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Are Igbos speaking out of both sides of their mouth? The questions I have are 1) should the Igbos be seeking the presidency or should they be seeking to get the hell out of the sinking ship called Nigeria? 2) 1f the presidency will delay the Igbo people's escape from that house of tortute, should the Igbos be striving for the presidency? 3) is it not unpatriotic to BiafraNigeria for Obasanjo to be seeking a second term in office since he was (s)elected by the Northerners to become president just to cool Yoruba tempers? 2) does the butcher of Odi and Okigwe not think that Igbo tempers ought to be cooled down? Obasanjo is the Biggest Obstacle to an Igbo Presidency
First of all let me say welcome to the Biafranigeria Board.
I do agree with the premise that Obasanjo may be the obstacle for an Igbo presidency. I do also agree with you that the Igbos should be mapping out strategy to get out of the sinking ship called Nigeria before it drown all of us. I have never in my life seen a man do so little with so much given to him as Obasanjo have done.
Obasanjo came in with high hopes for Nigeria, However two years later those hopes have died like every other hopes in the past. Things have gotten worst since Obasanjo came to power. crime rate is up ethnic conflict is up. What do Nigerians have to show for their two years of Democracy nothing.
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This is my analysis of the current situation.
Ikemba "Are Igbos speaking out of both sides of their mouth?"
This looks like a question of when you find yourself in a snake well, you will do everything possible to appease the snakes while you are still in the well and at the same time making plans to leave the well. An attempt to climb out without considering the situation with the snakes will be fatal.
Another scenario is stating your position in all fairness if all things will be equal and also declaring a viable alternative if the stated position is ignored. The position being the President and the viable alternative being Biafra.
If my second analysis is close to the truth and it being performed in "Concert" then it is wise indeed.
But the reality is that there are different groups canvassing for diffrent things for different reasons.
I will put them in two camps. The camp that wants to actualize Biafra consists mostly of those who want the best interest of Ndigbo at heart. They are those who have been touched closely with the calamities that have been commited against Ndigbo. (family and friends have died the protests in the North, businesses have been lost). They seem to posses that rare insight for the long term.
On the other hand, those concentrating on the clamour for Igbo President are those who are sitting on fence and those who are happy with the status quo. Their throats are currently being oiled by contracts from the government and are terified of losing this unbilical chord. They are still entraped mentally with the beleif that Biafra is not acheivable. There is also a lot of ignorant ones who beleive that due the dispersed demography of the Igbos all over Nigeria that the Biafra venture will be tantamount to suicide for those living outside of the Biafra territory.
I have just given a very brief analysis here just to jig our thoughts in this direction.
___________________ Biafra Shall Conquer-
Posts: 232 | From: Sydney, Australia | Registered: Mar 2001
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I do not believe in this guy and his analysis, to me he sounds just like an Igboman in Kaftan. However for the benefit of those who think he is making any sense, please have your fill.
If I Were An Igbo Man… (Part 1)
By Zulfikar Aliyu Adamu
[ Saudi Arabia ]
zulfikar@kfupm.edu.sa
There is no doubt whatsoever in mind that some political maneuverist are scheming to disprove the logical consequences of the bona fide political order. These individuals (or groups of individuals) I suspect, must have read or heard about PNP 101, an article where I spelt out the Politics of Nigeria People- as a basic course. In that fateful article, I formulated the political equations of the near future, in which it was proven that the root and consequences of an Obasanjo re-election for another 4 years; (i.e. OBJ + 4x), is equal to the eventual consignment of the Yorubas into 24 years of presidential isolation (i.e. Y – 24x). As a result, we can now hear desperate calls for a 5-year single non-renewable term for the elected C-in-C.
