₦airaland Forum

tomakint: @Andre, ur last post was very insightful! Just to add to it I read sometimes in an interview granted by Joe 'Air Raid' Achuzia (the Biafran General)that Port Harcourt actually belonged to the Igbo speaking pple of the old Eastern region,how true? On the COR States I think Gowon's creation of the 12 States messed everything up and laid the foundation for the imbalance in the Calabar axis till date. good job andre

Those who initiated the COR state did not include Port Harcourt and Igbo speaking areas in the first place.. The Wilkinson commission did not also indicate that Ikwerres were minorities but part of the larger Igbo community.
The Ikwerres were devided at the point of creating Rivers state. Those who were anti Igbo went to Gowon to convince him that they are not Igbo and that they wish to be added in the new proposed state. Gowon accepted their views against the wishes of Obi Wali and co who wanted to remain with their Igbo kins. So Rivers state created in 1967 with one-third of Igbo population.
But the worst happened when Mamman Nasir commission without the consent of the people of Egbema, Obigbo and Ndoki were merged into Rivers state because of the oil in those areas. As luck will have it now, Imo and Abia also had oil deposits and are now part of the iol producing states.

denex: "SIR" Celestine Omehia?
What kind of stupid colonial title is that? Who knighted this man?

A man that can hardly function has a self-imposed knighthood. Colomentality!

It is not proper for you to insult him here. His Local Church gave him a nighthood sometime ago.
He is one time gov of Rivers state. Respect please.

Utter nonsense. How can one take Onitsha out of Anambra state. Onitsha is Anambra and Anambra is Onitsha. The people of Onitsha have never indicated their interest in joining Anioma as they are not part of Anioma.
ANIOMA stands for: ANIOCHA, NDOKWA,IKA AND OSHIMIRI. If one adds Ogbaru and Anioma, then it is not Anioma.
Anioma being created and zoned to the south east is a good idea but must not touch Onitsha and Ogbaru.

diggz: Walahi FT na better slave sha

Yet, Torres scored the first goal.
Biko, make una hapu Torres aka.

It seems we are going to face Cameroon in the third place match

@The Topic, The Yorubas do not come from anywhere. Any one who says they come from any where is a liar. Oduduwa might have come from somewhere which is not certain, but not the Yoruba people.
At first, early Yoruba historians following the Hausa and Kanuri examples started tracing the origin of the Yorubas to Mid east. It was just the influence of Hausa/Fulanis on the Yorubas at that time that brought about this claim.
Modern day Yoruba historians should not look outside the south west as origin of the yoruba people.

tomakint: Wao thanks a lot on that eye-opener!

Thanks.
It's a pity none of the groups dominate one another. IBB dealt a very severe blow to these peoples' chance of a state by creating Akwa Ibom state and excluding Calabar areas and retained them in Cross River.
The Efiks of Calabar are more related in culture to Ibibios/Annangs and has no business being in Cross River state.
In the 60's some of the Eastern minorities demanded for a state out of the largely Igbo eastern Nigeria. That state they demanded was called C.O.R state; in full, it is Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers state. With the creation of Rivers state in 1967, and SE state at the same time, It would have been the turn of Ogoja province to get a new state. Yet IBB created Akwa Ibom and excluded Calabar.
Im my opinion, I would support Calabar detached from Cross River state and merged with Akwa Ibom. With this arrangement, the Ekoi or Ejagham groups will be known as cross River with the capital at Ogoja.

tomakint: You are right back in my days in Isuikwuato, I can not forget how my Igbo friends tried so hard just to 'put me in the know of the language' and each time I grasp one, by the next day it's off my memory and this makes me sad, its a language I really want to learn but trust me its quite difficult based on what you just pointed out here. Andre, what is your submission on 'Ogoja language'?

@Tom, there is nothing like Ogoja language. Ogoja is an extensive town made up of different languages. The languages there are different from one another but all classified as Ekoi (Ejagham).Some of the languages there is very similar to Igbo spoken in Afikpo e.g Legbo. Some sound like the Igbo spoken in Abakiliki eg bekpara.
But credit to these people for given The old east a form of written language called Nsibidi.

tomakint: I am still of the opinion that if there is way the Pretender-In-Command can be made to answer for his greed where our once beloved ‘Bakassi’ was turned into an irredenta based on his naïve judgment just to placate the blood suckers in his government, truly, Gowon seems clueless about what is before him.
One thing is clear in all this, Gowon was a used-and-dumped property during the ill-fated Nigerian-Biafran war if not, as the Head of State of a government that partook in that war by now he ought to have released series of books, memoirs, detailing his parts during the war from a truism angle. For over forty years, Gowon is yet to talk of something new in that war which I know he is still holding closely to his chest for fear of “open convictions” except for the usual, old school psychobabbles we have been hearing time and again. While others were busy exonerating their “dark activities” during the war, Achebe (whose other names Chinua means “God Fights My Battle”) was busy preparing his all-time best seller, “There Was A Country” (what an imaginative name for a book) which is all over the world now and may be heading for a Pulitzer Award soon! The 333-page book is loaded and to a large extent quite unbiased and very revealing, those who are not contented with its contents are challenged to write their rebuttals.

