Ogbeni Kadiri,
The plot thickens. SO you want me to submit to your views?
As Jesus of Nazareth is reported to have said, "first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye!"
We can't help but notice that such is your obsession with Biafra that you have either entirely forgotten about or are only carefully avoiding the reference I made to our Yoruba brothers and sisters aspirations: the issue of the Oduduwa Republic secessionists. And I guess that if they were to stage a peaceful demonstration (without police permission), in the name of fairness and impartiality you would not hesitate to include them in your outlaw kingdom of "miscreants and street urchins" – as baptised by you. The new baptism, not by water, not by ogogoro and not by fire but by something much stronger, by the law-abiding tongue of the one and only Ogbeni Kadiri.
Since you keep on praise-singing the Cauc-asians why don't you come right in the open and confess that you are a Lugardist in the spirit of Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard GCMG CB DSO PC…
But you have a point here O: Indeed it would not be such a bad idea or in the spirit of the Baron if every village in Nigeria became an independent country just because in Sierra Leone, every tree makes a forest. In 1981, the late Senator Francis Ellah argued that since Rivers State accounted for 56% of Nigeria's national revenue , a further thirteen States could be created out of Rivers State to add to the already nineteen states and that way every state would get an equal share of the gravy ( the oil money. He tried to but of course he knew that even if he could successfully pilot such a bill through the Rivers State House of Representatives – with each local government area / village on the ready to elect their own governors etc. there was no hope of the bill ever being approved by the National Assembly. And thus Senator Ellah succeeded in making his point about the politics of revenue derivation compared with revenue allocation, , at that time with Rivers State accounting for 56% of Nigeria's common wealth.
As to my not taking up the matter of Biafra with Oga Diete-Spiff the former military governor, I was taught long ago, not to be too forward with Ogas (of any nationality) and to let him initiate conversation – and then of course one can skilfully ( carefully) guide the conversation to this or that end. Feigning ignorance is one of the best ways – and judiciously asking a stupid or not so stupid question can usually get the other man rolling to the point where you know exactly where he stands. On the said occasion – what promised to be the first of many such occasions, I was doing my best to avoid winking back at one of the mademoiselles that I foresaw was going to be my downfall in Rivers State long before my Better-Half and my son arrived and I was also busy admiring the old colonial structure of his residence and the food on the table. I was much more at ease and with the Chief Justice and with other dignitaries. I am very very good with elderly people, having kept elderly company most of my life. I was taken to my very first party by Joe Ellah - my first Rivers State benefactor and before we arrived at the venue he told me that there was going to be at least thirteen millionaires there and to shut myself up about any socialist bullshit…
I still don't know why you are so upset. All I said was that, the Nazis committed similar crimes such as the looting of Jewish property. I did not "equate" your side, Gowon and the Federal Military forces with the Nazis, did I? Next you will be telling me that I said that Gowon was Hitler the son of bitch Lucifer, the genocidal mass-murderer and holocaustal plunderer.
But just see who's talking. Lugardist that you are telling me that my informants on abandoned properties probably saw me as "a semi-arian race" ! Semi maybe even demi-oyigbo ? Am I "saying everything done by the Caucasians is good and should be copied by Africans?"
You can mock me as much as you like. What should I say in response? Should I say like Lakunle the village school teacher, "If now I am misunderstood by you and your race of savages, I rise above taunts, and remain unruffled."?
About Netanyahu's Israel, apparently you have no idea about the luxurious life style of some of the Pals.
The Ogbeni Kadiri that I know is usually a truth sayer. True: V-P Alex Ekwueme invited His Holiness the Pope to Nigeria! Maybe V-P Yemi Osinbajo will do ditto with Pope Francis – put Boko Haram to shame by inviting him to visit Africa's most populous Christian nation?
