MASSOB Leader and 280 others regain freedom

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Chief Ralph Uwazurike

Today, September 1, 2011, the MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazurike and 280 members of MASSOB were released from incaceration at 2pm in Enugu State.

According to the information received, Chief Uwazurike and the 280 others, were set free following a directive from the president to a reluctant Enugu State Attorney General, Tony Dike. Ralph Uwazurike is reported to be headed for his hometown in Okwe, Imo State.

Meanwile, the MASSOB leader the leader has begun preparations for the burial of fallen veterans of the Nigeria/Biafra war.

Stay tuned

Rivers State: ACN Renews Calls For EFCC Investigations

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Governor Rotimi Amaechi

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Rivers State Chapter says it has been vindicated on earlier calls for anti-graft agencies to investigate the Operation Zero Potholes Programme of the Rivers State Ministry of Works under its former commissioner, Mr Dakuku Peterside and the activities of the Road Rehabilitation Committee in the state headed by Elder Chidi Wihioka.

The ACN, in a statement signed by its State Publicity Secretary, Jerry Needam reiterates that the two interventionist programmes on bettering road conditions in the state are not only an unnecessary duplication of function but also a massive fraud and conduit pipes through which billions of Rivers State funds go down the drain even when no genuine efforts are made at achieving the purported objective.

The statement holds that the rains in the state have laid bare the huge jokes of the two programmes, thus confirming earlier fears that nothing good would come out of them.

The party wondered why roads and streets in Port Harcourt and its suburbs are rendered impassable as a result of the numerous potholes on them if they where sincerely rehabilitated only a few months ago.

According to the party, several billions of state funds were sunk into street and road maintenance in the state through the programmes, with the bulk now apparently gone without any benefit to society.

The party expressed regrets over the untold hardship suffered on a daily basis in Port Harcourt as a result of worsening road situation, especially along roads and streets such as Ikwerre, Aba, Nsimiro, Slaughter, Odili, Amadi Ama, Udi, Nnewi, Abakaliki, Timber, Abel Jumbo, Emole, Ojoto, Azikiwe, Illaobuchi, Emenike, Afikpo, Woji, Forces Avenue, Aggrey, Trans Amadi, Rumuomasi, as well as the Ada George, Iwofe, Ikwerre, Elioparanwo, Egbelu and Ogbogoro Roads, among others.

The ACN, therefore challenges Governor Rotimi Amaechi to prove his sincerity to fight corrupt practices in the state by ensuring that the operators of the two programmes are urgently investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies.

The party further holds that the present state of the roads and streets in Port Harcourt and its suburbs, put side by side the billions invested through the programmes a few months ago is one issue that will prove if Governor Amaechi meant well when he promised Rivers State that he would not take kindly to any acts of corrupt enrichment by any state functionary or other public appointees, and urges the governor to institute the investigations to assure Rivers people that their money is not being thrown into wrong hands that only corruptly enrich themselves to the detriment of the rest of the citizens.

Jerry Needam, JP

Publicity Secretary

Action Congress of Nigeria

Rivers State

 

Thursday, September 1, 2011

PDP might lose Kogi State if they conduct fresh primaries – Colonel Bello Fadile

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Colonel Bello Fadile

The call for the conduct of fresh primaries in Kogi State has taken a serious dimension. In an exclusive chat with political journalists, Colonel Bello Fadile, a former aspirant in the race to govern the state and also a legal expert sheds light on whether to conduct a fresh primary election or not. Excerpts below.

What do you have to say about the communiqué issued by some gubernatorial aspirants in Kogi State?

Fadile:  That was the essence of the meeting we had with the National Secretariat of the party to say that things have changed in the sense that if there is any issue to be discussed, it has to be done within and not on the pages of newspapers. And they were warned to desist from such acts.

Sir, what about the validity of the January Primaries that produced Alhaji Jibrin Isah?

Fadile: Has the ticket been used? And if you say there was a postponement in elections, you might want to ask whose fault was it?  The right thing to be done is that Jibrin Isah’s ticket should be reaffirmed because there is nothing in the constitution or the electoral Act that says it should not be. I also think that it is a misconception for the case of Andy Uba of Anambra state to be cited as an example in this instance because in the case of Andy Uba, he got the governorship ticket, he contested for elections and won the elections. He also took an oath of office and he was sworn in as governor and so the ticket was used.  But in this case, the ticket has not been used and there is no defect in the ticket because the court validated it. And for that I do not see the sense in conducting fresh primaries because there is a candidate whose emergence as the flag-bearer has not been voided and cannot be voided because it falls within the stipulations of the electoral Act.

What about the time frame for the conduct of primaries and the actual time of elections?

Fadile:  Because somebody made a mistake and announced a date and the date was shifted, would you now hold the candidate liable? The electoral Act is very clear as regards this. It states that the parties decide how they conduct their primaries and the electoral Act gave two options: direct or indirect primaries. When you have one aspirant, as in the case in Kogi State now, all you need to do is affirmation. And so under the circumstance that we have found ourselves, we already have a candidate and it is within the prerogative of the party if there is discipline to say gentle men we have a candidate already all we need to do is reconcile. Interestingly the process of reconciliation in Kogi State has already started because the Jibrin Isah ticket meant the position of deputy governor is for Kogi West and speaker of the House of Assembly for Kogi Central and governorship to Kogi East. And the speaker of the House of Assembly is from Kogi Central. Don’t you think we would be inviting chaos if we decide to go back again to conduct fresh primaries?

What about the recent defection of Prince Abubakar Audu to the ACN?

Fadile: The ACN forgot that Kogi is not a Yoruba state. It is also not a homogenous state like most Yoruba states. Another fact is that Prince Abubakar Audu has outlived his usefulness and I don’t think the ACN would want to field such a candidate. I read in one of the dailies that Bola Tinubu asked Abubakar Audu to go and finish his case with the EFCC before he can contest under ACN  platform. And I think that may be responsible for why Ubolo Okpanachi is crossing over to the ACN.

 Don’t you think internal wrangling in the PDP in Kogi State might affect its chances in the forthcoming elections?

