₦airaland Forum

Major Ifeajuna and I were in the second group to be sent to India. The first batch had included Nzeogwu and Olutoye. The course enabled officers to rise to Grade III Staff Officer. I knew both officers, but not intimately. It was the first time Ifeajuna and I had been at close quarters. Ifeajuna was a very interesting character, extremely well read and very politically conscious. I also had limited interaction with Nzeogwu, who had preceded us to Wellington. Nzeogwu has since been much vilified for his leading role in Nigeria's first military coup. However, any officer (or, for that matter, civilian) who knew him could tell you that this man was a pure nationalist who burned within with the love of his country. Like myself, he gave scant regard to the place of origin of his countrymen having been born in Kaduna and raised in an era of nationalistic consciousness. He was sophisticated in his analysis of history and of political events in the country. I never became intimate with these officers as I had little interest in politics. Of greater interest to me, was building up military skills and contributing to national development in a purely military capacity.

India.

After my Captain to Major promotion examination, I was nominated for the State College in Wellington, India for a period of nine months in 1964. My exultation at being so distinguished by my superiors was tempered by recollections of my previous overseas experience. Yes, it was an honour to be offered the opportunity of a staff course, but who had the stomach for more condescension from the British officers who would be supervising training?

My wife Comfort dismissed my concerns, insisting that the benefits to be gained by taking the course far outweighed the brief period of discomfort I would face. My reluctance evaporated, and I went, leaving her in Zaria expectant with our first child.

alexdidi: I'd be lying if I said I didn't like this thread. Its an eyeopener. I'm proudly Nigerian and not a bit ashamed that these photos have to be shown. Texas-cowgirl is brave! No guts No glory...

+10000000000000000000000

I later discovered that my situation was not altogether unique; other Aide-De Camps attached to high ranking politicians experienced similarly poor relation with their bosses. ( Then) Second Lieutenant Obienu who had been attached to the Governor-General Azikiwe had lasted only 3 weeks before he terminated his posting in an equally unconventional fashion.

As time went on, my objections became less and less courteously expressed, and our discussions, louder and louder. Dr. Ibiam labeled me arrogant, rude as hell and unqualified to advise him politically. Naturally, I had a differing opinion. It got to the point that I was unable to bear the daily offense to my sensibilities. After one particularly unpleasant episode, I was sufficiently incensed to place my career in jeopardy. I left my posting without orders.

I posted myself to Enugu later that year in 1961. Enugu was a town I was very fond of. It was at Enugu that I had met my wife to be, Comfort Akie Wilcox, a police woman, sister of Chief Harold Dappa Biriye, and the daughter of Chief Roland Dappa Wilcox, a Bonny Chief from one of the riverrine tribes of Eastern Nigeria. I used the opportunity of my stay in Enugu to perfect my Ibo speaking skill. As a boy, I had picked up Ibo from my neighbors in Idah. From Enugu, I went to Port Harcourt on a month's extended leave. To my amusement, I was informed that the police was seeking me on the basis of certain allegations made against me by the Governor's wife. I immediately reported myself to the police where the issue was clarified. Meanwhile, the Governor, as he was perfectly justified in doing, had fired off a smoking hot letter of complaint about my abandonment of post and disrespectful conduct in general. After a month in Port Harcourt, I reported to the Army Headquarters in Lagos to make my defense to (then) Lt. Colonel Gowon, the General Staff Officer (Grade 1), and it was to him I made my case. This act of insubordination was to delay my promotion by over a year - at the time I felt it was a fair price to pay for my peace of mind and liberation from an intolerable duty.

The most serious chasm concerned our professional duties. As the governor of a region, which embraced many different ethnic groups, my boss appeared to have some difficulty in appreciating that he owed each inhabitant of the region an equal obligation. It seemed to me that at every turn of policy- making, he favored members of his own tribal group.

As a Nigerian of multi-ethnic parentage, born and raised outside my region of 'origin,' I found these exhibitions of ethnic chauvinism incomprehensible. At that point of my life, as far as I was concerned, a Nigerian was a Nigerian member of one nation with one destiny, and differences of origin were subordinate to the national identity.

