₦airaland Forum

sonya4all: @one naira,you are not communicating,just keep saying what you want to believe as well as your igbo(n) cohorts..Abuse all you wish,majority of ikas are proud of their identity,agbontean is a example of that,am from umunede,and am from ileje quarters,proudly ika,as well as other quarters that makes up the ancient kingdom of umunede.....Peace out.

First class baboon, how many times have you said it, why are you and agbontaen always repeating your silly selves. Must you write if you have nothing to offer, get a life baboonei.

webcalculator: yu have been commenting here as a yaroba dude. stop deceiving yourself, you ain't igbo n will never be?

Don't mind the fool.

marveouz: Wednesday, 24 October 2012 00:00 By Dr. Tony Nwaezeigwe

I HAVE not yet read the controversial personal history of Chinua Achebe, and as a professional historian, I don’t really think it is ethical to speak on a work one has not read. However, I have endeavoured to read Noo Saro-Wiwa’s review of the book posted on The Guardian of London on-line. I have also read the numerous comments on the book with specific reference to the roles of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the civil war.

I could recall that this subject of Achebe’s attack on Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the Dr. Frederick Fasehun’s welcome address to me during my meeting with him on Thursday, October 11, 2012, at his Century Hotel, Okota, to discuss the subject of Igbo Presidency in 2015. Still on the same subject matter, while en route Nsukka by Ifesinachi luxury bus, just few kilometers to Ore, I received a call from Ghana, this time by the renowned Igbo literary critic and mathematician-turned historian, Professor Chinweizu, imploring me to comment on the controversy.

Over-flogged and irrelevant subject

I have, therefore, decided to comment on a subject I strongly feel is both over-flogged and irrelevant at this point of our history. However, to the professional historian, no literary work is an end to itself, not even the one coming from such literary icon as Professor Chinua Achebe. Every work of literary art is, therefore, to the professional historian, a means to an end, a tool and source-material for the professional historian in pursuit of the end. That end is definitely the solution to the intractable political socio-economic, and allied problems of mankind.

Achebe no doubt, like other writers and commentators has done his bit of contribution towards that end. However, whether Achebe’s contribution is adjudged to be positive or negative in orientation, it remains a matter literary conjecture, since every writer is entitled to his personal opinion based on his exclusive perception of a given subject matter. In this regard, the title of the book is self-explanatory. One does not, therefore, understand why the personal view of an individual will constitute a whole lot of an enveloping controversy. Or, could be because such a comment is coming out of the mouth of a “Professor Chinua Achebe”? Just like a Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, or a Mungo Park discovering the source of River Niger. I ask this question because the subject matter is no longer new, as it has over the years formed one of tools against possible Igbo-Yoruba common front against a perceived common enemy.

The fact remains, however, that the issue of Chief Awolowo’s anti-Igbo roles during the civil war is highly over-bloated with irreconcilable body of evidence. This issue was fully explained in my October 1998 Guest Lecture to the Department of

Political Science, University of Lagos, titled: “Ethnicity and the Politics of Igbo-Yoruba Relations: case of a celebration of defeat?”

In the first instance, the Igbo first lost the golden opportunity to have Chief Awolowo fully on their side when, neither General Ironsi nor Col. Ojukwu failed to see the wisdom in releasing the former from prison custody in Calabar. Chief Obafemi Awolowo had to wait for the six or seven months before he could be released and granted amnesty by General Yakubu Gowon, who subsequently elevated him.

There was no doubt that the Yoruba under the leadership of Chief Awolowo were ready to secede along with the Igbo, had circumstances on ground not prevented the scheme. Fundamental in that circumstance was the presence of the Northern troops in Ibadan, Abeokuta and Lagos. Since the Yoruba at that time lacked the needed military presence in the army to confront the occupying forces, there was little they could have done. The Yoruba leaders had actually demanded for the withdrawal of the Federal troops from their territory to enable them carry out their scheme of secession. It was actually on account of that demand that the Federal authorities announced on Thursday, May 25, 1967 that the Northern troops would be withdrawn from the West Region.

However, that withdrawal eventually meant the withdrawal of troops at Ibadan and Abeokuta for the reinforcement of the Lagos garrison as well as for the strategic

cities of Jebba and Ilorin. Even the acting Military Governor of the Western Region at that tme, Col. Adebayo, in his subtle protest on May 26, described the presence of Northern troops at Ikeja as “this outstanding problem,” and pleaded with his people to exercise patience since he was discussing the matter with General Gowon.

