Last week, we brought you the first part of this captivating interview with General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade. In that copy, he discussed the health challenges of President Muhammadu Buhari – who happens to be his friend; the issue of restructuring – which has been one of his life-long pursuits; as well as his stay in exile during the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, days. In this second series – which is the concluding part – Akinrinade practically rued the fight to keep Nigeria one, explaining that should Nigeria continue with its lopsided, deceptive and warped federal system, something would give.

Excerpts: ON BIAFRA AGITATION AND THE FUTILITY OF KEEPING NIGERIA ONE Good, you allow people to make choices. And you also said it is good to allow people decide their fate. This present agitation by the Igbos, garbed in the Biafra movement, in retrospect, wouldn’t we now begin to admit that the fight to keep Nigeria one, based on contemporary realities, was futile, a fool’s errand, that was not worth it? Those ideals that people had, in keeping the nation one, appear to have been thrown out of the window. (Pause). Well, I think as far back as the early 1980s, I’d alluded to the fact that it is still possible to keep a country like Nigeria one. I still have that belief. You still do; with all that is going on? Gen. Akinrinade Okay, whether it is a belief that is actionable and realistic, I have doubts myself now. So, what do you anchor that belief on? Maybe because some of us have served everywhere and we have friends everywhere and we talk and discuss and share views. As far back as 1983 when I went to Ife to deliver a lecture, I suggested that we would do much better with a confederation. There were quite a number of things I also said there. Because, there, I made it clear that the way free education was being continued, it was not going to survive or give quality education, that it needed remodelling. Those who had made good and were expected to pay back to society were still hinging their hopes on free education. That was not fair. When you have benefitted and can afford to offer at least 20 scholarships, you still want to keep your wealth made through free education and you want your children to also participate? On top of that, you add bursary. Are you going to give bursary to children of people in my social category?


It would be unfair on the farmers and those in dire need of the bursary. So, because my father married five women, I should now marry six because I appear to be a bit more comfortable? The society will not grow like that. Somebody has to apply the brakes and fine tune things. I believe a confederal system is more manageable. But even at that time, people kicked. So, imagine what the response would be now because things have gone from bad to worse. Why didn’t we allow the Igbos to go their way? Don’t you think we should have allowed them? Absolutely. But, honestly, we can have a true federal system after all.

Even Switzerland, as small as it is, still has its federal system intact. I think it is a black thing. We blacks have this problem about managing ourselves. But you are black and this world-view you have is progressive? Yes, but when we now come together to sit and try to solve a problem, I think we go gaga. And that negates your hope, rather than belief, that reasonable people should be able to sit down and solve a problem. It appears people are not as reasonable or do not want to be as reasonable as you suggest they should be? When the people are pushed and there is no other way, we would become reasonable because what is going on now, the governance structure, cannot continue forever.

ON CORRUPTION There’s so much going on about corruption in the country today.

The war against corruption. What is your view? We are still deceiving ourselves. Deceiving ourselves? Yes. Look, the fight against corruption goes beyond what is going on now. Let me tell you, the amount of money required, or that is laid out for security alone in this country must be so huge that it must be scandalous. Scandalous because of corruption or what? It is simply because we are poorly organised. That is not the fault of Buhari. But it will be his fault if he did nothing about it. So, this idea of shying away from a wholesale look at how we are organised for these tasks ahead, simply because it is tedious and difficult, then we are not serious. Let me tell you what breeds corruption: You cannot, for instance, as minister of agriculture, sit in Abuja, and ask people to apply for or show interest in a scheme like ranching. Do you know how big Nigeria is? Are you going to start driving round Nigeria to inspect?

