MONDAY MIDNITE-1897

MONDAY MIDNITE-1897
From the campaign for the return of Benin's looted artifacts by British invaders in 1897 to the no-holds-barred condemnation of Nigeria's corrupt past and present leaders in tracks like PISSY PISSY, AZZHOLEZ ROCK and BRING BACK THE MONEY, this 1897 album is loaded with thought-provoking and inspiration songs. A click on the image will direct you to an online store where you can purchase the album or songs from the album.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Fans slam Genevieve, others over Jonathan’s campaign

By Samuel Olatunji 
Sunday, April 17, 2011




These are not the best of times for star actress, Genevieve Nnaji. First, she had to run for dear life when Balmoral Hall, venue for City People awards, got burnt. Reports had it that she ran out of the hall without her shoes. Not a few criticized her for choosing to attend City People award while AMAA (the event of her primary constituency) was taking place in Bayelsa.



Many thought that would be it after pictures of her and Naomi Campbell surfaced on the Internet, but a floodgate of criticisms trails her again. And this time with other notable stars that appeared in a campaign video for President Goodluck Jonathan, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In the video that was first posted on Youtube, Genevieve appeared alongside Stephanie Okereke, Olu Jacobs, Ramsey Nouah, Ini Edo, Monalisa Chinda and Desmond Elliot to prop up the good virtues of the PDP standard bearer, the party that has been in power for the last 12 years. Hardly had the video hit Youtube when it was pulled down because of the barrage of criticisms that trailed it. What angered most people was the fact that the video said “Nollywood unite for Jonathan”. “Who gave these people power to represent Nollywood? It is an aberration,” a Nollywood insider said.

The negative comments continued, but soon singled out Genevieve when a blackberry broadcast purportedly from Dele Momodu, presidential candidate of NCP, went viral on Internet. The broadcast started with a quote from a blackberry broadcast from Genevieve while Dele Momodu’s followed with his own response.
“President Goodluck Jonathan is the first president to give the creative industry major support and the only aspirant to consider that movie artistes, fashion designers, musicians, entertainers and other creative minds deserve to grows,” says Genevieve Nnaji.

Acccording to Team Dele Momodu, he has no problem with Genevieve endorsing Goodluck Jonathan. “But it is unfair and unfortunate not to acknowledge your benefactors, no matter the situation today. Mr. President might be spending government’s money on the entertainment industry, but Dele Momodu spent his hard-earned money on the entertainment industry as well.

“Long before D’Banj bought a car of his own, it was Dele Momodu’s PA that used to drive him around in her official car bought by Dele Momodu. Even while receiving an award last year at the Ghana Music Awards in Accra, D’Banj acknowledged that it was Dele Momodu who first invited him to Ghana. Tee A, the comedian, became internationally known because Dele Momodu sponsored him from Africa to the Caribbean Islands. Perhaps, someone has also forgotten that Dele Momodu encouraged Banky W to return home to Nigeria when they met in Toronto, Canada.

“The first time Genevieve visited Liberia, it was Dele Momodu who encouraged her to go there. Does Genevieve have a clue how many Nigerian artistes, supermodels, actors and actresses Dele Momodu had spent his personal money on, from Darey Art Alade to Timaya, Eedris Abdulkareem to D’Banj, etc? Does she have a clue how much Ovation has promoted fashion designers like Adebayo Jones, Ade Bakare, Kosibah Creations, Adeola Sagoe, Lexy Mojo-Eyes from Sweden to Milan to Paris and across the world?

If anyone will forget Dele Momodu’s contributions to the entertainment industry, it shouldn’t be Genevieve.
“Where was Goodluck Jonathan in 2004 when Dele Momodu spent thousands of dollars personally and got CharterHouse Ghana to package the launch of Genevieve’s musical career at the Labadi Beach Hotel, Ghana? This kind of amnesia is unkind,” says Team Dele Momodu.

Not done, many fans also took the mother of one to the cleaners with some unprintable comments on many entertainment websites.

Polygamy church: Leader preaches, practises, enforces multiple marriage



By Chioma Igbokwe 
Friday, April 22, 2011



There is controversy in town. It is in the church and it has been causing ripples among families, especially the women.

