@naijaking1

Although I can almost see your frustrations, you should be well aware that present day Nigerians (Ijaws and Igbos inclusive) are all about self Interest rather than nation building. We have seen a lot of nonsense (Daniel Kanu, Andy Uba and VP) where brothers have sold out all for the sake of a few millions of dollars.

Igbos and Ijaws must unite to defeat the common enemy and move forward. However, that unity will only work with mutual respect from both parties.

so they could divide Nigeria

kosovo:

so they could divide Nigeria

Have you started counting your losses if it does?

if they unite what will be the objective?

to disintegrate Nigeria

wake up folks!!!!!

There is no need for any unity along tribal lines, the only unity necessary at this time is ONE NIGERIA which we have all embraced and are loving.

fayahsoul:

Thirdly, The Igbo and Ijaw elite are behind all this feud because it's to their benefit that "nigeria" survives. The day the Ijaw and Igbos work together in earnest, mend and massob merge and social intergration builds, the dissolution of the nigerian government will commence. So the grassroots has to call the elite to order so that the masses can, for the first time, see what truely is[/color]. [/size]

A statement so true that Adaka Boro couldn't even have seen it before joining forces with Hausa people.
Rememeber, Igbos were the most loosely, unorganized tribe before the war. Igbo as you know basically refers to people or World, so one could ask "Igbo ebe-e k'isi bia, meaning which part of the World did you come from. Many of the people currently classified as Igbos don't even speak passable Igbo. The same way pure understandable Igbo speakers made fun people from Abriba, Abakaliki, and Nsukka, they also made fun of people from Wawa, and I'm sure they also made fun of people from Uyo, Calabar, and even Degema. When these mutual competition translated into sabotage, betrayal, and seizure of each others abandoned properties beats me

Like Ijaw like Biafra
http://www.elombah.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=833:niger-delta-like-biafra-tamil-tigers-and-mend&catid=25:politics&Itemid=37

Do you now see that Biafra would have benefitted Ijaws probably more than those that call themselves core-Igbos today?
Yes, to an extent, MEND action is simply Biafran war differed, but without Igbos involved.

My bros, it is not a question of Igbo or Ijaw, It is just that nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of Othman Dan Fodios interrupted march to the sea.
Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw or Ogoni - we are all victims!

once bitten twice shy, i guess this is the case of the ijaw man when it comes to identifying with the ibo man, we were once unfortunate to be in the eastern region and that was where the term minority actually became a norm, the ijaws under the territory of eastern region underwent the most barbaric form of marginalization, at the tale end of the civil war the Biafrans nearly wiped out the ijaw from the face of the earth bonny and okrika were burnt to the ground, talk of latter day genocide it was this fear of revenge from the Ijaws that made the ibo's to flee in their thousands when adekunle and his forces liberated port harcourt giving rise to "abandoned properties" saga in port harcourt, ask ojukwu he would be able to shed more light on how he lost his father's properties in port harcourt. even the ikwerre's and etche's whose dialect is close with the ibo's don't wanna identify with the ibo's, i'm not saying the ibo's are that bad but the ijaws suffered a lot during this period, and that scar still haunts them.

so for the ijaws and ibo's to unite, i think the ijaws prefer the lesser devils (hausa's). experience they say is the best teacher.

One Nigeria

One Death

babasoty:

once bitten twice shy, i guess this is the case of the ijaw man when it comes to identifying with the ibo man, we were once unfortunate to be in the eastern region and that was where the term minority actually became a norm, the ijaws under the territory of eastern region underwent the most barbaric form of marginalization, at the tale end of the civil war the Biafrans nearly wiped out the ijaw from the face of the earth bonny and okrika were burnt to the ground, talk of latter day genocide it was this fear of revenge from the Ijaws that made the ibo's to flee in their thousands when adekunle and his forces liberated port harcourt giving rise to "abandoned properties" saga in port harcourt, ask ojukwu he would be able to shed more light on how he lost his father's properties in port harcourt. even the ikwerre's and etche's whose dialect is close with the ibo's don't wanna identify with the ibo's, i'm not saying the ibo's are that bad but the ijaws suffered a lot during this period, and that scar still haunts them.

so for the ijaws and ibo's to unite, i think the ijaws prefer the lesser devils (hausa's). experience they say is the best teacher.

