noblezone: Yes, I agree with the writer:

Achebe's title is "misleading", instead of there was a country, it should be, "there is a country".

Biafra is not was.

Ngodigha:
Write your own memoir and choose the title that pleases you.

ola_pluto: Something with the Biafra war is that the story has not being fully told. I am just learning in this article that FGN actually offered a food corridor, which Ojukwu rejected based of security concerns. FGN was ready to feed the women and children. Awo also stated in his interview that food was being send to Biafra but the soldiers were starving their own people while eating to sustain the war. My Igbo brothers chose to ignore these facts. Lets forget Awo and start to say things as they are for the sake of generations yet unborn.

The wicked lies that have been told against the Yoruba people under the mango trees of the East have persisted for ages even when many Igbo have come and saw for themselves; how they have thrived unmolested everywhere in Yorubaland, the lies persist because people like Achebe, an icon of Igbo people, are always there to lend their intellectual falsehood to the tales by the moonlight. I think it is about time to fight back and set the records straight.

The name Awolowo represents one of the brightest spots in the history of Yoruba people. This latest attack on him is an attack on Yoruba history and its people and it has raised this pertinent question for Yoruba people ‘What do they really want from us?

MAYOWAAK:

Let us examine certain area from the book that has generated so much furor in the polity:

When it comes to how Ojukwu starved his own people to death, by admission of Achebe himself, this is how Rudolf Okonkwo, one of the reviewers of the book, puts it; “Achebe argues that some questions will be debated for generations. One of such questions has to do with the security reasons behind Ojukwu’s rejection of Nigeria’s Federal Government’s proposal for a road corridor for food and the Federal Government’s rejection of Ojukwu’s alternative.”

[b]When it comes to rejection of Ojukwu’s alternative by the Federal Government of Nigeria, Prof. Achebe was quoted as follows:

”It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations.

“However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbos at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose — the Nigeria-Biafra war — his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafran case, it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation — eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations.”

This is a wonderful peek into the Biafracentric frame of mind of a man that wrote that attack. So, the Federal Government actually made a proposal for a road corridor for food to the starving women and children of Biafra and Ojukwu rejected it for “security reasons?” That does not really sound like a people with genocidal intentions to me; ask Rwandans if you care to know.[/b]

It is on record that Adekunle Fajuyi, a
Yoruba man, chose to die with Aguiyi-
Ironsi;

T9ksy:

[i][/i]Oh and i suppose ibo writers are are not also guilty of revisionism? The fact of the matter is , each

group will swallow info. that paints them in a good light. So, am i now suppose to accept biafran's version of events which

exonerates them of any wrongdoing?

If for instance, fajuyi was not killed because he offered to die with his boss, WHY THEN WAS HE EXECUTED along with Ironsi?

If it was because he was complicit in the jan 15th coup so then was Ironsi and Ojukwu who admitted (in one of his old

interviews), not remembering if he had pre-knowledge of the coup or not!Ojukwu is as cagey as hell!

In the meanwhile, you guys can continue with your "victim" game but the rest of us have moved on. No group in the country owes

the ibos, nada.

And am waiting patiently for ibo writers to provide their own evidence of the election won in western nigeria by the ibos in 1953.

Dede, over to you.

Lt Walbe:
As far as I am concerned it was a lie(Yoruba publications). We arrested him as we arrested Ironsi. We suspected him of being party to the January coup. You remember the Battle Group Course which was held at Abeokuta . . . Fajuyi was Commander of the Battle Group course. He ran the course. All those who took part in the January coup were those who had taken part in that course. It gave us the impression that the Battle Course was arranged for the January Coup, so he had to suffer it too. I am sorry about that but that is the nature of the life of the military man

Osiris.211:
Finally, Achebe has overstretched his boundary. They constantly taunt the Yoruba nation and confused our gentility with simplicity. There was a country filled with cowards was the blow that breaks the camel's back.

we'll continue on this path until the last Yoruba blood becomes fully aware of the "enemies within" and summarily dealt with. We are going to start making south west hotter than frying pan to those wishing us bad.

The south west was their only safe heaven cos the northerners are well positioned to eliminate traitors and backstabbers in their own effective ways. we'll not stand by any longer and watch any tribe or region mudsling our people.

Germannig:

This is empty sabre rattling. You will end up leaving Nigeria and relocating to Benin Republic when the war starts. Remember June 12 and NADECO? Empty, cowards

Lt Walbe:
As far as I am concerned it was a lie(Yoruba publications). We arrested him as we arrested Ironsi. We suspected him of being party to the January coup. You remember the Battle Group Course which was held at Abeokuta . . . Fajuyi was Commander of the Battle Group course. He ran the course. All those who took part in the January coup were those who had taken part in that course. It gave us the impression that the Battle Course was arranged for the January Coup, so he had to suffer it too. I am sorry about that but that is the nature of the life of the military man

ACM10:
This is bullshyt! This alone has discredited the whole fairytale of "its on record". I have to paste my response to this issue from another thread. This is from one of the officers tasked with killing Ironsi and Fajuyi.



