₦airaland Forum

Where is Ijoko??

No picture?/

No picture??

Duru1:
There is no doubt you have issues with comprehension. Even when given the whole year to redeem a little credebility, you could not fathom out that Ralp Uwechue was ambassador of Biafra to France. Where you got the bolded in the above post that Ralp Uwechue was secretary in the Biafran cabinet beats my wild imagination. In fact, I am not surprised at the craps coming from you on this discuss.

Don't be surprised, because none of it is crap. But then I can't blame you ...you must have been so used to 'crap', that you cannot tell the difference when the truth hits you.

Anyone with a modicum of civility would simply have said: "Uwechue was actually the Biafran diplomatic representative to France, and not Secretary in the Biafran cabinet?" But no, you had to insert invectives and insults because that is the way you have been taught. No problem.

Here, read this link: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/SMR.htm

It was actually an American military officer, Michael R. Stafford, a Major in the United States Army who called Uwechue a secretary in the cabinet. Here are his words:

"..In this position, Ojukwu emerged as the leader of the Ibo. Said a former Secretary in the Biafra Govenment, Raph Uwechue, "It is sad but instructive irony that Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwa, one of Africa's one-time most brilliant political promises, was the man that led his own people with such a lack of ingenuity into what was clearly a foreseeable disaster."(1) http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/SMR.htm

Go and take it up with him, if you like.

pazienza:
Like I said before, I respect Uwaechue, but he is entitled to his own opinions, and not his own facts. Facts are sacrosanct, they don't bend, even for Uwaechue.

Ojukwu was a rallying point for the East, as trailers and trailers of Eastern corpses killed by the almajiris with the tacit support of Northern military kept arriving the East, anger, anguish and a sense of revenge descended on the East, Ojukwu had mis calculated, sending us back to the North only for Easterners to be brought back as corpses.

Eastern youths of UNN were demanding that Ojukwu should do something, Angry youths and bereaved parents were demanding the same. Eastern secession was the people's choice, not Ojukwu's, nobody lords it over East, you only carry out our demands or get booted out! What's the point of co existing in the same country with people that want to exterminate you, that was the sentiment in the East then,angry Youths willingly enrolled into the Biafran Army.

Yorubas and their Arewa partners cannot re write Biafra history for Biafrans.

Guy, you are the revisionist now. Nobody is re-writing any history for Biafra.

You are the one that has refused to accept that there are many sides to a war, and as such there are different perspectives about such a war! The dramatis personae always vary depending on the event, and they all have different stories to tell. That was why in one of my earlier posts, I recommended that you should read different books on Biafra, especially those written by other authors, when you were stubbornly citing Diamond's views as if it was your Bible on the civil war.

Uwechue's report about the war, is just as valid as Ojukwu's side of the war. And Uwechue's opinions are supported with hard core facts ranging from diplomatic dispatches from various embassies, actual meetings with heads of states, eye witness accounts of things that transpired etc.

So why would you discountenance Uwechue's account, especially when you have NOT read his book? Na wah oh! His book was published in 2004. Ojukwu died in 2011. Did Ojukwu contradict him or denounce what Uwechue had written, when he was still alive??

pazienza:
Iran negotiations with the West always failed,which was the exact reason Iran was sanctioned. And the sanctions lifted recently when an agreement was reached with Iran. Agreements are only binding when you don't seek to emasculate your opponent in order to get upper hand.

You don't change agreements, you change negotiations.
By seeking to use divide and rule, Gowon sought to scuttle all agreements reached at Aburi. For without decentralization of FG powers, Gowon can decide to remove Ojukwu the next day and replace him with a stooge.
All the agreements reached at Aburi were all anchorred on decentralization of FG powers, without which nothing could be achieved.

Gowon simply doesn't understand what agreement meant.

Guy, you just failed elementary negotiations 101!

Please take it from those who know.... agreements can be (and often are) re-negotiated, and they are often re-negotiated (e.g. when the status quo changes, circumstances change or when one or both parties request the need to do so, in the light of new facts that have arisen etc).

So, I beg you ...don't allow people to laugh at you when you say agreements cannot be re-negotiated. Chai!

Was Decree 8 not anchored on decentralisation of powers??! It proposed a confederacy with a very weak centre, oh!

carnegiefan:
Yes, Biafra did not really surrender. If she did, nobody would be talking about it today.
The fact remains that Biafra was defeated militarily, and the ONLY reason for that loss is LACK OF HEAVY MILITARY ASSETS.
Biafra was fighting with light arms: mortars, rifles (most of which were non-automatic), locally made Ogbunigwe (IEDs really), and bare hands.
The only Biafran made weapon that really tickled my fancy was the "Flying Ogbunigwe" -the guided anti-ship missile which had so much potential but lack of resources limited its production and use. And by the time it was available, the war was almost lost.
The Owerri incident whereby an entire Nigerian battalion was totally surrounded and cut off, but could not be finished off due to lack of heavy artillery and anti-tank weapons by Biafrans, summarizes the war for me.

Biafra did not surrender??!

Did you read Gen. Effiong's speech?

pazienza:
[b] Since Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu died, there has been no clear leadership or unity of the Igbo. Why is it so? Even the late Dim, never considered himself as an Igbo leader; if you called him an Igbo leader, he would just chuckle. Don’t get me wrong, he enjoyed the respect and adulation he got from his people. If you saw the way he lived his life among Ndi’igbo, everybody is trying to recreate those attributes that made him so loved by his people. Leaders emerge; leaders are not crowned in Igbo land. By their fruits you shall known them. The greatest unity the Ndi’igbo had was from 1966 to 1970.

Can you tell us your civil war experience.
Did Ojukwu conscript you to fight during the war? No person of my age was conscripted. We desired to join the Biafran Army, we did not fear the military front, we did not fear to die and that was what made the war last as long as it did. If Ojukwu didn’t declare that war at the time he did, we would have killed him. In my set in the Biafran School of Infantry, I was commissioned the same day with Ojo Maduekwe, he wasn’t conscripted. I was commissioned the same day with Joseph Okonkwo, the first Peoples Democratic Party Chairman in Anambra State, he wasn’t conscripted and so many. In fact, if you were turned down, you agonised you didn’t take part. We didn’t regret dying, that was a war we didn’t regret any wound we got. And I had serious wounds in 1968, which I’ve carried till today.

Looking back now, would you say that as a nation we have learnt lessons from that sad episode?
Definitely, we have learnt lessons. To us, the issue was not a matter of Biafra; it was a matter of security of lives and property. It was also a traumatic psychological experience for us to feel unwanted by brethren and by societies where we wanted to belong. In typical Igbo fashion, we said to ourselves that if people rejected us, we should not reject ourselves. I think we’ve learnt that lesson now and we are all over Nigeria and even the killings that happen now, only a few are targeted at us. Many are collateral damage. In 1966, it was definite pogrom. We’ve learnt the lesson that you can’t have pogrom and expect to be one country, if that is one lesson we have learnt, I think we have learnt something.

