Gov Obiano, Others Extol Dr Ndukwe's Qualities…

Dr Ndukwe, backing camera, in a handshake with His Excellency, Dr Willie Obiano.

  Anambra State governor, His Excellency, Dr Willie Obiano expressed happiness that a man with the pedigree of Dr Ernest Ndukwe, the former Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC is contesting for a Senate seat under the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA.

Speaking at the Headquarters of Ekwusigo Local Government Area in Ozubulu while commissioning MDGS-propelled project of equipping 33 medical centres in Ekwusigo Local Government Area, the governor told the audience that as many as over 600 people from other parties would be joining APGA the next day,  meaning that APGA’s movement is forever getting stronger.

Dr Obiano used the occasion to equally express gratitude to the Ekwusigo APGA that voted nearly 100% for him during the elections that landed him on the number one citizenship of Anambra State. He urged them to continue voting APGA as events like the commissioning, which is a 67 million naira project is just a tip of that iceberg to what the local government area and others in the state will continue to benefit from his administration.

Extending his boss’ remarks, the SSA to the governor on Events, Chido Obidiegwu, who anchored the event stressed that the former NCC boss’ entrance into the senatorial race under the great APGA is evidence that  the party has people of impeccable integrity reminiscent of a movement on the forward-ever train that will ensure victory in the upcoming election.   

The gathering saw many party big shots including Mr Norbert Obi, Hon. Commissioner for Special Duties; Ekwusigo LGA party chairman, Hon. Anselm Odina; Hon. Paully Onyeka of the state Assembly, representing Ekwusigo. Dr Ndukwe, was accompanied by some members of his campaign team and friends in persons of the DG, Ernest Ndukwe Campaign Organisation (NECO), Mr Chris McCool Nwosu;  Barr Philip Umeadi Jnr; Prince Nonso Onochie, , and a host of others. Also present were the traditional Igwes of Ozubulu, Oraifite, Ihembosi and Ichi, comprising the four towns that make up the LGA.

In his speech, the host LGA chairman, Hon. Agbalanze Jude Mbaegwu expressed gratitude to the governor for always answering to the calls of Ekwusigo LGA. Hon. Mbaegbu went further to congratulate His Excellency for his efforts on security, agriculture, industrialisation and the on-going operation-no-potholes within both state and federal roads all around Anambra State. Continuing, the chairman assured the governor that people of Ekwusigo are so much committed to APGA, and are happy to present Dr Ndukwe as immensely qualified to represent Anambra State in the senate race via the party. Agbalanze Mbaegbu expressed certainty that with a man of proven integrity, class and a trail of achievements like Dr Ndukwe that the coming election would be near 100% again.

Speaking to newsmen after the event, Dr Ndukwe, a front runner in the Anambra South Senatorial race, commended the Governor for his excellent policy and achievement so far regarding security in the state and other areas the state’s chief executive has shown tremendous resolve to improve on what he met on ground. Ndukwe said further that it is his strong desire to serve his people that propelled him towards vying for the Senate seat, stating that the late leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was a major inspiration to him. He promised to contribute to the growth of the party and advancement of the APGA movement.

 

Who The Cap Fits...

 

 

Beat that re-assuring mien if you can...

 

 

''Over 20 years ago, as the vice president of Ohaneze, Anambra State chapter, we had cause to organize a lecture on how to move the Igbo race forward as a people. Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojugwu was present. I made a speech and Ikemba asked me if I was in politics. When I replied in the negative, he didn’t hide his disappointment and there and then challenged me to become a politician in order to help transform my ideas he considered beautiful into actiona...ble benefits to the Igbo race. Ever since, I filed away the great man’s call somewhere in my mind.

 

''When I drew the curtain on public service in 2010, the plans to take up that challenge started molding. And being one of my role models, I couldn’t have thought of any other party besides the one he led and championed doctoring the ideology. So, my mind made up, I contacted the leadership of the party in 2011, opened up a discussion and ever since waited for the appropriate time and I believe no time is as appropriate as now to contest to represent Anambra South Senatorial Zone in the Red Chamber. ''

 

Quotes from Dr Engr Ernest Ndukwe, the man who shouldn’t truly be contesting with anyone to represent Anambra South Senatorial Zone if integrity, achievements, connections and goodwill are being considered. And in the new Anambra that we all clamour for, these parameters should be the yardstick.

Who The Cap Fits...

Who The Cap Fits...

Beat that re-assuring smile if you can

‘’Over 20 years ago, as the vice president of Ohaneze, Anambra State chapter, we had cause to organize a lecture on how to move the Igbo race forward as a people. Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojugwu was present. I made a speech and Ikemba asked me if I was in politics. When I replied in the negative, he didn’t hide his disappointment and there and then challenged me to become a politician in order to help transform my ideas he considered beautiful into actiona...ble benefits to the Igbo race. Ever since, I filed away the great man’s call somewhere in my mind.

 

''When I drew the curtain on public service in 2010, the plans to take up that challenge started molding. And being one of my role models, I couldn’t have thought of any other party besides the one he led and championed doctoring the ideology. So, my mind made up, I contacted the leadership of the party in 2011, opened up a discussion and ever since waited for the appropriate time and I believe no time is as appropriate as now to contest to represent Anambra South Senatorial Zone in the Red Chamber.''

 

Quotes from Dr Engr Ernest Ndukwe, the man who shouldn’t truly be contesting with anyone to represent Anambra South Senatorial Zone if integrity, achievements, connections and goodwill are being considered. And in the new Anambra that we all clamour for, these parameters should be the yardstick.