This is just one of the things open to abuse. Just this week (last week), a young man came to meet me in the farm and asked to be assisted with a tractor to work on a farm land; that he had just gotten approval for a N30,000 per month allocation – a Federal Government scheme. He said his wife too applied and got. So, if they had a grown up child, that, too, will benefit. I tried assisting him but I told him it would be better if I helped him negotiate with the owner of the tractor that was being used on my farm. I was interested in helping him; so I took him in my car to the owner’s place. When we got to the owner’s place, that one requested to see the farm; and I was still prepared to help drive him to that farm so he could show it to us. It was then he said we should give him some few more days so that the farmland he wants to use would be made available – by the original owners. Now, the point I’m trying to make about corruption and the way we are organised is that you say you want to give people money to farm for a year or two – N30,000 per month – yet you sit in Abuja. How many people like him do we have in the country? How many more people’s names would be added who are not even existing. That is how government allows the system to become corrupt. The remoteness of government to the people breeds things like this and it fits into the issue of restructuring. Beautiful idea no doubt. But the system you are using has failed from the beginning. You have an outfit called SUBEB; it is based in Abuja.

ON THE CIVIL WAR There was always this talk about General Akinrinade, the tough soldier. During the war, there would have been instances that you would have experienced, though unpalatable, but such would help Nigerians appreciate what went down, so, those youths of today, who mouth inanities about war, can reflect deeply. Things happened, that, when you look back, you feel somehow. When I was in Bonny, I had this senior, who didn’t do too well in his earlier times and, so, he wasn’t getting promoted too well, so I overtook him. One day, a ship arrived from Lagos and he was on the ship. He didn’t tell me he was coming, so I thought maybe he came to visit or something. Apparently, he brought a posting paper, that he had been sent to Bonny.

I gave him a battalion to command. Five days later, we had an operation which I had planned before he took over that battalion, but I decided to go with him to that operation – that was in Bonny. Lo and behold, as we were just holed up in one fox-hole there, with heavy fighting going on, I just saw him going down. Ha! (Long pause)What happened? He had been shot. We got the medical people to quickly come and evacuate him and see if he could be saved. By the time they removed his dress, behold, he had a life-tortoise strapped to his body. And I wondered, how come the bullet hit him and he still died? So, all these people who say they are not afraid of bullets, or that they have one voodoo that can turn bullets to water so that it does not hit them, I feel for them because in the military and on the war front, these things don’t work that way. I felt so bad. I do not think that was what emboldened him to come to the war front; because we were both in that fox-hole, he was just unlucky that the bullet hit him. This is just one of the things that happened during the war, before your very eyes, that when you reflect on, you feel somehow. It was so painful because he spent only five days in the war front and he died just like that. How was Bonny? Bonny was a particularly bad place. Everybody found an excuse to get out of there. Why? After my two weeks there, I found out that people were shooting themselves. How? Were they turning the guns against one another? Or do you mean people were inflicting injuries on themselves – as in, really shooting themselves? Yes. People were inflicting bullet wounds on their own bodies. Sorry sir. You mean shoot their own bodies? (Pauses, then takes a pitiful look, as if this young man would not understand, then he responds) Yes! People were shooting themselves just to feign injury and get out of there. I just asked myself, we had a war to fight, what do you do in a situation like this? I simply wrote a Part 1 Order, that anyone who feigned injury or attempted that nonsense again, should just kill himself instead, because if he didn’t, I will do it for him. Because it did not make sense for people to inflict injury on themselves, just because they wanted to get out of the war front. I don’t think they took it too seriously. A few days later, the doctor certified that five people had inflicted injuries on themselves again. I just ordered that they should line them up and shoot them. Of course the whole thing stopped immediately. Nobody tried it again. But before then, even among officers, many did it and got away with it. So, like you asked, you remember some of these things and you feel bad. But you were in the war front; and you had a job to do.