You were close to Ojukwu, tell us some things about him that many people do not know.
I thank God that I was privileged to have known him for as long as I knew him. I had admired him as a young man. Two things about Ojukwu that the world may not know: He was strong physically, he was strong emotionally. In the language of young people, he was the one person I wanted most to chill with. There are two things he told me: The decision to declare war was the most agonising time of his life, he spent time alone in his office clutching his rosary, this is not the attitude of somebody who wanted to be emperor from the word go. The second thing that he told me was that he could never get out of his system the picture of those people who were killed after he had asked everyone who fled the North, to go back. If those people, who had come to safety, went back and died in gruesome circumstances, he was always praying to God to forgive him. If you entered his study, you will see this picture of a huge Igbo man who was beheaded and his
body sent down to the East by train.

He had people like Uche Chukwumerije, the late Chuba Okadigbo, Ambassador George Obiozor and others around him. What came out was not Ojukwu’s view, what came out was superior argument but in this superior argument, you saw that Ojukwu was a man of great intellectual capacity. I can see why those who didn’t have that kind of intellect will feel threatened. One other thing during the war that people didn’t know was that Ojukwu always slept with his boots on; so, whenever there was crisis, Ojukwu needed just five minutes to move out and to get to the point of the crisis. He wasn’t afraid of a fight. Sometimes, we thought he had a death wish, he wasn’t afraid of bullets and mortars. [/b]

This was an interview granted by Prof. A.B.C Nwosu, who spoke on the Nigerian Civil War, the life of late Biafran warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, to the Punch Newspapers and it was published on Oct 13 2013. Always try to give credit where it is due. http://www.punchng.com/feature/interview/ndigbo-would-have-killed-ojukwu-if-he-had-not-declared-war-a-b-c-nwosu/

The fact that Prof Nwosu was not conscripted, does not mean others were not! Do your research! Philip Emeagwali was conscripted. In his own words, "In July 1969, I was conscripted into the Biafran army and sent to Oguta war front, without any military training or food. I later escaped to Ndoni and volunteered to serve as a cook in the Officer's Mess of the Biafran Army."
http://emeagwali.com/biafra/nigeria-biafra-civil-war-after-the-war-was-over.html

In fact, what Prof. Nwosu said was "nobody of his age was conscripted." Prof. Nwosu at the time of this report was at least 60 years old or more. However, he did not mention what age he was referring to, and he did not say younger men, were not conscripted.

pazienza:
Nothing like 90% application of an agreement. parties give and take during negotiations, that's when there is room of agreement and disagreements, once an agreement is reached, it's final.

The West just reached an agreement with Iran over their nuclear deal, be rest assured that agreements will be considered failure should Iran default.

And moreover, every agreement has a rate determining segement, and that rate determining segement for Aburi was autonomy of Each of the regions.

By rejecting that part of the agreement, Gowon simply made no room for future negotiations, as without autonomy of the East, he could always remove Ojukwu and replace him with a stooge that will allow Gowon to re negotiate conditions and get all he wanted. But with Eastern autonomy, Gowon knew he stood no chance.

The only people that faced Igbo citizens with horror were Northern military leaders who served as accomplices as their almajiris massacred Innocent Easterners in the North, not once, but twice, and even when we fled the North to the East, they still brought death to us in the East. Ojukwu was the man who stood between us and our killers, the Arewa-Odua, that's what history will remember him for.

Stop groping in the dark. Your knowledge of world affairs and what constitutes a negotiation is rudimentary.

You keep chanting "an agreement is an agreement," like a groundnut seller. Agreements are re-negotiated everyday, otherwise lawyers would not have any job to do. Likewise, diplomats. How long did it take for Israel and Palestine to sit at the same table to negotiate in the past 4 decades, with America as the intermediary? Till today, they are still fighting, but they are still negotiating.

You made reference to Iran. How many negotiations have been held with Iran in the past 10 years by America?

If there is an agreement, if one party breaches one or two points of such an agreement but still goes ahead to implement 70% to 80% of that agreement, then the remaining part that is yet to be implemented can be re-negotiated.

Have you ever heard of the term 'force majeure' to use an example. If it comes up at any time, then one or both parties to an agreement have the right to suspend the implementation of that agreement. Even though, 'force majeure' did not apply in this case.

Ojukwu's belligerence and refusal to respond to the federal government after Aburi to discuss issues further, showed extreme bad faith. Many people have said that his going to Aburi was just a cosmetic exercise and he had no intention of fulfilling the terms. It later proved to be true.

http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/87243/1/why-aburi-accord-failed-by-asiodu.html

WHY ABURI ACCORD FAILED, BY ASIODU

Chief Philip C. Asiodu, one of the central Super permanent secretaries of the era, and prime actor of the day, recounts the details, no holds-bared, revealing and insightful.

Ques: You spoke about the coup, Ojukwu and the famous Aburi accord which tried to address some of these problems. What in your opinion led to the collapse of the Aburi Accord.

Ans: You see unfortunately, the dramatist personae of the time, many of them have gone. Anything not founded on objectivity , transparency and truth cannot last. Somehow, Ojukwu persuaded Gowon that they were going to Aburi as gentlemen of the Nigerian Army to discuss certain things. Acknowledgement of what happened. Already, of course he knew that after the pogrom against Easterners, against Igbo in 1966, the Army, except in Lagos and the West had gone back to their places of origin. Now, no need bringing officials. So, guys we're going to talk as officers and gentlemen. Of course Gowon did not inform his secretary to government. He did not tell anybody, until the eve of the day he was going. So, if you were going to a conference, you will normally say what is the agenda. You will prepare, with the assistance of the agenda.

Think about them. Think about various scenarios, and go and discuss. That didn't happen. Lo and behold when they reached Aburi, there was Ojukwu with a battery of permanent secretaries and one of the most formidable intellect this country has ever produced, Dr Pius Okigbo. All in the delegation.

Who went with Gowon? Nobody. Not even secretary to the government. None of the so-called permanent secretaries. And they went there and talked and said they reached agreement. He stepped down as supreme military commander and they talked about the divisions in the Nigerian army and if Nigeria was attacked, then they will consult and decide whether they are going to fight.

In modern days it took like 24 hours to finish Poland. You will still be consulting. Anyway, be that as it may, nobody could make ambassador, nobody becomes a super scale officer, senior assistant secretary, group 7 except there was a unanimous agreement. And if you know history, there was once in history where a single member of the parliament can exercise veto. They did this and they came back. Just like they looked at the proposal after the second coup of July 66, some of the northern assistants in Nigeria, were saying we will blew up Carter bridge, brew up the second mainland bridge.

When they subjected this Aburi accord to simple analysis, it was simply saying Nigeria is no more practically. And as far as was concerned, the civil war or no civil war, then chaos would have started later.

All the same, we said look, … if we still want to be a country….authority which deals with customs, currency, federal trunk roads, foreign and external defences, that is more than enough for a government. But it must be able to act.

