With Latinos expected to go to voting booths in record numbers this year in the southwestern part of the United States …. we now see Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson getting about 5% of the vote according to a poll in New Mexico.
The Boston Globe is calling this the “X” factor, but we are calling it the “L” factor.
We are attributing his 5% to being the former Republican New Mexico governor, and he did quite well with the NM budget. We also believe that Mitt Romney’s immigration protectionist views will hurt him with Latinos since he is on the record for supporting a view similar to the ousted Senator Russell Pearce’s extreme and draconian immigration policies.
More with regard to the New Mexico Poll:
In a statewide poll conducted 12 days before the presidential election, Barack Obama still maintains a comfortable lead on Mitt Romney while the former two-term governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, who’s running as the Libertarian Party candidate is polling at 5 percent.
The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percent.
The numbers show Obama picking up 1 percentage point since the last Journal poll was conducted between Oct. 9-11 while Romney has picked up two points and Johnson has lost one point.
“The reason Mitt Romney is behind in New Mexico is because he is not picking up enough Hispanics and crossover Democrats,” the president of Research and Polling, Brian Sanderoff, said to the Journal, pointing out that in 2004, George W. Bush won nearly 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in New Mexico.
Obama maintains a big lead among Hispanics in the state (68-20) while Romney leads among Anglo voters (56-37). Johnson actually has slightly more support among Hispanics in the poll than Anglos — 5 percent to 4 percent.
Male voters support Johnson at a 7 percent rate, compared to 3 percent for females in New Mexico while Obama leads among men 45-43 and women, 54-39.
As the Romney vs. Obama matchup gets more intense in the final days of the campaign season, Johnson is trying to keep his Libertarian candidacy in the news.
In the past week, he received some attention for appearing on a C-SPAN debate of third-party candidates and declaring, “Waste your vote on me” and actually had a newspaper of respectable size (the Chattanooga Free Press, which has a daily circulation of 70,000) endorse him over Obama and Romney.
But according to a recent article in the New York Times, the Johnson campaign had only about $50,000 in the bank at the end of August, having burned through much of some $350,000 Johnson’s people had raised in small donations that month.
Nonetheless, Johnson staffers announced on Wednesday (Oct. 25) that the campaign launched a 30-second commercial on cable television in selected markets throughout the US, emphasizing Johnson’s call for drastically reducing defense spending and eliminating US military incursions on foreign soil and airspace.
*storms Anambra SEMA with relief materials
*SSG confirms water is already receding fast
The Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Inter-Party
Relations, Senator Ben Ndi Obi has donated assorted relief materials,
foodstuffs and other gift items to the Anambra state Emergency
Management Agency (SEMA) for onward transmission and distribution to
all the camps for the flood disaster victims in the state.
The presidential aide also expressed deep worry over anticipated
resettlement challenges that would arise when the flood eventually
recedes.
He equally commended the Anambra state government’s efforts so to
contain the challenges of resettling the displaced families and their
welfare.
Senator Obi who stormed the SEMA headquarters in Awka along with some
of his avid supporters was received by the members of the state Relief
Fund committee led by the chairman and Secretary to the State
Government (SSG), Chief Oseloka Obaze.
He said that if the after-effect of the flood, resettlement and
rehabilitation of the affected communities and persons were not
properly tackled an epidemic could break out. He therefore appealed to
citizens of the state to put aside political differences so as to work
collectively in the interest of the flood victims.
The SSG said the camps have been well managed so far, admitting the
flood disaster has been unprecedented and only comparable to the war
time experience.
He admitted that the rehabilitation would be more challenging and
tasking, hence needs more funds and assistance from the citizens,
pointing out that the N500million donation by the Federal Government
was a fraction of the anticipated funds required for the
rehabilitation. He therefore appealed for more assistance and
donations form all.
Obaze confirmed that the water is already receding fast and the
rehabilitation moves were already being articulated.
GOV UDUAGHAN MARKS 58TH BIRTHDAY WITH INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS
Delta leaders under the auspices of The People’s Movement Tuesday criticized members of the Ndokwa Youth Elite Forum (NYEF) who recently exhibited their negative obsession with the person of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in a petition to President Goodluck Jonathan, saying their actions and activities smack of vendetta, sheer blackmail and hidden agenda to destabilize the state.
The leaders also described the youths as misguided, misinformed and brainwashed individuals hired by the opposition to foment trouble in the state .
“His Excellency is performing and the people are fully behind him” the leaders said in a statement by the Director of Communications of The People’s Movement, Mrs. Ibifuro Tatua.
