Nigeria is doing OK, given the mess the British left behind. We are far from where we ought to be given the military's disruptions of our socio political life and the vicious struggle for power among politicians, but things could have been worse - much worse.
Like some people don't know hard Nigeria and Nigerians are working......
Rossippi: After Ojukwu fled and the East surrendered, they were at the mercy of federal troops.
The federal troops were ready to march into the east and slaughter every single person there, thus ending the existence of the Igbo ethnic group.
Then they received a call from Lagos.
From Yakubu Gowon, who ordered them to sheathe their swords, and return to the barracks.
Without that call from Gowon, there would be no Igbos today, as an ethnic group.
There would be no Onitsha, Enugu, Owerri, Umuahia, Nnewi, Aba, or Abakaliki today.
Those places would have been renamed and would today be called,
New Kaduna
New Benin
Orisha Town
New Lagos
New Ilorin
New Zaria
Osun City
New Ilesha etc etc.
See, THAT is what NORMALLY happens when you lose a war.
You are not just left alone to carry on where you left off. All your leaders are executed. Your cities are burned to the ground, and your men massacred or enslaved, and your women carted off as wives and concubines, and scattered across the land.
But in Nigeria's case it was different, thanks to General Yakubu Gowon.
After the war he declared ''No Victor, No Vanquished''. A WORLD FIRST.
The entire world was STUNNED.
They least expected such a rare display of humanity and magnanimity from any country, least of all, an AFRICAN country.
Africa was a continent they had long dismissed as a savage, barbaric land filled with primitive, warring tribes who despised one other.
Gowon's declaration of ''No Victor, No Vanquished'' made world headlines, and was aired in every newspaper and TV station on earth when it happened, to serve as an example to the world, and to humanity, that military victory does not have to translate to the annihilation of your foe.
He even gave the defeated Biafrans money! And sent in federal funds to help rebuild their fallen cities! And allowed them to continue with self governance!
That simply never happens in warfare.
If you don't know warfare, go and study warfare.
Message for secessionist haters: Truth is, if Nigeria was anywhere near as evil, wicked and hateful of Igbos as you say she is, you wouldn't actually exist.
They honestly have no idea how hard we try for them.
ifiokjohn: I have been reading all your posts and reply without commenting and I have found out if truly you are Igbo, then you are just a Coward. your wife really married a Coward. I pity that woman. you are a disgrace to every able body igbo men. I spit on you. and by the way am from Akwa ibom
Oga you that you are brave please you and your wife should carry gun to the Niger bridge and declare a new country......don't worry all igbos are behind you.....LOL
Anybody who wrote the bolded crap should have no IQ in his\her stream of thought. Nigeria is indeed basket of fools. At least, Ojukwu worked with consultative body of the elders from eastern region before the proclamation of Biafra. Elder's group did Gowon before assuming power as the head of state and which body did Gowon when announced that Nigeria has been divided into 12 states? Such action was termed a major constitutional change. Only foolish Colonel such as Gowon will wake up in the morning and proclaim Nigeria has been divided into 12 states when a section of the country did not recognize his usurpation of the position of Head of State.
Lol....so you are saying because Nigeria was divided into 12 he seceded? Please how many states do we have now? Because if we run based on your point then he most likely would have killed himself when he finds out how many states there are now....
Thanks bro. I just don't get the audacity some people have to come online and claim to know where a person must come from based on his political views.
Because they base their own views strictly on their ethnic loyalties rather than on common sense, logic, and reasoning, they think everybody is like them. It's just so ignorant and primitive.
If you do not believe in Biafra or secession, then you must not be an Igbo person.
Which poll did these illiterates conduct showing that every Igbo person supports secession?
Can you imagine their effrontery?
Fascists pretending to be freedom fighters.
Can you imagine any of these ones in power in a 'Biafra'?
Won't they just kill anybody who doesn't meet their definition of who a Biafran or Igbo person is?
May their type NEVER EVER achieve any form of power in Igboland.
