Beyond Ruga: Fulani's War on Nigeria

 Beyond Ruga: Fulani's War on Nigeria 

How many of you know that the civil war in Central African Republic started because the Fulani's who were less than 6% of the population did a coup to seize power.

The president then began installing Fulanis in top govt positions. All business, economic, military positions were held by Fulanis. Churches were attacked and ransacked. Lands were taken and grabbed by the Fulani's.


Then the indigenes planned and strategised. One solemn night, they attacked. Killing hundreds of soldiers guarding the president with Dane guns and matchetes. Some accounts say they butchered the soldiers like cows and goats.

The president fled the country and a civil war broke. Over 80% of the Fulanis have fled CAR. Those that remained, their cows were slaughtered and their lands given to the rightful people.

So the question is, what is happening to the remaining 80% that were driven out of CAR? Remember that the CAR civil war broke out in 2013 and the expulsion of Fulanis began in 2014. 


If you're good in basic maths you'll realise when Fulani herdsmen started killing in Nigeria was in 2015 right. Good.

Also remember that El Rufai said that the people killing weren't Nigerians. Remember? He was right. They aren't. They're Fulani nomads and they're looking for land. 

Nigeria is the perfect place for them to conquer. The south is divided and their Nigerian brethren have already conquered the North. The only reason they couldn't conquer CAR was because they country was united against the Fulani from the onset. Although new powers are looking to gain control in the country.


If Nigerians will learn from history, no Fulani man should be allowed to rule this country. And even if by chance they rule, they must never be given the powers that have been given to PMB. PMB govt resembles the strategy deployed by the Fulani in CAR. Where the Fulani will head all important govt agencies.

Those who fail to learn from history, are already doomed to repeat it. 

Copied with thanks from Daniel Honour

THE EKWUEME SQUARE DECLARATION 2018

RESTRUCTURING THE NIGERIAN FEDERATION:
THE POSITION OF NDI IGBO.

Adopted at the Igbo Summit organized by Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, 21st May, 2018, at Ekwueme Square, Awka

THE EKWUEME SQUARE DECLARATION 2018

Preamble
The Nigerian project is at a crossroads. It does not command universal acceptance at home and it is much diminished abroad. For some sections of the population, the promise of Nigeria: peace and unity, faith and progress are becoming broken dreams. The capacity and objectivity of the Nigerian state, its leadership, critical institutions and agencies are questioned by many. On the global stage, Nigeria is rapidly fading from any serious reckoning. It cannot secure and fend for its citizens at home; neither can it project power to protect its citizens abroad. Despite its abundant potential and promise, most Nigerians agree that Nigeria as currently structured and governed is not sustainable.

In the run up to Nigeria’s independence and after independence (in the 1960 and 1963 Constitutions), our founding fathers like The Rt. Hon. Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and their compatriots from all the then Southern and Northern minority ethnic groups, negotiated and gave us truly federal constitutions which embodied the basic principles of federalism, namely, autonomy of the federating regions, fiscal federalism, devolution of powers, citizenship/indigeneship rights, etc. Under these constitutions, freely negotiated by the Nigerian people, there was a consensus that a truly federal structure was the best for a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious society such as Nigeria; to guarantee justice, fairness, equity, freedom, liberty as well as a balanced and competitive political and economic structure to give every citizen and section of the country a framework to maximize their God-given potential.

The present 1999 Constitution foisted by the military regime (falsely dubbed a federal constitution) unhinged all the structures of true federalism and bequeathed a de facto unitary system with concentration of powers and resources at the centre. With the choking unitary system and all its dysfunctionality for a diverse country, Nigeria has remained relatively unstable, oscillating unpredictably between the flickers of hope and despair.
Most Nigerians agree that this system cannot survive and endure for much longer. The genius, Albert Einstein, said that the definition of insanity is to repeat the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome. For several years, many organized groups, intellectuals, statesmen and women have persistently called for a re-examination of the structure of the federation, to make it work for all Nigerians. It started first as calls for a sovereign national conference. In recent times, the calls have become even more strident and desperate: the Yoruba nation has held a rally at Ibadan in September 2017 and published its agenda for restructuring Nigeria; the South-South geopolitical zone held its own summit in Yenagoa in March 2018 and endorsed its template for restructuring; the All Progressives Congress (APC) set up a Committee on restructuring and its recommendations are public knowledge; the 19 states of the former Northern Region have also set up their own committee on restructuring and its report is expected; the Middle Belt zone is scheduled to hold its own summit on restructuring, while several political parties have made ‘true federalism’ the centre piece of their manifestos for a better Nigeria. At no time in Nigeria’s recent history has there been broader support for restructuring the federation than now.
For the estimated 57 million Igbos scattered in all villages, towns and cities of Nigeria as well as around the world, the demand for a restructured Nigeria that guarantees security of life and property, freedom and liberty, equity, justice and development, has a unique significance. No other ethnic group has a greater stake in the Nigerian project than Ndi Igbo by virtue of tens of millions of Ndi Igbo who live and invest everywhere in Nigeria outside Igboland. But they are also victims at every turn: every now and again, threats to their lives and properties as well as brazen discrimination and marginalization in critical areas underscore their general treatment as unequal citizens of Nigeria. Consequently, there is a segment of Igbo society that has lost hope in the Nigerian dream; believes that Nigeria will never work for the Igbos and hence agitate for an exit from the union. But a preponderance of views among Igbos is that a restructured Nigeria that works for all remains the best option.