Fadile: Once they instill discipline and the PDP picks an Igala man in the caliber of Jibrin Isah that has tremendous acceptability in the state, they won’t have any problem. That is my own assessment. But again the problem might be amongst the Igalas themselves, especially those that are supposed to be elder statesmen still wanting to be governor.

Do you think Governor Idris will switch support for Jibrin Isah?

Fadile: I don’t see him doing that because it is not in his interest to change side at that critical and late stage.  That will not speak well about good leadership because a leader should be firm and flexible, but this situation is not one to bring in the principle of flexibility because there is no obstacle. And don’t forget also that in the affected states; it is only Kogi State that the governor is not returning for a second term.  

Are you saying that Jibrin Isah’s ticket is still valid?

Fadile: INEC gives guidelines, but the preparation to the elections is in the hands of the PDP. In this instance, they have chosen 160 days instead of 30 days because the electoral Act stipulates that elections must be conducted 160 days before the expiration of the incumbent and that is the crucial aspect. The electoral Act says elections must be conducted within 160 days or latest by 30 days and in this instance, when the party has a candidate, what they need to do is reaffirm the candidate because they had conducted a primary that was witnessed by INEC and they do not intend to change that candidate. And now I think it is a leadership issue for Governor Idris to call everybody to say that Jibrin Isah is our candidate and we have given him the ticket earlier and it would be unfair and improper and also an act of indiscipline to go against the party directives. And in such case, INEC has no say because it is still within the electoral Act in the conduct of primaries.

In some quarters, it is believed that Jibrin Isah has a case with the EFCC?

Fadile: Jibrin Isah is a prosecution witness in the Afribank case and so he doesn’t have any case.

And so when you say somebody is a prosecution witness, what do you mean?

Fadile: it means that he is simply a star witness that can be relied on. Don’t forget that that the constitution interpreted indictment as only when you are tried by the court of law and given judgment and found guilty. And administrative indictment does not stand as bar under the constitution. It is only a person that is found guilty by the court of law that can be denied running for elective post.

Would it be safe to say that Jibrin Isah,s ticket will be reaffirmed?

Fadile: That is my belief because the law is on his side and the leadership of the party in the state are on his side and it would be in the interest of the leadership of the party at the National level to allow his ticket to stand if they don’t want disaffection in the party because he has his tremendous followership especially amongst the youths and don’t also forget that he also has the support of the House of Assembly, he has the support of the elected members both in the state and federal levels, including senators. They have all endorsed him and come out to say that there is no need for fresh primaries. In truth, I don’t see the PDP conducting fresh primaries in the state. But if they want to lose the elections, they should conduct fresh primaries and see the number of people that will decamp to the opposition.

What do you have to say about AbulRazak Kutepa?

Fadile: Abdul Razak Kutepa can be referred to as a “settler” because his is originally from Bassa but his father was a settler in Lokoja. He cannot represent Kogi West for now because when you are talking about the west, you are talking about the Okuns who are struggling for power rotation and he is not Okun, but Bassa, a minority in Kogi East. So with the present realities on ground and in the event of a power shift, I believe the Okuns will identify who really is or not because this time around, it’s not a question of money.

Press Briefing By The Northern Zone Of The Jonathan Project Held At The Chancellery Hotel, Wuse 2 Abuja On Thursday September 1, 2011

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The President of Nigeria

PRESS BRIEFING BY THE NORTHERN ZONE OF THE JONATHAN PROJECT HELD AT THE CHANCELLERY HOTEL, WUSE 2 ABUJA ON THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

 

Gentlemen of the Press,

Welcome to this Press Briefing by the Northern Zone of the Jonathan project. We are a team of non-partisan young professionals who have decided to throw our weight behind President Goodluck Jonathan and his administration and our goals are directed at building a responsive followership that will support the leadership in the much needed march towards ensuring that our great nation is on the right pedestal towards economic prosperity.

1.       UN Building Bombing

Our attention has been brought to the spate of bombings in parts of Northern Nigeria, the most recent being the recent bombing of the UN building in Abuja by renegade elements who hide under a religious cloak to unleash terror on well meaning Nigerians and residents. It is indeed very sad that while the nation is yet recovering from the bloodletting that followed the elections widely acclaimed as the best in our recent history, these bandits are still destroying innocent lives and properties. We condemn this barbaric act in its entirety. It is shameful, devious, demonic and barbaric and a by-product of extreme cowardice and should be widely condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians. It is common knowledge that Islam is a religion of peace, therefore any such group that resorts to taking people’s life is an outright terror group and should be treated as an enemy of the state.

As progressive youths of Northern Nigeria, we are greatly appalled by these acts that have become all too rampant in our region. It is obvious that certain crumbling elements who had been thriving under the old order, seem bent on preventing the dividends of democracy from trickling down to the masses whom they have suppressed for decades. We owe it as a duty to speak up and condemn these acts of banditry and brigandage.

We stand on the teachings and the solid foundations of our fore fathers who thought it wise for us to co-exist peacefully to condemn any terror group meant to destabilize this country. Our unity is sacrosanct and we must not allow any such group to threaten the binding forces that hold us together. We also call on other well-meaning Nigerians, community leaders, religious leaders, youth leaders, etc to galvanize support and help to fish out these criminals who are bent on making Nigeria ungovernable. This country belongs to all of us and we must not sit quietly and allow certain elements disrupt our collective good and stability.

Our security apparatus MUST be overhauled and primed to forestall any further occurrence. Anyone found wanting or short of expectations should be REMOVED with immediate effect. The security units must self-cleanse itself to ensure there are no officers that compromise the integrity of the system. A situation where security personnel will aid the escape of a terror suspect is worrisome and disturbing. They must be proactive rather than just reactionary. The life of every single Nigerian is far too important to be toyed with.

We also charge all Nigerians to be their brothers’ keeper. Globally, Security Agents rely on intelligence from the public to combat terrorism. If we continue to harbor these criminals in our midst and not give them up, then very little can be achieved by the security agents. Antecedents have showed that terrorism knows no face – you might be the next victim if you don’t give them up today.

2.      The Almajiri problem

We are also calling on government to as a matter of extreme urgency tackle the issue of Almajiris in the north as promised. The process of integrating these young Nigerians into the drive towards improving the economic and social well-being of their societies and the country at large needs to be fast tracked. As the Nigeria strives to achieve the vision of becoming one of the 20 top economies by the year 2020, it is important to convert all its human resource potential into real human capital.