I've still not had time to look at the Swedish papers. It's time to visit Olugbala here
Yours sincerely,
Cornelius
On Sunday, 22 November 2015 20:20:13 UTC+1, ogunlakaiye wrote:
With eloquently crafted Oxford English, you narrated below that you met Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff, the former Governor of Rivers State and even Chief Justice of Rivers State but none of them spoke to you about Biafra or abandoned properties. I wonder why a Biafran hugging liberal like you did not seize the opportunity of your association with the aforementioned friends of yours to discuss abandoned properties of the Igbo in Port Harcourt....
In your item 2, you exclaimed, "Yes indeed, the Nazis looted Jewish property," as if I had disputed it. What I have cautioned you not to do is to equate the persecution of the Jews in Europe, up to the end of World War II, with the fate of the Igbo in the Nigerian civil war. Only a Biafran extremist will equate Igbo situation in Nigeria to pre-World War II situation of the Jews in Europe.
In the same item 2 you wrote, "And when it comes to Biafra, IBK would probably be the first to say that 1981-1984, I have been soaked and marinated in Biafra propaganda." The impression I get from reading the foregoing is that you were in Nigeria, Rivers State, between 1981 and 1984. If that is true, it means that your statement in item 1 (Many different people pointed out some of these houses and others of impeccable integrity mentioned the facticity of allegedly abandoned properties) was an Igbo folklore developed from their myths on the civil war. By 1981 when you arrived in Nigeria Igbo had fully been re-integrated into Nigeria after the war that ended on January 15, 1970. The vice President of Nigeria was Dr Alex Ekwueme and the Speaker of the House was Edwin Ume-Ezeoke. Igbo were in all parts of Nigeria in large numbers. Your informants on abandoned properties probably saw you as a semi-arian race and sold the folklore to you with the intention of attracting your sympathy and handouts of money. Your mission in Port Harcourt was not to investigate thirteen years old abandoned Igbo properties and there was no reason for anyone to come and complain to you about his/her abandoned properties unless he/she could get some pecuniary gains from you. It is amusing to read from you that oppressed, persecuted, marginalised and unjustly treated could be allowed by their oppressors and persecutors to acquire properties. Very soon, you will say Palestinians are acquiring properties, not in Sadam's Iraq but, in Netanyahu's Israel.
As if the Igbo must sing the same song as the Scots and Catalans, you asked, "What is the motivation of Scots and Catalans?" If the Scots and Catalans sing, Divided we stand, United we fall to the United Kingdom and Spain respectively, why must Igbo sing the same song to Nigeria? Are you saying everything done by the Caucasians is good and should be copied by Africans? Intoxicated with the wine of every man gotta a right to determine his own destiny, you want every village in Nigeria to be a country because in Sierra Leone, a tree makes a forest!! I disagree with you.
S.Kadiri
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2015 14:32:19 -0800
From: cornelius...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's QuoteDear Ogbeni Kadiri,
Before any of these most recent forum discussions of Biafra you have told me time without number that you are not against Biafra per se - (We are all Nigerians etc.) and I believe you.
Many different people pointed out some of these houses and others of impeccable integrity mentioned the facticity of allegedly abandoned properties. I don't feel called upon to reveal their names. In my first week in Nigeria, I had dinner with the former Governor of Rivers state Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff at his residence, but we did not speak about Biafra and I did not return to visit him because I saw some nice mademoiselles at his residence and as if by precognition did not wanting to get even remotely involved or to get too close to any of them or their ogas, so that later when things go wrong my ass does not becomes grass. . Nor did the Chief Justice of Rivers State who I met the first week and finally two days before I felt Nigeria ever breathe the word Biafra in my ear. In London, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Aba and Umuahia I met and stayed with other Ogas who were much closer to Biafra…
Yes indeed, the Nazis looted Jewish property. Now please stop being pompous and overly self-righteous. Even if you don't know any better, I know that in saying that in no way was it meant to be "an extreme belittlement of the Jewish sufferings in Nazi Europe and over-exaggeration of Igbo sufferings during the civil war in Nigeria to equate the two un-identical events in history as one." By the way in 1969 someone looted a painting worth £15,000 Sterling belonging to me and my Better Half ( I wrote to Professor Simon Ottenberg about this a few years ago )
You know that I don't doubt or have any reason to doubt your absolute honesty, integrity, sincerity, high moral ground or that your points of view are partly informed by your own experience of the Biafra War and that you would not like to see a repeat of either the Biafran death toll, some death by starvation or more Federal military suffering.
