From: NigerianID@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Ibukunolu Alao Babajide
Sent: Thu 11-Nov-10 8:15 AM
To: Igietseme, Joseph (CDC/OID/NCPDCID); NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com; NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com; OBSERVE YOURSELF; naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com; usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; afenmai@yahoogroups.com; edo-nationality@yahoogroups.com; nigerianid@yahoogroups.com
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Subject: Re: NigerianID | RE: Jonathan is Igbo, yes Igbo, and we back him- says Amechi
Take some time to study the history and evolution and the development of Nigeria. The British created different administrative models in the Protectorate of Northern, and the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. In 1860 we had the colony of Lagos. Later, different southern states were conquered to form the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria - this was completed in 1923 when the Egba were fully crushed after a tax uprising.
At the same time, negotiating with the Germans in Kameroon and the French, and in 1909 with the destruction of Borgu after Sokoto and others had been conquered, the protectorate of Northern Nigeria was also created.
I hope you are following me so far. While these conquests were going on, the British engaged with these different people differently, especially in the North. That engagement was generally described as Indirect Rule. The key consideration of the British was administrative convenience and how to exploit a very large territory that was four and a half times the size of Great Britain and Ireland.
In the South because of the nature of engagement, the rule was direct rule.
In 1914 there was an amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates. Clifford's Constitution.
Then the debates on the way forward where Chief Obafemi Awolowo emerged with his idea of federalism came in the late 30's and early 40's leading to the three regions North, East and West - Richard's Constitution.
Then in 1951 we had the Macpherson Constitution that paves the way for regional self governance and that led to the 1960 Independence, Constitution, the 1963 Republican Constitution, the barrage of military decrees starting in 1966, the 1979 Constitution that gave us Executive presidency, and the 1999 Constitution that we are using now.
Two Books will help you. Try:
1. Kalu Ezera; Constitutional Developments in Nigeria: An Analytical Study of Nigeria's Constitution-Making Developments and the Historical and Political Factors That Affected Constitutional Change; and
2. Benjamin Nwabueze; The Constitutional History of Nigeria.
The British signed bogus treaties with different ethnic groups under different conditions. They signed with Igbessa, Ilaro, Owode, and so many small kingdoms in the Yewa side because we were facing threats from Dahomey invaders and they easily provided us with protection. They had to destroy some other kingdoms like Benin, and Borgu, and others. In Gongola and Bornu, they took former German territories after defeating the Germans in the first world war.
So it is a mix of ethnicity, religion, preferences, administrative convenience, and other considerations that evolved Nigeria. You cannot legislate away ethnicity. I keep telling you that you have a fundamental error of conception when you see ethnicity as primitive and the opposite of your self-created Americanized modern state.
Modern states come in different shapes and sizes and forms. Some with ethnicity at its base, others with religion, while others like America is an aggregation of immigrants and settlers. Two nights ago in Edison, an Austrian Taxi driver gave me a ride from Edison Station to my Double Tree Hotel in Somerset in New Jersey. He made a very profound statement - "Everybody here comes from somewhere else."
Nigeria is diverse and plural in ethnicity, religion, orientation, some like you look to Washington for inspiration whereas others look to Riyadh (Mecca) for their own inspiration, while many look to Ile-Ife for theirs and so on and so forth.
Your analytical prism is simplistic and rather childish. Modern states evolve, and so many different factors inform their evolution. Countries like Germany and Italy which are both less than 200 years old are primarily ethnic driven, like-wise many countries in Europe. Dr. Val Ojo has made this point to you in the past.
Indonesia and Malaysia are driven by ethnicity and religion. Malaysia has the Malay Mala, the Indian Malay, and the Chinese Malay with some having political power (Malay Malay), others having economic power (Chinese Malay) and the different religions like Islam, Hinduism, and Bhudism also playing a part.
