I am a Khana. The Khana along with their cousins, the Gokana, Tai and Eleme have, since 1947, been grouped as Ogonis, in the Ogoni Division. Today, the Khana and Gokana are in the Bori Local Government Area, the Tai and Eleme are part of something called Otelga, a hybrid Local Government consisting of the Okrika Ijaws, the Ndoki Igbos and the Tai and Eleme. We belong to Rivers State.

[b]The Ogoni number about 500,000, which makes me an extreme minority in a Nigeria of one hundred million people. The first secondary school in Ogoni country was established one hundred years after the first secondary school in Yorubaland, the CMS Grammar School in Lagos (1858). These two facts alone, in the first instance, establish my pitiable plight. I am unfortunate to be a Nigerian. I would rather not be, but I am doing my level best to be one, and a good one at that. Being a Nigerian means that my brother Nigerian of the Bura ethnic group in Borno State has been told that I am a "Southerner," equal to the Yoruba or Igbos who are numerous, well-educated and are after the jobs which the "northerner" ought to have. I wander, therefore, through the Federal Civil Service and am lost in the competition between "northern" and "Southern" Nigerians, between the Igbo and the Yoruba, between the various clans and religions of the various peoples of Nigeria, between personal ambition and greed. I am lost. I cannot truly answer the name Nigerian. [, ][/b]

I was a graduate student when the cataclysmic events of 1966 happened. Apart from my revulsion at the needless murders of the innocent, nothing upset me more than Ojukwu's dishonest formulations and his attempt to kidnap the Ogoni, among others, into his Igbo empire called "biafra." I knew that he pinned his hopes of the economic viability of "biafra" on the oil of the Ogoni and the Ijaw. I rebelled. I became Secretary of a small committee which met nights in Port Harcourt and issued a communiqué calling on Gowon to create a Rivers State by decree.

When, by sheer quirk of fortune, this happened in 1967, I abandoned family and caution, crossed the fighting lines and found myself in Lagos. There I became a member of something called the Interim Advisory Council of Rivers State and, subsequently, Administrator for Bonny. I returned to the war front and struck up friendships with gentlemen like Sani Bello who comes from Kontagora, Akinrinade from Ife, Obasanjo from Abeokuta, Yakubu Danjuma from Takum, Dan Ato, now deceased, from Bida. I had reason to hope that my nightmare as an Ogoni in Nigeria was about to end.

With the war ended, and as a Commissioner in Rivers State[b], I soon found that the Rivers State for which I had fought did not end my nightmare. In the first place, oil money from Ogoni country (as well as Ijaw country) was being carted away to Lagos, leaving the Ogoni illiterate and backward. This is anti-federalism. Worse still, the Ijaws were taking their frustrations out on the non-Ijaws of the State. For the Ijaws alone number more than the eight other ethnic groups in Rivers State put together. Though historically disunited, the Ijaws find unity when it comes to lording it over the non-Ijaws. The Ijaws will want to perpetuate this. [/b]Today, there is not even a Commission from my Local Government Area in the Rivers State Cabinet such as it is. My dilemma as an Ogoni is not about to end.

Lost in this dreadful nightmare, I went in 1971 to see Chief Awolowo at the Federal Ministry of Finance. There was nothing I told the sage that he was not aware of. He showed me his writings on the issue and bade me seek the mid-Southern State he had proposed in 1966. Thus was the quest for a Port Harcourt State begun. In 1974. When we started, there was no shortage of opponents. To the Ijaws, I became a traitor. [, ] The creation of this State would alleviate my nightmare and show Nigeria how much it has robbed and neglected the Ijaws of the oil-bearing Delta.

So, what do I really want? I want a place where my children can regain the independence which was the Ogoni patrimony before the advent of colonial rule and before Nigeria's independence consigned them to slavery at the hands of their neighbours. I want the option of CHOICE. And I am not begging for it. I DEMAND it. And I also want that option for Hauwa Madugu, the 21-year old Youth Corper in my office. She is a Jenju from Gongola State. So that we can both be better citizens of Nigeria and end our collective nightmare.

[size=14pt]How I wish Awo were still alive! He would have understood. He knew the country well!
[/size]


http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/articles/Awo%20and%20the%20Creation%20of%20States.htm

This is why I keep laughing at those that insult Awolowo!!!
@Onlytruth, this is more evidence to support your claim.


May the great Ken saro wiwa rest in peace.

Jason did you read what rabid Igbo hater said about the Ijaw. The Igbo can only contain the Ijaw in the Niger Delta.

EzeUche:

Jason did you read what rabid Igbo hater said about the Ijaw. The Igbo can only contain the Ijaw in the Niger Delta.

He did not hate the Igbo. He had that feeling about "Ojukwu" not Igbos. But what do you expect?? If the Yorubas or Hausas did the same and included Edo or Kwara respectively in their territory without an agreement, they would have met this same resistance!

Apart from that, I want you to notice how he said Awo understood the situation well. The reason is because You, I and Onlytruth were having this discussion the other day.

bookmarked

jason123:

This is why I keep laughing at those that insult Awolowo!!!
@Onlytruth, this is more evidence to support your claim.


