₦airaland Forum

advocate666: Another "goverment magic inquiry" in the offing.

9ja_I_hail: PointB, and other electoral/tribunal members. We need to discuss very urgently before things get out of hands.

Negro_Ntns: what is a meaningful contribution in a town hall congregation, is it only what you would like to hear?

im surprised you say non-igbos should leave. you are sitting in possibly a Yoruba or Hausa town or some other non-igbo town to join this conversation. you should welcome us into your market as we welcome you into our markets.

Prof Corruption: Segun has finally realized there are two sides to a coin. Iloh's story has now been put in proper context thus exposing the underpinning guile and artifice. Since the credibility of the story is now in question, I am not surprised he is backing out of the biafran nonsense.

Still on the Biafran Nightmares…

31 Jan 2013

Olusegun-Adeniyi-Back-Page.jpg-Olusegun-Adeniyi-Back-Page.jpg

The Verdict according to Olusegun Adeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

Last week, I failed to heed my own counsel by dabbling into “Biafra”, a hot-potato topic on which reason has taken flight on virtually all sides. But by rendering the account of my meeting with Rev. Moses Iloh, I also brought out some of the suppressed issues that our country may have to deal with if we are to achieve lasting reconciliation via truth, and really move forward. I have heard phrases like “let’s move on”, “let sleeping dogs lie” and other fanciful clichés in our pretence that we do not have truly critical issues. But we do have issues and until we successfully deal with them, sleeping dogs may only be pretending to sleep, and it will be difficult to build a virile and united nation. That much was evident in my conversation with the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN following the publication of my piece last week.

To the extent that we are all products of our backgrounds and cultures, the idea that somebody is a “detribalized Nigerian” is a big fraud as no such human species exists in our country today. But virtually everyone uses this delusionary phrase to describe himself or herself and people who he or she likes. In truth, however, it is a futile attempt to gloss over our diversity which could actually be a source of strength. That national hypocrisy indeed accounts for most of our problems since it is very convenient for a great majority to defend narrow/parochial interests within their various closets, notwithstanding public posturing to the contrary.

With so much bigotry from some Nigerians who cannot get out of the mode of using stereotypes in describing the “other side,” and with nobody or anything considered sacred, it is very obvious that pursuing the Biafran story is not worth the trouble for me. But when Agbakoba called that he felt pained by Rev. Iloh’s account of how his car was seized by the late Justice Agbakoba, I could not but listen to him. My conversation with the younger Agbakoba will therefore serve as my own closure on Biafra.

Agbakoba, who described Rev Iloh as someone for whom he has tremendous respect, felt the old man, who knew him and his family very well, should not have rendered his account in such a manner as to create erroneous impression about the Agbakobas and the Biafran war. “I was also involved in the civil war-- I was a Biafran soldier. I fought in the war so I am very familiar with some of the issues which Rev. Iloh discussed. One day I will write my own memoir as a Biafran soldier,” he said. Agbakoba, however, sees in Iloh’s account (which he said flows from Achebe’s book), within the context of a failure on the part of Nigeria’s leadership to heal the wounds caused by the civil war. He argued that the whole Biafran tragedy, for which his family also suffered, started “from a distorted account of a failed coup d’etat which was definitely not caused by the Igbo man. Because as far as I am concerned, the only connection that we had in relation to Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu being an Igbo man, was his name. His accent, his domicile and idiosyncrasies were totally northern. So, for reasons best known to him and his colleagues, they staged a coup d’ etat and it did not succeed. But what Igbos got for that was massive killings. We were in the North then and were actually part of the last people to cross the River Benue in Makurdi. I was on the last train.”

