Bola Tinubu’s UN Fantasies

 By Casmir Igbokwe

The majority of Nigerians are in agreement that President Bola Tinubu made a fantastic speech at the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last week. Some sound bites from his speech made many Nigerians proud and projected his speech writer as a candidate eminently qualified for promotion.

*Tinubu at UNGA 2023

Like a motivational speaker, our President intoned, “To keep faith with the tenets of this world body and the theme of this year’s Assembly, the poverty of nations must end. The pillage of one nation’s resources by the overreach of firms and people of stronger nations must end. The will of the people must be respected…” Good talk, Mr. President!

Nigeria: The Followership Has Failed Us again, How Sad!

 

By Ayo Oyoze Baje

“Some praise at morning what they blame at night.
But always think the last opinion right” – Alexander Pope

They make the fantastic promises of the weaver bird, exude the sinister smile of the hyena, with the embrace of the gorilla, while executing the dizzying dance steps of the monkey, at the sight of bananas. As far as their own erroneously perceived Nigeria is concerned, the end justifies the means. Call it the Machiavellian doctrine; it does not matter to them.

Truth be told, what engages their mind most is the lure of the lucre-filthy or not. So, they kowtow to it, raining insults and innuendoes on anyone who has a different opinion to that of their paymasters. And that includes their townsmen, brothers, sisters, friends or associates. What a crying shame!

Lai Mohammed’s Hysteria Over IPOB Misplaced

 By Charles Okoh

Last week, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, criticised several Western nations for endorsing the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which he said has been categorised as a terrorist group. He issued the warning in Washington, D.C. during official meetings with a number of foreign media outlets and policy organisations.

According to NAN, the minister said IPOB remains a terrorist group as declared by the Nigerian government and should be treated as such by Western countries.

He claimed that the group had been using funds raised in foreign countries to “destabilise” Nigeria.

Mohammed argued that it is hypocritical for the West to assert that it is battling terrorism while secretly aiding a terrorist group.

Championing Rule Of Law At Home And Criminality Abroad

 By Owei Lakemfa

Only a quarter of the eight million Palestinian people live in the Palestine; one million in Gaza, 750,000 in the occupied West Bank and 250,000 inside Israel. The rest, or over six million, are forced to live outside with at least three million of them classified as stateless persons with no legal rights. Yet these Palestinians in the diaspora are hunted like rabbits by the Israeli state.

(pix: The loyal Nigerian Lawyer)

On September 28, 2022, two Palestinians were confronted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by four men working for Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. They snatched one of them, a programmer from Gaza while the second Palestinian escaped. The victim was then taken to a chalet where he was tortured and interrogated directly by two Mossad agents via video call.

The New Strait Times, Malaysia’s oldest newspaper published since 1845 reported that for 24 hours, the Palestinian was interrogated and beaten by his Malaysian captors whenever the answer he gave were not satisfactory to the Israeli agents.

Why Buhari Must Let Nnamdi Kanu Go

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

I am not a lawyer. But in writing this article, I spoke to learned friends who, in unanimity, held that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has no legal beam to hang its jaundiced interpretation of the Appeal Court judgement that discharged the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, of terrorism charges.

*Kanu

In a historic and courageous judgement, a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Thursday, October 13, discharged Kanu of the seven-count charge pending against him before the Federal High Court. The judgement, unprecedented in its audacity, faulted the process through which the IPOB leader was brought before the court to answer to a 15-count terrorism charge.

How Scary Is UNICEF’s 20 Million Nigerian Children Out-Of-School Statistic?

 By Cheta Nwanze

It has been well acknowledged that primary school education is the foundation of individual and national development. The skills learned at that level are the base on which the capacity for future economic productivity is built. Primary School Education takes up the first six years of Nigeria’s nine-year Basic Education Curriculum which seeks to give every child resident in Nigeria an adequate foundation for a successful and productive life.

The nine-year Basic Education Curriculum covers 10 subjects: Mathematics; Basic Science and Technology; English Studies; Religion and National Values; Cultural and Creative Arts; Business Studies; Nigerian Languages; Pre-vocational Studies; French and Arabic.

Understanding Nnamdi Kanu’s Trial

 By Adebayo Raphael

Since Nnamdi Kanu’s abduction in 2021 by Nigeria’s transnational Gestapo, the consequential rage of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra has been, to a considerable extent, not up to scratch. Instead, there seems to be a diminishing rage, IPOB itself on the brink of becoming another fossilised group in the graveyard of reactionary opposition.