I considered this to be an unfortunate disposition for a Governor of a multi-tribal state, and felt it to be my duty to point out the dangers of our discrimination against non-Ibos by the Eastern Government.

Within a very short period, it became clear that we had 'irreconcilable differences.' The nature of my posting compelled me to spend a lot of time with the governor, and at very close quarters. I was with Dr. Ibiam on formal occasions, I was with him behind the scenes at his home, and I witnessed and contributed to the policy-making processes of the Eastern regional government on a day-to-day basis at the office.

In many ways, Dr. Ibiam was a gentleman. However, there were several difficulties I had will the governor. The first was what I regarded as his religious rigidity. Like many persons I had come across, Dr. Ibiam was passionate almost to the point of fanaticism about matters of external religious observance - church going, prayers before meals etc.

Secondly, the good Doctor's treatment of his staff caused me to mull over the contradictions between what is preached as opposed to practice. I failed to understand why the Governor seemed unable to appreciate the connection between welfare, morale and productivity. Consequently, the working environment at the Governors office left much to be desired, characterized as it was by surliness, complaints and resentment. Our relationship was not improved by my blunt rejection of his attempts to compel me to conform to his religious practices.

Just as I settled down to learn more about my environment in the Congo, I was bundled home to Enugu to become the first Army officer Aide-de-camp to Sir Francis Akanu Ibiam, the first Governor of the Eastern Region.

Sir Francis Ibiam was a well respected Nigerian politician. An old boy of King's College and a graduate of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, he received a knighthood from the Queen in recognition of his accomplishments. He built Abiriba hospital, and served on several hospital boards. He had served on the Nigerian Legislative Council, between 1947 and 1952, on the Executive and Privy Councils between 1949 and 1959 and capped this with his appointment as Governor of Eastern Nigeria from 1960 to 1966. Sir Ibiam also chaired several Church Councils, including the World Council of Churches in 1961.

I watched the naughty bearing of the Congolese expatriates towards the owners of the land and their total subservience. The only relief available to the Congolese from the misery and deprivations they suffered appeared to be drinking, music and dancing. I would watch for hours as the Congolese men and women cast aside their cares and abandoned themselves to 'Congo music.'

Congo was a profoundly beautiful country though completely underdeveloped in physical terms. We were stationed in Leopoldville. Our first assignment was to fish out the murderers of about 15 Nigerians, who had been mutilated after their murder. It was hard going in that environment with very few roads, non-existent telecommunications system, and a perplexing language. With some hard work and the assistance of our intelligence system, the perpetrators were identified, tracked down and appropriately punished.

The language barrier precluded extensive interactions with the Congolese people, but my overriding impression of their lives, was of intense suffering. The amenities of life- electricity, clean water, roads, hospitals, etc- were in very scarce supply and the level of hunger, disease, immorality, physical insecurity and crime in the society as a whole was pitiful. As far as I was concerned, Nigerians were incomparably better off. I was also struck by the rigidity of the informal 'apartheid' system prevalent in Congo: after my experiences in the U.K, I had grown to be somewhat hypersensitive and intolerant of all forms of racism. I noticed that unlike Nigeria, the two races were almost completely estranged - not only physically segregated, but with few avenues for interaction, such as sporting or social events, where the differences of skin color were temporarily forgotten.

Violence within the Congo intensified soon after independence, and the political situation was complicated by the attempted secession of the mineral- rich province of Katanga in July. The Katangan Premier was funded and supported by Belgium. Lumumba invited the United Nations into the conflict and the UN demanded the withdrawal of Belgian forces from the country. Peacekeeping forces were then sent into the Congo with a mandate to restore order to the Congo and the Katangan province. Patrice Lumumba was murdered in the subsequent violence (January 1961) and UN peacekeepers were mandated to use force to prevent civil war. In spite of the spirited efforts of the UN Secretarial-General, Hammarskjold (who lost his life in a suspicious plane crash during one his Congo peace trips), the violence continued unabated. Mobuto Sese Seko, then the head of the army, foisted himself on the country as President in November 1965, according to him, for a 5-year term in October 1966. He formally dismissed the Parliament and the new Prime Minister and established a Presidential form of government. The 'five year term' ran over three decades.

