Abuja

Free the Biafran Soldiers

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Adeola Aderounmu

Mr. Ben Onwuka, the leader of the Biafra Zionist Movement along with hundreds of his supporters have been arrested today after declaring the republic of Biafra in Enugu.

Details of the entire scenario and the riots/demonstrations are still sketchy.

My views about Biafra are clear. The people of Eastern Nigeria have the right to leave Nigeria but the approach and manner must be modern and acceptable. They could ask for a referendum through their representatives at the local, state and federal levels and seek a way forward.

The people of Eastern Nigeria can go a step further to make representations at the United Nations and push for global diplomatic supports.

One missing link in the new struggle for the actualization of Biafra is the absence of the voice of reasons. Do the Igbo leaders or rulers support the new aspirations? What is the position of the leadership or rulership of the Igbos?

These rulers or leaders cannot be hiding or creating incitements without a proper public declaration for the support of the aspirations of the people.

At the burial of late Ojukwu, sentiments were high and the Biafran flags were flying high. Just recently Achebe published his memoirs about the war. Some Igbos read the book and advised even on facebook that it was time to return to “their tents”.

Yes, in due time everybody will return to their tents. It will not matter how long it takes. Even these feeble generations of Nigerians don’t do the right thing, their children or grandchildren will do it-that is break up the fake marriage of completely different bed mates.

One day the different nations trapped within Nigeria will break apart and these break-ups will lead the biggest proliferation of nations ever seen in the history of man. It will happen even if this generation, like the previous generations continues to deny the knowledge of the truth of where the fake country is heading.

The greatest oppositions to the break-up as history and the present have revealed are those who are benefitting from the plundering of Nigeria.

They can live out their lives with these lies. Life afterall is transient. But truth is constant and one day those who cannot stand these mad acts with allow the disintegration of the British makeover.

There is no sense arresting the pro-Biafran activists. They came out in the open to state their wish even if their leaders are too selfish to stand behind them.

The annoying Nigerian government should instead turn and keep its radal on the Arewa Militants otherwise known as Boko Haram. These terrorists are hiding and they continue to kill, maim, destroy and plunder Northern Nigeria.

The Nigerian government should show some respect to those who wanted something and spoke their mind-even went a step further to show their intentions. What is the intention of Boko Haram, the militants arm or Arewa North?

For now, the Igbos should put their acts together and find a way to achieve their Biafra. If that is what they want, everybody must support it or they get it from a referendum. What Ben Onwuka is doing is beyond him. He and his BZM should make their case through the proper channel and involve the rulers of their regions. If their local rulers and politicians in the federal constitutions do not support Biafra, they may achieve it through a new war. They may also fail in the new bid. Millions of Nigerians in eastern and western are trying to avoid another war based on the experiences of the previous one. The bitterness even lingers. Ask Achebe!

The Law of Karma came upon Danbaba

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

I reported with sadness how Mr. Danbaba’s driver knocked down and killed one of my best friends, Edward Kokobili.

https://aderinola.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/how-governor-danbaba-suntais-convoy-killed-one-of-my-best-friends-kokobili-edward/

Danbaba is the governor of Taraba state who crashed his private aircraft this week in Nigeria. Unconfirmed reports earlier reported that he died in the crash and updated reports stated that he survived the accident.

It shocked me, like several other anomalies from the stupid Nigerian government that the office of the governor did not give any public statement regretting the death of my friend. Nor did I receive any rejoinder after publishing the details on my blog and the Nigerian Village Square, a popular Nigerian news site.

When I heard about the initial report of his “death” the only thing that ran through my mind is the memory of my late friend. Later Eddy’s brother posted on facebook:

[The family, friends and associates of Taraba state governor am very sure must be having their own fair share of what it means to be hurt inwards and perhaps outward, due to the wanton carelessness those in government mostly have subjected this nation. Exactly nine months ago, my brother died @ the Nnamdi Azikwe International airport, due to the carelessness of the governor’s convoy and for eternity a lot of people have been hurt too. People in government positions must as a matter of responsibilty and urgency address the spate of WANTON CARELESSNESS in the land. It is a matter of chance and time, it can swallow anybody no matter the extent of formidable security in place. Is like a game of numbers, with time anybody can be subdued !]

