Baba,
God bless you. God bless Nigerians. God bless Biafrans. God bless everybody.
"Description is like fifteen doves in a Jacuzzi
catching the Holy Ghost
Making one woozy in the head and comatose,
agree?"
( source)
Where did I claim to be "a better friend to the Igbo" than you "who grew up with them from birth, went to school together and worked together with them?"
Since I did not make any such claim, how can you say to me , "Your claim is false"? And how can you ascertain that your Igbo comrades are/were telling the truth and not merely cosying up to you there in Yoruba-land when they say that "they know that Biafran agitators are xenophobes" ? Just as perfect strangers come up to me and start criticising Islam, Palestinians, terrorism etc. because they think that I am "Rabbi Hamelberg"
Some guys want their own independence from Nigeria, they don't want to be Nigerians, they want to be self-governing Biafrans and your main response is that they are "xenophobes". After all that advice that you give in your last paragraph you think that it's time for some more name-calling, this time ,
By which you mean we should not look forward to some international soccer, between Nigeria and Biafra, just because some of your Igbo comrades in Ogun state ( hypocrites) would be cheering Nigeria?
Xenophobes? You mean they would like to build a wall around Biafra, to keep people like you out?
Until 1905 Sweden and Norway were one country ( not because of any Lord Lugard).
Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey croons, "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder !" - the marriage of heaven and earth, and quoting from the same scripture , some people are unfortunate to be "unequally yoked" - in your country which is unevenly 60% Muslim and 40% Christian - which means that from the Paulist point of view, Christians are unevenly yoked and we see what happens sporadically in Egypt, Iraq, sometimes in Nigeria. Should Boko Haram decide to extend their sovereignty southwards to embrace all of Lugard's Nigeria in their caliphate don't you know that unlike you, the Igbos would be reduced to the position of dhimmis/ dhimmitude?
The advice that you give in your last paragraph could also be given to the people of Scotland, to the Catalans , the Palestinians, other secessionist movements ...
So it was Matthew who warned you? Matthew is wrong , of course (even about the lineage of Jesus) and as for me, I am not a saint or a prophet, nor do I want to be one.
Because I have always enjoyed and benefited from your company , I hope that what you quote from the Bible, Proverbs 17: 4-5 does not apply to me.
There's far too much religious imagery flying around as justifications, the main purpose being to obfuscate the main issues. Quotations from the Jewish Bible (the egg) followed by the so called "New" Testament (the chicken) and finally the Holy Quran (the Last Testament) all meant as moral rearmament, as if merely quoting scriptures like Brother Jero (a Nigerian pastor) , makes us all holy men.
As you know, the devil also quotes profusely from the Bible and that's why I'll be quoting mostly from the Holy Quran, this holy month of Ramadan.
By all means, do keep on referring to me as "Rabbi Hamelberg", because believe it or not, Rabbi Hamelberg is very close to God - at all times - although when representing more than one person, he is still more impressed by John Kerry saying, "I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side."
I would like to hear your answers to questions like, is God on Nigeria's side? Biafra's side? On the side of the Arabs? Does God support "the occupation" on Israel's side? Is the USA's commander-in-chief Donald Trump on God's side? Really? Then why is he afraid to move his embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem ? He is afraid? Afraid of whom?
So much religious language ! And when are you guys going to start quoting from Yoruba scriptures?
Next you and your affiliates will be saying that according to some parochial Yoruba scriptures, don't break rank, everybody must stay in line, it is anathema, indeed treasonable to say, "God bless Biafra !"
Our man Nnamdi Kanu has taken it upon himself - maybe not self-appointed, to be God's anointed - thus inviting himself to the martyrdom of crucifixion by federal forces - after Nigeria's Pontius Pilate the pirate finds him guilty of claiming to be "Messiah of Biafra" . My one prayer is that the Messiah of Biafra is not impaled on a tree just before Sundown one Friday evening. And the aftermath of that.
I am your ordained "Rabbi Hamelberg" , so I'll just ask you the same question that the Rt. Hon. Rev IBK just asked your friend Obi Nwakannma, although he was not quoting the Bible, "You think that if you repeat your lie (Obi's lie) many times, it will alter it as a lie?"'
Unlike you, I lived intimately with the Igbo for close to four years mostly in Igboland - Imo State and every part of Rivers State from Brass to Bonny. Goodluck Jonathan's middle names "Ebele" and "Azikiwe" are incidental but not accidental.
