Tuesday, December 28, 2010
IGBOS - IT’S TIME TO TAKE STOCK - WAKE UP!!!
Those who have read the book “Cry the beloved country” (story about South Africa at the ebb of political turbulence) - by Alan Paton, may want to use a similar phrase for the Igbo Nation - in words such as “Cry the beloved nation.” In Cry the beloved country, A black country preacher went to Johannesburg seeking his brother, sister, and son, and found a chaotic world torn by racial politics. Aided by a noble minister, he finds that his three relations have become a revolutionary, a prostitute, and a murderer. Salvaging what he could of the family, he returns to the countryside to try to begin life anew.
For many Igbos, the picture painted above may be similar to what is happening at this time as Kidnapping, Armed Robbery, Assassinations, lynching, envy, greed, lack of love, looting of government treasury, lack of jobs and vocations for the youth, infrastructure, amenities, etc., for the people, seem to have taken over Igbo land. However, the question we should be asking ourselves is mainly this - What remains to be salvaged in the midst of the atrocities listed above and others not mentioned. As we keep that thought and question in mind, let us move a step further.
Igbo forums, associations, yahoo groups, etc. have created beautiful and wonderful platforms for many Igbo - both erudite, commonsensical, not so erudite, the academia, journalists, professors, lawyers, engineers, doctors, accountants, teachers, etc., both in Nigeria, and in the Diaspora to put mind and thought together regarding events in our country Nigeria in general and Igbo land in particular. The forums created and those who have founded them are laudable as well as commendable. On the other hand, according to many critics, certain language usage on these forums has become a source of concern to peace - loving personalities and individuals. Some of the words spoken leave a lot of room for questioning and doubts as to whether they are serving the right purposes and indeed progressing the causes, unity, and progress, for which the forums are intended and created,
Some people use these forums for name-calling, abusive language, incendiaries, invectives, that would cause others to wonder in disbelief. Both those who call and are called names have children, relatives and are Igbos as well. The question arises as to whether well-meaning people should be washing their dirty linens in public? Subjective criticisms, name - calling, fruitless arguments without solutions will not lead the Igbo nation anywhere in the Nigerian polity at this time. It is time to cease from the overdrawn debates, show-off of academic qualifications, grammatical aggrandizement, fault-finding, finger-pointing, who-will-win-the-debate syndrome, who-speaks-the-better-English syndrome and other syndromes that have retrogressed the Igbos - (particularly Imo Igbos) in the Nigerian polity.
Internet forums, groups, associations, etc. should be platforms for progressive debates, suggestions and recommendations for problem-solving processes, unity, progress and teaching the youth and our children the way to go. This is because our children are watching and they are good readers as well.
We cannot continue to pursue or trail the same unyielding routes in our discourses every year and expect to make progress. If a route is not yielding good harvest, it is to be closed or modified, whichever is more productive and cost-effective. Based on certain behavioral manifestations of some Igbos, it is then not surprising that the Igbo are yet to be recognized as catalysts of political change by powerful nations. This is because many have refused to look beyond their faces. Some have refused to follow the light at the end of the tunnel. Others have become very individualistic to their own detriment as they continually refuse to see the good in others. Many find it difficult to cooperate or work well with others. Everyone wants to be captain of the ship. These people tend to forget that too many captains drown the ship. They have refused to be cooperative. They talk about being their “brothers’ keepers and at the slightest provocation will become brothers’ kdnappers. Furthermore, the wealthy do not look out for the poor and as a result, the poor does not seem to care about the wealthy. For these and other reasons, the Igbo nation is faced presently, with anarchy, kidnapping, 419, armed robbery, etc., etc.
Many progressive nations have realized the power behind “The Law” and Culture. Not so, for Igbos who have no written law or legally-binding instruments, yet are ready to assimilate any foreign culture with the hunger of a wolf. They want to speak English better than the Englishman does. As a result many of their children including mine cannot speak Igbo very well. They were so willing and quick to abandon their culture during colonization to their peril. The Hausas have ingrained Sharia and their written law into the Nigerian constitution and laws of the nation. Yorubas have written law - researched and ingrained into the Nigerian legal system. Igbos where are yours? Many of you are erudite scholars, highly intelligent individuals, yet delight in castigating each other instead of working together for progress. “If it is not me, it cannot be some-one-else syndrome has eaten into the fabric of the nation. “If it is not Orlu it cannot be Owerri or Mbano or Mbaise.” “If it is not Mbaise, it cannot be Mbaitolu,” etc., etc.” These syndromes are ruining Igbo political system, if there is one. It is time for change.
Suffice then to ask the following questions now. Nd’Igbo, who are your heroes? Who are your benefactors? Who are your founding fathers? Who are your mentors? You say “Igbo enwegh eze,” What happened to your “Council of Nzes” How come you have that word “Eze” in your language, if the position did not exist? Those who invented the phrase of lack of leadership or rulership commenced the setting up of anarchy in the Igbo nation, unfortunately. Even now, Igbos still fail to acknowledge their heroes. Who are your The Igbo leaders? To many of you, Zik was not good, Ibiam, Okpara, Mbadiwe, (may their heroic souls rest in peace) were not good enough, Ojukwu is not good, who is good? Who do you fear? No-one? Not god? This is unfortunate. However, the fact remains and is glaring that progressive people and nations acquire their inspiration, motivation, and goal-attainment vigor through positive emulation, of attributes of their passed heroes, leaders, mentors, benefactors, generations. Is it not because we lacked positive emulation that the children who are criminals did not imbibe those attributes, mores, character, culture, nationalistic tendencies to be humane and forward-looking individuals? Is it then surprising that many youths have now formed a major and integral part of a nation where anything goes and nothing can be done about it? Is it perplexing that many have found recourse and fulfillment in vices such as cultism, armed robbery, 419, kidnapping of parents, siblings, and relatives (to get rich quick), prostitution, looting of government treasury, etc. Is this because “Igbos have no eze,” no law or binding legal system, no taboos, lack respect, discipline, and fear and therefore, anything goes and many parents did not portray themselves as their children’s heroes?”
Notwithstanding the seeming helplessness of the situation described above, not all is lost. America for example, started with some native Americans, a few colonists, no unifying laws and no constitution. Today, it is the greatest country in the world, despite the economic meltdown. It did not happen in a day. America listened to heroes, developed a culture of containment, assimilation of all entities, worked with inventors, talented people, erudite people, laws, pacts, agreements, legal / binding contract-signings, and the spirit of nationhood. American schoolbooks and literature are rife, preponderant and overflowing with stories of American heroes past and present. American society is one of hero-worship. Nd’Igbo cannot change the course of nature. Not everyone can be a national hero. That is the truth of the matter. However, identify and name your heroes, tell their stories for your children to emulate. In addition, Igbo parents must endeavor to be heroes to your children and not “villains, kidnappers, looters of government coffers, and / or thieves. In addition, heroism does not come in one gender. United Kingdom also has heroes. It has the strongest dynasty headed by a woman. This is because heroism and bravery does not discriminate. We must acknowledge talent and worship our heroes, whether they be male or female. Hero-worship builds positive attributes. Mahatma Ghandi, American presidents, inventors, Nobel laureates, astronauts, national leaders, Ben Gurion of Israel, Mandella of South Africa, Nkrumah of Ghana, Aguiyi Ironsi, Muritala Mohammed, Othman Dan Fodio, Awolowo, Zik, of Nigeria, Golda Meir of Israel, and so many, many others living or dead were and are heroes, worthy of note. Thieves, looters, killers, kidnappers are never heroes no matter how their pictures are modified or painted. Nd’Igbo must have heroes for our children’s positive advancement.
One more thing, it is also a case of concern that the Nd’Igbo have the largest turn out of cultural organizations. Every town wants to segregate itself from its neighbor for financial gains. This is ruining Igbo progress. However, it is commendable that recently many are beginning to see the positive attributes of coming together instead of disintegration. Indeed, it is high time the Nd’Igbo started seeing themselves as one physical and spiritual nation. Forget not that disintegration breeds disunity. It is not by happenstance that you all speak one language. Nature has a reason for that to happen. “Oh, he or she is from Anambra, or from Imo so I cannot deal with him or her” is another very bad syndrome. The time has come for Igbos like the Jews, the Europeans, and many other nations begin to see themselves as one, if they really desire progress and change. No matter where the Yorubas or Hausas are is in the world, they work together and see themselves as Omo Yoruba or Dan Arewa, respectively. Many Nd’Igbo on the other hand see themselves as from Imo, Anambra, Akwa-Ibom, Delta, Rivers, Cross-river, Bayelsa, etc. To be progressive and to cease from the underdog stature in Nigerian politics, this mentality needs a reverse. If you speak Igbo, you are IGBO. No human-created or imposed boundary can change that. Coming together will give you more power, more influence, recognition, and dignity. Disintegration, and disassociating will only lead to segregation and isolationist tendencies. We should remember that The European Union recognizes the power and strength in pulling resources and population together. Igbos must emulate positive tendencies and process, when they happen.
Great nations were built on unity of purpose, clear goals, heroism, discipline, clear opportunities for all citizens, laws, rules, regulations, agreement, culture, and not on selfishness, greed, avarice, indiscipline, individualism, anarchy, “winner takes all” effect, etc. Thus, it is indeed time for the Igbo people to set standards, and guidelines for rulership and leadership. It is time for the people to demand good education, vocation, and labor, for their children and youth. It is time to demand salary and payment at appropriate time for the workers, parents and heads of households, Government money is not private property to be shared among friends or between family members. Money meant for industries, salaries, infrastructure, vocation, labor, jobs, seem to be concentrated in the hands of individuals. That is why in Imo State and all over Nigeria, private homes are sprouting up like flowers in spring and summer while schools are dilapidated, and the youths are jobless. This is because money is held in private hands as liquid cash. That is also, why people are able to bring out tens of millions of naira when their relatives are kidnapped. As a result, kidnapping is thriving and the perpetrators know this. If the liquid cash is plunged into building industries, providing jobs, building requisite infrastructure, there will be no ready liquid cash for armed robbers and kidnappers and these crimes will minimize. In fact, money is worth more when it is used to build, advance and progress humans and society.
My people, the time is now for deliberate and quiet revolutions in many aspects of Igbo life and culture in order to give the nationhood the dignity deserving of it. Without doing this, the IGBO nation and all of the South East of Nigeria will continue to be in perpetual anarchy and turmoil. We must recognize heroes. Pave new ways and routes to move forward. The time is now for a reawakening to revolutionize culture, create and produce our written laws that will be integrated into the national legal system. It is time to refuse looters and thieves as leaders and rulers. It is time to be heroes for our children. It is the time to build and stop tearing down. The time is now to take stock. We have slept for too long. We must wake up.
If I say that I'm impressed with this unprecedented pieces of advice to my Igbo people, I minimize the importance of the time, energy and effort that you put into this wonderful, cerebral discourse. If I didn't know you very well, I may have fallen into the usual shameful, chauvinistic, tired machismo and macho temptation of thinking that this may have been the handiwork of my menfolk who continue to dominate and bestride Igboland today like a Collosus. Isn't time to try our women on the corridors of power. But I know you very well. I'm proud to have been associated with you at our Imo Association, NY where I've watched how you tackle every issue with characteristic aplomb. I know the quality, the pain, the finesse, thoughfulness and thoroghness you bring to any subject that you handle. You may have set out to advice our people but inadvertently ended up giving them a "Bible" a GPS to get out of the irretrievable quagmire of confusion, directionless they have fallen into. Currently, Igbo land can be likened to a rudderless ship in a tempestous sea. I'm surprised that you did not emphasize that we have superceded our Yoruba neighbors as the worst noisemakers in the world today. The difference however is that while we share this commonality, we have nothing to show for it. The only good thing that comes out of this shameful exuberance is that we have elevatdd it to a profession called, Otimkpu. Hence, you now watch in desperation, young and old chorusing and extoling the qualities of thieves and looters in our midst. What a shame! The day of reckoning is around the corner.
Thank you for this piece. I have already printed and saved in my drawer and will treasure it all my life. May I however put a little damper to your commendable effort. I doubt very much that they will read it. Music played to the deaf is a lost music.
Thank you McLord for seeing the difference in Dr. Emihe's essay as opposed to others that have hidden agenda in their writing. Some were sent to write, others write to attract attention, while others write to impress. Emihe, by this writing, wrote out of the abundant of her heart as she touched knowns and unknowns, the speakables and unspeakables alike.
I have known Emihe for a while now but recently have worked closely with her as she serves as the chairperson of Education committee of our cherished Imo Association and a member of our political activities committee where she is the secretary. As the education committee Chair, she just handed me a ten page memo of her road map towards the activities of the committee. Dr. Emihe, though physically shy, is mentally upbeat and averse on diverse issues as can be deduced from the present essay.
She spoke like the old prophets who first spell out doom but later come with a consolation. She admonished Nd'Igbo at the beginning for their verses but later consoles them and proffers solutions. She calls for a revolution, a different kind of revolution. Not the kind that comes with maming and destruction but a deliberate and quiet revolutions in many aspects of Igbo life and culture. This sounds like the Jesus message of his kingdom and kingship which was very much misunderstood in the world of his time. A revolution without human cost is truly not easy to understand in the world of our time. Specifically she says it is time to be heroes of our children, time to refuse looters and thieves as leaders and rulers, time to build and stop tearing down, time to take stock, time for awakening to revolutionize our culture and produce our written laws that will be integrated into our national legal system, among others.
Her call may not be the first in nature or of its kind but the more things are happening, the more the very obvious start to make more sense. Igbo used to have Ofo na Ogu which guided their actions both in private and in public. Since the later have been systematically destroyed, maybe the call for a formal written law of the land (the so called customary laws) may be in order.
Those who have read the book “Cry the beloved country” (story about South Africa at the ebb of political turbulence) - by Alan Paton, may want to use a similar phrase for the Igbo Nation - in words such as “Cry the beloved nation.” In Cry the beloved country, A black country preacher went to Johannesburg seeking his brother, sister, and son, and found a chaotic world torn by racial politics. Aided by a noble minister, he finds that his three relations have become a revolutionary, a prostitute, and a murderer. Salvaging what he could of the family, he returns to the countryside to try to begin life anew.
For many Igbos, the picture painted above may be similar to what is happening at this time as Kidnapping, Armed Robbery, Assassinations, lynching, envy, greed, lack of love, looting of government treasury, lack of jobs and vocations for the youth, infrastructure, amenities, etc., for the people, seem to have taken over Igbo land. However, the question we should be asking ourselves is mainly this - What remains to be salvaged in the midst of the atrocities listed above and others not mentioned. As we keep that thought and question in mind, let us move a step further.
Igbo forums, associations, yahoo groups, etc. have created beautiful and wonderful platforms for many Igbo - both erudite, commonsensical, not so erudite, the academia, journalists, professors, lawyers, engineers, doctors, accountants, teachers, etc., both in Nigeria, and in the Diaspora to put mind and thought together regarding events in our country Nigeria in general and Igbo land in particular. The forums created and those who have founded them are laudable as well as commendable. On the other hand, according to many critics, certain language usage on these forums has become a source of concern to peace - loving personalities and individuals. Some of the words spoken leave a lot of room for questioning and doubts as to whether they are serving the right purposes and indeed progressing the causes, unity, and progress, for which the forums are intended and created,
Some people use these forums for name-calling, abusive language, incendiaries, invectives, that would cause others to wonder in disbelief. Both those who call and are called names have children, relatives and are Igbos as well. The question arises as to whether well-meaning people should be washing their dirty linens in public? Subjective criticisms, name - calling, fruitless arguments without solutions will not lead the Igbo nation anywhere in the Nigerian polity at this time. It is time to cease from the overdrawn debates, show-off of academic qualifications, grammatical aggrandizement, fault-finding, finger-pointing, who-will-win-the-debate syndrome, who-speaks-the-better-English syndrome and other syndromes that have retrogressed the Igbos - (particularly Imo Igbos) in the Nigerian polity.
