I watched the video message to Nigerians from the leader of the Boko Haram sect and my view is that there isn't any need to quarrel or fight over anything that is the preference of any group of people in this age of self determination. All that the sect leader and his people need do is organize a referendum to show that they and the people in certain parts of Nigeria reject certain things (whethe, r Christianity, foreigners, or Western Education) and seek a plebiscite for that part of the country to be structured in a particular way in a confederal arrangement or be excised from the federation of Nigeria. They could even invite the United Nations to superintend the process of becoming an enclave confederating with the rest of Nigeria without any trauma. But to kill in God's name is to dishonor any faith that I know of whether it be Christianity, Islam or Confucianism. PU

http://www.facebook.com/#!/Utomi

Brilliant. If really they have not been hijacked by those with a political agenda and only have aversion to Western education/ Civilisation, they will seize on these options and try to carve out an enclave for themselves and their followers.

That is a dumb comment, as far as I am concerned. Boko Haram does not speak for any other group in Nigeria except for the few hundred brainwashed nitwits that belong to the sect. The group does not even pretend to speak for any ethnic group in the north, let alone any people out there, apart from their own selves. Their agenda is simply along religious lines and any tom, di_ck and harry, could do just about the same, but that don't make 'em legit. jeezzzz!!

Kobojunkie:

That is a dumb comment, as far as I am concerned. Boko Haram does not speak for any other group in Nigeria except for the few hundred brainwashed nitwits that belong to the sect. The group does not even pretend to speak for any ethnic group in the north, let alone any people out there, apart from their own selves. Their agenda is simply along religious lines and any tom, di_ck and harry, could do just about the same, but that don't make 'em legit. jeezzzz!!

And how do we know that they speak only for themselves except there is a plebiscite to determine this? If such a plebiscite exposes them as self-serving, will it not have achieved the objective of stopping their violent campaigns or making them have a rethink. PU is not calling them legit but asking them to make themselves so ie to follow proper protocols to ventillate their desire. What is dumb about it? But if you insist it is dumb, Can you proffer your own alternatives for the BH issue.

Kobojunkie:

[b]That is a dumb comment, as far as I am concerned. Boko Haram does not speak for any other group in Nigeria except for the few hundred brainwashed nitwits that belong to the sect. [/b]The group does not even pretend to speak for any ethnic group in the north, let alone any people out there, apart from their own selves. Their agenda is simply along religious lines and any tom, di_ck and harry, could do just about the same, but that don't make 'em legit. jeezzzz!!

Thats why i wont even reply to this. I dey laugh o.

DanKan0:

Thats why i wont even reply to this. I dey laugh o.

So what are your own suggestions to Boko Haram beside laughing?

What sort of useless referendum is that ,am surprised utomi can utter this kind of suggestion.This goes to show how slow and crippling his tenure would have been .He should stick to economic issues because his political arguments are lame.Based on his position,I have no faith in our polity.It is only an incompetent administration that will allow the terrorism of the sect to go on unabated.Jonathan has allowed his stupid and daft personality to become a point of reference.It will give a ground for other relatively unknown group to make themselves known.

^Utomi no longer surprises me. I came to the painful realization that Utomi is at best filled with hot air, and at worst part of the corruption machinery. When you compare what he says to his political power base, namely PDP, you stop being surprised.

If we Nigerians really want change, we are going to have to stop demonising other ethnic groups - look how far "son of the soil" Jonathan has brought us.

Good talk from Utomi.

A UN supervised plebiscite throughout all of Nigeria would be most welcome.

ekt_bear:

Good talk from Utomi.

A UN supervised plebiscite throughout all of Nigeria would be most welcome.

I agree totally. Who Knows how we can activate it? Perhaps as many Geo-political zones as possible should make representations to the UN to come over to Macedonia and help us.

@ Birdman and Hollandis. Classical cases of leaving the message and shooting the messenger. So What is your panacea for the BH issue.

houvest:

I watched the video message to Nigerians from the leader of the Boko Haram sect and my view is that there isn't any need to quarrel or fight over anything that is the preference of any group of people in this age of self determination. All that the sect leader and his people need do is organize a referendum to show that they and the people in certain parts of Nigeria reject certain things (whethe, r Christianity, foreigners, or Western Education) and seek a plebiscite for that part of the country to be structured in a particular way in a confederal arrangement or be excised from the federation of Nigeria. They could even invite the United Nations to superintend the process of becoming an enclave confederating with the rest of Nigeria without any trauma. But to kill in God's name is to dishonor any faith that I know of whether it be Christianity, Islam or Confucianism. PU

http://www.facebook.com/#!/Utomi

Spot on Patrick Utomi.

It high time we knew what everyone want of this country. A nationwide referendum is way to go. I have a sneaky feeling that majority of Northern muslim consider christian south as hampering there spiritual advancement; and southerner too have not hidden their preference for a divided nation.

Plebiscite now!

PointB:

Spot on Patrick Utomi.

It high time we knew what everyone want of this country. A nationwide referendum is way to go. I have a sneaky feeling that majority of Northern muslim consider christian south as hampering there spiritual advancement; and southerner too have not hidden their preference for a divided nation.

Plebiscite now!

How do we get this going?

@Poster,  it is simple. Has boko haram EVER claimed to speak on behalf on ANY ethnic group or sect in that country? If your answer is YES, then I demand you show us proof of this.

