By Chuks Iloegbunam, who covered the meeting in Texas, USA ::::::::::VANGUARD
Senator Francis Arthur Nzeribe is generally seen as a man of courage. But the Oguta-born politician knows that there is a limit to the freedom of courage. He kept severely away from the 8th annual convention of the World Igbo Congress (WCI) held in Houston, Texas. During last year’s edition of the convention, Nzeribe was present and all over the place, a member of some delegation from Nigeria led by Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim. This time around, Nzeribe left his case and cause in the hands of his pamphlets - a miserable substitute.The antipathy to President Obasanjo in Houston was total. Thus, those entrusted with the suicide job of distributing Nzeribe’s pro-Obasanjo leaflets and pamphlets wisely preferred to err on the side of caution. They abandoned piles upon piles of Ndigbo and Obasanjo, Ndigbo and Obasanjo: Matters Arising (One), and Ndigbo and Obasanjo: Fallacy of the Hatred Theory - all “works” of Nzeribe on desks and under desks, in between tables and behind flower pots and such covers. Dutiful janitors shortly removed and binned the propaganda texts. From the general direction of Aviation Minister, Kemafor Chikwe and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) came badges reminiscent of the Abacha era but with the image of Chief Obasanjo and the inscription that he was a dear brother to Ndigbo. Yet, neither Mrs. Chikwe nor any other of the thousands in attendance saw any sense in wearing those badges. Like Nzeribe’s pulp literature, they all ended up in the thrash can.Professor A. B. C. Nwosu (Health Minister), Chief Ojo Maduekwe (Transport Minister), Dr (Mrs.) Chikwe, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor (PDP National Secretary) and Chief Ben Obi (Political Adviser to the National Security Adviser) can confirm the foregoing. And it should assist in their work all those Ndi Odia ka odiria busily bandying about the fairy tale that Obasanjo is beloved in the Igbo country and would win every election in the South East zone “hands down”.Prince Ogbulafor never mounted a podium and cuddled no microphone. If he spoke at all, it was to exchange salutations and pleasantries. But since someone described Ogbulafor elsewhere as a master of mobilisation, there was a chance that he worked behind the scenes all through the convention, actualising his forte. Yet, the question was still asked as to whether he had been on compulsion to make Houston. Another fellow of undetermined mission was Chinwoke Mbadinuju, the Anambra State Governor.
A WIC leader mentioned that Dr. Mbadinuju had contacted the body to express apprehension on the contingency of hostility from the summiteers, but upon reassurance on the safety of his contingent, he hit town with about ten others. On Friday August 30, the second day of the convention, attention turned to Igbo State Assemblies whereby states in the South East zone, as well as Ndigbo of Delta and Rivers States held meetings with their people to discuss Democratic Consolidation in the Igbo States. Anambra State met at Salon D of the Adam’s Mark Hotel. Dr. Mbadinuju spoke at length highlighting the astounding “achievements” of his administration. When he resumed his seat, Dr. Tim Menakaya, the former Minister of Health, took his turn and gave Mbadinuju a tick-off. One man who did not like Menakaya’s contribution kept interrupting. Until policemen threw him out. It turned out to be a precursor of what was afoot. Princess Nikki Onyeri who runs a cancer foundation in Lagos and a native of Ajali said she travels extensively in Anambra but never encountered any of the spellbinding roads constructed by the Mbadinuju administration.It was in the light of the rising opposition that one superman rose to speak: Mr. Enemuo, the Honourable Commissioner for Lands and So On in Anambra. He claimed unrivalled knowledge and experience having waded through the uncharted waters of appointive and elective offices. He demanded uninterrupted attention. Then the short fuse he had deliberately lit burnt out with a bang when he announced that it was indeed a privilege for his listeners to be interlocutors with Dr. Mbadinuju and his team! Uproar developed wings and walked into the hall from all sides. But Enemuo was not the sort of guy who gave up without a fight. He screamed right back at the howls of execration enveloping him. When Mr. Honourable Commissioner looked like say ‘him wan scatter ground,’ two policemen moved in, seized him by either arm and bundled him out, kicking and screaming.Trust Mbadinuju to initiate a rearguard salvage operation. Shouting himself hoarse, he claimed for the umpteenth time that the “privilege” his Commissioner meant was his and that of his team.
