₦airaland Forum

http://odili.net/news/source/2012/dec/25/819.html

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Doctor abandons medicine, becomes pipeline vandal

by Eniola Akinkuotu


/Odiba[1].jpg

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When Salifu Odiba gained admission to study Medicine and Surgery at University of Jos in 1996, his dream was to one day own his hospital.

But two years after his graduation, the 35-year-old doctor abandoned his stethoscope and chose life on the fast lane by joining pipeline vandalism cartel.

Odiba, who was recently arrested in Kogi State by the Police Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, Force Headquarters, said he was attracted to the illegal business because it was lucrative.

He said, "I spent eight years studying Medicine and Surgery in UNIJOS and graduated in 2004 and later served in Bauchi State. A year later, I got a job at Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission where I practised for six months. But I was later asked to leave.

"I moved to Kogi in 2006 and it was there that a friend introduced me to the business. I was making good money and later got a part time job at Federal Medical Centre. I received N90,000 as monthly salary which was not enough for me. So, I stuck to the pipeline business."

The suspect added that he even had a part-time job at another hospital but the commission he received was too little.

Describing his modus operandi, the Kogi State indigene said he acted as a middleman for the vandals and buyers.

He said although he never destroyed a pipeline, he was actively involved in the business and soon became popular.

He said he was usually paid commission by pipeline vandals and buyers after he had sold the products.

"People started calling me 'oil doctor' because I always had ready buyers for all kinds of petroleum products. Oil business is very lucrative especially in Kogi State where as many as 17 trucks of petroleum products could be siphoned and sold in one night," he said.

Odiba lamented that the medical profession was no longer as prestigious as it was due to the "large number" of people practising it.

"People don't visit hospitals like before. These days, many Nigerians prefer to take self medication," he said.

Narrating how he was arrested, the suspect said he was contacted by a source at Lokoja, the state capital, who claimed to have large quantities of oil in a barge.

He said he was on his way to finalise the deal when policemen arrested him.

Odiba, who vowed not to return to crime if released, burst into tears when narrating the hardship he had suffered in the past.

He said although N90, 000 was not a poor salary, the pressures of having to take care of his siblings fuelled his greed.

He said, "I have four siblings and my parents are retired. I am the first son and through this business, I have been able to sponsor two of my siblings through university and they have graduated. I don't spend the money I make on myself. I have a fiancée but I can't even afford a wedding now.

"I don't want my siblings to suffer and I did this for them. Crime for me was due to a quest for survival but I promise never to go back to it. I spent last year's Christmas in police custody after being arrested in Kaduna. This year again, I'm spending my Christmas in detention.

"I'm tired of this life of crime and I promise never to go back to it again. My dream is still to own a hospital and even while doing the oil business; I rendered free medical services to people."

Odiba, who was arrested and detained for a similar offence last year, said he was released and warned when investigation showed that he only played a minor role.

The Officer in charge of the task force, Friday Ibadin said Odiba's case was proof that not only miscreants were into the illegitimate business.

He said, "The suspect was arrested at Lokoja. Ajaokuta specifically has become a haven for these criminals. The business is very lucrative because a tanker of crude oil could be bought illegally for as low as N800, 000 and resold at N5m during scarcity.

"This is economic sabotage and it carries a life sentence. Members of the public are hereby warned to stay away from the nation's pipelines."

Best of the best lips from Odualand. Iyabo Obasanjo, iyalode of Odualand

http://irokotv.com/video/182/fathers-blood-2

Watch part one to grab the entire story

Oil in Imo, Abia, Anambra, and now Ebonyi. There is also strong evidence of oil in Enugu. Alaigbo awash with the black gold? Curse or blessing?

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2012/12/ebonyi-in-pursuit-of-oil-status/

Posted on Monday, December 24th, 2012

By Felix Uka Reporter, Abakaliki

The report from the archive revealed that the first discovery of the oil was made on February 22, 1928, just as a tentative report was sent to the Director of Geological Survey on February 25 of the same year.

A detailed report was submitted on March 28, 1928. Part of the report reads, “On April 1928, a memorandum was received from the Director of Geological Survey saying that the fluid was certainly crude oil of medium to high specific gravity, and its discovery by you is of the greatest importance.” From the recovered documents, a sample of the oil was forwarded to the British government in London on July 5, 1928.

In an earlier correspondence, the Director of Geological Survey, Mr. P.O. Kinna on May 9, 1928 wrote to the Chief Secretary to the Government, Lagos on the topic: Oil at Ngusu (sic) Nguzu stating that

“I have the honour to forward a report by Mr. Bain on the Oil Seepage at Ngusu (Nguzu) which he examined in January and February this year.