Plebiscite only makes sense when you have a genuine call by a legit group. FORCING a vote on any ethnic group, even the Hausa, in some attempt to solve the Boko Haram TERRORIST issue reveals a lack of understanding of the meaning of the word itself, or some of the level of ignorance that pervades minds, especially in non-Hausa regions, on what this Boko Haram has said it stands for to date, and also is a sign of weakness and plain old stu-pidity.

You want a vote by an entire region because a terrorist group? A group they have been begging the government to rid them of? A group that has killed even those close to them in the name of their selfish cause? Really? One needs to be close to completely loosing one's marbles to make such a suggestion, or even pretend it makes some sense to call for such?

houvest:

How do we get this going?

A good question.

I wonder how useful one of those electronic petitions would be? E.g. from change.org?

If we had 500,000 people sign their names saying that they want a plebiscite in Nigeria, surely that would be enough to garner some attention?

I'm not sure.

houvest:

How do we get this going?

1. We need to push our representatives through whatever contacts we have to table this at the national assemble

2. We should start massive non-violent protest across South East and South South (Igbo region) to campaign for this

3. Civil disobedience, sit at home protest should be incorporated

4. When all this option fail, we need to to go on rampage, conduct surgical strike at Nigeria business interest, especially the oil sector ala tha Niger Delta militant template, while preparing for war

5. Kidnapping of oil workers, deliberate tarnishing of Nigeria image abroad, and massive propaganda  should not be ruled out

6. If all these options fail to move Nigeria, we declare another secession, even if it will provoke another civil war. Failure is when you quit trying to win, not when you lose a battle/war!

ekt_bear:

A good question.

I wonder how useful one of those electronic petitions would be? E.g. from change.org?

If we had 500,000 people sign their names saying that they want a plebiscite in Nigeria, surely that would be enough to garner some attention?

I'm not sure.

I think it would carry more weight if different petitions come from the different ethnic groups rather than a joint petition.

PointB:

1. We need to push our representatives through whatever contacts we have to table this at the national assemble

2. We should start massive non-violent protest across South East and South South (Igbo region) to campaign for this

3. Civil disobedience, sit at home protest should be incorporated

4. When all this option fail, we need to to go on rampage, conduct surgical strike at Nigeria business interest, especially the oil sector ala tha Niger Delta militant template, while preparing for war

5. Kidnapping of oil workers, deliberate tarnishing of Nigeria image abroad, and massive propaganda should not be ruled out

6. If all these options fail to move Nigeria, we declare another secession, even if it will provoke another civil war. Failure is when you quit trying to win, not when you lose a battle/war!

Agreed but I am not thinking of a demand by only the Igbo but a national movement like the those for independence indicating to the whole world that living together has had more evils than advantages. The Igbo can go it alone if other groups do not identify with it but that should not be the first c ourse of action but alast resort. Every right thinking Nigerian should by now be thinking of how we should seperate peacefully not violently. More calls by prominent Nigerians like Utomi need to ring out all over the Nation to trigger this off. Though his remarks were directed towards BH but the same principle applies to the whole Nation.

houvest:

I watched the video message to Nigerians from the leader of the Boko Haram sect and my view is that there isn't any need to quarrel or fight over anything that is the preference of any group of people in this age of self determination. All that the sect leader and his people need do is organize a referendum to show that they and the people in certain parts of Nigeria reject certain things (whethe, r Christianity, foreigners, or Western Education) and seek a plebiscite for that part of the country to be structured in a particular way in a confederal arrangement or be excised from the federation of Nigeria. They could even invite the United Nations to superintend the process of becoming an enclave confederating with the rest of Nigeria without any trauma. But to kill in God's name is to dishonor any faith that I know of whether it be Christianity, Islam or Confucianism. PU

Prof is right, the idea of a U.N. Sponsored referendum is the main mechanism for preventing further deepening chaos and violence in this Country and it is so bloody obvious as I have been screaming about this for months, after all how can we go on to continuously let innocent people get slaughtered with impunity, it's absolutely ridiculous that most visitors to NL (especially the ones abroad) don't react to seeing pictures of butchered babies or women in Jos or other parts of the Middlebelt or Country at large without  doing something. All in the name of religious intolerance and religious subjugation.

Whether it is the Boko Haram issue, or the Jos crisis, or the hacking to death of the Corpers during the last elections they are all symptoms of the same problem and anybody that does not understand that is just being politically naive.

I must admit though that I have a preference for the aggressors to be excised from the Union. Enough is enough, you can't build a Nation with cold blooded killers.

ShangoThor:


Prof is right, the idea of a U.N. Sponsored referendum is the main mechanism for preventing further deepening chaos and violence in this Country and it is so bloody obvious as I have been screaming about this for months, after all how can we go on to continuously let innocent people get slaughtered with impunity, it's absolutely ridiculous that most visitors to NL (especially the ones abroad) don't react to seeing pictures of butchered babies or women in Jos or other parts of the Middlebelt or Country at large without doing something. All in the name of religious intolerance and religious subjugation.

Whether it is the Boko Haram issue, or the Jos crisis, or the hacking to death of the Corpers during the last elections they are all symptoms of the same problem and anybody that does not understand that is just being politically naive.

I must admit though that I have a preference for the aggressors to be excised from the Union. Enough is enough, you can't build a Nation with cold blooded killers.

Agreed but it Appears that the UN needs some sort of convincing because of the sovereignity of the republic. I wish they could be more pro-active than reactionary. However we need to take our destiny in our hands and commence the process of convincing them.

were is this man??