Recent Posts

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 10
11
General Discussion / meeting
« Last post by obj on June 09, 2008, 12:14:39 PM »
i will like all old boys to meet.wat do u thjink?
12
General Discussion / For prosperity and protection
« Last post by vikki on June 04, 2008, 01:15:39 AM »
Pastor confesses...We use human heads to prepare prosperity rituals for church members
Written by SIMON EBEGBULEM
Vanguard, Sunday, June 1, 2008
A pastor and his wife are now cooling their heels in police cell in Benin-City for allegedly using human heads to prepare rituals for church members.


THE police in Zone 5 Headquarters, Benin paraded a couple said to be pastors of a church in Asaba, Delta State, for alleged involvement in ritual killing. The couple who gave their names as Benjamin and Patience Ojobu were arrested last weekend allegedly with fresh human head in their house, after the police got a petition alleging that the couple engaged in using human skulls to prepare charms for worshippers in their church.
Following the petition against the couple from neighbours, Sunday Vanguard learnt that the police commenced investigation into the matter. Having monitored the couple for weeks as church members during which both the old and the young allegedly thronged their residence to purchase one charm or the other, a crack team of detectives from the office of the AIG Benin, in collaboration with men of the Delta State police, stormed the residence of the couple in Asaba to effect their arrest.
However, the raid, it was learnt, was not quite easy, as they had to contend with Patience who allegedly tried to escape with a bag when she sighted the police officers. But she was over powered by the policemen who searched the bag and allegedly found a human head said to be that of a teenage girl. It was said that after the discovery, Benjamin knelt down in tears and started confessing.
The Zonal Police public relations officer, ASP Ebi Orubibi, described the alleged action of the couple as barbaric and vowed that they would be tried according to the law after investigation. He narrated: “We received a petition that the couple who are members of the OO Obu in Asaba were involved in rituals. After that, we commenced investigation and our men moved in to effect their arrest. When they got there, the woman tried to escape with a bag but she was overpowered. They have confessed that they use human head to fight witchcraft and also concoction for prosperity and for other spiritual purposes. We discovered that the human head is that of a teenage girl. We are still investigating the issue but it is very sad that people who call themselves men of God will engage in such act and deceive their followers.
After investigation, they will be prosecuted according to the law. But we are still investigating whether there are other persons involved in this operation. And after thorough investigation, they will be charged to court for trial”.
Answering questions from newsmen, the suspects claimed they bought the human heads from a man working at the cemetery for N3,000 each, adding that they used the heads to prepare charms for fighting witchcraft and special prayers for prosperity.
The suspect, Benjamin, spoke to Sunday Vanguard.
How old are you?
I am barely 51 now.
What brought you to the police?
It was the police that brought me here because they discovered a human head in my house.
How did you get the human head?
I got it through somebody called John who works in a cemetery. He brought it for me and said I should buy and I bought it for N3,000. But I am so sorry now, I did not know it is an offence.
You are a man of God in this white garment church. Why are you involved in rituals?
Yes, I am a man of God. But I do this outside church hours. I am both a native doctor and a man of God. This is my personal practice, I do it to complement my church job and I have been assisting a lot of people with it. I use human skulls to do charms for prosperity, to make money and for protection. After preparing the charms, I give them to members of our church and other people who are not members.
So how do you feel now?
I am very sorry, I am not happy at all because of my condition. I never knew it is a crime that I was committing. If I had known, I would not have done what I did.
Is your wife involved in this with you?
No. She is not aware of this.
13
General Discussion / IGBOS, IGBO CHARTER, ETC., AND THE IGBO NATION
« Last post by vikki on May 11, 2008, 01:35:06 AM »
IGBOS, IGBO CHARTER, ETC., AND THE IGBO NATION

by

Ambrose Ehirim

Much has been said already, much has been discussed so far, and many Igbo writers have written extensively and enough about a guideline, a principle, a constitution or as the case has been, a charter for the Igbo nation wherever they may be on the face of this planet called Earth. I do not want to write about this, and I don\'t think I would blame you if you do not want to know about it. Since time I cannot even remember, I have been attending all sorts of Igbo-related meetings, gatherings, picnics, naming ceremonies, weddings, society of friends jamborees, churches and launches; and still counting. For reality check, do not assume in any way that I am trying to make a big deal out of this. The fact is, it is becoming boring and tiresome even though the subject matter is not going away anytime soon. Probably it may not go away, we would be talking about it in having it done, in our generation and beyond. Does this really sound like I have begun this essay by complaining? Maybe, or maybe not.

For over thirty-two years since the last shot was fired to end Yakubu Gowon\'s-led genocidal campaign against the Igbo nation, Igbos have never been the same again. One would assume the effects of the numerous pogroms and civil war disoriented them, had them fall apart, and made them abandon their responsibilities in sharing a common bond toward building a \"nation state.\" Of course the pogrom and civil war was a \"shocking realization\" and \"never again\" as some would say; and notwithstanding, it is shameful, painful, amazing and mind-boggling that the crop of new Igbo leaders since the post-civil war era would be part and parcel of a mechanism that would destroy the Igbo nation in its entirety.

At war end, Igbos started all over again with a clean slate, on the imagination it was going to be a matter of time to rise above the limitations imposed on them, rise like a phoenix, which they did, and to share the same nationhood their forefathers began. But the irony as the shocking waves continued to take its toll can be traced from the systematic plan designed by their enemies, which worked well, and they never thought about it because they never saw it coming, and the rest is now history.

But how can we, who have suffered and grieved on the ominous consequences of the pogrom, and after all these years realizing our enemies are still undermining our existence and our right to self-determination, be confident and comfortable to continue having a relationship with a people akin to Adolf Hitler\'s Nazi Germany? How can we say the bicyclist Ojo Maduekwe and his bunch of confused Igbos who feed from the crumbs of Aso Rock caliphates are representing the Igbos and their interest? And what is it one would say our leaders of thought have achieved all these years regarding the much talked about charter and a \"nation state?\" Would it be dedicated and patriotic Igbos no longer exists?

It is no secret that long before Nigeria\'s independence, the Obafemi Awolowo-led Yoruba nation, so-called Egbe Omo Oduduwa, descendants of Oduduwa, and the Ahmadu Bello-led Islamic Jihardic North had felt threatened and had believed Igbos with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe\'s \"leadership\" have taken it upon themselves to be the \"master race\" of Nigeria. The truth to this whole lot of brouhaha is: Igbos who inspired that believe were patriotic, dedicated and organized; they were Igbos whose goals were building bridges; they were Igbos who believed in collectivity which of course leads to utopia, they were Igbos who thrived through honesty, good morals and hard work; they were Igbos whose phenomenon was based on a healthy, political and cultural order; and in that capacity, they were the founders of the Igbo nation as the \"master race.\" Got it descendants of Oduduwa?

Reflection to Awolowo\'s statement I have quite oft-quoted speaks for itself:

    It was clear from the general political and journalistic maneuvres of Dr. Azikiwe over the years that his great objective was to set himself up as a dictator...and to make the Igbo nation the master race.


Even though Awo\'s thinking was wrong, today that said belief is totally shambled and the whole idea about Igbo nation building has become hopeless. It is becoming a sickening joke.

The question here now is now that we seem to be in a hurry and running helter skelter to produce a working document for the Igbo nation--home and the Diaspora--and now that our neighbors and other ethnic minorities appears to have produced their own charter intact and well prepared in the event a conference of ethnic nationalities holds, never mind the Aburi Accord and other failed conferences that had been held in the past, why is it taking Igbos the eleventh hour to start rallying on a supposed spectacular document meant to guide our generation and beyond? Let\'s in this case assume a national conference holds and all the ethnic groups sends in their delegates with their charter intact and ready to go, to present their cases on how better we could govern ourselves based on custom and tradition; demography and resources from which the resolutions would be reached. Now would Nd\'Igbo send in their delegates (Only God Knows where they will be coming from) with Ohaneze communiqué whose bout with Olusegun Obasanjo\'s administration often emerge battered and permanently disfigured, both physically and mentally, that is if they emerge at all; or World Igbo Congress paperwork; Enyimba constitution; Ekwe Nche prospectus or borrow Francis Elekwachi\'s single-handedly written proposals for Pan-Igbo Constituent Assembly in Diaspora (PICAD) allegedly to be presented as Igbo charter?

