News From Nigeria
The Okpe Union has expressed concern over the nefarious activities of some elements of the Itsekiri and Urhobo nationalities.
‘’Some elements of the Itsekiri and Urhobo nationalities continue to constitute irritants to the Okpẹ Nation. The Urhobo via their nefarious WADO activities claim Okpẹ territories. We vehemently reject this as Okpẹ is not Urhobo and neither are we an appendage of any ethnic nationality’’.
The union also stressed its historical mission of facilitating the independence of Okpẹ Nation.
‘’We shall continue to encourage the use of Okpẹ Language in worship and the translation of Church sermons. We shall use the Okpẹ language to enhance the Okpẹ identity and development strategy of Okpẹ Nation. We shall continue to intensify our strategic collaboration with other Okpẹ organizations, as well as with other ethnic nationalities in Delta State and Nigeria, in the realization of this noble historical imperative’’.
The union in a New Year message to the public stressed the need for prominent Nigerians to be thorough and be armed with correct facts in the area of Okpe history, language and culture.
‘’While we reiterate our profound reverence for the Okpẹ Throne, we remain resolute in our defence of democratic tenets and good governance in Okpẹ Nation. We also reiterate our firm view that Okpẹ Kingdom is not an absolute monarchy where a monarch’s pronouncements are considered “final” even when they violate basic democratic norms. We recognize that to toe the path of truth is a difficult choice that only a small minority with sound social consciousness can embark on. Truth can be suppressed but can never be imprisoned’’.
The message delivered by the President General of Okpe Union Worldwide, Prof Igho Natufe emphasized the strategic approach to position Okpẹ stakeholders in the pursuit of the recognition of Okpẹ as a distinct ethnic nationality in Delta State.
‘’This objective remains an existential challenge of the Okpẹ Nation which Okpẹ Union was established to attain. We shall intensify our collaboration with internal and external forces for a better appreciation of the benefits of Okpẹ Identity to all parties, including the Urhobo. The two local government councils in Okpẹ Nation, Sapele LGC and Okpẹ LGC, shall be encouraged to play a pivotal role in the Redemption of the Okpẹ Nation’’.
The union called for cooperation and unity to enhance economic development of Okpẹ Nation.
UNEASY NEIGHBOURS AND THE BIAFRA DIALOGUE PART 4 BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
“Everyone should be called to account. Let us go door to door to ask about what we did here. If the father is gone, let us ask the sons about the sins of their fathers “Anonymous
As I research into this series of uneasy neighbors, I am astounded by what Nigerians have glossed over in order to appease the Biafrans. Private Citizens showed their fidelity by giving the Igbo people back the rent they collected from the houses they left. There is nowhere in the world where a rebel faction of a nation has been thoroughly reintegrated and rehabilitated like we have done for the Igbo people who returned from Biafra.
Nigeria gave assistance to the Igbo people. Nigeria reinstated all the Biafra soldiers who fought against the Nigeria side and paid them arrears of three years. This means while they were fighting against Nigeria, we were bankrolling their insurgency. This means Nigeria actually paid the Biafran soldiers who invaded, killed and destroyed properties in the Midwest Region. They were officially reinstated and their salaries and pensions paid.
Did Nigeria consider any payment to the family of those that were killed and maimed by the unjustified invasion of the Midwest Region by the Biafrans? What did we do to warrant the invasion and occupation of the Midwest region that led to the Biafra invasion? What did we do to the invasion that caused a lot of destruction and loss of lives and properties? All the civil servants in the East were paid their arrears. No person who organized this revolt was punished because Nigeria wanted to hold up to the spirit of No victor, no vanquished.
The Midwest understood this as the price they have to pay for Nigeria’s unity. No one compensated us and we were left to bury our own dead. We did not ask for war. Biafra brought war to our doorstep and we bled and no one helped us to tend to our wounded and we buried our dead alone.
If you ask the Igbo about their rapid re-entry, they will tell you that it is due to their hard work and Igbo ingenuity. If the opposite happened or they experienced a setback, they will say the Nigerian system is rigged against the Igbo man.
I am yet to come across any Igbo who shows gratitude for the opportunity of renewal and revaluation that Nigeria gave them. They are angry when they succeed and when they lose, they look for someone to blame. They always tell us the Nigerian factor was designed to stop the Igbo man.
Nigerians are patient people. I am beginning to see that the patience of Nigerians is running out as they are finding out that the Igbo people lack calibration of hubris and they are no longer tolerating the bully tactics of the Igbo people. Nigeria does not belong to them. They can go to Biafra and bellyache but I worry about the geography.
Great America never extended this kind of olive branch to the south that initiated and lost the American civil war. It took America about a hundred years to elect a president from the South in the name of LB. Johnson. His election was accidental after the assassination of JFK. The officers of the Confederacy were made to sign an oath of allegiance before their citizenship could be restored.
Robert Lee who was the President of the confederacy could not restore his citizenship before he died. The reason was that he misplaced his documents for the oath of allegiance and could not find the papers before he fell sick. He died in October 1870. His citizenship was restored posthumously by President Gerald Ford in 1975, almost a hundred years after he died.
What about the breakaway region of Chechnya in Russia? Did the Russians get into appeasement politics with that breakaway Republic? The answer is no. Thirty years after the genocide in Rwanda, the authors of the Rwanda genocide of 1994 are still being prosecuted. Can any Hutu person justify the genocide and start a movement for genocide?
This show of civility by Nigerians to Igbo has been misconstrued by them as signs of weakness. Instead of nurturing good neighborliness, we have inadvertently turned them into bullies in the Nigerian landscape.
Nnamdi Kanu by his actions is telling us we were wrong for the war that was started by his Igbo brother. This is the action of a bully. Nothing can placate a bully. As a Nigerian, I refuse to be bullied. Enough is enough. Gradually, he is rewriting the story of the Nigerian civil war where the Nigerian is the villain and the Igbo people are innocent victims. Ojukwu is his hero. The Igbo telling us we hate them is a psychological projection of the hate they have for Nigeria and the good people of this great country. They have no sense of history. The lack of any punishment makes the Igbo people think that the declaration of Biafra is a trivial issue.
Nothing was asked of the Igbo people after the war. They came back into Nigeria as if nothing happened and they have handed revisionist history to their children who want to carry out the same scenarios because nothing happened to the likes of Ojukwu. Is our sovereignty a joke? No person’s compass should point to Biafra when he is making his billions in Nigeria.
Nigeria elected an Igbo to the vice presidency in the person of Dr Alex Ekwueme in 1979, just ten years after the Nigerian civil war. Four years later, the leader of the rebellion was pardoned and immediately ran for the senate. If he was not defeated by his own people, he would have become a senator in a country he was dismembering less than 15 years prior. Nothing was asked of him. He never spent a day in jail. A writer spent more than three years in jail, but the architect of the blood bath paraded Nigeria as a hero. This is abnormal and the Igbo people think that this abnormal situation warrants the concept of abnormal citizenship by having double allegiance, one to Biafra and another to Nigeria.
His main antagonist in his campaign was Chief Christian Cukwuma Onoh, a renowned Enugu lawyer. He promised to bury Ojukwu because he knew where all the skeletons were buried. There is nothing greater that can stand between two antagonists than a beautiful woman. Bianca Ojukwu is CC Onoh’s daughter. Both men buried the hatchet and Bianca Ojukwu is a celebrated Nigerian ambassador today. She has represented Nigeria very well.
The Igbo people were re-assimilated so quickly that we all heaved a sigh of relief that we as a people, we are healing and we are on the move with our usual aches and pains. Nothing was asked of them. No one asked them about rededication of their allegiance to Nigeria. This is why they think their crime against Nigeria is trivial. Due to lack of strict entry rules such as Nigeria citizenship, the Biafrans have taken Nigerians’ generosity as weakness and folly. They will not let the wounds of war heal. They are always picking at the scab. They took advantage of the Biafran propaganda machine that was not dismantled after the war. Gradually, subterranean complaints of marginalization were being murmured. We were under the military and there was strife everywhere.
Just after four years of that civilian dispensation, the civilian government was overthrown and we were back to square one, listening to guttural orders from semi illiterate soldiers whose only claim to fame is the ability to shoot a gun. Nigerians recoiled back into their dark room to witness another decade of military misrule. When the Nation reverted back to representative democracy, we had another military general with no clue at the helm. We did not know we had a constitution. He wanted a third term and made any one who opposed disappear. People like Okadigbo were victims. Okadigbo dared to challenge Mr. Obasanjo for killing anything that moves in the village of Odi in the Niger Delta. An Igbo man shed tears for those of us in the Niger Delta who have always borne the brutality of Caesar’s whip and oppression.
