₦airaland Forum

Oh Britain, treacherous Britain, the blood of Nigeria be upon thee!

All the problems we complain about in Nigeria Yoruba have their own share of them and even more than their own share in their formation, fruition, nurturing and development.

Take cultism that has now become the one giant monster searing the soul of Nigeria before the advent of kidnapping and ransom taking.

A Yorubaman brought cultism to the Nigerian Church. Yorubas brought cultism to the judiciary and the legal profession. And need I tell you that 7 young scholars started confraternity in our university, most of whom are of Yoruba extraction and parentage?

That seed has now bludgeoned to cultism that is infesting every campus, teachers and students and our youths today.

Let me stop here.

My point is Yorubas have a hand in Nigeria’s problems. If Nigeria is today a rogue state, a bandit state, we too helped in making it so; just like the Ibos, Hausa-Fulanis etc.

I refuse to blame any tribe for what has happened to Nigeria.

We are all involved and we must all solve the problem together.

Leaving the union is defeatism and a nation is not built on defeatism or frustration.

SPECIFIC STRATEGIC ISSUES

I now address some specific issues of strategy about the proposed Oduduwa Republic for consideration.

There are lots of fantasy, incoherent inconsistencies, phantasmagoria about a Yoruba nation.

Some people have a hidden agenda which they don’t want to tell us. All they do is to couch their demands under the dubious revival of a glorious past in a supposed Yoruba Republic.

We should be careful.

We talk of the past as if the past is Eldorado.

It is not. We talk of Awo as if he was a perfect saint.

He was not. He was a great man, perhaps one of the greatest from this land but he is not God.

He never saw himself as God, either.

I am old enough to know him and read his campaign speeches.

One of the men now promoting the Oduduwa Republic from the video footage made some interesting statements.

Funny and amusing.

He said Yorubaland had television station before France.

This is not a good argument, even if it were true. I ask you, is television station an achievement?

Was television invented by a Yorubaman or woman?

How much of the history of television do we know?

John Baird who invented it cried when he saw the havoc and the perversion of purpose that his invention was been used for as against its intended purpose.

That is why it is amusing that in 2020 someone would be crediting a television station as an achievement. I do not see how having a television station in 1949, ahead of France, gives us any cause for bragging.

Congo had printing, as far back as the 18th century, before many European country, due largely to the Catholics who needed it.

Of what use is any technology without the know-how to operate it?

Can we say Obasanjo and the PDP was a success because GSM telephony occured under their watch or because MTN came during their tenure?

I am also surprised that someone is celebrating the 50-storey cocoa house in Ibadan as an achievement.

It is not an achievement. In fact, it is a bad investment and a huge developmental mistake.

Highrise structures are built where there are constraints of landspace.
We all know this.

Okay. Questions:

Who made Buihari presidency possible?

Who elected Buhari as president of Nigeria?

Not the Ibos. Not the South South.

It was Yoruba votes that brought this disaster of a government upon us, this “one chance” of a government upon this nation.

In 2015 it was so and this error of a government was reinforced again by the Yorubas in 2019 across Ekiti, Osun, Ondo and Lagos – where Buhari won.

The Igbos rejected him both in 2015 and 2019.

So if Nigeria is becoming a failed state because of Buhari, Yorubas have a hand in it.

You cannot cause a problem and then run away from the consequences.

Asking for Oduduwa Republic now is like that.

You cannot leave while the house is on fire: your founding fathers asked for Nigeria from the British and you voted Buhari and financed him into office for which you now regret.

Be brave: you cannot leave without first solving the problem you helped birthed into Nigeria.

Most of the problems that plagues Nigeria today are caused by all of us including the Yorubas.
Yoruba elites describe Nigeria as a failed state, a rogue state.

In fact it is worse. It is a bandit state, a gargantuan occult republic run by syndicates and gangster collectives.

Read Claude Ake, it is worse.

Yes, that is true. But that is not the whole truth.

The Yorubas too contributed to making Nigeria into the failed state that it is today. It is time the Yorubas tell themselves the truth.

We love to tell others the truth but we should once in a while tell each other.

Sometimes we talk as if Yoruba is perfect, as if there are no evils on our hands.

We accuse Tafawa Balewa of declaring a state of emergency in the West. True.