Recall that the North would have had to rule for 8 years, before the presidency is rotated down to the South, for a South-Easterner or South-Southerner, to reign for another 8 years (making 16 years). Naturally, albeit logically, the North would eagerly grab and win Aso Rock for another 8 years before the South-West is given a shot to produce an Octogenarian to lead us in 24 years time. This is assuming they continue to consign their fates to Afenifere for ever more. And be not fooled, dear readers, by the miraculous sway that the PDP holds in the South-West today. All na eye service. The South-Westerners are smart enough to know which way the political wind is blowing, and if that wind is laden with the aroma of amala, kpomo and gbegiri soup, then the better for them. I bet you AD or Afenifere, will quickly recover in 2006 just in time to re-take the ‘O’ states during a non-Yoruba presidency, starting 2007. Mark my words.
In any case, my other salient predictions in PNP 101 have come to pass. I refused to support Buhari, because (as much as I admired and trusted him to be able to deliver some dividends) I knew that he would be flogged at the polls. Indeed, he was. Furthermore, I asserted that he was politically untutored for the present scheme of things, and how naïve he was to expect that IBB would just back him up. So now that IBB has begun to show his intentions as an agenda that is not quite hidden, perhaps those readers who were aggrieved by my earlier predictions and conclusions would pay more attention this time; most especially my beloved Nna Brosses. But, biko, wait first... is it not strange too (like I foretold) that in the coming 2007 duel, no one is mentioning Buhari again? Every political analyst worth his salt (or pepper) has been focusing on the clash between IBB and Atiku and in some cases Marwa. Maybe it is because Buhari is preoccupied with his court battles. Well, for the sake of judicial involvement and rule of law, I agree that he should seek redress in those instances where for example, there is clear proof that he lost Kaduna , because one sergeant Audu stuffed ballot boxes with fake votes. Nevertheless, I was right. Oh yes, Buhari has been relegated to political insignificance for now; and has been registered in the mental hard disk of the average northerner as a one-time loser. From the depths of our political recycle bin, some people stand to benefit tremendously from this development. It is up to him to fashion out a way of ressurrecting and taking his rightful place amongst respectable leaders of Nigeria.
Anyway, my dear Igbo brothers and sisters, crying for political attention would not bring any genuine sympathy from the two other ethnic groups vis-à-vis the Hausa/Fulanis and the Yorubas. Hammering about your neglect, your turn to rule, bla bla bla, will achieve little more than a running mate for now. The North is more prepared, more determined (by way of powershift) to snatch the presidency in 2007 and believe me, whoever gets there would want to witness 8 annual Sallah/Christmas holidays before retiring to his farm, wherever it is.
If I were an Igbo man, I would genuinely start paying close attention to those calling for a five-year, non-renewable presidency. Obviously, they must largely be composed of people who hail from ethnicities that would benefit from a swift return to the sudden political utopia that they have tasted. But who says the next 5 years can’t be for an Igbo man? Then again, what plans have the Igbos got for taking over apart from expecting political sympathy? Agitating for your turn at presidency is not enough and in fact, is irrelevant right now. What is required is a grand political strategy on how to force the presidential pendulum to swing in three directions. Without such a strategy, my fear is that you would see more Alex Ekwuemes humiliated at party conventions!
It is pertinent to realize that each of the other two major ethnicities in Nigeria have their unique contemporary ways of getting and sustaining political power. The North shall continue to bank on its shrewd politicians, substantial north-wide population and the fact that the south as a whole, can never speak with one political voice in the near future. The southwest has already expended its ‘we are the best’ mentality as well as the June 12 sympathy. Now they have to scheme up new tactics for future polls, and I trust that they will. As for the Southeast, there is one sure way for them achieve long-lasting political success on the national stage and guess what? it has everything to do with regional economics and little to do with Abuja-politicking - with the exception of good governance, that is.
Firstly and most importantly, the Igbos should isolate their block from any wasteful exercise into the presidency for now because believe me, inasmuch as I trust the capabilities of the average Igbo man, that is not what will get you the keys to Aso Rock. If political morality and honest sense of purpose is the wining formula in Nigeria , Gani would have been governor of Lagos long ago. By concentrating on the development of the South-East, you will make other ethnic groups drool saliva in envy after the next 8 years of northern rule. This, you can only achieve by enforcing security and undertaking ONLY in those quality projects that will create much needed employment and foreign exchange. Such foreign exchange could be from the so many products and services in which you have excelled thus far. The Southeast is the only part of the Nation blessed with enough immediate human and material resources needed to free their people from the shackles of unemployment and mismanagement. You could not get your political confederation by use of arms, but you can achieve something similar through an effective economic strategy; that is administered efficiently.
