I thought I was dreaming. Just think of a scenario where the Robber is armed with a gun, the corrupt law enforcer is aremed with a gun and the law maker is armed with a gun. My next business will be the marketing of bullet-proof agbada! The Canadians beat me to the bullet proof house contract(as if they'll give okoro contract)
quote:FOR the second time in one week, the Osun State House of Assembly yesterday erupted in violence, but this time assumed a more dangerous dimension with the supporters of Gov. Adebisi Akande and those of Deputy Gov. Iyiola Omisore resorting to the use of gun.
quote:Unlike last week’s violence that took place within the assembly premises, that of yesterday spread to the state secretariat of the AD and even adjoining streets where principal officers of the party were injured. The Chief Press Secretary to the State Governor, Mr. Lani Baderinwa was also attacked and his official car smashed.
The cowards can't even pull the blooming trigger properly! So much for our infantile Clint Westwoods.
___________________ 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
quote:AD's National Vice-Chairman, (South-West), Chief Ayo Fasanmi said he would immediately get in touch with Chief Abraham Adesanya, leader of the Afenifere and the National Chairman of AD, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abubakar on the incident.He said: " I am worried myself. The crisis in Osun State is assuming a frightening and dangerous dimension. This is a powerful disaster.
"We want to remind people of the crisis in the Western House in 1962. That crisis escalated into a national crisis and it eventually ended in a Biafran War.
Note the Yoruba man talks about Biafran war! The truth will eventually float to the surface. Hahaha.
___________________ 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
You are absolutely right. The crisis in the old Western Region culminated into the 1996 (Jan. and Jul.) coups and then the civil war.
And yet they (West) adopt this "see no evil, hear no evil" approach in Nigerian politics. To cap it all, some hyena somewhere refers to the heros of the Biafran war (and of human-kind) as traitors.
Look at Nigeria's history closely, you will find that every crisis in Nigeria's history has been precipitated by the unruly and warring factions of the South West.
Anybody, please correct me if I'm wrong.
[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: AfricaWest ]
[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: AfricaWest ]
posted
What are they fighting for? They practically own Nigeria, or proceeds from oil to be precise. They have always exploded in violence no matter the political realities. More than ever before the Igbos need to come together and decide their future away from this nonsense. We have to see secession as a drive for efficiency. No idea is too bad or too stupid or too moderate. Lets debate honestly and without calling names. Tragic as the situation in Osun State is, it should serve as a warning to Igbos that intolerance has no place in our present struggle to get away from the evil place.
Posts: 621 | Registered: Mar 2001
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You wrote :- "Look at Nigeria's history closely, you will find that every crisis in Nigeria's history has been precipitated by the unruly and warring factions of the South West."
Can you elaborate citing specific examples with dates, names, scenarios & context with no ScapeGoating.
___________________ May the Lord give us integrity....
posted
Omorebiyan: First of all, there is no such thing as scape-goating realizing for the fact that the genesis of Nigeria's problems emanated from the South-West. And it does not take too much probing to elicit that testimony.
When Samuel Akintola hijacked the principles of Egbe Omo Oduduwa and found solace in aligning himself with the Northern kingpins, Ahmadu Bello, and had denounced Awo's visions of an utopian society which evidently was of no national interest, but, for the descendants of Oduduwa, and as it turned out to be, Pa Awo lost and had no other option than to declare war which resulted to civil unrests, and which as in that phenomenon brought in the military, which in its entirety destroyed the nascent union of your presumed one Nigeria; would one not blame Awo for his tactless strategy in his vision of a Nigerian unity whereby Igbos were isolated, liquidated and persecuted from place-to-place just for no other reason, but being Igbo?
And it was the same Awo who was incarcerated for treasonable felony, which ultimately carried a death sentence, which he survived declaring himself for a one Nigeria to deprive the Igbos of life, freedom and the right to self-reliance, proclaiming "economic blockade" which starved Biafran women and children to death without remorse to his gruesome act of unnatural taste.
Put it this way, Awo was a tribalist, a bigot and an Igbo hater who had done that to protect his stance in order to achieve his idea of Awoist Movements entailing his efforts that he meant well.
Wrong! Awo never apologized for his atrocities toward the Igbos. Awo never apologized toward the million infants and children as a result of his initiated economic blockade. Awo never never showed remorse toward any kind of massaacre that was perperated against the Igbos, from Kano to Port Harcourt's Diobu.
Until you reason to these atrocities, and until you realize that a whole lot more is at stake, then I will be listening to you.
I believe OU and Ojoto in their earlier posts have provided the relevant dates and the context and provided the facts you've requested.