He forgot that he was speaking to distinguished academics, businessmen/women and professionals whose “solid personal achievements” were independent of murder and the emptying of state treasuries. For the umpteenth time they shouted him down. Governor Mbadinuju screamed a closing prayer of two short sentences and stalked out with what was left of his retinue. The next time he was spotted, Mbadinuju was clambering into the stretch limousine, of the Rochas Okorocha vintage, that ferried him through the well-paved streets of Houston. If there was further impact at the convention, it certainly did not come from Anambra State. It was an eye opener for, from the calculations of the writer, it cost nothing less than N10 million of taxpayers’ money and statutory allocations for Mbadinuju’s team to act their futile script in Houston.The Igbo presidential aspirants present - Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, Senator Ike Nwachukwu, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo and Chief Rocahs Okorocha put up more credible performances. For the records, be it mentioned that Senator Okadigbo described the PDP as “fumbling and bungling”, hinting that he might pursue his presidential aspiration through the auspices of another party.Each of the three Federal Ministers present had their say. But since Chief Ojo Maduekwe presented a paper “on behalf of the Igbo Members of the Obasanjo Administration”, the Transport Minister might as well speak for his colleagues. His paper titled Rethinking Igbo Politics was all of seven pages, typed double-spaced on quarto sheets. In it, he dichotomised “the legitimate quest for the Presidency and the quest for power”, underscoring a tremendous about-face since his waffle on the big “I”. “Much of the resistance to President Obasanjo has nothing to do with his predecessors in office building more roads or generating more power supply than he has done in three years since the contrary is the case, even in Igbo territory”, said Maduekwe. “It is that the LPO culture and contract mobilization funds that used to oil the political machine of a parasitic plutocracy is gone for good.”
Therefore? Ndigbo should “lend support to current efforts at home towards creating an enabling level playing ground that belongs to nobody and yet is available to all”!Credit must go to Dr. Kalu Kalu Diogu, the Chairman of the WIC, and the Congress’s entire membership, for working round the clock and organising a successful convention. It was the largest political gathering, since Biafra, of Ndigbo outside Nigeria. The communiquéé called for true federalism. It endorsed the position of Ohanaeze Ndigbo on the right and turn of Ndigbo to produce the next Nigerian president in 2003. On this second point, there were two important interventions to report. Chief Ralph Uwazurike, the leader of MASOB, did not believe that Ndigbo are serious with the presidential quest. He said that when the Yoruba made noises in the direction of secession, following June 12 and the death of Chief M. K. O. Abiola in detention, they got compensated with the presidency. Uwazurike thought that if Ndigbo actually the want the presidency, it is opportune time for heightened agitation on Biafra. Chief Uwazurike also accused Ndigbo of having no fallback position. “If you seek the presidency and fail, what will you do?” he asked. An answer is still being awaited. Another contributor was Dr. Landon Onyebueke, a professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Tennessee State University in Nashville. He told the story of a renowned psychiatrist who attended to scores of raving lunatics. One day, the psychiatrist’s friend wondered aloud. “What if these mad men conspired to kill you?” The psychiatrist laughed heartily. “Their collective state is equal to the inability to organize conspiracy.” Professor Onyebueke explained to those who did not grasp his meaning. The problem was not that Ndigbo do not have in large numbers men and women who could creditably pilot the ship of the Nigeria state, he said. But do they have the ability to act as one for the common goal?
What has Obasanjo done to show that he does not like Igbo people?
posted
How silly, you asked a question, posted an article to prove he does not and I merely responded to your silly question. By the way the article you posted has no correllation between to hate or not to hate by a lame duck President. Try again.
Hail Biafra
[ September 16, 2002, 10:26 PM: Message edited by: Waypoint1Biafra ]
Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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How did you pull that thread from egbeomooduduwa.com? You are too much. That was the good ol' days of Seun, Big Steve, I.G. Nwafor, Chudi, TAEF, Keshi, Mallam Radicat, Onyemaechi, Ajibola Robinson Aunty A, Amanda Wekson 1, Uche 62 and "Junior" himself. Where are these guys now?
How does that prove that Obasanjo hates Igbo people? I don't get it.
Yinka,
The littany of utterances and actions be would be too long, especially regarding someone whom the Igbo have known for a long time, yet gave the benefit of the doubt that (given his gulag experience) his soul was amenable to the will of God, If only for the sake of the Black man's plight.
Bola Ige, Pa Adesanya, Lam Adesina, etc. soon got entangled between the temporal carrot offered them by OBJ, and their prior well founded demand for restructuring gave way to blinded and unprincipled aquiecseance to mediocrity greed, and parochial bigotry.
If Yorubas had heard from Zik, Ironsi, or even any Hausa leader of Nigeria including Abacha the (hateful at best, patronising at worst) things uttered and committed against Igbos and Easterners by none other than a Democratic and supposedly Presidential figure, the entire Yoruba country would have been radicalized to the point of extreme tension.
