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Protest Over NDDC ; Itsekiris Urge FG Not To Inaugurate Board

By
Ayodele Oni
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NDDC Office

By Ayodele Oni

Itsekiri leaders from Delta state have petitioned the Attorney General of the Federation, (AGF) Abubakar Malami, over the constitution of the board of Niger/Delta Development Commission,(NDDC) urging that the inauguration of the board should be put on hold.

The Itsekiri leaders advised President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Umana Okon Umana, to resist any temptation to hurriedly inaugurate the board of the commission.

The board is expected to be inaugurated on Thursday following members clearance by the national assembly in December.

Their grouse is the emergence of  Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku, as chairman and managing director of the commission, which they believe does not conform with the law establishing the commission.

“As the Chief Law Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and a strong proponent of the Rule of Law, you will not in any way advise the President and indeed the Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, to proceed with the inauguration of Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku on January 4, 2023, as the Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the NDDC and or concretize their positions, pending the outcome of the adjudicatory process already initiated by our Clients.”

In the letter, made available on Tuesday and written by Ama Etuwewe (SAN) & Co, Solicitors to the Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality ably represented by Chief Edward Ekpoko, Mr. Edward Omagbemi and Engineer Victor Wood, the leaders urged the Minister of Justice to counsel the relevant parties on the need to allow the judicial process take its course and refrain from taking steps which will ridicule the Rule of Law and further weaken our nascent democratic structure.

The letter is titled: RE: Pending suit filed by the Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality; Order of the Federal High Court Abuja.

It is supported with an application to set aside the purported screening and confirmation of Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the NDDC by the National Assembly.

The screening was carried out on December 21, 2022, in the face of the processes and order of court in suit NO. FHC/ABJ/CS/2294/2022, in which you are a party, the leaders urged the executive arm to comply

“Having fought to ensure that there is peace and stability in the Country, it would be manifestly antithetical to the goals of this Administration of which you are a key player, if solely for a refusal to await and comply with the judicial process, all the Executive has worked for in the past seven (7) years, translates to naught.”

The leaders reminded the Attorney General of the need to stay every action that will adversely affect the outcome of the adjudicatory process.

“As the Chief Law Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a party in the suit, you are doubtless aware of the position of the law which is to the effect that once there is a pending litigation, all parties to the suit are expected to stay every action that will adversely affect the outcome of the adjudicatory process so as not to render the said process a nullity and foist upon the court a fait accompli’’

The grouse of the Itsekiri leaders, according to the letter, is that since the inception of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2001, the Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality has not occupy the positions of chairman and managing director.

They claimed that over 21 oil-producing communities and producing about 58 percent of the crude oil in Delta State and 17 percent of the Country’s crude oil production, are located in their area

“We are doubtless major contributor to the Crude Oil and Gas Resources in Nigeria, which by virtue thereof, the Itsekiri communities suffered and continues to suffer the attendant environmental degration and total neglect.

Anambra: Blood Flows As President-General of Obosi Town Union, Hon. Okolo, Four Others, Are Shot Dead

By
The Source
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By Charles Igbo

It was a bloody day in Anambra State on Monday, January 2, 2023.

At about 8pm, the President General of the Obosi Town Union, Honourable  Ike Okolo,  was shot dead by gunmen.

Okolo was killed at a Petrol Station in the Community where he, apparently, stopped to fill his SUV with Petrol.

In a heart-shattering video making the rounds, a gruesomely shot Okolo, sat in a pool of his own blood, behind the steering wheel of his car.

Obviously, his assailants did not give him the chance to say a word, or come down from his car.

In another development same day, gunmen stormed a compound identified as Obi Maduka’s compound, Nodu Okpuno, Awka South, and killed four people.

The victims include Kenechukwu Okeke, the PDP Chairman in the area. Others were: Onyiebo Okoye, Jude Ebenezer and Obinna Maduka.

Unconfirmed report said the gunmen were after a man who ran into the compound. When they did not see him, they shot and killed the four men, all whom sat, and were entertaining themselves.

The Anambra State Police Command has yet to issue a statement on the killings.