Complimenting Ojoto explanation, I will further the link between the crisis in the old Western Region and the subsequent coups and civil war.
The very first post-independence crisis occurred in the then Western Region. The context was the first republic (''republic'') (1960-1966). The 1964 elections took place in the rest of the country but was significantly disrupted in the old Western Region and was not conclusive.
The crisis persisted, with Awolowo remaining in prison on a treason conviction. The five majors who over-threw the first republic in Jan. 1996 claimed amongst other things that the political crisis and corruption informed their decision to act.
The leader of the coup was a mid-westerner Igbo. The coup plotters only partially succeeded because having overthrown the republic they failed to take power. They were in fact blocked by another Igbo, General Ironsi on the invitation of the republic's senate-president, who happened to be another Igbo ( member of the NCNC/NPC coalition in parliament).
I will like to touch upon the subsequent events, briefly. Even though the coup was very popular in Nigeria, it increasing became seen as an Igbo coup. This is what I have a problem with for various reasons.
B]First[/B], the Igbos where well placed in Nigeria and if they were to act in concert and in personal/tribal interest, the very last thing they would do, would be to over- throw a republic where they were well placed. The majors were more idealists than anything else and like most Nigerians were dismayed by the political crisis and corruption. It appears to me that, rightly or wrongly, their motive was to correct Nigeria's ills rather than to promote tribal interest.
As I see it, the tragedy lies in the fact that they had to overthrow the republic at all and having overthrown it they were unable to pursue the purpose of the coup. In came General Ironsi, the only supreme commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces at the time. He had earned his position under the colonial authority and it appears had no interest in politics. He proceeded to enact a Unification Decree or Decree 33, this alienated the northerners further as they felt they bore the brunt of the coup. A northern planned coup was under way and General Ironsi chose to ignore all warnings from his subordinates. In July 1996 the northern officers arrested General Ironsi and the then Western Region governer, Col. Fajuyi. Both were killed.
A col. Madiebo in his book "the Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War" claims General Ironsi in his bid to prove he was not tribalist insisted on having a non-igbo in his office whenever an Igbo officer came to see him. Intellgence that could have gotten to him and evaluated from that source was therefore compromised.
The killings continued and all Igbo officers in the Nigerian army became a target. When there were no further Igbo officers to kill. Igbo civilians who had nothing to do with the coups became the next target. Estimates are put at about 50.000-60.000 Igbos civilians murdered in the killings and blood-lusting that followed. The Igbos had no where to turn to, they return to the East in whatever way they could. The lucky ones did that is. Col. Ojukwu was governer of Eastern Region and was left with a massive refugee problem to deal with, with no assistance from the central govenment. He and most easterners felt that 'their lives could not be protected by any government based outside the Eastern Region'. He sought guarantees and got the "Aburi Accord". However on return to Nigerian, Col. Gowon the then Head of State suspended the "Aburi Accord" indefinitely. With no real guarantees and no "Aburi Accord", the stage was set for the seccession of the Eastern Region.
May 1967, col. Ojukwu declared the republic of Biafra following consultations with the consultative assembly and various other groups. July 1967, the Nigeria army began their " police action" action against Biafra. Contrary to popular belief, Nigeria lunched the war against Biafra and not the other way round.
Second, the majors who carried out the Jan. coup admired Awolowo's socialist and radical policies. If subsequent reports are any thing to go by, they seriously considered releasing him once achieving power and getting him to lead an interim government.
Please draw your own conclusions and please do so. However, when Obasanjo's current deputy defence minister describes the Igbo people/officers who were hounded out of Nigeria as traitors, I cannot help but ask, which history book is she reading from? Has she read about the events surrounding the civil war? Does she actually have a library? Or is it plain intellectual laziness?
I hope that the narrative provides you with the background concernig my earlier post on this thread.
Merry Xmas!
[ December 27, 2001: Message edited by: AfricaWest ]
Well, Awo does not equal the whole of South West or the Yoruba nation, however, there are certain responsibilities he must carry with him.
Here was a man who single handedly destroyed any hope of a southern solidarity. He was detested by the Northerners in the 1960's and they did not want to see him as president or primer of Nigeria. Admired by many socialists and radical Nigerians of his time, he turns coat and in order to get into the good book of the Northerner, joins the war on their side and prosecutes a starvation war against Eastern Nigeria.
Be that as it may, he then felt he had sufficiently warmed up to the North to qualify for the presidency. Well, in 1979 and 1983, they simply said "No Sir".
posted
Ojoto/Africa West, Was Awo a tribalist, a bigot or Igbo hater? Or was it a survival instinct of, "if its you or me, then it will be me that survives" in addition to obsessive control freak tendencies?
