₦airaland Forum

nasoeb:
Enough said and we have read / heard all the sarcasm. Benin empire and Benin this and that. Was Lagos not part of the Benin empire ? People are now redefining what an empire is. So if Nigeria was part of the British empire mean Nigeria belongs to the English huh ? These Benin morons are blinded cheap goats who can not see Ijaws beyond Gelegele . Gele gele is a settlement and the people speak Ijaw and not Benin or Edo. It is not an empty forest in dispute but a settled land from time long. No Oba of Benin has ever fought wars with the Ijaws and claimed GELEGELE was an Edo town. It maybe a town under the Old Benin empire but never an Edo town so the Obazuwas should know. If an Ijaw man or militant has taken laws in to his hand by attacking innocent Nigerians, such a person or persons should be arrested and dealt with accordingly but to say a round headed, mud house loving ,wen hen yen saying twerp from Benin would come to Gelegele to sack the natives is a gross miss yearning. No one wants any one dead but the murder of a GELEGELE IJAW by any Benin scum would be met with equal force. The protection of any part of Ijaw land and any Ijaw is the obligation of every Ijaw from Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Ondo, Edo, Akwa Ibom state.


GOD IN HEAVEN BLESS YOU.

YOU WILL LIVE LONG.

I have not seen any one with so much stupidity like that he-goats called DeDe1, who can not even wash his yansh properly wants to come here and talk to elders what he knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in his stinky life.

Igbo gave this name, igbo gave that name, so childish, only a foolish person like him will think igbo language fell down from Heaven. igbo language was personally given to his grandfather by Angel to share to others.

Yoruba speak, yoruba was gotten from igbo
hausa speak, hausa was gotten from igbo, Only foolish "children" thinks and behaves like that

yet igbos will tell you they came from Israel . You came from Israel yet you claiming land with WE Nigerians and you even gave us language

Confused Scums

You and Ijo are nobody. It should be an insult to dullards If I should refer you as one. I hope you realize that fools such as you shall cease to exist if you are visited with what you wished if cesspit called Nigeria comes to a halt. The Princes in Bini have stated what some of us knew for a long time that your forbearers were slaves turned into porters and migrant fishermen. You can twist yourself out of human with cause, I shall continue to tell the truth.

killayut:
Dede1 is one ignoramus who might live and die in ignorance. AMACHREE is the European way of spelling AMAKIRI, AND AMAKIRI is an Ijaw word meaning native land. AMA is an Ijaw ord and not Igbo used by Igbos at the border with Ijaws. While Igbos name their towns as Umudede Ijaw would name it Dede-ama. The Igbos bordering Ijaws used the word ama to name of their towns which itself raise questions as to the real founders of such Igbo towns that have ama suffix. All or almost all eastern Ijaw towns have the ama to signify it as a town. Therefore AMAKIRI means land of the town or soul of the town since Ijaw towns are not just the land but also the marshy areas and creeks. Hence we have AMA poku ( meaning water side of the town ) Ama-toru ( water ways of the town ) AMA-OGBO ( central or town square ) AMA-etela ( major road of the town ),

If I say you are a redundant fool who will die as wretched gull, it is should be an understatement. Again, Ijo is not an ethnic group but a product of indigenous people who mixed with porters (mainly slaves and fishermen) the Europeans brought along with them from Gold Coast.

Ama is Igbo word for compound. In entire Igbo land, a person will come across clan names such Amaeke, Amaruru, Amaimo, Amandugba, Amatta, Amankuta, Amaigbo etc. In most places, the connotation has taken of title or name given to original owner of the compound. As in the case of the principal Igbo founders of what is know to as Bonny, Opobo, Okirika and Kalabari, they were fond of taking names after certain animals such as Ikiri, Ediabali, Azu, Udom, Edimiri, Ugo Uzodimgba and Egbe. In this respect, the compounds founded by these characters are named after them such Amaikiri, Amaudom, Amaduruoriaku, Amadimgba, Amaugo etc.

It is very apparent that most Nigerians, including the leaders and the led, attribute wrong connotation to the word, education. Northern Nigerian regional kids are as educated as their southern Nigerian kids. The difference maker is the type of education given to the sections.

Majority of the northern kids get education cooked by Islamic scholars whose favorable ingredient is to kill an unbeliever (infidel) of Islamic doctrines. With this basic mindset, the stage is set to incorporate such idea with everyday social life including polity. Also ability to understand and speak Hausa language may have given then certain form of communality within the Islamic clique.

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=762253.msg9184048#msg9184048 date=1316524940]I agree with the above statement.  In this case however, we are talking about a war wherein, the biafran soldiers have been surrounded and a blockade was in effect.  My disappointment with the biafran commanders and their supreme commander was based on their willingness to sacrifice so many of my brothers and sisters even when they knew the war has been lost. These commanders ended up fleeing the front, shamefully. I will never forgive them for this act.[/quote]The confederacy in USA, which was not blockaded as Biafra, did not capitulate because of increased cases of malnutrition. I must submit that your disappointment is wrongfully directed. Again, no commander gives up in a war because he or she loses few territories to the enemy or invading force.