I liked his comment and added that I am disappointed at the manner Danbaba had gone to acquire a fleet of private jets for his pleasure. He is s useless governor, no doubt. He is not alone, Nigeria is flooded not only by water, but by corrupt people and corrupt rulers. They don’t care about the people whose money they have looted and how the people suffer.

Several governors and in fact 99,9% of Nigerian politicians are pure criminals. It is sad and hard to live in the most corrupt country in the world if you haven’t cut your own corners and means of survival against all odds.

Sometimes I wish the law of karma will come suddenly upon all Nigerian politicians. Maybe that will be the cure for the land. Just maybe

Goodluck Jonathan is just another waste of opportunity for Nigeria

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

There is a recurring dilemma with poor administration in Nigeria. No matter what the defenders of Jonathan or the previous useless rulers in Nigeria want to say in their defense they will not be justified. No, they won’t.

My argument…

When Babangida was the dictator and paramount ruler from 1986 to 1994, he was too busy with corruption and it’s institutionalization that for those 8 wasteful years he did not occur to him that Nigerians deserve good health facility.

When Babangida got sick or had a foot injury he would fly to France for treatment. I have always argued that Nigerian rulers are fools. That opinion has not changed. When the ruler of a country like Nigeria flies to France to treat a foot injury or stomach ache, then that ruler is a stupid person. What should 140m Nigerians do when they get sick?

It is not only Babangida who did such. Invariably Nigeria’s corrupt politicians take turn to queue at hospitals abroad when they are sick. This has been on-going for over 50 years. When Nigerians got independence in 1960 caution was thrown to the winds. Everything you can imagine collapsed, either gradually or suddenly.

A few years ago Babangida’s wife died in a foreign hospital.

In 8 years this guy could have used some of the monies he stole to build the best public hospital in the world in Nigeria but he didn’t.

The state governors, the state ministry of health and the federal health institutions do not see the need to make health provision in Nigeria a top priority. It became increasingly difficult to get quality health services in Nigeria. I can only imagine the cost of getting health care from private health institutions. Still the politicians prefer to go abroad.

General Adisa died in a foreign hospital and recently Ojukwu died in a London Hospital. The roll call is endless of how Nigerian go abroad to die because they (when they had the opportunity) did not see the need to build or utilize the facilities at home.

Late Yar Adua during his short spell at Aso rock-the global center of corruption-oscillated between Germany, Saudi Arabia and other countries to seek medical help. When he was governor for 8 years he could have done something to change the situation of health care delivery in Katsina. Even for his own benefit he could have set aside a certain budget to actualize the dream of getting treated in Nigeria. He almost died abroad-but he was package home to die.

Obasanjo’s wife Stella died while Obasanjo was the president. She went abroad to do a beauty operation and never returned. If the health institutions in Nigeria had been given adequate attention-who knows-the operation could have been carried out in Nigeria, it could have been successful. Many people hate to even talk or hear about beauty operations because they think people should be proud of their bodies while not neglecting the concept of healthy living.

Who can forget when Atiku Abubakar went to London to get clutches? This is supposed to be the vice president of Nigeria and a former state governor. Tell me why Nigerian political rulers are not fools?

It is against the backdrop of these ugly precedents and incidents that the recent trip of Patience Jonathan to a foreign hospital becomes yet another sad development in the history of Nigeria. Patience Jonathan is receiving treatment abroad. The presidency can afford to waste tax payers’ money in facilitating the treatment of Mrs. Jonathan abroad.

Of lesser importance is the nature of her sickness. In a country where red is white and black is green no one knows exactly what is wrong with Mrs. Jonathan. This is because the government reported that she is on a “rest vacation” as the media reports food poisoning, to ruptured appendix and food poisoning.

But where should the rest of Nigerians go when they are sick? The presidency is saying that there are no health facilities in Nigeria and that Nigerians can rot away or go to hell! If the unreliable Nigerian presidency is not saying this, then what is the message when Mrs. Jonathan cannot be treated by any hospital in Abuja or Lagos? Or is the message that Nigerian doctors are incompetent? I would seriously disagree with the latter.

