lastpage:

Let me just add a few lines to the 'highlighted' above:

My Igbo brothers might not like it but it is obvious that this "self-restraint" cum wisdom and clarity of "objective" is what the Igbos tag as "Cowardice" in the Yoruba!

The Yorubas could have gone to war over "June 12" but credit to them for knowing when to explore "other methods" to achieve the same objective, rather than go to war. War is not only expensive, it is brutal! Of course, the Igbos deride them as cowards, for not going to war!

We know who is the "coward" now, going by historical data (who lost a senseless war, at great expense, who is begging to produce a President, e.t.c)

The Igbos have a streak of "Gra-Gra" in them and seems to think that "physical Muscle-flexing" is the solution to all issues.
An Igbo man will quickly challenge you to a duel, not minding the outcome of such rash decision making. If and when thoroughly thrashed, he turns around to seek sympathy and blame everyone around for his failure ....least himself!

That same "gra-gra" was exhibited by Ojukwu, when he, as a "Military General", led his race to slaughter! he could have exhibited some wisdom (he stooped to conquer) and wait for the "right time" when all the 'chips are in his hand' but like anyone who swings a blow first, before thinking, those who use their brains out-foxed him in military maneuvers!

And his descendants are here whining on why we need to apologize to them, for his foolishness!

Its called "A War" and both side lost people! "The battle of Oore" saw to the death of many Yorubas, right? Why did Ojukwu not just defend his Biafra and not try "conquering" a Southern territory? ......and You expect a "Southern Icon" like Awolowo (someone credited with astute acumen!) to fold his hands and watch Ojukwu overrun his territory?
Get real please, that is not "hatred"; That is a "survival instinct and a necessity"!

In war, "all is fair", as they say.

People have pointed out severally that per-chance, if it was Awolowo that undid the "gra-gra" of the Igbos in the 60's, at least in the last 13-14years of democratic dispensation (not to mention the second Republic), the Igbos have been ruling themselves in the Eastern part of Nigeria yet, that part of Nigeria is the least developed till today?

Is Awolowo also responsible for you people's inability to manage your wealth and environment? Is Awolowo also to be held responsible for you people rushing to invest in your "enemy's territory"?
Or could it be that it is the same "wisdom and calmness of spirit" exhibited by your "coward brothers!(lol)" that is so welcoming, you cannot resist it!

Human nature cannot be easily changed but the Igbos must recognize that their "aggressive nature and unbridled greed/selfishness" is and will always be responsible for their downfall.

Even the Bible advices man to be "quick to listen but slow to act; be slow to anger".

A wise man will listen to criticisms (assuming he is too proud to look in the mirror!).... and make changes or adjust himself.

A self-conceited and arrogant fool will wallow in self delusion of grandeur (we are better than everyone else!) while pointing fingers at others, for his failures ....this is the quagmire of the Igbos, (metaphorically speaking).
The earlier they recognize it, the better and quicker they would start achieving their latent potentials.
Its a very 'thin line' between 'courage and arrogance'.

Lastpage!

demmy:

“Self-pity is easily the most destructive of the nonpharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.” --- John W. Gardner

Civil War Genocide Allegation: I’m ready for ICC trial, says Gowon
Posted by: Our Reporter Posted date: October 28, 2012 In: Featured, News | comment : 40

• ‘Awo and I have no regrets
• Says Achebe is ignorant

Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, told critics yesterday that he is ready to face trial anywhere over allegation that he and Federal Government under him starved millions of Igbo to death during the Civil War.

He said Professor Chinua Achebe whose latest book ‘There was a country’, triggered the current frenzy over who played what role during the war, wrote out of ignorance.

“It was the Igbos that objected to the creation of corridor for movements of medical aid and food supplies to the civilian population at the period and on this I am ready to face the International Criminal Court of Justice at the Hague for prosecution over roles played by me when the war ended,” he told journalists in Minna, Niger State after a courtesy call on Governor Babangida Aliyu.

“Fortunately, some Nigerians are still alive to bear witness to the roles played by both the leadership of the secessionist group and the then Federal Military government under my leadership.”

Gen. Gowon who was in Minna for a two day prayer session organised by Nigeria Prays, said the secessionist leaders, more than anyone else, caused the massive deaths recorded in the defunct Biafra. He said contrary to allegations his government had no war policy to starve anyone to death.

