Straight Talk with Chukwudi Obi

The rejection of the bill for the establishment of the South East Development Commission by the House of Representatives does not demonstrate the desired spirit of national accommodation and sensitivity towards the people and problems of the South East Zone. The South East caucus of the National Assembly must however be commended for bringing the issues of the needs of the region to the front burner. It is also heartwarming to note that a good number of lawmakers from other geo-political zones supported the bill. This is laudable act, shiwing shows that other regions are beginning to appreciate the issues related to the developmental predicaments of the South East. The current momentary hitch in the bid to establish a South East Development Commission must not be seen as the end of the road, or a badge of defeat. It should become a rallying stimulus for all men of good conscience across our nation to strive towards restrategizing appropriately in order to redress the shameful neglec

Where do I keep the booty Prof Niyi Osundare "My Lord, please tell me where to keep your bribe? Do I drop it in your venerable chambers Or carry the heavy booty to your immaculate mansion Shall I bury it in the capacious water tank In your well laundered backyard Or will it breathe better in the septic tank Since money can deodorize the smelliest crime Shall I haul it up the attic Between the ceiling and your lofty roof Or shall I conjure the walls to open up And swallow this sudden bounty from your honest labour Shall I give a billion to each of your paramours The black, the light, the Fanta-yellow They will surely know how to keep the loot In places too remote for the sniffing dog Or shall I use the particulars Of your anonymous maidservants and manservants With their names on overflowing bank accounts While they famish like ownerless dogs Shall I haul it all to your village In the valley behind seven mountains Where potholes swallow up the hugest jeep An

MEMORY AND NATION BUILDING: BIAFRA 50 YEARS AFTER:   A SOBER REFLECTION. Introduction. Before I thank the organisers of this Conference and pay my tribute to the Memory of my friend, late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, in whose Foundation Center this historic event is being organised, let me quickly dismiss certain lingering pernicious fallacies that have dominated all discussion about the coup of January 15, 1966 and the Biafra War. First, the Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, has alluded to the January 15, 1966 coup as an Igbo coup that, according to him, was replied by a Northern coup of July 29 1966. Let it be said loud and clear that that coup, namely January 15, 1966 coup, was not an Igbo coup. It was a coup led by certain Igbo and Yoruba Officers, involving the active participation of soldiers from the North. The aim, as has been stated again and again, by the leaders of the coup was to release Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was in detention at the time and inst