Internet forums, groups, associations, etc. should be platforms for progressive debates, suggestions and recommendations for problem-solving processes, unity, progress and teaching the youth and our children the way to go. This is because our children are watching and they are good readers as well.
We cannot continue to pursue or trail the same unyielding routes in our discourses every year and expect to make progress. If a route is not yielding good harvest, it is to be closed or modified, whichever is more productive and cost-effective. Based on certain behavioral manifestations of some Igbos, it is then not surprising that the Igbo are yet to be recognized as catalysts of political change by powerful nations. This is because many have refused to look beyond their faces. Some have refused to follow the light at the end of the tunnel. Others have become very individualistic to their own detriment as they continually refuse to see the good in others. Many find it difficult to cooperate or work well with others. Everyone wants to be captain of the ship. These people tend to forget that too many captains drown the ship. They have refused to be cooperative. They talk about being their “brothers’ keepers and at the slightest provocation will become brothers’ kdnappers. Furthermore, the wealthy do not look out for the poor and as a result, the poor does not seem to care about the wealthy. For these and other reasons, the Igbo nation is faced presently, with anarchy, kidnapping, 419, armed robbery, etc., etc.
Many progressive nations have realized the power behind “The Law” and Culture. Not so, for Igbos who have no written law or legally-binding instruments, yet are ready to assimilate any foreign culture with the hunger of a wolf. They want to speak English better than the Englishman does. As a result many of their children including mine cannot speak Igbo very well. They were so willing and quick to abandon their culture during colonization to their peril. The Hausas have ingrained Sharia and their written law into the Nigerian constitution and laws of the nation. Yorubas have written law - researched and ingrained into the Nigerian legal system. Igbos where are yours? Many of you are erudite scholars, highly intelligent individuals, yet delight in castigating each other instead of working together for progress. “If it is not me, it cannot be some-one-else syndrome has eaten into the fabric of the nation. “If it is not Orlu it cannot be Owerri or Mbano or Mbaise.” “If it is not Mbaise, it cannot be Mbaitolu,” etc., etc.” These syndromes are ruining Igbo political system, if there is one. It is time for change.
Suffice then to ask the following questions now. Nd’Igbo, who are your heroes? Who are your benefactors? Who are your founding fathers? Who are your mentors? You say “Igbo enwegh eze,” What happened to your “Council of Nzes” How come you have that word “Eze” in your language, if the position did not exist? Those who invented the phrase of lack of leadership or rulership commenced the setting up of anarchy in the Igbo nation, unfortunately. Even now, Igbos still fail to acknowledge their heroes. Who are your The Igbo leaders? To many of you, Zik was not good, Ibiam, Okpara, Mbadiwe, (may their heroic souls rest in peace) were not good enough, Ojukwu is not good, who is good? Who do you fear? No-one? Not god? This is unfortunate. However, the fact remains and is glaring that progressive people and nations acquire their inspiration, motivation, and goal-attainment vigor through positive emulation, of attributes of their passed heroes, leaders, mentors, benefactors, generations. Is it not because we lacked positive emulation that the children who are criminals did not imbibe those attributes, mores, character, culture, nationalistic tendencies to be humane and forward-looking individuals? Is it then surprising that many youths have now formed a major and integral part of a nation where anything goes and nothing can be done about it? Is it perplexing that many have found recourse and fulfillment in vices such as cultism, armed robbery, 419, kidnapping of parents, siblings, and relatives (to get rich quick), prostitution, looting of government treasury, etc. Is this because “Igbos have no eze,” no law or binding legal system, no taboos, lack respect, discipline, and fear and therefore, anything goes and many parents did not portray themselves as their children’s heroes?”
Notwithstanding the seeming helplessness of the situation described above, not all is lost. America for example, started with some native Americans, a few colonists, no unifying laws and no constitution. Today, it is the greatest country in the world, despite the economic meltdown. It did not happen in a day. America listened to heroes, developed a culture of containment, assimilation of all entities, worked with inventors, talented people, erudite people, laws, pacts, agreements, legal / binding contract-signings, and the spirit of nationhood. American schoolbooks and literature are rife, preponderant and overflowing with stories of American heroes past and present. American society is one of hero-worship. Nd’Igbo cannot change the course of nature. Not everyone can be a national hero. That is the truth of the matter. However, identify and name your heroes, tell their stories for your children to emulate. In addition, Igbo parents must endeavor to be heroes to your children and not “villains, kidnappers, looters of government coffers, and / or thieves. In addition, heroism does not come in one gender. United Kingdom also has heroes. It has the strongest dynasty headed by a woman. This is because heroism and bravery does not discriminate. We must acknowledge talent and worship our heroes, whether they be male or female. Hero-worship builds positive attributes. Mahatma Ghandi, American presidents, inventors, Nobel laureates, astronauts, national leaders, Ben Gurion of Israel, Mandella of South Africa, Nkrumah of Ghana, Aguiyi Ironsi, Muritala Mohammed, Othman Dan Fodio, Awolowo, Zik, of Nigeria, Golda Meir of Israel, and so many, many others living or dead were and are heroes, worthy of note. Thieves, looters, killers, kidnappers are never heroes no matter how their pictures are modified or painted. Nd’Igbo must have heroes for our children’s positive advancement.
One more thing, it is also a case of concern that the Nd’Igbo have the largest turn out of cultural organizations. Every town wants to segregate itself from its neighbor for financial gains. This is ruining Igbo progress. However, it is commendable that recently many are beginning to see the positive attributes of coming together instead of disintegration. Indeed, it is high time the Nd’Igbo started seeing themselves as one physical and spiritual nation. Forget not that disintegration breeds disunity. It is not by happenstance that you all speak one language. Nature has a reason for that to happen. “Oh, he or she is from Anambra, or from Imo so I cannot deal with him or her” is another very bad syndrome. The time has come for Igbos like the Jews, the Europeans, and many other nations begin to see themselves as one, if they really desire progress and change. No matter where the Yorubas or Hausas are is in the world, they work together and see themselves as Omo Yoruba or Dan Arewa, respectively. Many Nd’Igbo on the other hand see themselves as from Imo, Anambra, Akwa-Ibom, Delta, Rivers, Cross-river, Bayelsa, etc. To be progressive and to cease from the underdog stature in Nigerian politics, this mentality needs a reverse. If you speak Igbo, you are IGBO. No human-created or imposed boundary can change that. Coming together will give you more power, more influence, recognition, and dignity. Disintegration, and disassociating will only lead to segregation and isolationist tendencies. We should remember that The European Union recognizes the power and strength in pulling resources and population together. Igbos must emulate positive tendencies and process, when they happen.
Great nations were built on unity of purpose, clear goals, heroism, discipline, clear opportunities for all citizens, laws, rules, regulations, agreement, culture, and not on selfishness, greed, avarice, indiscipline, individualism, anarchy, “winner takes all” effect, etc. Thus, it is indeed time for the Igbo people to set standards, and guidelines for rulership and leadership. It is time for the people to demand good education, vocation, and labor, for their children and youth. It is time to demand salary and payment at appropriate time for the workers, parents and heads of households, Government money is not private property to be shared among friends or between family members. Money meant for industries, salaries, infrastructure, vocation, labor, jobs, seem to be concentrated in the hands of individuals. That is why in Imo State and all over Nigeria, private homes are sprouting up like flowers in spring and summer while schools are dilapidated, and the youths are jobless. This is because money is held in private hands as liquid cash. That is also, why people are able to bring out tens of millions of naira when their relatives are kidnapped. As a result, kidnapping is thriving and the perpetrators know this. If the liquid cash is plunged into building industries, providing jobs, building requisite infrastructure, there will be no ready liquid cash for armed robbers and kidnappers and these crimes will minimize. In fact, money is worth more when it is used to build, advance and progress humans and society.
My people, the time is now for deliberate and quiet revolutions in many aspects of Igbo life and culture in order to give the nationhood the dignity deserving of it. Without doing this, the IGBO nation and all of the South East of Nigeria will continue to be in perpetual anarchy and turmoil. We must recognize heroes. Pave new ways and routes to move forward. The time is now for a reawakening to revolutionize culture, create and produce our written laws that will be integrated into the national legal system. It is time to refuse looters and thieves as leaders and rulers. It is time to be heroes for our children. It is the time to build and stop tearing down. The time is now to take stock. We have slept for too long. We must wake up.
I Do Not Care what anybody says, but a Call Without The Coming Together of Honest Minds, will make the Call redaundant!! Yes, in order to make any Progress, we MUST sign up to get together, else it will still be our Usuals: OKE NA OHIA, NGWERI NA UZO!! Some will call this mindset, "Igbo Republican Nature", and I will call it Retrogressive Mindset!! MAKANA GIDI-GIDI WU UGWU EZE.
Absolutely Nothing takes place towards Progress and Development without Our Coming Together as a Grand Beginning; followed by Working together as a group with Sound ideas, as a Process; and subsequently followed with Execution of the Sound Ideas so Refined, in order to make any Tangible Progress and Development!!
We, as Ndi-Igbo, definitely cannot achieve all of the above, if some of us are Very Dishonest, and prefer to Operate Under Masks!! These Kinds Not being Real to themselves and to their own people. If some of us are just intersted in false and empty Positions and titles to boost deflated ego, in these unions of Togetherness; and if some come with hidden agenda, Jealousy, Envy, and Dirty hands.
Nevertheless, those who volunteer their time to Honestly answer this kind of Call are, in my book, Honorable Men and Women Ndi-Igbo Ji Aga Mba!! Idealogy may differ, but Let the Mission of IGBO EMANCIPATION Remain the Main Goalof Focus. Therefore, other unions can also Emerge to Merge at certain Point in time, when All of us get More Educated!! Otoiheoma Egbe.
Stop politicising Ugbowo-Uselu road contract, Ogiemwonyi cautions Oshiomhole
Minister of State for Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi, has cautioned Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, not to politicise the termination of the Ugbowo-Uselu road contract.
A statement at the weekend by Chief Press Secretary to the minister, Taye Akinyemi, urged Oshimhole “not to unduly politicise just for the purpose of gaining undue publicity”.
It said the ministry needed to state the facts of the case so that an issue that concerns the welfare and wellbeing of ordinary Nigerians was not unduly politicised just for the purpose of gaining undue publicity.
The statement reads in party: “It is on record that the Federal Government has put in place a policy that encourages state governments to undertake repairs/reconstruction of roads within their jurisdiction in the effort to strengthen and sustain infrastructural development across the country.
“It is also on record that many state governments across the nation have taken advantage of this policy and are working in close collaboration with the ministry in the endeavour to improve our road network.
“However, this policy is hinged on the fact that before commencement of work on each project on federal roads, approval must be sought and obtained from the ministry and each project must be carried out in compliance with the ministry’s specification and standard.
“It is in the light of the above that the Hon. Minister of State for Works, Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, only reiterated an existing government policy.
“It is therefore unexpected that an issue meant to strengthen an existing government policy could be given so many interpretations that defy simple logic.
“Since public private partnership is a policy of government, it would appear contradictory to discourage any authority or ministry, department and agency from implementing projects that would enhance the quality of life of the citizenry.
A statement at the weekend by Chief Press Secretary to the minister, Taye Akinyemi, urged Oshimhole “not to unduly politicise just for the purpose of gaining undue publicity”.
It said the ministry needed to state the facts of the case so that an issue that concerns the welfare and wellbeing of ordinary Nigerians was not unduly politicised just for the purpose of gaining undue publicity.
The statement reads in party: “It is on record that the Federal Government has put in place a policy that encourages state governments to undertake repairs/reconstruction of roads within their jurisdiction in the effort to strengthen and sustain infrastructural development across the country.
“It is also on record that many state governments across the nation have taken advantage of this policy and are working in close collaboration with the ministry in the endeavour to improve our road network.
“However, this policy is hinged on the fact that before commencement of work on each project on federal roads, approval must be sought and obtained from the ministry and each project must be carried out in compliance with the ministry’s specification and standard.
“It is in the light of the above that the Hon. Minister of State for Works, Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, only reiterated an existing government policy.
“It is therefore unexpected that an issue meant to strengthen an existing government policy could be given so many interpretations that defy simple logic.
“Since public private partnership is a policy of government, it would appear contradictory to discourage any authority or ministry, department and agency from implementing projects that would enhance the quality of life of the citizenry.
N138m debt: Bank may sell ex-minister’s property
A mortgage bank, Aso Savings and Loans Limited, has threatened to sell the property of a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Ibrahim Kazaure, at No. 75, 4th Avenue, Gwarimpa II Estate following the alleged inability of the ex-minister to repay a N138m debt.
The bank’s position was contained in a letter from its lawyers, Ugwu-Anichi & Co. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Punch on Monday. The mortgage bank had accused the former minister of not re-paying the loan in spite of repeated demands, since he took the loan in 2008.
Kazaure, a former Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, had mortgaged the residential property as collateral for the loan.
In the letter dated December 22, 2010, Kazaure, a former chairman of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, obtained the loan in two tranches of N32m in January to purchase the property located in upscale Gwarimpa Estate, Abuja, where he is now resident and another N68m to complete a residential building in Kano in December, 2008.
But the ex-minister was said to have failed to re-pay the N100m loan and the accrued interest, which had risen to N138,897, 303.73 as at December 14, 2010.
THE PUNCH learnt that the decision to sell the house was the bank’s last resort, as efforts by its officials, including letters and personal visits, to get the former ambassador to repay the loan were not successful.
In one instance, officials of the bank were said to have visited him in his office while he was still minister to plead with him to re-pay the debt. They said it was leading to queries by external auditors and examiners from the Central Bank of Nigeria, but he allegedly walked them out of his office for having the effrontery to demand the re-payment of the debt.
The bank also sent him another demand letter after he was removed from the cabinet by President Goodluck Jonathan, to which he responded with a request to be given 90 days from August 19, 2010 to re-pay the debt.
“I would like to plead with you to allow me to finish and sell some of my properties undergoing renovation, i.e. one of my duplexes in (Sun City), No 1 Benue Street and others in another location. I would be very grateful if allowed a time of 90 days within which all this processes will be completed,” Kazaure pleaded in his letter to his creditor.
The bank’s position was contained in a letter from its lawyers, Ugwu-Anichi & Co. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Punch on Monday. The mortgage bank had accused the former minister of not re-paying the loan in spite of repeated demands, since he took the loan in 2008.
Kazaure, a former Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, had mortgaged the residential property as collateral for the loan.
In the letter dated December 22, 2010, Kazaure, a former chairman of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, obtained the loan in two tranches of N32m in January to purchase the property located in upscale Gwarimpa Estate, Abuja, where he is now resident and another N68m to complete a residential building in Kano in December, 2008.
