[Abamieda Wanderer]

People,

I pity us all as Nigerians; why? You may ask.

I could be wrong (but I stand to be corrected) but shouldn’t we all be sitting together and talking together with one another until we understand what every single one of us is saying. The Igbo’s are doing their own talking separately in one city in the USA, the Odua’s are also doing their own talking separately in another city in the USA, mind you all of these talking are done outside of Nigerian soil; the country the Igbo’s and the Yorubas claims to love very much. I guess we must be teaching our kids born abroad some warpped sense of African prides No wonder they don't anything to do with Nigeria.

While The Hausas although doing their own talking separately also, are the only ones doing it in Nigeria. Does anyone see the irony in this?

What do you think we are going to achieve with this; I am Igbo or I am Yoruba crap I think this is dividing us more than it is bringing us together and if anyone thinks that this is going to solve the Nigeria problem he/she can call me a liar any day. The shameful part of it is that we can’t even talk in our own Country.

Let me leave you guys with some quotes from the Nobel Prize acceptance speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. On December 10, 1964 in Oslo Norway.

Please apply this to Nigerians and not American Negroes.

“I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when twenty-two million Negroes (Nigerians) of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial (ethnic) injustice. I accept this award in behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice.

I am mindful that debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize.

After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is profound recognition that non-violence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time -- the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. (Hence, Ukiwe may be on the right path)
Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that non-violence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. (I hope it is not too late for us Nigerians) If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama, to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity. (Can you imagine some of us had to travel to US, UK and other countries to find simple dignity of feeding and clothing our families and the ones back in Naija?)

This same road has opened for all Americans a new ear of progress and hope. It has led to a new Civil Rights bill, and it will, I am convinced, be widened and lengthened into a superhighway of justice as Negro and white men in increasing numbers create alliances to overcome their common problems. (Yeah right can this can happen in that Nigeria with I am Igbo, you are Yoruba crap we all seem to love so much)

I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. (This is for all those bastards former and present that are robbing their own motherland Nigeria to keep UK, US economy alive)

I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism (ethnisism) and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. (This is for some %#%#%#%#%#s who think only present and former soldier boys have the right to rule Nigeria! see the good jobs they have collectively done in 45+ years)

I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. (Nigerian leaders former and present. You can't everybody that disagrees with you people)

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and non-violent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land. ( This is for all those bastards that have ruled us since independence; OBJ, IBB, Ekweme, Shagari, Buhari, Governors, Ministers,….who have stolen Nigerians collective dignities)"And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." ( Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa people se una dey get ears?)I still believe that we shall overcome.
This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.

Today I come to Oslo as a trustee, inspired and with renewed dedication to humanity. I accept this prize on behalf of all men who love peace and brotherhood. I say I come as a trustee, for in the depths of my heart I am aware that this prize is much more than an honour to me personally.
Every time I take a flight I am always mindful of the many people who make a successful journey possible -- the known pilots and the unknown ground crew.
So you honour the dedicated pilots of our struggle who have sat at the controls as the freedom movement soared into orbit. You honour, once again, Chief (Albert) Luthuli of South Africa, whose struggles with and for his people, are still met with the most brutal expression of man's inhumanity to man.
You honour the ground crew without whose labor and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could never have left the earth.
Most of these people will never make the headlines and their names will not appear in Who's Who. Yet when years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvellous age in which we live -- men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization -- because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness' sake.
I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners -- all those to whom beauty is truth and truth beauty -- and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold. (My Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa brothers and don’t forget the ijaws, Itshekiris…........ it is possible) “

Carlisle Umannah, I saw your article I just decided it is not worth any comments from me, hopefully, you will learn a lesson or two from this speech.I hope that it is not too late,

Shikena,

Abamieda