Chinamanda And Achebe Hate Campaign - A Word Of Advice

[Agidimolaja]

Thanks Kekere Ekun. I have nothing else to add to what you've said, at least as at now.
We are all waiting for Africa West1 to come on live with more lies and myths etc along with his mentor,the aged blatant liar, Baba Achebe

[Ewuro]

Like you Santoma, I had for many years campaigned we forgot our differences and come together. But the unfair constant and incessant bashing of all others, especially the Yoruba and our Sage, Awo by the Igbo undermines this noble idea. The Yoruba had been quiet for too long, in the belief that time would temper and assuage their legitimate anger and hurt. Legitimate to the extent that a collective wrong was done at the beginning and they suffered more causalities. And to that end we bent backwards to accommodate their desires and allowed them unfettered access to all we have, in the manner no other tribe has done for another ethnic group in the country. All to no avail. And they did not suffer any persecution in any Yoruba land before and since the war!

If it is not Yoruba this; it is Awo that... no ounce of gratitude. Nor reciprocity. They will throw 'we are all Nigerians' in your face when it suits their fancy, when it comes handy to get one from you; and hail Biafra if they can't get their way.

You can't keep the other parties in the guilt lane for shared mistakes, just for your selfish ends and not expect a backlash. Achebe's fiction is the last straw. It's enough.

Let's tell the civil war's stories from all angles; stories leading to it, stories during the war and stories ever since.

O ku lakaye! You are full of wisdom. Actually you probably used your English expression here to describe my observation over many ...many years!

[Agidimolaja]

Africa West1 is on the run. Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Rum!

[denker]

moi dey wait too for WA1...indeed.

[bob]

the naval blockade of biafra was carried out by nigerian, british and soviet vessels.
the third marine commando could not have carried out the assaults on warri, calabar and bonny without support of the royal navy and support from royal dutvh shell (just like 3 decades after, they supported the nigerian armed forces in the pacification of the ogoni).
agidi was a cook in the nigerian army. the still living adekunle would tell you of the logistics support (including shelling enemy positions)provided by the royal navy.
the russian navy provided early warning about incoming flights to biara.

[kekere ekun]

Bob


Re: Chinamanda And Achebe Hate Campaign - A Word Of Advice


the naval blockade of biafra was carried out by nigerian, british and soviet vessels.
the third marine commando could not have carried out the assaults on warri, calabar and bonny without support of the royal navy and support from royal dutvh shell (just like 3 decades after, they supported the nigerian armed forces in the pacification of the ogoni).
agidi was a cook in the nigerian army. the still living adekunle would tell you of the logistics support (including shelling enemy positions)provided by the royal navy.
the russian navy provided early warning about incoming flights to biara

Bob,
Haabaa!!! Don't come here with some Achebe-like fiction and Chimamanda type of moonlight tales.

It is not going to fly again.

You guys have played the game of deceit and falsehood for so long on this issue of civil war and the events surrounding it.

We need verifiable information on any claim you guys make.

You are not dealing with some half-educated fools or motor parts sellers here. Give us the names of naval vessels, when they arrived, and who were the Captains just as we have given you details of mercinary pilots bombing Lagos,Ibadan, Kano and Kaduna and the one carrying arms while pretending to carry relief materials.

Anything you guys say now comes under intensive and rigorous scrutiny . NO MORE ROOMS FOR LIES and FICTION.

Simplicita.

KE

[kekere ekun]

Africawest1

How shameful is it

That you are so lily-livered

A challenge you threw out

Promising to "take on anyone"

On this Biafra issue

Exuding an aura of knowledge and confidence

That has now turned out to be fake.

Unknown to my excited self

Your gauntlet of challenge

I had picked up

Hoping to be further educated

And appropriately informed

About the issue at hand

But alas!

To be, this was not

As you disappeared as swiftly

As the morning dew would vapourize

And ran like a scared hare

Your tail between your legs.

How shameful is it

That you only came here

Fake bravado to showcase

Shameful indeed it is.

But if you ever have the balls

Your courage to awake

I will be waiting for you

Either here or elsewhere

Your knowledge to drink from

And your lies if any,

Expose to the wild wide World.

This I know to be the TRUTH

As Ralph Waldo Emerson had insisted

"If we are related

We shall meet again."

KE

[denker]

nwa-awolowo, mallam kekere ekun:

Achebe's memoir on Biafran listed on 2012 IOS best books
...mallam ke, wats next line of action/s? suicide or self immolation?(am gonna help with powerful poison)..au revoir, ma dear.

[HolyPagan]

nwa-awolowo, mallam kekere ekun:

Achebe's memoir on Biafran listed on 2012 IOS best books
...mallam ke, wats next line of action/s? suicide or self immolation?(am gonna help with powerful poison)..au revoir, ma dear.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...r-8420174.html
Hehehe....they may also like......
Osondi-Owendi...by Osita Osadebe.

[kekere ekun]

Denker


Re: Chinamanda And Achebe Hate Campaign - A Word Of Advice


nwa-awolowo, mallam kekere ekun:

Achebe's memoir on Biafran listed on 2012 IOS best books
...mallam ke, wats next line of action/s? suicide or self immolation?(am gonna help with powerful poison)..au revoir, ma dear.

And what does that portend?

And on the basis of what?

Its content?

Or sales?

Or its notoriety.

KE

[Mikky jaga]

nwa-awolowo, mallam kekere ekun:

Achebe's memoir on Biafran listed on 2012 IOS best books
...mallam ke, wats next line of action/s? suicide or self immolation?(am gonna help with powerful poison)..au revoir, ma dear.

Nothing new there! Others have been feeding fat on the misery of the Ndigbos to smile their way to fortune. If an Igbo man that did it before decides to do it again, it's nothing new.

[LuckyBoy]

the naval blockade of biafra was carried out by nigerian, british and soviet vessels.
the third marine commando could not have carried out the assaults on warri, calabar and bonny without support of the royal navy and support from royal dutvh shell (just like 3 decades after, they supported the nigerian armed forces in the pacification of the ogoni).
agidi was a cook in the nigerian army. the still living adekunle would tell you of the logistics support (including shelling enemy positions)provided by the royal navy.
the russian navy provided early warning about incoming flights to biara.

