Date Published: 12/23/09

PROVOCATEURS OF NDIIGBO SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT THEIR PATIENCE IS NOT INEXHAUSTIBLE (2) By Temple Chima Ubochi

  In this great future, you can't forget your past (Bob Marley) 

Every social injustice is not only cruel, but it is economic waste. (William Feather)

If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it. (Democritus)
If Satan ever laughs, it must be at hypocrites; they are the greatest dupes he has. (Charles Caleb Colton)
Equality is the share of every one at their advent upon earth, and equality is also theirs when placed beneath it. (Anne L'Enclos)
The mother whose children die while sleeping will never allow those still living to fall asleep (onye umu ya n’ano n’ura anwu, adighi ekwe ndi nke di ndu hiri ura) (Igbo Proverb) 

It’s unfortunate that some government officials have thrown caution to the wind and have decided to heat up the polity by what they have said. Now that the president is away, everybody should have shown self-restraint, rather than trying to exacerbate an already ugly situation Nigeria is in. The country is in dire strait more than ever right now, the president is very sick and might make it through only by God’s grace. May be those making the unguarded statements that can snowball into something else, are those who know what some of us do not know, may be, they think  the president would never return to that seat again, otherwise, they should have been more circumspect in  their utterance. The minister of aviation might be hiding under the cloak of the confusion/ uncertainty created by the president’s absence to provoke Ndiigbo, without waiting for the president’s return, in order, to cross-check his facts. Igbo politicians should take it up whenever the president returns and if confirmed that nobody gave him the authority to make that statement against the internationalisation of Enugu Airport, he should be relieved of his post as deterrence to others.

The question one can ask is: What’s hard there to give Ndiigbo an international airport so that they can fly in direct from Europe, America, Asia etc, if not because some people are mischief makers?

The senators of Igbo extraction were right when they said that there was a conspiracy against Ndiigbo over the internationalisation of Enugu Airport. Senator Ayogu Eze then wondered why the minister would make a volte-face on the matter, vowing that Ndigbo would ensure that the airport was upgraded to international standard with or without the support of the Federal Government. In his words: “Subsequently, we wrote to him (Yar’Adua) and he acknowledged it and wrote to the aviation minister, directing that the airport should be made an international one. It is unfortunate that this has become another thing today.”

The governors from the South East met with Yar’Adua on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 seeking his immediate intervention for the upgrade of the Enugu Airport to international standard. The Governors (Anambra’s Peter Obi, Abia’s Theodore Orji; Ebonyi’s Martins Elechi; Enugu ’s Sullivan Chime; and Imo’s Ikedi Ohakim) said the upgrade will go a long way in assisting the people of South East who are mainly businessmen. Yar’Adua also told them that  the contract for the dredging of the River Niger as well as the reconstruction of some federal roads in the zone, have been awarded while he promised that the contract for the second Niger bridge would soon be awarded also. The governors then appreciated his effort and thanked him also for setting up the committee headed by the Vice President on gully erosion. Within the same period, the senators of Igbo extraction also wrote the president and received the same assurance from him.

To show that the president understands the importance of the airport and that he really gave the directive for the internationalisation of it, we read this from Daily Trust of December 10, 2009:

“Nigeria: Nama Procures Navaids for Katsina, Enugu Airports: Pilots flying into the nation's sky will soon heave a sigh of relief as the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has taken delivery of three containers comprising Instrument Landing System (ILS), Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) and Very High Omni-Directional Radio Range for installation in Katsina and Enugu Airports.

The navigational instruments are part of the equipment ordered to be installed in the airports by the Chairman of the NAMA Board, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje in June, as part of the Safer Skies Policy of President Umaru Yar’Adua.

NAMA took delivery of the equipment from the contractor, Thales ATM France at its headquarters following their clearance from the Apapa Port, in Lagos. By the plans, an ILS and DME would be installed at Katsina Airport while a VOR and DME are meant to be installed at Enugu Airport”.