“The seepage of oil is similar to that previously described from near Awgu (Now in Enugu State) and those occurrences warrant the hope that oil may yet be found in the beds in greater quantities.”

The document went further to state that the oil appears in the bed of a small stream about half a mile from the West of the Ngusu (Nguzu) Rest House, which lies some 14 miles south west of Afikpo.

In any case, one of the leaders of the team of investigators from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Isaac Okorie an Assistant Director in charge of geological survey spoke to Daily Independent as to the technical state of affairs as concerns the Ebonyi crude oil.

His words: “There have been lots of reported crude occurrences around Ebonyi belt. Some people took samples of crude to our Abuja office. They claimed that they got it from here (Edda). We got in touch with the state government, visited the location, saw capped well, by capped, yes after drilling a well you cap it and mark information on it. They claimed that our office dug the well; we used to answer Geological Survey Office in the colonial era. We went to the second site where the sample they took to Abuja was brought from. Between now and January we will go there again. We are drawing programmes to determine the preliminary investigation of the entire area, the result of that will tell us if there is oil or not.

Geologically speaking, he explained that not just that you have evidence of crude oil that determines if it can be mined. He said that there are several factors that will result to presence of crude oil, first the formation and transportation of the crude, that is the float in the bowel of the earth. He did not give the estimated cost of the investigations, noting that it is done in phases. “At this point we are looking at hundred million naira,” he said.

Even as nothing could yet be declared, Okorie raised the level of optimism that at last there could be oil in the Ebonyi basin saying clearly, “Sure it (Edda) is a sedimentary environment and oil can only be found in such a sedimentary environment but other factors count.”

He added that the Niger Delta is a sedimentary basin just like the Afikpo syncline, end point of Anambra basin where oil was found, stating that, “If the Edda basin is not sedimentary we wouldn’t have gone there though not all sedimentary environment have oil but we can say that it is qualified to be investigated.”

So, the Ebonyi people are praying, in the offing for the final findings and results from the federal authorities. Should it be positive, Ebonyi would become another oil producing state in Nigeria; no doubt truly the later rain, greater than the former.

[quote author=geez*]Very funny. How come some states in the US are know for certain things and not everything? Arkansas and Arizona are top agricultural states while Atlanta is best known for oil and gas. California is know for entertainment. A state can't be everything to everyone. I even doubt if a country can. This doesn't mean that a state wont have a bit if everything or most things. There are farms in Lagos but the biggest farms in the SW aren't in Lagos which is the commercial hub of Nigeria. [/quote]Pray tell, what state in the US is called Atlanta? What oil and gas is Atlanta known for? This is the same person who goes about telling stark raving lies about how he's traveled the world over and worked in Banks and oil companies. Your lies, ''local[b]ness[/b]'' and ignorance are unfolding, yes?

[quote author=nnenna.1]Wow...how this thread has degenerated.

And, per the topic, I honestly don't know why Igbos doing what every other group does is magnified and overly dramatized in the press - if the allegations are true anyway.

And the use of GDP (especially total GDP) in the Nigerian context has all sorts of snags to it. I did a quick run of the numbers it seems that the South South tops everyone else in GDP per capita department. Delta and Rivers have GDP per capita numbers reaching over $4000 - the two highest in the country. Still abysmally low in global context anyways but it tells us something.

Even Bayelsa, unstable as it is, is GDP-richer per capita than most states in Nigeria.

In the SW the wealthier states per capita (Lagos with about ~$3900, followed by Oyo with ~$2800 and Ogun with ~$2700), seem to have the benefit of proximity to Lagos, with its high influx of multi-national firms/corporations.

It seems that GDP wealth in Nigeria measured in direct correlation to two things: Oil and multi-nationals.

Incidentally the two richest states in SE in GDP terms, Imo and Abia (both over $3000 per capita) have been termed oil-producing states for quite a long time.

How do they arrive at these figures, anyway?[/quote]That from wiki, the most unreliable site. Ask yourself who placed the fake data there. Apparently someone like MUSIWA. It can be edited any which way you want.

Geez,

Stop peddling fake statistics from wiki. You are so ignorant that you are not even aware that anyone could log onto Wiki and edit anything to suit their whims. Why not show us the stats from federal govt website? When you travel around Naija what do you see? Poverty in the North followed closely by the SW. There is no way on earth any state of the SW aside Lagos will be better than Anambra, Imo and Abia. Enugu will be a draw with Oyo. Ebonyi and Ekiti are at the same level. Some of us have travelled far and wide and Yoruba towns and villages have nothing to show except federal govt patronage and mud huts.

