Eziachi:
I think you guys should leave this for posterity now. Both men are death and the problem they faced has since mulitiplied today. What are we going to do about it? Biafrans still believe, separation is the answer, I don't know what the West exactly believes in. I can understand the stances of both men under the circumstances they found themselves. Awo was much older and experienced than Ikemba, who was under 30 at the time and you can tell from their both use of words. Emekas has been placed under what many won't face in their life time in a twinkle of an eye. Thousands of his people had been massacred including my dear uncle, his pregnant wife and two children. Emeka was under severe pressure from all sides to do the right thing, but its difficult to do the right thing with dead bodies of your kins all around you.

Awo has just been released from prison, his land is surrounded by people who will kill without any qualms, he has seen how Fajuyi was killed in their backyard and nothing happened. No matter how brave you are, no man want to die when it comes to it. He calculated that his people will be the first target if there is a war between the north and the south because of geographical location. Whether Ojukwu understood this genuine fear, I don't know.
B[b]ut what bugged many of us was the ferocity of which the West pursued the war against the East when it started,even more than the enemies (north) themselves. It doesn't make any sense. But what happens now is what is more important. Why do the West hate the word Biafra more than the north in 2013?

Eziachi:
You may beg to differ, but The comments from your brothers/sisters on this thread and others in regards to Biafra or East agenda doesn't support your stance on an imaginary enemy, unfortunately.

Eziachi:
We can see how much of flexibility you showed after June 12 1993. How much flexibility did you showed after Abiola and his wife were murdered? You were threatened to scatter Nigeria, started Radio Kudirat, shipping arms to Benin republic, starting to train guerilla forces in Togo, just because of a man and his wife was killed and election won was denied?
But you turned around and ask flexibility from someone whose thousands of brothers and sisters had been murdered and still being hunted? It shows how insincere many of you are.

debetmx: [/b] The first three paragraph tells you are very intelligent while the last paragragh shows the kind of poo the ibos have been fed and the quality of advice ojukwu received from people like achebe in biafra. So Yoruba officers like Obasanjo and Benjamin Adekunle should abandon their duty post because of ojukwu's intransigence and ambition.Rubbish. Awolowo never hated the ibos. Cowards like Ojukwu and Emmanuel Ifeajuna were their worst enemies. Startings war and coup and running into exile

kunlekunle:


did you realise the war ended just after the 6th month, before biafra started the propangada campaign.
Ojukwu dragged aid supplies meeting for 6mths and waiting for the rest of the world for mercy favour and support.
he had sold the whole of the east to a french financial institution, he was ecpecting the aid agencies to pay so he could buy arms. his war propaganda were the biafran kids he starved to show the world.

i think he should be exhumed and charged

superior1:

I hope you will understand my people wanting to protect their interest and playing the politics to that effect. I ask you, what of the Easterners?, can you say with all honesty that your people and leaders are committed to the Biafra agenda?, havent your people start playing and romancing the center now and only shout Biafra!!! when the going isnt so sweet?, why then do you keep seeing us in your shadows?.

koruji: You still don't get it. A non-negotiated secession is the same as a declaration of war.

From: The Military Governor,

Republic of Biafra Enugu,



22nd August, 1967.



My dear Victor,



1. For some time now, you and I have been discussing the circumstances that have led to the current and inevitable disintegration of what was the Federation of Nigeria. We have been fully convinced that the aim of the Hausa/Fulani complex has ever been, and will ever remain, the total domination of every other part of what was known as the Federation of Nigeria. It is impossible to forget that the crisis which led to the army take over in January 1966, the coup of the Northern soldiers led by Gowon in July 1966, the wholesale and indiscriminate massacre of the people of what is now Biafra- and, to a less degree, the people of the Mid-West and West, including the Yorubas, were all the direct result of Hausa/Fulani attempt to subjugate and use as tools, the gallant people of Western Nigeria namely the Yorubas. We do not need to remind ourselves of the heavy losses in life and property suffered by the Yoruba people in their fight for justice and freedom during 1965.



2. Sharing.our belief that the people of Yorubaland have a right to live a life of equality and self-respect and justice free of domination and dictatorship from any quarter, you have both identified with the cause of the Biafra struggle for survival and expressed your determination to see the people of Yorubaland freed from Hausa/Fulani domination.

We, the people of Biafra, for our part are willing and have decided to give you and the people of Yorubaland every assistance to achieve your aim.



3. After clearing the whole question with my Executive Council, I, as the Commander in Chief of the Biafran Armed Forces, have decided to place at your disposal Biafran forces, for the liberation of

Yorubaland on the following clear conditions:-



(i) You will have nothing to do with the Military Administrator in the Mid-West Territory during your sojourn there prior to your move to the West.

(ii) The willingness and preparedness of Biafra to assist any part of the former Federation of Nigeria wishing and willing to liberate itself from the Hausa/Fulani domination, does not in anyway whatever

imply any inclination on her part to compromise her sovereignty or preserve what remains of the defunct Federation of Nigeria. In other words, our sovereignty and break with Nigeria is irrevocable. Nothing must, therefore be said or done by you or any member of the Liberation Army to give a contrary impression.