I'll take you chronologically:
First you hit me below the belt with your secret argumentum ad misericordiam - and you knew fully well what you were saying when you pleaded, " Oh Rabbi, you think because you lived with the Igbo for close to four years and they helped you to transfer your hard earned money from Nigeria to Sweden." - because I had confided in you that that son of beelzebub bank manager at Savannah Bank. 10, Aba Road , Port Harcourt who had stolen my money ( £6, 000 ) was Igbo. What I did not tell you is that his serf, the man who he sent as his messenger - all the way to Bakana to tell me that his boss wanted to "see" me , was Yoruba. So, as far as corruption is concerned , they were in it together. If I gave him half - I would get my money immediately. But I must have been thinking like an Oyibo ( a righteous gentile) , when I asked him him - in his office, not in a threatening manner, "And if I don't give you half?" And he replied, "Then you will have to wait."
" How long?" , I asked him. " Oh, a couple of months", said he. That was in late 1984.
I'm still waiting.
I guess that if I were Nigerian , I could have haggled with him, starting at 5% , but it never occurred to me, to start bargaining about my own money. I could have also reported or threatened to report him immediately - to my friend the deputy Commissioner of Rivers State Police or my friend the Chief Justice of Rivers State or some other contacts in Lagos - but I believed him and did not even give the matter a second thought. I did not go to Nigeria for the sake of money. I would have done a lot better in Sierra Leone, mining diamonds.
I have always thought that a new constitution would provide for greater regional autonomy along the Muslim North - Christian South axis, would accommodate the changes that any reasonable Igbo/ Biafran would accept, even if Nigeria as a whole is entitled to be a member of the OIC and other such organisations - which on the whole determine how Nigeria votes at e.g. the UN and here I'm thinking of the headline that ran, Netanyahu thanks Goodluck Jonathan ...
About the rest of your prevarications about our Igbo Brethren, I should like to remind you about the pogroms against Igbos who up to this day, are mostly Christians, less half of one per cent of them are Muslims (some of whom converted in the early 80s as a way of obtaining foreign exchange ( to to go on pilgrimage to Mecca, but in reality to go on a shopping spree in Riyadh)
So far, the strongest words in this discussion are from Professor Ogungbemi, with this chilling reminder:
"how a handful of the Igbo in the Nigerian military in January 1966 staged a coup against a civilian government and selectively killed Nigerian leaders who were not of their own ethnicity. And thereafter their own people, the Ndigbo jubilated and acted in the most despicable manner in the North that led to the pogrom and subsequently the civil war and defeat of the Biafra warlords in 1970."
But now, it's not about that.
So Baba Kadiri, think : Nigerian values. What would be wrong with a referendum in the five Igbo states?
Your Igbo friends might just be right , that "Biafran agitators are (merely) xenophobes." but the majority are not...
See My Jumper Hanging On the Line
On Monday, 5 June 2017 03:57:32 UTC+2, ogunlakaiye wrote:
Rabbi Hamelberg,
Here you go again sharing the dual faces of a Saint and false prophet. I am not going to be a victim of a false prophet because I have been forewarned in Mathew 24 : 11-12, "And many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, love of many shall wax cold."
Oh Rabbi, you think because you lived with the Igbo for close to four years and they helped you to transfer your hard earned money from Nigeria to Sweden, that should make you a better friend to the Igbo than me who grew up with them from birth, went to school together and worked together with them? Your claim is false and my Igbo comrades who are not Biafrans will urge you to go and perform what genuine Igbo call UKPU ALU!! This is more so because they know that Biafran agitators are xenophobes. Proverbs 17: 4-5 must have had you in mind when it stated, "The wicked enjoy fellowship with others who are wicked and liars enjoy liars."
Concerning the forced Lugard's amalgamation, why is it just now being recognized as a problem by you and your Biafran ally? When Nnamdi Azikiwe returned from the Western House of Assembly in 1951 to the East and drove out Eyo Ita, an Ibibio, from the leadership of the government of the Eastern Region and personally replaced him, Lugard's amalgamation was good. When Azikiwe relinquished the premiership of the Eastern Region in 1959 to become President of the Senate, there was no complaint against Lugard. When Azikiwe handed over premiership of the Eastern Region to Michael Ihenokura Okpara, instead of an Ibibio or Ijaw person in 1959, Lugard's sin was unseen. When Azikiwe left the President of the Senate to become Governor General in 1961, he handed over the office of the Senate President to Nwafor Orizu and nothing was thought to be wrong with Lugard's forced marriage. When Azikiwe became President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1963, Lugard's amalgamation was considered a blessing. After Aguiyi Ironsi had taken over power as head of state in January 15, 1966, he cemented Lugard's forced marriage with Decree No. 34 of May 24, 1966 and complaints by other ethnic groups were shoved aside. By virtue of dates of enlistments in the Army and dates of promotions to the rank of Lieutenant Colonels, Nwawo (Midwest Igbo), Kurubo (Eastern minority), Imo (Eastern Igbo), Effiong (Eastern Minority) and Njoku (Eastern Igbo) were senior to Ojukwu who was appointed Military Governor of the Eastern Region by Ironsi and nobody talked about forced amalgamation. After the war, all important positions in Nigeria, except the President, have been held by the Igbo in the forced Lugard's amalgamation of Nigeria. What the above tells us is that those who misgoverned Nigeria can be found across all ethnic groups in Nigeria and the victim of miss-governance are the masses of all ethnic groups.
