Obiagu1:

There's no indigenous Yoruba group in Niger Delta except Itsekiri.

The news said Yoruba not itsekiris. Itsekiris are known as Itsekiris in Nigeria.
No stats or source that can prove Yorubs are not in ND. Yorubas are even in Igboland and Hausaland.

Ileke-IdI:

There's no place you wont find a Yoruba man in Nigeria.

Yo don't find them anywhere except in Nigerian cities. I remember doing a project in Cross River some years back, and I never saw any Yoruba there except in Calabar, where they are less than 300 people.

Obiagu1:

There's no indigenous Yoruba group in Niger Delta except Itsekiri.

wrong, akoko edo in edo state and apoi ijaw which the ijaws now say they are no longer ijaw because they support yorubas. go to the thread

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-707046.0.html

Until people understand the quiet migration of the Yorubaman, I'd try not to underestimate their population.

abadaba:

Yo don't find them anywhere except in Nigerian cities. I remember doing a project in Cross River some years back, and I never saw any Yoruba there except in Calabar, where they are less than 300 people.

Just because you didnt see them, doesnt mean they're not there. Just try to open your eyes next time.

abadaba:

Yo don't find them anywhere except in Nigerian cities. I remember doing a project in Cross River some years back, and I never saw any Yoruba there except in Calabar, where they are less than 300 people.

then that is an ignorant statement because u can not go asking people if they are yoruba or not

alj_harem:

wrong, akoko edo in edo state and apoi ijaw which the ijaws now say they are no longer ijaw because they support yorubas. go to the thread

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-707046.0.html

Akoko Edo people are not Yorubas. Even the Akoko in Ondo are Edos mostly.

i am sure you do not know that 30% of niger state is yoruba speaking such as tafa

abadaba:

Akoko Edo people are not Yorubas. Even the Akoko in Ondo are Edos mostly.

as i said earlier the ijaws claim them just as they claim awori and ilaje and now the ijaws are complaining about akoko ijaw and the yoruba agenda

read the link please and don't waste my time

alj_harem:

as i said earlier the ijaws claim them just as they claim awori and ilaje and now the ijaws are complaining about akoko ijaw and the yoruba agenda

read the link please and don't waste my time

Those groups east of Ore are not Yorubas. In Ondo state, Yorubas are in majority with 63%.

abadaba:

Those groups east of Ore are not Yorubas. In Ondo state, Yorubas are in majority with 63%.

have you read the link at all

did dokubo not say " the edo, akoko edo, itsekiri, apoi ijaw are the ones putting yoruba interset forward in the ND and transport everything to lagos"

did you read at all

if you have not read it don't wast my time

ok read some more here

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hTs6GpM4zDMC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=igbo+tribalism&source=bl&ots=bQ4HTMEmsP&sig=0vbySayV0R5egqam1oOlK_KCRu4&hl=en&ei=gfsUTuDgBc6n8QPKyO37Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=igbo%20tribalism&f=false

alj_harem:

have you read the link at all

did dokubo not say " the edo, akoko edo, itsekiri, apoi ijaw are the ones putting yoruba interset forward in the ND and transport everything to lagos"

did you read at all

if you have not read it don't wast my time

What ever the case, do not let Physics RMD catch you proclaim that Akoko Edo are Yorubas. In actuality, Akoko in Ondo should be ceded to Edo state to join their Edo kinsmen.

abadaba:

What ever the case, do not let Physics RMD catch you proclaim that Akoko Edo are Yorubas. In actuality, Akoko in Ondo should be ceded to Edo state to join their Edo kinsmen.

do you know akoko is practical ekiti dialect

alj_harem:

do you know akoko is practical ekiti dialect

It does not matter, they should be returned to where they originally belong to. It's high time they are ceded to Edo state. Oh, where is Physics today?.

chino11

Anuofia mention the names of those that worked harder than the Great Zik in the actualization of Nigerian Independence?Huh?   Onye ara I hope you will not mention that un-recognized, treasonable crook Awalawo who out of envy tried to over-throw the FG. Zik's burial site belongs to the FG, that is why they are sinking millions to build Ziks Mausoleum in Onitsha Anambra state. The same way they are building his birth place in Niger state. Aren't you ashamed that FG have not done anything to immortalize your lazy and uneducated 'leaders' Awalaowo?Huh?? Your talking nonsense, I asked you why have Nigerian gov continue to honour a non-achiever?Huh Until you answer that question will continue to remain an .

This is why ignorant illiterates like you need to stay out of intellectual conversations.

It's very hard to participate without adequate and basic knowledge of your own history and the history of Nigeria hence the ignorant assertions by many ibo olodos on NL.

The father of Nationalism was Herbert Macaulay and Herbert and others fought for our independence.

Our freedom fighters such as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, Ivan Ikoku, Herbert Macaulay, Mokwugo Okoye and Anthony Enahoro etc fought to win independence for us

http://www.deannepal.org/has-nigeria-fared-better-in-the-hands-of-the-british-colonial-government-than-crop-of-its-indigenous-rulers.htm

The quote below shows Ziks corrupt and sad history as a public official.

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe lived to witness the civil war, series of military coups, downturn economy, electoral malpractices and finally in his dying years, evidences that a section of the country may well not enable the rest to have a share in the leadership of the nation.

http://www.deannepal.org/has-nigeria-fared-better-in-the-hands-of-the-british-colonial-government-than-crop-of-its-indigenous-rulers.htm

I laugh in igbotic, some weeds are claiming that Tinubu did not like Awo. Sure stvpidity.

abadaba:

It does not matter, they should be returned to where they originally belong to. It's high time they are ceded to Edo state. Oh, where is Physics today?.

playing the devils avocates

so lagos, ondo, and ekiti should go to edo state. for what

Hehe.

