van bonattel:

Pa Awolowo should be allowed to rest in his grave, yes.
But the truth should be said for true forgiveness to reign. What will it benefit Acbebe if he dies without passing down the whole knowledge he has access to. The man has made himself a hero by his recent stands in the nation.

A TRUELY WISE MAN DOES NOT DIE LEAVING A FRACTURED FAMILY......IF ACHEBE'S AIM WAS SEEKING APOLOGY, WHY NOT ASK BEFORE 1987, BEING A PROF DOES NOT MEAN YOU CANT BE MISCHIEVIOUS

lee007:

WELL I KNOW NA YESTERDAY DEM BORN ME SO, I DONT KNOW ABOUT WAR CRIME BUT I KNOW BETTER THAN BALMING ANOTHER MAN FOR YOUR LESS TACTICAL DECISIONS AND GREED OF YOUR LEADER OJUKWU, ITS CALLED IRRESPONSIBILITY! IF THAT WAR HAD GONE FUTHER THAN 1970, WHO KNOWS WHERE YOU WOULD BE TODAY- MR WAR CRIME PROFESSOR...ABEG GO FACE THE HAUSA FULANI STILL DEALING WITH THE WHOLE COUNTRY AT THE MOMENT, TO US IN THE WEST AWO IA AN HERO A BIG BIG ONE FOR THAT MATTER....WHAT HAS OJUKWU LEFT YOU WITH?...COMPLAINING AS USUAL?

Dont bring the hausa fulani into this one, this is all about awolowo and the need to set history straight. There are threads for the fulani so you can go there if you dont like this one. Ojukwu is the most courageous hero this country has produced, a man who saw the need to end this union in time before things got as bad as they are now.

If your daft grandparents listened to Ojukwu, will your brothers be suffering housa fulani blood shed now?

lee007:

A TRUELY WISE MAN DOES NOT DIE LEAVING A FRACTURED FAMILY......IF ACHEBE'S AIM WAS SEEKING APOLOGY, WHY NOT ASK BEFORE 1987, BEING A PROF DOES NOT MEAN YOU CANT BE MISCHIEVIOUS

FAMILY?
Are we really family, the last time I looked, yoruba is still very much scared of igbo people and the igbo people are also very cautious. It is still not late for the yoruba to apologize, but I fear this may not be needed as this country may never ever unite and be one. we are better split than this forceful bonding.

Aigbofa:

Really? Can you explain the irony please? Can you explain how it translates to Awo being "the worst and devil-incarnate 'president' that Nigeria never had.."

The explanation you are looking for is contained in what Ojukwu told saro wiwa in ph prison. Ojukwu greeted Saro wiwa 'GOOD MORNING' BY 3:33pm. figure it out boy. just read the situation at hand when Ojukwu said so and you will understand.

confusion247:
The explanation you are looking for is contained in what Ojukwu told saro wiwa in ph prison. Ojukwu greeted Saro wiwa 'GOOD MORNING' BY 3:33pm. figure it out boy. just read the situation at hand when Ojukwu said so and you will understand.

That was bull's eye!
He greeted him to remind him that their betrayal back in the war has caught up with them. It was morning for saro wiwa as he just woke up to meet the real 'north' he was sleeping with and romancing at night.

I only hope we dont have to tell the yoruba 'good morning' by 7pm at night

vedaxcool: I think the whole issue started from the coup orchestrated by igbos in which they killed Northern leaders that in fact fouled the air thereby creating the scenario which culminated into a war. And I believe the first generation of leaders failed in certain areas they would have done better. But Awo using the food tactic despite wrong brought the war to a swift conclusion. The problem is both Nigeria and Biafra did condemnable wrongs, as the Biafrans killed innocents and also invaded places that they shouldn't have. We wonder whether you ibos plan to apologize for that? My point, we the youths need to stop thinking the way our elders did. Or else we will end up in the same place they at. I believe Nigeria is a complete set, the Ibos one of the greatest tribe of resourceful entrepreneurs, the yorubas intellectuals, the Hausas great politicians, and the list go on and on, I am neither from any of the three tribes but I feel that Nigeria can be a better place to live if we believe we can make a difference and leave the ethnocentric bigotry in the dustbins thereby working for our collective good. The truth is that our leaders use all sort of distraction to keep us from realiazing the great damage they do to us every time when they plunder our collective treasures.

