As a strategic way of seeking more appointments at the federal level and also winning the 2023 presidency, the Chairman of the Southern Senators Forum in the Senate, Hope Uzodinma, has urged Igbo leaders to align with Northern leaders if they so desire to end the alleged marginalization of the region.
Uzodinma, who represents Imo in the Senate, said the advice became necessary as the current political indicators in the country pointed to the possibility of the South-East losing out from the nation’s political equation in 2019, even more than it did in 2015.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs spoke at his Omuma country home while addressing prominent political leaders from Imo State at a meeting on the chances of the Igbo in the 2019 general elections.
He stated that every right thinking Igbo person should be worried that the recently released list of appointments to the boards of Federal Government’s agencies and parastatals clearly indicated that the South-East was losing out in the political calculations at the federal level.
Uzodinma added, “Let me be honest with you my brothers and sisters, I think we are putting ourselves in a disadvantaged political position. We need to re-strategise and quickly strike strategic alliance with our northern political elite ahead of the 2019 elections so that what happened to us in 2015 will not be our lot in 2019.”
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday debunked claims of his hatred for the people of the South-East geo-political zone of the country.
The President, represented by the Executive Director in charge of Administration/Training, Nigeria Television Authority, Dr. Steve Egbo, made the declaration in Item Amegu Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State on Tuesday, during a special empowerment programme for widows organised by a non-governmental organisation, Chinedu Ogah Foundation.
Buhari decried his alleged hatred for the people of the South-East, saying it was the handwork of “mischief makers.”
He said, “All these accusations, permutations are all lies calculated to create bad feelings of Igbo people.
“I would remain a friend to Nd’Igbo. I recall that in 2002, I invited the late Ikemba Chukwuemeka Ojukwu to my hometown of Daura. We discussed about the unity and indivisibility of Nigeria.
“In 2003, I picked Dr. Chuba Okadigbo as my running mate in that year’s presidential election. If I hated Nd’Igbo, I wouldn’t have done that.
“In 2017, the Federal Government under my leadership commenced work on the Second Niger Bridge following its abandonment by the previous governments all these years.”
He described the enterpreneurship nature of Nd’Igbo as “unique;” noting that other ethnic nationalities should embrace it to move the country forward.
Earlier in his speech, the Chief Executive of Chinedu Ogah Foundation, Mr. Chinedu Ogah, commended President Buhari for his pragmatic leadership qualities and the delivery of democratic dividends to the citizens since his assumption of office.
Ogah noted that no fewer than 2,000 widows would benefit from the endowment fund for the less privileged set up by the COF to assist poor widows.
“Between now and December 2018, we will roll out endowment fund for the less privileged,” he said.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, an Igbo socio-cultural group, has urged its people living in the north to court more friends so as to actualise the ethnic group’s quest to produce Nigeria’s president in 2023.
The call is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the 19 northern states and Abuja. The meeting, held in Minna, ended Sunday night.
The communique restated the group’s resolve to promote one indivisible Nigeria with equal opportunities for all, and urged Igbo people resident in the north to live in harmony with their host communities.
It lauded the contributions of John Nwodo, President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, toward a united and prosperous Nigeria, and urged him to continue to defend the interest of the people.
The cultural group extended its hands of fellowship to other Igbo associations the world over, and called for more unity in the pursuit of Nigeria’s presidency in 2023.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 44 chapters of the group, drawn from across the 19 states of the north, attended the meeting.
Panic, tension, disquiet, and anxiety held Nigerians in the South-East of the country for days. And amusingly the cause and source of the baseless anguish, which drenched our people in hysteria were as discreditable as the news itself.
Some social media e-rats and e-thugs posted reports that our people were being massively killed by deadly vaccines, administered by the free medical outreach programme of the Nigerian Army, as it is causing the killer monkey pox disease.
The rumour mongers expanded the scope of this malevolent and hate news to include similar deadly vaccines administered on people of the South-south by soldiers. Monkey sense, to say the least!
Nigerians are not strangers to the free medical services of the Nigerian Army to host communities since the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai mounted the saddle in 2015. The Army has been conducting the free medical outreach programme in the last two years, not just in Medicare, but other humanitarian gestures in water/electricity, roads and so forth, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the Nigerian people mostly within its operational scope.
Interestingly, virtually every region of Nigeria has benefitted from these programmes, especially, its free medical outreach from North to the south, since the Nigerian Army got actively involved in quelling terrorism and other local armed conflicts in Nigeria. The beneficiaries, among them traditional rulers, usually turn out en masse and also, attest to its efficacy and immense assistance. The South-east region has also benefitted from this exercise before “yesterday,” when people with “Monkey” wisdom hijacked and gave it a new satanic meaning.