[quote author=Osiris.211]Finally, Achebe has overstretched his boundary. They constantly taunt the Yoruba nation and confused our gentility with simplicity. There was a country filled with cowards was the blow that breaks the camel's back.

we'll continue on this path until the last Yoruba blood becomes fully aware of the "enemies within" and summarily dealt with. We are going to start making south west hotter than frying pan to those wishing us bad.

The south west was their only safe heaven cos the northerners are well positioned to eliminate traitors and backstabbers in their own effective ways. we'll not stand by any longer and watch any tribe or region mudsling our people.[/quote]This is empty sabre rattling. You will end up leaving Nigeria and relocating to Benin Republic when the war starts. Remember June 12 and NADECO? Empty, cowards

PM NEWS

/2011/11/25/

Alleged Kidnappers Docked print

Abibatu Sanusi, 39, and Aibano Ayotunde, 49, were on Friday arraigned before a Yaba Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, over alleged unlawful confining and depriving the liberty of one Blessing Ukeh.

The Prosecutor, Mr. James Okorie, told the court that the accused persons sometime in May, 2011, at Ayoredex Medical Centre, 66, Boladale St., conspired to confine 18-year old Ukeh by locking her up.

Okorie said that the accused persons had deprived the victim of her liberty by forcefully detaining her in an uncompleted building with intent to obtain money from her parents.

He said Ukeh was confined in the building for one week and that she was traumatised to the extent of attempting suicide by drinking a substance suspected to be petrol.

Okorie said following police investigation, the accused persons were arrested and detained.

He said the offence was contrary to Sections 517, 365 and 327 of the Criminal Code.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Counsel to the accused persons, Mr. Olarenwaju Ayo, applied for their bail.

Magistrate Paul Ojo, granted them bail in the sum of N250, 000 and one surety in like sum each, and adjourned the case to December 14 for trial.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/11/25/alleged-kidnappers-docked/

gbo Traders Protest Abduction

James Sowole

15 September 2008


http://allafrica.com/stories/200809150977.html

Yoruba community in Anambra State condemns kidnap of 21 Igbo traders
By Okey Maduforo, Correspondent, Awka

Yoruba community in Anambra State, under the umbrella of Egbe Omo Oduduwa has condemned the alleged kidnap of 21 Igbo traders in Owo, Ondo State, warning that it is a threat on the unity and peaceful coexistence of Nigeria as a nation.

The traders were allegedly kidnapped last Friday by three militant groups known as Palace Boys, Eyin Ogbe Boys and Iloro Youths, who demanded millions of naira as ransom before they would be released.


The militants had last year kidnapped 16 Igbo traders before the latest incident which led to a petition to the state Commissioner of Police Mr. Charles Dawodu, by Ndigbo in the community.


Speaking with Daily Independent in Awka, Anambra State, the chairman of **Egbe Omo Oduduwa** in the area Baba Tunde Adegbenjo, said the incident sends danger signals, adding that there is no state in the country that do not have militants.


"We want to condemn the action and attitude of these militants. We have militants all over the federation and they should consider the fact that if they continue with this other people will revenge and when they do, it becomes crisis everywhere.


"So we are not happy with the attitude of our people back home who gather themselves together and call themselves militants.


"The relation of any of those victims would look for people around to kidnap and those of us outside the Yoruba land or non-indigenes generally would become victims. If this type of thing continues we will have no option but to point to the residence of part of Yoruba land where these activities are taking place.

"The place where it happened is Owo community, so instead of allowing them to go and revenge on Ogwoko man or Akure or Ondo town, we will now point to the residence of the Owo people among us; so that they will go and pick them. This is because things like this spread like wild fire and we will not allow that to happen."


Adegbenjo further noted that security is very important in business interaction and such a thing can affect business between visitors and owners of the land.


"If an Igboman do not feel safe to do business in Yoruba land they will not go there and those of us in Igbo land will not be comfortable and these are the type of incident we experienced some time ago, when the Hausa people had problems with the Igbos and many lives were lost.


"We do not want this type of thing and this is how it starts. So we have to tell our people to stop all these nonsense they are doing. It will not discourage economic development and sound interpersonal relationship in the country."