My suspicion is: It is either the IPOB has not fully understood the gravity of its historical position in the struggle against feudal fanaticism in Nigeria, or the group is beginning to suffer an entropic decline due to the sudden, perhaps unexpected, abduction, detention and phoney trial of its supreme commander, Nnamdi Kanu.

Open Letter To Ndigbo By John Nnia Nwodo

My Dear Ndigbo

My attention has been drawn to a recorded speech made by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of IPOB, now streaming in the social media. The speech was ostensibly made in Germany ahead of a visit, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu and I were scheduled to make to Germany for a meeting of Ndigbo. In that video, Nnamdi peddled unprintable lies about me and rebuked Igbos in Germany for inviting me and threatened that I will not leave Germany alive. I would have ignored this speech as I have ignored many of his previous abuses and deliberate falsehood previously broadcast against me.

*Nwodo

I had ignored them in the past not only because the distortions and falsehood were indirectly countered by the robust publicity of my activities and utterances which negated his representations but also because I thought it was indecent for a father and his son to be engaged in public disputations, especially when such disputations in our present circumstances will weaken our solidarity and portray us as a divided and unserious lot.

Nigeria: So Much Anger In The Land!

By Robert Obioha

There is anger in the land. Nigerians are not happy. They are fuming with anger and despair over failed electoral promises of the ruling party.  They are angry over their miserable living conditions. They are angry over the continuous rape of the country by her unfaithful political leaders. There is no mistake about it. Every Tom, Dick and Harry are bitter about the excruciating Nigerian condition. Even children are not excluded.

*President Buhari

The Nigerian condition is fast becoming beyond prayers and redemption. It has defied all logic and solutions including dry fasting and intercessory incantations. It can be easily felt from the north to the south and from the east to the west. Everybody in Nigeria is angry over the general insecurity in the country dubbed the giant of Africa. Apart from the menace of the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east and other isolated places, the murderous campaign of Fulani herdsmen across the country has caused much pain and anguish in the land to the extent that a former Defence Chief, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd), has urged victims of such mindless attacks to defend themselves. 

Negotiating With Terrorists A Mistake Nigeria Cannot Afford To Keep Making

By Reno Omokri

I have just watched a video by Shuaibu Moni, a Boko Haram commander who was reported by the media to have been freed in exchange for some 82 kidnapped Chibok girls in a deal allegedly brokered by the Swedish government. The fact that a Boko Haram commander released by the Buhari government can threaten Nigeria proves that you should not negotiate with terrorists or pay ransoms to them.

 

By doing so, you become the major financier of terrorism knowingly or unknowingly! In this video, Mr. Moni threatened Nigeria and vowed to show the country that Boko Haram is still fully in control of Sambisa Forest, contrary to claims made by the military and President Muhammadu Buhari. This latest video proves the futility of negotiating with terrorists. 

Army Should Produce Nnamdi Kanu

By Ochereome Nnanna

The excesses of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, needed to be put in check, no doubt. But I think the Army totally mismanaged it and put those who signed his sureties at risk. In April this year, Justice Binta Murtala Nyako of the Abuja High Court brought relief to the tensed atmosphere wrought by the continued illegal detention of Kanu and granted him bail on rather draconian conditions.

*Nnamdi Kanu

Apart from being barred from granting interviews, addressing rallies and being in a group of more than ten people at any time, he was required to procure three sureties for the sum of N100 million each, one of whom must be a Jewish religious leader (Kanu being a self-acclaimed adherent of the Jewish religion).

Contrary to expectations, the sureties stepped forward. One of them was a notable politician, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who represents Abia South Senatorial Zone which covers Aba, the hotbed of the Biafran agitation and the wellspring of Igbo nationalism.

Apart from possible political opportunism, I understood Abaribe’s readiness to accept the risky challenge of standing surety for Kanu. He must have felt duty-bound to obey his constituents’ wishes. I think Abaribe was also convinced Kanu would not jump bail. Yes indeed, Kanu violated all the conditions attached to his bail, except the one that concerned Abaribe and the other sureties: jumping bail.

Nigeria: That October 1 Hate Speech

By Steve Nwosu

If I say President Muhammadu Buhari’s October 1 speech was pre-recorded, that could amount to “hate speech’. Especially, as I have no documentary evidence. So, I’ll not say what I think.

*President Buhari

Similarly, if I say the Independence Day broadcast is the second hate speech I’ve heard from the president in a space of 40 days, I would also be incorrect. Especially as the details of what constitutes a ‘hate speech’ is increasingly looking like the proverbial Malawian constitution of Kamuzu Banda’s. It is whatever they tell us is the law that we accept as the law.