But would he have done that if we have not given him the cause to do so?

If they had not found a mole amongst the Yorubas?

Who betrayed Awolowo at the Treason able Felony trial in 1963?
Who were the prosecution witnesses and the judge that sentenced him “whose hands were tied “?
Who betrayed Abiola to Abacha telling him all the movements of the man?
Who traded-off June 12 to form political parties which was later dubbed Alliance for Destruction (apologies to Gani Fawehinmi)?
Who betrayed Diya to Abacha telling him what he did not say?
Who defended the mathematical fraud of 12 2/3 = 13 in 1979 to foist that NPN gang, a consortium of robbers on Nigerians?
Which of the Chief Justices gave the ruling that fair judgment must never be referred to?
Which military head of state ensured, by all means, that NPN won and told Nigerians before the elections that “the best candidate need not win the election”?
Who imposed Yar’Adua on the PDP as its candidate in 2007 and rigged him into office as President?
Who drafted Jonathan, our Dr. “Clueless” from Otuoke, a man whose mindless looting regime preceeded this “one chance” government, under which we are now trapped?
Let every Yoruba son and daughter sincerely ask himself these questions and answer who those people are – whether they are Yorubas or not.

If they are Yorubas, then Yoruba people also contributed heavily to Nigeria’s problems.

Do the promoters of Oduduwa Republic know all these?

Are they aware that their own parents and kinsmen are part of those that compounded the problems of Nigeria and made it, in the words of one of the British racist colonist, “a nation where the worst never happens but the best is impossible.”

Here are my reasons why I oppose any Oduduwa Republic at this time or any secession from Nigeria.

I shall make this under three specific headings:

GENERAL ISSUES
A secession of Yoruba from Nigeria or the creation of an Oduduwa Republic at this time would be wrong for the following reasons:

The Yorubas made the largest required investment which made Nigeria possible. If you read the history of nationalism, of Nigerian nationalist struggles and agitations against colonial rule, you will know that the Yorubas made more contributions than any other tribe or group to make Nigeria possible.
Although Chinua Achebe wrongly claimed that the Ibos alone fought for Nigeria’s independence in his ill- received, poorly- edited, divisive and tendentious book THERE WAS A COUNTRY, his claim can never stand under proper scrutiny or face authentic history.

The Macaulays, Paynes, Majas, Pearces etc and most of the names known to give trouble to the Europeans to force them into leaving were Yorubas.

Thus it would be wrong to agitate for Nigerian Independence and then turn away from Nigeria.

If it is not working, then make it work.

This is the first argument against secession of the Yorubas from Nigeria.

The evils we complain about in Nigeria also exist in Yorubaland and amongst the Yorubas.
The young Yoruba elites who want to take Yoruba out of Nigeria complain of many evils in the nation. True. But these evils too exist among us and Yorubas are not exempted from them.

Remember Soka Hill discovered in Ibadan where human parts were being sold to rich clients for years – its in Yorubaland. Same has been found in several other places in the Southwest.

An Islamic slave labour camp was discovered recently in Ibadan, almost as bad as the ones in the North.

Human “poultries ” have been found in Akute, Ogun State, and in Abeokuta etc where teenage girls are kept by super madams to be paired with young men to breed like rabbits and the offsprings sold to rich clients for money.

How about cultism and cultic warfares in Ikorodu, Lagos, Ibadan and Abeokuta which are regular features of news items?

Most of the evil in Nigeria exists among Yorubas. Thus leaving Nigeria solves nothing, in fact, it only compounds the problems because its now spread on a smaller area.

The question should be asked: Why should we leave Nigeria at this time?
If we are leaving, why are we leaving?

Because of the bad leadership of Buhari and the APC.

The major reason today causing this agitation was the misrule of the last five years under this government and the promotion of Fulani hegemony over the whole nation.

So I ask, should Yorubas leave because of Buhari?

Really?

AGAINST SECESSION : A TESTAMENT TO YORUBA LEADERS AND PROMOTERS OF ODUDUWA REPUBLIC

I saw a video clip of a group of young Yoruba elites canvassing the creation of Oduduwa Republic. The spokesman claimed that they are not even interested in restructuring, that it is late in the day, but the outright creation of Oduduwa Republic.