Andre Uweh, the resident expert on Yoruba affairs.

Anyway, Akoko Edo in Edo State appears to be a collection of Yoruba language speakers who used to speak some other languages. So that territory, if linguistics is used as the criterion for borders should probably be in Ondo.

Akoko in Ondo is purely Yoruba, though.

Eko Ile:


This is why ignorant illiterates like you need to stay out of intellectual conversations.

It's very hard to participate without adequate and basic knowledge of your own history and the history of Nigeria hence the ignorant assertions by many ibo olodos on NL.

The father of Nationalism was Herbert Macaulay and Herbert and others fought for our independence.


The quote below shows Ziks corrupt and sad history as a public official.

this guy be careful you will get some jabs that might make you become more igbo hater than [b]AWOLAWO y[/b]ou think you get mouth dick head!!

abadaba:

Jokes apart, Awo is the most insulted Nigerian leader. You hardly hear of any one saying how other Nigerian leaders comitted suicide apart from Awo. Oh my God, but why did he do that. Anyway, am not happy the way even school kids insult him with ease. They should insult Abacha, Gowon and Buhari more. I like Awo.

that is the END result bro

GOD lord have mercy is it true he died in his bath when the OTA KPIA KPIA sink inside his belly AND THEY STILL KEEP IT IS GOOD TO KEEP THING LIKE THIS FOR REMINDER/EVIDENCE,

Written by Emeka Njoku

http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2009/apr/071.html

Zik held many prominent positions in Nigeria and was well known internationally. However, he did not make any difference either to the Igbo or Nigeria. Positions, titles and popularity are not leadership. I am always told that someone is a leader but when I ask this key leadership question: what difference did someone make, I usually get a different picture. Igbo people in particular , Nigerians and Africans in general must be extremely careful in celebrating title or position holders or rulers or misleaders as leaders.

This article has been a wake up calls to Igbo people, Nigerians and Africans to stop calling as leaders those selfish ego-driven ambitious politicians and power elite who sacrificed collective interests for personal interests. Rulers, position and title holders or being famous are not leaders unless they transform themselves into one by character development especially integrity, service above self , and making a positive difference to the people. Misleaders found abundantly in Igboland, Nigeria and Africa are obviously not leaders. "Beautiful Bride" such as Zik who is available for the highest bidder is a harlot( President Shehu Shagari's word supported by Emeka) not a leader.

The quote above reflects exactly what we are witnessing on NL today. What a sad shame

alj_harem:

do you know akoko is practical ekiti dialect

Which one?

My mom and Dad's Ekiti dialects are different. Dialect upon dialect I tell ya. Confusing.

In Praise of  “Zik of Africa” On His 100th Birthday (Posthumously)

By

Mobolaji E. Aluko
alukome@comcast.net



November 16,  2004



INTRODUCTION

If Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe had been alive today, he would have turned 100 on this blessed day of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

Posthumous birthday felicitations to him!

So I use the occasion to rise to toast Zik  and once again reflect on him – on his contribution to Nigeria, but particularly to the Igbos, right from when Zik allegedly stowed away to the United States in 1925, returned to Africa in 1934 and to Nigeria in 1937,  and became Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor-General in 1960, and its first (non-executive) President in 1963.

I fully assert that next to God Almighty himself, Zik gave the Igbos the self-esteem that they rightly have today, for without Zik's personal assertiveness and inspiration in education, I fear that the Igbos would not be where they were today!  God may have raised some body else up for the Igbos, but He chose to raise Zik up, and Zik did a darn good job of it.


THE EARLY YEARS

I will begin by "cutting and pasting" a little.   While reading, please recall that Zik was born in 1904 and Obafemi Awolowo in 1909, to give context to the chronological and cultural milieu into which they were both born:  they are both inextricably tied up with each other in the context of Nigeria’s history.


QUOTE

J.S. Coleman:  Nigeria: Background to Nationalism" (1985)  Broburg and Wistrom, Benin City, Katriheneholm

Iboland is one of the most densely populated rural areas in the world.  In some places the density is more than 1,000 persons to the square mile.  Moreover, the soil is comparatively poor.  As a result, in the past the Ibo expanded territorially and exported to other areas large numbers of seasonal laborers and even semi-permanent residents.  In fact, the Ibo were expanding territorially in many directions at the time of the British intrusion.  Since then this outward thrust has continued and has been the source of anti-Ibo feeling among the tribes bordering Iboland (for example, the Igala, the Idoma, the Tiv, and even the Ibibio.)  The Nigerian historian Dike argues that "perhaps the most important factor conditioning Ibo history in the nineteenth century and in our own time is land hunger,  The Ibos pressing against limited land resources had, of necessity, to seek other avenues of livelihood outside the tribal boundaries."  British policy has been, in effect, one of containment, mainly by supporting the peripheral tribes through land regulations designed to halt Ibo expansion.  But this policy did not prevent Ibos from migrating to other areas, particularly Yorubaland, to work as farm laborers or as servants and unskilled workers.

UNQUOTE


The above are the facts in history, despite some of their jarring nature.  Part of the angst between the Igbos and other ethnic groups in Nigeria, particularly the Yoruba, is the early perception of the Igbos as originally "farm laborers or as servants and unskilled workers", but who, as time has gone by, have transcended such lowly occupations and have gone on to greater things in the life of both their new residences as well as the country.  There is residual resentment on all sides - and still defensiveness on all sides.