As far as I see it, Nigeria is just slowing the Igbos down economically and if they can review and start a systematic approach to their areas of specialty, then the sky would not be the limit. Ask Ojukwu (or anyone) to come back and lead you into an ‘economic war’ with the rest of the world and not just Federal Republic of Nigeria. Channel your skills, resources and hardwork properly towards an economic revolution. The Igbos don’t need a political Ohaneze. You need an economic think-tank that would fashion out the road-map to your economic dominance in the country! Afterall, what has the Ohaneze achieved for you apart from vice-presidency and failed presidential candidates? If such an economic strategy though an Igbo think tank can come up with a vision (e.g. fund their universities in ONLY those courses and areas that would bring results), you would justify the estimations of Fredrick Forsythe. When he corresponded for the British Media during the Biafran war, he affirmed that at that time, Eastern Nigeria had more doctors and engineers than the rest of Africa put together. Is that situation still true as of today?
I foresee a time soon enough, when the Igbos in the East would proudly put “Made in Aba” as a sign of genuine international quality on shoes, bags, automobile parts, luxury goods and what have you. I anticipate a future, not too distant, when information technology spare parts and devices would be churned out from your silicon valley. I dream about the Igbos modernizing our national transportation not just through Chisco-type of luxurious buses, but through a well established high-speed train network across the Niger and Benue . This would not only facilitate the movement of people, but as well as goods from our congested ports. Should the rail network be made to also carry petro-chemical products, then this would not only make pipeline vandals go out of business, but would also save resources and lives and create many more jobs in the process.
Only Igbo men and/or South-southerners can achieve this for now. The rest of our wealthy men and thieving politicians don’t know anything about investment, ehmm, well except for running unprofitable chicken and yoghurt farms along express roads. By the time you teach the rest of Nigeria, what it means to be a productive component of the failed federation, then, I am positive, PDP, ANPP, AD, QDX, JBR, KNPP or whichever parties that have the sharpest claws; would be falling over each other to sign your illustrious sons as presidential candidate. Yet, this will not happen over night. Nonetheless, if and when this happens, the South-East would find ready supporters and voters most especially in the North, where the SI unit of abject poverty and neglect is derived. A time would come when the poverty- and radically-inspired clashes and killings (across the nation) will be a thing of the past. When cultural and religious self-respect becomes ingrained in the mindset of the average northerner, he would not mind voting anyone who will cater for his interests. You may be right to ask at this stage why the north or northerner? Well, the answer can be found in the electoral results of the few erratic democracies Nigeria has experienced so far. If Charles Taylor, himself can get the support of the northern voter today, he would lead Nigeria tomorrow.
Now, let us examine an immediate possible scenario…what if a lot of Ghana-must-gos change hands in our Senate/National Assembly and the constitution is modified for a single 5 year term?. Ah… don’t smile yet oh! Obasanjo got the keys to Aso Rock on May 29th 1999 simply because by acts of omission and commission, the Southwest was prepared to take up the post. The ground work was laid out in the dying days of IBBs regime all though the NADECO days of international outcry and blackmail. We all know now that it does not matter that Obasanjo does not attend AD party meetings. We all know his agenda and inclinations. So the question is this…If the Igbos are allowed by PDP (for instance) to produce the candidate for 2007, how can they guarantee victory against an IBB or an Atiku who may as well decamp to ANPP? Remember, all that anybody needs to be a president, is the Northern votes. The Southwest learnt this biter lesson through the 0.0013% or so votes that they gave Obasanjo in 1999 (through his blood relatives). So tell me, what are the plans on ground to guarantee that you Igbos will not be stabbed in the back by an alliance between an Atiku and a Falae?
