OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE is where independent minds meet to dissect politics, society, power, and global affairs without fear or filters. This is not mainstream media.
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“There are two basic questions that must be answered by all Nigerians. One, do we want to remain as one country? Two, if the answer is yes, under what conditions?” – Chief Bola Ige Introduction To paraphrase the historian, mathematician, journalist, Marxist, and progressive thinker, Edwin Madunagu, every political history has its significant dates, landmarks or turning points. In Nigeria’s political history, for instance, landmarks would include October 1, 1960, (the day Nigeria gained independence from Britain), January 15, 1966, (when the first of what would become a tradition of military coups occurred), July 6, 1967, (the official start of…
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And when the war ended, the victors sat down to share the spoils. One region got the oil wells and the other region got the foreign companies. The vanquished region got two sets of gifts. While some got £20 each, others got to keep the houses in their own part of the vanquished region belongings to those who got £20. After six years, those who got £20 started to build multi-storey houses in their part of the vanquished region. One town in the region cornered the pharmaceutical industry, another transportation and automotive spare parts, another town took the electronics and…
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The Igbo do not need or want the Presidency. Actually, they are the only Nigerian ethnicity that do not need the Presidency and its implied nepotistic powers, to succeed in the Nigerian conondurum. This is a fact that any honest person will confirm, even if grudgingly. The Igbo also hate symbolism, especially in very serious matters, since it is akin to begging, an abomination in Igbo culture. What the Igbo really want, and I should know, being one and having interacted with the people and the elite, is some form of internal independence in Nigeria (restructuring) or failing that, full…
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AUBERON WAUGH SPECTATOR MAGAZINE, LONDON 26 DECEMBER 1968, Page 10 For as long as any Christian, liberal or humanitarian tradition survives, the year 1968 will be. remembered as the one in which a British government, for the first time in its history, was prepared to condone the mass starvation to death of innocent civilians as a means of implementing one aspect of its peacetime foreign policy. Very few people in England have any awareness of the fact, like most Germans after the war, they will be able to say that they did not know what was being done in their…
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The extraordinary contributions of Igbo women in the struggle to liberate Igboland, should never be underestimated or overlooked! As early as 1929, when colonial abuse was a fact of life to most Africans, Igbo women, with support from other women in the bight of Biafra, organised a revolt against British colonial rule & paid with their blood. Although this audacious & brave anti-colonial revolt is rarely discussed today, I absolutely concur with those who argue that the Igbo Women’s war of 1929 initiated & inspired the struggle to liberate Nigeria. In 1966, some young NIGERIAN Army officers attempted a military…
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“IPOB have been very law-abiding. In fact, they say everybody should stay at home. They didn’t ask everybody to come and demonstrate on the road. They say stay at home to prayerfully and sorrowfully mourn the dead,” “In the Biafra war, People died on both sides… About 1.5 million people on the Biafran side died. When I talk about Biafrans I am not talking about the Igbos. Philip Effiong was from the present Akwa Ibom. He was deputy to Ojukwu. Kogbara from Rivers was administrator in Biafra. Achuzia was GOC. So, Biafra was beyond the confines of what you call…
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May 29th, 2017 H.E Owelle Rochas Okorocha Government House Owerri, Imo State Your Excellency, ROTATION/ZONING OF IMO STATE GOVERNORSHIP – AN ADVISORY I bring you very warm compliments of this democracy day. It is my prayer that the good Lord continues to guide and protect you as you serve our dear state to the best of your abilities. The object of this communication is my candid advisory on the 2019 Imo governorship election and issue of zoning or rotation of that exalted seat amongst the three senatorial zones in the state. This issue has generated so much controversy in the…
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Today May 29, 2017 marks the 2nd anniversary of the election of Gov. Okorocha as governor of Imo State for the 2nd term. We are supposed to be celebrating the dividends of democracy. Rather, the people of Imo State are saddled with tales of woes orchestrated by the misrule of Mr. Rochas Okorocha. Ndi Imo, we were warned by those who knew him intimately. We were excited then to have in our fold a serving Governor from the South East who promised to provide – Job! Job!! Job!!! factory! Factory!! Factory!!! Industry! Industry!! Industry!!! Employment! Employment!! Employment!!! – for the…
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Forty years ago, Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka travelled to Nigeria’s secessionist Biafra region to try and calm growing tensions. The visit saw him thrown in jail, forced to spend 22 months in solitary confinement. Now he has returned to meet those who ordered his detention. The BBC’s Mark Rickards accompanied him: Soyinka was accused of conspiring with the separatist rebels Outside the airport there is a line of black cars waiting, their tinted windows making their occupants invisible. As we come through baggage reclaim there is a mad scrum and in the middle of it is Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s Nobel…
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A former Minister of Health, and political adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof. A.B.C Nwosu, has again, joined numerous voices in the country calling for the restructuring of the political system. The professor, had earlier expressed surprise that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has rejected calls from various quarters for the nation’s restructuring. He insisted that Nigeria would no longer exist as a nation if it was not restructured in a way that would weaken the power of the Federal Government. Nwosu pointed out that the present political arrangement where there was too much pressure and over-concentration of power…
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A one time Minister of Health, Prof. Alphonsius Nwosu has said that he will not go out on 30th May, a day set aside by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to honour Ndigbo that were murdered during the Nigeria/Biafran civil war. But Prof. Nwosu explained that staying at home on that date was not because of the directives from the IPOB but because he has established it as a tradition even when he was a serving minister during the former President Olusegun Obasanjo government not to go out from 26th May to 1st June but to use the dates…
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Ahead of the sit-at-home declared tomorrow, Tuesday, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, OYC, has vowed to hold acting President, Yemi Osinbajo responsible should anything happen to pro-Biafra agitators. This is coming amid fears over alleged plans by security operatives to open fire on the agitators who shall be observing a sit-at-home to mark the 50th year of Biafra declaration. In a press statement made available to journalists, which was signed by the groups’s Deputy National President and the National Secretary, Dr. Arthur Obiora and Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, respectively, the OYC said, “Ndigbo shall hold Osinbajo responsible as the Acting President…