Maintaining that the governor’s approach and style may not have impressed some new generation rabble rousers and political jobbers who see politics as a cake-sharing vocation, the leaders said the petition was a malicious one aimed at tarnishing the image, personality, character and hard-earned integrity of the governor.
“The executive governor is not reckless as projected by the youths.”
The Ndokwa youths, according to the leaders, were clueless about the activities of the commission and the realities on ground .
Noting the hypocrisy and the poverty of the criticism, the leaders stated that DESOPADEC was set up to rehabilitate, rejuvenate and resuscitate the peoples and communities of the oil producing areas of Delta State.
They stressed that atotal of N149bn was released to oil-producing communities in the state through the Commission to enable it perform and fulfill its mandate to the people as well as for development projects in the last five years.
“Delta was not misusing the derivation fund, as 50 per cent of it had been allocated to DESOPADEC.” The leaders said.
They also said top Nigerians and foreigners had applauded the Delta State governor for ensuring economic transformation of the riverine communities, re-building the destroyed and neglected cities of the military crisis of May 13th, 2009 and training of Deltans at home and abroad through its scholarship scheme.
“ The commission has since been recording laudable results in terms of development” the leaders said.
DESOPADEC, the leaders further stated, awarded 1664 projects in the 19 local government areas which form its areas of jurisdiction between 2007 till date.
“Out of these projects, 347 were cited in Itsekiri, 424 in Ijaw, 455 in Urhobo, 305 in Isoko and 115 in Ndokwa areas”
Recalling the achievements of the commission, the leaders said in July, 2009, the people of Beneku in Ndokwa East Council Area commended the State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan for his progrramme of development in the State, especially on the restoration of Ferry Services to the community for the crossing of goods and services to and from Beneku community.
They said a team of Americans, led by the Political and Economic Officer of the American Embassy in Nigeria, Helena P. Schrader in January, 2010 visited DESOPADEC in Warri and commended the commission’s efforts, particularly in the renovation of police staff quarters at “A” Division, Warri, Miller Water side road, Warri Club Jetty, DEOPADEC head office complex, completed blocks of classrooms and laboratory at Hussey College, Cavagina Primary School block of classrooms, Omatshola Primary School block of classrooms, and block of class rooms at Our Ladys College, Effurun amongst others.
Emphasizing that Governor Uduaghan and members of his cabinet were responsible, accountable and focused , the leaders called on the people to discard such infamous insinuation and concentrate on those noble objectives that can help reposition the state.
They appealed to members of NYEF to look critically inwards with a view to removing the log in their eyes.
The leaders also appealed to the Chairman of the Itsekiri oil and gas producing communities, Prince Ikenwoli Emiko and others to see the renovation of Police Barracks in Warri and Warri Club by the commission as part of the social responsibilities of the commission and settle the matter amicably.
PRESIDENT JONATHAN VISITS FLOOD RAVAGED AREAS IN DELTA STATE
Barring any other development of equally impactful effect, the great event of the year 2012 for Nigerians would probably be the floods that submerged many communities across the country, forcing a rude awakening about the reality of climate change and Nigeria’s share of this global phenomenon. Which is ironic in one sense more than any other, for when President Jonathan travelled to Rio de Janeiro to attend the Earth Summit, known as Rio+20, in June, many had criticized him for paying attention to “an irrelevant subject.”
The principal lesson lies in how Nigeria shares with the rest of the world, the increasing challenge of climate change and its consequences, described in the Rio+20 document as “an immediate and urgent global priority.” The floods were caused according to the experts by excess rainfall, which resulted in the overflooding of Rivers Benue and Niger and their tributaries, from Taraba, to Adamawa, Kogi, all the way to the states of Southern Nigeria. Natural disasters had always seemed to the average Nigerian like something that affects other people, and seen on CNN, and if there had been any knowledge of floods, it was regarded as something rare, occurring as a marginal reminder of the Biblical Flood. But this year, the floods reminded us all of how vulnerable our lives have become, and the sameness of both the rich and the poor in the face of natural disaster. Houses were submerged, farmlands were flooded, persons were displaced; the rich and the poor cried.
This conflict between man and nature playing out on our shores, underscored the pivotal place of environmental challenges in the unmaking of human habitats. With water, an indispensable resource unleashing its power, the ordinariness of every man was exposed. Steven Solomon writes sentiently in his book Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization (2010), that “by grasping the lessons of water’s pivotal role on our destiny, we will be better prepared to cope with the crisis about to engulf us all.” That pivotal role is ambiguous. We had failed to pay attention to this. In many of the affected communities, houses had been built on riverbeds, along flood plains, and reclaimed land, and for decades, persons had gotten used to living in those places, naturally and successfully, having no reason whatsoever to imagine the kind of tragedy that crept upon the land this year. When the floods finally recede, many of the affected houses would no longer be habitable: adjustments have to be made by both people and the authorities.
