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What is wrong with Aremu. Has he not finished Biafran war?
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Obasanjo Blasts Igbo Leaders Again! •Accuses Ekwueme, Ukiwe, Others Of Neglecting Ndigbo
By Chuks Ofor (Lagos) and Umaru Galandachi (Abuja)
Apparently determined to rub in the wounds inflicted on Ndigbo since the end of the civil war, President Olusegun Obasanjo, for the second time in eight months, has reminded Ndigbo that they have no cause to complain against marginalization since, according to him, Igbo leaders have not fared better. The president made his feelings known when a delegation of South-East youths in the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, visited him in Abuja to present some of the problems facing their people to the presidency. Obasanjo, as unrepentant as ever, told the youth leaders in a plain language that he has done more for the Igbos within his short tenure in office than celebrated Igbo leaders who were in government for many years, yet their impact was not felt by the Igbo race. Rather they enjoyed and accumulated government patronage for themselves and their immediate families. The president lambasted the Igbo leaders whom he accused of blowing the golden and rare opportunity to improve the lots of their people with the provision of infrastructural facilities while in office, but ended up doing nothing for the people. “If you say I marginalize you, tell me what your leaders who had been in office for many years did for you,” the president stated. On the demand by the delegation that the Eastern States should be rehabilitated as a result of the effects of the civil war, the president averred that rather than the East, the entire nation needed reconstruction after several years of plundering by successive military administrations. The president argued that the accusation that he has been marginalizing Igbo people is in bad taste as he has done more for the Igbos than their revered leaders who were in government and yet pretended as if they cannot do anything to improve the lot of their people. President Obasanjo men-tioned specifically the former vice president under the Shagari government and now PDP chieftain, Dr Alex Ekwueme, who was in government between 1979 and 1983 and wondered what achievement he recorded for the people of Igboland. He also took a swipe at former Chief of General Staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe who he alleged served under the Babangida administration for five years without doing anything for Ndigbo. Not done with these former very senior government officers, Obasanjo asked what former Igbo ministers who served under previous military and civilian regimes like Dr. S.P. Okongwu, Dr. Idika Kalu, Chief Gordian Ezekwe, Alison Madueke, among several others, did for the Igbos. Also included in the list were former governors and special advisers to different governments. “If your people did not do anything for you when they were in government, why do you accuse me who is not an Igboman for not doing much for you,” the president queried the youth leaders. Obasanjo, Hallmark gathered, insisted that he is not an Igbo hater, saying that those who hold this view do so for selfish political reasons. “I do not hate the Igbos, I have a lot of personal friends who are Igbos. I have so many Igbos working with me in this present administration. So, how can I be working with them if I hate them”, he further stressed. In the view of the president, he should not be held responsible for the plight of Ndigbo because the rot did not start today. He blamed the giants called Igbo leaders themselves for failing their people because they had opportunity to develop Igboland while in government but they failed to utilize that opportunity for the interest of their people. However, with a view to ameliorating the ugly situation in which the Igbos have found themselves, the president promised the Igbo youth leaders the provision of infrastructural facilities to make life easier for the people. These include the dualization of Enugu/Abakiliki road, the dredging of the Niger River as well as the dredging of Oguta Lake before the end of the current regime. President Obasanjo further pledged to digitalise tele-phone facilities in all the state capitals in the South-East as well as establish a sea port in Onitsha to take care of the volume of business that is done in that commercial city. When Hallmark contact-ed Mr. Olisa Metu, who led the delegation, to comment on the president’s remark on Igbo leaders, he confirmed that the youth wing visited the president last week. He however did not confirm or deny that the president made such an unsavoury remark on Igbo leaders. According to him: “It was immaterial whether the president said that or not. It was not our purpose of visiting the president. We went there to see if we can convince him to provide people of the South-East some basic amenities,”- he stated. It could be recalled that sometime last year, the president was reported to have told some Igbos agitating for better treatment to shut up because, people who lost out in a war never raise up their voice for 200 years. The visit and the promise made to the Igbo youths have generated comments from different parts of Igboland. While some people commended the president if only he could fulfill these promises within the shortest possible time, others see it as another re-election gimmick. This second group argued that all the promises made could not be accomplished even if the president gets a second-term ticket. For instance, they argued, the Onitsha sea port was initiated by the Shagari government 20 years ago while nothing has been done since then. Also is the dredging of the River Niger which has been in the news for a period of two decades yet nothing tangible has been done in that aspect. It is only being used by successive governments when they want to woo Ndigbo for support, they said.
