₦airaland Forum

ThatWriterBoy:
It makes sense. Do you think there's a chance they could have tried before?

I think they might have tried at least once though probably when the oppression began.

ThatWriterBoy:
For the sake of argument, let's assume it wasn't. Or even if it is fictional, we can still analyse literature and comment on it can't we?

Okay, in ancient Sparta there were lots of slaves, the slaves were called Helots. The thing is that these slaves were not kept in chains, they even outnumbered the Spartans and they were organized but still they were slaves. They organized revolts occasionally but they were always beat down.

Why could they not fight back?

Because they didn't have the military knowledge or training, Spartans however began their military education at the age of seven which meant they would win any battle with inexperienced slaves.

Sparta also had a specific culture of closely watching the Helots, paying attention to those who seem to have military potential and executing them.

So the reasons why the Israelites couldn't fight back was because they couldn't, any attempt to fight back would lead to serious massacres.

Moses however could fight because he wasn't raised as a slave but was raised as a prince in the palace, he probably had more military knowledge and experience than the average Israelite.

Kobojunkie:
The OP's write-up isn't about me or where I live.

It isn't about Nigeria either

Kobojunkie:
Is the situation in Nigeria equally fictional and written for propaganda reasons?

I thought you lived in USA

Because the story is fictional and was written for propaganda reasons.

Egypt was one of the greatest civilizations at that time, writing about how your God humbled the great Egyptians for you is fantastic propaganda.

Ps: There is no historical evidence that hebrews were ever slaves en masse in Egypt.

DMerciful:
Those guys were 30yrs old. What can 30yrs old do today without major mistakes?

Buhari, Babagida, Gowon, Ty Danjuma, Murtala Mohammed were all pretty young back then too, yet they made less mistakes in their coup.

OkCornel:
Which still brings us to the Nwafor matter. There can’t be a power vacuum because Balewa went missing. Someone had to act as the prime minister. However Nwafor the sellout went rogue and announced handing over power to Ironsi.

Nwafor was surrounded by the army, he either had a choice to surrender power to the deadly army or surrender power to the Northern leaders he had spent a whole year fighting against and felt no loyalty to. The choice was simple.

If Aguiyi Ironsi was sincere then he should have never given Nwafor that position.

OkCornel:
Please shed more light on this.

Tafawa Balewa was missing for a couple days during Aguiyi Ironsi take over.

His body was later found after the takeover, according to eye reports Tafawa Balewa body showed no sign of injury and his corpse wasn't rotting.

What are the conservatives saying about this?

Liberals and Conservatives whining our life

One would offer you lots of sweets to come to their country while the other would condemn you massively when you reach there.

Net result: You would end up working for a menial pay while constantly being insulted and harassed. While being told how lucky you are.

Who benefits from your cheap labor? The liberals and conservatives. It's a win win situation.

OkCornel:
If Nwafor didn’t sell out on the altar of tribalism how will Ironsi be in a position to accept what was never offered?

Nwafor is the scapegoat here.

One thing comes before the other. We cannot fast forward to Ironsi while overlooking Nwafor the sell out.

I would say that the fact that Nwafor was placed in that situation, where a single man would have the power over a democracy was already the sign of a successful coup.

Mind you at this point Tafawa Balewa death wasn't confirmed

OkCornel:
Nwafor Orizu is the one at fault. He “voluntarily” handed over power to his fellow tribesman Ironsi without consulting the cabinet.

In light of the failed coup, Dipcharima from Borno state was the next in command to take over as the prime minister.

Aguiyi Ironsi accepted it didn't he? He didn't call Dipcharima to work with him, Aguiyi Ironsi didn't consult with any politician in his decisions, he snubbed Aminu Kano and preferred to communicate with Emir of Kano instead.

SmartyPants:
Your first mistake is in writing as though all the coup plotters had the same objectives and plans. They did not.

Nzeogwu and Ademoyega made the same mistake.

What else do you expect them to say? Of course they would paint themselves in the best light possible, it was the sensible thing to do.

OkCornel:
So… are you saying Ironsi and Ojukwu were complicit in the January 1966 coup plot?

You need to understand that when a coup is in motion, the people who try to stop the coup would usually employ the same language, tactics and strategy used by the actual coup plotters, the effect is that those who try to stop the coup would appear as coup plotters themselves, no matter how legitimate their authority is.

The only way to tell the difference between coup plotters and those foiling a coup is to see if they return power to the pre coup structure.