3.      Jos and Ibadan

We will also like to use this opportunity to condole with the victims of the recent crisis in Jos, the Plateaus state capital and call on the security agents within the state to ensure that all those responsible for the destructions and loss of lives are brought to justice. The blood of the innocent should not be shed in vain.

We also commiserate with the people of Ibadan, Oyo state in this trying time. As they struggle to come to terms with the destruction caused by the weekend’s flood, we urge state governments to embrace more proactive measures in combating such threats. Despite the flood warnings issued by the Nigerian Meteorological agency very early in the year, many states were caught unprepared and many lives needlessly lost. 

4.      Pursuing accountability in governance

Finally, as one of the projects towards ensuring accountability and responsibility in governance, Project Jonathan will soon commence the monitoring of political appointees and tracking their progress in policy implementation, project execution and all other areas that their service delivery is measured.

We will leverage on the recently signed Freedom of Information Bill to gain access to needed information and prepare and present our assessments to the country periodically.

Mohammed Danjuma

Leader, Northern Zone

The Jonathan Project

Divide Nigeria In Peace Now Or Address The Injustice

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The more the beneficiaries of this colonial fraud called Nigeria make believe that all is well with Nigeria, the more they attract doom, odium, and opprobrium to that name Nigeria. Please tell me what makes us one Nigeria if not for the colonial interest that the slave masters amalgamated all the countries they invaded within “Oduduwa Republic”, “Republic of Biafra” and also “Arewa Muslim Nation” and called them Nigeria. Our cultures are irreconcilable, our religions and mode of worships are poles apart, our mentalities are so different and even our languages are absolutely strange to each other. In 1947 Chief Obafemi Awolowo said “Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no Nigerians in the same sense as there are English, Welsh, or French. The word Nigerian is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not.” Nobody has got that audacity in Nigeria now to say contrarily to the above declaration. In 1948 Mallam Abubakar Tafawa Balewa said “Since 1914 the British Government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian people themselves are historically different in their backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and customs and do not show themselves any sign of willingness to unite. Nigerian unity is only a British intention for the country.” This testimony came from the first Prime Minister of the fraud called Nigeria. Can you be more catholic than the Pope? We are just incompatible – no love, no tolerance and no similarity by all ramifications. One of the creators of this fraud and harm called Nigeria Sir Peters Smithers who was a cabinet minister during the colonial regime admitted the wickedness of the British colonists when he said in 1998 “The creation of Nigeria involved forcing several different ethnic, cultural and religious groups into one political structure. In retrospect of forty years, it is clear that this was a grave mistake which has cost many lives and will probably continue to do so.” Yes, it has cost more the lives of the Igbos and their properties than any other nation in the fraud called Nigeria. Ndi Igbo are made scapegoats at any crisis in the north; call it politics or religion they have always been provocatively at the centre of massacre and their properties looted and destroyed without anybody held responsible.

We have not forgotten what led to the Nigerian Biafran war and how Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the great “Ikemba” of Nnewi, the “Eze” Igbo “gburugburu”, and the man who saw tomorrow had tried to save the future of his people from the agony that awaited them in this forceful marriage, but was betrayed by some people who had not kept to their promise out of ignorance of what the future was holding and out of selfishness. We have equally not forgotten how the Igbo pregnant women cried and died in pains when their wombs had been wickedly opened with cutlasses and their children had been brought out cruelly during the war. It is equally painful to remember the deaths of our children as a result of malnutrition.

We have not forgotten that at the end of the Nigerian civil war, it was declared “no victor, no vanquish” by the then head of state, General Yakubu Gowon. But what followed after the declaration was a systematic disenfranchisement of Ndi Igbo. Every Igbo man was inconsiderably given only twenty pounds to start life, while their properties were jealously and wickedly confiscated and declared as abandoned properties.

In retrospect, immediately the British colonialism ended, the Igbos dominated Nigeria’s economy. Irrespective of the callousness of the federal government of Nigeria to them, they were the true patriotic symbol of one Nigeria because there was no city you would go to that you did not see the presence of an Igbo man through his business or landed properties. They were the mechanism in which development had stood in almost all the cities of the federation called Nigeria. Any city you go to in Nigeria now without seeing big presence of an Igbo man run for your dear life as that city is doomed.

The first ceremonial president of Nigeria, the “Owelle” of Onitsha, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe said in 1964 “I have one advice to give to our politicians. If they have decided to destroy our national unity, then they should summon a round table conference to decide how our national assets should be divided before they seal their doom by satisfying their lust for office. I make this suggestion because it is better for us and many admirers abroad that we should disintegrate in peace and not in pieces. Should the politicians fail to heed this warning, then I will venture the prediction that the experience of the Democratic Republic of Congo will be a child’s play if ever it comes to our turn to play such a tragic role.” This was a man that was respected for his stand in one Nigeria, a true son of Igbo land and an emblem of Nigerian unity, but one Nigeria failed him even in death.

The Nigerian people seem to have been subdued to stoicism otherwise the injustice in Nigeria is stinky that no free mind can stomach. Go to Ogoni Land in Rivers State you will pity the people: No road, no good school from the federal government, no good water to drink, no hospital, no jobs, no future and yet Ogoni people are very rich in oil. Ken Saro Wiwa alongside nine other Ogoni indigenes were unjustly roped in a kangaroo court and cruelly hanged by the then federal government of Nigeria for crying out against injustice to their people. The situation is not different in other parts of Niger Delta. Most people from Rivers and Bayelsa states are fishermen but because of the pollution of the water with oil they cannot fish again but the federal government does not seem to care. Some Igbo states are part of the oil producing states in Nigeria but were excluded as such by the federal government of Nigeria until they had to fight for their inclusion. The Igbo speaking states have the worst federal road network in comparison to other geo-political zones in Nigeria.

