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Thursday, August 11, 2016

Separarists, militants and 'iyalaya' anybody!

Written by Lekan Sote
~The Punch Nigeria. Wednesday, August 10, 2016.

Prof Biodun Jeifo brought "igilangogeesi," Yoruba onomatopoeia for grandiloquence, to academic discourse. Prof Pius Adesanmi dredged the "iyalaya anybody" lingo from the most uncouth aspects of the underbelly of the Lagos streets to make a brilliant submission to a distinguished audience of actors, professionals, and corporate types.

To the Yoruba, "iyalaya" means grandmother, granddame, matriarch, or female ancestor. When conjoined with the indefinite pronoun, "anybody," "iyalaya" is more than just a modifier. Both words together express scant regard for the opinion of significant or insignificant others.

The rhetoric of Nigeria's separatists, militants, and insurgents, are very hardline indeed. The separatist Indigenous (some say, Igbo) People of Biafra, and Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, militant Niger Delta Avengers, and insurgent Boko Haram, are at their most blatant in-your-face as they openly challenge the Nigerian state.

They are gung ho in their quests to exit Nigeria, put no store to the opinion of "iyalaya anybody," and are not remiss in proclaiming it from the rooftops. IPOB, for instance, has little regard for the sensibilities of the older Igbo generation, some of whom have suggested the more moderate path of political restructuring of Nigeria.

Membership of IPOB is said to be largely from the age bracket of Generation X, iGen, and the Millennial, who some say, hardly know the horrors of the Nigerian Civil War. They are prepared to achieve their goals by violence, and probably think that pacifist MASSOB, from where they broke away, is sissy, and the moderate Ohanaeze Ndigbo, pliant.

Without being asked, IPOB admits to running a pirate protest radio station named after Radio Biafra of the Republic of Biafra. The language of this radio station is decidedly strident, graphic, even swashbuckling. It has no qualms in sending vitriolic words to Nigerians, their President, and any Igbo who does not seem to share the vision or enthusiasm for separatist Biafra.


This young and audacious group consistently pushes the Biafra Agenda into the fore of any interface with other Nigerians. They may not be unprepared to stick it to anyone who describes Biafra as defunct or a former Republic. When they are not staging a protest, they are issuing a statement in what has now been sloganeered into "BIAFREXIT."

The Niger Delta Avengers are decidedly more violent than IPOB. They have adopted the tactics of the Nelson Mandela-led Spear of the Nation, the militant arm of South Africa's African National Congress. They consistently attack oil and gas installations of government and the International Oil Companies.

But unlike the Spear of the Nation, they do not destroy other government establishments. They do not also harm civilians or soldiers, and they announce their intentions, and promptly claim responsibility after every attack.

The NDA wants the Nigerian state to concede 60 per cent of oil revenue to the Niger Delta, clean up the degraded environment, restructure Nigeria, adopt fiscal federalism, establish the Maritime University, and organise a referendum for self-determinism. They recently slipped in talk about exiting Nigeria. Though they engage in violence, they have not quite declared wholesale war nor foreclosed dialogue altogether.

But some politicians and unscrupulous businessmen are hiding behind the militants to fight private wars. A lesser known Iduwn Volunteers Force, presumably from the Niger Delta, asks President Muhammadu Buhari to make the Central Bank of Nigeria reverse an order asking banks to bring in insider-related loans.

A recent hoax by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta announced a pact that included a safe passage for Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, who is wanted by security agencies. Some Niger Delta governors were reported to have vacated shame and brazenly asked the Federal Government to drop corruption charges against some politicians.

But by far the most virulent of the trinity of perfidy that is facing Nigeria is the Boko Haram insurgents of the North-East. What started as a regular harmless religious movement became extremely violent in protest of the death of leader Mohammed Yusuf in police custody.

Boko Haram uses suicide bombers to attack churches,mosques, even emirs' palaces, markets, and other public places, to maim, and kill innocent people. They finally embarked on raids to unprotected villages in a quest for territory. Reports indicate that they controlled close to three local government areas of Borno State. Like the NDA, they promptly claim responsibility any time they attack a target.

The insurgency in the North-East has caused thousands of Nigerians to become Internally Displaced Persons within their own country. Their lives and livelihoods have been disrupted, and it will take some time before things return to normal.

Nigeria, that includes the Niger Delta, is losing billions of revenue to the destruction of oil and gas installations. The leaders and elders of the Niger Delta must remind the young men that oil is a depleting wealth, and that before oil, Nigeria survived on other things.