Take the Russian and the Royal Navy to the Hague - accusing them of complicity in 'genocide'. Spread the lies wider and wider...
Reduces the tragedy of that war to absolute ridicule.

[AfricaWest1]

kekere ekun,

I will have more time to respond to each post over Christmas. I am in a completely different time zone than you are at the moment and unable to respond in real time due to ongoing commitments.

Needless to say, there is nothing you or anyone else, including Agidimolaja has written here that stands up to scrutiny. Will be in London over the weekend and Christmas - and will be able to address you and your untenable 'facts'. Listen to me, the truth you seek is in front of you.

AW.

[Anioma777]

How I wish I was a writer what wonderful free publicity. Keep it up umundu ( children ).

[tonsoyo]

the naval blockade of biafra was carried out by nigerian, british and soviet vessels.
the third marine commando could not have carried out the assaults on warri, calabar and bonny without support of the royal navy and support from royal dutvh shell (just like 3 decades after, they supported the nigerian armed forces in the pacification of the ogoni).
agidi was a cook in the nigerian army. the still living adekunle would tell you of the logistics support (including shelling enemy positions)provided by the royal navy.
the russian navy provided early warning about incoming flights to biara.

Bob
Thought you knew better...this could have come only from someone with Igbotic type of education on the war.

[tonsoyo]

nwa-awolowo, mallam kekere ekun:

Achebe's memoir on Biafran listed on 2012 IOS best books
...mallam ke, wats next line of action/s? suicide or self immolation?(am gonna help with powerful poison)..au revoir, ma dear.

We are cool with that denker. Where you see money, we see integrity going up in flames! It is typical, isn't it? In Igboland everything is measured in money...in our clime integrity supersedes all the money in the world. Achebe can take the millions or even the billions to his grave, but he has written himself to ignominy.

[tonsoyo]

Nothing new there! Others have been feeding fat on the misery of the Ndigbos to smile their way to fortune. If an Igbo man that did it before decides to do it again, it's nothing new.

Thank you Mikky, you captured the whole thing. They kill us with fake drugs and smile to bank, they kidnap their prominent citizens and smile to bank, they sell other people kids and smile to bank...Achebe book fits perfectly into the pattern.

[Auspicious]

How I wish I was a writer what wonderful free publicity. Keep it up umundu ( children ).

Beggars. Wishes. Horses. Riding.

You can't write jack anyways, so quit wishing.
--

[Anioma777]

@Auspicious

Beggars. Wishes. Horses. Riding.

You can't write jack anyways, so quit wishing.

Mansions are talking omo face-me-I-face-you dey open mouth. Anyway your bonus for helping popularize Nnanyi Achebe's book should be in the post in time for christmas.

[HolyPagan]

Thank you Mikky, you captured the whole thing. They kill us with fake drugs and smile to bank, they kidnap their prominent citizens and smile to bank, they sell other people kids and smile to bank...Achebe book fits perfectly into the pattern.

Bombardier...go and try for a GED...Ode 'smile to bank'
Na by force to post?
Dundee united, still writing 'Achebe book' in 2012.

[DeepThought]

.

.The best of the crazy old bat known as HolyPagan

Good job!
Good job! .

[Auspicious]

@Auspicious



Mansions are talking omo face-me-I-face-you dey open mouth..

If Achebe's book is being popularized according to you,

Why don't you just step-aside and let the popularization continue? Ehn? Ish!
--

[Auspicious]

Bombardier...go and try for a GED...Ode 'smile to bank'..

He is a certified, bonafide lawyer in the United States.

Apparently, he meets the tested and accepted American standards.

So much for your juvenile claptrap about him going to try for a GED over ordinary typos. Olofo.
--

[LuckyBoy]

Bombardier...go and try for a GED...Ode 'smile to bank'
Na by force to post?
Dundee united, still writing 'Achebe book' in 2012.

That's all the answer you have; you must be severely limited! Scouring for missing 'i's 'o's etc. on the internet, instead of appreciating substance makes you hilariously ridiculous.

[Unregistre]

He who marries from the Garden bulbul bird must be ready for it's chattering!

The Yoruba are now ready to talk; about anybody, anything and everything concerning the civil war.

Achebe, the Curator of Igbo Hatred, Lies and Vendetta against anything non-Igbo must be ready to "hear word".
To have your sons and daughters live unmolested in our house, eat our food, cohabit with our daughters, enjoy our generous hospitality without return and no appreciation or gratitude and yet turn around to continually hurl unfair and undeserved collective insults on us and our sage, Awo; you must indeed be asking for a 'talk'. It's long overdue. The Igbo in Ajegunle area of Lagos alone must number far more than the population in an Igbo state. Talk we will. Add that to the number in Igbo settlements in Ibadan, Akure, Ikorodu etc you probably have more in SW than you do in all of SE states. Yet...

When Yanga wakes Trouble up; it's time to talk. And we will talk!

Talk is cheap; not until you go to niger delta and prostrate to them for stealing their resources to develop your so called Yoruba land and also feed your fat ass. You will not get any appreciation or gratitude for selling off your ancestral land. I will continue to hammer it on this board that the yoruba nation would have been like South Sudan if not for the oil from the niger delta, you should be ashamed of your self for selling off your ancestral land and turning back to seek for appreciation; you are not getting any appreciation for your greed and you can take that to the atlantic.

[LuckyBoy]

Either you are not informed by accident of time of birth or you are very challenged. The West had recorded unprecedented developmental feats; the first multi-storey building, the first modern stadium, first TV station, first free education etc. well before the advent of oil money. And all these with revenue generated by robust growth in agriculture and prudent management of their finance.

Had Achebe and a few Igbo elders spent time to properly educate their young about their surroundings and the virtue of living in peaceful coexistence with their neighbors instead of spewing venom of hate and vengeance down their throats you would still be redeemable.

The Yoruba land is the only place in the country the Igbo man is safe - not even in his ancestral land is he safe! Don't you think you should be grateful, if only for that, if you have any atom of decency in you. Look up the meaning of INGRATE in the dictionary.

