PART 1

Professor Chinua Achebe is arguably the best literary writer in foreign or more precisely English language that post-colonial Africa has produced. He is fearless, intelligent and able to speak truth to power in the most difficult circumstances. Those of us from the younger generation have in one way or the other been inspired by the intellectual prowess of Chinua Achebe. He has never failed to intervene in debates about the future of Nigeria. At a critical time in the history of Nigeria, particularly due to the key challenges that continue to raise the blood pressure of the country; namely the controversial result of the 2011 general elections, the so-called Boko Haram insurgency, and the general state of hopelessness and insecurity, ethnic and regional divisions that pervade the country. At a time things are falling apart for the country, Chinua Achebe intervened with the recent release of his memoirs; “There was a country: A personal history of Biafra”.

The review of the book by the Telegraph newspaper created a huge reaction. After reading through the debates, I had no intention then of making further comments especially after the series of articles that appeared in both Nigerian and other newspapers around the world. But then came an invitation from the Foreign Policy Centre in London asking me to serve as a panellist in a debate about the book at the British Parliament, the House of Commons, Westminster, and London. The centre organised the debate in collaboration with Africa Foundation for Development on Monday, December 10. The composition of the panel is itself partly a reflection of the diversity of Nigeria. The other three panellists were Donu Kogbara from the Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority, Dipo Salimonu, co-founder of Ateriba Limited, a financial consultancy firm in Lagos and London, and Onyekachi Wambu Director of Policy and Engagement at the Africa Foundation for Development. Without saying it, I believe the organisers wanted to ensure “federal character” in the composition of the panel, or may be call it “UK character” if such thing exists. Chi Onwurah, the UK Shadow Minister for Innovation, Science & Digital Infrastructure, chaired the event. The story of Chi Onwurah is equally relevant to this debate as her parents relocated to the UK as a result of the Biafran war.

The debate is actually not a review of the book. It is a discussion especially from Nigerians in diaspora about the wider issues that the book has addressed, and their implication for the future and stability of the country. It is therefore difficult to avoid making a review even if mildly. There Was a Country is a 333 pages book published by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books. The hardcopy is sold at £20 (approximately five thousand Naira, depending on the exchange rate).
The book is very provocative especially in a country like Nigeria where religion, ethnicity, and regionalism can easily raise the blood pressure of the country. In summary here are some of the contentious issues that Professor Chinua Achebe highlighted in the memoir One is that the premier of the defunct northern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, has a “limited political vision” (p.46). Chinua Achebe made this assertion in reference to the reason why Malam Aminu Kano decided to break away from the so-called northern establishment and join the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU).

Secondly, Achebe claimed Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa “who has been built into a great statesman by the Western world did nothing to save his country from impending chaos”. The writer continued by saying “the British made certain that on the eve of their departure that power went to that conservative element in the country that had played no real part in the struggle for independence” (p.51-52). Chinua Achebe suggested that the Igbos who drove the British out of Nigeria became scapegoats after the January 1966 coup. The book suggested that there was a deliberate conspiracy to promote the hatred of Igbo people. He added that “a lot of this hot-blooded anger was fanned by British intellectuals and some radical Northern elements in places like Ahmadu Bello University. They were aided by a few expatriate population from outside Nigeria, who easily influenced the most self-satisfied and docile Northern leadership to activate a weapon that has been used repeatedly in Nigeria’s short history-a fringe element known as “area boys” or the “rent crowd types”- to attack Igbo’s in an orgy of blood” (p.69).
One of the most provocative statements by Chinua Achebe, which has been quoted by almost every review of the book is his impression of the Hausa/Fulani and the Yoruba. On page 74 he stated that “unlike the Hausa/Fulani he was unhindered by a wary religion, and unlike the Yoruba he was unhampered by traditional hierarchies”. Achebe even made an attempt to exonerate Chukuma Kaduna Nzegwu and the rest of the plotters that killed Sir Ahmad Bello in carefully crafted approach, because to him, Nzegwu speaks Hausa fluently and dresses like people of the North (p.79). While Professor Achebe was more cautious in his choice of language in reference to the predominantly Igbo plotters of the January 15th 1966 coup, he described the mainly northern officers who staged the counter coup in July 1966 as “murderers”

http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/110598-chinua-achebe-a-biafran-in-nigerian-clothes-1-by-muhammad-jameel-yushau.html

PART2

Other issues discussed by Chinua Achebe in the book include the idea that fighting for Biafra was fighting for justice. The literary background of Chinua Achebe was also part of the book. He mentioned that writers like him were the first generation of Africans to introduce African literature to the world. Professor Achebe equally called for revisiting the Biafran war and requested that if the Rwandan and Darfur crises could be seen as genocide, then the first act of genocide in post colonial Africa should be the Biafran war.