What happened to the Okadigbos of Igbo land ? Our agitation continued and Yar’Adua became president. For the first time, someone looked into the plight of our communities in the Niger Delta and started a process that will rehabilitate the youths and curb the environmental degradation. There was amnesty and the youth laid down their arms to participate in finding solutions to the perennial neglect of the Niger Delta. I thought my nation would eventually heal if dialogue is pursued and adhoc military solutions are jettisoned. I can say there is progress in the Niger Delta today but we have a long way to go. Unfortunately Mr YarAdua died and Jonathan became the inheritor of the throne. He paid attention to the amnesty but since it wasn’t his original design, a lot of funds were frittered away. The administration of Goodluck Jonathan was different in one regard. About 75 % of the cabinet of Goodluck Jonathan was Igbo people. They were eminently qualified and he was good to the South-East. They even renamed him Azikiwe. At this time, we thought our neighbors were our brothers. There was no agitation for Biafra and there was no revisionist history of Biafra. There was an individual running a Biafra money raising stint at the time. His grift was paying off very well and he had no need to increase his amplitude and become confrontational as he was making enough for his keep. Then Buhari came and suddenly those of us in the Niger Delta became the frontal states that prevented Biafra.
We have seen signs of this before but the kaleidoscopic mirage of the Sani Abacha years did not give us the room to analyze the insults that were poured on Ken Saro Wiwa . We thought we all agreed to “no victor, no vanquished “. An individual who was pardoned for heading a rebellion openly derided the relatives of Ken Saro Wiwa that they made their bed and they should lay on it. This was a bridge too far and the hate is real. From then on, there was a catalogue of scenarios in which new proponents of Biafra started using our position during the war as a barometer of their cooperation with us. If there is a pipeline fire accident that incinerates a village in the Niger Delta, there is schadenfreude in Biafra.
During the brutal years of Abacha when everyone west of Niger was in danger, the proponents of Biafra were ensconced in Abacha’s regime. It was the best time for them. There was no Biafra agitation and no one envied them of their new fame and opportunity to be Abacha’s court jesters. They made a lot of money from their gig. Old ties and military camaraderie brought Ojukwu to the front and center of policy making. This is the time a lot of people like Peter Obi made their money by running Abacha’s errands. Most people west of Niger have gone into exile due to the June 12 agitation. We had Radio Kudirat. Tinubu, Wole Soyinka, Pa Enahoro and a host of prominent politicians were in exile and were actively looking for solutions to the Nigerian military usurpation of power. Tinubu was one of the financiers who used his money to finance the struggle against military dictatorship in Nigeria. Kudirat died, Abacha died, Abiola and host other prominent politicians in Nigeria were assassinated. Rewane was murdered. Attempts were made on Alex Ibru’s life. He was seriously wounded. This was Nigeria at that time where an ex-rebel who was pardoned used his old military ties to settle scores with Ken Saro Wiwa. When the Ogoni people complained about this, the Igbo people told them it was Abacha who murdered Ken Saro Wiwa and they should complain to Abacha. Pontius Pilate may have signed the death warrant but the high priests can never wash away the stains.
Buhari became president and the cry for Biafra became more ferocious. Nnamdi Kanu ascended the helm and he needed to crank up the decibel and he did. He poured his vitriol on those neighbors who did not support Biafra. He reorganized and made money beyond his wildest dreams. He started a brigade of people de-marketing Nigeria in the Western countries. According to him, nothing good can come out of Nigeria. The more vitriol he made against Nigeria, the more money he made. His outrageous claims against Nigeria and neighboring minorities became monumental. Nigeria became a zoo. The people of Niger Delta who did not support Biafra secession caught the brunt of his eyes. More money poured in and nothing could exceed the bounds of decency. Sooner than later, his revisionist history became the substantive history of the Biafra secession. Nigerians became villains that perpetrated genocide against the innocent people who were minding their business. They became very successful and Nigerians in their jealous rage rounded them up for genocide. He roused up the Igbo youths, who were unborn then, and they became filled with anger and resentment and they enlisted in his Biafran army which is terrorizing the East today. He turned every political disagreement to the hatred of the Igbo people. Wary Nigerians did know how to reply to this new threat because they have forgotten the history that brought us to our present Palouse position, where we have become pariahs everywhere. There was no push back. Before we knew it, Nnamdi Kanu had raised an army that punishes anyone in Igbo land who will say anything contrary to his phantom stories. He formed Biafra chapters all over the World. He actually told his followers to influence the politics of world powers. He told his people to donate and vote for the racist president of America, Donald Trump. The M15 and Mossad started aping up their activities in Nigeria. Suddenly Israel originally denied that the Igbo people are not the lost tribe of Israel tried to reverse their tune in order to use these Biafrans as their foot hold in Nigeria and Africa when they were denied admission to the AU. He created more unrest in the South East. He was arrested. The rest of the story is still unfolding. Throughout his activities, his main theme is that the Igbo man is oppressed in Nigeria. There was no singular Igbo leader that opposed his ridiculous assertions. Even Senators from the South East started quoting him. When you ask them why they think the Igbo man is oppressed, they will tell you, it is because no Igbo man has been made president. If this were not true, it would be laughable. Prominent Igbo politicians will mount the rostrum and say that only Igbo people can unite Nigeria. What arrant nonsense. These are people who could not unite with their minority neighbours for common values of coexistence telling us they have the elixir of unity. When was the last time you saw an Igbo people unite with anyone who is not Igbo? Wherever they are, there is no peace? They tell us Nigerians who are wary of them are Igbophobic. Are South Africans Igbophobic? Are Ghanaians Igbophobic? What about the American in Dallas who threw out an Igbo organization from his hotel and perpetually banned them from doing business with his hotel? Is the man Igbophobic? For three years, the hotel has hosted them. There is no year where those meetings didn’t end without a fight and the police called. He had had enough and told them never again. Not all money is good money. You be the judge.
My nation Nigeria is gradually succumbing to the emotional blackmail of the Igbo people by making them think that there is a scenario where their uncouth behavior can force us to make an Igbo man the president. The only scenario I can see for any Igbo to be president is to be a patriotic Nigerian.
Are the South-East patriotic Nigerians? Anyone who will agitate for the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu is not a patriotic Nigerian. His loyalty is to Biafra and is not qualified to be president of Nigeria. No one who aspires to lead Nigeria should have double loyalty. In the last election, almost 99% of the Igbos voted for Obi. This means they voted because of one criterion only. Obi is Igbo. That is all they needed to know, nothing more, nothing less. An Igbo leader will mount a rostrum and tell us that only Ndigbo can unite Nigeria. Can you imagine if a Yoruba or Fulani man mounts the podium and says only a Yoruba or Fulani person can rule Nigeria. When Tinubu said it was my turn, they wanted to crucify him. Tinubu did not say it was the turn of Yoruba. He said it was his turn considering what he has achieved, sacrificed and his personal preparation for the office he is seeking. The Igbo people will go gaga. They have no history of peaceful coexistence with any one, even with themselves.
I am an Isoko man. Can I say I am being deprived because an Isoko man has not become the president of Nigeria? Why do Igbo people think the Presidency is a right of any particular ethnic group? This is what we are fighting, to disabuse the Fulani people of this arrogant thought process .The presidency is a privilege accorded a few people in any federation. The last time an Igbo was president; the Igbo people overthrew that government and threw the country into a state of confusion, consternation and war.
It took America almost a hundred years to get to a civil war. The Igbo people pushed Nigeria into civil war in less than six years after independence. At the rate the Biafra agitators are going, we may end up with another war before Nigeria’s one hundred years of independence. It is very unhealthy for any group of people to have this view of leadership. This is the reason why Nigeria should be restructured. If the Igbo people think this way, this gives them the angst and impetus to disorganize our polity. No one should succumb to this kind of ethnic chauvinism and emotional blackmail.
We should restructure Nigeria. This should be our priority. The Igbo people are going to continue to be unruly neighbors since they have misinformed their people about the history that brought Nigeria to this precipice. Their actions are beginning to tear at the seams of civilized conduct. They want to resolve every misunderstanding with subterfuge that tears down the glue of fellowship.
