₦airaland Forum

The funeral ceremony and burial of the leader of former Eastern Nigeria/Biafra, General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, has come and gone. The event met all expectations, and even surpassed some. To us, his beloved Ndigbo, nothing can ever be too big for our Ikemba. His funeral proved to be the biggest funeral event in Africa, ever.
We are proud of that for many reasons, and I will only highlight THREE most important reasons for that pride.

The first reason is that the event proved to the whole world that the Ikemba was not a "Rebel" as the victorious side of the Nigerian opinion tended to describe him, almost throughout his life of struggle; rather, those who thwarted and sabotaged the Aburi Accord, are the true rebels. They rebelled against the wishes of the Nigerian people which they willingly articulated and signed in the Aburi document. Through their wicked act, the Nigerian nation was set back 3 million citizens and 45 years. Nigerian history will never forgive such people. This verdict will become clear when those people die.

The second reason is that Ndigbo and Easterners as a whole have, through the massive outpour of support, proved to the whole world that we honor our heroes. Nothing gratified my heart more than seeing ALL Eastern + Delta state governors physically present during various stages of the Ikemba's funeral services. That act shows in no uncertain terms, that they are all proud to identify with his legacy as a freedom fighter, defender of truth, and voice for the oppressed in Nigeria. This singular act has effectively unified the SE and SS (Eastern Nigeria) once more, and the future is ours to capture and hold confidently!

The third reason is that younger generation of Ndigbo and Eastern Nigerians have -by virtue of the standard and magnititude of Ojukwu's funeral- been exposed to the truth. For many years, some younger folks argued in futility against Ojukwu's legacy. Now, it has become abundantly clear, that the great Lion of Biafra is a true ICON who the youths can boldly claim as their role model. At a time that Nigerian politicians only sow seeds of graft and personal profiteering and political racketeering, our youths would once more be able to distinguish between a thieving class of "leaders" and a true leader who instead of stealing, contributed his own resources for the emacipation of his people -Eastern Nigerians.

My special thanks go to the governors of the SE for stepping up to the plate to claim their stake in the greatest leader of Eastern Nigeria. I would have reserved a special thanks to governor Peter Obi for paying the Ikemba's medical bills while sick in London, but I guess that other SE governors would have done the same thing, happily. Our govenors fully answered the call of history by organising the funerals in all 5 SE states. I want to say a whole dalu nu o!

My other special thanks go to President Goodluck Jonathan for FULLY answering his father's name by giving presidential accent to the National funeral led by the Nigerian army.
The president, by this singular act, has won the hearts of the Igbo nation. The same thanks goes to General Azubuike Ihejirika, the Chief of Army Staff, who led the group of generals from the army to receive the Ikemba's remains at the Abuja airport, and ensured that he received a FULL military honor both at Abuja and Nnewi.

Thank you Mr President! You are your father's son! 

I want to thank all the foreign dignitaries that graced the occassion, particularly the US Ambassador and the former president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings. You have spoken loudly with your physical presence, and we Eastern Nigerians are so grateful! Thank you!


A Minor Glitch

Finally this vote of thanks would not be complete without identifying ONE minor glitch during the event. This glitch almost dented the whole sparkle, and it is that former Ghana President Jerry Rawlings private jet was forced to land in Lagos "for clearance" before proceeding to Enugu, by which time it had become dark, and his aircraft had to land in the dark! He (as a seasoned, courgeous and smart leader) claimed that the ghost of Ojukwu aided his pilot to land safely!  Well, we never knew that Enugu is NOT an international airport until yesterday. 


A HUGE thanks to Umu Igbo and Eastern Nigerians worldwide for your undying love and honor to our late leader.
May God bless you and honor you, just like you honored the Ikemba.

Signed,
Yours truly

Onlytruth, ndu di n'eziokwu 1 of Igboland, Eze Ndigbo Nairaland. 

dayokanu:
Whats the difference between what those you named say and what Nchara, abadaba, High chief, chino11 mentalgong etc say?

I have never known a more dishonest group than the Igbos bunch or criminals

The major difference is that those people will tell you same to your face physically.
Whatever the Igbo feels about Yoruba or any other group is not a secret. We wear our feelings openly. You hide yours, waiting for our weakest hour, to strike!
Y'all are truely very dangerous I tell you. We know you now though. 

Nothing delights me more than seeing certain people dying slowly from the massive impact of the truth unleashed by Ojukwu's death.
Never in Africa has there been a funeral such as this!
It only means one thing: the ultimate Nigerian solution is within reach.

