QUOTE
The same elements that have refused our Nation to foster unity are at it again. Their barbarism, and instinctive aversion to altruism, could not allow them to accept that there are people who are selfless, and do things for the common good. Shame on you! - Omubo Jack
UNQUOTE
QUOTE
[There are] Those who, out of jealousy, were driven to put a spanner in the wheel of progress of this noble national venture.....Would it not be the height of idiocy for any South African of Mandela's tribe to see it as an insult on Mandela's tribe if a South African of another tribe leads the promotion of a national project that gives Mandela his rightful place in South Africa? By all considerations, the folks [having that kind of thinking] are a bunch of backward reactionaries and miserable ethnic bigots that should neither be supported nor sympathised with. They are evil and should be condemned in all its ramifications for the benefit of Nigeria. - Emeka Okala
UNQUOTE
Emeka Okala and Omubo Jack:
May your tribe(s) increase for what you wrote below and I excerpted above!
But Emeka note: no "spanner" is being put in this "wheel of progress of this noble national venture." That will NEVER happen, and one is more dedicated to it than ever because of the caterwauling that is going on. We exceeded the N1 million targetted, have now exceeded $10,000, and the pledges have become to come in. Those dedicated to the cause are showing more consensus on the issues - and we shall prevail, by God's grace, despite the naysayers.
When two days ago, Azuoma Anugom wrote, inter alia, that:
QUOTE
......This is about pettiness that I, Azuoma Anugom, initiated this project as opposed to them period!!! That's what this is all about. They are using Bolaji Aluko as a scapegoat. Somebody even shared with me that some folks are mad that a woman and an Imo lady for that matter initiated this project. Some want to turn Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe to a mere Anambra man as opposed to Zik of Africa, the first president of Nigeria---the man who incurred the wrath of many because he believed in one Nigeria and refused to given in to pressure.
UNQUOTE
I am sure that some people exhaled "Uhn?" Now read Alabo Opubo, far away here in the US from his Kalabari-Nigerian people, the voice of the cave-people, as he writes:
QUOTE
Accordingly, Azuoma Anugom, also need to speak with Paul Oranika regarding the secon list, because if my reading on this subject is correct, the statute and mausoleum are not in her State, and no matter what anybody says, she is not going to be able to use any form of organization to undertake any repair work in another State without due protocol with the government of that State and I do believe that the citizens of that State can always make the accomplishment of anything very difficult.
UNQUOTE
In short, Opubo in the United States cannot lead ANYTHING in the United States since he is not from the US, as the "citizens of that (United) State(s) can always make the accomplishment of anything very difficult.
Can you imagine such atavistic thinking - by a Nigerian abroad?
When, boldly, Paul Oranika, originator of List #2, stated that:
QUOTE
...First the way and manner this effort began is perhaps not the best way to organize a fund raising effort for rehabilitation work of the mausoleum of "Zik of Africa"........ As for Bolaji, it has become obvious that his original intention has been taken over by the outpouring of support for the project and hence he upgraded his initial contribution. It is also possible that Bolaji may be genuinely looking for a way to begin addressing his poor PR with Igbo affairs which he often find himself on the side antithetical to Igbo interest, for Bolaji's/Azuoma's effort may I say thank you as well. William Shakespeare argues that "there is no art to read the mind's construction from the face". Many folks are still trying to digest all of this, and are very reluctant to contribute to this effort partly initiated by Bolaji/Azuoma. But with inputs from no other than Mazi Asagwara, with regard to the current status of the Zik's statute, efforts have been diverted to the unfinished Zik's mausoleum. But we cannot criticize the Bolaji/Azuoma plan for ever, even as we speak the value of the project purse continues to rise. Let me say that this is a project worthy of supporting. Here is a compromise for many of us who do not want to be a part of the Bolaji/Azuoma plan. Let us organize a second committee
UNQUOTE
Yes, a compromise based on a combustible mixture of speculation, bias, lies and hate - and a separation which I grant anybody has a right to. [For example, it is interesting to note that Asagwara had ZERO independent information on the "current status of Zik's statue" and all the information that he regurgitated was from Azuoma's initial undocumented disclosures, and there was no "diversion" These are part of the lies.]