It was under this charged political atmosphere that Gowon announced the

following day, May 27, the creation of the 12-State structure. That action eventually led to the fission of Yoruba minds towards secession, particularly since the indigenes of the new Lagos State saw their new status as a freedom from the domineering image of Chief Awolowo. The subsequent elevation of Chief Obafemi Awolowo to number two position was to erase the idea of a Yoruba secession.

It could also be recalled that on March 3, 1967, the Biafran leader, Col. Odumegwu-Ojukwu, then still acting on the capacity of a Regional Governor, affirmed this evident incapacitation of the West by the occupying Northern troops. Odumegwu-Ojukwu had said that both Governors of the two Southern Regions of West and Midwest were in full support of his position against the North, but could not do much because of the presence of Northern troops in their territories.

Chief Awolowo’s inability to carry out his threat of secession if the East seceded could not therefore be interpreted as an act of betrayal. Beyond the matter of sentiments, objective judgment agrees that there can never be secession without a back-up military force. Comparatively, the Yoruba had thrown a much stronger loyal support to the leadership of Nnamdi Azikiwe than the Igbo ever exhibited toward Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Thus in speaking of Awolowo’s roles in the civil war, objectivity demands that reference be made also of such Yoruba-born pro-Igbo partisans of the war, like Professor Wole Soyinka and those who chose to fight and die for Biafra like Colonels Banjo and Ademoyega.

Gruesome experiences

There was no doubt that Professor Chinua Achebe, from the accounts of his civil war experiences was a privileged Biafran citizen who only watched but never suffered the gruesome experiences of hunger, diseases and homelessness during the war. If the father of African literature actually wants to be objective concerning the conduct of the civil war, then he should first focus his literary search-light at the internal mechanisms of the conduct of the war on the side of Biafra.

In other words, if any blame were to be apportioned for the defeat of Biafra and the suffering of the Igbo masses, it cannot be targeted at external forces such as Awolowo, but at the internal elite who masterminded the failed civil war policies of the leader, like Achebe himself. One would want Professor Achebe to explain to

Nigerians in general and the Igbo in particular, what happened to the millions in foreign currency raised abroad in support of Biafra but which never got to the shores of Biafra? How much of such money were actually raised and who were those Igbo leaders of Biafra entrusted with the duty of bringing the fund to Biafra?

What also happened to the millions given to such people as Dr. K.O. Mbadiwe and Mojekwu, a relative of Odumegwu-Ojukwu for the purpose of purchasing arms and ammunition to prosecute the war? Did they not cart away with the money and never returned to Biafra until after the defeat? Where again could one place those who sold relief materials meant for the poor and suffering citizens of Biafra, when it was meant to be distributed free? Were all these atrocities against the Igbo equally masterminded by Chief Obafemi Awolowo?

Viewed critically, even the literary icon himself, acting on the capacity of Biafra’s Minister of Communication, could not have supported any policy that would have given the Federal Government undue advantage over Biafra. Even the Federal Government’s policy of an all-round twenty pounds exchange cannot be faulted by any economic theory given the undetermined value of the Biafran currency. It is important for Professor Achebe to know that the Igbo of today fully understand who their actual friends and foes are in the present Federation.

Abandoned property saga

The 1966 pogroms against the Igbo were Hausa-Fulani schemes and not those of the Yoruba. Many Igbo lived unmolested in Yorubaland throughout the war. The coup d’etat that toppled General Aguiyi-Ironsi was a Northern act and not a single Yoruba soldier was involved. The abandoned property saga did not take place in Yorubaland.

Above all, although there could exist a situation of mutual rivalries between the Igbo and Yoruba, such competitions never for once degenerated into a state of anti-Igbo riots, with countless loss of lives and property. The Igbo thus know who their friends are, and they know that the Yoruba are not their foe. In conclusion, it is important to let Professor Achebe understand one evident fact: if any Igbo leader could have one-quarter of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s vision for the Yoruba, then the Igbo are saved the pains of recurrent political idiocy.



• Dr. Nwaezeigwe is Senior Research Fellow, Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102559:in-defence-of-awolowo-matters-arising-from-achebes-civil-war-memoir&catid=73:policy-a-politics&Itemid=607
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ASZ LICKING SHITT ARSSE, IT'S TOO LATE TO POST THAT JUNK AS IT HAS ALREADY BEEN TRASHED HERE, ASZ DONKEY.

inufele2: Try harder next time person baboon don't have a day release they live and die in their cage.