So, I’ll only recall that, after being away for 103 days, President Buhari returned to deliver one angry-speech (where he berated us for behaving badly, especially on the social media, while he was away), and that about 40 days later, he delivered yet another one (where he took Igbo leaders and elders to the cleaners, over the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB)).

The Dancing Python And The Smiling Crocodile

By SOC Okenwa

The reckless militarization of the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones of Nigeria never started today nor yesterday. The federal government has been accused in the past - and present - of treating Igboland as a conquered territory. I remember when I travelled back home in 2013 and was driving from Onitsha to Benin City I had encountered a monstrous 'go-slow' just before the Niger Bridge head. From Upper Iweka Road towards the major entry and exit point to and from the South-East I spent several hours in the artificial gridlock that stretched well over a kilometer! It was a disgusting, suffocating spectacle to behold as motorists heading towards the bridge were forced to drive at a snail’s speed. The heavily-armed soldiers were directing traffic and monitoring every vehicle that passed by, parking some for verification of documents or passengers or waving off others.

*Burutai and Buhari 

And again traveling from my hometown of Ihiala to Port Harcourt a few days earlier, I had met some gun-wielding military and paramilitary officers posted to mount roadblocks on the ever-busy Onitsha/Owerri Expressway. After an altercation with the officers at one of the many checkpoints, I wondered if in the northern states some Igbo soldiers or policemen could be drafted and allowed to do what the predominantly northern military elements were doing on our roads in 'Biafraland.' Or was that the price to pay for losing out in the 1967-70 pogrom? Was it a harsh reminder of defeat?

The ongoing Operation Python Dance 2 in the South-East and the imminent relaunching of Operation Crocodile Smile in the South-South areas of the embattled country are not only provocative but intimidatory. The so-called "show of force" is a show of shame that advertises our country to the outside world as a nation with the jackboot mentality. It is primarily meant to intimidate the people and silence them. We hold that in a democracy such an anti-constitutional demonstration of crude force that believes in 'crush-crush' policy in a time of relative peace is uncalled for and unnecessary.

Thespian Buhari At The United Nations

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

It is not that we have ever doubted the thespian talents of President Muhammadu Buhari that render him eligible to assume the role of an actor before any audience. We have always known that he is like any other wily politician, especially in these climes, who can fit into any dramatic role before a given audience. Remember, in 2015 when Buhari had before him citizens who were desirous of a leader with democratic credentials, he offered himself as perfectly fitting that role. He regaled them about his mutation into a democrat since he was forced by Ibrahim Babangida and his co-travellers to pull off his military uniform and jackboots.

*President Buhari addressing
UNGA 2017

Again, before a south-east audience, he identified with them by dressing like an Igbo man. Still, before the general population as his audience, Buhari played the role of a charmer, the man with a magic wand to solve the nation’s problems and root out corruption in a short time. He made the audience swoon over him. And he was rewarded with the prime prize – the presidency – as the encore continued until it was disrupted by the subsequent months of the reality of hardship.

Now, Buhari has taken these dramatic skills onto the global stage. At the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, Buhari took on a role that was totally alien to his personality. The meeting was about the wellbeing of people. It had the fitting theme of “Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet.” Thus, Buhari played the role of an actor who wants to improve the wellbeing of the people and make them to live in peace and live a decent life. 

Infrastructure Collapse In The South-East Of Nigeria

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

During the last Yuletide, when people from diverse sectors of life trooped down to their indigenous hometowns in the South-East of Nigeria from across the globe to celebrate with their loved ones, this writer also spent quality periods in the South-East.

But, unlike several millions of our people whose major point of attraction in going home for Christmas is to be with loved ones, as a professional journalist and human rights campaigner, I also moved round the South-East states to catch impressions of the state of infrastructure in the zone, largely due to the existential fact that the South-East of Nigeria suffers severe infrastructure deficits. 

With the possible exceptions of Enugu and Anambra states, all other states in the South-East like Imo, Ebonyi and Abia states have serious infrastructure shortages. Some elected politicians in some of these states operate like merchants who are in Abuja to enrich their families. 

But, throughout the movement I had around the South- Eastern States, a common noticeable trend emerged, depicting the reality that, indeed, the South-East of Nigeria is witnessing first class infrastructural emergency.

Home truth dawned on me that steps and mechanisms must be put in place and meticulously implemented to restore the pride that the South-East of Nigeria used to enjoy in times past.

But, in all of these bad states of social amenities, the almost complete absence of effective social services and professional policing of most states of the South- East goes to show another hidden fact- that the South- East is currently witnessing human rights emergency.