In fact, the manner the war ended remains a mystery to me because most of the sectors were either stable or Biafrans were pushing. For example, in the southern sectors, the Biafrans were at door posts of Port Harcourt with intent to recapture city.

Biafrans may have lacked many things during the war but determination to fight against numerous odds was not one of them.

I had wished the faces of Benjamin Adekunle, Francis Aisida and Olu Makanjuola were used to grace certain memorable objects in Nigeria.

There are many idiotic responses to the thread about Chime and his sister-in-law. Nobody has even questioned the motive why the previous marriage ended in divorce. Also, there was no mention of child or children from the previous or present marriage. Men get into wedlock to procreate. This is not the first time and probably will not be the last time a sister shall come to the aid of her sister to strengthen the bond on both families.

As wacky as the story appears, such incident has become a mainstay in the world.

Murtala Mohammaed’s name or picture should not grace the memorial objects or structures in Nigeria. However, I had liked the fact Nigerians were foolish enough to memorialize the face of his picture on monetary object such as 20 Naira. This action has helped Ndigbo to drive home the point in pictorial example the man who saw to the massacre of innocent and unarmed civilians in Asaba and Ogidi. At least, young kids of Igbo extraction had field days while understanding the man and ethnicities that had hoped to stunt their well being.  

It is funny we are not talking about Lt Col Francis Aisida, a Yoruba officer, whose brigade committed the atrocities.

There is no country or secessionist group in the world that has halted agitation for independent status because of the threat of hunger especially when such threat was as a result of anti-humanistic blockade perpetrated against them.  

I am not surprise that one gull had audacity to post an article written by an ignorant flippant who had made considerable attempts to seat historical fact on its head. Unless the hack writer tells us that Nigerians, during the civil war, lacked intellectual acumen to tell us the Biafran brigade and commander that saw to the massacre of civilians from Benin to Ore, the story about the massacre of civilians by Biafran is a mere conjectural crap.

In the other hand, Biafrans did not only pin-pointed the divisional commanders involved in the massacres perpetrated by Nigerian vandals but also the brigade and ethnicity of commanders.

I guess without the intellectual help from British and other supporting cast, Nigerian vandals would have been lost on their way to the war front.

The northern Nigeria’s feudalistic and Islamic Oligarchy fooled most of the so-called Nigerians to join hands in fighting Biafra. They knew Nigeria will never be a united front any longer because of the war. The next war shall resemble the herding of cows.

I have nothing good to offer the so-called Middle Belt people but laugh. Some of the senior military officers from Middle Belt were killed in January 15, 1966 coup due their services to NPC in killing fellow tribes men during Tiv riot 1964. Did they not join the Islamic feudalists to precipitate war of attrition against Biafra?

ChinenyeN:
The "Opara" thing in particular really gets me. Upon all the Central Delta, they leave "opara" hanging around. It's a clear indication of a lie.

One of the founders of the so-called Ijo Clan was King Agbani Ejike of Bile.

[quote author=alex_101 link=topic=762137.msg9166133#msg9166133 date=1316279076] Ndigbo should never forget all the past atrocities committed against them in the past. Igbo should also bear in mind that the devilish non-Igbos (who fought against Biafra) will always try to shout them down as we(Igbo) try to tell our story. The main strategy for the Igbo nation is not to seek for understanding or forgiveness from the perpetrators of those evil acts against them,,,rather the aim now is to get even. The evil doers must never be allowed to go unpurnished, so as to send a clear message to their future descendants![/quote]This statement must be guided as a doctrine taught to every Igbo person, born or unborn.

Justcash:
GOWON’S APOLOGY TO THE IGBOS LACKS SINCERITY

since he retuned from exile in Britain (after he was pardoned by former President Shehu Shagari for his alleged role in the overthrow of General Murtala Mohammed), retired Gen. Yakubu Gowon has undoubtedly tried to make amends and to also be fruitful in the daily life of Nigerian governance. He has made apologies to the Igbos and others, has organized the "Nigeria Prays" movement and in late 2002, with former President Shehu Shagari, intervened in the impeachment deadlock between Obasanjo and the Federal legislature. However, it is important that as Gowon makes up for his civil war shortcomings and excesses, he avoids one important thing: trying to change the undisputed and documented facts of the war, and that brings me to the speech and apology made by Gowon to the Igbos in Asaba on or about December 09, 2002, covered by reporter Austin Ogwuda, titled "Gowon faults setting up of Oputa panel" and reproduced in Nigeriaworld.com.

In that speech, and in the course of his apology, Gowon tried to change the facts of history by claiming that he was unaware of Gen. Murtala Mohammed’s genocidal instincts and the actual genocidal campaigns he carried out west of the Niger, between Asaba and Agbor. That denial of knowledge, in the face of abundant and contrary facts, undercut Gowon’s apology and denied it of sincerity and genuineness. In that Gowon’s speech at the Asaba Township Stadium, Asaba, Gen. Gowon said in part:

"It came to me as a shock when I came to know about the unfortunate happenings that happened to the sons and daughters of this state especially of this (Asaba) domain. I felt very touched and honestly I referred to it (killings) and ask for forgiveness being the one who was in charge that time. Certainly, it is not something that I would have approved of in whatsoever. I was made ignorant of it, I think until it appeared in the papers. A young man wrote a book at that time… It just happened seven hours ago when I was visiting the state for our nation prayers, I took the opportunity of being with his Royal Majesty (Asagba of Asaba) to make this public apology on behalf of myself and government of Nigeria at that time and to ask for forgiveness as we have to look at the future. I feel very touched when we acme this time to hear his majesty refer to it again."
The problem with what otherwise would have been an excellent apology is that part of it where Gowon was implying that: one, he did not know about the genocidal campaigns at that time, two, that he did not know until it appeared in papers and a book and three, if he has known at the time he would certainly have done something to stop it. But unfortunately for General Gowon, with all due respect, the facts are not on his side.

