₦airaland Forum

pazienza:
Do you expect Diamond to start naming all the Ethnic minorities in the East, do you know how many minorities we already had in Northern Cross Rivers? You are not serious.
An Eastern minority by the name Effiong was the second in command in Biafra, the Attorney General, the commissioners for Education, Agriculture, Health etc were all minorities. Their role in Biafra was unambiguous. Kogbara an Ogoni was Biafra representative in London. How many Eastern minorities were high ranked in Gowon's one Nigerian government that had the best interest of Eastern minorities at heart more than the Biafran government?

Gowon and his people were shouting "Araba" ( division/secession) when they were killing Easterners in the North, they wanted to secede from
the country, you mind explaining to me how and why they changed from Araba to One Nigeria, in a matter of days?

Gowon was the one one who failed to protect Easterners in the North, he feigned weaknesses while his people attacked and killed innocent citizens.

He was the one who broke all the agreements reached in Aburi, deciding to pick and choose which one to implement. Agreement is the end product of negotiation, it's either kept or broken, no inbetween.

He Gowon was the one who declared war on Biafra, not Ojukwu.

No you are the one that is NOT serious! Effiong was Ojukwu's deputy. Kogbara was also part of his ambassadors. So why did Diamond choose to overlook or ignore this salient facts in his book, especially when it was such common knowledge? Even if he could not mention all the minorities by name, why could he not list the largest number of minorities in Biafra in terms of size? He was able to recount the participants on the Igbo side, but chose to totally ignore the minorities. That does not portray him as a scholar, but as a mouthpiece of the propaganda arm, of the eastern govt.

Some northerners shouted 'Araba' after the coup led by Igbo soldiers had killed off their most important Northern leaders, but failed to affect any of the Eastern leaders. Aguiyi-Ironsi took over and did nothing! Instead of prosecuting those soldiers implicated in the coup, he kept making empty promises!

Gowon was NOT one of those shouting Araba. Get your facts right.

As for Aburi, 90% of what was agreed at Aburi was offerred to Ojukwu after the initial agreement did not hold. But did Ojukwu accept it? NO. A wiser man who wanted to guarantee a safe future for his people would have accepted that 90%, and gone back to the negotiating table to ask for the remaining 10%.

In the words of Uwechue, Ojukwu preferred to "lead his people into a war they were unprepared for!"

Raph Uwechue, "It is sad but instructive irony that Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, one of Africa's one‐time most brilliant political promises, was the man that led his own people with such a lack of ingenuity into what was clearly a foreseeable disaster." The tragedy was built on Ojukwu's inflexibility and the resultant inability to effect compromise on the political side. He fueled the disaster with his ambition, desire and ability to control the situation in Biafra. Ojukwu was fighting a war within the Civil War, as he struggled to keep and consolidate his position of leadership. And the tragedy was prolonged and insured by the divisive actions Ojukwu used to maintain his position of power.
https://maxsiollun./2011/01/03/quick-kill-in-slow-motion-the-nigerian-civil-war/

During the Aburi negotiations, why was full reprieve for the coup plotters put on the table by Ojukwu? Why was he trying to exonerate the Igbo soldiers that had killed the Northern leaders?

laudate:
Yeah.... jumping to conclusions again. You have a remarkable knack for failing to learn from the mistakes of others and yourself.

How did you know that "the Northern Cross Rivers feared the Ibibio-Annang-Efik as much as they feared Ndiigbo", as you claim? Were you in their mind? Ok, let us assume they feared Ndi'Igbo. Why did the Igbo simply not let them be, by letting them have their own COR Region which they had agitated for?

How do you know that the COR was never going to pass successfully through a referendum?? Were you the govt in power or were you God at that period in time?

When the minorities of the old Mid-West started requesting for the creation of their own region from the old Western region in the fifties, did any of them or even the larger public give them any chance of success? Did they not keep pressing on with their demands until it finally became a reality??

You don't get it. No one stopped them. You can't stop a people United and hell bent on separate existence from you, especially if their perceived injustice/marginalization is real. Awo learnt this lesson the hard way with the mid west, so did the East with Bamenda. The people were united, and the injustice was real. There was no stopping them.

That wasn't the case in the East. Eyo ita was the premier and the Obong of Calabar was the leader of the Eastern house of chiefs. There was Equity.

Eyo ita lost out in power tussle, he wasn't alone, he had Igbo accomplices too, so he seeked to carve out a kingdom for himself, the people weren't with him, so he returned back to the NCNC and became a good man once again.

Gowon was not pressed on by the Minorities to divide the East, Gowon did so of his own will, the least the minorities could do was live with it and go with the flow. The New divisions favoured the Ijaw and Ibibio-Annang-Efik then, but not the smaller groups.

No, I wasn't in the minds of the smaller Eastern minorities, but that's why we have reports, to capture the minds of the people. And thanks to the Wilkink report, we have the minds of the smaller ethnic minorities in the East.

By the way, you have failed to give me the names of principal officers of Eastern region minority origin that were in Gowon one Nigeria liberation government.

laudate:
No you are the one that is NOT serious! Effiong was Ojukwu's deputy. Kogbara was also part of his ambassadors. So why did Diamond choose to overlook or ignore this salient facts in his book, especially when it was such common knowledge? Even if he could not mention all the minorities by name, why could he not list the largest number of minorities in Biafra in terms of size? He was able to recount the participants on the Igbo side, but chose to totally ignore the minorities. That does not portray him as a scholar, but as a mouthpiece of the propaganda arm, of the eastern govt.

Some northerners shouted 'Araba' after the coup led by Igbo soldiers had killed off their most important Northern leaders, but failed to affect any of the Eastern leaders. Aguiyi-Ironsi took over and did nothing! Instead of prosecuting those soldiers implicated in the coup, he kept making empty promises!

Gowon was NOT one of those shouting Araba. Get your facts right.

As for Aburi, 90% of what was agreed at Aburi was offerred to Ojukwu after the initial agreement did not hold. But did Ojukwu accept it? NO. A wiser man who wanted to guarantee a safe future for his people would have accepted that 90%, and gone back to the negotiating table to ask for the remaining 10%.

In the words of Uwechue, Ojukwu preferred to "lead his people into a war they were unprepared for!"

During the Aburi negotiations, why was full reprieve for the coup plotters put on the table by Ojukwu? Why was he trying to exonerate the Igbo soldiers that had killed the Northern leaders?

Like I had already said, Diamond must not start listing all the ethnic groups in the East and their contributions in the struggle, I mean, I wonder the relevance of this to your argument?

The Gowon Odua-Arewa side was accusing Igbos of forcing Eastern minorities into Biafra, if anything speaking of Eastern minorities participation and roles they play in Biafra can only strengthen Diamond argument, that should be what a Biafran paid person should be doing, but Diamond didn't he was an independent mind, it should be a credit to him, not a dent. *grins*


The Araba riots took place after Ironsi murder. The Northern bourgeoisie and commoners were considering secession then, hence why they looked the other way while their almajiris massacred innocent Easterners.


There is nothing like 90% implementation of an agreement. Negotiation table is where each party give and take to reach an agreement. once an agreement is reached, you can't start giving and taking again. An agreement is either kept or broken.

Gowon broke an agreement reached at a negotiation table. There is nothing like 90% or 0% implementation of an agreement.

Why are you quoting Uwaechue, he is but an Igbo man with his own opinions and entitled to them, that however doesn't make them facts, do you agree with everything else uwaechue has to say about the war and Ndiigbo,or are you simply cherry picking?

On your last question,because,if you must kill those that participated in the first coup, then you must kill the likes of Buhari, Mutala and Danjuma that participated in the counter coup, don't you think so?

pazienza:
You don't get it. No one stopped them. You can't stop a people United and hell bent on separate existence from you, especially if their perceived injustice/marginalization is real. Awo learnt this lesson the hard way with the mid west, so did the East with Bamenda. The people were united, and the injustice was real. There was no stopping them.

That wasn't the case in the East. Eyo ita was the premier and the Obong of Calabar was the leader of the Eastern house of chiefs. There was Equity.

Eyo ita lost out in power tussle, he wasn't alone, he had Igbo accomplices too, so he seeked to carve out a kingdom for himself, the people weren't with him, so he returned back to the NCNC and became a good man once again.

