RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Igbo Question

The Igbo/Nigeria Question

Dear oa,
When conversation revolve around the history of Nigeria/Biafra War, my first position is the antecedents of the war such as the planned Army coup with only Mayor Kaduna caught in the middle, the slaining of the Northern and Western leaders, the disappearance of Azikiwe to London while the military assigned the job were delayed in Benin; the massacre of igbo in the North- the cause and many more questions must be addressed without emotion if anyone wants to adjudicate in the ethnic issues and rivalries in Nigeria.

I wish to address certain points i observed and do not agree with in your conversation:

"Oppression. ... in a country does not mean that they are for the same reasons and to the same extent"... Please tell me which ethnic group has not had it extent of oppression? The middle belt and the Midwest. .. During Biafra, on whose lands was the war fought? ... Benin/Ore, Asaba, with the Benins caught in the middle because of their loyalty to Nigeria and brotherhood ties to Anambras. Has anyone taken numbers of their losses? What about their unsung heroes? How many minorities have been in power since after the war?

"There is broad agreement in Nigeria for example that the northern states of Nigeria are relatively less "developed" than the southern states of the country. The Igbos have been number 3 in the civilian rule several times and head of States. We need to also view the other walls in our assessments of oppression and discrimination in Nigeria.

"There is broad agreement in Nigeria for example that the northern states of Nigeria are relatively less "developed" than the southern states of the country."

Do we not also call this oppression within... how has the northern political power fared on the common man in the north and environs... is that not one of the justification Bokoharam flogged as excuse for terrorism? The fact that political power was given to the north did not mean other regions did not get their national share? I think it was a question of how each utilised its own. In addition, the fact that the north is seem to be adjudged less 'developed', didn't mean laziness or deficiency. .. you need to be open-minded and interact with them to know their stories.

"The Igbo are egalitarians."
No doubt about that.

"There is no fracture between the Igbo elite and their masses." There is... you need to move around and complement texts with everyday human reality to ascertain the disconnect between the proBiafra and the masses.

"Disaffected Igbo who try to keep the Biafra issue in view are nothing like the Boko Haram insurgents who are an existential national security threat and have been for years now. It is an obnoxious false equivalence."
Really? When you you call people to war and take up arms within a sovereign nation, what do you call that? Nationalism or terrorism or treason.

"...they cannot deny the facts- the injustices of state creation..." Geographically, how further can you recreate the Eastern region with the ecological problems. You know because of this aspect of your argument i took a look at the current map of Nigeria and i see how small the East is and so choked. Are you suggesting they take from other regions and add to the East?

"Not if the post war proclamation by the victor was "no victor, not vanquished".
I think we should analyse this... Who were the planners of 1966 coup and what were their agreement. The coup was idealistic and the war was a Personality war between Gowon and Ojukwu that dragged many as Kanu is wont to do now into issues many did not and do not now understand. As it is, the '67 still draws up sentiments. And this has informed the removal of Nigerian History from secondary school curriculum.

Chinua Achebe '"There Was A Country" was his attempt to document Nigeria's history"' from a lopsided point of view. I agree ... "as he say and lived it".

Saving Nigeria from disintegration is a Nigeria Project that interest me not the disaffection of a group because every group in Nigeria is discriminated.

Ofure Aito

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