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The Moshood Salvador faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos on Sunday commended the Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration for his achievements in infrastructure development in the last two years. The Publicity Secretary, Mr Taofik Gani, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. He said that no one could shut his eyes to the achievements of the governor in the area of road construction and rehabilitation in the last two years, as Lagosians were better for it. Gani also scored the governor high in area of traffic management, saying sanity was…
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The South-East Governor’s Forum has advised the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and other groups agitating for the actualization of sovereign state of Biafra, to desist from embarking on the sit-at-home order planned for Tuesday May 30, so as not to plunge Igboland into irredeemable conflagration. The governors also stated that Igbos will not secede from Nigeria as that would not be in the interest of South East zone. Speaking through its Chairman, and Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Umahi, the governors, said: “The South-East Governors are fully aware of the saturation of various news and information outlets, particularly…
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Tension is building up in the southeast states following tomorrow’s sit-at-home order called by Biafra agitators to honour its members who lost their lives in the struggle for a sovereign state of Biafra. Since Saturday, the presence of security officials has increased in various parts of the region. Checks showed that armoured carrier tanks have been manned by battle-ready security officials as well as increased security check points in some strategic locations like Okigwe junction in Imo State and around army formations. Also, the police surveillance helicopters have increased air patrol. Many schools in the zone, especially private schools have…
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I cannot cry more than the affected Igbos, and to be honest, try as hard as I might, I know I will never be able to reach the uttermost depths of the Biafra angst. My people did not suffer a genocide at the hands of their own supposed compatriots or fellow nationals. It doesn’t bear contemplation. What Nigeria did to the Igbos was genocide. All protocols and parameters defining genocide were duly observed. It does not matter who threw the first salvo. It matters even less that a few Igbo soldiers may have been recalcitrant hitherto. We will never have…
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I will never forget. No. I will never forget. The images are seared in my memory of childhood. I want to also remember that Igbos owned a large portion of the Nigerian economy before the war, and despite all effort to keep them down, they are back in that position. I want to vividly remind my brothers and sisters that Igbos have tremendous capacity for self actualisation, well demonstrated in their numbers all over the country, all over Africa and all around the world. Igbos are everywhere and everywhere they are, they find a way to thrive and excel. So,…
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May 29, 2017 marks another ‘Democracy Day’ and two years that our great Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bequeathed democratic governance to the Current Administration of the All Progressive Congress (APC); which it has already squandered given its intolerance and highhandedness to any form of opposition, as well as crass ineptitude in governance. We make bold to state that our deepest concern as a Party to grow democracy in Nigeria engendered the solid foundation we put in place and guaranteed the agreeable atmosphere that enabled oppositions to thrive and consequently won elections. Unfortunately, this same Party, the APC that…
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The third edition of The Nigeria Symposium for Young and Emerging Leaders hosted by The Future Project, in partnership with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Y!/YNaija.com, is set to feature policy shapers in Nigeria such as Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Donald Duke, Femi Fani-Kayode, among others. The event will hold on 30 May, 2017 at TerraKulture, Lagos. The Symposium will bring together leaders in politics, business, advocacy, media, and more – to engage and discuss the theme ‘Open governance: Improving transparency and accountability in government’. The Symposium will provide young leaders a platform to crystallize ideas and proffer…
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President Muhammadu Buhari’s two years in office are, perhaps, the most difficult in the country’s economic history. It was the period the country’s economy slumped into recession for the first time in more than a decade. After two quarters of consecutive negative growth, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, confirmed in March 2016 that the country was in a recession. The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, described it as the country’s “worst possible time”. She attributed the situation to a “cost-pull inflation”, exacerbated by continued decline in oil revenue earnings and foreign reserves, weakening balance of payments, rising public debt,…
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His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, CON, led by the Executive Governor of Sokoto State, His Excellency, Gov. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, and other top functionaries of Sokoto State Goverment, commissioning the Western Bye Pass-Keystone Road located in Sokoto North Local Government Area of Sokoto State, as part of the activities marking Gov. Aminu Waziri Tambawal’s two years in office as the executive governor of Sokoto state. He was accompanied by Hon. Jones Onyereri, member Representing Isu, Nkwerre, Nwangele and Njaba in the Federal House of Representatives and the Chairman House Committee on Banking and Currency, Hon. Mohammed Idris Kutigi, member…
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To the Heads of State and Government of African Countries Please accept my sincere congratulations on the occasion of Africa Day. This important date commemorates the victory of the peoples of your continent in struggle for freedom and independence and symbolizes their wish for unity for the sake of peace, stability, and sustainable development. African States have made considerable progress in social and economic, scientific, technological and cultural development and are playing an increasingly prominent role in building a just and democratic multipolar world order. Russia highly appreciates constructive efforts of the African Union and other African regional associations aimed…
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Mr Suleiman Idris, sir! It is with a heart burdened with grave pain that I write you this letter. And make no mistake, Mr police I.G, this is not a friendly letter because the truth is, you are not my friend but my employee. From your conduct since assumption of duty as Nigeria’s no1 police officer, you have left no one in doubt that you are under some form of compulsion never to stop subjecting this country and all her inhabitants to bottomless ridicule. Mr Idris, sir, will you catch a bullet if you conduct your official duties like a…