Just like I have pointed out in many instances, Igbo charter \"is\" and should not be a one-man project or a committee of friends gathering initiatives. Ironically, of thousands of Igbo organizations at home and abroad with more thousands likely to pop up, it is abundantly and embarrassingly clear Igbo charter, day-by-day, is looking more like a mirage. Obi Nwakama, who had joined in this heated debate and pressed with the issue that opposing viewpoints seemed to have undermined and frustrated the efforts of the group behind the document because the critics had declined to be part of signing a \"document of surrender\" asked, \"What is to be done?\" Nwakama\'s question has left us with one of two choices: Move on with a one Nigeria and be dragged like a zombie. How does that sound? Or produce an Igbo charter solely for an independent Igbo nation.

For the former, we are all living witnesses to federal Nigeria\'s effective isolation and marginalization of the Igbo nation, treating a people with unique tradition and culture as second class citizens, for the past thirty-two years. And in that regard we still want to remain in that entrapment?

The latter has been a political and cultural classic. It is, because the Igbos are a people whose origin is of one lineage, their genealogies can be traced back through many generations of forefathers to a common ancestor. This type of societal identification is not the same as a national or linguistic grouping. One can join a nation; one can learn a language; both are voluntary. But in blood heritage, it implies Igbos have an inherited customs and traditions which led to a particular order of social organizations. The Igbo of Nando has the same socio-cultural structure as the Igbo of Abakaliki, Ikwere, Obigbo, Nkwerre, Igurita, Okpanam, Ibuzo, Elele, Omoku, Orlu, Abriba, Waawa, Obowu, Nnewi, Idemili, Ihiala, Nsugbe, Amazano, Awkuzu, Nteje, Okigwe, Eziama Obiato, Onitsha and Abagana, Arochukwu, Ohafia, Amaigbo, Arondizuogu, Owerri, Mbaise, Umuohiagu, Oko, Diobu and any community where Igbos can be found. It is in this vast genealogical structure that provided a simple basis for alliances and inheritance. Lands and rights go to sons and brothers on the paternal side. Residential groupings, too, are familial. Villages, kindred and hamlets are made of men descended from a common paternal line women marry in, though many also are of the same paternal line linked by a lineage traceable back to a primal patrilineal ancestor.

So, too, is the traditional way of marriage as no dating occurs when a man expresses his interest in a woman, parents and relatives arrange marriages. As custom dictates, the groom to be has to go through series of interviews and other custom-related events such as paying dowry to the bride to be family before the marriage can be arranged and finalized.

By this order and method, and as we head to the conference table to write a charter for the Igbo nation, we must bear in mind the above particular order when our decisions and resolve begins to climax. We must also bear in mind Igbo nation is a nation state, and that Nigeria must not be included in her principles. In choosing this method, of not including Nigeria or any other entity in her preamble and the entire document, and by not mixing any political principle that varies with the ideals, customs and traditions of Nd\'Igbo, treating at great length the needs or rights supposed appropriate to Igbos everywhere.

Nevertheless, as in the modernity, the charter should include political traditions of the Western Hemisphere, which would entail ideas such as freedom, the rule of law, representative government, as well as our conceptions of personal liberty and civil equality.

On the rule of law, we must strongly condemn empire and anarchy, and must not ignore the tyranny and disorder that widely persists with us tongue-tied for ages. As I write the entire Igboland is in a state of anarchy. Armed robbers and hired assassins have made random killings and gangsterism the order of the day. It was in this same mode when we, tight-lipped, applauded, hailed and watched Vincent Otokoto turn Owerri township into Otokoto Underworld as lawlessness and horrific criminal activities ruled with the elders and \"chiefs\" belonging to Sicilian mob-like racketeers. Otokoto, whose parents ran a prostitution ring was in the United States shuttling from city-to-city until he arrived Los Angeles to carry out a full-blown Al Capone\'s Chicago mobster-like criminal mafia. Otokoto was a greedy, insane criminal. He was always in debt living life in the fast lane, but his admirers loved him for the way he took advantage of his friends. If he liked you, he\'d con you, a tactic for his recruit, and if he didn\'t like you, he\'d avoid you.

In July of 1999, he struck a deal with one Chris Ojogho, a fellow Owerri native, in Los Angeles, on a credit card-based scheme. A \"cock and bull\" story, as it turned out, Ojogho did not deliver which of course degenerated to exchange of words on the phone with the frustrated and angered Otokoto, who in a few hours later would drive to Ojogho\'s apartment in Studio City, California, shooting him at close range and fleeing the scene. Today, Ojogho\'s speech is fractured and the case was not followed up due to its akpuruka, criminal behavior nature. But the buck did not end there. Otokoto\'s Sicilian-style gangsterism persisted for years. Its influence reached Owerri. In Owerri he formed a coalition with upper world businessmen, publishers like Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, and vulnerable, desperate and corrupt law enforcement officers. Otokoto took his criminal activity to a level no one, absolutely no one could have imagined. At a particular time, prominent Igbos and intellectuals in the likes of Onwudiwe began to adore and hail him as his gang of 419ers, kidnappers and murderers invaded Alaigbo.

All this, and with Igbo charter heading to the designer\'s table, the question here would be, what kind of a national state do we have in mind when rape, murder, incest, prostitution, human body parts trafficking, drug trafficking, armed robbery and you name it, that was systematically carried out by Otokoto-Obieke-Iwuanyanwu Underworld while our eyes closed and our mouths permanently shut? Would our national state be that of the philanthropist who would award a twenty-five thousand naira (N25,000) scholarship to his community and in return would demand five thousand dollars ($5,000) for his expenses in that endeavor? Would our national state be that of our always evil intent which in the past had destroyed the most organized ethnic group our forefathers founded? Or would our national state be a replica of our regular meetings whereby intimidation, material rivalry, greed, jealousy, malicious gossip, all kinds of talk shows and blah, blah, blah becomes the norm?

The dilemma of the array of questions posed here rests on our unwillingness to make sacrifices and committing ourselves to bringing about a national state devoid of intellectual elites like Onwudiwe, Otokoto-Obieke-Iwuanyanwu organized crime, the dubious philanthropist, the present have-no-clue about Igbos plight sitting governors, the Ogbuefis, the \"chiefs\" and their haul of \"take that and make me chief\" money bags, the political thugs and hired hit men who had been brainwashed to eliminate honest and dedicated men who advocate for change in Igboland, and the akpurukas by nature who corrupted our youths--leaving them with the option \"it\'s either you are rich or you are poor\"--abandoning education, hard work and good morals in pursuit of fast money, which of course led to a state of barbaric anarchy.

The state of barbaric anarchy in Alaigbo today is not new. It has persisted in nearly all times and places in history. But in this modern times with a sound world capital and globalization improving living standards all around the globe, how do we stop what Obasanjo\'s fledgling democracy has turned Igboland into? Take for instance, the war zone in Imo State, the political warfare between Emeka Offor and Chimaraoke Mbadinuju in Anambra State, and the fracas in Enugu State House of Assembly, to a point some legislators in Enugu had to run for their lives taking refuge in Abuja of all places. Imagine. Would one take it that the creation of more Igbo states by our enemies within the entrapment called Nigeria, notably to destabilize Nd\'Igbo was the strategy that brought in disunity and confusion to the Igbo nation? I should think so. In other words, in Achike Udenwa\'s state of empire and anarchy, where if you are not loyal to him, you become his enemy, and whereby if you don\'t protect yourself, you become a victim of hired assassins and political hoodlums groomed by Udenwa\'s Underworld. It means as an Igbo-Yank who may have great ambitions, or put it this way, for one to survive in Igboland today, especially Imo State, one must proffer loyalty and obedience to a collective whose bounds are sharply drawn, and circumscribed only to people with whom he could in principle be personally acquainted.

