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http://dailytimes.com.ng/article/ojukwu-dead

My View About The Islamic Banking

PERSONALLY, I don’t see anything
wrong with Islamic banking, but
I can understand the sentiments
of those opposing it. Question:
Would I want it introduced?
Answer: yes, but subject to terms
and conditions.
My own layman’s understanding
of this system of banking is that
it is tied to a traditional approach
to lending which abhors undue
exploitation. Most usurers are
sharks who end up destroying
the poor that approaches them
for lending.
Shakespeare’s Merchant of
Venice is all about the extreme
heartlessness of lenders. The
Islamic form of banking presents
as a more humane alternative
governed by Islamic Sharia laws.
And why not? Everyone who
parts with his money to another
party must spell out terms. My
layman’s impression is that the
Sharia laws are meant to prevent
the use of money lent by an
Islamic bank to promote
businesses and activities which
the religion forbids such as the
rearing of pigs, conduct of
worldly beauty pageants,
production, buying and selling of
alcohol and others.
The idea of profit and loss
sharing, rather than charging
interests, whether profit or loss
was made (which conventional
banking thrives upon) is
something many businessmen
and women are liable to
welcome, irrespective of their
religious backgrounds.
The wonderful thing about the
non-interest banking policy is
that if, not being a Moslem, you
do not wish to tie yourself to the
conditionalities of Sharia law, you
can always go for the non-
Islamic variants. What it means is
that if interest groups outside
the Islamic circles should want to
launch their own variants, all they
need to do is to conform to the
guidelines of the enabling law.
The problem with Islamic
banking, therefore is not Islamic
banking itself but the usual
immature and careless ways that
the CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi, has gone about it.
It is said that a good diplomat
can tell you to go to hell and
make you actually look forward
to doing so. But if Sanusi tells
you: “Good morning”, he can
make it sound like:
“God punish you”. Since he
opened fire to clean up the
banking system, Sanusi’s
otherwise revolutionary policies
have been blighted by his
corrosive pronouncements that
are better kept unsaid, or at least
said with more attention to
undesirable side effects. He could
have succeeded in rescuing the
banks and getting those who
defrauded them punished
without setting the entire
financial system on fire as he did
with his buccal bazookas.
I remember very well that part of
his predecessor, Professor
Chukwuma Soludo’s packages
was the introduction of Islamic
banking. He served notice on
several fora that the policy was
on the cards, but nobody even
took notice, let alone raised the
hatchet against it. Being a Muslim
(and a possible future emir at
that) Sanusi should have been
clever not to set off a rock-fall of
opposition by those who would
feel uncomfortable with it. If I
were in his position I would have
portrayed it as the introduction
of non-interest banking, with the
Islamic banking being only one
of the many choices in the
bouquet.
As I said before, I understand the
furore being raised against
Islamic banking. Our Muslim
compatriots from Northern
Nigeria managed to sow seeds
of discord and suspicion with
the manner in which they
imposed certain Islamic practices
on a country that is widely seen
as “secular” (even though I
prefer the term “multi-religious”).
They exploited their long
monopoly of power to do so
many things without caring
about the sentiments of other
Nigerians who did not share
their Islamic cultural way of life.
There are so many examples to
point to.
One of them was the use of the
ajami Arabic inscriptions on our
currency notes. Right from the
time of my childhood, I could
never understand the source and
meaning of those inscriptions on
our Pounds and later, Naira
notes. I don’t even know the
meaning of “Naira”. I have been
told that “Kobo” is a corruption
of “copper” used to describe the
copper coin even in colonial
times. Kobo is actually
“kwabo” (as in Gaskiya tafi
kwabo), a Hausa term.
Now our national currency is just
like our flag and English, our
official language. These are
things all Nigerians share in
common. These are symbols and
factors that unite us. But ajami is
something peculiar to only
Moslems (especially Northern
Nigerian Moslems). It has nothing
to do with me as an Igbo and
Christian Nigerian, or another
person as someone of another
ethnic stock who is a non-
Muslim. And yet, the people who
forced it on our national
currency did not care how others
felt.