Gowon was not pressed on by the Minorities to divide the East, Gowon did so of his own will, the least the minorities could do was live with it and go with the flow. The New divisions favoured the Ijaw and Ibibio-Annang-Efik then, but not the smaller groups.

No, I wasn't in the minds of the smaller Eastern minorities, but that's why we have reports, to capture the minds of the people. And thanks to the Wilkink report, we have the minds of the smaller ethnic minorities in the East.

By the way, you have failed to give me the names of principal officers of Eastern region minority origin that were in Gowon one Nigeria liberation government.

The Willink Commission did not make any recommendations that new regions should be carved out for the minorities. If anything, it tried to halt the government from even considering the agitation of the minorities by not declining to support their reasons for their own region/states.

Eyo Ita did not decide to carve out a kingdom for himself, as you derisively put it. The clamour for a separate region by minority groups in the East, including his own ethnic Efik minority group started years before that.

For example, neighbours of the Efik, the Ibibio set up the Ibibio State Union (ISU) was set up in 1928 by educated Ibibio elites (including from areas such as Anaang, Oron, Eket, and Ibeno, and it was called the Ibibio Welfare Union. (IWU). It was a pan Ibibio Union, comprising the areas under present day Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. Its early leaders were Sampson Udo Etuk of Etinan, J. U. Eka, J. S. B. Ikpe and Usen U. Usen of Uyo etc. It also coordinated events & developments in Opobo Division. The ISU operated under the old Calabar province.

However, from the early 1950's, people of the Old Calabar Province agitated for a separate region/state, demanding for the creation of their own separate provinces from the Old Calabar Province. It was not granted at that time, but a request for Ibibio representation in the Legislative Council at Lagos was granted in 1936, when Chief Nyong Essien of Uruan was nominated to the Council two years later to represent the Ibibio Division.

When Azikiwe's NCNC went into election against the Awolowo-led Action Group, Azikiwe promised the minorities in the east their own separate regions hoping to win their votes, in the election. However, he reneged and changed his mind after his party won the election.

When minority agitation first arose in the East, the NCNC, like the Action Group in the West, found it necessary to support the demands for separation. As late as the 1957 election of the Eastern Region House of Assembly, the party’s manifesto stated that the country should be carved into fourteen regions; in his election eve broadcast, Dr. Azikiwe sought the minorities’ support by saying, “we have reaffirmed our faith in the right of any community to self-determination,” and, more specifically, that the rights of Calabar, Ogoja, and Rivers are “conceded.” Such statements may have helped the NCNC hold down the Action Group-
vote in the minority areas.

After the election, the NCNC abandoned its verbal support for new states in the East. Azikiwe announced “the situation in the East is exceptionable,” and “the East can no longer stand dismemberment as a sacrifice either for administrative convenience or for national unity.” http://www.nigerianmuse.com/projects/SNCProject/?u=Schwarz_minority_politics_ch_4_excerpt.htm 4

After the overthrow of the Government of Professor Eyo Ita in Eastern Nigeria in 1953 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe which led to the Eastern Crisis, minorities from the old eastern region felt disenchanted with the Azikiwe led regime and rallied politicians from the Old Calabar Province, led by Professor Ita and Sir Udoma, to propose the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers (COR) State Movement in 1953, which brought together various minority groups in that area especially the ISU.

It also led to the formation of a new political party : The United Nigeria Independence Party which was formed by Dr. Okoi Arikpo (SAN); Chief I.I Murpy; Professor Eni Njoku; Wenike Briggs ; Justice Udo Udoma , Prince Takon of Ikom etc., following the forced resignation of the Leader of Government in the Eastern Region House of Assembly. Professor Eyo Ita did not go back to the NCNC as you claimed. http://crossriverwatch.com/2014/02/thegenesisofthecalabarogojariversstatemovementbyobonoobla/

The movement aimed to achieve self-determination for the minority Ibibio, Ekoi, Ijo, Ogoni, etc and other peoples of the Old Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers Provinces through their cooperating to confront the Igbo domination. The agitation for state creation soon spread to minority ethnic groups in the Western and Northern Regions of Nigeria, forcing the colonial government to appoint the Willink Commission of 1957 to look into the fears of these minorities (Udoma, 1987: 307309; Idang, 1987: 167). But the Commission, although acknowledging that minority fears of domination were genuine, failed to recommend the creation of a COR or any other state, on the purported ground that it might delay Nigeria's Independence. Not surprisingly, therefore, agitation by the minorities for state creation continued throughout Nigeria's First Republic (1960 - 1967)

As it transpired, as a result of the imbroglio between General Yakubu Gowon and Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Southeastern State was created by General Gowon in May 1967 along with 11 other states. This act, which constituted the fifth phase of the state creation movement, won the minorities in the Biafran enclave including the Ibibio population of Ikot Abasi to the Federal Government side during the Nigerian Civil War that ensued.
https://alscon.net/ikotabasiinsociopolitical/58ibibioandanaang.html#.VciUOHFViko
http://alscon.net/ikotabasiinsociopolitical/62statecreationmovements.html#.VciTgHFViko 2/3

pazienza:
Like I had already said, Diamond must not start listing all the ethnic groups in the East and their contributions in the struggle, I mean, I wonder the relevance of this to your argument?

The Gowon Odua-Arewa side was accusing Igbos of forcing Eastern minorities into Biafra, if anything speaking of Eastern minorities participation and roles they play in Biafra can only strengthen Diamond argument, that should be what a Biafran paid person should be doing, but Diamond didn't he was an independent mind, it should be a credit to him, not a dent. *grins*


The Araba riots took place after Ironsi murder. The Northern bourgeoisie and commoners were considering secession then, hence why they looked the other way while their almajiris massacred innocent Easterners.


There is nothing like 90% implementation of an agreement. Negotiation table is where each party give and take to reach an agreement. once an agreement is reached, you can't start giving and taking again. An agreement is either kept or broken.

Gowon broke an agreement reached at a negotiation table. There is nothing like 90% or 0% implementation of an agreement.

Why are you quoting Uwaechue, he is but an Igbo man with his own opinions and entitled to them, that however doesn't make them facts, do you agree with everything else uwaechue has to say about the war and Ndiigbo,or are you simply cherry picking?

On your last question,because,if you must kill those that participated in the first coup, then you must kill the likes of Buhari, Mutala and Danjuma that participated in the counter coup, don't you think so?

You cannot see the relevance of my argument until you re-read all my previous posts with an open mind.

Like I stated before, Diamond's failure to acknowledge the existence and contributions of the ethnic minorities in Biafra, showed an utter lack of recognition for their efforts, shoddy, incomplete research on his own part and a total disdain for the identity of the minorities. That is the relevance. And this is why the other 3 scholars called him out on his work. It is getting tiring, having to repeat this same point over and over again, in order for you to get it. Or do I have to write it in Igbo for you to understand it?

If you claim that there is nothing like 90% of the implementation of an agreement, then you need to take a course in negotiations. The same point can be re-negotiated over and over again, over a length of time provided both parties are willing to continue with the negotiation. That is why diplomats and lobbyists are well-paid, in many countries in the world. There is a course called Progamme on Negotiation, (PON) at the Harvard University, which is dedicated to developing the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution, in a range of public and private settings. I recommend that you take it.

When over 90% of an agreement is offered and those making the offer are ready and willing to implement it, it shows good faith. the remaining 10% can be re-negotiated at a later stage. It does not make sense to turn down the 90%, when your fellow citizens are facing pain, horror and hardship which is exactly what Ojukwu did.

Yes, the riots took place after Ironsi died. Why was Ironsi overthrown? Because he did nothing about the murder of the leaders of other regions by the Igbo coup plotters. So when the Northern soldiers took laws into their hands, they turned on Ironsi and the easterners living in the North. If Ironsi had known that his reluctance to prosecute the coup plotters would take his life and end in a bloodbath, he would have acted differently.

If military rule is to be obeyed, then whoever took part in the coup should have paid the price irrespective of who they were.

As for your comment about cherry picking, it is meaningless. What cherries were picked by whom? I have quoted not just Uwechue, but a number of other writers who wrote about the Nigeria- Biafra civil war. http://www.nigerdeltapeoplesworldcongress.org/articles/ojukwu__igbo_leader.pdf

You do not expect me to reproduce the entire contents of Uwechue's book in this thread. That is why the links are given so that you can actually buy the book online and read it, or even download excerpts from the book. A lot of Uwechue's comments in his book were supported by facts, and reports from diplomatic dispatches of various countries and international observers and writers.