ASZHOLE SHIIT FACE, go back to your jungle as you are not winning, annus sniffer.

inufele2: person a nursing home on the road? Try harder next time the cage is where you belong.

BUTT MONKEY, SO someone in a nursing home doesn't come out on the road at all. Get a life asz biatch.

inufele2: Stupeed son of a baboon! Go to where you belong with your relative below.

You belong to the same nursing home housing your hero Adekunle below

Eko Ile: Id.iot. So when you typed your people, you meant Itsekiris, Urhobos, Edos and not Yoruba people?

ibo logic = Shalanga logic...

ASZ HUMPER, aWO WAS IN CHARGE OF THE OLD WEST COMPRISING MIDWEST. KNOW IT NOW, ANNAL KUNT LICKING Arrow

inufele2: Stupeed son a baboon, you obviously got nothing sensible to say. I don't expect more from a lobotomised ape like you.

Aszfucked gutter monkey, you have no business here, get lost sucking wart hog

marveouz: Please tell me when Yorubas started wearing hat, singlet and tying wrapper. Cos obviously i can see an Ibo man obsessed with Pa Awolowo that he even decided to dress like him....from every empirical facts yorubas have not been know to tie wrapper the way that boy did in that picture....wear singlet like jobless cows and wear hats like drunken fisher man

Awo in the Warri region, then western Nigeria.

inufele2: Lame reply! Disprove at least 2 points from what he stated or shut the fckk up! You have nothing to say obviously you're just blabbing about, prove your so called intelligence by disproving the fact that ashebe, ojuiku and other biafran rebels used child soldiers and should be prosecuted in a normal situation.
Ashebe should be rotten in one hell hole dungeon for his crimes against humanity.

Dirty son of a LovePeddler, you should come here and defend your silly self against Achebe's memoir, idiott.

marveouz: Judging from the picture...when did Yoruba started wearing Hat, singlets and using wrapper

Baboon, the old western region was not made up of only yorugbas but Itsekiris, Urhobos, Edos etc.Why are there no brains in those big skulls you have?.

hotwax: So when will Chinua Achebe face ICC for tricking young teenagers with 10 bullets to face heavily armed. Nigerian army?

No Awolowo killed our men.

Smelly pig, this should not be an opportunity for you to seek cheap attention, idiott.

inufele2: LWKMD Mr I AM A Yoruba does it really matters if he's a Yoruba or Igbo? Challenge the points he raised or stop spewing rubbish!

Imbe-cile, why not go and challenge the points Achebe raised in his memoir, castrated yorubie.

Onlytruth: Eh, bros was there a war here too?

Noops, at peace time, Awolowo was busy celebrating with kids in his region who are na.ked.

Eko Ile: https://i47.tinypic.com/24e24gw.jpg


Colonel Achebe. Biafra Nigeria April 1968

Anal dwelling monkey, it's high time you concentrate on your ugly Tinubu than Igbo affairs. See your ugly boss and his stinking mouth.

Pangea: Bastardo, why am I not surprised?
You guys are really insane!
Biafra baby my foot, I'm sure you will tell me next that he is holding a toy gun!

AANUS LOVER, they are future Biafran soldiers, but fight at the war front, never. Get it into your thick skull, dirty son of a prostitutee.

Eko Ile: https://i46.tinypic.com/f1wspc.jpg

Igbo Soldiers retreating, Biafra, Nigeria April 1968
.

WHILE YOUR HAWOLOWO WAS BUSY WITH YOUR PEOPLE HERE, FOOL

Bliss4Lyfe: Go and get ur copy of There was a Country. I have got mine.

Tell them my sister.

inufele2: Retarded person! Have you contribute anything intelligent to this thread apart from the usual barking like a castrated dog?

Castrated retardo, don't engage your idiotic self in a thread you know nothing about, get lost, asz-rappingg monkey.

all4naija: Don't worry! I will remain a critic of Prof Achebe's works. However, he's a fictitious writer, he's always been!

Monkey, have you not had your banana this p.m?.

inufele2: What a lame reply! I never knew what happened? You must think I'm like you and your fellow Igbos that allow their defeated ancestors to feed them with lies and hatred rather than finding out facts by themselves. You have shown that you lack capacity to reason like a human. Confused lobotomised ape!