But the ex-minister was said to have failed to re-pay the N100m loan and the accrued interest, which had risen to N138,897, 303.73 as at December 14, 2010.
THE PUNCH learnt that the decision to sell the house was the bank’s last resort, as efforts by its officials, including letters and personal visits, to get the former ambassador to repay the loan were not successful.
In one instance, officials of the bank were said to have visited him in his office while he was still minister to plead with him to re-pay the debt. They said it was leading to queries by external auditors and examiners from the Central Bank of Nigeria, but he allegedly walked them out of his office for having the effrontery to demand the re-payment of the debt.
The bank also sent him another demand letter after he was removed from the cabinet by President Goodluck Jonathan, to which he responded with a request to be given 90 days from August 19, 2010 to re-pay the debt.
“I would like to plead with you to allow me to finish and sell some of my properties undergoing renovation, i.e. one of my duplexes in (Sun City), No 1 Benue Street and others in another location. I would be very grateful if allowed a time of 90 days within which all this processes will be completed,” Kazaure pleaded in his letter to his creditor.
DPO killed Pregnant Woman, Baby
The Sunday Trust of 26 December, 2010 carried the distressing story of how the brutality of a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Rigasa neighbourhood of Kaduna led to the death of a nine-month pregnant woman, Binta, and her baby.
Binta’s painful journey to death, as reported in the paper, started when her three year old child lost a slippers belonging to a co-tenant who used the opportunity to insult Binta continuously. For the sake of peace, Binta bought a pair of new slippers and sent it to the co-tenant. Instead of receiving it and let the matter die, the co-tenant beat the daughter who took the slippers to her and also engaged the nine-month old Binta in a fight. By the time she was done, Binta was bleeding.
Not satisfied that she has beaten the hell out of Binta, she went to the divisional police office and lodged a complaint that Binta has fought her. The DPO ordered three policemen to arrest Binta immediately. She was taken to the police station and detained all night in spite of pleas from her relations and husband. The complainant was not arrested.
When the police realised that her condition may lead to death, they called her brother whose name they found on her cell phone. With him, the police conveyed her to a nearby clinic in a police van. The clinic declined to treat her seeing her condition and referred them to Yusuf Dantsoho General Hospital at Tudun Wada, Kaduna. There, Binta gave birth to a baby girl who died five minutes later. And Binta too died that evening.
The husband called the DPO on phone and told him that he, the DPO, has killed his wife. It was then the DPO ordered the arrest of the complainant who is renowned in the neighbourhood for her quarrels. It was too late. She has run away.
A number of things made this story very sad. One, the brutality and subsequent death was over a bathroom slippers of just N80 (50 cents)!. The DPO should have reconciled the two instead of killing one of them and her baby.
Two, relatives of the deceased begged for Binta’s bail but the DPO denied it and insisted on incarcerating the woman even as she was bleeding from the beating she received from the complainant. He was so heartless an animal that he even refused to allow her drink water which she asked the husband to provide her with.
Three, unlike Maimuna who survived her serial rape to demand for justice, Binta did not survive to even tell her story, let alone demand for justice. Nor would her baby girl know the circumstance that killed her mother, for the baby died immediately after her birth.
Four, the response of the Kaduna Police Command is most irresponsible. All it did was to transfer the DPO to another division, as if he did nothing wrong. The Commissioner of Police even refused to answer a question raised by a journalist about the incident at a press conference. The command is keeping the result of the autopsy hidden.
This story, like that of Maimuna, epitomises the callousness of many in the Nigerian Police. By the refusal of the Kaduna command to sanction the DPO, the Police have clearly chosen to side with him in the case. It is not worth any punishment, in their judgement. The police by their action are asking the nation the following questions: So what, if a Nigerian loses his life in a police cell? How many such deaths happen across the country every day in police cells? Why would Binta’s be different even to warrant a whole oga DPO to be reprimanded? It is normal!
It is this camaraderie that damages the police beyond correction. The good among them are not ready to punish or expose the bad. The guilty is hidden and protected, unless he is inconsequential when he will be used as a sacrificial lamb. That is why Inspector Dantalle escaped from being charged in Kano despite his participation in the rape of Maimuna. The girl insists that he too raped her. But the police commissioner only demoted him to sergeant. Nigerian Police Force!
The police should not therefore blame the public for any generalisation. The Police force is one of the worst institutions of government in Nigeria and one of the worst human rights violators in the world. There is no crime that its personnel have not been committing in this country. They rape the vulnerable; they kill at the slightest provocation; many have been caught in armed robbery; they provide politicians with the security cover to rig elections and harass the opposition; they extort money from drivers; they hesitate to provide security to civilians when their help is needed; just name it. Only few people were able to come outsatisfied after having any business with the Nigerian Police.
The only two explanations they give to their incapacity are their inadequate numbers and lack of sophisticated equipment. If we may ask, did the DPO in Rigasa need three policemen to arrest a pregnant woman? Did he need any equipment to detain her in her bleeding state under the subhuman conditions of the Nigerian police cell, without food or water? All he needed to do was to behave like a human being, not an animal who is animated by the little bribe from a complainant to kill an innocent mother and her baby. It is that humanity that is missing in the Nigerian police. Its personnel could freely engage in human right abuses with impunity. And because their officer corps is raised through such a regime of violations it hardly reprimands its subordinates for any misdeed. Instead, the subordinate is encouraged by the assurance of espirit de corps to violate the rights of Nigerians again and again. The police have lost the power and wisdom of self-control.
The image of the police is in its hands. It can improve it by standing up to those who violate its ethics among its rank and file, if it likes. Who is surprised that the DPO of Kwali before whom the complaint of Maimuna’s rape and sex-slavery was brought pleaded with her relations to “forgive his men”? Who is surprised that the Police command in Kano has not reprimanded him too? They have grown through the rank and file of one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. They cannot be different. Ringim has the arduous task of proving himself different by changing the pattern of behaviour of his officers. He must punish where punishment is desired. He must show his men that Nigerians are more important than the uniforms the police wear.
On our part, I think Nigerians have been handling the police with kid’s gloves. We let them go with literally anything. We call ourselves educated when we do not even know the basic elements of our rights. There are institutions we can use to seek redress, not simply sitting down and crying before a newspaper reporter. The judiciary is there. Nobody is above it. What stops victims from lodging their complaints immediately their rights are violated with public complaint commissions, with their elected representatives, with their pastors and imams, with the human rights groups in their states, with just anyone they revere?
The police, for example, shiver at the sight of a lawyer and immediately start to do the right thing. Why do we fail to avail ourselves with the services of lawyers? If the victim cannot afford one, what of the state legal aid that offers free legal services just as does the NBA to such poor victims? Going public should even be the last resort, though the radio and the newspapers have been forthcoming here.
Educating us on our legal rights I think is the best contribution any government or private agency can offer towards curtailing these abuses. It will yield more dividends than concentrating on the present approach that is largely post-mortem and very costly. Let people know that where the police are involved in a violation, very little would naturally come out from them. They cannot be judges in their own course. This is a basic presumption in law. Recourse must be found in avenues outside the rotten department. Had the relatives of Maimuna not sought the help of the Hisbah and human rights groups in Kano, her case would not have been heard by the world. The police would have suppressed it as they suppressed millions of human rights abuses before. Even now, I agree that a more prudent independent investigation needs to be carried out by an independent body on Maimuna's case as suggested by many contributors.
Since the story of Binta broke out last Sunday, I have been in contact with Sister Maryam Uwais to learn what the women groups can offer on this. Fortunately, she has been in the picture too and has discussed it with Hajiya Saudatu Sani of WRAPA. Maryam also assured me via email that “FIDA, PSC, the NHRC and a few other NGOs have also joined WRAPA in ascertaining the fact in the Rigasa matter, which is the first step.”
The DPO in Rigasa was instrumental to the death of Binta. He should be charged with voluntary homicide. Simple. Binta did not need to be his mother before he could know that a bleeding pregnant woman requires urgent medical attention, not detention in a filthy police dungeon. His classroom training must have told him that his most important duty as a policeman is the protection of life, not destroying it. Here, he chose to destroy both the mother and her baby. His training also must have taught him the principle of fair hearing, the right for the accused to be heard before he is charged.
It is, however, regrettable that his practice taught him something different. It taught him to take bribe, take sides and kill the life. In addition, it taught him that he is a sacred cow.
Not this time. After killing his victim, the coward rushed to cover his ass by ordering the arrest of the complainant and seeking a transfer. He got it. But Binta too will get justice, even in her grave. The cow must be slaughtered this time. Let the coward be rest assured.
This case makes me to suggest the formation of an NGO that would specifically address issues bordering on police human rights abuses. It can be called “Friends of the NPF” or any other suitable word because the Police force cannot have better friends than members of such organisation. The police should not see this as a threat but rather as an aid that will help them solve one of their most pressing problems. Saving the police from itself must concern every Nigerian, in my estimation. The abuses are just too many and endemic for the force to extricate itself from. It requires a concerted external pressure. The cases are also too many for existing NGOs to be tackling while they also address their primary areas of concern.
The funding of such a group should come from individuals, groups and the government, which can channel its own through the NHRC and the police departmental vote. Such a group should be composed of human right lawyers, interested ex-police officers with proven integrity, human rights groups, community leaders in its branches and interested individuals. It could even be formed jointly by human rights groups. I hope readers will help to refine this rudimentary idea and go ahead to source the people who would be ready to follow it up to fruition
Binta’s painful journey to death, as reported in the paper, started when her three year old child lost a slippers belonging to a co-tenant who used the opportunity to insult Binta continuously. For the sake of peace, Binta bought a pair of new slippers and sent it to the co-tenant. Instead of receiving it and let the matter die, the co-tenant beat the daughter who took the slippers to her and also engaged the nine-month old Binta in a fight. By the time she was done, Binta was bleeding.
Not satisfied that she has beaten the hell out of Binta, she went to the divisional police office and lodged a complaint that Binta has fought her. The DPO ordered three policemen to arrest Binta immediately. She was taken to the police station and detained all night in spite of pleas from her relations and husband. The complainant was not arrested.
When the police realised that her condition may lead to death, they called her brother whose name they found on her cell phone. With him, the police conveyed her to a nearby clinic in a police van. The clinic declined to treat her seeing her condition and referred them to Yusuf Dantsoho General Hospital at Tudun Wada, Kaduna. There, Binta gave birth to a baby girl who died five minutes later. And Binta too died that evening.
The husband called the DPO on phone and told him that he, the DPO, has killed his wife. It was then the DPO ordered the arrest of the complainant who is renowned in the neighbourhood for her quarrels. It was too late. She has run away.
A number of things made this story very sad. One, the brutality and subsequent death was over a bathroom slippers of just N80 (50 cents)!. The DPO should have reconciled the two instead of killing one of them and her baby.
Two, relatives of the deceased begged for Binta’s bail but the DPO denied it and insisted on incarcerating the woman even as she was bleeding from the beating she received from the complainant. He was so heartless an animal that he even refused to allow her drink water which she asked the husband to provide her with.
Three, unlike Maimuna who survived her serial rape to demand for justice, Binta did not survive to even tell her story, let alone demand for justice. Nor would her baby girl know the circumstance that killed her mother, for the baby died immediately after her birth.
Four, the response of the Kaduna Police Command is most irresponsible. All it did was to transfer the DPO to another division, as if he did nothing wrong. The Commissioner of Police even refused to answer a question raised by a journalist about the incident at a press conference. The command is keeping the result of the autopsy hidden.
This story, like that of Maimuna, epitomises the callousness of many in the Nigerian Police. By the refusal of the Kaduna command to sanction the DPO, the Police have clearly chosen to side with him in the case. It is not worth any punishment, in their judgement. The police by their action are asking the nation the following questions: So what, if a Nigerian loses his life in a police cell? How many such deaths happen across the country every day in police cells? Why would Binta’s be different even to warrant a whole oga DPO to be reprimanded? It is normal!
It is this camaraderie that damages the police beyond correction. The good among them are not ready to punish or expose the bad. The guilty is hidden and protected, unless he is inconsequential when he will be used as a sacrificial lamb. That is why Inspector Dantalle escaped from being charged in Kano despite his participation in the rape of Maimuna. The girl insists that he too raped her. But the police commissioner only demoted him to sergeant. Nigerian Police Force!
The police should not therefore blame the public for any generalisation. The Police force is one of the worst institutions of government in Nigeria and one of the worst human rights violators in the world. There is no crime that its personnel have not been committing in this country. They rape the vulnerable; they kill at the slightest provocation; many have been caught in armed robbery; they provide politicians with the security cover to rig elections and harass the opposition; they extort money from drivers; they hesitate to provide security to civilians when their help is needed; just name it. Only few people were able to come outsatisfied after having any business with the Nigerian Police.
The only two explanations they give to their incapacity are their inadequate numbers and lack of sophisticated equipment. If we may ask, did the DPO in Rigasa need three policemen to arrest a pregnant woman? Did he need any equipment to detain her in her bleeding state under the subhuman conditions of the Nigerian police cell, without food or water? All he needed to do was to behave like a human being, not an animal who is animated by the little bribe from a complainant to kill an innocent mother and her baby. It is that humanity that is missing in the Nigerian police. Its personnel could freely engage in human right abuses with impunity. And because their officer corps is raised through such a regime of violations it hardly reprimands its subordinates for any misdeed. Instead, the subordinate is encouraged by the assurance of espirit de corps to violate the rights of Nigerians again and again. The police have lost the power and wisdom of self-control.
The image of the police is in its hands. It can improve it by standing up to those who violate its ethics among its rank and file, if it likes. Who is surprised that the DPO of Kwali before whom the complaint of Maimuna’s rape and sex-slavery was brought pleaded with her relations to “forgive his men”? Who is surprised that the Police command in Kano has not reprimanded him too? They have grown through the rank and file of one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. They cannot be different. Ringim has the arduous task of proving himself different by changing the pattern of behaviour of his officers. He must punish where punishment is desired. He must show his men that Nigerians are more important than the uniforms the police wear.
On our part, I think Nigerians have been handling the police with kid’s gloves. We let them go with literally anything. We call ourselves educated when we do not even know the basic elements of our rights. There are institutions we can use to seek redress, not simply sitting down and crying before a newspaper reporter. The judiciary is there. Nobody is above it. What stops victims from lodging their complaints immediately their rights are violated with public complaint commissions, with their elected representatives, with their pastors and imams, with the human rights groups in their states, with just anyone they revere?
The police, for example, shiver at the sight of a lawyer and immediately start to do the right thing. Why do we fail to avail ourselves with the services of lawyers? If the victim cannot afford one, what of the state legal aid that offers free legal services just as does the NBA to such poor victims? Going public should even be the last resort, though the radio and the newspapers have been forthcoming here.
Educating us on our legal rights I think is the best contribution any government or private agency can offer towards curtailing these abuses. It will yield more dividends than concentrating on the present approach that is largely post-mortem and very costly. Let people know that where the police are involved in a violation, very little would naturally come out from them. They cannot be judges in their own course. This is a basic presumption in law. Recourse must be found in avenues outside the rotten department. Had the relatives of Maimuna not sought the help of the Hisbah and human rights groups in Kano, her case would not have been heard by the world. The police would have suppressed it as they suppressed millions of human rights abuses before. Even now, I agree that a more prudent independent investigation needs to be carried out by an independent body on Maimuna's case as suggested by many contributors.
