₦airaland Forum

bibe:
Can you kindly furnish me with any available sources for the speech and/or the said publication titled football illiad.
I've searched extensively but can't find it on Google.
Cheers.

This was a passage taken from Awo's autobiograhy which was published in January 1960. Read it and ponder on it, that was your nationalist.
His attitude and tactics are eerily similar to what we read from ipobs today.


An article written by Zik himself, published on the front page of the Pilot, and entitled: "'Football Iliad, 1940 Edition'", shocked many people. It was a big step forward in an insidious campaign which had gone on for more than two years on the pages of the Pilot. A football team composed of students of the Christ the King's College, Onitsha, came to Lagos to play a 'Win the War' football match against St Gregory's College. The CKC team from Onitsha defeated St Gregory's team by 5 goals to 4. To the ordinary man in the street, let alone the highly sophisticated elements, there was nothing extraordinary or unusual in one school or college defeating another in a game of soccer. But not so with Dr Azikiwe. He saw in the sporting exploits and triumph of the team from Onitsha the inherent superiority of the easterners over their opponents, and he went to very great pains to establish this fact, by means of careful choice of words and emphasis. These extracts from the article are relevant: And then to think of the great combination of the Spartan heroes who crossed the lordly Niger, journeyed through the good earth of Benin, hurried across the domains of the Oshemawe of Ondo, of the Atanla of Owo, of the Owa of Ilesha, of the Oni of Ife, of the Alake of Abeokuta in their invasion of these islands!
Who, but heroes of mighty brawn and exceptionally developed brain would have dared to make this invasion and to succeed in carrying to their River Niger home, the Golden Fleece of InterCollegiate Soccer Championship of the Eastern and Western Provinces?
Yet they came to Lagos, they saw the irresistible defence put up by their opponents, and they conquered impressively, convincingly, and were graceful even in victory!
Could their achievement be paralleled?
Would it not be better for me to leave the answer to the laps of the gods?

On 24 August 1940, however, the same CKC team played in Ibadan against the Olubadan XI in another 'Win the War' match. The CKC were beaten 3-2 by the Olubadan XI which were an undiluted Yoruba team. Apart from sending the news to the Daily service myself, I also saw to it that it was wired to the Pilot. It was after there had been clamours in the Daily service, in form of letters to the editor, that the news of this Ibadan match was published some two weeks later in the Pilot. Even then, it was a small item on the back page, and it was explained in it that the CKC team were already tired and that some of them were in fact limping, before they went into the field against Olubadan XI. This was of course untrue.
I said before that the CKC episode was a big step forward in an insidious campaign which had gone on for more than two years on the pages of the Pilot. One or two more instances will be given. By the time the Pilot had published for a year, an important feature of the paper had become manifest. The Igbos in particular were given inordinate publicity on the pages of the paper. Perhaps this was as it should be. The Igbo had never had a share in newspaper publicity before the advent of the Pilot. But equally so, no Yoruba man of the class of the Igbos publicised in the Pilot ever had a share of publicity in any paper either. In those days one had to be an outstanding politician, a big shot in society, or a well-connected person, for one's name to appear in the Nigerian Daily Times, Nigerian Daily Telegraph andLagos Daily News. Of course if you had a friend working in the news or composing section of a paper, no matter who you were, you might be slipped in. Names of people like myself appeared in the papers simply because we were agitators or free-lance journalists. All the same, it was generally agreed that the Igbos needed all the boosting they could get.But Dr Azikiwe went about it in a manner which disgusted those of us who were used to describing citizens of Nigeria as Nigerians or Africans, and regarding their achievements as reflecting credit on Nigeria, indeed Africa, as a whole. The following are typical of the titles of front page news items and of editorial articles in the Pilot.