Obosi, in the Idemili Local Government Area is home to Chief Emeka Anyaoku, elder statesman and former Commonwealth General Secretary. It is also home to Osita Chidoka, former Corp Marshall of the Federal Road Safety and former Aviation Minister under President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Morally Squalid Obasanjo Is Jealous Of President Buhari” – Presidency

By
Adesina Soyooye
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Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari

By Adesina Soyooye

It is not yet known if former President Olusegun Obasanjo expected the atomic response from the Presidency to his open letter to Nigerians, especially the Youths, on the state of the Nation and the way forward.

In the letter made public by Obasanjo on 1st January, 2023, he painted a very gloomy picture of the Nigerian State under President Muhammadu Buhari. He said everything has turned from bad to worse. He said Nigeria, under Buhari, has  jumped from “frying pan to fire.”

Obasanjo’s letter was, also, an advisory to Nigerian youths, in particular, on how to pull Nigeria back from the brinks. He told them not to miss stamping their feet in the 2023 General Elections. He asked them to take back their country.

He assessed the Presidential candidates of Political Parties, their strengths and weaknesses.

Finally, he skipped his former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party. He skipped Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress. And settled for Peter Obi of the Labour Party. He officially endorsed Obi.

Perhaps, if he had done that without taking a look at the Buhari Government, he wouldn’t have come under the ferocious hammer of the Presidency.

But he did. And the Presidency went for the kill.

In one of the most strongly worded responses to Obasanjo’s scattered attacks  on the Buhari Government, the Presidency called Obasanjo names.

In the statement signed by Garba Shehu, Buhari’s Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, the Presidency accused Obasanjo of being jealous of Buhari because Buhari has done more for Nigeria than Obasanjo. The statement said that the international recognitions for Buhari pushes Obasanjo boiling point. It called Obasanjo a scam. It gave an example with the second Niger Bridge.

It called Obasanjo’s Government, corrupt. And gave examples with ALSCON and the Delta Steel Mill. The statement called Obasanjo undemocratic. And gave examples with Obasanjo’s alleged third term plan, and noted the illegal impeachment of Governors under Obasanjo’s Government. It said Obasanjo has no respect for the rule of law. And gave more examples.

Incidentally, Obasanjo was one of those who brought Buhari to power in 2015. But they soon fell apart over what Shehu’s statement hinted was Buhari’s resistance to being controlled by the former President.

Following is the full text of the Presidency’s response.

“Former President Obasanjo is so well known to all that no one needs to describe who he is.

“But, four things we will like to say:

“One is that he will not stop attacking President Muhammadu Buhari because the former President won’t stop being jealous of anyone who beats him to a new record in the nation’s development process.

“President Buhari is ahead of Chief Obasanjo in all fields of national development and to do that is cardinal sin to Obasanjo whose hallucinations tell him that he is the best ever to lead Nigeria and there will never be another one better than him.

“President Buhari just completed the world class edifice that is the Second Niger Bridge after three decades of failed promises. It is now awaiting commissioning.

“Obasanjo laid the sod for the bridge in his first term as elected President and work never started.

“When he sought re-election for his second term in office, he returned to the site to turn the sod for the bridge the second time. When the Obi of Onitsha, forthright and scholarly, reminded him that he had done this in the past, Obasanjo told the foremost Southeast traditional ruler that he was a liar, in the full presence of the Chiefs and Oracles in his palace.

“Obasanjo lied to the Southeast to get their votes. President Buhari didn’t get their votes but built the bridge because he believed it is the right thing to do.

“Two, President Buhari had been bagging awards and encomiums for trying to do that which the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says a leader should do: serve one, or a maximum of two terms and go.

“President Buhari has been stating and restating that he will supervise a better election than the one that brought him to office and to leave as and when due.

“Having tried tenure elongation and failed, Obasanjo’s fictitious mind must be telling him that he is the one under attack.

“But he is not on President Buhari’s radar because experience has shown, especially lately in West Africa where there have been at least three successful coups and many other failed attempts, that third term or tenure elongation is a recipe for political instability.

“Furthermore, the totality of African leaders appointed President Buhari the Anti-Corruption Champion of the continent.

