₦airaland Forum

hardywaltz: Tribal monkey...
Why didn't yoruba people of Ondo State vote in ACN in the Governorship elections? Anyway Yoruba people are neva united. Ask OBJ

Comot for here! The man took an unrelated tangent from the issue at hand to "remind" and that doesn't stink of bigotry to u alj harem??

alj harem: @ Joeyfire and ikeyman01. On a serious note, do you take any threat from us serious ? LOL My brothers we can't hurt a fly.



So if I remain you that your friend that you are insult, it is his house you are living is that a threat ? You think if Mr Ayo said that statement in the way you twisted it, he would not be questioned by likes of Falana, Soyinka and Fasheun ? We have a total different orientation from what you think.

No inciteful statement has ever been made without careful consideration by likes of the people I mentioned above. You are just trying to twist his words so he looks bad and you and Achebe can be vindicated.

Sai Mimiko!!! Iroko for Show

You say it can't happen in a yoruba gathering abi? When Tokyo comot Bola Ige cap for gathering for ibadan nko

Yomieluv: if i say ibos are silly tribes,people go talk say i don start again.

why on earth,should someone fight over chair?
it shows the stupidity,and uncalled arrogance of the leaders of the dejected tribe called ibos.

it can never happen in a yoruba gathering..

i wonder,why the flood didnt flush the eastern part from the map of Nigeria.

silly tribe.

This is such childish bullshyte. Do u really think like this?

onomeasike: the blood of the children starved by biafran soldiers at work.the ibos should await more calamity until they atone for the innocent civilians killed by starvation by biafran soldiers!!yeye

Yes the statement is a veiled threat oga stop defending the obvious. He is reminding us that most of the assets of igbos are in yorubaland, reminding us that we have been undisturbed all this while. In a saner country opadokun would have had questions to answer in interrogation room somewhere.

For crying out loud do u consider the madness on ths site to be normal behaviour? Ths site is a popular playground for extremists. Finally achebe did not abuse yorubas, hs daughter s even married to one so what are we saying?

alj harem: So you actually think the above statement is a threat ? Is it not the same thing we say here on Nairaland, have you ever considered that as a threat to ?

I keep repeating to stop insulting yorubas because they love Igbos you all keep shouting and screaming.. He is just reminding some of you incase you have forgotten how inrelated yorubas and Igbos are.

Do you want yorubas and igbos to fight ? I certainly don't want it but Achebe seems to want it.

My thoughts exactly. Ndi a na cho ndi fa ga ma njakili

abouzaid: Pls all igbos should stop responding to this thread. The yorubas are trying to tempt u into a fight with useless post without statistics and ur falling for it. Pls deny them that joy. Wrestling with a pig in mud would only make u dirty but it would make the pig happy therefore we should not make the pig happy by responding their tauntings. Pls all igbos stop responding on this thread no matter what they say.

Ngwanu no wahala

abouzaid: Bikonu, unu mechie onu unu ka ndi a yiba ara soso fa.

Yorubas don go far abeg. I really enjoyed the run-up to the election men!

Ozonna: Believe it or not, Yorubas are polically more enlightened than the rest of the tribes in nigeria. Look @ the debate, the contestants subjected demselves to the debate. The voters now chose d best candidate by dia own judgement.

I suggest that NASS amend our constitution empowering INEC to conduct guber/national elections in 2-3months as against condcting elections in the 37states in a day.

It'll make it easier for JEGA & co to manage the logistics well and their be enuf securitty to ensure free and fair elections. It'll be harder for politicians to rig if such a law is passed.

alj harem: you people have started again, when have yorubas ever threaten any group apart from terrorist ? why the lie

here is what Ayo said

"You don’t speak ill of one of the greatest Yorubas of all time and not expect a backlash. Not even if you are a legendary world icon like Prof. Chinua Achebe." Backlash in the sense of intellectual discussion not by barbaric act of fighting and chest-beating.

Alj Harem take time o!

“Let our Igbo brothers be reminded that about three-quarters of their assets not in the eastern Region are in Lagos and we have been very liberal and accommodating. We have allowed them to live undisturbed.” Ayo Opadokun

http://www.osundefender.org/?p=39637

No apologies please. The man wrote his story and that's that. If the yoruba critics attacked his position or what he said directly and its without reasonable doubt proven to be lies then we can talk about apologies but so far all they have done is croak about nobel prize and other motor park details.