Responding to all the issues that the literary icon raised will require writing another book, and the best people to do that are the veterans of the civil war many of whom are still alive. It is important to note that what made the book so prominent and controversial is not necessarily the provocative content, but the personality from whom it emanates. Some of the issues discussed require further reflection and should be taken seriously as part of our national discourse. But before outlining the important lessons in the book, and suggesting a way forward for our country, some of the issues raised by Chinua Achebe require some clarifications.

On the notion that Sardauna, the then premier of the Northern region lacked political vision; this claim either stemmed from lack of understanding of the vision of Ahmadu Bello or clear mischief. Sardauna clearly understood that for Nigeria to get political independence, the various regions of the country have to be able to compete as equals. Northern Nigeria was certainly not ready for independence before 1960. If paper qualification were the yardstick for managing a country, then not even Sardauna or Tafawa Balewa will be able to compete with the more intellectually accomplished PhD holders like Nnamdi Azikwe or successful lawyers like Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The key reason why the Sardaunas and the Tafawa Balewas were able to compete was because they were products of an already existing traditional political system that prepared them for the job. A system that unfortunately is crumbling before our eyes.

But the most important vision of Sardauna was his ability to unite the Northern region irrespective of ethnicity, faith or other differences. The fact that he was able to bring together the likes of Michael Audu Buba, Sunday Awoniyi within the politics of the region to work side by side with the Shehu Shagaris and the Maitama Sules without discrimination is an achievement that the whole of Nigeria should emulate today. If there is one thing that our country needs, it’s a political leader that can unite the people and treat them fairly without prejudice.

The allegation that Tafawa Balewa was built into a statesman by the West requires evidence from Professor Achebe. If speaking English like the native is the sin of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Professor Chinua Achebe can be described as the Williams Shakespeare of Sub-Saharan Africa; which one is more western than the other? Had Professor Chinua Achebe been writing in a language other than English, what are the chances of him becoming a global literary icon? Despite this allegation, Tafawa Balewa, just after receiving political independence continued to treat other world leaders as equals not as subordinates or superiors. I wondered if the current leadership of Nigeria will receive the kind of treatment Tafawa Balewa received from President Kennedy during his visit to the United States in the 1960s, yet throughout the visit, the body language of Tafawa Balewa was that of a leader that is confident and not ready to mortgage the independence of his country.

As for Northerners having a wary religion, and the Yorubas hampered by traditional hierarchy, well, our Yoruba brothers have written enough to counter that assertion, and not all our Igbo compatriots agree with Chinua Achebe. But one thing needs to be made clear on this misinformation by Chinua Achebe. The British did not bring a new civilisation to Northern Nigeria. They met a society that already has a political structure, with clear leadership, courts of law, security system and all the requirements of a modern state. The British had no option than to use that structure to rule the people through indirect rule. Chinua Achebe’s thesis was that the Igbo’s were on the path of becoming a great nation, and that is why other regions were envious of them especially the so-called Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba. No one can deny the fact that Igbos are very enterprising people, but I do not think the Yoruba’s are any different, otherwise ask Governor Babatunde Fashola, and the team of Yoruba people who are working hard to innovate ideas without relying on government handouts. Even the so-called Hausa\Fulani that have to make a catch up after political independence are no less enterprising. I am certain that Aliko Dangote is not from Mars or Jupiter. Here in the United Kingdom, most of the people from Northern Nigeria that I know are as enterprising as any serious community. They are pursuing their masters and PhDs in the most important disciplines you can think of. Many are accomplished medical consultants, engineers and computers scientists.

But we should be ready to acknowledge that as enterprising as some Yorubas or Igbos or Hausa can be, there are among them societal misfits who are ready to engage in 419, internet scams, and political hooliganism. Some of them could even have been part of the political leadership that failed our country, with or without the civil war.