The burning crisis for which troops were posted to the Congo involved the power struggles between the old colonial powers, Congolese nationalists and later, Congolese stooges of the Colonial powers. Municipal elections had already taken place in 1957; nationalists organized pre-independence elections after serious agitation in January 1959. Patrice Lumumba's Congolese National Movement emerged as the winner of the May 1960 elections. Lumumba became Prime Minister and on June 30, 1960 the Independent Republic of Congo was proclaimed.

After a few months, we were posted to thc Republic of the Congo en masse, under the auspices of the United Nations, to quell the growing unrest there. The antecedents of the political turmoil in the Republic of Congo as is in much of Africa, could be traced to its colonial period. Congo was a colony of Belgium and its capital Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) was named after Leopold II of Belgium. The Congo was rich with precious minerals such as diamonds. Uranium was abundant in the Congo-in fact, the first atomic weapons were developed with uranium from the Congo.

My first unit was the first Queen's Own Nigerian Regiment based in Enugu. At this time, a good number of the senior officers were British, though there was a sprinkling of Nigerian officers and one Cameroonian, (Captain Malinga), whose awe of the British officers was a source of constant amusement.

Regimental life lived entirely up to my expectations. I was appointed the platoon commander of 'C' Company under the command of then Major Ogundipe. My main duty was to assist in training the troops. They were a mixed breed but those of Bachama extraction, (my mother's ethnic group), impressed me more than the others. There were quite a number of them in my platoon.

On the whole however, I enjoyed the period at Sandburst. The skills I picked up, particularly on the 'Tactics' course, (my favorite ), were to prove invaluable to me in later life.

My encounter with British military institutions did not end there. Two further courses were arranged for me in accordance with my selection. The first was at the School of Infantry at Warminster, and the second was at the School of the Tactical Wing. And so ended my military training in Britain.

He doesn't want to be called back to explain. . . . .

(It's very unprofessional).

mercenaryx: Well said! But how does it affect the topic sir?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I'm sure you already know, but I'll humour you. Read my post again and wherever you come across the word "corruption", replace it with "filth".

I was at Sandhurst for two years (1959 and 1961) and registered for the course with three hundred odd cadets. In addition to the physical training, officers where imbued with a thorough academic grounding in the art of warfare. The ultimate purpose of our training was to produce not the stereotype officer, but the dynamic officer. Character development was an integral part of the course and this was brought home to me in the first week.

Before I left Sandhurst, our College Commander invited me for an interview. He examined me closely about my 'unorthodox' political positions, my views on his institution, and my opinions of the training that I had just completed. In our final report, Sandhurst cadets were required to make a self-assessment of their officer qualities, which was then graded by their instructor. My final report and grade contained some of the two familiar complaints about my 'attitude'. Since the report had already been written (and passed me, notwithstanding) I felt at liberty to give the Commander an unedited piece of my mind on every subject he raised.

Far from being satisfied with my responses and desirous I think, of modifying my views, he suggested an extension of the 'interview' over dinner. We talked far into the night, and I conveyed my amazement that an institution would teach a course which mutilated the pride and self worth of some of the cadets and yet expect no reaction.

Now my observations. This thread demonstrates the causes of some of the problems we have in Nigeria and why these problems persist.

1) Not my state/ethnic group/political party: Some Nigerians will complain ceaselessly about corruption. You'll hear them rant everyday. However, the story will change if a politician from their state/ethnic group/political party is caught red handed and arrested for corruption. "Why don't they arrest people from other tribes/parties?" "This is selective/tribalism!". Yet they want corruption to magically disappear. This explains why criminals like Bode George and Diepriye Alamiyeseigha were given lavish receptions when they left prison and why criminals like James Ibori and Uba are celebrated and protected.

