A Federal High Court, Lagos, today, convicted Ms. Ibukun Awosika, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, the chairman and Managing director of First bank Plc, respectively, as well as the bank for their refusal to honour the payment of N122 billion bond guaranteed by the bank.
The N122 billion bond, is in respect of the judgment debt against Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in an oil spill suit instituted by Ejama community in Ogoniland, Rivers State.
The court presided over by Justice Ibrahim Buba, however suspended the serving of their conviction, for three months, to enable them to purge themselves of the contempt. The judge however stated that if by September 6, 2018, the convicts failed to purge themselves of the contempt proceedings, they shall immediately be sent to prison.
In convicting First Bank, its chairman, and managing director, Justice Buba had dismissed all the applications filed by their Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), describing contempt proceedings as abuse of court process and been statue bar.
It would be recalled that 10 indigenes of Ejama community, in the substantive suit had sued Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Netherlands, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United Kingdom, and SPDC, over alleged oil spills that occurred when Shell operated in the community at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt. Justice Buba had in his judgment in 2010, awarded N17 billion to the representatives of the Ogoni people.
Dr. Adesola Adeduntan
The court equally granted the Ejama Chiefs 25 percent interest charge on the principal sum of about N17 billion. SPDC had then appealed against the judgment and applied for a stay of execution of the judgment pending the appeal.
As a condition for granting the stay of execution, the court required Shell’s bankers, First Bank Plc, to provide a guarantee of the judgment sum. This condition was complied with. But Shell’s appeal failed at the Court of Appeal on technical grounds, ostensibly because it filed its processes out of time and without regularising them.
Consequent upon the failure of the appeal of SPDC at Appeal Court, and the refusal of First Bank Plc, to honour the payment of judgment debt which the bank had early guarantee through a bond, the applicants, through their lawyers, Chief Lucius Nwosu (SAN), A.A. Salawu-Rabana (SAN) and Ken C. Njemanze (SAN) filed Form 48 and Form 49 (committal to prison) against the bank, its chairman and managing director.
However, ruling could not be delivered in the contempt proceedings until today, due to several applications that were filed by the contemnors, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which sought to join as party in the suit, and SPDC.
Meanwhile, Justice Buba, has adjourned ruling on the garnishee proceeding against First Bank till June 19.
Femi Fani-Kayode, former Aviation minister, has described the statement by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Nigerian Army was “soft” on the Biafrans and “restrained” during the civil war, as a lie from the pit of hell.
However, Fani-Kayode, in an opinion piece on Wednesday, accused the President of telling wicked and despicable lies about the Igbo during the civil war.
He maintained that nothing was more painful to victims of mass murder, ethnic cleansing and genocide than the denial by its orchestrators and perpetrators that the massacre never took place.
The former minister, while raising some unanswered questions during the civil war, wondered where Buhari’s humanity and sense of decency is.
He wrote, ”One of the most wicked and despicable lies that President Muhammadu Buhari has ever told is that the Nigerian Army was “soft” on the Biafrans and “restrained” during the civil war, implying that our soldiers did not indulge in genocide and mass murder.
”A few questions will suffice. Was the Asaba massacre in which thousands of innocent and defenceless young boys and old men were slaughtered an act of restraint?
”Or was the killing of two million innocent and defenceless Biafran civilians and the premeditated and contrived starving to death of one million innocent Biafran children an act of restraint?
”For God sake where is our humanity? Where is our sense of decency, our sensitivity and our sense of remorse?
”Must we lie about our history and must we always deny the truth and attempt to revise it? No wonder they banned the teaching of history in our schools. We simply have too much to hide!
”We forget that without contrition there can be no remorse, without remorse there can be no repentance, without repentance there can be no forgiveness and without forgiveness there can be no truth, reconciliation or progress.
”Justice and decency demands that we must collectively get off our sanctimonious and all-knowing high horse and stop behaving like the infallible and almighty conquerors that we think we are.
“Whether we are willing to admit it or not, the fact of the matter is that what we did to the Biafrans during the civil war was as bad as what Hitler’s Nazis and the German people did to the Jews during the Second World War. And had the civil war gone on for another three years it would have been worse!”
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday seized the opportunity of his investiture as grand patron of the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) to relive some of his civil war experiences between 1967 and 1970.