And see how Alabo Opubo again takes it to the next notch in his animus-ical obsession:
QUOTE
Considering the thrust this discussion is now taking, I wonder if it would not be better for Bolaji Aluko to simply remove himself from this project. ....... I suggest that in the interest of peace and progress Bolaji Aluko should also remove himself from the project and from holding any position of import regarding this project..... I strongly advise that Bolaji Aluko remove himself.......The same reasoning applies to Bolaji Aluko as well. No matter how much authority, influence or power that Bolaji Aluko may think he has or actually has, he is not going to be able to accomplish anything in someone else neck of the wood when there seems to be intense vehement opposition to his person. Insisting on staying on is to put into motion other consequences the end result of which nobody can foretell and is always too late to prevent. Everything is not resolved as a matter of recalcitrance.
UNQUOTE
I hope you wead him again write about "neck of the wood" - a Kalabari-Nigerian in the US talking about "neck of the wood", and therefore consigning himself to perpetual followership since he is not from this "neck of the wood." What atavism!
This fellow - who constantly spews hate as thick as drilling mud across cyberspace, who is always shameessly talking about eliminating his enemies (that is anybody who disagrees with his ideas) - after all shows himself to be nothing more than a bleeping coward, who, at the sight of "intense vehement opposition to his person" will turn tail and run! Mandela should have done that; Martin Luther King Jr. should have done that; Mahatma Ghandi should have done that. Etc., etc.
He must be smoking a very bad joint to think that this Bolaji omo Aluko will "remove himself" from this worthy and noble cause, despite the caterwauling of his ilk.
Moving on.....
Let us read what Godson nwa Offoaro has to say about all of this:
QUOTE
.. Initially I had supported the idea of raising fund to repair the Zik Statute until I read certain posts by certain people and I got the idea clearer that behind this fund-raising drive is a facade of showmanship - essentially by those who nicknamed Zik Ewelle instead of Owelle. If it were in America that the Zik incident occurred, what rational and right thinking Americans would have done is collect signatures of those who want the Mausoleum or statue repaired and hand same over to the appropriate authorities. They do not go pan-handling nor do they use the name of an icon for cheap popularity contest......
UNQUOTE
This is intellectual dishonesty at its most cynical. Who among the initiators of this Zik Project called Zik "Ewelle" instead of "Owelle?" In any case, "Ewelle" in Yoruba is a laudatory moniker for a remarkable person of magical charm - so what is wrong with that? As to "if it were in America", please read the following about those who want the King Memorial BUILT:
QUOTE
Support the Dream with Every Search
You can help raise funds to build Dr. King's Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC simply by searching everyday using your favorite web browser and the MLK Memorial toolbar. For every search you perform using the toolbar $.05 will be donated to the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation.
UNQUOTE
Even 5 cents is NOT TO SMALL for the King Memorial! And the following are the facts:
QUOTE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._National_Memorial
The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial is a program of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity to erect a monument to American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr......
The process of designing, funding and constructing the memorial was coordinated by a nonprofit organization, the Washington, D.C.-based Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. At present, fundraising efforts for the memorial have been completed, and the foundation has secured final construction permits. The foundation's leaders estimate the memorial will take 20 months to complete with a total cost of $120 million USD....
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, having been initiated into the organization in the 1950s, while he was attending Boston University.[2] King remained involved with the fraternity after the completion of his studies, including delivering the keynote speech at the fraternity's 50th anniversary banquet in 1956.[2] In 1968, after King's assassination, Alpha Phi Alpha proposed erecting a permanent memorial to King in Washington, D.C. The fraternity's efforts gained momentum in 1986, after King's birthday was designated a national holiday.[3]
In 1996, the United States Congress authorized the Secretary of the Interior to permit Alpha Phi Alpha to establish a memorial on Department of Interior lands in the District of Columbia, giving the fraternity until November 2003 to raise $100 million and break ground. In 1998, Congress authorized the fraternity to establish a foundation — the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation — to manage the memorial's fundraising and design, and approved the building of the memorial on the National Mall. In 1999, the United States Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved the site location for the memorial.