But any discerning reader, would situate those facts and comments within the right perspective of the history of events that occurred at that time before accepting it . This is known as verification.

Case closed.

pazienza:
I saw several hundred of Zombie-like creatures -
men, women and children, lying, sitting or
squatting in the midst of others who were dead.
The living ones were completely reduced to
skeletons and could not talk. I was seeing for the
first time, kwashiorkor, Frankly, I took fright, I
believe that any foreign troops from anywhere in
the world occupying Ikot Ekpene or any other town
in Biafra would have shown much more sympathy,
"(Gen. Alex Madiebo, Ikot Ekpene, July 1968)

Did Enahoro and Awolowo starvation policy spare any part of Biafra? Were not all Biafrans both Igbo and non Igbo targeted.

Ah yes, the unfortunate statement made by Awolowo which the Igbo have capitalised on for decades. He would have regretted making that statement before he passed on.

At the end of the war, how come it was the Biafran children that suffered kwashiorkor and NOT the Biafran soldiers? The soldiers were very well fed, because they had seized the food meant for the civilians and the children within Biafra.

Caritas the Catholic organisation was sending relief materials into Biafra. The Nigerian govt offered to open a food corridor by land through which food could get into Biafra, because it had been revealed that air planes that were supposed to drop relief materials for the Biafrans were also dropping arms & ammunition for them.

It was in a bid to intercept the arms, that the Nigerian govt offered to open the food corridor. Ojukwu rejected it and his people started peddling the rumour that the food brought in via land would be poisoned by Nigeria.

What folly! People were dying, a route to bring in food has been opened and yet Ojukwu rejected it, claiming that the food would be poisoned, without any proof. Ojukwu preferred to let people die of starvation, because of his imaginary, unfounded fears of poison. Instead of trying to get food for his people, photographs of malnourished children in Biafra were used for propaganda to get support from other countries.

Like someone once said: "People should learn to separate hard facts from the fictitious narratives. Nigerians should look at the writings, accounts and interpretations of the great figures of its history, and scrutinise them by testing them against hard historical facts of the times."

To those who keep saying the Biafran soldiers did not carry out any acts of aggression against the minorities in their midst, please read the following accounts listed below.

These events have been buried in silence for many years and very few people acknowledge it.

“Kwale Incident (pg 218)” that eventually became an international embarrassment for Biafra. Based on an unsubstantiated source, he writes, “Biafran military intelligence allegedly obtained information that foreign oilmen…were allegedly providing sensitive military information to federal forces – about Biafran troop positions, strategic military manoeuvres, and training.” So Biafra decided to invade. “At the end of the ‘exercise’,” Achebe writes, “eleven workers had been killed”. Excerpts from There was a Country by Chinua Achebe: https://books.google.com.ng/books/about/There_was_a_Country.html?id=oprDmQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Yet, Achebe goes on to negate the suffering of this group by going further to claim that evidence was "not found." I often wonder if the group had been Igbo, if he would have made these same claims. There are other eye-wtiness accounts of crimes committed against non-Igbo minorities in the old Eastern region and in the old Mid-West, during Biafra.

..... the background is the Biafran invasion of Midwest. Despite Ojukwu’s assurance to them before the secession that he would absolutely respect their choice of belonging to neither side, he invaded them, occupied their land, foisted his government on them, took charge of their resources, looted the Central Bank of Nigeria in Benin, set up military check points in several places to regulate the flow of goods and human beings, imposed dawn-to-dusk curfews, flooded the airwaves with Biafran propaganda, imprisoned and executed dissidents on a daily basis according to Nowa Omoigui’s The Invasion of Midwest and Samuel Ogbemudia’s book: Years of Challenge.

In fact, “The Hausa community in the Lagos street area of Benin and other parts of the state were targeted for particularly savage treatment, in part a reprisal for the pogroms of 1966, but also out of security concerns that they would naturally harbour sympathies for the regime in Lagos,” Omoigui writes. The Midwesterners regarded Biafrans as liars and traitors. And the Nigerian army came to their rescue.
http://pwcreview.com/submissions/achebeandthemoralobligationtobeintelligent/

Ethnic Minorities as Victims in Biafra
....the atrocities perpetuated by Biafra soldiers on Biafra minorites during those early and late months of the war has largely been hidden from the public debate hence they should be accorded due recognition of victimhood...

Attributing the 1966 massacre in the North as only Igbos is an error of judgement. In the G C M Onyiuke led tribunal, it was clearly shown that ethnic minority groups in Eastern and Mid Western Nigeria were victims. It was easy to mistake an ethnic minority for Igbo apart
from mere physical appearance there was no other distinct feature to differentiate Igbo from non Igbo...

... When the war broke out, Biafra had stationed some of its troops in the Cross River region including Ikun in Biase Local Government. Though the Ikun initially supported Biafra and had friendly relations with the soldiers, as time went on tensions emerged. Some Ikun men were suspected of collaborating with Nigerian soldiers with no hard evidence. As a result murder, arrests, looting and rapes was meted on that community. William Norris of the London Times who visited Biafra reported an eye witness account of how Ibibio men were surrounded and beaten to death in Umuahia on April 2 1968. They were reportedly forced to march across an open space while the local people attacked them with sticks and clubs.

On another episode, Biafra soldiers took Ikun men to Ohafia for a meeting but never came back with them. An informant alleged that soldiers returned to the community and rounded up some men within their reach and shot them. A survivor who lost her four day old son and grandmother seemed to have suspected foul play from the Ohafia people with whom they share a common boundary. This victimization continued until the Biafra headquarters issued a statement to stop the genocide. However by this time, the remaining people had escaped leaving behind only soldiers and Ohafia, also some Ikun with a mixed blood of half Ohafia. Omaka, Arua Oko. "The Forgotten Victims: Ethnic Minorities in the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967-1970." Journal of Retracing Africa: Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2014): 25-40. http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2

In Asang town alone about 400 people were carried away to unknown destinations and never came back. Attan Onoyon town suffered the same fate. Enyong was burnt down and many people killed by Biafra soldiers. Biafra soldiers shot many villagers in Ekpenyong, present day Akwa Ibom. On October 18 1967, about 169 civilians in detention were lined up by Biafra soldiers and shot (source: New York
Times as an informational advertisement by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, New York). http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/02/26/post-midwest-liberation/
http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/03/19/biafra-ogbemudia-clarifies-us-secret-files/

In a separate development related to the Ika Igbo and the people of Asaba, who were widely suspected of harbouring hit squads loyal to Biafra across the border, Ogbemudia, on 12 July 1969, signed the Rebels (Protection Against) Offences Edict that specified a five year prison sentence and hard labour for anyone failing to report a rebel soldier or for harbouring, comforting or assisting a rebel soldier.

It was said that hit squads in mufti came from Biafra to commit atrocities. According to information made available to the Deputy British High Commission in Benin by Van Der Laan, the expatriate manager of Rubber Estate south of Ogwashi-Uku on 18 April 1968, Biafran hit squads infiltrated the area in civilian clothes. “They came in small groups and were not in any military formation. They approached the Catholic Mission Hospital and killed every Federal soldier there. Two days before, they abducted a German doctor from that same hospital,” wrote Laan. http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/02/26/post-midwest-liberation/

laudate:
Ah yes, the unfortunate statement made by Awolowo which the Igbo have capitalised on for decades. He would have regretted making that statement before he passed on.

At the end of the war, how come it was the Biafran children that suffered kwashiorkor and NOT the Biafran soldiers? The soldiers were very well fed, because they had seized the food meant for the civilians and the children within Biafra.

Caritas the Catholic organisation was sending relief materials into Biafra. The Nigerian govt offered to open a food corridor by land through which food could get into Biafra, because it had been revealed that air planes that were supposed to drop relief materials for the Biafrans were also dropping arms & ammunition for them.

It was in a bid to intercept the arms, that the Nigerian govt offered to open the food corridor. Ojukwu rejected it and his people started peddling the rumour that the food brought in via land would be poisoned by Nigeria.

