₦airaland Forum

I had the opportunity to attend occasion marking the 80th birthday ceremony of King TJT Princewill Amaechi XI of Kalabari Kingdom. Throughout the festivity, I found myself swinging between happiness, intrigue and sadness.

The sadness came from the craps such as denial of someone’s ethnicity that have recently graced the national dailies and Internet forums. I often wonder the dividend accrued from such dastardly behavior from deluded punks that engage in such endeavor.

The intrigue weighed on me through the display of cultural activities that were not different from the fundamental experience I had while growing up as an Igbo chap.

The happiness poured from the fact that I stood witness to the celebration of 80th birthday bash for King Princewill Amaechi XI of Kalabari Kingdom.

cap28:
dede1, onlytruth, metal gong- do you see what im telling you about your hero - have you heard that he has now come out to endorse IBB for the 2011 presidency, you guys need to wake up and understand that this man is a traitor to igbo people.

http://www.ifeyinka.com/2010/04/ibb-should-return-says-dim-odumegwu.html

It is rather unfortunate that non-Igbo in particular and non-biafrans in general do not understand the mutual connection that exists between Ndigbo and Ojukwu. Whatever political venture Ojukwu tends to undertake in Nigeria shall remains Ojukwu’s discretion and has no bearing whatsoever on Ndigbo. If majority of Ndigbo has decided to create a hero culture around Ojukwu, so shall it be.

Ndigbo are very dynamic in nature and hardly cow-tow or succumb to so-called leader’s political agenda. It was not long ago that Ojukwu was politically defeated in Nnewi senatorial district by an Owerri based physician named Dr. Onwudiwe when the Ojukwu ran for senatorial office under the platform of NPN. It must be recall that this form of political dynamism can not be seen from any other ethnic group in Nigeria.

In addition, Ojukwu as a Nigerian is entitled to his political views either by endorsing convicted criminals or ordained ministers. It baffles the wit out of me how too many Nigerians exhibit abysmal sense forgetfulness when clouded by ethnic bias.

cap28:
because he realised (belatedly) that he was about to be tactically outmanoevred by a joint north and west coalition, the british had ensured that a military dominated by the north was the only way they could ensure power remained in the hands of the northern oligarchy, they wanted the north to hold the reins of power in collaboration with either a western or eastern backed support however the supporting role had to be in a SUBORDINATE position, zik agreed to this (this is why he wasnt in support of the cessation) however events overtook the british plan for control, what the british did not want was a dominant east and definitely not with Ojukwu in power, the only set up which was acceptable to the british was a northern led structure with either east or west support but NOT in a dominant position.  Is this not the model that is still in operation till today?

If Ojukwu had abandoned his people and bowed to Gowon - he would be out in the cold - Gowon would not be under any obligation to negotiate with him without any power base, hence his efforts to form some sort of coalition with the western states. 

Ojukwu wanted the northern troops to leave the west in order to enable him consolidate his power base and break the north's hold over power.  britain knew this and this why they ensured that the north formed an alliance with the west thereby making it difficult for Ojukwu to singlehandedly wrest control of nigeria from the north. 

onlytruth the problem with you is that you are too shortsighted and limited in your understanding of what this war was about, who the real power brokers in nigeria are and how tribalism has been used by external forces to impede the progress and development of nigeria as a viable political and economic entity.

Some of your political assertions were correct about colonialist interests and its analytical strengths or weakness of the each regions of Nigeria. However certain events such as personal, political or economical furiously overtook British overall interest in the colony.

Based on the British activities in the protectorates before and immediately after independence, one can correctly argue that the colonial masters wanted the docile northern region to have control at the center of independent Nigeria. But such political machination would have been thwarted and ended what is known today as Nigeria if personal discretions and political ambitions were held in check.

If the genetic makeup of eastern region were to be reversed as to those of northern region, Nigeria would have definitely not existed. Biafrans displayed rear and inherent intellectual ability the British and other pseudo colonialists knew could set trailblazer of self-induced industrial development in Africa.

Katsumoto:
You might have improved your argument considerably if you told us why Ojukwu had Njoku locked up and please, something that can be backed up properly.

According to your slide statement, I shall remain a lazy scholar. In addition, I shall wait for my uncle or friends to inculcate such knowledge into my skull. Until now, I did not know that explorative research is an exclusive domain of the elites.

Katsumoto:
You have to start backing up your arguments with concrete evidence. Information from uncles and friends who fought in the war can not be the basis of your arguments. You need to post links or reference books. You disagreed with the post I provided but you failed to provide evidence to support your position. In the absence of any evidence from you, I guess we have to agree to disagree.

I have no discernable reasons to aide in propagation of falsehood. Why should I engage in the habit of providing links that point to erroneous article of facts that do not stand the scrutiny of time? For example, Omoigui is an original exponent of the fallacy that had everybody believed that only five Nigerian army officers had university degree as of January 1, 1966. This rubbish was further propagated by scholars such Max Siollum. If I quote this fallacy and provide a link to Omoigui’s and Maxsiollum’s Intenent bound articles, does it make a factual truth?

Katsumoto:
"However, those who lobbied that the Eastern region accept Decree No. 8 based their arguments on the fact that the decree gave Ojukwu "over 90%" of what he wanted at Aburi as well as providing a way to avoid the horrors of war. (Col Hilary Njoku's disagreement with Ojukwu on this point cost him the command of the Biafran Army and bagged him a sentence to jail without trial for almost the entire duration of the war. However, Mr. NU Akpan who was also pro-Decree No. 8 held on to his job as Secretary to the Government of the eastern region (and Biafra) to the very end.) Back on Feb 25, Ojukwu threatened to take unilateral action by March 31 if there were persistent delays in announcing the new decree as he understood it to have been agreed at Aburi. On March 1st Gowon met with the diplomatic corps to discuss the ABuri agreement and reservations the government had about certain implications of the Ojukwu interpretation. On March 10 the SMC met in Lagos without Ojukwu - for reasons of personal safety - in order to discuss the draft text. This was followed on Mar 12 by a meeting in Benin of all Law officers from the different regions - and the subsequent release of the decree."

http://www.kwenu.com/biafra/nowa_may30.htm

I hope you do understand that during and immediately after Aburi agreement, eastern region operated as a region not a nation. And I hope you should agree with me that disagreement found within individual opinions in dealing with Decree No. 8 and brazen violation of Aburi accord by Nigerians does not constitute disagreement on strategic approach. There was no easterner who did not agree on the accord reached in Aburi, Ghana.