stop saying what you think without fact, because the coup by the supposed igbo generals had other tribes,including yoruba,hausa etc involved in the plan. Infact the leader of the coup did it for justice for all nigerians not for the igbos, because even he wasnt a 100 % igbo. So lets focus on the case here, awolowo committed war crimes, and also stole from the eaterners their hard earned wealth. Him saying i just signed the documents has no basis, he should have read wjhat he signed as the finance minister of nigeria. Infact what he did was abuse of office and a crime in all honesty, speak the truth please and shame the devil.you keep saying you igbos, forgetting that there were other tribes including some yorubas that fought on biafran side. i dont care what tribe you are from, but the truth is that your tribal identity right now is insignificant, because its not about tribe, its about the individual, awolowo and what he did before and after the war. Nigeria, am sorry to tell you cannot move peacefully and progressively without facing the issue of the civil war. It needs to be taught in our schools.We need to have a memorium for it. LET US FACE THE PAST AND FIND A WAY TO FIX THINGS FOR OUR FUTURES AND THAT OF OUR CHILDRENS. the fact is most of us are mixtures of so many tribes even though we represent our paternal identity, but at the end of the day we are the future of nigeria. my suggestion, just like south africa and america has done to appease the people people they wrong, the government should create a program that helps people who were under biafra to try to get their wealth they lost back. Because what many people do0nt know is that the british still holds records of the supposed savings of all their colonies under them, and nigeria is no different. So i will say, if the people who lost their wealth when awolowo refused to give it back still want what is due to them let them make a request of british government through nigeria of those bank records and let them be compensated fairly. That i believe will help start the healing.

lee007:

WELL I KNOW NA YESTERDAY DEM BORN ME SO, I DONT KNOW ABOUT WAR CRIME BUT I KNOW BETTER THAN BALMING ANOTHER MAN FOR YOUR LESS TACTICAL DECISIONS AND GREED OF YOUR LEADER OJUKWU, ITS CALLED IRRESPONSIBILITY! IF THAT WAR HAD GONE FUTHER THAN 1970, WHO KNOWS WHERE YOU WOULD BE TODAY- MR WAR CRIME PROFESSOR...ABEG GO FACE THE HAUSA FULANI STILL DEALING WITH THE WHOLE COUNTRY AT THE MOMENT, TO US IN THE WEST AWO IA AN HERO A BIG BIG ONE FOR THAT MATTER....WHAT HAS OJUKWU LEFT YOU WITH?...COMPLAINING AS USUAL?

Ojukwu left us with the truth about today. Ojukwu is also a prophet who predicted that one day you will see hausa/fulani as our problem, but your hero Awolowo helped to make them what they are today. This is what Achebe is pointing out.If the igbos rise today and say enough is enough to hausa/fulani, will another Awolowo not be there to betray them?. If not Awolowo, hausa/fulani shouldn't be a problem today.

Cry baby ibos. Your ogas lacked intelligence and war strategies and a more intelligent side whopped their @ss using common sense in a war.
I wonder, if situations were turned around if the ibos would have sent or allowed food reach their own enemies in a war they were desperate to win knowing the concieted, dubious, crafty, dishonest selfish crooks they really are. Now because modern trends have coined out the word "war crimes" 4uking asswipes are screaming injustice!

I wonder if the whimps would have given back properties to their enemies after the war or aid them to prosper in their own land after like d yorobbers did.

The first stoopid fact about the barggers is they don't really know their real enemy and decided to loose their frustration on the ones who were most sympathetic to their plight. Dumb pricks
My mum is ibo, but I must admit here on NL they come around as a dumb lot with a misplaced focus screaming foul play because they didn't have the advantage in a war due to their brainless commanders.