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Dear Nigerians, I bring you good wishes from President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, who as we all know is away from the country on medical vacation. 1. Today marks the second anniversary of our assumption of office. We must thank the Almighty God not only for preserving our lives to celebrate this second anniversary, but for giving us hope, strength and confidence as we faced the challenges of the past two years. 2. Our administration outlined three specific areas for our immediate intervention on assumption of office: these were Security, Corruption and the Economy. 3. In the Northeast of our country,…
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The FG’s handling of Kanu’s case and its general management of the pro-Biafra movement in the South-East have proven to be strategic blunders which ended up raising the profile of both the man and his cause. Just two years ago, Nnamdi Kanu was unknown to most Nigerians. Even within South East Nigeria, some saw him as an abrasive presence on the airwaves because of his incessant spewing inciting vitriol against Nigeria and other enemies of “Biafra” on the pirate station, Radio Biafra. His arrest, detention and prosecution for treason transformed him from a somewhat marginal figure into a prisoner of…
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After 1979 presidential elections which shagari won, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe complained that he was rigged out…and Dr Chuba Okadigbo as Political Adviser to Shagari said Zik’s complaint was a ranting of an ant….in 1981, Okadigbo and others announced that Zik was dead. DR. NNAMDI AZIKIWE response TO DR. CHUBA OKADIGBO… And it came to pass…. “My boy, may you live to your full potential, ascend to a dizzy height as is possible for anyone of your political description in your era to rise. May you be acknowledged world-wide as you rise as an eagle atop trees, float among the clouds,…
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Second Republic governor of Kaduna State, Mr Balarabe Musa, speaks on the state of the nation. It is May 29, another Democracy Day? What is your take on the state of the nation? May 29 has nothing to do with democracy, it is just a day in Nigeria’s history when the military handed over power to a civilian government. So that does not amount to the day being called Democracy Day. Democracy means more than that. Democracy means the absolute will and supremacy of the will of the people. This administration is not fit to be called democratic, it’s mere…
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So Obasanjo is asking us to come and share national cake? Wonders shall never end. But wait o, where is he getting the cake from? Is he not a criminal who stole our bread and butter and then invites us to come and share as if he is being benevolent? Doesn’t Obasanjo know that we lost interest completely in 1998 when he stole our share of the cake and became president? In case he doesn’t know, we have lost appetite for the cake. Our staple food is yam and fufu. We no longer need cake, fake cake, our stolen cake…
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Bruce Mayrock (a Jewish-American) who set himself on fire in front of the United Nations building, New York City, USA in 1969. He died from his burn-wounds. He did this as a protest after seeing videos of millions of Biafran children dying from starvation. Bruce Mayrock was a medical student, aged just 20 years old when he died. I am still in shock as to how blacks will carry out such atrocities against fellow blacks and move-on like nothing happened. The annoying part is that the Nigerian government continues to kill Biafrans. And you wonder why Nigeria is a failed…
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Source: Who Are the Fulani People & Their Origins?
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Originally posted on Tarig Anter on Protect & Reinvent Democracy: Fula or Fulani or Fulbe (the latter being an Anglicization of the word in their language, Fulɓɓe) are an ethnic group of people spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and The Sudan of east Africa. The countries in Africa where they are present include Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, The Gambia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Niger, Togo, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Liberia, and as far as Sudan in the east. Fulas are not…
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My late mother of blessed memory used to say in Igbo: “Offor adighi ire esuo ya oku”, meaning; if the deity as represented by the piece of offor wood seizes to be active, then it might as well be burnt or use as fire wood, because without that active relevance, it is nothing short of ordinary wood. Even the bible made it clear that a salt is only good if it has not lost its saltiness. In our pursuit in life, we must strive never to lose relevance as a living soul. Relevance in this context has nothing to do…
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Went the day well? We died and never knew. But, well or ill, Freedom, we died for you. John Maxwell Edmonds (21 January 1875 – 18 March 1958) was an English classicist, poet, and dramatist who is notable as the author of celebrated epitaphs. It was he who wrote the above epitaph and this one also: “When you go home, tell them of us and say, for their tomorrow, we gave our today”. So it is with the Biafra fallen heroes.They gave their yesterday for our today. Against the backdrop, the Biafra Remembrance Day being mobilized by the Indigenous Peoples…
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Excerpts from the confessions of the PERPETRATORS: “I want to see no Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no Pope, no missionary, no UN delegation. I want to prevent even one Ibo from having even one piece to eat before their capitulation. We shoot at everything that moves and when our troops march into the centre of Ibo territory, we shoot at everything, even things that do not move” (Benjamin Adekunle, Commander, 3rd Marine Commander Division, Nigerian Army to French Radio Reporter). “All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I…
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Nigerians must rise and challenge President Muhammadu Buhari from further terrorising of Igbo leaders, Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has said. Fayose, who regretted the raw deal being handed down to the people, said the onslaught had increased in recent times with the harassment of prominent Igbo, especially those in opposition political parties. The governor, who was reacting to the recent raiding of the home of Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, lamented that the government had turned enforcement agencies like the police and Department of State Services (DSS) into state machinery designed to terrorise the opposition at all cost. His…
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(Being A Presentation by the Lower Niger Congress to the Igbo Summit at Enugu, with the Theme: “Navigating the Future”, Convened by the World Igbo Congress, 27th May 2017 at Enugu). PROTOCOLS. It gives me great pleasure to welcome us all to the Great Coal City, Enugu. I must commend the Conveners, World Igbo Congress (WIC), for finding the Courage at this difficult juncture of the Igbo Odessey in Nigeria, to bring this Summit to Igboland, right in the middle of the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Biafra,after many years of holding it’s major Public Events in the United…
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I’m heading to Uzoakoli to do battle I’m heading to Uzoakoli, but My lover cries out, she didn’t want me dead. My lover begs me to flee, But who will defend the land When I flee? My sweet heart begs me to Flee, But who will do battle when the Hausas come# With this song Biafran men marched into battle to defend their fatherland as Northern troops led by British tanks and Russian planes invaded their land to continue the Genocide that they started in the North in 1966. Every Month of May, we Remember Over 45, 000 innocent people,…