This may sound like a criticism or political propaganda toward a political campaign, which is quite familiar in today\'s political world. It is not. It is the simple truth. Understood in this way, when the charter conventions begins and ends, and when it is endorsed and ratified, ready to be distributed and enforced, who would or could stop the hi-tech immoral, cruel, crazy and dubious nature of Udenwa\'s Underworld, Jim Nwobodo\'s sponsorship of political thuggery in Enugu State, Offor\'s funding for instability and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume\'s mean spiritedness to eliminate his political opponents who happens to stand on his way? Would this \"legitimization crisis\" created by men in high places who supposedly need the consent of the people they manage or govern be stopped, and if so, how? As corrupt as Igbo-Yanks are, and as vulnerable, desperate and gullible they would be when they get into public office, the \"legitimization crisis\" is bound to continue apace.

On this basis, if we must draw a charter and implement it, and being powerless in lacking the faith in our Supreme Being and moral obligations, we must admit the failure of our \"leaders\" the last thirty-two years and decisively get rid of the \"forces of evil\" in order to begin anew a sane and morally healthy society. It was done in Otokoto\'s Shakespearean and Orwellian drama, leveling all of Otokoto holdings to the ground. The Bible from which economic, political, social and religious orders emanated taught us how a tiny and familiar community was saved from a violent and anarchic mankind in Noah\'s Ark. On this score, it becomes natural to look into civil society--faith-based foundations, churches, charity-based organizations, political forums, and social-cultural entities--for moral leadership when our economic and political leaders fail. However, I am not sure if the above-mentioned institutions have delivered over the years as an option. Faith-based foundations are widely known for keeping records of ugly and funny books. The churches, especially the Catholic Church, have a growing scandal of homosexuality and child abuse. Charity-based organizations, for instance, Ada Ugo of Los Angeles are clouded with fabricated and exaggerated overheads. Political forums such as World Igbo Congress (WIC) which convenes annually to show off, often inviting their enemies, is totally a ridiculed and confused bunch. Socio-cultural entities in the likes of Ohaneze Nd\'Igbo, the so-called \"pan-Igbo cultural organization,\" the efulefu, worthless bunch, who would feed from the crumbs of the Northern caliphates and \"generals\" in charge of every show in Aso Rock, is entirely a lost cause. So what is the option?

When the founders of this great nation began to write extensively denouncing imperialism and the feudal lords, followed by demonstrations calling for freedom, liberty, rights to free speech, freedom of assembly and a free market society which eventually turned out to be the most organized society on Earth of which we are now beneficiaries. Remember the Sons of Liberty and Boston Tea Party? It is called organized opposition.

It is obvious we of the Diaspora, scared to our scrotum of speaking out against tyranny and anarchy seemingly to have destroyed the strong foundations our forefathers laid when we encourage our leaders of bribery and corruption. A case in point is that of Dr. Julius Kpaduwa who had seen himself and other honest and dedicated Diaspora Igbos as a vanguard of a new society almost got killed to a political witch-hunt and Araraume\'s inspired underworld. Most ironic of all, it is the same Diaspora Igbos who have become conduits for the corrupt politicians\' money laundering scheme. How then can we achieve profound democracy based on oneness, transparency, accountability and a stable political order when the crop of our would be Igbo Diaspora \"leaders\" are the architects of barbaric anarchy in our land?

In 19th Century Russian pogrom of Czarist empire and anarchy, Jews moved en masse in a stable and organized form to build a nation state, the sovereign state of Israel. Then followed the fateful and horrific Holocaust in Hitler\'s Nazi Germany where an estimated six million Jews perished. In historical analogy, the Igbo nation has suffered the same fate as the Jews, the Gypsies and other ethnic minorities sought by Hitler-like bigots for persecution and extermination. Have we forgotten? The execution style killings of Lt.-Col. Gabriel Okonweze, Major John Obienu and several Igbo military officers in Abeokuta Garrison. The mass slaughter of Igbo military officers at 4th Battalion in Ibadan, under the command of Major Joe Akahan. The atrocities committed at Ikeja Cantonment and airport, under the command of Lt.-Col. Murtala Mohammed. As gruesome and barbaric Mohammed was, his military record was a distinguished one. Imagine. But the ghost of innocent civilians and Igbo military officers he slaughtered haunted him until that fateful morning of Friday, February 13, 1976 when he was murdered on his way to work, the same way he slaughtered Igbos.

In Sunday, August 4, 2000\'s edition of the Los Angeles Times, it was reported an estimated that over ten thousand people have died in Obasanjo\'s Fourth Republic, apparently from civil unrest, political thuggery, accidents and military invasions. Ten thousand perished souls in three years under supposed democracy and freedom, and we call that national unity? Moreover, a situation that left ten thousand souls dead in three years is ground enough to break up a country either by peaceful means through dialogue and diplomacy or by any necessary means in national liberation. As troubled a nation Nigeria has been since independence, and as composed of many nationalities that it is, which would continue in a dramatic state of confusion until a resolve is reached, takes us back to what ignited in pre-independence and post-independence eras. Our founding fathers knew very well about this confusion tailored by an imperial state--which ended up to empire and anarchy, as a result, a complete chaos, ever since.

Remarkably, the Ikene born trader turned lawyer Awolowo, earlier in the struggle for independence had indicated during this struggle that Nigeria as a nation was \"mere geographical expression.\" In considering this argument, it is worth quoting Awolowo again:

    When imperial powers ratified the final share-out of colonial territories at the Berlin Conference in 1885, Nigeria existed as three separate political units. These corresponded roughly with the present three regions, and administered by three different authorities. Since the amalgamation all efforts of the British government have been devoted to developing the country into a unitary state. This is patently impossible; and it is astonishing that a nation wide political experience like Great Britain fell into such a palpable error. If rapid political progress is to be made in Nigeria, it is high time we were realistic in tackling its constitutional problems. Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no \"Nigerians\" in the same sense as there are \"English,\" \"Welsh,\" or \"French.\" The word Nigeria is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria from those who do not.


Even though the bigot\'s concept of nation state was a matter of theory, tongue-in-cheek and deception, he was right on that one. Awo\'s argument was premised on the observation that a multinational state would eventually disintegrate into rival national states and an unending total conflict. Today, the growing conflict is far from over, stuck on a deadlocked shadow conference of ethnic nationalities. When Obasanjo was sworn in May 29, 1999 with his vow of \"no sacred cows,\" the Yoruba nation, the alarmists (AD-Afenifere-NADECO), framers of the \"Sovereign National Conference\" popped up threatening him (Obasanjo) to endorse a gathering of ethnic nationalities or they would declare the \"Republic of Oduduwa.\" Most ironic of this conference sensation is the way the Igbo nation seemed to be carried away and confused about it. Ironic, to be precise, they have joined in the bandwagon as if, to say, it is now a big deal. Baloney! Even though the sovereign national conference clearly looks more like a forum that would probably bring about a resolution replica of the Aburi Accord, the naysayers, the double talkers and the confused bunch who have no clue what political recklessness they may be dabbling into, are now \"stomping and singing the freedom song\" not knowing what kind of freedom may be coming their way. We saw that kind of freedom in 1993 when Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan committed political suicide. He nailed democracy and the Yoruba nation in particular.

In an about-face, he became a confidant of the military juntas with \"General\" Sani Abacha taking over the affairs of state nullifying the infamous \"June 12\" presidential elections Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was alleged to have overwhelmingly won. So what in God\'s sake guarantees that in the event a conference of ethnic nationalities is held, and a decision is reached, and afterwards ratified, and thereafter implemented, that the Awolowos and Enahoros in our midst would not in a sudden 180-degrees turn renege? And if so, why are we dim wit hung in to a sovereign national conference when there are several other options, \"like say,\" propositions by ballot, measures typical of a sound democratic fabric. When Shonekan\'s political suicide paved way to a reign of terror instituted by Abacha, and when the chickened Oladipo Diya, a Yoruba and Egba by enclave became Abacha\'s second-in-command, why did the Yorubas flee instead of resisting Abacha\'s iron rule.