Instead, Aguiyi Ironsi became a dictator and Ojukwu became a military governor, there was no sign that they had any intention of handing power back to the pre-coup structure, Ojukwu notably called Michael Okpara the 'old brigade'. And since Nzeogwu, Chris and many others were imprisoned, you cannot claim they were on the same side.

Long story short, it was a coup within a coup.

I think this section is too dramatic and sentimental, I wish we can start studying politics, their mistakes and success without any emotion, regardless of whether you believed it was right or wrong.



The Coup Plotters mistakes

1. Overextension: The coup plotters overestimated themselves, Nigeria back then was a regional system, this meant that power was not located in the centre, capturing Lagos had little value on its own, the coup plotters needed to capture the capitals of each region namely Kaduna, Ibadan and Enugu to have proper authority and they simply did not command enough troops to make this happen. (Benin didn't have political value at this point since the Midwest was newly created) , They only successfully captured Kaduna.

2. Killing Tafawa Balewa: Tafawa Balewa was the prime minister of Nigeria but the truth is that just like Azikiwe, he was a symbolic figure, the true power lied with the president of the NPC which was Ahmadu Bello, arresting Tafawa Balewa would have been a more smarter strategy, and according to Ademoyega this was the actual plan. Killing Ahmadu Bello however was a smart move since he was powerful enough to incite troops and public support against the coup plotters.

3. Not isolating communication: They should have tried to disrupt the communication between the politicians and soldiers, the fact that Akintola knew something was up and was prepared, was a bad omen, in a proper coup, he should have never found out something was up until they came for him. Again this lack of proper disruption led to Aguiyi Ironsi being informed and he then launch his own coup using the chaos and structure the Jan 15 coup plotters created.

4. Not enlisting a superpower: Tafawa Balewa was well liked by the British, there's no way they would have sit back and let him be toppled, if the coup plotters had succeeded, the British would have frustrated them. Dimka who plotted the coup against Murtala Mohammed was smart enough to get British blessing before embarking on the quest, the British liked Gowon and blatantly refused to hand him over for the military trial that ensued after Dimka coup failed. The coup plotters should have tried to get London support, perhaps by promising some concessions.



Can you add yours?

OkCornel:
At the bolded, one can only make speculations.
Ojukwu and Ironsi foiled the coup, according to historical accounts.

There was nothing to foil because if A & B did their jobs correctly, Aguiyi Ironsi would have been either dead or he would be alive and would be isolated in such a way that he would not know a coup is happening until it's too late, the fact that he was alive and was informed enough to launch his own coup, meant that A & B failed.

You don't plot a coup by keeping the most senior military officer alive and active...

Unless he is on your side (that is also risky considering you have nothing to offer him, since he already controls the army and has money and prestige) , he must be on your side and must be the leader of the coup.

PHIPEX:
See how daft this sounds.

"When it appears it wasn't going to be successfull"
Who then made it not to be successful?

Coups are divided into blocks and units

Jan 15 1966 coup was divided into A, B and C

A was supposed to take control of the capital, also take control of the armoury, tanks and the central structures like the Parliamentary building.

B was supposed to intercept the communication and either enlist soldiers support or prevent any military interference during the operation.

C was supposed to take care of personalities and symbols either by enlisting, arresting or killing important figures who can rally public support against the coup.

Ifeajuna was in charge of A, Chris was in charge of B, Nzeogwu was in charge of C.

A performed his part terribly, B was partly successful, C was very successful.

Upon seeing the failure of A and part failure of B, this then gave Ojukwu chance to switch to a different coup operation by Aguiyi Ironsi, to stop C.

If A was successful, Ojukwu would have never switched sides, even if B was partly successful.

You say Nigeria is wicked and corrupt, so why expecting justice and reason from a system you categorized as evil?

Could it be that you don't truly believe it is evil and your just scamming your followers?

If Nnamdi Kanu truly believes Nigeria is evil then he should commit suicide in prison, that at least will turn him to a Martyr.

Elon Musk

Tesla always having issues
Paypal accused of fraud
Rockets blowing up
X, a site for defamers and insulters

And this is the man that wants to manage efficiency in USA

Side note:

Nzeogwu Chukwuma Kaduna was buried with military honours in Kaduna, his body lies there today.

I wonder why no one brings that up

OkCornel:
Were Aguiyi-Ironsi and Ojukwu part of the coup plotters?

