@http://Igbobuofu.com

Before the 2015 presidential elections and recent times, Nigerians were adamant in differentiating what they deemed the 'South South' from the South East. On the surface, this was to separate the 'Niger Delta' from other areas in eastern Nigeria so that two geo-political zones were then formed (both which names' make no sense geographically or grammatically). This was done to uphold the propaganda that was solely created to keep the east divided in order for resources to flow freely out of the region. They said that the "south south" was the oil producing area of Nigeria, while the south east wasn't, which is a complete fallacy. They even carved up and cut through communities in Rivers and Imo States just to cut off oil producing areas from the SE. Despite the fact that both concocted regions have been mixing for millennia, They also tried the ethnic card by painting the 'south east' as the domineering 'Igbo side' and the 'south south' as the minority 'Ijaw' side, in fact, there are so called Igbo groups in Rivers state that have more in common with a Kalabari than with someone form Asaba, someone from Aba has more in common with someone in Bonny than they do with someone in Nsukka, an Aro has ancestry from the Cross River, and so on. Can the majority of those that painstakingly tried to separate the supposedly different 'regions' even tell the different between an Ogoni and Kalabari? I'm not even sure someone in Igboland can tell the difference between an Ndoki and an Nkoro or even say which one is supposed to be Igbo.

Now, here comes the laugh: now that the SE/SS is seen as the politically aligned outsiders, they have given up on their divisive tactics, and the SS/SE are now back to just the 'East' and I've even seen some people referring to everyone there as Igbo. It's absolutely hilarious to see because it means 'their' mission since the 60s has all but failed. People in the SS/SE still have some issues to straighten out and the region is far from perfect, but you can no longer convince any part of the east that some people elsewhere have more of their interest at heart than other people in the east. The way that the other regions of Nigeria lambasted and lampooned Goodluck is seen as unforgivable by many especially Ijo people. Comments such as 'drunken fisherman' and other ethnic-tinged slurs have let the cat out of the bag: it's better to deal with an estranged brother than with people who don't respect you and who will wipe you out for your birth right. Some even say that Boko Haram was funded by northern leaders in order to discredit Jonathan's Nigeria, and some have connected the unrest to the president-elects promise in 2011 that he will "make Nigeria ungovernable". The absolute support that the 'SE' threw and has thrown behind Jonathan (positive or negative) has opened up a new frontier in eastern relations, and everyone has sensed this.

This isn't an attack on any region, it's just the fact. People are threatening the east with being locked out of the centre because they are threatened, they are no longer referring to the Igbo, or if they are, they have reverted to the time honoured Nigerian convention of referring to Eastern Nigeria as Igbo, because ultimately, that's how they've viewed the east all along, as a disunited "Igbo" people, and what that represents is that the people of eastern Nigeria have more of a legitimate national bond than the whole of Nigeria could ever feign. What I encourage is that the east continue the positive bridge building and cordial relationship. You were intermarrying and settling among each other way before Lugard and his wayward wife forced Nigeria. Yes, there were skirmishes and sometimes tensions, but you were not wiping each other out before Nigeria. Respect difference, but it seems some others want to see the east suffer because they decided not to follow the leader so to say, a united east will be the only sensible response.

NB: The east is made of the Ijo, Igbo, Ogoni, Ibibio, Efik, Defaka, Cross River Peoples, and all the subgroups and smaller groups of Cross River and Rivers States.

@http://Igbobuofu.com

Loads of crap. The geopolitical term SS emanated from the SS leaders themselves some years back in the 1990s and not from the 60s as fraudulently posited by u.

