Victor Banjo - Every true leader has nothing to do with a Sabatuer in time of war. Ojukwu acted as a true leader to save his people from these sabatuers (Banjo, Ifeajuna etc) who were leading innocent and brave young Biafran soldiers to war fronts to get them killed. That was why Banjo was killed and no other reason.

Banjo was using Biafra to win favour from the Federal Government led by Gowon. This he did by making sure that Federal troops were fed with enough information to deal with Biafran Soldiers. Awolowo starvation strategy was no different. He was second Awolowo. Let us stop blaming Ojukwu.

supereagle:

@PLC
Ojukwu caused Indigbo to lose that War. He killed the brave men so that they would not topple him. His judgement day is coming.

Justcash:

The answers to this Topic has been about Igbos , hausas, Yorubas against themselves, and Some one will wake up in the Morning to tell me that Nigeria will ever be one? [b]When Northerners and westerners are rejoicing about committing a genocide, based on certain perceptions and Igbos are seen as rebels rather than victims.
This is an evidence that no real change can ever come to Nigeria untill the truth is said.

One of the most productive tribes in Nigeria is being laughed at for being victims, how do you expect any meaningful contribution from them?

@Poster: Is the answer to your question not simple? What is the implication of sabortaging a serious military operation? Is it not death? How did they get to Ore if they were not strong enough?[/b]

Azuka.O:

The military was not in govt between 1960 and Jan 1966, so I don't know why u brought this up. The casualties of the first coup were mainly civilian rulers because it was a civilian govt. The casualties of the 2nd coup were mainly military rulers because the military was in power. So pls let's not argue on technicalities, since this is not a law court.

You said: "It is typical that retaliations are worse than the initial attack. The north tried to make sure that there would no reprisals from the igbos.".  That is why I said you were trying to justify the senseles and systematic murder of innocent Igbo civilians, an attempt to eliminate an entire race. As I said, pray such fate does not befall you in future.

I said that the killing of non-Igbo leaders in the Jan 1966 coup was not good at all. But the North retaliated in July by killing the head of state (Igbo) and other Igbos in govt. That was not enough. The murderous gang went after helpless children, women and men and sought to wipe out a race and you tell me that you know where the North is coming from on that. Tufia! I will never support evil.

Dimka from the Middle-Belt killed Murtala Mohammed in the 1976 coup. Why didn't the North go from house to house to wipe out the Middle-Belters? Orkar/Ogboru carved out the North from Nigeria and attempted to kill Babangida in the 1990 coup, why didn't the North retaliate by wiping out the Middle-Belt and Bendel (there was no Delta then) people?

When a Danish cartoonist made a caricature of Prophet Mohammed, what was the connection with the killing of Igbos in the North? Did Igbos descend from Denmark? Or was the mother of the cartoonist an Igbo woman?

For several decades the Igbos have been targetted for elimination in the North for no just cause. Today it is happening to the Jos people. Tomorrow it may happen to you. What I expect from people like you who have the advantage of going to school and seeing the light is to condemn any act of injustice wherever you see it. When Abiola was denied his mandate, I shouted in my corner and through the media that it was an injustice. When Obasanjo wanted to mess up his VP Atiku, I shouted that it was wrong and unjust. When Ribadu was treated like a common thief by Yar'Adua, I shouted too. When Jos children and women were murdered some weeks ago, I shouted; I was horrified, even though the Jos people participated in the killing of Igbos in 1966/67. It does not matter if the victim is your enemy; once you see injustice anywhere, condemn it in its entirely. Few guys like Soyinka raised their voices and wanted the ugly descent into anarchy to stop but were imprisoned.

The mass murder of Igbos in the North in their thousands was the main reason Igbos felt they were not wanted in Nigeria. And Igbos also felt very disappointed that other Nigerians (from the West, Mid-West and present-day South-South) kept quiet and even tacitly gave their support while they were being eliminated by Northerners. 40 years after that ugly incident, the least any right-thinking person can do is to acknowledge that the massacre of Igbo civilians in 1966/67 was completely and inexcusably wrong and unwarranted. There should be no iota of justification for that senseless act whatsoever.