The Agenda presented here distils from accumulated years of work on the subject by successive regimes of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, various Igbo think-tanks especially the submissions of the Igbo Leaders of Thought for the 2014 National Conference; various Igbo positions for the 1994 Constitutional conference and 2005 and 2014 national conferences; the report of the Committee set up by South East Governors on the review of the 1999 Constitution; the report of the World Igbo Summit by the Igbo Renaissance Centre, Uturu; various submissions/reports by Aka Ikenga; Izu Umunna; Nzuko Umunna; the Igbo intelligentsia; the World Igbo Congress; reports of various meetings and conferences of Igbo stakeholders and leaders; etc. The Ohanaeze Planning and Strategy Committee and the Organizing Committee for the Summit on restructuring also embarked on town hall -style consultative meetings in Abuja, Lagos, and Enugu to collate inputs from major segments of Igbo society. Memoranda and inputs were also received from over 40 pan-Igbo groups, NGOs, and individuals. A draft was presented and debated at the National Executive Committee and the Imeobi of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
What is presented is a summary, and the issues remain work in progress. The position of Ndi Igbo is to seek a transformed Nigeria that works for every Nigerian citizen, a level playing field for all Nigerians to enjoy freedom, liberty, fairness, equity and justice to maximize their fullest potential. Ndi Igbo are uniquely positioned, by virtue of their huge stake in Nigeria, to join hands with every willing party to champion a pan-Nigeria agenda. We do not seek any preferential or differential treatment from Nigeria. Ndi Igbo want a Nigeria that works—to maximize their security, prosperity, and happiness. Igbos also want a Nigeria that allows every part of Nigeria the latitude and opportunity to develop at their own pace. We want a national conversation to create a new and better Nigeria for all Nigerians. The outline below seeks to achieve this objective..
Section 1: A New Constitution of Nigeria.

We demand a constitutional conference, backed by a law enacted by the National Assembly, where the people of Nigeria will agree on a new, truly federal Constitution. A Constituent Assembly should be constituted to agree on a new Constitution for a new Nigeria. Such a Constitution—the People’s Constitution-- should be approved by the people of Nigeria through a referendum to give it legitimacy and validity. Thereafter, the National Assembly should repeal Act 24 of 1999 (of which the 1999 Constitution is only a Schedule), thereby effectively voiding the 1999 Constitution.
Section 2: Form of Government
a) The presidential system of government should continue to operate at the federal level, with a bicameral legislature. The Regions or States have to determine the type of government to operate at that level as enshrined in their respective constitutions (whether parliamentary or separate Executive and legislative organs). It would be desirable however for the same form of government be adopted at the regional levels for comparability and ease in transaction of government business in the federation.

b) The tenure of office of the President will be a single term of six years. There will be five Vice-Presidents, one from each of the geopolitical zones or regions except the region/zone of the president), and each also to serve for a fixed term of six years. Each of the Vice-Presidents will be assigned supervisory responsibility over two or more ministries such as Defence, Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Infrastructure/Works, etc. This is to give every zone/region a sense of belonging and a strong voice in major decision making. The office of President will rotate among the six regions/zones of Nigeria.

c) The Governor and Deputy Governor of the Region/State should have a single term of six years only. The office of Governor will rotate among the senatorial districts, or among such other configurations as may be enshrined in the Constitution of a Region/State.
Section 3: Federating Units and Structure of the Nigerian State
a. Nigeria will remain a federation with the existing six geopolitical zones forming the federating units or six regions of the country. There will therefore be six regional governments, each comprising the current states within each zone and any other state(s) that may be created within the zone from time to time.

b. Each Region will have its own Constitution, for the good governance, peace and development of the region. Such Regional Constitutions have to clearly delineate levels of authority between the regional government and the component states (that is, defining powers that are exclusive to the Region and powers that are residual to the states). The Regional Constitutions will not be inconsistent with the Constitution of the federation, and will be invalidated to the extent of its inconsistency with the federal constitution.

c. If the national consensus is that the states as currently constituted remain the federating units, the existing six geopolitical zones will be enshrined in the constitution as the basis for sharing national political, economic and social amenities, offices and opportunities in an equitable manner among the zones.

d. In such a situation as in (c) above, Ndi Igbo demand that Nigeria give effect to the recommendation of the 2014 National Conference which states that “in the spirit of reconciliation, equity, fair play, and justice, there shall be created an additional state for the South East Zone; and all other requests for state creation shall be considered on merit”. One additional state in the South East should be the irreducible minimum.

e. But if States remain the basis for sharing resources and opportunities in Nigeria, Ndi Igbo demand an equal number of states per geopolitical zone or region.

f. Local Governments should be scrapped from the Constitution of the Federation. Local Government should be in the Exclusive list of the Regional/State Constitutions.

g. If States remain the federating units and some states wish to merge to be viable in the absence of distributable resources from the centre, they may do so provided that :
(i) A two-thirds majority of members of the Houses of Assembly of each of the affected states support the merger by a resolution, and;
(ii) A referendum is conducted in each of the states proposing to merge, and 60% of registered voters in the States who vote are required to approve the merger.

h. Any group of people or communities that wish to belong to a contiguous zone other than the zone in which they currently belong, may do so provided that 60% of registered voters who voted in the affected area approve the merger in a referendum.

