Before May 24, 1966, Nigeria was governed by a federal constitution and the four regions were relatively free economically from the government at the centre. It was General Ironsi who implemented the NCNC long time advocated ideology of unitary form of government for Nigeria that abolished the Regions and federalism. About the two coups of 1966, it is naive to assume that Ironsi did not stage his own coup against the Majors. When Major Patrick Chukwuma Nzeogwu at 12:30 noon of January 1966 broadcast his revolutionary military take over in the North, General Ironsi caused Lagos Radio to announce, at 14:30 pm, that he and the vast majority of the army were loyal to the federal government and described what happened as mutiny that would be brought under control. When Lagos Radio was caused to announce the loyalty of the Army to the federal government, Ironsi knew already that Balewa the Prime Minister had been murdered. What a loyal army should have done after quelling rebellion within its rank was to provide security so that the Parliament could meet to elect a new Prime Minister. That was the process set in motion when the NNA majority in the parliament nominated Zana Bukar Dipcharima as their candidate for the office of Prime Minister and UPGA nominated Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe as their candidate. Then, Ironsi told them that he could not guarantee the loyalty of the army unless power was handed over to him. Nwafor Orizu, the acting President told the parliamentarians that he was not going to assent to their election of a new Prime Minister. Dipcharima and Mbadiwe were forced to sign a handover paper to the military in order to make it look legal even though the constitution had no provision for such transfer of power. There were indisputable evidences that Ironsi had foreknowledge of the coup through his infiltrators among the Majors and he planned meticulously to steal their revolution and supplant them.
Awolowo was jailed on trump up charge of planning to overthrow the NPC/NCNC led federal government by Balewa and Azikiwe. His trial was preceded by the overthrow of the Action Group controlled government of Western Region and its replacement with a Quisling's regime. You may wish to know that after the Jos conference of the Action Group in February 1962, the party adopted Democratic Socialism as its ideology. Thus, Samuel Gomsu Ikoku, the AG opposition in the Eastern House of Assembly, replaced Ayo Rosiji as the Secretary General of the AG. Anthony Enahoro, S.G. Ikoku and Patrick Dokotri, of the UMBC that was in alliance with AG, were also tried along with Awolowo. It would not make sense to assert that Awolowo planned to secede from Nigeria with an Igbo Secretary General of AG, an Esan as a second deputy leader of AG and a TIV from UMBC led by Joseph Tarka.
When Yakubu Gowon pardoned and released Awolowo on August 2, 1966, Nigeria was in chaos. In his Statement at Ibadan on May 1, 1967, he made it clear that if the Eastern Region was allowed to secede, West would also secede. Then on May 5, he led a peace delegation to Enugu to convince Ojukwu that their were better political options than secession. Ojukwu branded Awolowo's peace initiative as stillbirth. The war to keep Nigeria as a united country had nothing to do with unitary system of government. Awolowo served under Gowon's Government just as Enahoro and a host of other southerners. Shortly after the end of the war Awolowo resigned from the government. Ojukwu wore the beards of Fidel Castro but acted like the Katangese secessionist of the Congo, Moise Tshombe. His Ahiara declaration of 1969 was a smokescreen designed to divert attention from the impending defeat of Biafra. Did Ahiara declaration restructure Biafra to the effect that the Ibibio, Effik, and Ijaw were allowed to rule themselves?
You claimed that restructuring/secession is not about appointments yet the Igbo who are clamouring for secession say that their demand is premised on marginalization of their ethnic group in federal appointments. I have proved beyond every reasonable doubt that the Igbo have never been marginalized in Nigeria and they, like officials from other parts of the country, have been incompetent, corrupt and roguish. I am convinced that even if Nigeria is restructured into a village a country with the current crops of intellectuals and politicians, nothing but tragedy far greater than that of Southern Sudan will be achieved.