One of the most contradictory facts to demonstrate the inaccuracy of Gowon’s assertion comes from Gowon’s own wartime Federal Information Commissioner and foremost Nigerian war propagandist during the civil war, Chief Anthony Enahoro. In the first few months of 1998, one Jumoke Ogunkeyede, head of the "United Committee to Save Nigeria" organized a kind of reconciliation meeting between Chief Anthony Enahoro and some Igbos in New Jersey, USA. In that meeting, and in answer to one of the questions posed to Chief Enahoro about his anti-Biafran role during the civil war, Chief Enahoro, who thankfully, is alive and well today, said in part:

[b]"Do you really know anything about what happened during that war? I was the one that stopped late Gen. Murtala Mohammed from further massacre of innocent children and mothers. At a point when Britain refused to sell further arms to Nigeria because they had ample evidence from the Red Cross of the federal forces killing innocent civilians, I confronted Gowon with the fact and that the only way I can get Britain through my contact with their High Commissioner to resume a supply of weapon to Nigeria was that Murtala had to leave that war sector. Either Murtala leaves or I will have to leave his cabinet. Gowon told me that he is willing to call a meeting and on the condition I will be the one to confront Murtala. If there was anybody that Gowon feared so much it was Murtala Mohammed. At the meeting of the Federal Executive Council, I confronted Mohammed with elaborate evidence complete with photographs. He was livid. He could not refute them so he resorted to calling me all sorts of names prompting me to observe before the council that if he was a fine officer as he claims to be, he should not be acting the way he was acting. Needless to say that I was instrumental to his withdrawal from that sector and subsequent appointment as a minister". (See "The Nigerian and Africa" magazine, March 1998, page 10)[/b]

From this uncoerced and uninduced testimony of Chief Enahoro, who incidentally is still alive today, one can make the following observations:

That Murtala’s genocidal campaign against the Midwestern Igbos was well known and documented by the Red Cross
That the genocide imperiled Nigerian’s ability to secure arms supply from Britain.
That in attempt to maintain British arms supply to Nigeria, Chief Enahoro confronted Gowon with this reality widely documented by the Red Cross.
That Gowon was reluctant to confront Murtala with the allegation and indeed would not confront Murtala with it unless Enahoro would do it by himself, which he did, and
That it took a threat from Enahoro to Gowon "to leave his cabinet", for Gowon to eventually address the issue and remove Murtala and commander of the 2nd infantry Division.
I must say that Enahoro’s sincerity in his testimony is commendable. Enahoro admitted that his quest to stop Murtala’s murderous campaign among the Midwestern Igbos was to save the British arms supply to Nigeria and not out of sympathy or concern for the lives of those Igbos for whatever they were worth (at least not on the record). I think that Gowon should emulate this Enahoro’s sincerity and not come 34 years later to claim that he didn’t know something he abundantly knew.

Nor is Enahoro’s testimony in isolation as facts contrary to Gowon’s claim of oblivion of events in the Midwest at the time. The New York Times, on its April 5, 1968 issue, carried the following story "in relation to Murtala’s genocidal campaign in the Midwest"

Monsignor Rochcau, one of the two papal delegates representing Pope Paul VI in Nigeria, reports in Le Monde, a Paris newspaper, today that "between Benin and Asaba only widows and orphans remain, Federal troops having for unknown reasons massacred all the men".

It is common knowledge that Nigerian diplomats during the war read every major newspaper in search of "Biafran propaganda" to neutralize. I don’t know how Gowon could claim he did not know of a genocidal activity that was widely reported by the Red Cross and prominent foreign newspapers. Furthermore, it is a fact of history that the three Division Commanders that Gowon unleashed on Biafra were ruthless human beings with proven genocidal propensities: Col. Mohammed Shuwa- commander of the First Infantry Division, Col. Murtala Mohammed, commander of the 2nd Division and Col. Benjamin Adekunle, Commander of the third Marine Division. Murtala’s genocidal instincts and campaign have already been discussed above.

The military campaign of 1st Division commander, Col. Mohammed Shuwa (and Col. Theophilus Danjuma, his deputy Commander) was no less ruthless than that of Col Mohammed, even though it was less universally known. In military campaigns, it is usually assumed that more senior military officers are more restrained from unnecessary violence and that they also tend to act to restrain the lower ranks from unnecessary indiscipline and wantonness in their campaign. But regrettably, this was quite the opposite with Col. Mohammed Shuwa and his top officers that invaded Biafra from the north in July 1967. On the contrary, Col Shuwa actually mandated his troops to exercise the utmost violence on the Biafrans.