It is unfortunate that you and Omoigui would want us to believe that a fabricated fallacy involving non-existed disagreement between Ojukwu and Njoku on Decree No. 8 and total disregard of Aburi accord caused the later the command of Biafra army. What a joke. When Ojukwu and Njoku had little misunderstanding about Biafran armed forces chain of command, the issues of Decree No. 8 and the alleged violation of Aburi accord had long past.

Katsumoto:
What was one of the issues raised by Ojukwu regarding Yoruba representation in the forces? Was it not Ojukwu who argued for the recruitment of Yoruba sons into the forces. Yes the Yoruba had officers but were lacking in NCOs. Please see below, you may disagree with my arguments but I still try to back up my arguments with some evidence. BTW, I think you need to keep out the slide remarks when you disagree with me. We can disagree from time to time.

"A few days later on May 20, Gowon accepted the recommendations of the National Reconciliation Committee. Although Ojukwu said he did not recognize the group as constituted, members passed along his demands to the federal government. After consultations, therefore, Gowon announced on May 25, that the SMC had agreed to withdraw non-Yoruba troops from Abeokuta and Ibadan and establish a crash training program to increase the Yoruba representation in the Army. This had always been a key demand of Ojukwu but was also later echoed by Yoruba leaders. To ease the process and avoid apprehension among the mostly northern soldiery, Lt. Col Hassan Katsina (Northern governor), Lt. Col Joe Akahan (Chief of Staff, Army) along with the Battalion Commander, Major Sotomi addressed the troops at Ibadan. The plan was that they would mostly have departed Ibadan and Abeokuta by May 31, some to Apapa and Ikeja in the Lagos area, while others were to be transferred to the Jebba and Ilorin garrisons by train. The SMC, citing the status of the city as the federal capital, had rejected the suggestion that northern soldiers be removed from Lagos as well. However, events quickly spiraled out of control and none of this came to pass."

http://www.kwenu.com/biafra/nowa_may30.htm

This is nothing but hogwash. The Yoruba NCOs solely gave Nigeria more than half of the infantry men needed to stand up two divisions such as 3MCDO and 2nd Division. The Yoruba NCOs were drawn from Lagos Garrison Organization and entire 2nd Brigade comprising 2nd battalion, 4th Battalion and 8th Battalion. You should realize that when the two divisions (3MCDO and 2nd Division) were stood up by mostly NCOs from Yoruba extraction, Biafra could not even stand up a battalion of mostly Igbo NCOs. I do not understand the reasons behind putting argument that could withstand the scrutiny of curious mind. It did not look like Gowon built a magic factory of soldiers in Lagos, Abaokuta, Ibadan, Oshogbo and Ilorin that gave Nigerian army two division mostly populated by Officers and NCOs of Yoruba extraction in 6 months.

cap28:
Dede1 you make me laugh - since you have the nerve to mention skewed opinion - why dont we take a look at your own skewed opinions: you admire and bow before a man who embarked on a war he knew he could not win because of selfish personal ambition.

you worship and idolise a man who did not learn his lesson after the nigeria biafra civil war but came back after mysteriously being pardoned by the shagari regime (i believe that he used his british connections to secure that pardon because i know of no revolutionary leader who was allowed to come back into the same country after leading a secessionist movement within it ) to FORM AN ALLIANCE WITH THE SAME ELITE GROUP WHO MASSACRED HIS OWN PEOPLE - this is your hero

he FRATERNISED WITH AND FORMED AN ALLIANCE WITH A STAUNCH MEMBER OF THE HAUSA FULANI OLIGARCHY - Sani Abacha - this is your hero

Now look at my heros: Fela Kuti - fought for social justice and equality of the poor irrespective of ethnic background - suffered brutal repression from the rulling classes and had his mother murdered in the process

Gani Fawenhinmi - fought for social justice for all irrespective of ethnic background -suffered beatings, imprisonment and death threats

Kwame Nkrumah - challenged western imperialism and fought for social justice and economic progress of africa as a unified entity (pan africanism) - was toppled by CIA

sekou toure - former guinean president - fought french imperialism - suffered economic isolation following his decision to drop out of french controlled francophone entity

thomas sankara - fought french imperialism - murdered by french backed coup detat

nelson mandela - fought western backed apartheid and imperialism - spent 27 years in prison

patrice lumumba - fought belgian and american backed imperialism - murdered by the CIA

NOW COMPARE my heros to your self appointed igbo messiah and i think it becomes crystal clear to anyone with an iota of intelligence who the dimwitted jackass between the two of us really is.