You can not say that in the Ministry of Defence, you can not promote somebody a Lt Col, except you have a unanimity. You cannot move one plane to another place except through unanimity. Even when you have those limited powers, they must be able to function. And you cannot function in the context of those things they said. And then what you have is four countries.

Ques: And the permanent secretaries vetoed it?

Ans:No .The permanent secretary made analysis and said look, "if you are really serious, if you say you are having Nigeria, you must have central function which must be fulfilled. There is no need saying this is central function and you cannot fulfill it." So, we analysed and said these were based on incorrect premises. People came with proper papers, well formulated.

The other side just went thinking they were going to do initial breaking of the ice. Therefore, please try to reconcile this to ensure that we still have a country. Gowon in fairness, vetoed that approach, and still proceeded to have decree number 8 of 1967. If you go and read that decree, and if the East had accepted that decree, there would have been no need for secession. Nigeria would have disintegrated within three months. And you can not move anybody without unanimity. You collect revenue, you cannot transfer it…

Ques: Decree 8 was an affirmation of Aburi accord?

Ans: It was an affirmation of the Aburi accord which gave the East under Ojukwu, more than 95 per cent of what Aburi meant. But because there were maybe one or two phrases which they didn't like, if they read that thing and it is still there, they have got what they wanted.

But it was such, that hostilities would have broken out among four independent countries. Not one on one.

Read here: http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/87243/1/why-aburi-accord-failed-by-asiodu.html

pazienza:
The source you provided for this is not saying same thing as this.

There is something funny about Nigerians fictitious Biafran atrocities against Eastern minorities.
They are sure Biafrans were killing minorities and that the minorities were been forced by Ojukwu to stay in Biafra, yet they were scared of a plebiscite in the Eastern minorities areas, knowing the outcome of such will be.

The quote was also made by a consulate General of the federal Republic of Nigeria, not by an independent and neutral and credible source. For all I cared, this was but a Nigerian war propaganda, nothing more, nothing less.

I have posted 2 different links for you to read. But you obviously chose to overlook them, claim that they are fictitious or claim the link is not saying the same thing.

I am re-posting it here again, for not just you but every one that seeks to read and understand the truth. The writer spoke about not just Igbo killing non-Igbo, but also non-Igbo that turned on Igbo and killed them under the federal soldiers watch.

So it is a very balanced study.

Please pay attention and read through.


(1). Read The Forgotten Victims: Ethnic Minorities in the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967-1970 by Arua Oko Omaka of McMaster University Canada, Journal of Retracing Africa: Vol. 1,Issue 1 (2014): 25-40. http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2 especially from page 32 - 35;

(2). Read the account of the expatriate manager that was submitted to the Deputy British High Commission in Benin by Van Der Laan, the expatriate manager of Rubber Estate south of Ogwashi-Uku on 18 April 1968, concerning Biafran hit squads infiltrated the area in civilian clothes. To the best of my knowledge the British Deputy High Commissioner at that time, never refuted these facts. Read: http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/02/26/post-midwest-liberation/

Open up each of the links this time and read it all through.

BIAFRA: THE UNTOLD STORY OF NIGERIA’S CIVIL WAR

Excerpts: Published on February 19, 2013 by . | Secret American diplomatic dispatches, spread over 21,000 pages, provide previously unknown information about the Nigerian Civil War

Unknown to the forward planners, according to the US documents, Ojukwu had been meticulously preparing for war as early as October 1966, after the second round of massacre in the North. He had stopped the Eastern share of revenues that were supposed to accrue to the Federation Account.

By 30 April 1967, he had recalled all Igbos serving in Nigeria embassies and foreign missions and those that heeded his call were placed on the payroll of the government of Eastern Region. The 77,000 square kilometres of the Republic of Biafra – a mere 8 per cent of the size of Nigeria – was already divided into 20 provinces, with leaders selected for each. They had their own judiciary, legislative councils, ministries and ambassadors. Alouette helicopters and a B26 bomber were procured from the French Air Force through a Luxemburg trading company.

Hank Warton, the German-American arms dealer, had been flying in Czech and Israeli arms via Spain and Portugal since October 1966. The military hardware, they could not get, they seized. A DC3 and a Fokker F27 were seized from the Nigerian Air Force in April. NNS Ibadan, a Nigerian Navy Seaward Defence Boat (SDB) that docked in Calabar Port, was quickly made Biafran.

Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, who was supposed to be in Enugu in prison for his role in 1966 coup, joined in training recruits in Abakaliki. Foreign mercenaries were training indoctrinated old people, young men and teenagers recruited as NCOs [Non-commissioned Officers] in jungle warfare, bomb making, mortar and other artillery firing. Ojukwu, through speeches, town hall meetings, market square performances and radio broadcasts, succeeded in convincing his people that their destiny was death or a separate state. All his performances in Ghana that culminated in the Aburi Accord of January 1967, or discussions with the Awolowo-led National Conciliation Committee five months later, turned out to be ruse.

The underground war preparations, the secret arms stockpiles openly manifested themselves as Ojukwu’s stubborn refusal to accept offers or concessions during these peace meetings.

But the Biafrans knew that their vulnerable line was along Ogoja, Ikom, Calabar, Port Harcourt, and Yenogoa. Support from the six million people making up the Eastern minorities was very much unsure. The minorities viewed their leaders in Biafra high command as traitors. And without the minorities, Biafra would be landlocked and most likely, unviable as a state. More so, their vast oil and gas resources were the reason they contemplated secession in the first place.

The Biafra high command believed that if there was going to be any troop incursion from there, they are going to be transported through ship. They already had a B26 bomber to deal fire to Nigeria’s only transport ship, NNS Lokoja, anytime it approached the Biafran coastline.

https://waidigbenro./tag/okoi-arikpo/

http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/how-ojukwu-rejected-offer-of-food-corridor/

Sorry, wrong post. Wrong thread...

pazienza:
How exactly did they get a better deal under Awo and Gowon?

They had no presence in Gowon's and Awo's FG, they had the number 2 spot in Biafra and many ministerial positions, under Gowon they had non.

The Ibibio-Annang wanted freedom not just from Ndiigbo, but from the next dominant group that was Efik. This was the basis of the struggle for the creation of Akwa Ibom state from the South Eastern state, years later.

Who told you, they had no presence in Gowon's cabinet? Brigadier General Jacob Udoaka Esuene, Military Governor of the South Eastern State and Brig Emmanuel Eyo Ekpo was Chief of Staff (Supreme Headquarters), Dr. Okoi Arikpo was initially appointed Federal Commissioner (Minister) for Trade in the Federal Executive Council constituted by General Gowon. Okoi Arikpo later became the longest serving Minister for Foreign Affairs (External Affairs) 1967 - 1975.