“You can’t be an anti-corruption champion if “you meddled and bent the rules,” carrying the putrid responsibility of what happened to national assets in the name of privatization as documented by the Nigerian Senate in 2011.

“As an insight, the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, which was set up with $3.2 billion, was sold to a Russian firm, Russal, for a paltry $130million. Delta Steel, which was set up in 2005, at a cost of $1.5billion, was sold to Global Infrastructure for just $30million.

“ALSCON got back $120million for the dredging of the Imo River, which was never carried out.

“Three, which is linked to the one above is the growing profile of President Buhari as the Champion of Democracy not only at home and in the West African subregion but the African continent as whole.

“As President, Obasanjo destabilized internal democracy by orchestrating impeachment after impeachment of governors who were not compliant with his highly imperial administration.

“As we said sometime back, Mr. Obasanjo’s tenure, 1999-2007, represented the dark days of Nigeria’s democracy due to a slew of assaults on the constitution.

“The former president deployed federal machinery to remove governors Joshua Dariye, Rashidi Ladoja, Peter Obi, Chris Ngige and Ayo Fayose from office. They were the then governors of Plateau, Oyo, Anambra, Anambra and Ekiti, respectively, unjustly removed using the police and secret service under his control.

“Under him, a five-man legislature met at 6:00 am and “impeached” Governor Dariye in Plateau; 18 members out of 32 removed Governor Ladoja of Oyo from office; in Anambra, APGA’s Governor Obi was equally impeached at 5:00 a.m. by members who did not meet the two-thirds required by the constitution.

“Lawmaking powers of the Rivers State legislature were transferred to the federal parliament to punish Governor Amaechi for shifting his political alliance.

“Moreover, he damned the Supreme Court and unlawfully held back Lagos State revenues due from federal sources on account of his pettiness against Governor Bola Tinubu.

“On the other hand, in Washington a few weeks ago, the US President Joe Biden at a meeting with African Heads of States and Government described President Buhari as a champion of democracy and role model for the leaders of African states.

“Clearly, Obasanjo has become even more jealous by adopting a vengeful attitude.

“Four, to say that “frying pan to fire” is the situation in Nigeria at this time should be read to mean a personal experience to him and we know what that means.

“Hell” for Obasanjo is when a President, any President that comes after him refuses to be his own puppet, to do as he wishes on all matters and at all times.

“He then keeps attacking out of frustration.

“Obasanjo’s vengeful attitude towards President Buhari is the height of selfishness and little short of moral squalor.”

Imo : Saved By His Bullet Proof Car,  Ohakim Says He Thought He Was Dead; Exonerates IPOB; Blames  Professionals

By
The Source
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Ikedi Ohakim

By Charles Igbo

“I thought I was a dead man.  I am alive today because of God, through the instrumentality of my bullet proof car.”

With the above words, a subdued and very shaken former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim told the story of his miraculous escape from death in the hands of ferocious and assassins who were determined to kill him. “They came to kill me”, he lamented.

Ohakim was on his way back to his Owerri residence from a visit to Ehime Mbano on Monday, 2nd January 2023, when assassins swooped on his convoy. Two of his children, a son and a daughter, were in the car with him.

The assassins, riding in a new BMW car, 5-series, on seeing his convoy opened fire on his own car. The car and the type of tyres it has, plus the dexterity of his driver, saved him and his children, through the mercy of God. His driver was able to meander through village roads. His type of tyres – run flat tyres – can move even when they are shot at, and punctured.

Sadly, four Policemen attached to Ohakim who were in a back up car, paid the supreme price. Their vehicle was bombed. And, they were killed instantly.

Lamented the one-term Governor of Imo State: “Are we going to stay in Owerri and Abuja permanently? Are we no longer going to go to our communities?” Ohakim is from the Local Government Area where he was, almost, killed.

The former Governor, a staunch member of the All Progressives Party, APC, was quick to exonerate the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, from his ordeal. He said those who attacked him were no amateurs. They were professionals, he said.

Narrating the story of his great escape from the assassins to TheNiche Monday night, Ohakim said:

“We were driving between Isiala Mbano and Ehime Mbano. These people blocked us at a place called Umualumaku.