A New York Times war correspondent who visited Shuwa and Danjuma’s command headquarters in Makurdi in the last week of October 1967 found a directive dated September 16, 1967, issued as a general order (G.O.) hanging on the bulletin board. It has been issued by Col Shuwa to his troops:

"You are therefore required to push ahead ruthlessly to vanquish the rebels in your way. You will tell this to all your men because rebels have no honor and no respect for the dignity of mankind. You are bound to have heavier casualties than hitherto but you cannot win a war without heavy casualties" (See New York Times, Tuesday, October 24, 1967, p 20, Column 3)

Notice that Shuwa’s command for ruthlessness against the Biafrans (who have no honor) did not distinguish between civilians and uniformed men. And his troops carried out his instructions beyond the call of duty. As a 12-year old boy in January 1966 when the Balewa government was overthrown, there are many things I believed in Biafra, which with additional reading after the war, I have to come to discard as Biafran propaganda. But I still believe that the officers and men of the 1st division under Cols Shuwa and Danjuma were the most violent known to man (at least to me). One needed to be in Enugu in the later part of 1967 to see gouged-out eyes, amputated limbs, fractured skulls and horror stories of Nsukka refugees pouring into Enugu and environs, to appreciate the violent propensity of Shuwa, Danjuma and their men, in furtherance of Shuwa;s ruthlessness order. At my age then, I may not have known the intricate details of the cause of the war, but I certainly was old enough to recognize brutality, savagery, mayhem and wantonness when I saw one especially as practiced by Nigerian troops. Can Gowon say he didn’t know about Col Shuwa’s ruthlessness order and the atrocities that followed it, when New York Times covered it and the whole world knew? He has no way to explain it. If he knew and did nothing, of course, that’s not good for him. If he, on the other hand, as Supreme Commander, did not know that his troops carried out such atrocities and were capable of doing so, it doesn’t speak well of him either.

Now, here comes Africa’s famous Black Scorpion, Col. Benjamin Adekunle, whose genocidal instincts against Biafrans were well documented by reporters that covered the war. Addressing war correspondents at his Divisional Headquarters in the compound of Saint Michael’s Anglican Church and School in Elelewa on May 17, 1968, Col Adekunle told them with visible delight that he has besieged thousands of Biafrans inside the city of Port Harcourt "with no escape route except to jump in the water". (See New York Times, May 20, 1968, page 1, col 7). In another interview with reporters on July 14, 1968, he termed all relief plans for Biafra as "Misguided humanitarian rubbish".

In an interview with the Economist, a British magazine, reproduced in New York Times, Col Adekunle, in answer to a question about Biafran relief, proclaimed further. "I want to see no red cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no Pope, no missionary and no U.N. delegation. I want to prevent even one Ibo having even one thing to eat before their capitulation." (See Sunday New York Times Sept. 8, 1968, Sec. IV, p29). On another occasion, Col. Adekunle told the interviewer that in Biafra, "we shoot at everything that moves", and in response to another reporter’s question about how he would treat Biafrans when he gets into the "heartland of the Igbos", he replied "Then we shoot at everything, even things that don’t move." (id)

When these utterances are put together: "… no escape route except to jump in the water", "Misguided humanitarian rubbish", "I want to prevent even one Ibo having even one thing to eat…", "Then we shoot at everything, even things that don’t move." especially coming in quick succession from a Division Commander, it is no surprise that the ordinary ranks of the 3rd Division were beset with indiscipline, wantonness and violence towards Biafrans, as abundantly documented by war correspondents, missionaries and relief workers. Is Gowon implying that he did not know these well documented genocidal utterances from one of his most flamboyant and outspoken commanders during the war? To claim that will be nothing short of drawing a wool over the eyes of the Igbos, and deny his apology of sincerity and genuineness. Again, Gowon, with all due respect, might think that a smart way to escape responsibility is to feign ignorance of atrocities meted out by his troops. But indeed, rather, its smirks of naivety and aloofness for a Supreme Commander to claim ignorance of atrocities of his troops which were well documented by reporters and widely known to journalists, foreign diplomats and relief workers at that time.

On a personal note, I did not know the magnitude of the Midwestern massacre of the Igbos by Murtala’ forces until after additional reading after the end of the war. My limited knowledge came from an Asaba family with whom we shared space in a refugee camp in Uzuakoli. It will be recalled that after Murtala Mohammed’s two abysmally abortive attempts to take Onitsha from Asaba, he went up North and crossed the River Niger somewhere around Idah and then descended towards Ontisha on the Eastern bank. His "death and destruction" machine passed through my hometown in the first week of January 1968 on its way to Onitsha. Because of the unbelievable injuries visible on the refugees from Nsukka, their horror stories and the sheer rumble of Mohammed’s artillery and other hardware, everyone fled for their lives. The few people that attempted to remain were forever very sorry.