To give an extreme example, I could say that your own bitter experience of the Bifara war could be akin to that of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh who had been badly wounded (by his Jewish cousins) at the Battle of Khyber - except that I'm sure that with your Biafran countrymen you would be more magnanimous. And it was this man Sa'd ibn Mu'adh that the Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.) asked – after the Muslim warriors had been victorious, "What shall we do with these Jews? (These Jewish prisoners of war?) and Sa'd, still in pain, recommended the following fate for the defeated Jews of Kyhber, the Banu Qurayza: "Slaughter the males and sell the female into slavery "
I know for a fact that you wouldn't pass such a judgment on a vanquished Biafra people circa 1970…
I too subscribe to not just the notion of tawhid but the principle of unity generally as in 2000 Blacks got to be free
Yes, I do have my own positions about the Second World War, about various Liberation movements in Africa, South America and other parts of the world and very strong positions about Middle East politics too. And when it comes to Biafra, IBK would probably be the first to say that 1981-1984 I have been soaked and marinated in Biafra propaganda. But I was soaked and marinated long before that in fact at the behest of Professor Eldred Durosimi Jones we were among the first people to sign letters of protest when his friend Wole Soyinka was detained by the Federal authorities …
Both of us must admit that the Nigerian scenario is very different today from what it was such as the pogroms of Igbos in Northern Nigeria before the 30th May, 1967, when the secession of Biafra was declared . Now you keep on saying that the pro-Biafra people's main motives are based on (your words) claims "that Igbos are persecuted, oppressed, marginalised and unjustly treated in Nigeria." This should not get too long but I can give you many examples of people who are "persecuted, oppressed, marginalised and unjustly treated "but nevertheless "have been able to acquire properties" e.g. in what was Saddam's Iraq?
Your problem is that you seem to think that if that is the only motive for Biafrans wanting their Biafra that is enough reason for them not to expect that their hard earned properties bank accounts etc. should be illegally seized by the remnant Federal Republic of Nigeria. I come to this conclusion as the answer to your rhetorical question "Are the liberal populists not becoming unreasonable to think that if the Igbos secede because of injustice, they will get justice over acquired properties in Nigeria after secession?"
What is the motivation of the Scots and the Catalans?
And what pray, would be the motivation for the Oduduwa secessionists wanting their own Yoruba Republic or Kingdom apart from wanting to establish a great country or is the song that begins
" Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny,
And in this judgement there is no partiality…"
Only an idle child's nursey rhyme?
I haven't read the Swedish papers for the past two days and must do so now.
By the way my son Ola has written a preface to the Swedish edition of Assata Shakur's autobiography. Time has passed: he started school at Ahoada, in Nigeria.
Talk to you later.
Menahem.
We Sweden
On Saturday, 21 November 2015 20:12:29 UTC+1, ogunlakaiye wrote:Menahem Hamelberg,
I am not anti-Biafra and I do not hate those claiming to be one but I am opposed to the motives being adduced for the demand to excise the Igbo from Nigeria to become Biafra. After the civil war, Igbo people had fully been integrated into Nigeria and they have participated, with other ethnic groups of Nigeria, in the corrupt governments of the country. The only position a person of Igbo ethnic language is yet to hold in Nigeria is the presidency. Therefore, I am against flat-footed populists craving the excise of Igbo from Nigeria on the ground that Igbos are persecuted, oppressed, marginalised and unjustly treated in Nigeria. While the flatfooted populists keep on pressing their venomous snake kisses on the cheeks of the Igbo, they asked of what would be the legal status of properties owned by persecuted, oppressed, marginalised and unjustly treated Igbos in various parts of Nigeria, should Biafra come into being. Question which the liberal populists should answer is, how could persecuted, oppressed, marginalised and unjustly treated Igbos in Nigeria have been able to acquire properties? Are the liberal populists not becoming unreasonable to think that if the Igbos secede because of injustice, they will get justice over acquired properties in Nigeria after secession?