Now go back and prepare 4 another war if u want, use your brain this time but remember as the chinese say all is fair in war!

mko abiola: Achebe is a frustrated man.

And Abiola, kudirat his wife are dead people, killed by the same mallams served by Awolowo.

Dahbutter: Cry baby ibos. Your ogas lacked intelligence and war strategies and a more intelligent side whopped their @ss using common sense in a war.
I wonder, if situations were turned around if the ibos would have sent or allowed food reach their own enemies in a war they were desperate to win knowing the concieted, dubious, crafty, dishonest selfish crooks they really are. Now because modern trends have coined out the word "war crimes" 4uking asswipes are screaming injustice!

I wonder if the whimps would have given back properties to their enemies after the war or aid them to prosper in their own land after like d yorobbers did.

The first stoopid fact about the barggers is they don't really know their real enemy and decided to loose their frustration on the ones who were most sympathetic to their plight. Dumb pricks
My mum is ibo, but [size=28pt]I must admit here on NL they come around as a dumb lot with a misplaced focus screaming foul play because they didn't have the advantage in a war[/size] due to their brainless commanders.

Now go back and prepare 4 another war if u want, use your brain this time but remember as the chinese say all is fair in war!

+ 10000000000000000

Dahbutter: Cry baby ibos. Your ogas lacked intelligence and war strategies and a more intelligent side whopped their @ss using common sense in a war.
I wonder, if situations were turned around if the ibos would have sent or allowed food reach their own enemies in a war they were desperate to win knowing the concieted, dubious, crafty, dishonest selfish crooks they really are. Now because modern trends have coined out the word "war crimes" 4uking asswipes are screaming injustice!

I wonder if the whimps would have given back properties to their enemies after the war or aid them to prosper in their own land after like d yorobbers did.

The first stoopid fact about the barggers is they don't really know their real enemy and decided to loose their frustration on the ones who were most sympathetic to their plight. Dumb pricks
My mum is ibo, but I must admit here on NL they come around as a dumb lot with a misplaced focus screaming foul play because they didn't have the advantage in a war due to their brainless commanders.

Now go back and prepare 4 another war if u want, use your brain this time but remember as the chinese say all is fair in war!

you are an ode, and i feel sorry for your generation and your mom for uttering such rubbish. Go back and check and make sure u are born of an igbo woman, cuz you dont sound like one. For you were, you will stand on the truth no matter your bias or your paternal identity. If you must know, after the war, the igbos were part of naija again and should have gotten their properties back fair and square, but we know what awolowo did, and then claimed ignorance of the whole confistication later, so lets leave politics alone and face the truth. Awolowo did good for his tribe, but stole and wronged the easterners, as to maintain economic power in the west. It was ethnocentric-ally driven so my dear brother of equal mixture face the truth and swallow it, like utabazi its ever bitter, and unfortunately has no sweet after taste like ewuro( olugbu).

Dahbutter: Cry baby ibos. Your ogas lacked intelligence and war strategies and a more intelligent side whopped their @ss using common sense in a war.
I wonder, if situations were turned around if the ibos would have sent or allowed food reach their own enemies in a war they were desperate to win knowing the concieted, dubious, crafty, dishonest selfish crooks they really are. Now because modern trends have coined out the word "war crimes" 4uking asswipes are screaming injustice!

I wonder if the whimps would have given back properties to their enemies after the war or aid them to prosper in their own land after like d yorobbers did.

The first stoopid fact about the barggers is they don't really know their real enemy and decided to loose their frustration on the ones who were most sympathetic to their plight. Dumb pricks
My mum is ibo, but I must admit here on NL they come around as a dumb lot with a misplaced focus screaming foul play because they didn't have the advantage in a war due to their brainless commanders.

Now go back and prepare 4 another war if u want, use your brain this time but remember as the chinese say all is fair in war!

Congratulations wise fool. I am so happy you know about those two words 'war crimes'. We are so happy that those who have all the tactics and strategies to commit genocide and war crimes doesn't have strategies and tactics to protect Abiola and his wife or even dele giwa. what a shame.