S.Kadiri
Skickat: den 15 juni 2017 19:24
Till: usaafricadialogue
Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Achuzia and Realuzation of Biafra
Obafemi Awolowo and Odumegwu Ojukwu
In discussing the ideological formulation and practical expression of restructuring and secession in Nigerian history, the more apt comparisons are between the SW political leader Obafemi Awolowo and the Biafran leader Odumegwu Ojukwu, rather than between Awo, Zik and Aguiyi-Ironsi. The politics of Nnamdi Azikiwe as a SE Igbo were very different from that of Ojukwu, the other famous SE Igbo of the same period. Ojukwu is also very different from Aguiyi-Ironsi, a famous general from the SE and first military head of state, both in his strategies and the contexts in which those strategies were developed
Awolowo was imprisoned for treason by the fed govt, if I recall correctly, bcs it was believed he planned to secede. Ojukwu chose to secede bcs he was convinced that was the only hope for Ndigbo in the light of the fed govt enabled pogrom of thousands of Igbos in the North and the later failure of the Aburi Accord meant to secure significant autonomy for the various regions, but which was truncated by the fed govt's unilateral revisions to this agreement.
Awolowo may thus be described as one of the earliest ideological formulators of the federalist vision but that vision may be seen as first presented as a practical strategy under the impress of the dire circumstances of the Aburi Accords, a vision in which Ojukwu and his negotiating team placed great hopes as the last resort to avoid secession and possible war.
The Kaduna Declaration explicitly invoked IPOB's sit-at-home order in commemoration of the Biafran dead, a peaceful protest very different from any calls by any other pro-Biafra group to Igbos to relocate to the SE, describing as provocation to other Nigerians a peaceful sit-at-home to remember war dead as is done in various pubic holidays in Nigeria and across the world, as with the SW June 12 remembrance public holiday in Nigeria .
Why this focus by the Kaduna Declaration on IPOB's sit-at-home? The fear of the power demonstrated by the peaceful civil disobedience call and its compliance, a vital strategy in either reworking the nation or balkanising it in the face of readiness in use of armed force by the fed govt in resisting such creative transformations.
Some of these critics demonise the secession vision as a personal threat while in fact its a call to arms to all Nigerians to fight for an equitable nation for Nigerians by Nigerians or the creation of new nations where such equity can be more readily pursued.
Biafra secessionist venture has nothing to do with restructuring of Nigeria from unitary to pure federalism. Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, will cure himself of phobia for what he constantly refer to as Hausa/Fulani domination, if he bothers to acquaint himself with history of Nigeria. Who propagated for unitary central government in Nigeria and when was it implemented and by who?
The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroon (NCNC), as it was known in the 1950s, led by Nnamdi Azikiwe propagated for a unitary constitution for Nigeria which was strongly opposed by the Action Group (AG) led by Obafemi Awolowo. He expatiated, "As between the various ethnic groups, I argued, there were differing standards of civilisation as well as uneven stages in the adoption of western education and the emulation of western civilisation. A unitary constitution with only central government would only result in frustration to the much push-ful and more dynamic ethnic groups, whereas the division of the country into regions along ethnic lines would enable each linguistic group not only to develop its own peculiar culture and institutions but to move forward at its own pace, without being unnecessarily pushed or annoyingly slowed down by the others (Chapter 12, EVOLUTION OF A FEDERALIST in AWO : The Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, p. 164-165)." For opting for Federal constitutional government in Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe and his NCNC branded Awolowo a fascist who wanted to balkanise Nigeria and he called Federalism, Pakistanization.
