njideoby: Who is denying ndi Igbo the use of the airport? All these while, why have Anambra state government not done anything to revive the airport. Anambra state do not have any existing airport, yet it cannot rebuild this one.
Federal government will not allow them, will not even allow anybody near there. You have military guiding there till today.
Uli Airport is a symbolic shrine, which remains the height of Blackman's greatest technological achievement to date. The wonder of Uli Airport is yet to be matched by Blackman anywhere in the world. The Airport and its structures have been deliberately left to decay, so as to attempt to obliterate the memory of an Igbo symbol of technological advancement, military superiority, resistance and survival. Had Igbo Day been held at Uli as scheduled earlier, its significance would have been almost impossible to express in words, in terms of its symbolicness and what Uli Airport represented and represents to Ndi Igbo.
Uli Airport the story goes was completely built from scratch by mostly Igbos. It was a military cum civil Airport. While supply aircrafts hovered overhead, the Airport below was said to be in pitch darkness and at the right moment the runway lights would come on momentarily as aircrafts come in and land. The aircrafts were said, according to legend, to taxi along runways, which terminated underground or into the trees, thus shielding them from enemy air-to-ground fire. Meanwhile, federal airforce jets hovered overhead strafing at every and anything in the pitch darkness below. It was said that any of the several run ways hit by a bomb or rocket was repaired immediately within minutes to enable the next supply aircraft hovering low overhead to land. The supply aircrafts often had to circle flying low above the trees for hours, evading federal airforce Migs and jets.
Uli Airport became the Igbo lifeline during the economic blockade, Biafra having become landlocked and surrounded. Uli Airport was of such importance or indeed of the most singular importance to Biafra and to Nigeria, so much so that the federalists landed a marine-borne invasion force at "Oguta II", which was only about 20 - 30 odd kilometers to Uli, so as to bring the Airport within artillery range. Uli was so indispensable to the survival of Ndi Igbo, so much so that His Excellency General Ojukwu personally commanded the Biafran forces that defended "Oguta I" and liberated "Oguta II" within three days of the landing of federal forces in the area. I was a kid then and I vividly recollect seeing General Ojukwu and his convoy drive past towards Oguta. We were waving, cheering him and the troops being rushed to Oguta as they filed along singing, some on foot, others on vehicles and tractors.
...
Not a single federal soldier who set foot on Oguta went home alive. They all perished - including some who came with family, livestock and supplies in several supply ships in the armada that invaded Oguta. Many perished where their ships were sunk. The federal side risked and lost so much in that operation because they wanted Uli Airport at all costs. Ndi Igbo threw everything at them because Uli was our lifeline and last hope. The defeat of the federalists at Oguta left a monument which remains at the Oguta lagoon until today - the carcasses of the sunk federal ships are still there. Anyone who visits home should try go and see for themselves. General Ojukwu himself lead the operation - that was how important and strategic Uli was and is to Igbos.
Then the federal airforce came with a new method. They would drop a round fluorescent light and suspend it in mid air. This light shone like a moon. It was midnight and sometimes the first hours of the morning but you could pick up a pin or needle over a fifty or more kilometers radius from the almost daylight generated by this artificial moon. You would be in pitch darkness, either sleeping or simply because the oil lamps had to be put out to avoid federal jets that fired at any trace of light, and suddenly it was daylight from this strange moon hanging over from the sky in the direction of Uli. The first time it happened it was share panic and every one, old and young scurried into the bushes and the trenches. I say panic because we as children could sense the disquiet amongst the adults and the share confusion and pandemonium that reigned at the first appearance of this strange moon. Then the bombs, rockets and buffers (buffer was the Biafran anti aircraft guns used at Uli) would start to boom for what seemed like eternity and slowly the moon would die. Within minutes of the silence of the guns, the supply aircrafts hovering low all across the horizon would again begin to land at Uli. I heard the roar of every aircraft that landed at and took off from Uli and the deafening and terrifying boom and bang of every aircraft that crashed into the woods. I was only a child a few kilometers away from Uli. Most nights you would come out and watch these huge metal birds with large wings hovering so low over the roof you had think it would uproot the house with it like an eagle would lift a prey. But these were no birds of prey, they brought us food, medical, military supplies and life, but you were scared all the same, least they crashed onto the roof. After all, they flew in pitch darkness, low, almost hugging the trees, with federal jets ruling the heights, strafing, and rocketing any trace of light. They also had to keep away from ground fire from the buffer guns. I still wonder how those pilots flew those planes then.