 

Amongst Umeh, Udeh, Ndukwe … who does the cap fit?

AS The Anambra South Senatorial representation garners momentum, feelers seem to have settled on three confirmed interests within the APGA fold. As of time of writing, three aspirants have so far obtained the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms from the party secretariat in Awka.

Maja Umeh, the formal commissioner for Information under Chief Peter Obi’S Anambra State needs little, if any, introduction. His stint within ex-governor Obi’s governing council was devoid of any controversy neither was he ever fingered for nonperformance. No right-thinking Anambrarian would hold anything against Chief Umeh’s aspiration. He has the requirements and enough pedigree to become a senator.



So does Chief Okey Udeh, a former deputy governor and ex-congressman. Even when Chief Udeh’s short stint as the state’s second-in-command was on the poisoned chalice of a stolen mandate, it wasn’t entirely his fault that a journey which started with Dr Chris Ngige ended prematurely that moment Dr Ngige was kidnapped in the aftermath of the deepest of Godfather/Godson chasms that threatened Anambra State to its very foundations. Dr Udeh’s attempt to benefit from the impossible-to-amend feud between ‘father’ and ‘son’ hit the rocks as the embattled Ngige recovered, just in time, to oust his deputy via the State Assembly. Dr Udeh’s impeachment paled to lesser news when Dr Ngige was equally sacked via the courts. Despite his involvement at this very moment when Anambra State entered the darkest history side of excessive political impasse, Dr Udeh shouldn’t really be singled out for condemnation. He still has all the pedigree to be a senator, after all, his master on whose shoulders every crime of that mandate theft rested on has already enjoyed four years in the upper chamber of the nation’s Congress. And the white-bearded one is jostling to extend that stay even when those four years he had cornered already have been viewed by those who know as uncharacteristically quiet, if not dumb.

Then there’s Dr. Ernest Ndukwe the ex-NCC boss, whose ten-year stint as CEO of the Commission galvanized a revolution in Nigeria’s communication sector never imagine attainable … from when it was ‘not meant for the poor’ to now where over 80 million Nigerians enjoyed the modern GSM technology. While assiduously moving Nigeria from near zero efficiency in the telecommunication hemisphere to 100% efficiency, Dr. Ndukwe had cause to report to three Nigerian presidents where none ever found him wanting. While challenges poured in, the electrical/electronics engineering graduate of University of Ife had cause to report to various senate committees on communication, senate presidents, et al. While he admirably became the nation’s bacon on whose shoulders rested the fulcrum of new Nigeria, the Oraifite-born technocrat garnered friends in high places. Those friends, those contacts are highly, if not compulsorily, needed to help attract both Federal and International presence in both the zone and Anambra State in general.



In a pool of three qualified individuals, it is glaring, if not overwhelmingly clear, that Dr. Ndukwe towers. People like Ndukwe don’t come to the podium every day. When they do come, it is the duty of the people to quickly grab the opportunity. Anambra State should not hesitate to usher in another vibrant senator, a quality representation that has eluded her since that moment she lost the charisma and doggedness of Dr. Chuba Okadigbo. The vision, the passion, the pedigree and the connections to lighten up the upper chamber are all openly visible in this man who has been tested and found trustworthy in every sphere of our sustainable growth as a nation.

And more, the struggle to get to Abuja does not just end with APGA primaries…there is still the incumbent, Senator Andy Uba, who has been representing the zone since last four years under the platform of PDP….he has the resources, the reach, the connections to steal another one from APGA if not appropriately checked. Of the three APGA candidates, the party evidently stands the best chance with the man who equally has enough resources, reach and even more connections at required places to wrestle it from Uba and the PDP. Dr Ndukwe is APGA’s head on which the senate cap appropriately fits in Anambra South.

Arsene, What's This About Versatility?

These days transfer gazers seem to favour players that could play in several positions. They call it versatility and I ask, versa what? Calum Chambers has just been signed by Arsenal, and part of the reasons, if not the major reason, I understand, is that he could play at right back (RB), centre back (CB) and midfield(DM). Some even added right wing (RW).

Professionalism involves individuals specialising in where they can give out their best, and not necessarily where they should make others give out their best. A game of football should be respected as a sport where the actors were already created with natural endowments before the human element of coaching comes in.

Paolo Maldini may have retired as a CB but we all know there have been few, if any, left backs in world football that could measure to his level. So can be said of Eric Abidal, and a certain Lilian Thuram from the other wing.

In the EPL, Joseph Yobo, the Nigerian CB who once starred for Everton, started his career as RB but because Nigeria lacked quality CBs, he was converted to CB … and from that moment an excellent footballer was reduced to just good player.

Blackburn Rovers’ Phil Jones was snatched from the claws of Arsene Wenger by the ever fiery Sir Alex Ferguson, the same scenario repeated with Fulham’s Chris Smalling. Both CBs were bought as long-term replacements for Rio Ferdinard and Nemanja Vidic. Today, Ferdinand and Vidic are gone with Jones and Smalling very much around but no manager, least of all Louis Van Gaal, would hand starting shirts to the latter duo. Why? Jones, for three seasons, had played CB, RCB, LCB, DM, B-to-B for Man Utd. Even the lad would be confused at which he would ever prefer. Much as Smalling, who ‘versatiled’ in three positions – RB, LCB, RCB. Thus, great potentials were reduced to mere spares in multiple positions. Pretty much jack of all trades, yet master of none!

Coming home, Wenger, the master (or is it villain?) of conversions, hit pay dirt with Thierry Henry. Roberto Pires too… and Emmanuel Petit as well. Ever since, Le Prof hardly ever bought a player with the position he was playing for the club he left, in mind.