According to Buhari, the Biafrans would have suffered more casualties were it not for the restraints handed down to the federal troops by former military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon.
Going down memory lane, the president said every military commander was issued instructions in dispatches that they should take it easy on the Biafrans as they were not enemies but brothers and sisters of the rest of Nigerians.
Buhari, however, pledged to assist the organisation secure permanent office accommodation in Abuja.
The president praised Gowon for that gesture, adding that the role of the Red Cross in bringing succour to victims of the war even in dangerous circumstances was immeasurable.
He equally noted that the pathetic pictures of war-ravaged Biafrans were always heartrending.
“Earlier in my profession, during the civil war, I know how much sacrifice members of the Nigerian Red Cross and their international counterparts did both in the real front of operations and at the rear, on both sides. I think it is a lot of sacrifices because anything can happen to you in the operational areas.
“The risks they faced were real and I admire their courage and commitment to helping people who were in distress and were virtually in millions. Those photographs of people from the Biafra enclave spoke a lot.
“I remember with nostalgia the performance of the commander-in-chief, General Gowon. Every commander was given a copy of the commander-in-chief’s instructions that we were not fighting enemies but that we were fighting our brothers. And thus, people were constrained to show a lot of restraint.
“The international observer teams were allowed to go as far as possible within and outside the front and I think this was generous and very considerate of General Gowon. He is a highly committed Nigerian,” he stated.
On his promise to assist the organisation secure permanent office accommodation in Abuja, Buhari said, “I have taken note of your logistics especially your (request for) office here.
“I assure you that the government will do its best when you decide to build such facilities in terms of securing an area here within the Federal Capital Territory and we hope you will not do the Nigerian ways of doing things.
“To use the words of famous Nigerian minister, ‘I hope you will not build an elephantine headquarters’ which is going to be functional because we have seen your activities throughout the country,” he said.
In his remarks, the head of delegation and National President of the NRCS, Chief Bolaji Anani, said the organisation has over 800,000 trained volunteers based in communities across the 774 local government areas of the federation.
He pleaded with the president to assent to the Bill amending the Red Cross Act of 1960, whenever the National Assembly, which is debating it, eventually gives its approval. The Act has not been reviewed since it was passed in 1960.
“A review is long overdue. We note with pleasure that the current National Assembly is in the process of doing that. In fact, the revision has already undergone public hearing.
“We hope when the revised Bill is passed by the National Assembly it will be graciously assented to by Mr. President,” he said.
He also appealed to President Buhari to restore Federal Government’s grants, subventions and programme support to the society to enable it discharge its mandate diligently.
Anani also demanded for operational vehicles for ease of the work of the Red Cross in Nigeria; restoration of annual grants from the Federal Government; and special government recognition and awards to Red Cross officials and volunteers who have exceeded in service or even paid the ultimate price in service to the fatherland and humanity, in a bid to motivate more humanitarian gestures.
He further lamented that the Nigerian Red Cross has been operating from rented premises since it moved its headquarters from Lagos to Abuja, saying there is inadequate space to store relief materials and equipment.
The NCRS is the Nigerian arm of the global humanitarian Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement present in over 193 countries and played a major role in providing relief materials to beleaguered and starving Biafrans during Nigeria’s civil war when the South East and South-South parts of the nation sought to break away to form an independent country.
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, there has been allusion to the January 15, 1966 coup as an Igbo coup that, according to them, was replied by the Northern coup of July 29 1966.
Let it be said loud and clear that that coup, namely January 15, 1966 coup, was not an Igbo coup. It was a coup led by certain Igbo and Yoruba Officers, involving the active participation of soldiers from the North. The aim, as has been stated again and again, by the leaders of the coup was to release Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was in detention at the time and install him the Prime Minister of Nigeria.
That coup was foiled by Igbo military officers. Igbo political leaders and activists knew nothing about the coup.
Again the Incursion into the Mid-West by the Biafran troops was not a quest for territorial grabbing by the Igbos. Ojukwu sent troops under the Command of Col, Banjo in response to Chief Awolowo’s request for troops to help liberate Yoruba land from the occupation of soldiers from the North.