The Niger Delta is very capable of being on our own. No one should blackmail us into surrendering leadership to those whose actions have betrayed the very nation they want to lead. This is very confusing. Nigerians are no fools. We cannot surrender the leadership of Nigeria to any group of people who are ambivalent about their citizenship of this great country. I want these agitations to stop so we can continue the work of nation building which is being made very difficult by these hostile neighbors called Biafra. I don’t want a war. Sooner or later, we may be forced to push Biafra out. You cannot be Biafran and aspire to lead Nigeria in any capacity. This emotional blackmail and revisionist history must stop. No group of people has the right to predicate their Nigerian citizenship to the president being a member of their tribe. We must punish people who commit treason against Nigeria. The failure to punish Ojukwu and other leaders of the Biafran Rebellion is what has given the impetus to people like Nnamdi Kanu to imitate Ojukwu and carry out another rebellion. Lack of enforcement of our laws shows we are not serious with our sovereignty.
Let us restructure Nigeria as a matter of urgency so that those who want to exit the federation like the Igbo people can leave. Our building of a nation must go beyond infantile tantrums.
Take the case of the Republic of Texas. Texas gained independence from Mexico in 1836. It was a country of its own until 1845 when it joined the Union as the 28th state of the United States. Due to its peculiar history, Texas is actually run like a country and a lot of Texans have nostalgia for their old country. They have their anthems and their coins and other memorabilia they are very proud of. The annual budget of Texas is about 340 billion. They have their own flag and they have a bicameral legislature which comprises a Senate and a House of Representatives. Due to this wealth, a lot of Texas feels it will be better to secede from the US instead of remaining in the union and continue subsidizing nonproductive states. This is their running joke until 1995 when Mr. McLaren with his separatist group declared the Republic of Texas in 1995 , in Rural west Texas and started collecting Taxes and extorting the citizens in those areas.
Just like Nnamdi was doing in Igbo land. Mr. McLaren and his accomplice were arrested and tried. They were sentenced to 99 years in jail without parole. This is how serious other societies deal with the subject of treason. There are no tribal people going to plead on behalf of McLaren. Those pleading leniency for Nnamdi Kanu because of his tribal affiliations have violated the sacred duty of a citizen. They have no loyalty to Nigeria. This is how I see the Biafran Agitation. For the people agitating for another country to think they can at the same time run for the highest office in Nigeria is beyond pardon. Give them their Biafra and they can all go to Biafra and become president. We are Nigerians.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON, TEXAS
Is President Bola Tinubu the cause of Nigeria’s problem? Some time ago, I wrote that I did not endorse Tinubu because he will reduce the misery index of Nigeria. I did not endorse him because he will stop corruption and other ills that plague the Nation. I did not endorse him because he is a saint. The only reason i supported him was that of all the candidates, he was the only one with the sagacity to push Nigeria from the status quo of mediocrity.
So far so good, I am not disappointed. He is doing so well. He has ruffled the feathers of the imposters who assumed that Nigeria belongs to them.
The Tax Bill is our ticket to restructuring. I have always believed that the federation cannot progress unless those who believe in unitarism are excommunicated from the bus of progress. They will call Tinubu many names, but he will go down as the author of New Nigeria. We will all be equal in this federation.
I want to live in a country where there is fiscal justice. I want to be certain that the tax that comes from my boozing is not used to sponsor hajj for those who will destroy the establishment of those who sell beer. There is the case of the oil. I am from the Niger Delta. We need 60 percent of the oil and no Sheik from outside the region should tell us what to do. We don’t tell them how to pray. Why are the ports in Niger Delta not operational? We had Koko Port, Warri Port and Burutu Port. We were a country.
My people are tired of applying for visa to clear goods in Lagos. We are tired of staying in a place that has so much federal money thrown at it but cannot manage to come up with sensible urban and housing policy.
A visit there is a journey of chaos. What are the senators doing? Can they work harder and give the Niger Delta the Dangote Deal? Dangote is in Nigeria with his own refinery and ports. What is next for him? With the way things are going, he might end up with his own currency. Who says monopoly doesn’t pay?
Nasir El-Rufai has been popping up lately, threatening the president with electoral misfortune. Can you imagine the effrontery? He became a governor with Amajiri votes and he did nothing for them. These people think they own Nigeria. Where was he when Buhari filled every position with his and his wife’s relatives?
Restructuring means you spend and manage what you produce. It is the law of the farm. You reap what you sow and don’t raise your livestock in another man’s garden without any compensation. There is Mr. Peter Obi who thinks the road to the presidency is through educating the Almajiris. If it didn’t work for Goodluck Jonathan, why do you think it will work for him? El-Rufai is no fool. He has the Amajiri votes locked up. The solution is to ship the Almajiris to my village. We have highly motivated mothers who will adopt them and turn them into lawyers, engineers, doctors and respectable members of our society. The amajiris are orphans with living parents who don’t care. We can care for them in my village. With 60 % derivation, the sky is our limit. After they come of age and have become very educated, we will send them to the North to recolonize the North.
We need home grown colonizers in the North. They will bring progress faster to the North than the Fulani who are in a race to return to the 7th century.
Now they will accuse me of asking them to turn their hearts away from the gods of Saudi Arabia to the gods of my village. Who knows, some of them might become educated Imams and not hypocrites who hide Ogogoro in their prayer kettle and underage girls, under their agbada. They will not be hypocrites. This will bridge the gap in the distribution of graduates during NYSC.
Peter Obi should address this. Why should states that have so many Almajiris and no graduates have more NYSC graduates serving than states that are producing graduates? We must correct this Dangote equation. Obi should learn from Tinubu. You don’t placate bullies. We are on the way to a new Nigeria, the end of serfdom. The cacophony all over the place is beginning to be louder than Biafra. The halls of academia have just been opened in Southern Zaria and El-Rufai is apoplectic. He cannot even comprehend that Nigeria can grow beyond one school of aviation. He is inviting Nnamdi Kanu to Dinner and wants to review Nnamdi’s notes. These are interesting times to be alive in my dear country, Nigeria.
We will end up with a federal government that does not baby sit any region. We must have a government that does not rob Peter to pay Paul. No region should become bloated and lazy with excess fat. Those who are addicted to that feeding bottle should be weaned. That is true federalism and equality. Are the Fulani and Biafrans against this? They are five and six. Don’t let their recriminations fool you. They have one agenda. They are one and the same side of a bad coin.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON, TEXAS
BY AUSTIN ORETTE
I don’t enjoy replying to these incendiary and caustic postings of Biafrans. For us to move forward, someone has to do it. All the blame for Biafra must go to those who started Biafra and are still in denial to this day and blames everyone who has any observation to the contrary.
Today, we are witnessing another bellicose nation deny its responsibility in drawing destruction unto itself. Israel started a war and it is blaming Iran for its destruction. This is the corollary of the Biafra separatist. They declared a war on Nigeria and since they lost, they blame everyone but themselves. The generation that declared Biafra is dying away. Soon most of those who were the actors in Biafra will be gone. Instead of the bitterness ebbing away, a thick wall of hatred is being erected because that generation that fought, are handing over embellished stories and lies to their children who are not interested in reexamining their positions and reappraising their stagnant thinking about the war and the issues that led to the war. We are familiar with the fact that truth is the first casualty of war. The Nigerian civil war is not an exception in this regard. For some reasons, the proponents of Biafra will want us to believe that they have the monopoly of the truth. This gentleman saying Gowon lied should revisit Biafra without his acidic temperament. His remarks against Gowon should not go unchallenged. His remarks are wrong, self-serving and crude and devoid of historical accuracy.
Nigeria did not declare war on Biafra. It was Biafra that declared war on Nigeria. Gowon was a very reluctant warrior. He didn’t want brothers to spill brothers’ blood. He tried everything including granting a lot of concessions to Ojukwu in order to avoid the war. He was a man of peace. The proponents of Biafra always hang on to Aburi as if there was nothing happening in Nigeria before Aburi. It is very disturbing to see people so clear eyed about Aburi but they are amnestic about what led to Aburi. If the Igbos had declared Biafra and stayed in their enclave, the story of Nigeria would have been different. After they declared Biafra, they invaded the Midwest Region and deposed Gov David Ejoor and appointed a Biafran as the governor. The people of the Midwest region saw hell and mayhem during the three months that the Biafrans occupied the Midwest Region. They conscripted people into the Biafran Army, raided Banks and killed those who refused to join Biafra. It was on their way to Ore that they were pushed back by federal troops that were hurriedly assembled. The three months of the occupation of the Midwest region by the Biafrans was hell on earth for the citizens of the Midwest region who were under the Biafran military occupation.