Section 4: Equality of Regions or Geo-Political Zones
Whether the Regions or States become the federating units, and whether or not equal numbers of states are created in each zone, Ndi Igbo demand that equality of the six geopolitical zones should be enshrined in the Constitution. Politically, representation at the federal cabinet as well as the twin chambers of the federal legislature should be based on equality of zones/regions. Furthermore, sharing of revenues, distribution of infrastructure by the federal government, and federal character principle will be applied on the basis of equality of zones.
Section 5: Citizenship/Indigeneship Rights:
a) Nigerian citizenship is acquired through the criteria for citizenship as provided in the Nigerian Constitution.

b) The concept of State of Origin should be scrapped from the Constitution of the Federation, and replaced with State of Residence.

c) As an alternative to (b ) above, minimum residency and civic rights and responsibilities should include the following two conditions:

1) Any child born of Nigerian parents anywhere in Nigeria will acquire the indigeneship (residency) rights of the area at birth.

2) Similarly, any Nigerian citizen who has resided in any part of Nigeria and paid taxes there for a period of ten years can acquire the indigeneship (residency) rights of the area, except for the right to their traditional stool.



Section 6: Internal Security:
a) There should be a two or three-tier police structure with defined responsibilities as follows: a Police Force for the Federation and controlled by the Federal Government, and the Regional/State Constitutions to establish separate Police Forces for each region and each state.

b) The Police Force at every level will be headed by a non-partisan professional. The power to appointment and remove such a head of police will be vested in an independent body.

Section 7: Sharing of Financial Resources:Fiscal Federalism
a) Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution is a negation of the principle of federalism. It should be abrogated. In its place, a truly federal system that gives control of resources to the component units and replaces the current system of unconditional transfers with conditional transfers from the centre as follows:

b) The states will have control over all the natural resources within their territory. Fiscal federalism presupposes the revocation of the Land Use Act of 1978, the Solid Minerals Act, as well as the various Petroleum/Gas Acts and amendments since 1969. The right of ownership, control and exploitation of these and other assets should be returned to the states and/ or federating units.

c) The taxation powers of the various tiers of government should be reviewed to give the federating units greater flexibility and scope to generate revenue internally.

d) States within the federating units should collect and keep 50% of rents, royalties and profit taxes on minerals derived from their states; pay 20% to the regional government, and 30% to the federal government; provided that each tier of government will save at least 5% of the receipts from natural/mineral resources as Future Generation Fund.

e) The Federal Government should set aside 40% of revenue collected from the states/regions as a Distributable Pool Account (DPA). The balance of 60% plus 60% of its own independent revenues such as customs duties, federal VAT, federal income tax, etc. will be deployed to its diminished responsibilities. The sharing of DPA should be equitable and should replace the present unconditional revenue allocation to the states and local governments. Among other things, the DPA should be deployed to the following:
i) Emergency transfers from the DPA made only to distressed states/zones consequent upon natural and environmental emergencies, such as, floods, erosion, earthquakes, desert encroachment, man–made disasters - conflicts insurgency and war.
ii) Distributable Capital Account (DCA) – The balance in the DPA would serve as distributable capital (DCA) from which conditional grants are made to the federating units for capital projects only, on the basis of accountability subject to project- performance monitoring. The DCA would replace the current unconditional monthly allocation, and operate almost as matching grants.

f) The states within a region should collectively decide what percentage of their consolidated revenue they will allocate to the regional government for its operations provided that such contributions will not be less than 10 per cent of the respective states’ gross revenue.



Section 8: Merit and Federal Character Principle
a) Nigeria must maintain an appropriate balance between merit and affirmative action in the conduct of national and regional/state affairs, and the distribution of appointments, amenities, opportunities and privileges among constituent parts. For example, while 60% should be reserved for merit, 40% could be reserved to ensure federal character principle or affirmative action.

b) We recommend that the Federal Character Commission be replaced with Merit and Equal Opportunities Commission.

Section 9: Elections

a) Elections into the office of the President and federal legislature will be conducted by the electoral body of the Federal Government. Elections into regional/state offices will be conducted by electoral bodies set up by the regional/state Constitutions or laws.

b) It is believed that the current system of simple Plurality System (with a simple relative majority as winner) encourages minority governments and is considered out of date. We hereby propose a majoritarian system whereby a winner must score at least 50% of the votes cast to win an election.

c) Independent candidates serve as a form of protest to political parties and should be allowed in the electoral system provided that such candidates meet the minimum criteria to be on the ballot.

Section 10: Judiciary
a) Each federating unit will have its judicial system with courts of first instance, appellate court and Supreme courts to adjudicate on matters that are in the concurrent and residual lists as well as matters exclusively preserved for the federating units.

b) Where the states are the federating units, there will be state high courts, and zonal/regional court of appeal and zonal/regional Supreme Court on matters pertaining to the states and zones/regions.

c) It is the states or regional courts and their appellate courts that will have jurisdiction over electoral matters in their respective states or regions except matters pertaining to the presidential election or federal elections.

d) There shall also be the federal high court, federal appeal court and federal supreme court--- to deal with matters on the exclusive list of the Constitution, as well as constitutional matters or conflicts between the federating units and the federal government.