By the time Col Banjo got to Ore, the British had gotten Gowon to offer Chief Awolowo Vice Chairmanship of the Nigerian Government. Awolowo, therefore, asked Banjo not to proceed on his mission.
General Yakubu Gowon knows the truth of all these things. And that is why the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) had written him and asked him to tell Nigerians and the whole world the truth about the January 15, 1966 coup and the Biafra incursion into the Mid-West, and to stop all the lies against Ndigbo, which have been the basis of the burden they carry as a nation within the Nigerian Federation.
Secondly, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Head of State and a frontline commander on the Federal side during the war, said that they (the Federal military leaders) conducted the war without any hate or vengeance because it was a quarrel between brothers.
To this, one is constrained to ask a few pertinent questions: How did the world come to describe the conduct of the war as POGROM? What about the policy that hunger was a legitimate weapon of war and so was justified in its application against the Biafrans? What about bombing of refugee camps, market places, churches, etc?
Again, when Chief Obasanjo said that they, “the victorious side”, have been more magnanimous than the victors in the American civil war, where, according to him, those who lost the war never had a chance to be President of America until several decades if not a century later, I would ask him – WHAT ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA? WHAT ABOUT NELSON MANDELLA?
Such assertions rather than heal the wounds of the war, keep the wounds aglow, rather than reconcile, it runs pour raw pepper of unjustified arrogance on the wounded hearts of the Biafrans. How can you genuinely talk about reconciliation with that kind of mind-set. The truth is that for General Obasanjo, the Biafrans are defeated people. Period!
Indeed, before we can talk about reconciliation, we must accept that grave wrongs were done to the Biafrans, Before, During and Since the end of the war.
During the ‘fictional’ trial of Adolf Hitler after Germany and her allies lost the war to the Allied Forces, the following exchange took place between Hitler and his interlocutor –
Interlocutor to Hitler: You were responsible for the Second World War?
Hitler: No! The Versailles Treaties was.
A similar question can be posed to the Biafra Self-determination Agitators in Nigeria today as to whether they are responsible for the renewed Agitation for Biafra.
I imagine that the Biafra Freedom Agitators, just like Adolf Hitler, would emphatically respond NO! They would rather blame the present upsurge for Self-determination and Biafra and all its fallouts on all those leaders on the “victorious side” who, rather than pursuing the path of genuine Reconciliation, pursued the path of punitive retributions against those who “lost” the war.
Unfortunately, as it was in the case of the defeated Germany that was neither pacified nor conciliated, nor was it permanently weakened, so do we find in the case of Biafra, that despite all the retributive measures against her people, Biafra and the Biafrans, have neither been pacified, nor conciliated, nor have they been permanently weakened.
Unlike the Treaty of Versailles that exerted bloody pound of flesh on the side that lost the First World War, the victorious side in the Second World War padded their retributive actions with the Marshall Plan.
And thus unlike the intended Carthagenian peace of the Versailles Treaty of 28 June 1919, the Marshall Plan brought a relatively permanent peace to Europe that withstood the shock waves of the cold war including the Cuban Missile crises.
In pursuing the lessons of the retributive post-war treatment of the Biafrans, I would ask the leaders on the victorious side –
When you took all their financial deposits in the banks and paid them only £20 (twenty pounds), what did you expect the result to be – pacification, conciliation or to have them permanently weakened?
When you allowed massacre of unarmed soldiers and leaders even when they had declared their return to Nigeria, what did you expect? I mean when you murdered Prof. Kalu Ezera or when you killed unarmed Col Onwuatuegwu in cold blood, what did you expect?
When you killed and also buried alive thousands of innocent civilians in Asaba, was that a circus show?
I escaped being killed at the end of the war through the mysterious intervention of my college mate, Mr Nwogugbe from Asa in Abia State who was a member of the Nigerian battalion that overran my area on that fateful day of January 8, 1970.
The solders had sent for me and when I arrived at Nkwo Mbaise their base, Nwoguegbe instantly recognised me and shouted Nkume! I responded Nwoguegbe!
Despite being introduced to his commander, Captain Jibowu, the later took him to one corner, asking to be convinced why I should not be treated in accordance with the official instructions, namely to waste any such able-bodied young-man who may have been an actual or potential Biafra soldier.