As my hometown evacuated, my mother’s uncle took us (my parents and my siblings) to Aba where we squatted in his house. Subsequently, Port Harcourt was evacuated and not too long after, artillery explosion became audible in Aba. In the course of time, all of a sudden, one evening, artillery explosions south of Aba became ground shaking in Aba. That same evening, the artillery frequency gradually increased from about one every minute to every 30 seconds to every few second to couplet, triplet and quadruplet instantaneous explosions. Luckily for us, my father, a carpenter with the Nigerian Railways, stationed at Umoba (2 or 3 train stations North of Aba) was visiting us on that day. By 2am, everybody was awake with multiple back to back unrelenting artillery bombardment. Right then, my mother’s uncle, my grandmother and my father said we must start packing immediately to leave Aba in the morning for Umoba where my father was stationed.

We arrived Umoba the next day but within 48 hours, artillery was shaking Umoba as it was in Aba two days before. My father went to the railway station at Umoba and was told that Umoba was on "evacuation standby" and that he should report for work at Umuahia for further instructions. In the midst of fear, terror and uncertainly, my father simply put all of us in a train headed north towards Umuahia with no real destination. My father didn’t want us to stay in Umuahia because of unrelenting air raid of civilians but he wasn’t sure where to keep us. In any case, that decision was made easy for him when the train grounded at Uzoakoli (2 or 3 train stations, north of Umuahia). The railway station master told my father that one of the refugee camps still had space and was still accepting people. My father, who wanted us to be in a private residence but couldn’t afford it, took us to the Anglican Primary School refugee camp near the railway station and we were registered and given space.

The refugee camp was really crowded with four families sharing each small classroom, each family to each of the four corners of the classroom. So two days after we arrived, one of the families in our classroom space moved away and an Asaba woman with three children took the spot. Her oldest daughter, 11-years old Adannia (daughter of her father) immediately struck a friendship with my 11-year old immediate younger sister and our two families became close. My father was finally posted to Umuahia.

But strangely enough, Mama Ada, as we called Adannia’s mother, would cry all night and never sleep, at least for the first few weeks. In the morning, my mother would be all over her asking why she cried all night and would never sleep, and she would say nothing. Then later, I and my younger sister pressed Adannia, her daughter, and she told us that Nigerian soldiers killed her father and her oldest brother in Asaba and forced them to watch their execution. Then we told my mother what Adannia told us, and my mother confronted Mama Ada with the story and only then did she open up. The she showed my mother her right shoulder which was a little out of joint and told my mother it was inflicted on her by the same soldiers. And my mother said, how? She said she insisted to the Nigerian troops that since she and her kids were forced to watch the execution of her crying and begging husband and son, that she must give them burials before continuing with her flight out of Asaba. It was during the struggle for the bodies of her husband and son, that they hit her on the right shoulder with the but of the gun. When she fell, they threw the bodies of her husband and son into the back of their land rover and drove away. And my mother said, "if they were heartless enough to kill your husband and son in your presence, you should not even engage them for their bodies. They could have killed you too.". And she said, "I did not know what I was doing"

I hope that Mama Ada and her children survived the war, because my family left Uzuakoli in the course of time because of relentless air raid on civilians. And up till that time, she still had not recovered from her very traumatic experience. I can only hope that after escaping the sword of Mohammed in Asaba, she did not succumb to Gowon’s unrelenting air raid of Uzuakoli. I had thought that Mama Adannia’s story and experience was an isolated incident in Asaba until I did some reading after the war and realized the scope and magnitude of General Murtala Mohammed’s genocidal campaign in Asaba.

In conclusion, I must say that I commend Gowon for bringing himself to grabble with an apology to the Igbos because, to be fair to him, apology is not a word commonly found in the dictionary of African leaders. However, having summoned the courage in the first place, he should do so without attempting to change the facts, a phenomenon that will have the opposite effect of depriving his apology of sincerity and genuineness. The facts are not broken, and they don’t need to be fixed. Also, it must be stressed that this writer has nothing personal against General Murtala Mohammed. I, like most Nigerians, admire his short-lived attempt in 1976 to reform Nigeria, albeit with ruthlessness, and I am glad for him that his name graces the busiest airport in the country. But his military excesses and overreaching are also part of his history and are needed for a balanced analysis of his legacy, especially when it is recalled that the same Murtala Mohammed and his friend, Theophilus Danjuma, oversaw the killing of over 300 Igbo army officers and men in less than 72 hours from July 29 to August 1, 1966.

Gowon’s insincerity and denials know no boundaries. He denied the involvement in July 29, 1966 coup and looking the other way when the non-armed civilians and children of the Ndigbo and other easterners were murdered in northern Nigeria by civilians and soldiers from northern region of Nigeria. The dude is a cause to Nigeria. I pray the mayhem in Jos and the activities of Boko Haram to continue incessantly in order to see the disintegration of the cesspit called Nigeria.

At least, Murtala Mohammed acknowledged the massacre in Asaba but vehemently denied issuing such murderous order to Lt Col Francis Aisida, the Yoruba son, whose 8th brigade was involved in the dastardly act of massacre in Asaba.

ChinenyeN:
Oh okay. I understand now. You were talking about Opara Asimini's name the whole time and not the river in particular.