After the 1959 Federal election, none of the political parties secured a majority to rule at the centre. Awolowo stated plainly that he could serve in a national federal government led by Nnamdi Azikiwe, but not in the one led by a feudalist. NCNC and AG together had 164 seats as against NPC 148 in the House of Representatives. However, Azikiwe entered not only into a coalition government with the NPC, but also conceded the post of the Prime Minister to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa on the belief that since Northerners had no so much educated people, the Igbo would control all the apparatus of governance in the country. Truly, as Chinua Achebe confirmed on p.66 of his book, There Was a Country, the Igbo led the nation in virtually every sector - politics, education, commerce and the arts, the achievements made possible by the NCNC coalition government with the less educated Northerners. The Deputy leader of Action Group and Premier of Western Region drew attention of Awolowo to the ethnic lop-sidedness in the recruitments and appointments in the federal public service and parastatals against the Yoruba and urged Awolowo to join a national government led by Balewa, so that the Yoruba could get their share of federal appointments. Awolowo replied that officials were to work for the entire nation and not alone for their respective tribes. That was the major cause of conflict between Akintola and Awolowo. When the Yoruba Kings (Oba) summoned both of them to a reconciliation meeting, Akintola spoke in Yoruba to describe the impossibility of Awolowo's ideology of democratic socialism. He said, "TÍ A BÁ DÉ IBI TÍ ERÁNKO PÉJO SÍ, NSÉ LÃ'WÁ OHÚN T'ÓJÒRÙ FÍ HA IDI; TÍ OBÁ SÉ BI ÈNÌYÀN LÃRIN ERÁNKO, WON YIO WULÈ PÁ ONI." Literarily translated, it means, "When you are in the midst of animals, pretend to be like them because if you try to behave like human beings, the animals would kill you for nothing. What Akintola said implied that Awolowo should be as tribal as Azikiwe and his NCNC by joining the national government led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Everywhere in Lagos is SÚKU-SÙKU, Akintola said, if you go to Lagos. SÚKU-SÙKU was Akintola's euphemism for the Igbo shortened name, Chukwu. The dispute over joining the federal government by the Action Group was exploited by the NCNC/NPC coalition government to overthrow the government of Western Region controlled by the AG. The crisis that followed, led to the two coups of 15 January 1966 in which Major General Johnson Thompson Aguiyi Ironsi triumphed as the Military Head of State.
Traditionally, a military coup is usually followed by the release of political prisoners jailed by the ousted regime, immediately after take over. Ironsi dumped that tradition by not releasing Awolowo and others jailed by the NPC/NCNC regime. Instead, he appointed Francis Nwokedi as one-man commission of inquiry on a unitary form of government in Nigeria. In his Budget broadcast of 31st March 1966, and before Nwokedi submitted his report on unitary form of government in Nigeria, Aguiyi Ironsi said among other things that, "I am convinced that the bulk of our people want a united Nigeria and that they want in future one government and not a multitude of governments." By the end of April 1966, Francis Nwokedi had submitted his one-man constitutional review in which he recommended the abolition of the Regions. Despite oppositions, Ironsi promulgated Decree No. 34 of May 24, 1966, to establish unitary form of government in Nigeria. On May 28, 1966, riot broke out throughout Northern Nigeria in protest against unitary government. Since the NCNC manifesto had always advocated unitary form of government in Nigeria, many considered Ironsi's decree No. 34 as implementing NCNC political agenda. By coincidence, NCNC was mainly an Igbo party and with Decree No. 34, many Nigerians regarded the military take-over as an Igbo coup. In addition the refusal of Ironsi to release Awolowo from prison was alluded to his well-known opposition to the unitary form of government and releasing him before decree No. 34 was well established beyond reversal was dangerous to the regime. Two