Wily+Wily:

That is why Adewale and the others are thesame, why didn't Adewale handle his mission effectively. Remember he was one of the highest decision makers.

T9ksy:

And what mission did adewale failed to accomplished? Who was tasked to kill Ironsi?

nwzaion: Here are the names and tribes of the plotters of January 15, 1966 military coup. 1. Maj. Adewale Ademoyega (Yoruba) author of "Why We Struck". 2. Capt. G. Adeleke (Yoruba). 3. Lt. Fola Oyewole (Yoruba) author of "The Reluctant Rebel". 4. Lt. R. Egbiko (Ishan). 5. Lt. Tijani Kastina (Hausa Fulani). 6. Lt O. Olafemiyan(Yoruba). 7. Capt Gibson Jalo (Bali). 8. Capt. J. Swanton (Middle Belt). 9. Lt. Hope Haris Eghagha (Urhobo). 10. Lt. Dag Warribor (Ijaw). 11. 2nd Lt. Saleh Dambo (Hausa). 12. 2nd Lt. John Atom Kpera (Tiv). 13. Maj. Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu (Delta Igbo). 14. Ifeajuna (Igbo). From the list above how can someone termed the coup Igbo coup.[color=#550000][/color]

dayokanu: Thanks for that piece.

I just laugh at Igbos in their ignorance. Let them start a war and see what happens. The SS detest them, Middle belters cant stand them, Ijaws hate them, Ikwerre reject them , Edo ppl , Yorubas only manage to put up with them Hausas cant wait to kill them all off

Katsumoto:

Of course the archbishop went to Enugu with the Vatican army.



Bello's armed guards couldn't prevent his murder.

Col Largema was killed in the corridor of a hotel filled with people in Ikoyi

Ademulegun's pregnant wife was shot with him

Shodeinde's pregnant wife also shot at.

But no, we can't kill Okpara because there was an archbishop present.

amor4ce: Taken from NaijaPolitics@yahoogroups.com

Mr. Baldwin Ihemelu
Summary:
EVERY MEMBER OF MY FAMILY I EVER KNOW IN MY LIFE
WAS EXECUTED, WIPED OUT OF THE FACE OF THIS EARTH,
BY THE IGBO PEOPLE IN ENUGU.

===================================================================================
Sir, Please, sacrifice a few of your time and please read my own personal story of the war, and know the reasons why the Igbo people just don't know that we, the non-Igbo tribes around them will ALWAYS be happy for any downfall that may befall them, because of the SINS they committed against us all, in their efforts to see that we all join them in fighting against the Nigerian Army during the 1967-1970 Biafra war.

When all those Hausa and Yoruba leaders of Nigeria were massacred
by the Igbo military officers led by Major Nzeogu.
WHO FIRED THE FIRST SHOTS?
The people of Igbo ancestry shot and killed other Nigerians first.
Will that be a correct statement from me?

It means, In the history of Nigerian union of various tribes, that formed the first Republic of Nigeria, the Igbos fired the first shot and shed the first blood.
Which led to the Hausa people's retaliation......Please note the word "retaliation"
Did anyone ever take into account, what became of the non-Igbo families living in Igbo land at that time?
EVERY MEMBER OF MY FAMILY I EVER KNOW IN MY LIFE
WAS EXECUTED, WIPED OUT OF THE FACE OF THIS EARTH,
BY THE IGBO PEOPLE IN ENUGU.
That, I will explain further, below.

Ojukwu did NOT consult our parents living in Igbo towns and villages if they wanted the war, To him, it was automatic and compulsory for every other tribes around the Igbo tribe to join in his Biafra dream. He just announced recession, and every non-complying family got wiped out. He was crying GENOCIDE then, but what would he have called wiping out the families of every non-Igbo man in Igbo land that refused to carry arms against the Nigerian Army?
I swear to God, I have forgiven him totally, I have moved on, with God's help, I have started rebuilding a new family to carry on my ancestral lineage, but what he did then was that he ordered GENOCIDE on my own family and others.

Before the Biafra war, when everything was well with Nigeria, how friendly were other tribes in the southern Nigeria with the Igbos. We are all REGIONAL VICTIMS OF THE IGBO PEOPLE. Just like living in a bad neighborhood, you can't move, you are stuck with bad people. Which one of all the tribes around the Igbo people are EVER their true friends TILL TODAY?
The Igala people had what was then Kwara State to run to, So were the Edos to Yoruba land, We Idoma of then Benue Plateau had the North to run to, Ojukwu's Igbo Army could not force us to join in the war. Unfortunately, the Ibibios and the Ekois were not allowed refugees into Cameroon, Ijaws, Itsekiris, Urhobos, and other least populous tribes had nowhere to run to but the Atlantic Ocean that bounded them mercilessly.