May the great Ken saro wiwa rest in peace.

you have started again, did awo biuild rivers state or ph? where was away when the oil in ogoni land was carted away to lagos or did you not read that part ? just know am ready for this night

Just to respect boundaries, is this a yoruba thread or is it for all?

Saro-Wiwa's Last Statements

Excerpts from Ken Saro-Wiwa's last statement to the court Oct. 31,1995 that sentenced him to death, and from an interview with the Guardian newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria.

Statement to the court: "After all your judgment, convicting me is a mere formality. From the second day of the killing of the fourth prominent Ogoni son, I've been adjudged guilty. "Today is certainly a black day for the black man. In the course of the trial, I have been brutalized, my family almost ruined. I am a man of ideas in and out of prison -- my ideas will live."

Guardian newspaper interview: Saro-Wiwa said he would like to die "in bed, dreaming." "My only regret is that I was ever born a minority in Nigeria." And how would he like his epitaph to read? "Here lies the gentle, sweet man Nigeria loved to cheat. They denied him even in death the normal six feet of earth."

He will always be known as a rabid Igbo hater.

The man forgets that it was Dr. Michael Okpara who developed Port Harcourt.

the Tai and Eleme are part of something called Otelga, a hybrid Local Government consisting of the Okrika Ijaws, the Ndoki Igbos and the Tai and Eleme. We belong to Rivers State.




this people funny shaa they know how to unite the igbos when they want to lodge a complaint .

Chyz*:

Just to respect boundaries, is this a yoruba thread or is it for all?

They always interfere in Eastern affairs. That is why we Igbos fight.

bashr4:

you have started again, did awo biuild rivers state or ph? w[b]here was away when the oil in ogoni land was carted away to lagos or did you not read that part[/b] ? just know am ready for this night

I highlighted that part also. There was no partiality in my highlights. I brought out this thread to discuss and finalise the issues Ezeuche, Onlytruth and I were discussing the other day . . .

Chyz*:

Just to respect boundaries, is this a yoruba thread or is it for all?

Mainly for Ezeuche and Onlytruth but if you wish, you can join . . .

jason123:

Saro-Wiwa's Last Statements

Excerpts from Ken Saro-Wiwa's last statement to the court Oct. 31,1995 that sentenced him to death, and from an interview with the Guardian newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria.

Statement to the court: "After all your judgment, convicting me is a mere formality. From the second day of the killing of the fourth prominent Ogoni son, I've been adjudged guilty. "Today is certainly a black day for the black man. In the course of the trial, I have been brutalized, my family almost ruined. I am a man of ideas in and out of prison -- my ideas will live."

Guardian newspaper interview: Saro-Wiwa said he would like to die "in bed, dreaming." "My only regret is that I was ever born a minority in Nigeria." And how would he like his epitaph to read? "Here lies the gentle, sweet man Nigeria loved to cheat. They denied him even in death the normal six feet of earth."

the same people he called gentlemen where the ones that dealt with him.

EzeUche:

He will always be known as a rabid Igbo hater.

The man forgets that it was Dr. Michael Okpara who developed Port Harcourt.

okpara was not bad u know

bashr4:

the same people he called gentlemen where the ones that dealt with him.

I know. It is shocking, right? Did you read the article and his after thoughts on the "gentlemen"?

jason123:

I highlighted that part also. There was no partiality in my highlights. I brought out this thread to discuss and finalise the issues Ezeuche, Onlytruth and I were discussing the other day . . .

ok oo

EzeUche:

He will always be known as a rabid Igbo hater.

The man forgets that it was Dr. Michael Okpara who developed Port Harcourt.

He did not hate Ndigbo. Get that idea out of your head. Because he does not agree with you does not mean he HATES you. . . .Ezeuche, let's not digress.
The point is, he proved what I was saying the other day.

Ahmado Bello: Foresight
Awolowo: Realist
Azikwe: Dreamer

Sentiments. This post goes to elaborate the grand deception dat was presented to the midwest and unfortunately the ijaws. They fed dem with propaganda and they bought into the lie. Good a thing the post outlines the shift of oil wealth from ogoniland to lagos. Dat was wat Awolowo fought for, against biafra. Sold the south out for oil wealth from the southeast region. The guys corruption knows no bound.

jason123:

He did not hate Ndigbo. Get that idea out of your head. Because he does not agree with you does not mean he HATES you. . . .Ezeuche, let's not digress.
The point is, he proved what I was saying the other day.

Ahmado Bello: Foresight
Awolowo: Realist
Azikwe: Dreamer

Did you know that this man lived in a mansion that was "abandoned property" whose owner was an Igbo man? He refused to give that man his property back.

The man hated Igbos.

Anyone who is from PH knew about this man's hatred for Igbos.

jason123:

Mainly for Ezeuche and Onlytruth but if you wish, you can join . . .

cool.