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A SOBER REFLECTION. By PROF. T. UZODIMA NWALA President Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF). Introduction. Before I thank the organisers of this Conference and pay my tribute to the Memory of my friend, late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, in whose Foundation Center this historic event is being organised, let me quickly dismiss certain lingering pernicious fallacies that have dominated all discussion about the coup of January 15, 1966 and the Biafra War. First, the Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, has alluded to the January 15, 1966 coup as an Igbo coup that, according to him, was replied by a…
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The Federal Government has released the results for the just-concluded 2017 National Common Entrance Examination into 104 Federal unity schools and disclosed that two candidates from Anambra State scored the highest marks. According to a statement by the Acting Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education, Dr Husseini Adamu, a total of 80,421 candidates registered for the examination but only 77, 512 candidates actually took the examination. Details of the results showed that two candidates from Anambra State, Emeka-Egbuna Chinecherem C. and Onubogu Chinazom Joyce scored 189 marks out of 200 being the highest marks. Meanwhile, the Joint Admissions…
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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/g7-summit-170526040901217.html
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http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/05/africa-poor-stealing-wealth-170524063731884.html
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Not once and not twice, Chris Ngige has made public statements that is, for all intents and purposes anti Igbo and most of the statements appeared to rationalize the predicament of our people. The very fame Chris Ngige is enjoying in our Anambra state is based on his performance as the governor at one point. The very fame or performance was truly accidental because, having found himself in a solitary political situation, with left and right hostility, he was rightly advised to embrace the populace which he did with extensive road projects. That was essentially it. The acclaimed performance was…
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At about 8am on Friday, May 26, 2017, men of the Nigeria Police Force from the Inspector General of Police Special Squad raided the official guest house of the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, located at No. 10 Ganges Street, Maitama, Abuja. The police, however, stated at the end of the search that nothing incriminating was found. They met the steward, Oliver Ogenyi, and some of Ekweramdu’s staff and their children in the house. In spite of the fact that they were informed that the property is the guest house of the Deputy President of the Senate,…
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I just finished speaking to the Deputy Senate President and he confirmed to me that his home was raided by security forces today. This is shameful and shocking. Raiding the homes of our friends and leaders like Ekweremadu and harrasing their children will not deter, stop or silence those of us that are in the opposition. It will only harden our hearts and strengthen our resolve. As each day goes by more and more people have come to accept the fact that the Buhari administration is a government of FASCISTS and BEASTS. They are led and guided by dark and…
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As the Governor of Imo state, His Excellecy Owelle Rochas Okorocha clocks Six years in office on May 29th, 2017, Independent Newspaper Publishers Association (INPA), as good partners in progress and major stakeholders in the State, carried out a study on Governor Rochas Okorocha’s regime and uncovered some agitations from Imo masses regarding the achievements of the Administration so far. Hereunder, are some of the issues raised by Imo populace and wish to draw the attention of the Governor to address the following agitations of Imolites with the view to making Imo a better state for all. 1. THE ABANDONEMENT…
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I think the rest of Nigeria has really suffered to say only Igbos have been marginalised. The marginalisation has gone all round. However we need to categorise the various acts of marginalisation to make sense of it all; 1. There is CYCLICAL marginalisation (experienced by those out of the power equation at any time). Every group has faced this marginalisation at one time or the other. The DSS recruitment exercise is a clear example of this type of marginalisation. Even the Igbos mete out this sort of marginalisation on others when they 2. There is STRUCTURAL marginalisation, a practise that…
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The Senate, in a historic move, has passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), which is the first part of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The upper legislative chamber passed the bill after the senators considered clauses in the bill. The bill, which has not been passed since 2008, was broken into four parts to allow for easier passage. Speaking after the bill was passed, Senate President Bukola Saraki said it would ensure transparency and accountability and create an enabling environment for the petroleum sector. “I want to congratulate all those who contributed to this bill, for many years we…
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Please let it be known from today that South -east is not landlocked. It is only our economy that is locked. One quick way of unlocking the economy of South-east is through marine business. Contrary to the impression that the South-east is landlocked, the truth is that it has one of the potentially deepest seaports in the country at Osemoto/Oseokwa in Imo and Anambra States. A seaport was designated there in 1959 but the project was abandoned and the admiralty member erased for obvious political reasons. African Development Bank (ADB) feasibility report on this is unambiguous. Oseokwa (Ihiala LGA, Anambra…
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1996: Dr. Ibrahim Tahir; Talban Bauchi and second Republic Minister declared in a public lecture at Ibrahim Abacha Youth Center Lafia, that Nasarawa State was created for the Hausa Fulani in the Diaspora not for the indigenous tribes who constitute 95% of the State’s population. 2017: Twenty Years later: 1. Tanko Almakura – Governor of Nasarawa state (Hausa Fulani from Kano). 2. Justice Suleiman Dikko- Chief Judge of Nasarawa State:( Hausa Fulani from Katsina State) 3. Ibrahim Balarabe: Speaker Nasarawa State House of Assembly(Hausa Fulani from Shafa Abakpa-originally from Katsina state) 4. Barrister Mohammed Abdullahi – Secretary to Nasarawa State…
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I am shocked that the Igbos are not speaking up at the apparent siege laid on their land by uniformed person of different categories. They range from Army, Navy, Police, Civil Defence, Customs, FRSC, etc. My journey had taken me by road from Isele-Mkpitime, where I had gone to pay tribute to a Nigerian icon, Chief (Dr) P.K.C. Isagba, the Odogwu of Isele-Mkpitime. He was one of the first Nigerians to believe in my ability as a young fledgling lawyer. I had been handling his cases whilst at Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers. When I left as Deputy Head to set…
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His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha (OON) Executive Governor Of Imo State Government House Complex Owerri. LETTER OF RESIGNATION AS STATE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (SDC) MEMBER PURPORTEDLY REPRESENTING OBINZE WARD, OWERRI WEST I hereby write to resign my membership of the State Development Council (SDC) which appointment I was not offered to accept or reject from the outset. The reasons for my resignation are expressed below in as plain and simple language as possible to dispel every risk of ambiguity. Ordinarily, communications such as this are made through memos, but since it is common knowledge that you do not read such ‘irksome’…