When will village champions like ayo opadokun apologise for hinting at threatening igbos over achebe's book. When modupe adelaja sad igbos should stick to their trading and forget about public office no igbo leader threatened war and I don't remember any yoruba person apologising on her behalf

Divisive to you of course. The man called Achebe is a literary legend with his work translated into 40 languages. What are YOU known for?

Eko Ile: I wasn't expecting much from your type, you are a sad by product of the same divisive achebe.

Moderators do your job regarding this and posters like these -

whitecat007: Death to ibos!!!

whitecat007: you and the rest of your people are sub-human who should have been wiped out and still need to be removed from this earth for the world to know peace. You ibos do not deserve to live among human, and may evil that is bigger than that of biafra befall you ibos over and over again till not one single ibo is walking on this earth.

Politicians are just wonderful characters. This democracy eh?

Gowon, the head of state that prosecuted the war, is telling people to go and ask the historians. Smh

Igbo haters don't need to hyperventilate. Just fast for 3 days that your prayers be answered and we can leave in peace.

You are a very funny character. Instead of answering my question you are hiding behind a propaganda piece from Egbe omo oduduwa. I will be back to highlight the st.upidity of this trash write-up but the onus s on you to prove your allegation that igbos are CURRENTLY provoking ther hosts. Answer me pls and don't go scouring the globe looking for hack articles to hide behind

amor4ce: joeyfire's request for instances of Igbo provocative acts is very silly. Anyway...

[size=18pt]There Was Never A Country- What Do They Really Want From Us? By Ayo Turton Esq.[/size]
Posted: October 11, 2012 - 18:27
By Ayo Turton Esq.

Prof. Chinua Achebe got it all wrong from the title of his latest infamous book “There Was A Country”, right down to the contents. This has expectedly generated a lot of controversies capable of dividing us more than it will unite us. If the foundation is crooked, what should we expect of the structure put atop it? Papa Achebe apparently is still getting carried away by his dream of Biafra so much that he forgot that Biafra is a country that never was.

There was an attempt by the Eastern Region of Nigeria to secede, that attempt did not materialize, the leaders of the rebellious region surrendered, so there was never a country. If a celebrated scholar like Prof. Chinua Achebe believes in his heart that Biafra ever was, then it is easy for us to deduce the quality of the remaining content of the book. It is apparent that it is going to be nothing but Biafra-centric. Like many other writers that have weighed in on the Nigerian Civil War, we know that people will write from their own perspective and their opinion would be colored in most cases by wherever their hearts lie.

Let us examine certain areas from the book that have generated much furor in the polity.

When it comes to how Ojukwu starved his own people to death, by admission of Achebe himself, this is how Rudolf Okonkwo one of the reviewers of the book puts it “Achebe argues that some questions will be debated for generations. One of such questions has to do with the security reasons behind Ojukwu’s rejection of Nigeria’s federal government’s proposal for a road corridor for food and the federal government’s rejection of Ojukwu’s alternative”

When it comes to rejection of Ojukwu’s alternative by the Federal Government of Nigeria, Prof. Achebe was quoted as follows:

”It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations.

“However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbos at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose–the Nigeria-Biafra war–his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafran case it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation — eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations.”

This is a wonderful peek into the Biafra centric frame of mind of a man that wrote that attack. So the federal government of Nigeria actually made a proposal for a road corridor for food to the starving women and children of Biafra and Ojukwu rejected it for “security reasons”? That does not really sound like a people with genocidal intentions to me, ask Rwandans if you care to know more on genocidal intentions. Was the Nigerian government not entitled to its own security by making sure that arms were not imported as food supplies? When it comes to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and General Gowon and their security reasons, Achebe quickly concluded that it was “genocidal” and when it comes to Ojukwu, it will only “be debated for generations.” By the way, do beggars really have a choice? You started a war and you are dictating to your opponent on how he can supply you food to sustain the war against him? Did Prof. Achebe know that economic blockade is actually a legitimate weapon of war? It is even used in peace time.

Note that this came from Achebe himself in the same book that he has accused Chief Awolowo of genocide, how more ridiculous could the accusation get? I have deliberately decided not to even look outside of the book to shoot down the deliberate and wicked lies of Prof. Achebe. Of course, there is a ton of information out there to make a lie from this assertion. The two sides according to him disagreed on how food should be supplied to the hungry children of war, but Awolowo ‘a bloody civilian’ in the midst of the Army Generals is the Grinch that stole Christmas, he must be blamed for genocide. Good try Professor, but teacher don’t teach me nonsense!