They themselves wants to be clearly differentiated from the SE. Just the same way the NorthCentral states wants to be differentiated from the core North. I don't see the coming and now the departure of GEJ changing that.

ezeagu:
Before the 2015 presidential elections and recent times, Nigerians were adamant in differentiating what they deemed the 'South South' from the South East. On the surface, this was to separate the 'Niger Delta' from other areas in eastern Nigeria so that two geo-political zones were then formed (both which names' make no sense geographically or grammatically). This was done to uphold the propaganda that was solely created to keep the east divided in order for resources to flow freely out of the region. They said that the "south south" was the oil producing area of Nigeria, while the south east wasn't, which is a complete fallacy. They even carved up and cut through communities in Rivers and Imo States just to cut off oil producing areas from the SE. Despite the fact that both concocted regions have been mixing for millennia, They also tried the ethnic card by painting the 'south east' as the domineering 'Igbo side' and the 'south south' as the minority 'Ijaw' side, in fact, there are so called Igbo groups in Rivers state that have more in common with a Kalabari than with someone form Asaba, someone from Aba has more in common with someone in Bonny than they do with someone in Nsukka, an Aro has ancestry from the Cross River, and so on. Can the majority of those that painstakingly tried to separate the supposedly different 'regions' even tell the different between an Ogoni and Kalabari? I'm not even sure someone in Igboland can tell the difference between an Ndoki and an Nkoro or even say which one is supposed to be Igbo.

Now, here comes the laugh: now that the SE/SS is seen as the politically aligned outsiders, they have given up on their divisive tactics, and the SS/SE are now back to just the 'East' and I've even seen some people referring to everyone there as Igbo. It's absolutely hilarious to see because it means 'their' mission since the 60s has all but failed. People in the SS/SE still have some issues to straighten out and the region is far from perfect, but you can no longer convince any part of the east that some people elsewhere have more of their interest at heart than other people in the east. The way that the other regions of Nigeria lambasted and lampooned Goodluck is seen as unforgivable by many especially Ijo people. Comments such as 'drunken fisherman' and other ethnic-tinged slurs have let the cat out of the bag: it's better to deal with an estranged brother than with people who don't respect you and who will wipe you out for your birth right. Some even say that Boko Haram was funded by northern leaders in order to discredit Jonathan's Nigeria, and some have connected the unrest to the president-elects promise in 2011 that he will "make Nigeria ungovernable". The absolute support that the 'SE' threw and has thrown behind Jonathan (positive or negative) has opened up a new frontier in eastern relations, and everyone has sensed this.

This isn't an attack on any region, it's just the fact. People are threatening the east with being locked out of the centre because they are threatened, they are no longer referring to the Igbo, or if they are, they have reverted to the time honoured Nigerian convention of referring to Eastern Nigeria as Igbo, because ultimately, that's how they've viewed the east all along, as a disunited "Igbo" people, and what that represents is that the people of eastern Nigeria have more of a legitimate national bond than the whole of Nigeria could ever feign. What I encourage is that the east continue the positive bridge building and cordial relationship. You were intermarrying and settling among each other way before Lugard and his wayward wife forced Nigeria. Yes, there were skirmishes and sometimes tensions, but you were not wiping each other out before Nigeria. Respect difference, but it seems some others want to see the east suffer because they decided not to follow the leader so to say, a united east will be the only sensible response.

NB: The east is made of the Ijo, Igbo, Ogoni, Ibibio, Efik, Defaka, Cross River Peoples, and all the subgroups and smaller groups of Cross River and Rivers States.

Very soon the ss identity will be lost with the ibos, while they come back here crying 'marginalisation.'

Scorpiow:


Very soon the ss identity will be lost with the ibos, while they come back here crying 'marginalisation.'

Parts of the 'SS' are Igbo. There have been incidents of marginalisation between all groups, including the infamous property seizing in Port Harcourt which was against the Igbo. Try again.

Scorpiow:


Very soon the ss identity will be lost with the ibos, while they come back here crying 'marginalisation.'

Don't cry for us...we are far better of with our igbo brothers than any tribe in Nigeria

LasgidyPort:
Loads of crap. The geopolitical term SS emanated from the SS leaders themselves some years back in the 1990s and not from the 60s as fraudulently posited by u.