Since the story of Binta broke out last Sunday, I have been in contact with Sister Maryam Uwais to learn what the women groups can offer on this. Fortunately, she has been in the picture too and has discussed it with Hajiya Saudatu Sani of WRAPA. Maryam also assured me via email that “FIDA, PSC, the NHRC and a few other NGOs have also joined WRAPA in ascertaining the fact in the Rigasa matter, which is the first step.”
The DPO in Rigasa was instrumental to the death of Binta. He should be charged with voluntary homicide. Simple. Binta did not need to be his mother before he could know that a bleeding pregnant woman requires urgent medical attention, not detention in a filthy police dungeon. His classroom training must have told him that his most important duty as a policeman is the protection of life, not destroying it. Here, he chose to destroy both the mother and her baby. His training also must have taught him the principle of fair hearing, the right for the accused to be heard before he is charged.
It is, however, regrettable that his practice taught him something different. It taught him to take bribe, take sides and kill the life. In addition, it taught him that he is a sacred cow.
Not this time. After killing his victim, the coward rushed to cover his ass by ordering the arrest of the complainant and seeking a transfer. He got it. But Binta too will get justice, even in her grave. The cow must be slaughtered this time. Let the coward be rest assured.
This case makes me to suggest the formation of an NGO that would specifically address issues bordering on police human rights abuses. It can be called “Friends of the NPF” or any other suitable word because the Police force cannot have better friends than members of such organisation. The police should not see this as a threat but rather as an aid that will help them solve one of their most pressing problems. Saving the police from itself must concern every Nigerian, in my estimation. The abuses are just too many and endemic for the force to extricate itself from. It requires a concerted external pressure. The cases are also too many for existing NGOs to be tackling while they also address their primary areas of concern.
The funding of such a group should come from individuals, groups and the government, which can channel its own through the NHRC and the police departmental vote. Such a group should be composed of human right lawyers, interested ex-police officers with proven integrity, human rights groups, community leaders in its branches and interested individuals. It could even be formed jointly by human rights groups. I hope readers will help to refine this rudimentary idea and go ahead to source the people who would be ready to follow it up to fruition
NIGERIA WILL DO WELL IF YOU TAKE GOD OUT OF THE COUNTRY
"…The President's capability: Human capability is zero without God's approval. In many of his speeches and on his Facebook, President GEJ has always acknowledged his dependence on God to accomplish whatever is designed for him to accomplish for Nigeria . Let us join him to pray for divine guidance. His faith in God will lead him to do the good works that will move Nigeria forward…"
If Nigerians would take God out of the country all would be well with the country. Just consider the number of places of worship in Lagos and Abuja ; churches, mosques, tabernacles, synagogues, temples, etc and the number of the congregations in these places of worship and you would be very much amazed. Now think of prayers said before any bus leaves any place, any car is turned on, before schools, before football games, before one opens one's shop and other activities. It is safe to say that Nigerians spend at least one hour a day in prayer.
Folks that is 140 million hours per day.
Even a deaf God would have heard our prayers. So I venture to assert that what is going on in Nigeria is the wish of God or that God does not answer prayers or that God despises Nigerian prayers.
Take your pick.
Please read Mr. Ayeni's quote above. He says that GEJ depends on God to accomplish what he is doing. I take that to be true. So take GEJ's accomplishments (name them one-by-one) and you will see the efficacy of praying to God in Nigeria . I think that OBJ also worked with God. Count OBJ's accomplishments and if you fail to come to the conclusion that God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform in Nigeria , then you are blind. The size of our electric output; the quality of our roads and education; the quality of our hospitals and death rates; and a long list of our accomplishments are the answers of God's mercies to our prayers.
If we were to take God out of these places of worship, we would have a different Nigeria . The Val Ojo's of the world would see what they have been asking for. Such good things as kidnapping would disappear, the so called corruption which is nothing but a way for people to provide for their families would be things of the past; students would be tortured by teachers who would no longer be able to go "on strikes" but would be there to demand endless home work from tired students; food would be abundant leading to the sin of gluttony and to over population, a condition that one Ola Kassim has been preaching endlessly against.
Take God out of Nigeria and see the country roar!
If Nigerians would take God out of the country all would be well with the country. Just consider the number of places of worship in Lagos and Abuja ; churches, mosques, tabernacles, synagogues, temples, etc and the number of the congregations in these places of worship and you would be very much amazed. Now think of prayers said before any bus leaves any place, any car is turned on, before schools, before football games, before one opens one's shop and other activities. It is safe to say that Nigerians spend at least one hour a day in prayer.
Folks that is 140 million hours per day.
Even a deaf God would have heard our prayers. So I venture to assert that what is going on in Nigeria is the wish of God or that God does not answer prayers or that God despises Nigerian prayers.
Take your pick.
Please read Mr. Ayeni's quote above. He says that GEJ depends on God to accomplish what he is doing. I take that to be true. So take GEJ's accomplishments (name them one-by-one) and you will see the efficacy of praying to God in Nigeria . I think that OBJ also worked with God. Count OBJ's accomplishments and if you fail to come to the conclusion that God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform in Nigeria , then you are blind. The size of our electric output; the quality of our roads and education; the quality of our hospitals and death rates; and a long list of our accomplishments are the answers of God's mercies to our prayers.
If we were to take God out of these places of worship, we would have a different Nigeria . The Val Ojo's of the world would see what they have been asking for. Such good things as kidnapping would disappear, the so called corruption which is nothing but a way for people to provide for their families would be things of the past; students would be tortured by teachers who would no longer be able to go "on strikes" but would be there to demand endless home work from tired students; food would be abundant leading to the sin of gluttony and to over population, a condition that one Ola Kassim has been preaching endlessly against.
Take God out of Nigeria and see the country roar!
HELEN UKPABIO LOSES WITCHCRAFT CASE AGAINST ACTIVISTS
In what might signal the end of her reign of terror over child right's activist in Nigeria. Helen Ukpabio has had her court case dismissed. The controversial female evangelist who has been accused by human rights organisation for being the arrow head in the persecution and abuse of children on account of their being falsely labeled witches and wizards, had to come to terms with her 1st legal defeat in the hands of a judge at Calabar.
Helen Ukpabio is known to justify and encourage child witch hunting by quoting a particular scripture verse from the Bible , " suffer not a witch to live". Her controversial film "end of days", has been condemned by both orthodox and pentecostal churches as being a false manipulative christian document laced with fear and sensational error.
Last week neither Helen Ukpabio's erroneous interpretation of the Bible nor her questionable annointing could save her from the hands of Justice P.J Nneke, a judge at the Federal High Court in Calabar.
Helen Ukpabio had made an application enforcing her rights against The Akwa Ibom State Government, The Commissioner of Police Cross River State, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Leo Igwe ( Nigerian Humanist Movement), Sam Itauma (Child's Rights and Rehabilitation Network) and Gary Foxtrot ( Stepping Stones).
The application was brought after Helen Ukpabio's supporters were alleged to have invaded, raided, assaulted and stolen the personal properties of Leo Igwe at a symposium organised to defend persecuted children. Even though her supporters carried out the assault, she brought an application to enforce her rights. Helen Ukpabio's application was dismissed outright, she was also charged to pay 20,000 naira as legal costs.
Leo Igwe rejoicing at the dismissal of Helen Ukpabio's application said Ukpabios response to their symposium was an illegal one, so it is wonderful news that her case against us has been dismissed".
It is not quite clear what Helen Ukpabio will do next, but the evangelist who enjoys courting controversy always organizes an end of year "catch the witches conference". Every time I am in Nigeria for Christmas, large billboards of her casting out witches adorn a major highway called Calabar Itu Road.
The government have had to pull down these bill boards in the past. Am hoping the loss of this case will cause her to sober up and will encourage her to engage in more Productive Positive Humanitarian Christian Projects.
Helen Ukpabio, may want to adorn herself with a Santa Claus costume and visit some of these children with gifts, because Love still remains the greatest message she can preach to authenticate her calling.
It was widely reported she was physically attacked recently in a western country by sympathizers of stigmatized children.
Helen Ukpabio is known to justify and encourage child witch hunting by quoting a particular scripture verse from the Bible , " suffer not a witch to live". Her controversial film "end of days", has been condemned by both orthodox and pentecostal churches as being a false manipulative christian document laced with fear and sensational error.
Last week neither Helen Ukpabio's erroneous interpretation of the Bible nor her questionable annointing could save her from the hands of Justice P.J Nneke, a judge at the Federal High Court in Calabar.
Helen Ukpabio had made an application enforcing her rights against The Akwa Ibom State Government, The Commissioner of Police Cross River State, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Leo Igwe ( Nigerian Humanist Movement), Sam Itauma (Child's Rights and Rehabilitation Network) and Gary Foxtrot ( Stepping Stones).
The application was brought after Helen Ukpabio's supporters were alleged to have invaded, raided, assaulted and stolen the personal properties of Leo Igwe at a symposium organised to defend persecuted children. Even though her supporters carried out the assault, she brought an application to enforce her rights. Helen Ukpabio's application was dismissed outright, she was also charged to pay 20,000 naira as legal costs.
Leo Igwe rejoicing at the dismissal of Helen Ukpabio's application said Ukpabios response to their symposium was an illegal one, so it is wonderful news that her case against us has been dismissed".
It is not quite clear what Helen Ukpabio will do next, but the evangelist who enjoys courting controversy always organizes an end of year "catch the witches conference". Every time I am in Nigeria for Christmas, large billboards of her casting out witches adorn a major highway called Calabar Itu Road.
The government have had to pull down these bill boards in the past. Am hoping the loss of this case will cause her to sober up and will encourage her to engage in more Productive Positive Humanitarian Christian Projects.
Helen Ukpabio, may want to adorn herself with a Santa Claus costume and visit some of these children with gifts, because Love still remains the greatest message she can preach to authenticate her calling.
It was widely reported she was physically attacked recently in a western country by sympathizers of stigmatized children.
Mr. Sambo chickens out
On Christmas Eve, the disheartening ethno-religious crisis in Jos flared anew. Several bomb blasts went off in three areas of the once mild-mannered city, killing at least 32 people. The bloodletting was a tragic interlude at a time of celebration and good cheer.
As with many outbreaks of violence throughout our benighted land, the conflict in Jos had hitherto featured crude weapons, especially machetes. About the most sophisticated weapons deployed were guns of various kinds.
But now bombs have, perhaps inevitably, been brought to bear. This follows the usual trajectory of violent conflict in our country. Punches and stabbings mutate into guns and the burning of property. Then routine murder begins to take root as warring sides, in the absence of any government, surrender all inhibition. Unreason begins to rule. The Niger Delta, typically, has demonstrated how violent conflict evolves to near unmanageability. First, foreigners are kidnapped but never harmed. Then they are injured and sometimes killed. Then Nigerians are targeted, almost exclusively adults. Then the dragnet spreads to the elderly and even children. A line is crossed. The codes governing society are shredded and all bets are off.
As we all know, from bitter experience, the corrosive effects of violence almost inevitably send society plunging deeper and deeper into the abyss. Bombings used to be limited to the Delta. Then one or two installations in Lagos are bombed.
Then on Independence Day this year the heart of Abuja, the nation’s capital, is targeted for a bombing attack against innocents.
Now it’s Jos’ turn.
One by one, the dominoes fall in our country. Having been brutalised and forced to endure cold-blooded murder, the disoriented youth who populate Boko Haram have now resorted to murdering public officials throughout the north east. The Igbo states of the south east have completely collapsed into ungovernability.
Kidnapping is rampant. Thugs have ascended into the corridors of power. Civilisation recedes step by step. Our communities are, in effect, reclaimed by the bush.
The underlying cause of all this violence throughout the country is the utter absence of effective government. It is safe to say that every part of our country is roughly equally mismanaged, leaving ordinary citizens vulnerable to the rapacity of the political and business elite. Inequality is as obscene as can be found in the world’s worst societies. Every Nigerian feels s/he is alone to fend for self as best as can be managed. It’s a Hobbesian jungle out there, and sooner or later something will give.
The utter failure of government to make even the lamest symbolic moves is underscored by the fecklessness of Vice President Namadi Sambo, who was scheduled to make a perfunctory visit to Jos yesterday, Dec. 27, to commiserate with the victims and perhaps make the usual empty promises.
Mr. Sambo, it turns out, cannot even manage that much. At the very last minute, the vice president shelved his visit on account of what officials described as ‘unfavourable security reports.’ That’s right: unfavourable security reports! What conditions did Mr. Sambo expect in a city in which citizens cannot even be protected by their government, in which they are shot and knifed and bombed daily? In which their children cannot go to school, their homes and businesses cannot be safeguarded from rampaging hordes, their places of worship and their farms and public places are subject to razing at any time?
The Jonathan/Sambo government has not shown itself capable of governing, any more than the Yar’Adua/Jonathan government concerned itself with the business of running the country.
We are and we remain citizens abandoned to our fate. It is up to us, not these pretenders to the business of leadership, to figure out a way to make our country right again.
Mr. Sambo is highly unlikely to be a part of that effort at renewal.
As with many outbreaks of violence throughout our benighted land, the conflict in Jos had hitherto featured crude weapons, especially machetes. About the most sophisticated weapons deployed were guns of various kinds.
But now bombs have, perhaps inevitably, been brought to bear. This follows the usual trajectory of violent conflict in our country. Punches and stabbings mutate into guns and the burning of property. Then routine murder begins to take root as warring sides, in the absence of any government, surrender all inhibition. Unreason begins to rule. The Niger Delta, typically, has demonstrated how violent conflict evolves to near unmanageability. First, foreigners are kidnapped but never harmed. Then they are injured and sometimes killed. Then Nigerians are targeted, almost exclusively adults. Then the dragnet spreads to the elderly and even children. A line is crossed. The codes governing society are shredded and all bets are off.
As we all know, from bitter experience, the corrosive effects of violence almost inevitably send society plunging deeper and deeper into the abyss. Bombings used to be limited to the Delta. Then one or two installations in Lagos are bombed.
Then on Independence Day this year the heart of Abuja, the nation’s capital, is targeted for a bombing attack against innocents.
Now it’s Jos’ turn.
One by one, the dominoes fall in our country. Having been brutalised and forced to endure cold-blooded murder, the disoriented youth who populate Boko Haram have now resorted to murdering public officials throughout the north east. The Igbo states of the south east have completely collapsed into ungovernability.
Kidnapping is rampant. Thugs have ascended into the corridors of power. Civilisation recedes step by step. Our communities are, in effect, reclaimed by the bush.
The underlying cause of all this violence throughout the country is the utter absence of effective government. It is safe to say that every part of our country is roughly equally mismanaged, leaving ordinary citizens vulnerable to the rapacity of the political and business elite. Inequality is as obscene as can be found in the world’s worst societies. Every Nigerian feels s/he is alone to fend for self as best as can be managed. It’s a Hobbesian jungle out there, and sooner or later something will give.
The utter failure of government to make even the lamest symbolic moves is underscored by the fecklessness of Vice President Namadi Sambo, who was scheduled to make a perfunctory visit to Jos yesterday, Dec. 27, to commiserate with the victims and perhaps make the usual empty promises.
Mr. Sambo, it turns out, cannot even manage that much. At the very last minute, the vice president shelved his visit on account of what officials described as ‘unfavourable security reports.’ That’s right: unfavourable security reports! What conditions did Mr. Sambo expect in a city in which citizens cannot even be protected by their government, in which they are shot and knifed and bombed daily? In which their children cannot go to school, their homes and businesses cannot be safeguarded from rampaging hordes, their places of worship and their farms and public places are subject to razing at any time?
