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In a cursed and evil fake country mockingly called "Nigga-Area" by the equally evil empire called Britain, anything goes. Ladies and Gentlemen, read to refresh your memories.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE CASE OF ONWUKA KALU, OFR Vs. ORJI UZOR KALU HOLDEN AT THE COURT OF APPEAL, PORT HARCOURT.
An election to the office of Governor of Abia State was held on 19 April, 2003. The election was alleged to have been characterized by widespread rigging and intimidation especially by agents of the ruling PDP.
Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu – the incumbent governor, Chief Enyinnaya Abaribe, and eight others participated in that election. Chief Onwuka Kalu was a candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. Chief Orji Kalu was a candidate of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP while Chief Enyinnaya Abaribe was sponsored by the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP. The other eight were also sponsored by their various political parties.
At the end of the election, the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, returned Chief Orji Uzor Kalu as the winner. Being dissatisfied with that result, Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, filed a petition on 19th May 2003 at the Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Petition Tribunal sitting at Umuahia, the Abia State capital, claiming that he is the true winner of the election having scored the highest number of lawful votes and having satisfied all the other requirements prescribed by law. The tribunal was presided over by Justice Jean Omokhri as chairman and the case bore number EPT/G/AB/03/2003.
Chief Orji Uzor Kalu filed his reply to the petition on May 29th, 2003 while INEC filed their own reply through a preliminary objection on 4th June, 2003 praying the tribunal to dismiss the petition. On 13th June, 2003, the Tribunal dismissed the petition on the basis that the petitioner failed to join Orji Kalu’s deputy in the suit.
Being dissatisfied with the Tribunal’s ruling, Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, appealed against same to the Court of Appeal and the case, numbered as CA/PH/EPT/171/2003, was heard by five Justices of the Court of Appeal, namely: Rabiu Danlami Muhammad, Pius Olayiwola Aderemi, Olufunlola Oyelola Adekeye, Albert Gbadebo Oduyemi and Amiru Sanusi. After deliberating on the matter for several months, the Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the Tribunal on 25th March 2004. The Court also ordered that a new Election Tribunal, with another panel of judges, should be constituted to hear the petition on merit.
Being dissatisfied with the said aforesaid judgment of the Court of Appeal, Orji Uzor Kalu appealed to the Supreme Court. By so doing, Orji Uzor Kalu was able to stop the setting up of a new Election Tribunal pending the determination of his appeal at the Supreme Court. This was like postponing the evil day because after a delay of one year, the Supreme Court eventually struck his appeal on 7th April 2005.
The Supreme Court reaffirmed that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal since Section 246 (3) of the country’s 1999 Constitution clearly states that all cases relating to governorship elections in Nigeria must end at the Court of Appeal.
The following Justices of the Supreme Court decided the case on 7th April 2005: Idris Kutigi, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, Akintola Ejiwunmi, Dahiru Musdapher, Ignatius Pats-Acholonu, George Oguntade and Sunday Akintan. The case was recorded as number SC/151/2004 and Orji Kalu’s legal team was led by Solomon Akuma while the legal team of Chief Onwuka Kalu was led by Charles Eduzor.
Following the above Supreme Court decision, the president of the Court of Appeal constituted a new Election Tribunal with a panel of five High Court Judges, namely: S. D. Bage as chairman, Adamu Jauro, Mobolaji Ojo, Waheed Olaifa and Bashir Ismail. The Tribunal commenced sitting in Umuahia, Abia State capital, on 11th July, 2005.
Chief Onwuka Kalu testified in person and called twenty-five other witnesses. In proof of his case, he tendered election results issued by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC. Thus, he was able to show that he won over 472,000 votes as against Orji Uzor Kalu’s 255,000. Neither his testimony nor documentary evidence was discredited or rebutted by the respondents who chose to anchor their defense on some technicalities inherent in the drafting of the petition.