(iii) Biafra is determined to maintain and safeguard her sovereignty and ensure that her integrity and safety are never again threatened.

(iv) Biafran troops will, after the liberation of the Yorubaland, remain in that territory only for as long as we in Biafra consider it necessary for the Yorubas to consolidate their position and sovereignty against any external threat.

(v) On the liberation of the Yorubaland, you will be appointed as the Military Governor of that territory.

(vi) The liberation of Western Nigeria will be a prelude to the liberation of all Yorubas up to the River Niger and the severance of all connections between the West and the North at Jebba.

[size=14pt](vii) During the period of Biafrans troops’ presence in your territory, all political measures, statements or decrees shall be subject to the approval, in writing by myself or on my authority.

(viii) Should our troops arrive and liberate Lagos, the government of the Republic of Biafra reserves the right to appoint a Military administrator for the territory. Such an Administrator will remain in office until a merger of that territory with Yorubaland is effected by Biafran troops.

(ix) As soon as possible after your appointment as the Military Governor of Western Nigeria and separation of that territory from Nigeria, you and I must meet to discuss:
[/size]
(a) the duration of stay of Biafran troops in your territory;

(b) the areas and subjects of cooperation between the liberated sovereign states of Western Nigeria, or by what name it may call itself, and Biafra.



4. I do not need to remind you that Biafra regards all Yoruba as friends. As such everything should be done, to ensure the minimum force and loss of life are involved in achieving the objective of liberation.



5. It is essential, in order to avoid misunderstanding or confusion, that all subsequent requests for support be formally made to me by you in writing.



6. Will you please signify in writing, your acceptance of the above conditions so that you may leave for Western Nigeria and lead the army of liberation.





Yours very sincerely,



signed Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu,

Eziachi:
The answer is "yes" Biafran people are committed to full independent of Biafra as a nation,if you doubt it, then conduct a referendum. I don't know what you meant by leaders. If you meant Igbo born political office holders of Nigeria, then think again. They are not our leaders. They are investors and shareholders in corporation called Nigeria. They must protect their vested interest and daily dividend, especially in glare of the public.
The first time you will see our leaders, you will have no doubt.

dayokanu: The ferocity with which the West pursued the war was borne out of the way Ojukwu and Biafra conducted themselves in the opening months of the war.

Initially many in the West believed it was a war between the North and the East and they would stay neutral. But that neutrality went away the moment Biafra forces invaded the Midwest and aggressed the West

superior1:

Eziachi,can you explain the underline better, so who are the Igbo Leaders, MASSOB or people like you who have spent their productive life in Obodo Oyinbo?

Eziachi:
Lets assume we accepted your explanation about Ore and Mid West.
Then when you liberated Ore, what were you still fighting for?
How did you manage to get to the East? Jumping over mid West or your turn to invade mid West in order to get to the East?

Eziachi:

If troops in Ore was such a sacrilege, why didn't the northern troops in Lagos, such a bad thing? Based on what we read here, Awo was scared and worried about northern troops on your land and therefore was treading carefully not to upset them and therefore made no attempt to fight them off your land but you suddenly grow some muscle when Biafra came to Ore.
It cannot be just troops in Ore, because you liberated Ore and still carried on.
Neither did you tell Biafrans your qualms was them being in Ore and you don't want to get involve.

Eziachi:
Lets assume we accepted your explanation about Ore and Mid West.
Then when you liberated Ore, what were you still fighting for?
How did you manage to get to the East? Jumping over mid West or your turn to invade mid West in order to get to the East?

Common sense dictate that this constant use of invasion of Ore doesn't make sense, because few months before that your leader was in Enugu, on the phone, sending representatives calling for Southern United front and few months later he joined forces with the enemy to fight a part of the same south. It doesn't add up. Awo claimed that he also had issues with the north, but this issue wasn't bad enough to fight them.

If troops in Ore was such a sacrilege, why didn't the northern troops in Lagos, such a bad thing? Based on what we read here, Awo was scared and worried about northern troops on your land and therefore was treading carefully not to upset them and therefore made no attempt to fight them off your land but you suddenly grow some muscle when Biafra came to Ore.
It cannot be just troops in Ore, because you liberated Ore and still carried on.
Neither did you tell Biafrans your qualms was them being in Ore and you don't want to get involve.

You are scared of the north even with their troops amassed on your territory, therefore did nothing, but saw the East as defeatable if you're paired with the north irrespective of how it looks.

Because months earlier, you said you have issue with the north too, trying to fudge a partnership with the East.
When was your issue with the north resolved for you to have made such a u-turn and become partners in a war against your own brothers?
There must be another reason and that is what we want to know, because your actions defies logic.

