“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
-Derek Bok.
“The new source of Power is not money in the hands of a few but information in the hands of many.”
– John Naisbitt.
“…It is really funny when military coupists are tried in the open that a civilian has to face a camera trial, especially when the offence in question has been made public by government. Government has called my client names such as gunrunning, treasonable felony, trafficking in arms and has gone ahead to publish the charges in the media and internet, yet it wants our defence to be in camera. That in itself is injustice and an abuse of rule of law thereby making a mockery of the law the government believes in.
What is now secretive about an offence that has been so published that the trial should be conducted in camera? Up till now my client has not been served with any charges, and despite a court order obtained for the injunction of the trial, Okah is being kept incommunicado.People like the late Ken Saro-Wiwa were tried in the open. You cannot try a civilian in camera in a civilian government. That is barbaric.This was the first time that the media were being barred from the public trial. If the government has nothing to hide, why in camera?.Up till now, my clients have not been served with any charges. You cannot be talking of fair hearing when an order had been obtained to try them in camera. Government definitely has something to hide. Not even under the late maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha have we seen this kind of insincerity to the people of this country. Having accused Okah and Atatate publicly of treason and gun-running, the Nigerian state should bring its evidence to the open because we intend to use this trial to put the federal government on trial for crime against humanity as far as the Niger Delta is concerned…”
Femi Falana, S.A.N. Counsel to Okah and Atatate, leaders of MASSOB.
reaction to the decision of the Federal government to try the leaders of MASSOB in secret. April 2008.
“…Revolution is bloody, revolution is hostile, revolution knows no compromise, revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way. And you, sitting around here like a knot on the wall, saying, “I’m going to love these folks no matter how much they hate me.” No, you need a revolution. Whoever heard of a revolution where they lock arms, as Rev. Cleage was pointing out beautifully, singing “We Shall Overcome”? You don’t do that in a revolution. You don’t do any singing, you are too busy swinging. It’s based on land. A revolutionary wants land so he can set up his own nation, an independent nation. these Negroes aren’t asking for any nation – they’re trying to crawl back on the plantation.
When you want a nation, that’s called nationalism. When the white man became involved in a revolution in this country against
To understand this, you have to go back to what the young brother here referred to as the house Negro and the field Negro back during slavery. There were two kinds of slaves, the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negroes-they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good because they ate his food-what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near the master; and they loved the master more than the master loved himself. They would give their life to save to save the master’s house -quicker than the master would. If the master said, “We got a good house here,” the house Negro would say, “Yeah, we got a good house here.” Whenever the master said “we,” de said “we.” That’s how you can tell a house Negro.
If the master’s house caught on fire, the house Negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would. If the master got sick, the house Negro would say, “What’s the matter, boss, we sick?” We sick! He identified himself with his master, more than his master identified with himself. And if you came to the house Negro and said, “Let’s run away, let’s escape, let’s separate, the house Negro would look at you and say, “Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this?” Where can I eat better food than this?” That was that house Negro. In those days he was called a “house nigger.” And that’s what we call them today, because we’ve still got some house niggers running around here.
This modern house Negro loves his master. He wants to live near him. He’ll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near his master, and then brag about “I’m the only Negro out here.” I’m the only one on my job.” I’m the only one in this school.” You are nothing but a house Negro. And if someone comes to you right now and says, “Let’s separate,” you say the same thing that the house Negro said on the plantation. “What you mean, separate? From
On the same plantation, there was the field Negro. The field Negroes-those were the masses. There were always more Negroes in the field than there were Negroes in the house. The Negro in the field caught hall. He ate leftovers. In the house they eat high up on the hog. The Negro in the field didn’t get anything but what was left of the insides of the hog. They call it “chitt’lings” nowadays. In those days they called them what they were – guts. That’s what you were – gut-eaters. And some of you are still gut-eaters.