Onlytruth:

@ Azuka.O

You sound new to nairaland. Believe me we've been through this same issue multiple times here and the same folks from the west always justified the killing of innocent Igbo children both in the pogrom and the civil war itself.

Because they lack real rationale for their support of the evil acts, they always sound like a broken record (by implication): Igbos killed northerners and others first (at my count, about 12 politicians), therefore one dead corrupt politician from the north and west is equal to 5000 dead Igbo civilians and children, leading to 50,000 dead Igbo.
In their warped mindset, Igbo had to be dealt with enough for them not to retaliate! Do these people understand anything about human mind at all? 

To be honest, I think the Hausa is more understanding and sophisticated than the Yoruba on this issue. They know that there can never be peace in Nigeria until the Igbo is assuaged. Guess who tried most to marginalize the Igbo in the political leadership and standing in Nigeria? It wasn't a northerner. It was Obasanjo! Under him, Ndigbo could only be the deputy senate president. I believe the Yoruba is the main enemy politically speaking in Nigeria. So don't be shocked by views from people like Biina and his  kid brother called bk/babe97 whose Igbo father fled after impregnating his mother, so now he lives to hate Igbo people.

Nigeria is such a funny country! Mind you, same people are today calling for "revolution", "restructuring", "true federalism", "national conference" and all other similar terms .
I cannot laugh again.

superboi:

While i hate commenting on all this tribal treads and think that anybody asking for a fair war is c, razy,I think what ignited the killing in the north in 1966 was the song the Igbos were singing after the 1st coup(something about a slaugthered cow/ram crying meei-meei,(refering to the hausa)sang in igbo)in the north,i bet if the suituation was reversed and the hausas did the 1st coup and sang similar songs in Aba or Onitsha and they were 100,000 hausa men there the same thing(pogrom,massacre,genocide or watever u call it)would have taken place in the east knowing the way the world was in 1966.

biina:


deputy senate president? typical lies and trying to rewrite history.
So where were Enwerem and Okadigbo from and why were they removed?
Its people like you that hold Nigeria back with your tribalism

Onlytruth:

The Senate presidency controlled by Igbo in the 1999-2003 dispensation was actually negotiated by the northern controlled government of Adulsalami Abubakar and was the same arrangement that produced Obasanjo. So don't credit that to Obasanjo!
As soon as Obasanjo took over, he started killing people all over the country (including Bola Ige from the same west), and did everything he could to undermine the Chuba Okadigbo's leadership of the Senate. As soon as Obasanjo settled in, he launched a war against Igbo leadership of the Senate and anyone who stood against him was neutralized.
When he "won" (actually stole it ) a re-election in 2003, he continued. When he was severally called out by the Igbo, he played a "God father" on Igbo by ensuring Igbo was completely schemed out in the new government of Yar adua.
You guys must think Igbo people are blind to these things. I'm glad that it was an Igbo Senate president -Ken Nnamani that killed Obasanjo's third (and life term) project. That muderfkcer will meet his waterloo soon.

biina:

You didnt answer the question of why they were removed?
what about ken Nnamani, how did he become senate president under Obasanjos watch?

Obasanjo must dislike Igbos so much that he made Soludo CBN governor and iweala minister of finance

biina:

You didnt answer the question of why they were removed?
what about ken Nnamani, how did he become senate president under Obasanjos watch?
Obasanjo must dislike Igbos so much that he made Soludo CBN governor and iweala minister of finance

Onlytruth:

Anyway, for the records, I don't bend facts. What I don't accept is marchiavellianism. If Gowon stopped the killings in the north (after the third wave of massacre against Igbos), the conflict could never have reached the civil war stage. There was a lot of restraint by eastern leadership then. The lie is that Ojukwu simply rushed off and declared Biafra after Gowon took over. There were series of events that preceded Biafra. The liars are those who discount those events.

biina:

You bend facts and misrepresent the truth when you make it seem like if the Northerners woke up one morning, smacked their behinds, and decided to go on a killing spree of the 'innocent' Igbos. There were preceding events in which the Igbos were not innocent.