Eziachi:
Whoever is our leader should be non of your concern and like I said, we knew our leaders. Any group that doesn't know their leaders are like a tree without roots.
As for me, you knew nothing about me to make such authoritative statement about my productive life. I am a member of all my age groups, Town Unions, pay my annual town levies, attend all development effort meetings that needed attending.
You knew nothing about Igboland, if you do you must have known that there are organs like MASSOB that came into existence before it. While the tactics and method may varies, the goals are all the same.

Eziachi:
This is my point, what has your lecture to me as to when the war ended got to do with the resultant Nigeria of 2013? Nothing. You are busy educating me on an event I participated in, when your existence as a human being was nil. Even almost 50 years after, I don't think some like you had even left their villages and cross the River Niger bridge ever.

geeez:
[b]Obviously Awolowo was a brilliant politician with all the tact required to lead a bloodless revolution which Oju Iku failed to see. How can you, for the love of Christ, start a battle you so badly lack the capabilities to sustain?

Oju Iku demonstrated cowardice by fearing to meet in the west and despite being a military officer, he failed to understand the art of war. I wonder how someone will call an Awolowo who requested that his security be withdrawn, a coward. Didn't Oju Iku himself flee, dispossessing innocent women and children of their planned flight to safety? That is cowardice at its worst - running from a battle you initiated and taking advantage of the weak

And let it be clear to all you ranting folks, that the Yorubas have never been and never will be subservient to the north. The Yoruba is the only nation in Nigeria with a distinct identity, the only region that has been vocal and bold even in the face of imprisonment and death in modern Nigeria, the only race that has proved that it cannot and will not stand a day of mediocrity in governance, the only people with a clearly defined ideology of what they want from a united or divided Nigeria irrespective of their religious differences.

Obviously a united south will be place in a better position to deal with the north but what Oju Iku failed to realize is that wars are not won on the battlefields but in meeting rooms. [/b]

Ikengawo:
The war had already started by the time Ojukwu declared

60,000 igbos had already been killed when and while Awolowo was telling Ojukwu to wait.
I think ignorance and under-education of the situation is the reason many yoruba has such ridiculous opinions about the biafra situation.
Forget your biases, and study the situation. Ojukwu responded to pogroms against his people and declared biafra as a boarder to announce once Igbos cross that land, they're free, protected and sovereign.

Unless yoruba people are truly stupid people that are given more credit than they deserve. Even today nigerians are being killed en masse for no reason because of the north, and now in the West. Stop acting like this is an igbo-v. yoruba war. It was a common sense v. cowardice war and the yoruba chose the cowards route of dying slowing subservient because they feared dying suddenly sovereign.

Biafra wasn't an igbo nation. It was a christian nation. Every single Christian tribe in Nigeria supported Biafra in the south and were in it except the Yoruba. Allowing a land locked north to blockade christian southerners by sea because of your confusion and cowardice. The end result was what? They ruled you into the modern era and you're now less politically relevant than before.



Yoruba people made a mistake and still down have the courage to own up to it. They sided with genocide and are now surprised to be called genocidal cowards. History has judged Awolowo and this is why he has died forgotten. When Ojukwu died the heads of states across the world and the brightest minds in yoruba land came to show respects. When Awolowo died he was buried and nothing can be pointed to as a single legacy because cowards that fear death are the only people that ever really die. Everyone else is immortalized for posterity.

Olaolufred:
.

It is an unfortunate war.
However, the young man with all youthful exuberances who bullied the older folks like achebe into an unplanned war remained their hero.
While they live their deliverance in the hand of others.(At least they thought Yoruba would have co-operated with them not on mutual term but on theirs).
Every man has a right to his decision but you can not force others to go your own way.
However, the young officer discarded the voice of reason only to come back later saying it is someone else.
Bible said, who is the man who wants to build a house, who would not first take account of its cost?
Even catholics knows this story, not to mention the pentecostals.

dayokanu:
The ferocity with which the West pursued the war was borne out of the way Ojukwu and Biafra conducted themselves in the opening months of the war.

Initially many in the West believed it was a war between the North and the East and they would stay neutral. But that neutrality went away the moment Biafra forces invaded the Midwest and aggressed the West

The conduct of Biafra forces in the Midwest was something that no one would want to happen in their homeland

Every civil war commentator would know the Battle of Ore was the turning point where a concerted effort by the Other Southerners against Biafra began

No Westerner would fold their arms while they turned his homeland into a war theatre. What Enahoro and Ogbemudia saw happen in their homeland Awolowo, Obasanjo and Adekunle wouldnt

If Biafran forces have gone up North and attacked the North The West wouldnt have cared At least Gowons homeland of Jos was closer to Biafra than the SouthWest. Attack Plateau and Go towards Kaduna Not attack the West

The appointment of a SE administrator over the Mid west was a problem and when the Letter from Ojukwu to Banjo was also another insight into what awaits us

Tell me what would be the reaction of Biafrans if that letter was the other way round from SW to the SE. I am certain no one would not attack back