Tinubu Must Find Dollars NOT Scapegoats!

 By Ugoji Egbujo

If they leave the major bleeding points oozing to fan the man because he is sweating, then they are like our government that has left crude oil thieves to chase BDC operators.

The country is in shock. Shock is what happens when circulation fails and systems start to shut down. Our country lies prostrate, bleating, like a man run over by a hit-and-run truck. Our foreign reserves are empty. The poor can’t buy food. The government is running helter-skelter to pander to the angry masses and save itself. Truth has been sacrificed. But that won’t do. So, scapegoats must be found. Perhaps, as the Igbo say, a desperate man is entitled to act a little crazy.  

One For Zik….

 By Obi Nwakanma

Today, let us celebrate worthy men. This past Thursday, November 16, was the birthday of a giant of history; a man whom the colorful Ozuomba Mbadiwe could have called “a Caterpillar,” who showed the light, so that Africans may see the way. Incidentally, that was the motto of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s newspaper, the West African Pilot: “Show the Light, and the People will find their way.”

*Zik

It was the message at the core of his anti-colonial nationalist organizing. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe – “Zik of Africa,” as he was very fondly called – was the leader of the African anti-colonial Nationalist Movement, from 1937 to 1957, culminating in decolonization, with the independence of Ghana, that year, and home rule for the regions in Nigeria also that year, and full national independence subsequently in 1960. 

Federal Republic of Fiction @ 63

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Nigeria is fiction. The country’s Constitution has been transferred to a new shelf in the library: the shelf containing fictional works. The latter-day patriots of Nigeria can cry all they want against me, but in this instance I only choose to stand solidly in solidarity with the words that Samuel Johnson uttered on the evening of April 7, 1775, to wit: “Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.”

There can never be a short supply of toadies and ill-assorted scoundrels defending the many fictions of the government of Nigeria in this new age when former activists and revolutionaries have turned into government spies and informants. 

Building Bridges For A New Nigeria

By Mike Ozekhome

This topic, “Building Bridges for a New Nigeria,” admits two things, namely, that Nigeria has failed or is failing; and there was an old Nigeria which was divided and that there is the need for a new Nigeria whose goal is to improve relationships among people who are very different, or do not like each other. So, this topic is about how to foster good relations among Nigerians. 

*Ozekhome 

Ethnicity, language and religion have divided and destroyed Nigeria. They drive our politics. Some Nigerians will vote for a thief provided he is from their tribe. Ethnicity, language and religion promote disunity, unhealthy rivalry and disenchantment. In this presentation, I will examine and probe the problems, and discern how bridge-building is the way forward for this nation. I particularly like the goals of Nzuko Umunna (NU), which is a general platform for creating effective management of Igbo professionals, both at home and in the diaspora, uniting and bridging the gap between the various Igbo groups; and promoting cooperation, peace and good neighbourliness between Igbos and other ethnic groups in Nigeria.

Nigeria: Must We Have This Census Now?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

It is no longer news that the Federal Government has activated plans to conduct a national population and housing census next month. The last time we had a census was March 2006. There is nothing bad in having a census; indeed, a lot of benefits will accrue if we really know how many of us are together in this country.

Historically, the first census was conducted in 1866 and this was followed by Censuses of 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901. However, all these earlier censuses were restricted to Lagos Colony and its environs. The 1871 census marked the beginning of decennial census in Nigeria in line with British tradition of census-taking every 10 years.

The Disinvitation Of Nasir El-Rufai By The NBA

By Tony Ademiluyi

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai came into the public limelight in 1999 when democracy returned back to the country after a sixteen year hiatus of military misrule. The then President Olusegun Obasanjo made El-Rufai the Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) which was saddled with the gargantuan responsibility of disposing some of the assets hitherto held by the government to private investors. It was as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory that his name became permanently etched in the minds of many Nigerians as he had the ambition of restoring the original master plan of the city.

 

*El-Rufai

Many houses including those owned by prominent Nigerians were bulldozed as the then diminutive minister spared no one and took no prisoners. Some of his die-hard supporters pushed his name forward as a possible successor to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007 after the alleged failure of the latter’s third term bid. For some reasons best known to Baba Iyabo as the former President is fondly called, he settled for the Late Umaru Musa Yar’adua who was then governing Katsina state. El-Rufai went into political winter for eight years after his former boss’s Presidency and he was hounded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to give an account of his eight-year stewardship especially as the minister. He went on to write his memoir – ‘The Accidental Public Servant’ which was an interesting read even though some critics accused him of hagiography.