He urged the Ondo State government to take action quickly to protect the interest of the Igbo in the area as Yoruba and other ethnic groups are being protected in the South East zone; adding that the people at the zone and their respective governments have been friendly and displayed the spirit of brotherhood among visitors and settlers in Igbo land.

http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-23564.html

Wife of Osun Speaker kidnapped
October 10, 2012 by Tunde Odesola 152 Comments
Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Honourable Najeem Salaam

Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Honourable Najeem Salaam
| credits: osundefender.org

Unknown gunmen in Ejigbo, Osun State, on Tuesday, kidnapped the wife of the Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Mr Najeem Salaam.

Muiba, the first wife of the Speaker, was kidnapped in the Bamagay Square area of the town shortly after she had left her shop where she sold bags of rice, semovita and groundnut oil.

Her Honda car was overtaken by the vehicle of a six-member gang. The gang reportedly forced her Honda car to stop along Union Baptist Road in the Oke-Oyo area of Ejigbo, the Speaker’s hometown.

Our correspondent learnt that Muiba, who alighted and attempted to run from the kidnappers, was stopped and forced into a waiting car.

Chairman, House Committee on Regional Integration and Special Duties, Mr Femi Fafiyebi, confirmed the development, saying the news was “shocking.”

“I just heard about it a few minutes ago. Osun is a very peaceful state. We are the only state that checked flooding and created the most enabling environment in the south-west. I don’t know why this should happen in our dear state,” Fafiyebi said.

Police Public Relations Officer, Osun Command, Mrs Sade Odoro, who promised to get across to our correspondent over the development failed to do so.

Her phone was switched off when our correspondent called her back for confirmation.

Our correspondent reports that it is in Odoro’s character to ignore inquiries by journalists over crime matters in the state.

Ondo: Youths kidnap, release 5 traders [/center]

Five Igbo traders in Owo local government area of Ondo State were kidnapped by unknown youths in the town. The victims were abducted on Saturday September 6 and later regained freedom last Friday. It was gathered that an undisclosed huge amount of money was paid to the youths to secure the release of the victims by the Igbo community. Niger Delta STANDARD Correspondent gathered that their release was made possible because of the intervention of Olowo of Owo, Oba Victor Olateru- Olagbegi and other notable chiefs in the town.

Those abducted were: Mr. Mike, Okechukwu Okafor, Chigozie Nwanekezi, Monday and Agboh. Worried by this development, the Igbo community staged protest to the State Police Commissioner, Charles Dawodu, shortly after their kinsmen were freed. The chairman of the Igbo community in Owo, Mr. Eze Chidozie who led his kinsmen to the state police commissioner said the youths had made life unpleasant for them in the community. He said the suspected militant youths abducted sixteen Igbo people in the last one-year and huge ransoms were paid before they were released to the Igbo community According to Chidozie, "These militant youths just enter our stores at will, carry our goods and ask us to pay certain amount of money before they will release these items.

They will just kidnap that person who argues with them and take such person to their cell. After, they would demand for ransom which start from N100, 000 and above, they would not release the victim until their demand is met." Chodozie said that the abduction was alien to the town as Igbo traders and other ethnic groups had been living in harmony with the people of Owo who he described as 'peace loving'. However, a reliable source close to the Olowo of Owo, Oba Victor Olaretu-Olagbegi, told our correspondent that such case was never reported to the Olowo. But, Chidozie pointed out that the Igbo community had reported severally to the monarch of the town without meaningful solution, threatening that his kinsmen would not open their shops until the issue is addressed by government and other stakeholders.

He appealed to the state police commissioner to beef up security among Igbo traders in Owo town, saying that the youths had turned abduction and looting of Igbo stores as a source of generating income. Chidozie said all Igbo indigenes in the state would join their kinsmen to protest against the injustice meted on them. The state Police Commissioner, Charles Dawodu who confirmed the incident blamed the Igbo traders for not reporting the alleged series of kidnapping in Owo town to him. Dawodu pointed out that he had met with traditional ruler of the ancient city and other prominent traditional chiefs to find a lasting solution to the illegality being perpetrated by the Owo youths.[b][/b]

https://www.nairaland.com/171774/kidnapping-truly-nigerian-phenomenom-yoruba

Kidnapped Osun speaker’s wife rescued… Two abductors killed in gun battle
On October 14, 2012 · In News
1:35 am
1

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

Muibat, wife of the Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Mr. Najeem Salaam, was, Saturday, rescued from her abductors along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, at Ogunmakin village in Obafemi-Owode local government area of Ogun State by security operatives who acted on tip-off.