months after Decree No. 34 Ironsi was overthrown in a bloody coup but subsequent regimes retained Aguiyi Ironsi's unitary form of government in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The overthrow of Ironsi eventually led to civil war that ended thirty months after it started. The current Igbo led resuscitators of Biafra are claiming that since the end of the civil war, the Igbo people have been marginalized, reduced to second class citizens, oppressed and treated as a conquered people in Nigeria. It is extremely ridiculous that a group who claims to be marginalized, oppressed, treated as conquered people and reduced to a second class citizens would have produced the Vice President of Nigeria in the person of Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Edwin Ume Ezeoke, Presidents of the Senate - Chuba Okadigbo, Evans Enwerem, Adolf Wabara, and Anyim Pius Anyim, and Deputy Senate Presisent Ekweremandu. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning under Babangida was Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu and many Igbo enjoyed juicy appointments under General Babangida to the effect that Ohaneze Ndigbo conferred the traditional title of Ogugua Ndigbo on him. There was a Minister of Finance under President Obasanjo named Okonjo Iweala. The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria then was Charles Chukwuma Soludo just as Kingsley Moghalu had been Deputy Governor of CBN. Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife was Special Adviser to Obasanjo on Political matters while Andy Ubah was a Special Adviser in the Presidency. Obasanjo's Minister of Aviation was Kema Chikwe and the Minister of Defence after Theophilus Danjuma was the son of Aguiyi Ironsi. Under President Jonathan, the Chief Economic Adviser to the President was Dr. Nwanze Okedigbe. Once again Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was not only Jonathan's Minister of Finance but Coordinating Minister of Economy. And when Sanusi Lamido was driven out of the Central Bank as the Governor, he was replaced by Godwin Emefiele. In fact, what had to do with the Finance and Economy of Nigeria under Jonathan was controlled by persons of Igbo ethnic group. Director General of Budget Office was Bright Okogwu; Director General of Bureau of Public Procurement, was Emeka Eze; Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises was Benjamin Ezra Dikki; Director General of Security Exchange Commission was Arunma Oteh; Director General of Nigerian Security Exchange was Oscar Onyeama; MD of AMCON was Chike Obi; MD of Sovereign Wealth Fund was Uche Orji; Director General of Housing Fund was Sunny Iroha; Managing Director of Bank of Industry was Evelyn Oputa; Chairman of Investments, Securities Tribunals was Nnenna Orji; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) was Anyim Pius Anyim; Director General of Pension Commission(PENCOM) was Chinelu Onuoha; and Director General of Debt Management Office (DMO) was Dr. Abraham Nwankwo. Lest we forget, Jonathan's Minister of Aviation was Stella Adaeze Oduah and because of official malfeasance she was replaced with Osita Chidoka. Professor Bath Naji was Minister of Power but when he attempted to sell PHCN to his proxy company, he was removed and replaced with Professor Chinedu Ositadinma Ndubusi Nebo, while Dr. Sam Amadi was the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. Since Abacha time up to May 29, 2015, Wilson Orakwe Emeka Offor had been the sole government contractor awarded Turn Around Maintenance of Nigeria's four oil refineries for billions of dollars so that they would be able to refine 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day to meet domestic consumption. The list of important positions held by persons of Igbo ethnic group can infinitely be long, nevertheless, I stop here to mention that the Chief Of Army Staff under Jonathan for a long period was General Azubuike Onyeabor Ihejirika before he was replaced with Alex Badeh. Viewing the above narratives it is a heightened self-induced paranoia for any Igbo to claim that the Igbo people have been marginalized in Nigeria since the end of the civil war.