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Leaders of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, otherwise known as Shiites, have cried out to Southern leaders not to abandon them as they create and strengthen alliances in agitating for a better deal for their people in the country. Speaking at the public presentation of the book, “The Vanity of ‘Change’ and the Audacity of Truth” written by Jude Ndukwe, which held at Merit House, Abuja on Wednesday, 24th of May, 2017, leaders of the Islamic sect pleaded with southern leaders not to forget the minorities of the north like Shiites and people of Southern Kaduna who have suddenly…
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Acting President Yemi Osinbajo says citizens have a right to discuss their continued existence in Nigeria. Speaking at a conference organised by the Shehu Musa Yar Adua Foundation to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Nigeria-Biafra war in Abuja on Thursday, the acting president, however, said that Nigerians were greater together than apart. He urged all Nigerians to work together to build the country, and to not let their frustrations drive them to see their compatriots as enemies. He said the time and the resources spent on the war could have moved the country leaps further in…
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Below is the speech of the President of Ohanaze Ndigbo Chief Nnia Nwodo Jnr at the Yar Adua Center lecture on 50 years of Biafra. The Acting President Prof Yemi Osinbajo and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo were guests. 50 YEARS AFTER BIAFRA: REFLECTIONS AND HOPES PROTOCOLS: 1. I am grateful to Shehu Musa Yar Adua Foundation, Ford Foundation and OSIWA – the co-sponsors of this event for your kind invitation. I commend your foresight in convening this conference, the first major conference discussing Biafra outside of Igboland. Nigeria. In hosting this conference the Yar’Adua Centre, which is best known for promoting…
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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says engaging in dialogue with those agitating for an independent state of Biafra is a sure way to resolving the issue. Speaking at the Biafra conference in Abuja on Thursday, the former president said Nigerians must treat the country with care. He said the country’s fundamental problem was that it had lacked national leaders. “We never had a national leader. Our leaders at the beginning were mindful of their regions. That is our problem till today,” he said. ”I have maintained that the young officers who struck in 1966 were naive but there were some element…
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As the first two years of the President Muhammadu Buhari-administration winds down this month, only four per cent of the 171 promises made to Nigerians in the build-up to the 2015 elections have been fulfilled, a new report by SBM Intelligence has revealed. The report, which is to be released this week, said the Buhari Campaign Organisation made 171 promises to Nigerians at different campaign stops, and in several documents, forming the basis of a social contract between the government and the people whose votes they desperately sought. SBM Intelligence said it curated the 171 promises and grouped them into…
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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former minister of finance, says growth and development cannot be achieved when a country has distortions in its foreign exchange rates. Speaking at the launch of ‘Beating the Odds: Jumpstarting Developing Countries’, a book written by Justin Yifu Lin and Celestin Monga in Ahmedabad, India, Okonjo-Iweala said there is no one way to growth and development, but some basic principles must be in place. “You can have development that takes specific country and context specific situations in hand and begin from there,” she said. “So, the proposals for industrial parks, industrial zones or what you want to call…
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A Chatham House report launched yesterday in Abuja has estimated that at least $480 billion was stolen by corrupt officials between 1960 and 2004.Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute based in London. The report, titled “Collective Action on Corruption in Nigeria, a Social Norms Approach to Connecting Societies and Institutions,” said that close to $400 billion was stolen from Nigeria’s public accounts from 1960 to 1999. It added that between 2005 and 2014, $182 billion was lost through illicit financial flows from the country. This stolen commonwealth, the report observed, represents the investment…
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The Devil is most successful amongst people who believe he does not exist. That is the situation around this debate of whether or not there are Masters and Slaves in the Nigeria of now. Those who reduce everything to spurious academic arguments and vacuous postulations are at liberty to amuse themselves but there are some of us who already have the monster enslaving Eastern Nigeria in a pinfall and chokehold and there will be no letting until that monster is fully dead interred, thereby freeing its many Captives starting with Eastern Nigeria. That monster is called “One-Nigeria”. HERE ARE THE…
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Afenifere is a self-determination platform for the Yoruba. Yinka Odumakin, an Afenifere Leader, was a delegate at the 2014 National Conference A freelance American journalist, Brian Hall, was one of the last outsiders permitted to freely take a tour of Yugoslavia during the final days of its existence. From early May to mid-September 1991, he interacted with members of the various Balkan “tribes” in Zagreb, Belgrade, Sarajevo and points in-between, taking notes of their comments on their history, prejudices, superstitions, fears, aspirations and opinions of other ethnic and national groups. He wrote a book titled “The Impossible Country: A Journey…
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After earning more than $300m over his legendary career, the former heavyweight champion filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and later went to jail for cocaine problems. It would take more than a decade, and a trip through rehab, before Iron Mike (Tyson) would escape bankruptcy. “I didn’t think I’d make it through my thirties,” Tyson said last week during the SALT Conference, a Las Vegas event that attracts big names in money, politics and sports. “My thirties were scary, weren’t they?” the 50-year-old former boxer said to nervous laughter from the audience. The controversial former boxer said he was never…
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May 24, 2017 The Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC PMB 0184 Garki FCT, Abuja Nigeria REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF THE INEC PVC REGISTRATION PROCESS We refer to our petition dated May 15, 2017 in which we complained about ‘Worrisome Lapses In The On-Going INEC PVC Registration Process Which May Lead To Mass Disenfranchisement Of Millions Of Voters In The South-East And South-South Region’. We hereby call on INEC to extend the period of PVC registration process such that intending voters will be able to register on a continuous basis until one week to the election date. The South-East South-South…