Bros, you just caught my drift. The Ama + Ikiri are Amakiri which the so-called Ijo had converted into “Amachere”. The Opara Azumiri is converted into Opara Asimiri by either Europeans or Ijo. I wondered why they failed to convert Opara to Opaku or Opuku, Ghana’s (the Akan) form.

[quote author=$tunna link=topic=760170.msg9162437#msg9162437 date=1316209516]uneducated opinions everywhere!!

anyone who visits Europe regularly and have seen their old cities from that periods that are well preserved and they are everywhere in Europe (cities from 3, 4 or 500 years ago) can easily see that the description given of the city of Benin being the size of some of their cities then would be totally true; again, provided of course you realize that their cities of today are not what the writers were referencing, so, what is this your argument all about??

the harder they try to prove how smart they are, the clearer more informed people can see their inability to process simple facts or even truths due to perhaps their learned circular reasoning! smh[/quote]There is no iota of uneducated suggestions in this argument. Besides, I am one of the Africans who stand beside anything African. However, we must not fail to see the historical hyperbolism about us. The Empires such as Oyo and Bini, especially Oyo, are proud examples for Africans but could not be compared in the same level of development with European Empires. The description given to ancient Bini city by the Europeans was very gratifying since they thought we lived on and hopped from one tree to another.

ChinenyeN:
@ezeagu, Azumiri (actually the river Aza which connects to Imo) got it's name from the community [Azumiri], which got it's name from being positioned "behind the river", since the community is the most eastward compared to most other communities and it is on the other size of the Aza river (i.e. to the back of everyone else)

I had lived to believe that Azumiri was the back of the river. Remember, I was born and raised in that part of the country. However, in the context of the issue in discussion, I followed the pattern which dictated the people concerned where fond of taking names after certain creatures such Edimiri, Ediabali, Odum, Ugo, Ikiri and Azu (fish) hence Azumiri. There is also Azu (back) depending on the usage. Ndigbo usually use Isimiri (source of river) as a praise-name but Azumiri which is backwater. Nobody wants to be associated with backwater. If this is a matter of agamiri (side of river or waterside) and odomiri (rain maker), I would have been convinced otherwise.

As in the case of Aba (Aza) River, which is actually a stream, it is neither the tributary of Imo River nor the confluence because its source is Imo River. The two tributaries of Imo River are Otamiri and Oramirukwa. Again, my suggestion was based on observed trend.

ezeagu:
I thought the Azumiri places were pronounced Àzú mmiri = back waters, not Ázụ mmiri.

Bros, make whatever you like about it. Mmiri does not have back. Granted that most names have been anglicized, the pattern is the same. People took names such Edimiri and Ediabli.

nasoeb:
@Dede1

If you are drunk na you sabi

My Clan has absolute Nothing to do with yours, stop attracting us together. there is nothing binding us together (Except selling your people as slaves). we share NOTHING with you. na by force.

carry your own go one place

You are probably a great-grandson of a slave. Most of the porters who later became the boat people were slaves the Europeans brought along with them from Gold Coast. Ndigbo sold their fellow men into slavery not Ijo. The ruling houses in the so-called Ijo land were founded by Ndigbo and good numbers of them were slaves.

You can not have anything with a royal blood.

nasoeb:
@odezue
Igbos are found every where.

and i just told you why its very common to see the igbos living freely and easily fitted in Bonny and her sister kingdom Opobo.
1. Because we adopted igbo language as means of communication during the then slave transaction.
2. Because the Ijaw Man is relatively Peace Loving and very difficult to react

Please give us Ijo name of Opu Obu and Ubani. Do not try Ibani because it is a fraud.

ChinenyeN:
Okay. That's interesting. Let me ask you, if you know, who is Opara Asimini?

Please stop encouraging the revisionists by stating Opara Asimiri. It was Opara Azumiri (fish of water or fish in the river). It is a fact the people of the era in discuss were fond of taking names after certain animals. For example, Ikiri, Ediabali, Edimiri, Odum, Agu, Ugo, etc.

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=760170.msg9161853#msg9161853 date=1316200672]I'm not sure how one must not conclude that the above is nothing more than gross exaggeration. Dutch visitor said the streets in the city seemed to go on with out being able to see an ending  What vehicles plied these roads? Were these people talking about trekking paths or roads? abeg make una no make me laugh jare  Unending roads ko, unending paths to the bush ni  [/quote]Nigerians had fallen in love with unimaginable exaggerations. Track roads made due to series of beat downs from humans walking to the farms manifested into streets built by bulldozers powered by steam engine. 

ezeagu:
Why all this talk against Benin?

I have nothing against Benin or the empire but to point out element of exaggeration in certain historical records. To claim that Bini Empire was burnt down by British and at the same insinuates the palace alone was as big as German city of Tübingen is absurd. I guess the British committed serious and lengthy act of arson.

Remember I read something about Akasa raid and the act of arson too.
I remember some historical records informed that British burnt down Washington, DC. The only structure partially burnt is your guess.

macjive01:
OWERRI, 1969 - PART 2

Background to the Siege of Owerri

The year 1968 opened up in earnest, continuing a pattern that had been set on September 2nd 1967 when Major General Yakubu Gowon declared “total war” against Biafra in response to the Biafran invasion of the Midwestern Region/State of Nigeria. Up until that time, “Operation Unicord,“ as the federal “internal security” operation against the breakaway Biafra (Eastern region of Nigeria) was called, was described as “Police action.” Increasingly violent shooting went on side by side with increasingly cynical talking.