The high death toll in Biafra, according to him, was caused by their own propaganda machinery which claimed that the ‘Northern invaders’ were coming to their camps and that caused panic and pandemonium among their people because some people were trying to move from one location to the other out of fear of imaginary attacks by the so called northern invaders and without foods.

“In fact, if there was no secession by the South Eastern part of the country, there would have been no civil war because right from the beginning of the crises the war would have been averted if not for the secession. It was something I believed we could have stopped,” General Gowon said.

He cited an attempt by the secessionists to smuggle in arms in a ship named “Josina”. He said when the ship which they had claimed was carrying Agricultural Implements was captured by the Federal Troops and was subjected to a thorough search it was arms and ammunition that were found in it.

He said he and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo have no regret whatsoever for playing the roles they played in the war.

On Achebe, he said: “What role did Achebe play in the secessionist plans? Achebe must have been outside the country during the war and probably did not know what happened at the period otherwise he would not have written on what he was not sure of.”

Achebe in his book had said: “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 Igbo 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.”

c.fours:
Things fall apart indeed!!

alj harem:

I guessed you have not met Hausas before. Yes some are bad ( I had a bad experience once) but just like other groups we have good ones and bad ones. In fact the only reason why yorubas and Igbos fight on nairaland is because YORUBAS WOULD NOT QUIET DOWN and let Igbos rubbish other Nigerians especially us Yorubas.

If you would like to be rubbished and treated like second class citizen in your area because of the mouth making lies these so called Igbo intellectuals are feeding you then fine. Good luck but not me and my people.

There is no sphere of life yoruba, hausa and igbo are better than each other. We just allow propaganda to be fed to us

Dalu uzor: what an old man sees sitting down, u can never see it, even when u climb d iroko tree. None of us fighting here saw d 60's or 70's so pls, let sleeping dogs lie.
Prof Achebe saw d 60's, and he is narrating his own views. I dont really think its everything we should react to, hauling abuses at him doesnt change what he has said.
We as individuals and learned people, we learn from past mistakes and move on. Saying that a tribe is inferior to the other does not make us less of what we are. Most people are confessing their hatred for the igbos, but they must av in one way or the other benefitted form them or done businesses with them. I do not hate any tribe, i take them the way they take me.
Pls, that few persons from a tribe is bad does not imply that the whole tribe is bad. Lets be rational and show love to one another.

alj harem: one would agree with me that this man is an IDEEEEIOT. Take it or leave it

I usually don't insult icons but this achebe of a man is a big mumu. Ideeiot

MAYOWAAK: Achebe lived through the times, suffered career and personal loses. We can say he’s even lucky to survive. What he did here was write a private memoir. A memoir is not necessarily a work of inviolable truth. It is one man’s recollection and opinion which most times is coloured by his own emotions. I accept it as another account by another notable Nigerian and choose not to make a judgment. Some of us have read Awolowo’s own defence of some of those charges. And just like Achebe’s, I’ve accepted such as his own account of the time.

However, outside individual accounts, I can perfectly make up my mind about what I think happened during the war. Having ploughed through countless historical documents and accounts, I have concluded that it was caused by the immaturity, political inexperience, over-ambition and the lack of patriotism of the military class that took over from the civilians of the First Republic. Every crime committed by one side was equally committed by the other during the war. There are dozens of officers on both sides I would gladly arraign for genocide.

As for such civilian operatives as Awolowo, I really have nothing against them as far as they acted in support of their side by providing ideas that won them the war. That is okay. No matter what anyone believes about Awolowo and the idea to starve Biafra, it’s not anything covered under international law. He was not a military commander. He was an economic planner who had to determine how to use the resources of the state to prosecute a war successfully. If he were a Biafran who used his intellect and management acumen to win the war for Biafra, no one on the Igbo side would have anything bad to say about him. He did what he needed to do as a member of the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria at the time. It has nothing to do with him wanting to belong or wanting to be President, because, no matter what anyone says, that is mere speculation. Awolowo had never hidden his political desire to be Prime Minister or President neither did Zik. It would be churlish to accuse Zik of crossing to the Federal side because he wanted to belong or be President and so on. We are talking a war here and everyone with influence did their bit to avoid it to no avail. Even Awolowo was the only national leader that went to Enugu to see Ojukwu with the aim of averting the war. People should simply accept the reality of the day. Awolowo could have been a Fulani or Hausa General or political leader. He had a side in the war and provided ideas to win that war. To single him out as some demon is to miss the historical reality of the times. The problem as I see it is people getting bogged down in emotional and personal minutiae to the detriment of the issue as a national affair.

