₦airaland Forum

Amotolongbo:
https://dailypost.ng/2021/04/22/biafra-uk-asylum-was-arranged-by-buhari-massob-alleges/?amp&__twitter_impression=true

bjdon:
This is why I get so mad at the 'One Nigeria' apostles. Nigeria is clearly not working, let us all go our way and create proper nations that will satisfy the desires. of their people. Self determination is a fundamental human right for all people

What Somaliland can teach the rest of Africa about peace and stability

People often look at me with a bewildered expression on their face when I mention the Republic of Somaliland. Many assume that I meant to say Somalia. Mention the Horn of Africa and people inevitably think of Somalia, a failed state, crippled by a protracted civil war, instability and Al Shabaab.

Yet, when I explain the existence of Somaliland, a territory larger in size than England and Wales located in northern Somalia, which has been a peaceful, stable and democratic de facto state for the last 25 years, the bewildered expressions turn to surprise and then intrigue.

Some people lament that Somaliland’s successes should be more widely known given its achievements. Educating dignitaries, business people, international civil servants and the media about the wonders of Somaliland is one of my many responsibilities as a Senior Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somaliland.

Somaliland was a British Protectorate from 1884 until 26 June 1960 when it became an independent state. Five days after receiving independence from Her Majesty’s Government, Somaliland chose to unite with Italian-trusteeship Somalia as the first step towards creating a “Greater Somalia” to unite all peoples of ethnic Somali origin across the Horn of Africa.

Sadly, the union between British Somaliland and Italian Somalia proved to be disastrous from the outset. Shortly after the creation of the Somali Republic, the people of Somaliland were excluded from decision-making and representative governance. In turn, the people of Somaliland rejected the Somali Republic’s constitution by referendum, and their disenchantment continued throughout the early years of the union as political and economic isolation grew. In December 1961, Somaliland army cadets staged an aborted coup, which highlights that within a matter of months, many Somalilanders were already disgruntled by the union with Italian Somalia.

After assuming power in a military coup in October 1969, Mohamed Siad Barre led a brutal military dictatorship that in the 1980s embarked on a violent campaign against the people of Somaliland, killing between 50,000 to 100,000 civilians and displacing ten times more. Following the collapse of the Somali Republic in 1991, the people of Somaliland decided to withdraw from their voluntary union and re-assert Somaliland’s sovereignty and independence. Elders from Somaliland clans held a series of grassroots consultations with their communities, which led to Somaliland’s unilateral declaration of independence on 18 May 1991. Since then, Somalilanders have worked hard to build peace in their country through a bottom-up process drawing on traditional conflict resolution methods. The process was purely indigenous, and involved some 37 reconciliation conferences.

A referendum was held on 31 May 2001 which confirmed Somalilanders’ desire to maintain their independence and led to the endorsement of a new constitution. Somaliland held multi-party municipal elections in 2001; parliamentary elections were held in 2005; and presidential elections were held in 2003 and 2010, the most recent of which involved a peaceful transfer of power between political parties. International monitors have witnessed all of Somaliland’s elections since 2003 and pronounced them free and fair. By all accounts, Somaliland has one of the best democratic records in Africa. Yet, it remains an unrecognized state, its passports are classed as a fantasy, and despite spending almost half the Government’s budget on security, acting as a buffer zone for Ethiopia and Djibouti against Al Shabaab and other extremist organizations, little credit is given by the international community to Somaliland’s achievements.

Sharing lessons in peacebuilding

Somaliland provides an interesting example of how to create lasting peace and stability through bottom-up grassroots community engagement. First, the violence perpetrated during the Somali civil war between civilians and the military had to be addressed through a series of peace and reconciliation conferences led by Somaliland clan elders. Although Somalilanders are mainly from one large ethnic clan, clan dynamics remain diverse and can be divisive. Nonetheless, the people of Somaliland were given the opportunity to address their grievances and then consulted in the formation of the Somaliland state, its governance structure and division of power. Most importantly, through a series of elections at local and national levels, Somalilanders have been given the opportunity to exercise their democratic rights as enshrined by an indigenously developed constitution.

All these factors have instilled a national identity into Somalilanders, and entrenched their desire to maintain peace and stability in their territory. The devastation and senseless loss of life caused during the civil war remains in the memories of most Somalilanders. None want to relive those horrors and instead having experienced peace and democracy, the people of Somaliland have chosen to maintain the latter as their future trajectory.

They provide the best and most recent example of successful peacebuilding and statebuilding in the Horn of Africa. Important lessons can be learned from Somaliland’s experience of curbing extremism, developing a governance structure that transcends clan divisions, and fostering an environment where political discourse does not result in violence. By choosing peace and stability, the people of Somaliland have been able to encourage private sector development through technological innovations such as Zaad, one of the first mobile money facilities in the Horn of Africa, and foreign direct investment such as Somaliland Beverage Industries, a Somaliland-based franchise of Coca-Cola. All of this provides useful lessons that could be applied to Somalia, which remains politically fragile and suffers from instability and constant attacks by Al Shabaab.

