 2014 confab features zoning/rotational leadership from federal to local government. This is because it is rationally justifiable that there be an equal representation of all regions in the constitution of the government that manage the affairs that concern them and that entails rotational leadership.

Judging from our differences, this rotation should not only feature the North and South in the general perspective but the six constitutional geopolitical zones that make up this country. Hence, if we want to salvate this country, we must ensure that every zone in the country is always equally represented to give them a sense of belonging.

If someone from the South East is the president today, not only should a Northerner be the Vice, but a Northerner from the zone that should present the next president so that whoever becomes the Vice today will be someone who is expected to take over the presidency after the current administration. This will give room for the incoming president who was the vice to learn the problems of the the current administration and plan on how to salvage it with his team. If this is untenable, the vice should at least come from the zone that is least represented. That being the case, the Chief of Staff must be from another zone different from that of the president and vice, and the Secretary from another zone, the Senate president from another while the Speaker of the house should likewise come from the sixed zone in the light of the federal character principle.

But in a country filled with greedy and self centered politicians, the interest pf the public and the common wealth is not as important as their personal interest.

With the presence of the North in all sectors of the government in the current administration, they should not be in the ballot for the presidency come 2023. A Northerner should be a vice this time but not the president no matter the circumstances because the other region, the South has got credible candidates to succeed pa Buhari.

In the south, the South West and the South South haven been in power recently should give way and political support to the East for the sake of national integration as the East has not test power since the first republic. After the East in the South, the East in the North is expected to take over as they too have not tested power since independence.

In a Nutshell, Atiku Abubakar, Saraki, Bala Muhammad, Bello Yahaya and Aminu Tambuwal should Jettison their presidential ambition. They could pursue anything else for the sake of justice, and should support the South - the south east.

... _Who will represent the Igbos?_

By Onyeke Ejike

In the build up to the 2023 presidential election as earlier as 2021, groups upon group arose in the South East part of the country with one phrase in their mouth - Igbo presidency. Each with different leader and structure but all had same misfortune and same vision. The Eastern Nigeria has been politically marginalize with no son of the soil given any chance nor support to clutch the sit of power in Aso Rock - post Nigeria civil war. The aforementioned marginalization has garvanized "national" agitation by the people of Biafra seeking to secede from Nigeria.

The agitation for Igbo presidency seems to have subsided in recent time but before then, it had motivated several Igbo politicians to aspire to represent the Igbos in the presidential race with all the Eastern states excluding Enugu producing at least a candidate seeking to become the flag bearer of the major political parties in the country. Among these aspirant is;

1. Anyim Pius Anyim
Former senate president of the National Assembly (2000-2003) and Secretary to the Government of the Federation during Goodluck Jonathan's administration (2011-2015). Pius was born on the 19th of February 1961, hence, he is 61 years old. He hails from Ebonyi state and had declared interest to run for the presidency come 2023 under People's Democratic Party PDP.
He is a Lawyer by profession.

2. David Umayi
Former chairman of PDP and Deputy Governor of Ebonyi state 2007 -2011 and 2011-2015 respectively. He is currently the governor of the state although on the 8th of March 2022, a Federal High Court in Abuja had sacked him and his deputy for decamping from PDP to APC. He was born on the 25th of July 1963 and is 58 years old. Umayi is from Ebonyi state. He declared interest to contest for presidency under All Progressive Congress APC early January 2022.
He is an Engineer by profession.

3. Peter Obi
Former governor of Anambra state and vice presidential candidate of People's Democratic Party in the 2019 general elections. He was born on the 19th of July 1961 hence he is 60 years old. Obi is from Anambra state. He declared interest to run for the presidency on the 24th of March 2022. He is a businessman, banker and politician.

4. Chris Ngige
Former governor of Anambra state(2003-2006) and senator aho represented Anambra Central Constituency from 2011-2015. He is the current minister of labor and employment since 2015. He was born on 8th of August 1952, hence is 69 years of age. Chris is from Anambra state. He declared interest to run for the presidency in March 2022.
He is a medical doctor by profession.

5. Kingsley Moghalu
Former presidential candidate of YPP in the 2019 general election. He was the deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009-2014. Moghalu was born on the 7th of May 1963 in Lagos. He is from Anambra state. He is a Lawyer by profession and have declared interest in the presidency.

6. Yul Edochie: Former Senior Special Assistant to the immediate past governor of Anambra state, Chief Willie Obiano on Creative & Entertainment Media. He was the governorship candidate of DPC in the 2017 governorship election in Anambra state. Yul was born on the 7th of January 1982, hence is 40 years old. He declared interest to run for the presidency in February 2021.
He is an actor and film director.

7. Orji Uzor Kalu
Former governor of Abia state (1999-2007) and the current chief whip of the senate. He is the chairman of SLOK holding, Daily Sun, New Telegraph newspapers in Nigeria. He was the presidential candidate of PPA in 2007 general election. Kalu was born on the 21st of April 1960 and is 60 years of age. He is from Abia state.
He is a businessman and politician.

8. Sam Ohuabunwa
Former president of the pharmaceutical society of Nigeria. Founder and former CEO of Neimeth Pharmaceuticals. The senior brother of senator Mao Ohuabunwa. He was born on 16th of August 1950 and is 71 old. He is from Abia state. He declared interest to run for presidency in November 2021. Sam is a pharmacist, businessman, and politician.

9. Rochas Okorocha
Former governor of Imo state and currently the senator representing Imo West Senatorial District in the 9th National Assembly. Okorocha was born on the 22nd of September 1962 and he is 61 years old. He is a public administrator.

Did I miss anyone?
Who do you think will best represent Igbo interest as well as National integration?