ANNEX A: DEVOLUTION OF POWER:


a) The long list of items on the Exclusive List of the 1999 Constitution should be considerably reduced to the basics required of the central government in a federation including but not limited to: defence, immigration, currency and monetary policy, customs and excise, foreign affairs.

b) Under the 1999 Constitution, the Federal Government controls both the Exclusive and Concurrent lists in the Constitution because federal legislations on matters in the concurrent list supersede the state legislations. It is proposed that on matters on the concurrent legislative list, the Federal Government should be concerned with regulation to ensure minimum national standards, and leave the regions/states to be innovative and competitive in the design of their policies, programmes and regulations relating to such concurrent items.
c) Where conflicts arise between the federal and regional/state legislation with regard to matters on the concurrent list, such conflicts will be resolved through ‘mutual consent’.

Federal Exclusive Legislative List
Items

Accounts of the Government of the Federation and officers, courts and authorities thereof, including audit of those accounts.

Archives, other than the public records of the Governments of the Regions or States

Aviation standards

Bills of exchange and promissory notes.

Borrowing of monies outside Nigeria for the purposes of the Federal Government or of any Region, other than borrowing by the Government of a Region/state on the security of any funds or assets of that government held outside Nigeria or borrowing that is not the liability of the Federation

Borrowing of monies within Nigeria for the purposes of the Federal Government.
Currency, coinage and legal tender.

Customs and excise duties, including export duties.
Defence.

Deportation of persons who are not citizens of Nigeria.

Exchange control.

External affairs.

Extradition.

Prescription of minimum standards of education at all levels.

Immigration into and emigration from Nigeria.

Legal proceedings between the Government of the Federation and any other person or authority or between the Governments of Zones or States.

Prescription of standards with respect to maritime shipping and navigation, including:

Shipping and navigation of tidal water

Shipping and navigation on the River Niger and its effluents and on any such other inland waterway as may be declared by the National Assembly to be an international waterway or to be an inter-Regional waterway;

Lighthouse, lightships, beacons and other provisions for the safety of shipping and navigation;

Such ports as may be declared by the National Assembly to be Federal ports (including the constitution and powers of port authorities for federal ports), provided that where such ports belong to the regions/states, the declaration as a federal port willl be with the consent of the region/state.

Meteorology

Museums established by the Federal Government

Naval, military and air forces.

Nuclear energy.

Passports and visas.

Patent, trade mark, designs and merchandise marks.

Pensions, gratuities and other like benefits payable out of the Consolidated

Revenue Funds or any other public funds of the Federation or federal government?.

Posts, telegraphs and telephones, including post office savings banks.

Powers, privileges and immunities of each House of the National Assembly and its members.

The public debt of the Federal Government.

Public relations of the Federation.

The public service of the Federation, including the settlement of disputes between the Federation and officers in the public service of the Federation.

Tribunals of enquiry with respect to all or any of the matters mentioned in this list

Trunk roads, that is to say, the construction, alteration and maintenance of such roads as may be declared as federal trunk roads.

Water from such sources as may be declared by the National Assembly to be source affecting more than one territory.

Weights and measures.

Wireless, broadcasting and television other than broadcasting and television provided by the Government of Regions or States; allocation of wavelengths for wireless, broadcasting and television transmission.

The matters with respect to which the National Assembly is empowered to make laws by provisions of this Constitution.
Any matter that is incidental or supplementary:
To any matter mentioned elsewhere in this list; or

To the discharge by the Government of the Federation or any officer, court or authority of the Federation of any function conferred by this Constitution.
8.
The Concurrent Legislative List
Items:

Antiquities.

Arms and ammunition.

Bankruptcy and insolvency.

Census.

Chemical Services, including analytical services.

Commercial and industrial monopolies, combines and trusts.

Control of capital issues.

Control of the voluntary movement of persons between territories.

Copyright.

Such drugs and poisons as may with the consent of the governments of the Zones or States be designated by the President by order.

Fingerprints, identification and criminal records.
Higher education, that is to say, institutions and other bodies offering courses or conducting examinations of a university, technological or of a professional character.

Incorporation, regulation and winding up of bodies corporate, other than cooperative societies, native authorities, local government authorities and bodies corporate established directly by any law enacted by the legislature of a Region or State.

Insurance other than insurance undertaken by the Government of a Zone or State but including any insurance undertaken by the Government of a Zone that extends beyond the units of that Zone.

Industrial Development

Labour, that is to say, conditions of labour, industrial relations, trade unions and welfare of labour.

9.
The legal and medical professions and such other professional occupations as may with the consent of the governments of the Zones be designated by the President by order.

All marriages, customary, statutory.

National monuments, that is to say, such monuments in a Zone as may with the consent of the Government of that Zone be designated by the President by order as national monuments.

National parks, that is to say, the control of such areas in a Zone as may with the consent of the Government of that Zone be designated by the President by order as national parks.

Prisons and other institutions for the treatment of offenders.

Promotion of tourist traffic.

Railways, including ancillary transport and other services

Taxes on amounts paid or payable or the sale or purchase of commodities except: produce; hides and skins; motor spirit; automotive gas oil sold or purchased for use in road vehicles; AGO sold or purchased for other than industrial purposes.

The maintaining and securing of public safety and public order; the providing, maintaining and securing of such supplies and services as may be designated by the President by order as essential supplies and services.
Quarantine

Registration of business names.