I would not join issues with you on these childish drivels. When you listed Patrick Lumumba in this jest oriented post, I knew you were drunk with distortion. If British had fought on the side of Biafra and Gowon was eventually killed, I bet you would have listed Gowon too. Please I suggest perusal of well articulated history devoid of CIA and KGB bias. Try to be none typical naïve African for a moment.

cap28:
katsumoto i think you are putting these ojukwu acolytes to shame with your indepth and objective analysis of what went on during this tragic period, if only people like only truth, dede1 and other emotional basket cases could take off those rose tinted glasses for a second and see this man for who he really is they would start making sense.

what i find amazing is some people's definition of a hero , the fact that Ojukwu fought a battle which he knew he could not win does not make him a hero it makes him a megalomaniac, the same way hitler tried to fight a war on 2 different fronts sacrificing millions of his german soldiers lives, ordering them to advance into the bitter russian terrain with temperatures falling as low as minus 40C in defiance of advice from him own generals made him a megalomaniac, the same way hitler declared war on america despite the fact that the american military vastly outmatched him makes him a megalomaniac, what hitler didnt not know was that he had been provoked into athat declaration of war on america in order for the americans to have an excuse to crush germany's war machine once and for all, now turning to ojukwu - as the son of a man who fraternised with the british colonial elite, (his father was a personal friend of the former colonial governor general of nigeria) he must have known that britain had a vested interest in ensuring that power remained in the hands of the north, after all they (the british) orchestrated the rigging of the 1959 elections in order for this to be the case, why then would he put the lives of millions of his own people in jeopardy in order to realise his political ambitions? only a deranged individual suffering from a mental disorder would do such a thing, this is the reason he embarked on this war, he couldnt imagine himself playing second fiddle to a northern puppet which i understand but why not ensure that you are militarily equipped to embark on this war first, its like two people playing a game of chess and the other one sees that his opponent is winnning, what does he do, consider that the odds are against him and accept defeat, no he overturns the chess board - insisting that if he cant win - nobody will win - that is ojuwkw's mentality, however being a cunning and wily man he convinced the igbos that he was their messiah, that he had come to deliver them out of the hands of the blood thirsty northerners and they bought it, to be honest i cant blame igbos during that period for not seeing through Ojukwu's opportunism because of the pogroms, however i do blame him for ploughing on with a war in which he was so devastatingly outmatched, furthermore britain was determined not to loose the oil fields to the igbos particularly with someone like Ojukwu at the helm of affairs as this would spell doom for the plan to continue to control the economic and political destiny of the country. these are all the things Ojuwkwu knew but carried on with regardless. The man should not be lauded as a hero but exposed for the power crazed individual that he was. definition of megalomaniac:

"Megalomania is an unrealistic belief in one's superiority, grandiose abilities, and even omnipotence. It is characterized by a need for total power and control over others, and is marked by a lack of empathy for anything that is perceived as not feeding the self."

Do some peeps from Nigeria actually understand the chronological order of events that led to the shooting civil war between Nigeria and Biafra? Or people simply stroll to Internet to display an unqualified bias they had against Ndigbo in particular and Biafra in general. Ojukwu never appointed himself military governor of eastern region of Nigeria. Ojukwu, unlike Gowon, never involved in any failed or unsuccessful coup in Nigeria. Ojukwu was not an instigator of insidious pogrom in northern region of Nigeria.

After Ironsi was declared missing, Ojukwu insisted that chief of staff supreme military headquarters should assume the command of the armed forces. The same Ojukwu warned those who were bent on the usurping the position of C-in-C that indiscipline such action would bring to Nigeria army would reverberate for long time. Ojukwu did not declare war on Nigeria. It is only in the land of stack idiots that when a group of people are forced to protect themselves from the aggressor tantamount to war. If Ojukwu was power hungry, he would not call for Ogundipe to become the Head of State rather he would schemed and gotten handsome concessions from the Gowon. This is a fact any mad fellow could discern. Yet people clouded with ethnic bias will remain lost about the facts.

@Sillymuse

You have every right to display your God-given idiocy in the public but pal; you do not have such effrontery to distort history. The idea of Ojukwu as the same event as Nigeria-Biafra civil war only exists in the figment of your idiotic imagination. Only a fool such you would occupy your moronic self with something such as Biafra war that never existed. Oh, I guess you meant Nigeria-Biafra civil war. Again, Ojukwu, Gowon, Biafrans and Nigerians are part of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war. When next a scoundrel such as you stepped into argument about Nigeria-Biafra civil war, try to disabuse your mind from the conjectures fed to you by your parents.

Katsumoto:
Hillary Njoku, who happened to have the same Nigerian rank as Ojukwu, was imprisoned for arguing against Ojukwu's strategy.

What strategy are you referring? Please I would appreciate to be intimated with such strategy.

@bilygoat

I have to unequivocally state that if the miserable life of bilygoat has to survive for two days based on the loudmouthed jackass’s brief essay on Biafra, the punk would definitely make a mark on the obituary section of the dailies. It is a display of holistic idiocy on the part of the dimwit to insinuate that Ndigbo do not know the difference between Ojukwu and Biafra war. Granted that Ojukwu is an individual while Biafra was a nascent nation, any person of less intellect such as bilygoat can not even attempt a sentence on Biafra without Ojukwu’s name. Biafra had soldiers better than Murtala Mohammad but not deserters such as him. Each time you wrote “we heard” in one of your foolish drivels about Biafra, it makes you appear lazier and dumber person. 

@Cap28

To say that I was not impress on reading the names of your listed revolutionaries in Africa is an understatement. I guess you are entitled to your skewed opinion and must be judged by your words. Please be informed that your words betrayed you as a dimwitted jackass.

@Katsumoto

To write that “the Yoruba's were the most under-represented ethnic group of the three major tribes in the military” is simply mischievous streaming from seeds of deceit planted by the western region of Nigerian publications of 1967. I think you over exaggerated when you used the phrase “decimated Igbo officers and NCOs” in order to manipulated already weak and cheap political point. Yoruba had the second highest number of officers in Nigeria army as of January 1, 1966. This is also true about the NCOs. Thanks goodness that we live among recorded events as to avoid being told by certain group of people that Ogundipe never existed. It is very disappointing to read a waste of brain effort from you. Gowon was part and conniving central figure in July 29, 1966 coup.

@akigbemaru

If any mount is needed to shot, it is your putrid loudmouth. I shall not contemplate the idea of contending with you as what the Bianca’s intentions were during the alleged interview. However, I should not be surprise or frown at WAEC for grading your English paper as F9. If your effort to summarize Bianca’s interview has to be judged based on what you have scribed already, the grade of F9 given to you on English language should have been accompanied with a ban from a repeat sitting. You certainly have comprehensive deficiency.