QUOTE

Ibid

After British pacification, individual Ibo colonizers steadily drifted to other areas.  During the forty-year period 1911-1951, the number of Ibos in Lagos increased from 264 to 26,000.  In the Northern Provinces there were less than 3,000 Ibos in 1921, and nearly 12,000 in 1931;  by 1951 the number had increased to more than 120,000, excluding settled Ibo minorities along the boundary between Eastern and Western regions.  These figures become more meaningful when it is realized that most of the Ibo immigrants gravitated to the urban centers where wage employment could be obtained.  By the end of World War II Ibo clerks, artisans, traders, and laborers constitution a sizable minority group in every urban center of Nigeria and the Cameroons,
Table 9



UNQUOTE


Note that a hundred times increase in  population in Lagos alone and forty times increase in the Northern provinces of the Igbos within a 40-year period  cannot but  have brought its social problems both to the immigrants and the original "settlers."  It also must be recalled that Nigeria was still a "colony" ruled by the British, and not a "country" ruled by Nigerians yet as we know it today - that was to wait till 1960 - so a feeling of "Nigerianism" was not really as rampant as a feeling of "Anti-Colonialism" - or even of "African-ness".


QUOTE

Ibid

As a consequence of the comparative lack of opportunity in their homeland, and other factors to be noted subsequently, the Ibos embraced Western education with great enthusiasm and determination.  Christian missions were welcomed, and encouraged to set up schools in Iboland.  Village improvement unions sponsored scholarships, and Ibo students flocked to secondary schools in what is now the Western Region.  By the late 1930's the Ibo were more heavily represented than any other tribe or nationality in Yaba Higher College and in most Nigerian secondary schools.  Thenceforward the number of Ibos appointed to the African civil service and as clerks in business firms increased at a faster rate than that of any other group.  By 1945 the gap between Yorubas and Ibos was virtually closed.  Increasing numbers of Ibo barristers and doctors began to arrive from England.  By 1952 the number of Ibos (115) enrolled at University College, Ibadan, was nearly equal to the number of Yorubas (118).  The influx of Ibos into the towns of the west and the north and their rapid educational development, which made them competitors for jobs and professional positions, were two indicators of their emergence as an active group in Nigerian affairs.

UNQUOTE

Let us reflect a little here:  The Igbo Union was established in 1937, and Zik became its president in 1946; the Nigerian Youth Movement was established 1937 and broke up effectively in 1941 after some altercations between Zik and Awolowo over Akinsanya and Ernest Okoli.  The National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroons (NCNC) was established in 1944 as a counterpoise to NYM (first president was Herbert Macaulay, with Zik becoming president when HM died in 1946) and the Egbe Omo Yoruba was formed (by Obafemi Awolowo and co.) in London in 1945 , and imported to Nigeria in 1948.  The Action Group was formed in 1951, discussions of which began secretly in 1950; this was quickly followed by a re-organization of the NCNC,  and the formation of NPC as political parties.  All of this was happening within the time period of the expansion of the Igbo population in Nigeria and particularly in the heartland of the Yoruba.

Zik was clearly at this time in the thick of engaging the Igbos to be major national players.


ZIK AND EARLY EDUCATIONAL IGBO INSPIRATION - AND THE AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION CONNECTION


Before Zik came onto the scene in Nigeria between 1934-37, there was absolutely no Igbo person of note who impacted on ANYTHING going on in Nigeria.  NONE, I mean no one with a clearly identifiable Igbo name!  None.

Then in 1934, Zik, barely  30 years old, started pulling his weight, along with Herbert Macaulay, a Yoruba, who by that time was 74 years old!  There were of course other Yoruba (Sapara Williams, Adeniyi-Jones, Solanke, Alakija, Jibowu, Samuel Akinsanya, HO Davies, etc.) like Macaulay, but Zik was the only Igbo around to begin to pull his weight!

So Zik was the psychological break-through for Igbos among the educated elites  in Nigeria that had to begin to see the Igbos as intellectual equals.  That was a BIG AND HUGE contribution of Zik to the Igbos which is lasting and nobody can take that away from him.

What else did Zik do for the Igbos early on?  He began for Nigeria, but also particularly for Igbos, an AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE as a counterweight to the neo-colonial BRITISH education which permeated Nigerian - and particularly Yoruba western education.

Let me "cut and paste" again, again recalling that Zik returned from the US to Ghana (then Gold Coast) in 1934, and settled back in Nigeria in 1937:


QUOTE

ibid  p 242 ff

Until 1938 only twenty Nigerians, including Eyo Ita and Nnamdi Azikiwe,had gone to the United States to study.  Most of these pioneers had been sent by missionary societies for religious studies; none of these religious students, except Ita, had returned as active nationalists.  In 1938 twelve Nigerians sailed for America, and not until 1945 did others join them.  Of these twelve, three men were Ibibios sent for higher studies by the Ibibio State Union, and eight were Ibos who had been under the influence of Azikiwe.  Eleven of the twelve went to Lincoln University, Azikiwe's Alma Mater.  The Nigerian students were joined at Lincoln by three Gold Coastians, also inspired by Azikiwe, and a few students from Sierra Leone.  These Africans, educated in America during the war, have been leading figures in postwar nationalism on the West Coast,
Three of the NIgerian students (Mbonu Ojike, Nwafor Orizu, and Ozuomba Mbadiwe - all Ibos) made lecture tours of the United States, and published one or more books each.  Their writings were the first contribution to Nigerian nationalist literature since Azikiwe's "Renascent Africa."  Upon their returne to Nigeria these three became crusaders for American practical - or what Orizu called "horizontal" - education, as contrasted to British literary ("vertical" tradition.  Their agitation in behalf of American education, couple with Azikiwe's great success, was one of the principal reasons for the post-war migration of hundreds of Nigerians to America.  Their propagation of the American educational ideal and their positive nationalism contributed to the antipathy of both the British and the British-educated Nigerians towards American education and American-educated Nigerians.
UNQUOTE

So those of us who are enjoying the US higher education TODAY have Zik, Ojike (who unfortunately died in 1957), Orizu (who was Senate President when the 1966 coup occurred) and Mbadiwe (the colorful Mbadiwe, man of “timber and caliber”) for early acceptance of our American education.  Of course, recognizing that Awo had a British education (going for further “adult” studies in 1944, at the ripe age of 35), the "antipathy" between them might also have this educational dichotomy element in it.