Since Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999, Southerners in the persons of Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan have ruled Nigeria as President for eight and six years respectively, totalling fourteen years. Rather than restructuring into true federalism, they enjoyed ruling with the unitary constitution that concentrates power at the centre. The impoverishment of the Nigerian masses have been perpetrated by the political elites from all, and indeed major, ethnic groups in Nigeria. It is the Nigerian masses that have been marginalized and oppressed by the alliance of ethno-religious groups governing the country. Instead of holding the ruling elites accountable for the mismanagement of our national incomes and resources, resuscitators of secession are helping to divert attentions from national looters and plunderers. All along, IPOB, MASSOB and BIM have preached openly not only for an Igbo Republic but for a Biafra that will include satellite none Igbo ethnic groups beyond Igbo ethnic natural territory. Interestingly, none of the Igbo political and business billionaires cautioned or warned the Igbo ethnic supremacists demanding for secession. Rather, they attribute the agitation for Biafra to the marginalization of the Igbo in Nigeria. In the online Nigerian Guardian of June 9, 2013, the then President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Gary Enwo Igariwey, was quoted as saying, "We have the population and the Igbo are the only people with over a 25 per cent spread in any part of this country. We are not underdogs under any circumstances, we have the capacity to decide who can be president or who cannot be because we have the numbers." It cannot be denied that the Igbo are everywhere in Nigeria, something that would have been impossible if they are hated and persecuted by their host communities in other parts of Nigeria as it is being politically touted. Now, when the Arewa Youth reciprocated to the IPOB and MASSOB's agitation for secession in what can be termed as Mutually Assured Ethnic Destruction, by demanding that all Igbo in the North should leave the North within three months and all Northerners in the Southeast should leave at the same time, hell broke loose. The Arewa Youth ultimatum is very intelligent because it will deescalate ethnic war threat that have been constantly chanted by IPOB and MASSOB for some years now. If all Igbo in Nigeria return to the Southeast, other Nigerians in the Southeast will not consider Igboland safe for them and will automatically leave, resulting in an Igbo Republic. The Arewa Youth ultimatum is not different from the order of MASSOB, in 2015, to all Igbo in other parts of Nigeria to return to Igboland. see http://www.vanguardngr.com/
2015/11/return-the-south-east- . On the 25 November 2015, the National Director of Information, MASSOB, Mr. Uchenna Madu directed Ndigbo residing outside Igboland to start returning to their homeland and he gave reasons for his directive. http://www.vanguardngr.com/massob-tells-igbo 2015/11/biafra-agitation- . Yet between 1999 and 2015, the Southeast received 17 trillion naira as revenue allocations from the Federal government. Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, will probably be able to help us with the information of how much income Nigeria has earned between 1999 and 2015 and how much money each state in Nigeria has derived from revenue allocations shared by the Federal Government. Thereafter, we shall be able to ask our rulers both at Federal and State's level to account for how they have disbursed our collective national earnings. That I consider intellectually worthwhile and intelligent than the rantings over the Hausa/Fulani's fictitious domination as if to say they are not human beings like Edo, Igbo, Yoruba, Ibibio or Ijaw people.reveals-seast-neglect- marginalization-igbo-leaders S. Kadiri.
Return, to, the, South-East, MASSOB, tells, Igbo ... Vanguard News. A Nigerian newspaper and Online version of the Vanguard, a daily publication in Nigeria covering ...
Från: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com > för Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com>
Skickat: den 11 juni 2017 22:03
Till: usaafricadialogue
Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Achuzia and Realuzation of BiafraIn the agony of Nigeria, the people who are most clear eyed about how to get out of this hell are the secessionists. The vanguard of secession is the Igbo vision of Biafra because the injustices that inspired the 1960s drive for Biafra remain entrenched in Nigeria, expressed in various ways, both similar to and different from the 1960s experience.
Those who hold that Nigeria's problems are rooted in corruption are focusing on the fruits and not the roots of the problem.
Those who hold that they want restructuring must take account of the desperate determination of the right wing Hausa-Fulani to avoid restructuring at all cost because the present arrangement suits them.
The non-Muslim minorities in the North and the Middle Belt, emboldened by the Biafra struggle, are making progress in declaring their freedom from tyranny of the right wing Hausa-Fulani, a tyranny dramatized by the massacre of their people and colonization of their lands by Fulani terrorism in Southern Kaduna and the Middle Belt.
The Niger Delta, as represented by its response to the right wing Hausa-Fulani Kaduna Declaration, is speaking up in support of the Biafra struggle which reflects its own struggle for resource control and self determination.
The other minority groups are watching the unfolding struggle as they seek their own direction about the way forward in the Nigeria crisis.
thanks
toyin
--
On 11 June 2017 at 20:43, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
The Biafra vision is trans-Igbo in its ideological fundamentals but is Igbo in its practical expression.