The Jonathan/Sambo government has not shown itself capable of governing, any more than the Yar’Adua/Jonathan government concerned itself with the business of running the country.
We are and we remain citizens abandoned to our fate. It is up to us, not these pretenders to the business of leadership, to figure out a way to make our country right again.
Mr. Sambo is highly unlikely to be a part of that effort at renewal.
IS THIS A NATION WITH ONE DESTINY ? IS THIS WHAT TO EXPECT ?
A STATEMENT REGARDING JOS AND BORNO ATTACKS
In the name of Allah the mighty Who has power over everything, Who made fighting the disbelievers an obligation until justice is established on earth.
May peace and blessings continue to be upon the last messenger who wage jihad, the best of it.
O Nations of the World, be informed that verily the attacks in Suldaniyya (Jos) and Borno on the eve of Christmas was carried out by us, JAMA’ATU AHLUS-SUNNAH LIDDA’AWATI WAL JIHAD, under the leadership of Abu Muhammad, Abubakar bin Muhammad Shekau (May Allah preserve him), to start avenging the atrocities committed against Muslims in those areas, and the country in general. Therefore we will continue with our attacks on disbelievers and their allies and all those who help them, until Allah’s deen triumph by His Grace and Will.
O Muslims! Do not forget that Allah has enjoined us to make provisions for fighting the disbelievers, and for that we are reminding you that the disbelievers of the world are fighting Islam and Muslims. So you must stand and strive to protect your religion and life.
With Peace
JAMA’ATU AHLUS-SUNNAH LIDDA’AWATI WAL JIHAD
Who is waging Jihad in the country called Nigeria.
Click here to download in Hausa. VIDEO: - download video here
http://www.mansoorah.net/sb_attacks.php
In the name of Allah the mighty Who has power over everything, Who made fighting the disbelievers an obligation until justice is established on earth.
May peace and blessings continue to be upon the last messenger who wage jihad, the best of it.
O Nations of the World, be informed that verily the attacks in Suldaniyya (Jos) and Borno on the eve of Christmas was carried out by us, JAMA’ATU AHLUS-SUNNAH LIDDA’AWATI WAL JIHAD, under the leadership of Abu Muhammad, Abubakar bin Muhammad Shekau (May Allah preserve him), to start avenging the atrocities committed against Muslims in those areas, and the country in general. Therefore we will continue with our attacks on disbelievers and their allies and all those who help them, until Allah’s deen triumph by His Grace and Will.
O Muslims! Do not forget that Allah has enjoined us to make provisions for fighting the disbelievers, and for that we are reminding you that the disbelievers of the world are fighting Islam and Muslims. So you must stand and strive to protect your religion and life.
With Peace
JAMA’ATU AHLUS-SUNNAH LIDDA’AWATI WAL JIHAD
Who is waging Jihad in the country called Nigeria.
Click here to download in Hausa. VIDEO: - download video here
http://www.mansoorah.net/sb_attacks.php
DELTA STATE GOVERNORSHIP RE-RUN ELECTION: LET YOUR VOTE COUNT
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has just announced that the court ordered Delta state re-run election will hold on 6th January, 2011.
We wish to call on all Anioma people registered to vote to guard their voter's card very jealously and use it judiciously in their choice of credible governorship candidate in the January 6, 2011 re-run election. In making your choice, it is important to note that whosoever you decide as governor may take charge of the affairs of Delta state, and therefore your lives and wellbeing and those of your children for the next four years. You should therefore use your votes wisely and not be tempted by temporary gains, but consider your long term future and those of your children and kinsmen and women in deciding who you elect in this crucial election, coming up in about on January 6, 2011.
The foundation would also advice all Anioma people to not only vote, but to also defend their votes and prevent a situation where their votes are stolen, or are not counted as was the case in the 2007 cancelled election. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, "No man is good enough to rule or govern over another without his consent"...
Our Anioma young people should not be tempted, by immediate trifle gains offered by election riggers, to be used in carrying out fraudulent electoral practices as the long term pain of dubious electoral mandate hurts the people more, since the carriers of those fraudulent mandate(s) will feel unaccountable and unconcerned about the plight of the people whose votes they feel are not needed to get to power.
It is time to make your votes count. Too many of our political office holders are not accountable to us - the electorate. Let's come out and vote and make our voices heard. This election re-run is no ordinary one. The votes you cast will contribute to improving your day to day living or diminishing your quality of life and that of other Anioma people. We now have the opportunity to carefully choose who we want to serve us and reject those who do not have the best interest for Anioma people.
This press release is to let you know that this election re-run is DIFFERENT AND SPECIAL because in the past people are selected and / or imposed on us but we are delighted that the CHANGE WE SEEK IS HERE and history cannot repeat itself as the good people of our State are ready for any such eventuality. Several machineries are now in place to observe and monitor this election very closely and any malpractice or any attempt to rig the result and sabotage the WILL of the people will be met with grave consequences for both the candidates and those responsible for rigging it. Umu Anioma Worldwide will be on the ground to monitor events closely.
About Umu Anioma Foundation:
Umu Anioma Foundation Inc. is a not for profit and non-partisan Organization governed by a board of directors. Umu Anioma Foundation Inc. was incorporated under Georgia law on June 11, 2010 as the apex organization representing the general interest of Anioma indigenes worldwide. Membership of Umu Anioma Foundation Inc. comprises of Anioma indigenes that are sold on the VISION of a reconstructed value system for the common good of all.
We wish to call on all Anioma people registered to vote to guard their voter's card very jealously and use it judiciously in their choice of credible governorship candidate in the January 6, 2011 re-run election. In making your choice, it is important to note that whosoever you decide as governor may take charge of the affairs of Delta state, and therefore your lives and wellbeing and those of your children for the next four years. You should therefore use your votes wisely and not be tempted by temporary gains, but consider your long term future and those of your children and kinsmen and women in deciding who you elect in this crucial election, coming up in about on January 6, 2011.
The foundation would also advice all Anioma people to not only vote, but to also defend their votes and prevent a situation where their votes are stolen, or are not counted as was the case in the 2007 cancelled election. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, "No man is good enough to rule or govern over another without his consent"...
Our Anioma young people should not be tempted, by immediate trifle gains offered by election riggers, to be used in carrying out fraudulent electoral practices as the long term pain of dubious electoral mandate hurts the people more, since the carriers of those fraudulent mandate(s) will feel unaccountable and unconcerned about the plight of the people whose votes they feel are not needed to get to power.
It is time to make your votes count. Too many of our political office holders are not accountable to us - the electorate. Let's come out and vote and make our voices heard. This election re-run is no ordinary one. The votes you cast will contribute to improving your day to day living or diminishing your quality of life and that of other Anioma people. We now have the opportunity to carefully choose who we want to serve us and reject those who do not have the best interest for Anioma people.
This press release is to let you know that this election re-run is DIFFERENT AND SPECIAL because in the past people are selected and / or imposed on us but we are delighted that the CHANGE WE SEEK IS HERE and history cannot repeat itself as the good people of our State are ready for any such eventuality. Several machineries are now in place to observe and monitor this election very closely and any malpractice or any attempt to rig the result and sabotage the WILL of the people will be met with grave consequences for both the candidates and those responsible for rigging it. Umu Anioma Worldwide will be on the ground to monitor events closely.
About Umu Anioma Foundation:
Umu Anioma Foundation Inc. is a not for profit and non-partisan Organization governed by a board of directors. Umu Anioma Foundation Inc. was incorporated under Georgia law on June 11, 2010 as the apex organization representing the general interest of Anioma indigenes worldwide. Membership of Umu Anioma Foundation Inc. comprises of Anioma indigenes that are sold on the VISION of a reconstructed value system for the common good of all.
Internal bickering can never pull PDP down.........Prince Sam obi
The acting governor of Delta state Prince Sam Obi has enjoined the PDP family in the state not to allow internal bickering tear the party apart.
Prince Obi who made the call at a meeting with Delta North PDP stakeholders in Asaba said they should not allow unfounded rumour to disorganize them.
He urged them to remain steadfast as nobody will either shortchange or frustrate their dreams and vision in the 2011 election.
“I and his Excellency Dr Uduaghan felt there was need to strengthen the record and let you know what is happening in the party”.
The acting governor commended them for their unity of purpose and resilience and promised that the party will not disappoint them.
Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan in his own speech enjoined the PDP family to work together so that opponents of the party will not penetrate and scatter the unity built over the years.
Dr Uduaghan who gave the assurance that all grey areas will be ironed out enjoined the party faithfuls to remain committed to the PDP programmes.
He appealed to them to observe the rules of the game as nobody will enjoy any preferential treatment during the primaries.
“I want us to work together as one PDP family that is why we are here to discuss as a family”.
Prince Obi who made the call at a meeting with Delta North PDP stakeholders in Asaba said they should not allow unfounded rumour to disorganize them.
He urged them to remain steadfast as nobody will either shortchange or frustrate their dreams and vision in the 2011 election.
“I and his Excellency Dr Uduaghan felt there was need to strengthen the record and let you know what is happening in the party”.
The acting governor commended them for their unity of purpose and resilience and promised that the party will not disappoint them.
Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan in his own speech enjoined the PDP family to work together so that opponents of the party will not penetrate and scatter the unity built over the years.
Dr Uduaghan who gave the assurance that all grey areas will be ironed out enjoined the party faithfuls to remain committed to the PDP programmes.
He appealed to them to observe the rules of the game as nobody will enjoy any preferential treatment during the primaries.
“I want us to work together as one PDP family that is why we are here to discuss as a family”.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Dame Patience’s English: A Case of Different Stroke….!
“Our politics is without bitterness, my husband Dr. Good luck Jonathan and Sambo is a very Good people…”
Dame Patience Good luck Ebele Jonathan. Adamawa, December 21st, 2010
Looking at some countries like China , India , Iran and Japan that have in the course of a few decades developed in the true sense of the term; I could not find any that uses foreign language as a tool for both scientific and cultural research and communication. Many have been using their indigenous languages which enable them to seamlessly attained technological break-through.
Practically speaking therefore, any country desirous of development in all facets of life must deploy its indigenous language or at least thoroughly domesticate the one imposed on it by accident of colonial history as the like of south Africans have try to do.
Whether we like it or not, English had become Nigeria ’s lingua-franca, and ever since, has been spoken by vast majority of Nigerians as a second language. But unlike local languages that come to us naturally and effortlessly; English language had to be learnt though formal tutoring. Because no matter what it remains alien and artificial to us and therefore not suitable for effective cultural, scientific and technological researches.
That was all the more reason why speakers of English as a second language will have to remain learners for life. That was also why even Wole-Soyinka, the celebrated Nigerian Nobel laureate in English literature without fear or contradiction had to constantly update his vocabularies to keep abreast of new trends.
So to me Dame Patience Ebele’s apparent poor grasp of the language’s syntax and grammar or any other person for that matter was not something laughable as to warrant castigation or casting of aspersion in so far as aims and objectives of the speaker are quite understood.
What’s incomprehensible and at the same time lamentable however has been the case of different strokes for the same offence from those who choose to castigate Hajiya Turai throughout the three or so years she served as the nation’s first lady whenever she had cause to speak in English!
Was it because she happens to be another kola-nut chewing Aboki, to borrow from her traducers, which was why she was shown no respite? At least her understanding of the language was by far more matured than that of the current first lady. But why the dead silence as if in the grave-yard, despite the notorious gaffe being committed by dame patience Good-luck in the full glare of our television screens while campaigning for her husband; something that is patently novel in the annals of Nigeria’s political arithmetic.
Equity and fairness dictates that what was good for the goose must also be good for the gander. Those who decide to lampoon Hajiya Turai Yar’adua should accord patience good luck similar treatments on account of her disastrously poor grasp of the language. Otherwise, people will read different meanings into their motives. They will also think and rightly so, that there are more to those barrage of criticisms than meet the eye!
Dame Patience Good luck Ebele Jonathan. Adamawa, December 21st, 2010
Looking at some countries like China , India , Iran and Japan that have in the course of a few decades developed in the true sense of the term; I could not find any that uses foreign language as a tool for both scientific and cultural research and communication. Many have been using their indigenous languages which enable them to seamlessly attained technological break-through.
Practically speaking therefore, any country desirous of development in all facets of life must deploy its indigenous language or at least thoroughly domesticate the one imposed on it by accident of colonial history as the like of south Africans have try to do.
Whether we like it or not, English had become Nigeria ’s lingua-franca, and ever since, has been spoken by vast majority of Nigerians as a second language. But unlike local languages that come to us naturally and effortlessly; English language had to be learnt though formal tutoring. Because no matter what it remains alien and artificial to us and therefore not suitable for effective cultural, scientific and technological researches.
That was all the more reason why speakers of English as a second language will have to remain learners for life. That was also why even Wole-Soyinka, the celebrated Nigerian Nobel laureate in English literature without fear or contradiction had to constantly update his vocabularies to keep abreast of new trends.
So to me Dame Patience Ebele’s apparent poor grasp of the language’s syntax and grammar or any other person for that matter was not something laughable as to warrant castigation or casting of aspersion in so far as aims and objectives of the speaker are quite understood.
What’s incomprehensible and at the same time lamentable however has been the case of different strokes for the same offence from those who choose to castigate Hajiya Turai throughout the three or so years she served as the nation’s first lady whenever she had cause to speak in English!
Was it because she happens to be another kola-nut chewing Aboki, to borrow from her traducers, which was why she was shown no respite? At least her understanding of the language was by far more matured than that of the current first lady. But why the dead silence as if in the grave-yard, despite the notorious gaffe being committed by dame patience Good-luck in the full glare of our television screens while campaigning for her husband; something that is patently novel in the annals of Nigeria’s political arithmetic.
Equity and fairness dictates that what was good for the goose must also be good for the gander. Those who decide to lampoon Hajiya Turai Yar’adua should accord patience good luck similar treatments on account of her disastrously poor grasp of the language. Otherwise, people will read different meanings into their motives. They will also think and rightly so, that there are more to those barrage of criticisms than meet the eye!
Road blocks and Eastern travelers
One of the greatest paradoxes of our time is the fact that Nigerian roads host more law-enforcement road-blocks per kilometre of roads than any other country in the West African sub-region.
And yet more smuggled goods manage to find their ways into the country than into any other country in the sub-region.
A testimony to this fact came recently when the Federal Government un-banned certain categories of goods like motor vehicles, used clothing and other consumables on the grounds that government was losing taxable revenues due to it through the activities of smugglers who routinely ferried in these prohibited items.
Which leads to the question: How is it possible that smugglers are able to run rings round all the law-enforcement check-points on our roads and border posts? The simple answer which government has belatedly acknowledged is that the check-points serve no serious security or revenue generating purposes.
They instead serve as illegal toll-gates for officials who man them to extort money from smugglers and legitimate travellers using the nation s highways.
No where is this conclusion most apparent than on the highway that leads from Lagos to the Eastern Region and back.
By a conservative estimate, there are about 50 check-points manned by the Police, Customs and Excise or Military personnel, ostensibly to check and arrest criminals, smugglers or traffickers in certain categories of goods or human beings.