I am sure not many people, especially in the North, will agree with Agbakoba’s interpretation, which is also Achebe's thesis, that the 1966 coup d’etat was not an ethnic conspiracy. The fact that a section of the country saw it differently led to a pogrom against the Igbos in the North and ultimately a civil war. For Agbakoba, however, what is important in all these disputations is to find a leader who would have the courage to bring all the issues to the table, so that the nation could have a closure. “If we do not have a closure, the Achebe story, whether it is true or not, will continue be told and retold by people like Rev. Iloh. He is now in his 80s and he feels embittered. I, as a younger Igbo man, do not have that kind of bitterness but I understand the issues that he has raised. Anyone who has read Chimamanda’s ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ will see all the account of the civil war and the atrocities that were committed therein. They are not things that can easily be forgiven by the older generation of Igbos.”
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Most of the national upheavals in our polity, according to Agbakoba, stem from the failure to successfully close the Biafran chapter in our history. And the only way to do that “is to recognise that Nigeria suffers a major structural defect;[/size] which was one of the main issues that came out of the Aburi Accord--that we are too diverse to build a very centrifugal type of federation. We need to recognize our differences, manage them and give ourselves the necessary space to stay in our corner. Since that has not happened, you will continue to have these occasional challenges and schisms that we saw in the story of your encounter with Rev. Moses Iloh.” I suspect that advocates of Sovereign National Conference will agree with the SAN on this score.

Akanbi_edu: This is naive imo. This line of thought shows a basic lack of understanding of a typical Igbo thought process. You hear them saying they want office after Jonathan, they may actually be planning to assume office through unconventional means.

#Igi gogoro ma gun mi l'oju, okeere lati wo#

Onlytruth: Yes I agree!
In fact I've decided to throw my support again behind GEJ for 2015 elections. He must be doing something right for folks to be this desperate to undermine his powerbase.
So, for now GEJ it is for me!

Onlytruth: Where is our new Eze Ndigbo sef?!

This is when and where we need his opinion leadership. I will write him a private mail to this effect. An opportunity to put the records straight is being missed here.

@PointB I hope you share my views on this.

Frank-C:
Ndigbo, while berating this piece of propaganda, NEVER lose sight of the the real price - 2015 PRESIDENCY. GEJ is the real target, we just seem to stand in the way and hence must go down too. The oil bloc renewal from 2017 to 2019 are just too juicy to let go. This is also a wake up call for fellow Igbos that join the chorus. Look beyond the surface, the price may not just be what you think it is. You may just be a pawn in another man's chess board.

Some people want to get back to the Presidency via the VP backdoor. They seem not to be patient enough for other groups to lead hence all the incitement and gang up going on. From fuel subsidy protest to the chorus of 'clueless'and 'retardeen' and many others. They are actively swearing that an Igbo man will NEVER be president, even on this forum. This is not just about Ihejirika and some guy that care about the army. It is about 2015.

Choose you positions wisely. Look beyond the surface. The plot is deep. Judge GEJ and others based solely on what they promised to deliver to the SE and don't start doing that until at least the third quarter of 2014.

Yujin: My man, you have the wisdom of an exceptional wise man. You know their main target and that you have mentioned. Open your eyes people esp berem.

miiraaj: Sure. Anything that helps increase your salary.

miiraaj: Helping with shovel is the responsibilty of PointB

Sincere 9gerian: Oby made her allegations in public so any response to those allegations must also be made public.

Your suggestion of calling Oby to a room and giving her documents to peruse could be likened to calling El Rufai to a room and giving him documents to peruse so as to stop attacking the govt. Is that practicable?

Oby has obviously switched camps to either CPC or ACN and in the coming days her party affiliation will become obvious

Sincere 9gerian: I hope you read the report referenced below:
http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/117413-ezekwesili-got-it-wrong-by-labaran-maku.html

I wonder what other details you expect from govt officials. The press release from Maku contained detailed response and clarifications but whether you believe him or not is a different issue.

Perhaps the CBN should give us history of the foreign reserve levels month by month from 2005 till date.

eGuerrilla: Even @PointB regards the issue of accountability raised as one that is pretty straight forward, while, characteristically, anchoring much of the blame for our depleted foreign reserves on Sanusi's head.

garri (x8):
Very very senseless statement from Ndigbo!!!

So the f00ls will vote a Mediocre as long as he's from the South-East... Abi??

Omen100: [s]my father was a farmer and I had a farmland.[/s]

another similar shoeless story again

SlyIg: it was two options for him. Either 2years of jail or 750k bail. He paid the 750k bail and left the court majestically. Now tell me where the poor people are heading to. Just compare billions of naira stolen by this man and 750k.

solomon111: That is your own way of seeing it.
It can also be infered that GEJ is very democratic,and delegates powers.
That is the future of Nigeria.
We don't need a goliath,or a tyrant who believes he/she is a king ruling over slaves.