The reason why Somaliland works as a state is because it has built its own internal peace from the bottom up, and has inclusive, democratic institutions based on universal suffrage. Somaliland has made tremendous progress over the last 25 years as an independent state. Unfortunately, its ability to continue on its upward development trajectory is limited by the lack of international recognition. The emergence of a recognized Federal Somalia has further marginalized Somaliland’s achievements within the international community. Once again, all eyes are on the Government in Mogadishu, which has had limited success in the last four years in stabilizing the former Italian Somalia territory and curbing the activities of Al Shabaab.

The way forward

My time in Somaliland has shown me that the key to stabilizing Somalia involves Somaliland and allowing the former British Protectorate to share its peacebuilding and statebuilding experiences with its former partner state. Politics aside, Somaliland and Somalia will forever remain neighbours and therefore, it is in Somaliland’s interests that Somalia succeeds in its quest for peace and stability.

When envisioning the way forward, Somaliland will forever encounter a glass ceiling as an unrecognized state. However, if it were to receive international recognition, Somaliland would be able to attract more foreign direct investment, and receive loans from international financial institutions, from which it is currently barred. Such increased financial flows would create jobs and lead to increased government revenue, allowing it to deliver better services to the Somaliland people. Reduced unemployment, especially among young people, would diminish the attractiveness of terrorism and human trafficking. Overall, greater prosperity would also reinforce Somaliland’s democracy, and continue to be a positive example for Somalia and the Horn of Africa.

Somaliland’s impressive track record should be acknowledged, encouraged and supported; it demonstrates that grassroots, bottom-up peacebuilding and state formation in sub-Saharan Africa can work. Most importantly, the people of Somaliland provide a good example that “where there is a will, there is a way.”

Juliusmalema:
Oya go and collect certificate of origin from another state since you don't recognize it.

Ipob miscreants and demented brains.


Meanwhile


The scammer is in London.. Otondo. He is the one scamming your head.
No long talk.
Next or better face your stinking state along Nnamdi Kanu.
Meanwhile
This is state and Political issues and we are not running monarchy here.
So Igbos you are just is just for mere cultural theories.
on Politics every state to himself. Nnamdi Kanu should move back to his Abia.

Juliusmalema:
The scammer is in London.. Otondo. He is the one scamming your head.


No long talk.
Next or better face your stinking state along Nnamdi Kanu.

Meanwhile

This is state and Political issues and we are not running monarchy here.
So Igbos you are just is just for mere cultural theories.

on Politics every state to himself. Nnamdi Kanu should move back to his Abia.

Juliusmalema:
No long talk.

Next or better face your stinking state along Nnamdi Kanu.
This is state and Political issues and we are not running monarchy here.
So Igbos you are just is just for mere cultural theories.
on Politics every state to himself. Nnamdi Kanu should move back to his Abia.

nedu666:
I am from anambra. Now i am telling you busy body specialist on lgbo affairs to face your region. You claim to be an lgbo man, yet abuse people from ebonyi, enugu, imo and abia. Who do you think you are deceiving. You can neva be an lgbo man not in this life, not in the life after. Busy body

Juliusmalema:
bla bla bla bla

Uchu go and look for who I go do that yoruba Muslims nonsense with...not me.

No be everybody get time for that trash here.

Ipobs miscreants are empty and their emptiness ends on their online republic chaired by head fugitive in London.

Ndi ala.

Juliusmalema:
Let him go and save his state Abia before looking for who to help.

u don't help those better than u rather you learn from them.

mekaboy:
Lol. When i told you they guy was a fraud waiting to be settled for elections, you did not believe. You said i was supporting fulani against igbo.

The criminal is very predictable

Juliusmalema:
who takes the fugitive serious again except conductor, okada people and bus drivers who discusses him as their role model


He should go and do that his no election in his state abia.


His stupidity is always dead here

Professor of Political Science, Abia State University, Professor Hatz Ofoeze, has cautioned members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, and other Biafra agitators not to be carried away by the promise by the United Kingdom to grant asylum to ‘persecuted’ members of the movement. Ofoeze in an interview with our Correspondent said ” Britain can never be trusted”, hence, he holds the promise with a pinch of salt.

He said that Britain was the cause of Nigeria’s woes, and doubted the sincerity of the promise.