Menahem Hamelberg previously wrote, "It's the first piece of news that I saw first-hand in my first week in Port Harcourt: Igbo owned houses were pointed out to me that had been allegedly abandoned and therefore auctioned away at Five Naira a piece. THE NAZIS COMMITTED SIMILAR CRIMES SUCH AS THE LOOTING OF JEWISH PROPERTY." Here, you have climbed the tree beyond the leaves and consequently have to fall down. Who pointed out Igbo owned houses that had allegedly been abandoned and therefore auctioned at Five Naira a piece? Was your informant an Igbo, Ijaw, or Ogoni? How reliable was your informant? Were you present when the auction took place? You have elongated falsehood to its elastic breaking point!!
The Nigerian civil war was fought to keep the nation one and not to exterminate the Igbo people. The Nigerian situation could not be compared to Nazi Europe. Hence, it is an extreme belittlement of the Jewish sufferings in Nazi Europe and over-exaggeration of Igbo sufferings during the civil war in Nigeria to equate the two un-identical events in history as one. Right from 1925/26, Adolf Hitler had propagated in his Mein Kampf that 'One blood demands one Reich.' His intention to exterminate the Jews was known to other European countries that shared similar ideas about the Jews. Hatred against the Jews in Europe pre-dated Hitler. Nigeria is the only country in the world that has ever fought a war under the supervision of International Observers who testified that the Nigerian forces never perpetrated genocide against the Igbo.
Igbos also had shops, you asserted, and then went on to ask: or did they move their shops, carted them off in wheelbarrows...? War began on July 6, 1967 and by May 1968 Port Harcourt was captured. From May 30, 1967, Gowon had announced land and sea blockade of the then Biafra, an action which made influx of goods and commodities scarce in Port Harcourt. Shops in Port Harcourt by the time it was captured were already empty. You should also understand that shops are parts of buildings which are not moveable, even though articles for sales could be moved. On the assumed abandoned houses which I said the owners could reclaim on presenting valid documents of ownership, Menahem Hamelberg countered me with questions. Hear him, "Suppose the papers had been burned (arson) or had otherwise disappeared? Or the exercise was being conducted in an atmosphere of fear? You think that it's justice that a man has to re-buy his own house/houses at an auction?" A war refugee fleeing from Port Harcourt could not have left documents attributing the ownership of his house(s) behind in as much as he hoped to return after the war. However, it was reported that fleeing Igbo from Port Harcourt deliberately destroyed their houses because they did not hope to return there and they did not want them to fall into the hands of indigenous Port Harcourt's tribe. One cannot lay claim to a house or property without valid documents to attest to ownership. Legal document of ownership is a must requirement, if more than a person are claiming ownership of the same property. As for the hypothetic question of if 'the whole exercise was being conducted in an atmosphere of fear' I think it is unjust to insinuate such a scenario. Why should one be guessing about if there was atmosphere of fear in what happened after the war 45 years ago when there are clear cut evidence that the war ended in the spirit of no victor no vanquish. If there was such fear, Igbos would not have been in such a large numbers throughout Nigeria as they are today. That fear would have restricted them to the Igbo ethnic territory. My answer to the last question of if it is justice for a man to re-buy his own house(s) at an auction depends on the reasons for auctioning. If the house is being auctioned as abandoned by the authorities, partly because the owner has no
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