The issue of contention is the teaching of a pastor, Harrison Charles of the Day Spring Assembly that polygamy is holy, pure and biblical.

Expectedly, the female members of the church are up in arms as they won’t contemplate sharing their husbands with other women in marriage.

The charged nature of their reactions and the insistence of the preacher with copious bible quotatations have resulted in jolts and turbulence in homes. Some homes are in Disarray as the wives pack out in protest and the husbands with the support of their pastor press their claims that such men in the church must marry other wives.

Saturday Sun listened to the protest of the wives over this doctrine and also sounded out the preacher on his ‘unpopular’ message He insists God directed him to so preach.

…Our husband are gone, and they want the kids too
Another controversy is already brewing around the General Overseer, Pastor Harrison Charles of the Day Spring Assembly over the new doctrine he introduced to the members. While some male aggrieved members of the church, alleged that the boss of the church is living with their wives who were deceived into leaving their matrimonial homes, some of the women who are also victims are crying out that their husbands have been exposed to multiple marriages which they won’t accept.
A staunch member of the church, Mrs. Oluchi Ezeobi has pleaded with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to see that the church is abolished or risk another Rev King incident. She is alleging that her husband who she loves so much had deserted her and their children in a bid.

Come back to me
Mrs. Ezeobi doesn’t hide the fact that she still loves her husband and is willing to make her marriage work. She told Saturday Sun that her problem started when she rejected the ‘strange’ doctrine and subsequently stayed away from the church. She joined the church sometime in 1998 because she discovered that they had the spirit of prophecy.

“I was invited by a member to the church and when I discovered the gift they had, I started attending the church. After the demise of Pastors Augustine Okezue and Samuel Ezeanochie - two pioneer ministers of the church in 2000, Pastor Charles took over the ministry when it was obvious that he was a better alternative. Few months after, he told us to remove our headgear, use cream and start watching television unlike before when we were banned from such. We started wearing good clothes and it was a welcome development.”

Mrs. Ezeobi was one of those who benefited from pastor Charles style of imposition as she alleged that she was betrothed to her husband without any form of courtship. “I was in my shop one day when the GO called me to travel down to Onitsha as he had good news for me. He told me that God wants me to marry my husband immediately. I protested but he insisted that it was the will of God and if I fail to abide by it, the repercussion will be great. Because I believed in him as my spiritual leader, I agreed and the next day he announced it in the church and called us out for prayers. He told the congregation that he had just wedded us, if we like we could go and consummate it in the village with the traditional marriage. This incident took place on December 12, 2004,. The following month, we had our traditional marriage.”

With time Mrs. Ezeobi learnt to love her husband and marriage has been blessed with two children.
New doctrines
All seemed well for the couple until Mrs. Ezeobi decided to call it quits when she became uncomfortable with the new doctrines introduced by the GO. She was shocked when the man of God mounted the pulpit and told the congregation that Jesus told him to disregard the teachings of the Bible. “He told us in the church that he went to heaven and met Jesus who told him not to follow the Bible. One of the things he claimed that Jesus specifically told him was that men should wear women dresses and vice versa.

He also informed them that polygamy is of God and that any woman who stands in the way of her husband’s bid to marry a second wife should be sent to the village until she is willing to yield to the new order. He told us that Jesus married two wives, Gentiles and Israelites.”

The new doctrine was made open and popular when he told the congregation that he would teach them how the multiple wives are consummated in Christ. “He said that he would teach us how a pastor can marry many wives and still confess Jesus. He engaged in it perfectly just few months after. I have been with them for almost 14 years. When these things started, I decided to leave the church. Because of the series of preaching, I was scared that this man would force my husband to marry another woman.

Because he was determined to marry many wives, he told the men to also marry. Sometime in December 2009, my husband told me to come back to the church or the marriage will be over. When I rejected his pleas, he packed his property and left. He began threatening me that he was going to take our children and since he does not have money, that he will send the boy to the north. I cannot leave my son for a man who I am not sure of what he will do next. I am scared that they will come and pick him up. I have assured them that when the children grow up I will ensure that they re-unite with their father. Alternatively, if he wants to take them, let him go to court.”