is that your own version of events or the lies your father thought you to justify why he reaped where he did not sow?

well he mortgaged your future cos of someone elses properties . . . . .you are paying the premium right now

I hope the war continues till u learn a lesson

fool

Dis babasoty sef na wa.how could igbo hurt bonny when we all know that bonny is even more of igbo.ngwas,ndokis and asa mixed with ijaws.okirika sef is over-mixed with mbaise-igbo.the truth is that we are all one people with rivers but not bayelsa and delta ijaws.even looks clearly shows that.brothers do have misunderstandings though.

is that your own version of events or the lies your father thought you to justify why he reaped where he did not sow?

well he mortgaged your future cos of someone elses properties  . . . . .you are paying the premium right now

I hope the war continues till u learn a lesson

fool

bro  your ibo wars have been fought you are still suffering from the effects of defeat don't expect the ijaws to join you in your own cause we have our own problems which definetely is not cessation from naija as your biafran agenda which is definitely doomed, carry your own cross the war would still rage till we are given are due which rightly belong to us if you feel thats one hell of a story, go to any ijaw land and mutter the word biafra if u don't loose your head.

babasoty:

is that your own version of events or the lies your father thought you to justify why he reaped where he did not sow?

well he mortgaged your future cos of someone elses properties . . . . .you are paying the premium right now

I hope the war continues till u learn a lesson

fool

bro your ibo wars have been fought you are still suffering from the effects of defeat don't expect the ijaws to join you in your own cause we have our own problems which definetely is not cessation from naija as your biafran agenda which is definitely doomed, carry your own cross the war would still rage till we are given are due which rightly belong to us if you feel thats one hell of a story, go to any ijaw land and mutter the word biafra if u don't loose your head.

My friend better go and stop the genocide that is going on in your land now rather than wasting ur time in e-space.

babasoty:

once bitten twice shy, i guess this is the case of the ijaw man when it comes to identifying with the ibo man, we were once unfortunate to be in the eastern region and that was where the term minority actually became a norm, the ijaws under the territory of eastern region underwent the most barbaric form of marginalization, at the tale end of the civil war the Biafrans nearly wiped out the ijaw from the face of the earth bonny and okrika were burnt to the ground, talk of latter day genocide it was this fear of revenge from the Ijaws that made the ibo's to flee in their thousands when adekunle and his forces liberated port harcourt giving rise to "abandoned properties" saga in port harcourt, ask ojukwu he would be able to shed more light on how he lost his father's properties in port harcourt. even the ikwerre's and etche's whose dialect is close with the ibo's don't wanna identify with the ibo's, i'm not saying the ibo's are that bad but the ijaws suffered a lot during this period, and that scar still haunts them.

so for the ijaws and ibo's to unite, i think the ijaws prefer the lesser devils (hausa's). experience they say is the best teacher.

Your account of the civil war and the abandoned property issue makes me sick, because it's 100% false
How could you be trying to re-write history, change account of events, justify all the horrow against Igbos, and still asking for unity b/w Ijaws and Igbos.
Your idiotic recollection of the abandoned property saga is personal, because my father lost our house to one of the our Ijaw house helps who took over the property after my family travelled home. This foolish man stole our house for over 20 years, refused to leave, until the goververnment finally kicked him out. Today, his children want me and my brothers to hire them as house helps
I get the idea, that many Ijaws are either retarded, lack morals, lazy, and very short sighted. Judging from the action of KenSaro Wiwa, Adaka Boro, and yourself, it's not surprising that you guys set yourselves up for failure.

is that your own version of events or the lies your father thought you to justify why he reaped where he did not sow?

well he mortgaged your future cos of someone elses properties  . . . . .you are paying the premium right now

I hope the war continues till u learn a lesson

fool

you have your own problems solve them before joining forces with the ijaws

babasoty:

you have your own problems solve them before joining forces with the ijaws

Note, Ndigbo survived the civil war, this thread is going on because someone thinks that Ijaws and Igbos ought to unite for the benefit of helping the niger delta.
It's up to You Ijaws to keep your alliance with the Hausa(the lesser evil- as you call them).
I hope Ken Saro Wiwa and his family would agree with you about dealing with the Hausas. Abacha-Hausa man hanged him, you know.