Katsumoto:
The hate in your heart stops you from analysing issues logically. What as MKO got to do with this thread? You can call MKO an embezzler but at least he didn't run away like a coward. He died in prison for a cause he believed in. Whether you believed in that cause is your prerogative. If you don't want to hear the truth about Ojukwu, you had better leave MKO out of this.

Pal, I do not have any hatred for any group of people but lies and conjectural craps. If you had read the post that attracted my rejoinder, you would have positively concluded that my post was indeed logical.

Why did you fail to question the logical connection of Abacha to Ojukwu’s acceptance as a hero to Ndigbo by the previous author named Tochukwu? I had taken Abacha any day over MKO Abiola hence the revelation of the fact that Tochukwu who suddenly turned moral police had unflinching support for a classical thief such MKO Abiola. 

I stand by my statement that any person who politically supported classical and national embezzler such as MKO Abiola had no business telling Ndigbo who to accept as a hero.

For you information, Ojukwu attended Eaton Hall military academy as officer cadet. The poster who wrote about Eton may have confused issues. You are right about Ojukwu’s high school career that ended at Epson College, Surrey.

bilymuse:
[size=15pt]OJUKWU & IGBO LEADERSHIP[/size]

By
Tochukwu Ezukanma

I am ambivalent about the past because on the one hand, the past is irretrievably lost, but on the other hand, the present is only a reflection of the past, and an understanding of the past provides necessary tools for resolving the problems of the present. So, while there are many more contemporary issues that should rivet the focus of most imaginative writers, I cannot help to retrospect, and glean insights from the events of the past. As we ponder the vast scene of confusion that is our beloved country, are we not confronted with the inexorable reality that our present problems are the direct results of the happenings of yesteryears. Not surprisingly, as I brood over the plight of the Igbo nation, I am irresistibly drawn to the past, to the civil war. While there may be some fundamental cultural and historical factors that militate against Igbo political progress, it was the civil war that actually deal the Igbo a bludgeoning blow. To really address the present Igbo political problems, we cannot escape an objective assessment of that war and the central figure in that war, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.



Ojukwu's recent presence in the Washington DC area did not inspire much enthusiasm within the Igbo community. The Igbo's earlier perception of him was shaped through the distorted prisms of the Biafran propaganda. The Biafran propaganda apotheosized him, so, in the Igbo minds, he became something of a deity, an invaluable political asset. But, over the years, he proved himself a political profligate, improvidently spending his political capital. His repeated political blunders, especially, that his infamous waltz with Sani Abacha demystified and stripped him of much of his political legitimacy. It left him devoid of any political good will, except for the lingering grip of the Biafran propaganda on some Igbo minds.



As an emissary of the Abacha government, he was in Washington DC. His mission then was to burnish the badly blemished image of the Abacha government, evidently for a consideration. It was 1995, and he stood before an exclusively Igbo audience. As usual, he was a riveting presence: a consummate orator, a captivating demagogue. With credulous and adoring listeners, he was spouting some half truths, twisted facts and some downright falsehood; and his audience in their gullibility were applauding.



That forum reinforced my earlier conviction that the problem with politicians is that they generally lie too much, that the problem with their following is that they barely think, and that it is the volatile mix of these two worrisome realities that has brought the world most of its political calamities.



He said that the Igbo will provide the next Nigerian president. Surprisingly, this statement drew a thunderous applause from his audience. I was appalled by this brazen piece of demagoguery. I crafted some questions for him. I wanted to rattle him with some pointed questions. I raised my hand frantically, but I was not allowed the opportunity to ask any of my questions. The self-appointed Igbo leaders of Washington DC were at work. It was their evening, and they were putting a spin on it. They have a penchant for ingratiating the Nigerian Embassy, and fawning over every important visitor from Nigeria. So, in their customary sycophancy, they orchestrated the event in a way that will preclude serious questions that may disconcert the August visitor. Applicants for the most menial jobs are subjected to rigorous interviews. Lamentably, men who lay claim to the leadership of a people are shielded from meaningful questions from those whom they supposedly lead. Evidently, we carried across the Atlantic elements of that hero-worshipping that imperiled accountability in Nigeria public life.



The Igbo producing the next president as of 1995? Staggering nonsense! After all, Moshood Abiola who was wasting away in jail as of then was a crony of the northern dominated military elite and an intimate friend of the northern aristocracy. Moreover, like the majority of the northerners, he was a Moslem. If the northern powerbrokers could not trust him with power, what Igbo could they have entrusted with it.



In the same speech, he also extolled the Constitutional Conference. The Constitutional Conference was tendentious rubbish, a gaudy political ploy that kept the politicians busy while Abacha tightened his hold on power. It was something of a nursery game at which a bunch of venal politicians played at the supervision of Sani Abacha. Ojukwu and the other Igbo leaders stampeded into the Constitutional Conference ostensibly to "enshrine" rotational presidency, and the devolution of power to regional units in the new constitution. What of the previous constitutions, and all the grandiose ideals enshrined in them? Were they not all violated, and shoved aside at the whims of the northern feudal lords and their military surrogates. If all previous constitutions were tossed away as worthless pieces of paper, what was to ensure the sacrosanctity of the one written by the Constitutional Conference? If the Hausa/Fulani as of then were refusing to rotate the presidency with the Yoruba who had been their allies for about 30 years, why would anyone expect them to rotate it with the Igbo whose presidency, in the words of Abubakar Umar (supposedly, a progressive), "will be too much for the country to bear"?



I had a feeling that Ojukwu left that forum dismayed by the quality of his listeners, that is, not knowing that it was the hero-worshippers in their traditional shamelessness who deliberately searched out mostly the incoherent, and inarticulate to ask questions. Is Ojukwu really a hero, or do we just glory in nonentities?