But a critical study would expose that for every Henry made, there were 20 Arshavins destroyed.

Time and space may be constraints here for details but brief mentions must be made of Arshavin, Alex Hleb, Tomas Rosicky, Carlos Vela, Denilson, Abou Diaby, Jack Wilshere, et al – all great attacking midfielders who were banished elsewhere just for Cesc Fabregas to blossom. For good measure, one would attest it to Wenger’s utter obsession than other interpretations had Fabregas been French.

A pertinent question may suffice at this stage – why did Fabregas become a hit in Arsenal and flopped at his home club, Barcelona? Simple – at Arsenal, Wenger kicked off the boy’s career in his natural position. Unlike his colleagues that played from both wings and sometimes even at wing backs … Fabregas took off at where he was best at and remained there. At Barca, there were Xavi and Andre Iniesta, and Fabregas once got tweaked around positions and like Arshavin, he dwindled.

Another question may go – why did Ramsey become the player he suddenly was last season? The Welshman was playing next to Fabregas at the middle when his leg got broken at Stoke. By the time he came back, Wilshere and Diaby had taken that position. Ramsey then got played all over the pitch, including RB. It took Diaby’s injury (as always) and Wilshere’s long layoff for Ramsey to play pre-season and half season from his favoured position …. and look at the player he is today!

And funny enough, by the time Wilshere returned, Ramsey had taken over the box-to-box role. Wilshere then had to go through same fate … unfortunately for Jack, he got injured too when Ramsey gave way. But start a fit Wilshere for 10 games in the box-to-box role we could see a player at par with, or even better than Ramsey.

We sympathised with Wenger when he had no funds to go for the players he wanted. He couldn’t get his desirables available so he made the available desirable. But today, having spent around 60 million pounds before the transfer window went half-way, one is assured that enough funds are available again. Why then stick to this habit of buying players to throw them all over the pitch?

The Premier League rule gives freedom for 25 senior players – it is safe to assume it is for two players in each position, then other three of your choice which usually includes a goalkeeper. Why shouldn’t an Arsenal team be made up of two good specialist players in every position instead of having 10 players that can play everywhere on the pitch? Why shouldn’t Santi Carzola be sharing the CAM role with Mesut Ozil instead of starting from the left, thereby denying a clinical finisher like Lukas Podolski his game chances?

And finally, why should Chambers be signed mainly because he is ‘versatile’ and then send a player like Carl Jenkinson out? Why wouldn’t Jenkinson be retained for just Debuchy’s understudy and a proper CB signed to make a better balanced squad? Why shouldn’t a real DM be signed instead of evidently attempting to hope on the ‘versatility’ of a 19-year old? Such conversions, when it ever worked, took time. Why can’t a player hit the ground running from his specialist position?

We’re all enjoying this transfer window for once in a very long while but somebody should tell Wenger that such old habits of putting wrong pegs in wrong holes should be banished to the austere years. There is a real danger of soon destroying a player like Carzola, who has been converted to play from the wings at 28

Arsenal  – The Oliver Twist In All Of Us




For every three Chelsea fans you see in Nigeria, two were Arsenal fans as after years of suffering and moaning season after season, many Arsenal fans migrated and the choice was easy as Chelsea had their own, John Obi Mikel in their ranks.

But supporting Arsenal in Nigeria within those nine agony years they christened ‘trophyless’ was far worse than a snail living in a colony of ants. We endured taunts after taunts, trying daily, and really hard, to avoid fisticuffs.

They cajoled that Arsenal was only a selling club, a football academy that fed the rest of Europe. When they read a big player linked to Arsenal, they laughed in our faces. We endured torture equivalent to what Devil could offer in hell. Man Utd fans were not left out in making jests of us either. Tough times!

When we eventually won the FA Cup we all heaved that big sigh and started talking tough that Arsenal’s ‘academy’ years were over. And to our utmost glee, Alexis Sanchez was soon signed as was Bacary Sagna’s replacement.

However, dear Gunners sing song these days is more signings.

Everywhere you turn to is – we need a striker, most also insist that we need a defensive midfielder and even if Thomas Vermaelen stays, many believe we still need a centre back.

It suddenly dawned on me that football fans are same from club to club. Every one of them wants world best at their various clubs. Dear Arsenal fans are not different. We’re all Oliver Twists.

Most Arsenal fans were calling for Arsene Wenger to add a back up to Giroud but Le Prof did more than that by grabbing a potential 20 goals + a season, who is not only a back-up but can also play with Giroud in his favoured 4-3-3 formation. Sanchez is the nearest to the calibre of striker Thierry Henry was since the ‘Igwe’s’ departure. One may argue about Robin Van Persie but Sanchez is more versatile and much faster and while Henry built his pedigree at the club, Sanchez arrived with awesome credentials.

So, in the striking department, do we actually need another signing?

Having Wenger as your football manager means having to learn the economics of everything at every turn. A careful appraisal would tend to suggest Le Prof has done an astute deal here. For a team that sticks religiously to 4-3-3 and one that’s been built on Oliver Giroud as striker who works for the general good of the team rather than personal glory, changing guard, much as it may courier an improvement, may mean changing orientation.

Despite the fact that Arsene hardly does change his orientation, experts in the field equally kick against it. So, rightly, Wenger sticks to Giroud for his hold up play, collecting Wojciech Szczesny’s up field kicks, bringing his team mates into play, as well as coming back to help defend corners and set pieces. Getting a player, who’d replicate all these and still score more goals than Giroud may be a tough ask.