Orji Uzor Kalu did not testify in person but through his lead counsel, Awa Kalu, SAN, he called eight witnesses who were former Local Government Chairmen and top civil servants of his government. Their evidence were not relevant to the issues at stake because it centered on their roles in providing logistic and security support to security and electoral personnel during the election.
Curiously, Orji Uzor Kalu did not tender a single result sheet or documentary evidence to prove that he actually won the election as announced by INEC.
Also, INEC failed to call any witness. INEC failed to bring original result sheets or any document at all to back up the figure it has used to declare Orji Uzor Kalu as winner of the election. Their lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, rested his case by asking the Tribunal to dismiss the petition.
Interestingly, both INEC and Orji Uzor Kalu agreed with Onwuka Kalu’s claim that the true result of the election is contained in the forms used for collation of results at the various polling booths of Abia State. However, it is surprising that while Onwuka Kalu produced his own carbonated copies of these polling booth results, both Orji Kalu and INEC failed to either produce theirs or call evidence to discredit the ones presented to the Tribunal by the APGA candidate, Onwuka Kalu, OFR.
The Tribunal concluded its sitting and despite the overwhelming evidence adduced by the petitioner to prove his case, the tribunal dismissed the petition in its Judgment dated the 16th day of August 2005.
Dissatisfied with the judgment of the Tribunal, the APGA candidate, Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, appealed to the Court of Appeal on 5th September 2005, praying it to set aside the judgment of the tribunal and declare him as the winner of the Abia State governorship election held on 19th April 2003.
The appeal, numbered as CA/PH/EPT/317/2005, was anchored on 27 grounds. Some of the issues formulated from the grounds of appeal which the court was invited to answer are:
Whether the Learned Tribunal fully appreciated the pleadings of the parties and whether they approached the pleadings correctly, and if not, whether that did not affect the tribunal’s decision in the case. Whether the tribunal was right in holding that the standard of proof required to establish the petitioner’s case was not satisfied. Whether the Election Tribunal was right when it failed to strike out INEC’s reply, when INEC did not lead any evidence in support of their reply to the petition. Whether the carbonated copies of election results tendered by the petitioner, being duplicate originals of a public document, are primary evidence and whether they were admissible having been pleaded by the petitioner and being relevant to the case. Whether by the pleaded facts and oral and documentary evidence, the petitioner did not prove his case. Whether the petitioner has successfully established the facts and grounds on which he relies for his case to succeed.
Both INEC and Orji Uzor Kalu filed their replies and prayed the Court to dismiss the appeal. After hearing the submissions of all the parties on 16th of November 2005, the Court of Appeal adjourned to 22nd November 2005 for final judgment.
WHO IS ONWUKA KALU?
Chief Onwuka Kalu is an eminent industrialist and a philanthropist who was born on 24th
May, 1954 in a village called Abiriba which is located in South East Nigeria. He is from the Igbo tribe of Nigeria. He is popularly known as Onwuka Interbiz although some people simply call him Onwuka Nails. He is also known as the Okpuzu, which means the Blacksmith.
Chief Onwuka Kalu had his primary education at Amogudu Local Authority School and Jiks Commercial Institute, Abiriba. He later attended Hendon College, London from where he enrolled into Middlesex University, London, and graduated with a Law degree – LL.B (Hons).
In 2004, the Federal Government of Nigeria conferred one of the country’s highest national honours—Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), on Chief Onwuka Kalu.
In 1974, Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, founded an Import-Export company in Lome, Togo – a venture which was later relocated to Nigeria and grew as Onwuka Interbiz Group. The Group has now become a multi-national conglomerate with trading, banking, farming and industrial interests.
In 1991 the Group made history when one of its companies – Onwuka Hi-Tek Industries Plc – producer of nails, machine and auto spare parts, became the first indigenous company to be quoted on the main list of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. At a point the group had over 2,000 employees in its Aba manufacturing facilities alone. Since its inception the group has been able to train and offer practical experience to hundreds of Nigerian engineers.
Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, was one of the founders and the pioneer chairman of Fidelity Union Merchant Bank (now Fidelity Bank Plc). He is a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Technological Engineers and a fellow of the Institute of Sales Executives. He is the chairman of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of International Trade.
The Okpuzu is a National Patron of the Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) and the National Youth Council of Nigeria. In recognition of his unrelenting efforts to develop local technology, he was made a member of the Federal Government’s Defence Committee on Adaptive Technology.
Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, is a philanthropist and the International President of Children of Africa Foundation (COA), a charity founded by him to help children in need. A Children of Africa Concert organized by the foundation in aid of children was marred by the restriction placed on movement of people through a curfew imposed by the Federal Government during the 1991 National Census, the date of which coincided with the date of the concert.
Despite this set back, the COA, which cost the Okpuzu some millions of dollars, remains the boldest step taken by any Nigerian at international level to highlight the plight of African children, 15,000 of whom die daily from preventable causes such as wars and easily preventable and curable diseases such as malaria and diarrhea.
The COA project was endorsed or supported by Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Dionne Warwick, Michael Jackson’s father – Joe, Majek Fashek, Robert Bell of Kool and the Gang, Onyeka Onwenu, Shaba Ranks, Thione Seik, Salif Keita, Manu Dibango, Miriam Makeba, Rita Marley, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Sarafina, Sonny Okosuns, Oliver de Coque, King Sunny Ade, President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, General Yakubu Gowon, Belozi Harvey, First Bank Plc, UNESCO, UNICEF, ECOWAS and many others.
In 1982, Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, financed and sponsored the first exclusively Made-in-Nigeria Trade Fair. The fair took place in Aba under the auspices of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria and was declared open by Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari.
The principal aim of the fair was to promote Made-In-Nigeria products especially those made by Aba shoe makers, tailors, welders, panel beaters and other small scale industrialists.
Through this singular effort as well as other efforts which the Okpuzu has sustained for several years till now, the perception and image of Igbo-made or locally made products have changed from negative to positive. Millions of Nigerians and other Africans are now proud to buy goods and services made in Nigeria.
In 1985, Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, was declared the Nigerian businessman of the year by the Nigerian Association of Masters of Business Administration. It was an impressive ceremony attended by the former President of the defunct Republic of Biafra - Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Dr Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Chief J. K. Randle, Chief Aboderin of Punch Newspapers and other VIPs.
Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, was a member of the Constituent Assembly that wrote the 1989 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Okpuzu distinguished himself as the chairman of one of the most important committees of the Assembly, the Federal Executive Bodies Committee. He served the Constituent Assembly for about one year and accepted only one Naira (about one U.S. cent) as his total remuneration and donated the rest of his emoluments to the Government of Nigeria through the Nigerian Economic Recovery Fund.
In 1988, Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, co-founded the Liberal Convention with Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, Olorogun Chief Michael Ibru, Chief Tom Ikimi, Chief Mike Ajegbo, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Chief Sonny Dike Odogwu, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, Senator Onyeka Okoroafor, Chief Olu Adegbenro, Chief Nosa Isekhure, Chief Yomi Ademefun, Dr. Doyin Okupe, Alhaji Adamu Bulkachuwa, Dr Bello Katagun, Thomas Kagnan, Osita Okechukwu, Senator Felix Ibru, Alhaji Abba Daboh, Senator Kura Mohammed, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, Senator Evan Enwerem, Elder Kalu Ogba, Chief Dede Ogwo Ijere, Dr Kalu Uche, Chief Egwuonwu Kalu and many other prominent Nigerians.
The Liberal Convention was one of the thirteen political parties banned in 1990 by the Nigerian Military Government.
Following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, won by Chief M. K. O. Abiola, Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, became one of the prominent Nigerians who risked their lives and investments to oppose the Military Dictatorship of General Sani Abacha, which maimed and killed Ken Sarowiwa, Shehu Musa Yar’dua and many other innocent Nigerians without justifiable reasons.
