APC And Question Of Acceptance In Southeast by Osita Chiagorom

I am writing this article to correct some misconceptions about the APC in the Southeast and its consequences.

This is my personal opinion despite being aware that some people from this part of the country might not agree with me but they should also consider and have it in mind that what they consider as not good for the goose might be good for the gander and that’s life.

The same APC they are blackmailing is the same party that has been embraced in other parts of the country. This week’s defection of five PDP governors to the party is a serious pointer.

That APC did not win in Anambra does not mean that they cannot win in Lagos, Kano or Borno.

Since the merger that brought about this party, it has suffered lots of onslaughts and blackmails that it’s a Yoruba party, Hausa party or a Muslim party and the deportation brouhaha.

Peter Obi was exposed to have “deported” hundreds of other people prior to the Fashola “deportation” saga but it was the same Peter Obi who dubiously used it as a propaganda to blackmail APC and tarnish the image of the party in the south east in his desperation to deliver APGA at all cost in a dubious election that is still inconclusive after two weeks.

All these allegations although unfounded and deceitful is being embraced by a section of the populace and this is very dangerous when some people who call themselves leaders despite knowing the truth but prefer to use falsehood to achieve their aim leaving their followers to suffer in ignorance .

Presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe has predicted in his usual manner that APC will collapse before the full merger .Today, its more than five months since the merger and the party has waxed stronger and stronger.

Then some confused tribalistic minds came up with a theory that politicians from the east and west can never work together.

Well, some of them have not cared to learn from history on how Micheal Okpara who was a leader of the UPGA, an alliance of NCNC and remnants of imprisoned Awolowo led AG in the 1965 elections.

Some myopic minded individuals also hinted that there is no way that Buhari and Tinubu can work together or that Buhari cannot work with the Igbos.

Please be informed that both Buhari and Tinubu are just members of APC and both are wise men that know where this merger is heading to.

Recently, a former member of the presidential committee on the proposed national confab, Col. Nyiam revealed that Buhari has always preferred to work with Igbo military officers during his time in the military. Col. Nyiam as an outspoken person has known Buhari personally since the outbreak of the civil war.

Then recently, another school of thought with their spokesman in the person of Senator Jonathan Zwingina hinted that the Yoruba can never agree with the north.

He justified his position with the last horse trading accord of 2011 between Jonathan and Tinubu that helped Jonathan to win the southwest. It’s likely that Senator Zwingina will get the shock of his life.

Back to the Southeast, there is no positive justification to vote against the APC with regards to these cheap and unfounded speculations.

PDP has held firm here for 12 years and has nothing to show for it. It’s not a hidden thing.

After all in 1999, we had in the APP (later ANPP) the likes of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Arthur Nzeribe, Ogbonnaya Onu , Ifeanyi Araraume, George Moghalu, Evans Enwerem and host of others but all of them excluding Ogbonnaya Onu and George Moghalu decamped to the PDP .

The APP later metamorphosed into ANPP and later APC. These heavyweights could have been members of APC today if they have stayed back in ANPP with an example of Chief Ogbonnaya Onu and George Moghalu and their counterparts in Borno, Yobe and Zamfara.

They were not chased out of the party but for reasons best known to them, they preferred to be with the party in power.

The same was with the formation of AC, ACN and later APC .As a member of AC since 2006, later ACN and now in APC, I can give a small history of the Southeast participation in the party.

AC was formed by most national stakeholders who took part in the successful anti third term project led by Atiku. After the unsuccessful 2007 elections, many of the foundation members who could have stayed behind to further strengthen the party in the south east retreated to the PDP. They are the Vice presidential candidate, Senator Ben Obi, John Nwodo, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Dubem Onyia and hosts of former national house members like Greg Egu and others whom I cannot remember went back to the PDP with Atiku.

My argument is that lots of our Igbo brothers played major roles in the formation of these parties that later merged into APC but instead of staying to consolidate they left on their own accord to the ruling PDP.

I want to know at what point that ACN/ANPP became a southwest, northern or Muslim party when prominent Igbos played major roles in their formations but abandoned them for “greener pastures” called PDP.

They, together with their other compatriots spread all over the country went to PDP to either play national politics or to have a share of the “national cake.”

An Igbo proverb says that it’s when you marry two husbands that you know which one is the best.

PDP has never fielded any Igbo man as a presidential or vice presidential candidate but AC and ANPP had fielded Igbos as vice presidential candidates at various times in 2003, 2007 and 2011. So which formation really loves the Igbos more if we have to judge from this perspective?

So, it’s really shameful when someone comes to say that Igbos don’t have a stake in the APC formation that has respected our aspirations in the past.

One of my friends wrote that notwithstanding that Imo is APC, that PDP will win the presidential election there. I don’t want to argue but my argument is why some people are so much concerned about who wins in Imo state.

Will Jonathan win the general elections if he wins only in Imo and the entire southeast?

Also, remember that the northern states of Niger, Katsina, Gombe, Bauchi, Jigawa though “currently” PDP states are likely going to vote against Jonathan.

I keep on advising PDP supporters and reporters that they should not lose sleep about the east.

I am not trying to dispute your Jonathan’s landslide or moon slide in the east. You guys should worry about what happens in other zones too, because the south south/southeast and some north central states with their weak numerical voting strength cannot deliver Jonathan.

Ask yourselves these questions:

1- Will Jonathan”s victory in the southeast guarantee him total victory if the whole north west/north east and southwest with their superior numerical strength vote against him?

Go and check and compare the voting strength of current PDP controlled states ( 28 million plus including likely swing states of Niger, Katsina, Gombe, Bauchi ,Jigawa) and APC controlled states ( 35 million plus).

Note that I included the voting strength of those likely northern swing states to Jonathan despite the fact that they will vote against him.

2- What’s the voting strength in Imo State and the entire southeast compared to only one APC controlled state of Kano?

I hope that those myopic minds using the Anambra election to generalize the outcome of the 2015 elections will have a rethink.

Since the election, I have been bombarded with attacks here in Owerri . It seems that some people were just waiting for the outcome of the election to erroneously pronounce the death of APC in the entire southeast and Nigeria on the whole.

It beats my imagination on how some people can use the incident in Anambra to arrive to a conclusion.

I have always maintained my stand that the perception and acceptance of APC in the Southeast falls short of the perception and acceptance of the party in other parts of the country and at the end it might be the perception and acceptance of the party in other parts of the country that might be the deciding factor.

That the southeast will vote for “Ebele” ( chukwu) , but that will not save him.

That’s my personal opinion.

Last Tuesday, I was very busy and was not aware that the political landscape of this country has taken a new dimension.

I went to watch a local football match in the evening and again I was “mobbed” by friends of how brother ” Ebele” will win landslide and moonslide in Imo State and south east.

When I asked, they pointed out that I should ask the common man on the street.

When I pointed out that the common man on the street of Owerri and the common man on the street of Lagos, Ibadan Sokoto, Kano, Dutse etc might not share the same idea, they absolutely refused to understand.

It was when I reached home that I felt somehow vindicated when I heard the news that APC has gotten five PDP states without a fight.

The “common man” in Sokoto, Adamawa, Kwara, Rivers and Kano had spoken.

To my conclusion, many people have always had the view that all Nigerian politicians are the same despite their political affiliation but that should not make us to fold our arms and watch a handful of people hiding under the PDP to hold the nation hostage.

We should vote them out and replace them with other people so that this will help our economy and democracy to grow because anyone that goes their will strive to work hard having it mind that failure to do so means losing the next election.

It worked in Ghana, Kenya and lately Senegal and we hope to see this happen during our own days here on earth.

Osita Chiagorom

ositac@yahoo.com

The Middle East Crisis 1: Its Origin – The Arab Spring Crisis

I had wanted to write this note long before now but i wanted to get all my facts right befrore coming out.i did much research.it may look weird dat i am writing part 1 last.yes, i had wanted it so right from the start as i wrote in part 2,i intented writing only parts 1 and 2 but events dat were unexpected and swiftly occurred soon afterwards made me write parts 3 to 5.even as things are going if need be i may add to the part 5 i have written a part 6 or more,but i said only if need be.
 
I may look out of place but i aint out of tune.rmr d multi Academy Award Winning film Star Wars.it was parts 1 to 7.Part 7 was shot 1977.then part 6,later part 5,till part 1 in 2005/2006,about 30 yrs later.so i aint out of place.now dis isnt abt Lord Vader,or Dark Lord,dark side nor Anakin nor the Jedi.
Lets get to real business.Lets ready to Rumble
 
Those who make peaceful change impossible,make violent change inevitable – Franz Fanon.
 
You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.In this case,it comes from nonconformity,the courage to turn your back on the old formulas,the courage to invent the future. it took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity – Capt Thomas Sankara
 
A revolution in the very near future is,therefore not only inevitable,but also imminient! The revolution may have no leader ( but will be led by a movement). It will be the product of a spontenous reaction of people frustrated by dictatorial (and often selfish) leadership that does not reflect their best interests —- Gore Vidal
 
There are no new truths, but only truths that have not been recognized by those who have perceived them without noticing” – Mary McCarthy, US writer (1912-1989)
 
Eccentric Libyan leader Moammer Ghadaffi would never have believed if told this time last year dat by this time,his famed palace would be looted and overrun by ordinary civilians,his govt would have been overrun by same civillians and he would have died.yes died a wretched death,with his body on public display for 4days in a common cold room,for all civilians to laugh and gloat at  and he wont have a beffitting grave but would be buried in a obcure desert dat no one knows d location,dat his tomb wont be a mecca of some sort.he wouldnt have believed or ever imagined dat.
 
When stiff-necked dictators like Muammar Gaddafi die the way he did, the world gets a sense of moral relief, a catharsis of righteous triumph. To many, the quiet resentment had grown to indignation on the streets. The indignation became vindication as the tyrant fell like a swallow.
 