2) Don't even try/why bother? This group of people have become so used to corruption, nepotism, abuse of power, filth, etc that they don't believe you should even try to stamp them out. They have a defeatist attitude. They don't believe that it's worth it to try and save that child from diseases caused by filth, from poor healthcare caused by corruption, etc. They have a "do nothing" attitude. Corrupt politicians love these kinds of people and Fela sang about them in "Shuffering and Shmiling" and "Sorrow, Tears and Blood".

3) It happens in other countries, so it doesn't matter: "There are filthy places in other countries". "There are corrupt politicians in other countries". "There are bomb blasts in other countries", "therefore it doesn't matter if they happen in Nigeria. Just learn to live with it". I really don't care if these things happen in other countries. Those countries are not my countries. I don't live there. I live in Nigeria! These things, filth, corruption and bomb blasts are unacceptable and a danger to citizens, therefore we must do everything we can to eradicate them, regardless of whether they happen in some other country or not.

Makoko
https://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/39536_477801962789_181622_n.jpg

Aunty Ayo Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Keffi Street, Ikoyi, Lagos.
https://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/66650_485769792789_2060978_n.jpg

Picture taken October 2009. The school P.T.A wrote the government a letter complaining about the situation, but they only got a specification of what type of furniture to provide, and with what material.

Thankfully, by February 2010, some parents were able to provide desks & chairs for their kids. Since the desks/chairs are designed for 2 kids each, about 80% of the kids now have desks & chairs.

Oshie Gas Flare, Niger Delta.
https://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/67207_490399227789_4916212_n.jpg

Dagogo Joel's arm was burned by the Oshie gas flare when he was a child. The flare--lit since early 70s and adjacent to Joel's home village of Akaraolu -- occasionally spews out flaming liquids on the countryside, and burned Joel's arm while he was fishing with his father.

"Oil farming" in the Niger-Delta
https://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/68706_490187472789_341332_n.jpg

That's not water, that's crude oil.

Ama28: My dear, what if her post can embarrass the South East government to make a change, will you still ignore it?
The fact that we are multi-ethnic in Nigeria shouldn't be cloud our judgement!
Moreover as a Nigerian citizen she can ask for better governance in any part of the country.

We really don't share same sentiment here at all! This is the same problem with our leaders, when its time to cover vices we become unnecessarily tribalistic! When we should all call a spade a spade. Am sure the read in the media the number of kids going for exams that die on Aba high way yesterday!

Our situation in Nigeria is decaying by the day, I don't care what OP's Id is, whether texas or osisioma! This topic is sensitive and important, her personal attributes can come later

+100

@ Texas.Cowgirl: You deserve an award for this thread. While it's ok to show pictures of beautiful Nigeria, it's also important to show the other side - the filth, the lack of basic infrastructure - in order to shock the people into action, so that they'll hold their leaders accountable and force them to act.

Thank you very much for this.

Here is a link to the original thread https://www.nairaland.com/1205583/iyawo-nylon-bag/24#15460377

This thread is for observations, criticism and discussion about the story "Iyawo Nylon Bag". It has been created to avoid clogging up the original thread, making the story difficult to follow for new readers and most especially to avoid posters getting banned for posting off-topic comments.

So, where's everybody? Come and gist to your heart's content.

In later years, I attributed some of the actions of my former course mates in the national arena, especially with regard to their colleagues, to the need to assuage feelings of inferiority which many have sprung from having been publicly adjudged and labeled inadequate in the midst of their cohorts.

The examination period arrived and again, I was filled with anxiety about my chances of success given the sour relationship between the instructors and myself. Other Nigerian officers who were contemporaries at Mons were Chukuka, Idiaja, Nnadi, Obasanjo and Adegoke. Once again, my fears promise to be unfounded. I passed the Mons examination and was confirmed for Sandhurst in January of 1959.

I considered my selection for the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to be an honour and a privilege. To my mind, Sandhurst was the best military institution in the World. Not all the Mons graduates were so privileged - for example, while Adegoke, Idiaja, and Chakuka and I was selected, Obasanjo was not. He finished at Mons and returned home.