But there was to be more,


ZIK IN INDIGENOUS HIGHER EDUCATION

QUOTE

p. 245ff.

Analysis of the ethnic origins of Nigerians who have studied in the United States during the past three decades reveals a striking predominance of Ibos.  Although the Ibo peoples constitute no more than 17 percent of the total population of Nigeria, until the late 1940s more than two-thirds of the Nigerian students in the United States were Ibos.  As the figures in Table 19 shows, the Ibos were still in the majority as late as 1954

---------------------

Table 19  Ethnic Origin of Nigerian Students in the United States*



*Because numbers have been calculated from lists of names, they are only approximations.  "Others and unknowns" may possibly include several Yoruba who retained their Anglicized names.  The Efiks and Ibibios are counted togehter because it is difficult in most instances for a non-Efik or a non-Ibibio to distinguish between Efik and Ibibio names.

** Nnamdi Azikiwe

---------------------


There are several reasons for the Ibo predominance.  One was the strong influence of Azikiwe, Ojike Mbadiwe, and Orizu, who were among the first-university-educated Ibos and who consciously sought to popularize the virtues of American education.  Indeed, Mbadiwe and Orizu fostered scholarship schemes designed to send Nigerian students to America, and most of the successful candidates were Ibos.  In contrast, most of the older-generation Yorubas had been educated in the United Kingdom, and the later generation tended to adhere to that tradition.  In addition, by 1945, the Ibos were the upcoming group, and the number of Ibos in British universities may well have equaled or exceeded the number of Yorubas.  For by the late 1940s the number of Ibos with a secondary school education, a prerequisite for university training, actually exceeded the number of Yorubas with a similar qualification.  In any event, the preference of Yorubas for British education and of Ibos for American education, coupled with militant Ibo claims of the superiority of American education and of the easier-to-get America degrees, has exacerbated Yoruba-Ibo tension.  As table  19 indicates, however, the differential is rapidly changing.

UNQUOTE

So the influence of Zik in Igbo education in Nigeria was phenomenal, and the competition it engendered with the Yoruba too was helpful to the Yoruba.

It was most likely that Awolowo, thorough man that he was, seeing all of these numbers and developments, with the rampaging quartet of Zik, Orizu, Ojike and Mbadiwe, decided that something drastic had to be done in and for Yorubaland if the Yoruba were not to be completely overwhelmed in the country.  This was not to stop Zik and his cohorts, but rather to ensure that the Yoruba began more consciously and systematically to pull their own weight.

Finally, as one of the many "quid quo pros" to becoming Governor-General of Nigeria in alliance with the NPC, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe negotiated the establishment of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to start October 1960, with the help of Michigan State University, East Lansing as the first "indigenous" university in Nigeria (UI established in January 1948 started as a college of the University of London)

QUOTE

University Development in Africa - The Nigerian Experience
by Chukwuemeka Ike, OUP, 1976,pp 9 ff


Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who founded Nsukka almost as an antidote to Ibadan, appears also to have been influenced by the Ibadan pattern of development, The University of Nigeria was ceremonially opened on October 7, 1960, as part of the week-long celebrations marking the attainment of political independence by Nigeria on October 1, 1960.  The university was fully autonomous, with the power to grant its own degrees.Technically speaking, therefore, it became the first fully-fledged university in Nigeria, since Ibadan was still at that time a university college granting London degrees.  It also became the first university established by a Nigerian Regional Government,

In the same year, the Report of the Commission on Post-School Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria (popularly known as the Ashby report) was released.  The commission recommended, inter alia, the establishment of three universities in addition to Ibadan - one in Lagos, one at Zaria in Northern Nigeria (on the site of the Northern branch of the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology) and the third the University of Nigeria which had already been planned by the Eastern Nigeria Government.  Each of the three existing Regions would thus have located in it one centre of higher education, with a fourth university in Lagos,

, Ahmadu Bello University was officially opened in October 1962.  The Western Nigeria Government pressed ahead with its plans to build its own regional university, even though such a university was not among those proposed by the Ashby Commission.  The Federal Governement yielded to the pressure and made available to the Western Nigeria Government the site and assets of the Ibadan branch of the Nigerian College (which were to have been turned over to the University College, Ibadan.)  The University of Ife began to offer classes in October 1962, though the political misfortunes which beset Western Nigeria in the same year prevented the university from making any significant impact until a change of leadership in 1966 provided rays of hope.

Following the Report of the Unesco Advisory Commission for the Establishment of the University of Lagos (Paris, Unesco, 1961), the University of Lagos came into being in 1962 as the second Federal university institution, Ahmadu Bello and Ife being, like Nsukka, regional universities receiving part of their support from the Federal Government. The Enugu branch of the Nigerian College was turned over to Nsukka as a second campus instead of being converted into a full-scale university.