They themselves wants to be clearly differentiated from the SE. Just the same way the NorthCentral states wants to be differentiated from the core North. I don't see the coming and now the departure of GEJ changing that.

The SS is partly Igbo, the South South terms evolved from the 'Niger Delta' and that was fabricated through the state creations by military heads of state that cut through communities.

Ozin:


Don't cry for us...we are far better of with our igbo brothers than any tribe in Nigeria

Please tell them so that they know.

Ozin:


Don't cry for us...we are far better of with our igbo brothers than any tribe in Nigeria

Then stay at home and live together. Simple

@ op

Please all these are not necessary. Let peace rain.

abduljabbar4:

Then stay at home and live together. Simple

It's not by force to comment.

kayode27:
@ op

Please all these are not necessary. Let peace rain.

Nobody was asking for a war.

LasgidyPort:
Loads of crap. The geopolitical term SS emanated from the SS leaders themselves some years back in the 1990s and not from the 60s as fraudulently posited by u.

They themselves wants to be clearly differentiated from the SE. Just the same way the NorthCentral states wants to be differentiated from the core North. I don't see the coming and now the departure of GEJ changing that.

Yoruba crap. That region was created by Gowan right after the war, as a strategy of divide and conquer. After this election, the whole region is back as one, at least from the perspective of those living within the boundaries.

ezeagu:


It's not by force to comment.

leave that almajiri ab0ki man

LasgidyPort:
Loads of crap. The geopolitical term SS emanated from the SS leaders themselves some years back in the 1990s and not from the 60s as fraudulently posited by u.

They themselves wants to be clearly differentiated from the SE. Just the same way the NorthCentral states wants to be differentiated from the core North. I don't see the coming and now the departure of GEJ changing that.

What's eating you up at any mention of SE and SS reunification? Yorubas seem to lose every sense of reason and inflicted with paranoia subcontiously at any mention of this topic. People like you are not needed in this thread. Get your yoruba arse off from here...mind your effing business. Your tactics of division to continue to suck our oil dry are over. Let we SS and our SE brothers discuss our fate. The former generation may have made a grave mistake in hindsight however this generation including myself believe in one unified East made of SS and SE...

Abasi sosong eti eti.
It is working hurreeeey

As much as we in the SS appreciate the support of the SE in the previous elections, we still 2 different geopolitical regions, NOT Eastern region. I've not heard of our leaders call for a merger, and we intend to keep it that way.

kayode27:
@ op

Please all these are not necessary. Let peace rain.

...but is it by force to keep doing attache ni?

They don't want you and they never did, they just used you to elect Jona and keep jona in office..

We don't see folks from SS posting all the silly attache nonsense, only SE folks. You people need to stop this open and shameful display of low self esteem, insecurity and no sense of worth and identity.

ezeagu:


The SS is partly Igbo, the South South terms evolved from the 'Niger Delta' and that was fabricated through the state creations by military heads of state that cut through communities.

And that's because of the boundaries both regions share. But the Igbo population is NOT a sizeable one with the igbos being the minority tribe in this region.

Are we looking at Regionalization?

Our Oyel must be protected.

knowledgeable:
nd equ


Yoruba crap. That region was created by Gowan right after the war, as a strategy of divide and conquer. After this election, the whole region is back as one, at least from the perspective of those living within the boundaries.

This is just untrue people should be Honest the so called SS is made of of 6 states of which 4 were in the old Eastern region and two were in the Western region Edo and Delta .Edo and Delta combined were known as Bendel and MidWest State at various times and earlier as MidWest region which was a breakaway region from the WEstern Region.The SE then was what has become Akwa Ibom and Cross River. There has always been agitation for a breakaway of the then SE(CrossRiver/Akwa Ibom) from the East and also the area that became the old Rivers state. The young uns can go and read the Wilkinson minorities report 1957-8

LasgidyPort:
Loads of crap. The geopolitical term SS emanated from the SS leaders themselves some years back in the 1990s and not from the 60s as fraudulently posited by u.