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Aba is a town of settlers – most of whom have been attracted by the lure of doing business in an energised community. The people care about production, distribution and revenue generation. There are so many success stories in Aba. The bare-chested millionaires are one. They are the extremely wealthy producers who care so much about giving value that they forget to wear shirts. Aba has a population of about 600,000, based on the last Census carried out in 2006. Over one-tenth of this population are artisans producing garments and leather shoes and fabricating machines. One in six of these…
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Some APC governors and APC major stakeholders led by Maman Daura are meeting today to see how they will help Sheriff at the Supreme Court. We can now confirm clearly that it is a battle between the PDP as represented by the Markafi group and the ruling APC. Nigerians and all lovers of democracy should rise and say no to this evil plot by the APC led government to stifle the opposition. The Judiciary must at this time show that they are independent. The confidence we have in them is not in doubt and we are also aware that president…
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Instead of responding to the words of Eric Joyce, the former British MP who told the world via his twitter handle on 19th May that President Muhammadu Buhari had died in a London hospital, Deacon Femi Adesina, the special advisor to the president on Media, in an essay titled “They Learnt Nothing and They Forgot Nothing“, wrote like a true corpsocrat, refused to clarify the matter and instead said that he was ready to follow Buhari “into battle blindfolded”. Clearly my good friend Adesina has much to learn from an essay that yours truly wrote last week titled “The Language…
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Many here may not have known that PRONACO was basically an initiative by the arrowheads of the then defunct NADECO, led by Chief Enahoro, to get the ethnic Nationalities of Nigeria, to revalidate the Aburi Consensus as basis of the Constitutional Framework and Architecture of Nigeria. Ojukwu, Soyinka, Beko, Onoh, were some of the other leading lights from the South that drove the process. Buhari was a part of the Northern Delegation to the Conference which was why the PRONACO featured as the anchor of his 2007 Campaign as we can see in the MNN pictures posted here this week.…
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The Senate caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted a statement credited to the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, that the South East zone was not omitted in the development of some rail lines for which the sum of $5.8 billion loan was taken from China Exim Bank. Spokesman of the Senate PDP caucus, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who had raised a motion on the floor of the Senate last week, about the development, insisted yesterday that Amaechi was trying to divert attention from the issue. Abaribe asked Amaechi to explain why the South-East corridor was scheduled for concessionaires to…
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The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the body empowered to meet the yearnings of Nigerians for stable, adequate and safe electricity supply, has taken the bulll by the horn by releasing to the public, the rights of every electricity consumer. Read the rights below: 1. All new electricity connections must be done strictly on the basis of metering before connection. That is, no new customer should be connected without meter first being installed. 2. A customer who elects to procure meter under the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) Scheme must be metered within 60 days, after which the…
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…As Aguleri youths berate Ezeonwuka over comments About 3,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, defected to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Ugbene community, Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State. The defectors, led by the National Chairman of Ugbene Great Ambassadors Club, Chief Aaron Onwelukwue, disclosed that their defection was informed by Governor Willie Obiano’s “sterling performance in office” which they crave its continuity. Special Adviser to the governor on Security Matters, Chief Chikodi Anara, and Chairman of APGA in the community, Mr. Cajethan Anako, while receiving the…
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As Biafrans are getting ready to immortalized those who gave their lives to Biafra struggle and to those that gave up everything they have amidst social criticism just to be ” Biafran” on the May 30th sit in, we must remember one man that took our fight globally, Middle weight and Light Heavy Weight Boxing Champion of the world, the Biafran, late Dick Tiger Ihetu. Dick Tiger was a lieutenant during the biafran war. He trained young solders. When he sensed how his people were slaughtered, he rushed home to help. Most of his boxing money was used to cater…
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Senator Andrew Nwankwo from the Izzi clan in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, was a captain in the Nigeria Air Force before the January 1966 coup that made way for Major General J. T. U Aguiyi Ironsi to emerge as Head of State. He became Ironsi’s Aide-De-Camp through the recommendation of Brigadier George Krubo who was then in-charge of the Air Force and subsequently supervised the late Head of State’s security. Capt. Andrew Nwankwo (rtd) said he was to die with his boss, but for fate. He was present when both Ironsi and Fajuyi were shot dead. Tracking the 61-year-old former ADC…
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• Agenda is to hurt our region, Yakassai insists. • It’s the way out, say Onadipe, Akande, The controversy over whether or not to restructure the country continued at the weekend with two elder statesmen, Malam Tanko Yakassai and Chief Bisi Akande as well as former Nigerian Ambassador to China, Olusola Onadipe expressing divergent positions on the matter. The persistence of the calls for restructuring requires a decisive move by all the citizens to resolve the issue amicably instead of allowing it to breed ethnic suspicion and hostility. In an interview with The Guardian, Yakassai said the north was uncomfortable…
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The Supreme Court has dismissed an application filed by a factional leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Ali-Modu Sheriff, asking the court not to hear a motion by his challenger, Ahmed Makarfi. Mr. Sheriff had asked the court to refuse to hear the application filed by Mr. Makarfi, challenging the February 17 judgement of the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt which made Mr. Sheriff leader of the PDP. At the opening of the hearing on Monday, Mr. Sheriff’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi, said the application was an abuse of court process because Mr. Makarfi ought to have requested the leave of…
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An Enugu High Court has given an order of MANDAMUS compelling INEC to abide by the decision of party in recognizing Chief Martin Agbaso as the National Chairman of APGA. And also an order restraining INEC from recognizing any other person as National Chairman of APGA except Chief Martin Agbaso. The court went further to compel the Nigerian Police Force to comply with the decision of the party. ……more details soon
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Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and seven other leaders will on Thursday speak at a conference on the Memory and Nation Building – Biafra: 50 Years After. At the one-day conference, which will hold at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja by 9am, Osinbajo is expected to deliver a keynote address. A statement by the Foundation listed other speakers as a former Permanent Secretary Information, Education & Industry, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, President General Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, and Professor John Stremlau of the University of Witwatersrand will serve as lead speakers. Honourable Chudi Offodile…