Before Dede1 gives you hiz response, I'm gonna quote Lt Walbe in hiz own word. By the way, J. Isawa Elaigwu is from Plateau state. He wz formerly a lecturer in the dept. of Political Science, Univ. of Jos.

T9ksy:


So, what's your point?

ACM10:

My point is that any version of history which states that,
"Adekunle Fajuyi, a
Yoruba man, chose to die with Aguiyi-
Ironsi"
is a MYTH.

MAYOWAAK: Professor Chinua Achebe got it all wrong from the title of his latest infamous book, There Was A Country, downright to the contents and this has expectedly generated a lot of controversies capable of dividing us more than unite us. If the foundation is crooked, what should we expect of the structure put on it? Papa Achebe apparently is still getting carried away by his dream of Biafra so much that he forgot that Biafra is a country that never was. There was an attempt by the Eastern Region of Nigeria to secede. That attempt did not materialise. Leaders of the rebellious region surrendered. So, there was never a country. If a celebrated scholar like Prof. Achebe believes that Biafra ever was, then, it is easy for us to deduce the quality of the remaining content of the book. It is apparent that it is going to be nothing but Biafracentric — a country that never was. Like many other writers that have weighed in on the Nigeria Civil War, we know that people will write from their own perspective and their opinion would be coloured, in most cases, by whereever their hearts lie.

Let us examine certain area from the book that has generated so much furor in the polity:

When it comes to how Ojukwu starved his own people to death, by admission of Achebe himself, this is how Rudolf Okonkwo, one of the reviewers of the book, puts it; “Achebe argues that some questions will be debated for generations. One of such questions has to do with the security reasons behind Ojukwu’s rejection of Nigeria’s Federal Government’s proposal for a road corridor for food and the Federal Government’s rejection of Ojukwu’s alternative.”

When it comes to rejection of Ojukwu’s alternative by the Federal Government of Nigeria, Prof. Achebe was quoted as follows:

”It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations.

“However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbos at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose — the Nigeria-Biafra war — his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafran case, it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation — eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations.”

This is a wonderful peek into the Biafracentric frame of mind of a man that wrote that attack. So, the Federal Government actually made a proposal for a road corridor for food to the starving women and children of Biafra and Ojukwu rejected it for “security reasons?” That does not really sound like a people with genocidal intentions to me; ask Rwandans if you care to know. Was the Nigerian government not entitled to its own security by making sure that arms were not imported as food supplies? When it comes to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and General Gowon and their security reasons; Achebe quickly concluded that it was “genocidal” and when it comes to Ojukwu, it will only “be debated for generation.” By the way, are beggars really choosers? You started a war and you are dictating to your opponent on how he can supply you food to sustain the war against him. Did Prof. Achebe know that economic blockade is actually a legitimate weapon of war? It is even used in peace time. Note that this came from Achebe himself in the same book that he has accused Chief Awolowo of genocide; how more ridiculous could the accusation get? I have deliberately decided not to even look outside of the book to shoot down the deliberate and wicked lies of Prof. Achebe. Of course, there is a ton of information out there to put a lie to this assertion. The two sides, according to him, disagreed on how food should be supplied to the hungry children of war, but Awolowo ‘a bloody civilian,’ in the midst of the Army generals is the Grinch that stole Christmas, must be blamed for genocide. Good try professor, but teacher, don’t teach me nonsense!

I am seriously not bothered by the latest outburst of Prof. Achebe against Chief Awolowo. Antagonising the Yoruba and anything not Igbo has been his pastime. He is one of the same persons that lent their false intellectual support to the phantom carpet-crossing in the old Western Region House. He expressed dissatisfaction with Wole Soyinka’s winning the Nobel Prize and has always had contempt for anything not originating from the East side of River Niger. I know that for a man who has been writing fiction for over 50 years of his life, and has milked one fiction book for the better part of his life, it may have become difficult for him to differentiate between fiction and facts. But I am concerned with how his latest work would affect the already very fragile nation, both in content and timing. One would have thought that a man of 81 years would have grown beyond the prejudices he has carried in his heart for over 40 years. One would have thought that an 81-year-old man would work to foster unity, bridge gap, use the opportunity presented by writing his war memoirs more to heal wounds and preach forgiveness and brotherhood, rather than making a futile attempt at re-establishing the phantom Igbo dominance and superiority over others and further driving a wedge between Igbo people and other Nigerians.