The SW political elite have previously been the primary advocates of restructuring the nation's political and economic organization to allow for the independence of its constituent units rather than the current crippling dominance from the centre and the debilitating dependence on the mono-economy represented by Niger Delta oil but the previously loudest voices from that region have been muted since they succeeded in entering Aso Rock through the vice-presidency of Yemi Osinbajo, silence inspired by their Hausa-Fulani allies who have consistently voiced their resistance to reworking the political and economic organization of the nation.
It has therefore fallen to the largely Igbo pro-Biafra agitators, pursuing the secession vision of the reworking of Nigeria, to struggle for a social structure that is shaped in the interests of its citizens, not the interests of colonial master Britain who created the dysfunctional nation and the right wing Muslim North, who have succeeded in bleeding the nation through various structural controls, from multiplication of local governments in their region as opposed to other regions as a means of attracting federal revenue and the establishing of ridiculously low cut off marks as opposed to high cut off marks for other regions in entrance exams to schools and universities, breeding a culture of mediocrity.
Do you want a country where you and your descendants are empowered to actualize their potential,where excellence is central in the quest for education and job placements, where you will be free from Fulani terrorism as the nomadic advance guard of terrorists run cows across your schools and farms, attacking and killing any who oppose the destruction of their lives and property by such atavistic lifestyles?
Do you want a nation in which the parasitic, initiative deadening culture of flow of oil from the Niger Delta to the federal centre and its distribution to the regions as the central economic activity is terminated, as each region or nation struggles to build its own economic structure, taking the country into industrialization, attracting back to Nigeria or nations created from the older country citizens across the world who have fled to other nations because their own country is asphyxiating to human development?
If you do, join the Biafra secession struggle or the restructuring struggle. Taking refuge in castigating the Biafra struggle as it champions freedom from slavery is equivalent to sustaining your own slavery in the killing fields of Nigeria, where the massacres of thousands, murderous colonization initiatives exemplified by the massacres in Agatu in the Middle Belt and Nimbo in the South East, by the militia/politician network of Fulani terrorists,who remain free to walk the land even as they boldly and loudly justify their massacres of communities, demonstrates your status as worse than that of second class citizens, being that of sub-humans whose lives are at the mercy of their murderous masters.
thanks
toyin
On 11 June 2017 at 19:28, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
The contemporary struggle for Biafra is anchored on the conviction that Nigeria, as it is presently constituted, is a failure that stunts the development of its citizens and only the self determination of its constituent units can assure the development of adequate human value.
On 11 June 2017 at 06:57, Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@hotmail.com> wrote:
"Speak only for your jaundiced self as Obi Nwakama and not for the Igbo. I have more Igbo real friends than you do!"
-Olayinka Agbetuyi
Agbetuyi:
I am going to make this my very last statement on this round of talk on Biafra because, not unexpectedly it did quickly degenerate into school-yard antics. It has become predictable, circular and boring. When people cannot deploy coherent argument, or when they enter slippery zones where they have nothing better to say, they resort to blackmail and name calling. You want to bully me with the age of you sister. I do not give a shit how old you are, or how old your sister is. Age alone does not confer regard, integrity and wisdom, none of which, I'm sorry to say, you have demonstrated, do. You have for instance not defined how it is that my argument is frivolous. Is it because I reminded you of your tendency to invoke carnage on the Igbo when they seek justice? Yet I am the one who is a "laughing stock." I do not know who is laughing, and who is the "stock." But this cliché is deployed to silence those who speak to things that are either beyond your comprehension, or that frighten you. There are two kinds of laughter: there is the laugher of the fool who laughs because he dos not know when to laugh, and there is also the laughter of the inebriated, who has a compulsion disorder at that point of over excitement. And so you can laugh all you want, if it makes you happy to think that Obi Nwakanma is a "laughing stock" in your forum. I mean, you must have clearly taken opinion samples from members of this forum to come to this claim. it is all in character of course, that you either do not know the exact meaning of the terms you use, or you are as often as it is true remarkably full of beans. But what do you expect of people who could call Ojukwu a "coward": a man fights a war, goes into exile, returns to great acclaim, and sits "gidigbam" in the capital city on his return, and never stopped talking, never pulled punches, and never hid behind the veil of silence. When all the Generals who fought him saw him, they often stood in attention to salute him or otherwise fled from him. If such a man were a coward, then "cowardice" has a different meaning. But of course, the Agbetuyi's and the like, because they need to feel happy with themselves call Ojukwu a "coward," Obi Nwakanma, some "laughing stock," and Achuzia, "self-acclaimed war lord." You think you can really bully me with such verbal blackmail? Who gives a shit what you think? What you think does not really count where it matters most.