Common get out of this thread, as you are not intelligent enough for this sort of thread, scram, anophelles yorubie.

afam4eva: I won't come here and tell you that this Osuji of a man is totally wrong. He's a man that likes seeing things from a neutral stand point and most times it's at the detriment of his own ethnic group. I've never seen him go at Igbos, Yorubas or any other group the way he does his own. It could be because he wants to be seen as neutral and ateller of the truth by non-Igbos. I won't come here an tell you that Igbos are guitless(any word like this?) while other Nigerians are guilty but what i will tell you is that Igbos have suffered more than any group for being Nigerians. I also wonder why he calls Achebe a tribalist...Achebe is simply stating his own side of the story and he's not trying to please anybody.

Thank you.

Pangea: who are you guys deceiving?
These ones nko?

[img]http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR2cqgRFet4IdWOFfOLnmbjOB2P5gbbSU_wkOiMPfs4dOFkf34NCRGZAPd2[/img]

[img]http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSlMVVNq53HjFGj-RbyMbT-E_LWJa8OOvSLSlniOorltekQSXd44--B1kA[/img]

[img]https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSa_dlvMCKLhiMHMSB0AD3wxrQ3JZfWHlDYAJ5kVqofxSqt7L3L4A[/img]

Monkey,get it right, these young boys are called Biafran babies, they did not fight the actual war. What is wrong with fools here.

all4naija: . What are sweating all over for, dude?! Did you just lose a girlfriend?!

NOOPS, it is the stupidity of some bigoted nairaladers like you that is the worry.

inufele2: How do you know that they were 18 and were not forced by ojuiku? Tell that rubbish to your fellow a55 licking baboons.
I don't fckking care about your mini god achebe, how can i be moved by the lies of a bitter and bigoted f00l? his lies are being exposed everyday and his fake memoirs will continue to be rubbished for its lack of substance.

Monkey shiit-eater, you are not Igbo and never knew what happened until you came to Nairaland. Agreed, there was an army of Biafran youths, but these Biafran kids did not step a foot in the war front.
Just sit down and allow Igbo people discuss their war, smelly aszhole.

shymexx: Andre, stop your Achebe-ism - Biafra had thousands of child soldiers...

I can post pictures of the child soldiers, stop lying...

Stop disrespecting those kids who were forced to fight for something they know little, or nothing about... They're the real biafran heroes!!

Dude, respect me as a person here and do not identify me as soone else.
No Biafran child under 18 was allowed to go and fight. There was a biafran youth army indeed, they were just like man-o-war of today. Those who went to the war front were of age and majority joined volutarily.

lagcity: ngodigha, lie lie no good. i know 2 ppl who fought at age of 14. even ojukwu cant deny this.

No they did not go to the war front, but were been trained as Biafran future soldiers.

all4naija: Though, I respect the writer/Prof, he's always been a fictitious writer all his life!

Shitt-eaten baboon, what Achebe published was his personal account during the war and not a fiction. You should know the difference between a fiction and a personal memoir, fool.

inufele2: You're a lobotomised ape, what a load of rubbish you post up there! Only a cretin like you will post rubbish like that.
1. Did ojuiku forced young underage biafrans to fight with substandard equipment thereby sending them to a certain death? Yes or no?
2 is it not a war crime and crime against humanity to use child soldiers?
Ojuiku, ashebe and cretins like you deserve to locked down their in a dungeon for life. What a cretinous being you are!

First class monkey, the age for joining the Biafran army was 18. Yet it was not forced on any youth. Most youths joined on voluntary basis. If Ozodi claimed he joined the Biafran army at 14 years, then he lied about his age. At 14, you are still in secondary school. But most students who joined the Biafran army were from higher institutions.
Get a life and don't be choked about Achebe in your dream, annus loving ape.

shymexx: He established it and created the code of conduct for the ministry - which means; he was part and parcel of everything done by that ministry...

So are you telling forumites that for example, the man who established Ministry of Information in Nigeria is responsible for what goes on there right now, dude, you are more than these. Yor recent found love in tribalism has really changed your reasoning levels. its true my good friend.

shymexx: Achebe is entitled to his opinions and his extremist and divisive point-of-view - however, it becomes problematic when people want to make a book written by an unreformed biafran propagandist as the "Bible" for the Biafran war...

I'm out, yo!!

Osuji was involved in the war, let him publish his own memoirs.