More crises
Mrs. Favour Ozor is also one of those who felt bitter about the multiple marriage doctrine. She kicked against the polygamy doctrine like most women of the church. When the new doctrine was introduced, she held to the love that kept her marriage despite 10 years of childlessness. When it was obvious that her husband had decided to marry another wife, Mrs. Ozor protested and by way of punishment, she was asked to go to the village until she repents. “My husband sent me packing because I protested that he should not marry another woman. This man stood by my side for 10 years of childlessness until God gave us a baby boy. The boy was barely a year when the problem started. Since my husband sent me back to the village, I left the church. He took my baby who was about two years but with the help of the welfare department, I got him back.

Another ex-member Leo told Saturday Sun that he left the church when strange doctrines were introduced. “It was a good church before the present GO came after the death of the founder. My sister was a victim, she was forced to marry a member of the church and when she agitated when the issue of a second wife came up, she was sent packing while her baby was taken. It is really a pity.”

In his defence
While some are embittered by the new doctrine, others eulogize and pray that the other churches will take a cue. Lagos area pastor, Ikechukwu Elden was contacted on phone and he described such information as false and a ploy to destroy the work of God.

“These are all tissues of lies from the pit of hell within the camp of some men that covenanted with the devil to harm the work of the Lord through a certain newspaper publication and we have made our stand very clear through our spokesman. Almost all of these fabrication are lies. You know when the work of God is going on and the devil does not fight it, it means that it is not the work of God. It is not surprising that the devil will use these men who have fallen out of the grace of God. It is very unfortunate but it is not surprising. It is blasphemy.”

On the polygamy doctrine, Pastor Ik said: “We have made it very clear that there is no where in the Bible that God condemns polygamy. In the book of I Timothy chapter 3v1 - 2, it is stated there. People are quoting Matthew chapter 19 vs. 6 and saying that Jesus said that it is one man, one wife. Jesus never said that rather He was answering the question on divorce not polygamy. This is the truth people do not know, that doctrine came from Babylonian governor not from the true church of God. “Saint Paul because of the issue at hand, made it clear to some particular set of people but that was because of the contingencies of the time.

The scripture ought to be known. Any law that God has given there is a purpose and mind of God for giving that law. The problem people have today is that they know not the mind of God as it is today. We are favoured of God at this point in time and in our generation to know the mind of God. Therefore, we stand to say that we are one living church of the true God and we speak for the truth as it is. God stands by us to confirm it.”

Does the doctrine of multiple marriage partners apply to the women? And Pastor Ik said: “that is not what God is saying, the woman was created for the man so it is no place in the mind of God that the woman will marry more than one husband.”

On how the wives would live in peace among themselves, he said: “In the church of the living God, everyone is supposed to have the holy spirit and having the spirit, it teaches all the truth to know the will and mind of God. She will not be uncomfortable doing the mind of God and abiding in the family that God has put her. Agitation is coming from ex-members that the devil is using. It cannot come from any genuine child of God that has the spirit of the living God”

For another member, Kenneth Okpala, Pastor Harrison was sent by God to deliver them from darkness and ignorance.
SOURCE:

ABUJA HEARTBEAT: Are you a ‘complete CPC’?