Carrying placards, they insist they are fed up with Nigeria and that Nigeria has been a setback for the Yoruba’s because in 1949 when Yorubas had the television, even when France has not have one.

Also, that Yorubas were ahead of Korea in the 1950’s, but today, we have been derailed by the Nigeria project.

These are their main arguments, which, as I will soon show, are no arguments at all.

I write to you leaders of Yorubas to warn you to be careful; be extremely careful so that you don’t make some fatal errors that will set Yorubas even further aback.

Times have changed and we must address issues within the context of our time or we risk failing in this endeavour.

Some days ago I had an epiphany of a secession of Yorubas and I am not surprised that some are making underground moves to actualise this end.

However, permit me to share some wisdom for our consideration.

I think it will be a serious mistake at this time for Yorubas to contemplate a secession from Nigeria as the repercussions will be grave, if not incalculable

It was Albert Einstein who once said, “condemnation without investigation is the highest form of ignorance.”

I believe we have done the due diligence and proper investigation before embarking on this course of action?
I hope the youths promoting this venture know the implications and consequences of what their actions could bring and spring in their time?

It is the Yorubas who say that when a child stumbles he looks forward, but when an adult stumbles he looks backward to see the cause.

Let us look backward and also forward to see why Yorubas have been stumbling in Nigeria and examine the cause; we will be surprised who we would see.

The enemy is ourselves.

The enemy of the Yorubas is the Yoruba and secession will not stop the stumbling because it would only take the theatre to a different space.

I must tell you that I am opposed to any form of secession or a unilateral secession of the Yoruba from Nigeria at this point in time. Soon you will know why.

However if other stakeholders agree at a Conference Table that the Nigeria project is no longer workable and there should be mutual separation then that becomes a different thing.

scholes0:
As for the Igbo language mentioned by the OP, Even Igbos don't know how their language came to be nor where it came from.... It is the most oblique of the YEAI languages, having received very heavy influence from Benue-Congo languages found both to their north and east.

Not that I agree with the OP. But on the above, does Yorubas know where and how their language came from?

How is Igbo the most Oblique of the YEAI? Igbo is actually the most interconnected of the YEAI. At Ika it is interwoven with Edo, at Igala it is interwoven with the Yoruboid, and I learnt Igbo language has more cognates with the Akokoid language than Akokoid do with Yoruba.

From the foregoing, it would seem to me like Igbo language is the great equaliser in the YEAI group of languages and bridges the gap between the YEAI and the Cross River group of languages.

Can't help noticing that they are all northerners.

Well, GEJ will not get Igbo support as well. He and his people would have to repay the ones we gave him first and foremost.

olmoRoc:
Yes, at an oil company in the early 90s. I was told I wasn't an indigene by several of the panelist.

It was the same story at NNPC. They were looking to hire locals - that was what the Info man who was one of the interviewers told me. When I relented, he started saying my school cert wasn't mine because he didn't see me scoring an "A" in physics.

It was humiliating. He actually kept on until one of his peers shouted that that wasn't the reason we were there.

If you're still at NNPC Mr. Ibo man and reading this, just know that for the last 18 years, I've been earning more than you besides what you make through corruption and bunkering.

Are you sure you are not mistaking a Mr Ikwerre, Ogba, Etche or Ekpeye, who is also Mr Bini man for Mr Igbo?
Those people bear names people like you easily mistake for Igbo names.

freshvine:
You contradict yourself, you're confused.

You are the one not putting your thinking cap on.

That some Elemes bear Igbo names is not a secret.
Every well studied Igbo know this, and we know how those Igbo names came about. But Eleme language remains Ogonoid.

It's akin to Ika. Despite few Bini names there, the language remains Igboid. The language tells you the original stock the people are made up of.

DubaiLandLord:
My own is that, let the Nigerian military face ESN and not harass and kill civilians.

You and I know this is not Nigerian military modus operandi. Their normal method is to leave piles of dead civilians in their wake. And guess who Rivers state government, Eleme LGA Chairman and traditional rulers are going to claim killed the civilians? IPOB.
Guess who would bear the consequences?
Ndiigbo.

Lajet:
I thank God that Nnamdi Kanu doesn't hide his real character most of us would have been still supporting him blindly.