In a naval battle in the South Atlantic, the British Navy disabled a German warship, and the commander of the German warship, Hans Langsdorff shot himself in the head. In his suicide note, he stated that "for a captain with a sense of honor, his personal fate cannot be separated from that of his ship". Ship, captain, and honor. What of nation, leader, and honor? "In politics and statecraft", Richard Nixon once wrote "power means life or death, prosperity or poverty, happiness or tragedy for millions of people".



Honor linked the personal fate of a captain to that of his ship. So, quite naturally, honor should inextricably bind the personal fate of a leader to the life or death, happiness or tragedy of his people. Ojukwu led the Igbo in a war against northern domination of Nigeria. That war was not wrong in itself. However, while there were insinuating circumstances that impugned the basis for one Nigeria, Biafranism was not the only political option open to the Igbo. Eastern Region of Nigeria, even Igboland was not an ideological monolith. There were contending views as to the response to the mass murder Easterners in northern Nigeria. There were knowledgeable and respectable voices who urged for a more circumspect approach. Nnamdi Azikiwe among others disagreed with Ojukwu's methods, and counseled against his policy of secession. Ojukwu ignored and/or suppressed all such dissenting views, and set off on his own political course. So, he is liable for Biafranism, and all the pains, sorrows, and ravages it wrought on the Igbo. Even the qualified endorsement of secession by the Ojukwu appointed Consultative Assembly does not in any way exonerate him from this responsibility.



Yakubu Gowon was then an ill-baked, insecure and mild-mannered ethnic and religious minority foisted on Nigeria by the northern feudal lords and neo-colonial interests. He was inexorably beholden to his northern masters and Yoruba allies. Still, he is culpable for the war to keep Nigeria and all its concomitant horrors. Even in democracies where the leader's choices are circumscribed by the constitutional prerogatives of the parliament/congress, the leader is still held answerable to his political decisions and actions. For example, in spite of the intrinsic limitations placed on leadership by the institutional moorings of democracy, it will be most grotesque to suggest that Winston Churchill was not responsible for the British stance in the 2nd World War, or that President Roosevelt be not accountable for both the New Deal and American involvement in the 2nd World War.



Soldiers by both training and orientation are ill equipped for political leadership. Edward Gibbon, that 18th century man of letters, once wrote that ", the temper of soldiers, habituated at once to violence and (servitude), renders them very unfit guardians of a legal or even a civil constitution. Justice, humanity, or political wisdom, are qualities they are too little acquainted with in themselves to appreciate them in others". In spite of these inherent handicaps, the soldiers were thrust into Nigeria politics by a political accident. They were neither expecting it nor prepared for it. Out of the confines of the barracks and the parochialism and regimentation of military life, these young army officers were overnight saddled with enormous powers and responsibilities. That mixture of military brashness, political power and youthful ebullience was to be a dangerous experiment. Yakubu Gowon, probably conscious of his limitations, sought the advise of the politicians - older men and experienced men. Ojukwu, on the other hand, befogged by his imperiousness, arrogance and superciliousness, ignored the counsel of older and experienced politicians, notably Nnamdi Azikiwe.



Azikiwe, although notorious for his equivocation and inconsistence, was still universally revered for his learning, prudence and experience. It was a profound act of irresponsibility for a 33year old soldier to rebuff the political advise of the father of Nigerian nationalism renowned for his political instincts and intellectual penetration. It smacked in the face of the traditional Igbo, actually African respect for age and the wisdom of the elders. He chose to tread his own political path, a path devoid of the foresight, staidness and somber reflection of the elder, but replete with youthful impulsiveness, wanton despotism and military license. Not surprisingly, he led the Igbo into a quagmire of powerlessness and helplessness.



By building an autonomous power structure that defied, and to some extent repressed the traditional Igbo political power structure, he disjointed and severely weakened the Igbo leadership order. Historically and culturally, the Igbo do not readily submit to a hierarchical social order, or coalesce around a leader. So, the pre-1966 power establishment in Igboland must have been painstakingly cobbled together over many decades. Ojukwu's repudiation of the established Igbo leadership form, rocked that traditional power structure to its core. Subsequent swipes at it after the civil war only furthered the deterioration of an already decrepit system. War is an infernal monster that racks, devours and devastates. It generally takes its highest toll on the youths. With their reckless idealism, impressionable minds and an excitability that can easily be kindled, they are readily whipped into a frenzy. Youthful idealism and exuberance are forged into combat material by military training, a zombification process that drills men into obeying orders unquestioningly. The word "infantry" evolved from the French word for child because of the child-like compliance instilled in soldiers. For every soldier thus trained, armed, and ordered into battle, his stake is clear. He is staking his life for some lofty ideals as made believe by the leadership. But, what are the moral obligations of that supreme commander who is ordering young men to their death in droves from the comfort and security of his bunker? What are the stakes for him that has convinced young men that the struggle was worth their lives, hundreds of thousands of them?



Some leaders in history dramatized the stakes of leadership under such circumstances. As the German Third Reich with all its attendant dreams tumbled down, Adolf Hitler took his own life, and Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's minister for propaganda, killed his six children,. and with his wife, Magda, committed suicide. When her revolt against Roman suzerainty ended in her defeat, the Icenic queen, Boudica, drank poison and died. But, as it all closed in on Emeka Ojukwu, he packed his bag and baggage and ran away.



The civil war exposed the Igbo to untold hardship. The Igbo persevered in the fight because they believed in the superior validity of their cause, and were acutely conscious of the unmitigated danger of northern hegemony. That war decimated the flower and promise of Igboland (it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Igbo youth died in that war), and the associated hunger took a devastating toll on the Biafran populace. It did irreparable damages to many families, and irretrievably shattered many dreams.