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In a competition, someone has to lose for a winner to emerge. Olusegun Obasanjo’s ‘do or die’ political sentiment is re-echoing where ‘Baba’ does not have a base, and even outside political discourse. Some people will stop at nothing to exploit any and every opportunity to stir up commotion. The spate of violence, particularly in places that can be described as their strongholds, leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
Imagine how I felt at the little scene that played out before my eyes last Thursday at about 6am. I was out on my occasional walking-jogging exercise from Gaduwa Estate to Games Village. On my way back to the estate, two cars in a typical movie chase style were struggling to drive each other off the road. So I quickly raced off the road. One black car and then the other, a red one, obviously a ‘kabu-kabu’, stopped a few yards away from me. We were directly opposite the Oando filling station across the road.
Really, all I wanted to do was to continue jogging – like the guy across the road whom I had been trying hard to keep from overtaking me. But I guess my nose for stories stopped me; or the fact that two men and one lady had stepped out of the black car and pounced on the driver of the red car, which had also vomited two skimpily dressed girls, one of whom was curled on the ground in a fetal position. The other was trying to give some kind of support to the kabu-kabu driver who was being pummelled by the three assailants from the black car.
Hesitantly, I approached the scene. Some young men from the numerous block-moulding sites that lined the road were already gathering, like vultures drawn to a carcass. The kabu-kabu driver initially tried to put up a fight, hoping to get support from the small crowd of about 20 people. He was shouting at the top of his voice. “I no go leave your shirt! No be you first jam my motor? We go die hia today!” The driver of the black car, a very fat middle-aged man, was the one instructing the kabu-kabu driver to release the shirt of his partner, who was locked in a bear-hug with the kabu-kabu driver. Occasionally, the fat man would join his partner, while the lady with them employed hit-and run tactics from a corner. Much later, one of the skinny girls, who had finally gathered herself, took on the lady from the black car and reduced the number of attackers on the kabu-kabu driver from two to one. Her friend, meanwhile, was still on the floor trying to recover.
I tried to hold the girl in the black car but she would have none of it. I moved on to the field commander: the fat man who was threatening thunder and lightning and warning everybody to steer clear because he was, in his words, “calling my boys to come and deal with you”. All the boys in the crowd were saying that it was the black car that was at fault. According to them, they saw everything when it started from down the road before running to the scene.
Suddenly, the kabu-kabu driver became subdued but the fat guy started displaying more braggadocio. He thundered: “If I don’t kill you here today, I am not my father’s son!” The kabu-kabu driver replied him in a harassed voice, “If you kill me, my blood go dey for your head”. He had lost the will to continue with the exchange of insults.
Here’s what I later gathered from all the exchanges: The men in the black car had an argument with the two skinny girls and instructed the kabu-kabu driver not to carry them; that, in fact, one of the two skinny girls was the fat man’s girlfriend. So, because the driver dared to carry the girls, they had pursued the driver and tried to block him from moving on. The driver, in turn, had got angry. Thus the movie-style exchange when they had so dangerously tried to force each other off the road, like in a scene from a James Bond movie.
Now, this would not have passed for a good story if it had ended there. It became necessary for me to document this event because, while sounding off, I heard the fat man say: “Let me tell you, I be complete CPC. If you know say you wan die, enter that your car make I see. Enter ‑if I no kill you for here!” At this point, if it was when I was younger, “I for buy the fight”, as we used to say.
But I believe Muhammadu Buhari would disown and denounce miscreants like these. I believe his Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) was not set up to cause chaos and destruction. Imagine! A quarrel between a boyfriend and a girlfriend and a concerned driver.
General Buhari and the men and women of dignity in CPC should call their followers to order ‑ otherwise people would begin to identify ‘CPC’ with militants, kidnappers, assassins, Boko-Harams and the like.

Soyinka condemns threats to national unity

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Following the post-election violence that occurred in the northern region of the country, Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has expressed dismay at the threat to the unity of the nation.
Mr Soyinka made this known at a press conference in Lagos on Thursday. He expressed displeasure at the “unbelievable carnage and waste of human lives” that targeted certain tribes, religion and, in particular, youth corps members in some parts of the country.
The author, who recently withdrew from public life, said he had to make this known because he has a responsibility to address the violence that greeted the presidential election, which he described as “the decimation of humanity.” “The non-sadistic and satisfaction of the killings, the sending out the sultan from his palace, the threats to members of the PDP to get out of the town...this makes me wonder whether we all have an agenda in mind for Nigeria, whether we all have a project for this country such as the amelioration of the human condition,” he said.
Masterminded violence
According to Mr Soyinka, the “killings were done on foundation of lies, misinformation and wrong information.” “In my view, this violence was planned before hand and it is the responsibility of all and not just the government to denounce the killings in strong terms,” he said.
Not mentioning names, he decried the reactions of certain leaders over the unfortunate incidence. “I did not detect any vestige of remorse from the expressions of these leaders,” he said. “There was a complete disjunction of what the mouth was saying and what the body of these people were saying.”
Message for Jonathan
He congratulated President Goodluck Jonathan on his win at the polls, which he confirmed was credible due the monitoring and collation of results from every polling unit in the country by the Reclaim Naija group, which he was involved with. According to him, the figures presented by the electoral body for the presidential result “did not differ much from what Reclaim Naija got”, adding that the group has developed “the best monitoring resources in this country if not in Africa.”
He, however, urged the president to hit the ground running. “This is not a matter of goodluck which cannot carry you through the real crises that envelopes this nation,” he said. “You must not use a piece-meal but a holistic manner, otherwise I greatly fear for the continual of this country. The nation begun to fail as a nation the moment parents fear to let their children go to certain parts of the country.”
Message to Ogun people
In a congratulatory message to the people of Ogun State, Mr Soyinka congratulated them for voting of the ruling party, which he claims has brought fetish government into the state. “At long last, you have redeemed yourself,” he said. “It’s about time Ogun State opens the gate of democracy for the entire country and chase out the fetish people.”
He also called for an investigation into the murder of a former gubernatorial aspirant in the state, Dipo Dina.
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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Jonathan’s Team Launches Online Attack On Critics; Blogger Threatened With Death By Fan