In the meantime, we can look back, with pleasure, on the quality leadership that was demonstrated in managing the effect of the floods and in providing immediate relief for the affected persons. The incident brought government closer to the people; it highlighted the value of strategic institutions such as the National Emergency Management Agency, which deployed human and material resources nationwide, and worked with other agencies such as the Red Cross, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and the state governments to ameliorate the people’s suffering. Deservedly, NEMA has received fulsome praise for its efforts. Needless to state that NEMA and other government agencies were responding to a strong charge from the very top, for as the flooding occurred, President Jonathan immediately directed that all relief measures should be mobilized to assist the states and the people. The moment called for leadership. And the President took charge as expected.
He also promptly set up an Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee led by the Minister of Environment to go round the country to assess the extent of the floods. That Committee presented its interim report to the President at a meeting attended by state governors and the leadership of the National Assembly. The following day, President Jonathan addressed the nation and announced a 17.6 billion Naira relief fund for all the states, which was immediately made available for their use. All the affected states had set up displaced persons’ camps and were actively providing feeding, accommodation and health services. Further, President Jonathan constituted a National Flood Relief and Rehabilitation Committee co-chaired by Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, to raise funds to complement government’s efforts in assisting the flood victims, and to mobilise the general public to support the initiative. With these steps, the administration had pushed the management of the flood crisis to the level of high national priority, generating nationwide empathy in the process.
In addition, President Jonathan announced that he and Vice President Namadi Sambo will visit the affected states. In the week that followed, Nigerians saw their President, without his trademark attire. This had given way to simple shirt and trouser, rolled up sleeves, and a face cap. The President travelled to Kogi, Rivers, Delta, Anambra, Bayelsa, Taraba, Adamawa, and Benue states. He went from one camp to the other, identifying with the people, empathizing with them. He listened to their stories. He shared their agony. His own village in Bayelsa had also been submerged. When he went home to his village, Otuoke, he met his compound flooded up to chest level.
In Kogi, he was told that a man who took a loan for his farm, and had lost everything, contemplated suicide. Everywhere he went, the President took a message of hope, advising the victims not to commit suicide, but to remain confident that with government on their side, there is hope. Together with the state governors, he thanked the relief agencies and all the persons who had come to the rescue of the victims. He didn’t listen to official versions alone; he personally invited spokespersons of displaced persons to lay their concerns before him. There had been a baby boom in many of the camps: women who had given birth in the camps brought their babies to the President. He carried the babies, and posed for photographs with them and their mothers, the most impressive being a photograph of the President with four new-born babies and their mothers at the Makurdi camp.
But the visit to the various camps was not without the touch of occasional comedy. In one of the states for example, one gentleman who felt that the spokesperson for the victims did not convey their feelings fully enough insisted on having a say in the matter. Some officials tried to prevent his intrusion. But when it was President Jonathan’s turn to speak, he collected the microphone and took it straight to the agitated fellow. Speak! It was with much ceremony that the man proceeded to narrate how people who were not affected by the floods were thronging the displaced persons’ camp to collect food meant for the victims and how this was already causing problems.
He wanted the authorities to share the money that had been sent to the states by the Federal Government, directly among the victims in order to shut out non-victims who want “to shorten their ration”. President Jonathan deplored the cruel activities of those seeking to profit from other people’s misfortune, but patiently, he told the man that he had not come to discuss food, because all the state governments according to reports were doing a lot to assist the victims, and nobody would die anyway in any of the camps because of food. While government is providing necessary short term relief, the Administration is more concerned about how the people will manage their lives after the flood, how to prevent the outbreak of any kind of epidemic, how to rehabilitate the affected persons and how to prevent a similar tragedy in the future.
Indeed, there has been so much pre-occupation with the “sharing” of either food or money, and journalistic nitpicking over the ecological fund, whereas the Jonathan administration’s response to the crisis is much broader and comprehensive comprising short, medium and long-term measures. From the outset, the President had ordered an informed, multi-perspective analysis of the incident and its aftermath to guide interventions. A mapping of the affected areas has been done, the nature and extent of the damage has been properly studied; engineers have been dispatched to the states to assess the infrastructural impact of the floods. On all his visits to the states, President Jonathan was accompanied by the House Committee Chairman on Environment, Hon. Uche Ekwunife and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Special Duties, Senator Clever Ikisikpo.