Vanguard gathered that two of the alleged kidnappers were shot dead while trying to escape with their victim while three of the kidnappers were reportedly arrested.

Muiba, who is the first wife of the Speaker, was kidnapped in Ejigbo town of Osun, last Tuesday, by a gang of kidnapper and allegedly took her to Ogun State.

Security sources said the rescue operation turned violent when the suspected kidnappers engaged law enforcement agents in a shootout that lasted 30 minutes.

When contacted on phone at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ikemmefuna Okoye, disclosed that he was on his way to the state police headquarters at Eleweran, Abeokuta where the suspected kidnappers were taken to.

The arrest of the kidnappers was said to have been facilitated by men of the state vigilance group.
Comments are moderated. Please keep the

They took the woman to a village in Ogun. Only indigenes live mainly and own houses in villages.

Let's have the names of these kidnappers

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/north-should-pull-out-of-nigeria-and-take-its-destiny-into-its-hands-alhaji-bello-kirfi

North Should Pull Out of Nigeria and Take Its Destiny Into Its Hands-Alhaji Bello Kirfi

Written by Alaba Johnson on 14 October 2012.
6 Comments and 0 Reactions
Confusion at Northern leaders summit over secession call




There was an air of shock and astonishment at the North-East Forum for Unity and Development (NEFUD) which held in Bauchi after the Convener of the summit, Alhaji Bello Kirfi, said that the North should pull out of Nigeria and take ‘our destiny in our hands’.



But for the quick intervention of the former army chief Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, who called Kirfi to order, the situation would have degenerated even further. Said Danjuma after the statement was made “As someone who went to the war front and survived it, I must warn that this statement be withdrawn immediately."



The summit which was called to promote unity in the Northeast zone of Nigeria was however shunned by all the governors of the zone as well as leading politicians like former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.



Former Minister of Finance and leader of the Northern Political Leaders Forum, Malam Adamu Ciroma was however in attendance.



After the call for the withdrawal of the statement, Kirfi said it had been withdrawn for the meantime meaning that it could be out forward again.



It would be recalled that some politicians from the North had been bitter over the emergence of a Southerner as President in the person of President Goodluck Jonathan and one of them, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, had in 2010 promised that the North "would make Nigeria ungovernable" should Dr. Goodluck Jonathan win the election of 2011.

In Part three, Achebe makes an indisputable case against Nigeria in the way the war was prosecuted. He raises the question of genocide, makes hard-hitting arguments and levels his case against the Nigerian government. Ever unapologetic, Achebe does not spare the heroes - be it Awolowo or Gowon. As always, his moral message is "resolute." He slams Obafemi Awolowo for allowing his political ambition to diminish his humanity. He holds Awolowo responsible for "hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation- eliminating two million people, mainly members of future generations." He cites Awolowo's policies as the minister of finance during and after the war as evidence that his desire to secure permanent advantage for his Yoruba people superseded his inner good angel. Achebe does not spare Anthony Enahoro and Allison Akene Ayinda, supposedly intellectuals who backed Awolowo and, of course, the naïve Gowon who was in charge. Achebe points out the irony of it all - that all those who had hoped to benefit from the emaciation of Igbo people ended up becoming victims too. The British, through the indigenization decree lost investments; the Yoruba and Gowon's Middle Belt people are still trapped in a dysfunctional country, all suffering from its consequences.

This is the part that riles Yoruba. I wonder why no one talks about Enahoro and Ayinda (another Yoruba). As for Gowon, he has been aptly described: ''naive''

(1)

Book Description
Release Date: October 11, 2012
From the legendary author of Things Fall Apart comes a longawaited memoir about coming of age with a fragile new nation, then watching it torn asunder in a tragic civil war

The defining experience of Chinua Achebe’s life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967–1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe’s people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. By then, Chinua Achebe was already a world-renowned novelist, with a young family to protect. He took the Biafran side in the conflict and served his government as a roving cultural ambassador, from which vantage he absorbed the war’s full horror. Immediately after, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than forty years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa’s most fateful events, from a writer whose words and courage have left an enduring stamp on world literature.

Achebe masterfully relates his experience, bothas he lived it and how he has come to understand it. He begins his story with Nigeria’s birth pangs and the story of his own upbringing as a man and as a writer so that we might come to understand the country’s promise, which turned to horror when the hot winds of hatred began to stir. To read There Was a Country is to be powerfully reminded that artists have a particular obligation, especially during a time of war. All writers, Achebe argues, should be committed writers—they should speak for their history, their beliefs, and their people.