Your idiotic recollection of the abandoned property saga is personal, because my father lost our house to one of the our Ijaw house helps who took over the property after my family travelled home. This foolish man stole our house for over 20 years, refused to leave, until the goververnment finally kicked him out. Today, his children want me and my brothers to hire them as house helps
I get the idea, that many Ijaws are either retarded, lack morals, lazy, and very short sighted. Judging from the action of KenSaro Wiwa, Adaka Boro, and yourself, it's not surprising that you guys set yourselves up for failure.

statements like that from our igbo brothers are major reasons why Eastern Ijaws(Ibanis, Okrikas,kalabaris) deny their igbo roots or anything thats has to do with ndiigbo

am not ready for you pples madness today, bloody fools

bye

ijaw_girl:

statements like that from our igbo brothers, are major reasons why Eastern Ijaws(Ibanis, Okrikas,kalabaris) deny their igbo roots or anything thats has to do with ndiigbo
am not ready for yr you pples madness today, bloody fools
bye

Still waiting for your comment about babastoy's recollection of the abandoned property issue.

Your account of the civil war and the abandoned property issue makes me sick, because it's 100% false
How could you be trying to re-write history, change account of events, justify all the horrow against Igbos, and still asking for unity b/w Ijaws and Igbos.
Your idiotic recollection of the abandoned property saga is personal, because my father lost our house to one of the our Ijaw house helps who took over the property after my family travelled home. This foolish man stole our house for over 20 years, refused to leave, until the goververnment finally kicked him out. Today, his children want me and my brothers to hire them as house helps
I get the idea, that many Ijaws are either retarded, lack morals, lazy, and very short sighted. Judging from the action of KenSaro Wiwa, Adaka Boro, and yourself, it's not surprising that you guys set yourselves up for failure.

has any ijaw man come to seek the help of ohaneze igbo to help resolve the niger delta issue, i dont know where some of your folks get the impression we are igbo's we aren't. if the ijaw warriors you claim are so short sighted name one igbo dude that is long sighted, ojukwu had the effontry to bolt and leave effiong to clear his mess and u call him a hero,real heroes die for their cause, i'm waiting for an igbo dude to do that. if your dad had been nice and good to his maid he wouldn't get what he deserved and you guys never travelled home, which home one already scattered by the Nigerian forces, nahhhhh just like ojukwu u bolted. and if the ibo's had been fair to the niger deltans the biafran war would have been a long battle for the nigerian forces to win, like i said you guys are still reeling from the effects of defeat so you scream marginalization more than we do and your two timing attitudes can never gain the support of the ijaws in your quest for presidency.

We're not talking about the presidency yet, we're just talking about surviving JTF today

naijaking1:

We're not talking about the presidency yet, we're just talking about surviving JTF today

Featured Essay
By
Emma Agu(DerhythmAfrika)

[b]The Nigeria-Biafra War ended in 1970, till date, the youths of Eastern Nigeria origin are still bearing the burden of the war, their fathers, big brothers, even their mothers; paid dearly for . When that war broke out, some of these innocent youths were not born.

My history teacher taught me that Nigeria was founded by a Briton called Mongo Park and that the amalgamation of this entity called Nigeria was done by Sir Frederick (later Lord) Lugard.
We all learnt about the efforts of our forefathers, who fought to give us a free Nigeria. I cannot remember precisely the date, in the year 1966 when they told us this war started, but I can never forget that the war ended in 1970 because my old man died exactly that same year.
I was also taught that the Federal government of Nigeria declared "No victor, no vanquish." I beg to disagree with that phrase.

The victims of that war are the youths from the East, many of them who lost their parents. My family still has till date, a victim who does not know where he hails from. This man has been living with us since the age of four.

We were told how the Igbo were slaughtered in Kano and how Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu led the war. I was20also made to understand that Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was jailed in the East by the then Federal government of Nigeria for treason was freed by the Biafran government. The chief according to
My teacher was to go back home and declare the Oduduwa State however; when he got back to Lagos, he teamed up with the Federal government . The late saga being a highly intelligent man was the man who according to my elders, actually won the war.
The chief I was told came up with the idea of changing the national currency and blocking food aids to the East. The Biafran government threw in the towel because thousands of children from the East were dying daily as a result of hunger.
My elders further said at the end of the civil war, people from the East who owned businesses in Lagos, Port-Harcourt and the Northern State and ran away when the war broke out were given twenty-five pounds by the Federal government to start a new life. This is all I could remember.This account may not be correct, I stand to be corrected!

