₦airaland Forum

BlackBaron: This is how history gets revised when no one is looking.

This is pursuant to Achebe's claim of massacres in the South West...Waiting for ACM et al. to defend this...

The preceeding pages are also attached

maasoap: And who asked you tell us story as if we didn't know already? The contentious issue here is that: are they empowered to detain and subject innocent people to inhuman treatment (as in d case of baba Suwe) and still get away wt it.
BTW, where is that suspicious substance they found inside him?

pappilo: By doing it live.

Remember this was in 1983. AIDS had only been scientifically classified 3 years earlier so I'd imagine it was the norm to have sex with working girls without protection.

It was the responsibility of the working girl to use contraceptives cause getting knocked up meant no work for her plus the burden of a bastard child. Men could easily treat any STDs contracted with antibiotics

Mopolchi: But for how long should they detain him? That's the question.

Babalegba: you are partly right but they have to pay compensation for the horrendous mistake they made.

Reyspin: So how hin go tk pay lawyer omo dis na Bad business!

percipi1: Good that you have admitted that ancient Igbos did not have in place a system of government, otherwise, they would have evolved into city states. There is nothing wrong harbouring imperial ambition and the Igbo have attempted same during the Nigerian civil war by annexing the Midwestern state. I don't see anything wrong about that.

By the way, you dont need too be versed in political science to see the difference between a village state and an empire. It's actually arrogance to compare ancient Alaigbo with the Roman Empire. It really borders on intellectually hara kiri

percipi1: Good you got your laptop. In the early days when Rome was just evolving from Romulus, entry into the senate was by birth or rank. however, it was a very weak political institution. the executive magistrate was in control until Rome became a republic. I do not see any relationship between Alaigbo and the roman system of Government. Rome evolved into an empire. Alaigbo remained village states controlled by family heads until the invasion of the Brit. By the way, you need more than one page web page to understand the political evolution of Rome.

In fact , you need a Library my dear. A private library.

[size=18pt]LETTER TO MY FUTURE WIFE[/size]

Dear Serwaa,
When I was too young to impregnate a woman, I often dreamt of marrying a perfect woman, a woman whose qualities would fit into mine like the fitting ends of a capsule. But now that I’m old enough to own one, my perception about a perfect woman has changed.

I have come to the realisation that there’s no such thing as a perfect partner. If anybody could ever be perfect and meet the specification of my ideal partner, then it ought to have been you. You and I share a common background and have been together long enough to know each other, understand each other and adapt to each other.

But it seems we’re still many miles away from becoming that perfect match, though I don’t think it is wise to give up trying. There’s no way the two of us can think alike all the time. What we can do, however, is to think together and grow together. Even identical twins who have been incubated in one womb, possess divergent views and interests about issues. So trying to achieve that perfect consensus will amount to tracing the proverbial foot of the rainbow.

This stark reality notwithstanding, there are certain fundamental issues that I think we cannot compromise. It is for this reason that you may find me as a nagging lover.

Serwaa, today I want to tell you something that has taken me so long to say. I have the fear that you are likely to be a liability. You are a very intelligent and promising lady. But, like your peers, you have the mentality of a liability, which I want you to discard. That mentality is not peculiar to you.

At this stage of our lives, there’s nothing to suggest that I’m better than you. Nothing shows that I should have a better job than you. But anytime we talk about our future, you seem to sound as if we’re entering into a master-servant relationship, shifting all responsibility on me. Unfortunately, it becomes a master-master relationship when we talk about rights and other issues. I think you should learn to see yourself as a contributor, and not a dependant, as far as this relationship is concerned.
^choi

Don’t mistake this to mean that I am one of those men who try to run away from their responsibilities. Far from it! I will discharge all the responsibilities required of me as a husband and father. But I will also not do what no man of today would want to do – marry a liability.

The Encarta Dictionary has, among others these definitions of liability: something for which somebody is responsible, especially a debt; something that holds somebody back or causes trouble, and somebody who prevents a successful outcome or causes social embarrassment.

Serwaa, any young lady entering into a relationship expects the man to buy her car, her laptop, mobile phone or anything they need. When the subject of women being dependent on men came up in a class at the University of Ghana’s School of Communication Studies, the ladies protested vehemently. They would not accept the assertion that women are often dependent on them. But when we decided to conduct a simply survey, it was realised that almost all the ladies did not buy their mobile phones themselves. ^{badt guy}

While I see nothing wrong with buying you something you need, I think it will do our marriage if you discard the mentality that it is my duty to fend for you. Most businesses that have sprung out of marriages came through the collective effort of both partners. One should not be gathering while the other merely consumes.

One reason we marry is for security. That security is not a preserve of you ladies. We men also need that security. In the case of eventuality in our marriage such as job loss, I should be able to depend on my partner while I strategise. I’m not saying I’ll depend on you but the reality on the ground is far from what we think.

That mentality also makes most ladies very lazy and they never live to their full potential just because they think have men they can depend on. Their lives become like incomplete sentences. They end with commas, waiting for the man to put the full stop at the end.

Serwaa, please don’t get me wrong. I want you to work hard and live a purposeful life. Work as if you were the one who would single-handedly shoulder the financial burden of our marriage. It may turn out to be so. Yes, it is possible that way.

Do you know why some women leave relationships and marriages when their partners lose their jobs or sources of income? Their love does not evaporate all of a sudden. They simply cannot survive. They are long term liabilities who would starve to death if the bread winner of the relationship loses his bread. I don’t want to suffer this fate.