Then if Giroud gets injured, suspended or needs rest, there is Sanchez, an exceptional player who is at home anywhere in the attacking three. He’s very fast, skilful, tenacious and an improvement on Giroud in finishing. He’s definitely a 20-goals-a-season potential. Whatever defending and holding up attributes of Giroud one may miss in his absence, Sanchez offers in more directness, trickery and precision.

Should Sanchez, for whatever reason, not cover for Giroud, there is Yaya Sanogo. Agreed, Sanogo is raw and not yet one to be heavily relied on but he is only a back-up and Giroud is not known for long layoffs. Besides, Sanogo showed in games against Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Hull City at Wembley that he was not just an ordinary spare. There were assured attributes of a great centre forward. He may not have scored a goal yet but I believe Gunners fans should be happy for that, for if Sanogo had added about five goals to those efforts as duly deserved, I wouldn’t bet Sanchez would have arrived.

Joel Campbell at 22 has shown signs of a real deal. UCL aside, those five matches at the World Cup led insights into what the Costa Rican could bring to the plate and one wouldn’t really know until he is given a chance, which for good measure, the young striker duly deserves.

Chuba Akpom, if for anything, deserves a chance as he’s Arsenal bred and a lot of pride goes into having to nurture a footballer from a club’s academy to stardom. Akpom deserves the chance.

So, why would Wenger and Arsenal need another striker with all these options? Especially when Theo Walcott, Lukas Podolski, Santi Carzola are still playing for the club and are potent scoring outlets whenever within range.

If we study our top 5 or 6 rivals, I do not believe any other side in EPL offer more attacking threat than Arsenal. What Arsenal needs, is a defensive solidity that will protect the attack and keep things tight, so that score lines like 6-0, 6-3, 5-1, 3-0′s become a distant memory.

Who says beefing up a team is a season’s process?

Wenger has added a 20-goal threat to an attack that managed without Walcott and Ramsey for most of last term, to win the FA Cup and miss the title by seven points.

If you ask me a 100 times, I’d say get a very strong defensive midfielder, retain or replace Vermaelen and we’re done.

Appointment Of Chidoka As Minister Is Nonsense

NIGERIA

·         JULY 18, 2014-

                                                By Mazi Odera

I wanted to keep quiet and rejoice like others ,but how can we all keep quiet in midst of this great injustice ?,sure,they removed Stella Oduah and replace her with another Anambra person ,But this appointment of  Mr. Osita Chidoka (Ike Obosi) worries me,inshort it pains me like the menace  going on in the North.

 

 I am happy for him, and I join his family and admirers in congratulating him. However, I think that his appointment takes something very big away from Anambra State.

 

This is suppose to be a plus but his appointment is a great MINUS. The ministerial slot to which he is appointed belongs to Anambra State. So, come rain or sunshine, that position would be given to an Anambra State person. That is the law. That is the constitution. The position that he had before at FRSC is a tenured office of 5 years each. He is in the 2nd year of his second tenure. Meaning that he has minimum of 3 years more to be there because there is no term limits there. That is a good position for Anambra State to have. Now that he is gone to occupy a position reserved for Anambra State by law, he is replaced by Former principal general staff officer to late head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha, Maj. General Lawrence Onoja a non-Anambra State citizen,not even an IGBO person or south Easterner.

 

Meaning that Anambra lost a very high profile position. What is the guarantee that President Jonathan will reappoint him Minister after the 2015 election? My Dad would,ve shouted “ndia akwo aka tiere okuku aki”[They've washed their hands clean only to break palm kernel for fowls to devour]

 

And what if by crook or creed another Party wins the presidency, will they  re-appoint him minister? In either case of Jonathan’s reelection or another Party winning, an Anambra State citizen including himself, would be appointed a minister for Anambra State’s slot, but the FRSC position would be gone! This sharing of national cake is serious and no one will give you anything because everyone is busy protecting their own and at the same time eyeing your own to see if they can take it from you and it is very ugly stupid of us to have handed back a plus we had back to the central just because we are playing stupid kind of political witch hunt

 

 In the bid to stop Mr. Peter Obi, some Anambra State over grown fools gave away this FRSC position. I am not happy about it. If they did not want Peter Obi, is there no other Anambra State person that could have taken the ministerial position? This our politics of blindness and pull-him-down is costing us too much in this country.

 

We spend so much time and energy fighting the wrong fights while every other group is getting what we could be getting. We are in this contraption called Nigeria, and until we are no longer part of it, we ought to be thinking and acting differently, otherwise we will be the losers.

 

If they finish sharing everything, and there is nothing else to get from Nigeria, they may then decide to break up the country. But by then we will be short because everybody else has taken what they could get while we were busy fighting nonsense fights.

 

Finally i will appeal ka anyi kwusi Nzuzu na oburo Plus but a Minus

 

 

Mazi Odera

Truth is our standard,accept it in good faith or

we shove it down your throat.The Choice is yours.

 

Why This Is Messi's World Cup...

I’m a full-blooded Gunner. Hence, with three Arsenal players gunning with the Germans for the ultimate diadem tomorrow, I should be routing for my club players. But this is the World Cup. Not club football. My sentiments only rested with Nigeria but dear Super Eagles left early enough for me to truly concentrate.

Football analysis bothers on two fronts…pre- and post- match analyses. The very easy path is post-analysis…all one needs is being smart enough to tinker words, talk with so much authority based on hindsight and blah, blah. I never considered analysts based on their post-match mumbo jumbo. I regard analyst based on their pre-match exercises.