Thus within a space of two years from the date the country attained independence, four brand new universities were established, each empowered to grant degrees.  Ibadan, the oldest university institution, cut its umbilical ord with London in October 1962, becoming the University of Ibadan.  In July 1965, it turned out the first graduates holding Ibadan (rather than London) degrees, by which time Nsukka had produced two crops of graduates and taken all the publicity for turning out the first graduates of an autonomous Nigerian university,

Nsukka has been the most controversial university in Nigeria.  Many within and outside Ibadan were infuriated by its immodest choice of the name : University of Nigeria, a name which Mellamby (then VC of Ibadan) claimed in his "Birth of Nigeria's University" he had tried unsuccessfully to give to Ibadan in its early years,


UNQUOTE

All of the above was due to Zik - Nsukka's pride, the country's pride.  It also served as the motivation for Awolowo in the Western Region  to INSIST on setting up the University of Ife for the Western Region, despite the presence of Ibadan and Lagos FEDERAL universities.


EPILOGUE

In conclusion, it is not a stretch to conclude from all the above that the Igbos OWE a lot of their self-esteem in Nigeria to Zik.  Nigerian higher education also owes a lot to Zik.  I also firmly believe that iron sharpened iron when it came to Zik and Awo:  Awolowo respected Zik FULLY for that visionary aspect of this contemporary of his, despite the mutual distrust that they had for each other throughout their lives.

I have deliberately played down Zik’s contribution to Nigeria’s independence in 1960, because he had a lot of fellow contributors.  I have also played down his contributions from 1960 till he died on May 11, 1996,  because he does come in for a lot of criticisms for those later years – and we don’t wish to talk ill of the dead, certainly not on his birthday.

So on this his 100th birthday, let us all rise to toast Zik of Africa, of Nigeria, of Ndigbo and of Owelle!

Best wishes all.


This is the site you all quote all the time when it is time to bash Igbo,
http://www.dawodu.com/aluko101.htm

Eko Ile:


This is why ignorant illiterates like you need to stay out of intellectual conversations.

It's very hard to participate without adequate and basic knowledge of your own history and the history of Nigeria hence the ignorant assertions by many ibo olodos on NL.

The father of Nationalism was Herbert Macaulay and Herbert and others fought for our independence.


The quote below shows Ziks corrupt and sad history as a public official.

Hahahaha, You so much a fool,
Now get it, Was Awolowo corrupt? Yes or No?

henry101:

Hahahaha, You so much a fool,
Now get it, Was Awolowo corrupt? Yes or No?

Yes he was but in some sense his corruption really helped his people to be big players in the finaicial market today because he used egba omo oduadua to invest in upcoming banks and oil companies back then

Ileke-IdI:

Which one?

My mom and Dad's Ekiti dialects are different. Dialect upon dialect I tell ya. Confusing.

sorry saw it quite late

igede area. i can not pin point the exact people

http://www.uniben.edu/sites/default/files/inaugural_lectures/uniben-23rd-inaugural-lect-by-igbafe.p.a.pdf

henry101:

In Praise of  “Zik of Africa” On His 100th Birthday (Posthumously)

By

Mobolaji E. Aluko
alukome@comcast.net



November 16,  2004



INTRODUCTION

If Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe had been alive today, he would have turned 100 on this blessed day of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

Posthumous birthday felicitations to him!

So I use the occasion to rise to toast Zik  and once again reflect on him – on his contribution to Nigeria, but particularly to the Igbos, right from when Zik allegedly stowed away to the United States in 1925, returned to Africa in 1934 and to Nigeria in 1937,  and became Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor-General in 1960, and its first (non-executive) President in 1963.

I fully assert that next to God Almighty himself, Zik gave the Igbos the self-esteem that they rightly have today, for without Zik's personal assertiveness and inspiration in education, I fear that the Igbos would not be where they were today!  God may have raised some body else up for the Igbos, but He chose to raise Zik up, and Zik did a darn good job of it.


THE EARLY YEARS

I will begin by "cutting and pasting" a little.   While reading, please recall that Zik was born in 1904 and Obafemi Awolowo in 1909, to give context to the chronological and cultural milieu into which they were both born:  they are both inextricably tied up with each other in the context of Nigeria’s history.


QUOTE

J.S. Coleman:  Nigeria: Background to Nationalism" (1985)  Broburg and Wistrom, Benin City, Katriheneholm

Iboland is one of the most densely populated rural areas in the world.  In some places the density is more than 1,000 persons to the square mile.  Moreover, the soil is comparatively poor.  As a result, in the past the Ibo expanded territorially and exported to other areas large numbers of seasonal laborers and even semi-permanent residents.  In fact, the Ibo were expanding territorially in many directions at the time of the British intrusion.  Since then this outward thrust has continued and has been the source of anti-Ibo feeling among the tribes bordering Iboland (for example, the Igala, the Idoma, the Tiv, and even the Ibibio.)  The Nigerian historian Dike argues that "perhaps the most important factor conditioning Ibo history in the nineteenth century and in our own time is land hunger,  The Ibos pressing against limited land resources had, of necessity, to seek other avenues of livelihood outside the tribal boundaries."  British policy has been, in effect, one of containment, mainly by supporting the peripheral tribes through land regulations designed to halt Ibo expansion.  But this policy did not prevent Ibos from migrating to other areas, particularly Yorubaland, to work as farm laborers or as servants and unskilled workers.

UNQUOTE


The above are the facts in history, despite some of their jarring nature.  Part of the angst between the Igbos and other ethnic groups in Nigeria, particularly the Yoruba, is the early perception of the Igbos as originally "farm laborers or as servants and unskilled workers", but who, as time has gone by, have transcended such lowly occupations and have gone on to greater things in the life of both their new residences as well as the country.  There is residual resentment on all sides - and still defensiveness on all sides.