Since the Proponents of Biafra always take Aburi as the beginning and end of everything, I will try to examine this Aburi for all to see. The Biafrans to this day have never accepted that they were the aggressors. They have handed erroneous history to their children. This is the deliberate ploy to hide their gross negligence. They have used their propaganda machine to populate the whole s system with lies and innuendos. In a twist unknown to them, these lies have become a prison to their uninformed generations. This is the reason why the generation that was not alive during that war always speaks with anger and crudity. Nnamdi Kanu actually used Aburi to justify his aggression towards the Nigerian state. It is time we point them to the accurate history and pull away the blanket of lies that have given them comfort in their infamy. When a sitting senator can mount a podium and malign an elder statesman, like Gowon, then nothing is sacrosanct. It is time Nigerians tell the Biafrans that their whole existence is a big lie generated by those who led them into the wrong alley. The sooner they jettison these lies and form a common course with other Nigerians, the better it will be for them. Their perpetual cry for Biafra is fraudulent and based on lies. They should be made to understand that they brought Nigeria to this nadir.
In this discourse, we may be forced to delve into their uncivilized behavior that made them to cripple the Nigerian state through murder and mayhem. The Igbo man in Nigeria is not a victim. He is a perpetrator. They owe Nigeria apology for the disruption they caused the Nigerian state.
Aburi was a place for cessation of hostilities. No one sent Gowon to Aburi to rewrite the Nigerian constitution that was overthrown by the Igbo officers. For the Igbos to always try to convince everyone that Aburi was the beginning and the end of their bellicosity is a big lie. They have told this lie over and over that they are beginning to see it as the truth and they have wrapped this lie with all kinds of mythology. Why Aburi? This place was chosen because Ojukwu said he was not safe in any place in Nigeria. Fair enough. If Ojukwu had insisted on return to the status quo ante, maybe things would’ve been different. If you look at the body language of Ojukwu and Gowon during those meetings, you can see that Gowon was very pliant. He was ready to do anything to avoid that war. It was Ojukwu who came with cautery of lawyers and made impossible demands. The Igbos forgot that we had a constitution that guaranteed regional autonomy that was abrogated by Aguyi Ironsi who also abolished the regions and introduced the unitary system that started Nigeria on this perilous path. I am always amazed when the South-East people refuse to acknowledge the role they played in ushering Nigeria to our present hell. Ojukwu studied history at Oxford. He must have known what befall a people who lose wars. Instead of negotiating for ceasefire in Aburi, he came with a team of lawyers to rewrite a constitution of Nigeria in another land. We had a constitution which was overthrown in a coup by Igbo officers. Why is it difficult for the Igbos to understand that Ojukwu had no means to enforce any agreement? This is the core issues that the Biafrans have refused to understand to this day. I have always said these actors were very young. It is not out of place to ascribe some of their actions to youthful exuberance. The more I read about Aburi, the more I find out that Ojukwu was more interested in headlines and his Oxford credentials which were impressive and were highly blown in foreign newspapers. The foreigners were not going to fight his war. What Ojukwu and his lawyers demanded at Aburi were not anything within the power of Gowon. All the things Ojukwu asked for can only be addressed in a parliament of the Nigerian people. There was no parliament. Those who were in the know when Gowon returned made it clear to Gowon that what he negotiated with Ojukwu were not within his powers. Any attempt to make the Igbos to understand that what Ojukwu got from Aburi is not tenable and will not be accepted by the rest of Nigeria fell on deaf ears. Since then they developed the Mantra, “On Aburi We stand “. I will repeat, no one sent two soldiers to another country to rewrite the Nigerian constitution. Nigerians refused to succumb to this blackmail by the Igbos.
There were other negotiations. There was Arusha and there was Kampala. Biafra had no legitimacy and wherewithal to enforce their one-sided accord. The rest is history. In the overall scheme of things, Aburi is a non-issue. Did Ojukwu have any negotiations with Adaka Boro who declared Niger Delta Republic? Boro was captured and sentenced to death. Why was this so? It was so because Ojukwu and Ironsi had the power to nullify Boro’s Niger Delta Republic, and they did. If you juxtapose this, we can say Gowon had the power to nullify Biafra and he did. The myopia of the Biafrans is a deliberate affliction. Let us move forward.
DR AUSTIN A. ORETTE IS A FAMIL MEDICINE DOCTOR IN HOUSTON, TEXAS. HE RECEIVED HIS MEDICAL DEGREE FROM UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA
LEGAL PRACTITIONERS, ARBITRATORS & NOTARY PUBLIC
GOTTGUNST VILLA
27, Gbiaye Street
3rd Marine Gate, Warri, Nigeria
Tel: 08033136059
E-mails: info@amaetulegal.org
amaetulegal@yahoo.com
ama.etuwewe@amaetulegal.org
www.amaetulegal.org
JANUARY 2, 2023.
THE HONOURABLE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE
ATTORNEY GENERAL’S CHAMBERS
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MAITAMA,
ABUJA.
Dear Sir,
RE: PENDING SUIT FILED BY THE ITSEKIRI ETHNIC NATIONALITY; ORDER OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT ABUJA, TOGETHER WITH AN APPLICATION TO SET ASIDE THE PURPORTED SCREENING AND CONFIRMATION OF MRS. L
AURETTA ONOCHIE AND CHIEF SAMUEL OGBUKU AS CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR RESPECTIVELY OF THE NDDC BY THE SENATE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CARRIED OUT ON DECEMBER 21, 2022, IN THE FACE OF THE PROCESSES AND ORDER OF COURT IN SUIT NO. FHC/ABJ/CS/2294/2022, IN WHICH YOU ARE A PARTY.
MATTERS ARISING THEREOF:
As you are aware, we act as Solicitors to the ITSEKIRI ETHNIC NATIONALITY ably represented by CHIEF EDWARD EKPOKO, MR. EDWARD OMAGBEMI & ENGINEER VICTOR WOOD, whom we shall hereinafter refer to as our Clients and we write to you on their precise, concise and unequivocal instructions.
iii. A Declaration that the nomination of the 5th Defendant who hails from a non-oil producing area in Delta State as the next Chairman of the Niger-Delta Development Commission is unlawful and contrary to the intent and purpose of the Niger-Delta Development Commission Act.
vii. A declaration that by virtue of the provisions of the Niger-Delta Development Commission Act, 2000 as amended, the Plaintiffs as suitable members of the ltsekiri nationality of Delta State are qualified to be nominated as the next Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the Niger-Delta Development Commission.
viii. Any further order(s) as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.
10.0. Our Clients on December 12, 2022, filed an ex-parte application seeking the following reliefs from the Federal High Court, Abuja, to wit;
AND/OR
11.0. As is customary, our Clients accompanied the ex-parte application with a motion on notice filed on December 12, 2022, seeking the following reliefs to wit;
AND/OR
12.0 The Federal High Court on December 15, 2022, in refusing reliefs 1 and 2 of our Clients’ ex-parte application filed on December 12, 2022, ordered the parties in the suit not to take any step that will render nugatory our Clients’ pending application for interlocutory injunction filed on December 12, 2022.
13.0 The Court also emphatically ordered that any act or step or action taken in order to render nugatory. the outcome of our Clients’ motion for interlocutory injunction filed on December 12, 2022, and scheduled for hearing on January 11, 2023, shall be a nullity. A copy of the said Order has been duly served on all the parties including your office.
14.0 Despite the fact that all the Defendants, your office inclusive, were served with the originating process, our Clients’ application for interlocutory injunction and the order of the Court restraining all parties from acting otherwise, the leadership of the Senate of the National Assembly proceeded to screen and confirm Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as the substantive Chairman and Managing Director respectively, of the Niger Delta Development Commission, on December 20, 2022.
15.0 Further displeased by the brazen act of the National Assembly in proceeding defiantly to screen and confirm Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as the substantive Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the Niger Delta Development Commission in gross and total disregard to the order of Court restraining all parties from taking any step capable of rendering nugatory our clients’ motion on notice for interlocutory injunction,, our Clients on December 22, 2022, filed an application at the Federal High Court seeking inter alia the following relief;
AN ORDER setting aside the purported screening and confirmation of the 5th and 6th Defendants on December 20, 2022, by the 3rd and 4th Defendants during the pendency of the order of this Honourable Court delivered on December 15, 2022, restraining the parties from taking any step that may render nugatory the outcome of the Applicants’ pending application for interlocutory injunction.