Now, in composition of the cabinet, we were 12 a member of the cabinet coming from each of the state, that’s when the four regions were abolished and we had the 12 state structure. Of course, during the war there was no representative from the east central state of Nigeria because it was at war at that time, so we were 11 and today, there is a world of difference because the constitution, although prescribes a member of the federal cabinet from each state of the Federation, because of the large number of the states http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/okunnu-alleged-genocide-during-civil-war-false-misplaced/144049

.

pazienza:
In Biafra they would control their resources, they headquarters of the oil firms will be in Eket and not in Lagos like Awo ensured, there wouldn't have been Obasanjo's lane use decree that dispossessed them of their lands, Bakasi wouldn't have been traded off to Cameroun and their people scattered all over Nigeria as fugitives.

Okpara had already set the tone of how things would have been in Biafra by facilitating the relocation of shell headquarters from Owerri to PH, in recognition of the enormous amount of crude oil from that part of the East, the exact opposite of what Gowon and Awo did, by taking everything to Lagos.

The Efik-Ibibio-COR Group would only have had control over their assets only if they had their own separate region, not as long as their region remained part of Biafra. Afterall, the first thing Ojukwu did was to try and seize oil installations in the East.

Ah, thanking you for admitting what a lot of people had already suspected for ages. The war was also actually about oil, and not only about protecting the Igbo. One man wanted to seize the oil assets of the South-South and South-East which at that time was grouped under the Eastern region headed by Ojukwu.

That was why Ojukwu's first act of governance after declaring secession was to ask Shell to start paying royalties directly to him in the East.

Gowon, then 31, had been running the affairs of 57 million Nigerians for 10 months. It had not been easy. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, his 58-year old trusted deputy and adviser, was with Okoi Arikpo and Philip Asiodu, permanent secretaries of the ministries of External Affairs and Trade and Industries respectively.They were preparing to put the noose on the neck of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell-BP, which had frozen royalty payments due to the Federation Account on 1 June 1967 and had offered to pay the Biafran government £250,000.

Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, Biafran leader, had ordered all oil companies to start paying all royalties to Enugu because they were operating in a new country or risk heavy penalties. Specifically, he demanded a minimum of £2million from Shell-BP. The Federal Government had imposed an economic blockade on Biafra. It entailed barring all merchant vessels and sea tankers from sailing to and from Koko, Warri, Sapele, Escravos, Bonny, Port Harcourt, Calabar ports, which Ojukwu had declared part and parcel of Biafra.

Biafra controlled the land on which the oil installations sat; the Nigerian government controlled the coastal entrance and exit to those lands.

https://waidigbenro./tag/okoi-arikpo/

The oil companies on their own decided where to site their operational offices, and where their administrative headquarters would be. It had little to do with Gowon. Gowon did not build an office for Shell, neither did he command them to stay put in Lagos.

Till today, oil companies all over the world have their head offices in a place that is different, from their operational sites or oil wells are located. Does Shell have its corporate headquarters in the North Sea, where it has drilled oil over the past decade?

pazienza:
How exactly did they get a better deal under Awo and Gowon?

They had no presence in Gowon's and Awo's FG, they had the number 2 spot in Biafra and many ministerial positions, under Gowon they had non.

The Ibibio-Annang wanted freedom not just from Ndiigbo, but from the next dominant group that was Efik. This was the basis of the struggle for the creation of Akwa Ibom state from the South Eastern state, years later.

In Biafra, the situation had already been handled following Willink report. The Efiks had Calabar province, the Ibibios had Uyo province, the Annang had Ikot Ekpene province, the Oron and Ibeno/ Eastern Obolo had Eket province . Ojukwu was a man of foresight.

In Biafra, their fate and future will be in their hands as they had just Ndiigbo to contend with. Under Nigeria, they had the Igbo, and Odua-Arewa to contend with.

In Biafra they would control their resources, they headquarters of the oil firms will be in Eket and not in Lagos like Awo ensured, there wouldn't have been Obasanjo's lane use decree that dispossessed them of their lands, Bakasi wouldn't have been traded off to Cameroun and their people scattered all over Nigeria as fugitives.

Okpara had already set the tone of how things would have been in Biafra by facilitating the relocation of shell headquarters from Owerri to PH, in recognition of the enormous amount of crude oil from that part of the East, the exact opposite of what Gowon and Awo did, by taking everything to Lagos.


In Biafra, they get to share a country with lesser people, which means more resources available for development, they get to share a nation with a people they share similar political ideologies, (Ibibios and Annangs were republicans like Igbos), traditions( Ekpe, Nsibidi, Ekpo, similar attire) unified religion( All Biafrans were Christians, no Jihadists like in Odua-Arewa), centuries of shared history of relative peace co existence.

The difference was like the difference between life( Biafra) and death( Nigeria).

Kai! The money spent on your education was really wasted. If they got all they wanted under Ojukwu, why were they still agitating for their own separate homeland or region? Why do you like twisting things?

The Calabar province came into existence, when? The Uyo province came into existence in what year? I repeat, did the agitation for their own separate region not continue long after the provinces were established? If they had everything they wanted under Ojukwu, would they have continued their agitation?

Oh, let me guess... you are now a spokeperson for the Efik and the Ibibio??!

You keep chanting 'Willink Commission" as if it is a gospel tract or a sacrosanct theme. The same commission that did NOT recommend any creation of a separate region for anybody or any group?

I am sure the Benin-Edo group must be thanking God that they got their own Mid-Western region long before the Willink Commission came into play, otherwise the commission would have killed their aspirations!

pazienza:
So the talk has changed from Biafran soldiers eating the food meant for children to Biafrans deciding to not let food get to Biafra. Nice change of post
We are getting there slowly.

I will be back, currently at the Shop, things busy here. Your Yoruba treachery will be fully exposed.

Stay at the shop, oh! You obviously cannot recognise the truth. And yes, I still stand by the story that the Biafran soldiers had food to eat. They were not starving, unlike the children. So why couldn't they give the children part if that food to eat? Ojukwu wanted an air corridor because it would enable him to airlift arms into Biafra along with food!

So he decided to let the children starve to death instead of accepting the offer of a food corridor via land!

Kindly stop denying the obvious. http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/how-ojukwu-rejected-offer-of-food-corridor/

Continue to make noise about Yoruba treachery, as a means of divert attention from the obvious issue, who cares??... mugu!

pazienza:
Kwale( Ukwuani) were not minorities, they were Igbos, atleast in the era of discourse.

Your devilish mind eager to look for things to put on Biafra, missed that important fact. No Igbo man harmed any Ukwuani.

British were providing unlimited supply to Genocidal Awolowo and Gowon to murder Biafrans, yet the British was busy drilling oil in Igboland, albeit the same part of Igboland that Nzeogwu hailed from, Western Igboland.

Ojukwu and Biafra were lenient on the British workers there, I know I would have done more if I were in their shoes. Imagine the temerity of the British, you want to reap from the same land you are sponsoring genocide against. Biafrans were naturally angry at the role British was playing for Nigeria during the war, those British workers had no reason whatsoever being in that part of Igboland.

