₦airaland Forum

Aigbofa:
The burden of proof is on you. But he didn't have to feed Biafrans anyway. You ceased to be his responsibility with Ojukwu's declaration of Biafra.

That proof is what am telling you now: Awo never fed Biafrans. Disprove me if you can.

Aigbofa:
Even in time of peace, can you just go into the central bank in your state and cart money away, saying you want to use it to solve some pressing problem?
That is still called looting.

Where is the evidence of looting. Did the Central BANK OF NIGERIA in the East get its money from Western or Northern Nigeria?

Then I enquired what happened to the food we are sending to the civilians. We were sending food through the Red cross, and CARITAS to them, but what happen was that the vehicles carrying the food were always ambushed by the soldiers.

Awo claimed here that ''we (Nigeria) were sending food to Biafra'' thru those named agencies. What a lie.

Aigbofa:
He didn't have to. You should have cried to the guy who convinced you all to embark on a suicide misssion.

Yet he claimed what he never was capable of doing and somebody posted these lies here, not so?

Aigbofa:
The whole of Biafra actually belonged to Nigeria, that was the reason of going to war in the first place.

Of course that was the reason for going to war. By implication of your logic then, Nigerians who happened to be Biafrans used Nigerian money (generated and maintained in their own part of Nigeria) to solve their pressing problem - survival from an enemy - and you want them to refund such money?

Eko Ile:
Dude, we are talking about a freeking war. Awolow was on the other side, not on your side and he had no obligation to feed you, ojukwu too you to war, he declared his biafra state and you were under him and the biafra flag, not Nigerian flag.

You anger is misplaced, take your case to ojukwu. He not only failed to feed and protect you, he denied you food and that's a fact.

All your Awolow rubbish means nothing, it's even ridiculous entertaining such nonsense.

You people are acting as if WAR is some kind of tales by the moonlight gig. Very simple and naive people.


Isn't it moronic to be whining that your enemy didn't feed you and your army? Food is a matter of national security and your war leader should have formulated a safe and secure source of food that has nothing to do with your enemy.

Your war leaders not only goof, they deny you food, that was criminal and unconscionable.

Quit the ranting. Awo never fed Biafra. His wickedness would not allow him. He has told barefaced lies. I dare you or anyone to show where Nigeria fed Biafrans during the war.

Aigbofa:
You are the dummy here my friend, this is probably too complicated for your little brain. Biafra ceased to be part of Nigeria the moment secession was declared.
But secession did not gaurantee everything in Biafra belonged to Biafrans. Olodo

How would things Biafra belong to Nigeria and not Biafra? Care to explain? Are there any things we do not know of that were established in Biafra by Nigeria that were not done with money from Biafran (Eastern Nigerian) resources?

Just wondering:

Is there any non-Awo evidence that Nigeria sent food to Biafra? I would like to read this. I know a lot of foreign agencies did. I did not know that Nigeria also did, as claimed by Awo. Can anyone corroborate this?

Eko Ile:
1.It's absolutely irrelevant what claims you spew about Awolowo because Awolowo was not responsible for biafra, ojukqu was

2. It's on record that Ojukwu and the man responsible for the people of biafra denied food to the people of biafra


3. It was foolish to go to war and end up depending on your enemy for food to feed your people and and your soldiers



Please stop the pointless argument, Awolowo didn't own you anything, Ojukwu owed you and he sold you out.

Awo does not owe Biafra, so what was he fighting for. Why fight to recover what you owe nothing to? Do you make sense? Igbos did not need Awo's food. What they needed was to be left alone to chart their destiny. Now 41 years later, that same destiny denied them by Gowon and Awo is being asked for by Tinubu and all those asking for sovereign national conference. What did Awo fight for, if I may ask?

Foreign press people were embedded with the Biafran soldiers and would easily have reported looting by Biafran soldiers, even if after the war. The only looting that was reported was that by the Nigerian soldiers in Benin. Am waiting for Awo's independent evidence of bank looting by Biafran soldiers.