All the Defendants have been served with the said application.
16.0 Whilst our Clients’ suit and in fact their most recent application to set aside the screening and confirmation of Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the NDDC by the Senate of the National assembly has not been determined, our Clients are aware and already in the public domain, that the Honourable Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs is making plans and has circulated letters to that effect, to inaugurate Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku on January 4, 2023, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja, as ·the substantive Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the NDDC. The Minister has hinged his brazen disregard of the order of the court and the due process of law, on the purported approval of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who is the 1st Defendant in the suit under reference.
17.0 As the Chief Law Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a party in the suit, you are doubtless aware of the position of the law which is to the effect that once there is a pending litigation, all parties to the suit are expected to stay every action that will adversely affect the outcome of the adjudicatory process so as not to render the said process a nullity and foist upon the court a fait accompli. We most humbly refer you to the case of EZEGBU v. F.A.T.B. LTD. (1992) 1 NWLR PART 220 PAGE 699 PARTICULARLY AT PAGE 724, where NIKI TOBI J.C.A. (as he then was) stated thus:
“Where a matter is before a court of law, none of the parties can legally or lawfully take any unilateral decision that will prejudice or tend to prejudice the hearing or adjudication of the matter by the court. Parties who have submitted to the jurisdiction of the court are under a legal duty not to do anything to frustrate or make nonsense a possible court order. They must, whether they like it or not, wait for the court order. They must whether they like it or not wait for the court to take a decision one way or the order. The procedure at arriving at a decision may be slow. It may even be sluggish. But the parties cannot jump the gun and do their own thing their own way. That will be tantamount to undermining the integrity of the court. What I am saying in effect is that a party who has submitted to the jurisdiction of the court is not entitled to resort to self-help. That will be chaos and disability of the social equilibrium if the opposing party reacts.
None of the parties to a litigation process before a court of law is allowed to take the law into his own hands and foist upon the court a fait accompli thereby rendering it impossible for the court to arrive at a decision one way or the other on the merit of the issue before it render any decision it may take nugatory or futile”.
18.0 Furtherance to the reliefs being claimed by our Clients in the suit, there is a pending application filed by our clients seeking an injunction against the Defendants for an order of Court restraining the Defendants from taking steps capable of rendering nugatory the pending application for interlocutory injunction and an application seeking to set aside the confirmation made by the Senate of the National Assembly, which step more to undermining the Judiciary’s role and the Rule of Law, has pre determined the issues presented by our Clients for judicial determination in the substantive suit.
19.0 Having notified your humble self and the other Defendants of the pendency of an application for injunction, we wish to draw your attention to the following judicial authorities on the duty of a party or parties where there is a pending application for injunction. In the case of ELF MARKETING (NIG.) v. J.L. OYENEYIN 8: SONS (1995) 7 NWLR PART 407, PAGE 371 AT 380 PARAGRAPHS A-8, the Court held thus:
“Once the court is seized of a matter, no party has a right to take the matter into his own hands. Thus, after a defendant has been notified of the pendency of a suit seeking an injunction against him, even though a temporary injunction be not granted, that party acts at his peril and is subject to the power of the court to restore the status wholly irrespective of the merit as may be ultimately decided…”
20.0 Furthermore, in the case of OKEKE-OBA v. OKOYE (1994) 8 NWLR. PART 364, PAGE 605 AT 617-618 PARAGRAPHS H-A, the Court stated as follows:
“The general practice is that an application for an order of interlocutory injunction, all activities affecting the res, here the land in dispute, are automatically terminated as a mark of respect to the court before whom the application is pending. Such practice is encouraged by counsel in good chambers consistent with the ethics of the profession”.
21.0 THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF SUIT NO. FHC/ABJ/CS/2294/2022: CHIEF EDWARD EKPOKO 8: 2 ORS. v. THE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 8: 5 ORS.
22.0 We wish to state without any iota of doubt that in the light of the development set out herein, no step whatsoever should be taken by the Federal Government to inaugurate Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as same will not only jeopardize the outcome of the litigation process but concomitantly operate to completely erase the confidence reposed in the Judiciary by the common man and a clog in the wheel of the administration of justice.
23.0 We have cause to believe, as documentary evidence clearly suggests, that the Federal Government through the Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, is making frantic and brazen efforts to inaugurate Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as the substantive Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the Niger Delta Development Commission despite the pendency of the suit as well as several applications, and order made by the Court, with the sole aim of stealing a match, stultifying the ·court process and bringing the Rule of Law to ridicule.
24.0 CONCLUSION:
Our Clients have done all that is required of them by submitting for judicial consideration and determination their grievances against the Executive and Legislative Arms of Government, it behooves these Arms of Government to resist the urge to defy the Judiciary and indeed the judicial process by refraining from conducts which will render nugatory issues presented by our Clients to the Court.
25.0 The attendant implications on the faith and belief of the common man are dire and would almost be dampened if the Executive and the Legislative Arms of Government continue to bond towards shattering the fabric and fibre of the judicial process upon which true democracy is enshrined; which the Judiciary seeks to mend and this certainly does not bode well for the Rule of Law if a precedent of Executive and Legislative disregard to court orders, is so easily displayed with impunity, just before the forthcoming general elections.
26.0 Having fought to ensure that there is peace and stability in the Country, it would be manifestly antithetical to the goals of this Administration of which you are a key player, if solely for a refusal to await and comply with the judicial process, all the Executive has worked for in the past seven (7) years, translates to naught.
27.0 We are of the firm belief, taking into cognizance the judicial authorities referred to above, that as the Chief Law Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and a strong proponent of the Rule of Law, you will not in any way advise the President and indeed the Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, to proceed with the inauguration of Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku on January 4, 2023, as the Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the NDDC and or concretize their positions, pending the outcome of the adjudicatory process already initiated by our Clients.
28.0 Trusting you will advise the relevant parties on the need to allow the judicial process take its course and refrain from taking steps which will ridicule the Rule of Law and further weaken our nascent democratic structure.
We remain,
Very truly yours,
PP: AMA ETUWEWE (SAN) & CO.
AMA ETUWEWE, SAN.
CC: THE HONOURABLE MINISTER
MINISTRY OF NIGER DELTA AFFAIRS
ABUJA.
AMA ETUWEWE (SAN) & CO.
LEGAL PRACTITIONERS, ARBITRATORS & NOTARY PUBLIC
GOTTGUNST VILLA
27, Gbiaye Street
3rd Marine Gate, Warri, Nigeria
Tel: 08033136059
E-mails: info@amaetulegal.org
amaetulegal@yahoo.com
ama.etuwewe@amaetulegal.org
www.amaetulegal.org
JANUARY 2, 2023.
THE HONOURABLE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE
ATTORNEY GENERAL’S CHAMBERS
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MAITAMA,
ABUJA.
Dear Sir,
RE: PENDING SUIT FILED BY THE ITSEKIRI ETHNIC NATIONALITY; ORDER OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT ABUJA, TOGETHER WITH AN APPLICATION TO SET ASIDE THE PURPORTED SCREENING AND CONFIRMATION OF MRS. LAURETTA ONOCHIE AND CHIEF SAMUEL OGBUKU AS CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR RESPECTIVELY OF THE NDDC BY THE SENATE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CARRIED OUT ON DECEMBER 21, 2022, IN THE FACE OF THE PROCESSES AND ORDER OF COURT IN SUIT NO. FHC/ABJ/CS/2294/2022, IN WHICH YOU ARE A PARTY.
MATTERS ARISING THEREOF:
As you are aware, we act as Solicitors to the ITSEKIRI ETHNIC NATIONALITY ably represented by CHIEF EDWARD EKPOKO, MR. EDWARD OMAGBEMI & ENGINEER VICTOR WOOD, whom we shall hereinafter refer to as our Clients and we write to you on their precise, concise and unequivocal instructions.
iii. A Declaration that the nomination of the 5th Defendant who hails from a non-oil producing area in Delta State as the next Chairman of the Niger-Delta Development Commission is unlawful and contrary to the intent and purpose of the Niger-Delta Development Commission Act.
vii. A declaration that by virtue of the provisions of the Niger-Delta Development Commission Act, 2000 as amended, the Plaintiffs as suitable members of the ltsekiri nationality of Delta State are qualified to be nominated as the next Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the Niger-Delta Development Commission.
viii. Any further order(s) as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.