Marrying history and memoir, poetry and prose, There Was a Country is a distillation of vivid firsthand observation and forty years of research and reflection. Wise, humane, and authoritative, it will stand as definitive and reinforce Achebe’s place as one of the most vital literary and moral voices of our age.

(2)

There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra

The 1967-1970 Nigerian-Biafran war in which an estimated three million people died, most of them Achebe's Igbo people, was a tragedy. What would have been an additional tragedy was Achebe not providing for the unborn generations his pivotal view of the event, and a sharp cross-examination of the actors. In There Was A Country, Achebe does it the Achebe way.

In Part one, Achebe reveals the golden days of Nigeria and how through hard work and support from his family he positions himself to receive the baton from exiting colonialists at the dawn of Nigeria's independence. Achebe's story in this regard is the story of how the Igbo, in only 30 years, were able to bridge the educational gap that the people of the then Western Nigeria had as a result of early exposure to Western education. Achebe's early childhood story and path to success mirror the drive that has propelled the Igbo since they became part of Nigeria- a drive that came from Igbo republican society that abhors royalty, encourages competition, and rewards personal achievement. In stories of personal struggle, rugged determination and unique foresight, Achebe makes it known that there is no magic wand behind the Igbo emergence and attainment of preeminent position in the Nigerian project other than by shared industriousness. The consequence of this accomplishment was an immediate fear of Igbo domination. That fear quickly took hold in the psyche of other Nigerians and practically truncated the Nigerian dream of Achebe generation.

It was this fear of Igbo dominance that made much of Nigeria and their British cheerleaders to interpret the 1966 coup (plotted by military officers, most of whom were Igbo, including Kaduna Nzeogwu who Achebe reveals is Igbo by name only because he perceived himself as a Northerner) as another phase of Igbo domination. It accounts for the ferocity of the atrocities unleashed against the Igbo, a degree of which had never been witnessed anywhere in Africa before then. At first Achebe, ever a believer in Nigeria, wanted to stay put in Lagos until the systematic killing of Igbo in Lagos forced him to return to the East.

For those who have not read most of Achebe's essays, he discloses how the conflict between the old Igbo culture and the emerging Christian society became the source of his masterpiece, Things Fall Apart. From his mother, he learns how to bring out changes in a gentle manner without being intimidating. He narrates how his mother fought and achieved victory for Christianity and women's right and freedom by merely challenging the taboo of a woman picking up a kola nut. Ominous feelings creep through a reader as Achebe unwraps, layer after layer, how the middle class of his time were basking in the illusion of independence and the promises of a new great nation, totally missing the signs of its impending doom. I find it a timely lesson for members of today's middle class Nigerians that do not see the shaky foundation of the Nigerian nation. The similarity is very striking.

When Achebe delves into his life story, he is ever the teaser. He will, like a priest, let the wine in the cup glaze the readers' lips and then he will pull the cup away. When he tells you about how a group of vacationing students working at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, came to his office to demand equal pay, he tells readers that their leader was Christie Okoli from Awka, his mother's hometown. He volunteers to readers that his interest in her grew after the articulate way she spoke. As you wait for more, he informs you that, "two years into our friendship, Christie and I were engaged."

The Part two of the book deals with life in Biafra. For those still wondering what happened in Biafra, this chapter is a gift from providence. Using personal stories, Achebe paints a vivid picture of what life was like in Biafra. He exposes the actors in the war and the roles each played. He quotes extensively from several sources as he presents the assessment of Ojukwu and Gowon, the primary actors in the war. He even quotes sources opposed to Ojukwu's position and point of view, like Amb. Ralph Uweche. Achebe says some questions will be debated for generations. One of such questions is security reasons behind Ojukwu's rejections of Nigeria's federal government's proposal for a road corridor for food and the federal government's rejection of Ojukwu's alternative. Every now and then, he interrupts the theories of several schools of thought to have his own say. For instance, Achebe has no doubt that following the ethnic cleansing in the North and the federal government's connivance in the drastic act, that Biafra's secession from Nigeria was inevitable whether Ojukwu was there or not.

Achebe writes with great moral authority that he often comments that "forty years later I still stand by that assessment." When Achebe makes his summations, they are as apt as his press releases. When he tells stories, they are as succinct as any of the novels that made him famous. Through the stories of his friendship with Christopher Okigbo, including their effort to run a publishing company during the war, Achebe recasts the man and educates those who hold the poet in contempt of literature due to his decision to go to the war front. Like so many surprises in the book, Achebe reveals that he, too, would have been lost during the war in several instances, including in a plane mishap while on a diplomatic mission for Biafra to Senegal.