In spite of a subsisting order from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), that all stationary check points along the nation s highways especially in the Eastern parts of the country be dismantled, the presence of assorted check-points manned by a motley of security agencies along the highway leading from Lagos to the East and vice versa has continued to agitate the minds of observers.
It is easy to understand that the law-enforcement agencies have a duty to protect road users from the menace of bandits and other deviants lurking along the highways to dispossess them of lives and property. In this wise, the presence of these security agents on our highways can be appreciated.
But when these road-blocks turn out to be no more than toll collecting points, then the purpose is defeated and the problem becomes very worrisome, indeed.
A situation where road users, motorists and innocent passengers in commercial vehicles travelling to join their kith and kin to celebrate Christmas and New Year, are subjected to un-dignifying searches that include the perusal of luggages containing personal effects, in the guise of checking for weapons or smuggled goods, calls for severe censure.
Some of the other officials who mount these road-blocks ask for all manner of vehicle papers and other irrelevancies, the real purpose of which is to have an excuse to delay, frustrate and extort money from the travellers who also have the bad roads to contend with.
What makes the whole matter intractable is that most times, the check-points are mounted by rogue law-enforcement officials acting illegally and with all the apparatus of state power, including rifles, official vans and communications gear.
To make trips on the nation s highways, especially the Lagos-Onitsha highway bearable, the IGP must endeavour to dismantle these check points, especially those that are clearly extortion points, without compromising the security of travelers.
This can be done through intensive and effective patrol of the highways and the establishment of telephone hotlines that victims of these extortionists can call to get some official relief.
Now that the Christmas and New Year holidays are here, and there is the usual mass movement to the East and back, the heads of the security agencies, especially the IGP, must do all in their power to check-mate these unscrupulous rogue officials who hide under official cover to delay, frustrate, harass, extort and sometimes kill or injure fellow citizens in their pursuit of filthy lucre.
The time to act is now because, as they say, a stitch in time saves nine.
And yet more smuggled goods manage to find their ways into the country than into any other country in the sub-region.
A testimony to this fact came recently when the Federal Government un-banned certain categories of goods like motor vehicles, used clothing and other consumables on the grounds that government was losing taxable revenues due to it through the activities of smugglers who routinely ferried in these prohibited items.
Which leads to the question: How is it possible that smugglers are able to run rings round all the law-enforcement check-points on our roads and border posts? The simple answer which government has belatedly acknowledged is that the check-points serve no serious security or revenue generating purposes.
They instead serve as illegal toll-gates for officials who man them to extort money from smugglers and legitimate travellers using the nation s highways.
No where is this conclusion most apparent than on the highway that leads from Lagos to the Eastern Region and back.
By a conservative estimate, there are about 50 check-points manned by the Police, Customs and Excise or Military personnel, ostensibly to check and arrest criminals, smugglers or traffickers in certain categories of goods or human beings.
In spite of a subsisting order from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), that all stationary check points along the nation s highways especially in the Eastern parts of the country be dismantled, the presence of assorted check-points manned by a motley of security agencies along the highway leading from Lagos to the East and vice versa has continued to agitate the minds of observers.
It is easy to understand that the law-enforcement agencies have a duty to protect road users from the menace of bandits and other deviants lurking along the highways to dispossess them of lives and property. In this wise, the presence of these security agents on our highways can be appreciated.
But when these road-blocks turn out to be no more than toll collecting points, then the purpose is defeated and the problem becomes very worrisome, indeed.
A situation where road users, motorists and innocent passengers in commercial vehicles travelling to join their kith and kin to celebrate Christmas and New Year, are subjected to un-dignifying searches that include the perusal of luggages containing personal effects, in the guise of checking for weapons or smuggled goods, calls for severe censure.
Some of the other officials who mount these road-blocks ask for all manner of vehicle papers and other irrelevancies, the real purpose of which is to have an excuse to delay, frustrate and extort money from the travellers who also have the bad roads to contend with.
What makes the whole matter intractable is that most times, the check-points are mounted by rogue law-enforcement officials acting illegally and with all the apparatus of state power, including rifles, official vans and communications gear.
To make trips on the nation s highways, especially the Lagos-Onitsha highway bearable, the IGP must endeavour to dismantle these check points, especially those that are clearly extortion points, without compromising the security of travelers.
This can be done through intensive and effective patrol of the highways and the establishment of telephone hotlines that victims of these extortionists can call to get some official relief.
Now that the Christmas and New Year holidays are here, and there is the usual mass movement to the East and back, the heads of the security agencies, especially the IGP, must do all in their power to check-mate these unscrupulous rogue officials who hide under official cover to delay, frustrate, harass, extort and sometimes kill or injure fellow citizens in their pursuit of filthy lucre.
The time to act is now because, as they say, a stitch in time saves nine.
Obasanjo, corruption and I............Atiku
ERSTWHILE Vice-President Atiku Abubakar now a leading presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last week had an interactive session with some of the country’s senior media executives. He used the opportunity to ventilate on matters pertaining to the 2011 presidential contest, the heavy load of government overhead on public finances and perception of corruption around him. Excerpts:
What is your reaction to the recent endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by 21 PDP Governors?
I will like to concede to them whoever they want to endorse in their individual capacities. The only thing I will argue here is that I don’t object you having the right to vote for whoever you want, but I will object if you will dictate to some other persons to vote people who it is not their conscience or their choice to vote for. So, if a Governor as an individual has decided to vote for Jonathan, fine, but do not carry it more than that because this is a democracy. Allow also other delegates to elect whosoever they want to elect, make sure we have a credible process, do not use your position to intimidate other people to vote for people who they do not want to vote for.
As far as I am concerned, that is not a big deal.
What then are your chances?
My chances are extremely very good because me, I talk to the delegates, one on one, he (Jonathan) believes in using the Governors to secure the delegates, so at the end of the day we will see whose strategy is better.
Me, I believe in talking one on one with the delegates, he believes in using the Governors to make sure the delegates conform.
But I think that he has realized that the Governors alone cannot give him those delegates, so he is now beginning to go from one place to the other meeting delegates and also giving them ____.
The issue of a minimum wage has become a major challenge for the States. What is your view on this?
My view is that it is not in tune with true federalism for you to have standard or common projects across the country because if some of you were old enough to remember when this country had three regions, North, West and East, their salary structures were completely detached. Everything of theirs were in tune with true federalism. Today, Akwa Ibom earns the largest share in revenue allocation, they take about N29 billion per month and this N29 billion is almost what all the 19 northern states take per month. So, how would you expect any one of these States to pay the same wage with Akwa Ibom. It is totally unfair, totally unfederalism, it is not in tune with true federalism, this is the way I will like to pursue it.
I will be realistic about it and people will have to understand that the various States are not the same.
Your determination and pursuit of the ticket shows some elements of desperation. Are you desperate?
I am not desperate about 2011. I have never been desperate about anything at all because if you follow my career you will not find any desperation. If I had been desperate, I would have been President long time ago. I wouldn’t have stepped down for Abiola in 1992, I wouldn’t have given Obasanjo a chance in 1998, I had the PDP in my hands (like this), I would have taken the nomination in my pocket and I wouldn’t have given him the chance in 2003 when everybody said come and take it over. So, I am not desperate about it, I will wait for the right time, whenever God says is the right time and Nigerians say is the right time. I am not desperate about it. What am I looking for? I have money to eat till I die!
A number of Nigerians are really worried about the level of overhead expenditure by the various governments. How would you approach it if you are elected President?
Almost 80 percent of government income is spent on recurrent. This is what is used in paying salaries, allowances and all that. I want to reverse it.
I want to propose to Nigerians that every money that is earned from petroleum resources we should use it to develop our country’s infrastructure and every money we make from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, from taxation to VAT and so on and so forth we should use it as recurrent. Unless you implement this shock therapy you will not develop this great country, we all have to make sacrifices.
80 per cent of your income is going into recurrent, so I was thinking one day, why cant we reverse it? All the money we earn from oil let us dedicate it to develop infrastructure, education, power and jobs and so on and so forth.
And every money we get from Inland Revenue Service for recurrent.
That will even make the FIRS even more efficient.
Can your plan scale through the National Assembly?
I will dialogue with the National Assembly and I want to believe that they will put the interest of this country before their own selfish interest.
There is this persisting insinuation especially in the last two months that you are a corrupt person. Are you really corrupt?
I will agree with you that in the last two months when most people in PDP didn’t give me a chance to first of all return to the party, secondly they didn’t give me a chance of getting the waiver and thirdly, they didn’t give me a chance of running for the presidency. I proved them wrong in all ways, but we must remember that this corruption perception started when I was in office since the year 2000. It started from the presidency, it was a grand design to put the garb of corruption around me so that I would be ineligible to either contest or threaten anybody.
Every government machinery both at home and abroad was used to execute this grand design and I made sure that I insulated myself from that because if I did not insulate myself…
I believe you would agree with me that nobody has been so investigated in office as I was.
As chairman of COJA which the President gave me and I executed faithfully. He set up three different investigations one after the other to make sure that they found me with something, but unfortunately, I knew where he was heading.
There was no single COJA contract that I made sure that he (Obasanjo) did not approve even though I had the power to approve it, even if it is ten naira, I took it to him and he approved it. So, how can you get me?
I was discussing with a top US government official (and he told me) that it was written about me that I was corrupt, that I am a thief, I am this and that. The comment of the US authorities was very uncomplimentary that this is unbecoming of a President to write about his vice like this.
In the course of my travels I have met many Heads of State in Africa and outside who have told me “but your President said you are corrupt but we don’t find you like that.”
So, this corruption toga was deliberate to make sure that I am totally eliminated from the political process in this country because somebody felt I am a threat or I would be unstoppable and so on and so forth. But if I am that corrupt, haba all these years why is it that..up till now, if you said that as Vice-President I had immunity, I no longer have immunity, no agency in Nigeria, no Police Station has invited me to question. No agency and like it is popularly being said that I cannot go to America and so on and so forth.
America is not the kind of country that if you break their laws that they will let you go, wherever you may be they will pick you up! Anywhere!
Yes, America investigated my transactions and I provided all information that they needed but they never found where public money went into my business account. And it is everything I gave them to go through and all they could come up with was, suspect funds!
What is the definition of suspect funds?
I don’t even have to tell my wife where I earn my money, I don’t know how many of you tell your wives how you earn your money.
It is not only in Nigeria that I have business, I have business in Angola, I have business in Gabon, Congo Brazaville. I have been in these businesses for the past twenty seven years.
So, please if you have any evidence go and help the authorities so that they can call me for questioning and ask me.
What is even more painful to me is that they write all these things and I have children, I have wives, they read, they go through pain and they know that I am not what these people are writing about or what they are saying. I come back home and they look at me, sometimes my children send me e_mails what nonsense is this?
From PF (Peoples Front in the late eighties) I was a multimillionaire even then. When we declared our assets in SDP, I was one of the few people who was then a multimillionaire. Haba!
What is your reaction to the recent endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by 21 PDP Governors?
I will like to concede to them whoever they want to endorse in their individual capacities. The only thing I will argue here is that I don’t object you having the right to vote for whoever you want, but I will object if you will dictate to some other persons to vote people who it is not their conscience or their choice to vote for. So, if a Governor as an individual has decided to vote for Jonathan, fine, but do not carry it more than that because this is a democracy. Allow also other delegates to elect whosoever they want to elect, make sure we have a credible process, do not use your position to intimidate other people to vote for people who they do not want to vote for.
As far as I am concerned, that is not a big deal.
What then are your chances?
My chances are extremely very good because me, I talk to the delegates, one on one, he (Jonathan) believes in using the Governors to secure the delegates, so at the end of the day we will see whose strategy is better.
Me, I believe in talking one on one with the delegates, he believes in using the Governors to make sure the delegates conform.
But I think that he has realized that the Governors alone cannot give him those delegates, so he is now beginning to go from one place to the other meeting delegates and also giving them ____.
The issue of a minimum wage has become a major challenge for the States. What is your view on this?
My view is that it is not in tune with true federalism for you to have standard or common projects across the country because if some of you were old enough to remember when this country had three regions, North, West and East, their salary structures were completely detached. Everything of theirs were in tune with true federalism. Today, Akwa Ibom earns the largest share in revenue allocation, they take about N29 billion per month and this N29 billion is almost what all the 19 northern states take per month. So, how would you expect any one of these States to pay the same wage with Akwa Ibom. It is totally unfair, totally unfederalism, it is not in tune with true federalism, this is the way I will like to pursue it.
I will be realistic about it and people will have to understand that the various States are not the same.
Your determination and pursuit of the ticket shows some elements of desperation. Are you desperate?
I am not desperate about 2011. I have never been desperate about anything at all because if you follow my career you will not find any desperation. If I had been desperate, I would have been President long time ago. I wouldn’t have stepped down for Abiola in 1992, I wouldn’t have given Obasanjo a chance in 1998, I had the PDP in my hands (like this), I would have taken the nomination in my pocket and I wouldn’t have given him the chance in 2003 when everybody said come and take it over. So, I am not desperate about it, I will wait for the right time, whenever God says is the right time and Nigerians say is the right time. I am not desperate about it. What am I looking for? I have money to eat till I die!
A number of Nigerians are really worried about the level of overhead expenditure by the various governments. How would you approach it if you are elected President?
Almost 80 percent of government income is spent on recurrent. This is what is used in paying salaries, allowances and all that. I want to reverse it.
I want to propose to Nigerians that every money that is earned from petroleum resources we should use it to develop our country’s infrastructure and every money we make from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, from taxation to VAT and so on and so forth we should use it as recurrent. Unless you implement this shock therapy you will not develop this great country, we all have to make sacrifices.
80 per cent of your income is going into recurrent, so I was thinking one day, why cant we reverse it? All the money we earn from oil let us dedicate it to develop infrastructure, education, power and jobs and so on and so forth.
And every money we get from Inland Revenue Service for recurrent.
That will even make the FIRS even more efficient.
Can your plan scale through the National Assembly?
I will dialogue with the National Assembly and I want to believe that they will put the interest of this country before their own selfish interest.
There is this persisting insinuation especially in the last two months that you are a corrupt person. Are you really corrupt?
I will agree with you that in the last two months when most people in PDP didn’t give me a chance to first of all return to the party, secondly they didn’t give me a chance of getting the waiver and thirdly, they didn’t give me a chance of running for the presidency. I proved them wrong in all ways, but we must remember that this corruption perception started when I was in office since the year 2000. It started from the presidency, it was a grand design to put the garb of corruption around me so that I would be ineligible to either contest or threaten anybody.
Every government machinery both at home and abroad was used to execute this grand design and I made sure that I insulated myself from that because if I did not insulate myself…
I believe you would agree with me that nobody has been so investigated in office as I was.
As chairman of COJA which the President gave me and I executed faithfully. He set up three different investigations one after the other to make sure that they found me with something, but unfortunately, I knew where he was heading.
There was no single COJA contract that I made sure that he (Obasanjo) did not approve even though I had the power to approve it, even if it is ten naira, I took it to him and he approved it. So, how can you get me?
I was discussing with a top US government official (and he told me) that it was written about me that I was corrupt, that I am a thief, I am this and that. The comment of the US authorities was very uncomplimentary that this is unbecoming of a President to write about his vice like this.
In the course of my travels I have met many Heads of State in Africa and outside who have told me “but your President said you are corrupt but we don’t find you like that.”