Scientific and industrial research.
10.
Service and execution in a Zone of the civil and criminal processes, judgments, decrees, order and other decisions of any court of law outside Nigeria or any court of law in Nigeria other than the Supreme Court, the High Court of that Zone or State or any court of law established by the legislature of that Zone or State.

Statistics.

Traffic on Federal trunk road

Tribunals of enquiry with respect to all or any of the matters mentioned elsewhere in this list.

Trigonometrical, cadastral and topographical surveys.

Water; Energy; Electricity.

The matters with respect to which National Assembly is empowered to make provision

Any matter that is incidental or supplementary to any matter mentioned elsewhere in this list.

On Monday, May 21, 2018

Harass, kill,intimidate,occupy & dominate: The Fulani ideology( Kogi is done )

It was  a great pity to see the unfolding events in Kogi state :i.e seeing the families of Fulani Herdsmen flooding in to occupy a vast area of the state which many years  ago belonged and was occupied by the rightful owners who were gradually and systematically embarrassed,butchered,and intimidated to the point abandoning the area by this same  herdsmen. 
This has always been the story of the movement of the Fulanis  in history and this is one of the reasons they banned history in schools  so that your children will always remain ignorant of historical facts and frames of references. 
For those still in doubt of this the  circle (harass, kill,intimidate,occupy & dominate)has been completed in Kogi state ,though the final stage of dominating neighbours will take  a while  with what we know of Fula expansionism.
All the communities  that voluntarily welcomed the Fulanis  also saw in time the same dynamic taking place. 
The question I ask those who are accepting colonies and other sorts of settlements in their area is this ; DID YOU READ THE HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE YOU ARE ACCEPTING? How did they behave  in the place they are coming from ?

An Igbo adage  has it  tha  "MADU ANAHI AHUCHIA ISHI NA ANYA OGAKWA KPO YA" That is =nobody would see blindness with his eyes and still accept to welcome it on his eyes... In simple  explanation : you avoid what you already know will eventually happen.
A word is  enough for the wise. 
Read your history books or ask elders. 
  READ MORE

OPEN LETTER TO THE AREWA YOUTHS. By Charles Ogbu.

OPEN LETTER TO THE AREWA YOUTHS.
By Charles Ogbu.
Brethren from the North,
I bring you greetings from the Southern part of Nigeria.
On behalf of the peace-loving people of the south in general and millions of Igbo youths in particular, I start this letter by commending you for your recent open letter to the acting president, professor Yemi Osinbajo, where you called on the pastor-turned politician to organise a Referendum for the Igbos to enable them determine their future in line with international law on self determination.
By that letter, you proved to be better versed and more sophisticated in legal matters and ways of international laws with regards to the right of Indigenous People on Self Determination than the acting President who ironically is a law professor but who happen to think that quest for self determination is a crime simply because the fraudulent document known as the 1999 constitution imposed on us by military thugs did not recognise it.

Having said these, let me come to the main reason why I'm here. In your letter to the Ag. President, I noticed what I've been trying to figure out whether to classify as an innocent amnesia-induced oversight or a calculated attempt to re-write history on your part.
You cited the January 15th coup which you mischievously tagged Igbo coup and claimed was the Igbos manifestating their hatred for Nigeria. Quite frankly, when I read that part, I was left wondering whether to pause and die laughing or die crying.
You and your kind invented the word "hatred" and even went further to prove that indeed, it is not just a word. You started manifesting hatred for other Nigerians as far back as 1945 when your kind butchered hundreds of innocent southerners mostly Igbos in North central Nigerian city of Jos in an anti-Igbo pogrom, 15 years before Nigeria even got her independence from Britain. And of course, your Vampiric spirit would later rise again in search of more Igbo blood in 1953 when your people carried out another anti-Igbo pogrom in Kano which resulted in another hundreds of Igbo lives being wasted once again. This time, all you needed to start doing what you know how best to do was a minor legislative disagreement at the Lagos parliament where your lawmakers were booed for trying to delay a motion for Nigeria's independence by claiming the North wasn't yet ready for self rule.
Isn't it a classic definition of irony that a people who started doing exceptionally well in the business of killing and maiming their fellow Nigerians as far back as 1945 when Nigeria had not even dreamt of gaining independence would now open their mouth and accuse others of manifesting "hatred for Nigeria unity"? If you ever believed in the so called Nigeria's unity, why kill and maim your fellow Nigerians for the flimsiest of excuses??
Secondly, the January 1966 coup was not an Igbo coup. It was a coup carried out by mostly junior army officers led by Major Kaduna Chukwuma Nzeogwu and it had soldiers from Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa/fulani, Tiv, Esan, Ijaw, Urhobo, Bali etc on board. Hassan Usman Katsina, an hausa/fulani, who was later made military governor of Northern region, was Nzeogwu's right hand man and a major participant all through the period of the coup. Major Adewale Ademoyega, the author of "Why We Struck" was of the same rank as Nzeogwu. He was an active participant in the coup. There were major Ifeajuna, Lt. Fola Oyewole of "The Reluctant Rebel", Lt. Tijani Katsina and Saleh Dambo who were both hausa/fulani, there was Lt. Hope Harris Egheagha among other Igbos.
And that same coup was foiled by two brave Igbo men, Aguyi Ironsi in Lagos (West) and Ojukwu in Kano (North).
Now, assuming WITHOUT CONCEDING that the January 15th coup was organized and executed by only Igbo army officers, does it not still amount to conscientious idiocy for you guys to blame the whole Igbo nation for a coup carried out by few military men from the region?? How can anyone seek to justify the savagery visited on defenceless Igbo men, women and children residing in the North in the aftermath of that coup?? Did Nzeogwu who was from Delta state consult the indigens of the state before leading that coup?
How come we don't blame Dimka's coup on his ethnic group neither do we blame IBB and Buhari's coup on the whole hausa/Fulanis?