This so-called man Nnamdi Kanu has no legal power yet he has put the title of Supreme leader in his name. people are bowing down to greet him. he does not listen to advice. he believed that his order is final he does not believe in other people's opinions.

Mark it somewhere if Nnamdi Kanu mistakley become Biafra president he will be worst than Idi Amin of Uganda and Buhari.

I watched a video where he was speaking to IPOB UK executives like an angry father speaking to wayward pre puberty children and then thereafter claimed he has dissolved the IPOB UK executives.
He sure has tyranny in him.But its a pity he is up against a people like Ndiigbo who will never tolerate tyrants. He can only dream on.

freshvine:
Chairman Eleme LGA: Philip Okparaji

Eleme King: Philip Obele

Ex Commissioner: Fred Igwe

Senator Olaka WOGU

Chief Dr. Nwokolu Dimkpa

Simeon Okochi

Does this names and people look Ogoni to you?

Its common knowledge that many Arochukwu people settled among the Elemes in the past.
That's how those Igbo names came about.

The Eleme language is not Igboid.

gidgiddy:
Trust me, if you or your community are under attack, you will not care where help comes from

Even Jesus refused to throw pearls at pigs.

He made it obvious he wouldn't give the food made for the children to the dogs.

As a leader/organization, you must know your jurisdiction and boundary.

If anyone else from outside it wants same privileges, they would have to roll on the floor to get it.
That way your value soars. Somethings are just common sense.
Who bewitched IPOB?

When you move into Eleme and the herdsmen invites the Nigerian military, who comes in and start killing the people. Who do you think the Igbophobic Ogoni and Rivers people will blame? Especially as there is no public evidence of Eleme leaders ever inviting ESN openly to their land.

How can you guarantee the safety of your boys in such Igbophobic environment where there are abundant of Igbo hating indigenes? They will give up your locations in the bushes to the FG Army like they did during the civil war. You will waste the life of fresh Igbo boys, many of them will be captured alive , tortured to death extract information about the running of ESN from them, and then have their organs harvested and sold.

The Ogoni leaders and Wike would come out and pour insult to injury by claiming that IPOB left Igbo land to come to their land to annex their land to Biafra and cause problems for them. Ogoni commoners will keep quite.
We have seen this movie before.

Your operations have been successful in Igbo land because its your HOMELAND, you enjoy the commoners goodwill and protection. No Igbo will give up the location of ESN in Igbo land. You are not invincible. Ask our few Biafran soldiers who fought in these Igbophobic minority environments what they faced. My uncle died in the Bonny war, their location given up by these minorities. We still have his enlarged picture at home, he was only 20yrs and full of life.




Do you lots think things through at all in IPOB. I mean common cause and effect analysis? Or is everything all about emotions and vibes? Tell your supreme leader not to waste the lives of those young Igbo boys who trusted their lives in his hands. He owes them sound decision making that must prioritize the safety of their lives. They have family and loved ones at home. Sending them to Igbophobic Minority lands in Rivers state is tactless and senseless decision.

Gosh! IPOB is such an embarrassment to Igbo ancient ako n'uche. Are IPOB not supposed to have an inner caucus that should discuss all I just analyzed above before any action?

This is tragic

EastisBae:
So diaspora Igbos will be contributing their hard earned resources to ESN coupled with Igbo youths who are risking their lives only to waste it on a people that haven't shown significant support to them in any way? What sort of logic is that?

I don't care if ESN goes to Igbo indigenous territories in Edo, Benue or Rivers State to protect them from the murderous fulani herdsmen but extending same to areas that are largely antagonistic or aloof at best, is a no no!

Do you know the strong message you will be passing across when eventually Igboland becomes an oasis of peace and tranquility because of ESN while every other place is burning because they didn't identify with ESN? Don't you think that when it gets to that point, all these minorities will be the ones groveling for ESN to protect them instead of going to help them when they haven't shown enough commitment?

We need to be acting more Machiavellian than emotional.

Tact and wisdom are always far from IPOB, her leadership and followers. It's agonizing and tragic to watch them as an Igbo man.

freshvine:
You think Eleme is not Igboid?

Don't be delusional. Eleme is Ogoniod and not Igboid.
You IPOB people are very annoying lots.