[Unregistre]

Either you are not informed by accident of time of birth or you are very challenged. The West had recorded unprecedented developmental feats; the first multi-storey building, the first modern stadium, first TV station, first free education etc. well before the advent of oil money. And all these with revenue generated by robust growth in agriculture and prudent management of their finance.

It was no accident of time of birth that made you lazy; it is a hereditary problem. You must be mentally challenged not to know that even South Sudan also recorded their firsts in storey building and Stadium, since your measure of development in the 22nd century is storey building.

Had Achebe and a few Igbo elders spent time to properly educate their young about their surroundings and the virtue of living in peaceful coexistence with their neighbors instead of spewing venom of hate and vengeance down their throats you would still be redeemable.

Obviously you and your kin are the ones that need education on how to be competitive in the 22nd century, not me. I am not the one whining and seeking for gratitude after selling off my ancestral land, you are. I am all over you like a wall of white rice just because I can and their is absolutely nothing you can do, than to whine.

The Yoruba land is the only place in the country the Igbo man is safe - not even in his ancestral land is he safe! Don't you think you should be grateful, if only for that, if you have any atom of decency in you. Look up the meaning of INGRATE in the dictionary.

There is still nothing you can do than whine. If yoruba land is so safe then get you ass back to that place and live there. You can not be in another man's land engage in humanly demeaning job to make ends meet and at the same time whine about yoruba land.

If their is any ungrateful tribe/person in Nigeria today it is definitely you. You used your agriculture to record your firsts and turn around to steal the resources of the Niger Delta to record more firsts, you shamelessly sell off your ancestral land to the highest bidder and seek for gratitude, meanwhile you are yet to show gratitude to those whose resources you are stealing or those who pitifully bought out your land and developed it. You can whine all the way to the Atlantic, you are not getting any gratitude.

[AfricaWest1]

Ajidimolaja wrote post#29:

Maybe your parents or uncles etc or blatant liars like Baba Achebe spoon-fed you with falsehoods hence you are talking as you are talking of which I'm not surprised.. But let it be known to you this day that without that incident on the night of January 15,1966 there would not have been civil war.
It was Igbo military thugs that descended upon innocent defenceless people from various parts of the country except Igbo Kingdom and selectively murdered them so violently.
Are you here to deny the fact that it was not Igbo military thug Major Timothy Onwuatuegwu who brutally murdered Brig. Sam Ademulegun the senior most Yoruba Army Officer and his pregnant wife in the presence of their six year old daughter,Solape? Yes,he was!
Are you trying to deny it that it was not the same Igbo military thug that brutally murdered another Senior Yoruba Army Officer,Col. Ralph Sodeinde? Yes,he was!
Can you deny it that it was not Major Nzeogwu who brutally murdered Baba Sir Ahmadu Bello in the presence of his wives? Yes,he was!.
Are you ready to deny it that it was not Captain Nwobosi who shot Western Region Premier,Baba S.L. Akintola execution style? Yes he was!
Pls,dont even try to deny it that the chief planner of the coup Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna who brutally murdered Brig. Maimalari,Baba Sir Tafa Balewa the then Prime Minister, Baba Festus Okotieboh,Col Largema etc.
Were all those murderers not Igbo military thugs? So,what are you trying to say here today? That I dont know history or I'm not telling the whole truth? As a matter of fact you need people like me to educate you on what and what led to the civil war not aged shameless blatant liar and unpatriotic Igbo leader like Baba Achebe.

For writing the above, KE called him "indefatigable". Okay, let's examine how objective our "indefatigable" has been some 42 odd years after the Nigerian/Biafran war.

Maybe your parents or uncles etc or blatant liars like Baba Achebe spoon-fed you with falsehoods hence you are talking as you are talking of which I'm not surprised.. But let it be known to you this day that without that incident on the night of January 15,1966 there would not have been civil war.

Wrong sir, now, you blame the coup for everything that preceded it without any real analysis - that is a lazy approach to this subject if I am allowed to say.

Let me help you with the incidents that prepared the ground for the January 1966, a hugely popular in Nigeria at the time and the subsequent Biafra/Nigeria war:

(i) The 1955 Constitution that was meant prepare Nigeria for Independence, instead we ended up with an unbalanced state structurally in favour of the North.
(ii) the rigging of 1959 elections (Btw, I spoke to Harold Smith extensively about the British role in rigging that election before anybody actively sought him out to interview him. He gave an account that appears very credible despite all times to rubbish him and his reputation.
(iii) the extensive rigging of the 1963 Western Nigerian election (and the subsequent complete breakdown of law and order).
(iv) the accusation of Awo and the 10 year imprisonment for treason and coup plotting.
(v) the January 1966 coup - the killing of a number of important figures in the first republic which appeared (on the face of it) to have excluded any notable Igbo figure.
(vi) the subsequent exploitation of (v) by a number of Nigerians (and support by a few foreign entities, the UK in particular) as an excuse to commence the final solution, i.e. the mass murder/ethnic cleansing/pogroms of Igbos/old Eastern Nigerians from July - September 1966 and the subsequent genocidal war against the old Eastern Region and Igbos in particular.
(viii) the Aburi Accord (and subsequent failure to implement same by the Nigerian government).
(ix) the declaration of the 12 state structure on 27 May 1967 by Col. Gowon (bear in mind, he went ahead with his multiple state creation without first resolving existing grievances felt by the old Eastern Nigerian).
(x) the declaration of Republic of Biafra on 30 May 1967 by Col. Ojukwu.
(ix) the shooting war starts 6 July 1967.

Ajidimolaja,

I will pause at (vi) above for now. Needless to say, I have done this to address a particular bias that has been floating around here lately and you contributed to in an earlier post (#24):

Igbo leaders knew too well that it was the Igbo military thugs that they sent {as Baba Sir Ahmadu Bello predicted} who started the whole mess which eventually led us into civil war.

Again, are you serious? Can you name the Igbo leaders who sent Ifeajuna and Nzeogwu and co?