Let me quickly remind you that in the evening of the January 15th coup, a Boeing 707 belonging to the Nigerian Airways arrived Kano with almost the whole Northern establishment back from Lagos where they had gone to attend Commonwealth Prime Ministers' conference. Ojukwu, it was, who received them at the airport and even when orders from the coup plotters were to shot all Politicians, Ojukwu gifted them with protection. I don't suppose you would like this kind of history, seeing as it seem to contradict the adulterated version you were groomed with.
In the said letter, you correctly stated that Ojukwu refused to recognize Gowon but you mischievously failed to state that Ojukwu's refusal to recognise Gowon was in protest over the refusal of the hausa/fulani military officers who killed the head of state, Aguyi Ironsi, to allow Brigadier Ogundipe to take over as the next in rank according to military tradition.

Still in that same letter, you stated that Ojukwu declared Biafra but you conveniently failed to tell the public that Ojukwu didn't just wake up in the morning, smoke his Benson cigarette and rushed to declare Biafra. He (Ojukwu) did his best to de-escalate tension and even succeeded in reaching a landmark accord with Gowon in Aburi, Ghana, which if implemented, would have put an end to the Igbo genocide going on in the North and averted the moral tragedy that was the Biafra war. But, Gowon, unilaterally chose to defy the terms of this last minute Aburi Accord, leaving the Oxford product, Ojukwu, with no choice but to pull his people out of a country that was and still is, deaf, dumb and blind to the sanctity of the lives of the same people it exists mainly to protect.
Let me quickly say this not just to you, The Arewa Youths but to all Nigerians and foreigners alike:
This current Biafra agitation IS NOT a bait for Igbo presidency, Restructuring or appointments. Any Igbo man thinking it is should simply go for a DNA test to ascertain not just his paternity but his ancestry, too. My generation is simply sick and tired of sharing the same country with people who derive enormous pleasure from killing their fellow human beings over the flimsiest of excuses like the burning of the Koran in a far away Afghanistan, the shooting of a Palestinian boy by a murderous Israeli soldier in Gaza, the drawing of the cartoon of Prophet Muhammad in far away Denmark by a cartoonist who is neither Igbo nor Nigerian.

Igbo youths are not aggrieved with Nigeria solely because their parents were massacred in the Biafra war. We are aggrieved because almost 50 years after the war, the same people who killed our parents are still killing us even in our homes using fulani herdsmen, in our churches and cities using hausa/fulani soldiers who kill us and bath us with acid, and our places of business using almajiris who slaughter us and burn our shops with state-sponsored impunity for no just cause other than the insatiable urge to spill blood.
My fellow youths, we have lied to ourselves for far too long. How about a little honesty here? All these killings points to one thing which is that our world views are world apart. While you delight in resorting to violence as solution to almost every disagreement, we, the Igbos and indeed, all southerners have serious aversion to bloodshed. It is our belief that our God fight for us, not the other way round.

I love the concluding part of your letter where you rightly asserted that the Biafra agitation is not an issue over which a single drop of blood should be shed. We agree completely. We have all advanced beyond the primitive era of war. We are not asking for war. We are only asking for a YES or NO vote known as Referendum. Now, my dear brethren, add a little work to your faith by prevailing on your leaders who control every facet of the Nigerian govt to allow for a Plebiscite for the Igbos. After they have voted and the YES vote carries the day, you can then give Igbos living in your region whatever condition under which you want them to live.
Dishing out quit notice to Igbos residing in your region when they are yet to be officially granted their referendum and Biafra is only tantamount to putting the cart before the horse. Until the Igbos officially get their Biafra, they remain Nigerians with all the right and privileges of Nigerian citizens including the right of living and doing business anywhere in Nigeria.

Lastly, let me conclude by reminding you that even in the event of a successful referendum for Biafra, all property legally acquired by the Igbos anywhere in Nigeria remain theirs and are protected by international law. Nigerians did not loose their property in Britain when the latter granted her independence in 1960, did they?? The world has progressed considerably. I would remind you that the 'abandoned property' era is over but I'm sure you know that, don't you??
Instead of killing ourselves and creating IDPs everywhere, let us peacefully do "To Your Tent, Oh, Israel!". That way, we will still do things together but as good neighbours under a mutually agreed terms.
Love From A Biafran,
Charles Ogbu
(culled from facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/radiobiafralondon/permalink/1492714134176351/

Why it is better to Free Biafra- Obasanjo writes to share his views Admin June 1, 20

Obasanjo writes to share his views Admin  June 1, 20

The whole world is now watching and listening closely to know the important plea for independence which is coming out of Western Africa. Nigeria has a population of roughly 180 million people with a balanced religious mix of roughly 49.3% Christian and 48.8% Muslim. We know most of the Christians live in southern Nigeria, a land previously controlled for over thousands of years by a people living in a land known as Biafra. Biafrans were a proud people. They were mostly Christian and a bastion of free-enterprise in Western Africa. With the formation of Nigeria in the breakup of Great Britain’s empire, Biafra lost its independence when it was unilaterally combined with the Muslim dominated north.