Why I went down this memory lane is because the innocent boys and girls, men and women who were not even born when this war broke out are paying the price for a war fought in the 60's with their future and lives. Take a trip across Nigeria, there is virtually no place, no hamlet, or city you cannot find an Igbo man on flight. It is a common saying that power belong to the Northerners,20the West, the economy, while the Igbos are in-charge of commerce . Which commerce? Petty trading?

Visit Onitsha main market, go to Ariaria main market in Aba; make another trip to Alaba international market, or Ladipo; Yaba spare market, Surulere spare parts market all scattered in Lagos, in the morning hours, you will see tens of thousands of youths who instead of going to school are forced due to poverty to start learning petty trading, some of them at a very tender age. You need to see these little kids inside some dinky, dirty looking shops struggling to learn how to trade instead OF being in the classrooms.
In the night time, drive around the major cities, pay a visit to the night clubs and pub houses, the ladies of the darkness who want to go home with you for a fee mainly are from the East. You will be shocked however to find out that the cheap lady you took home is an undergraduate, who in her quest to pay her school tuition took to that dangerous way of life. Sometimes, many of them are not so lucky. Some met their end in the hands of criminals, who most times gang raped, maim, or even kill and dismember their bodies for money-making rituals.

I once made a record on Miss Adline, a young Igbo girl who had her two eyes plucked out by men who wanted to get rich over -night in Lagos. We all saw what has become of that helpless Igbo girl today.
Back in the days in Lagos, Nigeria,=2 0I was an Ajao Estate resident and every evening, there was this spot where you can find girls who could win "Miss world," with the beautiful face heavens blessed them with. I frequented a very popular joint where I mingled freely with some of the world's prettiest women. When you get close to them, you will discover are these are Igbo girls in Universities and colleges. One thing very noticeable is that when you interact with them, they can barely make a correct or a complete sentence. When you ask them how they pass their classes they will tell you "money answereth all things." The truth is that their teachers make good money from them. You ask yourself, how this young girls will face the future as graduates, after their university education.
What kind of leaders are we preparing for the future. Poverty, that seven letter word which everybody dread is the reason why tens of thousands of Igbo youths are passing through hell in Gabon, Libya and in some of tiny African countries.

There was a time some Igbo boys found a 'haven of rest' in Gabon. During the Christmas holidays, they usually visit home with big cars, their peers In these Nigerian villages who are not properly informed took the risk of their lives, traveling thousands of miles on rickety food boats to Gabon. Some of them don't even make it there. You hear every now and then how thier boats capsized killing a whole most of them.
In the mid 90's,many were deceived t o think rushing to Gabon is like going to America. The truth only dawned on them after settling down and maybe with the saving they made in Nigeria, they started a little business. You could spend about one year trying to put your business together but, as soon as things set out, the French-trained police will swoop on them like a bees. These ruthless French-trained police, I was told, do not care about human lives. They take away these harmless boys; if you are lucky, you would come back with broken limbs; if not, your family way back home are given the sad news about the lost of their beloved one.
You cannot own a business in Gabon without running the risk of having it destroyed by their state French-trained police.

As I write, thousands of youths of Eastern origin are stranded in Gabon. They live in the streets and in fear. I keep in touch daily with some of these boys who want to go back home. The Nigerian Embassy in Gabon is not doing anything to help these youths.
I made arrangement for a stranded boy to go back to Nigeria. He told me it was better for him to commit suicide than going back through the same way he came. This youth cannot go back by air because when he, like others went there, they had no papers. I am told if you get to the airport, you would be arrested and tortured by the police.

You read over here about hundreds of boys from the Eastern part of Nigeria who died in Sahara Desert while making their way to Libya. You probably heard how most of them were killed in that country after so many years. You heard when thousands of them were deported back to Nigeria and the action the federal government of Nigeria took. Daily, the youths, our leaders of tomorrow, risk their lives to see how their poor families, victims of the Nigerian civil war, can survive hunger and poverty caused by the war.
In their attempt to seek greener pastures they end up being killed in these hostile African countries. If war had not broken out in Nigeria in the 60s, the Igbo land should have been among the most developed nations in the world. The land is still bleeding from the war. Her youths are still dying of hunger caused by the war. Our young girls, our future mothers, are being killed daily by callous men who took advantage of their plights. I ponder everyday what will become of the Igbo generation in the next decade.