A nation that has gone through four devastating republics and still lacks a sense of purpose and direction is deeply troubled and problematic. The problems, among them can be found within the confused bunch of Igbos who are now behind cyber closed doors writing what would be Igbo charter for the Igbo nation. My question here is, when these cyber writers, thinkers and intellectuals comes up with the so-called charter, would the likes of the self-acclaimed philanthropists whose scholarship projects are foreshadowed by funny book-keeping be used as a model to a presumed principle of Nd\'Igbo all around the globe? Would the code of conduct and ethics of the charter be upheld and respected? Would the Igbo nation hold men accountable for defrauding their kit and kin or would they, as usual, hold their tongues?

The point is, in the event a conference holds, there will be no difference because it is evidently clear the gathering will consist of the same bunch of efulefus and political criminals including our U.S.-based \"chiefs,\" the tax evaders and househusbands who would assemble to seal our fate again.

The starting point for this initiative regarding a better way to manage ourselves is January 4-5, 1967 when Gowon and his federal Nigeria delegates (Lt.-Col. David Ejoor, Lt.-Col. Hassan Katsina, Col. Robert Adebayo, Kam Salem, Commodore Joseph Wey and the rest) and Lt.-Col- Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu met in a conference at Aburi, Ghana, signing an agreement to put a halt to the internal strife with the following \"decisions unanimously reached\" which is now a common citation:

    (i) A military committee comprising representatives of the regions should meet to take statistics of arms and ammunition in the country. Unallocated stores of arms and ammunition held in the country should be shared equitably between the various commands in the federation.

    (ii) The army should be reorganized in order to restore discipline and confidence...

    (iii) In accordance with the decision of August 9, 1966, army personnel of Northern Nigeria origin should return to the North from the West. In order to meet the security needs of the West, a crash programme of recruitment and training was necessary but the details should be examined after the military committee had finished their work.

    (iv) The supreme military council should deal with all matters of policy including promotion to top executive posts in the armed forces and the police.

    (v) The legislative and executive authority of the Federal Military Government should be vested in the supreme military council, to which any decision affecting the whole country should be referred for determination, provided that, where a meeting was not possible, such a matter must be referred to the military governors for their comments and concurrence.

    (vi)Appointments to the Diplomatic and Consular posts as well as to supercale posts in the Federal Public Service and equivalent posts in the Federal Corporations must be approved by the Supreme Military Council.

    (vii) With a view to promoting mutual confidence, all decrees or provisions of decrees passed since January 15, 1966, which detracted from the previous powers and positions of the regional governments should be repealed. Law officers of the federation should meet in Benin on January 14, 1967, and list all the decrees or provisions of decrees concerned, so that they may be repealed not later than January 21, 1967, if possible.

    (viii) A meeting of Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Finance of all the governments in the federation should be convened within two weeks to consider ways and means of resolving the serious problems posed by displaced persons all over the country.

    (ix) Displaced civil servants and corporation staff (including daily-paid employees) should continue to be paid their full salaries until March 31, 1967, provided they have not secured alternative employment. The Military Governors of the East, West and Mid-West should send representatives (Police Commissioners) to meet and discuss the problems of recovery of property left behind by displaced persons.

    (x) The Ad Hoc Constitutional Committee should resume sitting as soon as practicable, and the question of accepting the unanimous recommendations of September 1966 should be considered at a later meeting of the Supreme Military Council.

    (xi) For at least the next six months there should be purely a military government having nothing to do with politicians.

    (xii)The deceased military leaders should be accorded full Military Honours due to them.

    (xiii) All Government information media should be restrained from making inflammatory statements and causing embarrassment to various Government in the Federation.

    (xiv) Lt.-Col. Ojukwu should keep his order, that non-Easterners should leave the Eastern Region, under constant review with a view to its being lifted as soon as practicable.

    (xv) The next meeting of the Supreme Military Council should be within Nigeria at a venue to be mutually agreed.


According to the framework laid out by the Aburi Accord, the brief period of uncertainty which required temporary regionalization as a litmus test, was followed immediately the delegates returned home, a behind closed doors meeting led by Gowon, Awolowo and Enahoro, making an about-turn to such a spectacular document, and intentionally reaching an agreement violating the decisions agreed upon at Aburi, and then taking on a gruesome act of unnatural taste to wipe out the Igbo nation from the face of this planet. Nothing could be compared to the Aburi decisions to a stable and peaceful government if Gowon and his Awolowo-led collaborators had respected and upheld the Aburi Accord.

Some advocates who strongly back a conference of ethnic nationalities had argued that Aburi Accord was a military supervised conference thereby should not be compared to a supposedly \"national conference\" whereby every ethnicity is wholly and adequately represented. Good point, though, but again, what guarantees an alliance of a majority group of conspirators would not turn their back and do the otherwise in the event Aburi is photocopied?

Okay, all said and done, Aburi Accord is duplicated. So what? A perfect nation to emerge? Nonsense. While we jubilate over this successful conference which has given us full autonomy without strings attached, we must not forget Sharia will be stoning to death a mother out of wedlock and surely will be slicing a man\'s limb for petty theft. How do we, who want a civil society based on a sound democratic set-up of separating religion and state allow barbaric acts typical of the Sharia laws be accepted in our \"national state?\" Would an American teenage moslem be stoned to death for adultery or conception? Would a woman of Islamic faith not be allowed to drive in America? What that means is we have nothing to do with the bloodlust Northern Islamic Jihadists whose religion is violent and satanic in nature. And it all means we are no one nation; and it is as simple as that. Whoever holds the notion Nigeria is a one nation must be delusional and must be living in another planet much, much different from Planet Earth.

In my recent interview with Dr. Kpaduwa on which I had asked why a sovereign national conference which had the same resemblance of the Aburi Accord, he noted the 1999 constitution was \"inadequate,\" thus a \"unitary element\" still exists in that constitution; and moreover, according to him (Dr. Kpaduwa) if we are to make progress toward building a perfect national state, the only better way would be a conference of ethnic nationalities whereby the issue of resource control would be addressed once and for all, reflecting the true federation of the First Republic. That being true and enough being said, and a neo-democratic foundation being established after fifteen excruciating years of military dictatorship from which its nature of settings is devoid of the peoples consent, is ground enough for constitutional review committee, a legislative mandate for constitutional amendment or a representative committee to study and rewrite the constitution which would be orderly and normal of democratic principles; and not a \"Sovereign National Conference.\" But though, if the legislature approves of such a conference, I say \"ride on.\"

The word sovereign is nothing special in Nigeria\'s political class. Before we get carried away with this talk of town lexicon, we should bear in mind a similar transaction took place in 1979 where the same military juntas under the leadership of the present head-of-state Obasanjo, supervised a constitution which handed over power to an elected government with Shehu Shagari emerging as president on the platform of National Party of Nigeria (NPN). So, what\'s the difference between the transition of 1979 and 1999, almost twenty years after? Why were there no agitation by the \"sovereign nationalist\" to seek a better way to govern themselves? Would it be that all was well and there was nothing to complain about, then? And how come, all of a sudden, after the 1999 transition with a replica of 1979 handover, be threatened with a \"Sovereign National Conference\" when in fact, there is a legislative procedure to handle such issues as in all democracies? And why was a \"Sovereign National Conference\" not called when Igbos were sought and slaughtered from house-t-house, city-to-city and in anywhere Igbos could be found?