The story of the war will be told to generations after generations of Nigerians.
When told, it will be a miracle for our children and grandchildren to EVER love the Igbos and support them to lead Nigeria again. We have started asking ourselves by how much does any other tribes in Nigeria own that country more than us.
So, let every Nigerians know now. Whenever the zoning points to southern Nigeria, it will be a tribe that has never lead Nigeria before. Igbos and Ijaws have enjoyed their own shares by Nnamdi Azikiwe, Aguiyi Ironsi, Alex Ekwueme and Goodluck Jonathan. The Itsekiris, the Edos, the Ibibios, the Ekois, the Urhobos and others are NIGERIANS too. We were not born to be floor mats for any other tribes in Nigeria. LET THAT BE SAID LOUDLY FOR EVERY LISTENING EARS.

I am 51 years old now, born and raised in Enugu to an Idoma parents from Agatu Local Government area of today's Benue State, we were living as traders in Enugu then. The only language I grew up to speak then was Igbo, my Idoma language is even secondary till today. I was in Government Boarding School for boys in Makurdi then, too young to fight in the war as a Nigerian soldier then, but lost EVERY MEMBER of my family I left home in Enugu while I was in school to that war, except my youngest sister who later died of her wounds as a result of vaginal torture with foreign objects by Igbo soldiers, she lived long enough to tell us how and who wiped out every member of my family. Today, there are only EIGHT left in this world that can claim my blood lineage, myself and my four children and my three grandchildren. Very sad indeed.

Unfortunately, I was too young to even know exactly where Obagaji, my home town, I was very young, too young to know which roads could have led to Obagaji then, if I had been sent to go there on my own, we used to follow our parents there during our tribal festivals then.


It was from Enugu I went to Makurdi for primary school education in a then-prestigious boarding school, where the Nigerian government kept us all until the end of the war, when it was over, all I could tell them was that I am from Enugu, a native of Obagaji, but could not trace my family house to Obagaji till today. It was my sister, who was rescued by the Nigerian Army that told them that she has a brother in GBS Makurdi, by which in their files then, they were able to trace my name to Govt Technical Training School, Ilorin (also a boarding school) as an orphan who was then like a child of the Federal Government of Nigeria, from there to the USA where I studied to become a Civil Engineer.
I had to go back to Nigeria and buy a piece of land and build my own family house in Makurdi, so as to re-establish my Nigerian ancestry in Benue State, yet, I will still remain bitter forever, because I lost my root in Obagaji to Igbo-started Biafran war.

My older sister was just 15 years old at the beginning of the war before she died of her wounds in UCH Ibadan where she was taken by the government for treatment, she was 18 when she died, she was never able to walk because of her internal injury on her uterus, she told the story to me in person that the Biafran army just came in to our family's house and just shot everyone they know that are not Igbos, or of non-Igbo land origins, most victims then were the Edos, the Igalas and the Idomas, she watched them shot my mother while my father watched, then the rest of the family. She even mentioned to me, the name of an Igbo neighbor I knew then, who participated in the massacre. The women and young girls were begging for death as against the type of torture they were put through. To them, they were retaliating whatever was happening to Igbos in the northern region of Nigeria then.

Whenever anyone talks about the Biafra war, they open a barrel of tears in my eyes.

Please, Sir, as much as victims like me just pray to forgive the Igbos, forget the Biafra war and just move on with the hope that Nigeria will come to be a country we can all live as brothers and sisters, some people like Chukwuma Agwunobi, Africa Today, Igboka Uwadiegu and some other idiots like them in these forums still come here and beat their war drums.

To be honest, I just wish the stupid war they are shouting about starts today, even Cameroonians will kill more Igbos than we Nigerians. I openly swear that non of them will make it alive if they cross up north to Benue State and westwards to Edo and Kogi States. To you Igbo people, Please LET THE WAR START TODAY, it is better we Nigerians shut Igbo mouths forever, because, it is time we ask ourselves, there are over 120 tribes in Nigeria, why is it ONLY ONE that is always talking about breaking the country into pieces? Why?, Why only the Igbos? LET THE DAMN WAR BEGIN NOW, I may be too old to fight a war, I have two sons who are ready to avenge the death of their ancestors, and they are not alone.