If the president directed the importation of the equipment for his state’s airport and that of Enugu, then it’s not hard to decipher the meaning of it. Someone wrote: “From all available evidence, it seems that Yar’Adua has accorded the same importance to Enugu airport as that of his home town Katsina. He not only directed the aviation minister to upgrade Enugu airport to international status but appears ready to equip it with modern navigational aids. Omotoba's action originates from ethnic jealousy and malice and he ought to be confronted by Umuigbo. Consider this and draw your own conclusions”.

It’s hard to ascertain from where the minister of aviation was coming from, after all the evidence point to the approval of the airport for international flights also. Someone gave us these facts:

“On November 13, 2007, the Nigerian Federal Minister for Transport Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke announced that Mr Yar’Adua of Nigeria had decided to upgrade Enugu airport to the status of an international airport. This statement which was widely published drew letters of gratitude from Igbo people in Nigeria and abroad (click here for a sample of the letters sent to Yar’Adua www.umez.com )".

On September 2, 2009, the Federal Executive Council announced that it had approved N4 billion for the upgrade of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu. The news was conveyed to the public by the Information minister, Dr. Dora Akunyili. Mr. Ike Ekweremadu, the ranking senator from Enugu and deputy president of the Senate, was so elated about it that he was carried away by the euphoria. Obi Nwakanma wrote that the decision to site and in fact upgrade the current facilities of the Enugu airport ought, therefore, to have nothing to do solely on the whims of President Yar’Adua. That it’s an economic decision – and it is a sound economic decision to invest in an international airport in Enugu to cater for that segment of a travelling population who are currently inconvenienced by the absence of such a facility. In his words: “Eastern and indeed many Middle belt international travellers have frequently demanded this upgrade for a number of reasons, chief of which is the inconvenience of always travelling to Lagos, Abuja or Kano, or even Port-Harcourt before they could board or even disembark from an international flight. The two international gateways to the East, the Port-Harcourt Airport, and the Enugu Airport are underdeveloped and underinvested.”

It’s unfortunate that Nigerian government is under-estimating the economic potentials of Ndiigbo at its own peril. Ndiigbo is a force to reckon with and anybody who’s nearsighted or parochial to understand such, is only trying to be pernicious. Let’s look at one example here: Owerri Airport is a local one, but, it beats Kano International Airport in human and cargo traffic.

Owerri vs. Kano Airports

Sam Mbakwe Airport - Owerri

Scheduled Flight Domestic Departures

Thursday 3rd September 2009

Sam Mbakwe Airport - Owerri

Scheduled Flight Domestic Arrivals

 Thursday 3rd September 2009

Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano

Scheduled Flight Domestic Arrivals

Thursday 3rd September 2009

Scheduled Flight Domestic Departures

Thursday 3rd September 2009

NSIBIDI PRESS tm

Someone just asked: For Christ's sake, why can't the Igbos have an international airport in the 21st century? What have Omotoba and Nigeria got to lose? Will this latest insult stand? Why can't Igbo people boycott Lagos Airport now?

Ndiigbo have been paying great price for the sake of Nigeria , but, each time they merited something, they are short-changed. Their patience is running out: Let’s take the memory lane here.

On November 18, 1949, 18 unarmed coal miners were shot dead by the British colonial police at the Iva Valley coal mine, Enugu, Nigeria. 59 other miners were seriously wounded. The coal mine workers had been on a sit-down strike over conditions of service.  That was one of the catalysts which set in motion the struggle for Nigeria’s independence.