The political imbalance in Nigeria is too big even for the blind to see. Why must everything about the Igbos be unjustly politicized? Igbo speaking areas have the least number of states in Nigeria even though they are the most populated tribe, but more states were created in the less populated north. Why is it that the northerners are favoured in everything in this country? The allocation money meant for the then newly created local governments in Lagos state under Governor Bola Tinubu was withheld by the then federal government of Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo. It is very disappointing to note that Olusegun Obasanjo is a Yoruba man yet he tried to use his power to hinder the progress that was coming to Yoruba land because of dirty politics just to satisfy the northerners which he was still not able to do. But go to the north, they created more local governments for themselves and legalised them without anybody raising eyebrows, they manipulated even the national census by counting cows, fowls and their brothers/sisters from Niger Republic as Nigerians just to maintain the political suppression. As a result of this dishonesty they are more in number in the National Assembly and the House of Representatives. Tell me how you can pass a successful bill if that bill is meant to correct the injustice which they see as normal and birthright. They hide under the shadow of religion to cause us pains and because they derive joy from our sorrow that is why they always kill us at every little provocation. They are trying to make us hewers of wood and drawers of water in the midst of plenty and because they are not president Nigeria must be on fire. In this glaring cruel injustice, this misguided chorus of one Nigeria cannot stand. Therefore, divide this country now in peace and let “Boko Haram”, “Oduduwa Republic”, “Republic of Biafra”, “Arewa Muslim Nation” or more to go, if we are not ready to face the reality that we all must make a compromise.

It does not matter who is at the helm of affairs in the hoax called Nigeria, the situation of the Niger Delta people or the Igbos will never change because that Aso Rock is like a secret cult, when you are there your hands are tied and therefore obliged to join the overwhelming erroneous chorus of one Nigeria to the detriment of the Niger Delta people. President Goodluck Jonathan is a core Niger Delta man from Ijaw, watch out if there will be much difference in the state of infrastructural development in the Niger Delta regions after his term.

The whole idea about Nigeria was based on lies and deceit by the British people and I consider it evil until the so-called leaders decide to pick up political courage to address the injustice, the Niger Delta or Igbo people will continue to pay the price for one Nigeria.

Sunny Okosun of a blessed memory sang in one of his songs “Which way Nigeria? Since many years of our independence we are still finding it hard to stand. How long shall we be independent before we reach the promised land?” We can never get there my departed brother, under this shamble and fraud arrangement. The Igbo people have demonstrated enough willingness to be together with other tribes than other tribes of Nigeria. Therefore, shedding of the Igbo’s blood, looting and destruction of their properties for one Nigeria is no longer acceptable.

Margaret Thatcher said in 1998 that “It is difficult to govern a country like Nigeria. It is artificially created, divided into Moslem north, Christian and pagan south.” Yes, she was right, but who created this artificial country? She forgot that she was part of the evil that brought the different nations together as one Nigeria and benefited from the fraud more than any other individual. Though I acknowledge the truth but we don’t need her sympathy.

I was angry and disappointed to read in one of the Nigerian national newspapers where the IG of police tagged the Boko Haram members as cowards. Please, Boko Haram members are surely not cowards. Macmillan English Dictionary describes coward as “someone who is not brave enough to fight or do something difficult or dangerous that they should do,” the real cowards are the Nigerian police force and Nigerian leaders who know the people behind the killing of innocent citizens in the north but they are afraid to touch them.

The federal government is not sincere with the handling of the Boko Haram issue because most of the military or police men/women they are using against Boko Haram from the north are members themselves who give them tip off on how to escape which the federal government knows. How can Boko Haram find its way deep into the overall head office of the Nigerian police force without an insider? This is incredible! Nigerians are no fools and I will not be too surprised if they find their way into the Presidential Villa Abuja. Therefore, the committee the federal government formed now because of Boko Haram is not necessary and as such ill conceived just to deceive you and me. It is also a shame that after the Boko Haram group turned down the offer from the Aso Rock for negotiation that the federal government turned round again on 04.08.2011 through the Secretary of State Pius Anyim who said that they are not ready to negotiate with a faceless group like Boko Haram which is contradictory to what the IG of police had earlier told us, then I ask, who is deceiving who? If they are sincere let them send military men from the east, west or south to the north and see within two weeks if Boko Haram would not be a story of “once upon a time”. But some northern military men who do not understand good English are always selected by the federal government and brought to the old eastern part of the country to waste the lives of the citizens of that part with impunity whenever there is an uproar, probably because of the harsh government policy towards their plight. The massacre of Odi people from Ijaw in Delta state is still very fresh in our memories.

It is also agonizing to hear that the federal government of Nigeria was pleading with Boka Haram for dialogue. On 05.07.2011 the IG of Police told us that some of the arrested members of Boko Haram will not be charged to court because the federal government has decided to handle the issue politically. What an unfortunate statement! Contradictorily non-violent MASSOB members are brutalized, killed and imprisoned for just exercising their civil rights through peaceful demonstrations and there is nothing wrong in such callousness. This jailing and killing of armless and defenseless MASSOB members is an annual event. The harassments and arrests of Raphael Uwazuruike continue at will by the so-called federal government of Nigeria at any statement he makes and this can no longer be tolerated. Therefore, we the unrecognized voices of concerned Ndi Igbo all over the world demand with immediate effect the unconditional release of all MASSOB members detained or imprisoned since our Igbo elites have refused to speak.

From every signal, the northerners want one Nigeria not because of their love for us but because of the oil money. If peradventure oil or gold is discovered in any part of the northern state today, which I pray for, the Emirs, the Babangidas, the Buharis, and the Atikus will gather to pronounce “To your tents, O Israel.”

Nigeria stands to gain a lot in unity, but every day indicates in the direction that it is not workable because of selfishness, dishonesty and greed. There is a lot of nepotism, tribalism and hatred in this fraud called Nigeria as a result of so many evident factors like cultural different backgrounds, religious beliefs, incompatibility and intolerance.

My dream Nigeria is a Nigeria that may never be. My dream Nigeria is a Nigeria where there will be tolerance, honesty, peace, unity and love; a Nigeria where you can live in any state or town without fear of your life because of your religion or ethnicity; a Nigeria where we will do away with the stereotypes that an Igbo man is too cunning, a Yoruba man is a betrayer or a Hausa man did not go to school etc.; a Nigeria where we will honestly tell ourselves the truth that we were forced by the British people to come together but also recognize the fact that since faith has brought us all together that we could as well live in harmony and peace if we all sincerely agree to make sacrifices and sit down to fashion out the mode that will make our aspirations fairly attainable; a Nigeria where you can gain employment anywhere as long as you are qualified for it without regard to “godfather”, ethnicity, religion, gender or disability etc. This is my dream Nigeria. This is the ideal Nigeria we all should strive to achieve, a Nigeria I would staunchly believe in.