Federal security agencies operating in the South-East States, most especially in the capital cities, usually operate with a hostile mindset, as if to say the South-East of Nigeria is a conquered territory. 

The Case For Pro-Biafra Agitators

By Onyiorah P. Chiduluemije

Since President Muhammdu Buhari assumed the mantle of leadership of Nigeria on May 29, 2015, the country has witnessed incessant killing of the members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for obviously no cause by security agents. More often, if the killing was not based on the falsehood that the IPOB members were the first to attack members of the Nigerian armed forces and as such had to be killed in return, it would be predicated on the spurious grounds that the hapless victims were obstructing the free flow of traffic and thus needed to be dealt with (which for the military entailed killing them) in order to clear the way for motorists and other road users.

Meanwhile, in all of these series of killings of peaceful protesters, the Buhari-led government is yet to come out with a single video record showing members of the Nigerian armed forces being killed by the pro-Biafra agitators.

But thus far, the reverse has always been the case in the aftermath of every peaceful protest duly organized by pro-Biafra agitators in Nigeria, all in pursuit of their legitimate demand for a sovereign state of Biafra. And besides the fact that thousands of members of this separatist group have been mowed down in their prime for merely thronging the streets of Nigeria in demand for self-determination as adequately guaranteed by international laws and practices, the Amnesty International recently had to lend its strong voice in total condemnation of the Nigerian government’s persistent and cruel clampdown and massacre of these unarmed and peaceful protesters.

According to this highly esteemed international body, no less than a hundred and fifty unarmed civilians belonging to the separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, were brutally murdered in cold blood using torture, live bullets and other weaponry by members of the Nigerian armed forces – during the Biafra Remembrance Day of May 30, 2016.  And further to its graphic report titled Bullets Were Raining Everywhere, the Amnesty International’s findings clearly showed that the assertion that the peaceful protesters were the first to court the trouble and/or attack members of the Nigerian armed forces was neither here nor there. Strangely, as if the killing was not provoking enough, the same  security forces had to even go extra miles invading churches at Onitsha and its environs in Anambra State of Nigeria in furtherance of their killing spree and the hacking of peaceful protesters who happened to be in or had sought refuge in these hallowed places of worship.

How To Resolve The Biafra Question

By Charles Ogbu

It is no longer news that a secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by Nnamdi Kanu who is currently being detained by the Federal Government is seeking the separation of the South East states from Nigeria. The group wants the states to form a new country to be known as Biafra, the name by which the defunct Eastern Region was once known in 1967-1970. IPOB cites institutionalised marginalisation by the Nigerian state and state-sponsored killing of Igbo as reasons for its actions.

Successive Nigerian governments have responded with arrests, detention and outright killing of the group members. Some time ago, the Amnesty International released a damning video detailing cases where the Nigerian military under President Muhammadu Buhari killed not less than 150 members of the group inside a church and other locations in Onitsha, Anambra State on May 29/30 where the group had gathered to remember their heroes who died in the Biafra war four decades ago.

Also contained in the Amnesty report is a case where members of the Nigeria security agencies comprising police and soldiers swooped on unarmed IPOB members praying inside Ngwa High School, Aba, Abia State on February 9, 2016 and opened fire without warning, killing dozens of them and injuring hundreds.
 This, most certainly, cannot be the best way to solve the Biafra question. When a people complain of marginalisation in a country they call theirs and express a desire to secede as a result of that, it shouldn’t take the genius brain of Albert Einstein to know that the best way to attend to such a sensitive issue is not by rolling out the tanks against them. You don’t use force to keep an aggrieved partner in a relationship he/she has expressed a desire to quit. The easiest way to keep this aggrieved partner in the relationship is by addressing his/her grievances. This is what I believe the government of President Muhammadu Buhari should do with the Biafra issue.

Regardless of what anyone may think about the Biafra question, what even Buhari himself cannot dispute is the fact that some of the grievances of the IPOB group are genuine. It defies common sense that the government has repeatedly vowed never to negotiate with this unarmed group. Personally, I find it criminally offensive that a  Buhari government which is currently negotiating with the deadliest terror group in the whole world, Boko Haram, cannot bring itself to hold talks with the unarmed IPOB group which has been largely peaceful in carrying out its activities. You cannot be negotiating with the Boko Haram terror group which has killed thousands of Nigerians and displaced millions and protecting the murderous Fulani herdsmen with a strong 1000 man military taskforce while you are busy killing the unarmed and largely peaceful IPOB members. This cannot be right!