Therefore, the roving mischief makers used the instance of the repeat conduct of the free medical services by Operation Python Dance II (Egwu Eke II) to again drum hatred for our soldiers and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) by speculating the injection of South-easterners with Monkey Pox virus. No lie can be so disingenuous, but some naive Nigerians almost believed it. Even an intelligent nursery pupil would never believe that soldiers on a secret mission to eliminate a race will be so crude, daft and foolish enough to openly use poisoned vaccines.
Nevertheless, a good and kind-hearted gesture was deliberately baptized with evil. These projects are funded from the Nigerian Army’s meagre resources. The passion for humanity and cordiality with the civil populace by the re-professionalized, disciplined and patriotic Nigerian Army under Gen. Buratai is the motivation of these humanitarian services.
Regrettably, many had no conscience and comportment to assess the veracity of the fake news, but instantly believed its unjustified linkage with the activities of Operation Python Dance II. The 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, traditional rulers, local, state and federal governments refuted the claims as untrue. But the criminal elements in our midst, whose reprehensible outings in violence have been terminated by soldiers, energized the publicity of this silly news. In the first place, miscreants and armed gangs opposed the presence of “Operation Python Dance II” and boldly requested withdrawal of soldiers so that violent crimes could fester.
The cooked news on the source of the Monkey Pox disease was another carefully crafted propaganda aimed at extracting their pound of flesh from the Army and the government. So, they had no veritable evidence to buttress their claims, but hell-bent on tarnishing the image and reputation of the Nigerian Army, they insisted on tagging along with the polluted and wicked reports.
All manner of reasons were ascribed to justify the fake reports. To these cursed minds, it was the strategy of the Army to depopulate some regions in Nigeria’s south, especially southeast. No one had the sanity of explaining why the FGN under President Muhammadu Buhari or the Nigerian Army would want to depopulate any region and for what value?
The Nigerian Army in a statement signed by Col. Sagir Musa, Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, stated explicitly that “The Division wishes to make it clear that the free medical outreach is not a vaccine intended to infect monkey pox or any major contemporary or emerging diseases in Nigeria to the people of South East or any part of the country.”
Exposing their underbelly of evil, the outlawed IPOB, through its Media and Publicity Officer, Mr. Emma Powerful, claimed the “All Progressive Congress, (APC) government and the Nigerian Army are determined to kill as many Biafrans as possible in Anambra State, and South East in general.”
That’s the extent of indulgence in evil and wickedness by Nigerians, especially by IPOB members. A Kenyan proverb says “The day the monkey is destined to die all the trees get slippery”. The South-east is a region assailed by armed and violent criminality by gangs nurtured by IPOB and the people cried out for government intervention. Operation Egwu Eke II was government’s response to it. But like can be deduced from the adage, since there is an innate hatred of the Federal Government by IPOB elements, whatever goodwill extended to the region is perceived in bad light.
Expectedly, they fought back tenaciously and ferociously, to halt Operation Egwu Eke II; they violently attacked soldiers on patrol, deployed the services of hired civil society organizations to lampoon the Federal Government on claims of unwarranted militarization of the Southeast; blackmailed and issued out violent threats. But none of the tricks worked. The Monkey Pox disease vaccination claims of extermination of Southerners was just another desperate attempt by these criminal elements to cause disaffection and hatred against soldiers and the Federal Government to springboard instant withdrawal of Operation Egwe Eke II.
An African adage says, “No matter how the wild howls, the mountain, cannot bow to it”. So, gimmicks are deployed to frustrate the operation of soldiers in ridding the region of armed and violent gangs. Except that they are not potent enough to distract or deter the resolve of government and soldiers in cleansing our communities and extricating them from the grip of criminals.
The propagandists of the Army’s injection of Igbos with deadly vaccines, disconnectedly linking it to Monkey Pox disease only displayed their “Monkey Sense .” They are not using their brains to think. So, they act and behave like the typical wild and foolish monkey, who ends up consumed by the fire of its own tricks or plots. The latest development is a pathetic illustration of the magnitude the Nnamdi Kanu-led rebellious IPOB has injected the people with a destructive monkey sense.
Only those baptized and immersed in monkey wisdom would reason and act this disgracefully before Nigerians. Kanu has led our jobless youths on the destructive voyage and at the same time, usurped their thinking faculties, by hypnotizing them with monkey sense. So, they have continued to manifest in foolishness, silliness and stupidity. They may end up becoming pathetic victims of their own contrivances like monkeys.