Dahbutter: Cry baby ibos. Your ogas lacked intelligence and war strategies and a more intelligent side whopped their @ss using common sense in a war.
I wonder, if situations were turned around if the ibos would have sent or allowed food reach their own enemies in a war they were desperate to win knowing the concieted, dubious, crafty, dishonest selfish crooks they really are. Now because modern trends have coined out the word "war crimes" 4uking asswipes are screaming injustice!

I wonder if the whimps would have given back properties to their enemies after the war or aid them to prosper in their own land after like d yorobbers did.

The first stoopid fact about the barggers is they don't really know their real enemy and decided to loose their frustration on the ones who were most sympathetic to their plight. Dumb pricks
My mum is ibo, but I must admit here on NL they come around as a dumb lot with a misplaced focus screaming foul play because they didn't have the advantage in a war due to their brainless commanders.

Now go back and prepare 4 another war if u want, use your brain this time but remember as the chinese say all is fair in war!

HA HA HA HA ,
The realities today still show yorubas goofed badly, and are the real losers of this war, when they have their leaders systematically wiped out by same housas you have been serving. Keep losing.

mimifonwon:


you are an ode, and i feel sorry for your generation and your mom for uttering such rubbish. Go back and check and make sure u are born of an igbo woman, cuz you dont sound like one. For you were, you will stand on the truth no matter your bias or your paternal identity. If you must know, after the war, the igbos were part of naija again and should have gotten their properties back fair and square, but we know what awolowo did, and then claimed ignorance of the whole confistication later, so lets leave politics alone and face the truth. Awolowo did good for his tribe, but stole and wronged the easterners, as to maintain economic power in the west. It was ethnocentric-ally driven so my dear brother of equal mixture face the truth and swallow it, like utabazi its ever bitter, and unfortunately has no sweet after taste like ewuro( olugbu).

see woman self mo ree e re gbe o( thats Ijebu for you) bitterness

van bonattel:

HA HA HA HA ,
The realities today still show yorubas goofed badly, and are the real losers of this war, when they have their leaders systematically wiped out by same housas you have been serving. Keep losing.

Chai !!!! another bitter person una try wellu wellu

shymexx:

Ok, brother... If you were to be in Awolowo's shoes, what would you have done? Bear in the mind that Ojukwu and Biafrans were not willing to surrender as long as arms continued to flow in - despite knowing darn well they were fighting a lost battle... It was an unwinnable war - and the Nigerian and Biafran forces had more small arms than what was used in World War 1.... And Ojukwu said he wanted arms, not food - so what do you expect Awolowo to do??

The war happened over 40 years ago - and I've got a father who joined the Nigerian army at age 19, to fight on the Nigerian side - after Lagos was bombed by Biafran mercenaries... He never wanted the war but he had to fight to save his country, and he was traumatised for years... Hence, why he married late... However, he went to Uni in the Eastern part of Nigeria before he left Nigeria and he has since moved on - why can't Chinua Achebe who was not even in Nigeria during the war move on

If i were Awolowo I will not have betrayed Ojukwu on our agreement when he(Ojukwu) freed me from calabar prison. That betrayal by Awolowo was the bottom line.

Igbos are known betrayers so need I say more, any yoruba arguing with these bunch of people is wasting his time. Just laugh at their stu.pidity and move on cuz they are the most selfish and self centred beings on earth.

I call on all NDIGBO - it's time to restrategise - ur investment, ur family, etc It's time to do a U-TURN... Biko oge elugo na kwa okwesi ka anyi che nnukwu echiche ife nna anyi Achebe kowa na akwukwuo odelu... ogwu okacha malu abulo okwu ena chezo echozo mbaa!