10.0. Our Clients on December 12, 2022, filed an ex-parte application seeking the following reliefs from the Federal High Court, Abuja, to wit;
AND/OR
11.0. As is customary, our Clients accompanied the ex-parte application with a motion on notice filed on December 12, 2022, seeking the following reliefs to wit;
AND/OR
12.0 The Federal High Court on December 15, 2022, in refusing reliefs 1 and 2 of our Clients’ ex-parte application filed on December 12, 2022, ordered the parties in the suit not to take any step that will render nugatory our Clients’ pending application for interlocutory injunction filed on December 12, 2022.
13.0 The Court also emphatically ordered that any act or step or action taken in order to render nugatory. the outcome of our Clients’ motion for interlocutory injunction filed on December 12, 2022, and scheduled for hearing on January 11, 2023, shall be a nullity. A copy of the said Order has been duly served on all the parties including your office.
14.0 Despite the fact that all the Defendants, your office inclusive, were served with the originating process, our Clients’ application for interlocutory injunction and the order of the Court restraining all parties from acting otherwise, the leadership of the Senate of the National Assembly proceeded to screen and confirm Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as the substantive Chairman and Managing Director respectively, of the Niger Delta Development Commission, on December 20, 2022.
15.0 Further displeased by the brazen act of the National Assembly in proceeding defiantly to screen and confirm Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as the substantive Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the Niger Delta Development Commission in gross and total disregard to the order of Court restraining all parties from taking any step capable of rendering nugatory our clients’ motion on notice for interlocutory injunction,, our Clients on December 22, 2022, filed an application at the Federal High Court seeking inter alia the following relief;
AN ORDER setting aside the purported screening and confirmation of the 5th and 6th Defendants on December 20, 2022, by the 3rd and 4th Defendants during the pendency of the order of this Honourable Court delivered on December 15, 2022, restraining the parties from taking any step that may render nugatory the outcome of the Applicants’ pending application for interlocutory injunction.
All the Defendants have been served with the said application.
16.0 Whilst our Clients’ suit and in fact their most recent application to set aside the screening and confirmation of Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the NDDC by the Senate of the National assembly has not been determined, our Clients are aware and already in the public domain, that the Honourable Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs is making plans and has circulated letters to that effect, to inaugurate Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku on January 4, 2023, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja, as ·the substantive Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the NDDC. The Minister has hinged his brazen disregard of the order of the court and the due process of law, on the purported approval of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who is the 1st Defendant in the suit under reference.
17.0 As the Chief Law Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a party in the suit, you are doubtless aware of the position of the law which is to the effect that once there is a pending litigation, all parties to the suit are expected to stay every action that will adversely affect the outcome of the adjudicatory process so as not to render the said process a nullity and foist upon the court a fait accompli. We most humbly refer you to the case of EZEGBU v. F.A.T.B. LTD. (1992) 1 NWLR PART 220 PAGE 699 PARTICULARLY AT PAGE 724, where NIKI TOBI J.C.A. (as he then was) stated thus:
“Where a matter is before a court of law, none of the parties can legally or lawfully take any unilateral decision that will prejudice or tend to prejudice the hearing or adjudication of the matter by the court. Parties who have submitted to the jurisdiction of the court are under a legal duty not to do anything to frustrate or make nonsense a possible court order. They must, whether they like it or not, wait for the court order. They must whether they like it or not wait for the court to take a decision one way or the order. The procedure at arriving at a decision may be slow. It may even be sluggish. But the parties cannot jump the gun and do their own thing their own way. That will be tantamount to undermining the integrity of the court. What I am saying in effect is that a party who has submitted to the jurisdiction of the court is not entitled to resort to self-help. That will be chaos and disability of the social equilibrium if the opposing party reacts.
None of the parties to a litigation process before a court of law is allowed to take the law into his own hands and foist upon the court a fait accompli thereby rendering it impossible for the court to arrive at a decision one way or the other on the merit of the issue before it render any decision it may take nugatory or futile”.
18.0 Furtherance to the reliefs being claimed by our Clients in the suit, there is a pending application filed by our clients seeking an injunction against the Defendants for an order of Court restraining the Defendants from taking steps capable of rendering nugatory the pending application for interlocutory injunction and an application seeking to set aside the confirmation made by the Senate of the National Assembly, which step more to undermining the Judiciary’s role and the Rule of Law, has pre determined the issues presented by our Clients for judicial determination in the substantive suit.
19.0 Having notified your humble self and the other Defendants of the pendency of an application for injunction, we wish to draw your attention to the following judicial authorities on the duty of a party or parties where there is a pending application for injunction. In the case of ELF MARKETING (NIG.) v. J.L. OYENEYIN 8: SONS (1995) 7 NWLR PART 407, PAGE 371 AT 380 PARAGRAPHS A-8, the Court held thus:
“Once the court is seized of a matter, no party has a right to take the matter into his own hands. Thus, after a defendant has been notified of the pendency of a suit seeking an injunction against him, even though a temporary injunction be not granted, that party acts at his peril and is subject to the power of the court to restore the status wholly irrespective of the merit as may be ultimately decided…”
20.0 Furthermore, in the case of OKEKE-OBA v. OKOYE (1994) 8 NWLR. PART 364, PAGE 605 AT 617-618 PARAGRAPHS H-A, the Court stated as follows:
“The general practice is that an application for an order of interlocutory injunction, all activities affecting the res, here the land in dispute, are automatically terminated as a mark of respect to the court before whom the application is pending. Such practice is encouraged by counsel in good chambers consistent with the ethics of the profession”.
21.0 THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF SUIT NO. FHC/ABJ/CS/2294/2022: CHIEF EDWARD EKPOKO 8: 2 ORS. v. THE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 8: 5 ORS.
22.0 We wish to state without any iota of doubt that in the light of the development set out herein, no step whatsoever should be taken by the Federal Government to inaugurate Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as same will not only jeopardize the outcome of the litigation process but concomitantly operate to completely erase the confidence reposed in the Judiciary by the common man and a clog in the wheel of the administration of justice.
23.0 We have cause to believe, as documentary evidence clearly suggests, that the Federal Government through the Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, is making frantic and brazen efforts to inaugurate Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku as the substantive Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the Niger Delta Development Commission despite the pendency of the suit as well as several applications, and order made by the Court, with the sole aim of stealing a match, stultifying the ·court process and bringing the Rule of Law to ridicule.
24.0 CONCLUSION:
Our Clients have done all that is required of them by submitting for judicial consideration and determination their grievances against the Executive and Legislative Arms of Government, it behooves these Arms of Government to resist the urge to defy the Judiciary and indeed the judicial process by refraining from conducts which will render nugatory issues presented by our Clients to the Court.
25.0 The attendant implications on the faith and belief of the common man are dire and would almost be dampened if the Executive and the Legislative Arms of Government continue to bond towards shattering the fabric and fibre of the judicial process upon which true democracy is enshrined; which the Judiciary seeks to mend and this certainly does not bode well for the Rule of Law if a precedent of Executive and Legislative disregard to court orders, is so easily displayed with impunity, just before the forthcoming general elections.
26.0 Having fought to ensure that there is peace and stability in the Country, it would be manifestly antithetical to the goals of this Administration of which you are a key player, if solely for a refusal to await and comply with the judicial process, all the Executive has worked for in the past seven (7) years, translates to naught.
27.0 We are of the firm belief, taking into cognizance the judicial authorities referred to above, that as the Chief Law Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and a strong proponent of the Rule of Law, you will not in any way advise the President and indeed the Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, to proceed with the inauguration of Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku on January 4, 2023, as the Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the NDDC and or concretize their positions, pending the outcome of the adjudicatory process already initiated by our Clients.
28.0 Trusting you will advise the relevant parties on the need to allow the judicial process take its course and refrain from taking steps which will ridicule the Rule of Law and further weaken our nascent democratic structure.
We remain,
Very truly yours,
PP: AMA ETUWEWE (SAN) & CO.
AMA ETUWEWE, SAN.
CC: THE HONOURABLE MINISTER
MINISTRY OF NIGER DELTA AFFAIRS
ABUJA.
Zipowei, Crown Troupe of Africa and Blackedge Productions will perform in Lagos.
Gifted Steppers, JP Artistic Troupe and selected up-coming solo artistes will also perform at this year’s National Theatre Festival of Unity
Zipowei, a graduate of the University of Ibadan and currently participating in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), made her debut in the music scene with the official release of her first single, “Free Falling,” in October 2022″ a statement issued Friday morning by the Director of Communications, MediaGate Nigeria, Mr. Victor Oki said.