Professor Ofoeze said the promise could be a ploy to expose IPOB members and other pro-Biafra groups for persecution if they go for the offer. His words: ” Britain can’t be trusted. They are the cause of Nigeria’s problem. ” I won’t even want any IPOB member to trust them. This could be a plan to expose them. ” Right from Independence, they seem to be giving undue advantage to a section of the country. ” So, what they are doing now is an afterthought. Biafra agitators need to be wary of that offer. Somebody granting asylum to another doesn’t need to announce it ahead of time. ” They don’t even want to see people from the Southern part of Nigeria because they know they are wise and intelligent. They want people they can easily manipulate”.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/04/dont-trust-uks-asylum-offer-don-cautions-ipob-biafra-agitators/

johnmartus:
But there's no insecurity in Abuja now.

You filed a petition before the House of Representatives, saying no fewer than 55 communities in your constituency have been taken over by foreigners but the state government denied any knowledge of the development. Can you shed light on this?

Before we closed for the plenary, I presented a petition before the House with regard to the over 55 communities in my constituency that have been destroyed and taken over by people we do not know. We have Fulanis within the communities and we know them but the truth is that these people that have come and formed new settlements, we don’t know them. And as a citizen of this area, I cannot access these communities and come back with my life. We have cried out. Even as I am talking to you, we have 13,000 IDPs in my constituency. The houses that were destroyed have not been rebuilt. The community that is making effort, that is, Jong community, the houses they are trying to build were about being destroyed again three days ago. We dont have the firepower of these people. If the government that is supposed to protect every citizen of this country is saying there is no land grabbing in my constituency, it is unfortunate, but I dont want to join issues with the government.

The state government should go to Bachit, Gashishi, Gindi Apati, you dont need anybody to tell you anything, you will see new houses, these are new settlements. Who are the people building those new houses? Are they Fulani from Plateau? I have Fulani as part of my office. Even they have claimed they don’t know these people. As of the last count, 55 communities had been taken over by these foreign Fulanis. They have renovated the houses that natives deserted and are presently living in them. They are occupying properties that do not belong to them. When the vice president came to Plateau State, he made a pronouncement that the Federal Government would assist the people with N10 billion so that they could rebuild their houses. Have the houses been rebuilt?. Are there not settlements there now? Who are those living there when the natives have been chased away? The issue of mobile barracks was mentioned by the same vice president. Has the barracks been built? I was shocked when I read in the newspapers that the government posited that there was no incident of land grabbing in these areas.

What do you think should be done to resettle these people to their communities?

We must live in peace. We must accept one another but we must identify foreigners among us. The killings in my constituency are still going on because we have some people who want to latch on to our differences and disunite us and get what they want from us. If the government will not take action, it will be difficult for us to solve the problem. The national population census is about to take place and if that is to happen, who are those to be counted? It is not just going be a head count, they would also count houses. Who are they going to count when the natives have been chased away? Is it the foreigners that would be counted? The government must do the needful.

When I was the chairman of Riyom Local Government Area, I cried out about the community called Rakuk, which has been renamed as Mahagan. I said there was presence of people that were not from that area and they were likely to cause problems for Plateau State but what has happened? Governor Lalong should investigate and do the needful. He should find out if such people are citizens of Plateau State. Who are those that are building the new houses and who sold the land to them? Is that not land grabbing? This means you are occupying a land that does not belong to
https://tribuneonlineng.com/foreign-fulani-have-renovated-taken-over-my-peoples-houses-plateau-rep-mwadkom/

Are you saying the government should look inwards?


They should do the needful. The bandits are the government itself. You will recall that Dr (Obadiah) Mailafia cried out that this insecurity might soon cover the whole country; that these people had even migrated down south. The DSS invited him and molested him. Now Sheikh (Gumi), who is supposed to be a cleric, a preacher of the word of God, engaged these bandits and no eyebrow was raised. The government doesn’t need to look inwards for anything, it is part and parcel of the whole thing. If they want to change the status quo, they can do it. What I am seeing is that they recruited these people and they have been unable to take care of them and these people have multiplied and are now above their capacity. Even former President Jonathan had to cry out that right inside his government, there were members of Boko Haram. Another government knew them, they are part and parcel of the government.

The citizens must rise. The ENDSARS movement could have solved the problem but it was politicised and religious sentiment was thrown into it. What the youths did was a pointer to the fact that one day, the public might rise against the government. If the public does not rise to solve this problem, there will be problems.

There are agitations for secession in different parts of the country. Do you think agitations like this are the solution to the problems on the ground?