I was lucky. Nwoguegbe saved me, but several of my mates from my community were not. Cornellius Oguikpe, Michael Osuagwu, Efriam Chukwunoyerem, Echewodo Onwunali, all were murdered at the end of the war by the Nigerian soldiers.
Yes, post-Biafra was not attended by any genuine efforts to seek reconciliation nor even to find out what led to the war. Rather, what we have witnessed is decades of vengeance, arrogance and conspiracy against Alaigbo and Ndigbo –
Yes these are on record –
Immediate post-war punitive massacre.
Dismissal of some officers on the losing side, reduction in rank of others.
Dismissal of civil servants.
Secret Execution of some officers (Col. Onwuatuegwu, Prof, Kalu Ezera)
Abandoned property seizure of Igbo property.
Punitive boundary adjustment.
Closure of the Eastern Sea Port and Railway lines.
Deliberate policy of encirclement of Alaigbo, inciting Igbo outside Igbo heartland to reject their Igbo identity.
Deliberate policy of exclusion from the governance and power equation i Nigeria.
Deliberate policy of destroying Igbo businesses.
Continued massacre, lynching of Igbos in many places in the North
Insensitivity to the plight of the IDPs of Igbo extraction who were initially the major targets of Boko Haram bombings and killings.
No serious effort at post-war reconstruction and reconciliation
Have we forgotten that Biafra was a collective guilt and that those who created the Nigerian Federation did so to satisfy their own agenda. They designed a local agenda for the same purpose?
Have we forgotten the cause of Biafra and the war? Have we ever come together to examine why Biafra? Who was the aggressor in that war?
What about the several efforts to sit down and dispassionately examine the fate of the Federation and how to heal the wounds of the past. Several aborted historical opportunities for peace and stability, or a genuine democratic system include –
Ibadan Conference of Sept/Oct 1966
Aburi Accord.
Abiola’s election that would have set a precedent.
1994-5 Constitutional Conference and the 1995 Draft Constitution, the best Constitutional Draft in the history of Nigeria.
Conferences organized by the Obasanjo regime.
President Jonathan’s 2014 Conference.
Current Ferocious opposition to restructuring.
The only road to Reconciliation is
not Restructuring but Renegotiation of the basis of the Nigerian Federation.
The president of Nigeria receives 10 do or get impeached marching order from the National Assembly.
After, a joint deliberation of the Federal House of Representatives and Senate, the house came up with the 10 riot act against President Mohamed Buhari.
The ten riot act was read out by the senate president Dr Bukola Sariki as the joint section was presided over by both the Senate President and the Speaker of House of Respresentative.
2018 Biafra Day celebration surprised many.BVI Channel 1 online went to the town to gauge the feelings of Biafrans on the street.At Upper Iweka,Onitsha,the road was deserted as traders and travelers decided to celebrate the Biafra day at their various homes.When BVI Channel 1 Reporter asked Okechukwu at Uga road Onitsha why the road was empty and deserted ,he responded thus ; ‘ We no longer feel like we were still part of Nigeria.Today,we wanted to demonstrate to the entire humanity that we are Biafrans’.Okechukwu concluded.Driving around Anambra State on 30th May,BVI Channel 1 can confirm that the three major cities in Anambra viz Awka,Onitsha and Nnewi were ghost -like as a result of Biafra day celebration and sit at home.
On a related note,The Coalition of Pro- Biafra groups organised an annual lecture on the 51 years after Biafra Declaration between Territorial Sovereignty and Cultural identity at Rojenny Stadium ,Oba .The event was chaired by Dr Dozie Ikedife while many other scholars were invited to the event.Prof Chidi Osuagwu and Evangelist Joe Agbo presented papers.Chief R. Ezeonwuka -The Chairman of Rojenny was part of the event.
The Coalition of Pro- Biafra Groups had organised a candle night prayer on the eve of 30th May at the same venue to pray for the souls of all those who died fighting for freedom.