Yet, Andrew Elijah of the Ijaw Monitoring Group's opinion that the Nigerian state should engage the militants in peace talks is good. A former Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan's suggestion of a carrot and stick strategy with the militants is also wise.

Government must not ignore separatist IPOB, MASSOB, militant NDA, its alter ego, MEND, and whoever shows up on behalf of the Boko Haram insurgents, in peace talks. Government must constructively engage all-comers, to sieve the genuine from the frivolous. It will not do anyone any good, certainly not the Nigerian state, if the Federal Government climbs a grandstanding pedestal. Dialogue is a weapon of war.

To treat the militants and the separatists like criminals won't help matters. For far too long the Nigerian state has not treated anyone with too much respect and consideration. Well, except for those enrolled in the register of the ruling oligarchy, who therefore insist that Nigeria must not be restructured.

But while government must abide by agreements to pay stipends promised to ex-militants, it should however be a short term deal. It is better to develop both the human and infrastructure capital of the Niger Delta. Imagine the perfect fit when labour with requisite skills, competence, and experience meets with sustained job opportunities.

One high road that is not yet taken is for IOCs to demonstrate fidelity to the Nigerian project by enlisting on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Nigerians on Main Street can at least acquire ordinary shares, if not the premium preferred shareswhose claims are settled immediately after payments on debt instruments have been met.

You bet that Nigerian shareholders would certainly acquire the posture of stakeholders and unofficial spokespersons for the IOCs. It may interest you to know that the Petroleum Industry Bill on the floor of the National Assembly does not quite encourage the IOCs to enlist on the Nigerian bourse.

But above all, the Nigerian state must recognise that inaudible grumble from the South-West, self-determination agitations from the South-East, violent demands from the South-South, and murderous insurgency in the North-East, indicate that things aren't so good within the Nigerian political space.

Everyone knows that the Buhari Presidency did not create the problems. But if it can find the political will not to compound, but end it all, other regions of Nigeria will not seek redress in the rude expression, "Iyalaya anybody!"

No comments:

THE IGBO RANT

I am an Igbo, I was born an Igbo, I live the life of an Igbo, I come from Igbo, I speak Igbo, I like to be Igbo, I like to dress in Igbo, I eat Igbo food, my heritage, culture and tradition is Igbo, my parents are Igbo.

Am sorry I cannot help it if you hate my lineage. Am sorry I cannot help it if you detest Igbo, am sorry I cannot help it if you hate me because am Igbo. Igbo is who I am, my name is Igbo and I must die an Igbo.

You see Igbo as a threat, why? You call Igbo rapist, criminals, ritualist, prostitutes, kidnappers. You attribute all negative vices to represent Igbo? Why do you do that? You do because you feel threatened that Igbo might outrun the rest of the tribes. Why do you hate Igbo and despise us? You do that because we are creative, enlightened, hardworking, industrious, genius, intelligent, smart, rich, beautiful and amazing. But its difficult for you to admit it because you feel jealous of my race.

Igbo do not own politics, Igbo do not control the economy neither do we control the natural resources and the common wealth of the nation. You do, we don't and yet, despite the fact that you own everything, we still remain one indispensable race that has outshined the other race in all ramifications.

You fear us because you want to exterminate and annihilate our race, you deny us many things and yet we are stronger, richer and mightier. You fear us because we are everywhere. You fear us because no matter how rural a place might be, when Igbo steps in, they turn it into a Paradise. We have our own resources, which lies in resourcefulness, we do not bother you and your control over the polity, but yet when we cough you and the other race begin to shiver.

Am proud being an Igbo, am proud of my heritage and culture. Igbo means high class, Igbo means independence, Igbo means hard work and strength, Igbo means riches, Igbo means resourcefulness, Igbo means self belonging, Igbo means self esteem, Igbo means pride, Igbo means swag.

Udo diri unu umunnem.
# IgboAmaka
# AnyiBuNdiMmeri

Michael Ezeaka
------------------------------

This is beautiful poetry ...

In response to Alaba Ajibola, the Babcock Lecturer Hate Speech against Igbos.

BIBLICAL TRADITIONS OF NDI IGBO BEFORE THE MISSIONARIES CAME TO AFRICA* IGBO 101.

1. NSÓ NWANYĮ
In Igboland women live apart from their husbands and neither cook for them nor enter their husband's quarters when they are in their period. They are seen as unclean. Even up till today such practice is still applicable in some parts of Igboland especially by the traditionalists. Before a woman can enter the palace of Obi of Onitsha, she will be asked if she is in her period, if yes, she will be asked to stay out.