Tom, you are my champion. May the peace of our Lord be with you.

Igbo language.
Akwa-egg, akwa-cry, akwa-wrapper.
Nrubeisi-obedience, nrubeisi-overgrown hair.

Arsenal must win today and qualify, amen

odumchi: Isn't this guy a historian?

Anyway, Afam, how did he tell you this? By phone, email, letter, or mouth?

I think the chap is getting more confused everyday. When Igbo groups call him to do a presentation, he turns Igbo. When he visits anti Igbo elements then he says they are not Igbo.
double-face.

afam4eva: The Ahagba of Asaba is a member of Ohaneze, so are many traditional rulers in Anioma. That's evident that they're Igbos. But Emeka is trying everything he can to create a new identity for Anioma which will not happen with people like myself alive.

Recently, he has been eulogising Kunirum Ossia, so that shows you his recent reasoning. Believe me, he is wasting his time. Kunirum as a result of anti Igbo rants has lost every position he held in Anioma politics in America. Are you not surprised how Kunirum was disgrased and chased out of office in America?.

ifyalways: Who are the we,Afam
what would the "we " do if indeed all Anioma people choose to be known as Anioma ethnic group ?

#just asking#

I think the 'we' here means Ndigbo which includes Anioma.

afam4eva: To think that not too long ago this same man was pro-Igbo. I think he has to be checkmated before he goes too far. I had a heated argument with him yesterday.

No worries, there are more pro Igbo than anti Igbo ones. Trust me.
Even all those their Obis were at the last Igbo day celebration. All of them from Ika to Kwale.

afam4eva: I know we've discussed on numerous cases the ethnic identity crises in some parts of Anioma. We know that Ika areas have an identity crises. I was shocked when i was told by Emeka Esogbue that Anioma is an ethnic group and not part of the Igbo ethnic group. This guy has single handedly created an ethnic group by himself and it seems some Anioma people are buying into it. I know that majority of Asaba, Ibusa and it's enviorons are proud Igbos but it shook me when Emeka, an Ibusa Indegene told me that Anioma is an ethnic group. I want to employ Anioma people especially those from the Asaba and Ibusa axis to let their voices heard in order to checkmate Emeka Esogbue because it seems his followers are increasing by the day. We don't want Anioma to go the way of Ikwerre.

What do you expect from a man so much influenced by no 1 anti Igbo element in Anioma-Kunirum Ossia. When a man begins to worship Kunirum, what then do you expect. Very shameful.

@topic, as I said earlier that the Igbo language is so full of idioms, as a result a lot of people who are not originally Igbo may not understand it. For example, if an Igbo says nwata ahu nwere nti ike. A non Igbo may not know that it means nwata ahu anaghi erube isi (that child is disobedient or stubborn).

The Igbo language may be difficult to understand because of its richness e.g, we have what is called ukabuilu. This is a way the IGBO use proverb and added to a little bit of story. If you are not Igbo, it will difficult for you. Mind you, Ukabuilu is different from proverbs. Ukabuilu comes with a little bit of story.

@Topic, the big 3 are very accessible. Accessibility is not so easy outside the big 3.
The way the Igbo language is designed makes it difficult for non Igbo people to grasp it. For example the Igbo make use of idioms called akpala okwu and okwu na ese akuko. The later is using stories to communicate your point. It's very rich.

^^^ It is not proper for you to jump to any thread with the same IKa nonsense that you copy and paste. Quit this thread if you are not intelligent to discuss issues raised here.

alj harem: tribalism of Ojukwu, Nnamdi and co are legendary

The AG under Awolowo made no secret of the fact that it was a regional party. This fact, the secrecy surrounding its formation, its connection with the Egbe Omo Oduduwa (society for the Descendats of Oduduwa), and its unrelating advocacy of a federal form of goverment for the country helped to label it as a Yoruba party and it has often been accused of ushering into Nigeria politics an era of ethnic nationalism.
OLUSANYA, G.0 (1980)'The Nationalist Movement in Nigeria', in Groundwork of Nigeria History edited by Obaro Ikime.
My response.

ekt_bear: Is this the same ACM10 who failed utterly in the previous thread? The guy who ran away from it after being beaten mercilessly?