Onlytruth:

I have some questions for you on that: Was that the first time northerners embarked on a killing spree of Igbos in the north? Was 1966 even the third time?
And after 1966 has there not been countless killing of Igbos in the north?

When you have answered these questions, the lying party here becomes obvious! 

biina:

If you have evidence to the contrary please share
You can start with 1953 riots (or 1945 if you want to go further back)

Onlytruth:

You expect me to answer that when you refused to answer my question? I am not your teacher. If you don't know the answer to that then why are you here arguing?

biina:

Seems you struggle with English comprehension. I have already given my answer in the previous post.

Onlytruth:

Yea, I understand Igbo better. 
Was 1966 the first time Igbo were killed in the north?

Back to school.

olafolarin:

After the January 15 Coup there was widespread PROVOCATION by Igbo-speaking southerners in the North:



While all of this was going on, complaints about "Igbo provocations", were increasing. Northerners filed reports about parties being called by their Igbo colleagues to celebrate what they called the "January Victory". Offensive photographs showing Major Nzeogwu standing on the late Sardauna of Sokoto were said to be distributed in the open including market places. Some Igbos were even alleged to have worn stickers to that effect and were eager, in conversations with northerners, to point to Nzeogwu saying 'Shi ne maganin ku", meaning "he is the one who can knock sense into you". Grammophone records with machine gun sounds were released, to remind Northerners, it is said, of the bullets that felled their leaders in January. Celestine Ukwu, a popular Igbo musician allegedly released a piece titled "Ewu Ne Ba Akwa" meaning "Goats are crying" in Igbo (although there is an account that claims that this song originated from a non-Igbo artiste from Rivers). Derogatory remarks about Northerners were reportedly commonplace, even in Army Barracks. To compound matters, resentment began building against Igbo traders who had allegedly raised the prices of their foodstuffs to match the increases in the West. All of these factors were shrewdly exploited by an unlikely coalition of disenfranchised politicians, petty contractors, marketing board and northern development corp debtors, civil servants and university students of northern origin fearful of future career prospects in the public service. As former President Shehu Shagari put it in his biography "Beckoned to Serve", …'From the northern viewpoint, the implications of all this in terms of distribution of power, the allocation of public resources and amenities, the prospect of Igbo and southern domination, and the threat to mainstream northern ways of life were unmistakable.' Opposition to unification in particular was spearheaded by northern students and civil servants.

After all these direct provocaions,Retaliation is not just doubtful but mandatory,

Onlytruth:

Anyway, for the records, I don't bend facts. What I don't accept is marchiavellianism. If Gowon stopped the killings in the north (after the third wave of massacre against Igbos), the conflict could never have reached the civil war stage. There was a lot of restraint by eastern leadership then. The lie is that Ojukwu simply rushed off and declared Biafra after Gowon took over. There were series of events that preceded Biafra. The liars are those who discount those events.

Onlytruth:

Yea, I understand Igbo better.

[size=14pt]Was 1966 the first time Igbo were killed in the north?[/size]

Back to school.

Azuka.O:

@ Biina and Bk, kindly answer this question posed above truthfully. You can see from my posts that I don't curse or attack any ethnic group. I just want us to understand each other and learn from the past.

Let us assume that  after the Jan 1966 coup Igbos provoked the North so grieviously that it was mandatory, as you said above, to retaliate and attempt to wipe them out. I asked in my former post: "When a Danish cartoonist made a caricature of Prophet Mohammed, what was the connection with the killing of Igbos in the North? Did Igbos descend from Denmark? Or was the mother of the cartoonist an Igbo woman?" Pls answer this question too. Did the Igbos provoke and ridicule the Northerners too to be attacked because of a Danish cartoonist?

I believe you are honorable men. So I am waiting for your truthful answer.