Like his fellow despot, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi did not die in a posh bedroom, with a parting family oration. No halo of a goodbye kiss. No last gasp of joys.The late Gaddafi
Rather he died like a common criminal, like a thief many years ago in Lagos burnt to death after serial beating from a crowd of angry youths. When Gaddafi died, his maker Allah was mentioned, but not to thank him for a life well spent. Those who shouted Allah thanked him because they eventually had the tyrant in their hands. His face, strewn with blood, was confused. Was this Gaddafi? He probably asked himself, is this I, the potentate of this land, being turned around like a worm, derided, slapped, punched, dragged on the ground, my blood tainted with the desert sand?
They dragged him out of a sewage pit, in a trouser and T-shirt, his contorted face almost seemed he wanted to cry. He might have. Bullets had pockmarked his body, and one shot into his head probably finished him. Muammar Gaddafi, the dictator and one-time hero of Libya, the author of the Green Book, the leader with female guards, who presided over mammoth oil wealth and acted like a cowboy in an Arab land, died like a rat he called his enemies.
Deaths like this embolden us to believe that the wicked get their punishment before they die. Some can wax Biblical and quote the proverbs: “though hands join in hands, the wicked shall not go unpunished…”
So we saw that with Saddam Hussein, and we said yes, any evil man who rules the people in cowardly tyranny ends like this. But I am not too sure. Herod was believed to have died in misery, and the Bible account said he was eaten by worms. In his masterful novel, I, Claudius, Robert Graves tells the story of the diseases Herod contracted before his death, some in his “private member.” Saddam Hussein was caught in a rat hole, and dragged out, shorn of all the majesty of his peacock years.
Ghadaffi for year had been a global force whose utterances attracted diverse comments.Love him or hate him,u can never ignore him.Wen protest started in several libyan cities on Feb 15 2011,many intl observers had feared dat those involved had set up themselves to be roasted by d iron fisted leader.That would not be d first time of protests in dat country but each had been put down with brutality.Ghadaffi appeared to underestimate d power of d people.When wat is now popularly known as d ARAB SPRING broke out late december 2010,he dismissed d protests with a wave of the hand.in fact he condemned d uprising in neighbouring Tunisia with a wave of the hand in a speech on Jan 15,2011,being unhappy with d way d tunisian govt fell.Little did he know d little chickens were coming to roost in his own country too
 
            THE ARAB SPRING:    HOW   IT    ALL    BEGAN
 
The Arab Spring was first sparked by d first protests that occured in Tunisia on December 18,2010,following the self-immolation of a fruits and vegetable seller , MOHAMMED BOAZIZI ,in Sidi Bouzid in protest at police corruption and ill-treatment.Local police had been harassing Boazizi since he was a child.Tunisia is a country where citizens’ rights are often trampled upon,this was no big deal in d harrassment of a mere fruit seller.
Boazizi,who became d icon of the Arab Spring,was 10yrs old when he became d breadwinner for his family,selling fruits and vegetables in the local market.He stayed long enough in High School(Secondary sch) long enough to sit for his baccalaureate(SSCE) exam,but he did not graduate.
According to Arab News Network Al-Jazeera,he never attented a University,despite what many news organisations have reported.Bouazizi’s father died when he was 3yrs old.At d age of 19,he halted his studies to work fulltime so as to earn enough money to see his 5 younger siblings thru sch.”my sister was the one in d university,and he would pay for her.i am still a student and he would still spend money on me” Samya Bouazizi,one of his sisters said.His attempt to join the army was turned down,while several job applications failed.So the 26yr old man had to fend for his family by taking his woodcart(wheel barrow) to d supermarket daily and load it with fruits and vegetables.He would then put the cart over 2km to go and sell.
On many occassions the police would seize all items on his cart or fine him for running a mobile cart without permit.It got to a point the police fined him 400 dinars($280)(abt 45,000 naira) which was equivalent of 2mths pay.It got to a head on December 17,2010 when a policewoman Feyda Hamdi,who confronted him on the way to the market.She returned to take his scales from him,but he refused to hand them over.They swore at each other and d policewoman slapped him,and with d help of her colleagues forced him to d ground.The police took away his produce and scales.
Having been publicly humiliated,bouazizi tried to seek justice by going to the local municipality building(local govt) and tried meeting with an official whom he was told was unavailable bcos he was in a meeting and doing other official assignments.The HUMILIATION HAD GOT TO HIS INNER BEING AND HE FELT HE HAD TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.With no other official willing to listen to his grievances,the young man bought paintfuel,returned to d street outside the building and set himself on fire.
For Mohammed’s mother,her son’s suicide was motivated by humiliation and not poverty.
It took d former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali almost two weeks for him to visit the severely injured fruit seller.By that time,it was too late to save bouazizi or Ben Ali’s 23 year old rule.Bouazizi died Jan 4th 2011.Ben Ali even set d stage for his exit by failing to fulfil his promise of sendin Bouazizi’s family to france.By d time d fruitseller died,d whole of Tunisis had been engulfed in massive protests.
As the protests spread,Ben Ali fled to for Saudi Arabia on Jan 14,2011.The fall of his govt inspired a similar protest in nearby Egypt.This forced president Hosni Mubarak to resign on 11th feb 2011,ending his 30 year rule after abt 18days of massive protests.The egyptian variant was helped by d use of the internet,twitter,facebook etc despite govt attempt to ban it.Protests also started in Libya on feb 15 2011 and many other Arab nations.Bouazizi’s matyrdom was imitated by some others in some other arab nations,setting themselves on fire too,to ignite more protests.
 
In summary,
Those who make peaceful change impossible,make violent change inevitable – Franz Fanon.
 Now The Arab Spring with all violence has made change possible,but with violent means.Isnt it utter madness to rush at highly trained policemen and security agents that have sophisticated  guns and tanks and other weaponry with ur bare hands or at best crude guns and home made bombs
You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.In this case,it comes from nonconformity,the courage to turn your back on the old formulas,the courage to invent the future. it took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity – Capt Thomas Sankara
 
A revolution in the very near future is,therefore not only inevitable,but also imminient! The revolution may have no leader ( but will be led by a movement). It will be the product of a spontenous reaction of people frustrated by dictatorial (and often selfish) leadership that does not reflect their best interests —- Gore Vidal
 The revolution had no clear cut leader but was led by a group of people.It has achieved most of the aims it sought to achieve
Three govts-Libya,Tunisis and Egypt were overrun by d protesters.A fourth,Yemen led by sit tight saleh was taught a bitter lesson with d June 4,2011 bombiin of a mosque when he,several family members and cabinet members were severely injured.He had 70% burns and spent 3mths in a Saudi Hospital.Now he has agreed to step down,so i regard his govt as being overrun by protesters too.Several other govts like Sudan,Bahrain,Algeria,Morocco,Kuwait,Saharawi rea(Western Sahara),Oman,Jordan,Iraq,and Ultra conservative Saudi Arabia have made far reaching reforms to satisfy d protesters.In fact a 5th govt Syria will soon fall.
 
Those are among the many gains of the reforms and protests.No wonder world acclaimed Time Magazine gave The Man of the Year Award of 2011 to THE PROTESTER in recognition of the enormous gains of The Arab Spring which is capable of occuring anywhere in the world.(bad leaders be warned).

Michael Adeyemi, a medical doctor, writer, author, blogger, social critic, political and social affairs analyst-cum-commentator, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

The Middle East Crisis 1: Its Origin – The Arab Spring Crisis

I had wanted to write this note long before now but i wanted to get all my facts right befrore coming out.i did much research.it may look weird dat i am writing part 1 last.yes, i had wanted it so right from the start as i wrote in part 2,i intented writing only parts 1 and 2 but events dat were unexpected and swiftly occurred soon afterwards made me write parts 3 to 5.even as things are going if need be i may add to the part 5 i have written a part 6 or more,but i said only if need be.
 
I may look out of place but i aint out of tune.rmr d multi Academy Award Winning film Star Wars.it was parts 1 to 7.Part 7 was shot 1977.then part 6,later part 5,till part 1 in 2005/2006,about 30 yrs later.so i aint out of place.now dis isnt abt Lord Vader,or Dark Lord,dark side nor Anakin nor the Jedi.
Lets get to real business.Lets ready to Rumble
 
Those who make peaceful change impossible,make violent change inevitable – Franz Fanon.
 
You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.In this case,it comes from nonconformity,the courage to turn your back on the old formulas,the courage to invent the future. it took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity – Capt Thomas Sankara
 
A revolution in the very near future is,therefore not only inevitable,but also imminient! The revolution may have no leader ( but will be led by a movement). It will be the product of a spontenous reaction of people frustrated by dictatorial (and often selfish) leadership that does not reflect their best interests —- Gore Vidal
 
There are no new truths, but only truths that have not been recognized by those who have perceived them without noticing” – Mary McCarthy, US writer (1912-1989)
 
Eccentric Libyan leader Moammer Ghadaffi would never have believed if told this time last year dat by this time,his famed palace would be looted and overrun by ordinary civilians,his govt would have been overrun by same civillians and he would have died.yes died a wretched death,with his body on public display for 4days in a common cold room,for all civilians to laugh and gloat at  and he wont have a beffitting grave but would be buried in a obcure desert dat no one knows d location,dat his tomb wont be a mecca of some sort.he wouldnt have believed or ever imagined dat.
 
When stiff-necked dictators like Muammar Gaddafi die the way he did, the world gets a sense of moral relief, a catharsis of righteous triumph. To many, the quiet resentment had grown to indignation on the streets. The indignation became vindication as the tyrant fell like a swallow.
 
Like his fellow despot, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi did not die in a posh bedroom, with a parting family oration. No halo of a goodbye kiss. No last gasp of joys.The late Gaddafi
Rather he died like a common criminal, like a thief many years ago in Lagos burnt to death after serial beating from a crowd of angry youths. When Gaddafi died, his maker Allah was mentioned, but not to thank him for a life well spent. Those who shouted Allah thanked him because they eventually had the tyrant in their hands. His face, strewn with blood, was confused. Was this Gaddafi? He probably asked himself, is this I, the potentate of this land, being turned around like a worm, derided, slapped, punched, dragged on the ground, my blood tainted with the desert sand?
They dragged him out of a sewage pit, in a trouser and T-shirt, his contorted face almost seemed he wanted to cry. He might have. Bullets had pockmarked his body, and one shot into his head probably finished him. Muammar Gaddafi, the dictator and one-time hero of Libya, the author of the Green Book, the leader with female guards, who presided over mammoth oil wealth and acted like a cowboy in an Arab land, died like a rat he called his enemies.
Deaths like this embolden us to believe that the wicked get their punishment before they die. Some can wax Biblical and quote the proverbs: “though hands join in hands, the wicked shall not go unpunished…”
So we saw that with Saddam Hussein, and we said yes, any evil man who rules the people in cowardly tyranny ends like this. But I am not too sure. Herod was believed to have died in misery, and the Bible account said he was eaten by worms. In his masterful novel, I, Claudius, Robert Graves tells the story of the diseases Herod contracted before his death, some in his “private member.” Saddam Hussein was caught in a rat hole, and dragged out, shorn of all the majesty of his peacock years.
Ghadaffi for year had been a global force whose utterances attracted diverse comments.Love him or hate him,u can never ignore him.Wen protest started in several libyan cities on Feb 15 2011,many intl observers had feared dat those involved had set up themselves to be roasted by d iron fisted leader.That would not be d first time of protests in dat country but each had been put down with brutality.Ghadaffi appeared to underestimate d power of d people.When wat is now popularly known as d ARAB SPRING broke out late december 2010,he dismissed d protests with a wave of the hand.in fact he condemned d uprising in neighbouring Tunisia with a wave of the hand in a speech on Jan 15,2011,being unhappy with d way d tunisian govt fell.Little did he know d little chickens were coming to roost in his own country too
 