Biafra would be an absolute dictatorship country worse than North Korea.
My very good friend was jisting me on how in a bar they were discussing Biafra and Kanu with his friends. When he said he does not support Biafra or kanu, some hefty men who overheard his conversation came up to him and told him to repeat what he said. Fearing for his life, he told them up Biafra, up kanu, and they went back to their seats. He said he got up and left the place without finishing his drinks.
You can see their attitude by the amount of venom the pour on anyone who refuses to worship kanu here on nairaland.
Fact, I've even experienced such hostility especially when Kanu and his band of brainwashed miscreants were rallying about. The hostilities had reduced now, America is yet to contain North Korea and you expect it to allow Biafra, they'd just nuke the whole of Biafra once and for all.
That is an incredible, tragic story, and I believe every word of it.
I also recall a conversation with a distant uncle of mine over the Biafra issue. He was for Biafra and I was for One Nigeria, in a heated, though friendly debate over beer. Midway through our debate, he made a casual remark that startled me, to the effect that ''God save you if you go to Onitsha and say these things you're saying''.
I just replied him straight that ''all the more reason why Biafra is a bad idea, since there is no room for plurality of opinion in your little tribal republic''.
At least as a Nigerian, you can think what you like, say what you like, insult the president and leaders all you like, and nobody will disturb you.
Your uncle was right because at a point, nobody had any dissenting voice in Onitsha and you voicing your opposition to Biafra, IPOB, Kanu was almost a request to be beaten or even killed. During that period, I kept my opinion to myself especially if in an unfamiliar environment. Those who even know you would jocularly taunt you for being in the opposition.
All you were required to do was not to express your opinion, is that how the Biafra would be run, no opposition, no questioning, just obey the last command from IPOB and Kanu? God forbid.
You clamour for some ego caressing. well my people are not known for caressing anyone's ego, we tell you the brutal truth, whether you like it or not.
What's the socio political demeanour of Ndigbo? When Biafra existed for a brief 2 and a half years, was it not ruled as an absolute dictatorship? Was Ojukwu not an absolute dictator, even worse than Gowon? Could anyone politician or militarily officer challenge Ojukwu without consequences? Someone that killed 4 of his top Generals during a war. Kim Jong Un would have been a learner to Ojukwu had Biafra stood.
What of Kanu's concept of Biafra? Is it not an absolute dictatorship? Will anyone be able to question kanu if he is "given Biafra", with Benue and Rivers states as he demanded? Is IPOB not being run as an absolute dictatorship? Can members ask kanu to account for donations and dues collected by the organization? What's the management structure and constitution of IPOB?
You are just living in denial. You guys have threatened time and time again here in nairaland, that dared people to go to Aba or any part of Igboland and denounce Biafra. You claim they would be lynched on the streets. Some when dared some people to go to anioma or Ikwerre and say they are not igbos. You guys issue threats of violence up and down to people of opposing ideas and yet claim "we are Republicans " better look up the meaning of Republicans in the dictionary.
Absolutely correct, many don't understand the meaning of that word, a system our forebears used in governing themselves but IPOB wants to change it to autocracy
Area4Area: Absolutely correct, many don't understand the meaning of that word, a system our forebears used in governing themselves but IPOB wants to change it to autocracy
One sided hypocrite!
Tell us the system your god buhari is using in governing you zoogerians... We know that you and your likes don't have problems with buhari's autocratic government because that is the way your brain is structured.
Area4Area: Your uncle was right because at a point, nobody had any dissenting voice in Onitsha and you voicing your opposition to Biafra, IPOB, Kanu was almost a request to be beaten or even killed. During that period, I kept my opinion to myself especially if in an unfamiliar environment. Those who even know you would jocularly taunt you for being in the opposition.
All you were required to do was not to express your opinion, is that how the Biafra would be run, no opposition, no questioning, just obey the last command from IPOB and Kanu? God forbid.
One sided hypocrite!
What is the difference between what you wrote and the way buhari and his cabal is currently running the zoo??