Pre-match involves assuming both coaches’ positions, anticipating their line-ups, guessing each player’s output based on current form and opposition…then onto the most difficult of predicting which team would be victorious based on tactics and other anticipated indices. This is where any analyst earns his keep.

However, because football is a very emotional game, most analysts commit the unforgivable blunder of forcing the head towards where the heart lies. In such instances, one always faltered. Football, as beautiful as the game is, has a lot of factors guiding each competition. That’s why FA Cup matches in any country of the world always throw surprises every now and then. In England, for instance, one can bet anything he has that west Ham United cannot win next season’s EPL title, but same person will not put down his dime when it comes to betting against same team in FA Cup.

For the World Cup, such tradition is even more pronounced. The World Cup started exactly 84 years ago…and out of over 200 FIFA–affiliated countries, only eight has rotated winning it amongst themselves. Tried as countries like Holland, Mexico, Portugal, etc, they’d always be pushed aside when the chips come down.

Germany and Argentina are both members of this G8…they have won five trophies between them…so, each team has every credential to win tomorrow. On the other hand, football has produced players of exceptional qualities and no player of such quality has failed to win a world Cup at his peak, provided such player in question came from one of the chosen G8…Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Original Ronaldo, Lothar Matheus, Romario, Ronaldinho, Pirlo, Xavi, Iniesta, etc.

Today, the best player playing football is Lionel Messi…he is at his peak at 27…he has led Argentina to the final…is there any exceptional player in Germany that can deny this gem his moment? NO> Unless the god of soccer decides to start punishing these greats with Messi, then the scenario is very set for Messi’s coronation.

Besides this very important factor, has the German side any advantage over Argentina? NO>As good as Germany is, they’re not better than Argentina by any margin. Position by position, both teams may not blink on equal measure but taking pros and cons, whatever advantage one has in one particular department, the other covers up in another. Germany may be more fluid in the middle, retaining the ball and running intricately…but Argentina are more potent in attack when personnel manning both sides positions’ get to the dissection table.

No team in the world, even in real Madrid or Barcelona, has a team with the confident strike force of Aguero, Higuian, Di Maria, with Messi shepherding from behind. No defense will blink once in 90 mins, or 120 mins for that matter, with this foursome prowling.

It’s a battle of wits and ingenuity…whichever team that blinks first may never have the opportunity to recover. It may go the tactical exertion witnessed in the semi-final between Argentina and Holland, unless a goal comes early.

I’m a lover of football and will wish the better side wins but the little I know about this game tells me Argentina will nick it tomorrow. It may get to extra time or even penalties but this Cup is not leaving South America.

Enjoy every moment tomorrow – this is Messi’s World Cup!

 

Brazil vs Colombia.

When last did Colomba play in the semi-final of a World Cup? None in any memory. In Brazil, one could mistake the Colombians for Brazilians, not just because the boys from Carlos Valdarama country adorn playing attires similar to Brazil’s, they indeed are exhibiting flair and technique far superior to what the real Samba men have exhibited so far on home soil. They have great technical artistes in Juan Coadrado and James Rodriguez (the leading scorer with five goals) and they have not taken the route of all dance and no bite. They have been efficiently creating and ruthlessly finishing. Their 11 goals scored so far come second to Holland(12 goals) and if Brazil do not treat them with respect, there could be the first real shock in Brazil.

In Brazil, we have a team that hasn’t really impressed but has strode on. Maybe through some suspect officiating and luck but Brazil are in the q-finals. Goalkeeper Caesar may no longer be the shot stopper he was five years back but he still mustered enough heroics to push Brazil through the last phase where hearts monetarily stopped during shoot out against Mexico. The back four of Dani Alves, Silva, Luiz, Marcelo have been the most unchanged at the Mundial while a plethora of defensive midfielders in Gustavo, Paulinho, Fernadinho, William and Ramires give the samba men enough steel.

The trio of Neymar, Oscar and Hulk occupy the creative department in a 4-2-3-1 formation that parades Fred as the lone hit man. But Fred has not been hitting targets, forcing Neymar to shoulder the responsibility with four strikers already.

Fred’s lethargic performance so far has been derailing the Samba men very dangerously. Interestingly, Brazil departed seriously from the usual samba to adopt a playing style the mirrors on just efficiency. Never have Brazilian sides been this direct on routes to goal like the Felipe Scolari side have exhibited this term. The intricate passing, delicate dribbles, very unique dance-like midfield moves and patient build-ups have all departed Brazil’s showcase.

If Brazil could ever be this Europeanised in approach to football matches then who says Jose Mourinho has not impacted hugely with his philosophy on the beautiful game?

However it goes, I still see Brazil getting to the semi-final. Why? Because they have Neymar, who rates with Messi and Robben as the three most influential players for their sides in Brazil.

Put your money on Brazil, that is if you are not careless gambler.

It’s Germany vs France!

Then Brazil vs Colombia!

After three days that seemed like eternity, the World Cup is back on track.

Today, Germany takes on France in the only battle of the q-finals that collides World Cup heavy weights, both being World Champions at different occasions.

This is a match that, for once, will see reversal in traditions. The Germans used to present teams built on un-catchable athleticism and excellently oiled by never-say die spirit that always pushed the machines over the line. In contrast, the French have always relied on excellent techniques and flair that always ended them as nearly men. The 1998 squad took an exception by mixing both brain and brawl to glory.

Today, when the two teams take to the pitch, you will witness a German team that is a huge departure from the usually physical unit. Instead the likes of Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker, Philip Lahm, Thomas Mueller, Lukas Podolski, Mario Gotze would be showcasing exquisite techniques spread along flair and entertainment never known to come from that part of the globe. Perhaps, only Jerome Boateng, Toni Kroos and Bastian Schweinsteiger still embody the iron-clad physically exhibited by the German machines. But take nothing away, football is the huge benefactors of these brand of personnel seeking to earn dear country a fourth berth on the king’s shores.