One of my best friends lost his mother a few weeks ago. If the health care is Nigeria was working fine, she would still be alive. She had a disease that was treatable and manageable. Several thousands of Nigerians have died has a result of illnesses that can be treated or managed to prolong their lives-but they never got the chance.

Nigeria still has probably the highest maternal related deaths in the world and remains a hot spot for malaria related deaths.

The government of Nigeria represented by the incompetent presidency, the useless lawmakers, the useless governors, and several collections of corrupt people is an evil organization where the occupiers of power care first for themselves (and their families) and almost never for the people. It is sad that the people of Nigeria have not “run over” these governments over the years. It is really unbelievable.

There will be no justification for the people living hopelessly in Nigeria and dying from preventable causes while the presidency and the rest of the politicians merry in Nigeria, merry abroad and die abroad or almost dying abroad as in the case of late Musa Yar Adua.

In every Nigerian family there are people who need medical attention. There are friends and acquaintances who need a little health provisions. Every now and then we see how Nigerians desperately try to raise a certain amount of money to help friends and family members. Often it is too late even as the money comes in as drops. In many cases there are desperations to fly the victims to a foreign country! This is a sad situation.

This is the reason for my argument that the present regime headed by Mr. Jonathan is just another useless regime. This guy has been around for sometime, first in Bayelsa where he cannot point to any reputable or tangible project he did and now in Aso rock. In all of these years, just like the fools who ruled Nigeria in the past, Mr. Jonathan and the corrupt presidency that he represents has not seen the reason to build a hospital or to support one that he and his family can utilize.

Tell me, where is the hope of the common man in Nigeria?

To Reuben Abati: Go and Hug a Transformer!

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

When late Abacha held Nigeria in his palm, Reuben Abati stood out as Nigerian Government Critic Number one! There was no dispute about whose article would be most read on Friday or Sunday back in the days in the Nigerian Guardian.

I do not recall anyone in Abacha’s government or thereafter calling Abati names. Abati was not even arrested despite all his criticisms of the dictatorship and later civilian governments in Nigeria.

At the height of his fame as a government critic Abati asked Nigerians to stone those in power. Was he testing his fame? This was when the Federal Government increased the price of petroleum products-the old subsidy lies that Abati would come to champion in January 2012.

I was told by someone who knows the Guardian very well that Abati was actually collecting brown envelopes for many of those articles that he wrote those days in the Guardian. Everything has fallen into places now that Abati has shown his real image. It may be true that he wrote many articles for money afterall many Nigerian journalists today still have their own favourite politicians.

I am fond of writing that Nigerians have no heroes today and when the likes of Abati remain the mentor for Nigerian journalists, then hope is quenched!

Last week Reuben Abati who now works for the inglorious Nigerian government blasted internet warriors and the rest of you who are fond of abusing Jonathan on facebook and on your blog pages. I am an internet warrior, I have abused Jonathan on facebook and my blog since 2006 is full of abuses and criticisms for the worst and probably most corrupt government in the world with headquarters in Aso rock, Abuja.

So I take Reuben Abati’s message as a direct war. But this is a terrain I know too well. So he and his bootlickers can bring it all on. I will help them spell their last names. T-H-I-E-V-E-S IN P-O-W-E-R.

Some of us have been here-online- long before Jonathan. I wrote to the late Yar Adua government about the futility of taking on internet warriors. Anyone who cares can browse my articles at the Nigerian Village Square. We-the internet warriors-don’t lose and we don’t come last. If Mr. Abati needs a reminder, I will like him to know that long after the reign of his present master, internet warriors will be here in different forms and shades.

It is be an over flog to remind Abati about the nature of the government he serves. How do you begin to recount the stupidity of the government of the day in Nigeria?

A government whose moral compass was lost even before it started sailing. You can tell, unless you wear the garment of the Pharisees.

Farouk Lawan just returned from Mecca. Under the government that Abati is serving, corruption was magnified and redefined. Only men who have no shame will serve in corrupt and useless government. In Nigeria whatever happened to protecting your father’s name and your own integrity?
If Nigerians heed Abati’s call of just a few years ago, then they should be stoning people like him now. It was his call, maybe we should obey him.