And please, do not insult the word "friendship." You have no Igbo friends. You have "Igboanguish" - its a form of a Nigerian national anxiety disorder; the same that affects redneck neighborhoods in the American south when it comes to African-Americans. You'd see the most racist of such say, "I have black friends." If you have Igbo friends, you wouldn't say it; there is nothing special in having Igbo friends, and the very fact that you mark them as "Igbo friends" speaks to the real issue here. I'd be unable to help you. You need to consult a shrink to deal with this depth of the unheimlich. You must stop thinking about Igbo bodies trucked home for burial because they protest. Period. The Igbo have articulated the very basis of their demands: that Nigeria must begin to treat all Nigerians with equality. The Igbo suffer disproportionately in the Nigerian enterprise - by all the indices that they have deployed in their complaints which I will not rehash here. But at the core of Igbo demand is the equality of citizenship. No Nigerian must be discriminated against wherever they reside in Nigeria. No section of Nigeria must be favored to the deficit of any part. In other words, all policy of development must be based on the human index and the human factor, not on the geographical. Public service must be transparent, etc. The Igbo understand that they have to lead the charge in the transformation of Nigeria, as they did in the anti-colonial movement, for the restoration of the equal rights of citizenship. But now hear you: "the Igbo complain too much, everybody is marginalized. They should shut up!" I am paraphrasing you. But the Igbo have never asked you not to protest; nor have they suggested that you be killed and your body parts be recovered from across Nigeria for seeking social justice. These are your very words: "Why is the case of Igbo unique and why must a section of the Igbo continually blackmail the rest of Nigeria with secession to wrest more than their just due from the federation?" This statement eerily echoes that which feeds the impulsion to genocide, whether it was by what was said of the Jews in Europe- before their expulsion from Spain or by the Nazi pogrom, or with the Tutsis in Rwanda, before their systematic slaughter. But you do not have the emotional intelligence to get even the subtle hints made by Ken Harrow or Chidi. Yet I am the laughing stock. And if you care to follow the responses to this question about Biafra and the conclusion of the war - you'd immediately notice that it follows a known and predictable pattern. It is often by the same people, from the same section of the forum and of the nation. These folk suffer from extreme forms of the anxiety called "Igboanguish." They feel rattled by the fact that the Igbo want equal rights and justice: how dare these "conquered" or "vanquished" Igbo who "surrendered" their rights?, you guys ask. This monomanic compulsion to contain the Igbo is the reason why the Igbo want out. There is your answer. But why do you want to live with the Igbo in the same country? You don't like them. You feel threatened by their presence. You can rid yourself of this Igbo problem by writing to your rep in the National Assembly to support the Act of referendum to determine the choice for secession. That is the democratic and civilized thing to do. Not blackmail the Igbo with the threat of slaughter. Once the Igbo have their own country, you may now turn back any of the buses that you see leaving the East daily towards the West at your borders. You can then also not only restrict their entry, but legitimately expel them, and through visa regulations make certain that the Igbo vermin no longer infests your neighborhood. But for as long as they are part of the same country, their rights to disperse and settle, and enjoy all the rights of citizenship must never be denied them. That's their just due. You cannot want the Igbo and not want them at the same time. There are many Igbo in this forum who keep silent, and watch, and do not bother to respond to the inanities of this obsessive anti-Igbo lynch mob. I do not speak for them. I speak on the simple premise that I have something to say, and that I will follow the Achebean injunction to "balance the stories," so that years from now, if anybody ever finds cause to read these exchanges, they will know who actually is the "laughing stock," and that yours is not the single story. In other words, I write this for my grand children. But I too have become too bored with its circularity. I shall have nothing more to say o this subject until another round of lies that needs to be corrected surfaces. And there you have it.