He was also joined by the Director of Army Engineering, whose department had gone round to assess the damage and was providing the President with preliminary engineering analysis. Bridges linking communities collapsed, roads were washed away. Public infrastructures in the affected communities need to be fixed, and the military was also called in to help. In the wake of the floods, fears were expressed about the possibility of drought in the coming year. President Jonathan promptly directed the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to intervene, and a National Flood Recovery Production Plan was immediately launched. Under this plan, the Federal Government is providing high-yielding, flood-resistant seedlings and fertilisers for farmers, technical assistance and other incentives to boost the national yield, as well as releases from the national strategic grains reserves. The Ministry of Agriculture has since allayed fears of a food crisis, noting that the bulk of the country’s farmlands remain unaffected.
Similarly, the Federal Ministries of Works, Water Resources, Health and the Environment have been directed to design other relief plans. In all of these, the Federal Government is collaborating with the state governments. The Ministers travelled to each state ahead of the President with their teams, and they were on the ground to provide necessary information. In the few states where there is no State Emergency Management Agency, President Jonathan has asked NEMA to work with the state governments to set up such agencies to further strengthen the country’s preparedness to tackle emergencies. When the floods occurred, there were also reports of a certain Cameroonian connection to wit that due to excess volume of water caused by excess rainfall, the Cameroonian authorities had released water from Lagdo dam; some other dams in Nigeria also had to be emptied raising the hydrological level in many places.
Fact: the floods were predicted as far back as March by the relevant agencies. But we all took the predictions for granted. We are all such lucky people we often imagine that the worst cannot happen here. Even when government advises the people accordingly about likely dangers, the natural response is to resist official wisdom and insist that in a democracy, the people have a right to everything including self-immolation. To prevent artificial contributions to the effect of climate change, nonetheless, the administration has taken the additional step of reviewing available infrastructure that can serve the purpose. To this end, President Jonathan has directed that the dredging of Rivers Niger and Benue be expedited. He has also visited the Kashimbila Dam in Takum LGA, Taraba State, which is under construction. The buffer dam is designed to provide power and irrigation services, but more importantly to hold water released from Lake Nyos in Cameroon with a holding capacity of 18 million cubic litres. There are plans also, as part of long term intervention measures to build dams on the River Benue as well as dykes in identified vulnerable plains.
President Jonathan has brought to the delivery of all these measures, passion, action and commitment. He asked the engineers in charge of the Kashimbila Dam when they think they are likely to complete the dam. “2013 sir!” He told them he hopes the promise will be kept because the nation cannot wait.
The promptitude with which he has personally attended to the flood crisis has been commended by many an observer; the actual truth is that this is the nature and character of the man that Nigerians chose as their President in April 2011. He is one of the people, so he understands their feelings, and he speaks their language. He is informal, people-committed and devoted to the assignment that Nigerians have given him. He does not see the Presidency as a privilege-posting; he is committed to serving the people and making a difference, and he has removed “do-or-die” inclinations from the country’s electoral process. Nigerians, this includes those with politically determined ocularity, should see that whenever they are looking for someone to stand by them, Goodluck Jonathan is the leader that they can count upon.
–
Dr Abati is Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to President Goodluck Jonathan
A woman has died in Connecticut from Sandy-related injuries Monday night.
The woman, who has not been identified at this time, became trapped under a tree on West Highland Road in Mansfield around 6:30 p.m.
A woman was home alone when her two neighbors came over and told her a tree fell on her house, according to witnesses. On the way back to their home, the woman was hit and killed by the tree.
A power line was wrapped around the tree when it fell and fatally injured the person during the incident. Two people were taken to Windham Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Crews from Connecticut Light and Power and a tree company were called to the scene to extricate the person from tree.
The cause and manner of death will be determined after an autopsy is preformed later this week.
The incident is under investigation by state police.
A firefighter has also been seriously injured after a tree fall on him on Judd Road in Easton, police said.
BAMAKO: Rebels controlling northern Mali on Saturday took a bulldozer to an independence monument in Timbuktu, where they have destroyed many world heritage treasures in recent months, witnesses said.
“At the moment I can see eight rebels with a bulldozer. They are busy destroying Timbuktu’s independence monument,” one witness said. “With the help of a tractor the Islamists are busy destroying the Timbuktu independence monument,” said another witness, speaking to AFP by telephone.
The extremists, who seized control of Mali’s vast north following a disastrous coup in March, began a campaign of destruction of Timbuktu’s cultural treasures in July that prompted an international outcry. They had already removed the head of a horse alongside the monument, as well as destroying the tombs of ancient Muslim saints and the “sacred door” to a 15th-century mosque.