The federal government of Nigeria owe it a duty to bring these boys back to Nigeria. These youths left their towns and villages because the government could not provide for them. These innocent children are still suffering from the war which ended in 1970.
Since there was no victor, no vanquish, the Eastern part of Nigeria should not be like a zone conquered, defeated, and abandoned forever. I have traveled around Nigeria, you cannot find portable drinking water in any village in the South-East ern part of Nigeria. No electricity, no motorable road. The war between the federal government of Nigeria and the defunt State of 'Biafra' appears not to have ended! The peace we are enjoying right now is a peace of the graveyard!
Emma Agu…(deRhythmAfrika,formerly called Alabama)[/b]

naijaking1:

We're not talking about the presidency yet, we're just talking about surviving JTF today

what goes around comes around,tomorrow its will be biafra turn again.hummmmmmm thank God for bakkassi boys and MASSOB. .

HERE IS WHAT YOUR SO CALLED HEROS ARE LIVING IN ENUGU.

By Stan Okeke, Enugu
THEY see, hear and know little about present-day Nigeria. Inside their settlement at Oji [b]River in Enugu State, they do not have much access to all the information sources available to other dwellers in the big cities. And even if they do, it is doubtful if they have great enthusiasm and appetite for such topical issues that command headline attention in the country today.

They have their huge personal problems that obviously weigh them down. They are sad that the people they sacrificed their lives to defend during the civil war have all abandoned them to their fate.
And confined to their wheelchairs with a hopeless future for them and their families, what they see of normal Nigerians and their affluence is when they line up the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, soliciting for alms. The day mother luck smiles on them, some anonymous kind-hearted Nigerians would stop by and give them money.

Few other rich Igbo sons also pull up occasionally to give their token. But this notwithstanding, any visitor could notice from their speech and gestures that they genuinely feel abandoned by their kit and kin whom they sacrificed their limbs and happiness to protect and defend in their most difficult and agonising moments.
Welcome to Oji River, the home of the disabled ex-Biafran soldiers, men who lost their legs to the 30-month Nigerian civil war. The war ended some 34 years ago but these wounded ex-soldiers, today, remain the sad reminders of the unfortunate fratricide. They live with their wives and children at the War Veterans Camp but their only source of livelihood is whatever alms they get on the Enugu-Onitsha expressway.

But why would the five South-East governors not pull resources together to empower these people who became limbless while fighting to defend the people they rule over today? Why have other wealthy Igbo sons not deemed it worthwhile to find permanent solution to the needs of these wounded ex-soldiers? How do the governors and the rich feel when they see them on their wheelchairs as they zoom past in their expensive cars whose prices can actually take care of the poor men’s troubles? Why has the Federal Government not redeemed its numerous pledges to the disabled if, indeed, the civil war provided “no victor, no vanquished?” What future is there for their children?

Questions similar to the above kept tumbling from this reporter on this day. But the answers were not forthcoming. “I don’t think we’re the ones who should answer,” was all that Mr. Bartholomew Ezeisi, chairman of War Disabled ex-Biafran Soldiers said. “At least, we should not speak for them. Maybe, you have to ask those you just mentioned their names. For us, we’ve resigned ourselves to fate. We rely on God and other kind people who come to our assistance.”

May 13, 2004 was one such happy day in their camp. According to Mr. Joseph Akani, secretary of the ex-soldiers, there was every reason to celebrate and thank Ikechukwu Udechime, a Nigerian based in Finland. This day, Mr. Udechime brought 20 wheelchairs to the disabled soldiers and even Mr. Eddie Chukwurah, the managing director of a popular hangout in Enugu who provided food and drinks to the ex-soldiers on this day, could not hold back tears.


But rather than celebrate, the occasion brought more tears than cheers. As Udechime and other dignitaries made their speeches one after the other, most of the people betrayed emotions. The high point was when three children of these disabled soldiers, Chinaza Nwodo, Chidiebere Njoku and Ifeanyi Njoku came back from school, saw what was happening and burst into tears.

“Help us to beg government to assist our fathers,” a tearful Nwodo told Weekend Vanguard. “Please, let them help our fathers. You see they cannot do anything because of their situation. That is the only way they can send us to school.” It was such an emotional scene.