I will try to be as concise as possible, but at the same time make the point. Even if we were to take your word on face value, and assume for a minute that the coup was purely an 'Igbo' coup carried out by purely Igbo officers. The July 1966 coup succeeded in murdering over 300 Igbo officers in the Nigerian army including Gen. Ironsi (the then HD of State) - so what exactly was the reason for the mass murder and mass rape of regular civilians who had no part in the January 1966 coup?

This is the kind of misleading and venomous lies that led to the killing of between 30,000 to 50,000 innocent Eastern Nigerians who were largely resident in regions outside the old Eastern Nigerian and - and the making of over 2 million refugees in their own country. You see why careless and unfounded utterances like yours leaves a bitter taste - this is not some joke!

No sir, my parents/uncles didn't feed me lies. I read every available material to me on the subject, spoke to some live actors (including Ojukwu himself, Buhari (though claims didn't play an active or critical part) and arrived to my own conclusions. Funnily enough, Buhari (as self serving as it may appear) when asked about the blood-letting from July - September 1966 a few years ago, would rather have the constituent parts of the Nigerian state go their separate ways than to have another bloody bath or civil war.

On a separate note, I am, definitely, going to start a thread to examine realistic and strategic alliances open to the old East within the Nigerian Federation.

You wrote:

It was Igbo military thugs that descended upon innocent defenceless people from various parts of the country except Igbo Kingdom and selectively murdered them so violently.

Let me say, I do not condone any form of injustice or selective killing and at the same time review your statement here. For starters, there is not such thing as an Igbo Kingdom - we have never had a King lording it over all of us or having us cower in fear. Your kingdom/tribal thinking must stop... It seems to inform everything you write.

Now, let me address this point, how many so-called 'Igbo military thugs' were involved? Did Nzeogwu go to the Sarduna's residence on his own? If not, who were the many other soldiers with him? Where were they from? While I wait for your answers, I will let you know that the soldiers with Nzeogwu where predominantly Northerners. Where these Northern soldiers 'military thugs' too or do you reserve that label for anyone Igbo?

For what it is worth, Michael Opara, the then Governor of Eastern Nigerian was earmarked for 'elimination'. Ifeajuna didn't kill Michael Opara because on the night of the coup, i.e. the 15 January 1966, the ambassador of Cyprus was paying Michael Opara an official visit. The coup had commenced and Ifeajuna made a decision not to kill Michael Opara while a foreign dignitary was present/being hosted - the decision has haunted him and others ever since.

Every serious commentator on the issue, agrees that Nzeogwu and his fellow 'revolutionaries' meant well for Niigerian and that the coup (never mind the self serving propaganda that followed) was not an Igbo coup, but Ajidimolaja would prefer to play 'tribal/kingdom' politics with us.

[Odinaka]

WalaceBobo
Achebe destroyed himself for being an incorrigible purveyor of LIES. ACHEBE demonstrated his irresponsibility by refusing to accept his part and that of other BIAFRAN LEADERS in the starvation of their people. ACHEBE IS A WAR CRIMINAL and might yet pay for his crimes.

Pure and utter rubbish. The "crucify Achebe crowd" to which you belong is only an infinitesimal portion of his global readership. So if you are not willing to hear and debate opposing views without throwing childish tantrum, your decamping from his readership (as a way of destroying him for example) will not make much impact on the number of people who follow his work. Otherwise I don't see any other way you are going to destroy him or that he stands destroyed. Just recently, just after the publication of his book, there have been two international events in which his name and personality were critically appraised. Meanwhile, folks like you continue to punch the air. The funniest response I have seen so far is a certain professor dragging "Achebe's inability to win the nobel prize" into the whole "saga".

When I first read what Achebe had to say, my first reaction was that he shouldn't have bothered to write what would raise a lot of dust, especially the part he imputed motives to Awo's actions. However, after going through what some "respondents" had to say (including the latest comic relief by the both-side-of-mouth-speaking Remi Oyeyemi in which people who fled crisis torn places in a hurry were blamed or chastised for not going to the banks to withdraw their monies) my conclusion was that it's good that Achebe wrote. As we say, it is only when the wind blows that we can find out that the reverend father also wears trousers (otherwise it would be assumed he's only got the white flowing robe)

Now, there are are certain lines in Achebe's book I do not agree with. An example is saying that Awo's support for starvation as a weapon of war was a means of killing off the future generation of his political opponents. It is not as if that could not be the case, but we have no hard core facts to support that, and so my thought was that Achebe should have rightly criticised Awo for his part in the criminal act of starving children and women because he wanted to hit soldiers hard without dragging ethno-political meanings to it. That would have helped to focus the debate (of course not for some who simply lack the courage or integrity to admit where and when Awo got it wrong). But on calling Awo out for the support and use of starvation as a weapon of war, Achebe has my support any time. What is even more puzzling was an interview Awo granted the Tribune and which was published here on the NVS sometime ago (could someone with a link please help). In that conversation, Awo's explanations on why he did what he did was full of inconsistencies, and that is being extremely fair to him. Picato, a fellow villager who is not Igbo and who had proclaimed his admiration for Awo was the first to point that out. The next thing we saw folks from the "Awo could never do evil" bandwagon descend on him for expressing his shock and disappointment for what Awo said he did. Just remove Awo's name from this historical episode and substitute with Babangida or Abacha and you would be surprised to see how fast people will condemn them!

I have been long on this forum to know how hypocritical people can be. I understand that as human beings we are sentimental and biased, but one expects that people who claim to be in the know should show a stable level of reasoning. Not coming out to say that Reuben Abati was being a powerful writer when he more or less accused an ethnic group of land grabbing and then turning around to ceaselessly attack Sanusi Lamido for (wrongly I must stress) writing something bad about their own ethnic group. It was after then that I began to respect emj and busanga even more because they were among the few to maintain consistency from Abati to Sanusi (I've hard to strongly disagree with the latter on some other issue, but we are all here for debate). Those who criticise Achebe for his latest book (and I admit again that as a writer he should be criticised) will never make sense to me if there verdict is that Awo did nothing wrong, and I can strongly state here that it will largely be the same if this discourse were to be taken to neutral parties. (And just to add, I notice that the Awo did nothing wrong brigade have now found solace again in Thomas Osuji's condemnation of Achebe and also Igbo people in general. I say again because they seem to have quickly forgotten. It was the same many years ago, and we had a crowd clapping for Thomas as long as he wrote about Igbo people and how bad they were. The moment he deviated and went after their "own people", we saw the crowd crying and pointing accusing fingers. The honeymoon for that period thus ended. It was a villager, Wole (a Yoruba man) who reminded those complaining about Osuji that they had explicitly supported him all the time because he was attacking Igbos).

