₦airaland Forum

It doesn't help the Yoruba progress. But people like bringing up "history" and I do not know why.

patrick89:
@bk.bebe

If ain't mistakin it was in dis same Aburi sth dat Ojukwu moved for a confederation. The illiterates with him(north & sw) agreed not knowin d implication. He played with their senses so d Ibos culd secede. Hw then do u say he reneged. He only lived out d meanin of confederation. It was d dummies with him dat reneged when they finally got d gist which resulted in d civil war. So babyman get your facts right b4 opening your foul mouth.

That was cold!  

Very nice! bk.homo was royally spanked. . . Something his father should of done to the bastarrd.

[quote author=bk.babe97y link=topic=513653.msg6758937#msg6758937 date=1284563958]. . . . . so ure still intent on stealing the part that belongs to the Ijaws and the smaller ethnic groups? Wow, what an Ibo way of thinking!

. . . . .and Nigeria doesnt?!? Dude, do u "think" before u type?!?!

And, while ure at it do u mind hooking me up with your Social Security number and your Mother's Maiden name?! SMH. Inferiority complex! Who cares if ure an American citizen! I bet alot of the people u debate on here are U.S citizens too, but, u dont see them trying to prove it to me every 10 posts! geez![/quote]Seriously. . . You are a fool.

How many times do we have to tell you, IGBOLAND HAS OIL! My state of Abia has Oil Wells. Imo has oil wells so you were saying?

Not Nigeria has oil, only a certain region has oil. Please keep up, I know your inferior education is a big hurdle.

No one is proving shytt to you. Simply saying why would many Igbos who are Americans bow down to you bastarrd arse?

America is hoping for a split.

But I wonder if they know how to deal with an Igbo man.

This could be a blessing in disguise. Look how rich Kuwait compared to the rest of the Arab World with their friendship with the U.S.

And bk.babe97y you should be bowing down to your new masters. Do the Arab princes bow down to America? No. . . That is because they have the oil!

Keep in mind I am also an American citizen. . .

[quote author=Ileke-IdI link=topic=229963.msg6758185#msg6758185 date=1284556908]I dont get you uchenna, why the pity? And I already told you that I am VERY traditional 

You think I want to sleep one night and not wake up? Just because my hubby has a deep hatred for my people, and he took out his anger on me?

Good for your people, your people also wants to find enemies everywhere they tread, or is that JUST you.[/quote]And what does traditional have anything to do with it? Your 'traditional' future husband may not be a good man. But everything for the sake of tradition right?

And would you not wake up? How would your husband take out his anger on you?

And who are my people? I have no enemies, only interest.

kuramo:
Nigerians should learn to heap praise only on those who deserve it.

Philip Emeagwali is a big fraud and an embarrassment to us all.

People heap praise on dictators and our thieving politicians.

But when it comes to a scientist, you foolish people hate hate hate. And you cannot say he is not a scientist. Bill Clinton references him, BBC interviewed him, CNN did a story on him. Are you saying that these organizations did not vet him?

Get out of here with your nonsense.

It is not like Ileke-Idi been in a inter-tribal marriage.

Most Nigerians in America do not care who they date. The older generation normally think like this. Pity Ileke-Idi. . .


Anyway, my people the Aro, were known to marry outsiders. We do not care.

Ijaw militants messed up the city.

But Amaechi is bringing them under control.

All these people do is hate hate hate.

Great man!

Speak for your dammmn self. The South East is not for GEJ. Heck we do not know who we are for.

Die enemies of the Ndi Igbo! Die!

Amadioha strike these people!

I am even more confused!

But Odili? Really?

I will extend the olive branch to the Yoruba if they give me three of their finest daughters for marriage. That will seal the deal and my favor. 

All I can say is that if an Igbo babe wants to marry a Yoruba man, she does so at her own risk.

She needs to prepare herself for his other wives and his family.

When you deal with an Igbo man, you know he will be faithful to you. Just worry about an Igbo man's mother.

naijaking1:
Another question is, why has Clark conviniently moved from Delta(his home state) to east of the Niger?
Could the vulnerability of post-civil war Igbos have anything to do with this opportunistic migration?