One can only surmise that the man is possessed of a vengeful inferiority complex toward Igbos (probably from his Kaduna years) and in this no one can help him.
Suffice is to say that those diehards who choose to see no sign of Obasanjo's hatred for Igbos will continue to ask as Yinka above, and any attempt to rationalize with them will end up an exercise in futility.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Yinka: Since from the Vanguard report you posted it is noted that most Obasanjo's jobmen (including Nzeribe) were so scared to openly distribute those pro Obasdanjo propaganda leaflets, that would tell you how much the Igbos home and abroad despise eveything and everyone pro-Obasanjo. Therefore, instead of asking us "Who told you that Obasanjo hate Igbo people?" The right question should have been: Why is Obasanjo hated by the Igbos?
In my lifetime and in the history of Nigeria I have never seen a sitting President so hated by a majority ethnic group like the Igbos hate Obasanjo. So the question to you Yinka and other Obasanjo apologists is: WHY DO IGBOS HATE OBASANJO IF HE LOVES/LIKES US?
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Obasanjo does not hate the Igbos. What is the proof? He helped in the appointment of Evans Enwerem as Senate President. You sabotaged Enwerem and had him removed for inexplicable circumstances. He brought in Chuba Okadigbo. Okadigbo did nothing but steal from the state.
Now you have Pius Anyim whom Obasanjo endorsed when Okadigbo was kicked out for stealing and lying about it. At a time you wanted him kicked out also, like you did to Okadigbo. Seemingly, Anyim is the most hated Igbo legislature by his own people.
___________________ NA MY PAPA BORN ME Posts: 389 | From: Eugene, Oregon | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Tijani: Thats exactly what we are saying. That whatever and whomever Obasanjo "endorses" authomatically becomes Igbos "enemy."
The question you Yorubas are running away from is why do you who did not "endorse" Obasanjo in 1999 suddenly become his staunchest backers in 2002? Is it because your tribe now reap where you did not sow (as you've often done) or is it that the "son of the soil" must be supported at all cost? At whose expense do you harvest the fruit of other's labour?
Answers to the above questions will give you a bit understanding why the Igbos wouldn't mind if Obasanjo goes with the wind. Just like he wouldn't give a damn if the race spelt I-G-B-O ceases to be. Unfortunaly for Baba Iyabo he did not learn from those who walked that ROUGH and DEADLY road before him. Time will tell.
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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quote:The question you Yorubas are running away from is why do you who did not "endorse" Obasanjo in 1999 suddenly becomes his staunchest backers in 2002?__________Nwa Aro
Nwa Aro:
The Yourubas political strategy looks very impressive, doesn't it? When Olusegun Obasanjo out of the blue handed Alex Ekwueme a humiliating defeat at the Jos primaries leaving the Igbos empty and dry of presidential hope, it became obvious a Yoruba president was in the making.
The Yorubas were left with a mandatory Yoruba president ala Olu Falae against Olusegun Obasanjo. They voted massively for Falae so he could continue with the legacy left behind by Obafemi Awolowo. They joined Obasanjo because he is their own.
The Yorubas don't leave their own behind unlike you. The Jos primaries should teach you a lesson how the Yorubas are good at political salesmanship. The Yorubas are not harvesting anyone's "fruit of labor," it is a national cake.
___________________ NA MY PAPA BORN ME Posts: 389 | From: Eugene, Oregon | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Salesmanship or Hausa ingenuity? I thought the idea was to kill the most vocal leader the Yorubas ever had, prevent him from becoming a President, kill him then make a deal and select a stooge from the Yoruba tribe to compensate for the blood shared. Does it actually worth it? Is it salesmanship or just an average day to day human sacrifice as detected by Yoruba culture [OGUN] to be self sufficient? I have never known the Yorubas to be that smart in the history of Nigerian Politics since 1960, after all the term "Wild Wild West" is not about salesmanship but as a result of politics of exclusion from 1960 till 1999. Awolowo tried so hard to become the President but because of his lack of salesmanship it was denied of him by you know who? Zik.
Go read your history. And before the war, the Igbos held every government positions in Nigeria. The President, the Senate President and the Chairman of the Army chief of staff combined, most ministers were Igbos until we left for Biafra. It is not that they dominated but because they were well qualified and were better salesmanship than Hausa and Yoruba combined. They spoke Hausa and Yoruba more than the indigenes themselves. You know in order for you to sale your goods you must speak the language that most people will understand. After the war although you assisted the Huasas, they duplicated the Igbo of 1960 with vengence while you sat on the sideline and make noises with OPC. Again, is this salesmanship or just shear politics of exclusion?
