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David Ejoor Is Dead - Politics (4) - Nairaland

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Re: David Ejoor Is Dead by Deadlytruth(m): 4:43pm On Feb 12, 2019
jomonic:



Do you realize what 700 means. That was deadly slaughter you are talking about. Such atrocities cannot happen quietly. There must have been recorded eye witness accounts. Can you point to any document where a graphic description of the slaughter of 700 happened. I doubt that you have any facts to prove your assertions. If it happened I condemn it completely. I hope one day you will also be free of biased and see the evil of the Nigerian soldiers and all those who supported them for what it is.



Here is Nowamagbe Omoigui's account with narrations from locals.
Note the following paragraphs carefully.

At the time of the Biafran Invasion, there had been no "northern" troops in the Midwest. The Nigerian Army 4th Area Command had two battalions organized in nine (9) companies. Two companies were based in Benin, two in Agbor, two in Asaba, and one each in Warri, Auchi and Ekiadolor.

As far back as April 6th, 1967 almost two months before the proclamation of secession, special branch police reports had alerted the federal government of certain activities that were to take on significance later (10). Two officers from the eastern region, (Lt. Col. Ude and Major Obioha) were in contact with some of their counterparts in the Midwest to make arrangements for the possible occupation of the Midwest by troops from the Eastern Area Command. The pretext would be that the Midwest was not strong enough to defend itself and that Midwest Ibos needed protection. This occupation was to be coordinated with a simultaneous seizure of the Western region, which (according to the report) was why some individuals (presumably Ojukwu, Awolowo and Adebayo) were advocating that "northern" troops leave that region.
Ude and Obioha apparently met with

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).
Radio broadcasts "educated" the public about the role of 'gallant' Biafran troops who had only come to liberate them from the "bondage of the feudal Hausa-Fulani oligarchy". An economic cooperation agreement was announced between the 'independent' states of Biafra and the Midwest. The truth, though, was that Ojukwu retained authority to approve all expenditures made by the Okonkwo regime and it was not until September 13th that normal postal, telephone and telegraphic services between Biafra and the Midwest were resumed (15). Counter-propaganda was indeed launched by federal radio, which appealed to the citizens of the state for loyalty and cooperation.
In this atmosphere, civil resistance and disobedience germinated, predominantly among non-Ibos. But a few Midwest Ibo-speaking soldiers and civilians did become leery about the invasion and felt the 'interference' from "across the Niger" was getting out of hand. On the other side of this opinion divide was the powerful, so-called "Enugu clique", eager to share in the destiny of the corporate Ibo nation (14). Such ambiguous sensitivities and antipathies within and between "western" and "eastern" Ibos have always existe[/b]d. Long after the civil war, for example, it even affected negotiations about the creation of a proposed Anioma state (18).


https://www.nairaland.com/714801/forceful-invasion-massacar-mid-westerners-biafrans

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Re: David Ejoor Is Dead by Deadlytruth(m): 4:51pm On Feb 12, 2019
LucanBeeB:

LOL the Midwest was never neutral, forget that revisionist nonsense the Nigerian distorted history sold to you. The Federal government was in control of the Midwest at the time, and that made it enemy territory by all standards of military doctrine, and was fair game if invaded. Yes the military governor of the Midwest might have declared the neutrality of his region in the escalation of hostility, but Federal troops from the Lagos garrison in Dodan barracks were still stationed in the Midwest and definitely patrolled the region, though not in full strength. I stand among many rational Igbos that condemned the acts of atrocities committed by the Biafran troops (even though the accounts of such were haphazard and exaggerated), at least compared to the ones committed by the Federal side in the wake of the 2 infantry div counterattack under Murtala which even the international observers witnessed and reported in full glaring details... yet I won't exonerate the Biafran side from any of its disenfranchising acts on the people of the Midwest region. But to recap and conclude my point, the Midwest was never neutral in that war, in principle and theory yes... but every facts of practicality (factors like the presence of Nigerian troops using the Escravos ports in Warri and the likes to secretly patrol several miles of the River Niger, the garrison of Nigerian soldiers stationed in Benin, the tacit support of the Midwest to the Federal side, the ethnic complexity of the region with some supporting Biafra and the rest Nigeria , and the inevitability of an invasion to relieve the federal pressure on our Northern sectors), gave rise Biafran troops crossing the bridge on August 9, '67...The invasion was fair game given the circumstances at hand.

Also note that the prize wasn't even the Midwest, it was Lagos which was the Rubicon, Lagos was the pressure point as it was symbolically the bastion of the Nigerian military, more like Aso rock or the White House of its kind. And to get to Lagos in the quickest possible way, Biafran troops had to go through the Midwest which was the means to an end... at least it made geographical sense that way.