Nigeria as it is presently constituted is a fraud built on falsehood and it cannot stand under the present arrangement, until our leaders pick the political courage and convene a national conference where we will decide on how to make the centre (federal government) not so attractive like it is now by allowing each federating state to develop according to its pace and to have greater percentage of its natural resources, but also making the centre very strong enough to hold the federating states together as one Nigeria. Until this is done, all the federating units of Nigeria will continue to be threatened. Under this threat Nigeria is staggering, under this threat I see danger and under this threat with the unfolding events I am forced to say that Nigeria as an entity may not survive for too long and even if it does, it looks like the bomb will explode during or after the 2019 election. But before it gets to this point please let us separate in peace and not in pieces.

Do not forget that no matter how long it takes a stammerer he must surely pronounce his name. We are waiting for maturity to eat the bearded fruit as Chinua Achebe would put it for the triumph of might over right is only temporal.

Divide Nigeria now in peace or address the injustice and balance the equilibrium for tranquility to reign!

I join millions of people all over the world to congratulate South Sudan people on their independence.

Uzoma Ahamefule writes from Vienna, Austria.

E: mail; uzomaah@yahoo.com

Phone: +436604659620 please sms only.

Manchester riots: soldier charged with burglary remanded in custody

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A soldier who has served in Afghanistan was remanded in custody yesterday, charged with burglary after attempting to sell a guitar that was stolen during the riots. Gunner Liam Bretherton was arrested after trying to sell a Les Paul guitar.

By Victoria Ward, Nigel Bunyan, Thomas Harding and Martin Beckford

Gunner Liam Bretherton, 20, faces dismissal from the Army after walking into a guitar shop with a valuable Gibson Les Paul just 12 hours after a flagship music store in Manchester had been ransacked by looters.

He was arrested when the owner of the shop became suspicious and checked the serial number on the instrument. He then locked him in the shop until the police arrived.

Bretherton, who serves with the Royal Regiment of Artillery, indicated that he had been prepared to admit handling stolen goods but when the charge was upped to burglary pleaded not guilty.

Army sources admitted that they were braced for a number of soldiers to be charged following this week’s rioting as the majority are on summer “bloc leave” in August.

One suggested that it could be as a many as half-a-dozen. “I’m not sure that this will be the last soldier as a lot of young lads could easily get caught up in this,” he said.

Manchester City magistrates court heard that Bretherton, from the 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, regarded as the top Gunner unit, had been in the Army for three years and had no previous convictions.

He claimed that he had purchased the instrument, worth almost £2,000, shortly after it was stolen because he had an interest in guitars but had not realised that it was a left-handed.

Gareth Brandon, prosecuting, told the court: “His account was that he\’d headed into Manchester having heard about the riots.

“It seems clear that it was the defendant\’s position all along to see what he could take. He has some interest in guitars and was very pleased to obtain this item.

“It was his account that he was present outside the shop being looted and paid £20 to one of the looters for this item.\”

Carol Mellor, defending, applied for bail, telling the judge that Bretherton, from Leigh, Wigan, was “certainly” not involved in the looting but had been prepared to plead guilty to the lesser charge of handling stolen goods.

\”Even if it was handling he realises how stupid he\’s been because he\’s put his career at risk,” she said.

\”Even if he\’s granted bail I\’m sure there will be an inquiry that could result in his discharge.”

District Judge Khalid Qureshi rejected the defence, criticising the “cavalier attitude” with which Bretherton had tried to sell the guitar.

He said: \”I find it hard to believe that someone with an interest in guitars just gravitated to a music store where a crime was being committed and ended up with a left-handed guitar by mistake.

\”I don\’t suggest that you were one of the people who forced themselves in, that\’s not the crown\’s case. Someone who would do this is not someone who can be trusted with bail.\”

Bretherton\’s mother, Eileen, sobbed as he was sent down to the cells. His distraught father, Alan, yelled from the public gallery: “He\’s been a good lad all his life, he\’d never been any trouble to us\”.

If the soldier is jailed will almost certainly face dismissal from the Army. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “All those who are found to fall short of the Army’s high standards or who are found to have committed an offence under the Armed Forces Act are dealt with administratively up to and including discharge.”

Bretherton is next due before the court on August 19.

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Catholic Priest Indicted for Producing Child Pornography

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Indictment Alleges Sexual Exploitation of Five Child Victims, Some on Church Property

KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Roman Catholic priest was indicted by a federal grand jury today for producing and possessing child pornography.

“When a person who has been placed in a position of trust exploits and victimizes children, he victimizes the entire community,” Phillips said. “Today’s indictment sends a strong message that we will not tolerate this criminal behavior.”

Shawn Ratigan, 45, of Independence, Mo., a diocesan priest and former pastor or assistant pastor in several area parishes, was charged in a 13-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Ratigan was the parish pastor at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Kansas City, Mo., and more recently served as chaplain to the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Eucharist in Independence.

Today’s indictment charges Ratigan with 11 counts of producing or attempting to produce child pornography. The indictment alleges that Ratigan exploited five minor victims to produce sexually explicit pictures of them. The victims ranged in age from 2 years old to 12 years old. The exploitation allegedly occurred at several locations—including a church choir loft—over a six-year period of time. Ratigan is also charged with two counts of possessing child pornography.

Victim Jane Doe #1

According to the indictment, Ratigan exploited a 6-year-old minor, identified as Jane Doe #1, to produce an image of child pornography between June 11 and 12, 2005.

On Dec. 14, 2010, while Ratigan resided in St. Patrick’s Parish in Kansas City, Mo., he allegedly possessed a laptop computer containing this same pornographic image of victim Jane Doe #1 that had been taken when she was 6 years old. Two days later, the computer was turned over to agents for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

On Easter Sunday approximately six years after the initial exploitation, the indictment says, when Jane Doe #1 was 12 years old, Ratigan surreptitiously took close-up shots of her crotch area while she was wearing shorts. The pictures were allegedly taken from an angle shooting up between her legs as she was standing. According to the indictment, the pictures were taken on the grounds of the Vincentian Mission House in Independence, Ratigan’s most recent residence, on April 24, 2011.

