I am totally against censorship of any kind. Having said that, I understand that an owner of a messageboard, just like an owner of a newspaper, decides what is to be published and what is not. Those who disagreed with the standard are encouraged to start their own.

That is why we have the PUNCH, the Guardian, and other newspapers. They can send their reporters to same assignment and yet publish different versions of what happened. Not all letters sent to a newspaper is published. Every editor decides what should be published.

The proper thing to do when a view is not being heard is for holders of that view to find a means to let it out. That is why I commend those behind this board.

Each time someone is banned from a messageboard, it is to me like a death in the family. I mourn, but after a while, I recognize that running away in protest is a form of self censorship too- if you like, suicide.

To me, a messageboard is like a zoo. I want to see not just the sheep and the goat lying around. I want to see the lion attack the sheep. I want to see the whale swallow the cat fish. I want to see action. I go around looking at messageboard and searching for entertainment and ideas. I want to see the whole ecosystem in operation.

Dr Damages did have his problems and has remained underground basically. He will watch to see what happens here - for here, the dead do come back to life.

Eventually, every messageboard owner must decide the form and shape they want for their messageboard. A visit to Nigeria.com messageboard will show the importance of that.

I wish this messageboard well. I know it will make its mark and will have an impact on other messageboards. At the same time, I know also that when the honeymoon is over and reality sets in, this messageboard, like all other messageboards will be compelled to define its mission. Failure to do so, it will be ran off course. That is the reality of all messageboards on the net.

No one messageboard can contain us all. Even within our innerselves are so many individuals.

The real truth is that we do not have enough messageboard. When we do have enough, it will be a different world all together.

Welcome aboard sir.Your words as usual are wise, but I believe the participants on this forum are already cognisant of some of the things you have said.

Indeed I have enjoyed reading your writtings on many occassions, and your clearly thought out analysis have always made sense to me even when I disagreed with some of the things you said.

You see you are right when you say people can decide on how boards they own are run.I don't intend to waste my time here arguing about what people can or cannot do with their boards ,however I also noticed you spoke about your aversion for censorship.If I may ask why have you never spoken up about this on Nigeria world?

Hopefully you did not sacrifice your principles for a spot on the front page, because that's how Nigeria got to where it is today.Think about it brother if you don't believe in something and refuse to voice your opinion how can you really reconcile your actions with your beliefs.

[ March 23, 2001: Message edited by: chiboy ]

If it is true as asserted above that Dr. Damages is indeed the renowned Rudolf, then Chiboy is right to ask him the question posed above. I am convinced that if it is true, the real Rudolf will have a good answer for Chiboy. Let's wait and see.

One of the virtues of great Men! is consistency. I know you not to hesistate to use the work "Tufiakwa!!" when it is required.

Your introduction to this board seems like someone who is treading softly. I don't know any Man who will tread softly when walking into his "compound". There are no toes to step on here that I know about. Is there any other toe some where else that you are avoiding??

Due to the great respect people have for you, we are waiting for the answer you will give to the question posed to you by Chiboy.

I am one of those people that you wrote about in your last article. So the answer you give is very important.

I have been off line in the last 48 hours and I am glad to be back to provide some answers to the questions raised by Chiboy.

First and foremost, as alluded by Ibibomn, Dr Damages and Rudolf are two different people. While Dr Damages believes that "Extremism in the defense of a liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue"(Barry Goldwater), Rudolf on the other hand "Admires the dreams of the future more than the history of the past" (Thomas Jefferson)

Having said that, I do know that at various times on the messageboard, Rudolf defended free speech whether it was for Senator Waku, or Nzeribe or members of the board. But as a realist, he understood that whatever his opinion might be, the decision of the Webmaster is the final. Rudolf did not go about trying the impossible.

Dr Damages was cautioned. Dr Damages was banned. Rudolf knew that. And he had first hand experience of the struggle of Dr Damages to express himself. Sometimes, Dr Damages does break through the curtain separating him and Rudolf and express himself through the voice of Rudolf.

As an issue of principle, this was how Rudolf looked at it.

Say, Rudolf believes in a strong defense as a principle... Rudolf will do anything to maintain a strong defense. What Rudolf will not do however, is to toy with nuclear weapons. Why? Because Rudolf knows that suicide is not the best form of defense. Dr Damages, on the other hand will toy with such.

