Monday, July 10, 2017

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: IF YOU LOVE NIGERIA, SAY SO

Thank you for buttressing my initial claims against the insularities of the Biafranists that in Nigeria we are indeed one big family:  

Forumites and indeed Nigerians now habour no doubts that Murtala is both a south easterner as well as a northerner and Obasanjo is both a south westerner as well as a southwesterner (no wonder the cordial relations between the two: they know they both epitomise the alloyed essence of the One at the Crossroads who is neither this nor that but indeed both, of which spake the Solomonic lore of two motherhood of one child.

So when Biafranites hate Murtala the northerner they hate their own and when they castigate Obasanjo the southwesterner they castigate their own!

Thus it is that the Gods make mirth of the affairs of men and the Gods live merrily thereafter:

The Gods are not to blame....



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.


-------- Original message --------
From: Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com>
Date: 09/07/2017 20:47 (GMT+00:00)
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: IF YOU LOVE NIGERIA, SAY SO

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

Olayinka Agbetuyi,

I read the following with dismay: Without the SNC, OPC, Oduduwa Republic struggle, the two major parties in 1999 would have ceded their tickets to Yoruba candidates, would they? The 1999 election was an all-Yoruba contest. Why? Why do you think the elders you mentioned pleaded with Obasanjo, a Yoruba, to run?- Professor Moses Ebe Ochonu.

It was Abubakar Rimi who first challenged the ceding of the PDP presidential candidate to the South (mark you, not to the Southwest) as undemocratic. In the PDP Presidential primary of 1999, Alex Ekwueme  and Abubakar Rimi contested against Obasanjo, but lost. A substantial part of power brokers in the North who were against Abacha wanted someone in the South they could trust and that person was Obasanjo because as a military ruler he handed power to a Northerner in the controversial Presidential election of 1979 in which two-third of nineteen was approximated to twelve in order to make Shagari President. The remnants of Abacha formed the ANPP  to oppose PDP and their Presidential Obasanjo who Abacha had put in jail but released and pardoned after Abacha's death. The ANPP ceded their Presidential candidate to the South and chose Olu Falae, a Yoruba, to counter Obasanjo. Simple logic dictates that if Alex Ekwueme had won the PDP Presidential primary against Obasanjo, ANPP would also have picked its Presidential candidate from the Southeast. It is mere babble to attribute that to SNC, OPC and Oduduwa Republic struggle. If the candidacy of Obasanjo as presidential candidate in 1999 was an appeasement of the Yoruba because of June 12, 1993, the Yoruba ought to have voted for him en-mass since the pillars of ANPP were distinctively associated with Abacha who had imprisoned both Abiola and Obasanjo. As it occurred, Obasanjo did not win even in his own polling district while Falae's ANPP won the Presidential poll in the Southwest with the support of AD. In 1999 and against the wish of the people of Southwest, Obasanjo won the Presidential election with votes from the North, South-south and Southeast. And because of Obasanjo's hostilities against the Yoruba during his era, combined with the domination of his administration by people of the Southeast, the newspaper, Nation, traced his paternal origin to Onitsha.

S. Kadiri    
 




Från: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> för Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>
Skickat: den 9 juli 2017 16:23
Till: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Kopia: Olayinka Agbetuyi
Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: IF YOU LOVE NIGERIA, SAY SO
 
Moses:

I agree with you in most of the things you say patriotism can be used to disguise or perpetrate  but it can also be used to galvanise a nation to its highest achievements or promote cohesion.  Thats why I put in my first response that patriotism is laudable if voluble and activist promoters of patriotism actually MEAN it.  

The difference between you and I is attitude: one attitude is cynical of human potentials the other is open minded.



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.


-------- Original message --------
From: Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com>
Date: 09/07/2017 13:22 (GMT+00:00)
To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: IF YOU LOVE NIGERIA, SAY SO

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (meochonu@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info
Yinka,

You're actually making my point about the ebbs and flows of patriotic and separatist agitations and how these sentiments tend to correspond to how certain regions or peoples are feeling in relation to the union. Without the SNC, OPC, Oduduwa Republic struggle, the two major parties in 1999 would not have ceded their tickets to Yoruba candidates, would they?The 1999 election was an all-Yoruba contest. Why? Why do you think the elders you mentioned pleaded with Obasanjo, a Yoruba, to run? If the Southwest had not raised a stink about June 12, had not parlayed it into separatist and centrifugal agitations post 1993, and had simply taken it in the chin, would an Obasanjo candidacy have been plausible? Would the political elite in Nigeria have concluded that it was wise, in the interest of preserving and stabilizing the union, to cede the presidency to the southwest?