But the suspicion in this good cause of finding a way to manage ourselves better lies on the victim who once was a hawk. If Abacha had not slammed, persecuted and driven these Yoruba cowards who could not fight, to exile, they probably would not be front-runners for a sovereign national conference. It\'s quite intriguing to find out how a one time collaborators and conspirators have themselves caught up in the same condition that if it had been taken care of earlier, we would not be desperate for a way out in the trap we found ourselves in, today. The case of Aburi to which one is weary of pointing out and which has extensively and exhaustively been debated, regardless of its military compositions, which resulted to a betrayal for whatever reasons Gowon, Awo and Enahoro deemed appropriate, should be dust-off and re-examined if we are to make a headway in \"national state.\"

Nevertheless, must Igbos be much concerned in a sovereign national conference or must they be concerned about building their own community, helping one another grow mentally, spiritually and culturally? Here is another classic example of how we fell dramatically apart, fell entirely away from the standards and lacked the necessary morals to effect change in our community, in a fast changing world that is now community-based. Talk about Igbo-Yanks community and enterprise. Do we have one? No way Jose.

Take a tour of the various cities in the United States and tell me where you can count on that is recognized as Igbo community absolutely of Igbo enterprise and cultural relativism? None, to be exact. Just like the Far East Indians can be identified with their thriving communities known for having the highest stakes and stocks in the hotel industry; the Italians and their thriving communities known to operate the best restaurants and the stocks that follows; the Jews and their communities well known for their control of the media and the movie industry; the Korean communities and their self-centeredness known to be thriving in every aspect of business, from real estate, marketing, banking to mass production; the Ethiopian communities known for their dwelling and association; the Persian communities whose majority holdings runs most gas stations; the Mexican communities known for their habitats, and as the list goes on and on, what is one would say Igbos have accomplished in terms of building community since the \"Push Factor,\" the economic, social and political conditions that drove us away from our homeland in search for a better life?

We, the Igbos are the \"most disorganized bunch\" and my fear is, with the way things seems to be, the Igbo nation will one day disappear. And why am I saying this? When our intellectuals, thinkers, business magnates and educators including the Brahmins and \"chiefs\" among us abandon their responsibilities of building community and a profound nation state to engage constructively in tabloid sensationalism, malicious gossips, lies and all forms of moral indiscipline against our kit and kin in favor of our enemies who would in return use the efulefus as rubber stamps, becoming loyalists with flourished corruption. As I said about community and enterprise, who among us, the so-called entrepreneurs have hired a kin without exploitation and abuse? Who among us, the intellectual elite and Brahmins have offered to help a struggling kin, a troubled youth, a brother in need other than making the fellow a laughing stack and telling the whole world how bad in shape he (the guy) is? With this way of life and modus operandi, how do we expect a perfect Igbo nation with a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose and a sense of building community? And how do we establish community toward oneness and growth?

First, we must take to heart of who we really are, and come to terms with reality acknowledging a whole lot has gone wrong in many ways. To start with, the case of our troubled and failed marriages in the Diaspora, which in some cases had been fatal, should be cause for concern to all of us. We were not raised in this way, and we should not allow society not relevant to our culture determine our fate and jeopardize the good morals and tradition we learned from our fathers. Take for instance, the case of Jude Nwandu and Frank Obiora Uyanwa of Los Angeles which I will be writing about in a different essay, the murder suicide in Florida on a love triangle, the man who shot his pregnant wife in Miami Florida, the recent tragedy in Nashville Tennessee and the Hudson Oaks, Texas homicide and several other domestic violence and disturbances which is now a common faire in our marriages, should be taken seriously. This is totally outrageous and out of the norm, the humble beginnings we had, begun by our ancestors. Today our marriages have taken a different shape, disturbingly becoming scary by the day, and of course, \"this is America, man!\"

What is the root cause of this avalanche of insanity wide spreading by the day in our American homes? Could it be the American society which we live in and after surviving the hostile environment by overcoming our predicaments poisoned our minds? Or could it be our women whom we vowed to live the rest of our lives \"for better and worse\" abruptly changed submerging into the American culture? I don\'t care what it is; nothing justifies a man smothering his wife to death, a woman killing her children or a man killing his wife in the most brutal of circumstances. But as this phase of madness which most of us have ignored with some blaming our men, and with some blaming our women for crossing over, negating our cultural heritage and embracing the American socio-cultural outrage needs to be addressed by \"leaders\" of our communities before it becomes an epidemic and before the party is over.

Evidently, we are good at throwing parties more than the Gypsies and not the \"African Jews\" we were known for, which is a mere fallacy not even close to any similarity to the Jews. I have no problem with our Gypsy-like conventions. For sure, and of course, there is a Gypsy in every soul, which of course is human nature. But the problem is, we have turned the Gypsy in us into something else. As World Igbo Congress convened in what has turned out to be a yearly tradition to discuss matters of personal interest, dine and wine on isi-ewu, ngwo-ngwo and akaneme, liquor, then show off their babarigas and agbada, three piece Yoruba-Hausa-Fulani outfits and flowing gowns, chat briefly on Igbos plight and bid themselves adios, calling it a great convention with substance and results--meaning a lot was covered from problems grand and small about the Igbo nation to who takes over the mantle of leadership in Igboland. Really?

So where was World Igbo Congress and Ohaneze Nd\'Igbo in the aftermath of \"June 12\" when Igbo transporters hiked up fees during the Oso Abiola, making it extremely difficult for our kit and kin to get home as a result of the nullification crisis in Abiola\'s alleged presidential ticket? Why would Izu Chukwu Transport, Chidi Ebere, Osondu, The Young Shall Grow, Ekene Dili Chukwu and the rest wicked merchants raise their bus fares when desperate Igbos were running for their lives heading back East? And where were the leaders of thought and the Ohanezes when the greedy Igbo merchants and transporters instituted their act of iniquity on our kit and kin in such fragile and emergency cases?

Then came the Sharia debacle in the Jihadic Northern states where Igbo lives were sought by the Islamic bloodsuckers. In the wake of the satanic Islamic Jihadic North\'s demonic Sharia over the Christian South in which thousands of Igbo lives were lost, what was WIC and Ohaneze Nd\'Igbo\'s reaction when Igbo bodies were brought home in shrouded coffins and \"meat wagons?\" As usual, the bunch of efulefus did practically nothing but watch.

As I keep saying, don\'t let what the shadow \"leaders\" and the drug barons who bankroll WIC and solicit for funds from their enemies, giving them prominent role to keep \"slapping Nd\'Igbo in their face\" fool you when they turn around to convince us that it is a \"new awakening\" or rebirth of the Igbo nation. WIC and Ohaneze will continue to be the confused bunch of efulefus until they come up with a vision that would change the condition of persecution that had affected the Igbos in their dispersion, permit an independent Igbo culture based on the unique perspective of Igbos and work hard on developing a character suitable for a life of self-reliance and independence.

Unfortunately, the seemingly withering away of Igbo nation and her culture cannot be saved by the present generation of liberals and radical lefts whose offspring would have nothing to do with a quest for Igbo nationhood. Our generation as it turns out would be replaced with a \"mixed breed,\" a generation that would be well assimilated into mainstream American culture and would have nothing to do with our Igbo cultural heritage. Obviously, there is much more to be said on this subject, but I will restrain myself for the time being and leave it alone for the experts.

So, for us to determine what must be done if the Igbo nation is to fulfill its obligations under such very different circumstances as in this framework, it will require much effort. And the effort, bearing in mind the establishment of the Igbo nation was an enterprise of our fathers and their fathers, must be a collective one entailing a gathering of Nd\'Igbo from all walks of life.


===================================================================

NOTES:

Rotberg, Roberts. \"A Political History of Tropical Africa.\" New York: Harcourt, Brace and World Inc., 1965

Elekwachi, Francis. \"The Igbo Charter Project-A Commentary. Igbo Forum July 9, 2002

Holy Scriptures--Genesis 6: 5-8

Omoigui, Nowangbe \"Operation Aure: The Northern Military Counter Rebellion of 1966. Web Published

Los Angeles Times. Sunday, August 4, 2002.