[Odinaka]

Nothing new there! Others have been feeding fat on the misery of the Ndigbos to smile their way to fortune. If an Igbo man that did it before decides to do it again, it's nothing new.

That's the way you decided to spin it. Tell me, was Things Fall Apart part of the attempt to feed fat on the misery of Igbo people?

[nobaba]

Odinaka,

Well said from your point of view. Would you have care which method Igbo used if they had won the war?

Assuming your answer is yes and might have. Did you realize there were great celebration in Biafra when Banjo invaded an looted the Midwest. Some of us in the West did too, until they invaded Ore and bombed Row Park!

Ojukwu did not even let Banjo know who was going to lead Lagos, evidence of smoking his banana.

[Odinaka]

Odinaka,

Well said from your point of view. Would you have care which method Igbo used if they had won the war?

Assuming your answer is yes and might have. Did you realize there were great celebration in Biafra when Banjo invaded an looted the Midwest. Some of us in the West did too, until they invaded Ore and bombed Row Park!

Ojukwu did not even let Banjo know who was going to lead Lagos, evidence of smoking his banana.

@ nobaba, Yes I would be uncomfortable with some tactics. On this forum I had made it clear that Biafra soldiers were not saints. I don't expect any war, no matter how civilised, to go on without human right violations. That's why the first thing is to avoid war situations. However, somethings clearly cross the line. Recently I had an uncomfortable argument with a colleague from Serbia; he was not happy at all because "I joined the chorus of the West to condemn Slobadan Milesovic, declaring Serbians evil while exonerating the Albanians and others". I made it clear to him that I did not say that the muslim "Kosovo" fighters were guiltless but that the manner Milesovic went about cutting down women and civilians in general was simply "out of the ordinary". Just like condemning the blood thirsty Omar Bashir of Sudan doesn't in any way imply that the rebels in Darfur and the current South Sudan acted like saints, but that Bashir's actions are completely out of order. While I would have accepted a Biafran victory, I wouldn't be supporting certain things done to achieve the victory. Just like we can all accept the fight and victory over the Apartheid regime in South Africa (hope Obugi, Eja and co aren't reading this) without necessarily endorsing every thing done in the course of the struggle. Of course if the reverse were to be the case, some Igbo people shouting war crime war crime wouldn't be saying anything. It takes courage and honour to accept that our heroes did something bad at one point or the other.

[LuckyBoy]

It was no accident of time of birth (age?) that made you lazy; it is a hereditary problem. You must be mentally challenged not to know that even South Sudan also recorded their firsts (We write 'first' as in distinction NOT possessive like; your first car) in storey building and Stadium, since your measure of development in the 22nd century is storey building.


Obviously you and your kin are the ones that need education on how to be competitive in the 22nd century, not me. I am not the one whining and seeking for gratitude after selling off my ancestral land, you are. I am all over you like a wall of white rice just because I can and their is absolutely nothing you can do, than to whine.



There is still nothing you can do than whine. If yoruba land is so safe then get you ass back to that place and live there. (I do. You don't think we have computers in Nigeria, do you? ) You can not be in another man's land engage in humanly demeaning job to make ends meet and at the same time whine about yoruba land.

If their is any ungrateful tribe/person in Nigeria today it is definitely you. You used your agriculture to record your firsts and turn around to steal the resources of the Niger Delta to record more firsts, you shamelessly sell off your ancestral land to the highest bidder and seek for gratitude, meanwhile you are yet to show gratitude to those whose resources you are stealing or those who pitifully bought out your land and developed it. You can whine all the way to the Atlantic, you are not getting any gratitude.

You know what, you need to be properly tutored on the subtleties of language; the moral imperatives of human relationship and get a firm grip on the complexities of politics before venturing into sensitive adult discussions as this. OK?

[LuckyBoy]

@Odinaka:

I guess the 'Crucify Awo Group' meets headlong with your 'Crucify Achebe group'. Now the shoe pinches.

Seriously your narration makes good attempts to engage in very critical areas of this discussion but falls flat by your tenacious hold, without concrete facts on record, on the same premise that precipitated this avalanche of heated response from the Yoruba as the Igbo have never before experienced. Even Awo's die hard Yoruba critics have expressed outrage and disgust over this Achebe's latest attempt. No Igbo personality has been criticized by Ndigbo as rigorously and harshly as Awo has been by some elements of the Yoruba. His most ardent critics will be found in Yoruba land. The Yoruba don't follow sheepishly and are noted for the biting power of their tongue. Awo, our sage, was not a saint, and we have never don him in such immortal cloak. All we clamor for is a very objective analysis of events leading to, during and after that unfortunate moment in our tenuous relationship and apportion blame, if we must, on all sides who might have made any mistakes.

But the constant laundry and relay trumpeting of these deliberate misinterpretations of words and events will rile in anyone with any modicum of ethnic pride, the most vile response.

Let us bore ourselves again with the facts we can agree on; followed with my interpretations which I'll admit will be subjective. But I hope you will find me fair. And I will make it very simple (as simple as it can get).

1. In January 1966 there was a coup by certain officers whose leaders happened to be Igbo.

2. Notable Nigerian leaders majority of whom were non-Igbo were killed during the coup.

3. As a result of the coup the most senior Officer in the military who also happened to be Igbo became the Head of
State.

4. Certain Northern elements perceived the coup as premeditated murder of their kit and kin and went on revenge killing
of the Igbo in the North - hundreds of thousands of Igbo lost their lives.

5. The Igbo in the North returned home as a result. They were later encouraged to go back and assured it would not
happen again.