To be concluded next week insha Allah.
Dr. Yusha’u (mjyushau@yahoo.com), a former staff of the BBC, teaches journalism at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, England. He is a weekly columnist for PREMIUM TIMES
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Secondly, Achebe claimed Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa “who has been built into a great statesman by the Western world did nothing to save his country from impending chaos”. The writer continued by saying “the British made certain that on the eve of their departure that power went to that conservative element in the country that had played no real part in the struggle for independence” (p.51-52). Chinua Achebe suggested that[b] the Igbos who drove the British out of Nigeria became scapegoats after the January 1966 coup.[/b] The book suggested that there was a deliberate conspiracy to promote the hatred of Igbo people. He added that “a lot of this hot-blooded anger was fanned by British intellectuals and some radical Northern elements in places like Ahmadu Bello University. T[b]hey were aided by a few expatriate population from outside Nigeria, who easily influenced the most self-satisfied and docile Northern leadership to activate a weapon that has been used repeatedly in Nigeria’s short history-a fringe element known as “area boys” or the “rent crowd types”- to attack Igbo’s in an Fun of blood” [/b](p.69).

alex_101: I stopped reading this junk of an article written by this brainless mallam the second he refered to Fashola as an enterprising governor,,, what an arrant nonsense!
The question I have for this writer and other brainless nigerians is: what is wrong for one to be a Biafran? Is being a nigerian better than being a Biafran as we speak? God created Igboland and endowed Ndigbo with a seperate culture from the hausa and yoruba, hence; we are different folks that should live in seperate countries.
I'm also a Biafran in nigerian clothing!

oyb: achebe, the 1000 year nnabros reich is dead. deal with it.

Gowon is the one who messed up - should have tried the biafra high command for treason and war crimes and had them all locked away. instead, and they are playing nazi remnants

oyb: achebe, the 1000 year nnabros reich is dead. deal with it.

Gowon is the one who messed up - should have tried the biafra high command for treason and war crimes and had them all locked away. instead he played nice guy no victor no vanquished , and so today they are playing nazi remnants and filling the heads of the next generation with propaganda and delusions

dayokanu: ^^ The Nazi spirit was broken through crushing defeat trial and death of the key Nazist.

The same thing should have been done to Biafra

ezeagu:

Gowon was following orders from Harold Wilson. It seems like it is most of you that are delusional to think that people don't already know about the starvation of women and children during the war. It's funny how these aboonga-boonga e-rioters were bragging about defeating Biafra with starvation and massacre only months ago, now their nyassh is in a knot because Chinua Achebe said the same thing? Regardless of a trial, there will forever be Biafran sentiment and Nigeria will never be one.

You failed to break a nations spirit, get over it.

dayokanu: Achebe on wheelchair

mamigocentral: Doing that would have raised all the minority tribes and the yoruba against the federal government of Gowon. Nigeria would in effect have ceased to exist.

Outright molestation, harassment and killing of non-Ibo civilians occurred on a daily basis. At night "suspected saboteurs" were fished out of their homes and arrested. The Hausa community in the Lagos street area of Benin and other parts of the state were targeted for particularly savage treatment, in part a reprisal for the pogroms of 1966, but also out of security concerns that they would naturally harbor sympathies for the regime in Lagos. But non-Hausas were just as badly treated. And as the hostility of the local population became more intense, so did the degree of indiscrete brutality for "internal security". Non-Ibo alumni of St. Patrick's College, Asaba and Government College, Ughelli, found to their chagrin that old school ties meant nothing in the new dispensation (17



In addition to the scourge and humiliation of the occupation itself, fleeing Biafran soldiers carried out all kinds of unspeakable acts of brutality against the local population (17, 18). At the Urhonigbe Rubber Plantation, for example, hundreds of Midwesterners were summarily shot by regular and militia units which had already blazed a 'scorched-earth' trail of terror through Benin-West division (14)

gbanikiti: You standing on your 2 legs, are you better than him? The man is a hero! You better start getting used to it.

dayokanu:

The others tribes were being too magnanimous thats why the Biafrans were not fully crushed, You can imagine if it was Biafra that won the war what would have happened.

Biafra conquered Midwest for few days and the Bendelites had a taste of it. it was full oppresion below is what Nowa Omoigui wrote

ezeagu:

Gowon was following orders from Harold Wilson. It seems like it is most of you that are delusional to think that people don't already know about the starvation of women and children during the war. It's funny how these aboonga-boonga e-rioters were bragging about defeating Biafra with starvation and massacre only months ago, now their nyassh is in a knot because Chinua Achebe said the same thing? Regardless of a trial, there will forever be Biafran sentiment and Nigeria will never be one.

You failed to break a nations spirit, get over it.