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Bature: You are a fish in the desert, who is attacking you. Keep off, we will welcome you in the new Biafra. We are getting things right.
Posts: 128 | From: Lagos, Nigeria | Registered: Jun 2001
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Biafra is a just cause that must be unrelentlessly pursued and actualized. This article underscored the importance of a Biafra republic. A republic that will have zero tolerance for the likes of Aremu and his errand moneybag boyz.
For once, Aremu made sense in his chastisement of his errand boyz(Ekwueme and co).They should be ashamed of themselves for leaving Igbolamd and masses desolate while picking their self-serving crumbs off Aremu's tables.
One thing is for certain, the new Biafra republic will hold them accountable and there will be no place for them in the restructuring and governing of Biafra.
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All the Igbo leaders that this man mentioned were never in charge of events. This tells you how smart this traveler is. The vice President of any country has no say in the command of events. Mr President, you need to learn how to answer questions. Traveling arount the world do not solve any damned problem.
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All, This type of unguarded statement by a Nigerian President should be a great source of strenght for all Biafrans. Our peaceful march for actualization of Biafra is a task that must be pursued. Onye ajuru anagha aju onwe ya.
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People, As things stand right now, the biggest obstacle to the survival of Ndigbo and Biafra Actualization is the ohanEZE sycophants. Something serious must be done about them...like yesterday. Few of them are pro Biafra, but the majority of them are sell outs.
On Obasanjo's recent trip to Russia, he took Mbadinuju with him. In front of their hosts, Baba Iyabo disgraced and reduced Mbadinuju to tears as he openly and crudely heaped insults on him regarding his identity(Biafran), and his errand boy trade marks.
Again, Obasanjo orders them around like his little serfs and they cow before him. Imagine these jelly-spined fools campaigning for Aremu's second term in office. IBB however, has called Aremu to order and he has conceeded to IBB for 2003. Now, the ohanEZE idiots has shifted to IBB's camp lobbying for his come back.
Meanwhile, the governors, Udenwa and Achike, in collaboration with the Nigerian police forces are killing the MASSOB masses with impunity and dumping their bodies (right away) in the rivers...to avoid accountability.
The news is that the UN human rights groups are currently in Biafraland, going from prison to prison, investigating arrests/detentions/killing and other atrocities against Biafra/MASSOB masses. Aremu is very ticked off by this development, thus the lashing out at his errand boys for not doing their homeworks of silencing and cowering the MASSOB masses well.
The time has gone when ohanEZE was shielded and made the "sacred cow". Not any more. They are the most destructive and obstructive problem for Biafrans/Ndigbo. The sooner this problem is nipped at the bud, the better for us all.
Hasn't the ungainly buffoon in not so many words said so several times already? If you want to go down memory lane, his kinsman Abiola towed the same line. As sure as the sun shall rise tomorrow, the same fate that befell that his kinsman awaits him around the corner.
Folks
The Yorubas are so predictable, the typical thoroughly henpecked husband whose pecker only comes to life when he beholds his poor widowed office messenger. In their cowardice, all they can do is beat up on an already supine person. Reminds one of the tortoise and his desire for doling out slaps that gets whetted only when he sees a man that has been manacled. But are we really that shackled? We should give the world the answer to that in very eloquent terms - BIAFRA. In so doing, we’d be consigning the likes of Olusegun Obasanjo to the scrap heap of history reserved for war criminals. Milosevic is now keeping his appointment with destiny for doing only a minuscule of what the Nigerian war heroes did. As the dunce that Obasanjo is, all he can do is repeat what he has learnt by rote: “Your relevance lies solely in your role in the near annihilation of the Igbos. Don’t let anyone ever forget that. Bring it up at every opportunity you can”.
Folks, forget the uncouth, illiterate, philandering polygamist Mr. Well-well-Mr.-Carter-if-you –say-e-good-then-e-good. He is a nobody and definitely not worth soiling the mood for your weekend.