April 25, 2011 - 17:40



As members of Goodluck Jonathan’s inner circle continue the celebration of their victory at the presidential polls, evidence is emerging that through his Facebook fan page the team is actively promoting  intolerance as well a blackmail and intimidation as prominent weapons.
  The page is managed by  Reno Omokri (VP Africa of Trippi and Associates), and Oronto Douglas, Jonathan's Senior Special Assistant on Strategy.

Egghead Odewale, a blogger who contributed an article regarding Mr. Goodluck Jonathan on his Facebook page last week asking him to fulfill his campaign promises, has already received a death threat  this morning from Osuji Uchechi, one of Mr. Jonathan's Facebook fans. 
Odewale had written an article titled, "Why the P in RSVP should be sustained - Holding GEJ to his promises!!!" on his personal Facebook page. 
He then tagged President Goodluck Jonathan's page, but what Odewale received from Abuja-based Osuji Uchechi a few hours ago was a threat to his life, as follows:

 "AS UR NAME IMPLIES EGGHEAD, D ONLY TIN IN AN EGG IS CHICKEN N CHICKEN HAS A LIGHT BRAIN. IT DOESN'T LISTEN UNTIL IT FINDS IT SELF IN D POT OF STEW. WE KNOW U N WE HV UR CONTACTS, D NEXT TIME U WILL POST DIS RUBBISH ABOUT GEJ, I SWEAR U WONT BE ALIVE WHEN D PUBLIC WILL READ IT. U STUPID MUSLIM, HV U FORGOTTEN THAT UR BROTHERS RULED THIS COUNTRY 4 OVER 40 YRS N DEY CUD NT ACHIEVE ANYTIN N ONLY IN 1YR, GEJ HAS ACHIEVED THIS MUCH. WE KNW PPL R USING U N D SAME PPL R D ONES FERMENTING TROUBLE IN D NORTH N I PROMISE U BY D TIME U JOIN UR ANCESTORS NOBODY WILL ACCEPT D JOB OF POSTING THESE UNGUARDED WRITE-UPS ON FACEBOOK. BE WARNED N SAVE UR LIFE." ~Osuji Uchechi
Since the presidential elections and the crisis that followed, supporters of Mr. Goodluck have engaged in the harassment of Facebook, twitters, Blackberry messengers (BBM) users and individuals who have disagreed with the outcome of the elections by drawing attention to the irregularities in the elections.

SaharaReporters has also been targeted with a series of attacks.  
In the post-election period, there has also been a huge spike in the volume of new commentators who use fake names to make repeated attacks on our stories, writers and other users, evidence of premeditated and organized assault.  “SaharaReporters is now considered to be the only problem this administration has left,” a top Abuja insider told us at the weekend.
Last week in Washington DC, at the Atlantic Council, Reno Omokri, one of Jonathan's high-priced strategists tried to blame the post election crisis on SaharaReporters.  Media such as the BBC Hausa Service were similarly targeted in a smear campaign.
But the most disturbing post-election development concerns the games that the Jonathan government is playing with the identity of the National Youth Service Corps members who died in last week’s rampage.  The names are being selectively released by Mr. Jonathan's Facebook operators with the aim of causing further division amongst young Nigerians.  While INEC officials today told SaharaReporters they do not have the total number, names and origins of the college graduate murdered in last week post election crisis available, some key Jonathan Facebook operators have such names and are freely using them, even providing grisly photos of one of a corper who was burnt to death.