He now said he wanted me to know of something. I asked what that was. He said he didn’t want me to continue sending prisoners of war to the headquarters and I asked what nonsense was he talking about. You know, the Geneva Convention does not allow you to harm any prisoner of war. In fact, anybody you capture must not be exposed to danger any more – unfortunately, that was the convention. He said the GOC was killing them at the headquarters, lining them up and killing them. What that meant was that the pogrom that happened before the war, continued in the Second Division. At that point, I asked why didn’t he tell me this before? He said it’s like a secret but he knew that I wouldn’t like it. So what did you do afterwards? From that day, I made a rule, that in the evening, those that had been captured, I would tell Ike, who interpreted Igbo language, to explain to them that if they wanted to go back to their units from where we captured them, they could go back but if they chose to stay back, they would be endangering their lives in the sense that if they overran our headquarters whoever was caught would be killed. But I also warned them that they could not also misbehave. At first, because they were scared, they didn’t want to leave, but later, they did. But we still found a few who chose to stay with us; and we deployed them in the cook or laundry sections. That’s why I said some of the things that happened were just too ugly to be retold. Some of these came out in the classified materials gotten from Britain recently about some people who said you captured them but you saved them? There was one of the officers who Gowon nicknamed Bandit. We all called him Bandit. He was commanding a battalion. In the evening, Ike Nwachukwu (who was my operations officer) and I, around 6pm, we would take a quick look at the 3 battalion headquarters before retiring for the day, just to be sure people were properly deployed. This evening, somewhere in the Ishan side, when we got to Bandit’s headquarters, he sat on that type of collapsible chair officers carry about. When he saw me, he jumped up and saluted.

And behold, there was a man buried in front of him, with just his head above the ground. I asked, ‘who or what is this? He said, ‘he’s a rebel sir’. I was initially taken aback, at least, knowing that we were fighting rebels in the first instance, so what made this one peculiar? He said, ‘well, he should suffer a little bit more before he dies’. I asked, ‘what’s the point, you want to kill a harmless man? How do you intend to kill a man who you have buried already?’ He said, ‘you just cut off his head sir’. What? What what? No, I’m just asking what that meant? You asked the questions, so get the answers too. (Another pause) He said ‘yes, just to cut off his head, as long as you do not look at his face’. So, now, when I look at the evil being committed by ISIS, I remember that this type of thing had been happening long before now. Therefore, what it meant was that the pogrom and the killings, like ISIS, had been happening in the 1960s, but most people didn’t know. So, I just ordered him to unearth the man, and I told Ike Nwachukwu to put him in the vehicle and I took him away. If we had enough officers and under a normal circumstance, I would have ordered Bandit court-martialled. But who would replace him? We didn’t have enough officers. I warned him, never (to do such a thing) again. In any case, who are those you would have sent him to so that he could be disciplined? The same people who already have the same type of mindset as to how to deal with rebels? These are bad stories. Where is Bandit now? There was a day Olu Bajowa came here to see me. He didn’t like Bandit at all.

So I asked him if he’d heard about Bandit after many years. Shocking, the response was: He said he learnt that he became leprous. Leprosy? Yes! Leprosy. I jokingly said maybe he even had it at that time and that was the reason he was so mean. But I’m sure there were moments of joy. It couldn’t have been all sad news? Well, you know my attitude to the war was that, why did the war even happen in the first place? So the issue of good coming out of it becomes irrelevant. Why did we have to go to war in the first place? Some people will say ‘God saved you’. But my own concern or issue with that is that why get into that type of a situation in the first place? Why did it get to that? There are too many things that happened but which were not supposed to happen but you just have to accept it. For me, I think it is just in the line of duty. I spent many more months in America and that was why I missed all the coups. We were sent to school there and America was even paying us and what they were paying us was enough for us to live and study comfortably – though Nigeria also made provisions for us. The first course was 12 months. Then they offered us some other courses but all my colleagues said they didn’t want to participate – this was 1965/1966. The school was so extensive, Forte Benning, in Georgia. The Airborne School, my colleagues said they were not interested; Rangers school, they said they were not interested. But I insisted on accepting. Though these were very dangerous courses but I decided to participate. That was why I missed out in the coups. But you did not miss because you gained knowledge Yes I did. I gained knowledge. But the coup that brought Murtala Muhammed to power, I went to Bulgaria for a course but, on our way back, we decided to come through London because that was where we always preferred to come back through. So, I bumped into Murtala Muhammed in London. There were five of us who arrived in London, including Buhari. So, we went shopping when we bumped into General Muhammed, he was my senior in Sandhurst. He asked when I was going back and I told him when. He said, no, you’re going back to Nigeria with me. I said, ‘sorry, sir, I did not come with you’ so I cannot go back with you. I’m here with my colleagues.’ I told him I had a small team with me there. He charged at me and said ‘you’re going to regret it’. Unknown to me that he was returning back to Nigeria for the coup that brought him to power. Did he then deal with you later? Ha! He meant it o. He dealt with me in his own way.


Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/allowed-igbos-secede/

Everyone now regrets not dividing the country then, because everything has taken a turn for the worse. The police and army are now brazenly collecting bribes at checkpoints across the nation and the president who swore to fight corruption is doing nothing about the open money collection from innocent motorists.

God bless Biafra,the land of the rising sun.the sacrifices of our heroes past shall never be in vain.

The only Igbos supporting this mere geographic expression, are:

1. The thieveing elites

2. Those with substantial investment outside the east.

3. Those who have one parent from other regions, especially from the West or north.

These people are in minority.

Yes, they should allow us secede.

Interesting

What an eye opener. So when next you hear ibb say he still carries a bullet wound from biafra war on his leg. Now you know the source of the wound: self inflicted injury. So biafra war that powerfull that federal might needed help from england german etc to defeat biafrans. All thanks to gordian ezekwe and his ogbunigwe crew. Even many years later nigerian never learnt anything army never grow from boys scout cos they are still in need of help to overcome one sambisa forest. They are still asking for help from many nations

Over 3 million lives lost in the name of a colonial contraption called "one Nigeria"

Pure madness

It's not too late, they can do it now..

Sarrki what do you have to say

It's never too late to do the right thing.

EternalTruths:
Sarrki what do you have to say

He is on night shift at BMC, Utako.

There shall not be a day when those who fought to keep Nigeria one shall not regret.

We need to be very careful of our actions and words in this life. After all the power, Bandit became a leper

Cooly100:
There was one of the officers who Gowon nicknamed Bandit. We all called him Bandit. He was commanding a battalion. In the evening, Ike Nwachukwu (who was my operations officer) and I, around 6pm, we would take a quick look at the 3 battalion headquarters before retiring for the day, just to be sure people were properly deployed. This evening, somewhere in the Ishan side, when we got to Bandit’s headquarters, he sat on that type of collapsible chair officers carry about. When he saw me, he jumped up and saluted.

And behold, there was a man buried in front of him, with just his head above the ground. I asked, ‘who or what is this? He said, ‘he’s a rebel sir’. I was initially taken aback, at least, knowing that we were fighting rebels in the first instance, so what made this one peculiar? He said, ‘well, he should suffer a little bit more before he dies’. I asked, ‘what’s the point, you want to kill a harmless man? How do you intend to kill a man who you have buried already?’ He said, ‘you just cut off his head sir’. What? What what? No, I’m just asking what that meant? You asked the questions, so get the answers too. (Another pause) He said ‘yes, just to cut off his head, as long as you do not look at his face’. So, now, when I look at the evil being committed by ISIS, I remember that this type of thing had been happening long before now. Therefore, what it meant was that the pogrom and the killings, like ISIS, had been happening in the 1960s, but most people didn’t know. So, I just ordered him to unearth the man, and I told Ike Nwachukwu to put him in the vehicle and I took him away. If we had enough officers and under a normal circumstance, I would have ordered Bandit court-martialled. But who would replace him? We didn’t have enough officers. I warned him, never (to do such a thing) again. In any case, who are those you would have sent him to so that he could be disciplined? The same people who already have the same type of mindset as to how to deal with rebels? These are bad stories. Where is Bandit now? There was a day Olu Bajowa came here to see me. He didn’t like Bandit at all.

So I asked him if he’d heard about Bandit after many years. Shocking, the response was: He said he learnt that he became leprous. Leprosy? Yes! Leprosy. I jokingly said maybe he even had it at that time and that was the reason he was so mean.

luvinhubby:

He is on night shift at BMC, Utako.

Night shift kwa

Some of our Igbo children are given names like 'Tagbo' and 'Iruka.'
If Nigeria does today what should have been done decades ago, then we can all protect what may be detroyed years to come.
If you hear the word today, do not harden your heart.

NB: I am not talking about the Biafra of the stomach, the Kanu's biafra. I am talking of Ojukwu's Biafra. They have nothing in common.