6. In July of same year, another coup, staged by majority of officers who happened to be Hausa killed the Head of State
while visiting one of his regional governors, who happened to be Yoruba and who insisted on protecting the Head of
State or at least
insisted the HOS would not be harmed in his region. He was not spared. And a Northerner became the Head of State.

7. Another round of killings of Igbo (those who were still left in the North) followed the second coup and nearly all the
Igbo that were left the region ran for dear life and went back to the East, the homeland of the Igbo; encouraged by
the governor of that region, also an Igbo.

8. Consequently, out of the anguish of the pogrom threats of secession by the Igbo became very loud.

9. The new Head of State who happened to be a Northerner, sued for peace and a meeting of the Head of State and the
Igbo delegate headed by the East's regional governor who championed the secession cause of the Igbo, his
legitimately aggrieved people, happened in Aburi, Ghana. They reached an accord.

10. Awolowo one of the first republic's foremost leaders who was in incarceration in Calabar during the coups was
pardoned and released from jail and was later asked to assist in the running of fledgling the government faced with
imminent
divide.

11. Awo met with Ojukwu, the East's regional governor and attempted to dissuade him from secession. Ojikwu did not
relent. In putting pressure on the Federal government to accede to Ojukwo's demand and placate the later to
exercise patient and restraint and made the monumental state that "..if by an act of omission or commission East
was allowed to or forced out of the union, the West would also leave.

12. The state of Biafra was declared after all entreaties had failed.

13. 'Police Action' was initiated to force the splinter state back into the union and it quickly degenerated into a civil war.

14. The Civil War raged on for about three years and ended with the country back together as one with a 'No Victor or
Vanguished' slogan.

15. But there's been festering disenchantment about the conduct of the war and an increasing agitation of
marginalization by the Igbo ever since.

Conduct of the War:

1. Awolowo has been singled out for the worst of Igbo recrimination for the conduct of the war citing the effective
blockade of the enclave as one singular reason for the loss of the war and a more chilling accusation of deaths caused
by hunger resulting out of the blockade.

2. Some have cited as remote reason for his conduct during the war, the hatred of the Igbo.

3. Some have cited proof of his hatred his derailment of Azikiwe's chance (another of one of the first republic's foremost
leaders, of Igbo extraction) of assuming the leadership of Western government in an election Zik's party, the NCNC
won.

The rest of the facts are out there. I have cropped them down to those germane to the core of these debates.

To push the 1953 elections as evidence of that egregious charge of back stabbing Zik is to display a lack of knowledge of the parliamentary system of government. Any single party or an alliance of parties that will form the government must win a clear majority of the seats in the house. Period. It therefore forces parties to forge alliances if no CLEAR winner emerges. Its why NCNC and NPC formed the government in 1960 and ZIK became the President by an arrangement reached between the two parties. Because no one single party won enough seats to go it alone. Same in 1953. The AG formed an alliance with Ibadan Progressive Party led by Akinloye to form the government leaving NCNC who won more seats than each of these individual parties, in the opposition. NCNC spoke to IPP too but couldn't reach an agreement on how to share governance. Let me remind you that the NCNC, formed by Herbert Macaulay a Yoruba, its first President, had very powerful Yoruba in its leadership structure and a robust folowership. It is very instructive to note that it was the NCNC led by Zik which, during the National conference in 1954, had opposed a call by the North to include in their understanding the right of secession.

When it became frighteningly clear that Ojukwu might make good on pulling the Igbo out, it was Awolowo who approached him and pledged his unflinching support that if he stayed he Awo would do all his power to correct the wrongs done the Igbo and that their interests would be best served within the union using it were as leverage that sad experience. He also intimated him should he forge ahead the West was not in a military state to defend or protect them. That the move would be ill-fated since the independent agreement amongst the regions had made secession untenable. Awo's book "Awo: on the Nigerian Civil War" detailing these had not till now been challenged.

"What happened to the food we have been sending here" Awo would query on his visit to the East. Would you, honestly, rather the federal government continued to send food to the East knowing it was mainly feeding the army? And prolonged the war, with it's attendant woes and sufferings? It was damn if you, damn if you don't. Why was Ojukwu who was in the heart of the sufferings, not moved enough to jettison all strategies in favor of the urgent task of alleviating and saving the lives of his wards? War is grim. War is unfortunate. There is not a happy war - failure to fiercely pursue it's end exposes you to unfailing doom. Unfortunately. Secession is akin to divorce you need the cooperation of your ex not to make a mess of it and scar all involved, especially your beloved children.

The twenty pound dole as has been terribly promoted was obviously not in lieu of deposits as the Federal government was not in the business of commercial banking any time before and after the war. In fact the ACB bank was owned by the Eastern government. How could a bank verify your deposit in 1970 - if the only proof of your interaction with banks laid in the destroyed hardcopy your statement or your 'passbook' one with handwritten ledger entries of your balance? Some did not know that you couldn't even collect your money from another branch of the same bank as their was no way for evidence of your deposits to be verified outside the branch in where you lodged your money. There were no computers in our banks then! So how could the government verify each Igbo's deposits in the absence of records in the banks and passbooks from depositors? There would be an harvest of fraud. Everyone would become an Igbo man or woman with thousands of pounds in banks! No Government would be rich enough to do that! And the citizens in the other regions? What the war sought out to prevent in 30 months such a policy would accomplish in a few days! A school certificate holder earned less than that in a month. Messengers less than that of course; people with families! Awo said all accrued monies due the Eastern government were paid. Government backed soft loans were given to traders. That didn't sound like someone out to settle a score.

In Yoruba land a lot of Igbo did not return to the East and they stayed unmolested in Ajegunle, Surulere, Lawanson etc
Ditto in Ibadan, Akure, Abeokuta etc. I challenge anyone with proof of mob attack on Igbo in Yoruba land. Silently forgotten in this debate are many Yoruba who suffered as the Igbo in the North.

On marginalization: the Igbo had been a VP, Senate President, Inspector general, Army chief, ministers; can live anywhere, engage in any business, sell and buy properties anywhere of his fancy; marry any of his/her choice; to all intents and practice do anything within the law as he pleases. As the presidency it's jut a matter of political sagacity not one of collective denial. An Ijaw man is there today not because of a collective agreement to reward the Ijaw but because Jonathan surreptitiously played his card well!