I am seriously not bothered by the latest outburst of Prof. Achebe against Chief Awolowo. Antagonizing the Yoruba and anything not Igbo has been his past time. He is one of the same persons that lent their false intellectual support to the phantom carpet crossing in the old Western Region house. He expressed dissatisfaction with Wole Soyinka’s winning the Nobel Prize and has always had contempt for anything not originating from the east side of the Niger river. I know that for a man who has been writing fiction books for over 50 years of his life, and has milked one fiction book for the better part of his life, it may have become difficult for him to differentiate between fact and fiction. But I am concerned with how his latest work would affect the already very fragile nation both in content and timing. One would have thought that a man of 81 would have grown beyond the prejudices he has carried in his heart for over 40 years.

One would have thought that such a man would also work to foster unity, bridge the gap, use the opportunity presented by writing his war memoirs more to heal the wounds, preach forgiveness and brotherhood rather than making a futile attempt at re-establishing the phantom Igbo dominance and superiority over others and further driving a wedge between Igbo people and other Nigerians. Prof. Achebe according to the review by Rudolf squarely blamed all the problems of Nigeria at the doorsteps of fear of “Igbo domination.” Rudolf may have used the words “domination” and “dominance” more than ten times in the short piece, I say really?

I am one of the people that believe that we have not told the story of the Nigerian Civil War enough, I believe there are many questions that are still left unanswered, this is why it pained me that Chief Dim Ojukwu, the number one hero of that war, failed to write his memoir, but then again, people will be more interested in a dispassionate analysis of the war, the one that told the story robustly as it was, rendering negative opinion where necessary and give positive review to the deserving. I really do not have to wait for the book to have a fair understanding of the content as is being advocated by some sympathizers of Prof. Achebe. I have read a few reviews of the book with some disturbing quotes and jejune conclusion from the Professor, especially the review done by my friend Rudolf Okonkwo, a man whose writing I follow religiously and it is always a delight to read.

I am more concerned with what Prof. Achebe did not write, or maybe it was the reviewers of the book that failed him by not doing proper justice to the content, but I doubt it as Prof. Achebe has a pattern. The wicked lies that have been told against the Yoruba people under the mango trees of the East have persisted for ages, even when many Igbo have come and seen how they have thrived unmolested everywhere in Yoruba land. The lies persist because people like Achebe, an icon of Igbo people, are always there to lend their intellectual falsehood to the tales by the moonlight. I think it is about time to fight back and set the records straight.

[b]The name Awolowo represents one of the brightest spots in the history of theYoruba people. This latest attack on him is an attack on Yoruba history and its people and it has raised this pertinent question for Yoruba people, ‘What do they really want from us?’

It is on record that a party, later known as Zik’s party, the NCNC, was actually led at inception by a Yoruba man Sir Herbert Macaulay and Dr. Azikiwe served as his secretary. It is on record that many Yoruba people were members and moved out en masse when Zik made an infamous statement to his fellow Ibo Union that God has sent Igbo race to liberate Nigeria and he started using his West African Pilot newspaper to drive the Igbo agenda. It was Zik that turned NCNC from national party to Igbo party. That despite the insultive utterances, the party was still popular in the West until Zik insisted on ruling the Western Region against common sense and Ibadan People’s Party gave their votes to Action Group to form the government. People like Achebe came up with the tribalism theory against Awolowo, and in their selective ignorance, they forgot that Azikiwe went back to the East to drive away Eyo Ita who was the Prime Minister because he was from the minority tribe. But nobody talks about that, so what do they really want from us?

It is on record that Chief Awolowo approached Dr. Azikiwe during the 1959 elections when no clear leader emerged to give Action Group votes to him so that Azikiwe can become the Prime Minister and he, Awolowo, the Finance Minister, but Zik turned him down and traded the Prime Ministership for a ceremonial presidency with Tafawa Balewa. Thereby relegated himself to commissioning federal toilets and primary schools.

It is on record that NPC/NCNC alliance was used for maximum effect to oppress the Yoruba and other minorities of the South with Igbo people taking about 97% of whatever is due to the South in a country that understood only North/South dichotomy. The so called Igbo dominance (at the federal level) is traceable to this evil and oppressive alliance, which with federal might, they installed Igbo Vice-Chancellors in Universities in Yorubaland, which was and is still not practicable in their own clime. We did not bulge neither did the Yoruba people complain, so what do they really want from us?