They themselves wants to be clearly differentiated from the SE. Just the same way the NorthCentral states wants to be differentiated from the core North. I don't see the coming and now the departure of GEJ changing that.

The term "South-south" was coined by Ekwueme at the 1995 Constitutional conference to give name to what has already bn put in play by the Nigerian state,not some nebulous "SS leaders" to differentiate anything.Get your facts right.

“THE WILLINK COMMISSION REPORT OF JULY 1958”

Posted by: admin January 4, 2014 in News

THE HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL BACKGROUND.

1. “More than 98% of people who inhabit this area (the ‘Ibo Plateau’ of the Eastern region) are Ibo and speak one language, though of course with certain differences of dialect. There are nearly five million of them and they are too many for the soil to support: they are vigorous and intelligent and have pushed outward in every direction, seeking a livelihood by trade or in service in the surrounding areas of the Eastern Region, in the Western Region, in the North and outside Nigeria. They are no more popular with their neighbours than is usual in the case of an energetic and expanding people whose neighbours have a more leisurely outlook on life.”

2. “Though there has been no great kingdom or indigenous culture in the Eastern Region, the coastal chiefs grew on their trade with the (European merchant) ships and they adopted customs, clothing and housing more advanced than those of the peoples of the interior on whom they had at first preyed for slaves. They came during the 19th Century to regard the people of the interior as backward and ignorant, and it was therefore a blow to their pride, as well as to their pockets, when the Ibos began to push outwards into the surrounding fringe of the country and particularly into the Calabar area, to take up land, to grow rich, to own houses and lorries and occupy posts in public services and in the services of large trading firms.”

“It was among the Ibos, formerly despised by the people of Calabar as source of slaves and as a backward people of the interior, now feared and disliked as energetic and educated, that the first political party formed.”

3. “It is important to remember that of this (Ogoja) Province’s 1,082,000 inhabitants, 723,000 are Ibos, almost entirely in Abakaliki and Afikpo (Divisions), while the census classifies 350,000 as “Other Nigerian Tribes.”

4. The Rivers Province …includes the two divisions of Brass and Degema, both overwhelmingly Ijaw, and the Ogoni Division. The former Rivers Division also includes over 300,000 Ibos of whom 250,000 are in Ahoada Division and 45,000 in Port Harcourt. Port Harcourt is a town of recent growth and of rapidly increasing importance; it is built on land that blonged originally to an outlying branch of the Ibo tribe, the Diobus, but is largely inhabited by the Ibos from the interior who have come to trade or seek employment….Of the total 747,000 in the Rivers province, 305,000 are Ibos, 240,000 are Ijaws and 156,000 are Ogonis.”

5. “The strip to the south of the Ibo block, is physically, divided by a block of Ibo territory, tipped by the important Ibo town of Port Harcourt and tribally divided between the Ijaws and the Ogonis.”

6. “In the whole of this non-Ibo area there is present in varying degree some fear of being over-run, commercially and politically, by the Ibos….. if Ahoada and Port Harcourt, which are really Ibo, are considered with the solid centre of Ibo population, there are 54 seats for the Ibo area and 30 for COR (Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers) in (Eastern Regional House of Assembly).”

THE FEARS AND GRIEVANCES OF MINORITIES

7. “It was suggested (by non-Ibo petitioners) that it was the deliberate object of the Ibo majority in the Region to fill every post with Ibos (in public post and services).….when, however we came to consider specific complaints about the composition of public bodies, we found them in many cases exaggerated or unreasonable.”

