I agree with Eze, the war was totally avoidable. A series of miscalculations and unfortunate events culminated in the war. And there is enough blame to go around. From the "fighters" led by Awolowo on one side and Akintoila on the other side in the western region political conflict that lit the fire; to the federal government led by Prime Minister Belewa that mismanaged effort to take political advantage of the situation; to mutinous Nigeria soldiers led by Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna that naively thought they could wrestle power from the corrupt federal government and hand it over to a better leader (Awolowo) and Nigeria will live happily ever after; to the army led by Ironsi that successfully ended the coup but did not hand power back to civilians immediately and punish the coup plotters as they should have; to the counter-coup or the so-called "July Rematch" masterminded by Murtala Muhammed with Danjuma, Babangida, Buhari and others involved; to Ojukwu insisting (among other things) that Gen Babafemi Ogundipe the most senior officer at the time after Ironsi should be in-charge and not Gowon (who Okukwu actually liked as a person); to Ojukwu outwitting Gowon at the peace conference to get all he wanted, to Awolowo and others advising Gowon to not follow-through with the agreement; to Gowon reneging on Aburi agreement reached with Ojukwu in Ghana that would have resolved everything peacefully, to Ojukwu stubbornly refusing to give Gowon the space he asked for (in private) to maneuver and come around to the same end; to Ojukwu further refusing to take other exit ramps available including especially wise advise his friend Prof Sam Aluko gave him repeatedly; to both Ojukwu and Gowon taking further actions (such as creation of state by Gowon and declaration of Biafra by Ojukwu) that changed the status quo and made civil war almost inevitable.
The point is that no single person or event was responsible for the war, but each built on the other and ultimately culminated in the civil war. And today, we still seem to have not learnt the lessons as political leaders and operate with both impunity and insensitivity and those who think they have upper hand at any given time refuse to accommodate or compromise.
As someone who has been involved in this unhelpful game from the second coup (the remarch) till date, Buhari should know better than to ignore recent advice from Obasanjo, Sonyika, Danjuma, and other to make Nigeria work for all. He seems to be a captive of the rematch mindset. Such mindset must be replaced with one that sees and treats all Nigerians as true brothers and sisters (that they are) and the country as belonging to all. Aftercall as both individual and groups, our fates are linked to those of other Nigerians.
To avoid future civil war, those in power should focus more on what is in the best interest of the whole (not just themselves or their group) when making political decisions.
Okechukwu Ukaga, MBA, PhD
Assistant Dean
University of Minnesota Extension
Dean's Office, 1420 Eckles Ave, Coffey Hall
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN 55108
Website: www.extension.umn.edu Phone: 218-341-6029 Email: ukaga001@umn.edu
Book Review Editor, Environment, Development and Sustainability (www.springer.com/10668)
"Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach" -- Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Eze,Could you summarize your view of how the war could have been avoided?I'm struck by the absolute conviction in your stating it could EASILY have been avoided.Thanks.Toyin--On Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 23:32 Chielozona Eze <chieloz@gmail.com> wrote:"Biafra was waging a war against genocide."
Gloria is spot on.
It's not just simplistic to claim that the war was fought to stop genocide; it is a dangerous self-deception. I, too, survived that war. I, too, grew up consuming the Igbo leaders' version of the war. But then I read books. I asked questions. I'm still searching for answers. But I'm now sure of one thing: that war could have easily been avoided. It only needed a wiser cadre of leaders. I don't easily blame the past, but if I were to do so, I'd begin with those who herded me and my family into a war that was totally avoidable. It's good to read books that seem to affirm our beliefs; it's also good to interrogate them.ChielozonaChielozona EzeBernard J. Brommel Distinguished Research ProfessorProfessor, Africana Studies, Northeastern Illinois University; Extraordinary Professor, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.Fellow - Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies, South Africa
https://neiu.academia.edu/ChielozonaEze--On Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 3:37 PM OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:--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)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
--
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