As per the bolded, care to show us a link to your source? Any documentation to substantiate such a bogus claim?

And mind you that the ultimate issue here is that the constiutional crisis which sparked off the whole trouble that led to the war in question was caused by Ironsi with the support of his Igbo kinsmen. Evidences that he enjoyed the Igbo nation's support to cause that constiutional crisis were:
1. The committee which recommend those offensive centripetal decrees by which he destroyed the federal nature of the constiution was almost 100% Igbo in composition and headed by an Igbo man Prof. Nwabueze currently but Ironically championing the current calls for a return to that same constiution.
2. The very day (May 24 1966) Ironsi made the national broadcast through which he promulgated those Igbo-centric decrees, dissenting voices were heard from the Northern, Western and Midwestern Regions, but the Eastern Region demonstrated a conspiracy of silence.

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Re: David Ejoor Is Dead by SuperIgbo1(m): 2:38am On Feb 15, 2019
Efewestern:


Biafran troops, The federal troops never invaded the Midwestern region, Ojukwu miscalculated and that decision cost him a lot.

Listen, the Midwest entry by Biafran forces is a complex one. It was Banjo who needed troops to move to Lagos and, dethrow Gowon.

Besides, the Midwest Igbos had no problems welcoming their kins.
Re: David Ejoor Is Dead by SuperIgbo1(m): 2:42am On Feb 15, 2019
Deadlytruth:


You keep calling others slaves of the North when slavery to the North actually started with your brothers Azikiwe and Aguiyi Ironsi. Azikiwe sold out the South to the North by preferring the master-slave coalition government of Balewa and himself to the rejection of the East-West coalition offer which would have made him the Prime Minister. That singular poorly thought out decision triggered off every act which further destroyed Southern unity and we all ended up as losers to the North till today. But why you always never acknowledge that Azikiwe sowed the seeds of southern disunity hence slavery to the North is what always beats me.
Do you honestly think this selective finger pointing of yours will help Igbos get their Biafra or help the entire South disentangle themselves from Northern domination?


Y'all are quick to call Azikiwe forgetting, Akintola.

Akintola was a bigger slave than Azikiwe. Akintola accepted Balewa's plan to wallop the west and its intellectuals for their continuous call for his removal as the premier of the west.
Re: David Ejoor Is Dead by Deadlytruth(m): 9:46am On Feb 15, 2019
SuperIgbo1:



Y'all are quick to call Azikiwe forgetting, Akintola.

Akintola was a bigger slave than Azikiwe. Akintola accepted Balewa's plan to wallop the west and its intellectuals for their continuous call for his removal as the premier of the west.
You have forgotten that Akintola got the support of the Balewa-Azikiwe Coalition Government when he started to work against Awolowo and by extension the whole West. Wasn't it the Balewa-Azikiwe Government that assisted Akintola by way of imposing an unwarranted emergency rule in the West? Weren't the Igbo NCNC members who always disrupted the process to impeach Akintola playing out the script of Zik who was still in bed with Balewa as of that moment? Didn't Zik sign all the documents by which Awolowo was thrown into jail as a result of Akintola's pro-Balewa thus anti-Awolowo schemings?
The scales only began to fall off Zik's and Okpara's eyes after the 1963 rerun census which Balewa badly rigged against their own Eastern Region hence the beginning of North vs East animosities as against the previous North-East victimization against the West.
And do you think Akintola would have attained any prominence and influence to betray the South at all at any point in time if Zik had from the beginning simply accepted the proposed all-south coalition which would have made himself the Prime Minister with Awolowo as his Finance Minister? Whichever way you look at it, that shortsighted decision of Zik was the foundation for all the crisis that later came up (including the treachery of Akintola) leading to the tragedy that befell the South till today.

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Re: David Ejoor Is Dead by Nobody: 11:58am On Feb 18, 2019
Deadlytruth:




Here is Nowamagbe Omoigui's account with narrations from locals.
Note the following paragraphs carefully.

At the time of the Biafran Invasion, there had been no "northern" troops in the Midwest. The Nigerian Army 4th Area Command had two battalions organized in nine (9) companies. Two companies were based in Benin, two in Agbor, two in Asaba, and one each in Warri, Auchi and Ekiadolor.