Uli Airport was such a fortress that at a stage, the federal airforce jets and their pilots contrived to jettison their rockets, bombs and cannons at targets and bushes as far away as possible from Uli Airport. And all the neighbouring communities, including mine paid dearly in lost lives and damaged buildings, farms and economic trees. That was how powerful Uli Airport was.
Almost every Igbo who survived as a refugee, every child who was rescued from kwashiorkor and many who lived to tell the tale and to continue the procreation of the Igbo race today, towards its destiny, owed their survival to Uli Airport. Every grain of rice or corn meal or garri gabon, every drip drop or tablet, every stick of stockfish or other nutrients, every and each single bullet or gun fired by NdiIgbo in self preservation and survival, at a stage was landed at Uli Airport.
His Excellency, General Ojukwu left the embattled Biafran enclave through Uli so he may live to fight another day, hence he is with us today.
In the last days and hours of Biafra in January 1970, even when the expedition force sent out probably from Uli Airport to blow up the Njiaba bridge at Awo-Omamma so as to hold the advancing federal troops there had been destroyed by federal troops who had crossed the bridge much earlier than the Biafran forces could arrive and hold it, and the whole of Awo-Omama and environs had been taken by the rampaging federal forces, Uli Airport continued to fire mortars and shells in the direction of Awo-Omamma where they thought the federal troops were located. In this respect, Uli Airport is symbolic for firing the first shot in defense of Igboland since the demise of Biafra. In a sense, Uli Airport remained undefeated and unsurrendered. The airport smoked even after the very last moment of Biafra and the federals could not venture into its precincts until General Effiong and other officers had ensured and guaranteed their safety.
There could be no better place and symbol of Igbo resistance and survival than the vicinity of Uli Airport. Igbo detractors hate the place, they had rather it was wiped off the maps, never to be mentioned again. It was one place that was impenetrable and undefeated, defiant to the last, firing shells and motors even after Biafra had formally seized to exist. Egyptian pilots, Russian Migs and British jets and military advisers could not stop Uli Airport - the most sophisticated piece of engineering designed and constructed by a Blackman anywhere, and which surpassed what many a Whiteman can ever design or construct. Any other country that had proper values would have turned Uli into a monument - tourist, spiritual or otherwise. The Igbo Nation will ensure that Uli Airport lives forever.
What about the courageous pilots who continued to fly to Uli Airport against all odds? There were not Igbo, but many of them perished trying to save Ndi Igbo, either shot down by federal airforce jets or ran out of fuel or crashed into the trees flying too low for hours waiting for the federal jets to run out of ammunition. Part of the reason many of those pilots kept coming, notwithstanding the risks, was not only because they loved Igbos, but also because they had confidence in Uli Airport. We have to rebury those pilots too.
Denying Igbos the use of such an edifice and symbol as Uli Airport as a place to celebrate the remembrance of their war dead is the most treacherous act that can ever be perpetrated against Ndi Igbo. It is an act that appeases those who fail to appreciate the values of Ndi Igbo and it is an act that diminishes the Igbo spirit and a celebration of their survival and their triumph over adversity. That singular act is sacrilegious and deserves appropriate punishment in accordance with Igbo traditions and custom as laid down by our ancestors, deities and gods. Francis Nnamdi Elekwachi
claseek: Why do people always strip nakedd as a form of protest? That's sheer madness
You will understand when your husband makes 20,000 a day, he calls you "honey" to tell you he will be giving you 15000 naira to buy food for you and the children; turkey and stew ingredients. You are already jumping and happy to get the money in few hours, only for the these criminals to stop your husband to collect the 20,000 naira. Madam, will you not support the strip to protest this evil. He won't be stripping if these people will not take his money!