Let me add that the British who sacrificed life and limb to conquer us will not let their investment just slip away like a drunken sailor does - in 1940, as they were putting in place the Richards Constitution inflated the population of the North and until today that lie is at the foundation of our polity - read the Edwin Clarke Ciroma exchanges. In 1945 they cut large chunks of the East as part of the North and large chunks of the West as part of the North. That is still causing us problems till today.
So my dear Mr. Modern state, take time to read on subjects outside your ken, and learn. There are different forces at play. The ethnic is just one of them. There is the religious force, settler and indigene another, education another, economics another, etc etc. You can not single out one factor of ethnicity for denigration and vilification. In some ways it is a force for good and in others it may not be a force for much good.
Like you mad friend the vicious animal Chukwuma Agwunobi will say, I rest my case.
IBK
Received: 07:12 AM EAT, 11/11/2010
From: "Igietseme, Joseph (CDC/OID/NCPDCID)" <jbi8@cdc.gov>
To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com, NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com, "OBSERVE YOURSELF" <NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com>, naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com, usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com, afenmai@yahoogroups.com, edo-nationality@yahoogroups.com, nigerianid@yahoogroups.com
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Subject: NigerianID | RE: Jonathan is Igbo, yes Igbo, and we back him- says Amechi
The apparent political enchantment of the South is a HEAVY BURDEN in Nigerian politics! It is truly UNFORTUNATE that many Southerners like to believe that when an Adamawa, Bornu Benue-Plateau, Nupe/Niger, Sokoto, Kano or Katstina emerges as Nigerian leader, it is the NORTH ruling Nigeria; however, whenever, a SWesterner or SEasterner emerges as Nigerian leader, they dont see it as South ruling Nigeria; Southerners like to selfishly see the South as distinct SW, SE and lately SS political entities, while they see the North as one political entity; they forget that Northern Nigerian has NW, NC, NE and the Middle Belt as legitimate and independent geo-political regions as well. Nigerians MUST rise beyond these Ethnic-focused politicking to move forward meaningfully in quality governance. Take care. JUI
From: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Ukaegbu
Sent: Sun 07-Nov-10 9:25 AM
To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com; 'OBSERVE YOURSELF'; naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com
Cc: igbo_forum@yahoogroups.com; igboevents@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [NIgerianWorldForum] ||NaijaObserver||Jonathan is Igbo, yes Igbo, and we back him— says AmechiPresident Jonathan is not an Igbo man.
His Igbo names do not make him Igbo any more than his last name Jonathan makes him an Englishman.
Even if a person is Igbo and chooses not be anymore; he should be obliged.
*ezekwe*
From: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com [mailto:NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of vincent modebelu
Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2010 1:29 AM
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Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] ||NaijaObserver||Jonathan is Igbo, yes Igbo, and we back him— says Amechi
Jonathan is Igbo, yes Igbo, and we back him— says Amechi
Saturday, 06 November 2010 00:00 Emma-Enyinnaya Appolos
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Chief Mbazuluike Amechi, 81, is Nigeria’s first Minister of Aviation during the First Republic. He is one of the few Nigerians of Igbo extraction who struggled for independence with the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. He was a strong member of the Zikist Movement, a pressure group that sprang up from the National Congress of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), one of the major political parties that fought the British colonial masters and won independence for the country in 1960. Popularly known as “The Boy is Good”, Amechi lives in Ukpor, a hilly and rocky village near Nnewi, in Anambra State.
The nationalist spoke with EMMAUEL ENYINNAYA APPOLOS on some tropical national issues.
As one of those who were part of the national struggle for Nigeria’s independence, you are familiar with the history of the country and of course that of the Igbos. How would you describe the present plight of the Igbo in Nigeria with respect to the 2011 presidential election and the Igbo support for President Goodluck Jonathan?