.

mightyhaze:
Hmmmm! Federal soldiers were shooting themselves rather than face biafran infantry who were mostly armed with locally made weapons!




And den one question dat has been buggin my mind now for years,...





How did ike nwachukwu feel,turning the barrels on his own ppl and seeing their dead bodies pile up in the most brutal form?

his mom is a Norther.

greenermodels:
his mom is a Norther.

mom ke?





He accepted ike nwachukwu as his name,which means he accepted his igboness!


Musta been a tough decision to take!


Remaining neutral at dat moment wud hav been a he'll of a decision,talk less of throwing ur weight to exact so much massacre on one's own ppl!

God bless Biafra.the land of the rising sun.i have a question for all those people attacking Biafran separatists,
(1) Do any of you sincerely believe that Nigeria have any positive future for the common man on the street?
(2) Does any of you honestly believe that in the event of buhari's death, that osibanjo would be allowed to ascend the post of the president going by the way he was initially prevented from attending national security meetings, the humiliation of tinubu especially during the last ondo state election, the northernisation of the government and the national security forces?
(3) can they honestly say that tinubu and his boys are more interested in the welfare of the average Yoruba man on the street than their personal pockets going by the heartless way they're forcing the poor from Lagos in their push to acquire more wealth?
(4) Do you honestly believe that the north would ever leave it's stranglehold on power and allow the country to be restructured for justice, progress, equality and fairness to exist
let us tell ourselves the truth, there's a reason we're here discussing about Nnamdi Kanu,it's because he has given the masses on the street the hope of a better future for their children and grand children, a dream which only the few privileged lot can still afford in this country.

One of the Yoruba cowards that was used to fight a USELESS WAR designed to make him a slave.

Uchek:
One of the Yoruba cowards that was used to fight a USELESS WAR designed to make him a slave.

Obasanjo is another one

The IIGB0S are the Nigerian curse.

Most of the Hausa officers were tired of the evil characters of the IIGB0S and wanted them out of Nigeria . It was Gowon and the other northern Christian officers that didn't want IIGB0S to go. Their reason for that was that the IIGB0S leaving will substantially reduce the Christian population in the country.

I agree we should allow them have their landlocked country

Enough is enough

The problem is igbos don't want to form a igbo only biafra .

They know it will be the worst place on earth. Reason why they are trying to cajole the minority tribes in the ND to join them as igbos are worthless without the minorities

But unfortunately for igbos, the minority tribes have told them to their akpu faces that they want nothing to do with biafra .

So that is why igbos will never get a biafra that includes the SS. And igbos also will never accept a biafra of only igbos, because they know it will implode in just one week of it's actualisation

The ND tribes hold the key to success of biafra and igbos knows it

Most of their young ones don't know about 'Ghana must go' during Shagari's tenure when Ghanians were being brutalized and forced to leave Nigeria.. It'll be 'biafra must go' should they get to secede.

They want to stay put in Lagos and be dragging oxygen, jobs, markets and business opportunities with our people while they shut all other tribes out of their landlocked enclave.. Ogbon ole yen o le work.

You leave and you leave for good.. we don't want to see your traces anymore.

flokii:
Most of their young ones don't know about 'Ghana must go' during Shagari's tenure when Ghanians were being brutalized and forced to leave Nigeria.. It'll be 'biafra must go' should they get to secede.

They want to stay put in Lagos and be dragging oxygen, jobs, markets and business opportunities with our people while they shut all other tribes out of their landlocked enclave.. Ogbon ole yen o le work.

You leave and you leave for good.. we don't want to see your traces anymore.

Support referendum so we can leave this long failed British colonial contraption commonly referred to as Nigeria

Finally thank God .

You people should enjoy your one Nigeria relationship no be by force

gidgiddy:


Support referendum so we can leave this long failed British colonial contraption commonly referred to as Nigeria

Tell your House of Rep members to push for referendum.. let's see if they can leave brand new 2023 SUVs for your much desired referendum... EluuP don betray.

No way.

We will never allow a drugs trafficking nation in West Africa

Topic was hidden since 2017