We should remind him that the East is an Igbo bastion. His ilk do not belong in such an area.

tpiah:
^^no need to make this tribal.

if you interacted more outside your comfort zone you'd know everything i said yourself.

What do you mean? I only date outside my comfort zone. I have only dated one Igbo woman. The rest have been from other groups ESPECIALLY YORUBAS.

tpiah the defender of the Yoruba race against the Igbo hordes. lol

Obiagu1:
@ OnlyTruth,

Who said GEJ is Ekpeye? He is a full blooded Ijaw man. I think he said it himself.

He said his grandfather was from my hometown of Arochukwu. GEJ may indeed have Aro Igbo blood coursing through his veins which would make an Aro.

Remember how widespread my people really are.

Igbo interest will always be first and foremost. I don't need no stinking Yoruba telling me what to do. Go and worry about your own EWU people.

He will not be forgotten! I wish Nigerians gave him honor that he rightfully deserves.

slap1:
The force is filled with men that are over due for retirement. But with an Igbo CDS enforcing it, I fear the north, especially, will see it as a tribal issue.

Goodluck Jonathan is getting an Igbo to do the dirty work unfortunately.

Ironsi,  A Forgotten Hero Keeps Returning
BY ALABI WILLIAMS,

THIS week, Nigerians will remember the late General Johnson Thomas Umunakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, former Head of State and one of the fallen heroes of the tragic political events of 1966. The tale of Ironsi represented a major loss for the immediate members of his family, his Igbo kinsmen and Nigerians in general. Beyond this, his demise deepened an inherited culture of distrust and political instability in the country.

The late General was an urbane military officer, widely travelled and well liked. But he had to help absorb some of the pains and contradictions of being a Nigerian.

As the colonial government was departing Nigeria in the early 1960s, there was a glaring need to stabilise the polity. The Regions were largely autonomous, even as they possessed glaring peculiarities. Therefore, within the larger ethnic groups, a motley of interests had to be secured just as the smaller ethnic groups equally demanded for their minority interests within the large political space.

The military was a sensitive organ in the midst of conflicting regional interests. Those who exercised rare vision knew that over time, the military would play a major role in Nigeria's political history. The immediate challenge was to transform it from being a colonial army into a national one. That was monumental, because real balancing of forces was needed to assuage ill feelings among the people of Nigeria. And for a newly independent country, that was some burden.

Eventually, in 1965, Major-General Aguiyi-Ironsi topped the list of four other senior officers, who were tipped to take over from Major-General Sir C.E Welby Everad, as the General Officer Commanding (GCO) the Nigerian Army. The regional politicians, who saw the need to have one of their own to command the army, contested that position.

On account of the relative number of officers from the North, the British showed some liking for the region. But it would appear that the colonial masters applied fairness, to balance the huge political weight of the North's with a controlling command of the military by the South.

Besides, Ironsi stood very tall with his military experience garnered over the years. At age 17, he worked as a civilian storesman at the Nigerian Ordinance Deport, Apapa, Lagos. Later, he enlisted as a private soldier in the 7th Battalion of the Nigerian Regiment. That was in the early 1940s. By 1948 he was selected for officer training course in Britain's Camberley Staff College. He returned to Nigeria as a Second Lieutenant in 1950. In 1952, he again attended a course of instruction at the School of Infantry at Warminster on Salisbury Plain.

In 1953, he served as A.D.C to the then Governor, Sir John Macpherson. By 1956, he was appointed an Extra Equerry to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, both at Buckingham Palace in London and on the Queen' tour of Nigeria. He was later promoted Lieutenant Colonel and placed in command of the Fifth Battalion stationed in Kano. At attaining the rank of Brigadier, he was sent to London as Military AttachZ to the Nigerian High Commission.

In 1960, he commanded the Nigerian Contingent to the Congo where the United Nations tried to restore order in that crisis-torn country. Here, he had first hand experience at crisis management and Ironsi is acknowledged to have demonstrated courage and leadership. From there, he returned to London as Military Adviser to the Nigerian High Commission, where he took time off to do a course at Imperial Defence College, Camberley. Yet again in 1964, he was recalled to the Congo to re-enact the feat of 1960. This time, he commanded the entire United Nations Contingent.