Although the second  most vehement opposition to Biafra is coming from the Middle Belt (next to the North), because the peoples who identify as Middle Belters probably resent the prospect of Biafra more than they resent the current union, you're absolutely right that in a region ravaged by herdsmen attacks and other ethnic clashes, the smug patriotism of "I love Nigeria" would be a hard sell. And that is exactly my point. But it was not always so. The region used to be suffused with a high sense of patriotism or commitment to the union; in fact the Igbo still blames it for helping to defeat Biafra and for preserving the Nigerian union. But this patriotism has taken flight as the region has experienced violence and convulsions and the Nigerian state has proven incapable of protecting lives and preserving peace. So, your example proves my point.

Even the Niger Delta, or more appropriately the militants who were amnestied, found a reason to "love Nigeria" during the presidencies of Yar'Adua and Good luck Jonathan after many years of separatist agitations.

All of these examples prove my point about the flakiness of patriotism in Nigeria, and its dependence on the political and economic fortunes, real or perceived, of certain regions and ethnicities at particular junctures.

That is why I don't respect patriotism in the Nigerian context and don't put much stock in it. Beyond this, as I stated, I harbor a deep-seated scholarly and philosophical suspicion and distrust of loud declarations of patriotism. Look at what patriotism is being used to do in the US, where I live. It is used to shut down critics, to silence those perceived not to sufficiently belong, to exclude those with a different ideology and skin color, those whose loyalty is questioned, those considered alien and not adequately American, etc. Patriotism is advanced to bolster the military industrial complex, the single biggest danger to the country and perhaps the world.

On Sun, Jul 9, 2017 at 2:42 AM, Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
Moses: 
I have canvassed (and still do) restructuring the nation since 1998. I still prefer a decentred presidency given the geopilitical situation in Nigeria where there will not be only one person as president to the discomfiture of those who want to import the American system into Nigeria hook line and sinker.

I believe that should in large part take care of the separatist agitation caused in large part by the PERCEPTION that whoever is at the centre had cornered the largest cream of the national cake.

The presidency was not given to Obasajo after June 12 because of OPCs blackmail as you suggested but because decent men all over the country felt Aare Abiola should not have been murdered in captivity just because Babangida and his military sidekicks did not want him to rule.

If your thesis about ethnicity as the determinant of patriotism is valid why was this not more noticeable during the time of Obasanjo as President when everyone knew that he had more friends in the North and more critics in the Southwest that northerners were even hatching a plan for him to subvert the Constitution and run for a third time?

Isnt it a fact that Middle Belters in this campaign have just found unlikely bedfellows in the odious irrational separatist contention of Biafranists as surrogates because they think the larger Islamic population in the North is inferior to the minority Christians simply on account of their ways and their faith?  Fortunately and unfortunately democracy is a game of numbers.

Yes, there are issues of hate such as the attrocities of the Fulani Herdsmen which I have roundly condemned.  But is separatism the unavoidable solution to that?

Finally, if Buhari had treated the East with contempt but it is now the face of 'Joseph' Osinbajo (vizier) we see, (politics is the art of the possible) should that not be enough palliative for the East?



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.


-------- Original message --------
From: Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com>
Date: 09/07/2017 06:47 (GMT+00:00)
To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: IF YOU LOVE NIGERIA, SAY SO

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (meochonu@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info
Yinka,

The absence of unanimity in Southwestern politics in the post-June 12 period does not vitiate my point. What I was referencing is the elite political consensus of the Southwest, the dominant political consensus of the post-June 12 period. By the way, the Southwest successfully leveraged that separatist  agitation (SNC, OPC, and Oduduwa Republic advocacy)  to ensure that a Yoruba person became president in 1999, with the two major parties both conceding their presidential tickets to Yoruba men--Obasanjo and Falae. 

There is no region of Nigeria that has enjoyed political unanimity in terms of its position on and in the union at any time. There were and still are dissenting voices in the Niger Delta, who never favored the oil militancy. Not everyone in Igboland is in favor of Biafra and some are heavily invested in the Abuja-centered politics of Nigeria. Not everyone in the Middle Belt bought into Joseph Tarka and co's Middle Belt political agenda. Not everyone in the North was a follower of Ahmadu Bello. There was PRP, just as Awoism had its dissenters in the Southwest, etc, etc. But at any point in Nigeria's postcolonial history, you can discern where a particular people or region stand, the prevailing dominant political sentiment, and the consensus of its political elite. There is no question that in the post-June 12 period, patriotic sentiment was in short supply in the Southwest and disillusionment with the Nigerian union was at an all time high there. Today, the story is dramatically different, with you and at least three other Yoruba people gleefully and, in my opinion, smugly performing your patriotism on this thread in response to the original post by Fakinlede. I consider the entire exercise a bit vulgar and disturbing. My scholarly sensibilities condition me to be suspicious of such displays. I speak for myself alone.