At the 1968 Kampala, Ugandan, talks, Achebe writes that he met Aminu Kano there for the first time. Aminu Kano was part of Nigeria's delegation led by Anthony Enahoro. The Nigerian delegation, Achebe recalls, espoused total "crush of Biafra." He writes that Aminu Kano was not pleased by how the matter was being handled. "That meeting made an indelible mark on me about Aminu Kano, about his character and his intellect," Achebe writes. Achebe will later in life take a failed detour into politics, joining Aminu Kano's political party.

In Part three, Achebe makes an indisputable case against Nigeria in the way the war was prosecuted. He raises the question of genocide, makes hard-hitting arguments and levels his case against the Nigerian government. Ever unapologetic, Achebe does not spare the heroes - be it Awolowo or Gowon. As always, his moral message is "resolute." He slams Obafemi Awolowo for allowing his political ambition to diminish his humanity. He holds Awolowo responsible for "hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation- eliminating two million people, mainly members of future generations." He cites Awolowo's policies as the minister of finance during and after the war as evidence that his desire to secure permanent advantage for his Yoruba people superseded his inner good angel. Achebe does not spare Anthony Enahoro and Allison Akene Ayinda, supposedly intellectuals who backed Awolowo and, of course, the naïve Gowon who was in charge. Achebe points out the irony of it all - that all those who had hoped to benefit from the emaciation of Igbo people ended up becoming victims too. The British, through the indigenization decree lost investments; the Yoruba and Gowon's Middle Belt people are still trapped in a dysfunctional country, all suffering from its consequences.

In offering solutions, Achebe suggests a series of questions about "ethnic bigotry," corruption and pure impunity that will keep Nigeria busy for a long time. He has no problem describing characters operating in the Nigerian political arena as "bum in suit," "poorly educated," "half-baked," and "politicians with plenty of money and very low IQs."

Throughout the chapters, Achebe punctuates the stories with interludes of poetry. They stand as exhortations, as hanging tears, flags, stop signs and as asterisks. Most of the poems are from his past collections. He preserves for generations yet unborn the role played by the likes of Dick Tiger, Gordian Ezekwe and Carl Gustaf von Rosen during the Biafran war.

By going beyond the Biafra war in this memoir Achebe shows how the fear of Igbo dominance led to the dethronement of meritocracy and the enthronement of mediocrity. In that single move, Nigeria opens the flood gate for corruption, impunity and failure that has remained the trademark of Nigeria to date. Beneath the crisis playing itself out in Nigeria's landscape today - most especially in cities like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt- is still that fear of Igbo domination.

In Part four, Achebe performs a reappraisal of Nigeria's sordid journey. He connects the failure of the Nigerian state and the rise of terrorism to Nigeria's long history of condoning violence.

"Nigeria's federal government has always tolerated terrorism.
For over half a century the federal government has turned a
blind eye to waves of ferocious and savage massacres of its
citizens - mainly Christian Southerners; mostly Igbos or
indigenes of the Middle Belt; and others - with impunity."

Achebe finds solution in good leadership as exemplified by Nelson Mandela. In the postscript, he spotlights Mandela as the epitome of the kind of leadership that Africa needs. He urges Africans to seek "sustenance and inspiration from Mandela." No one will disagree with that. However, he does not mention the Arab Spring or the possibility of its replica in sub-Saharan Africa. He, therefore, maintains his conclusion in The Trouble With Nigeria that leadership is squarely the problem. For younger readers not conditioned to wait indefinitely for change, the question left unanswered is, if leadership fails to come, then what?

The memoir, There Was A Country, is not just an epitaph for Biafra. It is also a warning to Nigeria.


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1) As the title says upfront, it's his personal history. And I don't think there is any inherent contradiction in someone else having a different experience. Experiences aren't necessarily facts. Neither do I discount them; perception is oftentimes more powerful and relevant than reality.

2) He is pretty complimentary of African cultures in general.

"The norther part of the country was the seat of several ancient kingdoms, such as the Kanem-Bornu which Shehu Usman dan Fodio and his jihadists absorbed into the Muslim Fulani Empire. The Middle Belt of Nigeria was the locus of the glorious Nok Kingdom and its world-renowned terra-cotta sculptures...In the west, the Oyo and Ife kingdoms once strode majestically, and in the midwest the incomparable Benin Kingdom elevated artistic distinction to a new level. Across the Niger River, in the East, the Calabar and the Nri kingdoms flourished."

