Again, it is one thing to talk about what sustained the war. But surely the triggers are located in the January 1966 coup, the counter-coup and the wave of killings that targeted Igbos in what was then the Northern Region.
I do think that the waging of a war is an evil thing that will cause deaths, but I also believe that the word genocide is used too lightly, as combat actions which concentrate on a particular locality which happens to be occupied by a particular ethnic group are not the same thing as genocide, though the killings of 1966 & 67 allowed the conduct of the war by Nigeria to be presented by Biafra in that light.
I am not really clear about the stock fish issue: as a child in Ibadan and Lagos we used to eat it and it was called 'panla' - I would not, at that age, have identified it as a peculiarly Igbo preserve. I think Toyin Adepoju has asked pertinent questions about the exchange of Biafran currency: this is often presented as though every Igbo person's money was seized from them and replaced with twenty Nigerian pounds: that was what I used to believe until I realised that my Igbo friends who had property in Lagos still had it, then began to wonder how exactly such a policy would have been applied, and then wondered whether it would not have been impossible to do so simply on the basis of Igbo identity.
But here I am, doing the same picking over a disputed history.
I return to my earlier questions. It is not that I think Achebe specifically set out to make a case for an Igbo presidency, but I do wonder whether his charge that Igbos have not been rehabilitated would be answered in that way? The 1999 consensus was borne out of a general belief that the Yoruba had been wronged by June 12th. Now we can decide whether awarding the presidency to a Yoruba man per se answered that wrong or did anything much for the Yoruba. But is Achebe seeking to remind us that the Igbo have also been wronged, and that their own wrong has not been answered? It is doubtful whether consensus about that can be built on charges of genocide or what is taken by the adherents of Awolowo as an attempt to lay the blame for the entire war on his shoulders, but nonetheless, we must concern ourselves with the present and the future. Which leaves me wondering whether Achebe is right: is it indeed due to what we did or did not do after the war vis a vis the Igbo specifically, that Nigeria is in this condition, or is it that we just keep taking wrong steps full stop, and that another wrong step would be the continued harping on ethnic differences, quotas and presidential rotation?
Ayo
I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama
My position is that there was no genocide committed against the Ibos during the civil war. It was an unnecessary war triggered by egoistic Ibo leaders in the army. Wars are fought in order to have peace. We can use any means to win the war insofar as it is just and morally defensible. In the case of Biafra it was a just war because to keep Nigeria one was a task that must be done.Anyone can hold on to any unfounded truth of what was said or was not said by Pa Awolowo. If an interviewed that was conducted in 1983 which anyone who cares can go to any of our older university achieves to find the records fails to do so only to sit down to write and deny an authentic record and spread falsehood which Achebe did in his book, There was a country is nothing but sensational without any historical fact in it.Awo was committed to the unity and oneness of this country and he left behind the legacy of quality of leadership that is unparalleled in the history of this country. His education and welfare policies remained indelible in our psyche and today he remains the only leader of a reference point.The Ibos who are busy bodies who have been reeling under the psychological defeat of the civil war are bad losers. They are blaming someone who saved them rather than accept blame for the cause of the death of about 2 million Ibos. They should also accept the blame for killing over 300,000 Nigerian soldiers. Their parents and the loved ones cannot explain the pain and agony of the losses.We must put the Biafra war behind us and move on because it was a dark spot on our collective history.Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.
Sent from my iPhone----
Brother Kole,
Thanks for asking. Awo does not bear the sole responsibility for what happened before the war (the killing of Yoruba by Yoruba during operation wetie and the jailing of Awo for treason), the coup by young majors who adored him who planned to impose him as president, the genocidal war over which he presided as the finance minister, or the aftermath that saw the economic liquidation of Igbo assets under his direction.
The responsibility is for all Nigerians, including you and I. We must strive to learn the correct lessons or we will continue to see such barbaric acts as the massacre of students over who knows what, the endless bombing of churches and public places as deliberate acts of terror, the lynching of university students over cell phones, kidnapping for ransom and the reckless looting of the economy by politicians who lack any sense of patriotism.
I expressed doubts as to whether Awo actually said what he was reported to have said at a Townhall meeting in Abeokuta in 1983 during the election of that year that ended with operation Owoboriomo in which the supporters of Akin Omoboriowo were attacked and killed by his Yoruba brothers for not supporting Awo.
Even if Awo said all that in his old age, the younger generation should still see the folly in the policy of 'starvation as a legitimate weapon of war' and condemn it as a war crime. Genocide is never justifiable under any circumstances and so all Nigerians should condemn the Igbo genocide in order to avoid another fratricidal war in which friends will kill friends and brothers will kill brothers again. We must unreservedly condemn genocide even if those killed were not our friends or family for we are all part of the human family and any wrongs to some will inevitably rub off on others.
The important question you are asking may be answered by Achebe's book. However, you should send similar questions to all the intellectuals who kept quiet all along despite their roles cheering the genocidal army along. Ask them what they did during the war.
Biko
--- On Mon, 8/10/12, Oluwatoyin Ade-Odutola <kole2@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Oluwatoyin Ade-Odutola <kole2@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Awolowo
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Date: Monday, 8 October, 2012, 14:58--
Hello all,
Please can I ask a question about the civil war I know very little about BUT I feel the full impact of the war on my life and that of my friends. I have lived in fear that should there be another war, the deepest pain I would feel on my way out of the world is to be shot (and killed) by one of my friends.
In any case, my question is: Was the war about Awolowo, what he said or did not say? Can a war narrative still stand without Awo's contribution to it?
Who else made mistakes before the war, during the war and after the war
Did I hear Awo's name before the war? Awo's name during the war, and Awo's name after the war.
I ask these questions from a TOTALLY ignorant position. Be gentle on my lack of knowledge. I want to be better educated
Kole
--- On Mon, 10/8/12, Biko Agozino <bikozino@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Biko Agozino <bikozino@yahoo.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Awolowo Was No 'Friend of Ours'
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Date: Monday, October 8, 2012, 2:17 PM--
Awolowo Was No 'Friend' of Ours
By Biko Agozino
I eagerly await the arrival of my copy of Achebe's personal historiography of Biafra with my mouth salivating in anticipation, given the spoilers already raising storms of debates. The charged debate over Achebe's book gives Nigeria enough reason to reverse the dumb policy of Obasanjo who banned the teaching of history in Nigerian schools under the excuse that history is a yeye subject that does not lead to employment. Dalu (thank you), Nna anyi (our father) Achebe, you will live life until the endless time! I will wait until I have read every word and reflected on it before I comment on your magnum opus.
Meanwhile ... In response to this welcome addition to the cleansing of the historical conscience of Nigeria by Chinua Achebe, some misguided and misinformed miscreants have dredged up what looks like a fabrication, claiming that Awolowo regarded himself as a friend of the Igbo. The strange document lacks any of the clarity of the sage and digresses from a serious discussion of the haunting responsibility for genocide to the trivial mythology of fish as an astrological sign. That apparent forgery smell foul like a dead fish all right for the following reasons (follow link to read on):
http://massliteracy.blogspot.com/2012/10/awolowo-was-no-friend-of-ours.html
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