To paraphrase VOBI here: The fight for Nigerian independence was carried almost entirely by the Igbos and other people of Eastern Region and a handful of Lagosians like Herbert Macaulay. The NCNC the only truly national political party that carried the fight for independence was lead for one year by Herbert Macaulay who died the same year, 1945. Thereafter Nnamdi Azikiwe was elected the leader of the NCNC and with other people of Eastern Region including Prof. Eyo Eta, Alvan Ikoku, Nwafor Orizu, M. I. Okpara, Dennis Osadebey, Akanu Ibiam, Anthony Enahoro and others forced the British to grant self government to the three regions in Nigeria, East, West and North and eventually independence to the country. While the East and West accepted self government but insisted on full independence, the North insisted on remaining a colony of the British government. The North delayed independence for everyone for another three years as Azikiwe and the NCNC begged the North to accept freedom for their people. By the time the Northern feudalists accepted to be part of independent Nigeria, they insisted on having half of the seats in the Federal House of Representatives. Azikiwe and the NCNC acquiesced. Then they insisted on producing the executive prime Minister and gave Nnamdi Azikiwe the holder of a Bachelors degree from Lincoln University and a Masters degree from University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university, the ceremonial office of Governor General without any powers. Azikiwe acquiesced. Thus throughout the whole of West, East, Central and Southern Africa the only person who led his people to independence and freedom but was denied the opportunity to head the government at independence was Nnamdi Azikiwe, who even until his death was continually denied that opportunity to put his ideas into concrete reality. Rather, Alhaji Mallam Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a grade two teacher and one of those who opposed independence, was handpicked by Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and sent to Lagos to become the prime minister of Nigeria. Judge for yourself what damage he and his fellow northern rulers did to Nigeria. 

Before independence in 1946, the British colonial government had completed plans to establish apartheid system in Jos, Northern Nigeria. They had segregated certain areas of Jos for Whites only and started building schools for Whites only, just as they did in South Africa. It was Nnamdi Azikiwe who organized protest movements and forced the British to abandon the establishment of apartheid system in Northern Nigeria. How did the North pay Azikiwe back?

In all the efforts to organize a meaningful census in Nigeria, the North has always inflated its population to dizzying figures thereby specializing in what will euphemistically be called “fuzzy math.” The West soon joined the North in doing the same thing. That practice has continued till today and has resulted in census figures that indicate that Kano alone has more people and therefore more local governments than all of Igbo land. As laughable as this is to any sane man or woman, it is still the official census figure of Nigeria today. Ndiigbo acquiesced.

In 1964 the premier of Eastern Region, Dr. M. I. Okpara, argued that revenue allocation should be on the basis of derivation – that is that the people from whose land the revenue is generated be allocated that revenue. The government of Western Nigeria joined the North in opposing this; which was the return to the way revenue had always been allocated when Groundnut and Tin was king in the North and Cocoa was king in the West. The West and the North then insisted on land mass and fake population as criteria for revenue allocation. The East was defeated.

Yakubu Gowon, working for the northern oligarchy (religious-traditional- military-political elites) in concert with the western Nigerian oligarchy, cut off oil bearing Igbo communities in Southern Igbo land and merged them with other ethnic groups. Then the evil government of Nigeria commenced pressuring them to deny their Igbo identity. It bribed their leaders, cajoled, and even threatened them. Some communities acquiesced, denied their Igbo identity, and started bastardizing their names and the names of their communities. Yakubu Gowon even confessed that the reason why he created states in 1967 was to subvert the identity of the Ndiigbo and undermine the unity of the people of Eastern Region. Now we ask you, did he succeed?

In 1965, the northern oligarchy through the Nigeria federal government of Mallam Abubakar Tafawa Balewa subverted the Yorubas and made them engage in an internecine war in which they slaughtered themselves in large numbers and burned down whole communities in what was called “operation weitie.”  The northern oligarchy, through its agents, had also imprisoned Chief Awolowo the leader of the Yoruba and thrown Yoruba land into anarchy. Ndiigbo were horrified. Then the premier of Eastern Region Dr. M. I. Okpara sent help to rescue the West from the northern oligarchs. Maazi Ukonu, an Igbo man, was broadcasting the authentic results of the Western Region election from under the table in Awolowo’s house as the Hausa Fulani and their ally S. L. Akintola were announcing fake results, slaughtering Yoruba men and women and destroying Yoruba land. This eventually led to the coup of January 15, 1966 whose goal was to release Awolowo from prison and install him as prime minister of Nigeria. The Yorubas joined the Hausa Fulani in dubbing the coup “Igbo coup,” though Major Adewale Ademoyega, a full blooded Yoruba officer confessed that he was one of the five majors who planned and executed the coup and that their goal was to release Awolowo from Calabar prison and install him as the prime minister of Nigeria.