Aigbofa:
Did Biafra give back any of this money? The answer is obviously no. So Nigerian banks in the East were indeed looted.

You mean they should give back spent money -spent in the course of the war? I believe you can reason better.

Aigbofa:
What happened to the Nigerian money in the East after the war started? Burnt?

They were waging a war and war is not fought without money. There was no way Biafra burnt money they would instead have used for ammunition/food/fuel and all that. I dare anyone to show evidence of money burning in Biafra by Biafrans.

My own grandmother told us that his son  (my mother's elder brother) who was then a biafran conscript brought home food as regularly as he could that were used to feed the few people in their village who did not run to other places for shelter. That stopped after the blockade by Awo.

Aigbofa:
It was obvious Biafran soldiers were well fed, without without any hint of starvation. Ojukwu himself looked robust, so much for "fighting to keep my people alive". While he and his soldiers ate, women and children were dying of hunger.

Which of the soldiers were well fed? The ones we see on youtube?

There is no record anywhere that Biafra looted its own bank. That was impossible because Ojukwu was firmly in control and the soldiers were disciplined and motivated. I dare anyone to show proof (not Awo's own interview) that banks were looted in Biafra by Biafrans. Again, another Awo lies punctured.

To a large extent Obasanjo and Adekunle were on ground and should have known if banks were looted in Biafra by Biafrans. Did they say that too?

Eko Ile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSqhqP3U-t4&feature=related


Fast forward to 2:22 and listen to Oyinbo AID group describing how ojuku asked for bribe and extort money from them. Even saying unless they pay, their planes filled with food no go land and they should take their food away, while his own people are starving as claimed by you lying folks blaming everybody outside your borders but not your war leader turning away food planes for his people. He even asked the to bring in  fuel instead of food.

Obviously he care less about starving ibo people.


You ojuku sat their and admitted, he didn't deny it.

So how many ibo did he starve to death with his bribery and extortion policies.?


You a free to blame other people for your misfortunes, ojuku himself created a whole lot of it. It's there in black and white, video don't lie and these are white folks from abroad, not Nigerians or Yoruba people

Awo himself justified the blockade because according to him, soldiers were hijacking food for themselves. Ask yourself, don't those soldiers have families/friends? Do you think they hijack (if true) food to feed just themselves knowing that their children, wives, mothers and fathers and friends are starving? Is there any possibility that the hijacked food trickled down to as many innocent civilians as possible? Awo may claim whatever in this article, but you need to hear from the other side as well. Awo does not have the complete answer to the situation. He was not on ground in Biafra. One or two visits to few places could not have told the story.

Instead of these well concocted lies, Awo should have boldy say Igbos got the reward for waging war against Nigeria (actually Nigeria waged war against the Igbos, given that the first shot was fired by Nigeria in Garkem, near Ogoja). I am not naive to expect my victor to treat me with kid gloves, but coming out to tell these lies? I wonder which Igbo he is claiming loves him? The same ones that stoned him in Aba when he came campaigning?

JamesDoe:
Was Awo the governor of the bank of Biafra?

Ojukwu should have recompensed the loss with his vast wealth.

Or found a way to make the Biafran pounds he was printing solvent.

How would Nigeria stand behind a currency it did not print nor is not aware of its total circulation or its solvency!

No Awo was not the Governor of the CBB
Ojukwu could have paid them/taken care of his subjects if the Nigerian Govt allowed Biafra to survive
What did Awo/Gowon fight Biafra for then? You want me back by force, against my will, and you still want me to drive myself back to you? How is that possible? Should you not be responsible for my transport fare back to you?

STARVATION POLICY

Then, but above all, the ending of the war itself that I’m accused of, accused of starving the Ibos, I did nothing of the sort. You know, shortly after the liberation of these places, Calabar, Enugu and Port Harcort, I decided to pay a visit. There are certain things which I knew which you don’t know, which I don’t want to say here now, when I write my reminisces in the future I will do so. Some of the soldiers were not truthful with us, they didn’t tell us correct stories and so on.