Today, the drive for a Muslim caliphate in Africa remains focused on three primary African states, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, where large populations of Christians remain. The all-out effort to destabilize the Christian power base has been carried out by Al-Shabaab in Kenya and Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria.

Boko Haram, an extremist Sunni Islamic fundamentalist sect strongly influenced by the Wahhabi movement, is committed to establish Nigeria as an Islamic State under Sharia Law. Their impact is strongest in the North. Seeking more grazing land for their herds, Fulani militants, linked to Boko Haram, have killed at least 20,000 people since 2009. The Fulani herdsmen have been moving south to areas dominated by Christians and non-religious farmers. They are well armed, and their coordinated attacks are increasing.

The atrocities against moderate Muslims and Christians are well documented but not widely covered in the Western press. Recently, angry Muslims youths in Kano decapitated a woman plastics trader alleging that she blasphemed the Prophet Muhammad. When the shop owner refused to allow a young man to wash his legs for the usual Muslim’s prayers in her shop because other customers were there, the young man shouted Allahu Akbar and lied to his friends that the owner had blasphemed. They dragged her away, beheaded her carried her head through the market and town center.

Many feel that now is the time for Biafra independence. The Biafran “George Washington,” Nnamdi Kanu, is out from jail from trumped up charges. Judges have refused to officially charge him. But fearing his leadership, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has decided to free him instead to know the fate of Biafrans. His long sustained incarceration has just fueled the flames for independence. The number of supporters of freedom for Biafra has quadrupled since Kanu’s imprisonment.  

Recently, Niger Delta Avengers blew up vital Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation oil pipelines. A new militant group, Red Egbesu Water Lions, has joined them in demanding that Nnamdi Kanu be released. Unless the Buhari government releases Kanu and moves toward a referendum on independence for Biafra, militants promise to shut down oil and gas production in the region.

In the past, Shell and British Petroleum have formed lucrative agreements with the Northern Muslim politicians to control 80% of the Nigerian oil, primarily from wells in the south. Not only are resources from Biafra being sold and profits diverted, the lack of environmental controls have resulted in pollution—hurting farming and fishing in the south.

Freedom isn’t free, but nowhere in Africa is freedom more important than in Biafra. But what are the Western powers doing? Unfortunately, very little. Britain has called for the release of Nnamdi Kanu but said little about the freedom referendum he supports. While covering the atrocities of Boko Haram in the North, there is little or no coverage of the Islamic terrorists brutalizing the Biafran Christians in the South.

This is about more than stopping Islamic extremism in Nigeria. Supporting the freedom of Biafra establishes a beachhead for Christian capitalism in Africa that puts a stop to a vision of a united Muslim caliphate in all of Africa.

America received support from France in breaking free of England. It’s time for the UN and Western powers to do their part to free the people of Biafra while independence is still possible without expanded bloodshed.

Chief Olushegun Obasanjo

http://dailyinfong.com/article-why-it-is-better-to-free-biafra-obasanjo-writes-to-share-his-views/

THEY CAME,SAW, DESTROYED AND LEARNT NOTHING

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: 
HOW  TO BUILD  2 STANDARD INTERNATIONAL  AIRPORTS IN  ONE MONTH AND MAINTAIN THEM AFTER DAILY BOMBINGS:   Authors : BIAFRAN ENGINEERS. 1967-1970

Every 3 years  we  hear  of  the closure of  Abuja airport, poor  and dangerous position of  the airport etc . I believe  the Nigerian engineers should read this  old book from the  rubble of  war. 

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: 

• HOW  TO BUILD  2 STANDARD INTERNATIONAL  AIRPORTS IN  ONE MONTH AND MAINTAIN THEM AFTER DAILY BOMBINGS:   Authors : BIAFRAN ENGINEERS. 1967-1970
  

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 The Nigerian soldiers came saw,destroyed and LEARNT NOTHING.

Photo of  General Obasanjo (Nigerian Army Engineer) Jan 1970:  posing  for  a remembrance picture and jubilating   at their first sight of the  (one of the airstrips) ULI airport fully constructed and maintained  by the Biafran Army Engineer corps throughout the war.
The Nigerian  destroyed  without learning NOTHING till now.

Buhari, Fayose, Ugwuanyi, and this horrid life

 On May 4, 201611:08

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” -Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

 “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

 VEXED voices have, in exasperation, been asking where Reverend Father Ejike Camillus Mbaka is. They are absolutely right who expect the priest to speak up. People should ask where Bola Tinubu is, the one who covets the feat of unknotting Pandora’s Box. People should be asking where many other previously vocal Nigerians are. People should conduct an investigation on the seemingly abrupt dryness of Niyi Osundare’s inkpot, for he has put an incongruous halt to his fondness for poetizing on national questions. All those experts on radio and television, all those incisive analysts on cyberspace and concourses – know you one thing! People have a right to ask what sneaked in and stole your voices. What crept in and rendered you incapable of standing up? What stealthily stymied your very humanity?