IPOB and MNK has always been senseless.

Limit your activities in Igbo land. How hard is this?
When Wike was killing Ndiigbo in Obiigbo I was in many Rivers state forums and they all were in agreement with Wike. Many of them were happy and the Ogonis amongst them was wishing Wike depopulated Obiigbo of the Asa and Ndoki indigenes so that they can take the land, as they claim the land belongs to them. Ndiigbo are surrounded by expansionist and bitter neighbours all round.

Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB have never been known for their tact or wisdom. But I was hoping they would for once grow brain cells, I guess I was expecting too much of them. Too bad. Talk of Udala oma daawii na nsi. We wait for the chain reactions of their "invasion" (yes this is what the Ogonis will call it in the end) of Ogoniland.

Heartbender:
I'll give you one. The document of purchase was the Obomotu Treaty of 1913. Obomotu is an Ijaw word from Obulom. Port Harcourt is originally Obomotu. Diobu chiefs were joined later on but their parcel of land was so small, Diobu was referred to as being near Port Harcourt

As far as you show me a colonial document where Ph was called Ijaw city, we are good to go.

iLegendd:
Listen, let me tell you a true story you'll never forget.

In my community, in 2015/2016, after the election, PDP and APC turned their issues into cult fight in Rivers.

The cult groups in the community became violent and before we knew it, they started killing one another.

We thought it would end there, but they started kidnapping and hurting innocent people. If you're rich, run, else you'll be kidnapped or killed.

When all the rich men ran away, they started hurting the average ones. One of the cult groups was too bloody and merciless. After killing you, they'll cut your head and remove your eyes.

The other smaller groups merged and decided to call for peace but the violent ones kept terrorising.

That was how everyone left the community for them — only the extremely poor ones that didn't have where to run go were around.

One day, 2016, a group of Fulani herdsmen were passing by and saw a guy standing, one of the newly reorganized cult group members. They thought it's a cheap kill, so they shot at him, but it didn't harm him. Black magic, right? Who knows.

In the bush, was his gun. He picked his phone and called his other members to mobilize and come with weapons, since they were stationed at different points to guard the community from the other gang.

Few minutes later, they arrived and opened fire on all the cows — including those carrying them.

The herdsmen ran to God (you know what I mean). The cows were all ******. A surviving herdsman ran to call some army and they came, but the boys ambushed them and took the guns of all the armies.

Their mission wasn't to kill innocent armies, but to tell them to stay clear. As understanding as the army guys were, they realized these guys were deadlier than them — the only thing is the army is wearing authorized uniform.

They gave them back their guns and they left. The Fulanis always brag about how they never forget, and yes, that's true.

The herdsman went to gather his fellow herdsmen, used an old Hilux and came back to fight back. The herdsmen are fetish, the bad boys are worse.

Before they could get inside the community, they were ambushed, their guns taken from them, their vehicle burnt, and they sent all of them to God for judgement.

In summary, a cult boy in this state can easily kill his brother who is a member of another cult group, so hurting a stranger is just like hurting a fly. I hate cultism, but you can't help but thank them when they fight for you in the absence of the government who has refused to fight for you.

All I'm trying to say is: Fulani people should not start a fight they can't finish. No one has monopoly of violence.

Yes, the army is on their side, the government is on their side, but the people and God are not on their side.

Out of 100 Nigerians you meet, only 1 likes a Fulani man. There are lots of good Fulanis, but people end up judging a group based on the bad ones.

Please, you people should stop being violent. No one has monopoly of it. Rivers state people are peaceful people — we only suck blood when the gods are angry.


Stay blessed.

Akuko ifo.

Are there no more "I day bam" and co cultists in Elemeland?

Abegi!

Additionally, the place you call Abuloma was originally occupied by the Asa clan of the Igbo nation.
The current occupants there are but recent entrants.

I challenge OP and his Ijaw propagandists to provide just one colonial document where Port Harcourt was called an Ijaw city.

I had already posted one where it was called an Igbo city built on the land of the Diobus , a branch of the Igbo tribe.

Igboid:
3. “It is important to remember that of this (Ogoja) Province’s 1,082,000 inhabitants, 723,000 are Ibos, almost entirely in Abakaliki and Afikpo (Divisions), while the census classifies 350,000 as “Other Nigerian Tribes.”