Day169: The CDC is more empowered constitutionally as he oversees all of the armed forces in the country (both military and paramilitary). On the other hand, historically, the army has almost solely been responsible for military incursions into government via coup d'etat (and mutiny). Hence the perceived superiority of the COAS!
The army is only powerful because we are on land. If we all lived in the ocean or water, I assure you, the Navy will be the ones running the show including plotting coups. Likewise, if we all lived in the air, the Airforce will be in charge.
Princesaha: This can never happen under our able Presidoe Buhari. As a Yoruba Muslim, this is the main reason why I hate Osibanjo. He will not arrest these so-called actors now for paying homage to a criminal and a separatist because they are Christians like him abi. An Hausa man, equally a Muslim brother was killed at Enugu today simply because he stole ordinary car battery and none of those Christian murderers was arrested. You and I knows that It can not happen under Buhari. This is the major reason I want every Yoruba Muslim to pray hard for Buhari's recovery so that he can take over from this Crusader we have now. If not, the coming days won't be funny for we Yoruba Muslims.
This one is going around hoodwinking these poor uniformed people, that Kanu gave him direct instructions to tell them to stay home and it is just painful no one is seeing through this scam.
To the LAW ABIDING people of the East, do not allow yourselves to be used by the TWO PROSTITUTE AT ONCE CARRIER called Nnamdi Kanu. You guys should tell him to bring all his family to join the struggle too.[/s]
Afonja as expected at 6am when all humans are waking up to focus for work, Biafraa is their priority. If you like use your other 5 accounts to like your post and share, you are wasting your time and deceiving yourself. Biafraa is already here. Start preparing, if you need help call me. No bad feelings...we are leaving!
Yyeske: [s]I believe you've never visited Yenagoa before and neither do you have an ijaw friend, deal with it, the ijaws hate us but you can continue deceiving yourselves because radio Biafra tells you otherwise[/s]
This people ehh. This people ehh. men...if hell fire is not the proper place for this people on the last day, I'll be very with God. I have never in my life seen a people as wicked and divisive like Afonja.
[s]Lol. Didn't I say that Nnamdi Kanu is senseless and his followers are even worse. We should dialogue with Hausa and Yoruba and let these inconsequential little tribes to sort themselves out. Now Ijaw wan show themselves....People who only know how to consume ogogoro and impregnate women. Serves us right.[/s]
Afonja and their divisive tendency. He used one account Afameva to post something, then reply with this account to buttress his point. Shameless!
In April 2017, Igbo traders took to the streets in Yenagoa in an unprecedented protest. Something had rattled them. Three prominent Igbo traders had been murdered in one month. They suspected something more sinister than routine armed robbery and assassination. They put their finger on xenophobia. The police dismissed the insinuation and reassured them of their safety. The murders were unrelated incidents, they said. The traders took the assurance but remained nervous.
A month later, a man checked into a hotel room in Yenogoa with his girlfriend. What transpired in that room has not been fleshed out. The girl was rushed to a hospital with stab wounds. Two days after, she died. The boyfriend had sneaked out of the hotel and has not been seen since then. There are versions of his story. But the dead lady was certainly Ijaw, an indigene. The fugitive boyfriend is an Igbo trader. The story that gained traction on the streets of Yenagoa was sharp toothed. It was that an Igbo man had used an Ijaw girl for money-making ritual. What followed was unprecedented. Violent mobs sprouted. Every Igbo man became an actual or potential criminal. The town convulsed with hate and chants of ‘Igbo must go.’ Shops belonging to Igbos in a section of the town were ransacked and burnt. Igbos squirreled into holes. They weren’t entirely shocked. They had warned about rising anti Igbo tensions.
The police and the Army were deployed to contain the rampaging youths. Naked violence was brought under control. Wounded Igbos were taken to hospitals. But the animosity and hate that had been lit couldn’t be doused by mere law enforcement. Igbos lived their lives in fear. Ghosts of reprisals lurked their homes and followed them everywhere. Their shops remained shut and locked. They were told, in that section of Yenogoa, to lie low. Leaving their shops locked was in their own interest. The nursing of the tempers of their landlords , the Ijaw indigenes, had to be their immediate priority. They stayed indoors like sheep while the state struggled to negotiate with the indigenes their citizenship rights.