Of Rats And Rodents Driving President Buhari Out Of Office

By Mike Ozekhome

It is a very shameful and disgraceful statement that emanated from the presidency to the effect that President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB), after a whole 105 days abroad on medical grounds, cannot work from his office because of rats and rodents. So, a whole Julius Berger, the German construction giant has to be called in to drive them away and repaint the office! This statement further derides and shames Nigeria as a country.

Why didn't the same or similar rodents pursue Olusegun Obasanjo, Umar Musa Yar'adua or Goodluck Jonathan during their presidency? For truth, there is another mini office at the villa quite different from the official residence and main office. Let PMB work from there.

Let's see our president working, not through still photo shopping. For how long will this government take the Nigerian citizens for a ride and for robots ? Who told the image makers we are as brainless as they are? Don't they know that lies have expiry date and that propaganda cannot substitute for image making?

Nnamdi Kanu, Biafra And The False Premise

By Femi Fani-Kayode

In a short contribution titled "Biafra Without Our Consent?" which appears to have gone viral on social media, a social commentator wrote as follows:

*Nnamdi Kanu

"I think the current generation of 'Biafrans' are the most funny people I have ever seen. How dare you sit in your home or offices and draw your Biafra map and include places like Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, etc as part of your empire? Did you consult them? Did you seek their opinions? You are forcing people to join a country whose commander in chief you have already anointed- Nnamdi Kanu; whose currency you have already decided- Biafra Pounds; whose official religion you have already adopted- Judaism; whose God you have already chosen- Chukwu Abiama? Do you not realize that you are doing to those people the same thing you accuse the British and Nigeria of doing to you? For carving my state into your 'Biafra' and renaming it without my permission and consultation, I have a moral duty to stand against you with everything I have. I am not standing against you because I do not want your freedom; I stand against you because I love mine too. I don't stand against you because you don't have a right to your country; I stand against you because I have the same right. I stand against you because your map is an insult to me and my freedom to choose were I belong. Be warned!"

This commentator who I shall refer to as Miss X and those that think like her are being disingenious and unduly hostile to Nnamdi Kanu and the concept and spirit of Biafra.

She has made a point that appears to be valid but that point is based on a false premise. That premise is that the southern minorities would be compelled or obliged to be part of Biafra without their consent. This is false. It is not true.

The truth is that each of the bordering ethnic nationalities, and even the Igbo themselves, must and will have their own referendum before going anywhere. It is entirely up to them what they do and where they go.

They cannot and will not be forced to go with Biafra if they choose not to do so. And neither can they be forced to remain in Nigeria if they choose to leave.

Everything that is done must and will be based on the free and fair expression of the will of the people.

That is the basic point that needs to be grasped and clearly understood. Miss X's fear is therefore baseless.

Yet we cannot leave it there. We must consider the wider issues that her concerns have raised. We must learn to be clear-headed and strategic in our thinking and actions. We must know what we wish to achieve and we must learn from history.

The cost of petty bickering, division, undue rivalry, pettiness and age-old suspicions amongst the southern ethnic minorities and southerners generally is extremely high.

It has cost us virtually everything and it has stripped us naked and bare before our enemies and adversaries.

Discourse On Our 'Mumu', Part II -- Liberty Or Slavery?

--A backroom view of the state of the struggle for a True Federalism Constitution.

By Chinweizu

10 January 2015

Sundoor999@gmail.com

  

Why rebrand as the New South Liberation Movement, NSLM?

Another issue that the CSC session should take up is the rebranding of the struggle and turning it into the Nigerian Liberation Movement, NLM, or better still into the New South Liberation Movement, NSLM? So, why rebrand? Why NLM or NSLM?

A crucial step in ending our “mumu” is for us to recognize that the issue for us all in the New South is liberty or slavery.

One consequence of our “mumu” has been our comparatively laid back approach to the struggle. Instead of meeting the militancy of Arewa with our own counter militancy, we have been making gentleman, negotiating rather than fighting. In December 2013, on the way to the National Conference, one of the Caliphate militants, Junaid Mohammed, even warned us “‘Supporters of SNC asking for civil war’” and that “‘There’ll be bloodshed, if Jonathan runs’”. And, like mumu, we failed to take the hint, failed to realize that they were already in war mode going into the National Conference. And we went to the same conference in gentlemanly negotiations mode. The other side has been fighting with the vigilance and courage of desperation, the desperation of a hungry lion who won’t let his prey escape and deny him his dinner.