So, this corruption toga was deliberate to make sure that I am totally eliminated from the political process in this country because somebody felt I am a threat or I would be unstoppable and so on and so forth. But if I am that corrupt, haba all these years why is it that..up till now, if you said that as Vice-President I had immunity, I no longer have immunity, no agency in Nigeria, no Police Station has invited me to question. No agency and like it is popularly being said that I cannot go to America and so on and so forth.
America is not the kind of country that if you break their laws that they will let you go, wherever you may be they will pick you up! Anywhere!
Yes, America investigated my transactions and I provided all information that they needed but they never found where public money went into my business account. And it is everything I gave them to go through and all they could come up with was, suspect funds!
What is the definition of suspect funds?
I don’t even have to tell my wife where I earn my money, I don’t know how many of you tell your wives how you earn your money.
It is not only in Nigeria that I have business, I have business in Angola, I have business in Gabon, Congo Brazaville. I have been in these businesses for the past twenty seven years.
So, please if you have any evidence go and help the authorities so that they can call me for questioning and ask me.
What is even more painful to me is that they write all these things and I have children, I have wives, they read, they go through pain and they know that I am not what these people are writing about or what they are saying. I come back home and they look at me, sometimes my children send me e_mails what nonsense is this?
From PF (Peoples Front in the late eighties) I was a multimillionaire even then. When we declared our assets in SDP, I was one of the few people who was then a multimillionaire. Haba!
Who Wants Rochas In His State As Governor?
What does Rochas Okorocha want?
ROCHAS IS OUR MAN. What Rochas wants is to lead Imo out of the hostage hands of PDP. We are in bondage and has been for 12 years. We annoint him Rochas as the peopled man, our Moses to lead Imo into prosperity. Ohakim should start packing his ghana must go because he is done like Opkoroko from Norway. He failed Imo people and shamed Okigwe people. I am ashamed to say he and I are from the same Zone that raised Mbakwe. He is a disgrace in governance.
All Diaspora Imo will campaign to elect him as one with the intellect, ability and conscience to bring Imo out of the hostage taking and thieving fingers of PDP Party. My Diaspora Imo people have seen good leadership in the States they now all live and know that Ohakim cannot deliver Squat. It does not matter what PDP looters schedules are on who must loot next, what Imo want is good leadership for Imo people, not minding which zone the governor comes from. We are sick and tired of PDP telling us who should rule. The can steal it but we will never give it to them knowingly. That will not happen.
I too, am from Okigwe. I supported Mbakwe and can be proud to say he was not elected because he was from Okigwe, but because he has programs to build Imo. Ohakim does not have any program to build anything just loot Imo dry. If Zone is an issue, then Mbakwe served for Okigwe and he has been the only governor from Imo that served Imo people to salvage them from poverty. The rest and Udenwa did not serve Imo people and could not have represented their respective zones as this author claims. Orlu zone was never represented by Udenwa who did nothing in 8 years. There is nothing capitalk with his handiwork. So we must erase that era and never happened because he accomplished nothing. We must also erase the Ohakim 4 years as never happened in same token. Until Imo is served, we can not accept we have been led.
Our belief is that if service is the basis for deciding, then we can say Only Okigwe under Mbakwe has served Imo state. It is the turn of another Zone. We know Rochas will do good job and will elect him. IF Ojukwu says he is good, and brings him up like Zik brought up Mbakwe then we want Rochas. Ojukwu and Mbakwe did joint work in Biafra in which Ojukwu found home and comfort in Obowu as the war heated. Mbakwe was the provincial leader of Okigwe and he made sure Biafra was kept going to the end. Ohakim does not represent Okigwe because Okigwe people are not looters and did not elect him. We do not know how many votes he got from Okigwe that made him governor, how can he say he represents us. We did not elect him for him. We elected Mbakwe and he served well. We do not want that Ohakjims bad work to our credit. We discowned him already. We do not want our name to be associated with looting the State of Imo into hopelessness as we have nothing in Okigwe to show for the loots.
Obviously, Somebody is scared aaalready of Rochas! I mean very scared. There is onething many in PDP do not understand - PDP arangement is not binding to those not in PDP. Whatever PDP agreed to do in there party in Imo State does not concern the ordinary people of Imo. Nigeria and Imo is a democracy. Competition is integral part of democracy. In demcoracy thereis no coronation. See how thise writer glossed over his "Ohakims MAny Achievments" he failed to list them, because they exist only in their heads. They are saying Rochas should not mention his many philantrophy must are telling us that Ohakim can say he has accomplished alot. What are his accomplishments? Is he now afraid of a competent competition? What does accompaning MASSOB leaders has to do with the ability of Rochas to contest? IS Uwazurilke not an Imo bonafide citizen? Or is he saying being around this man of principle fighting for Igbo people is a crime? You can see their mindset. They are so scared of competition and are hoping for coronation.
Did Rochas sign any documents with PDP not to contest? Did APGA sign that PDP agreement? Why are these people so lazy in their heads to understand that their fantasy may be different from reality. IF Ohakim has done good for Imo, let Imo people decide. They should not begin to piss before the battle whitsle blows. If Imo want Rochas, they will elect him because the election is for Imo people not just Okigwe. I bet Ohakim can only steal votes from Okigwe as nobody can vote him from there given that he has nothing to offer them and has not delivered anything to Okigwe people. Democracy is about competition. Let the best team win if they will count the votes. Only way Ohakim will win is if the votes did not count. I can see they are already shaking in their pants. Whoi who will elect a man to office who has nothing to show for 4 years in office? I like to see that person.
HEN
"Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others". - Ayn Rand
"When the comes come to become, you will know the physicality of man" ... Political Jugernaut, Kingsley O. Mbadiwe (K.O.)
ONLY A FOOL IS AT HIS BEST........... Collin Powel (USA)
You amaze me? What will happen if you get an effective leaders that could grow Imo that is from Orlu. I am Okigwe like Ohakim - whatever that means. But it is obvious he does not represent Okigwe in his actions and performances. So what benefit is he to Okigwe as governor if that have not yielded any political dividend or economic upliftment of the zone. Ohakim has not invested Kobo in Okigwe except you consider his bank account and the mansion he just remodeled with Imo money. Everything he has done is to please himself -from the new governor's lodge to his mansion described here by his hired writers. Can you tell me what your LGA has benefited from since Ohakim?
The idea you are promoted is very unproductive with respect to the state of Imo. Imo need a viable leaders that will take care of all of Imo people and not just represent (loot) for his zone. In the case of Ohakim he loots only for himself and party chronies not for Okigwe. If your argument is rational then we can say the only one that Ohakim represents is his PDP folks. In which case we can zone the position out of PDP so other parties and the rest of Imo can also be represented. Can you tell me how many votes elected Ohakim from Okigwe that you claim he represents? How many elected him from all of Imo? Did Imo people elect him? If you say No to all these, then how can you be saying he represent anyone?
If you say no to all these then how did he get his office in a democracy? If he was not elected as we all know, then should he not belong to some prison for stealing an entire State given that people get imprisoned for doing less? If you steal one individual account from any bank will they give you second term to go still again or will you be prosecuted as criminal? If you willbe branded a criminal then why are those who steal an entire state account not so branded? If I did not know you personally, I will think you are just not serious. It is shocking that one with your education that leaves in democracy like USA will supporting the attrocities going on in Imo State.
Tell me onething that has happened under Ohakim that you are so happy about: Example - Obama pushed the Healthcare bill, DADT Repeal, American Re-investment& development Act, Dream act. He is negotiating new deals with Asia to increase export markets for American products; he has pursued capital projects that created jobs and fixed Americas road infrastructure. Everything he is doing is to help people find jobs, build capaital capacity, live better, put food in the table.
Now can you say the same thing of the Imo government we have today? What policies in Imo is aimed to create jobs for Imo people? What policies aim to improve quality and delivery of Education? What policies aim to increase Imo productive resources? What policies aim to improve the health of Imo people or the availabilities of accessible healthcare? can you tell us how much Ohakim has spent on his clean and green? Is all he is doing not clean and steal?
MAzi, if we do not speak up given what we know, those being hold hostage back there at home can not have the will and motivation to fight the criminals in offices back there and flush them off. There is nothing that says any buffoon who took office must do 8 years as the people smother. By whatever crooked means he has gotten 4 years and we did not see anything, why will any rational person think he needs another 4 years, if not just to completely annihilate Imo and strangle or stupify efforts and the individual struggle. You know,what government does is what makes people properous when they invest their money or build a jobs-creating venture. Individuals can not be successful if the governments are not concerned about their progress. That is why successful people in Imo state almost always live in other States or in the West or North. The same people,find it more useful to live elswehere in Nigeria because in those places their governments care about redevelopment efforts that benefit business and productive people.
All Ohakim has done is turn evert Imo person into government-handout dependent. They all get cash from government every month there is delivery from Abuja and that is all they are happy about. What willhappen to their grandchildren in Imo when Oil money stops flowing? All Ohakim does is collect Abuja money and share it with his looting chronies and nothing is planted to grow tomorrows bounty to share should Oil become nonproductive. Nigeria bases budget on Oil price, Imo basis budget on Oil price. They do not ask themselves where the countries that buy these oil get their own budgets from? Nigeria progressed when she was agric-based and shipped only products that people cultivated from their farms and made with their hands. Why not use the oildmoney to empower people so they can resume productive activities that will increase internally generated revenue?
Government is not good with for profit business, as such the job of government is to empower individuals and groups to engage in productive activties that create jobs for the state? If the government is the thief, then who will arrest the thief?
You need to search your soul and rethink. This is not about Ohakim the man but about what he and his chronies are doing to the State and the people that live in it. They are impoverishing people, causing diliapidation of education facilities, vandalizing economic activities, stiffling productive energy of the people. Unless the generation before are engaged productively those before them have nobody to copy or inherit from. Each generation builds on the efforts of those before them. Father starts a small business with government subsidized loan, then the son takes it to industrial level by refinishing and leveraging on cumulative past experience of fathers employees and business capital resources already in place. That is why each subsequent government must add to and not deplete the state. All Ohakim and Udenwa have done in the past 12 years is deplete the state's seed funds. Imo is not investing in her people or on the land. There are no rich people in Imo that are not depending on or milking the government of the base seed money from Abuja. That is dangerous and why there is need for redirection.
Governance is not about taking turn to share Imo seed allocations from Abuja. That is why we are opposed to the PDP setup only aimed to milk the state turn by turn. Imo should produce a government that willinvest for everybody and grow the state for everybody as opposed to just sharing money from Abuja like we have seen going on in PDP at both state and LGA levels. Think indpendently like you are educated!!
Tell me who are these people who wrote this agreement? It is just like the Northern Leaders Political Forum endorsing Atiku Abubakar as the Northern Leader for the PDP. Did the whole North come together and agree to make Atiku their PDP leader? If a group of 9 men met and agree to make one their leader, do they speak for the entire North? When did Imo people through their representative agree that the governorship position in Imo should rotate among the 3 zones? Mind you this was an internal agreement within PDP. And even in PDP, their internal agreement cannot overide one's constitutional rights as same PDP is going through nationally with President Jonathan. Besides, Rochas is not contesting under PDP. He is contesting under APGA.
My bro, if we get fixated on this zone thing, we won't get anywhere. And even if we have to stick to zoning, biko, bring credible candidates that can perform. Not one with abracada. Ohakim will come out and say he has performed more than all previous governments in Imo state (including Mbakwe). When we ask show me, as in gosim, there is nothing to show for his boast.
I suggest that, like HEN, you open your eyes and see it is not about Orlu, Okigwe and Owerre but about who can help develop our state. What we want is who can move Imo state forward. Tomorrow, nwafor Owerre can be governor of Imo state and you will be very disappointed if he doesn't perform. You will be disappointed because (1) he is not perfoming and (2) he's giving your zone, Owerre, a bad name. This is what HEN is experiencing with Ohakim now.
Before, when we criticize Ohakim, HEN will be angry that ndi Orlu have come again; that all we do is criticize Ohakim, that we don't want this Okigwe zone man to succeed. Now, thank God, he has seen the light and know that what we want is good governance and development of our state. I want you to shine your eye and reason likewise.
It was with deep embarrassment that I received the news that one of our sons, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has declared to contest the 2011 governorship election in Imo State in total defiance to the existing political arrangement in the State. Prior to this Orlu leaders had issued a warning that any Orlu son or daughter who attempts to disrupt, destabilize and defy the zoning and political equation in Imo would be disowned.
For those not conversant with Imo State and her politics, the state has three geo-political zones, namely Orlu with 12 local governments; Owerri with nine local governments and Okigwe with six local governments. In 1998, the elders and political leaders sat and agreed that Orlu should be allowed to produce the governor. Hence at the 1999 governorship election, the two dominant parties, APP and PDP fielded an Orlu sons , namely Dr Ezekiel Izuogu for APP and Chief Achike Udenwa for PDP. Udenwa emerged governor and served for eight years. It was further agreed that after Orlu zone, Okigwe will take its turn from 2007 to 2015 while Owerri will call the shots from 2015 to 2023.
Although Orlu zone by its population and natural endowments is the largest and most viable, it made it clear that it would abide by the zoning arrangement, hence its massive and unwavering support for Okigwe zone in 2007. Thus when the current governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim emerged in 2007, Orlu people restated its avowal to abide by the agreement and therefore threw its weight behind the governor. The subsisting understanding is that Okigwe zone under Ikedi Ohakim will do eight years like Orlu after which Owerri will take over. The message was duly passed on to all political actors in Orlu zone.
That is why I am benumbed by this ambition of Rochas Okorocha who hails from Ideato South local government area of Orlu zone. He contested the PDP primaries in 1999 and lost to Achike Udenwa. I am indeed baffled by this daring attitude of Rochas Okorocha, because Orlu people by nature would never covet that which belongs to their neighbours. Rochas, why this mud on our faces?
While I acknowledge that the constitution of Nigeria confers on Rochas Okorocha the right to seek election into any political office in the land in 2011, I am disturbed by the implications of his actions vis-Ã -vis the political stability of Imo State. He wants to trigger off ethnic conflicts by insisting on challenging the rights of Okigwe people to complete their eight years just like Orlu did between 1999 and 2007.
At the return of politics in 1999, Rochas Okorocha contested for the governorship of Imo State. That was under PDP. In 2003, he unsuccessfully sought the position of a senator. In 2007, he contested for the high office of the president under Action Alliance which he founded. Before this current misadventure, Rochas has gone through as many as five political parties before now berthing with All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).
However, it does appear that Rochas Okorocha wants to hide under APGA and Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu to grab the governorship position in Imo State. His current romance with MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazurike whom he accompanied to Agulu, Anambra State last month for the burial of Sir Victor Umeh, APGA’S national chairman mother was also part of the gamble.
But unknown to him, and with due respect to Dim Ojukwu, those people cannot make any impact in deciding who governs Imo State in 2011. Sadly for Rochas, just few hours before he declared to contest the election under APGA, the party in Imo State publicly disowned him, saying he was not their member.
I have also noticed with great consternation that there is always a hyped publicity on the fabled philanthropy of Owelle Okorocha anytime he wants to contest any elective office. Does this not negate the injunction of our Lord Jesus Christ that your left hand should not know what your right hand does when you help out the needy? Can’t he separate philanthropy from politics? Is he not aware that World acclaimed philanthropists like Bill Gates and Ted Turner don’t even dabble into politics?
