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Friday, January 27, 2017
Why Chinese are leaving Nigeria for their New Year Holidays - Envoy
~The Punch Nigeria. Thursday, January 26, 2017.
Mr Chao Xiaoliang, Consul-General of the People's Republic of China in Lagos, on Wednesday said that thousands of Chinese were leaving Nigeria for the Chinese New Year celebration.
Chao saidin Lagos that the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, was an official public holiday for all Chinese nationals to reunite.
According to him, the Chinese New Year is a memorable celebration that any Chinese, irrespective of location and engagement, cannot afford to miss.
"Already, many Chinese in Nigeria, like all other Chinese all over the world, have started leaving Nigeria for their different places in China for the 2017 Chinese New Year.
"For the past 3,000 years, Chinese nationals, wherever they are, are expected to return home to celebrate this enjoyable New Year with their families and friends.
"It is a period for all Chinese to celebrate a year of hard work, have a good rest, relax with family, as well as wish for a lucky and prosperous New Year,'' he said.
Chao also said that some Chinese business owners, who wanted to use the New Year Celebration to celebrate their business successes with their Chinese employees in Nigeria, had started arriving.
The Envoy said that the celebration would usually commence with the decoration of every Chinese street and buildings with red, the main New Year Celebration colour.
Chao also said that it was common practice during the celebration, to see red lanterns hung in streets and red couplets pasted on doors, as symbols of the year's prosperity.
He said that the celebration would include the families' New Year Eve dinner, known as Reunion Dinner,'' the presentation of red envelopes with money as gifts, the setting off fireworks, wearing of new clothes.
"Let me say that this period is really a period for us Chinese to enjoy ourselves, because we have been working all through the year.
Every Chinese, whether Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or other religious believers, must usually create time to reunite with their families and friends during the New Year celebration,'' Chao said.
THE IGBO RANT
BIBLICAL TRADITIONS OF NDI IGBO BEFORE THE MISSIONARIES CAME TO AFRICA* IGBO 101.
THE IGBO TRIBE AND ITS FEAR OF EXTINCTION
The Igbo: We die for causes, not for personalities
Written by Emeka Maduewesi
~on fb. 28th September, 2016.
The Igbo will never die for anyone. We will not even riot for anyone. But the Igbo will die for any cause they believe in because the Igbo have a true sense of justice and a determination to obtain it.
The Igbo will not riot because one of their own lost an election. Operation Wetie was the Western response to a massively rigged 1965 election. The Yoruba doused fellow Yorubas in petrol and burnt them alife. Properties were burnt with occupants. The Igbo will never do this.
In 1983, the Yoruba went on a rampage again over the massive rigging by NPN. Lifes were lost and properties destroyed. The riots were over personalities.
Contrast that with Anambra State where Chief Emeka Ojukwu was rigged out by his own NPN, who also rigged out Chief Jim Nwobodo. The Igbo did not protest because the goat's head is still in the goat's bag.
In the North, ba muso was the battle cry when Sultan Dasuki was imposed on the Sokoto Caliphate. The riot and protest lasted for days and crippled economic activities.
The Igbo will riot over issues and causes. The Aba Women Riot was over Tax. The Enugu coal mine riot was about conditions of service. The Ekumeku Uprising was over British colonialization.
Those of "Ekumeku" ancestry - Umu Eze Chima and Umu Nri - were at the forefront of the struggles for Nigerian independence, with people like Dr. A A Nwafor Orizu and Chief Osita Agwuna serving prison terms. Any struggles the parents could not conclude is continued by the children by other means.
The Biafran war was a response to the genocide. The war in fact was brought upon us. The battlefield was Eastern Region. The war ended in 1970 but the issues and causes were not resolved. That is where we are today.
The Igbo will also jointly rise to fight evil in their midst. They did it in Onitsha in the 1980's, Owerri in the 90's, and with Bakkassi in the 2000.
The Igbo will not die for any man. But the Igbo will stand by any man who symbolizes their cause and their pursuit of justice. Even if the man dies, the struggle continues, and like the Ekumeku warriors, the children will pick up the baton from their parents.
This is the Igbo I know, the Igbo I am, and the Igbo we are. This is my story. Feel free to tell yours.
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