Consultations: I had a great visit yesterday evening to Prof. George Obiozor, President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, at the Ohaneze HQ in Enugu. I was accompanied by Prof. Ernest Madu, Founder of The Heart Institute of the Caribbean, the largest private hospital in Jamaica,
and Barrister Ike Akaraiwe @kizor . Obiozor, a distinguished scholar-diplomat who has served Nigeria as Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Ambassador to Cyprus, Israel, and the United States, received us very warmly. I was humbled to be described
by him as “a great man” and “a citizen without reproach” (quoting the late Dr. Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe). We discussed the state of Nigeria today and possible pathways to resolution, and of course the role of Ndigbo as an important component of a country in search of real
real nationhood. It was an educative meeting that showed once again the importance of learning and a knowledge of world history and international relations, as the ex-diplomat and professor of international relations regaled us with lessons and witty quotes from international
history and politics and their applications to Nigeria’s present crisis, from how Kemal Attartuk built Turkey into a secular modern nation in the 20th century to the leadership secrets of Attila the Hun(“Choose your enemies wisely, and your friends carefully”!), from Henry
Kissinger’s note on the Vietnam conflict that “With friends like America, who needs enemies” (!) to the political strategy of “blaming the victim” . It was a tour de force with the learned professor. I congratulated him on his emergence as PG of Ohaneze Ndigbo and sought his
counsel on my future plans in the context of my contributions to the quest for peace, stability and economic development in our country. I then presented him with an autographed copy of my third book “Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy’s Last Frontier Can Prosper and Matter”
Amb. Obiozor received me along with the Secretary-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, the Spokesman of Ohaneze, Alex Ogbonnia, and the Treasurer, Mrs. Beatrice Eze.
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I am as disturbed by the general narrative against the Fulani, because of the failure of @NigeriaGov to secure our country from invading foreign terrorists - a failure that many Fulani & others in Northern Nigeria find as unconscionable as other Nigerians in the South - as I
am with the @PoliceNG Inspector-General's reported order to police to essentially violate human rights and engage in extra judicial killings in the Southeast under the guise of "Operation Restore Peace" in the region against Biafra secessionist agitators. The IG says President
@MBuhari has ordered a "shoot at sight" against anyone carrying an AK-47 rifle illegally, ostensibly as a justification for his spurious orders regarding the Southeast. I'd like to know how many terrorist "herdsmen" in Nigeria have been "shot at sight" so far since the
I believe that the @UN Security Council and the @_AfricanUnion should quickly consider the appointment of a joint Special Envoy on the one hand, or a combined one of the US, UK, and @EU_Commission on the other, on Nigeria's political/ security crisis.
This approach has become necessary because President @Mbuhari 's @NigeriaGov appears unwilling or unable to address the real issues facing Nigeria. For this reason, the legitimate agitation of numerous ethnic nationalities for a fundamental constitutional restructuring of Nigeria
(the best way out of our nationhood, security and economic crisis) is met essentially with disdain by the federal government. The reality on the ground, however, is that Nigeria’s sovereignty is now a "shared sovereignty" in which we have vast ungoverned spaces, and the very
Social media has had impact in Nigeria but with only 33% of us on SM in a population of 200 million, it's still a low ratio. There are still issues of weak broadband infrastructure and access, and high poverty rates affect ability of millions to buy data, I told @WSoyinkaLecture
Then we need to look at quality relative to the goal of driving national reform. SM has democratized opinion, without the same level of truly informed discussion. So there is often more heat than light. Our literacy rate is 62%. Weak.Our political and economic literacy rate, even
lower. There is a massive "digital age divide", with most SM users aged between 17 and 40. This creates an opportunity for strong youth influence on national reform if they can engage effectively. But this opportunity is still limited because SM in Nigeria reflects Nigeria's
I have refrained so far from commenting on the #Pantami controversy. From information available: anyone can a mistake, and has the right to recant from it. But when the evidence shows that a serving minister of Nigeria has expressed open support for global terrorist groups,
he should never have scaled the vetting process and been approved for that office. The implication of the timing of Pantami's recanting of his views now is that he has been serving as a minister while presumably still harboring those views. His disagreement with Boko Haram
does not absolve him of, at tje very least moral culpability for supporting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. For this reason, Pantami should not continue to serve as a Minister. For him to remain in his position, and for @NGRPresident to support this, is to tell Nigerians that we have
I'm OUTRAGED at @nassnigeria House of Representatives Dep. Speaker @HonAhmedWase saying Nigerians living abroad have no right to submit petitions to parliament. Remittances from our countrymen and women at $20 billion a year keep alive families impoverished by our politicians!
This is why we must be careful who we elect into high office. We need #electoralreform NOW, and diaspora Nigerians must have the ability to vote from abroad as is the case in Ghana and many other countries. If @cenbank can woo their remittances, we need their votes too!
Nigerians living and earning their living abroad is not a crime. It is their right. Their citizenship shouldn't be denigrated because of where they live. What opportunities exist for them at home if they did not move out Nigeria?
1. The failure of President @MBuhari ‘s administration to end the menace of criminal herdsmen and bandits throughout Nigeria (in both northern and southern states) has led to the stigmatization of the Fulani and other ethnic groups for the crimes of a few.
2. The failure of our authorities to deploy effective security and law enforcement action against these criminals has also created a dangerous vacuum that is increasingly filled, unsurprisingly, by self-defense measures by several communities across the country.
3. This could lead to reprisals based on ethnic profiling. In this context, I deplore the recent killings of innocent Nigerians of northern extraction in Oyo State.