As a result of his vehement opposition to the dictatorship, some flimsy excuses were used as a guise to arrest and detain the Okpuzu for about one year without charge. While in detention he fell ill and was denied proper medical attention. He lost an eye in the process and was about to die when some good Samaritans helped him to escape from Nigeria.
While in exile, he was charged and convicted in absentia based on trumped-up charges by a tribunal set up by the military dictatorial regime but later, the kangaroo judgment was voided and cancelled by a competent Federal High Court when democratic rule was restored in Nigeria. Thus, Okpuzu of Abiriba -- Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, is an authentic hero of Nigerian democracy. He put his life on the line of fire for his country when it mattered most.
Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, ended his self-exile in 2002 and returned to Nigeria to help in rebuilding the country’s democratic institutions which had been ravaged by many years of military dictatorship. He joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and became its governorship candidate for Abia State of Nigeria during the general elections of 19th April, 2003. It is widely believed that the
Okpuzu was robbed of victory by the rigging machinery of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
For several years, the Okpuzu occupied the position of vice chairman of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), Eastern zone. He co-founded the Association of Business Leaders of Eastern States of Nigeria (ABLESON) in 1987 with Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, Chief Ombu Isokarari, Chief Sam Asuamah and others.
His untiring efforts in creating awareness on the benefits of local production of essential goods helped to encourage traders and importers to embrace manufacturing. No doubt, the history of manufacturing and promotion of Made-In-Nigeria goods in modern Nigeria, will be incomplete without giving proper recognition to the roles played by Chief Onwuka Kalu, the Blacksmith. In recognition of these and his other selfless efforts, the Okpuzu was honoured by the Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA) in 1996 as a distinguished industrialist.
Chief Onwuka Kalu served together with Chief M. K. O. Abiola, Chief Mike Adenuga Jnr, Alhaji Aminu Dantata, Chief Molade Okoya Thomas, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Olorogun Chief Michael Ibru, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, Chief Sony Dike Odogwu, Aliko Dangote, Chief Wole Adeosun and others as members of a Presidential Monitoring Committee (PMC) set up by the Government of Nigeria in 1991 to facilitate and promote the country’s hosting of the FIFA Junior World Cup.
Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, holds more than 35 chieftaincy titles from various Nigerian communities, some of which are Omezuroha of Aba, Oputa obie of Umuezeala (Mbano), Enyioha of Umuapu (Ohaji), Omenka of Ama Asato (Osisioma Ngwa), and Okpuzu of Abiriba.
Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, is the author of The Challenge of Industrialization in Nigeria (1986). He has delivered many thought-provoking lectures at various local and international seminars including the US-Africa Technology Conference.
The Okpuzu has been happily married to Nelly, a lawyer, for more than 25 years. They have six children.
The Okpuzu enjoys reading, writing, swimming, table tennis, football, travelling and planning. Awards/Honours: Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Technological Engineers Fellow of the Institute of Sales Executives Nigerian Businessman of the Year 1985 (Nigerian Association of Masters of Business Administration) Nigerian Businessman of the Year 1989 (Business Concord Newspapers)
Positions: Patron, National Youth Council Former Vice Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Founding Chairman, Fidelity Bank PLC Chairman, Onwuka Interbiz Group International President, Children of Africa Foundation Chairman, Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of International Trade Patron, Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) Chairman, Board of Governors, Girls Technical College, Aba, Nigeria, 1981 – 1985 Chairman, The Federal Executive Bodies Committee of the Constituent Assembly, 1989 Leader of Constituent Assembly Members from Eastern States of Nigeria, 1988 - 1989 Membership: Member, Imo State Economic Consultative Assembly, 1984 - 1992 Member of the Federal Government’s Defence Committee on Adaptive Technology. Member, Egwuena Age Grade of Abiriba, 1974 till date. Member, Constituent Assembly, 1989 Member, Presidential Monitoring Committee for FIFA Junior World Cup being hosted by Nigeria. Co-founder and member, Association of Business Leaders of Eastern States of Nigeria, (ABLESON). Co-founder and former member of Rotary Club of Ikoyi, Lagos.