The field Negro was beaten from morning to night; he lived in a shack, in a hut; he wore old, castoff clothes. He hated his master. I say he hated his master. He was intelligent. That house Negro loved his master, but that field Negro- remember, they were in the majority, and they hated the master. When the house caught on fire, he didn’t try to put it out; that field Negro prayed that he’d die. If someone came to the field Negro and said, “Let’s separate, let’s run,” he didn’t say “Where we going?” He’d say, “Any place is better than here.” You’ve got field Negroes in
Just as the slavemaster of that day used Tom, the house Negro, to keep the field Negroes in check, the same old slavemaster today has Negroes who are nothing but modern Uncle Toms, twentieth-century Uncle Toms, to keep you and me in check, to keep us under control, keep us passive and peaceful and nonviolent. It’s like when you go to the dentist, and the man is going to take your tooth. You are going to fight him when he starts pulling. So he squirts some stuff in your jaw called novocaine, to make you think they’re not doing anything to you. So you sit there and because you have got all of that novocaine in your jaw, you suffer-peacefully. Blood running all down your jaw, and you don’t know what is happening. Because someone has taught you to suffer – peacefully.
The white man does the same thing to you in the street, when he wants to put knots on your head and take advantage of you and not have to be afraid of your fighting back. To keep you from fighting back, he gets all these old religious Uncle Toms to teach you and me, just like novocaine, to suffer peacefully. As Rev. Cleage pointed out, they say you should let your blood flow in the streets. This is a shame to him, you know what it is to me..”
Malcom X.
excerpt of speech.
ONE
Do you really think you want One Nigeria? Do you really know what you are asking for? Do you know the FULL economic, political, military and cultural implications of the One Nigeria project for you, your family and ethnic group? Do you really think that it’s in the interest of your ethnic group? Are you ready to pay ANY PRICE for the One Nigeria project? Do you want to know the full implications of the One Nigeria project before making any commitments? Are you sure you will still want your ethnic group to be part of
I want to set the tone of this article straight. The purpose of this article is not to convince you at any cost that the so called One Nigeria is not only against the economic, political, military and cultural interests of your family and ethnic group, but conduct an ‘objective analysis’ that will help you in making an ‘informed and correct’ decision. As far as I am concerned , maturity is about making informed and conscious decision, and taking full responsibility for them. However, please be aware of the fact that whatever decision you make today will determine the economic prosperity, cultural revival of your family, ethnic group and generations yet unborn. Most importantly, you need to understand that whatever decision you make today to support the One Nigeria project will be IRREVERSIBLE! You are faced with making a very important and historical decision that will have significant and lasting impact on your ethnic group and generations to come.
But if I may seek your indulgence to fast-forward my thoughts, I am convinced that if there is any southerner in support of the One Nigeria project, he or she either does not know the real implications for his ethnic group or is just being emotional, or both. Therefore, the primary purpose of this article, first and foremost, is to come to the aid of those who are ignorant, and enlighten them. As far as those who are ruled by emotion is concerned, all we can do for them, for now, is to ask them to see psychotherapists for treatment, before they get acquainted with our facts.
I am convinced, beyond any reasonable doubts, that any ‘well informed’ southerner equipped with the full implications of One Nigeria, and in his right senses, will NEVER support this project that the north is desperate to sell to us at any cost. This article is not for this category of people, who are not only very much aware of the implications, but have as well vowed to do everything, or are already doing everything within their capability, to get out of the bondage and trap called ‘Nigeria,’ that was set for the southerners by the British to serve their selfish economic interest, at the detriment of the south. Therefore, this article is mainly for the ‘doubting Thomases,’ our fellow southern brothers and sisters; who are either still sitting on the fence or have not really given this very important and sensitive issue a very serious thought. This article has come to their aid. Moreover, we need to give this category of southerners ‘the benefits of the doubts’ by presenting our objective analysis to them.
My aim in this is to let you SEE, and not just LOOK, because there is a BIG difference between mere looking and seeing. For example, you might be looking at something, say a picture, but overlook or not see a very important detail. My aim in this article is to let you HEAR, and not just LISTEN, for there is a significant difference too between the two. You might be listening to somebody, but not hear the key points of his speech, presentation or arguments. And finally, my aim in this article is to let you THINK along with me, and not just limit yourself to just SEEING and HEARING, because it’s by thinking seriously about what you have seen and heard that you can make good analysis, which consequently leads to a better understanding of a problem. And a better understanding of a problem, in return, helps you to make informed and correct decisions that will have a lasting impact, all things being equal. The article will empower you with knowledge by connecting all the pieces together to form a complete and ‘meaningful’ picture in your brain. Raw data will be transformed into information, and the information in your possession, can easily be converted into knowledge – which automatically equips you to make an informed and correct decision. And, as you are most likely aware, knowledge, correctly applied, is power. This has been proved over and over from time immemorial.
