IBK:
I beg to differ.
There was indeed a 'negotiated surrender'
The emphasis is on surrender. The Federal Government felt there was no need to finish off the rag- tag rump of an army made up of former compatriots Dealing with the aftermath of the quarrel between erstwhile brothers is not the same as dealing a coup de grace on an enemy from without. That would be senseless genocidal slaughter ( I know neo- Biafranists insist on flogging a dead horse to no avail.)
It was not the negotiations that led to the surrender. The negotiations came after the suffering on the other side became too much for those who had the superior forces who inflicted the suffering. It came after the will to surrender was communicated to the Federal commanders( we know of the story of how the Biafran side wanted to push its luck and Col Obasanjo negotiating on the federal side was reported to have stated that if they did not want to accept defeat they should go back to the fighting front but the Effiong group backed down. Effiong knew they stood no chance) The hall mark was to ensure it was not a humiliating surrender. The Nigerian Federation kept its promise.
Its like a referee allowing a boxing match to go on when it is clear one of the boxers is no longer raising his hands to defend himself because he was incapable of so doing. He would justifiably be accused of murder.
Our brothers and sisters in the East gave a good account of themselves having been misled into a war they stood no chance of winning. Level headed easterners should ask neo- Biafranists to stop adding insult upon injury and let sleeping dogs lie.
OAA
Majority rule at the centre come 2023.
Sent from my Galaxy
-------- Original message --------
From: Ibukunolu A Babajide <ibk2005@gmail.com>
Date: 04/10/2021 19:46 (GMT+00:00)
To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today
Chidi,
I know that what you wrote here was just to lift up your personal morale. There was no negotiated surrender. It was a rout. Ojukwu has run away with his tail between his hind legs from the Uli airstrip. The war fronts had collapsed and hunger was rife all over the shrinking enclave of Biafra. It was a complete capitulation.
So as your initial paragraph below is a false premise, all that you built of it falls with it.
"Immediately after the Biafra-Nigeria civil war ended in 1970, following the negotiated surrender of Biafra, all agreements reached that necessitated the surrender were abandoned by the Federal Government of Nigeria."
Nothing was negotiated. Nothing was agreed. Therefore nothing was abandoned. The bedraglled Efiong and his defeated co-travellers were frogmarched to Lagos for a photo opportunity with Jack Yakubu Gowon.
Cheers.
IBK
_________________________
Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)
(+2348061276622) / ibk2005@gmail.com
AN ENGLISH NURSERY RHYME
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from off the goose
The law demands that we atone
When we take things that we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine
The poor and wretched don't escape
If they conspire the law to break
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back
- Anonymous (circa 1764)
On Fri, 1 Oct 2021 at 01:28, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:
Immediately after the Biafra-Nigeria civil war ended in 1970, following the negotiated surrender of Biafra, all agreements reached that necessitated the surrender were abandoned by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The "no victor, no vanquished" declared became a mere slogan. Everything was done by the Federal Government of Nigeria to show to the world that there is a victor and a vanquished. The Biafra side was and still is the vanquished.
Political and economic policies were formulated and enunciated to make sure that the "stubborn Igbos", who form the majority and most active citizenry of the defunct Biafra, "do not become threats again in Nigeria".
By 1974, four years after the civil war, the Igbos have rebuilt their economic dominance through trading. Aba, Onitsha, Nnewi and others have regained their positions as prominent trading posts in West Africa (Nay, Africa).
On October 1st 1979, Nine years after the civil war, Dr. Alexander Ekwueme, an Igbo from Anambra state became the Vice-president of Nigeria.
The arrowhead of the civil war, late Chief Emeka Ojukwu returned home from exile in 1982 and joined national politics. In every forum where he spoke, he called for national reintegration of the Igbos and expressed belief in an equitable one Nigeria.
Late Chief Emeka Ojukwu was to be buried with full national honours as a retired military officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Igbos in spite of the marginalizations thrown at them since after the civil war have made tremendous progress as a result of their doggedness, resourcefulness and a disposition to live in peace, even with hostile compatriots.
The current violence in Igboland in the name of whatever, would erode the tremendous progress made by Igbos so far and send the region back to the 1970-1973 era.
Thank you all for your time.
Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)
--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet and Founder/Publisher of; PublicInformationProjects (www.publicinformationprojects.org)
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