What folly! People were dying, a route to bring in food has been opened and yet Ojukwu rejected it, claiming that the food would be poisoned, without any proof. Ojukwu preferred to let people die of starvation, because of his imaginary, unfounded fears of poison. Instead of trying to get food for his people, photographs of malnourished children in Biafra were used for propaganda to get support from other countries.

Like someone once said: "People should learn to separate hard facts from the fictitious narratives. Nigerians should look at the writings, accounts and interpretations of the great figures of its history, and scrutinise them by testing them against hard historical facts of the times."

You are just all over the place, like a drowning man looking for what to hang unto. I have no doubt now that you're a Yoruba. *grins.

You ask why we're the Children suffering from kwashiorkor and not the Biafran soldiers? You might as well ask why the children mothers and Biafran elderly ones were not suffering from kwashiorkor.
Kwashiorkor is a protein Energy malnutrition, it affects children mainly, not adults. You simply have no point. My dad was in Biafran Army too, everyone starved, but adult don't develop kwashiorkor as fast as children.

Ojukwu fear of food poisoning was real, Nigeria intent on genocide on Biafran, food poisoning was not beyond them.

Nigeria govt has no right to touch foods coming into Biafra, that was totally against international laws. During wars, international relief organizations should be allowed to work with no interference.

Nigeria idea of getting the food from relief agencies and then giving to Biafra was not acceptable, you don't let those that wish genocide on you feed you.


You are the evil one, who would have history of people's suffering under genocidal Awo and Enahoro starvation policy, 're written and tended as fictions, to soothe your conscience. You are no worse than the ottomans, who would have the history of Armenian genocide re written to free them of any historical dent.

Kwale( Ukwuani) were not minorities, they were Igbos, atleast in the era of discourse.

Your devilish mind eager to look for things to put on Biafra, missed that important fact. No Igbo man harmed any Ukwuani.

British were providing unlimited supply to Genocidal Awolowo and Gowon to murder Biafrans, yet the British was busy drilling oil in Igboland, albeit the same part of Igboland that Nzeogwu hailed from, Western Igboland.

Ojukwu and Biafra were lenient on the British workers there, I know I would have done more if I were in their shoes. Imagine the temerity of the British, you want to reap from the same land you are sponsoring genocide against. Biafrans were naturally angry at the role British was playing for Nigeria during the war, those British workers had no reason whatsoever being in that part of Igboland.



Omogui had been taken to cleaners over the years on his fictitious Biafran atrocities in Mid west. He couldn't provide any credible evidence, no live survivors of such events, no names of the Biafran unit involved, no names of the Biafran commanding officers involved.
Just a figment of Omogui hallucinations, to soothe the massacre of Mid western Igbos by their mid western minorities neighbors, which omoigui happen to be part of.
If I were you, I would stay as far away as possible from Omogui propaganda, dude had since hidden after being taken to the cleaners.

In a separate development related to
the Ika Igbo and the people of
Asaba, who were widely suspected
of harbouring hit squads loyal to
Biafra across the border,
Ogbemudia, on 12 July 1969, signed
the Rebels (Protection Against)
Offences Edict that specified a five
year prison sentence and hard
labour for anyone failing to report a
rebel soldier or for harbouring,
comforting or assisting a rebel
soldier.
It was said that hit squads in mufti
came from Biafra to commit
atrocities.


This is the most stupid of your posts, to suggest that Biafrans will start killing the Ikas, who are Igbos themselves.

Do you know how many Ikas that lost their lives during the Bini massacre? towns like Igbodo in Ika lost the most of all Ika people, simply because they were Igbos.

To now suggest that Biafrans will come there to commit atrocities is funny.

And as always in all Nigerian fictitious tales, Biafran soldiers in muftis, no name of the Biafrans unit, no name of the commanding officer, no surviving victims of so called Biafran atrocities to shed more light on the matter.
Lies everywhere.

[b] Now to the matter of Zik-Eyo Ita face-
off:On the eve of the 1951 elections in
which Azikiwe contested for a seat in the
Western House of Assembly from his
Lagos base, Zik declared that he was not
going to accept a ministerial post in “an
inferior legislature of the colonial type”.
In other words, he was not prepared to
serve as minister (premier or prime-
minister) at regional or national level in
the then premature Nigerian political
system. His object, he said, was to
achieve an NCNC majority in the regional
and central legislatures that would act to
“paralyse the machinery of government”
and lead to a reformation of the
Constitution.The Macpherson Constitution
had provided for “semi-responsible
government” at the centre and in the
regions.
The official phrase was “responsible
government within defined limits”. Zik did
not accept this. He wanted total
independence. This was what informed
his declaration above. It was a grand
tactics for national independence that the
Action Group later imbibed.
After the upheavals in the Western House
of Assembly,Zik began to rally his
partymen to the achievement of the
above-stated objectives. This took some
time. Eventually, however, the NCNC
resolved and called its central ministers
to resign in order to actualise the above
independence strategy.
But these ministers were now enjoying
their new stations in life, the perquisites
of ministerial office. Some of them did
not, therefore, want to give up the
positions. In so doing, they were
undoubtedly sabotaging and delaying the
independence struggle that had already
got them to where they were.
Three NCNC central (national) ministers
were the first culprits and were summarily
dismissed from the party. They were
A.C.Nwapa (Igbo), EniNjoku (Igbo) and
Okoi Arikpo(Ogoja).
ONLY DrEndeley (Cameroun) was
supportive of the tactics.Eyo Ita, the Head
of Government Business in Eastern
Nigeria and some of his ministers picked
against the policy and were flabbergasted
when the central ministers were
dismissed by the party. Of course, when
the party asked them to resign, they
equally rebelled against the party and
refused to comply. They became known
as ‘sit-tight ministers’.
Amongst them wereEyoIta (Ibibio),E.I.Oli
(Igbo), S.J.Una (Ogoja), R.I.Uzoma (Igbo),
S.W.Ubani-Ukoma (Igbo) and
S.J.Koripoma (Ijaw). Those who complied
with party directive and resigned were
Dr.M.I.Okpara (Igbo), M.C.Awgu (Igbo)
and S.T.Muna (Bamenda, Cameroun). [/b]



A simple look at those who backed Eyo Ita against Zik will show the non tribal nature of the East. Eyo ita was backed by E.I Oli( an Igbo) S.j una( ogoja), R.I uzoma( Igbo) S.W Ubani-Ukoma( Igbo) and S.J Koripoma( Ijaw).

To suggest that Eyo ita loss was tribally motivated and not ideologically motivated, when we can clearly see that the majority of Eyo ita accomplices were Igbo, amounts to dishonesty and historical revisionism.

The East was united by shared ideology not ethnicity like in the West where the minorities including the Oba of Bini were treated like dogs.

[b] With the above ‘sit-tight’ attitude of some of the ministers, it behoved the legislature to orchestrate the requisite action to paralyse government business, which was practically in the hands of the British Lt. Governor. In the Eastern House of Assembly, the NCNC majority subsequently succeeded in paralysing the constitutional system by voting to defeat or defer every bill before the House. As a last resort, the Lt. Governor was obliged to use his reserve power of legislation, the ultimate proof of colonial rule and subjugation in a politically advanced dependency, to pass the Regional Appropriation Bill into law. On adjournment day, the expelled ministers (Central and Regional) joined with a few other legislators and supporters who had resigned from the NCNC to form a new party, the National Independence Party, with EyoIta as president. Some 10 weeks later, the Eastern parliamentary crisis was resolved by dissolution of the Eastern House of Assembly following the enactment of an amendment to the Constitution permitting the dissolution of the legislature of a single region. During this period, according to Sklar, the strain on the Constitution was not confined to the Eastern Region, as events of a less dramatic but nonetheless fateful character transpired in the West. Action Group’s hostility to the Constitution was scarcely less than that of the NCNC. Ultimately, the Macpherson Constitution proved unworkable and collapsed as Zik had planned after 15 months of its operation and was replaced with a new Constitution (the Lyttleton Constitution of 1954) that granted residual powers to the regions and provided that apart from the Regional Governor, colonial officials of the administration would be excluded from the Executive Council of the Eastern and Western Regions, amongst other favourable provisions. [/b]