Kayode Idowu, spokesperson to INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, told our reporters that apart from the numbers released by the Bauchi state police command which put the number of dead youth corpers at 11, INEC does not have any information regarding ad-hoc staffers killed in the recent post election crisis. He stated that the agency relies on the directorate (NYSC) to provide INEC with such list as soon as they concluded their tallies of affected corp members.
However, what must be a very painful experience to the families who lost loved ones, came when the Director-General of the NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Maharazu Tsiga,  told journalists through a reported monitored in today’s Guardian newspaper that to the best of his knowledge there were no NYSC deaths in the post-election crisis.   At the weekend in Abuja, where he was attending his daughter’s wedding, he said the NYSC was undertaking a head-count of all corps members in the affected areas in order to ascertain the number of victims in the crisis.
"I am celebrating my daughter today with mixed feelings because I have my youth corps members in all parts of this country who were involved in the post-election crisis and some of them may have lost their lives, though we are yet to confirm the numbers which shall be made public immediately we finish the head-count of our members," he said.
He said NYSC members working in the on-going elections in crisis-ridden areas would be escorted to their respective duty posts in the remaining elections by soldiers.
Apart from some Jonathan’s facebook fans, some fanatical members of the Congress For Progress Change (CPC) have engaged in using twitter and other social media platforms to post egregious messages of hate as well, in particular , a twitter handle #abuabdallah92 has relentlessly passed threats of mayhem  to other users.


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Monday, April 25, 2011

Akwa Ibom evacuates 83 corps members from Bauchi


Monday, April 25, 2011

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Akwa Ibom State government has evacuated more than 83 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members from Akwa Ibom State serving in different locations in Bauchi State. The corps members were airlifted home in a chartered aircraft on Saturday through the Gombe Airport at the expense of the state government.

Governor. Godswill Akpabio who disclosed at the weekend during a press conference at the Government House, said the corps members had stayed for days at an undisclosed army barracks in Bauchi following last week’s post-election violence, which broke out in some northern states during many lives were lost and property worth millions of naira destroyed.

He said the state government responded to numerous distress calls from the corps members and their families to avert being caught in a cross fire. “We acceded to numerous requests and pleas of worried and agitated parents across the state whose sons and daughters were trapped in the troubled area of Bauchi following the post-election violence by acting promptly and hiring an aircraft to save them.

“Many of the youths corpers took refuge at an army barrack in Bauchi while some hid in the bush and could not even be located but through the assistance of the Director of the State Security Service (SSS), we were able to locate them and considering the hazard of transporting them home by road, I had to charter an aircraft to bring them home safely,” Akpabio stated.

The Governor who condemned the carnage that greeted the announcement of President Jonathan as winner of the presidential election in some states in the North argued that killing fellow human beings and destroying their property in the name of politics was a sin against humanity and the perpetrators should be brought to book.
He called on Nigerian politicians to eschew violence but not allow the quest for position and power to becloud their sense of reasoning adding that the nation was greater than any individual.

“The post-presidential election violence to me is un-called-for; barbaric and highly retrogressive but I dare assert that this sponsored carnage does not in any way reflect the inner feelings of the overwhelming majority of people in the northern part of this great country as many of them also voted the president,” the governor further stated.

He commended the citizens of the state for their sense of equanimity in ensuring that president Jonathan won the presidential election and urged them to also go out in the next Tuesday April 26, governorship and House of Assembly elections by not only voting for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates but also protecting their votes.

Prosecute Buhari now, CAN tells Jonathan






 Sun Apr, 24 2011

Prosecute Buhari now, CAN tells Jonathan 
By Aramide Oikelome Senior Correspondent, Lagos 

Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) President, Ayo Oritsejafor, on Sunday asked  President Goodluck Jonathan to arrest and prosecute Muhammadu Buhari and his cohorts in the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) before they plunge the nation into another civil war.
Oritsejafor told reporters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos that the quest for a united Nigeria will not materialise if the country allows those fanning the embers of disunity to roam the streets free.
“I believe in one indivisible Nigeria, but I also believe that if Nigeria is ever going to remain one nation, which I believe it could, then certain persons must be sanctioned because of this continued violence we are experiencing in the Northern part of Nigeria,” he said.
“Let us not pretend by always saying the violence is taking place in some parts of the country. Muhammadu Buhari and others like him should not be allowed to roam the streets of this country because they are part of the confusion that has enveloped the nation today.”
Oritsejafor noted that the government has already blamed Buhari for the post-election mayhem in the North, which has also claimed the lives of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
He said in any decent society someone like Buhari would face the full weight of the law.
He argued that there are several other influential individuals the security agencies may have fingered in the violence, and wondered why they have not arrested and prosecuted them.
“I don’t know how the Federal Government should sanction sponsors of such mayhem that has left hundreds of innocent Nigerians dead, but I think the government should do something to keep this nation one indivisible entity for the benefit of every citizen.
“I believe we are experiencing violence in parts of the North because certain highly placed persons in this country magnified the PDP problem of zoning offices and gave the impression to the electorate and the generality of Northerners, especially the gullible illiterates, that it was their turn to rule.
“Basically, what we are seeing today is the fact that they feel that it is their turn to rule. Those people who are perpetrating the mayhem do not know who won election and in what place. 
“In fact, you will recall that the violence started long before the INEC Chairman (Attahiru Jega) declared the results, and sadly the mayhem is mostly in the states where Buhari won.”
In Oritsejafor’s view, certain persons blew the PDP zoning matter out of proportion and “made it look like it was their right, given to them by God, that they must rule and nobody else from any other part of the country has the right to lead this country.
“That is the major cause of the problem the nation currently faces, as evidenced in the inciting utterances of certain individuals, including Buhari, who, for example, called on his supporters to protect their votes and lynch anybody attempting to rig the elections. 
“What exactly are they saying to the people by that statement? You are telling them to take the laws into their hands and kill people and that is exactly what they are doing now.”
Oritsejafor said certain persons have a religious agenda at the back of their mind, but “I know that everybody wants to run away from that issue. Nobody wants to talk about it, and we think that is the way to build a virile and united Nigeria; as long as we pretend and sweep the problem under the carpet.
“We will never arrive at a solid, united, indivisible, and powerful Nigeria unless we are prepared to tell the truth to each other and face the truth. There are those who already have a religious agenda and they have been promoting it and working very hard to implement it.
He insisted that these are the people behind the violence in the North, taking advantage of the political atmosphere to create the impression that it is all political and not religious.
“If the problem is purely political, why are churches being burnt? Why are Southern NYSC members being targeted? Why are pastors being killed? Why are Christians generally being hunted in different parts of the North to be killed?  
“It is because the religious agenda is real and there is a religious undertone to all the crises in the North.
"These are facts that the security agencies should dispassionately look at and treat with dispatch with a view to arresting the perpetrators and prosecuting same for the sake of peace of the nation.
“These people must not be allowed to go on like this. The government must wield the big stick at this time and do whatever it has to do to put to a permanent stop to all this madness and bring peace to this country. 
“We cannot continue to allow this thing to go on like this. Enough is enough.”