As far back as April 6th, 1967 almost two months before the proclamation of secession, special branch police reports had alerted the federal government of certain activities that were to take on significance later (10). Two officers from the eastern region, (Lt. Col. Ude and Major Obioha) were in contact with some of their counterparts in the Midwest to make arrangements for the possible occupation of the Midwest by troops from the Eastern Area Command. The pretext would be that the Midwest was not strong enough to defend itself and that Midwest Ibos needed protection. This occupation was to be coordinated with a simultaneous seizure of the Western region, which (according to the report) was why some individuals (presumably Ojukwu, Awolowo and Adebayo) were advocating that "northern" troops leave that region.
Ude and Obioha apparently met with

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).
Radio broadcasts "educated" the public about the role of 'gallant' Biafran troops who had only come to liberate them from the "bondage of the feudal Hausa-Fulani oligarchy". An economic cooperation agreement was announced between the 'independent' states of Biafra and the Midwest. The truth, though, was that Ojukwu retained authority to approve all expenditures made by the Okonkwo regime and it was not until September 13th that normal postal, telephone and telegraphic services between Biafra and the Midwest were resumed (15). Counter-propaganda was indeed launched by federal radio, which appealed to the citizens of the state for loyalty and cooperation.
In this atmosphere, civil resistance and disobedience germinated, predominantly among non-Ibos. But a few Midwest Ibo-speaking soldiers and civilians did become leery about the invasion and felt the 'interference' from "across the Niger" was getting out of hand. On the other side of this opinion divide was the powerful, so-called "Enugu clique", eager to share in the destiny of the corporate Ibo nation (14). Such ambiguous sensitivities and antipathies within and between "western" and "eastern" Ibos have always existe[/b]d. Long after the civil war, for example, it even affected negotiations about the creation of a proposed Anioma state (18).


https://www.nairaland.com/714801/forceful-invasion-massacar-mid-westerners-biafrans

How does your research explain the wild allegations of 700 people killed. It doesn't. Yes impunity may have happened but not to the scale you are promoting. No scale is acceptable anyway. Again I plead with you guys to wear the cap of humanity. Bigotry is not good my friend.
Re: David Ejoor Is Dead by gidgiddy: 1:01pm On Feb 18, 2019
Deadlytruth:

The immediate cause of the war was an avoidable constiutional crisis caused by Ironsi. The independence constiution guaranteed a highly decentralized structure whereby each of the four regions controlled their own affairs and resources. They were not reporting to the center. It is exactly the kind of structure we are seeking a return to today through the current calls for restructuring. It was a system which insulated the regions from one another's exploitation hence there were no inter-regional fears or complaints of economic marginalization unlike the situation with us today. But when Aguiyi Ironsi came to power through the back door, he began to unilaterally alter the keyest parts that defined the very federal nature of the constiution thus reversing the decentralized system to a centralized one through ill conceived and poorly thought out decrees like the Unification Decree which centralized power, Anti-secession Decree which made secession attempt treasonable and punishable with death by hanging and endorsed by Ojukwu, the Anti-tribal Associations Decree, and many other offensive centripetal Decrees which reinforced the perception that the long suspected Igbo domination agenda was real after all. You know that under a highly centralized system whichever tribe holds power at the center controls everything nationwide. Northerners twice sent delegations to beg Ironsi to leave the constiution alone and focus on punishing the coup plotters. But he refused on both occasions. So they felt the only way to check the Igbo domination agenda was to overthrow Ironsi and decimate the Igbo officers in the Army which they really did. Their civilians too killed tens of thousands of Igbo civilians. The civilian casualty angered Ojukwu into threatening to declare a separate country as he felt the constiution had become too centralized thus posing danger to the interests of the Igbo nation. This necessitated a round table meeting to resolve the impasse which was already sliding fast into full blown anarchy. The meeting was convened in Aburi. But contrary to the federal status quo ante which Nigerians back home were expecting, the resolutions at Aburi were too confederal in character hence were rejected by the people through their elected thus genuine political leaders cum representatives like Enahoro, Awolowo, Azikiwe and others. This caused Ojukwu to declare war by announcing the secession of Biafra Republic. Then hostilities followed. Now you will agree with me that if Ironsi had not made any such offensive Decrees which altered the federal nature of the constiution, there wouldn't have been the need to seek a new constiution at Aburi.

Everything above is nonsense. The independence constitution was not meant for military rule. There's no way Ironsi or ny military officer for that matter could have operated on that constitution that allows for parliament. The military rule by decree, not constitution.

Another thing that is laughable is this notion that the North mounted their own coup because Ironsi changed the constitution. After the coup and the killing of Ironsi, the Northerners came in and did far worse than Ironsi. At least Ironsi kept the 4 Regions he inherited. Gowon came in and abolished the 4 Regions and created 12 states. Had Gowon kept the 4 Regions like Ironsi did, it would have been possible to return to the independence constitution whenever civilian rule returned. But when Gowon abolished the Regions, he made it impossible to return to the independence constitution.

Another laughable thing is the claim that Ironsi caused the war. The war had nothing to do with Ironsi, he was already dead for about a year before the war started. What caused the war was the breaking of the Aburi agreement by Gowon.