Awolowo, Obafemi. \"Path to Nigerian Freedom\" The Political Awakening of Africa. Rupert Emerson and Martin Kilson, ed. Westport: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1965

Azikiwe, Nnamdi \"Political Blueprint of Nigeria.\" The Political Awakening of Africa. Rupert Emerson and Martin Kilson, ed. Westport: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1965

Siollun, Max \"The Northern Counter Coup of 1966: The Full Story. Web Published

Siollun, Max \"No need for a Sovereign National Conference.\" Web Published.

Igbokwe, Joseph. \"Heroes of Democracy.\" Lagos-Nigeria. Clear Vision Publishers Ltd., 2000

Nwankwo, Arthur A., and Ifejika, Samuel U. \"Biafra: The Making of a Nation. New York: Praeger Publishers Inc., 1970

Murder Most Merciless--AM News, Courtesy: Kwenu.com

Nix, Denise. \"Man Who Dragged Wife\'s Body Behind Van is Sentenced.\" Daily Breeze, Friday, January 18, 2002

BNW FACE-2-FACE: Dr. Julius Kpaduwa http://magazine.biafranigeriaworld.com/aehirim/2002aug16.html

Oditta, Maxwell \"Politics of Dissonance and Duplicity\" Daily Independent. Courtesy: Dawodu.com
14
General Discussion / !!Search for my Family and roots!!
« Last post by mrniceguy on February 21, 2008, 04:30:41 PM »
im really concerened bout d whole issue cos i see u as my brotherand mayb u cld snd ur pics or smtin dat culd aid ma search
15
General Discussion / !!Search for my Family and roots!!
« Last post by mrniceguy on February 21, 2008, 04:21:30 PM »
chidi i think i culd help u in search of ur father my name is kingsley chino and i am from abba ozigbu family so ireally tink i mite b of help
16
Reunion / Wetin Concern Fish and Rain Coat or Snake and Ostrich Skin S
« Last post by festus on January 13, 2008, 08:24:34 PM »
Wetin Concern Fish and Rain Coat or Snake and Ostrich Skin Shoe?

An African American friend of mine once said to me that whenever he sees those “cheap and eager” Africans who are all too willing to collapse themselves into anything European, he is overtaking by the “hibbie gibbies”. He claims that he is so angry that each time he wants to walk up to these Africans, fist clenched, to ask them “show me the white man that f*cked you up”?

In many ways, I seem to have contracted my friends infectious “hibbie gibbies” because I always remember his rant when I come across such Africans. However, what is important is that I always try to remind people that this is not an African problem but the problem of all colonized people. Franz Fanon himself was so angry about what he saw as the “nauseating mimicry” of colonized people that the anger shaped his life to a great degree.

What is often forgotten in the many debates and criticisms surrounding this issue is the persistent and longitudinal nature of the indoctrination that produced colonial “subjects”. And, it is not just Africans. Many Japanese people today are, in the words of a Japanese visiting professor at Harvard University, “original copies” of those same Western values the Japanese intellectuals who assembled in Kyoto in 1942 vowed to destroy. The Meiji Restoration (1867) that signified the move of the Japanese capital from Kyoto to Tokyo and the WW 2 Nuclear strike ushered Japan into the cultural oxymoron the Japanese professor described as “original copy”. What saved Japan and most of Asia is that they were partially colonized but not “Christianized” as well as it is the case with Africans. Shintoism remains the dominant religion in Japan.

Below is an article about the way colonization skews a people’s view of themselves and forces them into a confused identity akin to an oxymoron. If you feel like a snake that bought an Ostrich skin shoe at great cost; an Arab who bought ski equipments on his way home or the fish that was sold a “designer” rain coat please read on and realize you are not alone! And, please make sure that next time, you do not join the Afro-Colombian in your office or the “black” guy from Dominican Republic in your class to parrot the colonial identity of “Latino” or “Hispanic” because that is an oxymoron.

Happy New Year

Festus Ikeotuonye


Who We Are Not
http://www.geocities.com/chicanohistory/identity.htm


Here\'s the deal: We are the descendants of the Indigenous Inhabitants of this land.

We are not Hispanics. We are not Spaniards. We are not from Spain. We did not Immigrate to Spain and then come back. Most of us have not even had a single Spanish ancestor in the last one hundred years (often it is more than that). We may have Spanish surnames, but this is a result of colonization, mass baptism, and originally...of rape.

We are not Latinos, the colonizers of Southern Europe , who descended from Latin-speaking Roman countries. This is Spain, Portugal, Italy, France. Nothing to do with us. Do you speak Latin? I don\'t, and no single country in \"Latin America\" has Latin as its official language!

We are not Raza: the term that was introduced by Jose Vasconcellos (a very racist, anti-Indigenous man), and the insult the Spanish descendents gave us to mock their racial rape of our people (they called us \"los hijos de la chingada). Is that what you want to celebrate or honor? These terms were placed on us to make us think we participated in the rape and plunderin gof ourselves.

We even still celebrate \"Dia de la Raza\" on October 12....Columbus Day. Isn\'t that interesting...we \"celebrate\" our own people\'s rape!

We are not Raza Cosmica: an idea that claims all Spanish speakers are one people. If that is so, then that must mean Black Africans and White Americans are the same people because they all speak English (many Africans also have English names and practice European-style Christianity) !

We are not Mestizo, because that only means \"mixed\" in Spanish. \"Mixed\" is not an identity or a culture. There is no country, no language, no people who call themselves \"Mixed.\" We are of Indigenous descent (both full-blood and mixed-blood).

According to Mexican anthrolpologist Guillermo Banfil-Batalla, a Mestizo is often just a \"de-indianized Indian.\"

Not even the Spaniards were \"pure\" White: they had a history of over seven hundred years of being conquered and raped by Muslim-Berbers and African soldiers (The Moors, 711-1492 A.D.).

The Spaniards were Mestizos (mixed) people if there ever were any: their language is from Italy\'s Latin as well as the Arab Moors Arabic. Their religion is from Rome. Their racial gene pool was blended with Arab Moors and before that, Mediterranean Romans. The name \"Spain\" doesn\'t even come from Spain! It came from the Romans who named it \"Hispania\" (after the large number of rabbits they saw there).

We are not \"half-Spanish\": most of us have not had a Spanish ancestor in over 2 to 3 centuries! Having a great-great-great-great grandfather who was Spanish does not count! Sorry! (We are always encouraged to claim any \"White blood\" as our total identity, even if it is a few drops from the distant past!)

We are not Indian, we are not from India (nor Pakistan !). It was Christopher Columbus who introduced the term after he was discovered by Indigenous people at modern-day Haiti/Dominican Republic. His diaries show that he described the people as being \"en dios\" (\"in with god\" so to speak). Nevertheless, the \"compliment\" of a genocidal killer is just that...our own people never called ourselves \"Indios\" or \"Indians\" before Europeans came, and that is the simple fact.
(Ever wonder how people who are actually from India feel about this?)

We are not based on European definitions. Otherwise, we would be Europeans.

 

Who We Are

We are Chianos, but not Latinos. We are mixed-blood and full-blood Indigenous people. We are Chicanos, Mexica, Zapotec, Huichole, Maya, and many others of Anahuac. The Aztec Empire and Maya city-states may have disappeared as political entities, but the people are still there.

Racial inheritance: Racially, most of our people still retain their \"Indian-ness\" in terms of DNA, body types, and pigment features. The fact that we are mis-named \"Hispanics" or \"Latinos\" does not eliminate those biological facts. (\"A rose by any other name is still a Rose.\")

The Spaniard may have won the political/economic war, but genetically, the \"Indian\" won over the Spaniard. Genetically, the vast majority of us are much more of the \"Indian\" than Spaniard. Only 300,000 Spaniards came to Mexico (according to indigenous author Jack Forbes, author of \"Aztecas del Norte\"), and they were mainly men. There were 24,000,000 (million) Indigenous people in Mexico. That\'s a major racial differential.