Omogui had been taken to cleaners over the years on his fictitious Biafran atrocities in Mid west. He couldn't provide any credible evidence, no live survivors of such events, no names of the Biafran unit involved, no names of the Biafran commanding officers involved.
Just a figment of Omogui hallucinations, to soothe the massacre of Mid western Igbos by their mid western minorities neighbors, which omoigui happen to be part of.
If I were you, I would stay as far away as possible from Omogui propaganda, dude had since hidden after being taken to the cleaners.

Name-calling and labelling people as 'devilish,' because they are not as gullible to swallow Biafran propaganda as you have been doing, will not score you any cheap points. It merely reinforces your ignorance.

The Kwale incident was cited by Achebe in his book, after the world press had picked it up. Yet, according to Achebe it was unsubstantiated because the incident happened to another ethnic group. If the incident had happened to an Igbo person, Achebe would have been calling for the head of the perpetrators. That has always been the style of the Igbo propaganda clique, just like yours'.

The link to Achebe's book on Googlebooks, was to enable you buy the book online and read it cover to cover like all others have done. Did you expect me to just lift that section for you on to this page like I did with the others? Get off your butt and do some research. It will pay off for you.

You guys hate Omoigui, because he exposed the bad behaviour of your so-called Biafran soldiers. In case you didn't know, Omoigui himself was a Biafran boy soldier conscripted in the East to fight against the Nigerian side. When his parents fled the East at the beginning of the war, he went missing and thus got left behind, only to be forcefully conscripted by Biafran soldiers.

It is on record that those Biafran soldiers were not properly kitted, lacked proper uniforms and carried makeshift arms. I guess when a victim is about to be killed, he should ask what battalion and regiment his killers are representing, so that he can report them to God when he gets to eternity, in your own view.

That is why you are making up these stories.

If your soldiers did not kill Ukwuani, what about the Efik, Ukut, Ibibio, Ogoja, Annang people that they killed within Biafra during the war? Read The Forgotten Victims: Ethnic Minorities in the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967-1970 by Arua Oko Omaka of McMaster University Canada, Journal of Retracing Africa: Vol. 1,Issue 1 (2014): 25-40. http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2

This study is based on eye witness accounts, interviews with actual survivors , foreign reports by journalists from Western media and international organisations. The report talks about the killing of non-Igbo by Igbos (i.e. both soldiers and civilians), as well as the killing of Igbo by non-Igbo. So it is quite balanced.

Ethnic Minorities as Victims in Biafra

pg. 32-34: These accounts also reveal how individuals and groups committed heinous atrocities under the pretext of either fighting a war of survival for Biafra or a war of national unity for Nigeria....

The Ikun in the present day Cross River State presents a good example of the crimes committed against the minorities. The Ikun clan is in the Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State.... When the war broke out, Biafra stationed some of its troops in the Cross River region, including Ikun. According to a female survivor-victim of the Biafran occupation, the Ikun initially supported Biafra and had friendly relations with the soldiers, who were also accommodating. As time went on, tensions emerged. Some Ikun men were suspected of collaborating with Nigerian soldiers. This led to arrests, looting, rapes, and other atrocities in Ikun land. (27)

William Norris of the London Times who visited Biafra, also reported an eyewitness account in which some men of Ibibio ethnic origin were beaten to death at Umuahia on April 2, 1968.28 These Ibibios who included old men and young men were apparently suspected of collaborating with advancing Nigerian troops. Oral testimony by the survivor-victim corroborates this account. According to the eyewitness, Biafran soldiers allegedly took Ikun men to Ohafi a for a meeting but never brought them back. The informant also alleged that the soldiers returned to the community and rounded up some men within their reach and shot them. This survivor who lost her four-day old son and
her grandmother seemed to have suspected foul play from the Ohafia people, who share a common boundary with her community. http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2/

In a related account, B. J. Ikpeme, a member of a minority group and retired Senior Medical Officer in the then Eastern Region revealed atrocities perpetrated by Biafran soldiers against the minorities in some towns in the present-day Cross River and Akwa- Ibom States. Ikpeme argued that Ojukwu’s declaration of Biafra had been issued against the wishes of the majority of the people of Calabar, Ogoja, and Rivers Provinces, who for many years had agitated for a separate state of their own.

According to Ikpeme, the Igbo leadership, did not like the minority agitation, decided either to force the five million non-Igbo minorities into the new republic or eliminate them. It was on this basis, claims Ikpeme, that Biafran soldiers were quickly sent to the minority areas to “keep down the people, detain or even kill all who dared raise a voice in protest against the idea of Biafra.”(32). It was during this period that the non-Igbos started experiencing different forms of inhumane treatment, ranging from torture, detention, to killing. Ikpeme himself was detained in what he described as a “concentration camp” and was later transferred to a prison cell where he was given urine to drink when he demanded water.(33) http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2/

The souls of those non-Igbo who were forcefully taken away by the Biafrans, and eventually killed on unproven charges, would haunt them for life

pazienza:
For example, neighbours of the Efik, the
Ibibio set up the Ibibio State Union (ISU)
was set up in 1928 by educated Ibibio
elites (including from areas such as
Anaang, Oron, Eket, and Ibeno, and it was
called the Ibibio Welfare Union. (IWU). It
was a pan Ibibio Union, comprising the
areas under present day Akwa Ibom State
of Nigeria. Its early leaders were Sampson
Udo Etuk of Etinan, J. U. Eka, J. S. B. Ikpe
and Usen U. Usen of Uyo etc. It also
coordinated events & developments in
Opobo Division. The ISU operated under
the old Calabar province.
However, from the early 1950's, people of
the Old Calabar Province agitated for a
separate region/state, demanding for the
creation of their own separate provinces
from the Old Calabar Province.


This is a case of the Ibibios wanting a separate state/region/province from not just Ndiigbo, but from the Efiks, a request Gowon clearly ignored and United them with Efiks in the old Southeastern state.

A more evidence to prove that Gowon's mission was more about dividing the East to conquer than to serve the autonomy yearning of the Eastern minorities.
Of course, Ojukwu province gave the Annang/Ibibios exactly what they wanted, freedom from both the Igbo and Efiks.

Ojukwu did not grant them anything. Why do you persist in recycling falsehood?? Did the Efik or Ibibio vote in their leaders?

The Efiks, Ibibio, Anang, Ogoja etc, wanted a separate region of their own in order to be free of the larger domination of the Igbo.

The people of Efik and Ibibio are brothers... so don't make that mistake of trying to insinuate that Efik wanted freedom from the Ibibio, for some strange, ridiculous reason. Efik had no problems with the Ibibio, in 1957.

In fact, the Efik, Ibibio, Ogoja, etc got a far better deal in the old south-eastern state under Gowon, than they would have received under Ojukwu, after your brother Azikiwe reneged on his agreement to support their quest for their own region in the late fifties to early sixties !

pazienza:
You are just all over the place, like a drowning man looking for what to hang unto. I have no doubt now that you're a Yoruba. *grins.

You ask why we're the Children suffering from kwashiorkor and not the Biafran soldiers? You might as well ask why the children mothers and Biafran elderly ones were not suffering from kwashiorkor.
Kwashiorkor is a protein Energy malnutrition, it affects children mainly, not adults. You simply have no point. My dad was in Biafran Army too, everyone starved, but adult don't develop kwashiorkor as fast as children.