No sane person gloats over the horror of that unfortunate saga in our collective history; it is precisely why the Yoruba had been largely quiet for so long in the hope and desire that the memories our slain Igbo brethren, and Yoruba victims too, will be allowed, with time, to rest in peace.

But Achebe who should be in the vanguard of soothing raw nerves and reigning in raging rumble of Igbo vengeance keeps stoking the fire!

The presence of an elder in the market should be a reassuring sight that the crooked head of the baby at her mother's back will get the soothing proper arrangement it deserves, to prevent a damage to the infant's neck.

[Ewuro]

Luckyboy,
Please follow the link below and read vrery carefully.

First Nigeria Regional Elections- Western Nigeria - 1951

[GreatPot]

"What happened to the food we have been sending here" Awo would query on his visit to the East. Would you, honestly, rather the federal government continued to send food to the East knowing it was mainly feeding the army?

Which East was he(Awo) talking about,Enugu and other territories he visited during the war has been over- ran by federal forces early in the war and totally under the control of Nigeria arm forces. please I am confuse here, how can Biafran soldiers be seizing food in territories(liberated areas as they call it) under the control of Nigeria army. Secondly is there any evidence to prove that federal government was sending food into Biafra controlled areas like Umuahia,Owerre,Aba etc.....

[nobaba]

"What happened to the food we have been sending here" Awo would query on his visit to the East. Would you, honestly, rather the federal government continued to send food to the East knowing it was mainly feeding the army?

Which East was he(Awo) talking about,Enugu and other territories he visited during the war has been over- ran by federal forces early in the war and totally under the control of Nigeria arm forces. please I am confuse here, how can Biafran soldiers be seizing food in territories(liberated areas as they call it) under the control of Nigeria army. Secondly is there any evidence to prove that federal government was sending food into Biafra controlled areas like Umuahia,Owerre,Aba etc.....

Good question.

So the only time others or donors know food have been diverted or arms have got into wrong hands is when the other side is still in control. You must have heard about fleeing or deserting troops leaving damnable evidence behind.

[GreatPot]

Good question.

So the only time others or donors know food have been diverted or arms have got into wrong hands is when the other side is still in control. You must have heard about fleeing or deserting troops leaving damnable evidence behind.

Thanks but that did not answer my questions.

[Odinaka]

@Odinaka:

I guess the 'Crucify Awo Group' meets headlong with your 'Crucify Achebe group'. Now the shoe pinches.

Seriously your narration makes good attempts to engage in very critical areas of this discussion but falls flat by your tenacious hold, without concrete facts on record, on the same premise that precipitated this avalanche of heated response from the Yoruba as the Igbo have never before experienced. Even Awo's die hard Yoruba critics have expressed outrage and disgust over this Achebe's latest attempt. No Igbo personality has been criticized by Ndigbo as rigorously and harshly as Awo has been by some elements of the Yoruba. His most ardent critics will be found in Yoruba land. The Yoruba don't follow sheepishly and are noted for the biting power of their tongue. Awo, our sage, was not a saint, and we have never don him in such immortal cloak. All we clamor for is a very objective analysis of events leading to, during and after that unfortunate moment in our tenuous relationship and apportion blame, if we must, on all sides who might have made any mistakes.

But the constant laundry and relay trumpeting of these deliberate misinterpretations of words and events will rile in anyone with any modicum of ethnic pride, the most vile response.

Let us bore ourselves again with the facts we can agree on; followed with my interpretations which I'll admit will be subjective. But I hope you will find me fair. And I will make it very simple (as simple as it can get).

1. In January 1966 there was a coup by certain officers whose leaders happened to be Igbo.

2. Notable Nigerian leaders majority of whom were non-Igbo were killed during the coup.

3. As a result of the coup the most senior Officer in the military who also happened to be Igbo became the Head of
State.

4. Certain Northern elements perceived the coup as premeditated murder of their kit and kin and went on revenge killing
of the Igbo in the North - hundreds of thousands of Igbo lost their lives.

5. The Igbo in the North returned home as a result. They were later encouraged to go back and assured it would not
happen again.

6. In July of same year, another coup, staged by majority of officers who happened to be Hausa killed the Head of State
while visiting one of his regional governors, who happened to be Yoruba and who insisted on protecting the Head of
State or at least
insisted the HOS would not be harmed in his region. He was not spared. And a Northerner became the Head of State.

7. Another round of killings of Igbo (those who were still left in the North) followed the second coup and nearly all the
Igbo that were left the region ran for dear life and went back to the East, the homeland of the Igbo; encouraged by
the governor of that region, also an Igbo.

8. Consequently, out of the anguish of the pogrom threats of secession by the Igbo became very loud.

9. The new Head of State who happened to be a Northerner, sued for peace and a meeting of the Head of State and the
Igbo delegate headed by the East's regional governor who championed the secession cause of the Igbo, his
legitimately aggrieved people, happened in Aburi, Ghana. They reached an accord.

10. Awolowo one of the first republic's foremost leaders who was in incarceration in Calabar during the coups was
pardoned and released from jail and was later asked to assist in the running of fledgling the government faced with
imminent
divide.

11. Awo met with Ojukwu, the East's regional governor and attempted to dissuade him from secession. Ojikwu did not
relent. In putting pressure on the Federal government to accede to Ojukwo's demand and placate the later to
exercise patient and restraint and made the monumental state that "..if by an act of omission or commission East
was allowed to or forced out of the union, the West would also leave.

12. The state of Biafra was declared after all entreaties had failed.

13. 'Police Action' was initiated to force the splinter state back into the union and it quickly degenerated into a civil war.

14. The Civil War raged on for about three years and ended with the country back together as one with a 'No Victor or
Vanguished' slogan.

15. But there's been festering disenchantment about the conduct of the war and an increasing agitation of
marginalization by the Igbo ever since.

