“Nigeria Mere Geographical Expression!”--- Awolowo. Afenifere Berates Osinbajo Over Comment On Awolowo

THE pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has berated the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, for allegedly making dismissive comments on late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s famous reference to Nigeria as not being a nation,
but a “mere geographical expression” noting that Osinbajo’s remarks are strange, misguided and unfortunate on a number of fronts.

Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yinka Odumakin said the Acting President, in seeking to advance the position and interests of his current central-government power constituency, “has, in a recent public speech, dismissed the decades-old clamour for a restructuring of the Nigerian polity by some of Nigeria’s best and most-respected personalities.”

The Yoruba group faulted the Osinbajo for the remarks saying it was the third time in three months.

It said: “In that same speech, Prof. Osinbajo has also, rather strangely, and in a way that dis-honours the opinion and memory of outstanding Yoruba icon and sage – Obafemi Awolowo, gone ahead to disingenuously lend himself to the propagation of historical and intellectual sophistry, regarding the imposed unity of Nigeria.”

The statement reads in part: “First, while his statement that the statement was not original to Chief Awolowo is not in any doubt, the not-so-subtle inference that somehow, his usage of the expression constitutes some misnomer that has been proven wrong by history merits deeper questioning, which is what this rejoinder sets out to do.’’

By Dapo Akinrefon

Comments

Justice And The Killer Cop

NOT surprisingly, and for good reasons too, security agencies, in particular the Nigeria Police, have been placed on the spot by local and international human rights communities for their highhandedness in dealing with suspects in custody or at points of arrest. Quite a number of extra-judicial killings and tortures in these circumstances have been highlighted by the local media too. Against this background, the judgment of the Bayelsa State High Court, Nembe Division, sitting in Yenagoa, delivered by Justice Lucky Boufili sending killer policeman, Matthew Egheghe, to the gallows is most welcome. It is a bold statement that the law frowns at cruelty by uniformed officers of the state and that an appropriate premium is placed on life by the Nigerian state. That judgment would not bring back the dead, but it should to some extent console their grieving families that justice was served to the guilty. It would equally serve as a deterrent to trigger-h...

10 Burnt To Death In Lagos Tanker Fire

No fewer than 10 people were roasted as a tanker laden with petrol went up in flames yesterday at Berger Suya junction, Apapa, Lagos. Also, several buildings, eight vehicles, and over 200 locked-up shops including a commercial bank in the area were razed. The fire which started at about 10:30pm on Tuesday and raged till 3:00am yesterday was said to have been caused by a tanker laden with 33,000 liters of petrol which lost control as it was about to negotiate a sharp bend and exploded close to Suya spots in the area. Several passengers in two commercial buses, by-standers, two Hausa suya vendors including the driver of the truck and the conductor were burnt beyound recognition as rescue workers were seen picking bones of parts of human beings into body bag. Source: Vanguard

Mikel Obi Deserves This Award Says Yaya Toure And Highlights From The GLO-CAF Awards

It's a third straight African Footballer of the year award win for Manchester City star and 31-year-old Ivory Coast international Yaya Toure. John Mikel Obi, Didier Drogba were also nominated for this category on Thursday (yesterday). Toure won this award in 2011 and 2012. Nigeria’s John Obi Mikel was second and Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast finished third. Toure made this remark in his award acceptance speech....“ I thank my family for their support and also congratulate John Obi Mikel, who also deserved this award,” said Toure, who was a key player for both club and country last year. Egyptian legend Mohamed Aboutrika, Al Ahly star beat compatriot Ahmed Fathy and Sunday Mba from Nigeria to win the best Player based in Africa. This particular award was my most anticipated award, because am a fan of Aboutrika, dude is a fantastic striker, has really done well for his club and am glad he got the award. ...

Pep Opara's Blog

Search This Blog