Anyway, let's not argue about irrelevant details. My point about the ebbs and flows of patriotic sentiments corresponding to people's relationship to, role in, or marginalization from the federal government at any point in time remains. Even Biafra agitation, while vibrant during the Jonathan period, reached a new crescendo in correspondence to the undisguised contempt with which Buhari (not Osinbajo) has treated the Igbo, their aspirations, and their interests. It is not an accident that all of you engaging in incestuously embarrassing declarations of patriotism on this thread are Yoruba people, whose ethnic unit are on the ascendancy in this government and whose ethnic kin is the acting president. I could give other examples from different parts parts of the country to illustrate my point about patriotism in Nigeria being a relative strategic, self-interested, and Machiavellian enterprise.

Two last things. My overarching point is not even about the ideological and prebendal underpinning of effusive expressions of patriotism. Rather it is about how aggressive patriotism of the type being exhibited here is a dangerous phenomenon because it excludes (thanks Ken) and provides comfort and succor to powerful people who hide behind patriotic rhetoric to perpetrate evil, avoid doing what they should, defend incompetence, ignore problems and legitimate agitations, get away with oppression, and divide people. 

I've been writing against the dangers of hyper-patriotic and pretentious patriotism that papers over the problems and deficits of the union for at least fifteen years. I could refer you to essays I published about fifteen years ago critiquing this woolly notion of patriotism. Besides, it was Wole Soyinka who said a tiger needs not declare its tigritude. I believe that wisdom applies to patriotism.

Finally, how can your response to the proliferation of centrifugal agitations in response to the malignant dysfunction of the union and to legitimate aspirations for structural reforms of the status quo be to simply declare your patriotism? How is that the answer? Is that not escapist?

On Fri, Jul 7, 2017 at 4:02 PM, Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
Chicken and egg situation again!  Is it the 'I love Nigeria ' attitude yhat leads to separatist agitations or the separatist agitations that provoke the "I love Nigeria"  attitude?



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.


-------- Original message --------
From: Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@gmail.com>
Date: 07/07/2017 06:37 (GMT+00:00)
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: IF YOU LOVE NIGERIA, SAY SO

----
This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (chidi.opara@gmail.com)
Add cleanup rule: https://www.boxbe.com/popup?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.boxbe.com%2Fcleanup%3Fkey%3D6grzfh%252FIvfq5XB0UBsqNNHpwAIdourxJyTnm15XAjQo%253D%26token%3DnExRNQk1vhqkx1lfPQMGbnCT5Zsxz8lyjkDTFWDNqyBRQwjblsNOpT5f0J8njXdeSnZaunwsu4a9ObvaimKTzeFDLnfIbvQvNQTbsfBNvh0l8C%252FZhIjyZrw%252BNo4IHUdWEIVuJ4Qd0bdROFsefeNuyw%253D%253D&tc_serial=31313879729&tc_rand=1419917090&utm_source=stf&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ANNO_CLEANUP_ADD&utm_content=001
More info: http://blog.boxbe.com/general/boxbe-automatic-cleanup?tc_serial=31313879729&tc_rand=1419917090&utm_source=stf&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ANNO_CLEANUP_ADD&utm_content=001
----

Kayode,
I am from the South-East and "my calculated self-interest" does not permit me to "love" Nigeria according to your own definition of love.

Moreover, it is this attitude of people like you(the elite)that gives impetus to separatist agitations, which you and your comrades try hard to label unpatriotic!

CAO.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com 
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

No comments:

Post a Comment

 
Vida de bombeiro Recipes Informatica Humor Jokes Mensagens Curiosity Saude Video Games Car Blog Animals Diario das Mensagens Eletronica Rei Jesus News Noticias da TV Artesanato Esportes Noticias Atuais Games Pets Career Religion Recreation Business Education Autos Academics Style Television Programming Motosport Humor News The Games Home Downs World News Internet Car Design Entertaimment Celebrities 1001 Games Doctor Pets Net Downs World Enter Jesus Variedade Mensagensr Android Rub Letras Dialogue cosmetics Genexus Car net Só Humor Curiosity Gifs Medical Female American Health Madeira Designer PPS Divertidas Estate Travel Estate Writing Computer Matilde Ocultos Matilde futebolcomnoticias girassol lettheworldturn topdigitalnet Bem amado enjohnny produceideas foodasticos cronicasdoimaginario downloadsdegraca compactandoletras newcuriosidades blogdoarmario arrozinhoii sonasol halfbakedtaters make-it-plain amatha