I recall my meeting with two of Nigerian’s finest bloggers (names withheld) about 2 years ago in Stockholm. Of course we talked about Nigeria and the government. They laughed at me when I told them that I stopped reading Abati after the Abuja-land saga.

They laughed because they thought I was ignorant to have been one of the several thousands of Nigerians that Abati took for such a long ride. When Abati appeared in Jonathan’s government, it was not a surprise to them. Both of them stopped reading Abati many years ago. They said they saw the light a long time ago.

No doubts I have also written in the Nigerian Guardian a handful of times. No doubt my articles started appearing in the Nigerian Guardian days after I got Abati’s email from (names withheld).

But Reuben Abati should continue to serve his new master according to his conscience. If he likes let him continue to fire at internet warriors and the critics of Mr. Jonathan. It will show his real colours and the nature of his job.

I have been in the blog industry since 2006. I don’t have the intention of retiring now because Abati is serving corrupt people which confirms his own status as a corrupt man who used his articles to buy his way into the corridor where everyone (according to him) should be stoned!

Some of us will never serve in government. Our middle name is Ilesanmi.

Those who join government only to turn against their own constituencies will not find peace. It’s a natural law. Those who join government and cannot resist the temptation to also become corrupt will live with both personal burden and the burden of history.

I have not met a blogger or a government critic who is campaigning for absolute moral purification. Human nature does not tally that line. This is why we separate private from public life I guess. All we have asked for is that those in government must deliver on their promises and stop looting our common treasury.

All we have asked for is that the wealth of Nigeria should serve Nigerians. Just yesterday Bobola Babalola wrote on Facebook that democracy in Nigeria is government of some people, by some people, for some people.

Abati has now joined the few who are taking the rest of Nigeria/Nigerians for a ride. That doesn’t make it ok. That doesn’t mean that Jonathan, his family, friends, executives, senate and other corrupt people can loot and we have to stay quiet.

Abati in government is not a receipt with guarantee. Abati in government is not a form of immunity.

No matter who serves in Nigeria, no matter who is looting in Nigeria, no matter how foolish or wise the government becomes, social critics and public commentators will be here.

It doesn’t matter how we are addressed, we take on this social burden to tell things as they are.

In 2009 I warned about the flood that has now taken Adamawa (check before 70 000 people perish overnight in the NVS). NEMA almost asked for my head. Even the government as a unit was quiet because it is a useless government, constantly so since 1960. People are dying now after N26 billion was spent on invisible dam projects.

Anyway, the government of Jonathan, in my view, is the worst government ever in Nigeria. No matter how much Abati and his followers rant, the truth about the cluelessness of Jonathan, the waste that his government has come to represent and the calamity of the consequences of his inactions (especially) in Northern Nigeria cannot be taken away like a pinch of salt. A thousand Abati and a fake permanent secretary in Bayelsa (aka ghost worker in Rivers) cannot do that.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Lagos Facebook Murder

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

It’s very sad to know and read about the story of Cynthia Udoka Osokogu.
She was lured by murderers who posed as friends on her facebook list of friends.

Ezekiel Nnechuwu Olisa Eloka,23 and Echezona Nwabufor, 33 robbed and killed Cynthia in a Lagos Hotel. Pretending to be good friends and potential business associates, these wicked men raped, robbed and took the life of a woman who taught she was making good contacts for her business opportunities.

Apparently these guys are career murderers and one begins to wonder how many career murderers are posing on facebook as friends.

A lesson has been taught in the hardest and saddest way possible- don’t be friends to absolute strangers on facebook. If you do, never meet them! If you do, let it be a public or open meeting and never in hotels or private homes. Don’t go to places with strangers. They could be murderer like Ezekiel and Echezona.

There is a slight consolation in the rapid response of the police and law enforcement agencies. It is remarkable that the Nigerian Police could track phone numbers and make use of CCTV cameras leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.

The next line of hope is the prosecution and eventual sentencing of the offenders.

One can only imagine the sadness and sorrow of the families and friends of the beautiful woman that was murdered. Cynthia was a businesswoman and a graduate student resident in Abuja. She was murdered in Lagos. She did not deserve that sort of treatment. May her soul find peace.