Ojukwu fear of food poisoning was real, Nigeria intent on genocide on Biafran, food poisoning was not beyond them.

Nigeria govt has no right to touch foods coming into Biafra, that was totally against international laws. During wars, international relief organizations should be allowed to work with no interference.

Nigeria idea of getting the food from relief agencies and then giving to Biafra was not acceptable, you don't let those that wish genocide on you feed you.


You are the evil one, who would have history of people's suffering under genocidal Awo and Enahoro starvation policy, 're written and tended as fictions, to soothe your conscience. You are no worse than the ottomans, who would have the history of Armenian genocide re written to free them of any historical dent.

Hahahaha!! I laughed out loud when I read this part. It just proves one thing that I have suspected for a while. You find it easier to swallow a lie and propagate it and would rather clutch at straws, falsehood and deceit as long as it suits your warped view. That is why you keep labelling me as a Yoruba person, even when I have told you that I am not one. Ok, go ahead because it makes you happy....

As for being evil, I beg to disagree. You are the evil one. You cannot see that more people would have lived if the food corridor offer by Nigeria had been accepted. At what point did Nigeria say they were going to touch the food? Provide the facts, sources and publications that confirmed that Nigeria said they would touch the food. Paste it right here!

Obviously, you do not know what creating a food corridor means. It means giving access by land to an area, so that food, medications and resources can get to that area through a safe channel.

Part of the propaganda sold to the Biafrans was that the food would be poisoned. Yet, Biafrans had scientists and doctors that could have tested the food to check if it was poisoned before distributing it. Caritas was a Catholic humanitarian organisation providing food to Biafra. Why didn't the Biafran authorities ask for their help to ensure the food was tested before bringing it in through the land borders?

No, instead the Biafran authorities led by Ojukwu preferred to let children die from kwashiorkor and malnutrition rather than accept the offer of a food corridor via land to get food to those children.

May the souls of those children haunt the Biafran authorities and soldiers for life. May their souls also haunt people like you who supported their intransigence and refusal to allow food get to such children via land!

INDESTRUCTABLEX:
Thanks. Already read through DPR guidelines. I will proceed to understudy before kicking off. Where are you located?

You can also look through this thread, whose links are given below. It contains a picture of a mini gas skid, which can be placed on a plot of land. Thanks. https://www.nairaland.com/2459392/invest-growing-domestic-gas-industry

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bunches1:
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To those who keep saying the Biafran soldiers did not carry out any acts of aggression against the minorities in their midst, please read the following accounts listed below.

These events have been buried in silence for many years and very few people acknowledge it.

“Kwale Incident (pg 218)” that eventually became an international embarrassment for Biafra. Based on an unsubstantiated source, he writes, “Biafran military intelligence allegedly obtained information that foreign oilmen…were allegedly providing sensitive military information to federal forces – about Biafran troop positions, strategic military manoeuvres, and training.” So Biafra decided to invade. “At the end of the ‘exercise’,” Achebe writes, “eleven workers had been killed”. Excerpts from There was a Country by Chinua Achebe: https://books.google.com.ng/books/about/There_was_a_Country.html?id=oprDmQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Yet, Achebe goes on to negate the suffering of this group by going further to claim that evidence was "not found." I often wonder if the group had been Igbo, if he would have made these same claims. There are other eye-wtiness accounts of crimes committed against non-Igbo minorities in the old Eastern region and in the old Mid-West, during Biafra.

..... the background is the Biafran invasion of Midwest. Despite Ojukwu’s assurance to them before the secession that he would absolutely respect their choice of belonging to neither side, he invaded them, occupied their land, foisted his government on them, took charge of their resources, looted the Central Bank of Nigeria in Benin, set up military check points in several places to regulate the flow of goods and human beings, imposed dawn-to-dusk curfews, flooded the airwaves with Biafran propaganda, imprisoned and executed dissidents on a daily basis according to Nowa Omoigui’s The Invasion of Midwest and Samuel Ogbemudia’s book: Years of Challenge.

In fact, “The Hausa community in the Lagos street area of Benin and other parts of the state were targeted for particularly savage treatment, in part a reprisal for the pogroms of 1966, but also out of security concerns that they would naturally harbour sympathies for the regime in Lagos,” Omoigui writes. The Midwesterners regarded Biafrans as liars and traitors. And the Nigerian army came to their rescue.
http://pwcreview.com/submissions/achebeandthemoralobligationtobeintelligent/

Ethnic Minorities as Victims in Biafra
....the atrocities perpetuated by Biafra soldiers on Biafra minorites during those early and late months of the war has largely been hidden from the public debate hence they should be accorded due recognition of victimhood...

Attributing the 1966 massacre in the North as only Igbos is an error of judgement. In the G C M Onyiuke led tribunal, it was clearly shown that ethnic minority groups in Eastern and Mid Western Nigeria were victims. It was easy to mistake an ethnic minority for Igbo apart
from mere physical appearance there was no other distinct feature to differentiate Igbo from non Igbo...

... When the war broke out, Biafra had stationed some of its troops in the Cross River region including Ikun in Biase Local Government. Though the Ikun initially supported Biafra and had friendly relations with the soldiers, as time went on tensions emerged. Some Ikun men were suspected of collaborating with Nigerian soldiers with no hard evidence. As a result murder, arrests, looting and rapes was meted on that community. William Norris of the London Times who visited Biafra reported an eye witness account of how Ibibio men were surrounded and beaten to death in Umuahia on April 2 1968. They were reportedly forced to march across an open space while the local people attacked them with sticks and clubs.

On another episode, Biafra soldiers took Ikun men to Ohafia for a meeting but never came back with them. An informant alleged that soldiers returned to the community and rounded up some men within their reach and shot them. A survivor who lost her four day old son and grandmother seemed to have suspected foul play from the Ohafia people with whom they share a common boundary. This victimization continued until the Biafra headquarters issued a statement to stop the genocide. However by this time, the remaining people had escaped leaving behind only soldiers and Ohafia, also some Ikun with a mixed blood of half Ohafia. Omaka, Arua Oko. "The Forgotten Victims: Ethnic Minorities in the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967-1970." Journal of Retracing Africa: Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2014): 25-40. http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2

In Asang town alone about 400 people were carried away to unknown destinations and never came back. Attan Onoyon town suffered the same fate. Enyong was burnt down and many people killed by Biafra soldiers. Biafra soldiers shot many villagers in Ekpenyong, present day Akwa Ibom. On October 18 1967, about 169 civilians in detention were lined up by Biafra soldiers and shot (source: New York
Times as an informational advertisement by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, New York). http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/02/26/post-midwest-liberation/
http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/03/19/biafra-ogbemudia-clarifies-us-secret-files/

In a separate development related to the Ika Igbo and the people of Asaba, who were widely suspected of harbouring hit squads loyal to Biafra across the border, Ogbemudia, on 12 July 1969, signed the Rebels (Protection Against) Offences Edict that specified a five year prison sentence and hard labour for anyone failing to report a rebel soldier or for harbouring, comforting or assisting a rebel soldier.