I fired the first shot on May 11 this year, when I delivered the annual lecture in memory of the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. At that time, there was the debate in the media as for zoning or no zoning, rotation or no rotation of presidency. And I made a case and said; at independence, Nigeria was made up of three regions; the northern region, western region and the eastern region. Among these regions, the north has ruled Nigeria for a total 38 years and six months. From Tafawa Balewa, to Yakubu Gowon, to Murtala Mohammed, to Shehu Shagari, to Mohammed Buhari, to Ibrahim Babangida, to Sani Abacha, to Abdulsalami Abubakar and Musa Yar’Adua. The western region has ruled Nigeria for a total of 12 years and six months; from Olusegun Obasanjo the soldier, to Ernest Shonekan and to Olusegun Obasanjo the civilian. The eastern region, at the time I delivered the lecture in Lagos, had ruled Nigeria for only eight months. Six months by Aguiyi-Ironsi and the two months, as at that time, by Goodlcuk Jonathan. Now, I said whether it is called zoning or rotation, equity and justice demand that the next president of this country in 2011, should come from the old eastern region, of which Bayelsa State, where Jonathan is from, is one. In the old eastern region, Bayelsa State was what was then known as the Brass Division of Eastern Nigeria. Our argument is that it is the turn of the old eastern region, which is made up of the Igbos in the present south-east and the non Igbos in the south-south. Now, since nobody has declared interest to contest the president in 2011 from the Igbo side of the old eastern region, and somebody, in the person of Jonathan, from the non Igbo side of the old eastern region, has declared interest to run for president in 2011, then we in this side of the old eastern region have decided to support. Th e issue which the north raised, saying that it is their turn, does not arise here because, when they succeeded themselves to rule for 38 years and six months, the issue of zoning was never considered.
Again, people who are talking about zoning have forgotten that zoning is an internal fair of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a political party. But again, I challenge anybody to say that zoning has never been regarded in the PDP. I am in the position to say what I am saying now. I was a card carrying member of the PDP until I turned 75 some five years ago, and I decided to withdraw from active partisan politics.
In 2003, when Obasanjo was seeking PDP nomination for his second term, I was the chairman of the Screening Committee of the PDP then; I screened all the PDP presidential aspirants. And in the position to tell the world that I screened Obasanjo alongside Barnabas Gemade, the late Abubakar Rimi, and other aspirants from the north. They were aspirants and I screened them to contest the party ticket of which, if anyone of them had won the primary then, I am sure that the party wouldn’t have asked the person to go home and allow Obasanjo for second term on the ground of zoning.
Before they came for me to screen them, they were cleared by the party and declare fit to contest the primary. So where was the zoning in PDP then? If there was agreement or zoning then, that it would be the south only for PDP ticket, the party should not have cleared Gemade, Rimi and others before sending them to my committee to screen. I am sure you get the point I am making.
So, zoning, as far as the PDP is concerned was never meant to be regarded, it was only a matter of convenience. In any case, the case of the Igbo Summit and the case of Ohaneze Ndigbo is that whatever you are talking, until the south-south and the south-east, these two zones that was together as the old eastern region, have had their turn in the presidency, no other zone or region in this country should talk about having the presidency.
This position of Igbo Summit and Ohaneze Ndigbo, has been opposed by some Igbo politicians led by Chief Simon Okeke. And the Okeke group is saying that the north should have the presidency in 2011. The group also said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the north that after a north president rules for four years, then the north will hand over to south-east in 2015. How do you respond to this?
When Simon Okeke and his group was discussing this issue, that was before the Igbo Summit on the 15 of August in Enugu, I held a meeting with them in Abuja. I must explained this, the S. N Okeke group is made up of prominent well respected Igbo people who held political offices, and at the end of their tenure, they decided to settle and live in Abuja, and they don’t come home. These are people who deserted home in Igboland and based in Abuja, they don’t know what is happening at home, they don’t hold meeting with anybody at home, they are afraid of coming home, they are in Abuja, and don’t know what Igbo at home are saying. If they have anything to say or to tell the Igbos, they should come home and call a meeting of Ndigbo. For them to stay in Abuja and hold meetings with Adamu Ciroma and some other northern politicians, and said they signed agreement with the north, when it comes to implementation, they should come and do it.