[b] Meanwhile, with the collapse of EyoIta’s
government in May 1953, a new election
was conducted to elect new members to
the Eastern House of Assembly. Azikiwe
was elected from Onitsha; NCNC
dominated the House and its leader,
Azikiwe, assumed the office of premier or
head of government.
Eyo Ita as leader of the minor party in the
House became leader of Opposition.For
details of these historical facts, see
Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties
(1963), pages 115 – 140. Amplifications
of particular points can also be gleaned
from James S. Coleman, Nigeria:
Background to Nationalism (1958).
Given the above prognosis, would it be
wise and correct for anybody to claim
thatZik or the Igbo conspired to oust Eyo
Ita from power? Or that the constitutional
crisis that terminated EyoIta’s government
was tribally motivated? But this is the
verdict or notion that has been
transmitted from generation to generation
in the South-South.
Finally, let me recap that in October 1959,
Professor EyoIta, Head of Government
Business and Minister of Natural
Resources of Eastern Nigeria from 1952 to
May 1953, resigned his leadership and
membership of the United National
Independence Party, UNIP and re-joined
the NCNC. [/b]


So, Eyo Ita fell from Grace to grass, and despite the fact that he enjoyed Igbo support, Eyo ita will descend low to the old tested and trusted " Igbo want to dominate us" mantra, he became the New poster boy for the COR movement, but when that wasn't yielding dividends, because while he was preaching "Igbophobia", NCNC still heard henchmen like Mbu from COR area, showing the people the truth.

Eyo ita, will later rejoin NCNC in October 1959. In a typical if you can't beat them, you join them, Nigerian politicians style.

Thanks Pazienza. You re a true son of your father. You have freely educated many on this post. If only they will read with a free unbiased mind.
well done my brother

He had formed the National Independence
Party which later merged with Alvan
Ikoku’s United National Party to become
UNIP. EyoIta proclaimed that he was re-
joining the NCNC in accordance with the
dictates of his conscience and in
obedience to the chiefs and members of
his Calabar constituency. These events
indicate that the problem between Azikiwe
and his compeer, EyoIta, was somehow
resolved in their lifetime.
Or that Eyo Ita personally resolved that
what happened in 1953 did not warrant
his taking steps that tore the party and
the people apart. Hence, he talked about
the “dictates of his conscience” as he
returned to the NCNC. So what is the
basis for Aladinma’s actions or utterances
in this matter?


And oh! Look, even when Eyo Ita became the poster boy of the agitation for COR, he had the support of men like Alvan Ikoku, but that doesn't matter right?

And ehm... Pa Eyo Ita returned to NCNC with a guilty conscience, he of course knew he had been lying against Ndiigbo too.

And look, the Calabar chiefs and his people were part of the reason he confessed that made him return to the NCNC fold.

Don't forget that while Oba of Bini was relegated to a second class traditional ruler in the Western house, the Obong of Calabar was elevated above Igbo kings like Eze Aro, Eze Nri, Obi of Onitsha, Obi of Obosi, etc Obong was the leader of the Eastern house of chiefs, now how about that? The Igbo belief in equity and justice had no rival, even Eyo ita knew that.

In Asang town alone about 400
people were carried away to
unknown destinations and never
came back. Attan Onoyon town
suffered the same fate. Enyong was
burnt down and many people killed
by Biafra soldiers. Biafra soldiers
shot many villagers in Ekpenyong,
present day Akwa Ibom. On October
18 1967, about 169 civilians in
detention were lined up by Biafra
soldiers and shot (source: New York
Times as an informational
advertisement by the Consulate
General of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, New York).

The source you provided for this is not saying same thing as this.

There is something funny about Nigerians fictitious Biafran atrocities against Eastern minorities.
They are sure Biafrans were killing minorities and that the minorities were been forced by Ojukwu to stay in Biafra, yet they were scared of a plebiscite in the Eastern minorities areas, knowing the outcome of such will be.

The quote was also made by a consulate General of the federal Republic of Nigeria, not by an independent and neutral and credible source. For all I cared, this was but a Nigerian war propaganda, nothing more, nothing less.

If military rule is to be obeyed, then
whoever took part in the coup should
have paid the price irrespective of who
they were.

So, we agree the likes of Mutala Muhammad, Danjuma and the New face of righteousness in Nigeria himself, Buhari should have been killed by Gowon and co before coming to the negotiation table.

For example, neighbours of the Efik, the
Ibibio set up the Ibibio State Union (ISU)
was set up in 1928 by educated Ibibio
elites (including from areas such as
Anaang, Oron, Eket, and Ibeno, and it was
called the Ibibio Welfare Union. (IWU). It
was a pan Ibibio Union, comprising the
areas under present day Akwa Ibom State
of Nigeria. Its early leaders were Sampson
Udo Etuk of Etinan, J. U. Eka, J. S. B. Ikpe
and Usen U. Usen of Uyo etc. It also
coordinated events & developments in
Opobo Division. The ISU operated under
the old Calabar province.
However, from the early 1950's, people of
the Old Calabar Province agitated for a
separate region/state, demanding for the
creation of their own separate provinces
from the Old Calabar Province.


This is a case of the Ibibios wanting a separate state/region/province from not just Ndiigbo, but from the Efiks, a request Gowon clearly ignored and United them with Efiks in the old Southeastern state.

A more evidence to prove that Gowon's mission was more about dividing the East to conquer than to serve the autonomy yearning of the Eastern minorities.
Of course, Ojukwu province gave the Annang/Ibibios exactly what they wanted, freedom from both the Igbo and Efiks.

pazienza:
You are just all over the place, like a drowning man looking for what to hang unto. I have no doubt now that you're a Yoruba. *grins.

You ask why we're the Children suffering from kwashiorkor and not the Biafran soldiers? You might as well ask why the children mothers and Biafran elderly ones were not suffering from kwashiorkor.
Kwashiorkor is a protein Energy malnutrition, it affects children mainly, not adults. You simply have no point. My dad was in Biafran Army too, everyone starved, but adult don't develop kwashiorkor as fast as children.

Ojukwu fear of food poisoning was real, Nigeria intent on genocide on Biafran, food poisoning was not beyond them.

Nigeria govt has no right to touch foods coming into Biafra, that was totally against international laws. During wars, international relief organizations should be allowed to work with no interference.

Nigeria idea of getting the food from relief agencies and then giving to Biafra was not acceptable, you don't let those that wish genocide on you feed you.


You are the evil one, who would have history of people's suffering under genocidal Awo and Enahoro starvation policy, 're written and tended as fictions, to soothe your conscience. You are no worse than the ottomans, who would have the history of Armenian genocide re written to free them of any historical dent.

Hahahaha!! I laughed out loud when I read this part. It just proves one thing that I have suspected for a while. You find it easier to swallow a lie and propagate it and would rather clutch at straws, falsehood and deceit as long as it suits your warped view. That is why you keep labelling me as a Yoruba person, even when I have told you that I am not one. Ok, go ahead because it makes you happy....

As for being evil, I beg to disagree. You are the evil one. You cannot see that more people would have lived if the food corridor offer by Nigeria had been accepted. At what point did Nigeria say they were going to touch the food? Provide the facts, sources and publications that confirmed that Nigeria said they would touch the food. Paste it right here!

Obviously, you do not know what creating a food corridor means. It means giving access by land to an area, so that food, medications and resources can get to that area through a safe channel.

Part of the propaganda sold to the Biafrans was that the food would be poisoned. Yet, Biafrans had scientists and doctors that could have tested the food to check if it was poisoned before distributing it. Caritas was a Catholic humanitarian organisation providing food to Biafra. Why didn't the Biafran authorities ask for their help to ensure the food was tested before bringing it in through the land borders?

No, instead the Biafran authorities led by Ojukwu preferred to let children die from kwashiorkor and malnutrition rather than accept the offer of a food corridor via land to get food to those children.

May the souls of those children haunt the Biafran authorities and soldiers for life. May their souls also haunt people like you who supported their intransigence and refusal to allow food get to such children via land!

pazienza:
For example, neighbours of the Efik, the
Ibibio set up the Ibibio State Union (ISU)
was set up in 1928 by educated Ibibio
elites (including from areas such as
Anaang, Oron, Eket, and Ibeno, and it was
called the Ibibio Welfare Union. (IWU). It
was a pan Ibibio Union, comprising the
areas under present day Akwa Ibom State
of Nigeria. Its early leaders were Sampson
Udo Etuk of Etinan, J. U. Eka, J. S. B. Ikpe
and Usen U. Usen of Uyo etc. It also
coordinated events & developments in
Opobo Division. The ISU operated under
the old Calabar province.
However, from the early 1950's, people of
the Old Calabar Province agitated for a
separate region/state, demanding for the
creation of their own separate provinces
from the Old Calabar Province.