Victim Jane Doe #2

Ratigan allegedly took pictures as he exploited a 2-year-old minor, identified as Jane Doe #2, to produce child pornography on May 17, 2006, in the buildings of St. Joseph’s Church in Easton, Mo. Between May 22 and May 31, 2006, Ratigan allegedly abused Jane Doe #2 again by taking pornographic pictures of her in the choir loft of St. Joseph’s Church.

When Jane Doe #2 was 5 years old, Ratigan allegedly took close-up shots underneath her skirt on June 3, 2009. Ratigan also allegedly took at least 40 close-up shots underneath her skirt on the steps in front of St. Joseph’s Church between June 12 and 15, 2009.

Victim Jane Doe #3

Ratigan allegedly took pornographic pictures of his exploitation of a 5-year-old minor, identified as Jane Doe #3, between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1, 2007. Ratigan also allegedly took close-up shots of her pubic area while trying to pull down her pants while she was sleeping between March 1 and 31, 2008.

When Jane Doe #3 was 6 or 7 years old, Ratigan allegedly took pornographic pictures of her between April 9, 2008, and April 5, 2010.

Victim Jane Doe #4

Ratigan allegedly took close-up shots of the crotch area of the bathing suit of a 7-year-old victim, identified as Jane Doe #4, without her knowledge on July 6, 2009.

Victim Jane Doe #5

Ratigan allegedly pulled down the pants of a minor victim, identified as Jane Doe #5, while she was sleeping and took pornographic pictures. According to the indictment, this occurred between Aug. 1, 2008, and Sept. 1, 2009, while the victim was 8 and 9 years old.

The indictment also alleges that Ratigan was in possession of an external hard drive between Jan. 1 and 15, 2011, that contained pornographic images of minor victims.

Penalties

Under federal statutes, each count of producing child pornography carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to 30 years in federal prison without parole. The penalty for possessing child pornography is up to 10 years in federal prison.

Phillips cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the FBI CyberCrimes Task Force

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31 Americans killed in crash in Afghanistan

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(AP) — A helicopter crash in Afghanistan\’s eastern Wardak province killed 31 U.S. special operation troops and seven Afghan soldiers, the country\’s president said Saturday. It was the highest number of American casualties recorded in a single incident in the decade-long war.

President Hamid Karzai sent his condolences to President Barack Obama, according to a statement issued by his office.

\”A NATO helicopter crashed last night in Wardak province,\” Karzai said in the statement, adding that 31 American special operations troops were killed. \”President Karzai expressed his deep condolences because of this incident and expressed his sympathy to Barack Obama.\”

The Taliban claimed to have brought the helicopter down with a rocket attack, but they have been known to make exaggerated claims in the past.

NATO confirmed the overnight crash and said there \”was enemy activity in the area.\” But it said it was still investigating the cause. The alliance was conducting a recovery operation at the site, it said, without releasing details or a casualty figure.

\”We are aware of an incident involving a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan,\” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Justin Brockhoff, a NATO spokesman. \”We are in the process of accessing the facts.\” The helicopter was a twin-rotor Chinook, which are used for transport, said an official at NATO headquarters in Brussels, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

The helicopter crashed in the Sayd Abad district of Wardak province, said a provincial government spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid. The volatile region borders the province of Kabul where the Afghan capital is located and is known for its strong Taliban presence.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that NATO had attacked a house in Sayd Abad where insurgents were gathering Friday night, killing eight fighters. The Taliban then downed the helicopter. he said.

In June 2005, 16 American troops were killed when a U.S. helicopter crashed in eastern Kunar province after apparently being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Aircraft crashes are relatively frequent in Afghanistan, where insecurity and difficult terrain make air travel essential for coalition forces transporting troops and equipment.

There have been at least 17 coalition and Afghan aircraft crashes in Afghanistan this year. Most of the crashes are attributed to pilot errors, weather conditions or mechanical failures. However, the coalition has confirmed that at least one CH-47F Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade on July 25, injuring two crewmembers.

Meanwhile, NATO troops attacked a house and inadvertently killed eight members of a family, including women and children, in the southern Helmand province, an Afghan government official said Saturday.

NATO said Taliban fighters fired rocket propelled grenades and small arms at coalition troops during a patrol Friday in the Nad Ali district. The troops fired back, and as the fight escalated an aistrike was called in against the Taliban position, said Brockhoff, the NATO spokesman. He said NATO sent a delegation to meet with local leaders and investigate the incident.

Nad Ali district police chief Shadi Khan said civilians died in the bombardment but that it was unknown how many insurgents were killed.

Helmand, a Taliban stronghold, is the deadliest province in Afghanistan for international troops.

NATO has come under harsh criticism in the past for accidentally killing civilians during operations against suspected insurgents. However, civilian death tallies by the United Nations show the insurgency is responsible for most war casualties involving non-combatants.

Also in the south, NATO said two coalition service member were killed, one on Friday and another on Saturday. The international alliance did not release further details.

The deaths bring to 334 the number of coalition troops killed this year in Afghanistan, and 11 this month.

$16 Billion Power Probe: IBB’s Call For OBJ’s Arrest Timely

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The time is now or never, for justice delayed is justice denied. The evil perpetrated by former Nigerian president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo during his eight years reign as Nigerian president is now catching up with him.

The clarion call by Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, during his 70th birthday anniversary and the press release issued by IBB’s allies represented by Barrister Salisu Mohammed of Civil Society Movement for Justice and Freedom; Comrade Chukwu Nwabueze of Movement for Freedom and Equal Rights and Barrister Abiodun Akanbi of Human Rights Action Network.