The radicals consider the tombs to be “idolatrous” and have also threatened to destroy the city’s three ancient mosques, one of which dates back to 1327. afp
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is on a five-day trip overseas to increase pressure on Mali’s al-Qaida-linked rebels and help Balkan nations end long-simmering ethnic and political disagreements.
Clinton left for Algeria Sunday, moving up her departure by a day to beat the onslaught of an East Coast storm.
With Algeria’s president, she’ll discuss the crisis to the south in Mali, where European and African countries are considering military intervention against radical Islamists.Clinton then visits Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania.
She is aiming to advance each of their NATO and European Union aspirations. Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo, and the two dispute borders and minority issues. Bosnia’s power is divided among ethnic lines.
Clinton also visits Croatia, a new NATO member and an EU state as of next year.
I was enjoying my largely quiet and uneventful weekend until I checked my facebook messages and saw as much as 8 messages from friends alerting me about two different issues trending on facebook. At least Nigerian facebook community.
Given the bombing of a catholic church in Kaduna that killed more than 4 worshipers, I couldn’t help but finally agree with President Jonathan that terrorism may have come to stay with us and hence not deserving of headline attention. People have come to expect one church or the other to be bombed in Northern Nigeria every sunday. What continues to surprise me is how the government is able to protect all the mosques in the volatile middle belt of Nigeria every friday but cannot protect churches every sunday.
Even the recent Eid celebration was without violent incidence and the govt is poised to take the glory for maintaining peace and preventing terror attacks. Yet I wonder if the govt was sleeping when Madalla catholic and other churches were bombed last christmas. Does the federal government of Nigeria place more premium in securing Islamic lives than Christian lives?
We are waiting for answers.
The first message I received in box caused me to celebrate and sing for joy in my mother tongue. “Obu otu olu gi di, Chineke obu otu olu gi di, o mara nma”. (Is this how thy works are, your work is wonderful, Almighty God). The report in the media that General Yakubu Jack Gowon of Nigeria Prays fame has agreed to go to the international criminal court at the Hague to defend himself of charges of genocide against Igbo children elicited that song of praise from my lips.
“I am ready to face the International Criminal Court of Justice at the Hague for prosecution over roles played by me when the war ended”-Yakubu Gowon
Just so that you understand why am celebrating, permit me to state that the only elder brother I had from my mother’s great womb died of kwasiokor during the Biafran war. Up to date nobody has been held accountable for that. In 1983, Chief Awolowo claimed the credit for authoring the starvation policy of the Gowon regime when he stated in a widely circulated interview that he personally decided to use hunger and starvation as a weapon of war knowing that civilians will die but (in his mind), soldiers will die too. In the “great” man’s mind it doesn’t matter if 3m civilians die as long as he is able to defeat 50,000 emergency Biafra soldiers Over 700 unarmed men and women were executed at Asaba, and nobody as much as faced court martial, rather the man that led and orchestrated the heinous crime, Murtala Muhammed, has since been rewarded with an International Airport named after him and his face inserted into our currency. I am also not aware of anyone being punished for the massacre of over 5000 Igbo after the war in Benin and a further 7000 in Calabar. All murdered in cold blood.
That the Holy Spirit moved Gowon to agree to present himself before the ICC at Hague is something marvelous in my eyes. If the leaders of Ndigbo summon the courage and resources necessary to take up this Gowon’s challenge, Nigeria and humanity will benefit. Gowon will get the chance to clear his name “tarnished” further by the publication of Achebe’s “There was a country”. The inheritors and defenders of Awo’s estate will also get a chance to defend the legacy of their man. As long as Achebe’s book is circulating all over the world (I heard Amazon and the publishers have run out of stock because of overwhelming demands) generations will question Awo’s humanity and will discuss him in same breathe as Adolphus Hitler of Nazi Germany. In terms of number of children killed, Awo trumped Hitler by a massive 1m souls. Hitler was credited with killing 6m jews, including 1m children, using all manner of tools and policies whereas the Biafra war killed at least 3m Igbo including 2m children killed directly by the use of starvation as a weapon of war. In football parlance, Awo defeated/outscored Hitler 2:1.
Clearly, the employment of hunger as a weapon of war and execution of unarmed civilians violates the fourth Geneva Convention and is a war crime. That some were ignorant enough to advance the view that Nigeria was not a signatory to the convention is shameful. As at the time the convention was signed in 1949, Nigeria was a British colony. Britain was one of the signatory. At independence we “inherited” the convention. There was clear and unambiguous legal obligation on Nigeria as at the time of the conflict to respect the convention. Gowon knows that, hence his decision to go to the Hague and defend himself, if called upon. All others who participated in that war should also be ready to defend themselves.