Area4Area: Fact, I've even experienced such hostility especially when Kanu and his band of brainwashed miscreants were rallying about. The hostilities had reduced now, America is yet to contain North Korea and you expect it to allow Biafra, they'd just nuke the whole of Biafra once and for all.
Leave America out of your junk of a post because, the zoo is now in America's blacklist if you don't know.
Buhari's band of brainwashed miscreants yapping rubbish.
Lol....so you are saying because Nigeria was divided into 12 he seceded? Please how many states do we have now? Because if we run based on your point then he most likely would have killed himself when he finds out how many states there are now....
hahahahahaha....that was really funny.
Maybe he would have declared secession from Africa by now, not just Nigeria.
Kingspin: Since the end of the war how is your Nigeria?
Nigeria has advanced SIGNIFICANTLY since the civil war.
In 1970 we had maybe 3 or 4 universities if that. Today that number is approaching 200.
We had no expressways or flyovers or malls, or phones for the masses etc etc. Even cars were for the rich. Most kids walked around naked and barefoot back then.
Bro, you could not live in the Nigeria of 1970.
Be thankful for the progress we've made, you hear?
enemybulldozer: That's not true. Nigeria is now on the same lane with Somalia that is the fact.
Oh sure... Go spend some time in Somalia nahhh?
Na by mouth?
Then from there you can branch off to Afghanistan, and then maybe Yemen and Libya, to become a slave like your fellow Nigeria-haters who ended up there sucking Arab dick.
Then from there you can branch off to Afghanistan, and then maybe Yemen and Libya, to become a slave like your fellow Nigeria-haters who ended up there sucking Arab dicks.
enemybulldozer: I don't know what you're saying. All I know is that your beloved zoo is now home to 4 terrorist groups. Your government is not left out.
Ok..so go and live in Somalia nahhh..
Is anyone forcing you to be a Nigerian? You have at least 53 African countries you can move to now now now, and start afresh.
What is holding you back in the zoo kwanu?
Abi you no get transport fare?
Or maybe the zoo is secretly sweeting you small small...
Don't worry, we understand...
Afterall, where else but in the zoo can you find fresh Palmy or Gulder with Point and Kill pepper soup, plus fine babe with Ikebe to settle with for the night after a day's hustle?
Why do you care about maintaining your share of a zoo?
Are you a gorilla?
Point of correction, my land is called biafra land and she is a country in waiting. We were doing fine on our own before the British came to create this junk of a country known as nigger-area today.
I am not a dog that answers whatever name that is giving to it by the owner. We the great Igbos have refused to be part of the zoo let alone answering the name given by the British.
Nigeria has advanced SIGNIFICANTLY since the civil war.
In 1970 we had maybe 3 or 4 universities if that. Today that number is approaching 200.
We had no expressways or flyovers or malls, or phones for the masses etc etc. Even cars were for the rich. Most kids walked around naked and barefoot back then.
Bro, you could not live in the Nigeria of 1970.
Be thankful for the progress we've made, you hear?
Nigeria is doing OK, given the mess the British left behind. We are far from where we ought to be given the military's disruptions of our socio political life and the vicious struggle for power among politicians, but things could have been worse - much worse.
Why not compare state of our health, education, infrastructure and socio economic development at independence and now, and then see if it was a compensational speech?
It's like the Christian saying always count your blessings and not always dwell on the negatives.
Why not compare the state of our health, education, infrastructure and socio economic development at independence and now, and then see if it was a compensational speech?
It's like the Christian saying always count your blessings and not always dwell on the negatives.
You guys are pessimist to the point of fatalism.
You are underrating the word "shithole"
The best definition of Africa. Last continent.
The correct fact is the more people hope for a better Nigeria the worst everything becomes. It is no longer news.
So if you want to be sincere, pls be sincere in its fullness .
Rossippi: After Ojukwu fled and the East surrendered, they were at the mercy of federal troops.
