Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Complexity of Biafra

OOA, 

        In support of paragraph 1 of your submission I hereby recite the words of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Effiong, the second in command to Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu the Biafran leader (both were Generals in Biafra).

''In the course of my duties as Principal Staff Officer at General Ironsi's SQH (Supreme Head Quarters), I received a number of intelligence reports about the arrogant and sometimes abusive attitude of Igbos in the North and the suppressed anger of many Northerners, including our Northern Army officers (p.76, Nigeria And Biafra: My Story by Philip Effiong)." 

"It must be added that the attitude of the Igbos in the North, as reported in some papers at the time of the first coup, was particularly provocative and contributed to the violent eruption of emotions, giving some encouragement and reason for action (p.88, Nigeria and Biafra: My Story by Philip Effiong)."

The riot in the North that erupted on 29 May 1966, was in protest against decree No. 34 of 24 May 1966 abolishing regions and replacing them with unitary government. The killing of the Igbo in the North escalated in September 1966, in reaction to a broadcast from radio Cotonou alleging killings of Northerners in Eastern region which was relayed by Radio Kaduna.

S. Kadiri 

---

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>
Sent: 30 September 2020 22:33
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Complexity of Biafra

 

There were clearly genocidal tendencies against Igbo in the North following the January 1966 coups and it is undeniable.  Danjuma has explained why:  they saw some Igbo jubilating in the streets at the senseless murders of the Sardauna and other northern leaders.  

Also word went round that  most Igbo leaders were untouched by the coupists.  These are undeniable facts.  In psychoanalysis we call that the reign of mass hysteria.  The first casualty is loss of reason and common sense.  Its as though, to perpetrators, war had been declared unofficially against the North.

This explanation does not justify the genocidal tendencies  it only demonstrates how people going through collective mourning and mass hysteria are prone to behaviour far below human standards.

I have also used this to explain how this same feeling propelled a person with lofty academic credentials as Mailafia to give the potentially explosive interview on the imminent invasion of the South by Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen, and false accounts of plane loads of arms already shipped to the South.

OAA

Mr. President you swore an oath to rule according to the Constitution.  Where are the schools to promote the teaching of the country's lingua francas?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>

Date: 30/09/2020 21:08 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Complexity of Biafra

Gloria,

Genocide is always complicated. Read Achebe again on There Was a Country. Read Ekwe-Ekwe on Biafra Revisited. Read Daniel Jacobs, The Brutality of Nations. Read almost everything Soyinka has written in all genres. Read also Walter Rodney on HEUA. Then let us have the discussion about the complexity of genocide. 

I am always be against genocide no matter who is targeted. Anyone who is in support of genocide or denies it because it is targeted at the Igbo has explanations to offer. There is never a justification for genocide.

Biko

On Wednesday, 30 September 2020, 09:21:36 GMT-4, Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com> wrote:

"Biafra was waging a war against genocide ."

This is a simplistic, unidimensional view of events, Biko. This was also a war against secession and the machinations of foreign powers who had their eyes on oil  and resources. It intersected with panafricanism, anti-colonialism, Anglo-French rivalry, the  military industrial complex of arms dealers and gun runners, federalism, Ojukwu-ism, personality conflicts, regional power blocs, intraregional and geopolitical power struggles, and a hundred more issues.

Gloria Emeagwali

--

Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com

To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com 

Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue

Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html

---

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/8580BCAD-5E53-4940-AB3B-03173B3B1700%40gmail.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/44333527.410526.1601474405651%40mail.yahoo.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DB6PR04MB29827028AF8A83C095760E23A6330%40DB6PR04MB2982.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com.