QUOTE

Ibid

After British pacification, individual Ibo colonizers steadily drifted to other areas.  During the forty-year period 1911-1951, the number of Ibos in Lagos increased from 264 to 26,000.  In the Northern Provinces there were less than 3,000 Ibos in 1921, and nearly 12,000 in 1931;  by 1951 the number had increased to more than 120,000, excluding settled Ibo minorities along the boundary between Eastern and Western regions.  These figures become more meaningful when it is realized that most of the Ibo immigrants gravitated to the urban centers where wage employment could be obtained.  By the end of World War II Ibo clerks, artisans, traders, and laborers constitution a sizable minority group in every urban center of Nigeria and the Cameroons,
Table 9



UNQUOTE


Note that a hundred times increase in  population in Lagos alone and forty times increase in the Northern provinces of the Igbos within a 40-year period  cannot but  have brought its social problems both to the immigrants and the original "settlers."  It also must be recalled that Nigeria was still a "colony" ruled by the British, and not a "country" ruled by Nigerians yet as we know it today - that was to wait till 1960 - so a feeling of "Nigerianism" was not really as rampant as a feeling of "Anti-Colonialism" - or even of "African-ness".


QUOTE

Ibid

As a consequence of the comparative lack of opportunity in their homeland, and other factors to be noted subsequently, the Ibos embraced Western education with great enthusiasm and determination.  Christian missions were welcomed, and encouraged to set up schools in Iboland.  Village improvement unions sponsored scholarships, and Ibo students flocked to secondary schools in what is now the Western Region.  By the late 1930's the Ibo were more heavily represented than any other tribe or nationality in Yaba Higher College and in most Nigerian secondary schools.  Thenceforward the number of Ibos appointed to the African civil service and as clerks in business firms increased at a faster rate than that of any other group.  By 1945 the gap between Yorubas and Ibos was virtually closed.  Increasing numbers of Ibo barristers and doctors began to arrive from England.  By 1952 the number of Ibos (115) enrolled at University College, Ibadan, was nearly equal to the number of Yorubas (118).  The influx of Ibos into the towns of the west and the north and their rapid educational development, which made them competitors for jobs and professional positions, were two indicators of their emergence as an active group in Nigerian affairs.

UNQUOTE

Let us reflect a little here:  The Igbo Union was established in 1937, and Zik became its president in 1946; the Nigerian Youth Movement was established 1937 and broke up effectively in 1941 after some altercations between Zik and Awolowo over Akinsanya and Ernest Okoli.  The National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroons (NCNC) was established in 1944 as a counterpoise to NYM (first president was Herbert Macaulay, with Zik becoming president when HM died in 1946) and the Egbe Omo Yoruba was formed (by Obafemi Awolowo and co.) in London in 1945 , and imported to Nigeria in 1948.  The Action Group was formed in 1951, discussions of which began secretly in 1950; this was quickly followed by a re-organization of the NCNC,  and the formation of NPC as political parties.  All of this was happening within the time period of the expansion of the Igbo population in Nigeria and particularly in the heartland of the Yoruba.

Zik was clearly at this time in the thick of engaging the Igbos to be major national players.


ZIK AND EARLY EDUCATIONAL IGBO INSPIRATION - AND THE AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION CONNECTION


Before Zik came onto the scene in Nigeria between 1934-37, there was absolutely no Igbo person of note who impacted on ANYTHING going on in Nigeria.  NONE, I mean no one with a clearly identifiable Igbo name!  None.

Then in 1934, Zik, barely  30 years old, started pulling his weight, along with Herbert Macaulay, a Yoruba, who by that time was 74 years old!  There were of course other Yoruba (Sapara Williams, Adeniyi-Jones, Solanke, Alakija, Jibowu, Samuel Akinsanya, HO Davies, etc.) like Macaulay, but Zik was the only Igbo around to begin to pull his weight!

So Zik was the psychological break-through for Igbos among the educated elites  in Nigeria that had to begin to see the Igbos as intellectual equals.  That was a BIG AND HUGE contribution of Zik to the Igbos which is lasting and nobody can take that away from him.

What else did Zik do for the Igbos early on?  He began for Nigeria, but also particularly for Igbos, an AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE as a counterweight to the neo-colonial BRITISH education which permeated Nigerian - and particularly Yoruba western education.

Let me "cut and paste" again, again recalling that Zik returned from the US to Ghana (then Gold Coast) in 1934, and settled back in Nigeria in 1937:


QUOTE

ibid  p 242 ff

Until 1938 only twenty Nigerians, including Eyo Ita and Nnamdi Azikiwe,had gone to the United States to study.  Most of these pioneers had been sent by missionary societies for religious studies; none of these religious students, except Ita, had returned as active nationalists.  In 1938 twelve Nigerians sailed for America, and not until 1945 did others join them.  Of these twelve, three men were Ibibios sent for higher studies by the Ibibio State Union, and eight were Ibos who had been under the influence of Azikiwe.  Eleven of the twelve went to Lincoln University, Azikiwe's Alma Mater.  The Nigerian students were joined at Lincoln by three Gold Coastians, also inspired by Azikiwe, and a few students from Sierra Leone.  These Africans, educated in America during the war, have been leading figures in postwar nationalism on the West Coast,
Three of the NIgerian students (Mbonu Ojike, Nwafor Orizu, and Ozuomba Mbadiwe - all Ibos) made lecture tours of the United States, and published one or more books each.  Their writings were the first contribution to Nigerian nationalist literature since Azikiwe's "Renascent Africa."  Upon their returne to Nigeria these three became crusaders for American practical - or what Orizu called "horizontal" - education, as contrasted to British literary ("vertical" tradition.  Their agitation in behalf of American education, couple with Azikiwe's great success, was one of the principal reasons for the post-war migration of hundreds of Nigerians to America.  Their propagation of the American educational ideal and their positive nationalism contributed to the antipathy of both the British and the British-educated Nigerians towards American education and American-educated Nigerians.
UNQUOTE