These agitations are genuine in the sense that when you refuse to do the right thing, anything can happen. There is nothing as precious as human life and when you have a government that cannot protect the lives and property of its citizens, you don’t expect those citizens to be loyal to that government. If you have a government that concentrates appointments into key positions in one place, you don’t expect other people that feel marginalised to fold their arms and keep quiet. When you have a government that is ethnic-inclined, you don’t expect other nationalities to sit down and be watching. So, these calls for secession are genuine. The 1999 constitution as amended is one of the basic problems of this country. No one can use this constitution to run the government successfully and people have called for the overhaul of this constitution. The constitutional conference of 2014 would have been a good starting point. All issues in the report of the conference should have been given consideration and implemented gradually. This would have given everybody a sense of belonging. The calls for secession are based on the marginalisation that is going on within the system. What is the need for us living together and killing ourselves? The government should allow true federalism if they don’t want the calls for suecession to continue.

https://tribuneonlineng.com/foreign-fulani-have-renovated-taken-over-my-peoples-houses-plateau-rep-mwadkom/

Insecurity in Nigeria is getting worse. What is the way out of this frightening situation?

Insecurity has already consumed Nigeria. Security agencies are overwhelmed and some people argue that it is because of lack of funding of the police and the military and other related issues. Some say it is lack of training and retraining of the security personnel, while others blame the absence of technology and equipment to meet the security challenges facing the country. But I will link the problem to the failed government that we have. This government promised to deal with insecurity and other related issues within six months. Initially, most of these problems were concentrated in the North East and precisely in Borno State but since this government came to power, we have been having terrible experiences. Insecurity has spread to every nook and cranny of the country. The government has been paying lip service to security.

Many Nigerians cried out that the former service chiefs had failed and should be changed but nothing happened. When the head is sick, the rest of the body cannot function. If the people at the helm of security in this country are not versatile, it would be difficult to solve the problem. The reason this issue has persisted is because of the ethnicity attached to it. Most of those in government cannot call a spade a spade. If the president had followed the principle of federal character in the appointment of security chiefs, things would not have degenerated to this level. Before now even the press was afraid to mention that it is the Fulani that were killing people in Nigeria. It was then unknown gunmen but today we are so faced with the reality that even Miyetti Allah are beginning to accept some of the attacks and claim responsibility for carrying out such attacks. We must begin to call things by their names. I want to say that the government has failed in addressing this security problem. Presidential (Muhammadu) Buhari called on former President (Goodluck) Jonathan to resign over security failure. If I were President Buhari, I would have resigned long ago.

This government is selective, it is a government that does not carry Nigerians along. Look at the construction of the railway line from Katsina to Niger Republic, what is the economic benefit? If you look at the volume of trade between Benin Republc and Nigeria, it is higher than the volume of trade between Nigeria and Niger Republic. So, the security problems bedevilling Nigeria are a product of the malfunction of government, a product of a government without vision. Hunger and poverty have increased. Corruption has also increased. Some of the acts of criminality that are being witnessed here and there are because these people have thrown the country into hunger and starvation.

But why is it difficult for the government, especially its security agencies, to track down the perpetrators of these heinous crimes?

It is not difficult, the government knows them. President Buhari knows them. Every person that is at the helm of the affairs of this nation knows them. Sheikh Gumi sat with bandits, discussed with them and even tried to instigate them against the Christians in the Nigerian Army. He told the bandits that it was not the Muslims in the Nigerian Army that were killing them. Who was he refering to? He was refering to the Christians. How did he know their location? When these bandits kidnap people and take them into the forest, the government often claims they dont know the location of these people. Then how come Sheikh Gumi knows their location to the extent that he would sit and have parleys with them and come out unharmed. A government that is based on ethnic sentiment will always fail.

Read the rest by following the link below ;


https://tribuneonlineng.com/foreign-fulani-have-renovated-taken-over-my-peoples-houses-plateau-rep-mwadkom/

helinues:
Pantami is the new target for wailers to wail on.

The Buhari you people called a terrorist has been your president for almost 6 years, what would this wailing, gnashing of teeth bring? Absolutely nothing..

Even if Pantami resign, what different would that make? Is Buhari going to appoint Wailers as Pantami substitute?

plaindealer:
Whatever ipobs can not read and comprehend is always fake news.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives after fire enveloped a primary school in Niamey, Niger Republic, killing more than 20 children.

This is according to a statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity).

It said in a message to President Mohammed Bazoum, the government and people of Nigeria’s northern neighbour, President Buhari described the fire incident leading to the death of the mostly three to five year olds as “heart wrenching and extremely horrific.”

“On behalf of the government and people of Nigeria, we commiserate with our brotherly neighbours on this tragic loss.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, families and communities affected by this unfortunate incident. Wishing quick recovery to those who were injured,” the President added.


https://tribuneonlineng.com/buhari-mourns-niamey-fire-victims/

Jerryherd:
Have you been to every part of Ghana?

New Takoradi, Fadama

Jerryherd:
Ghanaians speak well of their country on the internet, Nigerians call their own country a zoo... Don't blame Foreigners for making decisions on how we brand ourselves and how we see our country