It is on record that Dr. Azikiwe’s alliance with Northern People Congress railroaded Chief Awolowo to prison and he never lifted a finger to support him. Also, Tafawa Balewa offered Chief Obafemi Awolowo Deputy Prime Ministership, while he was in prison, if he would support him but great Awo turned it down. When Aguiyi-Ironsi seized power, he freed all political prisoners and that despite Chief Awolowo passionate plea for his case to be considered, Aguiyi-Ironsi ignored him.

The coup carried out by mostly Igbo soldiers in 1966 killed most of the leadership of the North and West, we do not know if Awolowo would have survived if he was not in prison, no matter what some revisionists are writing about wanting to hand over to Awolowo, they killed almost all the most senior Yoruba military officers and even callously murdered Brigadier Ademulegun and his pregnant wife, and Col Ralph Shodeinde for no apparent reason in a coup supposedly directed at corrupt civilians. The only high ranking member of NCNC that was killed, Chief Okotie-Eboh was not Igbo and had problem with Mbadiwe on the finance portfolio that he held. The latter wanted the ‘juicy’ portfolio but Tafa Balewa rebuffed him, yet we did not start pogrom against Igbo residing in the West.

It is on record that Adekunle Fajuyi a Yorubaman chose to die with Aguiyi-Ironsi; it is on record that Prof. Wole Soyinka and Dr. Tai Solarin went to jail for the Biafran cause, so what do they really want from us?

It is on record that, in despite of everything, Chief Obafemi Awolowo went to Enugu in company of Prof. Sam Aluko and Mariere to persuade Ojukwu not to start the war yet, that he should give him the opportunity to mediate. Ojukwu gave him his words to tarry, but declared a war immediately Awo stepped out of Enugu.

It is on record that many of Awolowo’s Yoruba community shielded their Igbo guests during the war, that there was not a single incident of abandoned property, rather instead the ever accommodating and generous Yoruba people collected and saved rents for Igbo landlords and the money was handed over to them after the war, yet they keep blaming Yoruba people as traitors, so what do they really want from us?[/b]

I am not surprised, Prof. Achebe did not disappoint in his latest work, I believe therefore that Prof. Achebe is entitled to his selective senility and convenient amnesia. It is only left for us people of good will to put the record straight for posterity’s sake. Igbo intellectuals of good conscience should help to re-orientate their youths that have been grossly educated, mislead and misinformed by people like Achebe, it is in their interest to do so.

Ayo Turton Esq. is the National Legal Counsel to Egbe Omo Yoruba USA & Canada.
http://saharareporters.com/article/there-was-never-country-what-do-they-really-want-us-ayo-turton-esq

@ TOMAKINT - I've been reading through your posts for days now and just saw that you are a yoruba man. Its commendable that you're trying to educate people but bear it in mind that bigotry is a condition of mind and spirit and not a point of view. Its going to be impossible for logic to prevail in such a scenario.

I thank God for you because its very easy to follow the bandwagon along the wide popular paths of life that always lead to hell. God bless you for embracing the truth because we will all face God alone. Luke 13:24

tomakint: @ Dayokanu, I am sure you know the meaning of nemesis, my Bible calls it the ‘Law of Retribution’ the Buddhist call it ‘Law of Karma’, if you look at your Nigeria of today you will see the Igbos have been vindicated and from all indications of what is happening in Nigeria of today, “It is clearly written in the sky now that Ojukwu is the clear HERO while Gowon (Mr Go On With One Nigeria) and his ‘gangs are the clear VILLAINS in the Nigerian Civil War”! I have read many books and articles on the war and I have come to realise that there are many hearsays yet to be documented on the war that I have heard from many people who actually took part in the war that makes my heart melt. I have heard from some unscrupulous elements on this forum that no Igbo were killed in Yorubaland which are all lies, the truth is, many Igbos who were trapped in many Yoruba land shortly after the war started were massively killed or betrayed into the hands of Nigerian troops, it was that diabolical. I doubt if you have ‘human blood’ flowing in your veins when you pick up any book on the war and see the gory details of the war towards innocent lives. I can see you grinning cheek to cheek as your trigger-happy Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle (a man you so much love to be like) with his AK-47 spraying anything called ‘Biafrans’ (be they toddlers, pregnant and nursing women, babies, helpless youths) with his bullets. My question to you is; “Where are your ‘warriors’ today and look at the same breed (The Igbos) you love to hate today?