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Posts: 46 | Registered: Nov 2001
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quote:Chief Onwuka Kalu is an eminent industrialist and a philanthropist who was born on 24th
May, 1954 in a village called Abiriba which is located in South East Nigeria.
quote:In 1974, Chief Onwuka Kalu, OFR, founded an Import-Export company in Lome, Togo – a venture which was later relocated to Nigeria and grew as Onwuka Interbiz Group.
This date of birth is a dishonest truth based on the fact that he could not have finished high school and college and law school in England and relocated to Lome to open a business.
quote:Chief Onwuka Kalu had his primary education at Amogudu Local Authority School and Jiks Commercial Institute, Abiriba. He later attended Hendon College, London from where he enrolled into Middlesex University, London, and graduated with a Law degree – LL.B (Hons).
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her. Posts: 2447 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Mar 2001
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Onwuka kalu got his LL.B. about three years ago. He returned to school in England a few years ago after the Nigerians destroyed his business. I don't know Onwuka Kalu's age. But, the idiot is an efulefu for dancing like a fool when he was awarded "OFR."
Posts: 397 | Registered: May 2001
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Continuation of the Failed Politics of Appeasement!
From the little interactions some of us have had with Maazi Okpuzu, over the years, it can be concluded that he has his heart in the right place.
The problem with Maazi Okpuzu, remains the problem with many Igbo-Nigerians, these our brethren who even at this late stage continue to bury their collective heads in the sand, to them, “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”, continue to be their mantra where the British Birthed Abomination – Nigeria, is concerned. How else can one explain how honest and honorable brethren can allow themselves to become a thing of derision and laughter? How else does one explain how a once mighty nation could turn her back on the GENOCAUST (genocide and holocaust) against its people? Was this brutal crime against humanity not true? Were more 500,000 innocent men, women and children not brutally massacred in all hamlets, villages, cities and town in Northern Nigeria? Were more than 3 million of their brethren not slaughtered or starved to death in a GENOCAUTAL (genocide and holocaust) war, designed to wipe the Igbo nation from the face of the earth? Did the vandals who but for the grace of Chineke, the Mighty Yah, having failed in their evil machinations, not then start on a thirty years plus, plan of marginalization and containment of a nation of more than 40 million, while it continued its secret GENOCAUST against the Igbo? Did these evil and barbaric animals not elect traitors over Ndi Igbo? Yet, these Igbo-Nigerians continue to sing the discredited song of ‘One Nigeria’ – TUFIAKWA!
When Leaders refuse to lead, or refuse to face reality, the consequences for the nations these false leaders lead can be disastrous. When so called leaders, continue to speak out of both sides of their mouths as they deceive the people they lead, may Chi Ukwu, the Mighty Yah, have mercy on the people these false leaders purport to lead. When the elders who know the truth about the double speak of these abominable leaders refuse to challenge these evil men who call themselves leaders, the death of every innocent Igbo will for ever be on their heads – for our fore-parents said that, ‘a nation left to evil men becomes an evil nation’.
The only salvation for these elders who turned and continue to turn, their faces away from the suffering of their people as these 419’ers who called themselves leaders continue to lead their people astray, and refused to challenge these evil men/women, is to now step forward, even at this late stage, and tell OHA the truth. Failing to do that, may they have “NO PEACE” even in death – ISEEEE!
Oha Ka Angry.
*************
Politics of appeasement By Maazi Nnaemeka Mene Onumonu Monday, March 20, 2000
"By Islamizing the whole 'Core North', the North has declared a de facto Islamic republic because no other law operates in an Islamic State"
Chief Arthur Nwankwo Eastern Mandate Union.