It was said that hit squads in mufti came from Biafra to commit atrocities. According to information made available to the Deputy British High Commission in Benin by Van Der Laan, the expatriate manager of Rubber Estate south of Ogwashi-Uku on 18 April 1968, Biafran hit squads infiltrated the area in civilian clothes. “They came in small groups and were not in any military formation. They approached the Catholic Mission Hospital and killed every Federal soldier there. Two days before, they abducted a German doctor from that same hospital,” wrote Laan. http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/02/26/post-midwest-liberation/

pazienza:
I saw several hundred of Zombie-like creatures -
men, women and children, lying, sitting or
squatting in the midst of others who were dead.
The living ones were completely reduced to
skeletons and could not talk. I was seeing for the
first time, kwashiorkor, Frankly, I took fright, I
believe that any foreign troops from anywhere in
the world occupying Ikot Ekpene or any other town
in Biafra would have shown much more sympathy,
"(Gen. Alex Madiebo, Ikot Ekpene, July 1968)

Did Enahoro and Awolowo starvation policy spare any part of Biafra? Were not all Biafrans both Igbo and non Igbo targeted.

Ah yes, the unfortunate statement made by Awolowo which the Igbo have capitalised on for decades. He would have regretted making that statement before he passed on.

At the end of the war, how come it was the Biafran children that suffered kwashiorkor and NOT the Biafran soldiers? The soldiers were very well fed, because they had seized the food meant for the civilians and the children within Biafra.

Caritas the Catholic organisation was sending relief materials into Biafra. The Nigerian govt offered to open a food corridor by land through which food could get into Biafra, because it had been revealed that air planes that were supposed to drop relief materials for the Biafrans were also dropping arms & ammunition for them.

It was in a bid to intercept the arms, that the Nigerian govt offered to open the food corridor. Ojukwu rejected it and his people started peddling the rumour that the food brought in via land would be poisoned by Nigeria.

What folly! People were dying, a route to bring in food has been opened and yet Ojukwu rejected it, claiming that the food would be poisoned, without any proof. Ojukwu preferred to let people die of starvation, because of his imaginary, unfounded fears of poison. Instead of trying to get food for his people, photographs of malnourished children in Biafra were used for propaganda to get support from other countries.

Like someone once said: "People should learn to separate hard facts from the fictitious narratives. Nigerians should look at the writings, accounts and interpretations of the great figures of its history, and scrutinise them by testing them against hard historical facts of the times."

pazienza:
Like I had already said, Diamond must not start listing all the ethnic groups in the East and their contributions in the struggle, I mean, I wonder the relevance of this to your argument?

The Gowon Odua-Arewa side was accusing Igbos of forcing Eastern minorities into Biafra, if anything speaking of Eastern minorities participation and roles they play in Biafra can only strengthen Diamond argument, that should be what a Biafran paid person should be doing, but Diamond didn't he was an independent mind, it should be a credit to him, not a dent. *grins*


The Araba riots took place after Ironsi murder. The Northern bourgeoisie and commoners were considering secession then, hence why they looked the other way while their almajiris massacred innocent Easterners.


There is nothing like 90% implementation of an agreement. Negotiation table is where each party give and take to reach an agreement. once an agreement is reached, you can't start giving and taking again. An agreement is either kept or broken.

Gowon broke an agreement reached at a negotiation table. There is nothing like 90% or 0% implementation of an agreement.

Why are you quoting Uwaechue, he is but an Igbo man with his own opinions and entitled to them, that however doesn't make them facts, do you agree with everything else uwaechue has to say about the war and Ndiigbo,or are you simply cherry picking?

On your last question,because,if you must kill those that participated in the first coup, then you must kill the likes of Buhari, Mutala and Danjuma that participated in the counter coup, don't you think so?

You cannot see the relevance of my argument until you re-read all my previous posts with an open mind.

Like I stated before, Diamond's failure to acknowledge the existence and contributions of the ethnic minorities in Biafra, showed an utter lack of recognition for their efforts, shoddy, incomplete research on his own part and a total disdain for the identity of the minorities. That is the relevance. And this is why the other 3 scholars called him out on his work. It is getting tiring, having to repeat this same point over and over again, in order for you to get it. Or do I have to write it in Igbo for you to understand it?

If you claim that there is nothing like 90% of the implementation of an agreement, then you need to take a course in negotiations. The same point can be re-negotiated over and over again, over a length of time provided both parties are willing to continue with the negotiation. That is why diplomats and lobbyists are well-paid, in many countries in the world. There is a course called Progamme on Negotiation, (PON) at the Harvard University, which is dedicated to developing the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution, in a range of public and private settings. I recommend that you take it.

When over 90% of an agreement is offered and those making the offer are ready and willing to implement it, it shows good faith. the remaining 10% can be re-negotiated at a later stage. It does not make sense to turn down the 90%, when your fellow citizens are facing pain, horror and hardship which is exactly what Ojukwu did.

Yes, the riots took place after Ironsi died. Why was Ironsi overthrown? Because he did nothing about the murder of the leaders of other regions by the Igbo coup plotters. So when the Northern soldiers took laws into their hands, they turned on Ironsi and the easterners living in the North. If Ironsi had known that his reluctance to prosecute the coup plotters would take his life and end in a bloodbath, he would have acted differently.

If military rule is to be obeyed, then whoever took part in the coup should have paid the price irrespective of who they were.

As for your comment about cherry picking, it is meaningless. What cherries were picked by whom? I have quoted not just Uwechue, but a number of other writers who wrote about the Nigeria- Biafra civil war. http://www.nigerdeltapeoplesworldcongress.org/articles/ojukwu__igbo_leader.pdf

You do not expect me to reproduce the entire contents of Uwechue's book in this thread. That is why the links are given so that you can actually buy the book online and read it, or even download excerpts from the book. A lot of Uwechue's comments in his book were supported by facts, and reports from diplomatic dispatches of various countries and international observers and writers.

But any discerning reader, would situate those facts and comments within the right perspective of the history of events that occurred at that time before accepting it . This is known as verification.

Case closed.

pazienza:
You don't get it. No one stopped them. You can't stop a people United and hell bent on separate existence from you, especially if their perceived injustice/marginalization is real. Awo learnt this lesson the hard way with the mid west, so did the East with Bamenda. The people were united, and the injustice was real. There was no stopping them.

That wasn't the case in the East. Eyo ita was the premier and the Obong of Calabar was the leader of the Eastern house of chiefs. There was Equity.

Eyo ita lost out in power tussle, he wasn't alone, he had Igbo accomplices too, so he seeked to carve out a kingdom for himself, the people weren't with him, so he returned back to the NCNC and became a good man once again.

Gowon was not pressed on by the Minorities to divide the East, Gowon did so of his own will, the least the minorities could do was live with it and go with the flow. The New divisions favoured the Ijaw and Ibibio-Annang-Efik then, but not the smaller groups.