SANUSI

SANUSI’s SPEECH

Please if you write a silly book,  don’t invite Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to make a presentation. I guess Olaniwun Ajayi has learnt from this.  Sanusi faults Olaniwun Ajayi on Northern domination. The Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, surprised guests present at the Muson Centre for the launching of the book of Sir Olaniwun Ajayi at the Muson Centre in Lagos. The book titled: ” Nigeria , Africa ‘s failed asset?” attracted many important dignitaries, intellectuals and some governors. The argument by discussants centered on whether or not the colonial masters laid the foundation for the problems Nigeria is currently facing. Many argued that the British loved the North and that was why it gave more than 50 percent of the National Assembly seats to the North at independence.
Sanusi, however, stole the show when he spoke. His speech was anchored on the plank that the British and Nigerian rulers are responsible for the state of the situation Nigeria finds itself today.
Below is his unedited speech.
“Let me start by saying that I am Fulani (laughter). My grandfather was an Emir and therefore I represent all that has been talked about this afternoon. Sir Ajayi has written a book. And like all Nigerians of his generation, he has written in the language of his generation.
“My grandfather was a Northerner, I am a Nigerian. The problem with this country is that in 2009, we speak in the language of 1953. Sir Olaniwun can be forgiven for the way he spoke, but I cannot forgive people of my generation speaking in that language.
“Let us go into this issue because there are so many myths that are being bandied around. Before colonialism, there was nothing like Northern Nigeria,  Before the Sokoto Jihad, there was nothing like the Sokoto caliphate. The man from Kano regard himself as bakane. The man from Zaria was bazazzage. The man from Katsina was bakatsine. The kingdoms were at war with each other. They were Hausas, they were Muslims, they were killing each other.
“The Yoruba were Ijebu, Owo, Ijesha, Akoko, Egba. When did they become one? When did the North become one? You have the Sokoto Caliphate that brought every person from Adamawa to Sokoto and said it is one kingdom. They now
said it was a Muslim North.
“The Colonialists came, put that together and said it is now called the Northern Nigeria. Do you know what happened? Our grand fathers were able to transform to being Northerners. We have not been able to transform to being Nigerians. The fault is ours.
Tell me, how many governors has South West produced after Awolowo that are role models of leadership? How many governors has the East produced like Nnamdi Azikiwe that can be role models of leadership? How Many governors in the Niger Delta are role models of leadership? Tell me. There is no evidence statistically that any part of this country has produced good leaders.
You talk about Babangida and the economy. Who were the people in charge of the economy during Babangida era? Olu Falae, Kalu Idika Kalu. What state are they from in the North?
“We started the banking reform; the first thing I heard was that in Urobo land, that there will be a curse of the ancestors. I said they (ancestors) would not answer. They said why? I said how many factories did Ibru build in Urobo land? So, why will the ancestors of the Urobo people support her?
“We talk ethnicity when it pleases us. It is hypocrisy. You said elections were rigged in 1959, Obasanjo and Maurice Iwu rigged election in 2007. Was it a Southern thing? It was not. “The problem is: everywhere in this country, there is one Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba and Itshekiri man whose concern is how to get his hands on the pile and how much he can steal.
Whether it is in the military or in the civilian government, they sit down, they eat together. In fact, the constitution says there must be a minister from every state.
“So, anybody that is still preaching that the problem of Nigeria is Yoruba or Hausa or Fulani, he does not love Nigeria . The problem with Nigeria is that a group of people from each and every ethnic tribe is very selfish. The poverty that is found in Maiduguri is even worse than any poverty that you find in any part of the South.
The British came for 60 years and Sir Ajayi talked about few numbers of graduates in the North (two at independence) . What he did not say was that there was a documented policy of the British when they came that the Northerner should not be educated. It was documented. It was British colonial policy. I have the document. I have published articles on it. That if you educate the Northerner you will produce progressive Muslim intellectuals of the type we have in Egypt and India. So, do not educate them. It was documented. And you say they love us (North).
“I have spent the better part of my life to fight and Dr. (Reuben) Abati knows me. Yes, my grandfather was an Emir. Why was I in the pro-democracy movement fighting for June 12? Is (Moshood) Abiola from Kano ? Why am I a founding director of the Kudirat Initiative for Nigerian Development (KIND)?
“There are good Yoruba people, good Igbo people, good Fulani people, good Nigerians and there are bad people everywhere. That is the truth. “Stop talking about dividing Nigeria because we are not the most populous country
in the world. We have all the resources that make it easy to make one united great Nigeria . It is better if we are united than to divide it.
“Every time you talk about division, when you restructure, do you know what will happen? In Delta Area, the people in Warri will say Agbor, you don’t have oil. When was the Niger Delta constructed as a political entity? Ten years ago, the Itshekiris were fighting the Urobos. Isn’t that what was happening? Now they have become Niger Delta because they have found oil. After, it will be, if you do not have oil in your village then you cannot share our resources.
“There is no country in the world where resources are found in everybody’s hamlet. But people have leaders and they said if you have this geography and if we are one state, then we have a responsibility for making sure that the people who belong to this country have a good nature.
“So, why don’t you talk about; we don’t have infrastructure, we don’t have education, we don’t have health. We are still talking about Fulani. Is it the Fulani cattle rearer or is anybody saying there is no poverty among the Fulani?”, he said.
This is a great message to our generation.
Are we truly ready to develop and unite Nigeria?