My guy stay focused on the issues at hand. All u have done is post links to blogs of atrocities that no other medium on earth carried. Even if u are a tribalist at least u should have a sane moment or two. Abeg answer the posers. Do you or do you not know that there was a midwest rebel atrocities commission set up by gowon that after ages of tryng, could NOT find ANY evidence. If there had been any shred of evidence I know one of you would have put it up here since.

Its not about screaming Igbo Igbo Igbo so bigots can clap for you show me some facts. I remember how one comedian on nairaland put a blog up sayng that igbos are from syria, pls get a source that is a little serious

dayokanu: We know typical Igbo everyone else lied you are the ones who tell the truth Just like Okpara, Azikwe, Osadebey were very upright and angelic men while Bello, Balewa, AKintola, Maimalari were the devil and the corrupt ones.

Or Maybe you care to tell us about what happened why other leaders were killed and yours was spared? or what happened in the Invasion of the Midwest. The Biafran soldiers were probably walking in a straight line and spraying roses and coffetti on the Midwesterners



http://edoworld.net/invasion_of_the_midwest.html

Like I said the problem with you Igbos is that you think you are smart and everyone else is foolish. I hope you have learnt from the Biafra misadventure, If not the lesson can be re-taught till you get the message

Nowa omogui's article is 30 percent truth and 70 percent lies. He is the only source on earth of information on so called biafran atrocities. His articles will be gobbled up by lazy bigots but people who really want the truth will look deeper. There's no honour in lying against your "enemy"

dayokanu: I am sure every Igbo after 1970 knows what the Law of Karma is and you are simply preaching to the choir here.

Law of Karma is when you kill other peoples leaders and they come back and wipe out your whole generation.

I also didnt know "innocent lives" is a phrase reserved for Igbos alone, I didnt know that Balewa, Okotie-Eboh, Akintola, Maimalari and Bello were "guilty lives" that deserve to be wasted. Well we got the memo on January 15 1966 and responded appropriately.

And the message is clear now, Kill our people and we would wipe out your whole city. We dont joke around. Especially when all your leaders were "lucky" to escape and ours didnt escape

Whatever you said was done to Igbos in the SouthWest. was first done to others by Igbos in the Midwest read Nowa Omoguis account "Outright molestation, harassment and killing of non-Ibo civilians occurred on a daily basis. At night "suspected saboteurs" were fished out of their homes and arrested.". That was where Karma came into it and gave Adekunle the rifle and the knowledge to perform the collateral damage.

Where are the Igbos today? Well they are still scattered all over the country when their own caves have been inhabitable with as high as 73% poverty in places like Ebonyi

Like Yorubas say. Eni ti o ba gbin ebu ika, Omo omo re a ja nibe. Whoever sows the seed of wickedness(killing other peoples leaders) his great grand children would eat thereof

Honestly I can't say for sure. I know for a certainty that biafran troops swept into the midwest and through to ore unchallenged, so there wouldn't have been any real engagement per say on their way to ore. I know that the group that forced them back from ore was led by Joe Garba

ayobase: I need to know pls. Were they engaged by Nigerian Soldiers of Yoruba Ethnicity?

At times I doubt if blogs are a good thing. its very funny how all the information on alleged igbo atrocities are has only come from one blog. No report by any foreign neutral media, no clear cut documentation by nigerian media. Its startling how far gone most ppl are into lies and revisionism. Do you know that there was a panel of enquiry into alleged rebel atrocities put together by the FG after the biafran army retreated from the midwest? Now u guys have expo, go and research and let me see the results. Till then mere quotes from a blog doesn't cut it

Didn't the midwest have newspapers to carry the news? Didn't any foreign print media which would have surely reported it, have the power to publish such news? I respect wrters who have the guts to put their writeups together into a book that can be critiqued for generations to come. I am not going to swallow a featherweight article because it lends more bullets to my ammo or grease to my engine against a particular people.

I challenge you to go and look for a book called "let truth be told" by d.w.muffett. The writer was with british intelligence and was very pro- sardauna. He painted facts n wild colours but even he didn't lie blatantly about igbos massacre of midwesterners

dayokanu: How did the Biafra troops conduct themselves in the Midwest when they invaded? Lets hear from a son of the Midwest Nowa Omoiguis account



http://www.dawodu.net/midwest.htm

By all means we must always look at the lessons learned in 1966 but the onus is on that guy to prove that igbos are "provoking" their hosts to warrant genocide or large scale violence today. Abeg allow the guy to answer.