The ball is now in the court of Igbo leaders to do the needful and institute this mother of all genocide cases. Ohaneze Ndigbo should lead the way and reconfirm their relevance to ordinary Igbo men and women. A good starting point will be to dust up their presentation at the defunct Oputa panel and assemble Igbo lawyers from home and the diaspora. Other Igbo groups will support them with relevant data.
Ohaneze and Igbo leaders have no reason to shirk their responsibility to our people. This is by no means a quest for secession but rather a move to correct and prevent future genocide in Nigeria. If this case is not instituted then Achebe’s book should be thrashed as lacking in fact and substance, at least as regards the issue of genocide. Ndigbo should also know they can no longer complain when Igbo in the North are isolated and murdered by Boko Haram and their civilian accomplices. A unique opportunity has been presented by Gowon to end acts of genocide in Nigeria, albeit it by accident.
The other story that made me sing was the one by one Femi Fani Kayode titled “Who introduced tribalism into the politics of the south? The Yoruba or The Igbo?”. It reminded me of Dillinger’s “I’ve got cocaine runnin’ around my brain…” It is all well that I don’t know this revisionist, FFK, personally. That’s apart from his (dis)service to Nigeria as Minister of culture in the obtuse Obasanjo regime. All other contacts with him have been through his facebook comments made either using his name or numerous aliases.
His August 13th post particularly interested me.
“I went through this and I must confess that the Elder from the north that spoke called Alhaji Usman Faruk is talking absolute nonsense and he has got his history completely wrong. It was the 98 per cent yoruba Third Marine Cmmando under the command of Brigadier General Benjamin Adekunle that liberated the mid-west and the southern minorities from the igbos and NOT the north. Secondly the north literally begged Awolowo not to declare Oduduwa Republic and go the way of Biafra even though that was his original intention. Thirdly if it hadn’t been for Col. Obasanjo (as he then was) in Ibadan the Biafran forces, under the command of the gallant yoruba officer Col. Banjo, would have entered and swept into the west at Ore and the war would have been over very quickly. They asked for safe passage and Obasanj refused. Fourthly it was the support that the south west gave to the north that allowed Nigeria to win the war. Fifthly it was the lie that Gowon and the northern leaders fed to Awolowo that he would be made President of the country after the war and after being effectively being made de facto Prime Minister under Gowon during the war that got Awoloo to support them. Had it not been for that strong support from the yoruba and particularly the efforts of the third Marine Commando who pushed the Biadfrans out of the mid west, the south south and back into the east and who evenually went into igboland, occupied it and took the surrender of the igbos, there is no way that Nigeria could have won the war. No maer what sid of the divide we are on in this matter we must get the history right. The arrogance of Faruk is sickening.”
Please note these points made by this self confessed student of history
1. “…the north literally begged Awolowo not to declare Oduduwa Republic and go the way of Biafra even though that was his original intention.”
2. “…it was the lie that Gowon and the northern leaders fed to Awolowo that he would be made President of the country after the war and after being effectively being made de facto Prime Minister under Gowon during the war that got Awoloo to support them.”
For those who can read English language, please what exactly is the difference between Achebe saying Awo authored and executed genocide against Biafra for personal interest in the Presidency of Nigeria and what this man wrote? Even Awo accepted he authored the policy when he said “so I decided….”. Yet this character took out time to abuse Achebe in newspapers and his facebook wall. But on the question of Awo committing suicide in 1987 to avoid treason trial by IBB, Femi is mum.
In his defense of his latest obnoxious post I read this funny and treasonable comment from him. “@Uche, that has been my position for the last 22 years. Read ALL my essays and watch ALL my television interviews. I even took that position when I was in government. Perhaps you didnt know that I was very active in NADECO and when I was your age I was busy smuggling arms into the country to help in our secession bid whilst Abacha was in power. I have always believed in an SNC and I always will. I have also always believed iin the right of every nationality in Nigeria to ”self-determine”. If you don’t know that about me then you never knew what I believed in and the cause that I have been championing all these years. I am a member of the Steering Commitee of thePolitical Summit Group today . Believe me when I tell you that I am more radical than you could ever be when it comes to this matter.” FFK https://www.facebook.com/femifanikayode/posts/3555138246573?refid=12
I have not stopped wondering if this man is promoting armed struggle against Nigeria. All I can do is keep singing “I’ve got cocaine runnin around my brain”. I just hope Dillinger and his later day clone got a detoxification treatment before embarking on another journey to twist history. Even if the West needs a clone of El Rufai, surely they can do better than this man.