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The governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom, has signed the bill prohibiting Open Rearing and Grazing into law in the state. The development is coming few days after the Benue State House of Assembly passed the bill prohibiting Open Rearing and Grazing into law. Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Makurdi, the Benue State capital on Monday, governor Ortom described the development as a right step taken in a right direction, adding that his administration would do all it would to protect the state from intruders and criminals. While thanking those who sponsored the bill, governor Ortom urged them to…
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The just concluded examinations (UTME) conducted by JAMB on prospective candidates into universities has unfortunately become another tool in the hands of federal institutions under the APC administration to continue to attempt to humiliate Ndigbo in every area of their success in order to futilely make them appear as villains rather than as the victims of a jaundiced system maturing into a malignant cancerous entity. Like an already well rehearsed script, no sooner had the exams ended than JAMB came up with a wild and ludicrous claim that more than 10,000 candidates were caught in exam malpractices in Anambra State,…
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The Chairman of the South-East Caucus in the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has challenged the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, to explain why the eastern corridor was allegedly excluded in the rail line projects of the Federal Government. Abaribe, on Sunday in Abuja, asked Amaechi to explain why rail lines in the South-East corridor were billed for concession, while rail lines in other parts of the country would be built with funds borrowed by the Federal Government and which the entire the country would pay. The Abia North senator had at the plenary on Tuesday protested against the alleged…
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1. It is said that the voluntary surrender of power in 1979 to Alhaji Shehu Shagari gave the military, as then represented by Olusegun Obasanjo, a sanctimonious self-righteous air of being Nigeria’s custodian of democracy and moral conscience. However, the National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF) sees things differently to wit: that the handing over of power in 1979 was a stage in the promotion of Islamism in Nigeria. The reasons for the 1966 coup may be obscure but the fact remains that the first Law passed by the Independent Nigerian Parliament was the Emergency Act of 1961, signed by Dr…
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In a White House memo dated Tuesday, January 28, 1969, to President Nixon, former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger describes the Igbos as “the wandering Jews of West Africa-gifted, aggressive, westernized, at best envied and resented, but mostly despised by their neighbors in the federation”(foreign relations document, volume E-5, documents on Africa 1969-1972). Kissinger’s description aptly portrays the Christian Igbos and their experience in Nigeria. Over the years, the Igbo have been the victims of numerous massacres, that they have lost count. Most of the violence directed against the Igbos have been state sponsored. One can say that the Igbos…
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Foreign exchange shortages have forced Nigerians to buy more locally produced products, an official has said. Joseph Nnanna, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said this in an interview with Bloomberg. Mr. Nnanna said that one advantage of the foreign-exchange shortage is that they forced Nigerians to buy more local products, including food such as rice. “The craze for imported goods has declined,” the CBN official was quoted as saying. “Our consumption pattern is changing. We are producing what we used to import before.” Commenting further, Mr. Nnanna said that the CBN would keep monetary policy tight…
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” A Tesla Model S, which has 18 moving parts, one hundred times fewer than a combustion engine car. “Maintenance is essentially zero,” says Stanford University economist Tony Seba. “That is why Tesla is offering infinite-mile warranties. You can drive it to the moon and back and they will still warranty it.” No more petrol or diesel cars, buses, or trucks will be sold anywhere in the world within eight years. The entire market for land transport will switch to electrification, leading to a collapse of oil prices and the demise of the petroleum industry as we have known it…
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The 2015 general elections have come and gone, but the echoes are getting louder by the day, with parties celebrating, taunting, warning, or even blaming one another, depending on the side of the divide one belongs to. This trend has not been limited to the principal actors of the elections; it has also taken the dangerous and unhelpful dimension of tribal diatribes among citizens.From the outburst and threat of the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, against Ndigbo resident in Lagos, that their voting must follow a particular pattern in the last gubernatorial election, to the several and severe harassment…
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In 2003 I was elected to the House of Representatives to serve the Abeokuta South constituency, in Ogun state. My eight years in elected office made me less optimistic about change in Nigeria, but more realistic. The political system was not designed to allow people like me – a 37 year old from the private sector who had studied in the UK and at Harvard – to become Speaker of the House of Representatives, the role I held from 2007 to 2011. Nevertheless, I was able to work within the system successfully and make a difference, so imagine the impact…
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Backs Biafra agitation Spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, Prof Ango Abdullahi has declared that the North is fully prepared for Nigeria’s break up if that will make component parts agitating for separate countries or restructuring happy. He explains his position in details in this interview with ABDULLAHI HASSAN in Zaria, Kaduna state. Some South East leaders have accused Northern Elders of sabotaging efforts to restructure the country. What is your reaction to this? You see the issue of restructuring is one of the fundamental issues that shape Nigerian history from 1914 up to 1960. In fact, we are not…
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There are elders and there are elders. Prof. Ango Abdullahi is not an elder. A real elder does not pursue a rat while his house is on fire. I needed to get that out of the way before those who excuse bad behaviors accuse me of abusing an elder. In Nigeria, an elder is a washed up politician who is too old to be an ambassador and too young to spend his time making peace with his maker for all the iniquities he created. You see them all over Nigeria, east, west, north and south. They call themselves elders yet…
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I have observed this interesting and fierce competition between the “yuppie” churches, especially along the Lekki axis; it simply is amazing the quantum of advertising that is going on, especially on the out-of-home medium. From the Law School all the way to Ajah, its an amazing media assault. Wow. I am not sure a week goes by without some new material announcing a programme or the other being posted. Its an exciting time for the Church! I have however observed that the five or so churches involved in this blitzkrieg are so keen to achieve dominance that they have basically…