As for katsina's comment about bookish people joining the army, we know the attitude of the northern elite to educationand we have seen the results today in the north. I have my personal opinion of why katsina and his ogas (gowon excluded) wanted everyone around the illiterate and easy to dceive but that's for another time

ayobase: Joey, scapping 1966 events, means scrapping the war.
.
War doesn't just break out without a cause, no matter infinitesimal or trivial is it.
.
''I asked for Soldiers, but Im seeing Civilians in uniforms'' our dual-raced Aguiyi-Ironsi blurted out.
.
The problem started when politics started infilterating the Military.
.
The Late Governor, Hassan Katsina declared ''.....on the presence of 'bookish people' who had joined the army for rather different reasons from the normal military crowd''.
.
And the 'bookish people' are six in number (2 Lt. Col. And 4 Majors) 2 Igbos and 4 Yorubas. No Hausa.
.
We all know where the problem started from!

Shuo! Benedictus o who told u that northern soldiers had been moved back to the north. I hope you are aware that Joe Garba who led the force that pushed the biafrans back from ore was a northerner

Ubenedictus: oh! By the time ojukwu started d war the northerners had already been ordered back to the north. Wu was ojukwu going to fight, besides for a waring army to pass thru and nothing bad happened is like say the Dog helped you in safe keeping d meat u droped on its plate. It is imposible.

Bros, some of the people of ore may have fled but at least we know that the traditional leadership received Banjo and there were (as far as I know) NO killings or atrocities of any kind. If biafra intended to occupy they would have committed evil while they were on ground.

As for biafran troops probably having to kill yoruba soldiers en route to lagos my answer is they would have had to kill NIGERIAN soldiers of yoruba ethnicity. No shaking for that one. The bone of contention for me is that biafran troops indeed entered NIGERIAN soil en route to the seat of power and conducted themselves in a manner that showed they were not after yoruba lives. The army of bigots on NL know its true. I challenge anyone to prove this

Madawaki01: so why did they remove d governor of d region and put an ibo man there,from what u said,one cud hav seen dat u didn't tink b4 u typed....so they wil march to dodan barracks without killing civilians,or yoruba soldiers or u don't know dat if they take dodan barracks they wil appoint anoda governor 4 d region....why not conquer d whole north first b4 marching to lagos,when biafran forces entered ore,the pple residing there ran away,why?they know looting,killing of civilians and destruction of their properties wil follow,there is no way an armed forces of anoda tribe wil enta anoda tribe and won't cause harm to d pple....u make me laugh joey

Fixed

dayokanu: No be today. E don tay wey Yoruba be hausa slaves

From Akintola to Sardauna

Afonja to Alimi

Idiagbon to Buhari

Diya to Abacha

Sunday Awoniyi to Any Northerner in Power

the slaves have merely reunited with their masters

Chinua Achebe: The lynch mob comes Out

On October 14, 2012 · In The Orbit

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By Obi Nwakanma

Publication, this past week, of Chinua Achebe’s memoir of Biafra, There Was A Country, had the Awoist camp up in arms. The Awoists – followers and defenders of the legacy of Chief Awolowo- have expended a lot of verbal grapes on the person of Chinua Achebe. It felt like a dangerous mob unleashed on one of the world’s most important cultural icons. All Achebe did was tell the truth about Awo.

In his new book, Achebe writes about many things. His memoir is a deeply reflective tour de force into the events that shaped the Achebean era – an era of great promise that slipped into great infamy. Chinua Achebe has given shape and form to the truths of this era.

But truth, particularly if it is uncomfortable and disconcerting is also dangerous. It unsettles too many comfortable myths.Awo is a great industry for mythmakers. Among the provocative truths that Achebe tells in his book is Obafemi Awolowo’s war crime of genocide by the “diabolical policy” of starvation against Biafrans.

I should say here, that it is a bit sad that out of the very many important issues that Achebe raises and explores in his new book, the one that has gained so much attention is his comment on Awolowo because Awoists do not want such dirty linens aired. It makes them nervous and uncomfortable. It drives them to tears and to rage.

Achebe calls out other important members of the Gowon administration like Anthony Enahoro and Allison Ayida, including Gowon himself, on the same issue of genocide against Biafrans. The clear evidence of Achebe’s allegation is based on Awo’s own statement: “All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war…” But we do know that all is not fair in war.