4. The Rivers Province …includes the two divisions of Brass and Degema, both overwhelmingly Ijaw, and the Ogoni Division. The former Rivers Division also includes over 300,000 Ibos of whom 250,000 are in Ahoada Division and 45,000 in Port Harcourt. [b] Port Harcourt is a town of recent growth and of rapidly increasing importance; it is built on land that blonged originally to an outlying branch of the Ibo tribe, the Diobus, but is largely inhabited by the Ibos from the interior who have come to trade or seek employment….[/b]Of the total 747,000 in the Rivers province, 305,000 are Ibos, 240,000 are Ijaws and 156,000 are Ogonis.”

5. [b]The strip to the south of the Ibo block, is physically, divided by a block of Ibo territory, tipped by the important Ibo town of Port Harcourt [/b]and tribally divided between the Ijaws and the Ogonis.” 6. “In the whole of this non-Ibo area there is present in varying degree some fear of being over-run, commercially and politically, by the Ibos….. if Ahoada and Port Harcourt, which are really Ibo, are considered with the solid centre of Ibo population, there are 54 seats for the Ibo area and 30 for COR (Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers) in (Eastern Regional House of Assembly).”

http://scannewsnigeria.com/news/willink-report-1958-the-following-are-excerpts-from-a-the-report-of-the-commission-appointed-to-enquire-into-the-fears-of-minorities-and-the-means-of-allaying-them-otherwise-known-a/

Willink report prepared by the British who established Port Harcourt clearly noted on whose land it was established.
It was established on the land of the Diobus, outlying branch of the Ibo tribe. You can't possibly know about Port Harcourt than the British who established it.

The only way Ikwerre lose Ph is if they continue their Igbophobia, we would simply leave them to you lots.

3. “It is important to remember that of this (Ogoja) Province’s 1,082,000 inhabitants, 723,000 are Ibos, almost entirely in Abakaliki and Afikpo (Divisions), while the census classifies 350,000 as “Other Nigerian Tribes.”

4. The Rivers Province …includes the two divisions of Brass and Degema, both overwhelmingly Ijaw, and the Ogoni Division. The former Rivers Division also includes over 300,000 Ibos of whom 250,000 are in Ahoada Division and 45,000 in Port Harcourt. [b] Port Harcourt is a town of recent growth and of rapidly increasing importance; it is built on land that blonged originally to an outlying branch of the Ibo tribe, the Diobus, but is largely inhabited by the Ibos from the interior who have come to trade or seek employment….[/b]Of the total 747,000 in the Rivers province, 305,000 are Ibos, 240,000 are Ijaws and 156,000 are Ogonis.”

5. [b]The strip to the south of the Ibo block, is physically, divided by a block of Ibo territory, tipped by the important Ibo town of Port Harcourt [/b]and tribally divided between the Ijaws and the Ogonis.” 6. “In the whole of this non-Ibo area there is present in varying degree some fear of being over-run, commercially and politically, by the Ibos….. if Ahoada and Port Harcourt, which are really Ibo, are considered with the solid centre of Ibo population, there are 54 seats for the Ibo area and 30 for COR (Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers) in (Eastern Regional House of Assembly).”

http://scannewsnigeria.com/news/willink-report-1958-the-following-are-excerpts-from-a-the-report-of-the-commission-appointed-to-enquire-into-the-fears-of-minorities-and-the-means-of-allaying-them-otherwise-known-a/

What is it to discuss here?

Beer parlour gists?

The British loves no group on planet earth but themselves. I mean, they couldn't even stay in EU with their fellow Europeans.

By the way, there is nothing like ancient Biafra. You IPOB and your leader should stop that joke.

We are Igbos. Biafra was only a part of our history between 1967-70.

You can claim all you want as Ijaw. But just as your bitter Ijaw people were convinced that Igbos were dominating you in defunct Eastern region, so were the Ogonis and Igboids convinced that you Ijaws were dominating them in old Rivers state, and Saro Wiwa captured that sentiment well.

Deal with it and stop acting holier than thou. You cannot expect not to be measured to, with same cup you measured for others.

Ijaws showed in old Rivers what they are capable of doing once handed power. They used it to oppress all minorities around them.