My position is that Owelle Rochas Okorocha or any other Orlu son or daughter who challenges the Okigwe zone for the governorship election in 2011 is an enemy of the people. This is because we in Orlu zone are men and women of honour and integrity. We cannot probate and reprobate at the same time.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am not advocating the celebration of mediocrity above performance in the name of zonal irredentism. No. The current Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim has chalked up many achievements that he ought to be re-elected unopposed. The monumental achievements recorded by the governor in all sectors testify to the fact that Imo people would be better off if he serves out his second constitutionally allowed term. Again, to ensure political stability in the state, Ohakim remains the best bet as he won’t seek re-election in 2015. That you cannot say of any of these aspirants strutting the stage in the name of running for the office of the governor.
ROCHAS IS OUR MAN. What Rochas wants is to lead Imo out of the hostage hands of PDP. We are in bondage and has been for 12 years. We annoint him Rochas as the peopled man, our Moses to lead Imo into prosperity. Ohakim should start packing his ghana must go because he is done like Opkoroko from Norway. He failed Imo people and shamed Okigwe people. I am ashamed to say he and I are from the same Zone that raised Mbakwe. He is a disgrace in governance.
All Diaspora Imo will campaign to elect him as one with the intellect, ability and conscience to bring Imo out of the hostage taking and thieving fingers of PDP Party. My Diaspora Imo people have seen good leadership in the States they now all live and know that Ohakim cannot deliver Squat. It does not matter what PDP looters schedules are on who must loot next, what Imo want is good leadership for Imo people, not minding which zone the governor comes from. We are sick and tired of PDP telling us who should rule. The can steal it but we will never give it to them knowingly. That will not happen.
I too, am from Okigwe. I supported Mbakwe and can be proud to say he was not elected because he was from Okigwe, but because he has programs to build Imo. Ohakim does not have any program to build anything just loot Imo dry. If Zone is an issue, then Mbakwe served for Okigwe and he has been the only governor from Imo that served Imo people to salvage them from poverty. The rest and Udenwa did not serve Imo people and could not have represented their respective zones as this author claims. Orlu zone was never represented by Udenwa who did nothing in 8 years. There is nothing capitalk with his handiwork. So we must erase that era and never happened because he accomplished nothing. We must also erase the Ohakim 4 years as never happened in same token. Until Imo is served, we can not accept we have been led.
Our belief is that if service is the basis for deciding, then we can say Only Okigwe under Mbakwe has served Imo state. It is the turn of another Zone. We know Rochas will do good job and will elect him. IF Ojukwu says he is good, and brings him up like Zik brought up Mbakwe then we want Rochas. Ojukwu and Mbakwe did joint work in Biafra in which Ojukwu found home and comfort in Obowu as the war heated. Mbakwe was the provincial leader of Okigwe and he made sure Biafra was kept going to the end. Ohakim does not represent Okigwe because Okigwe people are not looters and did not elect him. We do not know how many votes he got from Okigwe that made him governor, how can he say he represents us. We did not elect him for him. We elected Mbakwe and he served well. We do not want that Ohakjims bad work to our credit. We discowned him already. We do not want our name to be associated with looting the State of Imo into hopelessness as we have nothing in Okigwe to show for the loots.
Obviously, Somebody is scared aaalready of Rochas! I mean very scared. There is onething many in PDP do not understand - PDP arangement is not binding to those not in PDP. Whatever PDP agreed to do in there party in Imo State does not concern the ordinary people of Imo. Nigeria and Imo is a democracy. Competition is integral part of democracy. In demcoracy thereis no coronation. See how thise writer glossed over his "Ohakims MAny Achievments" he failed to list them, because they exist only in their heads. They are saying Rochas should not mention his many philantrophy must are telling us that Ohakim can say he has accomplished alot. What are his accomplishments? Is he now afraid of a competent competition? What does accompaning MASSOB leaders has to do with the ability of Rochas to contest? IS Uwazurilke not an Imo bonafide citizen? Or is he saying being around this man of principle fighting for Igbo people is a crime? You can see their mindset. They are so scared of competition and are hoping for coronation.
Did Rochas sign any documents with PDP not to contest? Did APGA sign that PDP agreement? Why are these people so lazy in their heads to understand that their fantasy may be different from reality. IF Ohakim has done good for Imo, let Imo people decide. They should not begin to piss before the battle whitsle blows. If Imo want Rochas, they will elect him because the election is for Imo people not just Okigwe. I bet Ohakim can only steal votes from Okigwe as nobody can vote him from there given that he has nothing to offer them and has not delivered anything to Okigwe people. Democracy is about competition. Let the best team win if they will count the votes. Only way Ohakim will win is if the votes did not count. I can see they are already shaking in their pants. Whoi who will elect a man to office who has nothing to show for 4 years in office? I like to see that person.
HEN
"Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others". - Ayn Rand
"When the comes come to become, you will know the physicality of man" ... Political Jugernaut, Kingsley O. Mbadiwe (K.O.)
ONLY A FOOL IS AT HIS BEST........... Collin Powel (USA)
You amaze me? What will happen if you get an effective leaders that could grow Imo that is from Orlu. I am Okigwe like Ohakim - whatever that means. But it is obvious he does not represent Okigwe in his actions and performances. So what benefit is he to Okigwe as governor if that have not yielded any political dividend or economic upliftment of the zone. Ohakim has not invested Kobo in Okigwe except you consider his bank account and the mansion he just remodeled with Imo money. Everything he has done is to please himself -from the new governor's lodge to his mansion described here by his hired writers. Can you tell me what your LGA has benefited from since Ohakim?
The idea you are promoted is very unproductive with respect to the state of Imo. Imo need a viable leaders that will take care of all of Imo people and not just represent (loot) for his zone. In the case of Ohakim he loots only for himself and party chronies not for Okigwe. If your argument is rational then we can say the only one that Ohakim represents is his PDP folks. In which case we can zone the position out of PDP so other parties and the rest of Imo can also be represented. Can you tell me how many votes elected Ohakim from Okigwe that you claim he represents? How many elected him from all of Imo? Did Imo people elect him? If you say No to all these, then how can you be saying he represent anyone?
If you say no to all these then how did he get his office in a democracy? If he was not elected as we all know, then should he not belong to some prison for stealing an entire State given that people get imprisoned for doing less? If you steal one individual account from any bank will they give you second term to go still again or will you be prosecuted as criminal? If you willbe branded a criminal then why are those who steal an entire state account not so branded? If I did not know you personally, I will think you are just not serious. It is shocking that one with your education that leaves in democracy like USA will supporting the attrocities going on in Imo State.
Tell me onething that has happened under Ohakim that you are so happy about: Example - Obama pushed the Healthcare bill, DADT Repeal, American Re-investment& development Act, Dream act. He is negotiating new deals with Asia to increase export markets for American products; he has pursued capital projects that created jobs and fixed Americas road infrastructure. Everything he is doing is to help people find jobs, build capaital capacity, live better, put food in the table.
Now can you say the same thing of the Imo government we have today? What policies in Imo is aimed to create jobs for Imo people? What policies aim to improve quality and delivery of Education? What policies aim to increase Imo productive resources? What policies aim to improve the health of Imo people or the availabilities of accessible healthcare? can you tell us how much Ohakim has spent on his clean and green? Is all he is doing not clean and steal?
MAzi, if we do not speak up given what we know, those being hold hostage back there at home can not have the will and motivation to fight the criminals in offices back there and flush them off. There is nothing that says any buffoon who took office must do 8 years as the people smother. By whatever crooked means he has gotten 4 years and we did not see anything, why will any rational person think he needs another 4 years, if not just to completely annihilate Imo and strangle or stupify efforts and the individual struggle. You know,what government does is what makes people properous when they invest their money or build a jobs-creating venture. Individuals can not be successful if the governments are not concerned about their progress. That is why successful people in Imo state almost always live in other States or in the West or North. The same people,find it more useful to live elswehere in Nigeria because in those places their governments care about redevelopment efforts that benefit business and productive people.
All Ohakim has done is turn evert Imo person into government-handout dependent. They all get cash from government every month there is delivery from Abuja and that is all they are happy about. What willhappen to their grandchildren in Imo when Oil money stops flowing? All Ohakim does is collect Abuja money and share it with his looting chronies and nothing is planted to grow tomorrows bounty to share should Oil become nonproductive. Nigeria bases budget on Oil price, Imo basis budget on Oil price. They do not ask themselves where the countries that buy these oil get their own budgets from? Nigeria progressed when she was agric-based and shipped only products that people cultivated from their farms and made with their hands. Why not use the oildmoney to empower people so they can resume productive activities that will increase internally generated revenue?
Government is not good with for profit business, as such the job of government is to empower individuals and groups to engage in productive activties that create jobs for the state? If the government is the thief, then who will arrest the thief?
You need to search your soul and rethink. This is not about Ohakim the man but about what he and his chronies are doing to the State and the people that live in it. They are impoverishing people, causing diliapidation of education facilities, vandalizing economic activities, stiffling productive energy of the people. Unless the generation before are engaged productively those before them have nobody to copy or inherit from. Each generation builds on the efforts of those before them. Father starts a small business with government subsidized loan, then the son takes it to industrial level by refinishing and leveraging on cumulative past experience of fathers employees and business capital resources already in place. That is why each subsequent government must add to and not deplete the state. All Ohakim and Udenwa have done in the past 12 years is deplete the state's seed funds. Imo is not investing in her people or on the land. There are no rich people in Imo that are not depending on or milking the government of the base seed money from Abuja. That is dangerous and why there is need for redirection.
Governance is not about taking turn to share Imo seed allocations from Abuja. That is why we are opposed to the PDP setup only aimed to milk the state turn by turn. Imo should produce a government that willinvest for everybody and grow the state for everybody as opposed to just sharing money from Abuja like we have seen going on in PDP at both state and LGA levels. Think indpendently like you are educated!!
Tell me who are these people who wrote this agreement? It is just like the Northern Leaders Political Forum endorsing Atiku Abubakar as the Northern Leader for the PDP. Did the whole North come together and agree to make Atiku their PDP leader? If a group of 9 men met and agree to make one their leader, do they speak for the entire North? When did Imo people through their representative agree that the governorship position in Imo should rotate among the 3 zones? Mind you this was an internal agreement within PDP. And even in PDP, their internal agreement cannot overide one's constitutional rights as same PDP is going through nationally with President Jonathan. Besides, Rochas is not contesting under PDP. He is contesting under APGA.
My bro, if we get fixated on this zone thing, we won't get anywhere. And even if we have to stick to zoning, biko, bring credible candidates that can perform. Not one with abracada. Ohakim will come out and say he has performed more than all previous governments in Imo state (including Mbakwe). When we ask show me, as in gosim, there is nothing to show for his boast.
I suggest that, like HEN, you open your eyes and see it is not about Orlu, Okigwe and Owerre but about who can help develop our state. What we want is who can move Imo state forward. Tomorrow, nwafor Owerre can be governor of Imo state and you will be very disappointed if he doesn't perform. You will be disappointed because (1) he is not perfoming and (2) he's giving your zone, Owerre, a bad name. This is what HEN is experiencing with Ohakim now.
Before, when we criticize Ohakim, HEN will be angry that ndi Orlu have come again; that all we do is criticize Ohakim, that we don't want this Okigwe zone man to succeed. Now, thank God, he has seen the light and know that what we want is good governance and development of our state. I want you to shine your eye and reason likewise.
It was with deep embarrassment that I received the news that one of our sons, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has declared to contest the 2011 governorship election in Imo State in total defiance to the existing political arrangement in the State. Prior to this Orlu leaders had issued a warning that any Orlu son or daughter who attempts to disrupt, destabilize and defy the zoning and political equation in Imo would be disowned.
For those not conversant with Imo State and her politics, the state has three geo-political zones, namely Orlu with 12 local governments; Owerri with nine local governments and Okigwe with six local governments. In 1998, the elders and political leaders sat and agreed that Orlu should be allowed to produce the governor. Hence at the 1999 governorship election, the two dominant parties, APP and PDP fielded an Orlu sons , namely Dr Ezekiel Izuogu for APP and Chief Achike Udenwa for PDP. Udenwa emerged governor and served for eight years. It was further agreed that after Orlu zone, Okigwe will take its turn from 2007 to 2015 while Owerri will call the shots from 2015 to 2023.
Although Orlu zone by its population and natural endowments is the largest and most viable, it made it clear that it would abide by the zoning arrangement, hence its massive and unwavering support for Okigwe zone in 2007. Thus when the current governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim emerged in 2007, Orlu people restated its avowal to abide by the agreement and therefore threw its weight behind the governor. The subsisting understanding is that Okigwe zone under Ikedi Ohakim will do eight years like Orlu after which Owerri will take over. The message was duly passed on to all political actors in Orlu zone.
That is why I am benumbed by this ambition of Rochas Okorocha who hails from Ideato South local government area of Orlu zone. He contested the PDP primaries in 1999 and lost to Achike Udenwa. I am indeed baffled by this daring attitude of Rochas Okorocha, because Orlu people by nature would never covet that which belongs to their neighbours. Rochas, why this mud on our faces?
While I acknowledge that the constitution of Nigeria confers on Rochas Okorocha the right to seek election into any political office in the land in 2011, I am disturbed by the implications of his actions vis-Ã -vis the political stability of Imo State. He wants to trigger off ethnic conflicts by insisting on challenging the rights of Okigwe people to complete their eight years just like Orlu did between 1999 and 2007.
At the return of politics in 1999, Rochas Okorocha contested for the governorship of Imo State. That was under PDP. In 2003, he unsuccessfully sought the position of a senator. In 2007, he contested for the high office of the president under Action Alliance which he founded. Before this current misadventure, Rochas has gone through as many as five political parties before now berthing with All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).
However, it does appear that Rochas Okorocha wants to hide under APGA and Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu to grab the governorship position in Imo State. His current romance with MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazurike whom he accompanied to Agulu, Anambra State last month for the burial of Sir Victor Umeh, APGA’S national chairman mother was also part of the gamble.
But unknown to him, and with due respect to Dim Ojukwu, those people cannot make any impact in deciding who governs Imo State in 2011. Sadly for Rochas, just few hours before he declared to contest the election under APGA, the party in Imo State publicly disowned him, saying he was not their member.
I have also noticed with great consternation that there is always a hyped publicity on the fabled philanthropy of Owelle Okorocha anytime he wants to contest any elective office. Does this not negate the injunction of our Lord Jesus Christ that your left hand should not know what your right hand does when you help out the needy? Can’t he separate philanthropy from politics? Is he not aware that World acclaimed philanthropists like Bill Gates and Ted Turner don’t even dabble into politics?
My position is that Owelle Rochas Okorocha or any other Orlu son or daughter who challenges the Okigwe zone for the governorship election in 2011 is an enemy of the people. This is because we in Orlu zone are men and women of honour and integrity. We cannot probate and reprobate at the same time.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am not advocating the celebration of mediocrity above performance in the name of zonal irredentism. No. The current Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim has chalked up many achievements that he ought to be re-elected unopposed. The monumental achievements recorded by the governor in all sectors testify to the fact that Imo people would be better off if he serves out his second constitutionally allowed term. Again, to ensure political stability in the state, Ohakim remains the best bet as he won’t seek re-election in 2015. That you cannot say of any of these aspirants strutting the stage in the name of running for the office of the governor.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)