The memorial's design, by ROMA Design Group, a San Francisco-based architecture firm, was selected out of 900 candidates from 52 countries. On December 4, 2000, a marble and bronze plaque was laid by Alpha Phi Alpha to dedicate the site where the memorial will be built.[4] Soon thereafter, a full-time fundraising team began the fundraising and promotional campaign for the memorial. A ceremonial groundbreaking for the memorial was held on November 13, 2006, in West Potomac Park.
The cost estimate for the memorial was raised to $120 million in August 2008.[5] As of December 2008, the Martin Luther King National Memorial Project Foundation had raised approximately $108 million,[6] including substantial contributions from such donors as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,[5] The Walt Disney Company Foundation, the National Association of Realtors,[7] and filmmaker George Lucas. The figure also includes $10 million in matching funds provided by the United States Congress.
In October 2009, the memorial's final design was approved by federal agencies and a building permit was issued.[8] Construction began in December 2009[2], and is expected to take 20 months to complete.[9]
UNQUOTE
So what America was Godson Offoaro referring to, as he continues to pander to his dichotomous "connected" and "disconnected" Igbo elite who have some objections to some of the initiators of the Zik Project?
Finally, I am amused to no end at Ola Kassim's new-found frustration:
QUOTE
If the subject of building and maintaining a befitting memorial (statues and mausoleum) for the late Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe, (the most nationalistic
and unquestionably, the one with the most unifying vision of Nigeria of all our founding fathers), a project which everyone agrees is a good idea
that is long over due, can engender so much inter-ethnic discord, I doubt if there is anything else that can bring a sense of national purpose and unity to Nigerians. It is disappointing to see how the debate has degenerated into one of hatred and dislike amongst members of different ethnic groups, the same idea that most will agree would have been definitely anti-Zik during his life time. Are we that insecure of about the present and the future that we would rely solely on our past history--especially the negative experiences to the exclusion of the positive ones on most issues of national concern?
As some have suggested let us allow the government(s) to look after Zik's Mausoleum and statues the best the way they can just as they have always looked after everything else in Nigeria. I will redeem the two pledges totalling $250/00 dollars that I have made on this matter.
And the fulfilment of the pledges will be my last involvement in the matter.
Meanwhile the looters from all Nigerian ethnic groups remain united in one purpose--looting the national coffers and converting Nigeria's resources into their personal fortunes.
and unquestionably, the one with the most unifying vision of Nigeria of all our founding fathers), a project which everyone agrees is a good idea
that is long over due, can engender so much inter-ethnic discord, I doubt if there is anything else that can bring a sense of national purpose and unity to Nigerians. It is disappointing to see how the debate has degenerated into one of hatred and dislike amongst members of different ethnic groups, the same idea that most will agree would have been definitely anti-Zik during his life time. Are we that insecure of about the present and the future that we would rely solely on our past history--especially the negative experiences to the exclusion of the positive ones on most issues of national concern?
As some have suggested let us allow the government(s) to look after Zik's Mausoleum and statues the best the way they can just as they have always looked after everything else in Nigeria. I will redeem the two pledges totalling $250/00 dollars that I have made on this matter.
And the fulfilment of the pledges will be my last involvement in the matter.
Meanwhile the looters from all Nigerian ethnic groups remain united in one purpose--looting the national coffers and converting Nigeria's resources into their personal fortunes.
Shame; shame; shame on all of us including yours truly for ever getting involved in the debate.
UNQUOTE
This is what you get, Ola Kassim, when, through naivete, you try to cuddle the most virulent extremist and evil members of our society under the guise of "balance." You, my friend are not ignorant; you, my friend, are not neutral; you "is" naive, I fear to say.
Finally, finally to all others, I end in the words quoted by Simon Iberosi:
QUOTE
Really my hope and prayer remain that somehow, in the immortal words of John F Kennedy in the wake of the tiff with USSR in the "Bay of Pigs" that even if we can "... not be blind to our differences- but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal".
UNQUOTE
Very well quoted.
And there you have it. Please continue to make your pledges to the Zik Project (it has now exceeded $10,000), but more importantly, please redeem them to either my or Azuoma's addresses - and may God bless all your pockets (Amen.)