Having said that I’ll leave you with the inspirational song back home, “Ihe n’eme anyi si anyi n’aka, osi anyi n’aka-----”. We should also be mindful of the fact that Anyi no n’agha Anyi na ekwensu no n’agha Anyi no n’agha Anyi na ajuo nmuo no n’agha Onye amaghi osi na ekwensu emeriela
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Now, we can certainly view Obasanjo's obtuse demagoguery as nothing new. Time was, when his stooges attempted to package Obasanjo as the-Messiah-come-to-save-BiafraNigeria. They called him "de-tribalized." Little did they know that the Internet revolution would thwart the Lagos-Ibadan axis press, as that twisted press struggled and failed to disguise Obasanjo's crudity, hate, and buffoonery, and that fool from Ota went on to display that meine to BiafraNigerians and an incredulous world. While some unthinking Igbos were waiting for Chief Nwabueze and Ekwueme to confirm Obasanjo's first oral diarrhea on Igbos, just from one lousy Message board, Fumi Onodipe told the whole world that Obasanjo is an Igbo-hater in Aso Rock.
From Abuja to Atlanta, BiafraNigeria became known as that country ruled by a bush-man who is always wearing some tasteless tribal attire designed, it seems, as much to cover-up his obesity as to offend all decent men and women ever to set their eyes on that ignoramus. This is not likely to be the last time we hear from that ethnic demagogue. But, we are getting increasingly prepared to see that our reactions to his outbursts sting harder and harder, and that he is utterly powerless to prevent us from exposing him.
As for Obasanjo's finger-pointing at those garbage collectors that call themselves Igbo leaders. I agree that those so-called Igbo leaders may have lacked the ability to attract as much development to Biafra as the actual dictators could to their constituencies. But, what prevented people like Ekwueme, Ukiwe, and others from articulating a coherent position or presenting a plan for spending Biafra's wealth for the benefit of Biafrans? Do we know of any significant projects that Ekwueme wanted to embark on in Biafra while he was Vice President of BiafraNigera, which Shagari blocked? On the contrary, we know that Ekwueme's company was very involved in building Abuja. Thus, giving him significant insight into what he could be attracting to Biafra. He kept quiet, and simply enjoyed the garbage he was collecting in contracts.
These Igbos become tough only when another Igbo is the opponent. They return to Igboland and use the stolen money to fight Ojukwu, or fight any Igb who has not had the obscene privilege of rushing for crumbs with them in far away Lagos or Abuja. It is a shame.
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For those still in doubt about Obasanjo and his anti Igbo. my question to you is this when are you going ton wake up.
___________________ Biafra: save my bullets when I die, Oh Biafra, Allelua if I surrender and that will be forever. Posts: 272 | From: Birmingham AL | Registered: Mar 2001
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Fellows, Before we crucify that moron who call himself "president" I think he made some very silient but true accusation, if anything, this statemet from someone who is supposed to be president of all Nigerians, which he is obviously not, is a reflection of the mindset of an average Nigerian towards anyone or anything Igbo. To those Igbos here and elsewhere who think they can be more Nigerian than every other Nigerian, you guys are living in a fools paradise and the earlier you guys realise the nacked fact that to be a real Nigerian is to bring down Igbos, the better for you.
I hope the Ednuts on this board and elsewhere are getting this message from their president i.e. Igboland is your home and Igbo is your identity, that Nigeria is not your country nor is there anything like "one Nigeria/n".
Good that this message came from the mouth of the commander-in-chief of all pretenders to "detribalised Nigerians!"
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If only Ohaneze and other Obasanjo aplogists could change their ways--quit kowtowing that clown in the rocks--Obasanjo would not see the Igbo to be kicking around.
___________________ Nwa Amucha Posts: 369 | From: Little Rock, Arkansas | Registered: May 2001
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Are you able to disprove what Obasanjo said about your leaders? Some of you keep calling for federalism and separatism, but you don't even have a functioning base to operate from. Even when you have your so-called Biafra, you are still going to have the Igbo leaders coming to us to ask for help.
Posts: 174 | From: Lagos, Nigeria | Registered: May 2001
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Don't worry Folanke. We'll persuade one of our (money bags) Awusa/Fulani appointed "leaders" to take you in as an Omo housemaid. At least you'll get fed.