See it with a non-Biafra, non-Nigerian stance.
___________________ May the Lord give us integrity....
posted
Africawest: The promulgated decree by Ironsi was Decree No. 34, which in detail favored the South making the core-North uncomfortable bringing about the assassination of Ironsi; settling the score for not prosecuting the masterminds of the January 15, 1966 Coup.
___________________ "We are where we are in large part at the moment, because our self-identified leaders of thought have put us there."----Ukpabi Asika Posts: 321 | From: Athens, Ohio USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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"Ojoto/Africa West, Was Awo a tribalist, a bigot or Igbo hater? Or was it a survival instinct of, "if its you or me, then it will be me that survives" in addition to obsessive control freak tendencies? See it with a non-Biafra, non-Nigerian stance."
--------------------
Honestly, I think Awo was everyone of the above you've listed.
Therefore:
Tribalist: Yes (in the first order) A Bigot: Yes Igbo Hater: Yes Survival Instinct: Yes Obsessive Control Freak Tendencies: Yes.
Next please!!
Wishing you a happy New Year!
[ December 27, 2001: Message edited by: AfricaWest ]
"Africawest: The promulgated decree by Ironsi was Decree No. 34, which in detail favored the South making the core-North uncomfortable bringing about the assassination of Ironsi; settling the score for not prosecuting the masterminds of the January 15, 1966 Coup."
__________________________________________
I am no great fan of General Ironsi, however his promulgation of the Unifification Decree in no way justifies the blood-lusting that claimed between 50.000-60.000 Igbo and eastern lives.
One is really tempted to ask, if killing Ironsi was to settle the score for not prosecuting the 1966 Jan.coup "masterminds", why the raping, pillaging, killing unborn foetuses and defenceless civilians?
Are they too responsible for the non-trial of the coup "masterminds"? Must they pay just for being from a particular ethnic grouping?
My brother, herein lies our problem and perhaps, solution. Nigeria is a fraud and the sooner we stop wasting everybody else's and each-other's time the better. Let us part in peace! None of us can afford a devastating conflict or war.
Turning back to your post, the facts show that Ironsi imprisoned the coup "masterminds" thereby reneging on a compromise solution between himself (at the time in control of Southern Nigeria) and Nzeogwu (at the time in control of Northern Nigeria) brokered during their stand-off.
Major Nzeogwu had threatened to take Lagos by military force once it became clear that the coup had failed there. General Ironsi and his aids negotiated and the coup "masterminds" were all promised immunity and Nzeogwu a seat on the S.M.C should they surrender in the national interest.
After his surrender and obliging, Major Nzeogwu flew to Lagos, he was arrested immediately and so were his fellow coup-plotters. General Ironsi took a huge risk because the coup "masterminds" were very popular at the time. With the benefit of hind-sight you may blame him for not putting them on trial immediately, however, I think that having reneged on his promise, arresting them and then imprisoning them without trial is more worrying.
In any case, none of the facts stated justifies the blood-lusting and murder that the Northerners embarked upon with the tacit support of their leaders and the Nigerian state.
I remember, Julius Nyeyere's reason for officially recognising Biafra. He felt that the brutuality Nigeria was prepared to stoop to, in order to hammer the eastern region back into Nigeria exceeded justification for a "one Nigeria". In fact he said the Nigerian brutality justified/proved the cased made by the eastern region.
[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: AfricaWest ]
[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: AfricaWest ]
quote:More frightening is the fact that the ruling political party in the state, the Alliance for Democracy (AD), is an offshoot of Action Group (AG) that was at the centre of the Wild, Wild West impasse in 1962. AD has simply failed itself and the people for its inability to contain tendencies that emerged from its acrimonious presidential nomination between late Chief Bola Ige and Chief Olu Falae at the D’Rovan Hotel in Ibadan in 1999.
___________________ 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 Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
The truth continues to emerge even if unintended. Arewa, yes the same arewa that talked of an Igbo coup in 1966 at Oputa panel now says the wild wild west terminated the first republic. More assasinations likely ; Arewa
Col. Ali regretted the attitude of the South-West towards politics, recalling the upheaval which led to the collapse of the First Republic. He said: "We all know what the South-West is. It is still the wild, wild west. If you could remember, the civil disorder that led to the collapse of the First Republic started from the old Western Region," he stated.
Well spotted! It was the same thug Ali that represented Arewa at the panel. He was the one that actually told the Oputa panel that he can consider a Yoruba man as 'Ibo' in order to win the argument.