Udechime who worked as a journalist with Radio Nigeria Enugu before travelling to Finland told the story of the 20 wheelchairs. According to him, it was an effort that came by chance through the activities of his colleague and a female journalist from Finland who visited Nigeria and did some feature articles. One of the articles was on the children of Biafra. Her mother had told her that the children in Biafra she saw had no food to eat. So, she came searching for these children. She came to Nigeria and did a lot of interviews with all kinds of people, including the ex-Biafran soldiers, their children and wives.

“By the way, this lady’s name is Chathy Urous,” Udechime started. “When she got back to Finland, she wrote an article and when I saw it, I was moved and I called the newspaper and said I would love to speak with her. We spoke and arranged a meeting. During our discussion, the issue of wheelchairs came up because she said that these distinguished men (disabled war veterans) had problems of movement because their wheelchairs were old and many were no more functioning. Somehow, she didn’t know how to go about it.

“Being somebody who has worked with different non-profit organisations in Finland, I knew exactly what kind of place this could be found, and I gave her tapes. A few days later, she told me she found some wheelchairs but the problem was how to bring them over to Nigeria.

“Coincidentally, I was working on a different project that had to do with women empowerment through media. So, we were trying to set up a community media centre and radio station here in Nigeria as an initiative for community radio. We were then collecting equipment required for this project. So, I said to her that if she found the wheelchairs, we have the means of bringing them down to Nigeria. This was how it all happened and we sourced the wheelchairs and then with the other equipment we needed for the radio project, we packed them all in a container and brought them all here. That’s just the story.”

He was so happy to have touched the lives of the people who fought the Nigerian civil war. “I feel so fulfilled in the sense that this is the kind of thing I’ve been dreaming of doing. It gives me joy.” By this time, even Udechime was all tears.
But whatever joy that heralded the presentation was shortlived because as soon as the inmates began to bare their minds, the mood became very ugly. Mr. Anthony Ozoji cut a picture of a man in perpetual agony. He was, undoubtedly, the youngest of the lot in the rehabilitation camp. He said he was between 13 to 14 years old when the war broke out in 1967, and was in the arm of the Biafran army known as the Boys’ Company.

“I was a little boy then. I was always in the company of our soldiers. Whatever they asked me to bring, I brought. This injury happened to me during an enemy air raid. I was sent to buy something at the market. What caused my problem was that the enemy bomb hit me as the federal forces bombed the busy market where men, women and innocent children were buying and selling different things. With nobody to help me, I found myself here.”

Tony Uzoji recollects that it was the administration of Ukpabi Asika of the
then East Central State that rendered some help. This was soon after the civil war. “We’re appealing to government to help us. We’re all in hell here. Look at our wheelchairs. But I thank this young man that made it possible for us to get these new wheelchairs. It is God that will reward him. You can see our predicament here. If the (federal) government has actually put the war behind us, let those in authority come to our rescue.”

Mr. Bartholomew Ezeisi, chairman of the wounded former soldiers has lived in the rehabilitation camp at Oji River since 1975. He tells the story of how he sustained the injury that has consigned him to a wheelchair forever. According to him, they were initially at Enugu soon after the civil war in 1970. They stayed there for five years and were later sent to the Oji River Rehabilitation Centre. His disability was
caused by a bullet wound on his stomach that paralysed his lower limb.

Where did you sustain the injury?

At Nkpor junction in 1968. I was at 11 Battalion and our commander then was Lt. Col. Agbogu. I operated the Biafran armoured car.

What happened on this day?

What happened was that first of all, any day we woke up and found ourselves alive, as Ojukwu’s brave soldiers, we knew that day was another day of action and we must exhibit our bravery. Like I told you, I operated the Biafran armoured car. I went to the Republic of Benin (that’s how he referred to Benin City, the Edo State capital) in 1967. My armoured car was badly hit but I bravely returned it to our territory. My commander had so much confidence in me.
“My armoured car was grounded but he didn’t want me to leave his command. Haa! Agbogu, he kept me in case another armoured car was bought or captured from the enemy. None was forthcoming.