___________________ Forward ever, backward never! Posts: 1874 | From: USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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I do not want your Ibo leaders. Even our ashawo do not want them in Lagos. The are rich in Aba poor in Lagos. Yet they are your leaders. Some leaders!
Posts: 174 | From: Lagos, Nigeria | Registered: May 2001
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Folanke: If this how you insult your elders, I am not sure you are a yoruba girl.
What you think of our Igbo leaders is worst amoung your people. The Afenifere cannot even rise up and speak the truth because they are scared of arson which is the culture of the wild-wild west. Just wait for 2003, you will understand your people the more.
If you are begging the Igbos to marry you, you have failed because all your write-up has something to do with ashawo and similiar things. Get married and understand men. Keep such things off these board. I send a reply to you on you 419 trick in name of NGO. All of you that are specialist in NGO's are fraudsters. Check the african board where you sent an article a repy is waiting for you there.
Which multinational are you defrauding by long time on the web from your god forsaken nation Nigeria?
It is only the likes of Nzeribe that will continue to teach you owambe people lesson. he is on it again. Wait and see.
____________________________________________] On Aburi we stand.
The Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, yesterday told his deputy, Senator Kofoworola Bu-cknor-Akerele, to either go to court over perceived grievances or resign from the state Executive Council (Exco).
Tinubu accused Bucknor-Akerele of distracting him by appealing to sentiment on alleged cases of marginalisation.
Bucknor-Akerele fired back yesterday growing that no amount of intimidation or threat would make her resign her position as the number Two citizen of Lagos State.
Tinubu's remark was a reply to the most recent row over the prevention of the deputy governor from using the security door to the Executive Council Chamber.
Bucknor-Akerele however insisted on using the door as a matter of right.
Tinubu, who spoke to airport correspondents on his way to Abuja yesterday, advised that Bucknor-Akerele to either go to court or rsign as deputy governor of Lagos State to enable him focus on the task of governance.
"There is no law that says a governor cannot quit and there is no law that says a deputy governor cannot quit. There is no bondage, no force and no compulsion in people working together. It is not compulsory. If I am not satisfied with what I am asked to do by a boss, I will quit. If I cannot do this job any longer, I will quit," he said.
Tinubu accused his deputy of being ambitious added that Bucknor-Akerele had consistently played the role of a "spoiler."
He, however, stressed that he would remain focused in the task of providing good governance to the people.
"If somebody wants your seat by all means, if (the person) wants to play the spoiler or wants to distract you, the best weapon is to stay focused, be consistent and persistent in what you are doing," he insisted.
Tinubu advised his deputy to also consider approaching the State House of Assembly instead of rabble-rousing or being sentimental about issues."
He reiterated his commitment to serving the people of Lagos State adding he would not be deterred by the antics of Bucknor-Akerele and pledged to devote his energy to providing schools and affordable houses the citizens of the state.
"I swore to an oath to defend the people's mandate. They expet me to do the job religiously. They did not ask me to go into office to compete with anybody or quarrel with anybody or start to respond to blackmail and mercenary detractors," he added.
In a swift reaction, Bucknor-Akerele, who sat by the door of the EXCO Chamber, which she alleged was locked against her yesterday, told newsmen that she would not be hounded out of office by the intrigues of her bossand his aides stressing that her problems arose because she belonged to a different political camp of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
She insisted that "nothing would make me to resign my position. No amount of intimidation, threat or oppression could make me throw in the towel as the deputy governor.
She said it was the tradition in Lagos State that the deputy governor should use the security door to both the governor's office and the EXCO Chamber explaining that it would amount to setting a dangerous preedent if she succumbed to the design of Tinubu to use the common entrance.
"I will continue to ask them to open the door. I will continue until the end of my tenure. I am not doing this for myself, it is for the sake of other incoming deputy governors," she said.
She dismissed the rumours that the state House of Assembly would soon begin impeachment moves against her, pointing out that the constitution stated that there must be a very strong reason for that.
She also described as a blatant lie, the allegation by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Dele Alake, that the current face-off between her and the governor was sequel to the refusal to consent to her demand for N6 million as wardrobe allowance.
She said she had always been denied the privileges of her office as deputy governor.
Bucknor-Akerele said there was no time she made such a request for wardrobe allowance.