Throughout their ordeal none of the prominent Azikiwes of Ijaw descent was heard or seen. None of the surrogates of that political leader who always flaunted his kinship with the Igbos during elections was heard. The political tendency that prides itself as latter-day Igbo ethnic champions was not heard. They could have at least reminded irate Ijaw youths a few political debts. The IPOB didn’t bother to issue a statement even though Yenagoa is within its description of Biafran jurisdiction. The Igbos in Yenagoa were left to genuflect, prostrate, worship Ijaw youths and their anger. I called a friend of mine who is Ijaw from Bayelsa to discuss the incident. He was not embarrassed by the actions of the youths in that town. He proclaimed that Igbos brought armed robbery to Yenagoa. I was speechless. But that explained so much of what was happening on the streets of Yenogoa. He is enlightened but he subscribes to the very jaundiced ideas that have bred this xenophobia.
They believe Igbos are settlers that can be sent away from Yenogoa. They believe Igbos are contaminants of Ijaw morality, they are responsible for much of the evil in the town. And there is one he didn’t talk about that flows from envy. They believe that Igbos are usurpers. The corollary is the ungodly idea that some kind of cleansing is required. That is why many didn’t find the action of the youths repugnant. That is a dangerous situation. The economy is passing through a turbulence. There are many jobless youths. In many places in Nigeria, Igbos dominate street commerce. Indigenes welcome them but prosperity can breed envy. When frustrations mount, some of the anger ordinarily meant for the governments will be channeled towards the prosperous settler. He will become the one who has usurped the opportunities that rightly belonged to the indigenes. That is the pattern. His crimes are magnified and labeled affront against the peace and quiet of the indigenes, by his tribe. That is the reason Nigerians are from time to time butchered in South Africa. South Africa has been mismanaged.
Joblessness and frustration have taken over the streets. Some of the anger naturally must be projected to immigrants. Nigerians commit crimes like others. But their crimes are not seen as individual transgressions of the criminal code but a corruption of the society, a dilution of morals by a contaminating and eradicable tribe. Such animosity can cake into xenophobia. Then xenophobia seethes like a volcano, splashing lava in its seasons. That is what erupted in Yenagoa Where ethnic hate flows freely ethnic profiling must exist. The sin of one man can be visited on his tribesmen. It is wrong. Sometimes, a fight between a Hausa man and a Yoruba man in Idumota could become a Yoruba versus Hausa world war, in minutes. But it will die quickly once the fire is put out, and everyone moves on. That’s a different thing. Some other times it could linger. If a market or some other privilege is in contention, the animosity can endure. But in all such cases the frictions and flares are localized. There are no widespread systemic complications. That’s the Ketu mile 12 scenario. No one tribe rises to demand the evacuation of the other.
The incident in Yenogoa was different. The implicated incident was ordinarily too isolated, too cold to spark such a wide response. That incident alone couldn’t have fed the mob with such vengeance. The anger and violence were deployed with a touch of premeditation. Mere provocation cannot explain the direction of vengeance towards all Igbo in a purely criminal matter being handled by the police. It is interesting that incident could happen in Yenagoa now. The civil war put a wedge between the south south communities and the Igbos. The civil war sowed deep suspicions. Post civil war, Igbos complained of more bitterness and resentment in the hands of the South South communities than the Hausa Fulani, their supposed enemies. Recently, that friction appeared to have abated.
Since Saro Wiwa and MOSOP, Igbos have identified with the plight of the Niger delta and supported their agitations for resource control. Igbos want equity. And equity includes resource control and true federalism. When Jonathan became president, Igbos gave him more support than his Niger Delta. So it all looked that the ghosts of the civil war had been banished. It looked like the South South has switched political alliance from the north back to the east. It looked like the shared sense of victimhood was deep and had birthed a brotherhood. Hate against Hausa Fulani has been freely spread around those regions. Once the heart learns hate it can choose other targets. Perhaps Yenagoa is a mere blip on the path of that political alliance. Perhaps, it’s a cautionary reminder of reality. The wide dispersal of Igbos and their integration into all communities in the country is good for national unity. What happened in Yenagoa is inimical to national unity.