            THE ARAB SPRING:    HOW   IT    ALL    BEGAN
 
The Arab Spring was first sparked by d first protests that occured in Tunisia on December 18,2010,following the self-immolation of a fruits and vegetable seller , MOHAMMED BOAZIZI ,in Sidi Bouzid in protest at police corruption and ill-treatment.Local police had been harassing Boazizi since he was a child.Tunisia is a country where citizens’ rights are often trampled upon,this was no big deal in d harrassment of a mere fruit seller.
Boazizi,who became d icon of the Arab Spring,was 10yrs old when he became d breadwinner for his family,selling fruits and vegetables in the local market.He stayed long enough in High School(Secondary sch) long enough to sit for his baccalaureate(SSCE) exam,but he did not graduate.
According to Arab News Network Al-Jazeera,he never attented a University,despite what many news organisations have reported.Bouazizi’s father died when he was 3yrs old.At d age of 19,he halted his studies to work fulltime so as to earn enough money to see his 5 younger siblings thru sch.”my sister was the one in d university,and he would pay for her.i am still a student and he would still spend money on me” Samya Bouazizi,one of his sisters said.His attempt to join the army was turned down,while several job applications failed.So the 26yr old man had to fend for his family by taking his woodcart(wheel barrow) to d supermarket daily and load it with fruits and vegetables.He would then put the cart over 2km to go and sell.
On many occassions the police would seize all items on his cart or fine him for running a mobile cart without permit.It got to a point the police fined him 400 dinars($280)(abt 45,000 naira) which was equivalent of 2mths pay.It got to a head on December 17,2010 when a policewoman Feyda Hamdi,who confronted him on the way to the market.She returned to take his scales from him,but he refused to hand them over.They swore at each other and d policewoman slapped him,and with d help of her colleagues forced him to d ground.The police took away his produce and scales.
Having been publicly humiliated,bouazizi tried to seek justice by going to the local municipality building(local govt) and tried meeting with an official whom he was told was unavailable bcos he was in a meeting and doing other official assignments.The HUMILIATION HAD GOT TO HIS INNER BEING AND HE FELT HE HAD TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.With no other official willing to listen to his grievances,the young man bought paintfuel,returned to d street outside the building and set himself on fire.
For Mohammed’s mother,her son’s suicide was motivated by humiliation and not poverty.
It took d former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali almost two weeks for him to visit the severely injured fruit seller.By that time,it was too late to save bouazizi or Ben Ali’s 23 year old rule.Bouazizi died Jan 4th 2011.Ben Ali even set d stage for his exit by failing to fulfil his promise of sendin Bouazizi’s family to france.By d time d fruitseller died,d whole of Tunisis had been engulfed in massive protests.
As the protests spread,Ben Ali fled to for Saudi Arabia on Jan 14,2011.The fall of his govt inspired a similar protest in nearby Egypt.This forced president Hosni Mubarak to resign on 11th feb 2011,ending his 30 year rule after abt 18days of massive protests.The egyptian variant was helped by d use of the internet,twitter,facebook etc despite govt attempt to ban it.Protests also started in Libya on feb 15 2011 and many other Arab nations.Bouazizi’s matyrdom was imitated by some others in some other arab nations,setting themselves on fire too,to ignite more protests.
 
In summary,
Those who make peaceful change impossible,make violent change inevitable – Franz Fanon.
 Now The Arab Spring with all violence has made change possible,but with violent means.Isnt it utter madness to rush at highly trained policemen and security agents that have sophisticated  guns and tanks and other weaponry with ur bare hands or at best crude guns and home made bombs
You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.In this case,it comes from nonconformity,the courage to turn your back on the old formulas,the courage to invent the future. it took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity – Capt Thomas Sankara
 
A revolution in the very near future is,therefore not only inevitable,but also imminient! The revolution may have no leader ( but will be led by a movement). It will be the product of a spontenous reaction of people frustrated by dictatorial (and often selfish) leadership that does not reflect their best interests —- Gore Vidal
 The revolution had no clear cut leader but was led by a group of people.It has achieved most of the aims it sought to achieve
Three govts-Libya,Tunisis and Egypt were overrun by d protesters.A fourth,Yemen led by sit tight saleh was taught a bitter lesson with d June 4,2011 bombiin of a mosque when he,several family members and cabinet members were severely injured.He had 70% burns and spent 3mths in a Saudi Hospital.Now he has agreed to step down,so i regard his govt as being overrun by protesters too.Several other govts like Sudan,Bahrain,Algeria,Morocco,Kuwait,Saharawi rea(Western Sahara),Oman,Jordan,Iraq,and Ultra conservative Saudi Arabia have made far reaching reforms to satisfy d protesters.In fact a 5th govt Syria will soon fall.
 
Those are among the many gains of the reforms and protests.No wonder world acclaimed Time Magazine gave The Man of the Year Award of 2011 to THE PROTESTER in recognition of the enormous gains of The Arab Spring which is capable of occuring anywhere in the world.(bad leaders be warned).

Michael Adeyemi, a medical doctor, writer, author, blogger, social critic, political and social affairs analyst-cum-commentator, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

The Middle East Crisis 2 – Moammar Gaddaffi – A Hero or a Villian

I had wanted to write this note long b4 now but i wanted to get all my facts right b4 coing out.i did much research o.it may look weird dat i am writing part 2  b4 part1.yes,but i aint out of tune.rmr d multi Academy Award Winning film Star Wars.it was parts 1 to 7.Part 7 was shot 1977.then part 6,later part 5,till part 1 in 2005/2006,about 30 yrs later.so i aint out of place.now dis isnt abt Lord Vader,or Dark Lord,dark side nor Anakin.
Lets get to real business
 
Those who make peaceful change impossible,make violent change inevitable Franz Fanon.
 
You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.In this case,it comes from nonconformity,the courage to turn your back on the old formulas,the courage to invent the future. it took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity. Capt Thomas Sankara
 
A revolution in the very near future is,therefore not only inevitable,but also imminient! The revolution may have no leader ( but will be led by a movement). It will be the product of a spontenous reaction of people frustrated by dictatorial (and often selfish) leadership that does not reflect their best interests —- Gore Vidal
 
There are no new truths, but only truths that have not been recognized by those who have perceived them without noticing” – Mary McCarthy, US writer (1912-1989)
 
Col.Ghadaffi overthrew King,Idris of Libya in 1969 when d king was away in Turkey.Gadaffi had his good sides likewise bad sides too.Lets first consider his many good sides
 
1.There was no electricity bill in Libya; electricity was free for all its citizens
 
2. There was no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at 0% interest by law
 
3. Home considered a human right in Libya –Gaddafi vowed that his parents would not get a house until everyone in Libya had a home. Gaddafi’s father has died while him, his wife and his mother are still living in a tent
 
4.Once u are 18yrs old as a male in Libya,u are entitled to a govt subsidized apartment
 
5. All newly weds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family
 
6. Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83
 
7.Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms –all for free
 
8. If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US$2,300/mth accommodation and car allowance
 
9. In Libya, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidizes 50% of the price
 
10. The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 (N22) per litre
 
11. Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 billion – now frozen globally
 
12. If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he or she is employed until employment is found.
 
13. A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens

 
14. A mother who gives birth to a child receives US$5,000
 
15. Ghaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country
 
The economy of Libya was so good dat many nigerians trek to Libya 4 a better life,of course more dan 80% die on d way.even d few dat reach there prefer to leave as pseudo slavesw or 3rd and 4th class citizens dan in Nigeria.
If any of our useless leaders including d fool@70,d fool@75(or more),Mr.incompetence-Goodluck Jonathan and others did just 25% of wat Ghadaffi has done,nigerians will say Rule us forever.
 
So What’s d Problem? The long rule? Wey d guy? Abeg,he needs to rule Nigeria for another 50yrs! Chei! Oyibo won spoil Africa finish o
Now,NATO bombs have destroyed all his gud works.d country will be in debts 2world bank and IMF 4reconstruction. Fmr al qaeda members,loyalists and mujadeheen formed a greater bulk of d rebels. Extremism and terriorism will now rein. Anyway like d israelites in d Bible,wen dey needed meat,God gave them plenty,bt also sent leaness 2their souls.now d pple were like d demoniac of Gadarenes.even when bound wt chains,he broke down d chain so dat he could cut himself wt stones. D people want freedom so dat dey could destroy demselves,rock life,go clubbin,fuck on d streets etc. Dont worry,freedom they hav bt sooner or later,dey are gonna cry.
 
Now,b4 u crucify me about being pro Ghadafi,dis man has some evil sides o
 
 
1.He wanted to rule Libya forever.He put his sons in sensitive govt posts.he wanted 1 of his sons to succeed him.He wanted his family to rule Libya forever,He wanted to establish an everlastin Ghadaffi dynasty in Libya
 
2,He and his sons looted much of Libya s wealth
 
3.He was part of d pple who sent troops 2 assist idi_amin after his fall in 1979 and he later granted him refuge b4 Amin left to Saudi Arabia
 
4.He trained and encouraged Charles Taylor who led rebels in Liberia,terriorised liberians,killed many including many nigerians living in Liberia,He also encouraged the sale of Sierra Leone s blood diamonds,encouraged RUF rebels wt all logistics to terriorise sierra leoneans and cut their arms,supprted guinean rebels and was a terror in West Africa
 
5.He ordered d procurement of mass destructn which he intended 2 disengage after d death of saddam
 
.6.He made his country a place of no alcohol,no dance,no holdin of arms,girls stays out of sight,amputation for theft.
 
7.He does not respect christians festivals and feast,thereby discouraging xtianity.He was anti Christian
 
8.He once adviced dat Nigeria shld be divided into 2,along religious lines into 2 countries,1 4d xtians and 1 4d muslims
 
9He was a dictator,an authocrat and a totalitarian
 
10..He ordered d assassination of libyan dissents.If any body talks ill abt him.dat person could be shot in d streets by his numerous gangs
 
11.He sponsored d bombin of American PanAm plane over Lockerbie,Scotland in 1988,killin over 288 people
Well,it is left for people to judge him as a hero or a villian.Time will tell.
 