The Germans have evolved a perfect blend of Samba and tiki-taka to invent a style that has yet attracted a definite nomenclature from pundits. Maybe we are all waiting for the Germans to conquer the world first before affixing a befitting name to this brand that totally keeps the ball from the opposition, passing precisely and waiting patiently before evading enemy territory. In Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, the German enjoy a group of personnel that can pass you to death while Mueller represents that set of point men that you hardly notice until the damage is done.

France, on the contrary, will be parading a team more or less in similar mold to the Germans of old. In Paul Pogba,  Blaise Matuidi (remember him?), Laurent Kolscieny, Patrice Evra, Mohammed Sakho, Bacary Sagna, Olivier Giroud, Karim Benzema, the French team base their play on extreme physicality. The French players hardly come second bests in 50-50 challenges. But the Blues are not just brawl. In the afore-mentioned personnel, they have enough technique and brain to hurt any side remaining in Brazil. In Benzema they have a point man, who shares same pedigree with Robin Van Persie as most dangerous predators prowling in the Samba nation.

The match-up of these two sides will be interesting to see. Will the French beat the Germans to their own game or will the Germans combine the new-found flair with their inherited steel to ride over their opponents to the last four?

My money is on Germany to get the job done. It may again get to extra time but no matter the ability of any German side, playing in the semi-finals seems their birth right.

Their sojourn in Brazil doesn’t appear it will be an exception. Besides, this is a good German side, very good.

 

 My Hope For Anambra State...

 

                                                               Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  Ndi Anambra na ndi obia, ekenekwa m unu.
 Good afternoon.

 I feel greatly honored to be here today. I want to thank our governor, Chief Willie Obiano, for inviting me. As we mark the first one hundred DAYS of his term, I would like to commend him for his vision and ambition in the areas of education, health and agriculture. And particularly security.

Most of us know how, for a long time, Onitsha has been a security nightmare. If you are travelling, you do NOT want to be in Upper Iweka after 6 PM because of the fear of armed robbers. But today, because of our new governor’s initiative, people in Onitsha no longer live in fear. True freedom is to be able to live without fear. A relative told me that you can drop your mobile phone on the ground in Upper Iweka and come back hours later and still see it there, which was NOT the case in the past. And which is one of the best ways to measure leadership – by the testimony of the ordinary people. My sincere hope is that, under the leadership of Governor Obiano, Anambra state will continue its journey of progress with strides that are wide and firm and sure.

 I am from Abba, in Njikoka LGA. My mother is from Umunnachi in Dunukofia LGA. I grew up in Nsukka, in Enugu State, a town that remains deeply important to me, but Abba and Umunnachi were equally important to me. My childhood was filled with visits. To see my grandmother, to spend Christmas and Easter, to visit relatives. I know the stories of my great grandfather and of his father, I know where my great grandmother’s house was built, I know where our ancestral lands are.

Abum nwa afo Umunnachi, nwa afo Abba, nwa afo Anambra.

I am proud of Anambra State. And if our sisters and brothers who are not from Anambra will excuse my unreasonable chauvinism, I have always found Igbo as spoken by ndi Anambra to be the most elegant form of Igbo.

 Anambra State has much to be proud of. This is a state that produced that political and cultural colossus Nnamdi Azikiwe. This is a state that produced the mathematics genius Professor James Ezeilo. This is a state that produced Dora Nkem Akunyili, a woman who saved the lives of so many Nigerians by demonstrating dedicated leadership as the Director General of NAFDAC. (May her soul continue to rest in peace)

This is a state that produced Nigeria’s first professor of Statistics, Professor James Adichie, a man I also happen to call daddy. This is a state that produced the first woman to be registrar of Nigeria’s premiere university, UNN, Mrs Grace Adichie, a woman I also happen to call Mummy.

This is a state that has produced great writers. If Chinua Achebe and Flora Nwapa and Chukwuemeka Ike had not written the books they did, when they did, and how they did, I would perhaps not have had the emotional courage to write my own books. Today I honour them and all the other writers who came before me. I stand respectfully in their shadow. I also stand with great pride in the shadow of so many other daughters and sons of Anambra State.

But the truth is that I have not always been proud of Anambra. I was ashamed when Anambra became a metaphor for poor governance, when our political culture was about malevolent shrines and kidnappings and burnt buildings, when our teachers were forced to become petty traders and our school children stayed at home, when Anambra was in such disarray that one of the world’s greatest storytellers, Chinua Achebe, raised the proverbial alarm by rejecting a national award.

 But Anambra rallied. And, for me, that redemption, which is still an ongoing process, is personified in our former governor Peter Obi. I remember the first time I met him years ago, how struck I was, how impressed, that in a country noted for empty ostentation, our former governor travelled so simply and so noiselessly. And perhaps he is proof that you can in fact perform public service in Nigeria without destroying the eardrums of your fellow citizens and without scratching their cars with the whips of your escorts.

I was struck by other things – how he once arrived early to church, because according to him, he tried not to be late – in a society that excuses late coming by public officials – because he wanted young people to see that governors came to church on time. How he visited one of the schools handed over to the missions and gave the school prefect his direct phone number. How Government house here in Awka was often empty of hangers-on, because he had a reputation for what our people call ‘being stingy,’ which in other parts of the world would be called ‘prudently refusing to waste the people’s resources.’