8. “The allegation was put forward by counsel (to petitioners) that the Judiciary (when not European) was predominantly Ibo, with the implication that this caused fear among those who are not Ibos. But it was clearly stated in evidence by Dr. Udoma, the leader of UNIP, that no occasion could be adduced of the judiciary acting with partiality. The fact is that the legal profession is largely Ibos and the reasons for this do not seem to be Government action. It is therefore inevitable that there should be an Ibo preponderance among Judges and Magistrates. Further, it is the declared policy of Government that the Judiciary should be federal and this does not indicate a desire to control it. Again, the operation and composition of Public Service Commission here, as in the West, appeared to us in no way open to reproach.”

9. “In the Police, which in this region alone is wholly Federal, the number of Ibos in the higher appointments is not out of proportion to the Ibos in the region. The force is now federally controlled and although there are a large number of Ibos in the lower ranks, this is due to the fact that it has for long been a tradition among the Ibos to offer themselves for recruitment in this force in far greater numbers than any other tribe.”

10. “we noted that in five years, 1952 – 1957, from a total of 412 secondary scholarships, 216 were awarded to persons living in the COR areas, while the figures for post-secondary scholarships were 211 out of 623. The latter is about the right proportion of one-third, the former considerably in excess. It was suggested that scholarships awarded to non-Ibos were of an inferior kind and that the best scholarships went to Ibos, but we were, unable to see that this claim held any validity. On the evidence before us, we conclude that the allegations of discriminations in the matter of scholarships are unjustified.”

11. “It was further suggested that loans by the Eastern Regional Finance Corporation, the Eastern Region Development Board, and the Eastern Region Development Corporation were made with some degree of preference to Ibos. It did appear that most of the loans made by these bodies were to Ibos, but that is not to say that this was necessarily improper. Ibos constitute two thirds of the population of the region and have a bigger share of financial and commercial responsibility than their numbers warrant.”

12. “That there should be modern streetlight in Onitsha, and not Calabar, was also quoted as example of discrimination; it proved however that Onitsha Urban District Council had financed this measure from their own resources.”

13. “The question of land was repeatedly raised, it being resented by the Efiks and Ibibios that the Ibos should acquire land at all in their territory while the methods by which it was obtained were also questioned. There is no doubt that on the Ibo Plateau there is insufficient land for the people and the Ibos ate thrusting outwards where possible they acquire land and use it either for cultivation or building…..This is a matter which will require legislation sooner or later and it will be delicate to handle, but the economic process is in itself healthy and we had little sympathy with a witness who remarked that there is much undeveloped land in district and he was anxious that it should not fall into the hand of the Ibos….We believe that Governments in Nigeria should be careful not to try to protect minorities by introducing measures that would restrict development.”

14. “A group of miscellaneous grievances and charges against the Ibos from Calabar may be treated together; we were told that the Ibos did not observe local customs in the markets….We formed the impression that jealousy of the Ibos successes in the markets was the main factor.”

THE PROPOSAL FOR NEW STATES

15. “The Ogoja state proposed to us would include former Ogoja province, whose population of slightly more than One million include more than 700,000 Ibos…the main intention would be separation from the central body of Ibo population, but in which they will still be linked together with as a minority with their Ibo neighbours in Abakaliki and Afikpo…A majority of evidence we heard from Ogoja was direct that they preferred the present situation to any association with Calabar and that they were at least as much afraid of domination by Efiks and Ibibios as by Ibos.”

16. “The (Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers or COR) state proposed would consist of Calabar, Rivers and Ogoja provinces excluding the two Ibo Divisions of Abakaliki and Afikpo. The population of this area is 2,649,000 and the following would be the five largest tribes:

Ibibio 717,000
Annang 435,000
Ibo 428,000
Ijaw 251,000
Ogoni 156,000

As already explained, the small but important Efik tribe of 71,000…The (COR) area is far from homogenous , and many of the other tribes expressed at least as much fear of the Efiks and Ibibios as of the Ibo. It would leave the Ibos of the Ibo Plateau surrounded by a state whose reason for existence was hostility to themselves: the Ibos are an expanding people…”

17. “The area claimed for Rivers state consists of the whole of the Rivers province, that is: The Division of Brass, Degema, Ogoni, Port Harcourt and Ahoada, together with the Western Ijaw Division from the western region, and two small sections in the Eastern Region from outside the Rivers Province, Opodo and Andoni being one, Ndoki the other.”