Watch out for d part 1 soon and other notesw like Why PDP continues to Win Elections in Nigeria 2
 
Dr.Michael Adeyemi  MBBS
 
soon to be FWACP,FMCP,FICP,MPH,PHD,MBA,FRCP,FACPM,GCON,GCFR, Amen

Middle East Crisis 3 Moamar Ghadaffi-What u dont Know about him

I’d wanted to write part 1 of my note but recent events have made me to decide to write part 3 and part 4 before a part 1
Lets read more about d fallen Libyan leader,Moamer Ghadaffi
 
 
 
 
GADHAFI: WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT HIM
 
Seven crazy things about ex-Libyan leader
EUPHORIA has its place, as Libyans would find out soon. When a man rules a country absolutely for 42 years it is not easy to do without him whether he was booted out of office, he died or was killed.
When that man is Brother Leader Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, variously known as Colonel Gaddafi, Kaddafi, Qadhafi, AL Gathafi (in his official website), Al Qaddafi, Algathafi, Al-Gathafi, Al-Gaddafi (for his International Prize for Human Rights, in fact more than 112 ways of spelling his name have been identified, then there must be controversies.
Here are some of the spellings of the same name of the same man – Qaddafi, Muammar
Al-Gathafi, Muammar, al-Qadhafi, Muammar, Qathafi, Mu’ammar, Al Qathafi, Muammar, El Gaddafi, Moamar El Kadhafi, Moammar El Kazzafi, Moamer El Qathafi, Mu’Ammar Gadafi, Muammar Gaddafi, Moamar Gadhafi, Mo’ammar Gathafi, Muammar Ghadafi, Muammar Ghaddafi, Muammar Ghaddafy, Muammar, Muammar Gheddafi, Muhammar Kadaffi, Momar Kad’afi, Mu‘amar al-Kaddafi, Muamar Kaddafi, Muammar Kadhafi, Moammar Kadhafi, Mouammar Kazzafi, Moammar Khadafy, Moammar Khaddafi, Muammar Moamar al-Gaddafi Moamar el Gaddafi, Moamar El Kadhafi Moamar, Gaddafi Moamer El Kazzafi, Mo’ammar el-Gadhafi Moammar, El Kadhafi Mo’ammar, Gadhafi Moammar Kadhafi, Moammar Khadafy Moammar, Qudhafi Mu‘amar al-Kad’afi, Mu’amar al-Kadafi Muamar, Al-Kaddafi Muamar Kaddafi, Muamer Gadafi, Muammar Al-Gathafi, Muammar al-Khaddafi, Mu’ammar al-Qadafi, Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi, Muammar al-Qadhafi, Mu’ammar al-Qadhdhafi, Mu‘ammar al-Qadhdha-fi-, Mu’ammar Al Qathafi, Muammar Al Qathafi, Muammar Gadafi, Muammar Gaddafi, Muammar Ghadafi, Muammar Ghaddafi.
Other variants of his names are, Muammar Ghaddafy, Muammar Gheddafi, Muammar Kaddafi, Muammar Khaddafi, Mu’ammar Qadafi, Muammar Qaddafi, Muammar Qadhafi, Mu’ammar Qadhdhafi, Muammar Quathafi, Mulazim Awwal Mu’ammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi Qadafi, Mu’ammar Qadhafi, Muammar Qadhdha-fi-, Mu‘ammar Qathafi, Mu’Ammar elQuathafi, Muammar Qudhafi, Moammar Moamar AI Kadafi, Maummar Gaddafi, Moamar Gadhafi, Moamer Gaddafi, Moamer Kadhafi, Moamma Gaddafi, Moammar Gaddafi, Moammar Gadhafi, Moammar Ghadafi, Moammar Khadaffy, Moammar Khaddafi, Moammar el Gadhafi, Moammer Gaddafi, Mouammer al Gaddafi, Muamar Gaddafi, Muammar Al Ghaddafi, Muammar Al Qaddafi, Muammar Al Qaddafi, Muammar El Qaddafi, Muammar Gadaffi, Muammar Gadafy, Muammar Gaddhafi, Muammar Gadhafi, Muammar Ghadaffi, Muammar Qadthafi, Muammar al Gaddafi, Muammar el Gaddafy. Muammar Gaddafi.
Then there are these: Muammar el Gaddafi, Muammar el Qaddafi, Muammer Gadaffi, Muammer Gaddafi, Mummar Gaddafi, Omar Al Qathafi, Omar Mouammer Al Gaddafi, Omar Muammar Al Ghaddafi, Omar Muammar Al Qaddafi, Omar Muammar Al Qathafi, Omar Muammar Gaddafi, Omar Muammar Ghaddafi, or Omar al Ghaddafi.
A diplomatic passport of his eldest son Mohammed bore the name Gathafi. A man with as many names was billed to run and ruin his country in the manner that his head ran.
Gathafi never shunned controversies, he craved them, and founded them to sustain his ambitions of leadership of Africa and the Arab world.
From a coup that removed King Idris 42 years ago, and unleashed his dictatorship, Gathafi is dead because he became a thorn in the flesh of the United States and Europe, which have more concerns about the instability that a Gathafi poses for steady supply of oil to them than the interests of Libyans. What has Gathafi done to his people that President Bashar al Assad is not doing in Syria? Will international forces invade Syria and take out Assad? They will not. Assad is a US ally and strategic partner. The standards for human rights evaluation of his regimes and others that support the US must be different.
Gathafi was his own problem. When he called his people rodents, when he lost touch with the fact that there must be end to dictatorship, he sold himself to death. He, however, must be praised for keeping to his words that he would rather die than leave Libya. He was killed to make Libya work after the Gathafi years. Like Osama bin Laden, nobody was comfortable to put him on trial.
The madness in the coming days should be frightening. In 42 years, Gathafi left enough structures to ensure Libya could not run without him. The infrastructure that he built over the years has been destroyed in an avoidable war.
Gathafi’s death leaves huge businesses for American interests. Billions of dollars would be required for reconstruction. There would be need for a new Libyan army, and the USA would run the show until it agrees that Libya has stabilised.
What did Gathafi do to Libya? It would be difficult to tell. Here are some of the glaring statistics. In a country of 6.6 million people (July 2011 estimates), more than half is 15 years and under, more than 85 per cent of the population is below 50 years old, meaning that 5.61 million do not know any other leader than Gathafi.
The process of reconstructing the mind is the most dangerous of the phases that Libya will pass through. It would reveal the most damaging aspects of dictatorships. Libyans dread the backlash of Gathafi’s supporters, a fear that may be unreal but good enough to give the United States and its allies, without whose support Gathafi would not have lasted this long, reasons to stay on in Libya.
The days ahead will testify in full force, the decrementing reaches of dictatorship in Libya, and the roles world powers played in keeping a man who preached racism, hatred, religious bigotry and Arab supremacy at different times, messages he believed would promote his ambitions of being a world leaders.
He became a leader in the realms of dictators.
Col. Moammar Gadhafi, the dictator who ruled Libya for 42 years, was killed by rebels in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday. A dictator who oppressed his own people and sponsored terrorism abroad, Gadhafi’s legacy will be stained by violence. But beyond his brutality, Gadhafi will be remembered for something else entirely… being a first-class weirdo.
In no particular order, ABCNews.com brings you the seven weirdest things about Moammar Gadhafi.
 
1. The “Bulletproof” Tent:
When Gadhafi was at home in Tripoli, he lived in a well-fortified compound with a complex system of escape tunnels. But when he travelled abroad, this “Bedouin” brought a bit of the desert with him, camping out in the world’s capitals. The tent was so heavy it needed to be flown on a separate plane, wherever the dictator travelled. To complete the Arabian Nights theme, Gadhafi often would tether a camel or two outside.
 
2. All-Female Virgin Bodyguard Retinue:
They apparently weren’t around when Gadhafi needed them most on Thursday, but the eccentric dictator was historically protected by 40 well-trained bodyguards – all of them women. The bodyguards, called “Amazons,” were all reportedly virgins who took a vow of chastity upon joining the dictator’s retinue. The women, trained at an all-female military academy, were handpicked by Gadhafi. They wore elaborate uniforms, as well as makeup and high-heeled combat boots.
 
3. His “Voluptuous” Ukrainian Nurse:
For a decade, Galyna Kolotnytska, a Ukrainian nurse often described in the press as “voluptuous,” was regularly seen at the dictator’s side. Kolotnytska was described in a leaked diplomatic cable as one of Gadhafi’s closest aides and was rumoured to have a romantic relationship with him. Several other Ukrainian women served as nurses and they all referred to him as “Papa” or “Daddy.”
 
4. Crush on Condoleezza Rice:
In 2007, Gadhafi called former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice his “darling black African woman” and on a 2008 visit she made to Tripoli, the dictator gave her $200, 000 worth of gifts, including a ring and a lute. But it wasn’t until rebels stormed his Tripoli compound that the depths of the dictator’s infatuation were exposed. There among Gadhafi’s belongings was a carefully composed photo album made up of dozens of images of no one but Rice.
 
5. Fear of Flying and Elevators:
Part of the reason Gadhafi loved travelling with that tent of his was that he was worried about lodging in a hotel where he’d have to ride an elevator. According to leaked diplomatic cables, the Libyan didn’t like heights much either, and would only climb to a height of 35 steps. He, therefore, wasn’t much of a fan of flying, refusing to travel by air for more than eight hours at a time. When he would travel to New York of the U.N.’s annual general assembly, he would spend a night in Portugal on the way to the U.S.
 
6. Bunga Bunga:
In 2010, one of Gadhafi’s most eccentric pastimes was exposed by Italian prosecutors investigating Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A 17-year-old prostitute named Karima el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby Heartstealer, revealed that she had been invited to an orgy, called a “bunga bunga.” “Silvio told me that he’d copied that formula from Muammar Gadhafi,” she told prosecutors according to La Repubblica. “It’s a ritual of [Gadhafi’s] African harem.”
 
7. An Eclectic Wardrobe:
In those photos of world leaders standing shoulder to shoulder on the sidelines of this or that international forum, Gadhafi was always the easiest to pick out. His wardrobe was an eclectic mix of ornate military uniforms, Miami Vice style leisure suits, and Bedouin robes. Gadhafi, who pushed for a pan-African federation of nations, often decorated his outfits with images of the African continent. He’d sport safari shirts printed with an Africa pattern, or wear garish pins or necklaces of the continent.
US SPENT $1 BILLION
 
Call him the billion-dollar man. One billion for one dictator. According to the Pentagon, that was the cost to U.S. taxpayers for Muammar el-Qaddafi’s head: $1.1 billion through September, the latest figure just out of the Defence Department.
And that’s just for the Americans.
The final totals will take some time to add up, and still do not include the State Department, CIA, and other agencies involved or other NATO and participating countries.
Vice President Joe Biden said that the U.S. “spent $2 billion total and didn’t lose a single life.” NATO does not track the operational costs to each member country, but the funds directly taken from a common NATO account for Libya operations have totalled about $7.4 million per month for electronic warfare capabilities and $1.1 million per month for headquarters and command staff, a NATO spokesman said.
 