The 2022 National Theatre Festival of Unity with the theme Celebrations is designed to consolidate upon the gains of the first two editions.
The theme was carefully chosen to give Nigerians an opportunity to take stock of God’s abundant blessings in their lives.
The edition which runs from 16-18th December 2022 falls within the last four months of the tenure of the President Muhammadu Buhari led democratic government.
‘’It is therefore only fitting to leverage this festival to take stock of the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari despite daunting challenges foist on Nigeria by escalating global economic recession and daunting security challenges’’.
The festival shall commence on Friday 16th December 2022 with a new addition to the activities- a virtual roundtable on play creation anchored by the Nigerian Centre of International Theatre Institute (ITI-UNESCO).
The innovative roundtable shall feature two leading Nigerian playwrights and former Chief Executive Officers of the National Theatre of Nigeria, Professors Femi Osofisan (2004-2007) and Ahmed Parker Yerima (2007-2014) as mentors and lead speakers.
The panellists shall include the three National Theatre Play Reading Series-award winning playwrights.
The National Theatre Festival of Unity was introduced in 2020 as an annual event by Professor Sunday Enessi Ododo, (fsonta, fta, fnipr,fsna, fana, FNAL), the General Manager/CEO of the National Theatre.
The maiden edition which featured music, dance, and stand-up comedy held at the National Theatre complex, Iganmu-Lagos from 10-13th December 2020.
The festival was conceived to celebrate life, build bridges of unity, promote peace and harmony as well as rekindle hope in humanity following the disruption by the Coronavirus pandemic which rocked the globe.
Accordingly, the maiden edition had the theme: Healing Nigeria. In Nigeria, besides the pandemic, there was also the unprecedented youth protest that engulfed the nation shortly thereafter.
The maiden edition offered Nigerians and residents alike fresh opportunity to engage and enjoy live performances which were temporarily suspended because of the pandemic.
Continuing in its tradition of preaching hope and perseverance amongst Nigerians, the National Theatre hosted the second edition of the festival from December 10th- 12th, 2021 under the theme Enduring Optimism.
The 3-day event which also held at the National Theatre, Iganmu- Lagos featured more events than the maiden edition. The new events include carnival procession, film show, visual arts exhibition and awards ceremony. These were in addition to the usual live-theatre performances, music, stand-up comedy and dance.
The festival aimed to encourage advancement of the performing arts throughout the country, create opportunities for up- coming Performing Artistes and aid the promotion of social development and improvement of quality of life.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Zi always knew she wanted to be involved in the music scene. From primary school choirs to secondary school mini sessions in her classrooms during free periods, she always seized the opportunity to belt out a few tunes.
On some occasions, this involved approaching random classmates in hallways and singing to them.
Writing songs since age 13 has helped Zi develop her formula as she delivers lyrics laced with vulnerability and soul in expressions of love, hope, healing, and fun
PRESS RELEASE
SANWO-OLU INAUGURATES STATE TECHNICAL, MONITORING COMMITTEES ON ENGINEERING REGULATIONS MONITORING
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday inaugurated the State Technical Committee (STC) and State Expatriate Monitoring Committee (SEMC) on Engineering Regulations Monitoring (ERM).
Governor Sanwo-Olu while inaugurating the committees at Lagos House, Ikeja, urged them to ensure that all infrastructure in the State meet the global standards of engineering practice.
The Governor warned that nothing short of the best standards will be tolerated and therefore urged the Committees to come up with stringent regulations that will guide the ethics and practices of the profession, as well as adherence to project specifications.
He said: “We have, with all sense of responsibility, given priority to the development of infrastructure. My tour of the State will demonstrate the attention of our administration to massive construction of roads, bridges, housing, water infrastructure, among others.
“The inauguration of the Lagos State Technical Committee of the Engineering Regulations Monitoring of COREN is the birth of a new dawn in what I consider COREN’s effort to revolutionalise the practice of engineering in Nigeria in general and Lagos State in particular.
“With this inauguration, the era of mediocrity should be gone. Engineering must take its pride of place and be the driver in our development effort in the State.
“Let me reiterate that in carrying out engineering projects in Lagos State, there will be no tolerance for quackery. In the same token, no Engineer will be allowed to supervise any project except he/she is duly registered by COREN and possesses current practising license. Possession of current Practising License shall be a condition for prequalification by Licence by all companies assigned to carry out engineering projects in the State.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu who congratulated members of the Lagos State Technical Committee and Lagos State Expatriate Monitoring Committee, for being found deserving of the selection, urged them to justify the confidence reposed in them and perform the assignment with maximum commitment and credibility.
He said “In selecting, the members of the Lagos State Technical Committee and Lagos State Expatriate Monitoring Committee, extreme care and diligence were applied. It is also ensured that these nominees are from very reputable organisations.”
Speaking earlier, the President of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) Engr. Ali Rabiu FNSE, commended Governor Sanwo-Olu for being strategic and deliberately enhancing available human and material resources to serve the people of Lagos State.
He said Governor Sanwo-Olu led administration is being applauded for many projects in the State, which are transformational projects meant to improve the qualities of life in Lagos State
“You are transforming the state into an industrial and economic wonderland of the continent. This is particularly true in Mr. Governor’s efforts in the construction of over 308 roads and the delivery of the red and blue rail project, which he promised to be operational by the first quarter of 2023,” he said.
The Committees are to be guided by the responsibilities of locating document organisations and practitioners and report to the Registrar; verify and monitor the professional competence of works approving Officers; act as COREN watchdogs on maintenance, upholding Engineering codes of practice in public works, prohibit default, and ensure that all such works are in accordance with Engineering design and specification by Registered Engineers; among others.
SIGNED
GBOYEGA AKOSILE
CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY
15 DECEMBER 2022
Royal families in Okere-Urhobo have condemned the role of Chief Louis Okumagba in the 30 plots released by the Delta State government to the Olodi, Oki and Ighogbadu families of Warri in the Okere – Urhobo kingdom of Delta State.
They described it as a negative development and a minus for peace and development in Delta State.
In a letter titled: ‘’Attempt / efforts to cause communal war, fanning the embers of communal dispute, conduct likely to cause breach of peace and criminal defamation of characters of our clients; Olodi, Oki and Ighogbadu families of Warri in the Okere – Urhobo kingdom of Delta State, all committed by Mr. Louis Okumagba – a call to investigate the allegation herein, the families urged the Inspector General of Police to use his good office to investigate allegations against Louis Okumagba, so as to prevent a monumental communal war/crisis between Itsekiri and the Urhobo of Okere Urhobo Kingdom.
’’God forbid a repetition of what happened in 1997/98 in Okere-Urhobo Kingdom’’
Counsel to the Olodi, Oki and Ighogbadu families of Warri in the Okere – Urhobo Kingdom, L O. Egboyi & CO said in the 1974/76, the then government of Mid-Western Nigeria acquired a part or portion of our client’s land for public purpose.
‘’In 2017, the Delta State government gave part of this acquired land to Messrs. Seriviri Nig. Ltd. for the purpose of partnership (Leisure Park) with the state government, covered by a certificate of Occupancy. Considering the size of the land given to Seriviri Nig. Ltd, for the partnership, it could not utilize the entire land. So, it entered into agreement with our client family, wherein, it released 30 plots thereof back to the family – our clients’’
The Olodi, Oki and Ighogbadu families of Warri are made up of the popular Okumagba family of Warri, Okere- Urhobo kingdom.
‘’Our clients are the owners of all the land in the entire Okere-Urhobo kingdom Warri. Certain Mr. Louis Okumagba who is the black sheep of the family started to foment trouble, disturbing and threatening Seriviri Nig. Ltd, with thugs and dangerous weapons which led to his arrest in 2019 to the Police Force Headquarters’, Abuja. After being granted bail by the police, the suspect (Mr. Louis Okumagba) rushed to file a fundamental Human Rights action against the Police, at the Delta State High Court, sitting in Warri. The action stalled the prosecution of the suspect (Mr. Louis) by the Police’’.
The families said the suit of the suspect against the Police was dismissed by the Delta State High Court, sitting in Warri, with a specific order of the Court directing the police to arrest and prosecute the suspect (Mr Louis Okumagba).