There is something called the “Geneva Convention” and Awo’s war policy violated it. You do not starve civilian populations in war. It is called a war crime. Awo’s storm troopers and Brownshirts have nonetheless trooped out in great strength and have come only short of calling for Chinua Achebe’s head for his exposure of Awolowo. Calls ranging from a ban of all his books to a “Nuremberg trial” of him and all the Biafrans have been made in response.

An obscure two-penny actor, who also claims to write books by the name Femi Robinson says Achebe’s books, from Things Fall Apart, should be banned. Ayo Opadokun has made innuendos of ethnic cleansing by reminding the Igbo that much of their property is in Lagos, and presumably the Igbo, like Achebe, should be circumspect about the war.



Chinua Achebe

It is a great wonder what Igbo property in Lagos and Yoruba magnanimity“permitting” the Igbo to reside and thrive in Lagos has to do with Achebe’s book, except to draw, as did many of such fierce and ignorant diatribes, Achebe as somehow voicing an “Igbo agenda.” I think Ayo Opadokun exhibits not only pitiable small-mindedness but ought to be censored and warned.

Meanwhile, the Igbo do not seek his permission or anybody’s permission for that matter to live and thrive in Lagos. Igbo who came to Lagos, and who reside everywhere in Nigeria do so because they can. They are Nigerians and have a right to live and prosper anywhere in Nigeria and be protected under the laws of Nigeria.

They do not need the magnanimity or permission of Ayo Opadokun who himself is a settler in Lagos much like the Igbo residents. Ayo Adebanjo, Femi Fani-Kayode, Biyi Durojaiye, and Ebenezer Babatope all threw their hats in the ring in challenge of Chinua Achebe’s view of their idol.

But it seems as though against Achebe’s articulate and textured views, these are Calibans learning their first curse-words against their master! They “cuss out” the writer, Achebe, but they are yet to contradict him. It is not just enough to defend Awolowo. It is important to defend him with facts; to show that Achebe has lied against him. But the evidence is too compelling. Achebe has not lied against Awo.

Even in his 1983 interview re-published to prove and indemnify his innocence, Awolowo does not deny his policy of starvation. He accounts for how he visited the East in the heat of the conflict, in his official capacity; saw “Kwashiokor children” and found out that the food allegedly sent by the Red Cross and Caritas was being hijacked by soldiers: “So I decided to stop sending the food there.

In the process the civilians will suffer. But the soldiers will suffer most.” This is illogical and counterintuitive,and it is a compelling evidence of Awolowo’s deliberate policy of starvation. It is enough to bring him before the International Criminals Court to face the kind of Justice meted out to Milosevic and Charles Taylor in whose company he belongs.

But, no! his followers say. Awo was right in using the strategy of mass starvation to end the war. These guys do not belong to a civilized century and have learnt nothing from war!The poet Odia Ofeimun for instance has spent an entire career on Awo, laboring to turn him into the first modern political saint in all of Africa. Odia’s project of apotheosis makes him mouth, in reaction to Achebe’s work, what I can only describe as blasphemy. He wants Achebe and those in Biafra who defended themselves against the Nigerian onslaught to face a “Nuremberg-style trial.”

In Mr. Ofeimun’s rather strange and, dare I say, warped logic, those Biafrans who knew about starving children without surrendering should be put to trial for genocide. But not Awo who ordered the starvation of children. He blames the victim. It is not just enough that Odia Ofeimun continues to defend atrocities meted against other humans, like all zealots, he is incapable it seems of honesty in this matter. He defends a legacy that includes genocide.

The Biafrans did not start the war and therefore did not prepare for a vicious war. They were pushed to war when the Federal Army began a two-pronged attack and they defended themselves.

The Biafrans made serious efforts before and during the war to avoid war and settle the Nigerian question amicably. At each point, they were subverted by the Federal government. People who come under siege defend themselves, Mr. Ofeimun; they do not surrender. The Biafrans did not hide the fact of massive starvation.

In fact they made it a central issue, and on each occasion when it came out, Enahoro and other Awoists in Gowon’s government denied it and put it down to “Biafran propaganda” until compelling evidence pushed them in the Niamey talks in 1968 to make starvation a “legitimate instrument of war.” Biafrans always pushed for settlement, but without precondition.

Awo wanted nothing less than to “crush” Biafra by any means as he declared during the Commonwealth Conference of Prime Ministers in London in 1969: “This war must be fought to the finish and the federal government is poised for the final push” Mr. Ofeimun may have forgotten; the honest accounts of that war are available, and among the great chroniclers of the event is a woman called Suzanne Cronje whose book published in 1972 indicts Awolowo and the Nigerian government. I recommend that Nigerians seeking honest intellection read this book side by side with Achebe’s and the truth will set us free from writers who wish that other writers be tried for telling the truth.