Obiagu1:
Nawa oo! But I'm not shocked, I know the mindset of an average Yoruba man; smiling in your face but have a deep rooted hatred at anything you do and could surprise you at any moment.
Could any "ignorant" Igbo friend of Kunle Adegoke be shocked? Yes because to them, he is a gentle man and a friend whereas he has a different opinion. It is in their blood, from Awolowo to Akintola to Adegoke to everyone of them 

I have personally noticed the same thing. I never knew that for a long time, but Nairaland helped a lot.
You would NEVER meet a Yoruba with views like[b] dayokanu, bluetooth, eko ile, negro-nts[/b], etc. But then, here they are!
You begin to wonder where they all are, until Kunle Adegoke slipped!
Frankly, they are by far the most two faced group I know. 

ndu_chucks,

I have already replaced all the zeroes in that your false equation with "to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done" -which in numerical terms means ad infinitum.
That is what you really believe, which is why you defend mass murderers like Murtala Muhammad.
Embrace your beliefs bro. 

So, as I was saying before, if we don't unite, thieves from distant lands will declare open season on our natural (and human) resources and pillage it until it is completely depleted.
Almost every state in the East can be a country on its own, but we are better off if we move together whether to remain in Nigeria or to secede. If we remain apart, our aspirations will NEVER be attained because our enemies will always play one side against the other like alj-harem is trying to do here.

Let us just ignore him and continue our discussion.

The Lion of Ghana.

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more

lol @OAM4J

^^

This brought tears to my eyes!

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Fact remains that Easterners (irrespective of tribe) were being killed in North and West. The Northerners wanted to do the same in the East, it didn't happen.
All non-Easterners in the East were given safe passage to return to their regions even with arms.

Anyway, I don't want to derail this thread with silly irrelevant diversions.

As Gowon struggled to stabilize himself in power, random murders of Eastern Region soldiers continued to occur. On August 12 (1966), several NCOs from Eastern Region were rounded up and killed by Northern soldiers in Apapa, Lagos. Less than two weeks before that, the army's Provost Marshal, Major Ibanga Ekanem (as Eastern officer of the Annang ethnic group) and his driver were shot dead at a checkpoint on Carter Bridge by sergeant Lapdam while en route to an errand for Gowon.

Source: Oil, Politics and Violence (Max Siollun).

alj-harem, your brothers were very much at home killing ALL Easterners.  

^^
Okay, let me save you. 
His name is Major Ekandem.

Google his name and come back. 

^^

What is the name of that "Calabar" army officer killed on top of Carter Bridge in Lagos?
Was he Igbo?
Was he not killed in the West?

Look for the link yourself.
Freaking hyena.

pazienza:
God is certainly blessing them,d[b]idn't we watch zambia and ivory coast battle in AFCON finals[/b],while super chicken didn't even qualify for the tournament.

Hmm, never even thought of this!
This coincidence God's blessing is happening when Ojukwu is about to be buried.
Got to be God speaking boldly.

pazienza:
Isn't it possible that you are repeating Ojukwu's mistakes, Ojukwu had most of the prominent ijaw leaders in the eastern house supporting the biafra project,wasn't the name 'biafra' chosen by one of those Ijaw leaders by the name Opugo,isn't it possible that Ojukwu was aware of the minorities resentment of ndiigbo, but was rather hoping that those ijaw leaders he had with him  would just wave their magic wand and everything would be fine?

I've said it before here and I would say it again, we could have done more to share responsibility for the success or failure of the war. The crisis started as one between the East and the North. Easterners irrespective of tribe were hunted down and killed in the North and West. So, I don't like how, when Gowon created 12 states, it immediately isolated us Igbo from other Easterners, leading to some of them joing Nigeria to fight us. I have to admit that I may be saying this because I have that "hindsight is 20/20 advantage"; it may still be typical me which believe in never ceding my territory for anybody. We were fighting Hausa/Fulani, but Gowon was not Hausa/Fulani; he isn't even a Muslim. He is Christian!

So, my point is that we allowed our opponents in the North to out-maneuver us, not that we never allowed our neighbors any role in the war.
I really hope I don't speak more on this!

ChinenyeN:
A people can only be led as far as they willing to be led. In an earlier post, [B]Beaf[/b] gave an indication that SS leaders, such as Dokubo, command a great following. If there is any time to prove that, it would be in the upcoming years. If SS leaders can actually assert such influence and foster a pivotal alliance between them and SE, then maybe our future with our neighbors might be something to look forward to. BUT, as far as I history has shown, it is complete naivety to think that the collective sentiment/prejudice of a people can be ignored. Dokubo and co have a lot of work to do on their own people, before there can be any real movement forward.