Soludo’s decision to remove the
ajami from our current 50 kobo
and lower denominations got
him called all sorts of names.
Soludo’s work was only half
done, because the ajami must be
removed from our banknotes. To
me there is nothing Nigerian
about it.
In the same way, mosques were
built in our State House at Abuja.
General Ibrahim Babangida built
the Aso Villa architecture to look
like the palace of an emir. It was
only in response to the heat
raised by the Christian
community that a chapel was
reluctantly inserted.
Nothing raised the
consciousness of Nigerian non-
Muslims like the surreptitious
enrolment of Nigeria as a
member of the Organisation of
Islamic Conference, OIC, late in
1985. Since that time, Christians
have been vigilant to prevent
what they see as the grand plan
to “Islamise” Nigeria. The
introduction of Islamic banking
is viewed in this light and thus
the clamour for it not to see the
light of day.
The truth is that if we go on this
way, this country will never
survive, let alone develop.
Muslims must do away with any
real or imaginary idea of forcing
their religion on this country.
This mentality is gradually
radicalising the normally peaceful
Christian community to meet
force with force. On the other
hand, Christians must also learn
to allow their Muslim compatriots
(especially those who choose to
live a Muslim lifestyle) to do so
provided that no one’s liberty is
tampered with. It is not
everything that is good for
Muslims that is bad for Christians,
and vice versa.
The beauty of dog play is: You fall
for me, I fall for you!

Definition,History And Countries Were Islamic Banking Exists

Some times I wonders about the ongoing debate in Nigeria,conserning the Islamic Banking.
So I decided to go insearch for the main aim/purpose of this Islamic Banking.
I gone endowed on the Net,Papers,Histories on the search of this banking system,this is the result I got after a long search...
Islamic banking (or participant
banking) is banking or banking
activity that is consistent with the
principles of Islamic law (Sharia)
and its practical application
through the development of
Islamic economics. Sharia
prohibits the payment or
acceptance of specific interest or
fees (known as Riba or usury) for
loans of money. Investing in
businesses that provide goods or
services considered contrary to
Islamic principles is also Haraam
(forbidden). While these
principles were used as the basis
for a flourishing economy in
earlier times, it is only in the late
20th century that a number of
Islamic banks were formed to
apply these principles to private
or semi-private commercial
institutions within the Muslim
community.[1][2]
History of Islamic banking
Introduction
An early market economy and an
early form of mercantilism were
developed between the 8th-12th
centuries, which some refer to as
"Islamic capitalism".[3] The
monetary economy of the period
was based on the widely
circulated currency the dinar, and
it tied together regions that were
previously economically
independent.
A number of economic concepts
and techniques were applied in
early Islamic banking, including
bills of exchange, partnership
(mufawada) such as limited
partnerships (mudaraba), and
forms of capital (al-mal), capital
accumulation (nama al-mal),[4]
cheques, promissory notes,[5]
trusts (see Waqf),[6]
transactional accounts, loaning,
ledgers and assignments.[7]
Organizational enterprises
independent from the state also
existed in the medieval Islamic
world, while the agency
institution was also introduced
during that time.[8][9] Many of
these early capitalist concepts
were adopted and further
advanced in medieval Europe
from the 13th century onwards.
[4]
Riba
The word "Riba" means excess,
increase or addition, which
according to Shariah
terminology, implies any excess
compensation without due
consideration (consideration
does not include time value of
money). The definition of riba in
classical Islamic jurisprudence
was "surplus value without
counterpart", or "to ensure
equivalency in real value", and
that "numerical value was
immaterial."
Applying interest was acceptable
under some circumstances.
Currencies that were based on
guarantees by a government to
honor the stated value (i.e. fiat
currency) or based on other
materials such as paper or base
metals were allowed to have
interest applied to them.[10]
When base metal currencies
were first introduced in the
Islamic world, the question of
"paying a debt in a higher
number of units of this fiat
money being riba" was not
relevant as the jurists only
needed to be concerned with the
real value of money (determined
by weight only) rather than the
numerical value. For example, it
was acceptable for a loan of
1000 gold dinars to be paid back
as 1050 dinars of equal
aggregate weight (i.e., the value
in terms of weight had to be
same because all makes of coins
did not carry exactly similar
weight).
