ubochit@yahoo.com
Bonn, Germany
The future starts today, not tomorrow (Pope John Paul II)
Tomorrow lurks in us, the latency to be all that was not achieved before (Loren Eiseley)
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams (Eleanor Roosevelt)
any don’t know that majority of the officers who planned the Orkar coup were Niger Deltans. Being mostly middle ranking officers, they watched helplessly as some senior officers and people in high places, mostly the northerners, were enjoying the oil wealth from the Niger Delta, while the owners of the land, where the oil is gushing out from, weren’t getting anything from their God-given resources. So resources control was also a point why they (Major Orkar and co.) struck. And unless we resolutely address this issue, there will be no peace in Nigeria, just in conformity with what James Madison (1751-1836) said that "The class of citizens who provide at once their own food and their own raiment, may be viewed as the most truly independent and happy. They are more: they are the best basis of public liberty, and the strongest bulwark of public safety. It follows, that the greater the proportion of this class to the whole society, the more free, the more independent, and the more happy must be the society itself."
The problem with Nigeria is that the leaders do act lackadaisically, without thinking of what their actions would result in later; the leaders only want to hear what the sycophants around them are telling them, and, anybody who advices them otherwise is eliminated or sidelined in a way. The Bible, in Proverbs 11:14, condemns this attitude when it says that “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety”. A state government in that north-east Major Orkar and co. wanted to excise from Nigeria due to the arrogance and chronic power drunkenness of the people of that area, is trying to accomplish Boko Haram’s mission of Islamizing the whole of the north. Borno State government has begun moves to demolish over 20 churches and schools built by them. The dumbbells ruling Nigeria are bereft of ideas; and as such, they only end up aggravating already grievous situations through the policies they pursue, just as James Madison (1751-1836) wrote that “Government destitute of energy, will ever produce anarchy”. That’s the problem we are talking about: If Nigeria is a nation (it is not yet), people would have been allowed to practice whichever religion they want in peace (freedom of worship or religion).
We have to make Nigeria a nation; we must decide how we should live together, otherwise ethnic strife and religious animosity would continue to be rife. The Borno State government said that the acquisition and the demolition of the churches’ lands and buildings respectively are necessary for overriding public interest - to construct a Housing Estate. Over 20 churches and many schools will be affected. But, CAN rightly say that “The parcels of land on which the churches were built were bought from farmers and have the authority and certificate of the District Head in Maiduguri popularly called Bulama. The land was not under the ministry when it was bought. We have seen that eviction notice from the Borno State Government.
We are all Nigerians and there are other places where the state government can develop. The areas being earmarked for demolition are already developed with churches and schools. We have enough problems at hand and we don't want to add another one. Christians have suffered enough in Borno State.
If the state government wants to destroy churches and build any housing estate, no Christian will see it as a sign of progress." This column wonders why Borno State, already “suffocated” by the Boko Haram rampage, is putting itself in a more perilous situation by initiating a very stupid programme that will turn up the heat on an already overtly tensed situation in the area. The Borno State government should have concentrated itself on how to re-build the state after the roughshod Boko Haram has been running over the state; the state government should be thinking on how to serve the people who have suffered the insurgents’ onslaughts all along, as Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800 –1859) wrote that “The end of government is the happiness of the people”, and not the creation of more troubles. The Borno State Government should rescind that decision forthwith. But, If that state government wants to hurt the Christians in the state the more through this way because it feels it has the power to do anything it likes, then, it should be aware of the repercussions, as the Bible, in St Luke 17:2, makes it clear that “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones”. A word is enough for a wise!
Lawrence Nwobu wrote these:
The one-nigerianist monkeys can continue to deceive themselves while tide and time continue to vindicate Ojukwu. In 1990, Gideon Orkar did a coup that practically removed the core north from Nigeria, giving reasons that vindicated everything Ojukwu fought for. Today, there is a massive campaign for a sovereign national conference even by people who initially supported one Nigeria. All this points to a nation that is fundamentally conflicted, contradicted and unworkable because of the contradictions Ojukwu identified. Those who have eyes but refuse to see, have ears but refuse to hear will only perish. Nigeria will inevitably collapse for no nation premised on injustice, lies, misrule, corruption and disharmony can survive. This is simple common sense. If you run a business or your family the way Nigeria is being run, your business or family will simply collapse. Nigeria looks more and more like a colony of monkeys than a society of human beings. The one-Nigerianists can try as hard as they can but Nigeria itself continues to rubbish their claims and arguments. They are free to continue their fools ride until like the stupid fly, they will follow the faeces into the ground. The clouds are gathering!
What is Nigeria today? A failed state lacking in the most basic amenities and locked in hatred and an endless circle of ethno-religious mass killings; a nation looted, vandalised and destroyed by the same generals and individuals who claimed to have fought for one Nigeria. As it has turned out, the fight for one Nigeria was never for Nigeria but for their private pockets. These same one-Nigeria generals and individuals now build all their future abroad.
They loot the coffers and stash the loot abroad, buy mansions abroad, send their children to schools abroad, go to hospital abroad etc Where are we today? Major Gideon Orkar did a coup in 1990 attempting to break-up the nation, in 1993 Abiola’s election was cancelled and he was brutally murdered because the northern born to rule internal colonisers did not want a southerner in power. There are now militant groups in every region from OPC, MEND, MASSOB to BOKO HARAM, and BOKO HARAM is on a mass killing spree because Jonathan is in power. The nation is reeking in the highest levels of unemployment and poverty in the world and the highest levels of maternal and infant mortality in the world. There is no social, economic or political justice and there is no equality or ethno-religious harmony! The nation is stuck in the highest levels of corruption in the world sustained by tribalism and ethnic contradictions. And today the whole nation is paralysed and everyone is crying out for a Sovereign national conference or a return to Aburi Accord. Ojukwu has been vindicated! Symbolically two of the most principled and incorruptible Africans, Professor Wole Soyinka and Flight Lt Jerry Rawlings, were present during Ojukwu’s burial which is very symbolic in testifying to Ojukwu’s character and the rightness of his cause. Today the rest of the nation is seeing what Ojukwu saw 46 years ago!