Just the Igbo Summit position, the Ohaneze Ndigbo, under the leadership of Ambassador Raph Uwechue, has also declared Igbo support for Jonathan in 2011, what have you to say about this?
I am a member of Imeobi Ohaneze Ndigbo, and I am aware that, apart from the executive of Ohaneze, the President-General and his team, held a meeting with the various Igbo groups asking them their views on the issue of 2011 presidency. They also met the traditional rulers (Ndieze) of the five Igbo states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, in Abakiliki and the traditional rulers said that they support that the Ndigbo should support Jonathan in 2011.
It was after the meetings that Ohaneze executive came out, as the pan-Igbo socio-political orhganisation, to declare the support of Ndigbo for Jonathan in 2011. In other words, what the Ohaneze executive has done is to report the out of long secret meetings with various Igbo groups to know what they want in 2011.
Last week Saturday, the Imeobi held at Enugu and by resolution, endorsed the Ohaneze position on 2011. The Imeobi also declare that every legible Igbo voter should vote for Jonathan when the time comes.
There are so many arguments that the Igbo Summit and Ohaneze were financed from the Villa in Abuja. Is it true?
I can only talk about the Summit, which I chaired. I presided over the summit; I have no contact with the President. As a matter of fact, I am not happy with the government of Nigeria, including the President because the Jonathan has joined his predecessors in office to ignore the founding fathers of this country. I am one of the very few surviving founders and nationalists of this country. Successive governments in Nigeria, starting from the unpatriotic military that we had in the past have ignored and neglected us, even the Jonathan has also joined them in ignoring and neglecting us.
They did 50 years of Nigerian existence as an independent nation; they didn’t even have the courtesy to me to any of the functions. In the whole of Igboland, I and Bon Udeagu are the only surviving Zikist. In whole of Igboland, of the 11 of us that went into government as Ministers in the First Republic, I am the only surviving one, yet the government of this country does not consider me fit to be invited me to where celebrating 50 years of the sacrifice that I made.
I am not saying this to favour Jonathan, but I am speaking on the ground of principle, that this part of the country, Igboland, where Azikiwe and other nationalists, who fought for the independence, has been relegated to the background in Nigeria, that is what I am fighting for.
The summit we had, yes, a young man from Oraifite, I can’t remember his name, he paid fopr the Hall we used for the summit in Enugu. To answer your question, no government, no political party gave us any money. I am not fighting this battle for.
As a matter of fact, among the aspirants for the presidency, from the not, I had Guasu as a very close friend for whom I have very great regards for, and he also have great respect for me. Ordinarily, I would have worked for him, campaign for him to become the president. But because of the principle that the Igbos and the old eastern region of Nigeria have been neglected, I decided not to support my friend. To me, it is not a matter of somebody somewhere saying that I am sponsored to do what I did. By the way, how can anybody sponsor me now? For what? Am I looking for money from anybody? What am I doing with money? Am I looking for name or to be known? What name or popularity would anybody give me now that God has not given m?
If Jonathan succeeds, when do you think it will get to the South-East for presidency?
2015. That is when the Igbos will produced a Nigeria president from the east.
Do you think Jonathan or any other person who wins will do only one term?
Of course Jonathan has not said he will do more than one term. He is already doing half a term now, and he will complete and handover to the south-east in 2015.
Again, Jonathan is running the election because he is so ambitious, but the Jonathan I see, is an anointed of God. See how Jonathan came up, from a humble position of a deputy governor until when nobody expected, he is the now the president of Nigeria. Don’t you see there is a hand of God in Goodlcuk Jonathan? God knows this country has been rotten since 1966, when the military criminals took over the country. The country, Nigeria, has gone from bad to worse, stealing, looting, vandalizing and carting away the wealth of the nation as well as destroying the foundation which the nationalists built, but God has said enough is enough, and has chosen somebody from nowhere to do the cleansing job of Nigeria, and I pity Jonathan because job is too much, but God is with him.