As the war raged, various external actors sought ways to resolve various elements of the crisis in favor of one or the other of the contending forces. These included the Commonwealth, World Council of Churches, Organization for African Unity, and various nations, among other state and non-state actors. Both Nigeria and Biafra conducted a furious war to influence international opinion by various means. Both entities send delegations abroad for this purpose as well as to shop for weapons and ammunition. For example, former Eastern Region Premier Michael Okpara and former Nigerian President Nnamdi Azikiwe were roving Biafran ambassadors to some East African and Francophone countries. In the wake of Azikiwe’s diplomatic offensive, Tanzania, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Zambia recognized Biafra. Importantly, on August 1st, General de Gaulle of France openly acknowledged already ongoing support for Biafran self-determination. But there were other pro-Biafran forces in the background. Biafra also sought and got support (of varying quantity and quality) from Israel, Portugal, Rhodesia, South Africa, the Vatican and non-state actors like Joint Church Aid, Holy Ghost Fathers of Ireland, Caritas International, MarkPress, US Catholic Relief Services, etc.

Meanwhile, federal delegations visited many other African countries to stem the tide of Biafran recognition and obtain official OAU backing, considerably enhanced by the sympathy of the OAU Consultative Committee on the Nigerian crisis. (The members of this committee, led by Emperor Selassie of Ethiopia were Cameroun, Congo Kinshasha, Ghana, Liberia and Niger). At the same time Nigeria was negotiating with countries like Belgium, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, West Germany, Hong Kong, Spain, Poland, the USSR, and the United States for weapons and other items of military ordnance. In August, for example, Dr, Okoi Arikpo was dispatched to the USSR on what was described as a goodwill visit coming exactly one year after a “cultural pact” between both countries – negotiated by Soviet Ambassador Alexandr Romanov - had resulted in the supply of Mig-17 fighter aircraft to Nigeria. The Nigerian international shopping list in 1968 included Artillery, Armoured fighting vehicles, shells, battle rifles, rifle ammunition, machine guns, side arms, etc. In the background, peace talks were stuttering in London, Kampala, Niamey, and Addis Ababa, as international concern increased about relief for civilians caught in the fighting.

On the battlefield, however, facts were being created and recreated on the ground and in propaganda. In March, Onitsha finally fell to federal troops of the 2nd Infantry Division, after many bloody unsuccessful attempts. In April, Abakaliki was captured, followed in May by the fall of Port Harcourt to troops of the 3rd Marine Commando Division. On July 30th, an increasingly confident Colonel Benjamin Adekunle, GOC of the 3rd Marine Commando Division announced to the Press that he would capture Owerri, Aba and Umuahia (O.A.U) within two weeks. Nevertheless, it was not until August 15th, 1968, that Major General Gowon announced that the “final offensive” which would bring the war to an end would begin on August 25th. Following this announcement, Aba fell to federal forces on September 4th followed on September 16th by Owerri. But by the time Okigwe was taken on October 1st, it was evident that all was not well with the “final offensive.”


READ THE REST HERE ( IT REALLY LONG OOH)





http://www.igbolandforum.com/index.php?topic=442.0

The first paragraph of this essay is a lazy job padded with conjectural crap. Nigeria started military action against Biafra on July 6, 1967. And by July 26, 1967, the military offensive initiated by Nigeria saw the capture of many towns in Biafra including Ubani (Bonny) by the 3MCDO.

Biafran military foray into Midwestern region of Nigeria did not come until August 8, 1967.

All these concocted propaganda and falsehood should be exposed before undiscerning onlookers start quoting them as gospel.

PhysicsQED:
1. The groups who claim migration from Benin are groups who speak Edoid languages or Edo influenced languages, of which there are claimed to be a few in Bayelsa and Rivers. Speaking an Edoid language or Edo influenced language is different from actually originating directly from the Benin kingdom, but a few people have adopted the tendency to claim origin from Benin if there is evidence of something linking them with the other Edoid groups historically, culturally or linguistically. Whether those claims are true or not isn't so obvious, but it is almost certainly true that some non-Bini groups in Edo (especially Edo), Delta and Ondo states have elements in their population that came from the actual Benin kingdom.

2. What walls are you talking about? A moat that had already deteriorated decades ago and is even overgrown with vegetation? Alonso de Sandoval's (17th century) word on the huge Benin moat ("walls" means far more than your fanciful claims about an already eroded earthwork. It makes little sense to gauge the level of ancient development of a place by a disappearing monument.

3. There are a lot of quotes from eyewitnesses describing the level of development in Benin. It is a fact that Portuguese explorers compared Benin city with Lisbon, Dutch writers compared Benin with Amsterdam and Antwerp, Italians visitors with Florence, and Spanish visitors with Madrid. A Dutch account claimed the palace alone was as large as the Dutch city of Haarlem, and a German account (1603) said the palace complex alone was as large as an entire German city (Tübingen). It's too late to reduce Benin to a level beneath what it occupied historically.