Afonja propaganda, trying hard to divide Igbos and Ijaws. Igbos and Ijaws, don't let this divisive people put a divide between us Biafrans. IPOB have challenged the Hotel in Yanogoa to produce the name of the supposd Igbo man and a security cam of the said Igbo man taking an Ijaw girl into a room since the Hotel has cameras. How difficult is this? The rumors making round is that man who checked in with the Ijaw girl is not an Igbo man. All these is well planned to put disunity between Igbos and Ijaws because the enemies know that the Biafraa restoration movement has reached critical mass and the Igbo-Ijaw unity has never been this strong since after the civil war!
My people... don't be fooled, follow us to ask the hotel to produce the gotdamn guest checkin book or online guest checkin list for us to see the name of the Igbo man. 2 weeks since the crime, they have not done this!
Revered Sister Coordinating IPOB Evangelism After Church Nnewi, Anambra. This Biafraa agitation is gaining serious momentum with the level of Biafraa flags flying everywhere in Biafraland. God help you if you they catch you with Nigerian flag or color!
Nwakaumu: No reasonable Fellow will have a yoruba as a business partner and succeeds. They would rather see you fail with them than succeed with them. jealousy and wickedness are the true marks of a yoruba person.
What do you think is the reason behind their way of reasoning? It's seems majority of them reason like this...
chibboy: listen.. i love yorubas generally. but it is what they stand for that i dont like... "NOTHING"...! they have no stand no friend no enemy no love no hate but only "a rope". yes a rope to pull more successful people down. they know they do not have what it takes so they do not want anyone else to take what they cannot have.. when they receive a slap they want everyone to receive same slap. when they are blind they want no one else to see. i still love yorubas.. afterall i once dated a yoruba girl named Titi..
Wow...you hit the nail precisely in their coneheads. Perfect definition of Afonjas...that's how they reason.
FunkyAlhaji2015: This boy is attending a mushroom university and getting honours. He should try Harvard or Yale na. Impact he won't even get accept. A waste of our stolen money
Shut the eff up. Didn't I mention that his younger brother attended Imperial college where he graduated with honors in Mechanical engineering? Isn't Imperial and MIT ranked way more than Harvard in engineering? Dumb Nigerians.
RealSleek: [s]me think that guy is just suicidal. .only used biafra 's cause to make his death meaningful. .a ploy that clearly backfired because no one gave a fvck about his sorry existence and his abysmal demise. what is meaning of committing suicide to achieve a cause, its totally pointless even more so pitiable when the said struggle isn't even your concern...bawo ni won nja n'ile keji she kan bobo yen?? for those applauding him..how many of you can set yourself on fire for biafra. .if yes ..perhaps someone will give a fvck and give u a newspaper front page,70 seconds tv time, blog news for two days..then we ll forget ur sorry ass
mind you, before you shout afonja, I want secession ..at worst regional restructuring..and its cant happen through internet noise and chest beating[/s]
Something is wrong with this Afonja of a people. Biafraans stay away from this people in real life...they can poison you and you will die. They envy you 24/7. They monitor what you are doing 24/7 because they know anything you touch will be successful.
I may not like Rochas Okorocha, but I respect his children for the courses they are studying. The other son in UK also has BS and Masters from Imperial college....a school comparable to MIT in USA. You cannot enter these school without having distinctions in all subjects. I know because a friend applied with all distinctions and still got rejected. I love children who are hard working, intelligent despite their father's money. You just have to be naturally brilliant to excel in engineering. No amount billions given to you will help.
Afonjas looking this man with incredible anger and hate...asking themselves, why would this jewish man die for Biafraa? Can a jewish man die for Oduo Republic? Let me tell you something Afonjas, before a jewish man will die for Afonjas, you will have to to drug him.
Watch and read below how Afonjas will be foaming in the mouth and searching online to verify because they can't believe this. Some will even resort to say it's propaganda.
Politics / Re: Uli Airport - A Symbolic Shrine Of Biafran Resistance By Francis Elekwachi by Nkem4040: 5:36am On Oct 26, 2018 