The situation then would be unsalvageable and we have just two years to go. That is why I keep emphasizing the need for all efforts to be geared towards an Igbo presidency after the next northern experiment. This would make it 2012 (assuming a 5-year term) at the earliest or 2015 (assuming an 8-year term) at the latest. As un-chewable and grossly unpalatable as this may sound to some Igbos, if any of you can show me an alternative way (apart from hollering at Ohaneze meetings about your turn to rule) then, I promise to lobby the webmaster of this site about creating a special column for me and others for campaigning on Igbo presidency by 2007. I know 2012 or 2015 seems like forever, but if you have waited this long, you can wait again but this time, plan well. The collective mistake Nigeria made as a whole was that when power was agreeable allowed to shift to the South in 1999, we took it for granted that it should be a South-westerner. History likes to repeat itself when people don’t pay attention to it. In any case, events in PDP have shown the unpreparedness of the Igbos. Besides, the north is hungrier than the South-east right now for Aso Rock. But the Igbos have a choice now to either do their homework or watch a South-westener fold his agbada on the steps of Aso Rock by 2012 or 2015.
I do not see any leader from any other part of the country having sufficient good-will and chronic determination needed to take Nigeria out of this mess as for now, apart from an Igbo man or possibly a South-southerner. I admire the current success of some of their governors. If it means working towards this goal while waiting till the time is right, so be it. I shall be patient. Those of you, who see even a small sign of logic and reason behind this article, may decide to forward this article to your fellow Igbo men and your close ethnic next of kins. Importantly, start doing something about the sort of economic grand master plan afore mentioned. As for those who think I am simply a paid writer sponsored by an interest group to dissuade you from contesting in 2007, well; you are entitled to your opinion and myopic prejudices. Just don’t send me any angry email. Write a rejoinder to this website and present your point of view instead. All I am saying is that 2007 is infeasible and if you don’t make hay now, come the year 2012 or 2015, the political sun will NOT shine on you and I will write the concluding part of my trilogy, and deep down inside your heart… you know I will be vindicated when a Southwesterner beats you to the steps of Aso Rock.
God Bless Nigeria.
___________________ This war of attrition on the Igbo must end now! Posts: 441 | From: california, US | Registered: Jan 2003
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We jus' tanda dey watch, as dog com' dey chop dog. Now who is the bigger threat to Igbo Presidency? We just wonder.
Nzeribe links plot to Igbo Senators
As the Senate session closed yesterday, Senator Arthur Nzeribe in a brief entitled: “Why we plotted against Wabara” admitted orchestrating the plot alongside his colleagues from the South-East with the purpose of enthroning him (Nzeribe) as Senate President. “When the story of inequitable distribution of funds amongst Senators (who ordinarily are equals) by the Senate leadership broke out, a few South-East Senators met on Wednesday, 21st April 2004 to discuss and review the events especially the negative suspicion of most distinguished Senators that the unjust distribution must have been selfishly perpetrated by the Senate leadership thus reducing the Senate to the satirical Orwellian’s Animal Farm.
"Considering our combined Senate political experience, we reached the conclusion that Senator Adolphus Wabara must go as Senate President in view of the prevailing feelings of Senators. We then talked of the successor to that exalted position and without any prodding whatsoever, Senator Ararume nominated me to the position. I also made certain promises to him.” Disclosing that Senator David Mark was conscripted into the plot to give the scheme credibility, he, however, cleared the Senate President of the allegations of financial misappropriation.
“For the avoidance of doubt, let me restate categorically that there is nothing to the sundry allegations of misappropriation, fraud and embezzlement levelled at the Senate President. The campaign was an after-thought and was designed to attract the sympathy of the Nigerian public, give a dog a bad name, and cover up the original plot. All of these were contrived to facilitate the original agenda,” the maverick Senator said.
___________________ This war of attrition on the Igbo must end now! Posts: 441 | From: california, US | Registered: Jan 2003
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