This is a case of the Ibibios wanting a separate state/region/province from not just Ndiigbo, but from the Efiks, a request Gowon clearly ignored and United them with Efiks in the old Southeastern state.

A more evidence to prove that Gowon's mission was more about dividing the East to conquer than to serve the autonomy yearning of the Eastern minorities.
Of course, Ojukwu province gave the Annang/Ibibios exactly what they wanted, freedom from both the Igbo and Efiks.

Ojukwu did not grant them anything. Why do you persist in recycling falsehood?? Did the Efik or Ibibio vote in their leaders?

The Efiks, Ibibio, Anang, Ogoja etc, wanted a separate region of their own in order to be free of the larger domination of the Igbo.

The people of Efik and Ibibio are brothers... so don't make that mistake of trying to insinuate that Efik wanted freedom from the Ibibio, for some strange, ridiculous reason. Efik had no problems with the Ibibio, in 1957.

In fact, the Efik, Ibibio, Ogoja, etc got a far better deal in the old south-eastern state under Gowon, than they would have received under Ojukwu, after your brother Azikiwe reneged on his agreement to support their quest for their own region in the late fifties to early sixties !

laudate:
Ojukwu did not grant them anything. Why do you persist in recycling falsehood?? Did the Efik or Ibibio vote in their leaders?

The Efiks, Ibibio, Anang, Ogoja etc, wanted a separate region of their own in order to be free of the larger domination of the Igbo.

The people of Efik and Ibibio are brothers... so don't make that mistake of trying to insinuate that Efik wanted freedom from the Ibibio, for some strange, ridiculous reason. Efik had no problems with the Ibibio, in 1957.

In fact, the Efik, Ibibio, Ogoja, etc got a far better deal in the old south-eastern state under Gowon, than they would have received under Ojukwu, after your brother Azikiwe reneged on his agreement to support their quest for their own region in the late fifties to early sixties !

How exactly did they get a better deal under Awo and Gowon?

They had no presence in Gowon's and Awo's FG, they had the number 2 spot in Biafra and many ministerial positions, under Gowon they had non.

The Ibibio-Annang wanted freedom not just from Ndiigbo, but from the next dominant group that was Efik. This was the basis of the struggle for the creation of Akwa Ibom state from the South Eastern state, years later.

In Biafra, the situation had already been handled following Willink report. The Efiks had Calabar province, the Ibibios had Uyo province, the Annang had Ikot Ekpene province, the Oron and Ibeno/ Eastern Obolo had Eket province . Ojukwu was a man of foresight.

In Biafra, their fate and future will be in their hands as they had just Ndiigbo to contend with. Under Nigeria, they had the Igbo, and Odua-Arewa to contend with.

In Biafra they would control their resources, they headquarters of the oil firms will be in Eket and not in Lagos like Awo ensured, there wouldn't have been Obasanjo's lane use decree that dispossessed them of their lands, Bakasi wouldn't have been traded off to Cameroun and their people scattered all over Nigeria as fugitives.

Okpara had already set the tone of how things would have been in Biafra by facilitating the relocation of shell headquarters from Owerri to PH, in recognition of the enormous amount of crude oil from that part of the East, the exact opposite of what Gowon and Awo did, by taking everything to Lagos.


In Biafra, they get to share a country with lesser people, which means more resources available for development, they get to share a nation with a people they share similar political ideologies, (Ibibios and Annangs were republicans like Igbos), traditions( Ekpe, Nsibidi, Ekpo, similar attire) unified religion( All Biafrans were Christians, no Jihadists like in Odua-Arewa), centuries of shared history of relative peace co existence.

The difference was like the difference between life( Biafra) and death( Nigeria).

laudate:
Hahahaha!! I laughed out loud when I read this part. It just proves one thing that I have suspected for a while. You find it easier to swallow a lie and propagate it and would rather clutch at straws, falsehood and deceit as long as it suits your warped view. That is why you keep labelling me as a Yoruba person, even when I have told you that I am not one. Ok, go ahead because it makes you happy....

As for being evil, I beg to disagree. You are the evil one. You cannot see that more people would have lived if the food corridor offer by Nigeria had been accepted. At what point did Nigeria say they were going to touch the food? Provide the facts, sources and publications that confirmed that Nigeria said they would touch the food. Paste it right here!

Obviously, you do not know what creating a food corridor means. It means giving access by land to an area, so that food, medications and resources can get to that area through a safe channel.

Part of the propaganda sold to the Biafrans was that the food would be poisoned. Yet, Biafrans had scientists and doctors that could have tested the food to check if it was poisoned before distributing it. Caritas was a Catholic humanitarian organisation providing food to Biafra. Why didn't the Biafran authorities ask for their help to ensure the food was tested before bringing it in through the land borders?

No, instead the Biafran authorities led by Ojukwu preferred to let children die from kwashiorkor and malnutrition rather than accept the offer of a food corridor via land to get food to those children.

May the souls of those children haunt the Biafran authorities and soldiers for life. May their souls also haunt people like you who supported their intransigence and refusal to allow food get to such children via land!

So the talk has changed from Biafran soldiers eating the food meant for children to Biafrans deciding to not let food get to Biafra. Nice change of post
We are getting there slowly.

I will be back, currently at the Shop, things busy here. Your Yoruba treachery will be fully exposed.

pazienza:
Kwale( Ukwuani) were not minorities, they were Igbos, atleast in the era of discourse.

Your devilish mind eager to look for things to put on Biafra, missed that important fact. No Igbo man harmed any Ukwuani.

British were providing unlimited supply to Genocidal Awolowo and Gowon to murder Biafrans, yet the British was busy drilling oil in Igboland, albeit the same part of Igboland that Nzeogwu hailed from, Western Igboland.

Ojukwu and Biafra were lenient on the British workers there, I know I would have done more if I were in their shoes. Imagine the temerity of the British, you want to reap from the same land you are sponsoring genocide against. Biafrans were naturally angry at the role British was playing for Nigeria during the war, those British workers had no reason whatsoever being in that part of Igboland.

Omogui had been taken to cleaners over the years on his fictitious Biafran atrocities in Mid west. He couldn't provide any credible evidence, no live survivors of such events, no names of the Biafran unit involved, no names of the Biafran commanding officers involved.
Just a figment of Omogui hallucinations, to soothe the massacre of Mid western Igbos by their mid western minorities neighbors, which omoigui happen to be part of.
If I were you, I would stay as far away as possible from Omogui propaganda, dude had since hidden after being taken to the cleaners.

Name-calling and labelling people as 'devilish,' because they are not as gullible to swallow Biafran propaganda as you have been doing, will not score you any cheap points. It merely reinforces your ignorance.

The Kwale incident was cited by Achebe in his book, after the world press had picked it up. Yet, according to Achebe it was unsubstantiated because the incident happened to another ethnic group. If the incident had happened to an Igbo person, Achebe would have been calling for the head of the perpetrators. That has always been the style of the Igbo propaganda clique, just like yours'.

The link to Achebe's book on Googlebooks, was to enable you buy the book online and read it cover to cover like all others have done. Did you expect me to just lift that section for you on to this page like I did with the others? Get off your butt and do some research. It will pay off for you.

You guys hate Omoigui, because he exposed the bad behaviour of your so-called Biafran soldiers. In case you didn't know, Omoigui himself was a Biafran boy soldier conscripted in the East to fight against the Nigerian side. When his parents fled the East at the beginning of the war, he went missing and thus got left behind, only to be forcefully conscripted by Biafran soldiers.

It is on record that those Biafran soldiers were not properly kitted, lacked proper uniforms and carried makeshift arms. I guess when a victim is about to be killed, he should ask what battalion and regiment his killers are representing, so that he can report them to God when he gets to eternity, in your own view.

That is why you are making up these stories.