Bolaji Aluko
Here, like an iroko tree
And focused like a laser beam
Defiant as ever
With regard to the Zik Project
On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 3:24 AM, Chukwuemeka Okala <reukal@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
--
Fellow Nigerians,
Let's call a spade by its name.Those who, out of jealousy, were driven to put a spanner in the wheel of progress of this noble national venture are folks like Okechukwu Oranika, KC Prince Asagwara, Franklyne Ogbunweze, and my bosom friend, Chukwuma Agwunobi, amogst a few others, who parochially, but ludicrously feel that a project carried out in honour of Zik should not be promoted by a Nigerian of a different ethnic extraction for whatever reasons, since Zik, in their myopic view, is their own.I must admit that a few of these promoters of unhealthy ethnic bigotry and hate were unfortunately bottled into their own contradiction and now find it very difficult to find a way out of the cull-de-sac. But if the pronouncements of KC Prince Asagwara and Okechukwu Oranika are a yardstick to measure the collective stance (and I seriously doubt it), then it's very unfortunate.I pity my good friend Chukwuma Agwunobi. I know he did not champion this unenviable cause despite being the highest donor and even donating for others, and would excuse him any day. Chukwuma is yet to come to the realisation of Zik's contributions to Nigeria, to spend his hard earned money to a project that aims to promote the icon's legacy. No way! Chukwuma was only driven into group 2 to spite Prof. Bolaji Aluko. He is not there because of his personal belief in Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. This is the main roots of his own contradiction.I really can't make out why Franklyne Ogbunweze is there. But from the look of things, he appears to find himself in his own contradiction as I expect him to know better.I don't want to mention the irrelevant names of folks like Opubo G. Benebo who actually poured more fuel on the burning fire in KC Prince Asagwara's mind against Bolaji Aluko. It's needless stating that Opubo did it to settle his personal score with Bolaji, after all Opubo, by his write-ups in these fora, is not known for a good sympathiser of any Igbo cause. So how come he suddenly realised that a project in honour of Zik being promoted by a non-Igbo is an insult on the Igbo? I wonder!As for Dr. Ola Kazim, he thought he was being neutral without understanding the depth of the acrimony in the minds of these myopic ethnic bigots. I encourage him to be man enough to withdraw his pledge from the group No. 2, and re-direct it to group 1, which is the authentic group as group 2 is badly packaged on a faulty and rotten foundation. Now that I've told him, he can no longer claim ignorance.Zik is not the Zik of Ndiigbo only. Yes, he came from the Igbo ethnic group just like Nelson Mandela also has an ethnic group in South Africa, but by his achievements and immeasurably laudable contributions to Nigeria and Africa, Zik grew to become, and earned the epithet Zik of Africa.Would it not be the height of idiocy for any South African of Mandela's tribe to see it as an insult on Mandela's tribe if a South African of another tribe leads the promotion of a national project that gives Mandela his rightful place in South Africa?By all considerations, the folks promoting the senseless antagonistic group 2 for the same purpose are a bunch of backward reactionaries and miserable ethnic bigots that should neither be supported nor sympathised with. They are evil and should be condemned in all its ramifications for the benefit of Nigeria.Let's call a spade a spade!Emeka Reuben OkalaLondon, UK
<style type="text/css"></style>
From: Dr. Omubo Jack <omubo@pacbell.net>
To: "NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com" <NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, 1 September, 2010 6:16:24
Subject: Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] To IBBBs.....On Zik Project: Re ON RESTORATION OF ZIK MEMORIAM..
How horrible it is as a nation that we cannot have consensus on any single national issue; even issues that concern a national patriot like Zik. I was happy that Zik at last is given the honor he deserved as a nationalistic leader. His name has brought all ethnic groups to believe in a cause as Nigerians. To my utter dismay, and astonishment, the excitement was short-lived. The same elements that have refused our Nation to foster unity are at it again. Their barbarism, and instinctive aversion to altruism, could not allow them to accept that there are people who are selfless, and do things for the common good. Shame on you!Dr. O. B. Jack
Sent from my iPad
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