“They attacked us from behind, and were firing at our vehicles consistently. I thought I was a dead man, and I was with two of my children – my son and daughter.

“What saved me was the bullet-proof vehicle. That I am alive today is by the special grace of God and the bullet proof vehicle.

“But unfortunately for me, they killed four of our boys, including the diver. Yes, we lost four of our boys, and I am devastated. How can that be? What crime did they commit?

Insisting that it was a clear case of assassination, and that he was the target, Ohakim said:

“Even when my driver escaped from the scene, they pursued my vehicle.

“They pursued us and continued firing at our tyres. Luckily, the vehicle has what is called run-flat tyres on which you can continue driving even after a puncture. So, even when they shot at the tyres, hoping to immobilise us, the vehicle continued moving. If they were ordinary tyres, and the vehicle had stopped, they would have cornered and finished us.

“But the tyres held on until we got home. We drove for about 20 minutes before we got home. That was the saving grace.

“The driver who manifested tremendous level of driving skill kept maneuvering until he lost them at a junction when he went right, and not knowing where we had gone, they headed the other direction on the way to Umuahia.

“We then turned and went back to my house. We were there when Imo Government House sent reinforcement from Owerri who brought the corpses of my security people.

“The assailants were not amateurs. This goes beyond the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, I must say. These are professionals, well-trained. They are not ordinary people. They were driving a blue-coloured BMW 5- series car, brand new. They came to kill me.

“I don’t know what this is all about. It is becoming terrible. Won’t people come home again? Are we to stay in Owerri and Abuja permanently without coming back to our communities?

The attack on Ohakim’s convoy is a copy cat of the attack on Senator Ifeanyi Ubah’s convoy a few months ago. The Senator was going back to his Nnewi, Anambra State country home when he was ambushed by assailants who swooped on him as his convoy drove past a market at Enugwu Ukwu. He was saved by God and his bullet proof car.

Sadly, seven people including his Police escorts and two personal staff lost their lives.

Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, some weeks ago, announced that a number of the assailants have been arrested.

2023: Bwala Says Obi’s Endorsement By Obasanjo Is Third Term Agenda By Proxy

By
Akinwale Kasali
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By Akinwale Kasali

The endorsement of Labour Party, LP, Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi by former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been termed  a Third Term by proxy by a spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,  Presidential Campaign Council, PCC,  Barrister Daniel Bwala.

Bwala said that the failure of Obasanjo to achieve his Third Term Bid in 2007 is still hurting him, so supporting Obi for President is to accomplish his long time ambition.

Obasanjo’s backing of Obi has generated  controversies from Nigerians following a New Year letter he wrote to Nigerian Youths, in particular, seeking for their votes on behalf of Obi in the 2023 presidential election.

Reacting to this, Bwala who is in London, United Kingdom wrote a letter titled; ‘Obasanjo: In search of an impossible third term’, on Monday said: Someone may need to remind him (Obasanjo) that Nigeria has indeed progressed from its days of imposition, manipulation and intimidation to popular participation of the people in Government and their country’s affairs.

“The 2023 election is the election of the people and not of great personalities. Nothing about his 1999-2007 tenure gives him heavenly authority to dictate our future or the outcome of any yet to be held elections.”

The spokesperson further said that Obasanjo “should have humbled himself and followed Peter Obi to rallies to test his own popularity; that’s what popular people do. He should go to town halls with Peter Obi, campaigning and bidding for votes to show he believes in a democratic electoral process.

“We do not vote on a letter threat. When was the last time we saw him visiting victims of a natural disaster? Or to play the role of a father of the nation he claims so passionately?

“Nigerians would decide, and they would do so, not on the basis of a letter from a man seeking a third term by proxy, but on their own judgment of who, among the candidates made the case, their opinion justifies their votes.

“The letter is not new, its contents are not surprising, but his legacy seems to betray his claim in the letter. Baba OBJ, Nigeria has moved on please. Let our democracy grow and respect the will and wishes of the Nigerian people.”