If your soldiers did not kill Ukwuani, what about the Efik, Ukut, Ibibio, Ogoja, Annang people that they killed within Biafra during the war? Read The Forgotten Victims: Ethnic Minorities in the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967-1970 by Arua Oko Omaka of McMaster University Canada, Journal of Retracing Africa: Vol. 1,Issue 1 (2014): 25-40. http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2

This study is based on eye witness accounts, interviews with actual survivors , foreign reports by journalists from Western media and international organisations. The report talks about the killing of non-Igbo by Igbos (i.e. both soldiers and civilians), as well as the killing of Igbo by non-Igbo. So it is quite balanced.

Ethnic Minorities as Victims in Biafra

pg. 32-34: These accounts also reveal how individuals and groups committed heinous atrocities under the pretext of either fighting a war of survival for Biafra or a war of national unity for Nigeria....

The Ikun in the present day Cross River State presents a good example of the crimes committed against the minorities. The Ikun clan is in the Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State.... When the war broke out, Biafra stationed some of its troops in the Cross River region, including Ikun. According to a female survivor-victim of the Biafran occupation, the Ikun initially supported Biafra and had friendly relations with the soldiers, who were also accommodating. As time went on, tensions emerged. Some Ikun men were suspected of collaborating with Nigerian soldiers. This led to arrests, looting, rapes, and other atrocities in Ikun land. (27)

William Norris of the London Times who visited Biafra, also reported an eyewitness account in which some men of Ibibio ethnic origin were beaten to death at Umuahia on April 2, 1968.28 These Ibibios who included old men and young men were apparently suspected of collaborating with advancing Nigerian troops. Oral testimony by the survivor-victim corroborates this account. According to the eyewitness, Biafran soldiers allegedly took Ikun men to Ohafi a for a meeting but never brought them back. The informant also alleged that the soldiers returned to the community and rounded up some men within their reach and shot them. This survivor who lost her four-day old son and
her grandmother seemed to have suspected foul play from the Ohafia people, who share a common boundary with her community. http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2/

In a related account, B. J. Ikpeme, a member of a minority group and retired Senior Medical Officer in the then Eastern Region revealed atrocities perpetrated by Biafran soldiers against the minorities in some towns in the present-day Cross River and Akwa- Ibom States. Ikpeme argued that Ojukwu’s declaration of Biafra had been issued against the wishes of the majority of the people of Calabar, Ogoja, and Rivers Provinces, who for many years had agitated for a separate state of their own.

According to Ikpeme, the Igbo leadership, did not like the minority agitation, decided either to force the five million non-Igbo minorities into the new republic or eliminate them. It was on this basis, claims Ikpeme, that Biafran soldiers were quickly sent to the minority areas to “keep down the people, detain or even kill all who dared raise a voice in protest against the idea of Biafra.”(32). It was during this period that the non-Igbos started experiencing different forms of inhumane treatment, ranging from torture, detention, to killing. Ikpeme himself was detained in what he described as a “concentration camp” and was later transferred to a prison cell where he was given urine to drink when he demanded water.(33) http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2/

The souls of those non-Igbo who were forcefully taken away by the Biafrans, and eventually killed on unproven charges, would haunt them for life

superstar1:
They did not surrender.

They were conquered.

No story.

Remind a yoruba man about their total slavery to the Emirate in kwara and watch him run away shouting 'your mama, your papa' - Nnamdi Kanu, 2015

pazienza:
So the talk has changed from Biafran soldiers eating the food meant for children to Biafrans deciding to not let food get to Biafra. Nice change of post
We are getting there slowly.

I will be back, currently at the Shop, things busy here. Your Yoruba treachery will be fully exposed.

Stay at the shop, oh! You obviously cannot recognise the truth. And yes, I still stand by the story that the Biafran soldiers had food to eat. They were not starving, unlike the children. So why couldn't they give the children part if that food to eat? Ojukwu wanted an air corridor because it would enable him to airlift arms into Biafra along with food!

So he decided to let the children starve to death instead of accepting the offer of a food corridor via land!

Kindly stop denying the obvious. http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/how-ojukwu-rejected-offer-of-food-corridor/

Continue to make noise about Yoruba treachery, as a means of divert attention from the obvious issue, who cares??... mugu!

pazienza:
How exactly did they get a better deal under Awo and Gowon?

They had no presence in Gowon's and Awo's FG, they had the number 2 spot in Biafra and many ministerial positions, under Gowon they had non.

The Ibibio-Annang wanted freedom not just from Ndiigbo, but from the next dominant group that was Efik. This was the basis of the struggle for the creation of Akwa Ibom state from the South Eastern state, years later.

In Biafra, the situation had already been handled following Willink report. The Efiks had Calabar province, the Ibibios had Uyo province, the Annang had Ikot Ekpene province, the Oron and Ibeno/ Eastern Obolo had Eket province . Ojukwu was a man of foresight.

In Biafra, their fate and future will be in their hands as they had just Ndiigbo to contend with. Under Nigeria, they had the Igbo, and Odua-Arewa to contend with.

In Biafra they would control their resources, they headquarters of the oil firms will be in Eket and not in Lagos like Awo ensured, there wouldn't have been Obasanjo's lane use decree that dispossessed them of their lands, Bakasi wouldn't have been traded off to Cameroun and their people scattered all over Nigeria as fugitives.

Okpara had already set the tone of how things would have been in Biafra by facilitating the relocation of shell headquarters from Owerri to PH, in recognition of the enormous amount of crude oil from that part of the East, the exact opposite of what Gowon and Awo did, by taking everything to Lagos.


In Biafra, they get to share a country with lesser people, which means more resources available for development, they get to share a nation with a people they share similar political ideologies, (Ibibios and Annangs were republicans like Igbos), traditions( Ekpe, Nsibidi, Ekpo, similar attire) unified religion( All Biafrans were Christians, no Jihadists like in Odua-Arewa), centuries of shared history of relative peace co existence.

The difference was like the difference between life( Biafra) and death( Nigeria).

Kai! The money spent on your education was really wasted. If they got all they wanted under Ojukwu, why were they still agitating for their own separate homeland or region? Why do you like twisting things?

The Calabar province came into existence, when? The Uyo province came into existence in what year? I repeat, did the agitation for their own separate region not continue long after the provinces were established? If they had everything they wanted under Ojukwu, would they have continued their agitation?

Oh, let me guess... you are now a spokeperson for the Efik and the Ibibio??!

You keep chanting 'Willink Commission" as if it is a gospel tract or a sacrosanct theme. The same commission that did NOT recommend any creation of a separate region for anybody or any group?

I am sure the Benin-Edo group must be thanking God that they got their own Mid-Western region long before the Willink Commission came into play, otherwise the commission would have killed their aspirations!

ArodewilliamsT:
Remind a yoruba man about their total slavery to the Emirate in kwara and watch him run away shouting 'your mama, your papa' - Nnamdi Kanu, 2015

Remind an igbo man how yorubas taught them how to spell their names, how they were defeated resoundingly at Ore, how their town was renamed under their nose, how their properties were declared abandoned and hijacked by minorities and how 3million of them were suyanised to Amadioha for fun -- you will see them foaming in the mouth, beating their akpu filled chest, giving lame ultimatum and crying over their defeated Biafra ----- FFK (The Cane of Bianca) 2013.

pazienza:
How exactly did they get a better deal under Awo and Gowon?

They had no presence in Gowon's and Awo's FG, they had the number 2 spot in Biafra and many ministerial positions, under Gowon they had non.

The Ibibio-Annang wanted freedom not just from Ndiigbo, but from the next dominant group that was Efik. This was the basis of the struggle for the creation of Akwa Ibom state from the South Eastern state, years later.

Who told you, they had no presence in Gowon's cabinet? Brigadier General Jacob Udoaka Esuene, Military Governor of the South Eastern State and Brig Emmanuel Eyo Ekpo was Chief of Staff (Supreme Headquarters), Dr. Okoi Arikpo was initially appointed Federal Commissioner (Minister) for Trade in the Federal Executive Council constituted by General Gowon. Okoi Arikpo later became the longest serving Minister for Foreign Affairs (External Affairs) 1967 - 1975.