So those of us who are enjoying the US higher education TODAY have Zik, Ojike (who unfortunately died in 1957), Orizu (who was Senate President when the 1966 coup occurred) and Mbadiwe (the colorful Mbadiwe, man of “timber and caliber”) for early acceptance of our American education.  Of course, recognizing that Awo had a British education (going for further “adult” studies in 1944, at the ripe age of 35), the "antipathy" between them might also have this educational dichotomy element in it.

But there was to be more,


ZIK IN INDIGENOUS HIGHER EDUCATION

QUOTE

p. 245ff.

Analysis of the ethnic origins of Nigerians who have studied in the United States during the past three decades reveals a striking predominance of Ibos.  Although the Ibo peoples constitute no more than 17 percent of the total population of Nigeria, until the late 1940s more than two-thirds of the Nigerian students in the United States were Ibos.  As the figures in Table 19 shows, the Ibos were still in the majority as late as 1954

---------------------

Table 19  Ethnic Origin of Nigerian Students in the United States*



*Because numbers have been calculated from lists of names, they are only approximations.  "Others and unknowns" may possibly include several Yoruba who retained their Anglicized names.  The Efiks and Ibibios are counted togehter because it is difficult in most instances for a non-Efik or a non-Ibibio to distinguish between Efik and Ibibio names.

** Nnamdi Azikiwe

---------------------


There are several reasons for the Ibo predominance.  One was the strong influence of Azikiwe, Ojike Mbadiwe, and Orizu, who were among the first-university-educated Ibos and who consciously sought to popularize the virtues of American education.  Indeed, Mbadiwe and Orizu fostered scholarship schemes designed to send Nigerian students to America, and most of the successful candidates were Ibos.  In contrast, most of the older-generation Yorubas had been educated in the United Kingdom, and the later generation tended to adhere to that tradition.  In addition, by 1945, the Ibos were the upcoming group, and the number of Ibos in British universities may well have equaled or exceeded the number of Yorubas.  For by the late 1940s the number of Ibos with a secondary school education, a prerequisite for university training, actually exceeded the number of Yorubas with a similar qualification.  In any event, the preference of Yorubas for British education and of Ibos for American education, coupled with militant Ibo claims of the superiority of American education and of the easier-to-get America degrees, has exacerbated Yoruba-Ibo tension.  As table  19 indicates, however, the differential is rapidly changing.

UNQUOTE

So the influence of Zik in Igbo education in Nigeria was phenomenal, and the competition it engendered with the Yoruba too was helpful to the Yoruba.

It was most likely that Awolowo, thorough man that he was, seeing all of these numbers and developments, with the rampaging quartet of Zik, Orizu, Ojike and Mbadiwe, decided that something drastic had to be done in and for Yorubaland if the Yoruba were not to be completely overwhelmed in the country.  This was not to stop Zik and his cohorts, but rather to ensure that the Yoruba began more consciously and systematically to pull their own weight.

Finally, as one of the many "quid quo pros" to becoming Governor-General of Nigeria in alliance with the NPC, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe negotiated the establishment of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to start October 1960, with the help of Michigan State University, East Lansing as the first "indigenous" university in Nigeria (UI established in January 1948 started as a college of the University of London)

QUOTE

University Development in Africa - The Nigerian Experience
by Chukwuemeka Ike, OUP, 1976,pp 9 ff


Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who founded Nsukka almost as an antidote to Ibadan, appears also to have been influenced by the Ibadan pattern of development, The University of Nigeria was ceremonially opened on October 7, 1960, as part of the week-long celebrations marking the attainment of political independence by Nigeria on October 1, 1960.  The university was fully autonomous, with the power to grant its own degrees.Technically speaking, therefore, it became the first fully-fledged university in Nigeria, since Ibadan was still at that time a university college granting London degrees.  It also became the first university established by a Nigerian Regional Government,

In the same year, the Report of the Commission on Post-School Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria (popularly known as the Ashby report) was released.  The commission recommended, inter alia, the establishment of three universities in addition to Ibadan - one in Lagos, one at Zaria in Northern Nigeria (on the site of the Northern branch of the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology) and the third the University of Nigeria which had already been planned by the Eastern Nigeria Government.  Each of the three existing Regions would thus have located in it one centre of higher education, with a fourth university in Lagos,

, Ahmadu Bello University was officially opened in October 1962.  The Western Nigeria Government pressed ahead with its plans to build its own regional university, even though such a university was not among those proposed by the Ashby Commission.  The Federal Governement yielded to the pressure and made available to the Western Nigeria Government the site and assets of the Ibadan branch of the Nigerian College (which were to have been turned over to the University College, Ibadan.)  The University of Ife began to offer classes in October 1962, though the political misfortunes which beset Western Nigeria in the same year prevented the university from making any significant impact until a change of leadership in 1966 provided rays of hope.

Following the Report of the Unesco Advisory Commission for the Establishment of the University of Lagos (Paris, Unesco, 1961), the University of Lagos came into being in 1962 as the second Federal university institution, Ahmadu Bello and Ife being, like Nsukka, regional universities receiving part of their support from the Federal Government. The Enugu branch of the Nigerian College was turned over to Nsukka as a second campus instead of being converted into a full-scale university.