Ojukwu released Awolowo from Calabar prison. On getting home Awolowo declared his support for the Aburi Agreement, one of whose clauses was that Northern soldiers occupying Western Region must return to their homeland in Northern Nigeria. Awolowo then issued this famous statement: “If the Eastern Region is allowed by acts of omission or commission to secede from or opt out of Nigeria, then the Western Region and Lagos must also stay out of the Federation.”  Northern Nigeria soldiers refused to leave Western Nigeria; Awolowo who was saved by Onye Igbo, formed alliance with the Hausa Fulani who had been killing his people and occupying their land; and in one of the most dastardly acts in history, urged his Yoruba people to join the Hausa Fulani in slaughtering thousands of Ndiigbo and other people of Eastern Region living in Western Region and starving to death millions of Igbo children. 

In 1983 the northern oligarchy, in concert with the western Nigerian oligarchy, organized a coup to topple the government of Shehu Shagari. Umaru Dikko, minister of transport in Shagari´s government later confirmed that the only reason they planned, and executed the coup was to make sure that Alex Ekwueme, then Vice President of Nigeria, would not become the president of Nigeria after the termination of Shehu Shagari´s second term as president. Buhari, working for the northern oligarchy, dumped Ekwueme in Kirikiri prison, Lagos and sent Shagari to his home in Shagari village, Sokoto.

When Ibrahim Babangida, the snake, annulled the election of Abiola as president of Nigeria, Ndiigbo were in the forefront of fighting for the restoration of Abiola´s mandate. When Abiola thought that he had finally concluded his secret treaty with the northern oligarchy, he immediately told Ndiigbo that he did not need the Igbos to be president of Nigeria. Ndiigbo licked their wounds and shut their mouths. 

When the Hausa Fulani and other Northerners fell on the Ndiigbo and slaughtered 100, 000 Ndiigbo and other Easterners living in Northern Nigeria between May and October 1966, what did the Yorubas do? They sent Yoruba Obas to tour Northern Nigeria and thank the Northerners for not killing the Yorubas when they were slaughtering the Ndiigbo and their kin from the Eastern Region.

There are literally scores of examples of bad faith, treachery, and cowardly exploitation of the Ndiigbo and other Easterners by the Hausa-Fulani and Yorubas. Anyone with common sense, not high sense should know never, never to trust the political elite of the other major ethnic groups in discussions, negotiations, treaties; never, never to trust their public declarations and pledges of loyalties because once the chips are down they sell you down the river.

Ndiigbo and their kin in Eastern Region must realize that the only agenda of the Hausa-Fulani-Yoruba leaders is to dominate you, exploit and use your resources for their benefit, and enslave all the people of Eastern Region. The only survival strategy for Ndiigbo and their kin in Eastern Region is to fight back, to push back as fiercely as ever against this evil plan. Unless you push back ever so aggressively, you will be enslaved. A bully responds to nothing other than aggressive counter attack. We have been complaining about resource control. We ask you just one question. If this oil and gas were to be located in Sokoto, Katsina, Kano, or Maiduguri, all the people of Eastern Region will be begging for the issuance of visa from Arewa country to travel to Kano, Jos, Maiduguri, Katsina, Bauchi and even Makurdi. There wouldn’t even be talk of One Nigeria. Ndiigbo onye mara asu ya suo n’odo, onye amaghi asu, ya suo n’ala (if you’re sensible, pound in the mortal, if not, pound on the ground).

This writer has no problem with ordinary Nigerians from all the ethnic stocks, rather, with the elites from Ala Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani and other ethnic groups. This writer expects rejoinders to this part of the article from members of the elite, those who use their people for their personal aggrandisement in the name of their ethnic group. Let’s read what they have to say.

To be continued.

This writer wants to use this opportunity to thank the publisher, pointblanknews.com, for publishing his articles and you the reader, for reading them in 2009. Looking forward to more of that in the years ahead. Wishing you all  a remarkable 2010 in advance.

THE THANXS IS ALL YOURS!!!

Continued from Part 1

Reference:

VOBI 11 20 09

NSIBIDI Press

Temple Chima Ubochi writes from Bonn, Germany through ubochit@yahoo.com