Our children must be educated on the calibre of people that call themselves our fellow Nigerians. They have the right to know the history of the nation they call home. They have the right to know about the people who look for the any opportunity to kill them. They have the right to know about the stance of the oduduwa, arewa, ijaw, brritish, australian, egyptian etc nations about their collective right to live in peace and prosperity. They should know who their friends were and still are. Chukwu would pay the suppressors of truth in their own coin.

zanga420: All along I dont want to comment on these issues, but I'll talk & will look fact in the eyes n comment.
1. The crises began as a muslim/christian - north/eastern nigeria affair.
2. Ojukwu/igbo saw Awolowo/yoruba as a brother(fellow southern brothers)
3. Ojukwu never had war in mind at the beginning
4. Awolowo was sitting on the fence and was communicating with both parties.
When the hausas turn the matter to war on the igbos with a promise(to make Awolowo president) he joined them and become their adviser n strategist(the promise which was never fulfilled).
Ojukwu n the igbos saw Awolowo as a betrayer 'cos of that role. Why it looks like the igbos are attacking Awolowo/yoruba is, he(Awolowo) acted as an unfriendly friend. If he had "declared Oduduwa Republic as he(Awolowo) promised" or told Ojukwu earlier on that he's supporting the north, it would've been a different scenario. In all the north(muslim) deceived Awolowo/used Awolowo to destroy igbo(christian), which was their hunger considering their jihad mentality. Thats my little analysis from the details available to me from all sides. Reconciliation worked in south africa, why cant it work here, if only this new generation decides to acknowledge dtruth no matter who's involved.

True and sincere words. Keep it on. I am sure your tribe has a son in you. Can yorubas accept it that Awolowo was a traitor? That is exactly what Achebe wants the whole world to know.

shymexx:

Bwahahahahahaaha!!

It was a war between Northerners and Igbos - Biafrans dragged other in by invading their regions... Basically, most Yoruba recruits into the Nigerian army joined the war, after civilians in Lagos were bombed - and your soldiers invaded Ore...

Ojukwu was a prick!! A smarter tactician wouldn't have invaded the 'neutral' regions, he would've cut off the access to Igboland via River Nigeria; created a buffer zone around Western Igbos; and focus on sea access via Calabar, Akwa Ibom, or Rivers... He was just cocky and stupid... Yet rather than surrender when it became obvious the darn war was unwinnable, he turned it into a propaganda war, and kept all the food to himself and his Biafran soldiers... Thus, leaving the civilians to starve to death...

Where was pseudo-PanAfricanist Nnamdi Azikwe during the war?? His cousin Ifeajuna caused the darn war in the first place...

You're lucky Nigeria didn't carpet bombed Biafra the war US Army did Vietnam... If they had dropped 10 million bombs on your heads, you won't be crying about a blockade - it was a war, don't go to war, if you're not prepared for the outcome...

Chief Obafemi Awolowo is my hero!!!

I am sure you are not familiar with these two words 'war crime', because if you do, you will bury your head in shame.

alj harem: Igbos are known betrayers so need I say more, any yoruba arguing with these bunch of people is wasting his time. Just laugh at their stu.pidity and move on cuz they are the most selfish and self centred beings on earth.

Achebe have proved Awolowo to be a betrayer and traitor, do so with any name in Igbo land. Truth is so bitter that Nigerian state is doing everything to suppress it.

Aigbofa:

This is the problem right there. People talk of war as if they are going to family picnic, and when they lose they can't bear the consequences. Terrible things happen in wars. It is useless to blame somebody for starving you after the fact. If you can't bear to lose, don't start it and if you lose take it and move on.

Please just define war crime. Igbos should have sat down in their mothers kitchen watch hausa/fulani wipe them out from the surface of this earth. Awolowo did well in your mind, but how come mustapha is standing trial for protecting his master Abacha?

nokingasgod: Somebody please tell me, do you fight a war while by feeding your enemy

You please define war crime for us.

pufectskin: I am sorry, Achebe, I never meant to hurt u; I never meant to make you cry, but tonite, I am cleaning out my closet" - Eminem, anyone?
Dat old man needs to go sit down somewhere

Any where the old man wants to sit, let him continue to tell us the truth from his seat.

Aigbofa:

This is the problem right there. People talk of war as if they are going to family picnic, and when they lose they can't bear the consequences. Terrible things happen in wars. It is useless to blame somebody for starving you after the fact. If you can't bear to lose, don't start it and if you lose take it and move on.