The Aburi agreement held that if Gowon wanted to change the structure of Nigeria, he must get the agreement of all 4 Military Governors of the time. Gowon then changed the structure of Nigeria by abolishing the 4 Regions without consulting anybody.

Ojukwu was left with no choice but to declare Biafra
Re: David Ejoor Is Dead by Deadlytruth(m): 5:38pm On Feb 19, 2019
gidgiddy:


Everything above is nonsense. The independence constitution was not meant for military rule. There's no way Ironsi or ny military officer for that matter could have operated on that constitution that allows for parliament. The military rule by decree, not constitution.

Another thing that is laughable is this notion that the North mounted their own coup because Ironsi changed the constitution. After the coup and the killing of Ironsi, the Northerners came in and did far worse than Ironsi. At least Ironsi kept the 4 Regions he inherited. Gowon came in and abolished the 4 Regions and created 12 states. Had Gowon kept the 4 Regions like Ironsi did, it would have been possible to return to the independence constitution whenever civilian rule returned. But when Gowon abolished the Regions, he made it impossible to return to the independence constitution.

Another laughable thing is the claim that Ironsi caused the war. The war had nothing to do with Ironsi, he was already dead for about a year before the war started. What caused the war was the breaking of the Aburi agreement by Gowon.

The Aburi agreement held that if Gowon wanted to change the structure of Nigeria, he must get the agreement of all 4 Military Governors of the time. Gowon then changed the structure of Nigeria by abolishing the 4 Regions without consulting anybody.

Ojukwu was left with no choice but to declare Biafra

All you have written above is pure rubbish.
The independence constitution did not even give room for military rule to warrant any talk of whether or not there was a way Ironsi could govern with it. So Ironsi committed treason for taking over power as a military man despite having, on his inauguration day as Army GoC, stood before the whole world and solemnly swore to protect and defend that very constiution. The mere fact that he reneged on an oath of an office as sensitive as his was enough treason on his path and therefore deserved the way he ended it all.
If there was no way Ironsi, as a military man, could have operated with a highly centrifugal federal constiution, then why did Ojukwu expect that Gowon could have operated with Aburi Accord which was even more centrifugal than the independence constitution?
Isn't it laughable that you keep justifying Ironsi's subvertion of the independence constitution with the excuse that a military government doesn't operate a decentralized system yet demonizing an equally military government of Gowon for refusing to operate Aburi Accord which prescribed an even more decentralized system than the independence constiution?
The really laughable thing about your argument is that you seem not to know that federalism has nothing to do with the number of regions or subnational units within a country but the extent to which those units are autonomous and free from the center's influence. Ironsi actually created 35 provinces out of the existing regions which he had already pronounced dead with his repeated use of the phrase "former region" in his National broadcast in which he declared that the adjective "federal" was no longer part of the official name of Nigeria meaning the 35 pronvinces were not autonomous. Had he allowed those provinces inherit the autonomy of those former regions, then no one would have been accusing him of killing federalism today. After all there were already ongoing agitations for creation of more regions or even states right from Balewa days especially by the minorities who felt trapped within each of the three former regions. The fact that we have ended up with 36 states with which almost mirror Ironsi's 35 provinces and that we are more comfortable with these states than the three regions while we still ask for restructuring and devolution of powers to the states is the greatest evidence that no one would have been accusing Ironsi of anything today had he let his 35 provinces inherit the autonomy of the regions. Likewise, Gowon's creation of twelve states from the 4 regions wasn't a sin as what really mattered and still matters till today is the level of autonomy regardless of the country being broken into 20 billion states.
Gowon first restored the regions and their autonomy and then broke them into states which he allowed to inherit the autonomy before Ojukwu's intransigence caused the necessity of temporary reversal.
And you have still refused to answer the question as to whether the Igbo targeted pogroms in the North which angered Ojukwu into secession thoughts thus necessitating the Aburi Summit would have happened had Ironsi simply executed the coup plotters, sworn in Dipcharima in place of the late Balewa, replaced the slain premiers with their deputies and returned to the barracks as the extant constiution dictated.
Re: David Ejoor Is Dead by swintiney: 6:28pm On Feb 19, 2019
I have never seen anything as interesting as the story of the civil war to our today's generation, even if every party that witnessed it dies like it almost is for the world war II, I am too sure the only thing that will live on from this experience is the bitterness this event has consistently sustained among the youths of today.

The bitterness from the civil war cannot be compared to that between the Germans (Adolph Hitler's origin) with the rest of the world. Black's don't learn lessons from the past, they learn bitterness from every experience. An important point to note is that contemporary national issues of hatred among ethnicities has its roots in the Nigerian civil war!

This country can be great again only if we work it out and I think we should indeed make some efforts in making it great.

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