So, he sent me to a mortar course, and thereafter, I started manning our mortar gun. We were the ones who hit that Nigerian Army convoy at Abagana. Let me not say that I hit it. It was a collective effort. “During that time, once you woke up alive, you would thank God. The spirit then was that you were defending your fatherland and that you were not committing any crime other than defending your life, the lives of your family members and the lives of your people. That is why it hurts me that our young governors have abandoned us. But why? Were we fighting for ourselves? Do they know if all of them would have been alive today if we didn’t do what we did?

Eventually, we started the Nkpor battle. The day I sustained this injury, I had a premonition but I didn’t know it would be like this. When the battle got tough, Lt. Col. Agbogu would always look for me. I would then go and break the enemy resistance and we would move on. I never knew or felt any fear that you could be hit by a bullet and you would die. Man die go. We never knew that you could be hit by bullet and be paralysed. That was it. So, the Nkpor battle was fierce. It was terrible.

Even the Nigerian soldiers knew that. It was a great battle. We were a hard nut to crack. They saw hell. The battle for them was to enter Onitsha, a mere distance of four miles from Nkpor. They couldn’t penetrate. President Olusegun Obasanjo knew. Ask him. The late Murtala Mohammed knew. Black Scorpion (Adekunle) knew. We fought a great battle, so much that the Nigerian soldiers became depressed. Most times, we chased them back as far as Ogidi and Awka.
War is not good. It is a terrible thing. We can never finish the story of that war. God forbid anything that will cause war in Nigeria again. Our children suffered. When we saw them during the war, we would vow to go to the war front and die. It was with such anger that we always went to the war front.

Are you here with your family?

Yes, I married in 1967. I have five children. One died. I presently have four boys and one girl. I had one here in 1980, disability or no disability. These kids have been suffering. It is their fate that makes our hearts to bleed. As a father, it feels so bad to see your children in need of things you cannot provide. At times, you feel like standing up to go and look for ways to help. But where are the legs?
Unfortunately, government is not assisting us. One of my children has dropped out of school because I cannot continue to see him through school. It is the same for other fathers here.

There’s no way my child would drop from school if I had my limbs intact. Other children are doing fine but ours whom their fathers fought for the lives of our people are suffering. They (our children) feel very bad about it but we try to comfort them. They ask questions and you don’t want to believe that your people (Ndigbo) abandoned you. But as they grow up, they know the truth. They can’t even have decent meals. We’ve had promises before that were never fulfilled. Now, we look up to God. If help comes, fine. Otherwise, our children will have to take over the troubles of training their younger ones when we die. That is our story.”

Akani, the secretary agrees completely. “We’re not young any longer. We know the time could come for any of us at any time. The worry is that you are totally hopeless about how your children would live after you die. Right now, they depend on whatever we get from the road (alms). It’s from there we struggle to feed them, to train them and to clothe them. Look at the way they (children) look.
“It’s as if we committed an offence before our people by fighting on the side of Biafra. If the government would not do anything, you could at least say that these were the people whom you fought against.

Maybe, they are still not happy. But what do you say of our own people? Or are they not happy that we’re alive?

“My brother, this is no time to talk for a long time. We’ve granted many interviews to both Nigerian and international media. But have our people cared? Did these wheelchairs not come from Finland? Did we fight to protect the people of Finland? Bye. May God never allow you to taste what we go through here.” As more people began to cry at this stage, it was quite impossible to say “Amen” to that prayer.[/b]

@*jona

Since this jtf thing started u have not commented on it.It seems you are happy that genocide is being visited on your people.

deepmoron ^^^^ ur point is?

ulgy bastard

Don't mind the worthless slowpoke. Even when the Almajiri cuts off his head, JonaDimkaPillasDakobu will still manage to come here and post links about Clifford Orji. . .

@jona
Ndigbo say"Anoghi n'agha n'atu ndi egburuegbu" It simply means, you don't count the number of the dead while the war is still going on.
Posting stale articles about the 1960s and 70s while JTF kill more than 1000 in Okerenkoko and other small Ijaw town does you and your people any good.----another screwed up Ijaw way

1 million igbos were killed.the bakassi boys sage in Abia,otokoto killing in imo state etc.bakassi boys will strike again.

there are many ways the igbos die.they died by hanging them in Asia countries for drug offence, they died by rituals killing stage,they died by their own kinmen called bakassi boys who has burnt houses and killed awhole alot in the east.etc.many ways the igbos died.watch  out for a biafra part two.

Would you like a copy of today's newspaper article on niger delta killings?