Need more proof? Visit the following biological study on our people which demonstrates our Indigenous-genetic inheritance:
http://home.att.net/~xochime/research/NewWorld.htm


Culture: Most of our people still retain ties to their identity of \"Mexican-ness\" in varying degrees. Whether we call ourselves Chicanos, Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, or Latinos, we are still making a conscious/unconscious effort to say that we are Mexican-derived people, not \"mainstream\" (White). Even the \"Hispanic cheerleaders\" among us are forced to admit that 65% (or more) of so-called Hispanics are of Mexican origins.

Even the Catholic (forced) conversion of our Indigenous people that began in 1521 was only skin deep. Our people have been fooled by the \"Brown Virgin\" who was witnessed by an Indigenous youth (the so-called \"Juan Diego\"). The name \"Guadalupe\" is an Arabic word, demonstrating the heavy Spanish influences of the whole \"Virgin\" matter. The Brown Virgin \"sighting\" took place on the hill of Tepyac, the shrine of Tonantzin, the Earth Mother of the Nahuas (aka Aztecs), but it was Spanirds who agressively promoted it from the beginning. The Day of the Dead originally took place in August. It\'s an Indigenous Mexican tradition and has no Spanish counterpart in Spain.

Witness the thousands of people throughout Mexico and \"Central America\" who still retain ancient practices in their religion. Witness the Huicholes of Mexico who have stubbornly refused the Spanish religion, and continue many of their ancient religious practices to this day. Witness the hundreds of Chicano murals throughout Aztlan (the US Southwest) which draw heavily on the Aztec and Maya themes.

Witness the constitution of M.E.C.h.A. that states its primary purpose as restoring our people to their proper place as people of Aztlan, a \"bronze nation.\"


Language: many words in Spanish (and some in English) are taken from Nahuatl, the Aztec language. In fact, there are many words in Chicano slang, called calo. Some of those words are cuate, tocayo, cochino, tamale, enchilada, coyote, chocolate, chongo, pinole, tequila, and many more.

Identity: The term Chicano is an etymological derivative of the word Mexica (Mesheeka), which was the name of the \"Aztecs\" who built an empire out the Valley of Mexico. From Mexica came \"Mechicano\" in the Spanish language, and from those people came the modern derivative of Chicano (in Caló slang).

In fact, until 1821(the Spanish colonial period ends), the term \"Mechicano\" referred to all Nahuatl-speaking people. Today, \"Mexican\" is the English version of our original identity. \"Mexicano\" is the Spanish-language version.

Today, the nation of Mexico takes it namesake not from Cortes or Spain, but from the Mexica (Mesheeka) a.k.a. the Aztecs. This Indigenous core is ackowledged at the center of the Mexican flag with the Aztec legend (which is debated over) that includes an eagle perched on a cactus, with a serpent in its mouth. (Note: the oldest \"Aztec Codecies\" do not show a serpent in the eagle\'s mouth at all.)

In Mexico City, there is not a single statue that commemorates Hernan Cortes. But there is for Cuauhtemoc, the last Aztec Tlatoani (ruler).

Ask Yourself This

Q: What distinguishes a Mexican from a Spaniard?
A: The answer is: Indigenous ancestry. We are full-blood and mixed-blood Indigenous people. We were invaded by Spanish Terrorists in 1519, and since then we have been confused about our identities, due to rape and 500 years of a racial caste system, which exists throughout the entire Western Hemisphere.

Q: What do we call our homeland?
A: We called our lands by different names before the Europeans invaded us. The region of Mexico and Central America were called Anahuac. The so-called American Southwest was called Aztlan. Our land stretched from Aztlan to Costa Rica.

Q: Were we civilized?
A: The Carbon 14 (C-14) radiocarbon dating evidence confirms it: We had developed civilization before there was a single town or city in all of Europe. (Note: Mycenaean island culture- a historical contemporary of the Olmec in Mexico- did not have cities). This was the year 1800 B.C. at San Lorenzo on the southern Gulf of Mexico. Read pg 62 of Yale University\'s Michael Coe, in Mexico: From The Olmecs To The Aztecs; Thames & Hudson; 1994.

Q: How long have we been here?
A: We have been the settlers on this continent many thousands of years. To put that in perspective, that\'s centuries before the birth of Christ. That\'s centuries before the first Egyptian pyramid had been built. We were on this continent for millenia before Columbus got lost and claimed to discover it himself.

Q: What are our civilizations?
A: Our civilizations include the Olmecs, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Teotihuaucan, Maya, Toltec, and Mexica, not to mention more.

Q: Are you really a Latino?
A: Do you speak Latin? Do any of your family members speak Latin? Are you from southern Europe, the \"Latin\" area of the world which was ruled by the Latin-speaking Romans? Are you from ANY country that has Latin as its official language?
The Mixed-Blood Question

According to Mexican anthropologist Guillermo Banfil-Batalla, the majority of Mexicans are indistinguishable from the people we all would call \"Indians.\" Most of us are racially mixed (even though 30% of Mexico is still full-blood Indigenous and the 1920 Mexican census listed that number at 80%). This is a fact. But this is merely a racial scar from the European rape of our people. The Spaniards raped our people. No people should define themselves by acts of rape. The Anglos invaded our lands. Both Anglos and Spaniards used violence to mix with Indigenous peoples. This invasion is a source of confusion for our people today. It is the scar that cripples our identity. It is not a correct source of our cultural definition.

Take a good look at the Jews: they are the most racially mixed group of people in the world, but that does not deter them from emphasizing their non-European cultural inheritance (i.e. Middle Eastern-Sumerian). Neither should we Chicanos be troubled from being mixed-blood Indigenous people. We have an identity that transcends “blood percentage” pseudo-science. As a wise person once said, \"It\'s not a question of how much Cherokee blood you have. You\'re either Cherokee or you\'re not.\"

Of course, there are some individuals who will always want us to emphasize the European blood beyond its proportional presence in our people. Their motives are shamelessly transparent and our people are awakening to their inverted logic. They can’t accept that we merely acknowledge White blood as a scar, not as our identity source. They can’t believe that we would not want to assign “equal time” to the minority of European DNA we possess. And this often upsets them greatly.

“White blood” and lighter skin are not our core identity factors. Thus, European culture is not our true heritage. This is the correct logical line of argument, not the wishful thinking we are taught to chase after. White blood is not for us to be ashamed of. It is just a scar on our beings. It was raped into our population, and that makes it a scar…nothing more, nothing less.  We Mexicans did not arrive at Ellis Island, greet the Statue of Liberty, and proceed to try to assimilate with our White brethren.  (By the way, there is no Statue of Liberty facing Mexico, only Europe.) So let\'s not re-victimize ourselves over that rape again.

This mixed-blood scar has been used to trick us into believing our interests are those of Anglo and Hispanic Europeans. Their interests have never been the same as our interests.  Leave that confusion behind. Embrace yourself as a mixed-blood Indigenous Descendent. Leave the “blood quantum” pseudo-science to Europeans. Our DNA is not recessive like theirs, and that is why they focus on it so much. That is partly why they are so hostile about preserving it and  “protecting it” from us.

So you can remember this: No matter how much cream was dumped into the coffee, that coffee never became white.

Again, embrace yourself as an Indigenous Descendent. You\'re not European. You\'re not half-White or half-Spaniard or half-European (unless one of your parents is). If you are Chicano / Mexican, you are derived from the Indigenous inhabitants of this continent.

Separating Ourselves From The Vendidos (Traitors)

It is critical that we distinguish ourselves as Indigenous, (Chicana, Chicano, Mexica, etc) so that the vendidos and vendidos of our people will have been much harder time sabotaging our people as a whole. According to the Mexica Movement, a vendido is one who \"aggressively works against our cause. They are usually defenders of the crimes of Europeans. \"

But let\'s not confuse ignorance with being a vendido. Ignorance will change once given knowledge. A vendido won\'t.
 

Some facts about our collective identity

One people/one culture: We are one people united by several common Indigenous factors. These factors are independent of Europe. We did not \"borrow\" culture from Greece, Egypt, or the Middle East, as Europeans did. The civilizations we started came out of our own genius right here at home.