Obi Nwakanma
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com > on behalf of Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 1:01 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: Olayinka Agbetuyi
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Achuzia and Realuzation of BiafraObi:
Let me be forthright with you: You are rhe same age as my youngest sister who holds the same doctorate degree as you do and if she argues in the same vacuous way that you do she knows I would disown her. Agbetuyis dont argue like babies.
You debase the qualifications you hold with the irresponsible line of argument you pursue which has made you the laughing stock of the forum. I tried my best to shield you from attack by exasperated members but you are your own worst enemy.
Did you read the piece byJibrinIbrahim on perception of marginalization by ethnicities in Nigeria? Why is the case of Igbo unique and why must a section of the Igbo continually blackmail the rest of Nigeria with secession to wrest more than their just due from the federation.
I repeat any such Igbo must feel free to withraw to Igboland to continue to deal only with fellow Igbo and leave the other responsible Igbo who realize that living is a question of give and take with other people to continue with their livelihoods in any part of Nigeria in a spirit of give and take.
If there is any act of violence against the persons of such Igbo I can guarantee that we the conscientious non Igbo will be their first line of defence and that they dont need such bigoted, prebendal, self-seeking, pretencious, ethnic jingoist and rabble rousers as yourself as champions of their interests.
Speak only for your jaundiced self as Obi Nwakama and not for the Igbo. I have more Igbo real friends than you do!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@hotmail.com>Date: 10/06/2017 06:59 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Achuzia and Realuzation of Biafra
----Agbetuyi, you did not get the hint of reproach in Chidi and Ken Harrow's retort. The first thing that comes to your mind when the Igbo protest, or raise a voice to complain about their situation, is Igbo bodies slaughtered across Nigeria and trucked back to the East. Why do you conceive of that kind of carnage when it comes to the Igbo? Why do you have to kill the Igbo for political speech, for asking for justice, or for actually asking for recognition of the equality of all Nigerians failing which separation? Why is it that the only Igbo who has to stay alive in your mind is the silent Igbo, or the prostrate Igbo, or the malleable Igbo, or the Igbo who is merely "photo-on-the wall"? Now you say, "Amen!" But "Amen!" to what? To a Freudian slip? I will only ask you to be very careful with what you wish for. The Igbo are very angry and are not looking again to be slaughtered. We must make every effort to allow peace, secure it, and avoid every urge to engage in slaughter, so that we do not open the kind of dangerous floodgate Ken Harrow has alluded to. You must note this however: the Igbo are not willing to live in Nigeria as "conquered" people, or people who "surrendered" their rights with war. If seeking justice in Nigeria means slaughter of the Igbo, then you must gird your loins with hardier cloth, and you must be prepared to kill them all. But I just hope that more civilized, more humane, and more tolerant impulses prevail, and not the impulses that dream about scattered Igbo body parts ferried home for burials.
Obi Nwakanma
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com > on behalf of Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 9, 2017 10:53 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: Olayinka Agbetuyi
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Achuzia and Realuzation of Biafra
Amen!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@gmail.com>Date: 09/06/2017 22:39 (GMT+00:00)To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com >Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Achuzia and Realuzation of Biafra
(Peaceful)separatist agitations don't have to result to people being slaughtered.--
CAO.
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