"We are not interested in any conference that will stitch Nigeria together again like confederation - having loose or inactive centre and active state, we are not interested in such things again. If after self-determination of the various major tribes in Nigeria they decide to come together, they should come together as independent states, like we have ECOWAS, we have OAU, we have Commonwealth, these are associations of independent states, we have even the OIC. You don't force people into one country, we are not one."
Chief Ralph Uwazuruike Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MAASOB).
As usual the Igbo nation and the South as a whole continue in the failed attempt at the implementation of a bankrupt "Politics of Appeasement". Since I am a member of a research organization - EKWE NCHE, it is important that I use data to buttress the above axiom.
"When the Federation of Nigeria became independent in 1960, the same policy was adopted by all its peoples. They accepted the Federal structure which had been established under the colonial system, and declared their intention to work together. Indeed, the Southern States of the Federation - which includes Biafra - delayed their own demands for independence until the North was ready to join them. At the insistence of the North also, the original suggestion of the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons (the political party which had its cenre in the South) that Nigeria should be broken up into many small states with a strong centre, was abandoned. The South accepted a structure which virtually allowed the more populous North to dominate the rest."
President Julius Nyerere
"Meanwhile, the widespread nature of the attack and the ferocity of the Northern assailants had impelled many Easterners, who had made the North their home for decades, to seek refuge in the East. But the incidents of 5th June turned the stream into a torrent. Overnight the Eastern Nigerian Government found itself saddled with an unprecedented refugee problem. In spite of the indescribable shock and provocation felt by Easterners everywhere they heeded the appeals of the Supreme Commander, Major-General Aguiyi-Ironsi and the Military Governor of the East, Lt.-Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, for calm while means of placating the Northern Emirs were sought. In the end a Commission of Inquiry, which has not met till now, was set up to investigate the massacres while the Sultan of Sokoto and his fellow Emirs joined the Supreme Military Council in assuring fleeing Easterners of their future safety if they returned to the North to resume their normal occupations. On the basis of these assurances the Military Governor of the East staked his populerity and authority in persuading Easterners to return. As he said during a banquet given by him in honor of the Emir of Kano, who some days after the massacres had been installed as Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (Eastern Nigeria), Easterners "must accept the sad events as a challange to all who have dedicated their energies to the tasks of unity for the country". He earnestly hoped that "the innocent blood thus shed will be accepted as the price for the solid and everlasting unity of this country".
NIGERIAN POGROM & JANUARY 15: BEFORE AND AFTER
"On many occasions the North threatened to break away from the Federation if they were not given what they demanded. Each time they got exactly what they demanded. During the Lyttleton Constitution of 1954, the Northern House of Chiefs and the Northern House od Assembly passed an eight point resolution demanding that they be allocated 92 of the 184 seats in the Federal House of Representatives. They insisted that if that was not done Nigeria will immediately transform into a confederation or customs union in which each of the three regions will enjoy almost sovereign status with the right to make their own laws without approval of the Federal Government, maintain a separate judiciary, and public servic etc. The British, West and East governments agreed and the North dropped its demand for a confederation or customs union. They blatantly rigged the federal election of 1959 and installed Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa prime minister. They rigged it again in 1964 and as usual forced Zik to install Abubakar prime minister. During the constitutional conference of 1966/67 they insisted on a confederation but changed to a federation with a strong central government when they were advised by the British, to change their stand since they were already in control of the instrument of power and government. They did and had their way."
LEADERSHIP SERIES - EKWE NCHE ORGANIZATION
Where has all these compromises led Ndiigbo or Southerners as a whole? What have we gotten in return? Below is just one small reward to these people who were ready to compromise everything for a pipe dream!
"SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER MASSACRES, 1966
For a brief period it seemed that Eastern civilians would be spared this time and encouraged by the assurances of Northern rulers, several continued to return to their homes and occupations in the North. In the meantime, Lt.-Col. Gowon had assumed power in Lagos and was also assuring everyone that their would be no more killings. Easterners believed that the thirst of Northern Nigerians for blood had been satiated. Consequently, they responded by sending delegates to the Constitutional talks which had been summoned in Lagos to discuss the future form of political association that would be acceptable to all Nigerians.