If the war for Igbo self-determination was worth that many lives, and such a colossal sacrifice, was it not worth Ojukwu's life? If Biafranism was not Ojukwuism, that is, if in Biafra, Ojukwu was not merely serving a personal interest, or realizing a personal ambition, if he was giving expression to the collective aspirations of the Igbo, then his personal survival of the war was not important, because there will always be men to lead the Igbo, and consequently give voice to the Igbo interests and aspirations in accordance with the social and political realities of the time. These men need to be guided by examples. Ojukwu should have therefore been prepared to die with Biafra as a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of men who died obeying his orders, an atonement for the pains and sorrow his decisions and choices cost his people, and above all, as an example to future generations of Igbo leaders. The example being that no Igbo leader should ever abandon the Igbo in times of adversity, that every Igbo man, especially, those in authority - those who have been entrusted with the fate of the entire ethnic group - must be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Igbo nation.



The public good requires the rigorous subordination of the individual to the nation. According to Richard Goodman, "the process of the individual life is bound by irrevocable limits"; it is but a blip in time inexorably sandwiched between birth and death - just a breathe that can be snuffed out by the vagaries of life. On the other hand, the life of the nation is eternal.



Therefore no sacrifice made by the individual for the group can ever be too much. The obsession by man to cling unto to life is laudable, even sublime as long as it is not given precedence to the welfare of the entire group. As the war ended, the issue was not Ojukwu's personal survival, but the future of the Igbo nation. Laying the ground rule for this future was more important for the Igbo nation than the continued existence of any one individual, because irrespective of any one's station in life, he is but a dispensable cog of history.



The future of a people is predicated on their collective attitudinal disposition (especially attitude towards sacrifice, honor and loyalty) and the quality of their leaders. Ojukwu led the Igbo through the most trying period of their history. To the Igbo, the civil war was both attitudinal and psychological watershed. Wars, especially of such devastation brings about a convulsive transformation of the society, a sharp break with the past. This break was obvious in different facets of Igbo life, but especially in the Igbo mindset; there was a psychological and attitudinal shift. Overhanging this shift was Ojukwu's abandonment of the Igbo.



Ojukwu's desertion of the Igbo had a subliminal, but profound effect on the Igbo psyche. It perverted the Igbo value system, and debased her public virtue. Subliminally, it impressed on the Igbo, especially those in authority that it was alright to use your people for personal advancement, and abandon them when things go wrong. It ushered into the Igbo ranks a new culture - a culture of opportunism. It is this culture of opportunism, more than any other single factor that has been the bane of the Igbo nation since the end of the civil war.



A man who was poised to cash in on power, grandeur and history if the "toil, sweat, tear and blood" of his people pay off, and prepared to run away if everything goes crashing, is not a hero, not even a leader, but an opportunist who gambled with human lives. On the other hand, we should always respect the courage, and determination of those men who made up that ill-equipped, but indomitable army that bogged down the Nigerian military machine for nearly 3 years. We should always appreciate the sacrifices of those young men who had their lives rent permanently, and their future turned bleak by the crippling and disfiguring injuries they sustained fighting for Biafra. Finally, we should always remember, and pay tribute to those fallen heroes who laid down their youthful lives for Biafra.



Dec 2002

I know that reasonable individuals will take the side of prudent before hoisting conjectural craps cull from Internet as a protestant placard. Billygoat, I have long taken a leaf from fact that if you show me your friend I shall tell you what you constitute. I have known Tochukwu Ezukanma for very long period. I think you would agree with me that it is completely out of norms for a person who is more than 33 years old and colossally failed to save his stay in USA due to redeemable immigration problem had no moral justification to level blistering indictment on Ojukwu’s political shrewdness or lack thereof at the same age.

I attended the aforementioned gathering between Ojukwu and Ndigbo in Washington, DC and remained one of those who admired and at the time scolded Ojukwu for committing one of the worst military blunder in the annals of military history by appointing Banjo as the commander of 101 BEF. I shall inform you that Ojukwu displayed yet again the love he had for fellow Biafrans when he personally appealed to the rowdy crowd to accord courtesy to the few that mustered the courage to question some of the Ojukwu’s rationales during the war.

I am not surprised that this arrant nonsense emanated from Tochukwu who joined forces with one Dr. Okoroji to spearhead the foolish support for the so-called June 12. Believe me anybody that supports the alleged shameful election that deemed MKO Abiola of International Total Thief (ITT) pedigree as duly elected Nigerian presidential candidate is an irredeemable slowpoke. It is only in a cesspit called Nigeria that discernable electorate would elect a renowned embezzler such as MKO Abiola as dog catcher.

df2006:
Quote from: df2006 on Yesterday at 10:34:11 PM


this makes sense.
i have been trying hard to understand why he left at such critical moment.
it would have given the federalist no doubt, unquantified joy to have him killed, which would have further humiliated the biafrans.
i agree with this,(meaning the post you & afam posted)  thanks for this info.


@ dede why didn,t you take the time to read and understand my post, i was infact thanking you for this post you posted below.


knowing he will be killed so as to humiliate biafra, (notice i didn,t say igbos) is enough reason for him to leave, same as hitler commited sucide cos it would have been more humiliating for the then german nation if he was captured alive.
i never had this line of thought untill you and afam brought it to my notice.
you need to chill out, it doesn,t pay to always be agressive, you will lose more friends that way.

Again, to mention Hilter in the same sentence with Ojukwu as regards the war is disingenuous of highest order. You have decided to chase a wild goose but watch the terrain in front of you.

Ojukwu left Biafra in order to give Nigerian leaders something chew when dealing with defeated Biafrans. He did not commit suicide as your skewed analogy would want us to believe.

akigbemaru:
Igbokwenu!!!! Kwenu!!!!
Ibo people let's celebrate our geriatric craddle-robber (a.k.a Ojukwu) popularly known as Ikebe-super of Nnewi. So far, I don't see any difference between Ex-Gov of Zamfara, "Yerima" who just got married to a 13-year-old girl in the name of Allah and sharia, as compared to warlord "Ojukwu" who’s his sheer rapacity of no measurable limit gravitated him towards little innocent girls. If someone else would have done this to his daughter, I guess we would have been in a second phase of civil war. God will judge all of you that use mouth to dissect fried meats. Ojukwu, you are one of them.