I am one of the people that believe that we have not told the story of the Nigerian Civil War enough. I believe there are many questions that are still left unanswered. This is why it pained me to bone marrow that Chief Ojukwu, the number one hero of that war, failed to write his memoir. But then, people will be more interested in a dispassionate analysis of the war; the one that tells the story robustly, as it was. I really do not have to wait for the book to have a fair understanding of the content as is being advocated by some sympathisers of Prof. Achebe. I have read a few reviews of the book with some disturbing quotes and jejune conclusion from the professor, especially the review done by my friend Rudolf, a man whose writing I follow religiously and it is always a delight to read Rudolf.

The wicked lies that have been told against the Yoruba people under the mango trees of the East have persisted for ages even when many Igbo have come and saw for themselves; how they have thrived unmolested everywhere in Yorubaland, the lies persist because people like Achebe, an icon of Igbo people, are always there to lend their intellectual falsehood to the tales by the moonlight. I think it is about time to fight back and set the records straight.

The name Awolowo represents one of the brightest spots in the history of Yoruba people. This latest attack on him is an attack on Yoruba history and its people and it has raised this pertinent question for Yoruba people ‘What do they really want from us?’

It is on record that a party later came to be known as Zik’s party, the NCNC, was actually led at inception by a Yoruba man, Sir Herbert Macaulay, and Dr. Azikiwe served as his secretary, it is on record that many Yoruba people were members and moved out en masse when Zik made an infamous statement to Ibo Union that God had sent Igbo race to liberate Nigeria and he started using his West African Pilot newspaper to drive Igbo agenda. It was Zik that turned NCNC from national party to Igbo party. Despite the insultive utterances, the party was still popular in the West, until Zik insisted on ruling the Western Region against common sense and the people gave their votes to Action Group to form the government. People like Achebe came up with tribalism theory against Awolowo. In their selective ignorance they forgot that Azikiwe went back to the East to drive away Eyo Ita who was the Prime Minister because he was from the minority tribe. Nobody talks about that. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Chief Awolowo approached Dr. Azikiwe during the 1959 elections when no clear leader emerged to give Action Group votes to him so that Azikiwe could become the Prime Minister and he Awolowo, the Finance Minister, but Zik turned him down and traded Prime Ministership for ceremonial presidency with Tafawa Balewa. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that NPC/NCNC alliance was used for maximum effect to oppress the Yoruba and other minorities of the South with Igbo people taking about 97 per cent of whatever was due to the South in a country that understood only North/South dichotomy; that the so-called Igbo dominance (at the federal level) is traceable to this evil and oppressive alliance. With federal might, they installed Igbo vice-chancellors in universities in Yorubaland, which was and is still not practicable in their own clime. We did not bulge neither did the Yoruba people complain. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Dr. Azikiwe’s alliance with Northern People Congress railroaded Chief Awolowo to the prison and he never lifted a finger to support him. It is also on record that Tafawa Balewa offered Chief Obafemi Awolowo Deputy Prime Ministership in prison, if he would support him, but great Awo turned it down. When Aguiyi-Ironsi seized power, he freed all political prisoners and despite Chief Awolowo’s passionate plea for his case to be considered, Aguiyi-Ironsi ignored him. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that the coup carried out by mostly Igbo soldiers in 1966 killed mostly the leadership of the North and West. We do not know if Awolowo would have survived, if he was not in prison. They killed almost all the most senior Yoruba military officers and even callously murdered Brigadier Ademulegun, his pregnant wife and Col. Ralph Shodeinde for no apparent reason in a coup supposedly directed at corrupt civilians. The only high-ranking member of NCNC that was killed, Chief Okotie-Eboh, was not Igbo and had problem with Mbadiwe on the Finance portfolio that he held. The latter wanted the ‘juicy’ portfolio, but Tafa Balewa rebuffed him. Yet, we did not start pogrom against Igbo residing in the West. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Adekunle Fajuyi, a Yoruba man, chose to die with Aguiyi-Ironsi; it is on record that Prof. Soyinka and Dr. Tai Solarin went to jail for the Biafran cause. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that despite everything, Chief Obafemi Awolowo went to Enugu in company of Prof. Sam Aluko and Mariere to persuade Ojukwu not to start the war yet; that he should give him the opportunity to mediate; that Ojukwu gave him his words to tarry a little bit but declared a war immediately Awo stepped out of Enugu. What do they really want from us?

I am not surprised; Prof. Achebe did not disappoint in his latest work. I believe, therefore, that Prof. Achebe is entitled to his selective senility and convenient amnesia; it is only left for us, people of goodwill, to put the record straight for posterity’s sake. Igbo intellectuals of good conscience should help to re-orientate their youths that have been grossly miseducated, misinformed and disinformed by people like Achebe. It is in their interest to do so.

Ayo Turton Esq. is the National Legal Counsel to Egbe Omo Yoruba USA and Canada.