Former governor, Peter Obi, ekenekwa m gi. May the foundation you built stand firm and may our governor Chief Willie Obiano build even more.

Anambra was and is certainly one of the better-governed states in Nigeria. We measure good governance in terms of accountability, security, health, education, jobs, businesses. All of these, of course, are important. But there are other values that are important for a successful society. Two of those in particular are relevant to ndi Anambra and ndi Igbo in general: the values of community and consensus

 Most of the recorded history we have about the Igbo – and indeed about many other ethnic groups in Africa – came from foreigners, men and women who did not speak the language, missionaries and anthropologists and colonial government representatives who travelled through Igboland and recorded what they saw and who often had their own particular agendas. Which is to say that while they did useful and fascinating work, we still have to read their writing with a certain degree of scepticism.

However, all the history books written about Igbo people are consistent on certain things. They all noted that Igbo culture had at its heart two ostensibly conflicting qualities: a fierce individualism AND a deeply rooted sense of community.

 They all also noted that Igbo people did not have a pan-Igbo authority, that they existed in small republican communities, to which that popular saying Igbo enwe eze – the Igbo have no kings – attests.

Many of these missionaries and anthropologists did not approve of the Igbo political system. Because THEY themselves had come from highly hierarchical societies, they conflated civilization with centralization. Some of them wrote that the Igbo people were not civilized. This was of course wrong. The fact that the Igbo did not have an imperial system of governance did not mean that they were not civilized.

One of the writers summarized the Igbo system as being based on two things: consultation and consensus.

In fact one can argue that it was a much more complex form of organization, this system that I like to call the democracy of free-born males, because it is much easier to issue an order from the top than it is to try and reach a consensus. Professor Adiele Afigbo beautifully describes the political culture of precolonial Igboland when he writes that “AUTHORITY was dispersed between individuals and groups, lineages and non-lineages, women and men, ancestors and gods”

Perhaps it was this diffuse nature of authority that made it difficult for those early travellers to understand the Igbo. Professor Elizabeth Isichei has argued that if we are looking for unifying institutions among the Igbo, then we cannot look to political organization since there was no centralized system. Instead we must look at other areas - social institutions and customs, philosophical and religious values. And language.

And on the subject of language, I would like to tell you a little story.

 Some years ago, I met an academic in the US. An Igbo man. He wrote articles about Igbo culture, organized conferences about Igbo history. We had an interesting conversation during which he bemoaned the behavior of Igbo people in America.

“Do you see the Chinese children?” He asked me. “They speak Chinese and English. See the Indian kids? They speak English and Bengali. But our children speak only English!”

He was very passionate. Then his phone rang and he excused himself and said it was his daughter. He spoke English throughout the call. At the end, I tried to be funny and asked him if his children spoke Igbo with an American accent? He said no.

Something in his manner, a certain discomfort, made me ask—do your children speak Igbo?

 No, he said.

But they understand? I asked.

 He paused.

Well, a little, he said. Which I knew meant that they probably did not understand at all.

 I was suprised. Not because it was unusual to see an Igbo whose children did not speak Igbo, but because I had imagined that THIS particular man would be an exception, since he wrote and spoke so passionately about Igbo culture. I imagined that he would not be infected with that particular condition of the Igbo – a disregard of their language.

It is not nough to bemoan this phenomenon or to condemn it, we must ask why it is happening, what it means, what it says about us, why it matters and most of all what we must do about it.

 This condition is sadly not limited to the diaspora. I once ran into a woman here in Nigeria, an old friend of my family’s, and her little son. I said kedu to the boy.

His mother quickly said no, no, no, he doesn’t speak Igbo. He speaks only English.

 What struck me was not that the child spoke only English, but that his mother’s voice was filled with pride when she said ‘hei mbakwa, o da-asukwa Igbo.’

She was proud that her child did not speak Igbo.

Why? I asked

Her reply was: Igbo will confuse him. I want him to speak English well.

 Later as we talked about her work and her son’s school, she mentioned that he was taking piano and French lessons. And so I asked her, “Won’t French confuse him?” (okwu ka m na-achozikwa!)

The woman’s reason -- that two languages would confuse her child -- sounds reasonable on the surface. But is it true? It is simply not true. Studies have consistently shown that children have the ability to learn multiple languages and most of all, that knowledge of one language can AID rather than HARM the knowledge of another. But I don't really need studies. I am my own proof.

 I grew up speaking Igbo and English at the same. I consider both of them my first languages and I can assure you that in my almost 37 years on earth, I am yet to be confused by my knowledge of two languages.

My sister, my parents first child, was born in the US, when my father was a doctoral student. My parents made a decision to speak only Igbo to her. They knew she would learn English in school. They were determined that she speak Igbo, since she would not hear Igbo spoken around her in California. And I can assure you that she was NOT confused!

 My parents are here/I could not have asked for better parents/Grateful to them for much/for giving me the gift of Igbo

I am richer for it. Sometimes I wish I could speak beautiful Igbo full of proverbs, like my father does, and I wish my Igbo were not as anglicized as it is, but that is the reality of my generation and languages have to evolve by their very nature.

 I deeply love both English and Igbo. English is the language of literature for me. But Igbo has a greater emotional weight. It is the enduring link to my past. It is the language in which my great grandmothers sang. Sometimes, when I listen to old people speaking in my hometown Abba, I am full of admiration for the complexity and the effortlessness of their speech. And I am in awe of the culture that produced this poetry, for that is what the Igbo language is when spoken well – it is poetry.