I wanted to be there and see things for myself, bear in mind that Gowon himself did not go there at that time, it was after the war was over that he dorn himself up in various military dresses- Air force dress, Army dress and so on, and went to the war torn areas. But I went and some people tried to frighten me out of my goal by saying that Adekunle was my enemy and he was going to see to it that I never return from the place, so I went.

But when I went what did I see? I saw the kwashiorkor victims. If you see a kwashiorkor victim you’ll never like war to be waged. Terrible sight, in Enugu, in Port Harcourt, not many in Calabar, but mainly in Enugu and Port Harcourt. Then I enquired what happened to the food we are sending to the civilians. We were sending food through the Red cross, and CARITAS to them, but what happen was that the vehicles carrying the food were always ambushed by the soldiers. That’s what I discovered, and the food would then be taken to the soldiers to feed them, and so they were able to continue to fight. And I said that was a very dangerous policy, we didn’t intend the food for soldiers. But who will go behind the line to stop the soldiers from ambushing the vehicles that were carrying the food? And as long as soldiers were fed, the war will continue, and who’ll continue to suffer? and those who didn’t go to the place to see things as I did, you remember that all the big guns, all the soldiers in the Biafran army looked all well fed after the war, its only the mass of the people that suffered kwashiorkor.

You wont hear of a single lawyer, a single doctor, a single architect, who suffered from kwashiorkor? None of their children either, so they waylaid the foods, they ambush the vehicles and took the foods to their friends and to their collaborators and to their children and the masses were suffering. So I decided to stop sending the food there. In the process the civilians would suffer, but the soldiers will suffer most.

Is there any reason on earth to justify withholding food from a war ravaged population? Because soldiers hijacked food, you starve the entire population including kids and women. The USA/NATO bombarded Afghanistan/Iraq relentlessly, yet the US/NATO soldiers supply all sorts of aid to the civil population. Is there any lesson to be learned from hindsight?

TWENTY POUNDS POLICY

That’s what I did, and the case of the money they said was not given back to them, you know during the war all the pounds were looted, they printed Biafran currency notes, which they circulated, at the close of the war some people wanted their Biafran notes to be exchanged for them. Of course I couldn’t do that, if I did that the whole country would be bankrupt. We didn’t know about Biafran notes and we didn’t know on what basis they have printed them, so we refused the Biafran note, but I laid down the principle that all those who had savings in the banks on the eve of the declaration of the Biafran war or Biafra, will get their money back if they could satisfy us that they had the savings there, or the money there. Unfortunately, all the banks’s books had been burnt, and many of the people who had savings there didn’t have their saving books or their last statement of account, so a panel had to be set up.

I didn’t take part in setting up the panel, it was done by the Central bank and the pertinent officials of the ministry of finance, to look into the matter, and they went carefully into the matter, they took some months to do so, and then make some recommendation which I approved. Go to the archives, all I did was approve, I didn’t write anything more than that, I don’t even remember the name of any of them who took part. So I did everything in this world to assist our Ibo brothers and sisters during and after the war.

From the above, you can glean that:

1. There was indeed a twenty pounds policy
2. Awo was the finance minister (whose officials were involved in setting up the policy (yet he claims he was not involved)- tell that to the dogs
3. That policy was approved by Awo.

End of story: Awo approved the 20-pounds policy against the Igbos.

Can anyone remind the ignorant op whom APGA (Ojukwu's party) voted for in the election?

KnowAll:
where did you get that stats from?

I know a few Igbos personally. Some of them are also football players there.

I reckon too that being one of the transit centers for Nigerians seeking greener pastures in Europe, there will be a number of Edo, Igbo and Yoruba migrants there who are stuck. I agree though they are far less than northerners there but would those hausas/fulani in sudan still be considered Nigerian after migrating there even before the early 20th century?

In that video, notice some of those who surrounded him and help his hands up, and one of the languages he spoke. A few people from other Nigerian climes can say negative things about him at his back, but before him, they have nothing but respect and admiration for him.

