Sunday, September 11, 2022

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote

Except for children or those adults already physically or mentally handicapped, are there innocents in war?




On Sunday, September 11, 2022, 5:49 AM, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com> wrote:

Oga Chidi,

In conflict, the temptation exists to fix complex realities in terms of simplistic perspectives.

First of all, the claim that it was Britain that prevailed on Gowon to change his stance on the Aburi agreement is debatable. Another argument goes that he was persuaded by fellow Nigerians.

One of the problems of accountability in connection with that war is repeated refusal to accept responsibilities by some self chosen spokespeople of the Biafran side and their recurrent insistence on a self serving ideologicalization of that war.

You are referencing a pivotal moment that could not have led to war but chose to ignore others.

1. Did Ojukwu have to continue on his secession mission even though he was not satisfied with the powers the fed govt wanted to assume over the SE?

Was the war and its outcome not worse than the probable outcome of the fed govt initiatives before Ojukwu's  secession declaration?

Why did he insist on an action of that magnitude even though he was aware of the military and logistical inadequacies of his forces?

2. Why did Biafra invade the Midwest, brutalising, killing and raping people there, and possibly provoking the West into the war through their  plans for that region as they advanced towards Lagos, if his only goal was to protect his people on account of the largely anti-Igbo massacres in the North on account of which they had fled to the East?

If Biafran command  was of the view that the Midwest offensive and the push into the West  was vital in penetrating and dividing the federal side, should they not bear responsibility for the escalation of the war through the failure of that plan?

3. Even after the defeat of Biafran forces at Ore, putting paid to the Biafran advance in the West, leading to Banjo and the Biafran forces he led fleeing to the East, why did Ojukwu continue with the war since clearly the region he controlled was now reduced to a defensive position, which steadily shrank as federal forces crossed into his territory and the war began in earnest?

What was gained and what was lost by Biafran surrender in 1970 rather than at any other time in the war, particularly in its opening stages?

 Why did Ojukwu insist on continuing with the war even after Biafra had suffered terrible setbacks, such as the fall of Port Harcourt, blocking Biafran access to the sea,  and the civilians entered increasingly  desperate conditions?

I am not critiquing the manner in which Biafra conducted the war. I'm only arguing that its ahistorical to refuse to recognise Biafran responsibility for the war and project a gallant fight by Biafra as if they were simply victims.

Your approach suggests refusing to acknowledge that they fought a war in which they were also aggressors. 

The Genocide Question

Nigeria engaged in a high level of war crimes in that war, such as the bombing and execution of civilians. 

Biafra did something similar, but not in the same magnitude, such as the bombing of Lagos, the killing and raping of civilians in the Midwest and the brutalisation of minorities in what is now the SE and SS.  These people keep recalling those horrors but don't emphasise them. Those developments  are related to problematic relations between Igbos and other ethnicities at the present time in those regions.

The blocking of flow of food to the Biafran region, contributing to the high civilian death toll, is ethically problematic.

Its also true, however, that the Biafran elite cornered a significant  amount of the resources of the nation for themselves, reinforcing  Awolowo's claim that he advised that blockade because the food was being cornered by privileged people. Achebe depicts this heart-rending corruption in Biafra in Girls at War. Achebe was in the heart of Biafra and can't be described as a traitor to Biafra.

Why did Ojukwu use food relief transport in ferrying arms?

This narrative of genocide, of destruction in which the victim victimised no one and existed purely as the passive recipient of the inhumanity of others has no relationship to the reality of that war. The claim that the war was genocidal, conceived or executed to wipe out or generally decimate Igbo people is also not sustainable.

thanks

toyin





On Sat, 10 Sept 2022 at 22:27, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:
Oluwatoyin,

Truth is always problematic to those who don't want it said for whatever reasons.

The Aburi agreement by Ojukwu and Gowon would have stopped the civil war through which the genocide was executed but Britain prevailed on Gowon to renege. 

That action of Gowon on the advice of Her Majesty's government led to the renewed offensive and the consequent genocide.

-CAO.

On Saturday, September 10, 2022, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
The description of the Nigerian Civil War as genocide against Biafra is problematic.

I wonder how the war was engineered by Britain.

Thanks

Toyin


On Sat, Sep 10, 2022, 11:00 Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:
The Professor wasn't talking about Colonialism. She was talking about the Biafra Genocide engineered by Her Majesty's government of Britain from 1967 to 1970 and executed by the Nigerian military government of Yakubu Gowon.

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)


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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, IIM Professional Fellow, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador and Founder/Publisher of, www.publicinformationprojects.org)

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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, IIM Professional Fellow, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador and Founder/Publisher of, www.publicinformationprojects.org)

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