Lawyer Bolanle Raheem’s Killing: Lagos CP Orders Transfer Of All Policemen In Ajah Division

By
Akinwale Kasali
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Bolanle Raheem - Lawyer - KIlled By Policeman

By Akinwale Kasali

The Lagos State Police Commissioner, Abiodun Alabi, has ordered the immediate transfer of all Policemen attached to Ajah Police Station to another division.

The transfer of the Policemen is related to the killing of Lawyer, Bolanle Raheem by a trigger happy Police Officer on December 25, 2022.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, made the disclosure in a series of tweets on Monday.

Recently, Policemen attached to the Ajah Station were alleged to have abandoned their duties and gone on a drinking spree.

Hundeyin said, “I can confirm that this publication has been overtaken by events. The new DPO Ajah, CSP Adolf Ogwu, had earlier in the week dismantled all the shanties around the police station.

“In addition, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Abiodun Alabi, has already effected the transfer out of ALL personnel of the division, with replacement from other divisions. This would fully materialise in a couple of days.

“While appreciating @MobilePunch for the exposé, we encourage more Lagos residents to, as usual, say something whenever they see something, as this would translate to a better policing experience for all. Remember, security is everyone’s business.”

It was gathered that the Policemen in the Ajah Division were always abusing alcohol with some of them drunk while carrying out their duties, which may be responsible for the increasing rate of extra-judicial killings by cops from the station as residents and business owners also observed the trend.

According to residents of the area, the policemen are always under the influence of alcohol while on duty and on patrol.

They said this might be responsible for the recent killing of a pregnant lawyer, Bolanle Raheem, by an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Drambi Vandi, who was attached to the station.

Two weeks earlier, an inspector, Imeh Johnson, attached to the same division, also shot dead another resident, Gafaru Buraimoh, who was on his way to buy fuel.

“I Wish Obasanjo Did Not Make Public His Choice Candidate For President” –  Wike Mocks Atiku

By
Ayodele Oni
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By Ayodele Oni

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, said the endorsement of Labour Party (LP) Candidate, Peter Obi, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is a slight on Atiku Abubakar, flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).

The Governor believes that the move by Obasanjo, who refused to endorse Atiku shows that there is something fundamentally wrong with Atiku who was Obasanjo’s vice from 1999 to 2003.

Wike pointed out that it was funny that the engineer of the same legacies upon which Atiku was campaigning, failed to recommend him but instead endorsed Obi.

He spoke on Monday, during the flag-off of a road project in Emohua Local Government Area of the State.

“If you are a bad product, you are a bad product, if you are a good product, you are a good product.

“You worked under somebody, the person has recommended to Nigerians another person, is it me?

“I worked with somebody for eight years and we are using it as a campaign that when we were in office we did well, then my boss is recommending another person to be there, something is fundamentally wrong.

“I was praying that Obasanjo should not say anything, when I saw the letter last night I was touched.

“If your Principal does not recommend you, then there’s something fundamentally wrong.”

Obasanjo Destroyed Atiku On New Year’s Day, APC; Dismisses His Endorsement Of Obi As Worthless

By
Adesina Soyooye
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By Adesina Soyooye

A few months after the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, led the leaders of his Party to the home of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek his blessings for, and endorsement of his Presidential ambition, the APC, in a dramatic about-turn, has dismissed any endorsement by Obasanjo as worthless.

Obasanjo had, in an,  at once, strongly-worded and emotional letter to Nigerians,  and especially, the youths, analysed the Nigerian situation, and advised on the way forward in 2023.

Looking at the Presidential Candidates, Obasanjo said none is a Saint, but adjudged Peter Obi, the Candidate of the Labour Party, as the better and best candidate. He went on to endorse Obi, and charged Nigerians, especially, the youths to rise and take charge of their destiny.

Stung by Obi’s endorsement, the APC, in two reactions, dismissed the endorsement as worthless, and of no consequence.

Said Bayo Onanuga, Director of Media and Communications of the Presidential Campaign Council who laughed it off, “Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi, is worthless.”

Festus Keyamo, SAN, Spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, saw it in another light. He said Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi, instead of Atiku Abubakar, who was his Vice President when he, Obasanjo, was the President, has destroyed the Presidential aspiration of Atiku. He saw it as a vote of no confidence in Atiku, and noted that Obasanjo has confirmed Atiku’s lack of capacity and competence.