Alake, who denied that there was an exco meeting yesterday, said "if she is truly serious to attend a state EXCO meeting, she should use the general entrance," and insisted that the cabinet was only taking lunch with Tinubu.
Alake said there was no going back on the decision to keep the security door in question under lock. He challenged Bucknor-Akerele to come out with written evidence that it was the tradition in Lagos State for deputy governors to take the door to Exco Chamber or Governor's Office, adding that the state government was not moved by the deputy governor's antics.
________________________________________ On Aburi we stand
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What I see here is a case of discrimatory arrogance on the part of Tinubu. This forged certificate carrier is scared stiff that his female deputy will best him on the governor's contest in 2003. I think he sees her as a formidable threat and as such has resorted to the good ol chaunistic rigamoles typical of mis-educated males of society.
I commend Ms deputy governor for sticking to her guns. This backward act of Tinubu could likely backfire on him. Aferall, the learned Yoruba women...like Fela Kuti's mother, etc, has been known for their unflinching trailblazing stand for equal rights and access for women.
Come 2003, it is my expectation that women of every tribe in Nigeria will rise up and take up their rightful positions in their societies in order to propell their nations toward modernity and prosperity.
Anyim asks Ndigbo to put fate in one Nigeria The Vanguard (Wednesday, 25th July, 2001) By Emmanuel Aziken
ABUJA, FCT—THE unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable and Ndigbo must put their fate within the context of the Nigerian society, Senate president Chief Pius Anyim has said even as he confirmed the resolution of all internal squabbles in the senate.
Receiving a delegation from the Okigwe senatorial zone at the National Assembly in Abuja the Senate president challenged Ndigbo to take an active part in politics.
The delegation comprising State Commissioners, local government chairmen, traditional rulers, women leaders and other PDP chieftains was led by Senator Ifeanyi Ararume the Senator representing the zone in the senate.
Observing the role of Ndigbo in the current dispensation, Senator Anyim said:
"The challenge before us as a people and the challenge before us as a section of this country is such that we must realise that Nigeria has come to be one."
"The unity of Nigeria is non negotiable, accordingly it is important that we must determine our fate, our destiny and our future within the context of the Nigerian society."
Challenging Ndigbo to raise their level of politicking in the light of the current democracy, he said:
"We are under a democratic dispensation which means we must be political in all we do. It is not enough that we are public servants, we must also reach out, we must interact, we must get to meet and make demands where necessary and to be informed of realities on ground as need may be," he said.
He thus challenged Ndigbo to make their legitimate demands within the context of the society even as he affirmed that previous agitation for better roads were already yielding results.
"The government in place is the government of the day and we must identify with it, we must work with it, we must place our legitimate demands and claim our legitimate rights."
"I was particularly delighted the last time I went to Owerri, to drive straight from Okigwe to Owerri without any bump."
He said that the Okigwe-Afikpo, road and the Great Okigwe water projects were also under construction.
According to him, the senate was conscious of its responsibilities to the citizenry and having put its internal squabbles behind would meet those responsibilities.
"We are committed to our responsibilities and we want to assure Nigerians that the senate is set, absolutely so, to discharge its responsibilities to Nigerians.
"We have had our rough times, we have had our rough days but we can say for sure today that we look forward with assurances that our past is behind us."
He commended Senator Ararume for the foresight in bringing the political leaders of the zone to meet with the nation’s political leaders in Abuja.
Describing Senator Ararume as a true representative of his constituency who had the interests of his people at heart, he said that he would commend his example to other senators.
President Olusegun Obasanjo had earlier received the delegation in audience.
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
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Who made Anyim , Anyam an Igbo leader or our senior advisor to tell us what to do and what to think? We are the ones who should decide what we want in Nigeria and what we don't want. We have the right to make anyone our leader and Anyim is not and will never be so he should go home and lead his family.The fool talks like as if he cares for the masses dying in poverty. Until he wears the shoes of the Igbo masses then he can open his big mouth and talk to us. Posts: 615 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: Jun 2001
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The problem with Anyim is, he is blind and cannot see the true picture of what he is doing to his own people. Like others, he will surely learn his lessons; and when the time comes, nobody will listen to him, and evidently, too late.
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ON ABURI WE STAND