According to Ademoyega, Ojukwu was aware there was a coup but he adopted a 'wait-and-see' stance, then once it looked like the coup wasn't going to be successful he turned against it.

It was coup within a coup within a coup.

Bookhub:
That is because we were never a single unified kingdom, we lived as different egalitarian clans who happen to speak the same language before the British unified us, unlike yorubas and hausas. every igbo village knows their history I can tell you my own clan history,my forefathers who is named ogbu migrated from ihiala 400 years ago in the present day Anambra to imo with his 4 wives, we don't even marry amongst ourselves in my clan because we are blood.if you sleep with your clan person the it will attract curses to you so the land must be cleansed, Yoruba history was written by foriegners not Yoruba I can argue with you

Exactly, Igbos were never unified and only became unified through Nigeria and Biafra, hence Igbo history properly began with Biafra.

But most Igbos don't know much about their history outside Biafra.

Just look at the sit-at-home and you will think Igbos didn't have a life before Nnamdi Kanu.

One sided story

He probably found out the child wasn't his.

NaMe4:
Ifaejuna was the mastermind of that coup.

Besides should Victor Banjo and Adeyemuga's involvement qualify the Southwest to join SE?

Did the Northerners target Yorubas in their pogroms?

I think forgetfulness is usually sign of a healthy mind and a healthy society.

Japan committed unspeakable atrocities in world war 2 but most Japanese people don't know and those who know, don't care.

Turkey also committed lots of atrocities against the Armenians but again nobody cares that much.

But notice how neither Japan nor Turkey have repeated their actions even though they weren't taught.

I think history is highly overrated it just makes people sick. People will always cherry pick history and learn the lesson they wish to learn.

gohf:
Is it okay that you psychologically and logically analyzed the origin of hell and heaven but leave out if not justice should exist or not.

What is justice? Justice is simply refined revenge, who ever has the power to take revenge is just.

gohf:
One you claim it was marketed to slaves? What then did those who "market" it to them gain? Loyal slaves? Do you think men are all fools because they suffer?

Those who marketed the idea were usually slaves themselves, but they were more smarter, more energetic, more proud, more wicked, they had more 'master' than 'slave' in them

What do pastors and priests gain by preaching to their congregation? They gain wealth through tithes, offerings and donations, they also gain power through mobilization of the mob, they can then unleash this power against the rulers if those rulers do not give them their dues.

gohf:
this shows you lack knowledge of history, do you know how many times slaves has fought, how some have won and some have lost. Even at the heart of some of those victories were as a result of the very book called bible where the Christianity you mention as a slave religion actually brought liberation to a lot.

Slaves have been revolting before the time of Spartacus, however in all cases where the slaves actually won and got freedom, they always resorted to the same cruelty, tactics and ruthlessness they condemned their masters of doing, because heaven and hell was simply psychological warfare to them.

gohf:
Is it a crime to cry out for justice, to wish for it, to dream for it but you not only deny their cries but you call them bitter, frustrated and petty soul. Only a hopeless person in bondage can write such words as you have.

Justice is simply refined revenge, it doesn't exist in the real world, all forms of judgement are always and will always be unfair and tilted to one side (the side that has proven it can take revenge), the wicked evil masters were probably considered 'just' and 'good' in their society. If the slaves cannot accept this reality they have the option to commit suicide, creating a fictional universe and turning every master into 'evil' is too far, and only a petty mind would go there.

gohf:
And though you claim such nonsense as it being a slave religion, you say Jesus forgave his enemies isn't that also the lie slave traders used to surpress the cries for justice.

.And note Jesus didn't forgive his enemies, he forgave those who were ignorant. YHVH said seat till I crush all your enemies till they become your footstoll.

Jesus clearly taught to 'love your enemies', 'do not judge' but it's interesting how you distort his teachings to fulfill your vengeful fantasies, you proved my point.

I don't understand his argument

Is he arguing in favour of British accent or in favour of Native language?

How can a regime that lasted for 6 months completely destroy British accent forever?

Does better English accent mean you are communicating effectively?

The simple truth is that as Nigeria became more decolonized - British accent died with it.

The average Nigerian today is more educated than the average Nigerian pre-1966, the quality of English may have reduced but the quantity has increased.

Anyways Reno enemies are Obidents who are too sentimental to criticize him properly.

N20,000 is too small, not even up to half of minimum wage. It would not deter anybody.

Prison blackmail, straight out of Mayor of Kingstown