Modern Islamic banking
Interest-free banking seems to
be of very recent origin. The
earliest references to the
reorganisation of banking on the
basis of profit sharing rather
than interest are found in Anwar
Qureshi (1946), Naiem Siddiqi
(1948) and Mahmud Ahmad
(1952) in the late forties,
followed by a more elaborate
exposition by Mawdudi in
1950.[citation needed] The
writings of Muhammad
Hamidullah 1944, 1955, 1957
and 1962 should be included in
this category.[citation needed]
They have all recognised the
need for commercial banks and
their perceived "necessary evil,"
have proposed a banking system
based on the concept of
Mudarabha - profit and loss
sharing.[citation needed]
In the next two decades interest-
free banking attracted more
attention, partly because of the
political interest it created in
Pakistan and partly because of
the emergence of young Muslim
economists. Works specifically
devoted to this subject began to
appear in this period. The first
such work is that of Muhammad
Uzair (1955).[citation needed]
Another set of works emerged in
the late sixties and early
seventies. Abdullah al-Araby
(1967), Nejatullah Siddiqi (1961,
1969), al-Najjar (1971) and Baqir
al-Sadr (1961, 1974) were the
main
contributors.[citation needed]
The early 1970s saw institutional
involvement. The Conference of
the Finance Ministers of the
Islamic Countries held in Karachi
in 1970, the Egyptian study in
1972, the First International
Conference on Islamic Economics
in Mecca in 1976, and the
International Economic
Conference in London in 1977
were the result of such
involvement. The involvement of
institutions and governments led
to the application of theory to
practice and resulted in the
establishment of the first
interest-free banks. The Islamic
Development Bank, an inter-
governmental bank established
in 1975, was born of this
process.[11]
The first modern experiment
with Islamic banking was
undertaken in Egypt under cover
without projecting an Islamic
image—for fear of being seen as
a manifestation of Islamic
fundamentalism that was
anathema to the political
regime.[citation needed] The
pioneering effort, led by Ahmad
Elnaggar, took the form of a
savings bank based on profit-
sharing in the Egyptian town of
Mit Ghamr in 1963. This
experiment lasted until 1967
(Ready 1981), by which time
there were nine such banks in
country.[12]
In 1972, the Mit Ghamr Savings
project became part of Nasr
Social Bank which, currently, is
still in business in Egypt. In 1975,
the Islamic Development Bank
was set up with the mission to
provide funding to projects in
the member countries.[13] The
first modern commercial Islamic
bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, opened
its doors in 1975. In the early
years, the products offered were
basic and strongly founded on
conventional banking products,
but in the last few years the
industry is starting to see strong
development in new products
and services.
Islamic Banking is growing at a
rate of 10-15% per year and
with signs of consistent future
growth.[14] Islamic banks have
more than 300 institutions
spread over 51 countries,
including the United States
through companies such as the
Michigan-based University Bank,
as well as an additional 250
mutual funds that comply with
Islamic principles. It is estimated
that over US$822 billion
worldwide sharia-compliant
assets are managed according to
The Economist.[15] This
represents approximately 0.5%
of total world estimated assets as
of 2005.[16] According to CIMB
Group Holdings, Islamic finance is
the fastest-growing segment of
the global financial system and
sales of Islamic bonds may rise
by 24 percent to $25 billion in
2010.[17]
The Vatican has put forward the
idea that "the principles of
Islamic finance may represent a
possible cure for ailing
markets."[18]
Largest Islamic banks
Shariah-compliant assets reached
about $400 billion throughout
the world in 2009, according to
Standard & Poor’s Ratings
Services, and the potential
market is $4 trillion.[19][20] Iran,
Saudi Arabia and Malaysia have
the biggest sharia-compliant
assets.[21]
In 2009 Iranian banks accounted
for about 40 percent of total
assets of the world's top 100
Islamic banks. Bank Melli Iran,
with assets of $45.5 billion came
first, followed by Saudi Arabia's
Al Rajhi Bank, Bank Mellat with
$39.7 billion and Bank Saderat
Iran with $39.3 billion.[22][23]
Iran holds the world's largest
level of Islamic finance assets
valued at $235.3bn which is
more than double the next
country in the ranking with
$92bn. Six out of ten top Islamic
banks in the world are Iranian.
[24][25][26] In November 2010,
The Banker published its latest
authoritative list of the Top 500
Islamic Finance Institutions with
Iran topping the list. Seven out of
ten top Islamic banks in the
world are Iranian according to
the list.[27]
Principles
Islamic banking has the same
purpose as conventional
banking: to make money for the
banking institute by lending out
capital. Because Islam forbids
simply lending out money at
interest (see riba), Islamic rules
on transactions (known as Fiqh
al-Muamalat) have been created
to avoid this problem. The basic
technique to avoid the
prohibiton is the sharing of
profit and loss, via terms such as
profit sharing (Mudharabah),
safekeeping (Wadiah), joint
venture (Musharakah), cost plus
(Murabahah), and leasing (Ijar).
In an Islamic mortgage
transaction, instead of loaning
the buyer money to purchase the
item, a bank might buy the item
itself from the seller, and re-sell it
to the buyer at a profit, while
allowing the buyer to pay the
bank in installments. However,
the bank's profit cannot be made
explicit and therefore there are
no additional penalties for late
payment. In order to protect
itself against default, the bank
asks for strict collateral. The
goods or land is registered to the
name of the buyer from the start
of the transaction. This
arrangement is called
Murabahah. Another approach is
EIjara wa EIqtina, which is similar
to real estate leasing. Islamic
banks handle loans for vehicles
in a similar way (selling the
vehicle at a higher-than-market
price to the debtor and then
retaining ownership of the
vehicle until the loan is paid).
An innovative approach applied
by some banks for home loans,
called Musharaka al-Mutanaqisa,
allows for a floating rate in the
form of rental. The bank and
borrower form a partnership
entity, both providing capital at
an agreed percentage to
purchase the property. The
partnership entity then rents out
the property to the borrower
and charges rent. The bank and
the borrower will then share the
proceeds from this rent based on
the current equity share of the
partnership. At the same time,
the borrower in the partnership
entity also buys the bank's share
of the property at agreed
installments until the full equity is
transferred to the borrower and
the partnership is ended. If
default occurs, both the bank
and the borrower receive a
proportion of the proceeds from
the sale of the property based on
each party's current equity. This
method allows for floating rates
according to the current market
rate such as the BLR (base
lending rate), especially in a dual-
banking system like in Malaysia.
There are several other
approaches used in business
transactions. Islamic banks lend
their money to companies by
issuing floating rate interest
loans. The floating rate of
interest is pegged to the
company's individual rate of
return. Thus the bank's profit on
the loan is equal to a certain
percentage of the company's
profits. Once the principal
amount of the loan is repaid, the
profit-sharing arrangement is
concluded. This practice is called
Musharaka. Further, Mudaraba is
venture capital funding of an
entrepreneur who provides labor
while financing is provided by
the bank so that both profit and
risk are shared. Such
participatory arrangements
between capital and labor reflect
the Islamic view that the
borrower must not bear all the
risk/cost of a failure, resulting in
a balanced distribution of
income and not allowing the
lender to monopolize the
economy.
Islamic banking is restricted to
Islamically acceptable
transactions, which exclude
those involving alcohol, pork,
gambling, etc. The aim of this is
to engage in only ethical
investing, and moral purchasing.
Islamic Banking and Finance
Database provides more
information on the subject.
In theory, Islamic banking is an
example of full-reserve banking,
with banks achieving a 100%
reserve ratio.[28] However, in
practice, this is not the case, and
no examples of 100 per cent
reserve banking are observed.
[29]
Islamic banks have grown
recently in the Muslim world but
are a very small share of the
global banking system. Micro-
lending institutions founded by
Muslims, notably Grameen Bank,
use conventional lending
practices and are popular in
some Muslim nations, especially
Bangladesh, but some do not
consider them true Islamic
banking. However, Muhammad
Yunus, the founder of Grameen
Bank and microfinance banking,
and other supporters of
microfinance, argue that the lack
of collateral and lack of excessive
interest in micro-lending is
consistent with the Islamic
prohibition of usury (riba).[30]

Allosgabriel: The Truth About Nigeria Since 1949/The Difference ...

Allosgabriel: The Truth About Nigeria Since 1949/The Difference ...: "The above quotation is a time honoured statement that aptly describes Nigeria since 1947 till date. If it is from the hearts over-flow ..."

The Truth About Nigeria Since 1949/The Difference Between The South And The Northern Nigerians

The
above quotation is a time
honoured statement that aptly
describes Nigeria since 1947 till
date.
If it is from the hearts over-flow
that the mouth speaks, I invite the
reader to listen to the words of
Our hero’s past whose labours
(we sing), shall never be in vain. In
1952, Sir Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa addressed the Northern
House of Assembly thus The
Southern people who are
swamping into this region daily in
such large numbers are really
intruders; we don’t want them
and they are not welcome here in
the North. Since 1914, the British
Government has been trying to
make Nigeria into one country.
But the people are different in
every way, including religion,
custom, language and aspiration s
in the North take it that Nigeria
unity is only a British intention for
the country they created. IT IS NOT
FOR US. In the same year, Sir
Ahmadu Bello approached the
Colonial Secretary and said! If you
want us (the North) to be part of
this Nigeria you have in mind,
then we want 50% of the
membership of the National
Assembly.
It was accepted by the British and
the 1953 census figures were
manipulate d to justify the
concession given. With majority
in the National Assembly,
whatever the North says becomes
law of course the ever vulnerable
South-East and South-Sout h
people(the only true Nigerians)
would always be used(willi ngly)
to ensure the North is happy.
When in 1956 after the
Northerner s defeated the motion
for independen ce moved by Chief
Anthony Enahoro and were jeered
by their Southern colleagues , Sir
Ahmadu Bello said what kind of
trouble have we let ourselves in
for, by associatin g with these
southern people. Lord Lugard and
his amalgamati on is not for us.
We shall set up our own and
cease to have anything more to
do with the southern people.
Two days later trouble broke out
in Sabon-Gari , Kano and
southerner s, mainly Ndigbo, were
slaughtere d. The Yorubas of the
South-West who jeered at them
in Lagos oddly enough were out
of it.
Papa Awolowo’s reaction to these
happenings was in his ever
green speech excerpts of which is
Nigeria is only a geographic al
expression to which life was
given by the diabolical
amalgamati on of 1914, that
amalgamati on will EVER remain
the most painful injury a British
Government inflicted on Southern
Nigeria.
What did Zik say? Hear him
Nigeria is now a political reality,
let us bury our difference s and
build it together. It is instructiv e
to note that Britain had
programmed to grant
independen ce to the Babel they
created and the North of Nigeria
must be appeased by ensuring
that they, (the Northerner s),
control power over the British
Babel called Nigeria. So it came to
pass on October 1st 1960.
Note that the 'do or die' election
of 1959 did not give the North the
required majority to form
Government until Eastern Nigeria
(Today's South-East and South-
Sout h) came to the rescue.
Despite that, listen to what Sir
Ahmadu Bello had to say on the
12th October, 1960 (culled from
the PARROT Magazine of the same
date-just eleven days after
independen ce) “The new nation
called Nigeria should be an estate
from our great-gran d father
Othoman Dan Fodio. We must
RUTHLESSLY prevent a change of
power. We must use the
minorities of the North as willing
tools, and the South as conquered
territorie s and never allow them
to have control of their future.
Note that Southerner s were not
allowed to join the N.P.C. the
political party of the North then.
Students of history would recall
how in 1964 the Prime Minister,
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa,
wanted to whittle down Chief
Awolowo’s influence in the
Western Region and found a
willing tool in Chief S.L. Akintola.
The Prime Minister gave Akintola
all the support to recklessly
breach the constituti on as it
pleased him.
That gave birth to the crisis in the
Western Region. 'Operation wet
eee' followed, leading to the first
military coup of January 1966 that
was quelled by General Aguyi
Ironsi. Then the pogrom of May
29th 1966, then a counter coup in
June 1966 in which General Ironsi
(an innocent man) was brutally
murdered and General Yakubu
Gowon took over. Part of his
maiden speech to the nation was
to be thus Suffice to say , putting
all considerat ion to test: political,
economical as well as social, the
basis for unity is not there, or it
has been so badly shaken not
once, but several times. All of
these mayhem, killings, secession,
and civil war were just because
the Fulani leaders of the North
were not happy and they must be
pleased. So it was in the
beginning and so it is now.
Nothing has changed.
On the 15th of September 2010,
the same day President Goodluck
Jonathan declared his intention to
seek the mandate of his party and
Nigerians to steer the ship of
state for an additional four years,
a group described as the
Northern Elders Forum/Asse mbly,
took an advertoria l in a National
daily addressed to the President
and Commander- in-Chief,
captioned As you declare. They
proceeded to threaten him. The
Great Elders who signed that
advertoria l were mostly National
awardees who claimed to be
honest, dispassion ate and deeply
care about the continued
existence of Nigeria as one
indivisibl e, harmonious and
peaceful country. The Great Elders
saw President GEJ’s declaratio n as
ill-concei ved, ill-advise d and
definitely divisive. That for GEJ to
declare on the platform of PDP (a
Northern party?) heralds a clear
and present danger that would
undermine the peace and
tranquilit y of the nation. That
GEJ’s candidatur e would open old
wounds of primitive politics
where sectional ethnic, religious
and other undesirabl e primordial
sentiments will assume center
stage with attendant unpleasant
consequenc es.
The Great Elders even saw GEJ’s
expression of his intention as
illegal and immoral. They said
quite a lot and warned the
president that the peace, harmony
and progress of the country or
OTHERWISE are in his hands and
he would be answerable to God
and humanity for his deciding to
declare to run for office of
President. Hmmmm!! All they said
plus the threats of Lawan Kaita,
Adamu Ciroma, Prof. Ango
Abdullahi’ s interview, the threats
of the Director-G eneral of Buhari
Campaign Organizati on before
the election, that they would not
accept the results of the elections,
if CPC loses are all happening
exactly and nobody is looking in
the direction of these so-called
Northern elders-Tan ko Yakassai &
Co and all those who laid the
foundation for the violence we
are witnessing today.
Nigeria belongs to the Fulani’s of
the North as Ahmadu Bello said.
They can say or do anything they
please and nothing would
happen. Rather we would all be
scared not to offend their
sensibilit ies by complainin g.
Meanwhile not a single
Northerner (Fulani’s) was
recorded in history as having
been part of the true struggle for
the independen ce of the Nigeria
they so ardently love to control. I
read the advertoria l of the
Northern Elders TEN good times
and allowed my thoughts to flow
towards their instinctiv e
directions . I saw, in the words of
Sir Ahmadu Bello, 'THE MISTAKE OF
1914'. I saw Papa Awolowo in
Heaven laughing with an Did I not
tell you people attitude. Because
Papa fought so hard to convince
Zik and others at the Constituti
onal Conference of 1957 in
London, to stand with him and
demand that a SECESSION Clause
be inserted in the constituti on
(for the independen ce), so any
tribe that becomes unhappy with
the union could leave. It failed,
because Zik refused and the
Colonial Secretary ensured that
the Northern Delegation refused
also. I remembered how Winike
Briggs, J. Umorem and another
Niger Delta person rushed to the
North in 1966 to plead with them
not to break away after
Nzeogwu’s coup. I remember
former Gov Kure’s arrogant
statement in 2006 about the
South-Sout h daring to dream of
becoming President of Nigeria. I
remembered the political support
the Ijaws, the Efiks, Ibibio,
Kalabari, Ogoni etc have given to
the North since Dec 1959 up until
2007. And whenever there is a
deadlock, the Ndigbos are forever
ready to compromise and help.
