LAURETTA ONOCHIE

Nwanna, Many years ago, the General, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu spoke about the "Biafra of the mind." Only a few, I think, understood him. Well, they say, only the deep speak to the deep.  But let me attempt here to tease out Dim Ojukwu's prescription: the greatest proof of Igbo survival and aspiration must be to model, wherever Onye-Igbo stands, the ethos of innovation, excellence, ingenuity, and ability that marked the Igbo endeavor in Biafra. We must also use Biafra as the stepping stone to a higher vision of the Igbo place in the world.  There is no single proof or evidence today that the Igbo of this generation are capable of transforming any nation to which they lay claim. I have looked; I have studied the Igbo situation, and I have listened to my Igbo kinsmen, and I think something is fundamentally wrong: the Igbo are trapped in a deadening hate, self-pity and nostalgia. It is the kind of nostalgia that is both defeatist and deadly because it continu

We would like to use this opportunity to commiserate with friends and families of Nigerians who lost their lives in the recent car park bombing of innocent Nigerians by merchants of death and Terrorists, suspected to be members of the “out-law” group, BOKO HARAM. We commiserate with the families of over two thousand Nigerians who have lost their lives across the northern part of our country in the last few years. We also pray for the full and speedy recovery of the entire injured and sick still in various hospitals and health care centres in and around the Federal capital city of Abuja and others convalescing at home after the tragic and fatal bombing of the Nyanya, Abuja park last Monday the 15th of April, 2014. We, the PROGRESSIVE SOLIDARITY FORUM (PSF), are concerned that the Federal government approach to resolving the Boko Haram crisis does not seem to be effective in resolving the issues surrounding the crisis, and the unnecessary loss of lives, now running into Thousands, l

I have, once again become a year older. My brothers, sisters, friends, well-wishers and associates overwhelmed me with beautiful, soul-stirring messages of goodwill, which continue to strengthen me as I relentlessly wade through labyrinths of life. I remain indebted to all of you and I can only wish it was possible to pay personal visits to all of you to express my gratitude. As I become a year older, it is only fit and proper for me to have some reflections on one or two issues, especially the much vexed issue of the endless search for justice. The search or pursuit of justice has never been easy anywhere in the world. It is a noble cause fit only for the focused and determined individuals who are ready to seek the common good for the greater number of people. In the pursuit of justice, which culminated in the historic black man becoming the President of the most powerful nation on earth, Martin Luther King once said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable … Every

The season of politics is upon us. Should be a time to enjoy being a citizen. A time to hold people who were elected yesterday accountable and those who seek to be elected tomorrow show how their lives before desiring public office showed public spirit and service to others as well as capacity to get things done. Unfortunately, our politics does not always follow democratic expectations. While all hands need to be on deck to make that change, a few needling issues with the partnership of the moment need reflection. One of them is the limit of partisanship. The nature of traditional western Competitive partisan politics is adversarial, just like the law courts prosecutorial tradition. The sometimes unhealthy divisiveness of that tradition is the reason one argued for the one party starter in post Colonial Africa, to safeguard the unity of the colonially forged states with many centripetal forces puling at the core of its essence. All quickly found that the one-party state was an

Nigeria has been seething. This is no more news. A lot has been happening and still continues to happen. The elasticity of the patience of Nigerians has been stretched beyond those of any known people on planet earth. Yes corruption and all sorts of evil have made Nigeria their abode. None of these happenings has brought joy nor reprieve from the sufferings of Nigerians in recent times. We just sit tight and take it all in our strides. We moan a little bit and then we move on to the next unwholesome news. What is wrong with us? What sort of fabric are we cut from? "What is wrong with us?", I ask again. No one can fathom what is wrong with Nigerians. The world keep wondering about us and we keep amazing them with our docility. We have gone through the fuel subsidy scam to its investigation, to the concerted effort by the Jonathan administration to discredit and kill the fuel subsidy scam report, using monarchs, government officials and PDP leaders. Nigerians reacted t

Unfolding events are eliciting more negative impression over its name. I was at Yaba Motor Park waiting for a taxi to take me to Oyingbo when I heard the front tyre of a commuter vehicle gave a loud bang. Somebody standing beside me shouted, 'Boko Haram' and suddenly everybody around the area, including myself scampered for safety. Unfolding events are eliciting more negative impression over its name. I was at Yaba Motor Park waiting for a taxi to take me to Oyingbo when I heard the front tyre of a commuter vehicle gave a loud bang. Somebody standing beside me shouted, 'Boko Haram' and suddenly everybody around the area, including myself scampered for safety. Violence surreptitiously crept into its creed. The reality today is that boko haram is equated with terrorism, criminality, banditry, and gangterism. The group has become very indiscriminate in its attack and destruction of lives and properties.The first time I heard the name, I thought it has something

Over the past one year, I have been writing about the impending implosion, explosion and disintegration of the People's Democratic Party of Nigeria, PDP, but it seemed that it would not happen and boooooom! It has happened and the rest as they say, is history.  How did it happen and what gave rise to it? President Jonathan, a man who cannot see beyond his political party, the PDP, was quick to lay the blame solely on the foxy General Olusegun Obasnajo. Those who are die hard Jonathians, especially from the Niger Delta, blame 'Detractors'. Many Nigerians, especially of the Hausa/Fulani stock belong to this category.  I would blame Saharareporters, Premium Times, Punch online and millions of Nigeians who daily use the social media to hold the useless government of President Jonathan to account. "Blame" is not the right word so I would rather, give credit to them for the systematic and consistent way they have exposed the continually evil PDP and its agents. Ob