To deprive children of the gift of their language when they are still young enough to learn it easily is an unnecessary loss. We now have grandparents who cannot talk to their grandchildren because there is a hulking, impermeable obstacle between them calledlanguage. Even when the grandparents speak English, there is often an awkwardness in their conversations with their grandchildren, because they do not have the luxury of slipping back to Igbo when they need to, because they are navigating unfamiliar spaces, because their grandchildren become virtual strangers with whom they speak in stilted prose. The loss is made worse by imagining what could have been, the stories that could have been told, the wisdom that might have been passed down, and most of all, the subtle and grounding sense of identity that could have been imparted on the grandchildren.

Some things can’t be translated. My wonderful British-born niece Kamsiyonna once heard me say, in response to something: O di egwu.

She asked me: What does it mean Aunty?

 And I was not sure how to translate it. To translate it literally would be to lose something.

One of the wonderful things about language, any language, is that it gives you a new set of lenses with which to look at he world. Which is why languages sometimes borrow from one another – we use the French au fait and savoir faire in English -- because communication is not about mere words but about worldviews, and worldviews are impossible to translate.

Some people argue that language is what makes culture. I disagree. I believe identity is much more complex, that identity is a sensibility, a way of being, a way of looking at the world. And so there are Igbo people who don’t necessarily speak the language but are no less Igbo than others who do.

But I focus on language because while it is not the only way of transmitting identity, it is the easiest and the most wholesome.

I'd like to go back to the story of the woman whose son did not spoke Igbo and the pride with which she related this.

The corollary of her pride is shame. Where is this shame from? Why have we, as Ama Ata Aidoo wrote in her novel CHANGES, insisted on speaking about ourselves in the same condescending tone as others have used to speak of us?

 There are many Igbo people who say the same thing as the woman with the son. Others may not think that Igbo will confused their children, but they merely think it is not important in our newly globalized world. It is after all a small language spoken only in southeastern Nigeria. Kedu ebe e ji ya eje?

 It is indeed true that the world is shrinking. But to live meaningfully in a globalized world does not mean giving up what we are, it means adding to what we are.

And speaking of a globalized world, I remember being very impressed by the effort that the people of Iceland put in preserving their language, Icelandic. Iceland is a tiny country with a population less than that of Igboland. Many people speak English but speaking Icelandic is also very important to them. It is NOT because Icelandic has economic power. Iceland is certainly not the next China.

It is because the people value the language. They know it is a small language that does not have much economic power but they do not say: kedu ebe e ji ya eje?

 Because they understand that there are other values that language has beyond the material and the economic. And this I think is key: Value.

To value something is to believe that it matters and to ACT as though it matters.

We don't seem to have this value. It is one thing to say speaking igbo is important, but it’s another to make a conscious, concerted choice to speak Igbo to our children.

In many respects, to argue for the preservation of a language should be a conservative position, but oddly, in our case, it has become a progressive position.

 I should pause here and say that I am not trying to romanticize Igbo culture. I quarrel strongly with a number of things in Igbo culture. I quarrel with the patriarchy that diminishes women. I quarrel with the reactionary arguments that try to silence dissent by invoking culture, by saying that so and so is not our culture as if culture were a static thing that never changes.

 Igbo is not perfect, no peple have a perfect culture, but there are Igbo values that we can retrieve and renew. The values of community. Of consensus.

 In his book about President Yar Adua’s administration, Segun Adeniyi tells a story about the dark weeks when Nigerians did now know where their president was, and whether he was alive or dead. He writes that Dora Akunyili came to him and said, “Segun ,my conscience will not allow me to continue keeping quiet.”

Her conscience. It seems to me that conscience is rare in Nigerian public life. It should not be, but it is.

Conscience and integrity are central to Igbo culture, and to any culture that has strong communitarian principles. Conscience means that we cannot think only of ourselves, that we think of a greater good, that we remain aware of ourselves as part of a larger whole.

Some years ago, my cousin from Eziowelle told me a story that his grandfather had told him, about ISA ILE, where people in a dispute would go to a god and swear that they had not lied, with the understanding that whoever had lied would die. My cousin said, ‘thank God we no longer do that.’

Have we become, I wondered, a people now overly familiar with falsehood? Are we now allergic to truth? Should we not continue to have a metaphorical isa ile as a guiding principle? Should we not have a society where willfully telling lies that cause harm to others will have real consequences?

 The Igbo are famed for their entrepreneurial spirit. But at what point did we decide that we will no longer sell goods and services, but instead sell the safety of our sisters and brothers? How did we come to a place where people no longer sleep in their ancestral homes because they are afraid they will be kidnapped for ransom by their own relatives?

 Igboland was once a place where people were concerned about WHERE your money came from. Now that is no longer the case. Now, it matters only that one has money. As for where the money came from, we look away.

In Chinua Achebe’s classic, Things Fall Apart, Unoka consults Agbala about his poor yam harvests.

Every year, he said sadly (to the priestess), ‘before I put any crop in the earth, I sacrifice a cock to Anị, the owner of all land. It is the law of our fathers. I also kill a cock at the shrine of the god of yams. I clear the bush and set fire to it when it is dry. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen, and stake them when the young tendrils appear. I weed...'

'Hold your peace!' screamed the priestess, her voice terrible as it echoed through the dark void. 'You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors, his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm.’

So while we, ndi Anambra, till our fertile soil with strength, let us also be sure that we have not offended our fathers or our mothers. Let us retrieve and renew the values that once were ours. The values of conscience and integrity. Of community and consensus.

Let us disagree and agree to disagree but let us do so NOT as separate fractious groups fighting against each other constantly, but as people who ultimately have the same goal: a better community for everyone, a better Anambra State.