ACM10: Shouldn't you feel ashamed to be opening your mouth again?

wtf is this

Boy, this your post is totally irrelevant to the thread. In this thread, you can tackle him on what he has argued upon. Why bring up silly issues from another thread.
Have you started following a nairalander here sheepishly?.

naijababe: In 1934, some elite Nigerians, Dr. Kofo Abayomi, H.O. Daniel, Ernest Ikoli, Samuel Musanya, (later Oba), J.C Vaughan, among others, formed the Lagos Youth Movement, later Nigerian Youth Movement, NYM, (1936) and by 1938, it was so popular that it was beating Herbert McCaulay’s NNDP to second position in the Council elections of the Lagos ownship and the Nigerian legislative Council. Came February 1941, when its member, Dr. Abayomi, had to resign for further studies abroad. This created an opening for a fresh election in which Ikoli and Akinsanya expressed interest to become the flag bearer of the Movement. Obafemi Awolowo’s group solidly supported Ikoli, an Ijaw; while Azikwe’s gave its backing to Akinsanya, an Ijebu Yoruba like Awolowo. Not much of tribal politics in those good old days even as the Movement was largely Yoruba dominated. But not when Ikoli won the flag. Zik and Akinsanya charged that they lost because their candidate was Ijebu not minding that so was also Awolowo. They walked out along with some Igbo members. According to G.O. Olusanya, non-Igbo members became suspicious. "They reasoned that if the Igbos continued the policy of closing ranks on issues while the others remained divided, it was only a question of time before the Igbo dominated the rest." (Groundwork of Nigerian History - Obaro Ikime). "Azikwe’s defection virtually destroyed the multi-tribal character of the Movement" (Nigerian Political Parties- R. L Sklar) .


Enough said!!!!

Excellent piece from Naijababe. I have always enjoyed reading G.O Olusanya's work. In that same book edited by Obaro Ikime, Olusanya settled the issue at hand here by agreeing that Awo started tribal politics in Nigeria.

Jarus: Africa Magic without subscription.

It's true.

tomakint: Virtually all the principal actors of the ill-fated civil war are all dead, thank God Gowon is stil alive he may eventually be the rightful scapegoat to answer for his government genocidal crime against defenseless nursing mothers,pregnant women and little children which some human-demons on NL called spoils of war. Gowon repeated justification for the genocide is a credence to the fact that he was part of the plot to exterminate the Igbos and if eventually taken to the Hague, he might be nailed!

Well said.

Katsumoto: They run their 'fingers' with the same old lies that have been handed down through generations. I don't understand how supposed MEN can engage in a public debate without facts. When presented with facts, they run like little bia.tches.

Abagworo and OnlyTruth, I dare you to present facts that support the position that Awo introduced ethnic politics in Nigeria; please do not disappoint us.

The AG under Awolowo made no secret of the fact that it was a regional party. This fact, the secrecy surrounding its formation, its connection with the Egbe Omo Oduduwa (society for the Descendats of Oduduwa), and its unrelating advocacy of a federal form of goverment for the country helped to label it as a Yoruba party and it has often been accused of ushering into Nigeria politics an era of ethnic nationalism.
OLUSANYA, G.0 (1980)'The Nationalist Movement in Nigeria', in Groundwork of Nigeria History edited by Obaro Ikime.

@The OP, this your idiotic thread doesn't help matters. The junk you have just posted here is the same thing that has been posted several times.
Why can't you boys provide us with something new.
@The mods, this moronic thread belongs to the thrash bin as there are so many of them flying around.

dayokanu: Exposed as what?

Everyone can see through you bastardd tomakint aka Andre Uweh. A Igbo ashamed of his ancestry and now claims Ondo

Stop making a mockery of your silly being. I do not come from Ondo state and has never claimed to come from Ondo state.
Lets hope your stupidity begins and ends in this forum.

ekt_bear: Gowon has offered to stand before the ICJ, since he believes that he is innocent of any war crimes.

What more do you want from him?

The ball is in your court now.

So stop complaining, and act.

Can you alert the F.G to act over Gowon. As you know individuals can not do this but a govt has to.

martinseme: As a igbo man today am so glad and joyful that the resistance of those heathen igbo men were defeated back then. Am certain the demonic idols being worshiped back then were behind those resistance. I thank God for using those white missionaries to bring salvation to the whole igbo land the jews of Africa. God bless the souls of those courageous white men.

Dude, stop chatting crap from your keyboard. Which Igboman worshipped demonic idol before the whiteman came?. The same same Jews you mentioned here worshipped the same God our Igbo ancestors worshipped. Why not say Jews worship demonic idols.
From day one, Ndigbo worshipped Chukwu but the concept of Jesus Christ was not known to them untill the missionaries came.
If you feel your grandparents worshipped demonic idols, then that should be exclusive to your family and not Ndigbo.

dayokanu: Tomakint, So why didnt Ojuku write his own memoirs?

Bia Dayoosiris, Have I not informed you that am not Tomakint.
Why do you envy a Yoruba man who is not as bigoted as you lots?. Dude, carry time ooh!.

ridgeman: Achebe has written what he has written, if the other living participants in the war chose not to then they don't / should not have the right to resort to insults. At the end of the day majority of nigerians are still suffering regardless of tribe and that for me is the bigger issue. Gowon, OBJ etc., please write your own so we the future don't make the same asinine mistakes you all did

Obasanjo has written some books which I have read e.g My Command and Nzeogwu. About Gowon, am sure he is too unintelligent to write any thing.