No, I wasn't in the minds of the smaller Eastern minorities, but that's why we have reports, to capture the minds of the people. And thanks to the Wilkink report, we have the minds of the smaller ethnic minorities in the East.

By the way, you have failed to give me the names of principal officers of Eastern region minority origin that were in Gowon one Nigeria liberation government.

The Willink Commission did not make any recommendations that new regions should be carved out for the minorities. If anything, it tried to halt the government from even considering the agitation of the minorities by not declining to support their reasons for their own region/states.

Eyo Ita did not decide to carve out a kingdom for himself, as you derisively put it. The clamour for a separate region by minority groups in the East, including his own ethnic Efik minority group started years before that.

For example, neighbours of the Efik, the Ibibio set up the Ibibio State Union (ISU) was set up in 1928 by educated Ibibio elites (including from areas such as Anaang, Oron, Eket, and Ibeno, and it was called the Ibibio Welfare Union. (IWU). It was a pan Ibibio Union, comprising the areas under present day Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. Its early leaders were Sampson Udo Etuk of Etinan, J. U. Eka, J. S. B. Ikpe and Usen U. Usen of Uyo etc. It also coordinated events & developments in Opobo Division. The ISU operated under the old Calabar province.

However, from the early 1950's, people of the Old Calabar Province agitated for a separate region/state, demanding for the creation of their own separate provinces from the Old Calabar Province. It was not granted at that time, but a request for Ibibio representation in the Legislative Council at Lagos was granted in 1936, when Chief Nyong Essien of Uruan was nominated to the Council two years later to represent the Ibibio Division.

When Azikiwe's NCNC went into election against the Awolowo-led Action Group, Azikiwe promised the minorities in the east their own separate regions hoping to win their votes, in the election. However, he reneged and changed his mind after his party won the election.

When minority agitation first arose in the East, the NCNC, like the Action Group in the West, found it necessary to support the demands for separation. As late as the 1957 election of the Eastern Region House of Assembly, the party’s manifesto stated that the country should be carved into fourteen regions; in his election eve broadcast, Dr. Azikiwe sought the minorities’ support by saying, “we have reaffirmed our faith in the right of any community to self-determination,” and, more specifically, that the rights of Calabar, Ogoja, and Rivers are “conceded.” Such statements may have helped the NCNC hold down the Action Group-
vote in the minority areas.

After the election, the NCNC abandoned its verbal support for new states in the East. Azikiwe announced “the situation in the East is exceptionable,” and “the East can no longer stand dismemberment as a sacrifice either for administrative convenience or for national unity.” http://www.nigerianmuse.com/projects/SNCProject/?u=Schwarz_minority_politics_ch_4_excerpt.htm 4

After the overthrow of the Government of Professor Eyo Ita in Eastern Nigeria in 1953 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe which led to the Eastern Crisis, minorities from the old eastern region felt disenchanted with the Azikiwe led regime and rallied politicians from the Old Calabar Province, led by Professor Ita and Sir Udoma, to propose the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers (COR) State Movement in 1953, which brought together various minority groups in that area especially the ISU.

It also led to the formation of a new political party : The United Nigeria Independence Party which was formed by Dr. Okoi Arikpo (SAN); Chief I.I Murpy; Professor Eni Njoku; Wenike Briggs ; Justice Udo Udoma , Prince Takon of Ikom etc., following the forced resignation of the Leader of Government in the Eastern Region House of Assembly. Professor Eyo Ita did not go back to the NCNC as you claimed. http://crossriverwatch.com/2014/02/thegenesisofthecalabarogojariversstatemovementbyobonoobla/

The movement aimed to achieve self-determination for the minority Ibibio, Ekoi, Ijo, Ogoni, etc and other peoples of the Old Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers Provinces through their cooperating to confront the Igbo domination. The agitation for state creation soon spread to minority ethnic groups in the Western and Northern Regions of Nigeria, forcing the colonial government to appoint the Willink Commission of 1957 to look into the fears of these minorities (Udoma, 1987: 307309; Idang, 1987: 167). But the Commission, although acknowledging that minority fears of domination were genuine, failed to recommend the creation of a COR or any other state, on the purported ground that it might delay Nigeria's Independence. Not surprisingly, therefore, agitation by the minorities for state creation continued throughout Nigeria's First Republic (1960 - 1967)

As it transpired, as a result of the imbroglio between General Yakubu Gowon and Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Southeastern State was created by General Gowon in May 1967 along with 11 other states. This act, which constituted the fifth phase of the state creation movement, won the minorities in the Biafran enclave including the Ibibio population of Ikot Abasi to the Federal Government side during the Nigerian Civil War that ensued.
https://alscon.net/ikotabasiinsociopolitical/58ibibioandanaang.html#.VciUOHFViko
http://alscon.net/ikotabasiinsociopolitical/62statecreationmovements.html#.VciTgHFViko 2/3

GoMyWay:
hey Sile,so there's still one more transport means you haven't mentioned yet.....Tadaa! its called "ride sharing" which involves the sharing of vehicles by passengers to reduce vehicle trips, traffic congestion and automobile emissions. I think this type of transportation system will benefit Nigeria especially where traffic on the road is caused by too many vehicles on the road at once. It's actually being practiced in Nigeria now although Nigerians may be quite reluctant about it. What do you think?

Will it make you escape the bad traffic on Lagos-Agege Motor Road, or will cut travel time by half, or will it help you escape the pothole ridden streets within various parts of Lagos??

MizMyColi:
smh.
Aren't the petrol stations affiliated to the depots?
What good is an Oando Depot if there is no Oando filling station to buy its product?

Have you bothered to know why they were shut @filling stations?

In the past, it was because they either hoarded fuel or sold at abysymally high price.

This time, DPR went for the depots' jugular because they were selling at an unapproved price.
Tomorrow, it might be the petrol stations.
What we should be happy about is that the DPR are seemingly effective.



The reason I think "they" get nervy is because your ilk are quick to ascribe everything to Mr Buhari.
It irks to know that the policies or legacies for which the media is so quick to praise this government for (especially Buhari) are the same things that Jonathan achieved without so much pomp and pageantry.....yet, he is hated and treated with so much scorn and indignity.

Even as news filters in daily, that there is no TANGIBLE achievement which this government can lay claim to that doesn't have a large imprint of the past regime written on it.

I hope you can now understand why most people will always be psychologically defensive/offensive.....at least until this government begins to deliver on the promised change (in other words, setting precedents like never before).

Babe, leave them. Even Buhari has come out openly to say he cannot take credit for some of the successes being attributed to him (e.g. refineries). But a few of his followers are determined to make a demi-god out of this man.

To all who ascribe GEJ's hard work, accomplishments, plans and policies that are currently yielding fruit to PMB, may all your own accomplishments and successes be attributed to others!

May you become the butt of jokes, ridicule and scorn as others take the glory for everything you worked hard for...

Iseee....