___________________ 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
posted
Wild! Wild! wild! west in the Yoruba land yet the Yoruba people still don't believe that a Yoruba killed Bola Ige. Well it bits me why they would think so knowing the Yoruba politics of native charms, voddoo,Ogun, mayhem and character assasination. The region has a history of lawlessness and a curse to Nigeria politics of ineffectuality.
The killing may have been planned by an Hausa man but a bunch of Yorubas killed him for money. The logic is simple, could you imagine an Hausa man killing a prominent Igbo man in the heartland without the help of an Igbo or vice versa?
When will the Yorubas see the light that Ige was killed by bunch of unemployed Yorubas for money and for so many reasons?
To many reasons why a Yoruba/Hausa was motivated to kill the rested bastard. Please don't get me wrong, I never wished him dead, you did.
The unemployment rate in Yoruba land is 10 times the national average, creating room for any means necessary. His style of politics in his own state. He assumed the role of Awolowo and deviated from it to please Awo greatest enemy Obasanjo. His brand of Criminal Justice in Nigeria. His brand of unity in Nigeria, made disparaging remarks about other ethnic groups because of the civil war to please others. His shape shifting stand on sharia, his lack and inability to share the money stolen while at Nepa and most of all compromizing his principles working for Obasanjo and changing his stand on the sovereign National conference. This is enough to kill the son of a gun.
Two ways.
He was killed by unemployed Yorubas by some disgruntled Afinifere Or He was killed by bunch of unemployed Yoruba moslems as directed by an Taliban Hausa for his is about to take a strong stand on Sharia. Remember there was a headline that reads" Obasanjo is about to take a stand on Sharia" before he was killed. There are more light in Lagos than in my small country town. The Yorubas should see the light on who killed their hero.
Hail Biafra
[ January 03, 2002: Message edited by: Waypoint1Biafra ]
Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
You should worry more about Wild Wild East where all the Biafra nonsense is causing problems for your people. But then again, we may have already nipped Biafra in the bud.
Posts: 174 | From: Lagos, Nigeria | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Africawest: Ironsi's "Unification Decree" stopped short of retaining certain regulatory powers giving the East more privilege which as it turned out negated the "Quota System."
___________________ "We are where we are in large part at the moment, because our self-identified leaders of thought have put us there."----Ukpabi Asika Posts: 321 | From: Athens, Ohio USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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quote:The weeks-old sobriety engendered in Osun State by the December 23 assassination of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, was punctured for several hours yesterday in Ile-Ife as irate youths staged anti-Bisi Akande protest in the ancient town.
___________________ 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 Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Bamidele: The false unity of the southwest against the Biafrans will break. I am happy, because this fracas is just the genesis of their breaking. What bid them together which is ogboni cult will definitely give way. Whether they like it or not Biafra must survive.
Twenty-five feared killed in fresh Nigeria clashes
LAGOS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Some 25 members of an ethnic militia were feared killed in an attack in southwestern Nigeria, an area tense since the murder of Justice Minister Bola Ige last month, newspapers reported on Sunday.
They said the attack took place on Saturday in the remote town of Owo in the cocoa farming region north of Akure.
Ige was buried in his nearby hometown on Friday.
Police and officials could not be reached immediately for comment, but the newspapers suggested the incident was not directly related to the minister's unsolved December 23 murder but to a chieftancy tussle in Owo.
However, political analysts said the fact that the incident happened as militants of the banned Oodua People's Congress (OPC) were returning from Ige's burial could inflame further anger and violence over his killing.
The OPC, a self-declared defender of the interests of Ige's Yoruba ethnic group, played a leading role at his burial and an earlier funeral in the main regional city of Ibadan.
Many OPC militants were seen with weapons at the funeral, attended by dignitaries, including President Olusegun Obasanjo.
An OPC leader, Ganiyu Adams, who was released from long police detention late last year and was leading an OPC car convoy through Owo, narrowly escaped death, the dailies said.
It was not immediately clear what prompted the attack but the OPC has been widely reported to be opposed to the installation of a new ruler of Owo.
The independent This Day said the OPC convoy came under fire as it tried to drive by the palace gate.
A detachment of riot police has been drafted from Akure, the Ondo state capital, to maintain order, it said.
Nigeria has been dogged by ethnic and religious violence that has killed more than 3,000 people since the end of military rule in 1999. Analysts link unrest in recent months to tension ahead of presidential and general elections next year.
Southwestern Nigeria is known for political violence. Widespread unrest there in the early 1960s led to Nigeria's first military coup in 1966 and civil war the following year. Further rioting there after disputed elections in 1983 led to another coup at the end of that year
quote:Many OPC militants were seen with weapons at the funeral, attended by dignitaries, including President Olusegun Obasanjo.
___________________ 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 Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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