So He has chosen Jonathan to redeem the country and putting it on the track again for development. At independence, Brazil, India and Nigeria, were the country which the world looked up to these three counties as the up-coming big nations of the world. But today, Brazil and India attain that height, it is only Nigeria that is groping in the dark of underdevelopment, and swimming in the ocean of corruption which the military boys introduced.
So if God himself has decided that enough is enough and has anointed a Jonathan to be used for that cleansing purpose, anybody who is standing on his way is kicking against a heavy stone. And Jonathan himself, when he gets there, must not forget where he came from, if he does, God would bring him down. What Nigeria needs now is a president that will cleanse up the whole country because every government office is rotten, from the presidency to the legislature down to the judiciary everywhere is rotten because looting and stealing has been legalised.
As a member of the Imeobi Ohaneze, what is your reaction to the tenure extension for Ohaneze executive, which the Imeobi came up with at it last meeting?
Imeobi has just only proposed and that is not to say that the constitution has been amended. The Imeobi reasoned that because of the situation we are in now, we can’t go into election of Ohaneze executive from the local governments to the highest that is why we asked the Ambassador Raph Uwechue led executive to stay for two more years.
I read in the newspapers, somebody who claimed to the Eze Ndigbo in Shomolu in Lagos, and that person was questioning the Imeobi decision; first of all, he is not what he claims to be. If he wants to challenge the Imeobi, let him come to Imeobi meetings and make his argument.
Again, there is a general assembly on Saturday, that is today, let that man in Lagos come and make his argument.
The Igbo Summit, Ohaneze Ndigbo has opted for Jonathan in 2011, does it just stop at that, what are you people doing to ensure that Ndigbo will back up the positions with their votes?
We are not going to do a Jonathan’s campaign for him, but we decided that as a matter of principle, we advise Ndigbo to support him, so it is for him to do his campaign and stop rigging to win the election. The Igbos will vote him, but he should do his campaign very well.
What is you assessment of the Uwechue’s executive in Ohaneze?
Uwechue has done better than those before him in the Ohaneze leadership, except that of Eze Ozobu, which also did well. The Professor Joe Irukwu era was marred with several crises because Irukwu made a mistake of endorsing Obasanjo third term ambition, that got him into crisis and that crisis continue until the Dozie Ikedife era, but it was more stable that the Irukwu era. But there is total stability in the leadership of Uwechue. His utterances are mature and wise though he is a diplomat and he works very hard for the Igbo interest and that equity must be done to our people and to Nigerians in other zones.
At 81, what keeps you so strong, handsome and very eloquent?
I appreciate what God has given to me and what I have is enough for me. And God has in His wisdom has put me here in this village, since 1966, that army took over the country, I retire to this village and started life as a farmer, breeding livestock, set up a meat processing factory, at a stage when I was trying to sink borehole for my farm, I discovered a mineral here, the caioline, and I have been mining caioline and that has kept me going. I am here in this village, people are afraid of being kidnap, nobody is kidnapping me here.
Again, about how I look, the simple truth about it is that, apart from being ok with what I have, I am not rich and I am not poor. Tow, I have a wife who does a lot of panel-beating on me, you when you panel-beat an old vehicles, you give it a new look, that is what my wife does on me. So as you are looking at me, you are looking at a panel-beating vehicle. The only time you will discover that I am not really a strong vehicle despite the panel-beating is when I try to climb the Ukpor hill; you will discover that the number three gear can’t take you always (laughs). I am a very happy man and I thank God for the good health.
vin......///
yesterdays thoughts are today's news
will keep blowing while relaxed.....they are listening
SEE YOU IN TORONTO IN 2011
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