Anahuac: the cultural area of our homeland which we have inhabited and civilized for nearly 4,000 years. Anahuac includes the western United States, Mexico, and Central America.

Common mother culture: We are the children of the Olmecs, just as the Jews are the children of Abraham.

Our Olmec inheritance: dualistic religion, science, art, government, pyramid-temples.

Economic unity: Since no one region was completely self-sufficient, vast trade networks existed throughout modern-day Mexico and modern day USA. This meant that goods as well as ideas and arts were exchanged from far corners of the empire into other nations. The Mexica even had traveling merchants (Pochteca) who traded with nations as for North as modern-day Four Corners area .

Common world view: a religion based not on belief but on acknowledgment. We acknowledge one self created Creator, called Ometeotl by our Mexica ancestors and Hunab-Ku by our Maya brothers and sisters. We did not believe in \" gods \" as the Europeans insist it we did. We had only one God, one Creator who exists in Duality and is manifested in the thousands of forces of the Universe.

Common food culture: maize, corn, beans, tortillas, squash, etc.

Linguistic unity: Nahuatl was the language spoken throughout our homeland of Anahuac at the time of the Spanish invasion. It was the \"glue\" language that connected many other peoples who spoke their own languages. Archaeologists today even a class most of our people (from the Four Corners Southwest to Mexico, even into Costa Rica) with the Uto-Aztecan linguistic grouping. Although many languages were spoken, Nahuatl was the most common. It was considered the language of civilized peoples. It was the language of the metropolis of Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City).

Astronomical knowledge: our people charted the movements of celestial bodies, documenting them, formulating their interrelationships through mathematics. Always observing patterns and structuring our lives to be in harmony with those patterns.

Common calendar and the measurement of Time: compare the \"Aztec\" calendar system to the Mayan calendar system. They are virtually the same. They both come from the Olmecs of the Veracruz region of Mexico. They both comprised of 260 ritual days and 365 civil days. Our Maya people created  the most accurate calendar in the world at the time including the calendar used in Europe. They calculated a solar year to 365.22 days. They were only off by .02 of one day (about 17 seconds a year!) .

Common sports culture: from Central America to Mexico to the four corners region of the United States there exist ball courts, which silently speak to a common cultural orientation.

 

We are shown above and elsewhere, over and over, that we have always had a common culture.

We Indigenous peoples share a unity of culture and history that transcends any in-fighting we had. If you make a checklist of it all, we have had more in common than we had in differences. Our lands were a common cultural region with sub-cultures and political divisions, not completely cultural ones.

Why Should I Acknowledge Myself As Indigenous
 and not \"Half-Spanish\"?

First of all, because you want an ethnic correction of yourself.

Secondly, because we need to distinguish ourselves from the European cultural agenda and vendidos that keep us marginalized and brand us as foreigners in our own land. For centuries, we have tried to \" fit in and work hard \". We have sacrificed our culture, adopted a foreign culture, become Christianized, accepted the yoke of \" foreigner \", worked the hardest jobs for the least pay. . . And always, we have remained at the bottom economically and politically. Only when they want our votes, do they show up in our neighborhoods asking how we\'re doing.

Third, many of us have not had a Spanish ancestor for over 3 centuries! How long do we have to keep calling ourselves \"half-Spanish\"...500 years? 5,000 years? Forever?

Many of us, have even gone so far as to identify themselves in the name of the colonizers (Hispanic/Latino) and try to look like them with dyed hair and contact lenses. What more can we sacrifice to \"fit in\"? We have already sacrificed everything from our land to our pride. Obviously, there is no more that we can concede, and we will never be able to \"fit in\" to this Euro-centric system. We have no choice but to be ourselves without worrying if White people approve of it.

The best chance we and have to attain that goal is to revive and unite into a common Indigenous culture. A culture that places our interests at the forefront as opposed to a Euro-centric culture that relegates our Indigenous people to a footnote in their Euro-centric universe. This best chance we have is to reclaim our Indigenous cultures (as one united People of Anahuac).

Keep in mind that most of our cultures had been destroyed by the European invasion. 99 percent of our books were burned, 95 percent of our population was killed off. However, some materials survive to and some eyewitnesses had documented many important elements of our culture.

Not all of our cultural practices have been relegated to oblivion, museums, or dusty books in libraries. At least 30% of the population of modern day Mexico is full blooded indigenous, many of whom have retained knowledge and vestiges of our former cultures, although admittedly, much of it is contaminated with Christian ideas and rituals.

What we are basically dealing with, are a the tattered remnants of what once existed. Those remains include the surviving cultural knowledge of our people and the post-conquest documentation. Is there any one culture in which we breathe life into again? Of all the cultures that were present in ancient Anahuac, only the Mexica have had enough materials and knowledge survive to legitimately reconstruct-or reconstitute-what once existed.

Just as Italians rebuilt their nation from the highest point of their cultural history, we too can reconstitute the highest point of civilization achieved in our history. It is an Indigenous, collective-focused civilization; not Euro-centric and self-centered. And just like Italians, we too are of mixed blood heritage (the Italians have Germanic, Etruscan, Arab, Carthaginian-African, and Phoenician bloodlines).

Fortunately, ample material now exists from which we can draw upon to rebuild the highest point of our civilization before it was invaded and raped by Europeans. This is what the Italians did after the fall of Rome, and recently the Jews. This is the kind of unity we need, not the sham \" Latino unity \" that enslaves us to the Spanish language, thinking, identity, and culture.

There is now more literature available regarding our traditional theology-although, much of this is filtered through a Judeo-Christian world view. Nonetheless, we can reasonably expect to be able to piece together much of the wisdom of our ancestors and apply it in the modern world. There is hope. Unfortunately, even the oral tradition has been corrupted by Europeans.

But we must recover our culture if we are to be anything more than pawns in a game of cheap-labor chess; if we are to be people with dignity and pride once again; and if we are going to have a future where we control the wealth of our land. We must be committed to non-violence and civilized behavior. Of course, when it comes to self-defense, we must behave like any dignified people do.

Otherwise, we will remain cheap imitations of Europeans who we cheer for, but who do not have our interests at heart. We need to take back our own identity. We need to stop living a pseudo-identity, with a counterfeight history, and with slaves\' names, worshipping a European-depicted god.

 We need to know our history, our heroes, our songs. In sum, we need to know ourselves again. And we must be uncompromising in this pursuit. Future generations depend on it.
17
Reunion / merry xmas
« Last post by obj on December 20, 2007, 11:56:22 PM »
i want to join my friend tinsquared to wish u all a merry xmas.all our expections shall come to realty

obaji
18
Reunion / HAVE A FUN XMAS
« Last post by TINSQUARED on December 20, 2007, 10:21:56 PM »
Guys,

Hope you\'ve all had a good year so far......

Just wishing you..... A MERRY CHRISTMAS   .

Enjoy the season :wink:


Have fun,
TINTIN
19
General Discussion / U GUYS ARE DREAMING
« Last post by obj on December 07, 2007, 03:02:13 AM »
WELL,VIKKI AND CO,I DON\'T INTEND TO WAKE U UP FROM SLEEP.IF DIS FANTACY IS DOING U GUYS WELL,THEN PRAVO.LEFT 4 ME,9JA GIRLS ARE NOT BAD BUT WE GT VANPIRES,THOSE WITH A SUCKING MOUTH.WEDA U THINK THE R GOOD IN BAD OR BUSINESS,9JA GIRLS HAVE 2 BE FOLLOWED WITH SERIOUS CAREFULNESS.DE NO DEY MUMU LIKE DE WHITES.TATS MY OWN CONTRIBUTION. :twisted:

OBAJI
20
Reunion / building a computer center center
« Last post by okey on December 05, 2007, 10:49:31 AM »
I concur! It\'s about time we deliver a project.

How far? where are you now? Do email me when you get the chance.
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 10