Dr Dozie Ikedife spoke extensively on the unity of all the pro- Biafra groups as the sure way to restore Biafra.He used the opportunity to invite other credible Elders in Biafraland to join the Council of Elders of Biafra.His statement reads in full ‘For many good reasons,i shall not make a long speech today.However,my short message is an appeal.All who are hungry for self -determination for people of Biafra land through either legal process,diplomatic process ,dialogue,consultation,referendum or legislative process should come together and speak with one mind and one voice.Ofu Obi ,Ofu Onu.Remember,Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt ,but he did not lead them into Israel.Joshua did.So is life.Play your role responsibly and leave the rest to God.My appeal is for unity,co-operation and love of one another.Let us show love,not hate,to one another. Njikoka,Onye aghana nwanneya. Anyi bu ofu. Let us today particularly remember our past Heroes.Also ,remember many other heroes now incarcerated in detention.Heroes who paid the supreme price.For example,Bruce Mayrock,a Columbia University in New York under-graduate who doused himself with inflammable material and set himself ablaze on the grounds of united Nations headquarters in New York.This was to draw the attention of the world to the genocide going on in Nigeria.Remember the Soldiers who died in the war front,the home front,the victims of starvation,air raids .
Our other friends like Count Von Rosen who from mere humanitarian consideration,at great risk,flew into Biafran Land several times to bring in relief materials; Caritas,World Council of Churches(WCC) the Red Cross,Medicine San Frontie (Doctors without Borders).Many Countries in the World like Pakistan,Bangladesh,Czech,Slovakia,Serbia,Montangro ,Croatia ,Bosnia have achieved self –determination and many more are at the brink of achieving theirs.By God’s Grace ours must follow soon.Now it is for us to come together under one common roof while each group follows its method diligently ,peacefully and synergistically within the laws of the land.Many roads lead to Rome. The Supreme Council of the Remnants of the Elders of Biafra will be expanded to accommodate more people from wider geographical space.As the Deputy Chairman of the Council,on behalf of the Chairman,Hon Justice Eze-Ozobu OFR,I hereby invite you to make input by forwarding one or two names of committed men and women for consideration for inclusion into the body of Supreme Council of Elders.A brief Profile and telephone numbers should be sent to cgipob@gmail.com not later than 30th June,2018.The selection should represent and reflect the geography and ethnicity of BiafraLand.Onceagain,i implore everybody and every group to continue to operate peacefully within the laws wherever they are.Finally ,we call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to reverse the wrong labelling of peaceful non –violent unarmed people as Terrorists.Let them hang that label on those who truely qualify for that title.May i wish you all fruitful deliberations.May God be your strength.The Statement concluded
PRINCIPLE 1: Eagles fly alone at high altitude and not with sparrows or other small birds. No other bird can go to the height of the eagle. Stay away from sparrows and ravens. Eagles fly with Eagles.
PRINCIPLE 2: Eagles have strong vision. They have the ability to focus on something up to five kilometers away. When an eagle sites his prey, he narrows his focus on it and set out to get it. No matter the obstacles, the eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it. Have a vision and remain focused no matter what the obstacle and you will succeed.
PRINCIPLE 3: Eagles do not eat dead things. They feed only on fresh prey. Vultures eat dead animals, but eagles will not. Be careful with what you feed your eyes and ears with, especially in movies and on TV. Steer clear of outdated and old information. Always do your research well.
PRINCIPLE 4: Eagles love the storm. When clouds gather, the eagles get excited. The eagle uses the storm’s wind to lift it higher. Once it finds the wind of the storm, the eagles uses the raging storm to lift him above the clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the meantime, all the other birds hide in the leaves and branches of the trees. We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights. Achievers relish challenges and use them profitably.
PRINCIPLE 5: The Eagle tests before it trusts. When a female eagle meets a male and they want to mate, she flies down to earth with the male pursuing her and she picks a twig. She flies back into the air with the male pursuing her. Once she has reached a height high enough for her, she lets the twig fall to the ground and watches it as it falls. The male chases after the twig. The faster it falls, the faster he chases it. He has to catch it before it falls to the ground. He then brings it back to the female eagle.
The female eagle grabs the twig and flies to a higher altitude and then drops the twig for the male to chase. This goes on for hours, with the height increasing until the female eagle is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art of catching the twig which shows commitment. Then and only then, will she allow him to mate with her. Whether in private life or in business, one should test commitment of people intended for partnership.