1. ' Ibo Young Man to Sail to U.K.' is the heading of a frontpage story and picture on September 23, 1938. The young man is Mr Jaja Wachuku, now Speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives.
2. '14th West African Student, 10th Nigerian, 8th Ibo in U.S.A.' Another front-page story on January 28, 1939. The 8th Ibo is Mr Nwafor Orizu, now Senator in Nigeria's Upper House.
3. 'Ibo Medical Student Passes Exam In First Class Honours.' Yet another front page story, on June 26, 1940, of the brilliant success of Dr S. O. Egwuatu.
4. Editorials:
i. ' A Model Union' ( August 8, 1938) in praise of the Ibibio State Union.
ii. 'One Year Ago' ( August 18, 1938) celebrating the first anniversary of the call to the Bar of the first Ibo lawyer, in the person of Mr Justice Louis Mbanefo, now Chief Justice of the Eastern Region High Court.
iii. 'The Ibo Are Coming' ( December 31, 1938) -- The very title is sufficiently indicative of the contents.

These are but a few examples of the publicity given to Igbos as a group. But as against these, the achievements of Yorubas and, in particular, the academic laurels of their scholars received, if at all, inconspicuous notice in the Pilot. When an Igbo did or was about to do something praiseworthy, he was invariably given a two-column headline and report in the Pilot, and was always described by his ethnic origin in the headlines. But when the Ph.D. degree of London University, indeed of any university for that matter, was conferred on the first Nigerian ever, the historic news was given a small singlecolumn space in the Pilot, and the headline read: 'Nigerian Economist Passes Ph.D. London.' The scholar concerned was Dr Fadipe, a Yoruba. As late as 1945, two Nigerian law students of Cambridge University, one Yoruba and one Igbo, passed the Law Tripos Examination. The Yoruba passed with second class honours (upper division), and the Igbo also passed with second class honours but in the lower division. The latter got front page publicity in the Pilot, but the former got a small space given to him on the back page a few days after the report of his Igbo colleague had appeared. As for outstanding Yoruba public men, they were all of them daubed as 'imperialist stooges' and ' Uncle Toms'.

They will call him Afonja, Yorubakwe etc.

shekauvsbuhari:
u see de problem of nigeria and those callin 4 democracy. The masses voted 4 a man and one other man illegaly voided it and u re applauding him. After u come and castigate Ibb 4 voiding Abiola's victory and 4 his eventual death. admit de truth and be free.

Azikiwe only won his constituency, it was a parliamentary system. Two or more parties can form a coalition and upend the majority party if their new coalition can garner more constituencies.
This was nothing like Abiola's victory which was under a presidential system.

Robbin7:
U get sense?
You are hearing facts and you talking rubbish. Was the IBO's that voted zik in the west?

Just read and learn, there are places where blustering is useful not in this place.

ProfDumbledor:
Can you give us screen shot or link to his newspaper publication where he used it to promote Igbo superiority? Fact is fact, deal with it okay.

I'm sure you will find it somewhere on this website because this subject has been discussed like a thousand times. I will of course post it as soon as I find the links.

vanvino:
Documented i agree with u, but as for being facts hmmm, who made it so? Is it because someone u trust frm ur place said so or someone i admire from my place say so?

No, because the words were Azikiwe's words.

eastsidechillz:
You dey mind the mofo

Hehehehe, you know they have nothing left when they resort to insults.
That is the playground for idiots.

Lightening:
Since you are in the know like Elder Unonogo, can you cite such instances Azikiwe promoted Ibo superiority over Yoruba.

You make me laugh, there were many. There was a speech he made in 1948 at Igbo state union in which he spoke about the god of igbo eventually giving the leadership of Nigera and Africa to igbo, that is not how Nkruma and Julius Nyerere spoke. There was a particular article he wrote, again in the 40s that he titled football illiad. Please find it and tell me if he sounded like a nationalist.

bakynes:
Tribal politics or not it doesn't make sense for an easterners to come to the west to be first Minister. The truth is that for an easterners like Zik even trying to be leader of the western region shows the hospitable nature of the Yorubas.

Thank you. Why is nobody mentioning the fact that Yorubas voted for him regardless of whether he was Igbo or not.
Perhaps Awo justifiably stopped him because he knew him more than the largely illiterate voters.

Marcelo290:
Ok bro, I'm not a tribalist anyways, but whatever makes you happy...