In many ways Onlytruth and Noiseless, I am in agreement with you, but I just don't you should be putting so much faith in the words of Dokubo & co.

This is why I hereby advocate a joint SE/SS governors forum (or Eastern governors forum if you like), just like we have Northern governors forum. I lament that most of our governors are not so politically deft. They are the most equipped to plant and nuture such thinking.
For example, NOW (that the North is agitating for a review of revenue sharing formula) is the perfect time to form this governors forum.
The forum should put the politics of the two zones beyond the reach of the Edwin Clarks and other recidivistic characters in both zones. We need to move BOLDLY FORWARD JOINTLY in Nigerian politics. If we don't, our natural resources would be declared open sesame.

I wish I have contacts with any Eastern owned media house, I would have urged them to constantly publish whatever happens between the SE and SS to enable us ordinary folks follow what is going on. We cannot be pu-s-sy footing around things in Nigeria leaving room for vocal, short sighted and semi-literate sectional goons to dictate things.
I would have even advocated a strong Southern governors forum, but Yorubas have not shown themselves to be trustworthy.

So, I stick to the SE/SS forum for now.  

Erh, ndu_chucks, we are still waiting o.
Na gode mallam.

I am so impressed and happy that these countrues which supported Biafra sent reps to Ojukwu's burial.
This is very significant because it shows that they are very proud of their role in supporting us.
God bless them!

pazienza:
I agree with chinenye and ezeuche,majority of south south people talk and reason like ephomoghan,it's only an igbo person that  have not  lived amongst these people that will take Dokubo and briggs serious.

Something tells me that all these their talk of alliance  has something to do with GEJ  secret ambition of staying in aso rock beyound 2015,( he is no mandela)they will need igbo votes again.

These people think we are foolish,enugu airport is still unfinished,no second niger bridge yet,if things remain this way beyound this year,then Ohanaeze has serious questions to answer to ndiigbo. One thing is sure,2015 is going to be a year to remember.

GEJ will likely be judged by his records and achievement BEFORE 2015. You are right that he needs to deliver at least ONE fully functional international airport in the SE, and fix that Niger bridge this year, else he will start to lose support in SE.

Having said that, we are not unmindful of some of his "achievements" and exploits in Nigeria so far.
I am personally happy that he rose to the occassion when Ojukwu fell sick and had to be flown overseas. He fully answered that call. He has also shown himself to be Ezigbo nwa Eastern Nigeria by giving FULL presidential support to the National burial for Ojukwu. He is fully answering his fathers name as far as Ojukwu is concerned.

He could have distanced himself from it all as the sitting president of Nigeria (and knowing Nigeria well, I'm sure he must have been pressured by Igbo haters to stay away). He didn't and is still fully engaged in it. Also, if you also look very carefully and very closely, you would see that GEJ is gradually bringing back Ndigbo into the "scheme of things" in Nigeria. So, this man would not be so easy to throw under the bus!

His head is firmly on his shoulders. Let us just keep watching him. 2015 is still far somehow.

noiseless:
Wouldn't it be better if we channel our disappointment towards ohaneze bro? I personally will rather consider seriously what dokubo and briggs are saying than those on the streets because it takes the leaders to change and educate followers,the same way nigerian government has been feeding them with lies and brainwashing them, is the same way the dokubos and briggs will educate them about the truth for their common good.

Thank you my brother!
That is exactly why I'm not thinking and talking the same way as ChinenyeN and co. Believe me, I have my own feelings, but they have nothing to do with COLLECTIVE IGBO INTEREST.
The position that I've chosen to take and advocate here is what I believe is the best for Ndigbo (and hopefully our neighbors). I cannot afford to allow my sentiments becloud my vision for the collective good of both Igbo and our neighbors.

I would rather listen to the Asaris, Briggs and Beaf's , than some semi-literate folks running around the delta talking trash. As far as I'm concern, Edwin Clark is the only educated character/leader supporting the division between the two zones, and he is dying! (I believe he won't be relevant 10 years from now). His followers will be overwhelmed by a resurgent united East (SE and SS).

Sam_Ikenna:
Ndu Nwanne, I'm still waiting.

My brother you may wait for ever. hehehe!

You will not likely see ndu_chucks anywhere near this thread, because he is an agent of satan.
I'll wait with you though.

This can only mean that Ojukwu is the ultimate Nigerian TRUTH.