Thanks for reading this, Sir.

The foul-mouthed Igbos just don't know that anytime they open their mouths abusing and insulting other Nigerian tribes, they pull back their chances of any opportunity of their tribe gaining support they will need from their neighbors.
Sometimes I think they have forgotten that any position in a democratic system is only possible through elections.
We have close ballot systems in Nigeria, Let them ask themselves how many Igbo states were won by Ojukwu's political party in the past elections, and how many of the five Igbos states are under his control today.
.
They want to beat the drum, who is going to dance?, the want to sing, who are their choirs? Foolish people.
They know they have no hope with their neighboring tribes in the south, yet they come in here and curse, abuse, insult and call Hausa and Yoruba people all kinds of names, they forgot that they will need their votes to be anything pass their regional boundaries.

Once again, thank you, Sir. I just needed a shoulder to cry on. Thank you for reading.

Patriotic Nigerian.

nku5: Very funny, that bit about the vatican army. Let's not simplify scenarios just to make a point. Archbishop Makarios was in nigeria in capacity as Head of State to attend the comonwealth heads of state conference and was a house guest of Michael Okpara when the coupists struck. Makarios was representing his country, Cyprus! He reportedly stood between Okpara and the armed men and swore that he would rather die or be abducted along with Okpara.

Consider the implications and devastating diplomatic crisis that would have occurred if Makarios had been shot. The coupists must have considered this in letting okpara live for that day.

Katsumoto:

You are trying hard to be naive. I suppose they also guessed that international commentators wouldn't have been concerned about two pregnant women being shot with their husbands.

They don't have to kill the Archbishop, they just need to push him aside or look him up in a room. The actors in question were young fit soldiers; I don't think the Archbishop was a blackbelter in Brazilian jiujitsu.

In any case, since the Archbishop managed to overpower trained fit soldiers, they all proceeded to have tea and live happily thereafter.

ilugunboy:

That tells you the ridiculous level some people are trying and will keep trying to justify the non-killing of Igbo leaders...ridiculous reasons I must confess.

They are heaping everything on luck...coincidence and happenstance. Real funny!

Tomakint is really trying to come across as an intelligent guy....but then his arguments are terribly weak at best or downright mischievous ( the latter am inclined to agree more with) because they are based on faulty premises and conjectures that always sound like village square tales.

Wily+Wily:

The mission of those stationed in Lagos was to capture lagos but they failed, so Adewale and co did not handle their responsibilities well.

nnenna.1:
In all seriousness, non-igbo Nigerians calling for the Biafran war to forgotten and erased from Nigerian history will do well to remember this:

The more something is suppressed, the more crucial it is to have that something said.

Obviously, this subject is much more critical than many think. I can only hope that the renewed interest in this topic will lead to significantly more field research and intelligenstia-led discourse. But knowing Nigeria and how quick we are to suffocate topics we are uncomfortable with "hope" is the operative word here.

Katsumoto:

You are trying hard to be naive. I suppose they also guessed that international commentators wouldn't have been concerned about two pregnant women being shot with their husbands.

They don't have to kill the Archbishop, they just need to push him aside or look him up in a room. The actors in question were young fit soldiers; I don't think the Archbishop was a blackbelter in Brazilian jiujitsu.

In any case, since the Archbishop managed to overpower trained fit soldiers, they all proceeded to have tea and live happily thereafter.

Katsumoto:

What I find annoying is the constant whining about being victims by some Igbo sons. None of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria is without sin. Juxtapose the constant whining of Ndigbo with the frustrating silence of the Efik/Ibibio people who suffered with Igbo for the sins of the Igbo. During the pogroms, Efik/Ibibio people were killed. Efik/Ibibio fought with and died with Ndigbo during the war. There was no Efik/Ibibio coup plotter in January 1966. They didn't benefit from Ironsi's restructuring of the federation. When Zik left Lagos and returned to the East after the 1951 election, he took the position of Eyo Ita who was Efik/ibibio. How many times has an Efik/Ibibio opened a thread about that incident?