From the beginning of Operation Unified Protector in March, critics have questioned whether the U.S. could afford to open a third front. The Congressional Research Services estimate the Afghanistan war has cost nearly $500 billion so far. With Iraq, the figure easily tops $1 trillion.
In the first week of Libya operations, bombs were dropped from B-2 stealth planes flown from Missouri and roughly 200 missiles launched from submarines in the Mediterranean, causing alarm that any extended campaign would quickly cost billions more.
But after the U.S. military ramped up the operation, other NATO countries shouldered most of the air burden. Americans took a supporting role: aerial refuelling tankers, electronic jamming, and surveillance.
 
The behind-the-scene role was something President Obama celebrated in remarks in the Rose Garden on Thursday.
“Without putting a single U.S. service member on the ground, we achieved our objectives and our NATO mission will soon come to an end,” Obama said.
As to when that mission would end, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement NATO issued from Brussels: “We will terminate our mission in coordination with the United Nations and the National Transitional Council.”
U.S. and NATO officials steadily maintained their mission was never to hunt, capture or kill the Libyan leader. The mission, they said, was to enforce the arms embargo, establish and hold a no-fly zone, and take actions to protect civilians from attack or the threat of attack.
That last directive seemed to give plenty of reason to target Libya’s top commander. But Pentagon officials said for months that if Qaddafi should happen to be at one of those locations when NATO missiles strike, so be it.
Since the operation began on March 31, getting to Qaddafi’s final stand required 7,725 air sorties and 1, 845 strike sorties, 397 of which dropped ordnance, and 145 Predator drone strikes.
 
NATO aircraft, including those supplied by the U.S., totalled 26,089 sorties and 9,618 strike sorties through Wednesday.
More than 70 U.S. aircraft have supported the operation, including Predator drones.
NATO flew 67 sorties and 16 strikes sorties over Libya one day before Qaddafi was killed.
The NATO mission also employed submarines, aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, destroyers, frigates, and supply ships – as many as 21 vessels at one time.
 
Additionally, as of one week ago, the U.S. had sold participating countries in the operation roughly $250 million in ammunition, parts, fuel, technical assistance, and other support, according to the Pentagon.
Several members of Congress put out statements celebrating Qaddafi’s downfall but did not comment on the cost. Several offices contacted did not provide additional reaction to the monetary figures.
But presidential candidate Ambassador Jon Huntsman did question the cost of the Libya operation. His statement on Thursday said: “I remain firm in my belief that America can best serve our interests and that transition through non-military assistance and rebuilding our own economic core here at home.”
UN AGENCY RAISES QUESTIONS
 
The circumstances of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s death are “unclear” and need to be investigated, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday.
“More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in the fighting or after his capture,” the agency said.
“There seem to be four or five different versions of how he died. As you are aware, there are at least two cellphone videos, one showing him alive and one showing him dead. Taken together, these videos are very disturbing.”
The agency said it’s important that “justice is done” to bring “closure on the legacy of Gaddafi’s 42-year despotic rule, and on the bloody conflict this year.” It said “human rights must be the cornerstone of all policies and actions” in a new Libya.
“The thousands of victims who suffered loss of life, disappearance, torture and other serious human rights violations since the conflict broke out in February 2011, as well as those who suffered human rights violations throughout Gadhafi’s long rule, have the right to know the truth, to see the culture of impunity brought to an end, and to receive reparations,” the office said.
 
“In order to turn the page on the legacy of decades of systematic violations of human rights, it will be essential for alleged perpetrators to be brought before trials, which adhere to international standards for fair trial, and for victims to see that accountability has been achieved.”
Mahmoud Jibril, Libya’s transitional prime minister, said Gadhafi was captured alive and unharmed on Thursday as troops from the National Transitional Council overran his hometown of Sirte. But a gun battle erupted between transitional council fighters and Gadhafi’s supporters, as his captors attempted to load him into a vehicle, Jibril said, leaving Gadhafi with a wound to his right arm.
 
More shooting erupted as the vehicle drove away, and Gadhafi — overthrown in August — was hit in the head, Jibril said, Gadhafi died moments before arriving at a hospital in Misrata, Jibril said, citing the city’s coroner.
Amnesty International urged the NTC “to make public” the “full facts” on Gadhafi’s death.
“It is essential to conduct a full, independent and impartial inquiry to establish whether Colonel Gadhafi was killed during combat or after he was captured,” the group said on Thursday.
Amnesty urged the NTC “to ensure that all those suspected of human rights abuses and war crimes” get humane treatment and are given fair trials if captured. That includes Gadhafi’s family members and his inner circle.
…WIFE INSISTS ON INVESTIGATION
 
A television station based in Syria that supported Muammar Gaddafi said Friday that the slain Libyan leader’s wife has asked for a United Nations investigation into his death.
According to Reuters, the wife of Gaddafi “asks the United Nations to investigate the death of the fighter Muammar and Mo’tassim,” Arrai television said in a news headline, referring to one of Gaddafi’s sons as well.
The headline also said Gaddafi’s wife was proud of her husband’s courage and her children who, it said, stood up to 40 countries and their agents throughout six months and considered them to be martyrs.
 
LIBYAN STRONG MAN MAY BE BURIED AT SEA
• As burial is delayed
 
Libya’s government has delayed Muammar Gaddafi’s burial amid uncertainty about his final resting place and the circumstances of his killing.
Oil minister Ali Tarhouni said the body of the ex-leader maybe kept “for a few days.” Under Islamic tradition, burial should take place as soon as possible.
The UN is seeking an inquiry into Col Gaddafi’s death in Sirte on Thursday.
Meanwhile, NATO is expected to declare an end to its Libya campaign in the coming hours.
French President, Nicolas Sarkozy said the death of Col Gaddafi meant NATO’s military intervention had reached its conclusion.
“Clearly the operation is coming to its end,” he told reporters.
 
The BBC’s Caroline Hawley in Tripoli says the authorities now have to decide how to deal with Col Gaddafi’s death and in particular his burial.
They have said they will conduct a secret burial and there is speculation that they might even try to bury him at sea, as al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was buried, to prevent any grave being turned into a shrine, she adds.
 
Authorities now have the dilemma of what to do with the body of Muammar Gaddafi, now in the town of Misrata, where it was paraded in the streets on Thursday.
Disagreements appear to have broken out over what should be done with it. Under Islamic law, Col Gaddafi should be buried within 24 hours of his death.
Interim authorities want a secret burial but no decision has yet been taken on where it should take place – in Misrata, Sirte or out in the Libyan desert.
One official told the BBC that fighters from Misrata, who captured the fugitive leader don’t want to give up control over what happens to his body now.
Mr. Tarhouni told Reuters news agency that Col Gaddafi’s body was not going to be released from a morgue in Misrata for immediate burial.
“I told them to keep it in the freezer for a few days… to make sure that everybody knows he is dead,” he said.
Asked about the burial arrangements, he said: “There is no decision yet.”
Reuters also quoted an unnamed official as saying there was disagreement within the National Transitional Council (NTC) over what to do with the body.
In a separate report, it quotes senior NTC commander Abdel Majid Mlegta as saying members of the colonel’s tribe are in contact with anti-Gaddafi fighters to discuss the possibility of taking on the task of burying him.
… HIS DEATH ENBOLDENS SYRIANS
• 13 die in protests
 
At least 13 people were killed across Syria after protesters returned to the streets following Friday prayers, activists said.
Most of the deaths were in the central city of Homs, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The death of Libya’s Col Gaddafi was said to help galvanise activists, who regularly protest after Friday prayers. Protesters are demanding an end to the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a transition to democracy.
 
More than 3,000 people – mostly unarmed demonstrators – have been killed since the revolt began in March, the UN says.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 of the deaths took place in Syria’s third city, Homs, according to AFP news agency.
“Ten martyrs were killed in Homs, the revolutionary capital of Syria, including eight who took part in mass protests across the majority of the city’s neighbourhoods,” the group said in a statement cited by AFP.
 
Two civilians were shot dead ahead of the protest by security forces manning a checkpoint in Bab al-Sibaa, it said.
Homs, a city of one million, has been a focal point for unrest since demonstrations began.
Others were reportedly killed in Deraa and Hama, AFP cited the group as saying.
There has been no independent confirmation of the latest deaths.
Foreign journalists are severely restricted in Syria and information is tightly controlled by the government.
“Gaddafi is finished. It’s your turn now Bashar!” shouted demonstrators in the town of Maaret al-Numaan in the northwestern province of Idlib, one witness told Reuters news agency.
 
In the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, Syrian forces closed all mosques to prevent people from gathering, AP reports.
Syria has faced mounting international condemnation for its violent response to protesters, including being the subject of US and EU sanctions.
On Sunday, the Arab League called for talks between the Syrian government and opposition forces to take place within 15 days.
Arab foreign ministers at an emergency meeting in Egypt decided not to suspend Syria from the organisation.
Damascus has expressed reservations about the plan although correspondents say it is beginning to feel the pressure as criticism increases.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have already withdrawn their ambassadors from Syria in protest

Middle East Crisis 4 – Ghadaffi,Death is not Enough

When stiff-necked dictators like Muammar Gaddafi die the way he did, the world gets a sense of moral relief, a catharsis of righteous triumph. To many, the quiet resentment had grown to indignation on the streets. The indignation became vindication as the tyrant fell like a swallow.
 
Like his fellow despot, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi did not die in a posh bedroom, with a parting family oration. No halo of a goodbye kiss. No last gasp of joys.The late Gaddafi
Rather he died like a common criminal, like a thief many years ago in Lagos burnt to death after serial beating from a crowd of angry youths. When Gaddafi died, his maker Allah was mentioned, but not to thank him for a life well spent. Those who shouted Allah thanked him because they eventually had the tyrant in their hands. His face, strewn with blood, was confused. Was this Gaddafi? He probably asked himself, is this I, the potentate of this land, being turned around like a worm, derided, slapped, punched, dragged on the ground, my blood tainted with the desert sand?
They dragged him out of a sewage pit, in a trouser and T-shirt, his contorted face almost seemed he wanted to cry. He might have. Bullets had pockmarked his body, and one shot into his head probably finished him. Muammar Gaddafi, the dictator and one-time hero of Libya, the author of the Green Book, the leader with female guards, who presided over mammoth oil wealth and acted like a cowboy in an Arab land, died like a rat he called his enemies.
Deaths like this embolden us to believe that the wicked get their punishment before they die. Some can wax Biblical and quote the proverbs: “though hands join in hands, the wicked shall not go unpunished…”
So we saw that with Saddam Hussein, and we said yes, any evil man who rules the people in cowardly tyranny ends like this. But I am not too sure. Herod was believed to have died in misery, and the Bible account said he was eaten by worms. In his masterful novel, I, Claudius, Robert Graves tells the story of the diseases Herod contracted before his death, some in his “private member.” Saddam Hussein was caught in a rat hole, and dragged out, shorn of all the majesty of his peacock years.
 