The federal troops were ready to march into the east and slaughter every single person there, thus ending the existence of the Igbo ethnic group.
Then they received a call from Lagos.
From Yakubu Gowon, who ordered them to sheathe their swords, and return to the barracks.
Without that call from Gowon, there would be no Igbos today, as an ethnic group.
There would be no Onitsha, Enugu, Owerri, Umuahia, Nnewi, Aba, or Abakaliki today.
Those places would have been renamed and would today be called,
New Kaduna
New Benin
Orisha Town
New Lagos
New Ilorin
New Zaria
Osun City
New Ilesha etc etc.
See, THAT is what NORMALLY happens when you lose a war.
You are not just left alone to carry on where you left off. All your leaders are executed. Your cities are burned to the ground, and your men massacred or enslaved, and your women carted off as wives and concubines, and scattered across the land.
But in Nigeria's case it was different, thanks to General Yakubu Gowon.
After the war he declared ''No Victor, No Vanquished''. A WORLD FIRST.
The entire world was STUNNED.
They least expected such a rare display of humanity and magnanimity from any country, least of all, an AFRICAN country.
Africa was a continent they had long dismissed as a savage, barbaric land filled with primitive, warring tribes who despised one other.
Gowon's declaration of ''No Victor, No Vanquished'' made world headlines, and was aired in every newspaper and TV station on earth when it happened, to serve as an example to the world, and to humanity, that military victory does not have to translate to the annihilation of your foe.
He even gave the defeated Biafrans money! And sent in federal funds to help rebuild their fallen cities! And allowed them to continue with self governance!
That simply never happens in warfare.
If you don't know warfare, go and study warfare.
Message for secessionist haters: Truth is, if Nigeria was anywhere near as evil, wicked and hateful of Igbos as you say she is, you wouldn't actually exist.
This Op is clearly ignorant of war
First of all genocides are really really expensive, Nigeria didn't have that kind of money even Hitler himself didn't succeed in wiping out Jews, majority of the Jews died when they were free mostly from diseases
There is also the Economic factor which is why Britain or Russia didn't exterminate Germany, because Germany could be their trade partner killing them would crash British economy for good and also Germany could be a potential ally in the future
War isn't about how many people you can kill it is about winning every good military general understands this...Even during the Biafra war there were times when the troops would stop fighting each other get together and eat
Lastly he should have gone ahead and extinct Igbos just like the dinosaurs...
Just like the dinosaurs we haven't really forgotten about them we still preserved and study their bones
You don't dictate to a people how to react after you murder their leaders and refuse to bring the perpetrators to justice!
That you expect them to act 'rationally' after such a grievous injustice and disruption of their world, just shows the deep narcissism of many Igbos.
If a small group of Hausa barbers in Onitsha woke up one day and slaughtered all the Igbo leaders, including the Obi of Onitsha with machine guns in cold blood, and were allowed to walk free for 7 months by the Hausa ruler of the country, would Onitsha residents target only Hausa barbers, or would they target Hausas?
This is a very stupid point by ignorant people
Many Northern and Western elites wanted Ahmadu Bello dead, he had terrible economic ideas
Nzeogwu the man who killed Ahmadu Bello was buried in northern Nigeria with military honors
The so-called revenge killings were simply excuses to seize power
Area4Area: Why replying him to make him start feeling important, you should just let him be next time
Whether you like it or not, my work here (which is bulldozing Igbo/Ipob enemies with facts and figures) must be done with every emblematic and consistency. Am not here to make friends rather, am here to put the records straight because we know that reasonable people do visit nairaland just to read comments and learn.
Area4Area: Very pathetic and same nonsense IPOB is doing today though IPOB's idea is crazier, adding Delta state and Igala and Idoma as well even after being warned by these groups to desist
See, Many leaders from the Middlebelt have gone to meet Nnamdi Kanu to include their people in Biafra referendum when the time comes, that's why he includes them.
For example, I never knew a certain renowned leader in the middlebelt has met Kanu not until I met with the leader in person.