FFK’s basis for alleging that Igbo introduced tribal politics is an unverified comment purportedly made by one private citizen he called Charles Onyeama in 1945. ’Igbo domination of Nigeria is only a matter of time’. According to him, this was reported by a Kenya news medium. If I may ask, how many Nigerians in 1945 had access to Kenyan publications? How on earth can this alleged obscure comment lead the famous Yoruba nation to form a tribal organization as claimed by FFK? I just hope that the founders of that development union called egbe omo oduduwa won’t sue FFK for such monumental misrepresentation of facts. In any case, if that statement was actually made, it must be viewed in the context of the time. As at 1945 Nigeria only existed as a British colony with each ethnic group struggling to motivate their people to move ahead in life. Am aware that in marketing there is something called puffry. That Etisalat said they are the best network does not automatically translate to fact. Other networks are permitted to make similar claims. Anyone can puff. Even in my village it is acceptable to say we are the best in the world. Of course that doesn’t mean we are introducing “tribal” politics among Igbo. The key remains if actually the alleged comment by Mr Charles translated to negative action at the national level to dominate others. I will be surprised if there were no Yoruba and Hausa private citizens making similar comments before or at that time. Competition drives innovative excellence and the current federal structure is designed to engender healthy competition among the federating units. We will soon find out who actually attempted to actualize tribal politics in Nigeria.
His second quote credited to Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe is another attempt to deceive.
‘It would appear that the God of Africa has created the Igbo nation to lead the children of Africa from the bondage of ages …’ – Dr Azikiwe, President of the Pan-Igbo Federal Union. (The West African Pilot of July 8, 1949). As a member of Igboville we reviewed the full text of the presentation made by Zik at Aba in 1949 and did not find that line. We reasoned then that elements from the SW inserted that line to discredit Zik and place him where Awo and Bello reside with tribalism. FFK has just confirmed that.
If truly Zik said so, I can only be prouder of his vision and pan Africanism. It is a known fact that Zik’s portrait is one of only 5 African leaders currently at OAU secretariat. He is a recognized pan Africanist. If his wish was for Ndigbo to lead Africa out of bondage does that make him the champion of tribalism in Nigeria? Does the man FFK know that of all the founding fathers of Nigeria Zik remains the only person who wanted one Nigeria? Even to date, younger Igbo elements condemn Zik for his vision of “United States of Nigeria” at a time Awo and Bello were grabbing all grab-ables for their tribes. He virtually sacrificed everything, including Prime Ministership of Nigeria, to ensure that we carry along the reluctant North to achieve independence. To date, Zik’s people (Igbo) are the only ones with investment all over Nigeria. Others are only interested in milking Nigeria’s oil resources to develop their area. If anyone is looking for evidence of inclination and propagation of tribalism in Nigeria, stop your search with FFK’s people.
The champions of tribal politics is well known to all of us. It wasn’t Zik that said you cannot be a good Nigerian without being a good Yoruba man. FFK must know who said it and propagated it.
On 1966 coup, I can only refer FFK to the May 5, 2007 interview granted by Odia Ofeimum (Awo’s private Secretary) to the Guardian newspaper in which he stated as follows:
“People were told that it was an Igbo coup but that is not correct. It is a very interesting part of the Nigerian story. In the first place, there have been many serious lies that have been told by our leaders in the last 45 years of Nigeria’s history. Our leaders have not been bold enough to tell us the truth.”
I guess Odia must have included FFK as one of the known liars of the Federal Republic.
If anyone truly want to know when and how tribal politics was entrenched in southern Nigeria, look no further than operation wetie (carpet crossing) executed at then Western House of Assembly at Ibadan. Regardless of the attempt at distorting history, it is safe to say that Zik and his party convincingly won elections in the West, North and East. It must have been the same bare faced lies that Femi is trumpeting that was used to convince Yoruba parliamentarians and people to turn against Zik. This singular act of using lies and deceit to achieve personal parochial political ambition is known to be the precursor of the first military coup and Nigerian civil war. It is still responsible for the East-West political divide in Nigeria and shaped the minds of generations of Yoruba politicians towards the politics of tribe first. Until Obasanjo used state power to rig PDP into the South West, the Yoruba nation never voted for non Yoruba Presidential candidates. Even when non-Yoruba parties won elections in the south west, as in the case of Akin Omoboriowo’s NPN victory in Ondo against UPN’s Bola Ige, violence and subterfuge were employed to scuttle such political gains.