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“I witnessed it first-hand last week. I went to the Aguata registration centre at a remote location at Ekwuluobia to register. I saw a lot of young people hanging around, I asked if they were not registering, and I was informed that INEC said they can’t register because they were 18 at the point of the last registration and they did not register. They can only register if they can prove that they weren’t around in the last registration exercise by providing a copy of their international passport. I found the demand strange. I requested to see the Oga, I…
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Fifty six years after a referendum and plebiscite was organised for the English speaking Southern Cameroun to join others to form the nation, the region yesterday in Abuja said it seeks for the restoration of independence. The referendum held on the 11th February, 1961 was for the Southern Cameroun to decide whether to join the former British colony of Nigeria or the former French colony of Cameroun. The referendum through a United Nations (UN) resolution 1608 enacted a two nation-state, where the Southern Cameroun and the La Rèpublique du Cameroun exist side by side. There are six million registered Nigerians…
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The most difficult challenge that Nigerians face is not the hegemony of the Hausa Fulani ruling class but the ignorance and slavish mentality of some of those from the Middle Belt and the south that they have conquered. Ignorance, cowardice and delusion is the language and practice of slaves. And it is typical of a slave to despise and hate those that seek to liberate him from his slave masters and his chronic bondage. This is because the liberator or, if you like, the deliverer, reminds them of their slavish and pitiful condition and continuosly urges them to try and…
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Ahead of the May 30 2017 Biafra Remembrance Day, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has announced plans to mark the event. The IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, disclosed this in a press release in Awka yesterday. He said the group, led by Nnamadi Kanu would honour the heroes and heroines who died in the Nigeria civil war from 1967 to 1970. He disclosed that the IPOB would use the event to prove to the whole world that they were ready for the upcoming referendum for the sovereignty of Biafra. He stressed that the IPOB family units in…
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Do you know that a week after you die, it is very likely that your brothers and cousins will ask your wife and your children to pack out of your house? That means your daughter may end up selling “pure water” in the street to survive, while that your good-for-nothing brother is living in your house and driving your cars, and marrying extra wives or taking new chieftaincy titles? This will happen because you were stupid when you were alive. You refused to empower your wife. You treated her as if she was a stranger. First, you refused to give…
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The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), yesterday accused soldiers from the military cantonment at Ohafia, Abia State of swooping on its women at a meeting at Abiriba, Abia State, while identifying with IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. It was alleged that soldiers from the 14 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Ohafia, Abia State, had yesterday broke into a peaceful meeting of women in the area and allegedly roughhandled and arrested some women for reasons yet to be ascertained. But a statement made available to journalists in Awka, IPOB media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, alleged that the Nigeria Police also…
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Fresh facts have emerged on how the Federal Government succeeded in securing the release of 82 Chibok girls, who were abducted in exchange for Boko Haram commanders last week. It was gathered that in exchange for the Boko Haram commanders, the government ‘handsomely rewarded’ the terror group with a discharge fee of two million Euros. This latest revelation was contained in a news story posted by an online news portal, the British Broadcasting Service (BBC), on its website last night. Though the medium did not mention its sources, it, however, reported that the ‘freed terrorists’ were highlevel Boko Haram bomb…
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When I evolved from a political writer to a revolutionary writer, I knew at once that the tide had borne me. Today, nothing else matters. What I dream of, think of, prognosticate is a nation South-East and South-South can call their own. What our governors are doing, or will do is not my concern anymore, for I know they are all functioning in a very faulty template. Nigeria is an expired drug, for she cannot cure those for which she was fabricated anymore. Of course, the lies the North used to split the South-East and South-South have run out of…
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We can replicate the Trudeau and the Macron phenomenon in Nigeria if we effectively and efficiently organize rather than agonize. WE CAN, if we repudiate crash partisanship and embrace patriotism. WE CAN, if we lampoon religiosity and court true brotherhood. And WE CAN, if we elect truth, fairness and justice over ethnicity and nepotism. Conscious of the voter demographics, if we mobilize effectively WE CAN take power in 2019. Don’t let naysayers and ‘Doubting Thomases’ plunder your faith, it is absolutely possible. And we do not need their kind of financial war chest to pull this through, all we need…
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The federal government is making over N10 billion from operators of 146 private jets in Nigeria. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) confirmed as at August 2016, that there are 146 corporate jets in the country of which only 46 were registered in Nigeria while 100 have foreign registration. We gathered that the total amount in taxes, charges, over-flier, landing and parking, is over N10 billion annually. According a jet owner who spoke under condition of anonymity, the taxes could be as high as N47.9 billion should the federal government make good its plan to go ahead to add luxury…
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The Nigerian Ports Authority and and Integrated Logistics Services Nigeria Limited (Intels), Nigeria’s leading logistic firm for the oil and gas industry, are locked in a fierce business dispute, with the NPA threatening to terminate Intels’ port revenue collection contract, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today. Those familiar with the matter said the dispute, which has seen the two parties hold several tension-soaked meetings and exchange aggressive correspondences, arose from Intels’ alleged non-compliance with the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account policy. The two parties also appear to disagree over the funding of a key capital project the logistics company is…
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Reading comments by some “Biafra” Agitators, one problem the LNC has observed is that most of those who are warming up for one great war of machetes and guns with Nigeria are the ones who have not taken the trouble to understand that the LNC committed a huge chunk of its energies to first asphyxiate the monster called Nigeria to stupor and death as a Strategy for freeing its many captives including Eastern Nigeria. This is totally different from the calculations of those who are thinking only in terms of Biafra that will fight the rest of Nigeria with bombs,…
OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE 