Igbos dare the Northerners over threat to leave the North

Days after the threat by the Arewa Group on the Igbos to leave the North, the Eze N’digbo (traditional rulers) and leaders of Igbo socio-cultural associations in the North have vowed to resist any attempt by the Coalition of Northern Groups to chase them out of the region. The coalition groups are: Arewa Citizens Action for Change, led by Nastura Ashir Sharif; Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, led by Shettima Yerima; Arewa Youth Development Foundation, led by Aminu Adam; and the Arewa Students Forum, led by Alfred Solomon. Others are, Northern Emancipation Network, led by Abdul-azeez Suleiman; Northern Youth Vanguard, led by Joshua Viashman; Northern Youth Stakeholders Forum, led by Mohammad Mohammad; North-East Assembly, led by Mohammed Tasiupantami; and North Central People’s Front, led by Nathaniel Ajegenaadigizi. Concerned by the outrage that greeted the declaration, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, and the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, ordered the arrest of the signatories to the declaration, but none of the youths has been apprehended as of Saturday. The tension generated by the declaration of the northern youths worsened on Friday afternoon, when a prominent member of the Northern Elders’ Forum, and former Ahmadu Bello University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, threw his weight behind the coalition. The group of northern elders also expressed “disappointment” with the Northern Governors’ Forum for disowning the coalition, insisting that it was hypocritical for the Igbo to continue to live in other parts of the country while agitating for Nigeria’s breakup. Speaking with one of our correspondents, the Eze Ndigbo of Kano, Boniface Ibekwe, said the over three million Igbo indigenes in Kano would not leave the city with all their investments acquired over several decades. He said, “We have advised our people to remain calm and that nobody should travel. The lives and property Igbo are secure. As far as I am concerned, no Igbo man has relocated with his family to the East. We are here and going about our normal business. The northern groups fanning the embers of war have never experienced the pains and after-effects of war because, if they had, they would always pray for the sustenance of peace, unity and stability.’’ Also, the Eze Ndigbo of Kaduna, Igwe Sylvanus Aneke, told one of our correspondents that his people were not afraid of the plans of the Arewa youths, especially when the Federal Government had stepped into the matter. He said, “The youths have asked us to leave, but their parents, the police, the state government and the Federal Government have asked us to ignore the threat. We will rather listen to the elders and the government. “Ango Abdullahi merely expressed his opinion. We are not taking him seriously because we are used to his antics. We are watching the events for now. We will take our decisions after we have watched, prayed and discovered that nothing has changed.” The President General of the Igbo Community Welfare Association in Kaduna State, Chris Nnoli, also urged Igbo in the North to stay still. He said, “It (the ultimatum) is a serious issue that should naturally be taken seriously. We are concerned, but since the Kaduna State Government has assured us of safety, we want to hold on to this assurance. I am greatly worried that up till this moment, nobody has been apprehended over the issue. We are watching events and we believe that government will intensify action and get the youths arrested. It is when we have seen that the government and the IG’s assurances are not effective that we will start to think of other means of seeking protection.” The Eze Igbo III, Jos South in Plateau State, Lawrence Onwudinjo, who is also the President, Igbo Cultural Association, said no Igbo person would leave the North on account of any threat from any northern youth. He said, “Igbo people in Plateau State are going nowhere. There is no right-thinking human being that will ask people to leave where they are living. This is one Nigeria where we are living. Nigeria belongs to all of us. I believe that if any part of the country needs anything, they should sit down together to discuss it. Everybody should come to a roundtable to discuss it.” Another Igbo leader in Lantang, James Abraham, said no Igbo would relocate and that if they would have to move, northerners in the South-East should be waiting for their quit notice too. He said, “If the Arewa youths tell us to leave the North, their kinsmen in the South-East should also be ready to leave. Do the Arewa youths have representatives in Plateau State? They should not be taken seriously.” The President General of the Igbo community in Sokoto, Onyebuchi Uwaga, told SUNDAY PUNCH that, following the assurance from the government and the police, no Igbo would leave the North. Also, the Ezeigbo I of Nasarawa State, Nathaniel Nduba, in calling for the immediate arrest of the Arewa youths in the interest of peace, pointed out that no Igbo person would leave the region, despite the threat given by the northern coalition. A yam seller in Nasarawa, Mrs. Amaka Chukwudi, also said, “The threat by the AYCF was an empty threat. They forget that they have their brothers and sisters spread across other states. Has anybody asked them to leave? Why should the northerners give such an ultimatum?” Igbo in Bauchi State, in reaction to the ultimatum, also stated that they would not leave the North. One of them, Joshua Chukwu, said, ‘’For me, I will not take laws into my hands but will remain law-abiding, as the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees everyone, irrespective of tribe or origin, the right to reside in whatever part of the country he deems fit to pursue his legitimate business.” Similarly, Igbo in Niger State told SUNDAY PUNCH that they would ignore the threat and carry on with their legitimate activities without exercising any fear. A businessman, Tochukwu Chikwem, said he had no plans to send his family back to the East. Another Igbo man in Minna, Felix Irojiogu, said, “They are seeking recognition or attention which they don’t deserve. They are wasting their time; government should arrest them for trying to cause problem in the country.” In Katsina State, the mood of defiance was also noticed when a businessman, Jude Eze, said, “How can I listen to the rantings of those rascals? You should know they don’t know the consequences of what they are saying. It took our leaders and elders years of sweat, and some even paid with their lives, to get Nigeria to this stage and some boys who have never gone beyond their villages are saying we should pack our belongings and go. We are not going anywhere.” Meanwhile, Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, has assured non-indigenes in the state of their safety. But in Sokoto State, some Igbo men have made up their minds to leave, stressing that anyone who ignores the Arewa youths’ threat would do so at his peril. One of them, Uchendu Sunday, a father of three, who operates a patent medicine store at Mabera, in Sokoto, said, “I grew up in Kano. Sadly, my elder brother was killed there during a violent demonstration against the United States of America, when Osama bin Laden was declared wanted in 2001, after the bombing of the World Trade Centre. “It was this sad memory that haunted me out of Kano to Sokoto. This is why I have decided to end my sojourn in the North and return to the East with my wife and three children. One thing I can assure you is that there will be an exodus of Igbo from the North, based on this ultimatum.” In the East, various groups and associations said they had no intention of issuing a similar ultimatum to northerners living among them. Speaking for Igbo youths, the President of Ohanaeze Youth Council, the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said, “We will not ask northerners to leave. We will continue to show them love, as Igbo have done in the past.” Reacting to the ultimatum, the leader of the northern community in Enugu State, Sarkin Hausawa, Idris Ado Suleiman, stated that they exercised no fear of any tit-for-tat response by their eastern hosts. Suleiman said, “We have heard about the ultimatum. They said Igbo in the North should leave in three months. But we know it is not something that is possible.” Top Posts Today

Northern Youths Declare War On Igbos In The North, Ask Them To ‘Leave’ Within Three Months

Some Northern Nigeria youth groups on Tuesday in Kaduna issued what they called a 'Kaduna Declaration' in which they declared “war” against all Igbos residing in the North, demanding they leave the area within three months. They also asked Northerners in the South-East to leave the area, warning that as from October 1, which happens to be Nigeria’s National Day, they will commence implementation of ‘visible actions’ to prove they are no longer part of a federal union that includes the Igbo. The groups that signed the declaration include Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum and Northern Emancipation Network, but it is unclear if known officials of any of the groups actually signed the document. They cite as reason for their decision the pro-Biafran activities of some Igbo, centred around the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), saying their latest action and similar confrontational conducts “amount to a brutal encroachment on the rights of those termed as non-indigenous people residing and doing lawful businesses in those areas illegally demarcated and defined as Biafra by the Igbo.”

The groups held that their conclusion is “necessitated by the realization that it since ceased to be comfortable or safe to continue sharing the same country with the ungrateful, uncultured Igbos who have exhibited reckless disrespect for the other federating units and stained the integrity of the entire nation with their insatiable criminal obsessions.” They said that rather than certain sections holding the whole country to ransom at every stage, each should be allowed to go its own way. They warned the government that as from October 1, they will embark on what they called “peaceful and safe mop-up of all the remnants of the stubborn Igbos that neglect to heed this quit notice,” towards “finally eject them from every part of the North.” The federal government had issued no response as of the time of this report. Pro-Biafran protesters at a recent protest on the Onitsha bridge Below is the text of the declaration: THE KADUNA DECLARATION BEING A JOINT POSITION PAPER ISSUED BY THE AREWA CITIZENS ACTION FOR CHANGE, AREWA YOUTH CONSULTATIVE FORUM, AREWA YOUTH DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION, AREWA STUDENTS FORUM AND NORTHERN EMANCIPATION NETWORK ON THE IGBO PERSISTENCE FOR SECESSION June 06, 2017

THE OPPRESSOR AND THE FOOLISH CITIZENS

WHAT JOHN ZIBIRI SAID ABOUT NIGERIA I worked and lived in Abuja for 18 years. I ran my own private company from 2001 until 2014. Two million of the likes of Buhari cannot change Nigeria. 🕹Everything is wrong with Nigeria. 📍The Director won't give you contract except you pay up front . 📍The banks won't give you loan except you concede a certain percentage. 🚩The man supervising the contract won't pass the job except you play ball. 🚩The clerk won't pass your file for payment except you rob his palm. 🚩The accounts department won't raise your payment voucher or cheque unless you see them. I can go on and on. 📍The worst thing is that it has become a norm that nobody sees anything wrong with. 🚩 If you think otherwise, they begin to think you are sick and not normal. 📍If you try to stand in their way, you put your life at risk. 🚩If you get killed there is no justice system in place to seek redress and bring the perpetrators to book. 📍The police is corrupt , the Judiciary is the same. 🚩Even the religious circle is not spared. 📍Everything in Nigeria revolves around corruption. 🚩Nobody cares about anybody. No law and order. 🚩 I looked from my left to right, everybody is only desperate about one thing "money". 📍They will kill anybody and anything that stand between them and money. 🚩I am an electrical engineer with MNSE and COREN. The system don't care about my qualifications. 🚩Distribution and transmission jobs are given to alhajis, pastors, friends and relatives without any basic skills. 🚩I started asking myself, how do I convince my kids that education and hard work is rewarding? 🙈When fools, agberos and touts are running the country from the local govt to the Presidency. 🚩Is this what my four sons will also go through? In 2014 I decided I have had enough. I decided I was leaving. I migrated to Australia with my family. 🚩Don't put yourself in harm way for any reason. 🚩The problem of Nigeria is in the hands of Nigerians living in Nigeria. 🙉Try starting a gate house in your village, everybody wants to profiteer from it. The bricklayer, the carpenter, the mason and even your brother who claim to be supervising on your behalf. 🚩They are corrupt, morally bankrupt and selfish. 🚩 Everybody there thinks about himself and nobody is thinking about Nigeria . 📍You don't have to be the one to go there to change anything. 🚩Let those under the hammer start the revolution. I beg make you hear word. 🙊This post is gonna anger a lot of my followers. I'm still gonna post it anyway. *Analogy of OPPRESSORS & FOOLISH CITIZENS. *(A case study of Nigeria citizens & their elected oppressors): 🙊 During the Soviet dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. He was a brutal dictator with mind of his own. On one fateful day, Stalin came to Politburo meeting with a live chicken. Standing in front of audience, He started to pluck the feathers of the live chicken off one by one. 🚩The chicken trembled in pain, blood tricking out of its pores. It gave out grievous cries, but Stalin being a cruel dictator continued without remorse plucking the feathers out until the chicken was completely naked. After which, he threw the chicken on the ground. 🚩The naked chicken was staggering in pain. Stalin goes into his pocket and from his pockets, he took out some chicken food and started to throw it at the poor & hapless creature. 🚩The poor chicken in pain started eating and Stalin started walking towards his seat. As he walked away, he kept dropping some feeds on the floor & the chicken followed him and sat feeding from his feet. 📍Joseph Stalin then turned to members of his political party leadership. 🚩He said, "This chicken represents the people". 🚩"You must disempower them, brutalise them, beat them up, starve them and then leave them". 🚩"If you do this, go into your pocket & give them peanuts when they are in that helpless and desperate situation, they will blindly follow you for the rest of their life, worshiping you". 🚩"They will think you are a hero forever. They will forget that, you're responsible for their sorrowful situation in the first place." 😇 Breath taking, isn't it ? 🙋‍♂ Now! Take a look at all the people some Nigerians are busy defending on social media. 🚩Take a look at those they call their heroes. 🚩They are the same people who plunged Nigeria into the situation she is. 🚩They are the same people who are responsible for their predicaments. 🙈Did you see the numbers of people that throng to Saraki's house during this Christmas period to go and collect peanuts? 🙉Did you see the crowd that welcomed Ibori? 🚩Your guess is as good as mine. And the likes of many others, we all know about. 📍Nigerians kill those they should defend and defend those they should kill! 🙉 Pass to all your contacts & let your government know we know.

Buhari remains indoors after his return

Olalekan Adetayo President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday remained indoors inside his official residence, 24 hours after he returned to the country from a 49-day medical vacation. Buhari returned to the country in the early hours of Friday from London, United Kingdom, where he had been on medical sojourn since January 19. Shortly after meeting some state governors and top government officials led by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the First Lady Conference Hall, Buhari retired into his official residence. The President, who was conspicuously absent at the Jumat service held inside the mosque close to his office later in the day, has not been seen in public since then. Our correspondent, who monitored events at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for a few hours on Saturday reported that Buhari remained indoors throughout the day. “The President is indoors. He is spending time with his family members. You know he has been away for a long time. There is the need for them to catch up on some issues since he travelled,” a source said. Our corespondent also observed that the Presidential Villa was devoid of heavy vehicular movement that always characterises the visits of prominent politicians and top government officials. A security source said but for a few family members and close friends, Buhari has not been receiving visitors since he returned on Friday. The President had shortly after returning to the country urged those who might be considering sending delegations to welcome him to stay back and continue to pray for the country. His Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had said the President would on Monday transmit a letter to the National Assembly formally informing the federal lawmakers of his return from vacation. Meanwhile, as Buhari formally resumes work on Monday, expectations are high that decisions would be taken on some national issues in the course of the week. One of such issues, our correspondent learnt, is the posting of the nation’s career ambassadors-designate. The President had on December 19, 2016 opened an induction course organised for the ambassadors-designate by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. About three months after, they have not been posted. When our correspondent raised the issue with Adesina on Saturday, he simply said, “Please bring this up again after the President has resumed duty for a while.” Another issue that the President will be expected to address urgently on resumption, it was further learnt, is the filling of two vacancies that currently exist in the Federal Executive Council. Copyright PUNCH. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

STOP AIRING BIG BROTHER NIGERIA By Project for Human Development · 02/20/2017 Update on February, 23 2017: A Lagos lawmaker, Segun Olulade Today, advised the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on the negative implications of Big Brother Naija on the nation's culture and youths. "We cannot prevent our inquisitive young ones from watching the obscene displays that permeate the show. I think the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) should, without delay, stop this programme if this government means business in the promotion of our cultural values," he said. The on-going TV Reality show, Big Brother Nigeria is indeed a corruption of TV Reality shows. The Nigerian public is complaining about the moral perversity in the House of the Big Brother Nigeria. In one episode last two weeks or so, the inmates were shown openly kissing and caressing one another. This is a celebration of obscenity, eroticism and idleness. More importantly, it is a big mockery of Nigerian culture and tradition. Since the inmates are Nigerians, they should have been projecting the Nigerian cultural heritage. But instead of doing that, they are bastardizing it. When Endernol, the Dutch, first conceived the idea of BBA in 1997, open kissing and caressing by the inmates and celebration of obscenity were never considered by him. Even the TV Reality shows in other countries do not contain the obscenity we are watching in the on-going Big Brother Nigeria. There is a great danger in importing the destructive foreign lifestyle to Nigeria. Explicit sexual overtures which appeal to the prurient interest in sex, damages a country’s moral ecology in an analogous way in which oil pollutant damages a country’s ecology. The biggest tragedy of the on-going Big Brother Nigeria is that our children also glued to the TV screen watching it. Children are our future. Therefore we should protect them from lewd exposure, which might prevent their growth into free, independent and well-developed citizens. The Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) must live up to its bidding as a body charged with controlling, monitoring, regulating the electronic media and monitoring of satellite transmission in Nigeria. Our TV stations cannot become dumping grounds for all sorts of immoral programs. NBC MUST STOP THE AIRING OF BIG BROTHER NIGERIA .PLEASE COMMENT HERE TO HELP US ASCERTAIN THE STAND OF NIGERIANS.

Entrepreneurship has traditionally been defined as the process of designing, launching and running a new business, which typically begins as a small business, such as a startup company, offering a product, process or service for sale or hire, and the people who do so are called 'entrepreneurs'.[2] It has been defined as the "...capacity and willingness to develop, organize, and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit."[3] While definitions of entrepreneurship typically focus on the launching and running of businesses, due to the high risks involved in launching a start-up, a significant proportion of businesses have to close, due to a "...lack of funding, bad business decisions, an economic crisis -- or a combination of all of these"[4] or due to lack of market demand. In the 2000s, the definition of "entrepreneurship" has been expanded to explain how and why some individuals (or teams) identify opportunities, evaluate them as viable, and then decide to exploit them, whereas others do not,[5] and, in turn, how entrepreneurs use these opportunities to develop new products or services, launch new firms or even new industries and create wealth.[6] Recent advances stress the fundamentally uncertain nature of the entrepreneurial process, because although opportunities exist their existence cannot be discovered or identified prior to their actualization into profits.[7] What appears as a real opportunity ex ante might actually be a non-opportunity or one that cannot be actualized by entrepreneurs lacking the necessary business skills, financial or social capital. Traditionally, an entrepreneur has been defined as "a person who starts, organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk".[8] "Rather than working as an employee, an entrepreneur runs a small business and assumes all the risk and reward of a given business venture, idea, or good or service offered for sale. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as a business leader and innovator of new ideas and business processes."[9] Entrepreneurs tend to be good at perceiving new business opportunities and they often exhibit positive biases in their perception (i.e., a bias towards finding new possibilities and seeing unmet market needs) and a pro-risk-taking attitude that makes them more likely to exploit the opportunity.[10][11] An entrepreneur is typically in control of a commercial undertaking, directing the factors of production–the human, financial and material resources–that are required to exploit a business opportunity. They act as the manager and oversee the launch and growth of an enterprise. Entrepreneurship is the process by which an individual (or team) identifies a business opportunity and acquires and deploys the necessary resources required for its exploitation. The exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities may include actions such as developing a business plan, hiring the human resources, acquiring financial and material resources, providing leadership, and being responsible for the venture's success or failure.[12] Economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) stated that the role of the entrepreneur in the economy is "creative destruction"–launching innovations that simultaneously destroy old industries while ushering in new industries and approaches. For Schumpeter, the changes and "dynamic disequilibrium brought on by the innovating entrepreneur ... [are] the ‘norm’ of a healthy economy."[13] "Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innovation and risk-taking."[3] While entrepreneurship is often associated with new, small, for-profit start-ups, entrepreneurial behavior can be seen in small-, medium- and large-sized firms, new and established firms and in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, including voluntary sector groups, charitable organizations and government.[14] For example, in the 2000s, the field of social entrepreneurship has been identified, in which entrepreneurs combine business activities with humanitarian, environmental or community goals. Entrepreneurship typically operates within an entrepreneurship ecosystem which often includes government programs and services that promote entrepreneurship and support entrepreneurs and start-ups; non-governmental organizations such as small business associations and organizations that offer advice and mentoring to entrepreneurs (e.g., through entrepreneurship centers or websites); small business advocacy organizations that lobby the government for increased support for entrepreneurship programs and more small business-friendly laws and regulations; entrepreneurship resources and facilities (e.g., business incubators and seed accelerators); entrepreneurship education and training programs offered by schools, colleges and universities; and financing (e.g., bank loans, venture capital financing, angel investing, and government and private foundation grants). The strongest entrepreneurship ecosystems are those found in top entrepreneurship hubs such as Silicon Valley, New York City, Boston, Singapore, and other such locations where there are clusters of leading high-tech firms, top research universities, and venture capitalists.[15] In the 2010s, entrepreneurship can be studied in college or university as part of the disciplines of Entrepreneurial behaviour