Other groups include: Social Rights Advancement Projects led by Comrade Nasiru Dalti; Transparency Network of Nigeria led by Alhaji Saleh Mamman and Good Governance Coalition under Engr. Umar Farouk Al Hassan. All the leaders of the six groups signed the press statement.

published by pmnews for the immediate arrest and prosecution of OBJ is timely owing to the fact that the immunity clause which shielded him from prosecution by the anti-graft agencies is no longer in place, it now behoove on president Jonathan and EFCC-chairperson Farida Waziri to wade in to this grand allegations by revisiting the power probe chaired by Hon Ndudi Elumelu to unravel those culprit who drained our treasury for their personal use.

It is high time the president direct through his AG and Minister of Justice Adoke that the S16-billion dollars power-scam which involved Obasanjo,Agagu and Imoke be re-open and suspects prosecuted including their God-father Chief O Obasanjo. $16 b is a big drain out of Nigerian treasury. With the loot of S16 b Obasanjo, Imoke, Agagu and their co-criminals are living big and jetting round the globe with their wives and children along with cronies. They must be arrested now and be prosecuted.No sacred cows.

According to the report the committee recommended the interrogation of some former and serving public officials by the country’s anti graft agencies for their roles in the power project contracts. Standing out among them are former president Olusegun Obasanjo; the then Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu; Governor of Cross River state, Mr. Liyel Imoke; Central Bank Governor, Professor Charles Soludo; the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, among others.

The committee in the report expressed the belief that the intervention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the matter would compel the indicted officials and institutions to account for their roles in the award and execution of the multi-billion naira contracts for the Independent Power Projects [NIPPs.]

The panel also indicted the former boss of Power Holding Company of Nigeria [PHCN] a cousin and Special Adviser to President Obasanjo, Mr. Joseph Makoju; proposed a mass purge in PHCN to enhance its performance; and submitted that all the power projects should be reviewed.

Agagu and Imoke, both former ministers in the Ministry of Power and Steel, according to the committee’s findings, awarded contracts to non-existing firms, and must be made to account for their actions.

The panel rejected their explanations on the role they played in the scandal as“unsatisfactory”. It recommended that the indicted persons, if found guilty in the trial the committee recommended, should be barred from holding any public office in future.

In the case of the possible culpability of Obasanjo and the former Minister of State for Energy, Alhaji Abdulhamid Ahmed, the committee was unsparing in its condemnation of the contentious practice of approvingwaivers for some contractors and, in a damning indictment, observed that in view of their alleged roles in the entire projects, Obasanjo and Ahmed should be cited for economic sabotage.

“The committee identified the brains behind waivers of due process on NIPP disbursements. The Justification at that time was to fast-track the completion of the projects. But rather than fact-track or facilitate the completion of the projects as envisaged, waivers of due process became the major plank that facilitated payments to contractors and consultants that have failed to perform, at the expense of the nation and the power industry. These officers need to be thoroughly investigated by the appropriate agencies for economic sabotage to the country,” according to the report.

Referring to Obasanjo, the report said: “In view of the enormity of issues entailed in the findings, it is recommended that former President Olusegun Obasanjo should be called to account for the recklessness in the power sector during his time. The committee recommends that EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences [ICPC] should investigate him.”

On Ahmed, the committee said: “For his patently willful manipulation of Due Process, flagrant abuse of Due Process, gross abuse of financial procedures in the award of contracts and payments, especially during the last few weeks of the Obasanjo administration, exemplified by initiation of requests to the president and procurement of presidential approvals for huge and questionable payments in respect of Papalanto Phase II, Mambila Plateau I, Zungeru Hydro, Omoku expansion, Gabarain Ubie expansion and Egbema expansion [nine additional GE Frame turbines to Rockson International] without due process compliance for contract award and certification for payment.”

“The committee found out that during the tenure of Dr Olusegun Agagu as Minister of Power and Steel, numerous contracts were awarded relying on a letter from the Corporate Affairs Commission [CAC]. at the time of Agagu’s tenure as minister in 2002, the committee found out that some unregistered companies were awarded huge contracts. ..Consequently, there was a prima facie evidence that Agagu awarded contracts without due process. Up till the time of this report, all efforts to the owners of the companies to appear in person before the committee proved abortive. Rather, the committee received some documents containing reports that the companies were registered. The true identities of the owners remained unresolved”.

“In view of the huge amounts involved, the committee recommends that EFCC and ICPC should investigate the allegations with a view to prosecuting anyone found culpable,” the report said on Agagu.

The report equally hit hard on the CBN and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. On the CBN, the report said: “The committee is perturbed by the failure of the CBN Governor to provide information in respect of Letters of Credit opened and where the money involving over one billion dollars had been kept all these years.”

It therefore recommended that “in view of the apparent unwillingness of the CBN to cooperate with the committee in this matter or provide the committee with a proper account of withdrawals from the excess crude account, the balance on the account, where the money in respect of unutilized letters of credit are kept and interest that have accrued thereto, we recommend that the EFCC be invited to investigate the office of Accountant –General of the Federation and the CBN in respect of the above issues relating to Letters of Credit opened.”

Calling for a mass purge at the PHCN, the committee said: “The crass incompetence entrenched at the top echelon of management of the PHCN and NDPHC/NIPP must be addressed decisively and with utmost dispatch. In this respect, it would be absolutely necessary to cleanse the Aegean Stable immediately. The committee recommends intensive and extensive purge at all levels of PHCN and associated agencies.

Charles Audu, A public affairs analyst writes from Lagos

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How Peter Obi Rules Anambra State

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By C. Don Adinuba

“Failed state” is a term popularized by Bill Clinton following the coinage in 1993 in an essay in Foreign Policy by two American political scientists to describe countries whose governments do not enjoy legitimacy or control over all their territories, and do not provide the people with security, and do not fulfill primary obligations to the people and the international community; in fact, foreign governments and institutions distance themselves from such regimes as much as possible. Somalia, Taliban’s Afghanistan and Laurent Gbabo’s Cote d’Ivoire are excellent examples. As already adumbrated, the term is used mostly in international relations to refer to countries, rather than their component parts. But in his broadcast on August 27, 2006, to mark the 14th anniversary of Anambra State, Governor Peter Obi curiously called Anambra “a failed state”.