With the war ended, and as a Commissioner in Rivers State, I soon found that the Rivers State for which I had fought did not end my nightmare. In the first place, oil money from Ogoni country (as well as Ijaw country) was being carted away to Lagos, leaving the Ogoni illiterate and backward.

This is anti-federalism. Worse still, the Ijaws were taking their frustrations out on the non-Ijaws of the State. For the Ijaws along number more than the eight other ethnic groups in Rivers State put together. Though historically disunited, the Ijaws find unity when it comes to lording it over the non-Ijaws. The Ijaws will want to perpetuate this. Today, there is not even a Commission from my Local Government Area in the Rivers State Cabinet such as it is. My dilemma as an Ogoni is not about to end.

Lost in this dreadful nightmare, I went in 1971 to see Chief Awolowo at the Federal Ministry of Finance. There was nothing I told the sage that he was not aware of. He showed me his writings on the issue and bade me seek the mid-Southern State he had proposed in 1966. Thus was the quest for a Port Harcourt State begun. In 1974. When we started, there was no shortage of opponents. To the Ijaws, I became a traitor.

~Saro Wiwa

PHijo:
Some of you just promote outright lies and half truths!
Ijaw people never dominated old Rivers state as you claimed even though Ijaw people constituted well over 80 percent of the state.

Between 1967 and 1995 was 28 years and Ijaw people won only 2 governorship elections in the 2nd and 3rd republic. Both republics were short lived. Most of time old Rivers state existed it was administered by military appointees who were in most cases non indigenes.

In 1999 that the Igboid people got the state governorship, they got it because the Ijaw people gave them a platform. Ijaw people decided to allowed minorities take a chance at governance. They governors Rivers state has had since 1999 till date did not get there by being Igbo. Several factors have worked in favour of them, not being Igbo.

Stop lying already.
Ijaw dominated and subjugated other non Ijaw groups in old Rivers state. That's the Truth.

You were worst than the Igbos you are always trying to demonize.

I had already posted Saro Wiwa quote on Ijaw domination of other groups in Old Rivers state that led to agitation for non Ijaw PH state just 4 years after the civil war, and you claimed Saro Wiwa was a liar. But you expect everyone to accept all your Igbophobic lies.

You gave no governorship position to any Igboid group. Truth is that with creation of Bayelsa state, Ijaw became totally emasculated population wise in Rivers state and the Igboids had the upper hand which they recognized and seized and have refused to let go since then because your days of unfair domination in old Rivers state is still in their minds, they don't trust you Ijaws with power.

Eastern region lasted for just 6yrs under Igbo control, ie 1960-66, but you Ijaws were singing songs of Igbo domination like the Igbos were in charge of the region for 100years. Now when other minorities try to cry about Ijaw domination of 1967 to 1975 and 1979 to 1983, that's more than 10years, you try to diminish their legitimate complaints.

And by the way, with what we know about Bayelsa population, there was no way Ijaws were 80% of old Rivers population. You used the imaginary population of swampy and scantly populated Bayelsa to rig elections then. Even if Bayelsa is merged with Rivers state today, Ijaws will not be dominant in the state.

BluntTheApostle:
Don't even make me laugh.

It is normal for people to be happy when there is a significant change. Nigerians always rejoiced at every military coup. So, it is nothing new.

Every Biafran was happy initially, and contributed their best.

But when reality hit them. When they witnessed police brutality, when they saw fellow (influential) Biafrans hoarding relief meant for everyone, when they saw that forceful military conscription was only carried out on poor Biafrans while rich and privileged Biafrans like Ojukwu and Achebe lived in reserved areas, enjoying life to the fullest, they lost their joy.

Ask any Asaba person who witnessed the war if they felt happy in Biafra? Even in such a young nation, there was already discrimination, as people openly discriminated against people from Asaba.

Please, Biafra was hell.

Supposing there was no war, the country will still not have survived.

My father fought in that war and my mother lived through it.
So don't come here yapping nonsense. I have personal family history with that war.

All my uncles from maternal and paternal side were Biafran soldiers.
And till today, those of them still alive including my dad remain proud Biafrans.

Never for once did Biafrans lose their joy for Biafra. You must be joking.