Besides the best way to make us financial independent and self-reliant is when each of us has something to offer. We are not entering into a master-servant relationship. Neither are we entering into a competition. I’m not the type of men who think that when the woman becomes self-reliant, they lose their control of the marriages. For this reason, some engage in unhealthy competition. We are going into partnership. Yes, marriage is a partnership.

Let me state once again that I will not shirk my marital responsibility. I will, however, not want to marry a liability. In fact guys of today dump ladies who have such tendencies. They may not be open enough, but when we meet we discuss such issues passionately. I have laid bare the plain facts before you. That is the reality, and we must confront it head-on.

On this reality shall we build our marriage and the gates of divorce shall not prevail against it.

I’m still yours,
Azure.

percipi1: Don't play that sort of game with me. The Roman republican system does not mimic of even share any close resemblance to the family representative system in Alaigbo in any shape or form. please lets be serious for once

The Senate had roughly 300 members. In the very early days of Roman history entry to the senate was by birth or rank. Later it was the consuls who nominated new members to the senate.

percipi1: I think you are the ignorant one here, if you dispute my fact, you should provide your own fact. You have not said anything to dispute what I said my friend.

percipi1: Maybe it will save us the bacon if you could give me the name of any country in the world that have practised or still practising the sort of government in practice in Alaigbo before the British invasion

percipi1: No, they were not elected, however, they were appointed by the consuls

ACM10: Firstly, in Roman republic, were the senators appointed, elected or inherited?

Secondly, mention the criteria that makes a government acceptable within the civilized climes.

percipi1: I don’t know why you are accusing me of bias. Am I supposed to agree with you if I do not share your opinion? Honestly, I think you are the one with prejudice.

If your claim is that a system where representatives of families are the trustees of the state power should be accepted as a sort of republican government; then you would have given the word ‘ republic’ another definition entirely because In a republic, officers of state are appointed or elected rather than inherited.

Ruby_Pearl: Ignorant fool, Alibubakar or whatever her name is is not Yoruba.
Ibos and their inferiority where Yorubas are concerned

percipi1: Of course every guerilla group will have a form of leadership structure; however that does not translate to a system of government that is acceptable within civilized climes.
I assumed that if the Igbo had a system of government like say Benin Kingdom, they probably could have succeeded to some extent, though not for long. They had the passion to drive the colonist away but the lack of proper coordination thwarted the uprising.
Take for instance, the Osogbo war of 1844. If the Yoruba had not mended fences and put a stop to their intra-ethnic wars, the Fulani would have won the war and nothing would have stopped Mohammed’s expansion to the Atlantic. Coordination staved off the Fulani back to Ilorin

percipi1: Good question. You do not need a system of government to organize guerilla warfare. The Ekumeku war was more of guerrilla warfare. Assuming that the Igbo had a system of government, they would have probably defeated the colonist-my opinion

percipi1: I know that if one’s argument is tilted towards an angle that is parallel to the prevailing notion of an ethnic group, it is assumed that the person is bias in favor of another ethnic group. That is Nairaland’s problem and I don’t buy into it.
Regarding culture clash, If I come across as trying to disparage your ethnic group, I apologize. I cannot do that because I have Igbo relations too. However, I was only analyzing Achebe’s work ‘Things fall apart’ as compared to Peter Abraham’s ‘Mine boy’ and in so doing I have literary liberty to write without constraint.

And if I chose to take a swipe at Igbo as a group, I will have to do that with regard to real life people and situations not to people I can’t see on Nairaland.

By the way, I have read a lot about the Igbo resistance to the Royal Niger company-Ekumeku war. I do not, however, see how this relate to the topic or my take on 'Things fall apart'

percipi1: There is this saying that he who has not seen the Amazon shout at the top of his voice that River Niger is the biggest river in the world. If you have read Peter Abraham's book ' Mine boy' published in 1946, and 'Tell Freedom' 1954, then you will understand that Achebe only introduced the world to the impact of civilization on a tribal clan whereas Peter Abraham introduced the world to the impact of Apartheid in Africa . Achebe's work was predominantly on Igbos and to look at the effect of colonization on Africa through the perspective of a tribal group that had no system of government is a great insult to organized societies that have been existing in Africa from time immemorial.

Achebe did not, therefore, introduce the world to Africa. He only introduced the world to the Igbos. It will be nice, however, to call him “FATHER OF LITERATURE WRITTEN IN ENGLISH BY THE IGBOS” of Eastern Nigeria. I will accept that. But if we want to award the title, father of modern African literature to any writer, Peter Abraham deserved it because he was the first to introduce the world to Africa in the real sense

TheBookWorm: I am still trying to see the point you have been trying to make for at least 30 pages.

Chinua Achebe must be giving you sleepless nights, since he was give the title "Father of Modern African Literature.

It is funny and pathetic at the same time, that you cannot just deal with it.

Son-Of-El:
God, is this guy teachable or is he just being stubborn? Okay, let me try this instance. WS likes similarizing african (yoruba) myths to european (greek) myth which on the surface, is not bad. However, his pursuit in desperately wanting to sound, feel, and think european in african shades has made him a nobel sweetheart, but an african oddity. As an atheist, he thinks he is enlightened, very unafrican.

Stevecares: I would prefer on a live chat of facebook, pls doc, if its ok by u. Search: styke2007@yahoo.com. The name is Stephen Iyke. Thanx much!

Ola Johnson: I'll do exactly what one of the few sensible people here, Percipi1, has told me: to ignore some people. I just have to start that.