Sani Abacha’s story through his last days confirmed the belief in the eyes of some, what with his often lack of awareness of his environment, his inability to leave the Aso Rock villa, his weak body and the decadent tale of the whores.
Some others said same of the men in Ghana when J.J. Rawlings first incarnated. He got rid of all the vermin of state, many thought. We thought so too of Liberia, when Sergeant Doe arrived, and a list of past tyrants fell on his sword. Then he too had to go for his evil. Charles Taylor reigned supreme, and no thanks to his murderous style, two Nigerian journalists died. Now the man is homeless and, under the beautiful spell of the justice of the world, he suffers daily. 
We saw same of men like Idi Amin, the butcher of Kampala, who was believed to also be a cannibal. He died an exile, and could not see home after he was pursued out of town by rebels. Mobutu Sese Seko, who was richer than his country, Zaire, and had to lend her money, died also in exile.
Though some of them may not have been in power when they died, they had shelter, food, healthcare, access to entertainment. Did they really always die in misery? Could the death of Gaddafi after an hour or so of torment compare with the decades of torment he inflicted on those families who died, groveled in jail, suffered perpetual torture?
It is hard for me to see that these men actually suffered enough. I often feel that they went away with murder. A good number of the Nazi men escaped and lived happily till death, only a few were caught and punished, mostly by jail term. Hitler, who committed the holocaust, with Himmler, Wilhelm Keitel, Goebbels, died. Hitler organised his own exit. He fomented evil and arguably ended it on his own terms. Hitler had fun with the Jews, a horrendously evil sort of entertainment. He wanted to get rid of all of them, the same way Nero wanted to get rid of all the Christians. Neither of them succeeded, but they did a lot of damage. Nero thought he was a great entertainer, and played music while his flattering court pretended he was a genius. He fiddled, as they say, while Rome burned. He lived the delusion of grandeur before he was slain.
Another man who loved music was the Cambodian despot, Pol Pot. He played the violin. But historians have described him as one of the top butchers of the 20th century.  He was a teacher who became a follower of Mao Tse Tung, and killed about two million people, a third of his country folks in the name of agrarian revolution. He even killed babies by crashing their heads against trees. Yet, Pol Pot was reported by some to die in peace. When interviewed before his death, he said: “I am not a savage person.”
Josef Stalin was left to die after he had a major heart attack. His lieutenants who feared they might be in line to be executed by him, never called a doctor as the man lay on the floor in a pool of his own urine. Some have argued that up to 20 million people died on account of the Russian dictator.
How many of such deaths of tyrants can equate those of the families they torture, make miserable and murder. There is a lot of public catharsis when they die suddenly. When King Charles was decapitated in 1603, when Robespierre and Danton undertook the Guillotines during the French revolution, when ruler after ruler fell in the mid-19th century in what some historians called the turning point that did not turn. In ancient times, in Greece, Rome and Persia, kings sometimes fell after intrigues and rotted like common animals. Not many mourned Caligula’s exit or Caesar’s.
What we don’t consider though is that these men live in a different world, a deluded cosmos crafted by them and for them. So when Pol Pot said he was not savage, he did believe it. He was righteous in his eyes. They see the world not in moral terms but in terms of allies and foes in pursuit of material interests.
Gaddafi was once a hero. He transformed the desert country into a prosperous island on a poor continent. But he was there too long, and mistook himself for his country, a megalomaniac. This self-delusion is the reason it is hard for us to actually punish them swiftly. In the Bible account, God hardened the heart of Pharaoh so he could carry his evil to the end and bear the consequence. In the New Testament, Paul asserts that God sends them “strong delusion” so that they can “believe a lie.”
They have to suffer long, and labour hard and humbled out of their self-importance. The people, who are the voice of God, can do this. They can organise, like the Egyptians, and ensure that the leaders exit on their own terms and punish them on their own terms. Their ousted leader Hosni Mubarak is losing everything, falling sick, awaiting trial on his sick bed. Justice still looms over him. That may be the model to make sure that tyrants suffer the consequences of their actions before death.
Watch out for Part 1 – The Origin of The Middle East Crisis- The Arab Spring

Middle East Crisis 5 – Bashar Al Assad,The Syrian Oppressor

Bashar al-Assad of Syria is facing a serious challenge to his rule in the form of widespread political protest across the country.
He came to power in 2000 on a wave of hope for political and economic reform. Under his leadership, the country underwent a degree of relaxation, with hundreds of political prisoners being released and a few tentative steps towards easing media restrictions.
But the pace of change has slowed – if not reversed – and President Assad has made clear his priority is economic rather than political reform.
The Syrian leader’s vocal opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq prompted US anger, but it was popular in Syria and in the region.
His administration has also come under fire for its alleged support for Palestinian militants and insurgents in Iraq.
But Mr Assad has sought to improve relations with Lebanon and Turkey, and floated the idea of talks with the Israel on the occupied Golan Heights.
Groomed for office
For Syria’s security services and army, the ruling Baath Party and the massive state bureaucracies, Mr Assad represents stability and continuity after the 30-year rule of his father, Hafez al-Assad.
Bashar al-Assad came to power after the death of his father in 2000
Bashar al-Assad’s life was changed dramatically in 1994 by the death of his older brother Basil in a car crash. Basil was being groomed for the highest office.
Had his brother not died, Bashar would almost certainly have been destined for a quiet life outside politics and far from the spotlight.
Between 1988 and 1992 he studied ophthalmology at the Tishrin military hospital in Damascus, before going to London for further studies as an eye doctor. After the death of his brother, Mr Assad was hastily recalled from London.
He entered the military academy at Homs, north of Damascus, and rose through the ranks to become a colonel in January 1999.
In the last years of his father’s life, Mr Assad emerged as an advocate of modernisation and the internet. He was also put in charge of a domestic anti-corruption drive.
Flirting with reform
Since coming to power in June 2000, President Assad has released hundreds of political prisoners and allowed the first independent newspapers for more than three decades to begin publishing.
Lebanese PM Saad Hariri has said the two neighbours must build for the future
For a while, the authorities also allowed a group of intellectuals pressing for democratic reforms to hold public political meetings.
These meetings were later largely closed down or refused licences, and the independence of the press is limited.
Dissidents have continued to face arrest and harassment, and human rights groups say there are hundreds of political prisoners in Syrian jails.
Relations between Damascus and Beirut have improved since the forced withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in mid-2005 after the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut. But many critics blame Syria for his death, charges Damascus denies.
Syria’s once-closed economy is creaking slowly open. However, many Syrians still complain of rampant corruption, and the much-trumpeted official anti-corruption drive has met resistance in the government bureaucracies.
Some observers believe an old guard with entrenched interests may be holding back the young leader.
But Syrian politics is still played out very much behind the scenes, and it is hard to see what is actually going on.
Other observers say Mr Assad is firmly in the driving seat, but that he is moving slowly in order to keep powerful institutions behind him and to try to ensure stability.
 The Arab League recently suspended Syria from its membership.
Many have clamored for Libyay style NATO /UN intervention in Syria. Such an attempt was made by d UN in sept but China and Russia blocked it,as events unfold will NATO invade Syria to protect civillians. Time will tell
 

Middle East Crisis 6 : Tunisian Revolution: A year after: Lessons that Must be learn (1st published 24th Feb 2012)

Fed. Govt. must know that the only antidote to this is good governance; not troops deployment
 
On January 14, 2011, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the man who had used fear to keep Tunisians subjugated for 23 years fled the country in surprising haste, terrified by the angry hordes who had taken to the streets to demand an end to his regime. Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi boarded an aircraft and flew to Saudi Arabia after the army chief of staff refused to use troops to disperse anti-government protests in the centre of the capital, Tunis.
 
Ben Ali’s ouster was the climax of a series of actions that followed the self- immolation by Mohamed Bouazizi, a young vegetable seller whose decision to set himself alight in the Tunisian provincial town of Sidi Bouzid on December 17, 2010, inspired the revolution in the country. Bouazizi was protesting the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation that he reported was inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides. That was to be the beginning of what has now become famously known as the ‘Arab Spring’, so named because of the reverberations of the Tunisian revolution in the region; it has swept away the leaders of two other countries, Egypt and Libya, with a third, Syria, still battling to retain its legitimacy. The Tunisian revolution has changed the political landscape of the region, perhaps forever. 
 
It is not that the revolution has transformed Tunisia economically, though. As a matter of fact, things appear to have worsened ever since. A year ago, about 600,000 Tunisians were unemployed. That figure has now gone up to 850,000. Economic growth last year was about zero, down from around three percent in 2010. The string of strikes and sit-ins by workers in the wake of the revolution has put off some investors and caused a drop in bookings from foreign tourists, which is a big source of income for the country. According to Wided  Bouchamaoui, President of the Tunisian Union of Industry and Trade, “One hundred and twenty foreign companies left Tunisia in 2011 because of the sit-ins,” adding, rather sadly that “The Tunisian economy is threatened with paralysis if it continues.” No doubt this is a big blow to job creation. And no doubt, the country still has a long way to go.
 
Ammar Gharsallah’s death, upper week, symbolised how far Tunisia still has to go to fulfill the promise of the first ‘Arab Spring’ revolution. The 40 year-old father of three, despairing at his poverty, echoed the act of Bouazizi; he died after immolating himself with petrol. Gharsallah had been staging a sit-in protest outside the local government headquarters in Gafsa, a mining region in western Tunisia where unemployment is high and riots over living conditions frequently break out; he wanted a job. So, on January 5, the day when three ministers in the new Tunisian government were visiting Gafsa, he set himself on fire and sustained third-degree burns. He died in hospital on January 9.
 
His frustration is familiar to most ordinary Tunisians’ who had looked forward to quick fixes when Ben Ali was ousted. But despite the problems, Tunisians see plenty of cause to celebrate. They have tasted the fruits of democracy; now, they have a say in who governs them, with the first ever vote they had last October. The country has elected its own government, defying predictions it would descend into chaos. Ben Ali’s secret police have been disbanded while newspapers, radio and television stations enjoy unprecedented freedoms. Moreover, Tunisia has provided a model of how, in the wake of the “Arab Spring,” Islamists can come to power without tearing up the fabric of the state or imposing a strict Islamic moral code. All these call for celebration and indeed, the Tunisians celebrated on January 14, exactly one year after Ben Ali’s government was sacked. All things considered, there is cause for optimism of a bright future and the possibility of the country overcoming its difficulties.
 