In African folklore, entanglements of the monkey, sprouts from what the animal thinks is its best and wisest wisdom. The tortoise is cleverer and wiser. It weaves and fortifies its tricks to protect his life and give him desired results from any action. The tortoise comes out of every problem un-bruised and triumphantly. In spite of its small nature, it once tricked the mighty elephant into a bottomless pit, where it was killed and the blood used to cure a sick king. The tortoise collected his reward for disarming the elephant, an animal dreaded by other animals, even when a handsome reward was offered.
Conversely, Kanu and his followers hate to see our kinsmen imbibe the cherished wisdom of the tortoise. They are scheming to inject everyone in Igboland with monkey brain, instead of the tortoise’s clever brain, necessary for gainfully navigating modern-day politics in Nigeria. The Yorubas and the Niger Deltas are now exploiting the monkey brain of the Igbos for regional gains in the configuration of Nigeria. But the Igbos appear to be learning nothing and they will certainly forget nothing. And so, Igbos unrestrictedly incite themselves against one another, and extend hatred and antagonism to any other nationality in Nigeria.
When our own brothers in drug war invaded a church at Ozubulu, Anambra state and massacred people, some foolish people swore it was marauding Fulani herdsmen. IPOB elements contrive fake news of the injection of deadly vaccinations on Igbos by soldiers, and thereafter, claim it is execution of the Fulani/Hausa agenda of the total annihilation of Biafrans. Do they even imagine the damage such vile and farcical propaganda is doing to the cords of friendship with other tribes in this confederation?
Someone should save us the Igbo race from IPOB, which has already laid it on the slaughter slab. This mentality of dubiously frustrating a noble idea and painting it black, even where it resists such colourations is retrogressive. History suggests that in the days of yore, when the Great Zik of Africa, the proud son/leader of Igbo nation and Nigeria impressed on the colonialists Britain, to give free milk to school children in the region, they rejected it. We flaunted unsubstantiated claims that it was expired milk and the Britons who anchored it intended poisoning our children.
Zik again offered us “Okporoko” fish at campaigns and some also claimed it was poison and extracting a revenge against Zik, Igbos refused to vote for him at the polls. Who has injected us with this more deadly monkey sense? Must we embark on actions likely to boomerang dangerously against our people?
Madu wrote from 26 Demola Seriki street, Bariga, Lagos.
Coalition of Northern Youths, which had previously issued a quit notice to the Igbo living in the north, has assured them that no harm will come their way on October 1 or after.
Reacting to the call by the an association of lawyers in Anambra State, asking the Igbo in the north to return home before October 1 to avoid being caught unaware like it happened in 1966, Yerima Shettima, one of the leaders of the group, described the lawyers asking North-based Igbo to return home during the period as mischief makers and enemies of Nigeria.
Shettima said: “We are a people of honour and respect. We honour our words. So, the Igbo in the north can go about their normal business and should not listen to mischief makers.
“We have sensitised our members to ensure the safety of every Nigerian, especially the Igbo, and we can assure you that nothing will happen to the Igbo by October 1 and even beyond.”
This is as leadership of the Igbo community in Northern Nigeria has said that Igbo people will not heed the call by an association of lawyers in Anambra State, asking them to return home.
The Vice President of Igbo Delegate Assembly in 19 Northern states, Cheif Chris Nnoli, said the call by the so called lawyers was condemnable.
Nnoli, a lawyer, expressed disappointment and dismay that professionals like lawyers could make such call.
He, however, assured that no Igbo man living in the north will heed such call because every Nigerian under the constitution of the country has the right to live anywhere they feel like within the country.
Nnoli, who is also the President General of Igbo Community Welfare Association (ICWA) in Kaduna State, said October 1 remains Nigeria’s national day and they will all celebrate together as Nigerians.
“We are not in support of such call. And if lawyers actually made such call, because I also read the story in a national daily, then it is very unfortunate and we are not going heed it,” he said.
The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, on Thursday declared that Lagos; Nigeria’s commercial hub and Abuja; the nation’s capital territory and some other cities where Igbos live, work and have investments in are all part of Biafra.
Speaking at Awgu, in Enugu, during a rally organised to welcome the leader of another pro-Biafra group, the Biafra National Guard, ‘General’ Innocent Oji, the leader of MASSOB, Comrade Kingsley Madu said Igbos had contributed immensely in the development of the various cities where they live.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that Oji was recently released from detention.
“Pro-Biafra groups have adopted a new ideology which stated that any part of the country where a large population of Igbos is found, and where Igbos contributed towards human and material development, is part of Biafra,” Madu said.
According to him, ‘Biafrans’ do not want to ‘confine’ themselves to a particular place.