But no sooner had the discussions begun than the Northerners launched another wave of murders, looting and arson against Easterners everywhere and especially against those of them who had returned to the North. From the 18th to the 24th of September, there was mayhem in the Northern towns of Makurdi, Minna, Gboko, Zaria, Gombe, Jos, Sokoto and the capital town of Kaduna. Men, women and children were surprised in their beds by combined teams of Northern soldiers and civilians and murdered; others were slaughtered at their places of work or in the market places. A short distance from where the Constitutional Conference was holding in Lagos, Northern soldiers pounced on Mr. Stephen Achilefu, Personnel Officer of the Nigerian Airways (an Easterner), while he was relaxing in his home soon after returning from a meeting to which he had been summoned by Lt.-Col. Gowon. They whisked him away in an Army Land Rover; and the following day his bullet-riddled body was found in a bush near Abeokuta Road.
Easterners, those who were able, took flight and all the entry routes to the East were jammed. At their heels were hordes of Northerners shooting or clubbing down straggling women and children and hunting down those in the bush. The climax to the holocaust was reached on 29th September, as the Lagos Constitutional Conference was about to adjourn. At the Kano International Airport, Easterners waiting to be airlifted home were surrounded by armed Northern soldiers and civilians and massacred. Those who took trains ran into ambushes of Northern soldiers and civilians who looted their belongings and maimed thousands.
Some of the extremes of savagery reached by our supposed Northern fellow- countrymen are so bizarre that they defy description. There were numerous cases of decapitation of living victims. A number of student- survivors from institutions of learning in Northern Nigeria were captured and all the fingers of their right hands chopped off before they were rereleased. That would help in curtailing, they were told, the educational lead of Eastern Nigria over the North. There are several eyewitness accounts of pregnant women of Eastern Nigeria origin who were ripped open and their unborn children hacked to pieces, and accounts (most of them given by the actual victims themselves) of women, some of them pregnant, who were forcibly held down by Northern soldiers or civilians while lepers raped them. Also, while hundreds of Easterners found genuine refuge from their predators in police stations in the North, several others were turned upon and slaughtered by Northern policemen in the very police stations to which they had fled for protection. Until recently, there was a juvenile of about sixteen lying critically ill in a ward at the Enugu General Hospital who had been raped repeatedly by several Northern soldiers. These soldiers had thereafter proceeded to savage her genitals with a sharp object, then filled it with sand, and finally, almost completely gouged her right eye with a dagger!"
NIGERIAN POGROM & JANUARY 15: BEFORE AND AFTER.
The above is a sample of the reward for appeasement!
Now lets fast forward to 2000, after more than 30 years of marginalization. Now we are presented with SHARIA, there was no debate! Implementation is in full swing in some states in the North! The discussion is now on when it will be implemented in the whole of Nigeria!
Ndiigo, Southerners and Ohacratic Northerners when will you understand that the "Politics of Appeasement" has failed full time? When will all ethnic groups wake up in Nigeria? THERE MUST BE A CONFERENCE (call it what you may) IN WHICH EVERY ETHNIC GROUP MUST SPEAK FOR ITSELF, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY FORWARD.
The time for SNC is far gone, any conference now must be about the peaceful dissolution of Nigeria. TO YOUR TENTS O! NIGERIANS, it is time to divide Nigeria peacefully into sovereign states, with units that have things in common. This is the only way forward.
Emeka.
Posts: 166 | From: chicago | Registered: Jun 2003
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Where is the Orji-Uzor Kalu campaign now? Was the man not running for vice president? Now, he has fizzled out.
Posts: 90 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Of course, we knew all along Orji Kalu was an empty vessel that was louder at a wrong time. When a whore like his mother was dealt with by OBJ's Gestapo, he vanished just like that. Now, the question is, where are the likes of the impotent M. Weber who would go any length to cover Kalu?
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