could not resist the temptation to post again. this is fun.a lot of ibo people here seen to have a strong victim mentality. i am not sure whether that is helpful to anyone. most nigerians are victims of nigeria one way or another.sadly i must agree that ojukwu's secession ultimately proved to be irresponsible and he must share some responsibilty for what befell the ibos during the war.even though one makes that appraisal with the benefit of hindsight.i do not say this to disrespect him or anyone and i hope readers will understand. this is my opinion and i respect wholly respect any contrary view. at the time he was a young man relatively and made what turned out to be a reckless,impulsive decision
truth is at that time nigeria was(still is) a very backward place and misinformation ruled. the nigerian army was ethnically polarized and the management of the aftermath of the january 66 coup was naive at best at worst well i'd rather not say. this was the backdrop against which  the pogroms in the north took place.
these sorts of things are always wrong but do not happen in a vacuum and their is no escaping the fact that killing balewa and ahmadu bello was a trigger  of what turned into horrendous civil war and genocide. even worse happened more recently in rwanda when a million people were killed in a matter of DAYS,yes people not chickens.
again all it takes is one trigger and subsequently no one can agree on what it was. for anyone who is genuinely interested in learning about these things it is worth reading the rwanda story.
of course one thing a lot of ojukwu apologists do not address is not all  ethnic entities within the biafra space supported  the secession misadventure. this is an inconvenient fact that wont go away
i dont think there is much to be gained by exchanging abuse. either we agree or we dont.its par for the course.the question for us,black people is,do we learn from history?

Pretty interesting thread. . . glad it got bumped.

Insightful!

FACE:
Blatant shameless liar. "Ojukwu's father made the Brits leave Nigerian Army" See hin mouth. It is on record that Ojukwu helped foil the Jan 1966 Coup.

Igbo people were annoyed that they did not have power and wanted to grab power, but they contacted you and the man (Gowon) whose people they wanted grab power from to help them. Tell that to the birds dickhead.

Ironsi was supportive of the coup and the best he could do was send Gowon on a course to London to pave way for the plotters, when he could have have easily summoned your raw behind, detained you and relieved your stupid arse of any post you had if he felt you were a stumbling block Swine !!!

Silly old fool. The Igbo people have never wanted to seize control of Nigeria and never declared a war on Nigeria. We only declared an independent state of Biafra when your inept Nigerian govt failed to protect the people of eastern origin and your Gowon in turn declared a war on Biafra and cast the first stone of the war.

The easterners stood their ground, fought bravely, refused to hand an easy victory to Gowon, won major battles against Nigerian Army, made their own weapons, refined their own petrol (a feat peace time One Nigeria is unable to achieve) and never lacked petrol throughout the war.

We lost but not in shame . We are as proud to have fought the war as the Brits are proud of defeating Hitler only that we lost. That the Ashanties lost to the Brits does not mean that the Brits do not acknowledge their bravery and that the Ashanties shouldn't have fought for their land. We have taken our defeat straight on the chin like men and have moved on.

I do not blame Gowon for declaring war on Biafra. He did what he did as a head of state who did not want the country to fall apart under his watch. I do blame him for not taking actions that would have averted the civil war i.e guaranteeing the safety of easterners in the north, just like Ojukwu guaranteed the safe passage of Northerners in the east.

Lives were lost during the war, but the war had to be fought. Igbos lost short term, but are winners in the long run as they have picked themselves up and forged ahead with their lives.

Easterners earned their respect (fear ?) against all odds and both sides will think twice before fighting another war . Although northerners still go on a bloodfest rampage from time to time, they never will they attempt it in the scale as seen in 1966 in connivance with the govt.

Insight!

FACE:


Sleek P, I am not here to apportion blame to anyone as that will veer off the course of this topic, which is Ejoor's views.

Please read his account with a neutral mind and tell me how many holes you can find. Unlike you, I am not going to blame Awolowo or even Gowon, because they did what they felt was in their best interest during war time. Am I condoning their tactics ? Hell no, but thats another topic.

I have read many books on the war and I know enough to know what the truth looks like. My Uncle Smart was a Major who died in Nsukka sector. His younger brother, De Martin was a 2nd Lt, a real combact soldier who fought all over the place. He was among those that made it back from Ore on foot (more than 300 KM) when Banjo abandoned his men. Was among the last Biafran troops to pull out of Calabar. Was holed up at SPC Calabar for six days with a few men with his LMG to cover the retreat of other troops holding back  the Federal advance, returning fire for fire, ripping  federal troops apart and watching his men fall by their guns.

I Had many Uncles that came back from the north before Biafra was declared having lost all their wealth. How can you possibly justify the killing of hundreds of thousands of easterners just because Five eastern soldiers led a coup which had at least two Yorubas as well ?

May all those who are in agreement that innocent people deserved to be killed because of the acts  of their kinsmen, meet the same fate when someone from their ethnic group goes on a misguided adventure.

Have you ever read about what happened to Eastern officers and passengers at Kano Airport before Biafra ? Let me school you a little bit son; Men were rounded up by their colleagues and shot dead in the presence of foreigners. Eastern passengers suffered the same fate on that day. It was open season on easterners following Ironsi's overthrow and Gowon looked the other way.

You said to let it go. Face has already let go. Most Igbos have let go and moved on. Most Nigerians have not and derive pleasure in opening up old wounds just to hurt other people. This Issue is very sensitive to me and other Igbos but you guys just wont let us be.

Why do you guys act like this ? Is it because you failed to humiliate us as you planned when you declared war on us ? Is it because you are upset that your £20 could not achieve what your hunger strategy could not achieve ? Or is it because, the man you thought you'd kicked down is still standing.

You set higher standards for us in every thing and you think its fair ? All we want at this point is the right to be treated with respect just like we treat you with respect.

Though young men throw stone at frogs in sports, the frogs do not die in sports but in earnest. (Unkindness may be good fun to you, but not same for the recipient)

Ibime:
Interesting interview. There are elements of truth in Ejoor's interview, whatever anyone says. It remains on record that Igbo soldiers were the first to carry out a coup in Nigeria, over a flimsy excuse of corruption, after which they seized power. I do not doubt that such a coup had been in planning for some time. The act is evidence of the intention.

They will never rule this country.