Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi greets Biafra , says Ndigbo should be given a chance or

Below is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi(the present Emir of Kano) position paper about the igbo people as at 1999 when he was still a Banker.How many igbo professionals can speak like this man.Pls read and comment


By Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Assistant General Manage
Credit Risk Management and Control Div.
United Bank for Africa PLC
57, Marina, Lagos
________________________________________
Being a paper presented at the “National Conference on the 1999 Constitution” jointly organised by the Network for justice and the Vision Trust Foundation, at the Arewa House, Kaduna from 11th –12th September, 1999.

The Igbo Factor and the Reasonable Limits of Retribution.

The Igbo people of Nigeria have made a mark in the history of this nation. They led the first successful military coup which eliminated the Military and Political leaders of other regions while letting off Igbo leaders. Nwafor Orizu, then Senate President, in consultation with President Azikiwe, subverted the constitution and handed over power to Aguiyi-Ironsi. Subsequent developments, including attempts at humiliating other peoples, led to the counter-coup and later the civil war. The Igbos themselves must acknowledge that they have a large part of the blame for shattering the unity of this country.
Having said that, this nation must realise that Igbos have more than paid for their foolishness. They have been defeated in war, rendered paupers by monetary policy fiat, their properties declared abandoned and confiscated, kept out of strategic public sector appointments and deprived of public services. The rest of the country forced them to remain in Nigeria and has
continued to deny them equity.
The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have conspired to keep the Igbo out of the scheme of things. In the recent transition when the Igbo solidly supported the PDP in the hope of an Ekwueme presidency, the North and South-West treated this as a Biafra agenda. Every rule set for the primaries, every gentleman’s agreement was set aside to ensure that Obasanjo, not Ekwueme emerged as the candidate. Things went as far as getting the Federal Government to hurriedly gazette a pardon. Now, with this government, the marginalistion of the Igbo is more complete than ever before. The Igbos have taken all these quietly because, they reason, they brought it upon themselves. But the nation is sitting on a time-bomb.
After the First World War, the victors treated Germany with the same contempt Nigeria is treating Igbos. Two decades later, there was a Second World War, far costlier than the first. Germany was again defeated, but this time, they won a more honourable peace. Our present political leaders have no sense of History. There is a new Igbo man, who was not born in 1966 and neither knows nor cares about Nzeogwu and Ojukwu. There are Igbo men on the street who were never Biafrans. They were born Nigerians, are Nigerians, but suffer because of actions of earlier generations. They will soon decide that
it is better to fight their own war, and may be find an honourable peace, than to remain in this contemptible state in perpetuity.
The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have exacted their pound of flesh from the Igbos. For one Sardauna, one Tafawa Balewa, one Akintola and one Okotie-Eboh, hundreds of thousands have died and suffered.

If this issue is not addressed immediately, no conference will solve Nigeria’s problems.














Ndubusi wrote: "How many igbo professionals can speak like this man”

Most times I am shocked beyond belief about the docility of our Igbo people, especially the docility and apathy coming from the so-called educated Igbo people living in Western nations. It is as if these people are sleeping or tranquilized or that they have learned nothing from what makes Western nations livable and developed.

1) The Igbo governors behave as if they do not exist to serve the collective interests of the Igbo people. These governors carry on as if they do not represent our people, as if they represent only their own immediate family members and close friends. They carry on like this because we allow them to do so. They do not fear us because we are not fearful. They do not fear anything because those of us who have seen the light in the West have not yet mustered the courage to force the wicked Igbo governors to do their job. Forcing them to do their job requires that we organize ourselves into a united block with strategic tools and mental models organized towards achieving this goal. BUT no, each Igbo person in the West is either apathetic or sleeping or dumb. Some of us have PhD in Moon science but we are still dumb when it comes understanding that participation and organizing are critical in making government accountable to our people. We have a PHD in Moon science, but we fail to realize a basic truth about the West: what makes the West livable is the amount of rights each person enjoys in the West (whether you are a new immigrant or a native born Westerner, you enjoy the same economic and educational rights). But these rights did not fall from the sky; rather, serious and thoughtful people had to fight and die to secure these rights.

a) Magna Carta (or the Great Charter of rights) first originated the ideas behind all the human and civil rights Westerners enjoy today. Magna Carta was signed on 15th June 1215 by King John. King John was forced to sign it after the barons (equivalent to House and Senate members in today’s democratic system of government) picked up guns to fight the king.

b) The British Petition of Right (1628), the English Bill of Rights (1689), the American declaration of independence (1776), The American revolution (1765 -1783), the French revolution (1789), etc, etc, were all influenced by the events surrounding the signing of Magna Carta. I bet you some money that most of our so-called educated Igbo people living in the West do not know about how the rights they enjoy today in the West trace back to the violent rebellion orchestrated by the fearless barons against the king in 1215.

c) Go back and watch again the video I sent you yesterday in which Tavis Smiley said this: "Well-behaved people don't get anything done." If the English barons of 1215 had behaved according to the norms of their time, if they had towed the line of the prevailing religiosity and Christian teachings of their time, they would not have picked up the guns to engage in bitter wars with the King of England. They fought the King of their time because they realized (based on their learning and knowledge of their political institutions) that something was wrong; they fought because they wanted to be respected as human beings; they fought because they knew that something was wrong with the accepted prevailing order of political situation and political arrangement. They fought because did not want to be salves to the King of their time. Similarly, we know today with 100% certainty that something is wrong with the political arrangement in Nigeria, but we are still hoping and praying that God will come down from heaven to solve our problems for us – we refuse to learn from the history of other people – the same other people we love to enjoy whatever their past struggles and wars have bequeathed to their posterity. We love good educational institutions in the West, we love good roads in the West, we love good hospitals in the West, we love the peace and order and rights available to us in the West, BUT we do not always realize that the events of 15th June 1215 created the mental models and the environment that led to these wonderful things available today in the West. Those Barons fought the King so that we may enjoy these things today. We need to fight our own fight so that our posterity will enjoy from the fruits of our own Igbo struggles.

2) All Igbo men of today run around gloating that they are smart when we are in fact stupid and neglectful of our duties and responsibilities. We think we are smart because we got our Western education and live our Western lifestyle. But we do not always understand why the West is free to give us good education; we are ignorant of the root cause of the Western freedom that originated in the events of 15th June 1215. We pride ourselves as smart, but our behavior and mentality do not always show that we are indeed smart. An education that cannot set you free, an education that keeps you living like a slave amidst plenty in your fatherland is useless to your kind. Other people sacrificed so that you may have your stupid education. When will you sacrifice so that some light will shine for other children living in darkness in your villages? Are you so wicked and selfish and dumb that you refuse to open your eyes to how the world actually works? The rebellious barons of 11th Century did not fight each other; rather, they united to fight the source of their slavery and suffering. We need to unite under one common cause: our slavery and suffering in Nigeria. This is the only way we can win our own fight!