Now, in composition of the cabinet, we were 12 a member of the cabinet coming from each of the state, that’s when the four regions were abolished and we had the 12 state structure. Of course, during the war there was no representative from the east central state of Nigeria because it was at war at that time, so we were 11 and today, there is a world of difference because the constitution, although prescribes a member of the federal cabinet from each state of the Federation, because of the large number of the states http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/okunnu-alleged-genocide-during-civil-war-false-misplaced/144049

.

pazienza:
In Biafra they would control their resources, they headquarters of the oil firms will be in Eket and not in Lagos like Awo ensured, there wouldn't have been Obasanjo's lane use decree that dispossessed them of their lands, Bakasi wouldn't have been traded off to Cameroun and their people scattered all over Nigeria as fugitives.

Okpara had already set the tone of how things would have been in Biafra by facilitating the relocation of shell headquarters from Owerri to PH, in recognition of the enormous amount of crude oil from that part of the East, the exact opposite of what Gowon and Awo did, by taking everything to Lagos.

The Efik-Ibibio-COR Group would only have had control over their assets only if they had their own separate region, not as long as their region remained part of Biafra. Afterall, the first thing Ojukwu did was to try and seize oil installations in the East.

Ah, thanking you for admitting what a lot of people had already suspected for ages. The war was also actually about oil, and not only about protecting the Igbo. One man wanted to seize the oil assets of the South-South and South-East which at that time was grouped under the Eastern region headed by Ojukwu.

That was why Ojukwu's first act of governance after declaring secession was to ask Shell to start paying royalties directly to him in the East.

Gowon, then 31, had been running the affairs of 57 million Nigerians for 10 months. It had not been easy. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, his 58-year old trusted deputy and adviser, was with Okoi Arikpo and Philip Asiodu, permanent secretaries of the ministries of External Affairs and Trade and Industries respectively.They were preparing to put the noose on the neck of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell-BP, which had frozen royalty payments due to the Federation Account on 1 June 1967 and had offered to pay the Biafran government £250,000.

Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, Biafran leader, had ordered all oil companies to start paying all royalties to Enugu because they were operating in a new country or risk heavy penalties. Specifically, he demanded a minimum of £2million from Shell-BP. The Federal Government had imposed an economic blockade on Biafra. It entailed barring all merchant vessels and sea tankers from sailing to and from Koko, Warri, Sapele, Escravos, Bonny, Port Harcourt, Calabar ports, which Ojukwu had declared part and parcel of Biafra.

Biafra controlled the land on which the oil installations sat; the Nigerian government controlled the coastal entrance and exit to those lands.

https://waidigbenro./tag/okoi-arikpo/

The oil companies on their own decided where to site their operational offices, and where their administrative headquarters would be. It had little to do with Gowon. Gowon did not build an office for Shell, neither did he command them to stay put in Lagos.

Till today, oil companies all over the world have their head offices in a place that is different, from their operational sites or oil wells are located. Does Shell have its corporate headquarters in the North Sea, where it has drilled oil over the past decade?

BIAFRA: THE UNTOLD STORY OF NIGERIA’S CIVIL WAR

Excerpts: Published on February 19, 2013 by . | Secret American diplomatic dispatches, spread over 21,000 pages, provide previously unknown information about the Nigerian Civil War

Unknown to the forward planners, according to the US documents, Ojukwu had been meticulously preparing for war as early as October 1966, after the second round of massacre in the North. He had stopped the Eastern share of revenues that were supposed to accrue to the Federation Account.

By 30 April 1967, he had recalled all Igbos serving in Nigeria embassies and foreign missions and those that heeded his call were placed on the payroll of the government of Eastern Region. The 77,000 square kilometres of the Republic of Biafra – a mere 8 per cent of the size of Nigeria – was already divided into 20 provinces, with leaders selected for each. They had their own judiciary, legislative councils, ministries and ambassadors. Alouette helicopters and a B26 bomber were procured from the French Air Force through a Luxemburg trading company.

Hank Warton, the German-American arms dealer, had been flying in Czech and Israeli arms via Spain and Portugal since October 1966. The military hardware, they could not get, they seized. A DC3 and a Fokker F27 were seized from the Nigerian Air Force in April. NNS Ibadan, a Nigerian Navy Seaward Defence Boat (SDB) that docked in Calabar Port, was quickly made Biafran.

Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, who was supposed to be in Enugu in prison for his role in 1966 coup, joined in training recruits in Abakaliki. Foreign mercenaries were training indoctrinated old people, young men and teenagers recruited as NCOs [Non-commissioned Officers] in jungle warfare, bomb making, mortar and other artillery firing. Ojukwu, through speeches, town hall meetings, market square performances and radio broadcasts, succeeded in convincing his people that their destiny was death or a separate state. All his performances in Ghana that culminated in the Aburi Accord of January 1967, or discussions with the Awolowo-led National Conciliation Committee five months later, turned out to be ruse.

The underground war preparations, the secret arms stockpiles openly manifested themselves as Ojukwu’s stubborn refusal to accept offers or concessions during these peace meetings.

But the Biafrans knew that their vulnerable line was along Ogoja, Ikom, Calabar, Port Harcourt, and Yenogoa. Support from the six million people making up the Eastern minorities was very much unsure. The minorities viewed their leaders in Biafra high command as traitors. And without the minorities, Biafra would be landlocked and most likely, unviable as a state. More so, their vast oil and gas resources were the reason they contemplated secession in the first place.

The Biafra high command believed that if there was going to be any troop incursion from there, they are going to be transported through ship. They already had a B26 bomber to deal fire to Nigeria’s only transport ship, NNS Lokoja, anytime it approached the Biafran coastline.

https://waidigbenro./tag/okoi-arikpo/

http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/how-ojukwu-rejected-offer-of-food-corridor/

pazienza:
The source you provided for this is not saying same thing as this.

There is something funny about Nigerians fictitious Biafran atrocities against Eastern minorities.
They are sure Biafrans were killing minorities and that the minorities were been forced by Ojukwu to stay in Biafra, yet they were scared of a plebiscite in the Eastern minorities areas, knowing the outcome of such will be.

The quote was also made by a consulate General of the federal Republic of Nigeria, not by an independent and neutral and credible source. For all I cared, this was but a Nigerian war propaganda, nothing more, nothing less.

I have posted 2 different links for you to read. But you obviously chose to overlook them, claim that they are fictitious or claim the link is not saying the same thing.

I am re-posting it here again, for not just you but every one that seeks to read and understand the truth. The writer spoke about not just Igbo killing non-Igbo, but also non-Igbo that turned on Igbo and killed them under the federal soldiers watch.

So it is a very balanced study.

Please pay attention and read through.


(1). Read The Forgotten Victims: Ethnic Minorities in the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967-1970 by Arua Oko Omaka of McMaster University Canada, Journal of Retracing Africa: Vol. 1,Issue 1 (2014): 25-40. http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2 especially from page 32 - 35;

(2). Read the account of the expatriate manager that was submitted to the Deputy British High Commission in Benin by Van Der Laan, the expatriate manager of Rubber Estate south of Ogwashi-Uku on 18 April 1968, concerning Biafran hit squads infiltrated the area in civilian clothes. To the best of my knowledge the British Deputy High Commissioner at that time, never refuted these facts. Read: http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/02/26/post-midwest-liberation/

Open up each of the links this time and read it all through.

he Efik-Ibibio-COR Group would only
have had control over their assets only if
they had their own separate region, not as
long as their region remained part of
Biafra. Afterall, the first thing Ojukwu did
was to try and seize oil installations in the
East.
Ah, thanking you for admitting what a lot
of people had already suspected for ages.
The war was actually about oil. One mane
wanted to seize the oil assets of the
South-South and South-East which at that
time was grouped under the Eastern
region headed by Ojukwu.
That was why Ojukwu's first act of
governance after declaring secession was
to ask Shell to start paying royalties
directly to him in the East.


You expect Biafra to allow Nigeria to continue drilling the oil wealth of the East while paying royalties to Nigeria? Are you for real? Did the minorities have control of their resources under Nigeria from 1970 till date, or has the derivation formula shrinked from 50-50 to 13% and wicked land decree promulgated to deprive them of control over their lands?

The Biafra government headed by Ojukwu would first have to seize the Biafran oil wealth from the invaders( Nigeria) before she can now hand it over to her respective provinces, or you expect each Biafran province to fight individually for her oil wealth?

Of course, we knew those who fought a war of survival and those who fought a war for spoils. Those who relocated the oil headquarters to Lagos, those who built refineries in Kaduna, those who were willing to render Bakkassi people homeless just to get their hands on the Eastern wealth. History speaks for herself.