Leviticus 15: 19-20
When a woman has her monthly period, she remains unclean, anyone who touches her or anything she has sat on becomes unclean.

2. ANA OBI
An Igbo man's ancestral heritage, called “Ana Obi” is not sellable, elders will not permit this. If this is somehow done due to the influence of the West the person is considered a fool and is ostracized by the community.

1 Kings 21:3
I inherited this vineyard from my ancestors, and the Lord forbid that I should sell it, said Naboth.

3. IKUCHI NWANYĮ
Igbos have practiced the taking of a late brother's wife into marriage after she had been widowed until the white men came. Now it is rarely done but except in very rural villages.

Deuteronomy 25:5
A widow of a dead man is not to be married outside the family; it is the duty of the dead man's brother to marry her.

4. ĮGBA ODIBO
In Igboland, there is a unique form of apprenticeship in which either a male family member or a community member will spend six (6) years (usually in their teens to their adulthood) working for another family. And on the seventh year, the head of the host household, who is usually the older man who brought the apprentice into his household, will establish (Igbo: idu uno) the apprentice
by either setting up a business for him or giving money or tools by which to make a living.

Exodus 21:2
If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve you for six years. In the seventh year he is to be set free without having to pay you anything.

5. IRI JI OFŲŲ
In Igboland , the yam is very important as it is their staple crop. There are celebrations such as the New yam festival (Igbo: Iri Ji) which are held for the harvesting of the yam. New Yam festival (Igbo: Iri ji) is celebrated annually to secure a good harvest of the staple crop. In the olden days it is an abomination for one to eat a new harvest before the festival. It's a tradition that you give the gods of the land first as a thanksgiving.

Deuteronomy 16:9
Count 7 weeks from the time that you begin to harvest the crops, and celebrate the harvest festival to honor the lord your God, by bringing him a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing he has given you. Celebrate in the Lord's presence together with your children, servants, foreigners. Be sure that you obey my command, said the Lord.

6. IBE UGWU
In Igboland it's a tradition that the male children are circumcised on the 8th day. This tradition is still practiced till date.

Leviticus 12:3
On the eighth day, the child shall be circumcised.

7. ÓMŲGWÓ
In Igboland, there is a practice known as "ile omugwo ". After a woman has given birth to a child, a very close and experienced relative of hers, in most cases her mother is required by tradition to come spend time with her and her husband. During which she is to do all the work of the wife, while the new mom's only assignment to the baby will be to breastfeed. This goes on for a month or more. In the Igbo old tradition, at this time, the new mom lives apart from her husband, would not cook or enter his quarters.

Leviticus 12:1-4
For seven days after a woman gives birth, she is ritually unclean as she is during her monthly period. It will be 33 days until she is ritually clean from the loss of blood; she is not to touch anything that is holy.

THE IGBO TRIBE AND ITS FEAR OF EXTINCTION

The Igbo tribe is in a serious problem and danger of extinction for the following reasons:

50% of Igbos are born outside Igbo land. Meaning that those children are not likely to live and work in Igbo land and cannot speak Igbo language but foreign language (Yoruba, Hausa, French, English).

40% of Igbos girls between the age of 25 & 45 are single with no hope of marriage because 35% of Igbo boys live overseas and they have all married white ladies.

75% of Igbo youths leave Igbo land every year in search of opportunities in Yoruba, Hausa land or overseas.

85 % of Igbos have family houses and own investments outside Igbo land. They strongly believe in one Nigeria but failed to know that NO Yoruba or Hausa man has a family house or investment in Igbo land.

Igbos are the only people who believe that living outside their land is an achievement.

Igbos are the only tribe that celebrate their tradition outside their land e.g. Eze Ndi Igbo, Igbo Village in America and this is because they have family homes in foreign lands.

Igbos have failed to know that the children you have outside Igbo land especially overseas will never think of living in Igbo land. So what happens to the properties you are building for them when you are gone?

Igbos are the only tribe who see their land as a place to visit or a tourist site than a place to work and live.

Igbos are the only tribe who instead of promoting and appreciating their culture through movies and documentaries they have sought to ridicule it by portraying rituals, killings, wickedness, love for money and other social vices which were not originally inherent in our culture thereby cursing more harm than actually promoting their culture.

Igbos are the only people who without hesitation believe their history and description when it is told or written by an enemy or a foreigner. E.g. that you do not love yourselves or that you love money.

Igbos are the ONLY largest tribe on earth who fought for their independence and failed to achieve their freedom after 40 years.