To you too flibbertigibbet "Bianca” (whose seeing an old man with fat pocket makes you amnesia) Yoruba says "eni fe arugbo lo ma kan posi," meaning -- she who gets married to old man builds the coffin. Anyway, you can grab your lotion and the dido; do your thing by your self the super “diva”.
[color=#990000][/color]

By dictates of my social order, she who gets married to “akigbemau’s” ilk builds two coffins.

df2006:
Quote from: df2006 on Yesterday at 10:34:11 PM


this makes sense.
i have been trying hard to understand why he left at such critical moment.
it would have given the federalist no doubt, unquantified joy to have him killed, which would have further humiliated the biafrans.
i agree with this,(meaning the post you & afam posted) thanks for this info.


@ dede why didn,t you take the time to read and understand my post, i was infact thanking you for this post you posted below.


knowing he will be killed so as to humiliate biafra, (notice i didn,t say igbos) is enough reason for him to leave, same as hitler commited sucide cos it would have been more humiliating for the then german nation if he was captured alive.
i never had this line of thought untill you and afam brought it to my notice.
you need to chill out, it doesn,t pay to always be agressive, you will lose more friends that way.

I did read your post quite alright. By the same token, my post was a mere complement to your post. However, neither ndigbo nor my humble self really give damnable hoot about friendship coming from non-Biafrans.

It is as historic as African’s inferior mentality that equates to stupidity that never could be cured.

df2006:
this makes sense. i have been trying hard to understand why he left at such critical moment. it would have given the federalist no doubt, unquantified joy to have him killed, which would have further humiliated the biafrans. i agree with this, thanks for this info.

It is very unfortunate that forums such as Nairaland are free and open to many loudmouthed strolls that have never seen a shooting war talk less of being involved.

KnowAll:
It is fun to watch people shine in their ignorance. As Bianca alluded in the interview, it takes a mature and independent thinker to go against the societal norms as in the case of marrying a person outside the supposedly age range.



The one’s that are married amongst us acknowledge the woman for been sincere and forthright first and foremost, her coded message is well received, u would need to join those of us who have being privilege to know the ins and out of a blissful matrimony to be able to comment on what remains an uncharted territory to many folks on this forum and u need to be mature about it.
The sha*ing bit is just to home in the point to those shallow minded ones amongst us who don’t understand what the woman was saying.[/color]

You are known for shooting yourself on the foot. Thank goodness that blissful matrimony does not have a cutoff point. I have the hunch that you would have failed to make the bracket. Unlike you who have remained in and out (married and divorce) of blissful matrimony, there are some us who had remained steady in the blissful wedlock

Anybody that declared Ojukwu as coward because he never allowed himself to be killed by Nigerian vandals is an irreparable novice. War retribution is always astronomically high when the leader of the defeated side is killed in the battle. The fact that Ojukwu was not captured or killed at the end of the war left Nigeria and its leaders in a precarious situation when dealing with the defeated Biafrans.

@KnowAll


It is fun to watch people shine in their ignorance. As Bianca alluded in the interview, it takes a mature and independent thinker to go against the societal norms as in the case of marrying a person outside the supposedly age range.

Like humans, no marriage is perfect and I concluded you are definitely aloof from reality when you insinuated that Bianca’s marriage to Ojukwu is not a thing to write home about. It is even a wild goose chase while in the memory of idiocy to inject the element of sh-agg-ing into the discourse. Granted that the game you had in mind is better played when young than old but some old folks could eat your cake in such endeavor.     

I guess Bianca endeavored very hard to represent the motherhood as decreed by society she found herself hence the allusion of not allowing her daughter to marry an older man.

ChinenyeN:
Wow. . . all these people talking, do they really know who the "Igbo" are, or do they just have their ignorant pre-conceived notions? See how quickly these non-Igbo jump to the aid of Ikwere. Are the Ikwere the only Igbo group that can lay claims to distinction? ma i mafuragh, ogwemonye nhie Ngwa. Ngwa nno ichhe. La mgbamgba erne omelala anyi, nwa ogbede nnwa la ehiefugh Ngwa mbudinu nnwa Ohnuhnu. Unu anufu hnwe ma akala nunu?

Nwadede kwuachakwa onu

Katsumoto:
So Biafran strategy/success was based on the west taking sides with Biafra against northern elements without prior consultation? I agree that the task would have been easier had there been an agreement with Yoruba groups but there was none. If Banjo sabotaged the BEF, why did he return to Ojukwu to be executed? You say the 2nd division was diminished, yet Murtala lost approximately 5000 men alone in trying to cross at Onitsha. Thats just 2000 men less than the number of men in the two BEF divisions together. I can't recollect how large that division was but I am sure it was considerably larger than the BEF.

You argue like you would pursue the same strategy again. We are debating the strategy today; I doubt that many will agree with that strategy. It was flawed and that was why it failed. A better strategy would have been to send Banjo to Ibadan to try to convince Yoruba political and military leaders to form an alliance. Element of surprise can result in victory only if you completely annihilate your enemy. As long as there was no alliance with the west and there were still other brigades, the BEF would have been isolated. That is just my opinion

BTW, thanks for the praise but you do not have to sound condescending. That our positions are divergent does not imply that yours is superior.

Thank for alerting some of us that Gowon had previous and secretive consultations with leaders of Western and Mid-western regions before declaring war of attrition on eastern region. It teeters on disingenuous and outright deceitfulness on the leaders of western and mid-western regions along with their offspring to evoke neutrality and vehemently oppose the idea of being labeled the enemy of Biafra. I now realize the origin of fierce defenses and denials coming from these locations whenever issue of Biafra shows up.