The Biafra National Guard is said to be the ‘military wing’ of the pro-Biafra groups.
Addressing the rally, Madu raised the alarm over the alleged sacking of Igbo traders from a portion of land at Trade Fair and FESTAC in Lagos.
He said the affected traders were evicted by Lagos State Government after they had invested billions of naira in developing the area.
Igbo would not be forced out in any part of Nigeria, where they invested lots of resources to develop, Madu vowed.
Stressing that Lagos and Abuja are part of Biafra, he said, “Some years back a portion of land at Trade Fair and FESTAC were conceded to our people for development in Lagos.
“After spending billions of naira in developing this part of Lagos for the economic growth of Nigerian government, today information reaching us is that the Federal Government, conniving with the Lagos State Government, yesterday retrieved the land, the platform, all the investment and everything from the people of Biafra.
“This is part of the reason for Biafra agitation.
“And we are warning because we now believe that everywhere an Igbo man is is part of Biafra.
“That is the latest ideology we have.
“We don’t want to confine ourselves to a particular place; we now believe that wherever our foot touches is our land that is Biafra.
“Lagos is also Biafra, Abuja is also Biafra.
“Anywhere our people are that place is Biafra.
“So what we are saying now is that that part of Lagos that our people developed with their money is also part of Biafra and we cannot leave.”
The MASSOB leader, however, advised Igbos to locate their investments in the ‘Biafra mainland’, South-East and South-South, where they are guaranteed safety and protection.
He welcomed Oji back home after several years in detention.
Earlier, Oji, leader of Biafra National Guard, commended Madu for carrying on with the struggle while he was incarcerated.
Oji declared that Biafra will be achieved in less than one year.
The Biafra military wing leader warned that any attempt by the Federal Government to arrest the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, who he described as ‘Supreme Leader’, would be met with stiff resistance.
“By the grace of God, this struggle will not last beyond one year from now because we have our strategy.
“But if the Federal Government feels we cannot do anything let them go and arrest our supreme leader, Nnamdi Kanu, for them to see what we can do,” he said.
Oji also warned the British Government, which he said was responsible for the perceived oppression of Igbos.
He said, “Have it in your mind today that Britain is aware of what is happening in Nigeria, all these things they are doing to us is caused by Britain.
“I am using this opportunity to warn Britain and their government, if they say they are not behind what Fulani herdsmen are doing to our people, killing our people and raping our women and other things, they should come out openly and deny it and ask Nigeria to let us go, otherwise when it will happen nobody should be talking about genocide, Britain should be held responsible.”
The President of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Shetima Yerima, has assured Igbos resident in the North of their safety before, during and after the initial October 1 deadline quit notice to leave the region.
Yerima said the decision of the coalition (who came together to issue a quit notice to Igbos resident in the region some few months back) was in the interest of the unity and peace of the progress.
He explained that several well meaning Nigerians have waded into the matter and it was in national interest the quit notice was withdrawn. He told The Sun in an interview that “no evil will befall” the Igbos.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu had earlier rejected the withdrawal warning Igbos residents in the region to leave before the expiration of the deadline or face whatever consequences that might happen thereafter.
However, in a reaction, Yerima explained that Kanu’s rejection holds no water as he (Nnamdi Kanu) is in no position of authority to decide what fellow Igbos do. He said the withdrawal was not made because of him (Nnamdi Kanu) and as such his reaction does not count.
In his words: “Did I do it for him or in the interest of the country? His rejection of the suspension of the quit notice is not important to me.
“What we did was to demonstrate that we have a culture. We give respect to our elders and it was to ensure that the country remains together.
“The country is above anybody. On that basis, his acceptance or not is not important but I know that he also is not speaking for the Igbo. It is a minority view of few people making all sorts of noise.
“It is not really important to me and I do not want to join issues with them. Nigeria is above everybody and I stand on the path of one united country. We have to build a nation that we can call our own
“Nobody would do anything. Anybody who does anything, we make sure that the authorities arrest the person. We are in charge.
“Nobody should be scared of anything. Our youths are reasonable; they are known to respect one another; we listen to our leaders unlike some other parts of the country. But having said that, you can be rest assured that there is no cause for alarm.
“So, let Nigerians be rest assured that nothing would befall anybody by God’s grace and we are working towards that and we would give the government the maximum support. Our brothers across board, we would make sure that no evil would befall them. That is the position of things.”
The Arewa youths President also declared that he has nothing against Igbos, stressing that the quit notice was in the interest of Nigeria.
He said, “A lot of my friends are Igbo people. I have nothing against the Igbo.
“It did not end there; let me also demonstrate that to you; my first wife is from Calabar, the old south-eastern region. We have two kids. I have a good relationship with the Igbo.”