Igbos are the only tribe who fails to honour their brave heroes and heroines especially the innocent children starved to death during the Biafran war.

Igbos are the only tribe who embraced their enemy after a bloody civil war and subsequently become slaves.

Igbos do not find it necessary to teach their own version of history to their children.

Igbos fight for marginalisation in Nigeria but has no collective strength or teeth to bite.

Igbos how long are you going to fight for your relevance in Nigeria?

How long are you going to fight for a functional airport, rail networks and other structural establishments that underpin sustainable development?

How long are you prepared to wait for your enemy to guide you to your destiny?

Oh Igbos!
Where are your leaders?

Unfortunately, none of them live and work in Igbo land. If you wish to save the future of your children, your identity, your generation and your race then you need freedom and that freedom is Biafra.

Ukpana Okpoko gburu bu nti chiri ya!

By Chime Eze
#COPIED

The Igbo: We die for causes, not for personalities

Written by Emeka Maduewesi

~on fb. 28th September, 2016.


The Igbo will never die for anyone. We will not even riot for anyone. But the Igbo will die for any cause they believe in because the Igbo have a true sense of justice and a determination to obtain it.


The Igbo will not riot because one of their own lost an election. Operation Wetie was the Western response to a massively rigged 1965 election. The Yoruba doused fellow Yorubas in petrol and burnt them alife. Properties were burnt with occupants. The Igbo will never do this.


In 1983, the Yoruba went on a rampage again over the massive rigging by NPN. Lifes were lost and properties destroyed. The riots were over personalities.


Contrast that with Anambra State where Chief Emeka Ojukwu was rigged out by his own NPN, who also rigged out Chief Jim Nwobodo. The Igbo did not protest because the goat's head is still in the goat's bag.


In the North, ba muso was the battle cry when Sultan Dasuki was imposed on the Sokoto Caliphate. The riot and protest lasted for days and crippled economic activities.


The Igbo will riot over issues and causes. The Aba Women Riot was over Tax. The Enugu coal mine riot was about conditions of service. The Ekumeku Uprising was over British colonialization.


Those of "Ekumeku" ancestry - Umu Eze Chima and Umu Nri - were at the forefront of the struggles for Nigerian independence, with people like Dr. A A Nwafor Orizu and Chief Osita Agwuna serving prison terms. Any struggles the parents could not conclude is continued by the children by other means.


The Biafran war was a response to the genocide. The war in fact was brought upon us. The battlefield was Eastern Region. The war ended in 1970 but the issues and causes were not resolved. That is where we are today.


The Igbo will also jointly rise to fight evil in their midst. They did it in Onitsha in the 1980's, Owerri in the 90's, and with Bakkassi in the 2000.


The Igbo will not die for any man. But the Igbo will stand by any man who symbolizes their cause and their pursuit of justice. Even if the man dies, the struggle continues, and like the Ekumeku warriors, the children will pick up the baton from their parents.


This is the Igbo I know, the Igbo I am, and the Igbo we are. This is my story. Feel free to tell yours.

RT. HON. DR. NNAMDI AZIKIWE TO DR. CHUBA OKADIGBO (1981)

"My boy, may you live to your full potential, ascend to a dizzy height as is possible for anyone of your political description in your era to rise. May you be acknowledged world-wide as you rise as an eagle atop trees, float among the clouds, preside over the affairs of fellow men.... as leaders of all countries pour into Nigeria to breathe into her ear.

But then, Chuba, if it is not the tradition of our people that elders are roundly insulted by young men of the world, as you have unjustly done to me, may your reign come to an abrupt and shattering close. As you look ahead, Chuba, as you see the horizon, dedicating a great marble palace that is the envy of the world, toasted by the most powerful men in the land, may the great big hand snatch it away from you. Just as you look forward to hosting the world’s most powerful leader and shaking his hands, as you begin to smell the recognition and leadership of the Igbo people, may the crown fall off your head and your political head fall off your shoulders.

None of my words will come to pass, Chuba, until you have risen to the very height of your power and glory and health, but then you will be hounded and humiliated and disgraced out of office, your credibility and your name in tatters forever...”
THE REST IS HISTORY AS EVERY WORD OF THE CURSE ON CHUBA CAME TO PASS.

LET'S BE AS PASSIONATE AS WE WANT TO AND BE MODERATE IN OUR CONTRIBUTIONS IN PUBLIC DISCUSSION TO ISSUES AS WORDS OF OUR ELDERS ARE WORDS OF WISDOM

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