Thus within a space of two years from the date the country attained independence, four brand new universities were established, each empowered to grant degrees.  Ibadan, the oldest university institution, cut its umbilical ord with London in October 1962, becoming the University of Ibadan.  In July 1965, it turned out the first graduates holding Ibadan (rather than London) degrees, by which time Nsukka had produced two crops of graduates and taken all the publicity for turning out the first graduates of an autonomous Nigerian university,

Nsukka has been the most controversial university in Nigeria.  Many within and outside Ibadan were infuriated by its immodest choice of the name : University of Nigeria, a name which Mellamby (then VC of Ibadan) claimed in his "Birth of Nigeria's University" he had tried unsuccessfully to give to Ibadan in its early years,


UNQUOTE

All of the above was due to Zik - Nsukka's pride, the country's pride.  It also served as the motivation for Awolowo in the Western Region  to INSIST on setting up the University of Ife for the Western Region, despite the presence of Ibadan and Lagos FEDERAL universities.


EPILOGUE

In conclusion, it is not a stretch to conclude from all the above that the Igbos OWE a lot of their self-esteem in Nigeria to Zik.  Nigerian higher education also owes a lot to Zik.  I also firmly believe that iron sharpened iron when it came to Zik and Awo:  Awolowo respected Zik FULLY for that visionary aspect of this contemporary of his, despite the mutual distrust that they had for each other throughout their lives.

I have deliberately played down Zik’s contribution to Nigeria’s independence in 1960, because he had a lot of fellow contributors.  I have also played down his contributions from 1960 till he died on May 11, 1996,  because he does come in for a lot of criticisms for those later years – and we don’t wish to talk ill of the dead, certainly not on his birthday.

So on this his 100th birthday, let us all rise to toast Zik of Africa, of Nigeria, of Ndigbo and of Owelle!

Best wishes all.


This is the site you all quote all the time when it is time to bash Igbo,
http://www.dawodu.com/aluko101.htm

how is this relevant to the question asked

ok don't worry, forget about the question

@henry101


Stop posting these ridiculous and laughable nonsense, millions of Nigerians went the the US and the UK to learn and the same millions achieved way way more than ZIK.

What about providing vision and direction? Both Ahmadu Bello and Awolowo had visions for their people. Both were realistic and visionaries when it came to Nigeria. My admiration of Ahmadu Bello is that he maintained that Nigeria was a 1914 Mistake while Awolowo called it a geographical expression. But Zik in his blind ambition to rule Nigeria pretended otherwise. What would have been the course of history if Zik heeded Ahmadu Bello's perspective ? The Nigeria tragedy would have been avoided!
What about the issue of sacrifice that is so central to leadership.


What sacrifice did Zik make for the Igbo. The record shows the opposite. It is the Igbo that sacrificed greatly for Zik. When he was cheated in the Western House in Ibadan as premier, the Igbo gave him the Eastern premiership in Enugu at the expense of Eyo Ita (a non-Igbo) which caused bad feelings against the Igbo in Eastern Nigeria. The Igbo dutifully campaigned and voted for Zik as "our own person" and tribal loyalty but Zik had no loyalty to anyone except his unbridle political ambition to be the prime minister of Nigeria or president and to be worshipped as "Zik of Africa".





http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2009/apr/071.html

alj_harem:

how is this relevant to the question asked

ok don't worry, forget about the question

yeah when you dont want to read and understand what the content says then you are a fool,
you act like an eediottt all day, digging up stoppoid threads and making fun of Igbo people,
Gowon, muritala, and your demi-gods put together tried in the past with guns and bombs but they didnt succeed. What makes you think you can?
I know you and know exactly what you do. You live a stoopooid fake life.
You ungrateful son of a mallam,
I am waiting for the next igbo topic, if you dnt you will choke and have nightmares about Igbo,
You retarded tribalist,

Eko Ile:

@henry101


Stop posting these ridiculous and laughable nonsense, millions of Nigerians went the the US and the UK to learn and the same millions achieved way way more than ZIK.

lol,
It is now riduculous and laughable nonsense but you posted too,
But dnt dodge my question. Was Awolowo convicted as a corrupt public official?

henry101:

lol,
It is now riduculous and laughable nonsense but you posted too,
But dnt dodge my question. Was Awolowo convicted as a corrupt public official?

A sad reflection of your own lack of anything about the history of Nigeria.



Btw,

What about providing vision and direction? Both Ahmadu Bello and Awolowo had visions for their people. Both were realistic and visionaries when it came to Nigeria. My admiration of Ahmadu Bello is that he maintained that Nigeria was a 1914 Mistake while Awolowo called it a geographical expression. But Zik in his blind ambition to rule Nigeria pretended otherwise. What would have been the course of history if Zik heeded Ahmadu Bello's perspective ? The Nigeria tragedy would have been avoided!
What about the issue of sacrifice that is so central to leadership.


What sacrifice did Zik make for the Igbo. The record shows the opposite. It is the Igbo that sacrificed greatly for Zik. When he was cheated in the Western House in Ibadan as premier, the Igbo gave him the Eastern premiership in Enugu at the expense of Eyo Ita (a non-Igbo) which caused bad feelings against the Igbo in Eastern Nigeria. The Igbo dutifully campaigned and voted for Zik as "our own person" and tribal loyalty but Zik had no loyalty to anyone except his unbridle political ambition to be the prime minister of Nigeria or president and to be worshipped as "Zik of Africa".





http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2009/apr/071.html