Whether you are a tribalist or not is the question here. What I'm saying are documented facts. You only need to counter my points with facts rather than trying to insult me.

Marcelo290:
Atimes I blame those who scrapped history from our curriculum...just look at the sheer ignorance you are displaying.

Azikiwe that was a renowned nationalist and insisted on one Nigeria even at the expense of his own brothers during the war, he used his newspaper to propagate African liberation from the colonists, unlike Awolowo who focused more on regional politics which landed him in prison...

This story has been told like a thousand times on this website and I believe everything is archived here. Yes, Azikiwe like others fought for Nigeria independence but that doesn't make him a saint.
He did use his newspaper to promote tribal hegemony and he was referred to as a demagogue.
You are the ignorant one here, you obviously only read what you want to read.
Tell me he wasn't a demagogue, tell me he didn't write articles promoting ibo superiority.

President Jonathan who got your votes could not build it in 8 years.

Absolute nonsense, Awolowo knew Azikiwe more than any average Yoruba man at the time. Azikiwe as a Newspaper editor was a tribal champion who used his newspaper to promote ibo superiority over Yoruba in particular.
Why would such a man even want to lead Yoruba? Thank God Nigerians were not very informed at that period, even Time magazine refered to him as a demagogue.

Na wah o.

Nigeria did not witness a peaceful transfer of power until 2015?

Who wrote this article?

Okoroawusa:
I concur wit u.lets start a movement.
#FreeEvansAndSendHimSoutheast

What about these folks in Asia?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6fzmttMC_Q




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kr4tXgMPTY



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXoqsj9MJFY



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IQCKeCJ5dc

dlondonbadboy:
Can't you see the coward in you speaking? Ain't you ashamed?
Hausas don't want war, they want a peaceful resolution.
Igbos want a peaceful referedum.
Wetin concern the cowards of Nigeria? Why are they beating war drums? Tufiakwa

Where is the stupid referendum coming from? Are you now scared of making Nigeria worse than Somalia? Is it now dawning on you that all the threats of violence by ipob is nothing but hot air?
If you are not cowards you will start another war right now and get your freedom because no one will give it to you on a platter.

dlondonbadboy:
Anytime you hear BIAFRA.....war comes to your mind and you start convulsing like an epileptic.!
Is BIAFRA a call for war?

Devilish leeches everywhere!

Where were you when your director was threatening to make Somalia better than Nigeria?
Don't ever start what you can't finish. War is not a tea party.

nototribalist:
Nnamdi kanu is the most powerful leader in Africa as we speak

And he has the largest army in Africa too. His army is so powerful the "zoo" will be shocked.

Generalyemi:
afonja.....d problem of every community.

There are many similarities between him Nnamdi Kanu. Both of them are psychopaths.

FFK is doing this for his little Igbo family, especially his half Yoruba, half Igbo son. His opinions are entirely his own.

The Evans story cannot teach you to become a criminal unless you are already criminally minded.

Those who cannot travel are at home brewing fake palm wine. Na real wha.

perfectchoice:
What are u actually saying.
Before I angage u in an agrument, tell me,How old are u?

I was being sarcastic. What's my age got to do with anything? If you have something to say, please go ahead.

Of course, the banks are managed by dunderheads and they are completely oblivious to what is going on in the country.

Terkimbi01:
Do you have proof for.this?

if you do.provide it.

it has a lot of.implications s for Nigeria.

if Biafra goes. then no one can stop Niger Delta too.
And we here in the middle belt will love to be on our own.

There's obviously no truth in this. Wait till when they table their desire to leave in the national assembly.

StOla:
But Igbos have always denigrated that aspect of Yoruba culture, claiming that such is servitude and not tolerated in the so called republican culture of the Igbos.

So what happened to such claims by the Igbos? Why is the OP and similar hypocrites hyperventilating for being called out?
So Igbos have now learnt to adopt Yoruba culture that they have always denigrated?

The hypocrite is the one who has always criticized such behaviour only to now find excuses to tolerate such now.