Neighboring Delta State was, when this broadcast was made, engulfed by debilitating security problems, including the Ijaw-Itsekiri fratricide. But James Ibori did not describe his state in lurid terms. Bayelsa and Rivers states were almost being overrun by militants, separatists, oil thieves armed with fearsome paraphernalia, etc. But the governors did everything within their means not to give the world the impression that their states were massive jungles. So, why did the Anambra governor gravely de-market his state by likening it to Somalia? Governor Obi wanted to legitimize his government by delegitimizing all his predecessors, a notorious political malaise in Africa.

Anambra still pays a heavy price for this mindset. I took a group of Indian businessmen to the state five years ago to build a factory, and introduced them to the governor at a party which he organized for Dora Akunyili when the NAFDAC chief executive received an honorable mention in Time magazine for her war against drug fakers. The governor displayed a great interest, which was quite encouraging. But when he made the broadcast and they picked it up from the Internet, the businessmen began to look elsewhere. Their factory has since gone into production at Agbara, Ogun State.

How has Anambra fared on Obi’s watch? As you are reading this article, no state government-owned health facility has opened in the last eight months because doctors, pharmacists, nurses, laboratory scientists and other health workers have been on strike over pay. My own people in Ihiala Local Government Area are a bit lucky; they go daily to health centres and hospitals in neighbouring Imo State for immunization and general medicare. For four months until the second week of July, 2011, no courts in Anambra State sat. Why? The workers were on strike over pay. Anambra enjoys the distinction of being the only state in the whole federation where the people, including those in Government House, have not enjoyed pipe-borne water for at least five years. Employees of the state water corporation have not received salaries in at least as many years. My own uncle, Pius Nwabugwu, a 1973 geology graduate of the University of Ibadan who voluntarily left the services of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to work for his home state, died last year without salary, gratuity or pension.

The situation in my home state tries men’s souls, to paraphrase the Great Zik of Africa. The situation challenges the conscience of the media, civil society and all those who can say no to sacrilege. A couple of weeks ago when I wrote a well circulated article calling attention to the abysmal state of roads in Ihiala, the fourth largest town in the state, and complained of the unjustifiable relocation of the state’s university from a place which represents Africa’s technological ingenuity as demonstrated the Nigerian civil war of 1967-70, the state government went into a frenzy of puerile denial, name calling and braggadocio, leading critics to conclude that it may be afflicted by schizophrenic paranoia. It is instructive that the most important qualification for recruitment into the Government House media team is an enthusiasm to play a rabies-infested Rottweiler, Chinua Achebe’s “rabid beast of fanaticism” and “dangerous lunatic”.

In reaction to my brief essay in question, countless articles, frenetically written, were sent to the print media and the Internet under all manner of names. The state radio and television were mobilized to attack my person. As though to add a comic touch, Aloy Egwuatu, an otherwise fantastic gentleman who was two years ago given the sinecure position of Commissioner for Science and Technology after the people of Ihiala, the largest Local Government Area in the state, complained bitterly that not even a personal assistant or part time director of a government agency came from their place, went on air to announce that my townspeople had dissociated themselves from the publication. Interestingly, the commissioner cannot, in this rainy season, move in his official Peugeot 406 car from his house to mine, a distance of five kilometers, because of the embarrassing roads. Nor can he drive to the residence of the Ihiala Progress Union president or the palace of our traditional ruler on account of the state of the roads.

A little comparison here may be telling enough. I wrote two articles in 2007 in the national media calling attention of the Bola Tinubu government in Lagos State to the absence of basic infrastructure in most parts of the Lekki Peninsula. On the day landlords in the area were meeting Tinubu over the state of roads in the Ajah part of the peninsula, Reuben Abati, then the chairman of The Guardian editorial board, coincidentally published a third article of mine on this lack of infrastructure entitled “Ajah—Badore Road: Open Sore of A State”. Tinubu had gifted propaganda storm troopers led by Information Commissioner Dele Alake, but he did not ask them to turn the heat on me or to remind me that I am not a Lagos indigene. He rather asked PW, the competent Irish construction firm, to reconstruct and expand the road for a whopping 2.8billion naira. As Babatunde Fashola was preparing to take over from Tinubu as governor, I ran into him at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, and complained about the poor state of the road leading to my estate. Fashola dispatched a team of engineers and surveyors to my house within days. I now have a first class road, complete with excellent drains. Hence, Unity Estate residents did not feel the devastation of the July 7, 2011, rainfall like the rest of the peninsula.

Can anyone imagine how the Obi government would react to a Yoruba resident in Anambra State audacious enough to criticize the government for not extending considerable infrastructure to his place? Obi made all his fortune in Yorubaland, yet he does not tire of asking Anambra people to reject Ngige and his supporters in the Action Congress of Nigeria because, as he claims, the ACN is a Yoruba party, contrasting it with his All Nigeria Progressives Grand Alliance which he unabashedly calls the Igbo party. The ACN may well be a Yoruba party, but you can never hear that from the lips of Tinubu or Fashola. Why does the Obi group mouth APGA’s Igboness from the rooftops? Does the tiger need to proclaim its tigritude, as Wole Soyinka once said about negritude philosophy? Can APGA grow in leaps and bounds by alienating non-Igbo Nigerians from it? No wonder, ACN has been waxing stronger across the nation, but not APGA.

There is a determined effort at what Okey Ndibe, the famous writer and columnist, calls systematic North Koreanisation of Anambra State. The government wants to turn the people into robots, that is, elements grossly incapable of independent thought and action, as they rely thoughtlessly and wholly on government relentless and energetic propaganda, the type well bereft of verisimilitude. Take the state’s electronic media coverage of the senatorial contest between erstwhile governor Chris Ngige and former Information Minister Dora Akunyili. To this day, neither the Anambra radio nor television has announced the election result, which was conducted on Tuesday, April 26, 2011. When I asked some editors why they did not consider the result newsworthy, despite their sustained scurrilous attacks against Ngige and the canonization of Akunyili prior to the vote, they replied, ”Do you want us to lose our jobs?” Need I say anything about the plight of Anambra Broadcasting Service employees who have retired in the last few years?

How did the home state of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chinua Achebe, Chike Obi, Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, Pius Okigbo, K.O.Dike, Ukpabi Asika, Olaudah Equiano, Mokwugo Okoye, Nwafor Orizu, etc, come to the present state? Governor Obi himself would ask rhetorically, “Is the fault with us? Or is it in our star?”

Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting

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