Keyamo tweeted: “Quite within OBJ’s right to endorse anyone, but bad for PDP in two ways: 1) Atiku’s former boss does not think he deserves to be President this time around. 2) The little support OBJ gave PDP in 2019 and they failed, he has taken that away to LP. No effect at all on officialABAT.”

But Paul Ibe, Atiku’s Media Adviser, tackled Keyamo, and said: “It’s within OBJ’s right to endorse anyone. But it’s within the rights of Nigerians to elect their President. Were you in Ghana on rehab like your friend to have forgotten that the Obj-Atiku admin produced the greatest economic boom in the history of Nigeria? Those are the considerations Nigerians will make.”

2023 Is Critical To Our National Survival – Peter  Obi

By
The Source
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0

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has said that the survival of the country as a nation is dependent on the direction it takes in the year 2023.

Obi therefore has called on all Nigerians to unite their efforts in the journey of taking back the nation from the cold hands of corruption, insecurity and unproductivity.

According to Obi in his New Year Message to Nigerians, “ 2023 is a very critical year that will determine the next direction of the nation”.

He explained that the nation cannot continue in its all round retrogressive movement in the coming years, as that will result in total collapse of the nation.

“2023 is an existential year in the history of our nation. It is a year we all must unite against the continued abuse of our nation’s democracy and economy. The power is in our hands to take back our nation, in the coming year, and make it work”,

Calling on Nigerians to support him in saving the nation, Obi restated his commitment to securing the country, unifying the nation and moving it from consumption to production. He called on Nigerians to hold him accountable to his promises for a better nation, when given access to power.

“I have made a pact with Nigerians and I will not leave any of my promises unfulfilled. Nigerians can hold me accountable by my words of promise”, Obi added.

He wished Nigerians a very productive 2023 and urged them to remain law abiding, while contributing to the growth and development of the nation.

Also at the crossover service at Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry in Uke, Anambra state, Obi urged the Worshipers to pray for the new year to produce good leaders that will rescue the country from the hands of incompetent leaders that grip it at the moment.

The announcement of his presence at the adoration ground by the Director, Rev Fr Ebube Muonso, almost, disrupted the worship as congregants surged forward to get a glimpse of the LP Presidential Candidate who was once the Governor of the State.

Flashback:  EASTERN SECURITY NETWORK:  An Advisory To Nnamdi Kanu

By
The Source
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Steve Osuji and Nnamdi Kanu

By Steve Osuji (22/12/2020

WHO DO YOU SEEK TO PROTECT?:

It seemed like one of such bluster and empty propaganda until I saw a video: a single file of ill-clad armed men clowning about in a cassava farm. A voice over says it’s men of the Eastern Security Network(ESN) now ready to defend the southeast.

They were about to do what the cowardly governors wouldn’t do, the narrator proclaims.

And we ask, who does Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB seek to protect? When was a referendum conducted to decide that Ndigbo would raise arms to defend ourselves?

Did Kanu and his group think through the fallout and consequences of this action?

Can Kanu possibly have a proper assessment of the security situation in Igboland from his foreign abode? Who did Kanu consult before this resort to arms considering that Ndigbo would be victims of the ensuing violent conflict in their domain and homeland?

Igboland is the most peaceful part of the country today so what is the real motive for this drastic rush for arms?

Are you prepared to take on the behemoth?

Why would we return to the route of the Biafra war in which the protagonists were driven by ego and megalomania instead of commonsense?

You seemed not to have learned anything from the Biafran war as you have continued to stoke the embers of hatred and division.

It’s true that the Buhari presidency has dealt a bad hand to Ndigbo, but it’s a short, passing phase. Besides, we are Igbo, we don’t act on impulse like excitable children!

Take notice that: ESN DOESN’T HAVE THE SUPPORT OF NDIGBO.

STRATEGIC ERRORS:

It was sheer recklessness to have formed the so-called Biafra Security Network (BSN), the other time. It was needless propaganda move without basis or substance.  It merely drew the ire of the federal government and broughr death and destruction on numerous Igbo youths. Have you accounted for those fatalities?