Simple as abc.

confusion247:
Please just define war crime. Igbos should have sat down in their mothers kitchen watch hausa/fulani wipe them out from the surface of this earth. Awolowo did well in your mind, but how come mustapha is standing trial for protecting his master Abacha?

You are dull, slow and daft. Was Nigeria in a state of war when Mustapha was killing people all over the country?
What's done during war if not killing?

Some of you don't even worth the effort. Your retorts lack logic, petty and pedestrian. Some of you still don't know that war is not a joke.

Dansadaumallam: I have not made it my style...Involving myself in this kind of bitter conversations ...but I make haste to say...
The war has come and gone but a new war is here.The old war was a story the new one happening at borno and massive estamination of a group in the name of 2015 has been left undiscussed.when someone who witnessed what is happening now would write his observation and opinion in the future people will still make defence for the gradual masacre.
To our consciences each a jugde. When will Nigeria move foward as a nation.

Nigeria can never move forward until the worst mistake of lugard in the year 1914 is corrected. We all knew the truth but none will be so brave like Achebe to say it. Nigeria is the only country on earth today established in falsehood and operates in injustice as a way of life. How can a country like this move forward?

Prof Corruption:

You are dull, slow and daft. Was Nigeria in a state of war when Mustapha was killing people all over the country?
What's done during war if not killing?

Some of you don't even worth the effort. Your retorts lack logic, petty and pedestrian. Some of you still don't know that war is not a joke.

No matter how you define it war still have war crimes. Awolowo defended his so called country and masters, so also is mustapha. He defended his master and country too.

crazygod: Mtchew. This has gone far enough. So what is the rationale behind what Achebe is doing at his old age if I may add? Why did he have to wait till now to write all this (with all due respect) bull shit. Why didn't he do that before now? Before Awolowo died? Pls note that there are publications even online about the civil war, the events leading to it and after it online. I'm appalled that what just one MAN is spewing out is causing all this unnecesary argument. Why didn't 'the great' ojukwu say some negative words about Awolowo before he died? at least we would have heard from the horse's mouth. This is just a personal vendetta by Achebe to discredit Awolowo. Simple.

The rationale behind what Achebe is doing at his old age is to tell the children unborn the person who helped gowon to commit genocide agaist their generation. I am sure you didn't follow Ojukwu's operating system when he was alive, because if you do, you will know that Ojukwu called Awolowo the best president Nigeria never have. May be you will not understand because Saro Wiwa didn't understand when Ojukwu greeted him good morning by 3:33pm in PH prison.

onomeasike: I believe that those Biafran soldiers and the descendants of those biafran soldiers who ambushed and steal food meant for the vulnerable group are still alive.knowing the psychology of an average uniformed man even in present day nigeria,those women and children would have been derided as 'bloody civilians' who dont need the food as much as they the soldiers do.They must have been feeling wise in their eyes everytime they loot the food meant for the children.Those igbos who participated in these dastardly act should take the blame,they should apologise for stealing food meant for their wives and children.
What beats my imagination is how a war can be won by just 2 simple policies-
1)change the currency and
2) stop food from reaching the soldiers

how ojukwu(despite his oxford education in history and military trainning) and his war advisers failed to pre-empt this baffles me

incidentally,just like Osama was trained in america and later attacked americans,achebe was trained in yorubaland and even during the war,was residing in yorubaland enjoying the hospitality of the yoruba he is attacking today.
achebe hopes to make a great fortune from the sale of his book despite it would be pirated by some igbo boys,he smiles to the bank.he will be remembered as a (con)artist,an invalid cripple reference who became a bilionaire in his 80's selling falsehood and acrimony.If he would be given a state burial like ojukwu is better left to be imagined.I feel sad that achebe did not see anything wrong in the conduct of those savage biafran soldiers hijacking food meant for children.

You are in deed, A PROPER F O O L!!

I HAVE NOTICED THAT THE HATRED NdIGBO HAS FOR THE YORUBAS IS MUCH MORE THAN THE ONE THEY HAVE FOR THE HAUSAS.