Hail Biafra
[ September 18, 2002, 11:40 PM: Message edited by: Waypoint1Biafra ]
Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
"...The Yorubas don't leave their own behind unlike you. The Jos primaries should teach you a lesson how the Yorubas are good at political salesmanship."---Tijani.
Tijani: From the day you made your first post on this board by reposting Gowon's pre-Nigerian civil war hallow propaganda is when I knew that you are here to learn your country's history, however by proxy. You are welcome!
From your qoute above one who is unfamiliar with what took place in Jos would have thought that the Yorubas had any hand in producing Obasanjo either as PDP's flagbearer or as the eventual "winner" of the rigged 1999 elections. Need I tell you that it was the Northerners that sold Obasanjo in Jos and the Igbos (as stupid as they were) bought him at the polls? Where is the Yoruba political "salesmanship" you ignorantly bragged about?
Your theory would have made sence if Awolowo, Abiola or Olu Falae had succeeded in ruling Nigeria. But since non of the afore-mentioned Yoruba endorsed candidates (I bet non will ever make it) made it beyound Yorubaland, that shows that you Yorubas are the worst salesmen.
As per the Yorubas not leaving their own behind, that is what makes the Igbos a SPECIAL breed! The Igbos are different from other Nigerians (infact from other africans) because we believe in QUALITY and not quantity.
More than anything else, that was what caused the first Biafra in the older Igbo generation and exactly what arouses it in the Igbo youths of today. Now you see why Igbos should be in the lead?
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
"Salesmanship" You cannot claim to be a specialist in this field when your sales or talent is only limited within your tribal community. The Yorubas have limitations in Nigerian Politics. They are for themselves by themselves and to themselves. And that makes them a lame duck in Nigerian politics. Obasanjo proves my point. Abiola [bless his soul]was a rare breed and he paid the price for breaking the cultural barrier.
Hail Biafra
[ September 19, 2002, 08:15 PM: Message edited by: Waypoint1Biafra ]
Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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2003 is around the corner and make sure you don't come back next year telling me whose fault it was. Put your acts together because "charity" they say "begins at home," and that's what the Yorubas are good at.
So is the much talked about Igbo presidency waning?
___________________ NA MY PAPA BORN ME Posts: 389 | From: Eugene, Oregon | Registered: Jul 2002
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Keep feeding from the crumbs of Aso Rock caliphates. Your growing lips as a result of "chop and clean mouth" surely has helped you speak against your own people. One day, the truth will come out of your mouth.
Why don't you enjoy your reincarnation at BNW and move on? You are about to drag yourself and your "friends" at egbeomooduduwa.com back into the fire. Don't say I didn't warn you.
By the way, are you from where your name suggests? Posts: 40 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Tijani: The rigging has started in earnest! According to a Thisday neswpaper report:
A Pan Igbo organisation National Union of True Igbo Movement (NUTIM) has raised an alarm over alleged conspiracy against the South-east in the current voters' registration exercise.
National President of NUTIM, Chief Samfo Nwankwo made the declaration at the end of the association's extra-ordinary meeting held in Owerri, Imo State.
According to him, the scarcity of registration materials in the South-east was part of a grand plan to undermine the people during next year's elections. He called for a redress in the exercise to reduce drastically the number of registration materials to the Eastern states and part of the North, while surplus materials are being moved to the western part of Nigeria to defend what has been confirmed as an early rigging strategy to return Obasanjo in 2003, Chief Nwankwo said.
Nwankwo who said that the association would harness all the resources available to it in resisting the plot described the PDP led federal government as being exhausted politically.
The association chided Chief Ojo Maduekwe, the honourable minister of transport for being in the fore front of campaign against Igbo presidency in 2003.
It would be recalled that there has been much criticsm against the on-going voters registration, accusing INEC officials of hoarding cards to forestall the success of the project.
Infact, various groups have condemned the electoral body for allegedly mismanaging the exercise.
The electoral body's chairman, Dr. Abel Guobadia had to come out yesterday to explain issues. According to him, the voters cards were being hoarded.
Soon it will all be the art of "Yoruba salesmanship." Though I am not an Economist, however I know that a good economist promotes compitition and not the other way around as Obasabjo is doing through his rubber-stamped INEC.
All, 'Opon Ifa' is a Yoruba disgiusing as one southern minority. Those of us who have been there before did not need an oracle to tell us who is talking.
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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