PRINCIPLE 6: The Eagle Prepares for Changes: When ready to lay eggs, the female and male eagle identify a place very high on a cliff where no predators can reach. The male flies to earth and picks thorns and lays them on the crevice of the cliff, then flies to earth again to collect twigs which he lays in the intended nest. He flies back to earth and picks thorns laying them on top of the twigs. He flies back to earth and picks soft grass to cover the thorns. When this first layering is complete the male eagle runs back to earth and picks more thorns, lays them on the nest; runs back to get grass it on top of the thorns, then plucks his feathers to complete the nest. The thorns on the outside of the nest protect it from possible intruders. Both male and female eagles participate in raising the eagle family. She lays the eggs and protects them; he builds the nest and hunts. During the time of training the young ones to fly, the mother eagle throws the eaglets out of the nest. Because they are scared, they jump into the nest again.
Next, she throws them out and then takes off the soft layers of the nest, leaving the thorns bare When the scared eaglets again jump into the nest, they are pricked by thorns. Shrieking and bleeding they jump out again this time wondering why the mother and father who love them so much are torturing them. Next, mother eagle pushes them off the cliff into the air. As they shriek in fear, father eagle flies out and catches them up on his back before they fall and brings them back to the cliff. This goes on for sometime until they start flapping their wings. They get excited at this newfound knowledge that they can fly.
The preparation of the nest teaches us to prepare for changes; The preparation for the family teaches us that active participation of both partners leads to success; The being pricked by the thorns tells us that sometimes being too comfortable where we are may result into our not experiencing life, not progressing and not learning at all. The thorns of life come to teach us that we need to grow, get out of the nest and live on. We may not know it but the seemingly comfortable and safe haven may have thorns. The people who love us do not let us languish in sloth but push us hard to grow and prosper. Even in their seemingly bad actions they have good intentions for us.
PRINCIPLE 7: The Eagle Knows when to Retire: When an Eagle grows old, his feathers become weak and cannot take him as fast as he should. When he feels weak and about to die, he retires to a place far away in the rocks. While there, he plucks out every feather on his body until he is completely bare. He stays in this hiding place until he has grown new feathers, then he can come out. We occasionally need to shed off old habits & items that burden us without adding to our lives.
The Federalism of the First Republic, of the 1963 Constitution, is being demanded by some as the solution to Nigeria’s problems. The proponents of this view seem to think that once Nigeria returns to that constitution, with possibly some slight modifications, they and their interests will be protected, and their cherished “One Nigeria” can go on.
But they are mistaken, I think.
They haven’t considered why that constitution failed them. If it failed them before, can’t it fail them again?
Like the 1963 constitution, the 1960 Constitution limited the powers of the Federal Government to Defence, Foreign Affairs, and a few other items.
But it failed woefully to protect the federating units—the regions—from a federal government that was in the hands of a hegemonist Northern region with an expansionist Caliphate colonialist agenda. Within 5 years, the Caliphate had, using the Federal might it exercised through the judiciary, parliament, the police and the military, plunged the Western region into a crisis that spread to engulf the other regions in a civil war that ended in 1970 with the Caliphate’s conquest of all of Nigeria, under the banner of preserving “One Nigeria.” That experience suggests that for a viable association the constitution must put defence, the judiciary, the military and other security services in forms that can prevent their manipulation by the Caliphate’s Federal Govt. That means an Aburi-type confederation, and failing that, total separation/Araba.
WHY YOU CAN’T GET ABURI-TYPE CONFEDERATION
To appreciate why confederation isn’t at all in the cards, we must understand how and why Aburi was not implemented. Aburi was unacceptable to the Caliphate, therefore its agents in Federal power in Lagos refused to implement it. Why was it unacceptable to the Caliphate? The Caliphate’s Nigeria project is to dominate, conquer and forever exploit the rest of Nigeria. As the Sardauna of Sokoto, the political leader of the Caliphate in the 1950s and1960s, told his people in October 1960, as the other Nigerians were celebrating what they thought was independence:
“The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great-grandfather, Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities of the North as willing tools and the South as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us, and never allow them to have control over their future.”
–Sir Ahmadu Bello, Leader of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), and Premier of Northern Nigeria, (Parrot Newspaper, 12th Oct. 1960; republished on November 13, 2002, by the TribuneNewspaper, Ibadan.)