Rudolf would rather be in pissing out, than be out trying to see how to piss in.

I hope this is enough explanation. It has nothing to do with the frontpage and what goes on there.

Rudolf knows that the best answer to censorship is what is done here.

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I have just finished watching David Duke’s appearance on POLITICAL INCORRECT and I felt I should add a few lines more to this debate.
Supposing that instead of Waku, TELL magazine had used the same headline but credited it to GANI, how would the reaction have differed?

“We want coup now!” – Gani
“We want coup now!”---Ikemba
“We want coup now! --- Dikko

Looking at these three headlines, the three guys suppose to be saying the same thing, but the meaning will obviously differ from/for one Nigerian to another. And so would the reaction to each.

The reality of this logic is the reason why the only way to secure our rights to speak is to fight for the right of others, including our enemies, to speak freely.

Supposing Ikemba had said, “We want coup now!” Then within the interview, had said that Yorubas are good people, but it is unfortunate that Obasanjo is sold out to Hausa / Fulani.

Or

That Ikemba said, “We want coup now!” Then within the interview, he said that Yorubas are cowards and it just turned out that Obasanjo is no better.

The perception of his first statement, “We want coup now!” will obviously differ as a result of other statements that follow.

Mr. Okonkwo can wake up tomorrow and say that, “Igbos are stupid and greedy.”

If Alhaji Sani says the same thing, the perception will differ.

In speeches, there is always the question of whom, why, where, when, what, and how. Because answers to these questions tend to qualify what was said, the only practical way to guarantee free speech is to absolutely protect it.

Until I die, I will defend the right of any Nigerian to say any crazy thing he or she wants. Because if I don’t, one day, when it is my turn to say a crazy thing, there will not be anyone to defend me. I personally want to see more outrageous people in Nigeria. People who will challenge us to think far and wide. People who will shake us out of our comfort zones. People who will help us learn to break barriers. People who will make it impossible for us not to get involved. People who will provoke us to think. For the milk and sugar to mix, that cup of coffee called Nigeria needs to be stirred regularly.

I want to see a Nigeria where anyone can stand up and call the president “dumb” and nothing will happen to him or her. That is essential if we hope to have a Nigeria where any police man can walk into Aso Rocks and arrest the president, if need be.

The crux of this matter is beyond Waku or Obasanjo. It is at the heart of that same democracy we have sacrificed a lot to achieve.

Somehow, everyone forgets what the real problem is. The real problem is that there is a possibility of coups and that is what we ought to be dealing with.

If Waku had said “We want snow now!, would it have attracted this kind of reaction? Though then, we can pretty be sure that Waku and the editors of TELL are screwed up in the head.

And talking about TELL, I do think they erred by using a quote that was never in the body of the interview as their story title and credited it to Waku (Assuming that Abati’s extract from the interview was the most damaging part. Though you can bet if there is anything more damaging, the media would have brought it out). Even the National Enquirer do not fall that low. Enquirer does invent stories, credit reliable sources close to the personalities, but they avoid direct quote else, they will have to produce the tape where the individual said so. But that is not why TELL editors should be quizzed by Police or any law enforcement agency. Waku should have sued TELL or if the Security agents feel it was inciting or whatever their problem is, they should have taking TELL to court and not the military style of picking up reporters.

I have taken the liberty to quote individuals who have supported free speech. One of them said, no county is so poor that it cannot afford free speech. If we are not ready for free speech, then, we are not ready for democracy. Now, I even doubt if we are ready for a National Conference.

I have a Nigerian who writes me twice a week. He starts by cursing me. He tells me that he doesn’t hate anybody but that he does not like me. Then he will use a different four-letter word to illustrate what he meant. As far as I know, this Nigerian has the right to hold his opinion, and my ability to retain mine depends on my capacity to protect his.

If there is anything we have to say no to, it is NO TO CENSORSHIP. Without freedom of speech, forget about SMALL GOVERNMENT and what have you.

Everyone wants to skin Waku alive, including those who once wrote speeches for coup plotters. Nobody is asking, what if Waku could not make it with the rest of us into the 21st century? Should we skin everyone who could not cross the bridge into the 21st century? Like those who still listens to Michael Jackson?

**************************************

“But this is slavery, not to speak one’s thought.”
Euripides

“Opinions become dangerous to a state only when persecution makes it necessary for the people to communicate their ideas under the bond of secrecy.”
Charles James Fox

“Free Discussion is the only necessary Constitution-the only necessary Law of the Constitution.”
Richard Carlile

“Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.”
Lord Macaulay

“We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is false opinion; and if we are sure, stifling it would be an evil still.”
John Struart Mill

“The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

“The wisest thing to do with a fool is to encourage him to hire a hall and discourse to his fellow-citizens. Nothing chills nonsense like exposure to the air.”
Woodrow Wilson

“It is said that this manifesto is more than a theory, that it was an incitement. Every idea is an incitement.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

“Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.”
Louis D. Brandeis

“If there is any principle of the constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principal of free thought- not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

“Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.”
Benjamin N. Cardozo

“Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without it being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.”
Sir Winston S. Churchill

“Laws alone cannot secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be a spirit of tolerance in the entire population.”
Albert Einstein

“”Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

“”Free speech is not to be regulated like diseased cattle and impure butter. The audience … that hissed yesterday may applaud today, even for the same performance.”
William O. Douglas

“The censor’s sword pierces deeply into the heart of free expression.”
Earl Warren

“The first principle of a free society is an untrammeled flow of words in an open forum.”
Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

“Let other people speak out. The heavens will not fall and you will not be thrown out. If you do not let others speak, then the day will surely come when you will be thrown out.”
Mao Tse-tung

“My view is, without deviation, without exception, without any ifs, buts, or whereases that freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they have or the views they express or the words they speak or write.”
Hugo L. Black

“Man’s drive for self-expression, which over the centuries has built his monument, does not stay within set bounds; the creations which yesterday were the detested and the obscene become the classic today.”
Hugo L. Black

“The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.”
Hubert H. Humphery

“The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don’t agree with.”
Eleanor Holmes Norton

“”There is no nation that is so poor that it cannot afford free speech, but there are few elite which will put up with the bother of it.”
Daniel P. Moynihan

“The liberty of the press is most generally approved when it takes liberties with the other fellow, and leaves us alone.”
Edgar Watson Howe

“Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very foundation of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt

As much as I am Biafran to core, but I do have to agree with you on Dr damages he does have a way with words. Dr Damages brother welcome to BiafraNigerian world. I have always been one of your most ardent fan. Your writing always gives me joy when I read them.

For Nigeria to be one, the fragile issues and injustices of the past must be adequately addressed in order to move on toward onward objectivity. But my fear is, Nigeria unity is like a mirage.

True federalism or confederacy will allow resources back to the hands of the people/states/regions. It will facilitate rapid development and healthy competition among states/regions that will put the asian tigers to shame. So armed with this reality, Oyibo had to put non patriotic ignorant stooges at the helms of Niger Area's affairs and use them to milk, destabilize, and suppress their growth and progress. Any wonder why Nigeria is the way it has been and still is?

The most patriotic, industrialistic, and technologically minded are the Biafrans. If they are placed at the helms of Nigeria's affairs, they'll send the imperialist parasites and their stooges packing, introduce confederalism as all the tribes are capable nations unto themselves, propagate healthy competitiveness among the regions, and abolish federal resource control. Again, technological inventions will be encouraged and funded, meritocrity will replace mediocrity. Finally, we'll attain super power status reminiscent of Great Nubia.

So oyibo realized that they'd get a formidable competition for their technology, markets, and leadership from a black nation.
So they tasked themselves to keeping down the great pace -setters within the contrapment called Nigeria.
We are still the hope of all black nations if we extricate ourselves from imperialistic clutches.

Rudolf
My brother condenming censorship of Waku at the national assembly or even quoting Herbert Macauly and co. may signify your preference for free speach but remaining silent and benefiting from censorship suggests a sharp divide between your beliefs and actions.I understand you would rather piss out from inside, but what eventually happens when they start telling you in which direction to piss?

My mind needs no liberation, at least not the type that you can provide.I reserve the right to question anyone, and if you really are not comfortable with such criticism you might go back to where people who own their boards can do whatever they like.

Those who protested and got banned did something about it,and the next time they critcize Abacha and Babangida I will definitely listen.My problem is if you cannot recognize a small tyrant you would not be able to recognize a big one, but given that your mind is so liberated you may over look that little fact.

To your utmost chagrin the board has been setup and that's all that matters.