The coalition of Northern youth groups on Thursday temporarily withdrew its quit notice to Igbos living in the region.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the groups, under the aegis of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, issued the quit notice in June, asking Igbos to leave before October 1 and claiming their demand was in response to the secessionist stance of some pro-Biafran groups, like Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the quit notice was roundly condemned by Nigerians and several peace initiates were made to shelf the decision.
The groups announced a suspension of the quit notice on Thursday at a press briefing at the Transcorp hotel in Abuja.
The Arewa Youth Coalition has said President Muhammadu Buhari did not take time to study situations in Nigeria before making his speech where he (Buhari) stated that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable.
The group alleged that after traveling out of the country for London over 103 days ago on a medical vacation; the president needs time to study what happened back home before taking a stand.
It noted further that it was a complete aberration to continually accommodate people who are hell bent on leaving the country.
The group, however, urged the government to conduct a referendum to provide an exit door for those who did not want to be part of Nigeria.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that President Buhari had in a nationwide broadcast on Monday upon his return from London affirmed that the country was better off staying together.
Rising from a town hall meeting for the North East geo-political zone on Tuesday, the coalition disagreed with him on the non-negotiability of the unity of the country.
National Chairman of the coalition, Alhaji Yerima Shettima told newsmen in Gombe, yesterday, that Nigeria should create an exit door for the Biafra agitators by convening a referendum.
“The president just came back from his medical vocation. In normal circumstances, one should have expected him to take some time to have a clear review of situations in the country after spending 103 days abroad.
“His statement is a welcome development to some extent because there are issues; the unity of the country is being threatened. I think the focus of the president was basically on the threat to our national unity and those were the key issues he spoke about. In addition, that we would no longer tolerate anybody undermining the security of the country. Certainly, agreed, it should be that way as he felt. But I feel also that on the side of international law to which Nigeria is signatory, it is expected that government must create an exit door for those who feel they want to leave through a referendum and as stipulated in the 1999 constitution.
“It would not augur well if we insist on living with people who do not want to be part of the country and they keep threatening the unity of the country. It may even appear to the international community like a mockery.
“If the government is up and doing, let us abide by the demands of the international law by creating an exit door for those agitating for self determination,” Shettima said.
“Certainly, the IPOB cannot be said to be speaking for the South-East because they are less than ten percent of the Igbo communities who are willing to remain in Nigeria,” he said.
Shedding light on the October 1 quit notice issued to Igbo, Shettima lamented that the group’s message in the Kaduna Declaration was misunderstood.
“An individual cannot hold the country to ransom. We felt patriotic individuals from the South East should have lent their voices to safeguard the unity of the country by condemning the IPOB agitators. If, however, some individuals so much believe in their Biafra, let such people go to your Biafra. Don’t bring war to the North, to Nigeria,” he explained.
“Our call is being misunderstood. We have been misquoted by mischief-makers who made it seem we are calling for violence. That is why we are not faceless and we respond to calls anywhere for dialogue with elder statesmen,” he said.
The President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, John Nwodo has condemned in strong terms, the recent hate songs by some northern youths against the Igbos leaving in their region.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Nwodo said it was high time leaders from the region cautioned the youths that have been issuing incessant hate songs and speeches against the Igbos and other tribes in the country.
The statement reads:
“The current Hausa hate song trending in the social media is despicable, sad and disappointing.
Ohanaeze is appalled that prominent leaders in the north (with the exception of a few), have allowed this development to flourish without reproach.
The Arewa youths have stoked the embers of hatred to a discomforting temperature. The toleration of their criminal conduct has portrayed the Federal government as biased and unfair.
Their quit notice to fellow Nigerians to leave any part of Nigeria strikes at the fundamental rights of citizenship. It is a call for the dissolution of the country. Their call for an inventory and seizure of assets of Nigerians living in the North is conversion.
It amounts to a day light robbery of lawful property. The declaration of mop up action after October 1st, 2017 to deal with those who resist their quit notice order is a declaration of war. It is surprising that on top of all these a hate song calling for more hatred, despise and “abortion” has been allowed to fester. Yet no one is arrested.
All the orders of arrest from Kaduna state and the IGP seem to be ambivalent and unreal. The youths meet freely with Governors of Northern Nigeria and Northern leaders showing that they enjoy their support.
This development signals the beginning of a national catastrophe which if not nipped in the bud will snowball into incalculable damage to our continued existence as one country.
Ohanaeze gives notice to the Federal government to deal with this situation decisively or forever be held responsible for the consequences this abdication of responsibility provokes. A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE.”