The many instances are on Nairaland, and I will dig it up if this hypocrisy continues, just like the Igbos that were gloating over Yoruba marginalization despite voting Jonathan into power in 2011.

Hypocrites accusing others of being hypocrites. Now it is acceptable for ibos to bow down to others.
Hehehehe. ....laughing in mandarin.

bluediesel03:
Bros, I pity you. You sound like this because you don't travel. I bet you to stay in North whenever crisis is going On, even as a Yoruba Your head will roll before any igbo man. Let me tell you,yorubas don't travel that's why you think this is just igbo fight. Even as Yoruba Muslim you are at risk in north. The last crisis I encountered in Kano.. .Omg.. Christians protected Yoruba Muslims from northern youth. Please travel and see. Don't stay in Ogbomosho and think you are loved by hausas. Please ask questions. ....jukwaa ese.. .my brother

Yorubas don't travel, they never venture outside their domain in the SW yet they are targets for violence in the north. Why don't you just stick to one narative?

kenny987:
How on earth is the Igbo man supposed to abandon his traditional view and sense of self to see himself through the eyes of others? How does that even make sense to you? How about you stop and think and understand the Igbo man from his own perspective?

The Igbo man will not change! All of his pride, economic aggression, loudness, diligence, beauty, self-confidence, zeal and desire to excel make him the unique person he is and the fact that others are uncomfortable with his nature does not make him any less excellent cos we all come with our imperfections!

Self-introspection is one of the best gifts anyone give oneself. That is why psychology expects u to 'know thyself'. If u don't understand urself u will never know how to harness ur qualities and succeed. No one will understand u better than urself and u are the one that will tell ur story not others telling it for u because they will most likely pass it through their already poisoned view.

It is difficult to get along with Igbos? It is also difficult to get along with lions because of their nature! It doesn't make them bad animals or any less excellent! The best is to understand each other and set necessary lawful boundaries to allow everyone grow n excel at their own pace! The Igbo man will not change and no, it is not your duty to set out what u expect him to act n behave. The sane way he accepts u when he comes on a sojourn is the same way u should accept him when you meet him provided no crime is committed.

Where the above is impossible then the ultimate demand is on ground for a separate nation so he can be himself and project his identity without any unnecessary intervention from those who don't understand the simple need to live and let live.

If Igbo are singled out and treated differently out of 250 groups in Nigeria that is where the introspection comes in.
It is very simplistic on the part of Okonkwo to conclude simply that igbos are hated simply because they are Igbo! This is the same line we hear over and over again from Igbo commentators. Where then is the self introspection?
Some will even go a little further and accuse others of being jealous of Igbo. It is always the fault of others while igbo are innocent and passive observers in everything that happens to them! With this type of thinking where is the self introspection?
I have personally concluded igbo are not capable of it otherwise you wouldn't compare yourself with lions.
Do lions have to negotiate different types of complex relationships like humans to maintain their social groups?
We, as in other Nigerians don't see you as lions. We see you as humans as we expect you to behave like humans.

One thing I take from your response is your determination not to change, that is admirable. The flip side of that is the fact that others will not change the way they see you and relate with you. The world is like a mirror frown at it and it will frown right back at you.

Ajekun iya ni o je
Ajekun iya ni o je
Eni ti o to ni na, ti n dena deni.
Ajejun iya ni o je.

"Let it be known that the original sin of the Igbo has not changed and will never change - it is the sin of being Igbo. It is from it that all other sins emerge and get magnified. The Igbo have nothing to prove and must not begin a defense of that right or a discussion of their Igboness on the terms of others. It is a matter of expediency for the Igbo to know this and for the Igbo to understand its implication in their final battle for survival"

The whole article can be summed up to the quote above by Rudulph Okonkwo, it is the same persecution complex we see here on a daily basis.
What is wrong with Igbo and self introspection? Why can't they see themselves through the eyes of other people?
The truth is that Igbo are difficult to get along with, we have seen it everywhere you have a large concentration of Igbo, be it in Nigeria, South Africa or China.
Is it possible all these people hate igbo just because they are igbo? Not possible.