Ojukwu should not have consulted with leaders of western region of Nigeria because Gowon was comfortably sitting in Lagos while issuing orders on war of attrition against eastern region of Nigeria. The leaders of the western region of Nigeria should have at least coughed at the instances of Gowon and other northern region soldiers roaming freely in Lagos, Ibadan and Abeokuta while instigating a war against the eastern region. Thanks to Wole Soyinka, Lt Col Ayo Ariyo and Ijebu Ode peasant cocoa farmers.

The formation of 2nd Division of Nigerian army was the aftermath of leadership debacle that befell the BEF in Ore. The propaganda that was fuelled by Yoruba, Ijo, Edo Urhobo, Eshan and Itsekiri elites who had been deceitfully rewarded with seemingly handsome federal government jobs in Lagos jolted the undiscerning populace of these ethnicities to join Nigerian army at early dawns of the civil war.

Sometime people get what they deserved. Ohakim as running mate of Hope Uzodinma failed woefully in the PDP primaries and decamped to PPA. Ohakim never won any election in Imo State but his governorship was born as a result of spiteful machination against Arurume sustained by OBJ, Iwu and Udenwa. If elections in Imo State were fair, Arurume of PDP would have won the gubernatorial election and Chief Agboso of APGA would have been waiting in the wings if any court order should prevail.

I remain one of the staunchest opponents of Gov. Ohakim of Imo State, but there is more to this story than the eyes could see. Hon. Ike Ibeh from Obowo was the former speaker of the Imo State house of assembly and later became overseer of Gov. Achike Udenwa’s loot of Imo State treasury in Washington, DC.

Jude Nkpado is colossally failed Bongo musician turned printer that managed a convenience store along Georgia Avenue NW in Washington, DC. If there is anything good about the story is the alleged recovery of Imo State money siphoned out by Achike Udenwa in cohort with Ike Ibeh.

Katsumoto:
I am yet to get your view on this; all you do is pick holes. A few questions for you
1. Why did Banjo turn back at Ore
2. Why did he go back to Ojukwu
3. Why do you think Ojukwu killed him along with the others. Did he kill him because he had no more use for him?
4. If Banjo got to Lagos with the BEF and catured it with or without Gowon; what next? Take into, consideration that it would have been isolated from the main Biafran Army and people.
5. Why did Ojukwu choose Banjo (a Yoruba man) to command the BEF? Was he trying to be deceptive?


Everybody knows that numerical strength is not a deciding factor in war (I don't need Useni for that). You need good strategy and resources; Biafra was lacking in both. If you agree that Biafra was lacking in numerical strength, resources, and strategy (you are free to disagree with this), how could it have taken Lagos? You think element of surprise and bravery would have been enough? If I am wrong, tell me what Biafra had going for it that would have ensured that it not only captured Lagos but held on to it. You are the one holding on to fairy tales passed to you from your uncles who, on record, lost the war.

If I had not read your previous posts where you had displayed sound intellect, I would not have wasted my time replying to this post.

Of course, element of surprise is a tactical genius in military combat. When Banjo contravened the doctrine of esprit the corps by abandoning the military mission assigned to him as commanding officer and snitched on his subordinates at Ore, he should have been shot at Ore by a 2ic. But again the disjointed chain of command or lack thereof was the bane of Ojukwu’s strategy.

When BEF raced to Ore on their way to Lagos, there was no capable military formation on Nigerian side that could have even slowed its momentum down talk less of stopping it. Lagos Garrison Organization was less than brigade strength and had been shipped to Escravos and would have been bottled up in Warri by the elements of 11th division of Biafran army. The Nigerian 2nd Brigade had been left scanty due to the retrenchment of soldiers based on region of origin. This action left the already disorganized 4th Battalion in Ibadan and 8th Battalion in Ilorin that just returned from UN operation to defend against two divisions of BEF. At this moment, many Yoruba groups were willing to join forces to kick Gowon and remaining solders of northern region out of Lagos.

The moment this element of surprise was lost on the part of Biafrans, retreat became the order of the BEF and entire Biafran formations. It does not take a rocket scientist to determine that many southerners who were already chickened out at sight of drunken soldier from northern region will not follow a retreating bunch.

Anybody who has been made available of Nigerian history with regard to Banjo’s stint in Nigerian and Biafran army and still calls him an honorable man has issue with delusion.

Katsumoto:
Banjo got the impression from Ojukwu that he would be welcomed in the West if he led Biafran troops to 'protect' it from the North. By the time he got to Ore, he received word from Ibadan not to advance further and that he would be on his own. He was caught in two minds and responsibly retreated. Otherwise, he would have simply led 7000 men to their deaths. Anyone thinking that 7000 ill-equipped troops would have taken Lagos is just a delusional optimist. Banjo's warriors would have simply been caught between Adekunle's Lagos Garrison and Murtala's 2nd division. Banjo was a honorable man because he did not have to go back to Ojukwu, he could have simply run away. Ojukwu killed him because he lost the element of surprise in taking Lagos. That says more about Ojukwu's lack of strategy as it was foolhardy to think that 7000 men could have taken the west. Ojukwu had Col Njoku locked up as well for the duration of the war for not agreeing with his war strategy.

You have been advised to cease posting fairy tales about what would have happened to BEF led by Banjo in Lagos or actions of certain non-existed formation that could not satisfy the chronological record of events.

I hope you read the sketchy interview accredited to Gen Jerry Usani and what he said about the military situation of Nigeria and Biafra at dawn of the civil war. Numerical strength is a major factor in combat but not the deciding factor. Almost two divisions is enough to take Lagos and hold it.

tensor777:
^^
There will be no unilateral movement of any section or region out of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Such a thing is entirely non-negotiable.

It is either you are daft ignorant or still leaving in the 1960s. You are nobody of reckonable character or ability to make such an audacious proclamation.