All groups take their medicine like grown folks except the 'victims'. The freaking irony of all these is that most of the problems in Nigeria were caused by the Igbo
1. It was Igbo that wanted Nigeria at all costs. Awo and Bello didn't but Bello accepted as long as he was allowed to lead. Fair point and good strategy
2. It was Igbo who organized the first coup and truncated the nascent democracy.
3. It was Igbo who killed everyone but their own
4. It was Igbo who gave Nigeria the unitary system of government (Ironsi's decree 34)
5. It was Igbo who cancelled compulsory tests in Hausa in the North because they wanted to export civil servants (Ojukwu's words), which fueled anti-igbo sentiments in the North
6. It was Igbo who went to war because Ojukwu didn't want the head of state to appoint or fire regional governors. If there was no coup or decree 34, regional leaders would have been elected by their constituents

I take no pleasure in highlighting these but I detest the sanctimonious whining. You are not innocent, learn to accept the consequences of your actions.

All the respect in the world to Efik/Ibibio folks.

kingoflag: @tomakint, why dont you do yourself a favor; go on a 6month hiatus from NL, read virtually everything you can lay your hands on about Nigeria from inception, then come back to debate because its clear you dont even have an idea what is going on. Its not about sentiments, or common sense, its about FACTS!

tomakint:

Trust me katz, in as much you master your history well (i am talking of historical events has it happened in the real sense, although not on political matters)you have clearly shown your disdain for the Igbo people and that on most occasions bellied most of the sacrosanct points you try to pass across. I am a Yoruba man like you, unfortunately, I belong to the 'Liberal Group' and not the 'Typical group' where you belong! Most of your commentaries are filled with sophistries, most times diverting attention (of those who are not smart enough to know). Say it for once that you hate the igbos with a passion, I will understand you better!

tomakint:

Trust me katz, in as much you master your history well (i am talking of historical events has it happened in the real sense, although not on political matters)you have clearly shown your disdain for the Igbo people and that on most occasions bellied most of the sacrosanct points you try to pass across. I am a Yoruba man like you, unfortunately, I belong to the 'Liberal Group' and not the 'Typical group' where you belong! Most of your commentaries are filled with sophistries, most times diverting attention (of those who are not smart enough to know). Say it for once that you hate the igbos with a passion, I will understand you better!

dayokanu: Contrary to Katz. I am of the opinion that the reactions were FULLY JUSTIFIED.

Thats the way the world works, Lets forget all these idealism.

The children killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were they the ones who blew WTC?

The millions killed in WW1 were they the ones who killed Archduke Ferdinand?

The millions of Germans killed and r@ped in WW2, were they in support of Hitler?

Look at even the Aluu issue, the Aluu people attacked, were they the ones who killed those 4 boys?

tomakint:

Are you a 'born psychopath' or a 'trained psychopath'?

dayokanu:

A good start would be for you to refute his points

I dont agree with katsumoto regarding the Awolowo issue, Infact I am an Akintola person. But in this issue you are yet to refute any of the claims made that the Ibos were the initial agressors and the brought us to the ruins we are currently.

I know Akintolas stand on Ibos and I am in full support of it.

I have asked you since yesterday

"The gross corruption was by Sardauna and the Ibo politicians were saints with halo on their head?. Thats a new one. Do you know what was said about Azikwe regarding corruption during that time?

Ironsi lucky to escape, Okpara lucky to escape, Azikwe(Ifeajunas uncle) lucky to escape, Osadebey lucky to escape, All the Ibo Federal Ministers lucky to escape. But all non Ibos were the unlucky ones. Honestly let me ask you, How does that sound to you?

Barbaric? Really? If you perform a barbaric act, you expect the other side to respond with decorum? You must be having a laugh."

tomakint:

Trust me katz, in as much you master your history well (i am talking of historical events has it happened in the real sense, although not on political matters)you have clearly shown your disdain for the Igbo people and that on most occasions bellied most of the sacrosanct points you try to pass across. I am a Yoruba man like you, unfortunately, I belong to the 'Liberal Group' and not the 'Typical group' where you belong! Most of your commentaries are filled with sophistries, most times diverting attention (of those who are not smart enough to know). Say it for once that you hate the igbos with a passion, I will understand you better!

tomakint:

You still don't get it do you, no reasonable igbo man will consider Zik a son, there are many myths surrounding his identity in case you don't know. I have never for once justified any killing and sparing of a particular people over another, I think by now that should be behind us,

tomakint: well as an Akintola person (I now understand you better, 'demo ni mowa, boroju mi, o ri nu mi demo ni mowa) we will defintely have every reason to disagree, because I am a big fan of AWO, I see the Akintola Group as traitors to be avoided!

jidestar: Igbo awon oloshi won ti bere ooooo! Achebe is in America and won't be in Niaja once it starts. A war dat happen in the 1960s people want to use it to justify their bigotry. foolish people.