I returned to the war front and struck up friendships with gentlemen like Sani Bello who comes from Kontagora, Akinrinade from Ife, Obasanjo from Abeokuta, Yakubu Danjuma from Takum, Dan Ato, now deceased, from Bida. I had reason to hope that my nightmare as an Ogoni in Nigeria was about to end.



funny man

If this is not more proof that the minorities of the East pose the greatest threat to the Igbos. . .

His death is regrettable,
Didnt He beg the Igbos later? He attended one of the Igbo functions and pleaded the igbo should support his cause for the Ogoni people. That was the famous talk of "good morning" by Ojukwu, I dnt knw if I am right about this.


Umu oma please watch Nneka in her new music video (July 2011) singing about the Niger Delta especially Isaac Boro and kan Saro Wiwa,


[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkDgnVJa7SU[/flash]

EzeUche:

If this is not more proof that the minorities of the East pose the greatest threat to the Igbos. . .  

they pose no threat to us i believe we have all learnt our lessons. that include the yorubas to mind the kind of people they allow to speak for them.

Bliss4Lyfe:

Sentiment. This post goes to elaborate the grand deception dat was presented to the midwest and unfortunately the ijaws. They fed dem with propaganda and they bought into the lie. God a thing the post outlines the shift of oil wealth from ogoniland to lagos. Dat was wat Awolowo fought for against biafra.

Bliss4lyfe . .
The NATIONAL capital was in Lagos then. That was not Awo's idea. In fact, Awo always wanted federalism not the current structure we practise today. Check Awoism.

EzeUche:

Did you know that this man lived in a mansion that was "abandoned property" whose owner was an Igbo man? He refused to give that man his property back.

The man hated Igbos.

Anyone who is from PH knew about this man's hatred for Igbos.

@ You first line
This is knew to me . . . .

@the rest
Don't make this about Igbo . . .

bashr4:

I returned to the war front and struck up friendships with gentlemen like Sani Bello who comes from Kontagora, Akinrinade from Ife, Obasanjo from Abeokuta, Yakubu Danjuma from Takum, Dan Ato, now deceased, from Bida. I had reason to hope that my nightmare as an Ogoni in Nigeria was about to end.



funny man

These are the "owners" of Nigeria . . .

jason123:

Thus was the quest for a Port Harcourt State begun. In 1974. When we started, there was no shortage of opponents. To the Ijaws, I became a traitor.[size=13pt][b][. . . ][/size]The creation of this State would alleviate my nightmare and show Nigeria how much it has robbed and neglected the Ijaws of the oil-bearing Delta.[/b][/b][/color][/size]

This write up is not the complete version. Check out the bolded(the one I bolded). Would be good if you found it and posted it.

The bolded makes no sense. Another example of why the write up was cut short.

henry101:

His death is regrettable,  
Didnt He beg the Igbos later? He attended one of the Igbo functions and pleaded the igbo should support his cause for the Ogoni people. That was the famous talk of "good morning" by Ojukwu,  I dnt knw if I am right about this.


Umu oma please watch Nneka in her new music video (July 2011) singing about the Niger Delta especially Isaac Boro and kan Saro Wiwa,


[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkDgnVJa7SU[/flash]

yes he did , aba people even joined the cause for ogoni people especially the demonstrations they did in various countries against shell.

jason123:


@ You first line
This is knew to me . . . .

@the rest
Don't make this about Igbo . . .

Of course you would not know that, because you are not from the East.

The man was an Igbo hater and his write up discussed my people, so this is ABOUT Igbos.

EzeUche:

If this is not more proof that the minorities of the East pose the greatest threat to the Igbos. . .  

Let's learn to respect neighbouring ethnic groups by first of all, stopping the "minority" statement. It is demeaning. Again, this is not about Igbos . . .

bashr4:

they pose no threat to us i believe we have all learnt our lessons. that include the yorubas to mind the kind of people they allow to speak for them.

That is very true!!!

henry101:

His death is regrettable,  
Didnt He beg the Igbos later? He attended one of the Igbo functions and pleaded the igbo should support his cause for the Ogoni people. That was the famous talk of "good morning" by Ojukwu,  I dnt knw if I am right about this.

He did not want his people in Biafra. Is it too much to respect his people's wishes??

henry101:

His death is regrettable,  
Didnt He beg the Igbos later? He attended one of the Igbo functions and pleaded the igbo should support his cause for the Ogoni people. That was the famous talk of "good morning" by Ojukwu,  I dnt knw if I am right about this.


Umu oma please watch Nneka in her new music video (July 2011) singing about the Niger Delta especially Isaac Boro and kan Saro Wiwa,


[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkDgnVJa7SU[/flash]

very nice song BUT HOW DOES IT RELATE TO THE THREAD

jason123:

Bliss4lyfe . .
The NATIONAL capital was in Lagos then. That was not Awo's idea. In fact, Awo always wanted federalism not the current structure we practise today. Check Awoism.

@ You first line
[b] This is knew to me . . . [/b] .

@the rest
Don't make this about Igbo . . .
These are the "owners" of Nigeria . . .

It is new because you dig up threads that say all the negatives about the igbo to suit your lifestyle as a confused tribalist.