“GOOD MORNING NIGERIA!”
Lawrence Nwobu wrote again: “With Nigeria as the most corrupt nation on earth with monumental looting on a daily basis which has resulted in the total crippling of the nation, I doff my hat and bow down in respect to Major Kaduna Nzeogwu and other members of the January 1966 coup, who tried at the very early stages to stop the nation’s descent into corruption by carrying out the first anti-corruption coup in 1966, before the coup was truncated by primitive tribalists. After the truncation of the coup by the usual primitive tribal apes that populate Nigeria, corruption triumphed and today Nigeria is the global capital of corruption sustained by tribal factors and everyone is suffering the consequence of corruption and the failed state it birthed.
These days, almost everyone in Nigeria is praying and crying out for a Jerry Rawlings type of revolution, but it is too late because when patriots like major Nzeogwu did their own, it was tribalised, so Nigeria must remain stuck with corruption until the nation is totally destroyed.
A brief history of the incidents that led to the coup indicates that just two years after independence there was crisis in the Western region and a state of emergency was imposed in 1962. By 1963 the crisis escalated as Chief Obafemi Awolowo was jailed for treason- coup plotting and census results were massively rigged in favour of the north. By 1964, parliamentary elections were massively rigged in the Western region by Akintola and Tafawa Balewa leading to sustained thuggery, arson, mass murders (WETIE) and other acts of violence in the western region from 1964 and continuing to 1966. Thus by those early days, acts of corruption and lawlessness such as election rigging, census rigging, thuggery, mass murders , arson and other acts of violence was already creeping up. The alliance by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara with Chief Obafemi Awolowo which resulted in the creation of UPGA failed to win a majority as they were massively rigged out in the western region.
With the ongoing shenanigans, Dr Azikiwe had realised his mistake of having a coalition with Tafawa Balewa but by the time he teamed up with Awolowo it was too late as election rigging corruption was already unleashed. Azikiwe and Okpara were the only ones who stridently opposed Tafawa Balewa and Akintola as they unleashed corruption and misrule. After the violence, mass murders and arson continued in the western region for almost two years from 1964 to 1966 with Tafawa Balewa doing absolutely nothing as the western region continued to burn. Major Nzeogwu and other young officers struck to end the carnage and corruption. If Kaduna Nzeogwu and co. were driven by tribalism, they wouldn’t have struck as the region that was burning and in crisis was the western region. They struck because they were angered by the election rigging, lawlessness, violence, mass murder, arson, misrule and other acts of corruption that was creeping up at that time in the nation. I am very proud of Kaduna Nzeogwu and the group for attempting the first coup to rid Nigeria of corruption. They are heroes!”
To end this long article: At the National Political Summit, held at Le'Meridien Hotel and Golf Resort in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the Coordinator of Nigeria Consensus Group, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN) told Nigerian leaders that unless and until the over 300 ethnic nationalities in Nigeria come together in a national conference to discuss the way forward, peace and security may continue to elude the country, adding that anybody not supporting the national conference, does not believe in the unity of the country.
Nwabueze said that "after 50 years of existence, we are nowhere to being a nation, this country cannot be called a nation; it is a state'', maintaining that it is only when all these ethnic nationalities come together that Nigeria could truly be called a nation. Nwabueze noted that the national conference, if and when convened, “would therefore be a unique occasion, the first of its kind for the President, to speak directly to over 300 ethnic nationalities comprised of different peoples, and to galvanise them into one people with one common destiny”. According to him, such a conference would provide the means for Nigerians, under the present leadership, to chart a new course of life and create a new society that would be just and free from moral degeneration. For him, the conference is not intended to disintegrate Nigeria, but rather to cement the country as one indivisible nation. In his words: "The President should convoke the conference as a matter of urgency. He has the power to do that as the leader of the country, he represents the majesty and sovereignty of Nigeria. We have to press on him to do that. We have been talking; the time has come to combine words with action". Nwabueze then warned that if the President would not be favourably disposed to organizing the national conference, they would forward a bill to the National Assembly that, when passed, would compel him to do so.
This writer concurs with the Nigeria Consensus Group that “the greatest service President Goodluck Jonathan will render to the people of Nigeria is to be the first President to give the people a constitution deriving its source of authority as supreme law directly from them". Let’s ask President Goodluck Jonathan, in the words of John Dryden (1631 – 1700), if he has “Resolv’d to ruin or to rule the state”? Let him decide, because, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 –1963) said that “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining”.
Please read Major Orkar’s Coup speech:
Please read: The ingenuity of Major Gideon Orkar written by Nnaemeka M. Onumonu in 2000
TIT BITS
This column remembers Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), who died this time 16 years ago. On September 7, 1996, Tupac was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was taken to the Southern Nevada University Medical Center, where he died six days later at the age of 25.
Although, Tupac alias Makaveli was a “Bad Boy”, he was and remains the best rapper so far, as all other rappers were and are still struggling to match his musical talents and success, but, to no avail (his success made other rappers green with envy and created many enemies for him). Tupac’s music is good; even those who don’t like rap music, such as this writer, also enjoy the melody, and not necessarily the lyrics, in his music.
This column hopes that Tupac’s soul has found the rest and peace which eluded his short life on earth!
The message here is that blacks, especially those in Europe and North America, as “endangered species”, should stop killing or betraying or cheating fellow black brothers and sisters in any way. Rather, let’s show one another true love!
THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!
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