Today’s Benin City can not be mentioned among the largest cities in Nigeria. In addition, there is no doubt that the present day Benin City is, at least, four fold bigger than Village Empire called Bini.

If you do not discern element of exaggeration in comparison of Bini empire to the cities in Europe by the European explorers in order to quantify the value of their trip to Africa, I shall leave you with the hyperbolism.

I pray the sons and daughters of the Ndigbo to please sheath your swords over the issue allegedly accredited to T. Orji’s useless government in Abia State. The nonsensical “Abia for Abians” could be, after all, a political ploy to smear the governor

@POST

There is no doubt insanity has become common and mainstay in Nigerian society. Please GEJ invest the money for nuclear power generation into building first class laboratories in 12 universities in the country, at least, 2 from each so-called political zone. These university labs must be tasked to produce anything from toothpick to candle. We can manage with candles originating from Nigerian universities.

ow11:
@dede1 The revisionist. . . . what does Ama onye nabo mean in Igbo?

@ exotik , GEJ has the power and can do whatever he wants. Everyone follows the money trail Including those Bini land fighting people! We will shut them down. . .We have NOT lost a battle even to the Brits.


@ChinenyeN

Do you have a version on the origins of Nigerian tribes with respect to original dispersal of humans at the end of the last ice age?

It is Onye isi, Ogaranya, Diokpa or Duru. If the Ijo chose to make Ama + Ikiri (the family compound and fearsome animal) or Ama Onye anabo the title of Igwe or Eze or Obong or Oba, I do not give a fig.

Batubo:
After more than 50 years in a land,people should no longer be seen as migrants. The Ijaws of Edo have right just as obua,Ebocha and other clans in Rivers state who migrated from EDO have

The igbo people here claiming parts of Rivers state
the Ijaw nation=d. Eastern Delta
1. Nembe
2. Kalabari
3. Okrika
4. Ibani Bonny

e. Eastern Delta Fringe
1. Nkoro
2. Opobo

These are the Ijaw towns in Rivers state. If you doubt you can go kick rocks

You need to revisit the source of your historical facts. It is wrong beyond human imagination. Bini, for intents and practical purposes, was a village empire. If all these self-arrogating fallacies of migration from Bini were remotely true, there should be nobody left in Bini except the Oba. I had the opportunity to visit the remnant walls of Bini Empire and I concluded everything about the empire was insanely exaggerated.

Ibime and Ow11 can run their mouths freely as they would like to do because they have a lineage pointed to Igbo.

I remember telling them about Amakiri, thus Ama = Ikiri that eventually gave rise to Amachere courtesy of Ijo little mindedness. Also, Ama Onye Anabo gave rise to Amayenagbo. There were names such as Azumiri to Asimiri, Mbagamba to Bagamba, Ediabali, Edimiri and Odum. It is funny when confusionists write about Mein begetting Ugo and Opara. Mein is anglicized Merenini, a name prominent among Uratta people.

I hate to debate sentimental topic that is central to particular group of people on a public domain. I know few popular Nigerians whose states of origin are not Imo State yet there parents are staffs of Imo State government at Owerri and other towns.

Whether T. Orji executes the intended policy of “leave Abia for Abians” or not, he will never receive a cup of palm wine in any Igbo gathering when I am present. Those people who mounted such policy when Imo and Anambra were carved out of East Central State never received ordinary mention talk less of chieftaincy award outside their community within Igbo land.

Granted that Lagos was once a federal capital and rightfully within Yoruba domain, it stands as a case study for Ndigbo. The state has seen several governors whose actual state of origin is not Lagos State yet there was no iota of whisper about Lagos for Lagosians.

If I say that I am disappointed with the nonsensical and anachronistic statement about the indigenous crap coming from Abia State, it is an understatement.

Abagworo:
What a question.The history of the Benin empire is no news to any Nigerian adult.[b]If the Benin were able to tame the fore fathers of the Ijaw and other Southern ethnic groups including the big two(Igbo and Yoruba) why can't they do the same again.[/b]Igbos say LOnye akpala Odum di n'ura aka nu odudu maka o keta o bula ebelebe" simply meaning "do not dare touch a sleeping lion on the tail cause u can't handle the outcome"

This is an empty conjecture at best. The Bini Empire never tamed forefathers of Ndigbo. In fact, it is on record that Oba Ewuare mentioned that one of the blunders he committed was an attempted south-eastern expansionism. Bini soldiers suffered defeats in hands of Igbo warriors which forced Oba to declared the area as most treacherous.

I usually do not like to inject the picture of another ethnic group into this type of discussion. But it is pertinent in this matter to request the Abians to look at states such as Lagos.

If this action of “leave Abia for Abians” is remotely true and adversely affects Ndigbo from other states other than Abia State, the governor Theodore Orji and the entire Abians will not only bear the wrath of  Ndigbo but spirits of Alaigbo.  

Abians do not reduce your selves to patients afflicted with leprosy among the Ndigbo in particular and Nigerians in general because of the visionless leadership of a jackass.

The so-called Ijo people are not dingbats and very careful to choose a neighbor to tangle. However, I temper my grievance towards them because Ijo people need a land to settle besides leaving on the boat.