So, for me, people should respect what Achebe has done by recalling his own experience in his own way and expressing his opinion of personalities of the time along the line. It is immaterial that he criticizes Awolowo or that he has a view about why Awolowo did this or that. After all, he expresses not so charitable views too about Gowon and Ojukwu as well. We can disagree with his opinion of Awolowo and anybody without turning it into some kind of ethnic war. We can do so without questioning his motive or attributing it to ethnic reasons. Achebe has paid his dues and has shown over the years that he is not beholden to ethnicity. Yes, he didn’t say what he said about Awolowo only because he is Igbo, but also because that is the way he honestly saw it. Of course, he and Awolowo fought on opposite sides and that may have played into his recollection, but that is not exactly disqualifying. An account is just an account. It need not be accepted as the full fact, but should be welcomed as another great addition to Civil War literature. Unfortunately, Awolowo is not alive to defend himself, but he has responded enough to the type of criticism Achebe is putting forward and any good student of history should read all accounts in the context of others. This has just presented the ethnic jingoists on both sides an opportunity to jump and shout, but the two great personalities would not have seen anything ethnic in their criticism or defence respectively.

Eko Ile:


The man said his ibo people are better and superior than the rest of Nigeria. Who makes such ignorant statements? Bigots and hate mongers...


Look all over achebe's ibo land and tell me what's so superior especially in a place where his own people don't even want to call home hence migrating out to other people's land for survival, the same other people achebe labelled less superior. If you are more superior than me , I should be the one at your feet looking for food and not the other way around.

The old man mustabeen smoking some bad stuff when he wrote that book..

Eko Ile:


The man said his ibo people are better and superior than the rest of Nigeria. Who makes such ignorant statements? Bigots and hate mongers...


Look all over achebe's ibo land and tell me what's so superior especially in a place where his own people don't even want to call home hence migrating out to other people's land for survival, the same other people achebe labelled less superior. If you are more superior than me , I should be the one at your feet looking for food and not the other way around.

The old man mustabeen smoking some bad stuff when he wrote that book..

Onlytruth:

WHY ARE YOU STILL MARRIED TO AN IGBO MAN, since we are the worst humans on earth.

You moronic "Naijerians" are just pathetic and lack shame.

[size=16pt]How can you hate what you cannot live without?[/size]

What type of animals are you?

Chineke ekwena ife ojoo!

alj harem: one would agree with me that this man is an IDEEEEIOT. Take it or leave it

I usually don't insult icons but this achebe of a man is a big mumu. Ideeiot

ekt_bear: Interesting.

So if a relatively refined person like Chinua Achebe can openly display this superiority complex, what of less refined individuals?

And if this attitude is common within the ethnic group, I guess it is easy to see why they are hated in Nigeria and elsewhere.

gst101: thanks to the yoruba people on this forum, the igbos cant ride people in this site. If not for the yoruba, the igbos here for dey insult people with impunity especially as we in the north are sadly less internet oriented thus are under represented here.

Keep it up yoruba!

okosodo:
@ alj harem, you dont need a prophet to tell you that hausa is dominating for example 9 out of 10 directors of nnpc are hausa, 78% of nigerian army are hausa. I have facts , you can also check online

nwabobo:
Though what Achebe said is the truth, some things are better not said especially by an elder statesman like him. Even since the advent of democracyin 1999, every sane Nigerian will agree that most of the ministries and parastatals that have performed creditably are those under Igbo leadership especially our women. It's not out of place to say that until Nigeria acknowledges the potentials of an Igbo led leadership and tap into such, the country shall continue to grope in the dark.

UsamabinYamiri:



If it is not comparable to America/Afghanistan
I wonder if the Nigerians that were victorious in battle can show us what concrete things the FGN did to rehabilitate
the victims of the Nigerian civil war. We have heard of the Marshall Plan etc after WW II in other climes
Abi is it just to come on nairaland and speak without reason.