‘’While the Police were looking for the suspect for arrest and prosecution as directed by the Court, the same suspect went to social media (Opera news) to declare that “there will be looming danger of war/crisis between the Itsekiri and Urhobos”, thereby inciting, promoting and instigating communal war between the two peaceful co-existing communities of Itsekiri and Urhobo’’.
This incitement, according to the families, created several apprehensions in the minds of locals, which has affected the hitherto peace that reigned and pervaded the two communities.
‘’Furthermore, the suspect posted on the same social media that some named members of our clients namely, Chief Gideon Okumagba, Stanley Oki, Chief Victor Okumagba, Engr. Prince Ojuvwu Okumagba and others, sent assassins to his house to kill him, but he escaped by the whiskers. He confirmed that he had a one-on-one confrontation with the assassins, who confirmed the named members of our clients above, as the people who commissioned them to eliminate him’’.
The legal practitioners described Olodi, Oki and Ighogbadu as bunch of responsible families
‘’Olodi, Oki and Ighogbadu families are known throughout Nigeria for their peaceful disposition. The named individuals are distinguished and respected members of the Okumagba family and the Nigeria Society. Our clients therefore take the allegation of hiring assassins by its members very seriously, especially in this era of Security challenges in the country’’.
The families also deplored the actions of Louis Okumagba and urged the Inspector General of Police to use his good offices to investigate the allegations and anyone found culpable to be brought to book.
‘’So, if investigation reveal the named individuals as assassins or connected to the attempt assassination of the suspect, as he alleged, they should be so indicted and prosecuted. But otherwise, the law on criminal defamation as enshrined in the Criminal Code and status in Nigeria are still very potent and alive. We assure you of our client’s co-operation with your men in the investigation of this petition’’.
……………………………………………………
Legal Practitioner, Corporate & Property Consultants
No 9, Effurun / Sapele Road
Opposite High Court Junction,
Effurun .
TEL: 08035759764
Email: luckyegbuyi@ gmail.com
Our Ref: LOE/IGP/COM/BREA/OKUMAGBA/1/22 Your Ref……………
THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE,
NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE
EDET LEWIS HOUSE
ABUJA.
Sir.
RE: ATTEMPT / EFFORTS TO CAUSE COMMUNAL WAR , FANNING THE EMBERS OF COMMUNAL DISPUTE, CONDUCT LIKELY TO CAUSE BREACH OF PEACE AND CRIMINAL DEFAMATION OF CHARACTERS OF OUR CLIENT ; OLODI, OKI AND IGHOGBADU FAMILIES OF WARRI IN THE OKERE – URHOBO KINGDOM OF DELTA STATE, ALL COMMITTED BY MR. LOUIS OKUMAGBA – A CALL TO INVESTIGATE THE ALLEGATION HEREIN
We are counsel to the Olodi, Oki and Ighogbadu families of Warri in the Okere – Urhobo Kingdom, herein called our Clients.
The Olodi , Oki and Ighogbadu families of Warri, make up the popular Okumagba family of Warri , Okere- Urhobo kingdom.
Our clients are the owners of all the land in the entire Okere-Urhobo kingdom Warri.
In 1974/76, the then government of Mid-Western Nigeria acquired a part or portion of our Client’s land for public purpose.
In 2017, the Delta State government gave part of this acquired land to Messrs. Seriviri Nig. Ltd. for the purpose of partnership (Leisure Park) with the state government, covered by a certificate of Occupancy. Considering the size of the land given to Seriviri Nig. Ltd, for the partnership, it could not utilize the entire land. So it entered into agreement with our Clients family, wherein, it released 30 plots thereof back to the family – our clients
Certain Mr. Louis Okumagba who is the black sheep of the family started to foment trouble, disturbing and threatening Seriviri Nig. Ltd, with thuggery and dangerous weapons which led to his arrest in 2019 to the Police Force Head Quarters, Abuja. After being granted bail by the police, the suspect (Mr. Louis Okumagba) rushed to file a fundamental Human Right action against the Police, at the Delta State High Court, sitting in Warri. That action stalled the prosecution of the suspect (Mr. Louis) by the Police.
We wish to inform you that suit, of the suspect against the Police, has been dismissed by the Delta State High Court, Sitting in Warri, with a specific order of the Court directing the police to arrest and prosecute the suspect (Mr Louis Okumagba). A copy of the enrolled order is herein annexed as annexure as Annexure A.
While the Police were looking for the suspect for arrest and prosecution as directed by the Court, the same suspect went to social media (Opera news) to declare that “there will be looming danger of war/crisis between the Itsekiri and Urhobos”, thereby inciting, promoting and instigating communal war between the two peaceful co-existing communities of Itsekiri and Urhobo.
This incitement has created several apprehension in the minds of locals, which apprehension has affected the hitherto peace that reigned and pervaded the two communities.
Furthermore, the suspect posted on the same social media that some named members of our Clients namely; Chief Gideon Okumagba, Stanley Oki, Chief Victor Okumagba, Engr. Prince Ojuvwu Okumagba and others, sent assassins to his house to kill him, but that he escaped by the whiskers. He confirmed that he had one on one confrontation with the assassins, who confirmed the named members of our Clients above, as the people who commissioned them to eliminate him.
Our Clients are bunch of responsible families known throughout Nigeria for their peaceful disposition. The named individuals are distinguished and respected members of the Okumagba family and the Nigeria Society.
Our Client therefore takes the allegation of hiring of assassins by its members very serious, especially in this era of Security challenges in the country.
It is against the background of the foregoing that we have the instruction of our Clients to petition you to use your good office to investigate these allegations against the suspect, so as to prevent a monumental communal war/crisis between Itsekiris and the Urhobos of Okere Urhobo Kingdom. God forbid a repetition of what happened in 1997/98 in Okere-Urhobo Kingdom.
So, if investigation reveal the named individuals as assassins or connected to the attempt assassination of the suspect, as he alleged, they should be so indicted and prosecuted. But otherwise, the law on criminal defamation as enshrined in the Criminal Code and status in Nigeria are still very potent and alive.
We therefore urge you to use your good offices to investigate these allegations of our Client and cause anyone found culpable to be brought to book.
We assure you of our clients co-operation with your men in the investigation of this petition.
Yours faithfully
L.O. EGBOYI ESQ
CC;
The Head:
Olodi, Oki and Ighogbudu families,
Of Okere-Urhobo Kingdom, Warri
Alhaji Nureni Oluwatoyin Animashaun is dead.
The top Lagos leader died on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 in Surulere.
He was 76.
A totally detribalized Nigerian, Animashaun was known for being outspoken and for not shying away from the truth.
Tributes from relatives, friends and neighbours have described him as a straightforward and a deeply committed family man.
“Alhaji Animashaun was a pillar of his family. His passing is a great loss to the family, Lagos Island and Alaka-Iponri Community.
Animashaun was buried according to Muslim rites on Wednesday, July 20, 22 at Ikoyi Cemetery, behind Radio Nigeria.
The 8 days Fidau Prayer will hold on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at Block 135, Iponri Housing Estate, Alaka
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Akpoti-Uduaghan’s victory, a good omen – Kogi Central Leaders
Notable Kogi State leaders on Thursday reacted to the victory of Chief Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan in Wednesday’s senatorial primary, saying it was ‘’a great result’’
‘’Chief Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has done enough to endear herself to every household. She will set straight Kogi Central’s journey to greatness and deliver the dividends of democracy to the people’’
The leaders in a statement in Lagos described the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial flag bearer as a visionary leader, bridge builder, stickler for excellence and blessing to Kogi State.
‘’Chief Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is articulate, knowledgeable and gentle. She has contributed so much to elevate the status of Ebiraland’’
The leaders said nothing would stop Akpoti-uduaghan from clinching the Kogi Central Senatorial seat in 2023.
‘’Kogi Central is PDP. Chief Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has crowd-pulling power like no one else in Kogi politics. We strongly believe in her candidacy. We are just waiting for the 2023 elections. We know she will win’’
Signed by the Chairman of Ebira National Forum (ENF), Chief Itopa Jatto, the respectable Ebira leaders stated that the political terrain in Kogi Central Senatorial District has started taking a different shape.
‘’We want to see a more human side to the Government. Kogi Central All Progressives Congress (APC) is already heading for the rocks’’
‘’Chief Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is straightforward and absolutely reliable. We will definitely vote PDP in 2023. She will use the opportunity of going to the Senate to transform Kogi Central, improve the standard of living of the people, engender prosperity and keep the dream of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant alive’’ the statement added.