My father personally trekked for many kilometers from Onitsha to Awgu in Enugu to enrole into the Biafran Army because he was rejected at the Onitsha recruitment centre and someone told him those in Awgu were taking all and sundry.
Forceful conscription in Biafra happened during the tail end of that war, when almost all the eligible male were already in the army remaining the cowards who had been hiding from day 1.

Asaba was not part of Biafra and thanks to the genocide Nigeria committed in Asaba and indeed in Biafra, no Asaba indigene or Biafran will ever show altruistic patriotism towards Nigeria.

Nigeria is a dead country worst than Hell. Only those who love Nigeria are those with parasitic disposition towards Nigeria.

BluntTheApostle:
Don't mind them.

Biafra lasted for only 30 months, and yet every social and political problems that plague Nigeria was evident there.

There was corruption, police brutality, and misappropriation of funds.

Adichie is a more honest writer than Achebe. People should read her Half of a Yellow Sun, and tell me how Biafra fared better than Nigeria.

Some people will call the book a fiction. But a lot of research went into that book.

Don't be ignorant.
No country on planet earth is 100% corruption free. Not USA , not China, not Germany.

What makes a country functional is not the total absence of corruption. What makes a country functional are the following:

1. Unreserved altruistic patriotism from the citizens

2. Uniformity of goals, ideals and ideology

3. Genuine desire to progress hence the enthronement of meritocracy

4. Local Scientific innovation and inventions to solve local problems and improve life of the populace.


Biafra even in war period ticked all the above boxes.

Biafrans so much love Biafra that millions laid their lives for Biafra and their descendants still proudly fly Biafra flags till today.

Biafrans are united to desire for economic progress and Christian ideals.
Biafrans built their war crafts and weapons, refined crude oil, amongst other innovations.

You will be highly ignorant to compare a living nation like Biafra that breathes in the heart of all genuine Igbo men and women with a dead dysfunctional British colonial abomination called Nigeria.

skybeauty:
Igbo history
This is Isaac Adaka Boro from Rivers state, A man who killed over 1.2 million igbos in defence of one Nigeria during the Biafra Nigeria civil war, the properties belonging to igbos were taking away by his men n some Rivers state elders... is unfortunate most igbos are bad student of history and history might repeat it self again because right now I can see thousands and one Isaac Adaka Boro in ijaw land. Let me explain something most igbos don't remember: Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro, from Kaiama (in present day Bayelsa State), was born in September 10, 1938 in Oloibiri.
Isaac Boro,was a Chemistry student at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, he became the Student Union President of the University. Despite this support and political patronage he got from his Igbo brothers at the university yet he hate the igbos with passion, Boro led the first revolution of resource control in Nigeria few months after Aguiyi Ironsi became the Head of State of Nigeria.
He formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), the first armed militia of only Ijaw extraction. On February 23, 1966, Boro and his NDVF declared the Niger Delta Republic. This was the first time any part of Nigeria tried to secede. He believed that the Ijaw people deserved a fairer share of proceeds of the oil wealth than they were getting from the Federal Government.
For twelve days Boro and his militias battled the Federal forces before they were finally defeated by the far superior Federal firepower. Isaac Boro and some of his men were convicted of treason and sentenced to death, but aguiyi Ironsi out of mercy and love the igbos have for the ijaw people decided to jail him instead of killing him as demanded by the Northern leaders and some South West elders.
On the eve of the Biafran-Nigerian war in May 1967, Yakubu Gowon granted him political amnesty and drafted him into the Nigerian Army as were advice by the British Government. He was afterwards commissioned as a major in the Nigerian Army. With his army of 1000 Ijaw soldiers he fought alongside Col. Benjamin Adekunle, who was heading the 3rd Marine Commando Division of the Nigerian army. With their deep knowledge of the Niger Delta creeks, Boro and his men guided the federal forces and killed over 1.2m Biafrans in the Region. Boro fought with the Nigerian forces thinking as they had promised him he was liberating the Niger Delta from Biafran forces. He however never realised he was handing his people and the huge resources in the region into the hands of Hausa-Fulani and Yorubas who pillaged the region for years to come and impoverished his people till date..

Sensible Igbos see Ijaws for what they are.
Deluded IPOB and their leadership are playing the Ostrich.