Those who know Femi Fani Kayode should remind him to stop dancing naked in the public square and focus more on detoxifying his head. Ndigbo have a proud heritage of being the only true Nigerians in words and in deeds. Our investment and politics bear witness to the fact that we are truly believers in the one Nigeria project. Let Femi point to one investment owned by him or his immediate family in Igbo land as proof of being detribalised. Otherwise he should shut up and take his drugs.
By Segun Ayedaade, Lagos – NewsAXE
Junketing wife of the Oyo State governor, Chief (Mrs) Florence Ajimobi, has finally jumped into the net of London police authorities.
Her offence: she was found in possession of Pound Sterling and United States Dollars totalling N500million about two weeks ago.
Mrs Ajimobi was arrested by the Met Police during her 52nd trip outside Nigeria in the last 17 months that her husband became the chief executive of the Pace-Setter state.
The development came barely a few months after Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State was arrested also in London on money laundering charges and was held for about 26 days in the United Kingdom.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi has equally been out of the country for about 42 times on personal and official trips that have cost the people of the state fortunes in estacode and denied them the opportunity of a responsible government during times of sorrow, like the August 26, 2011 flood disaster that ravaged the state.
The governor’s wife was held for a few days in London before she telephoned her husband who immediately flew out to the United Kingdom to save his wife and his administration from the embarrassment that the arrest could cause.
NEWSLEAK gathered that the governor had to stand surety for his wife before she was temporarily released the weekend on her arrest.
To ensure that the news does not get to public domain, Governor Ajimobi had to lie that he was travelling to Taiwan for “an emergency business trip”, and headed for London to stand surety for his wife.
Met police authorities accept the surety-ship of a sitting high profile government official in cases of money laundering without which Mrs Ajimobi would have been declared wanted and Interpol sent after her.
When Mrs Ajimobi returned to Nigeria two Sundays ago, she avoided public gathering, never honoured any invitation and cancelled all previous appointments.
A community newspaper in London published the news of Mrs Ajimobi’s arrest with her picture lavishly used by the local daily.
NEWSLEAK is making effort to get the photograph and use same on this website.
According to investigations, Mrs Ajimobi is literally the human bank in charge of funds illegally deducted from the 33 local government councils in the state as well as the N110million security monthly security vote of her husband.
Rumours that Mrs Ajimobi is the courier for public funds running into billions of Naira allegedly stolen so far by the Action Congress of Nigeria-led government in the last 17months were reinforced by the several contracts awarded to Mrs Ajimobi, including the poorly executed beautification project given to her for N1billion of taxpayers’ money.
In addition, she has appropriated the State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA), which was hitherto under the purview of the Ministry of Health to her office and through this, she is sitting upon the $15million-Dollar World Bank funds released early this year for the control of AIDS in the state.
To wriggle out of money laundering and sundry charges against Mrs Ajimobi, her husband has engaged the service of three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) led by Chief Wole Olanipekun.
Following the expiration of the week-long bail granted Mrs Ajimobi to prepare her legal team as the case will be charged t court soon, she left the country for London early on Sunday, October 28 (that is yesterday).
Governor Ajimobi, it was scoped, has been running from pillar to post for face-saving strategies against the damning incident.
He was said to have expressed determination to pay any price quoted by anyone that could be of help in preventing the scandal from becoming public knowledge as well as getting the “greedy wife” off the hook.
The governor, NEWSLEAK is told, will be travelling out of the country this week to stand by her wife.
It was also gathered that the senior lawyers are on their way out of the country for the legal fireworks in defence of Mrs Ajimobi
Two prisoners of the Ahoada Federal Prison in Rivers state Nigeria have been killed over the weekend while trying to escape in a jailbreak.
Other 11 inmates who also tried to escape sustained various degrees of injuries while two of the prison staff who tried to stop some fleeing inmates were beaten to coma by the inmates with machetes and other harmful instruments
Although 4 of the inmates managed to escape and security agents had already launched a man hunt for them. Eyewitnesses told our correspondent Precious Ahiakwo that on the fateful day, only three prison staff out of 18 were on duty, thereby making it easy for the inmates to escape.
Inmates’ record and money kept in the administrative office were carted away by the escaped inmates, and files containing their records and some other vital documents were also burnt.
So far, Government has beefed up security around the prison to restore peace and order in the area. Ahoada prison like other prisons in Nigeria is heavily overcrowded with 502 inmates in a space meant for 202 inmates..
Meanwhile the Rivers State Police Public relations Officer Ben Ugwuegbulam has confirmed the incident stating that the situation is under control.