3) He is also complimentary of many of his contemporaries, from Azikiwe to Soyinka and others.

"By the time I became a young adult, Obafemi Awolowo had emerged as one of Nigeria's dominant political figures. He was an erudite and accomplished lawyer who had been educated at the University of London...Chief Awolowo and close associates reunited his ancient Yoruba people with powerful glue- resuscitated ethnic pride- and created a political party, the Action Group, in 1951."

4) Although he states that Igbo people were too individualistic in nature and had no compelling loyalty beyond town or village, he acknowledges that the coup of 1966 was a mistake in part because of perception. And I use the word 'mistake' consciously even though many felt that there was no alternative.

"Looking back, the naively idealistic coup of January 15, 1966, proved a terrible disaster. It was interpreted with plausibility as a plot by the ambitious Igbo of the East to take control Nigeria from the Hausa/Fulani North.

Hahahaha! Funny how Yorubas have turned AWOLOWO into Yoruba and Achebe into Igbo. This just goes to show how banded they are in their myopic tribalism.
Igbos now know who the enemy is. The North can be excused for their narrow world view and general ignorance. What excuse does the Yoruba have for how they behave?

[quote author=9ja_I_hail]Do you know the meaning of progressing?[/quote]I have just finished whipping his illiterate and ignorant arse in another thread

[quote author=Osiris.211]I don't get it , they want the "backstabbing" yorobbers to vote for them? On which platform are they canvassing support on? Na war ooooo.[/quote]Kalu (or any other individual Igbo) is not equal to Igbo, unlike you Yoruba who make Awolowo (the Igbo genocidal, suicide committer) equal to Yoruba.

You have never in your lives voted for anyone else but Yoruba. You did not vote for GEJ, neither for Buhari, nor for Ribadu. Why should you be expected to vote for Igbo? Read his lips, Kalu was mocking and taunting you.

Akshow: sick momfo, get off your high horse and try leavin in peace wit others. Always at logger head wit everyone. North, They are there causin trouble, west Same. Stay in your flooded area, mba. Yet They cause trouble for all. Rawbish bitter people.

You are a liar, a loser and a fake blackmailer. On top of those, you are an ignorant illiterate.

Akshow: Waitin for that of Lagos

Waiting for your explanation and evidence of Igbos hating Ibibio, Ijaw, Edo and the rest of them (ex Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani)

Akshow: Waitin for that of Lagos

You will apologize first for your ignorance, would you?

Akshow: 50percent of Lagos and 70percent of abuja? What an audacious blatant falsehood. My guy, the earlier you snap out of your dream and face reality the better. Secondly What makes you think Igbos are more prosperous than other tribes? Your condescending i better pass every body attitude i guess. Finally, me think Its the Igbos that are jealous and bitter about been led by people They despise. Its such a terrible way to live. I feel their bitterness but They should try leavin in peace and harmony wit others

el-Rufai: Igbos Own 73% of Abuja Land

https://www.nairaland.com/54751/el-rufai-igbos-own-73-abuja

Akshow: 50percent of Lagos and 70percent of abuja? What an audacious blatant falsehood. My guy, the earlier you snap out of your dream and face reality the better. Secondly What makes you think Igbos are more prosperous than other tribes? Your condescending i better pass every body attitude i guess. Finally, me think Its the Igbos that are jealous and bitter about been led by people They despise. Its such a terrible way to live. I feel their bitterness but They should try leavin in peace and harmony wit others

Who is leading who? Northerners and SWners are crying that Jonathan has handed everything to the Igbo. Do you live in planet Mars?

Akshow: 50percent of Lagos and 70percent of abuja? What an audacious blatant falsehood. My guy, the earlier you snap out of your dream and face reality the better. Secondly What makes you think Igbos are more prosperous than other tribes? Your condescending i better pass every body attitude i guess. Finally, me think Its the Igbos that are jealous and bitter about been led by people They despise. Its such a terrible way to live. I feel their bitterness but They should try leavin in peace and harmony wit others

You are too small to blackmail anyone with your ''Igbo hate Edo, Ijaw, Ibibio, etc'' crap. I won't argue about Yoruba and part of the North. We are only reciprocating the hatred they have shown on us. Yet we have not gone out of our way to attack or destroy their own like they do to us. We are more mature than that.

Yes Igbos own 75% of Abuja, so says El'Rufai, former Abuja minister who knows better than you.