Python Dance, David Dance And What Have You!

By Fred Doc Nwaozor  

The last time I checked, Imo and South-East at large was dominated by operation this and that. Initially, it was only ‘Operation Python Dance’ until ‘Operation David Dance’ followed suit. The former – a military exercise – which is targeted at wiping out all forms of social ills lingering in the region including armed robbery, kidnapping, abduction, herdsmen/farmers clashes, and violent secessionist movements, was recently launched by the Nigerian Army (NA).

In various quarters, the residents of the affected area – particularly members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) – have strongly kicked against the military exercise, saying that it was not for the good interest of the entire people of the Igbo nation. To this end, the IPOB equally launched a parallel exercise code-named Operation David Dance. According to them, the ‘David’ signifies the one in the Holy Bible who defeated Goliath in a battlefield with a mere stone. It suffices to say: they were trying to insinuate that the military exercise represents ‘Goliath.’

As some groups within the South-East zone have continued to condemn the new military operation, which is meant to last between November 27 and December 27, 2016, the Army has explained extensively that the exercise did not mean any harm except to criminals, hence, would be in the overall interest of the good people of the area contrary to the views making the rounds. In a press statement released by the Deputy Director of the Army Public Relations – 82 Division Enugu – Colonel Sagir Musa, the initiative reportedly aimed towards achieving a hitch-free yuletide in the entire South-East would help the people of the region in the areas of healthcare and security, among others.

Col. Musa, however, categorically stated that the exercise wasn’t peculiar to the South-East. According to him, having painstakingly examined the myriad of security challenges across the country, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai directed the setting up of the conduct of both Command Post and Field Training exercises, as a way of enhancing troops preparedness toward combating the spectrum of the contemporary challenges. In view of this directive, the Army Headquarters instructed the immediate commencement of the request in different regions across the federation.

 He further highlighted those operations Ex Shirin Harbi, Ex Harbin Kunama, Ex Crocodile Smile, and Ex Python Dance were instituted for the North-East, North-West, Niger Delta, and South-East regions, respectively, in regard to their individual security plights. The information personnel equally disclosed that an elaborate Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) would be maintained throughout the exercise. Thus, he urged the people of the South-East to support rather than despise it, since it means well for them.

The Case For Pro-Biafra Agitators

By Onyorah Chiduluemije  

It is no longer news that ever since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed the mantle of leadership of Nigeria on May 29, 2015, one of his key focuses so far has been the incessant, premeditated and wanton killing of unarmed members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). More often, if the killing was not based on the falsehood that the IPOB members were the first to attack members of the Nigerian armed forces and as such had to be killed in return, it would be predicated on the spurious grounds that the hapless and unsuspecting victims of Buhari’s totalitarian and fascist government were obstructing the free flow of traffic and thus needed to be dealt with(which for the military entailed killing them) in order to clear the way for motorists and other road users.

Meanwhile, in all of these killings of peaceful protesters, the Buhari-led government is yet to come out with a single video record showing members of the Nigerian armed forces being attacked by the pro-Biafra agitators. But thus far, the reverse has always been the case in the aftermath of every peaceful protest duly organised by pro-Biafra agitators in Nigeria, all in pursuit of their legitimate demand for a sovereign state of Biafra. And besides the fact that thousands of members of this separatist group have been mowed down in their prime for merely thronging the streets of Nigeria in demand for self-determination as adequately guaranteed by international laws and practices, the Amnesty International (AI) recently had to lend its strong voice in total condemnation of the Nigerian government’s persistent and cruel clampdown and massacre of these unarmed and peaceful protesters.

According to this highly esteemed international body, no less than 150 unarmed civilians belonging to the separatist group were brutally murdered in cold blood using torture, live bullets and other lethal weapons. And further to its graphic report titled, “Bullets Were Raining Everywhere” the AI findings clearly showed that the assertion that the peaceful protesters were the first to attack members of the Nigerian armed forces was neither here nor there. Strangely, as if the killing was not provoking enough, the same soldiers and other security killer forces had to even go the extra mile of invading churches at Onitsha and its environs in Anambra State, Nigeria.

As it stands now, the Christian people of Eastern Nigeria – comprising the Igbo and folks of the Niger Delta region – are obviously not at war with the Nigerian state, unlike the case in the Northern part of Nigeria where the terrorist Boko Haram sect is increasingly having a field day and upper hand in the raging war in the region. Yet, the states within the South Eastern enclave are at the moment more militarised than the region which breeds and harbours terrorists in Nigeria. 

Arthur Nwankwo Disowns Pro-Biafra Group