KnowAll:
http://beegeagle./2010/04/09/hausa-fulani-and-kanuri-of-the-sudan/


http://www.sudantribune.com/The-Hausa-Fulani-are-Genuine,29127

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1106447


http://kanoonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=738.0;wap2

http://www.sudanforum.net/showthread.php?t=86289



Read all those articles and see for your self.

Many of the Nigerians in Sudan are also southerners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhbJs26SjNw

Here was where I met him during one of the Achebe colloquium

Yes, I met him here in the USA a few years ago. He was very articulate, soft spoken and a great polyglot. He was born in peace, he died in peace and will certainly rest in peace.

Boko Haram =Islamic terrorist group
An Igbo muslim man is a Boko Haram
There are 30,000000+ Igbos (non muslims)
The one of very insignificant population of Igbos who are muslims is a Boko Haram
What is the most common denominator in all of this?

Islam

Last July I was in Nigeria and I saw both centers with my own eyes; I was very impressed. The Director Dr. Mbanaso is one of the respected medical specialists in Nigeria.
The only missing link, IMO, is to finalize the dialysis and cardiology centers and then procure an air ambulance to lift people from far flung villages to these centers. The poor state of many access roads can aggravate the condition of a very sick patient.

I also hope that the diagnostic services will be affordable to the poor and that the lack of maintenance culture in Nigeria will not take root here.

In all, I give the gov 90% on this one.

But some of these hangers on Abians should tone down on their praise-singing. Everyone must not be Fasola who savors praise-sing and publicity-driven camera shots. The man simply did what he was voted to do.

The fact of land shortage in Igboland will become more apparent if Igboland becomes a country and needs to plan its land resources into parks, natural reserve areas, agricultural land, industrial land, residential land, school and government office spaces, etc. Then, it will be obvious that we lack it and need to maximize the available space.

Evidences of land short as documented by eminent scholars including Igbo historians such as Prof Adiele Afigbo

http://books.google.com/books?id=rvd3_sjE4c8C&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=land+shortage+in+Igboland&source=bl&ots=WHCiaUev0M&sig=mIR7ul1QOjCgwvsj7urT-4J22uc&hl=en&ei=tvjHTvX7EJDMiQLlruy8Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=land%20shortage%20in%20Igboland&f=false

http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/nigeria/SOCIETY.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=uwi-rv3VV6cC&pg=PA158&lpg=PA158&dq=land+shortage+in+Igboland+Nigeria&source=bl&ots=AGHY4XSzP3&sig=bqeVb0oSaqF-2VjlUGLaJ4DQCL0&hl=en&ei=kfrHTtDELJLaiQLZ7eDoDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=land%20shortage%20in%20Igboland%20Nigeria&f=false

I have seen it on ground, and for those who have not, the Nigerian map says it all, really.

Onlytruth:
@Topic

I really think that Easterners/Igbos don't have any problem with farming or feeding themselves. I think that Igbos/Easterners are more diverse in their career pursuits.

End of story, really. We Igbos are evenly spread in all human endeavours. Thanks.

Onlytruth:
Posted by: Nchara
The bolded is the problem! No one should take "a simple look" at the official map of Nigeria.
What I found on ground contradicts a lot of that map.
Again, no region can boast of a traditional large scale farming, or sustain infinite large scale farming. Land is not infinite anywhere. So you cannot say that Igbos are "forced" into subsistence farming because of land scarcity. Even if Igboland is as large as the North, Igbos practice subsistence farming traditionally. Large scale farming is new to Africa.

I am into these things so I know.  I know a couple of Igbos doing large-scale farming (mechanized) in other states. They went elsewhere because land is scarce hence expensive to acquire in Igboland. There is large-scale farming in the North than in Igboland, even by the illiterate farmers. It is a matter of land availability. There is no part of Igboland that you will drive for up to 30 min without coming across a town or village. That is not the case going up North and going from Benin to Lagos where in some cases you can drive for hours.