But the lessons of the ‘Arab Spring’ should not be lost on Nigeria. All the indices that led to the revolutions that have consumed at least three governments in the Arab world are present, perhaps in even greater intensity in the country – unemployment, hyper-inflation, corruption, political intolerance, bad governance, insecurity, etc., threatening the country’s existence. These were compounded on January 1 when the Federal Government, in an insensitive and irrational manner slammed an unimaginable fuel price increase on Nigerians as a New Year’s present. This saw the price per litre of petrol rise from N65 to N140 later to be reduced after massive protests to N97. But for mass protests, the new price regime would have been sustained.     
 
Old women are never at ease when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. That perhaps, explains why the Nigerian government has not been comfortable with dissent, especially since the outbreak of the ‘Arab Spring’. And this manifested in its crushing of the fuel subsidy protests with troops paid from the public till. But the government will do well to know that the doomsday can only be postponed without addressing the roots of the problems that drove millions of citizens to release their pent up anger as they did last week. 
 
This is why the government has to be courageous enough at least to pursue the subsidy probe sincerely. Nothing short of this will do. This may jolly well be the ultimate decider of the government’s fate; Nigerians have known enough and some of their worst fears are being confirmed from the House of Representatives’ Ad hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Regime probe into the matter. The only way to avoid the Nigerian equivalent of the ‘Arab Spring’ is good governance; deploying troops to kill innocent citizens on legitimate protests is an act of desperation.  It cannot be sustained for long. We have the Arab countries to learn from.  

Ojukwu: The philosophy that defined his politics

Fresh from exile in 1982, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) signifying the beginning of his politics.  
When Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu joined partisan politics in 1982, not a few were bewildered. Even more confounding was his choice of political party. Late Ojukwu after 12 years in the Ivory Coast had joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). His decision to pitch his tent with the NPN raised several questions.
 
The major question was why NPN of all parties. The reason for this was not far fetched. Prior to his exile in early 1970, the Igbo leader had led the Igbo nation in a war to secede from Nigeria. The general expectation that he would have joined the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) led by the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. The NPP was seen largely as an Igbo party, more so when NPP controlled the two eastern states of Anambra and Imo at that point. While the NPN on the other hand was perceived as a Northern party.
 
Many had insinuated at that point that Ojukwu’s membership of the NPN may have been part of the deal he reached with the government of Shehu Shagari, which granted him a state pardon thereby making his return to the country possible.
 
Even the government of Shagari was shocked that he joined politics. According to the Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi , Director General of the Nigerian Security Organization at that time said the Ikemba involvement in partisan politics was not part of the understanding reached with the government before his return.
Commenting on the events of those days, Shinkafi told a national daily “I do not know about (Alex) Ekwueme, but it was certainly not President Shagari’s wish. He didn’t want Ojukwu to get involved in party politics, even in NPN.” But then Ojukwu disappointed them all and embraced partisan politics.
In joining politics, he was motivated by the same factor that influenced him into joining the civil service as an assistant district officer . That is service to the people. It was that burning desire that also drove him into confronting the Federal Government led by General Yakubu Gowon.
 
Ojukwu’s involvement with the NPN changed the tempor of the politics of Eastern Nigeria. He declared for the Onitasha Senatorial seat on the platform of the NPN. The NPP government in the old Anambra State under the watch of Chief Jim Nwobodo was already giving Vice President Alex Ekwueme tough time. To effectively checkmate the NPP, which already had a militia group , he formed the Ikemba Front. The Ikemba Front came to be more than a match for the NPP militia group. Shinkafi explained that “Even before Ojukwu returned, Ekwueme and Governor Jim Nwobodo were having a running battle in the area. NPP already had a militia. Ojukwu only reacted by forming his own militia. Several times I went to the East and urged Nwobodo to respect the office of the vice president. However, in responding to NPP and forming his own militia, Ojukwu went beyond expectation.”
 
At the end of the 1983 senatorial, Ojukwu host to the less popular NPP candidate In 1983, he contested the Onitsha senatorial poll, but lost to a relatively little known Anambra State commissioner in then Governor Jim Nwobodo’s cabinet, Dr. Edwin Onwudiwe. But the NPN won the governorship of the state. Some political historians have said that NPN deliberately sacrificed Ojukwu because they could not fathom how to handle Ojukwu if he ended in the senate of the Second Republic.
 
Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, who was then the Presidential Liaison Officer to the National Assembly, said “The basic aim of persuading him to join the NPN was to reintegrate the Igbo to the mainstream national politics after the civil war. Then, the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) was the ruling party in the South-east states of Imo and Anambra and we believed that Ojukwu should no longer play regional politics. We met and went to him and convinced him to join the NPN, at least for the sake of the Igbos and it eventually paid off when the NPN won Anambra governorship election with Onoh as the governor.” For the Igbo leader “I joined NPN to bring the Igbos into the main stream of Nigeria’s politics since I was the one that pulled them out in the first place,” Ojukwu was quoted severally to have replied when asked why he joined the NPN upon returning from Ivory Coast.
 
The failed senatorial adventure was not Ojukwu’s first romance with politics.
During the 1978 election, the late Biafran leader had nursed the idea of contesting for the Nnewi Federal Constituency on the platform of the Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP.) He was nominated in absentia. According to the Ikemba in his book. Because I am Involved , “ I was convinced that such a momentous change (1978 transition programme), such an event must not take place without my being an issue. I made contacts with my compatriots individually and as party member , finally it was the GNPP, under Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim that settled upon my candidature. The campaign began in earnest. I was nominated in absentia”. He said he was motivated by Nkwame Nkrumah and Kenyatta who had moved into power from prison. However, the dream was stillbirth as the military authority reacted negatively to the idea of his participation in the transition programmes, thereby forcing Waziri and others to deny him.
 
Not long after the 1983 election, the military struck. The General Muhammadu Buhari’s regime that toppled the civil administration clamped Ojukwu and other politicians of that era into prison. . He was detained for 10 months.
Forging ahead
Having put his hand in the plough, there was no going back for the Igbo leader politically. In the third republic , he joined the National Republican Convention, NRC, and aspired to contest the presidency. He said the surest way to show that the civil war had ended and the Igbo fully integrated into the affairs of the nation was to allow the Igbo become president.
However, General Ibrahim Babangida promptly disqualified him from running for president alongside other “old breed” politicians. During the General Sani Abacha regime, he was one of those elected to the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) of 1994 to 1995.
 
At the inception of the fourth republic, Ojukwu first joined the All Peoples Party (APP, now All Nigeria Peoples Party) in the Fourth Republic. Together with Dr. Olusola Saraki, Chief Tom Ikimi, the late Lamidi Adedibu, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu,  Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu, the late Chief Sam Mbakwe, all political soul mates who could change Nigeria along defined lines. Their efforts at building a strong national party failed when the APP lost at the 1999 polls, as many of them left for the ruling party. But Ojukwu soldiered on. He later founded the Peoples Democratic Congress which was not registered as a political party.
 
Then in 2002 with Chief Chekwas Okorie, the former military governor formed the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). It was in APGA that he came close to realizing his dream of offering service to the people. Though the two attempts he made at governing the country on the platform of the party was not successful, the party won governorship elections in Anambra and Imo State in the last general election.
He was the party’s presidential candidate platform in the 2003 presidential poll. He fought the polls against President Olusegun Obasanjo, General Buhari and other contenders and came third. He repeated the quest in 2007 and came sixth. However he did not participate in the last election though to ill health.
 
Ojukwu no doubt had an eventful political career. But his main regret would be that he never lived to see an Igbo man elected as Nigerian president. Because that for him would mean the full integration of Ndigbo into Nigerian polity after the 30 moths bitter civil war, he led to give the Igbos a better deal in Nigeria.

Aburi Accord 2

An open enemy is better than a false friend. (Greek Proverb)
Our enemies teach us life’s most valuable lessons. (Chinese Proverb)
One does evil enough when one does nothing good. (German Proverb)
One enemy can harm you more than a hundred friends can do you good. (German Proverb)
He who sows peas on the highway does not get all the pods into his barn. (Danish Proverb)
Learning is like rowing upstream; not to advance is to drop back. (Chinese Proverb)
Don’t run too far, you will have to return the same distance. (Biblical Proverb)
Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out. (Italian Proverb)
Weaving a net is better than praying for fish at the edge of the water. (Chinese Proverb)
Only the man who crosses the river at night knows the value of the light of day. (Chinese Proverb)
Not enjoyment and not sorrow is our destined end or way: But to act, that each to-morrow finds us further than to-day. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
 
 
I want to make it clear that the personal enmity between Gowon and Ojukwu was one of the major reasons that led Nigeria to that fratricidal war; Ojukwu contributed in one way or the other to the stalemate that led to the war, but, the major blames go to Gowon who, as the then “head of state”, failed to take full charge of events and allowed others to call the shot. In other words, blame the war on oil: blame it on the northerners and their over-dependence on oil; blame it on the British/western powers and their unquenchable appetite for oil coupled with their desire to control the heart beat of oil; blame it on Ojukwu for using the stalemate Nigeria found itself then as an avenue to settle personal scores; most of all, blame it more on Gowon for lacking the leadership (as the head of state) to stop the blood baths before everything escalated into a full blown war.
 
“Upfront, I must make it clear that I am not against the war fought but how it was prosecuted. My people say “we could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world”. What I am saying is that certain things should have been done differently after seeing the situation then on the ground during the war. If those necessary precautions were put in place before we went into war, the outcome might have been different. My people say that “to guess is cheap, to guess wrong is expensive”. Those in charge of the war at both sides miscalculated the outcome. They forgot that “an error the width of a hair can lead one a thousand miles astray”. No body should misquote me in any way. “True words might not be pleasant, pleasant words might not be true”.
 
 
What led to the war?
 
I want to crave the indulgence of my readers, because, the problem with Nigeria is that we tend to relegate history to the background and pretend that nothing happened. We need to tell the younger generations that didn’t witness such things the whole truth in order to avoid past mistakes from repeating itself.
 
General Gowon and the Northern officers and men in the army should take the blame for the civil war because “he, who makes peaceful resolution of conflict impossible, makes war inevitable”.
Ojukwu and Gowon created in anger what they lacked in reason. They took us to an un-necessary war because of their failure to display maturity. . ….. “It is the part of a good shepherd to shear his flock, not to skin it”.
 