18. “Port Harcourt is an Ibo town and it is growing rapidly and the indigenous branch of the Ibos who are original inhabitants are already out-numbered by Ibos from the hinterland.”

19. “The people of Ahoada, a Division of which a pan runs down to meet Port Harcourt, appear at one time to have favoured the idea of a Rivers state, but have changed their views and before us expressed themselves as strongly against it. Comparatively few of them live in the low-lying swampy country of the coastal strip and they have voted for the NCNC consistently, they said themselves that a main factor in their change of front had been the inclusion if the Western Ijaws in the proposed state. So long, they said, as the Rivers state was to consist of the River Province only, the Ibos would have been the most numerous tribe within it: but the inclusion of the Western Ijaw Division put them at a numerical disadvantage beside the Ijaws and they therefore preferred to stay out. Whether or not this was a line of reasoning that really had a wide appeal, the fact remain that before us they were opposed to the idea of the state. This is not surprising because their problems are different from those of the ijaws.”

Is like every NIGERIAN HOME now produces at least ONE MAD BEING in a generation..

With this PREVALENCE, I think MADNESS will abound everywhere in NIGERIA...just very soon.

SE is pure igboland...... We have nothing in common with SS! We don't want to be betrayed again.

knowledgeable:



Yoruba crap. That region was created by Gowan right after the war

crap.rivers and cross rivers wia both created on may 27 1967 before d war.

modhream:

The term "South-south" was coined by Ekwueme at the 1995 Constitutional conference to give name to what has already bn put in play by the Nigerian state,not some nebulous "SS leaders" to differentiate anything.Get your facts right.

.

Thank u for correcting me. But was he not actively supported by the SS leaders? Or did he put a gun on their head?

Now Ekwueme does not sound like a Yoruba/Fulani/Hausa name to me. So what is the point of the op? Or are u suggesting that a gun was also put on Ekwueme's head?

There's no ethnic propanganda, the present day SS simply wants to be free from any domineering either frm d Western side or present day SE. And tht sentiment is still very much in place although a little toned down cos of GEJ.

Bull crap article. Why do some people from a certain region always believe others are always plotting against them? That mindset is what keeps them as second class citizens. We are one, operate that way, and stop thinking you have to always do and say things that would favor you and "your people" and we will all live in peace and harmony.

So no more south south again? We can now call them s.east,I pity the ss people very soon the ibo people will claim ur land,if they can go as far as claiming Lagos and Abuja then their neighbour shouldn't be that difficult

new2020:


What's eating you up at any mention of SE and SS reunification? Yorubas seem to lose every sense of reason and inflicted with paranoia subcontiously at any mention of this topic. People like you are not needed in this thread. Get your yoruba arse off from here...mind your effing business. Your tactics of division to continue to suck our oil dry are over. Let we SS and our SE brothers discuss our fate. The former generation may have made a grave mistake in hindsight however this generation including myself believe in one unified East made of SS and SE...

Shut your trap. This is a public forum. Whenever you post your lies just because of selfish myopic reasons, someone will always be around the corner to correct it. The SW is richly blessed with human resources, crude oil, bitumen, timber, cocoa, gold, granite, aquatic resources, and other food resources. We don't care about your nonsense fixation on crude oil.

We don't do attaché by force.

Thk u Dr Good luck EbeLe jonathan, u brought d SS and SE together again and for that,I am utmost grateful. My south south brethern, let's live and work together again in peace and unity. United we stand and divided we fall, give me your hand lets walk together, I know I can't stop d storm but I will weather it with you.