If Kanu wants an Igbo republic, he should just form a political party which would win majority of all the seats to the five Igbo states' house of assemblies as well as majority of the seats to the National Assembly. Thereafter he can withdraw the representatives of his party from the National Assembly and refuse to collect revenue allocations from the federal government. That is the best referendum and the easiest way to achieve an Igbo Republic out of the present day Nigeria.
S. Kadiri
Från: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com > för Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Skickat: den 3 juni 2017 19:12
Till: USA Africa Dialogue Series
Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote--Ogbeni Kadiri,
"Officially, Biafra is a xenophobic Igbo country that hates other ethnic group in Nigeria. It is a Biafra that celebrates the Nazi-like supremacy of the Igbo over other ethnic groups in Nigeria" ??????????????????????????????
?????????????????????????????? ? There you go again, throwing words around as if words have no history.
Please !!! I don't want to quarrel with you.
This is the holy month of Ramadan. Take this to heart : al-Ma`idah 5:8
"O ye who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do."
Unlike you, I have lived with Igbos for close to four years and not found them to be anything like what you would like xenophobic and all the rest of the ugly that you to ascribe to them. On the contrary, Igbos are friendly, accommodating and welcoming to even a perfect stranger like me. Don't forget: Igbos live all over Nigeria !
There's a theologian that translates the first sentence in the Hebrew Bible to mean
"In the beginning God separated the heavens from the earth"
So what could be so terribly wrong if some people want to separate themselves from your heaven?
Or if some people would like to have their own country, so that they can decide over themselves - or do you think that they should be forcibly made to continue under the Oyibo Lord Lugard's colonial amalgamation , known as Nigeria - as if the Igbos were consulted or took any marriage vows to the effect that " till the end of the world," do they never depart from Nigeria?
I'm sure that after Nnamdi Kanu you could be one of the first to admit that " Nigeria is not functioning " - perhaps because it is such a vast country, certain Muslim elements in the North who want their Caliphates for example. The list is long.
There are questions you could be asking, such as how the referendum should be conducted , which states before all the chatter about borders.
On Friday, 2 June 2017 21:13:27 UTC+2, ogunlakaiye wrote:Officially, Biafra is a xenophobic Igbo country that hates other ethnic group in Nigeria. It is a Biafra that celebrates the Nazi-like supremacy of the Igbo over other ethnic groups in Nigeria. The loving memories of the South-South ethnic nationalities that you envisaged would be brought back was recorded by Philip Effiong thus, "In May 1968, Port Harcourt fell to the federal troops. ...//.. The problems posed by the collapse of the periphery towns around the Igbo heartland caused enormous problems of human suffering and rehabilitation.
Refugees from the minority areas were not readily welcomed into the Igbo heartland. In fact, a number of refugees, particularly those coming from Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and Abak , were attacked and killed as they tried to cross into Aba and other Igbo towns (p.226, Nigeria and Biafra : My Story, By Philip Effiong)." The non-Igbo ethnic groups of Biafra were never trusted and were actually branded as saboteurs and traitors. Does it make sense for the Igbo to leave multi-ethnic Nigeria to create Biafra first before consulting others to build a multi-ethnic Biafra?
S. Kadiri
Från: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> för Olukayode Soremekun <nike...@hotmail.com>
Skickat: den 2 juni 2017 13:42
Till: USA African Dialogue Series
Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's QuoteAny consultation around the new "Biafra" as you stated would be a non-starter. I doubt if the name brings loving memories to the South-South ethnic nationalities.
Sbaba
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 2, 2017 9:33:48 AM
To: USA African Dialogue Series
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's QuoteThe inclusion of the South-South ethnic nationalities into the new Biafra must follow the process of consultations and consensus.--
CAO.
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