Confederation Aburi-type, or of any type whatever, would have allowed the other regions to control their future. And that was what the Caliphate was totally opposed to. And because they were holding Federal power in Lagos, they prevented its implementation. That’s how and why Aburi was not implemented. That is also how and why any confederation is not possible today. The Caliphate is in total charge of the Abuja government. And confederation is still not in their permanent interest that was announced long ago by the Sardauna.
This impossibility of federation or confederation applies also to the restructuring that some are hoping can keep Nigeria going. However, and for the above reasons, any restructuring that would protect the autonomy and interests of Non-Caliphate Nigerians will not be acceptable to, and will be thwarted, by a Caliphate which is in power in Nigeria.
WHY RESTRUCTURING WON’T HAPPEN
Ohaneze at Awka has just pinned its hopes on restructuring just because every zone, including the Caliphate Arewa zone, is now singing restructuring.
Ohaneze don’t be fooled!
When Atiku and other Caliphate politicians talk Restructuring, isn’t it just a ruse to buy time by keeping everybody preoccupied and distracted while the Caliphate finishes it new amendments to its plans for perpetual domination?
Didn’t they go to Aburi? Didn’t they kill the Aburi Accord afterwards? Didn’t they go to Jonathan’s Confab? Haven’t they pocket vetoed its report and refused to implement it? The Chinese say: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Ohaneze, don’t be fooled! Afenifere, don’t be fooled! South and Middle Belt Forum, don’t be fooled! Any restructuring that can protect Non-Caliphate peoples and give them control over their future will never happen as long as the Caliphate has the power in Abuja to prevent it.
If federalism and con-federalism are both impossible in a Nigeria that includes the Caliphate, then what?
I suggest that no form of political linkage with a colonialist can protect his intended victims, just as nothing will stop a cat from hunting any mice that cohabit a house with it. Fences and cages will not be sufficient barriers. If the claws of the cat are clipped, it will return to catching mice when the clipped claws grow back. For the mice to be safe, the cat must be removed from the house and left with no access to them. So, Araba/partition is the only answer to the problem of Caliphate hegemonism in Nigeria. Regional autonomy won’t do the job now, just as it failed in the past. Confederalism won’t do it either. Only partition with the erection of some version of an iron curtain will do it.
Because of what the Federal Government can do even when its powers are explicitly limited by constitution and the federating units have reserve powers, Federalism or confederalism may be capable of many things. But the one thing it cannot do is solve the insecurity problem of Ndi-Igbo and the other Non-Caliphate Nigerians, in the Middle Belt and the entire South, who are being targeted for ethnic cleansing so the cattle of the Fulani rulers can be grazed on their land, all the way down to Lagos, Forcados, Bonny and Calabar. This insecurity is intrinsic in a Nigeria POW camp in which their Caliphate Colonialist enemy is included. To read more exposés on the Fulani Jihadist Caliphate Colonialism that is plaguing Nigerians.
University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, is in the eye of the storm as a female undergraduate has accused a professor of sexual harassment.
The student’s accusation, yesterday, came less than three months after Miss Monica Osagie, a Master of Business Administration regular programme student at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife accused Prof. Richard Akindele of sexual harassment. The management later suspended Akindele indefinitely.
The allegation of sexual harassment against the one time commissioner and former vice chancellor, Daily Sun gathered is generating ripples in the English department,
Faculty of Arts and on the campus.
The unidentified female student accused a professor in the Department of English of molestation.
The student took her case to a popular blogger to share her sad and depressing story of molestation in the hands of one of her lecturers.
According to the blogger, the student (name withheld) managed to get nude photos of her molester in one of their ‘encounters’.
“I have been suffering this for months now. Whenever students go to his office for anything he is always trying to touch you.
“I took pictures of him on one of the days I entered his office. He has made molestation a part of him. I am even scared for my life in UNILAG. That is why I am reaching out to you so he can be stopped.
“He is a professor in the English department, Faculty of Arts. I am not his first victim. He does this all the time to students. I have completely given up when it comes to academics, he has failed me before. When I talked to him concerning it he told me I should know what to do that I am an adult. I feel so dirty for even allowing such an old man touch me. But he doesn’t even care.