Gowon was as inept and incapable as a Head of State that he was schemed out into becoming a figure head while the Northern Oligarchy wielded the real power. In fact Gowon was so afraid of the then Colonel Muritala Muhammed that he was unable to call him to order. Muritala Muhammed was ruling by proxy as he was determined to wipe out the entire Igbo race and Gowon was helpless and unable to rein him in.
 
 
However, Ojukwu refused to accept Gowon as Head of State. Apart from charging Gowon with complicity in the slaying of Igbos in the North, Ojukwu felt that if the Nigerian Army must produce a successor to replace the slain General Ironsi, it should have been Brigadier Babatunde Ogundipe and in his absence, he (Ojukwu) should have been picked before Gowon who was junior to him in the army. He was right here because that’s how the military works.
The war was avoidable. Igbos sacrificed so much, especially those who died not knowing that they died because the forces of darkness (Britain and the Northerners) wanted to keep their hand on the pulse and purse of oil.
 
……The planning and execution of the war was fraught with pitfalls and shortcomings. The conditions then made the war imperative, but other processes or avenues to avoid the war were not exhausted before we were plunged into that catastrophe. For me, all the lives lost during the war were in vain. The Igbos are now worst off than before the war. The killings of Igbos that led to the attempted secession have happened so many times since after the war.
 
 
Ojukwu
 
 
The elders say that “when a king does wrong; his subjects will admonish him covering their faces with baskets”.
Ojukwu was selfish, that was why the Biafran project failed. He made tactical errors during the war. He had poor judgement and failed to do his homework well before dragging the Igbos to the war. My people say that “great souls have wills, feeble ones have only wishes”.
There was a personal conflict between Gowon and Ojukwu. When General Ironsi was overthrow in July 1966, barely before the nation knew what had happened to Ironsi, Gowon had become the Head of State.
 
But there were officers who were senior to Gowon and the Army depends very largely on hierarchy. Brigadier Ogundipe who was then Ironsi’s Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters was by far senior to Gowon. Brig. Bob Adebayo as well was by far senior to Gowon. Most of the senior Igbo officers were slaughtered in 1966 pogroms that took place in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Jos and so on and others fled to the East. There were one or two officers senior to Gowon. Ejoor was senior to Gowon. Ojukwu actually had slight seniority over Gowon, Ogundipe or Adebayo should have taken over as the head of state, but, those who perpetrated the counter-coup of 1966 said they would not have a southern officer to head the army or the country. That was how Gowon who was N 29 in the hierarchy became the Head of State. Not on merit, not on seniority but purely because he came from the North.
 
Brig Ogundipe refused to take over because he was then incharge of affairs in Lagos and gave instructions to some soldiers as a Brigadier, and they refused to obey him. Wondering how he can be Head of State when his subordinates cannot carry out his instructions?
Ogundipe’s refusal to take over and the subsequent seniority clash between Ojukwu and Gowon opened a brand new problem. For one, the sidelining of this Yoruba man reduced the problem into an Igbo versus Hausa imbroglio. Had Ogundipe been allowed to mediate and succeed Ironsi –as Ojukwu indeed encouraged him to do– it might have calmed the frayed nerves of the two striving groups. As it were, the subsequent ego-tripping between Gowon and Ojukwu clearly precipitated the civil war.
 
 
Gowon and Ojukwu
 
 
Gowon and Ojukwu during the war were two parallel lines that never met. While Ojukwu was over-arching, Gowon was quiet different. They were two different extremes. While Gowon was too cold, Ojukwu was too hot and a strong personality and they proved incompatible right from the beginning.
 
Prior to being Head of State, Gowon did not know how to run even a local government. But he was prepared to listen and be advised (albeit wrongly). He did not display any ego nor did he impose his status as Head of State but this made him to display a lot of immaturity and confusions. Ojukwu as an Oxford graduate was self imposing and had ego.
 
It is true that Gowon was a figure-head Head of State during the war, that others were calling the shots, that was why he couldn’t control the three war commanders (Shuwa, Adekunle and Mohammed) as they engaged in genocide and ethnic cleansing, a crime against humanity. That was also the reason Gowon came back from Aburi, Ghana where he signed a cease-fire agreement with Ojukwu only to be deceived by the Yoruba bureaucrats into rejecting what he signed that would have stopped the war from starting in the first place, if it was implemented. Gowon forgot the saying “if a person shave you with a razor, do not shave him with broken glass”. We want him to come out and confess for his sins, apologising and telling the Igbos who played what role, when, how and why? My people say that “to tell only half the truth is to give life to a new lie”.
 
 
The point of this article is that part of the ACCORD signed by Ojukwu and Gowon in 1967 that the bureaucrats deceived Gowon to reject afterwards, is what Nigeria needed then and is still what Nigeria needs now if it must survive. The problems in the Niger Delta areas hinges on that accord and its implementation will be the only recipe for peace in the region and in Nigeria as a whole. Worth pointing out here is the fact that many of the Niger Delta leaders now frustrated by the injustices meted out to the oil producing region, frustrated the efforts of the Igbos between 1967 through 1970, who then wanted to take their destiny into their own hands. Some of the Niger Delta leaders of today were then saboteurs against the Biafran cause, but, they haven’t fared much better since then, after all they did to sabotage all the efforts of the Igbos in their quest for justice and self rule. Men like Edwin Clark, late Saro-Wiwa, Adaka Boro, Tam David-West and some others sold Biafra then for a plate of porridge, but, by now they must have eaten up the porridge and are still hungry afterward. I am sure that the Igbo properties some of them seized as abandoned properties after the war haven’t help them much.
 
Chief Edwin Clark said in the Vanguard Newspapers of 29th July 2008 that the only sane way out of the long-drawn-out Niger-Delta crisis is for President Umaru Yar’Adua to return the country to true federalism, which was the situation in the First Republic. According to him:
 
 
“These are the only realistic solution to the lingering Niger-Delta crisis; this was the situation in the First Republic when the principles of true federalism brought social and political stability in the three regions. The North had groundnut and cotton, the East had coal and palm industry and the West had cocoa, these, they used to develop their various regions at their own pace. For instance, in my former Western Nigeria where Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the Premier and leader, it was the most developed and progressive because of its wealth in cocoa. Through cocoa, Awolowo was able to establish the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University.
 
The introduction of free primary education, establishment of Odua Group of Companies, which remains the largest group of company owned by any individual or state or group of states, the establishment of a television station, which was the first in Southern Nigeria, the Cocoa House in Ibadan, Western House, Lagos and industrial estates in Ikeja were some of the benefits of cocoa wealth. These benefits did not extend to the Mid-West region except for free primary education because we never contributed to cocoa wealth. These same reasons were used to deny Mid-West region equitable sharing of assets when it was created in 1963 even when I became Commissioner for Finance in 1972, all efforts to convince Gen Adeyinka Adebayo, the military Governor of Western region despite the very good relationship he had with Col. S.O. Ogbemudia, then military Governor of the Mid-West region failed.
 
It should be noted that the Premier of the Northern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello also used his groundnut and cotton wealth to establish the present Ahmadu Bello University and the modern city of Kaduna, which was its capital. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe could not do much because he relied on limited resources available to him, including the remaining 50 per cent that accrues to the federation, which it shared between the two regions and the central government”.
 
 
 
 
 
The Supreme Military Council of Nigeria resumed its meeting in Ghana
on the 5th of January and continued and concluded discussion of the
remaining subjects on the Agenda. The Council reached agreement on
all the items.
On the powers and functions of the Federal Military Government the
Council reaffirmed its belief in the workability of the existing
institutions subject to necessary safequards.
Other matters on which agreements were reached included the
following:
Re-organization, administration and control of the Army
Appointments and promotions to the senior ranks in the Armed Forces,
the Police, Diplomatic and Consular Services as well as appointments
to super-scale posts in the Federal Civil Service and the equivalent
posts in the Federal Statutory Corporations.
On the question of displaced persons the Supreme Military Council
agreed to set up a committee to look into the problems of
rehabilitation and recovery of property. In this connection the
Military Governor of the East assured the Council that the order that
non-Easterners should leave the Eastern Region would be reviewed with
a view to its being lifted as soon as practicable. Agreement was
also reached that the staff and employees of Governments and
Statutory Corporations who have had to leave their poses as a result
of recent disturbances in the country should continue to be paid
their full salaries up to the end of 31st March, 1967, provided they
have not found alternative employment.
The Council agreed that the Ad Hoc Committee on the constitutional
future of the country should be resumed as soon as practicable and
that the unanimous recommendations of the committee in September 1966,
will be considered by the Supreme Military Council at a later
meeting.
The Council unanimously agreed that future meetings of the Council
should be held in Nigeria at a venue to be announced later.
The entire members of the Supreme Military Council express profound
regret for the bloodshed which has engulfed the country in the past
year and avow to do all in their power to ensure there is no
recurrence of the unhappy situation.
The members of the Supreme Military Council place on record their
profound appreciation and gratitude for the constructive initiative
and assistance rendered by the Chairman of the National Liberation
Council, the Government and people of Ghana.
 
Statement by the Supreme Council on the Reorganization of the Army,
and the Approval of Senior Appointments, and its Declaration on the use of force
 
I.
The Supreme Military Council now meeting in Ghana has agreed on the
following reorganization of the Army:
The Army is to be governed by the Supreme Military Council the
Chairman of which will be known as Commander-in-Chief and Head of the
Federal Military Government.
There will be a Military Headquarters on which the Regions will be
equally represented and which will be headed by a Chief of Staff.
In each Region there shall be an Area Command under the charge of an
Area Commander and corresponding with the existing Regions.
All matters of policy including appointments and promotions of
persons in executive posts in the Armed Forces and Police shall be
dealt with by the Supreme Military Council.
During the period of the Military Government, Military Governors will
have control over their Area Commands in matters of internal security.
 
The following appointments must be approved by the Supreme Military
Council:
Diplomatic and Consular posts.
Senior posts in the Armed Forces and the Police.
Super-scale Federal Civil Service and Federal Corporation posts.
Any decision affecting the whole country must be determined by the
Supreme Military Council. Where a meeting is not possible such a
matter must be referred to Military Governors for comment and
concurrence.
 
II.
We the members of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria meeting at
Accra on 4th day of January, 1967, hereby solemnly and
unequivocably:
DECLARE that we renounce the use of force as a means of settling the
present crisis in Nigeria, and hold ourselves in honor bound by this
declaration.
REAFFIRM our faith in discussions and negotiation as the only
peaceful way of resolving the Nigerian crisis.
AGREE to exchange information on the quantity of arms and ammunition
in each unit of the Army in each Region, and also on the quantity of
new arms and ammunition in stock.