Conduct of the War:

1. Awolowo has been singled out for the worst of Igbo recrimination for the conduct of the war citing the effective
blockade of the enclave as one singular reason for the loss of the war and a more chilling accusation of deaths caused
by hunger resulting out of the blockade.

2. Some have cited as remote reason for his conduct during the war, the hatred of the Igbo.

3. Some have cited proof of his hatred his derailment of Azikiwe's chance (another of one of the first republic's foremost
leaders, of Igbo extraction) of assuming the leadership of Western government in an election Zik's party, the NCNC
won.

The rest of the facts are out there. I have cropped them down to those germane to the core of these debates.

To push the 1953 elections as evidence of that egregious charge of back stabbing Zik is to display a lack of knowledge of the parliamentary system of government. Any single party or an alliance of parties that will form the government must win a clear majority of the seats in the house. Period. It therefore forces parties to forge alliances if no CLEAR winner emerges. Its why NCNC and NPC formed the government in 1960 and ZIK became the President by an arrangement reached between the two parties. Because no one single party won enough seats to go it alone. Same in 1953. The AG formed an alliance with Ibadan Progressive Party led by Akinloye to form the government leaving NCNC who won more seats than each of these individual parties, in the opposition. NCNC spoke to IPP too but couldn't reach an agreement on how to share governance. Let me remind you that the NCNC, formed by Herbert Macaulay a Yoruba, its first President, had very powerful Yoruba in its leadership structure and a robust folowership. It is very instructive to note that it was the NCNC led by Zik which, during the National conference in 1954, had opposed a call by the North to include in their understanding the right of secession.

When it became frighteningly clear that Ojukwu might make good on pulling the Igbo out, it was Awolowo who approached him and pledged his unflinching support that if he stayed he Awo would do all his power to correct the wrongs done the Igbo and that their interests would be best served within the union using it were as leverage that sad experience. He also intimated him should he forge ahead the West was not in a military state to defend or protect them. That the move would be ill-fated since the independent agreement amongst the regions had made secession untenable. Awo's book "Awo: on the Nigerian Civil War" detailing these had not till now been challenged.

"What happened to the food we have been sending here" Awo would query on his visit to the East. Would you, honestly, rather the federal government continued to send food to the East knowing it was mainly feeding the army? And prolonged the war, with it's attendant woes and sufferings? It was damn if you, damn if you don't. Why was Ojukwu who was in the heart of the sufferings, not moved enough to jettison all strategies in favor of the urgent task of alleviating and saving the lives of his wards? War is grim. War is unfortunate. There is not a happy war - failure to fiercely pursue it's end exposes you to unfailing doom. Unfortunately. Secession is akin to divorce you need the cooperation of your ex not to make a mess of it and scar all involved, especially your beloved children.

The twenty pound dole as has been terribly promoted was obviously not in lieu of deposits as the Federal government was not in the business of commercial banking any time before and after the war. In fact the ACB bank was owned by the Eastern government. How could a bank verify your deposit in 1970 - if the only proof of your interaction with banks laid in the destroyed hardcopy your statement or your 'passbook' one with handwritten ledger entries of your balance? Some did not know that you couldn't even collect your money from another branch of the same bank as their was no way for evidence of your deposits to be verified outside the branch in where you lodged your money. There were no computers in our banks then! So how could the government verify each Igbo's deposits in the absence of records in the banks and passbooks from depositors? There would be an harvest of fraud. Everyone would become an Igbo man or woman with thousands of pounds in banks! No Government would be rich enough to do that! And the citizens in the other regions? What the war sought out to prevent in 30 months such a policy would accomplish in a few days! A school certificate holder earned less than that in a month. Messengers less than that of course; people with families! Awo said all accrued monies due the Eastern government were paid. Government backed soft loans were given to traders. That didn't sound like someone out to settle a score.

In Yoruba land a lot of Igbo did not return to the East and they stayed unmolested in Ajegunle, Surulere, Lawanson etc
Ditto in Ibadan, Akure, Abeokuta etc. I challenge anyone with proof of mob attack on Igbo in Yoruba land. Silently forgotten in this debate are many Yoruba who suffered as the Igbo in the North.

On marginalization: the Igbo had been a VP, Senate President, Inspector general, Army chief, ministers; can live anywhere, engage in any business, sell and buy properties anywhere of his fancy; marry any of his/her choice; to all intents and practice do anything within the law as he pleases. As the presidency it's jut a matter of political sagacity not one of collective denial. An Ijaw man is there today not because of a collective agreement to reward the Ijaw but because Jonathan surreptitiously played his card well!

No sane person gloats over the horror of that unfortunate saga in our collective history; it is precisely why the Yoruba had been largely quiet for so long in the hope and desire that the memories our slain Igbo brethren, and Yoruba victims too, will be allowed, with time, to rest in peace.

But Achebe who should be in the vanguard of soothing raw nerves and reigning in raging rumble of Igbo vengeance keeps stoking the fire!

The presence of an elder in the market should be a reassuring sight that the crooked head of the baby at her mother's back will get the soothing proper arrangement it deserves, to prevent a damage to the infant's neck.

@Luckyboy, you have given a long and good narratives of the events leading to the civil war, though a few of your points are subject to various interpretations. But it does appear you haven't addressed the real issue. I am referring to the use of starvation as a weapon of war and how Awo defended and supported it. Here on this forum an interview he granted was published, and just like some Awo critics have attacked Achebe, an Awo fan was shocked and disappointed at the puzzling things Awo said. That he was involved in trying to negotiate peace doesn't mean that everything he did afterwards was right. And I repeat my self, Achebe did right by criticising him on the starvation issue. What I understand from some of those currently attacking Achebe is that they wouldn't have had any problems with Achebe's failings if he did not dear address Awo. I remember in the said interview granted by Awo, that he called Ojukwu names, calling him a rascal and irredeemable (he was right to speak his mind, though he did not really provide any proof of Ojukwu's sins as alleged. And I haven't come across any thing Ojukwu ever said against Awo). So my dear, Awo and his actions should also be subject to criticism (that Igbos were not harassed in Lagos , Igbo VP or president and so on are not my bone of contention here)

[nobaba]

There is no need to go over this again.