I remembered the arrogance
with which Dr Dikko said
Presidency is not for sale to
Abiola in 1983. I remembered the
killing of male children above
11yrs of age with their fathers
and uncles in Asaba on October
7th 1967 under the instructio ns
of Gen Murtala Mohammed who
we revere with his picture on our
currency.
I remembered the pogrom of May
29th 1966, July 29th 1966 and
September 29th 1966. (all
Fridays ). First of its type in Africa.
I remembered the Genocide-F irst
in Africa long before Rwanda's. I
remembered how my friend’s
father, Mbonu Maiduguri, was
killed by his best friend in 1967.
Thinking of that advertoria l, I felt
Ralph Uwazurike’ s was not
stupid. I felt the apparent treason
of the Niger Delta militants should
be commended. Thinking of the
Advertoria l, I respected the
Yorubas, even more as the smart
tribe in Nigeria with a focus on
developmen t for their land and
their people only, I saw the
ignorance of the South East and
the South South people who, as
very forgiving people with
enormous liberal hearts, would be
prepared to die for a Northerner
who they call their friend and
brother but who sees them as
instrument s to be used to
acquire power and then killed
whenever they feel unhappy. I
saw the liberal minded South East
and South-Sout h people,
endowed with excessive natural
and human resources, but
lacking in cohesion to conspire
for power like their Northern
brothers or the successful South
Westerners , until this blessed
year of 2011. Maybe, Sir Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa was right when
he said, We are different in too
many ways.
Our sense of Justice is just not the
same and may never be
reconciled ; not with the hopeless
unitary constituti on dashed' to us
by Gen Abdusalam Abubakar. No!
We would not forget the drama
when the late President Yar’dua
was ill.
Lest we forget, since 1966 the
Ndigbos of the South East have
been crying for justice. By 1993
the Yorubas in the South West
joined and stared crying. In 1994
and 1995 the South-Sout h people
found their voice and started
crying also. Today, it seems the
North(fula nis) also cry but with
the blood of innocent citizens.
These are trying times indeed!
History would record that never
has a seat-in Head of State been
so embarrasse d for tribal
reasons. History would record
that those who never really
fought for the developmen t of
Nigeria but have enjoyed her
more and held her captive for
long, are today in the fore front of
the struggle to break up Nigeria.
Oh Lord, I could write a book on
this let’s open old wounds. Who
inflicted the wounds? Who was
wounded and still being
wounded? Can we count how
many times innocent blood
(particula rly that of Ndigbos)
have been shed in the North since
1949? For reasons nobody has
explained till today, and nothing
happens except panels of inquiry,
reports and then silence. Have we
forgotten what happened in Odi,
Choba etc when the allegation
was that the people there killed
members of the Nigerian Armed
Forces. Policemen, Youth Corpers
and Soldiers are being killed in the
North now and nothing would
happen. I do not want to hear
that it is religious. Lies! That is
the opium they use. It is political.
If a Fulani like Buhari rigged
massively and won, there would
be peace. How come there was no
riot when Yar’dua won the
hopeless and the highest rig
election of 2007 against the same
Buhari? In 2003, he planned a
mass action and OBJ wrote him a
stern letter of warning. He went
to court instead. If the Fulanis
wanted a National Conference , it
would be held. If they wanted
true Federalism , so it shall be. The
day they decide that Nigeria
would become a Dubai, so it shall
be. Until then, we all must wait, be
killed whenever they need to
appease their knives and now
bombs. We say nothing, do
nothing all because Nigeria
matters more to us. They killed my
one of my member (a youth
corper) in Bauchi and I will not
keep quiet. At times like this, we
must remember the words of our
Elders. The Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe, frustrated by the
activities of our Northern
brothers in 1964, had this to say!
If this embryo republic of ours
must disintegra te, then in the
name of God, let the operation be
a short and painless one.
And in the words of the Nigeria
Messiah President Goodluck
Jonathan ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!