Dialogues: USA Africa Dialogue Series - RE: ||NaijaObserver|| Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: [NaijaPolitics] "Prayer Before Death" Zik's Elegy to Balewa

Dr. Adeboye,
Was Zik silent or was he ignored? Who would publish him in the thick of those events?
Obi Nwakanma

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To: OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com
From: aadeboye@mac.com
Date: Fri, 2 May 2014 00:29:39 -0400
Subject: ||NaijaObserver|| Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: [NaijaPolitics] "Prayer Before Death" Zik's Elegy to Balewa

Aburo Peter and Obi,

This is, at the minimum, perplexing. Nnamidi Azikiwe had lived through the period between February and July 29, 1966 in Eastern Nigeria. He could not have been unaware of allegations that the January coup was an Igbo coup, about which Ifeajuna had brieved him. The allegations further included the assertion that Azikiwe sick leave, cruising to the Caribbean was arranged to give him deniability of foreknowledge of a coup that would be executed while he was away. The bloody pogrom against the Igbo in the North in May 1966 was predicated on those allegations. Why did Zik not publish his elegy [available since February] for the PM immediately, if only to challenge the allegations that were now costing hundreds of Igbo lives? Shouldn't those lives have meant something to him?

Further unrest and killings followed all the way till the July and beyond, why was Zik silent? I am almost certain that a publishing of that elegy would have soothed a lot of anger, and might have saved us a civil war. Please correct me if you think otherwise.

Adeniran Adeboye

On May 1, 2014, at 11:25 PM, peter opara wrote:

Obi, these are quite a find.

This is Zik at his intellectual best; his humanity shining without compare. Who knew but now that he valued his compatriots so? He felt himself in their stead and so penned his pain in such elegant mourning.

It is beautiful.

May the great souls departed, big and small, rest in Lord.

Amen.

Peter Opara

On Thursday, May 1, 2014 11:16 PM, Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@hotmail.com> wrote:

"Before you satisfy your gory lust
Spare me one moment to beseech Allah
Who gave life that animates this dust
From time of birth, through death, to Valhalla."

"I pray that should you plan to snuff my life
Because you thought my leadership has failed,
Your rash decision be not clothed with strife
That leads to your own heads to be impaled."

"If wrong was done when power was mine to wield,
Be magnanimous, since we all must err.
If death should be my fate, then I must yield,
Since you are armed, your wrath I can't incur."

Forgive these youthful sons of violence,"
He prayed: 'And let them see its uselessness.
From genocide my murder can commence,
oh God, preserve this land from sore distress."

His brutal killers, thirsting for blood,
Were not disposed to heed his plaintive plea.
Having been slain, they dumped him with a thud
inside their jeep and drove away with glee.

The gruesome deed cannot inspire praise
But condemnation of the heinous type;
The world of fault-finders we must amaze
By proving that, in fact, we are not ripe.

This sage, who paid the price of leadership,
laid down his life as ransom for our jive;
His mantle falls on sterling statesmanship:
To moor our ark of state, its life revive.

-Nsukka, February 1966

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From: aadeboye@mac.com
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 21:42:02 -0400
Subject: Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] "Omimi Ejo: An Acrostic": Azikiwe's Elegy for Okotie-Eboh

Hello Dr. Nwakanma,

Please kindly post President Azikiwe's elegy for each of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, Premier Ladoke Akintola, Premier Ahmadu Bello, Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari and any other public servant who was killed during the January 1966 coup. The second stanza here is rather alarming:

Of all the tragic deeds on that bleak day,
Killing the portly servant of the state
On flimsy ground, to have their devilish way
Transformed our land into a den of hate,
Instilling prejudice and fear galore

Wow. One learns quite a bit from what is written here that one would want to unlearn.

On May 1, 2014, at 5:44 PM, Rex Marinus wrote:

Farewell, my bosom friend, and rest in peace,
Eager were you to serve the nation's cause,
Sincere and loyal friendship I will miss,
The forward march of freedom will now pause
Under a new order of discipline
Sceding a future from the shifting scene.

Of all the tragic deeds on that bleak day,
Killing the portly servant of the state
On flimsy ground, to have their devilish way
Transformed our land into a den of hate,
Instilling prejudice and fear galore

Enfeebled by this tragic will of fate,
Be brave, Victoria, for the sun still shines
Over the clouds, to foil evil designs.
His life endures with those of us who wait.

-Onuiyi Haven, Nsukka,
February 26, 1966