People also have another responsibility, which in fact is more fundamental than pointing accusingly at the supposed guilty. People should be asking themselves where they stand.

 People will, perhaps, temporarily desist from wondering whether Wole Soyinka had embarked on a journey out of the planet Earth. The Nobelist’s voice finally crashed against the wall of eviscerating injustice: “Impunity evolves and becomes integrated in conduct when crime occurs and no legal, logical and moral response is offered. I have yet to hear this government articulate a firm policy of non-tolerance for the serial massacres have become the nation’s identification stamp. “I have not heard an order given that any cattle herders caught with sophisticated firearms be instantly disarmed, arrested, placed on trial, and his cattle confiscated. The nation is treated to an eighteen-month optimistic plan which, to make matters worse, smacks of abject appeasement and encouragement of violence on innocents. “Let me repeat, and of course I only ask to be corrected if wrong: I have yet to encounter a terse, rigorous, soldierly and uncompromising language from this leadership, one that threatens a response to this unconscionable blood-letting that would make even Boko Haram repudiate its founding clerics.”

 Fantastic! Except that Soyinka’s reaction is like that of a fowl on virgin territory that stands tentatively on one leg. For the murderous activities of Fulani herdsmen, he faulted “this leadership”. Well, “this leadership” has at its head someone with a name. Why is the man’s name unmentionable? On Soyinka, there will be much more to say as the unfolding scalping encompasses the variegated swathes of the entity. For now, it requires to explore and expand his observation.

The Government of Enugu State received intelligence on the impending carnage by Fulani herdsmen. Dutifully, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi summoned a 10pm State Security Council meeting attended by the following on the state government’s side: Ugwuanyi, the Deputy Governor, the Secretary to the State Government, the Governors’ Chief of Staff, the State Attorney-General, and the Chairman of the State Traditional Rulers Council. President Buhari’s government was represented by the following: Brigadier General Olufemi Akinjobi, the Commander of the Enugu Garrison (representing the GOC 82 Division of the Nigerian Army); the Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Nwodibo Ekechukwu; the Enugu State Director of the Department State Security Services (DSS), Mr. M. Abdul Malik; the State Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Lar Stephen; and the representatives of the Nigerian Air Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Nigerian Prison Services, who attended as observers.

Yet, the carnage took place, costing anything between 60 and a hundred precious lives; leading to widespread destruction. Would this have happened if the threat had been on Muhammadu Buhari’s hometown of Daura?

 The attitude of three politicians in this dispensation – Buhari, Fayose and Ugwuanyi – best illustrates contemporary Nigerian antinomies. About Buhari, his inertia and nonchalance hardly surprise. Hadn’t he told the world that his stance on governance was preferentially tied to the quantum of votes he amassed from different constituencies during last year’s presidential ballot?

 On Governor Fayose, there is clear evidence of leading from the front. He has not, since his election, shied away from meeting the aspirations of his people upfront, doing so fearlessly, clearly conscious of the fact that he owes his gubernatorial mandate to the good people of Ekiti, not some potentate in Abuja. But, what has been happening to Fayose? His own people mostly – not those who elected him, mind – but his own people, nonetheless, have been vociferous in damning and condemning him at every juncture, to sustain an untenable patchwork coalition of Masters and Slaves. Some have hung a label of Afonjaism on the perversity.

And then, there is Ugwuanyi. This man looks and sounds pathetic. This was how he started his statewide broadcast: “Four days ago on Monday April 25, 2016 many of our brothers and sisters in Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of the state were murdered in cold blood by suspected Fulani herdsmen…” Four whole days passed before this man deemed it necessary to address his massacred and traumatised people. What was he doing in the interim, apart from leaving his handkerchiefs sopping wet with tears? He found time to be “very grateful to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, for his prompt and decisive reaction to the incident in Nimbo.” Someone certainly is trapped in cloud cuckoo land. The President hadn’t visited the scene of the massacres. He hadn’t sent a condolence message. He hadn’t ordered an investigation. When he met with Ugwuanyi, it was at the Governor’s instance. Still Buhari got effusively appreciated for his “prompt and decisive reaction”. This beggars belief. This provocative condescension was voiced in a broadcast that had the following only paragraphs away: “In less than three months, violent clashes have occurred in Enugu State in Awgu, Nike, Abbi and Nimbo between suspected Fulani Herdsmen and our people,” with absolutely no reaction from Abuja.

The genocide of 1966 happened before me. Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the then Governor of Eastern Nigeria, did not respond to that anti-Igbo pogrom by grinning ear-to-ear before the murderers of his people; he didn’t go about salaaming them. It is inconceivable that Governor Fayose, were he in Ugwuanyi’s shoes, would have allowed a single night to pass before taking exception, before acting like a man with his people’s mandate. That recommends itself as the stuff of commonsense. The bloody trail of mass murders by Fulani Herdsmen is unfolding in front of all our eyes. Think of the quotes from Archbishop Tutu and Martin Luther King Jr. above. Think of the dictate of conscience. Think of the sacredness of life. Think of the impunity of these mass murderers. Consider that “Impunity evolves and becomes integrated in conduct when crime occurs and no legal, logical and moral response is offered.” Then ask yourself this question: Am I sitting on the fence, deadening my senses in silences?

Mr. Chuks Iloegbunam, an author wrote from Lagos.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/buhari-fayose-ugw