“As long as you satisfy his wants. I am tired of everything. He should be stopped before he ruins the lives of other innocent girls in that department. When he touches me, I am always in tears but it doesn’t stop him. Please, this is why I am reaching out. All I want is for him to be stopped. He is destroying the mental state of girls in UNILAG.
“I just want him stopped. I reached out because I don’t want him to continue molesting girls. The English department is like a cult. The lecturers have information among themselves. They talk about the girls they have slept with and the ones they plan to sleep with. It has been going on for years.
In a swift reaction to the allegation, the university management said its attention has been drawn to a report trending on social media about the alleged sexual harassment.
“We wish to reassure our stakeholders, students, parents, members of staff and the public that management will not treat this matter with levity. Management will tackle the allegation with every sense of responsibility and seriousness that the matter deserves. The issue would be thoroughly investigated with transparency.
“Management respectfully solicits information from members of the university community and pledges confidentiality and protection,’’ the statement added.
When Daily Sun visited the English Department yesterday afternoon, the office of the professor was locked. He had been sighted at a book launch of a colleague at Ade Ajayi Auditorium on Wednesday.
Students of the English did not know the female student but that the news had spread all over the campus.
BVI Channel 1 Online can authoritatively confirm that 30th May of every year will be declared -The Biafra Day.Activities will be lined up to celebrate that special day in remembrance of Biafra Independent Declaration.
The above position was released to the public through ADF Statement on May 30th Remembrance Day.The Full Statement reads ‘Events in Alaigbo on May 30, 2018, once more show that May 30 has become an official Igbo Remembrance Day not only in Alaigbo but throughout the entire world where Igbo citizens live.
The BBC, Vanguard newspaper and other notable media organs report of high level
compliance by Umuigbo to the call for SIT-AT-HOME by the Indigenous Peoples of
Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of
Biafra (MASSOB).
From London to Johannesburg, to several cities in Europe, Asia. America and
Canada; the story is the same; various activities were organized by Umuigbo and
their friends to mark the occasion.
Last year, May 30, 2018, the entire Alaigbo was shut down; markets, shops, schools
and offices closed while streets were deserted to mark the Remembrance Day..
The Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) is fully aware that May 30, is a day in
the history of Alaigbo, deeply rooted in the heart of our people which nobody can
wish away or ban by force of Law or prevent by force of arms.
It is in the light of this that the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) has
supported the observance of May 30, 2018 and activities lined out for the day by
different Igbo organizations.
May 30 marks the day Biafra was declared in 1967 and no patriotic Igbo son or
daughter can pretend that Biafra is not part of the history and indeed the major watershade in the history of the Igbo nation.
If anyone is in doubt let him recall what happened on May 30, 2017 and what has
happened this year, May 30 2018 when our sons and daughters under the aegis of
IPOB and MASSOB declared a SIT-AT-HOME to commemorate Biafra Day as a
historic day in the life of Ndigbo, and as well as their immediate neighbors.
The total compliance of that call throughout the length and breadth of Alaigbo was
not because IPOB or MASSOB had become their supreme authority. No! That call
evoked intense yearning in the innermost recesses of their heart and mind. And,
therefore, whoever provoked the observance was welcome as a lover of the Igbo
nation.
BIAFRA evokes intense longing for freedom for our people. Biafra is indeed more
than a state of the mind. It is also a material force that moves our people. Why will
Biafra not be in their mind; why will Biafra not symbolize their longing for freedom
when their predicament since the Amalgamation in 1904 up to Biafra Declaration on
My 30, 2017 and since Biafra has been a continuous state of estrangement, brutal and
punitive measures against their spiritual, economic, political and physical survival?
The Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), therefore, proposes that we should
turn May 30 every year to be observed as a REMEMBRANCE DAY (IGBO DAY
or BIAFRA DAY) – a day to remember our history, to review our successes and
failures, to remember those who have died fighting the Igbo cause and think of our
future.
Thereafter, ADF shall make all necessary efforts to convince the Governments in
Alaigbo, Igbo leaders, as well as the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other panIgbo
organizations to accept May 30 as global IGBO DAY because it has greater
significance than 29th May or 29th September.
The Statement was signed by the underlisted Officers.