You recently sanctioned needless gathering of your members in Enugu, causing the death of countless Igbo youths in the hands of FG goons. Yet again, have you given account of the Enugu killings?

At the EndSARS protest, you invoked unnecessary opprobrium on the Igbo living in the West of Nigeria by your reckless comments. It took so much effort by the Ohaneze and well-meaning Igbo leaders to douse the ensuing conflagration. Was that comment necessary?

What happened at Obigbo (Oyigbo) in Rivers State? Who stoked and roused the latent hatred that we know is deep-seated in our so-called brothers in Rivers State?

How many Igbo youths are cut down in that Obigbo massacre?

What is the worth of Igbo properties/businesses destroyed in Obigbo? Do you know? Does anyone care? Is there an inquiry into that  mini genocide? Can you give account?

FOREST ARMY OR GUERRILLA FIGHTERS:

There you go again, you have gathered a few misguided and jobless youths, brainwashed them, kitted them in some drab combat fatigues and armed them with rifles.

One hundred of them, perhaps 500… you make an infantile propaganda video and broadcast it to the whole world.

And voila, ESN is born somewhere in the forest of Anambra! What naivety, what folly!?

How do you hope to go about this in stark repudiation of LGA authorities, State governors and the federal government?

Your ESN, if it’s not a shard of propaganda, is dead on arrival (DOD).

At best, all those boys would soon end up in the dungeon; worse we may have another cheap massacre on our hands!

Take heed that there’s  no hiding place for them in the southeast.

GOOD CAUSE,  WRONG METHOD/MOTIVE:

As this column has admonished several times, you fight a good cause but you apply a wrong method.

First, Igbo don’t want another war, we don’t need to go war to prove any point. At least not on our soil. Igbo remains the most prosperous and peaceful part of the country even in this calamitous Buhari era.

Yes, there are occasional skirmishes with Fulani herders in Igboland yet it is still insignificant compared to cases in the core north, middlebelt and even southwest. So what really is the motive for raising arms against the government of the day?

Why do you insist on invoking violence and fatalities on Igbo people and Igboland by deploying genocidal propaganda?

Would you come home to lead the war or are you gonna be merchandising arms and raking in billions from the comfort of your foreign crib?

If your motive is to save and rescue Ndigbo,  goodness knows we are not in any grave danger as you paint it…

WHAT NDIGBO WANT:

Ndigbo desire a chance to lead Nigeria from Aso Rock in 2023.

Ndigbo want a RESTRUCTURED and well-governed Nigeria.

Ndigbo do not seek Biafra but rather, we want a Nigeria run under the fine tenets of rule of law, equity and justice  to all regardless of tribe or tongue.

Igbo are not a hegemonic and irridentist people. Nay, we love to compete on the bases of merit and equal opportunity to all.

Yes, there is something wrong with the current leadership but no, there’s nothing wrong with Nigeria.

THE NEW EMPEROR:

The other day you declared a fatwa on our revered leader, Chief Nnia Nwodo, chairman of Ohaneze  Ndigbo. What temerity? You have no locus yet and you deign to dispense power and authority.

You insult and malign sitting governors with abandon; you show no aorta of respect to our leaders and monarchs… you exhibit this streak of despotism while you lay claim to no empire yet. We shudder to think what might be should you manage to foist your authority over us.

You forget that Igbo are free-spirited Republicans – we cannot tolerate nary monarchs not to speak of emperors.

FAREWELL TO ARMS:

On a final not, we advise once again that you have made your point. In fact, you have won the heart and soul of Ndigbo. Time has come to rethink the ‘struggle’. For your good and for the good of Ndigbo.

You must intellectualise the cause rather than take to arms.

An armed struggle is what it is: WAR! You are definitely not ready… Ndigbo do not want war. Take heed that you may stand alone when the guns begin to boom. Be guided!

 Osuji, Columnist, former Editorial Board Member, The Nation, former Special Adviser to former Governor Emeka Ihedioha, wrote this article on 22nd December, 2020, as an advisory to Nnamdi Kanu over insecurity/violence in the South-east

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