This was the background that gave the late General a head start when it came to looking for an indigenous General Officer Commander for the Nigerian Army.

The political situation in the country in the early years after Independence was very unstable. That provided opportunity for a group of brilliant young officers to stage the January 15, 1966 coup. Records of the events that culminated in the coup do not link the late General Officer Commanding the Army with those horrible events. If he had knowledge of the plans by those officers to eliminate the major regional political actors of the First Republic, his actions before and after that coup did not clearly explain. But there was anger in the North following the success of the coup in the North and partially in the West. The Eastern politicians were saved of the horrors of the coup either by omission or commission.

[b]In the aftermath of January 1966, it was Ironsi, who battled to patch up the disaster and save Nigeria an imminent ethnic assault. In his wisdom, he collapsed the regional groupings into a unitary system of government with a central, powerful command. He appointed Military Governors to man the four regions - Lt. Colonel Hassan Usman Katsina for the North, Lt. Colonel Francis Adekunle Fajuyi for the West, Lt. Colonel David Akpode Ejoor for the Mid West and Lt. Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu for the East. It was planned that after some time, these officers would exchange positions all in the spirit of engendering unity.

Gen. Ironsi believed so much in the unity of Nigeria. What else to expect from a widely travelled military officer, who witnessed crises in the Congo and experienced good governance in the UK

To secure the peoples' confidence Ironsi's regime managed to distribute key positions in a manner that reflected federal character. The Supreme Military Council (SMC) had nine members including the four regional governors, Service Chiefs and the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police. The 23 Permanent Secretaries' jobs in the Federal Public Service were shared among eight Northerners, seven Midwesterners, five Westerners and three Easterners.[/b]

He proposed a new Constitution that would prepare the country for a new democracy. Towards that end, he appointed Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams and former Attorney General, Dr. T.O. Elias to help do an outline for the new Constitution.

On the economy, Ironsi put together a think-tank to do a blueprint for growth and productivity. Dr. Pius Okigbo and Chief Simeon Adebo were put in charge.

However, all these did not impress the northern politicians and soldiers, who still nursed the grudge over the January 1966 coup. As the General was visiting the regions and reconciling with traditional rulers across the country, plans were in top gear to pull the carpet under his feet. That was what took place on July 29, 1966. He was assassinated in Ibadan during a tour of the Western Region on peace mission.

After his dead, Nigeria became further polarised with ethnic irredentism taking front stage against the much-needed unity. The absence of Ironsi robbed Nigeria of maturity in the military. The crop of younger officers who seized control of government could not manage the crisis, which culminated in a three-year civil war.

After the war, little was done to record for history the attempt made by the late General to restore hope in the country. It was only his close friends and colleagues, who attempted to rehabilitate his legacy, particularly in showing love to members of his immediate family, until recently when his son was offered an ambassadorial position.

The lesson for Nigeria is that every attempt should be made to conserve political experience, rather than wasting them. Imagine what Nigeria would have gained if Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi were alive to participate in the mediation before the civil war. Perhaps, the war wouldn't have been if his maturity and experience were harvested. Perhaps too, the military would not have plunged Nigeria into a wasteland as they laid siege to the economy, if Ironsi were allowed to mid-wife it into a responsible force. And for the Igbo, perhaps this civil war trauma would have been averted.

There can be consolation for Nigeria over the killing of Aguiyi-Ironsi if his legacies are dispassionately preserved, to serve as a lesson for those who are willing to learn. It will not make enduring sense if the collective memory of the man continues to remain in the margin. There is so much to learn from the life and times of Ironsi.

Itsekiri are Yoruba. Do not deny them. There language resembles the Yoruba language in many ways. Can it not be said that it is a dialect.

There are dialects of English that cannot be understood you know by other English speakers.

Actually Igbo men are not known to be experimenting with other women.

Some of my family are amazed that I do not date Igbo women. Dated Yoruba, Efik, Ghanaian and a Cameroonian but no Igbo woman.

In my opinion, the man is the real deal. People need to stop hating on him. If former presidents can mention his name, then he is the real deal!