What? Igbos "collectiively" insulted yorubas. When was this bros

Degis: Isn't it obvious these Igbos need another round of bashing to recognize that they are Third Class citizens in this Country. After the failed misadventure of the Civil War, the same Yorubas these idiiiiotts collectively abused led their reintegration back into Nigeria.

The issue of biafran troops on western nigerian soil is a much debated issue. But let's look at the fact that yorubaland was not the target in a strict sense but dodan barracks was the aim of the mission. Dodan barracks that was in the grip of an essentially northern military leadership that was in Lagos! I believe we can draw answers for ourselves individually and draw conclusions aside from what we've been told all these years.

There are issues to observe when we analyse the intentions of others. Did biafran troops come to occupy yorubaland in the strict sense of the word? Were there any attempts to remove yoruba traditional leadership in ore or other places where they were on ground. Also I want to ask, where there any crimes or atrocties comitted against yorubas? The enemy took advantage and solidified its grip by twisting and exploiting te truth. What I find puzzlng is the wholehearted embrace of propganda and politics forty fve years later

Ubenedictus: an awolowo spoke and advocated a neutral west wen d war started, but how did ojukwu pay back? He brought his army to yoruba land, that was the turning point, if ojukwu had took his army directly to d north and left d yoruba wu said they were neutral alone he would have had a leg to stand on. Ojukwu blew it, he removed d mat from under his own legs and had to bear d consequences.

Quit puzzyfooting around and answer my question jack. I ask how igbos provoke their hosts and you are reciting the sae 1966 story. How are igbos provoking your people. U haven't been able to outline the much touted provocation that is deserving of conflict. I believe that it boils down to xenophobia and orientation and nothing else. Like I said if you are bigot be proud of what you are. There are lots of bigots in the world so u should feel comfortable in your skin

amor4ce: He quoted my comment in which I mentioned one particular act of provocation, but he responded like he didn't see it. Is it that these people are so blinded by greed that they interpret any act of provocation on their part as normal, but when those they provoke react they cry marginalization? They cry for Biafra now whereas they benefit from Nigeria since they sell rice, beans, garri, panadol in various cities across the country. With Biafra and the their history of annoying other Nigerian ethnic nationalities, who would want to have anything to do with them?

At least somebody is trying to say something now. Amor4ce is hiding behind you but no wahala.

Abeg when did igbos declare your place a "no mans land" I would like to know the people and the time. As for what happened in 1966, is anybody still killing your leaders?

I've heard a lot about "provoking your hosts" and all that and I want to understand where you guys are coming from, when did igbos come together and announce that your land is no mans land? Also list the provocations abeg thanks

dayokanu: For one How do you go to someone elses place and declare the place a no mans land?

The same reason they gave for killing other leaders and sparing theirs. While at the same time releasing song and calendars extolling the coupist and showing the Sardauna under the foot of Nzeogwu and ironsi

And they got what they deserved both from the Hausas and from a fellow Ogbomosho man, Benjamin Babamaja Adekunle during the Biafra war

Funny how you lot sing about igbos "not respecting their hosts" and how they "provoke" their hosts and so on bla bla bla. But you never identify any particular way you are supposedly being provoked. If you are natural bigot you should accept it and stop clutching at straws

amor4ce: Prior to the January 1966 coup the Igbo people had been provoking the Hausa-Fulani who in turn dealt severely with them. Yet, the Igbo went ahead with their very biased coup d'etat. On May 29 1966 these northerners had a bloody revenge and the Igbo declared a secession. Many northerners would still have harboured grievance against the Igbo for killing their revered leaders, and these northerners would have seen the declaration of war as an opportunity to really get their revenge with the probability that a sizable number joined the military for this purpose. Thus, many of the alleged 2-3 million Igbo victims of the civil war may have been fallen at the hands of Hausa-Fulani soldiers. The Igbo boast exceedingly and do not learn. They provoke others who react. What would this country have been like if the Igbo did not foolishly and continuously seek to dominate others instead of seeing them as equals? What would this country have been like if the Igbo never staged the January 1966 coup?

Judge Laski posed some serious questions but the Igbo as usual would ignore and/or try to deflect, not taking responsibility for their actions.