₦airaland Forum

Historically, Nigeria got her independence in October 1, 1960 with Tafawa Balewa as the prime minister and Nnamdi Azikiwe as the "ceremonial president" suffix it to add that before the British left Nigeria, they relied on merit rather than quota system nor federal character in employing Nigerians that replaced them. As a result of this policy, the aggressive, self competing and well educated Igbos were able to dominate the civil service and government agencies like the railways, postal service, universities etc. At the same time, they effectively controlled the East, competed to an extent with the Yorubas in the West while in the North, they also competed favorably against the largely illiterate masses that were still wary of western education. The fear of Igbo domination was an existential threat across the country and culminated in the Saudauna of Sokoto and then premier of the North, during his address to the Northern legislative council making an infamous hate speech against the Igbos that would make that of Hitler against the Jews seem like a recommendation. During this period, through Nnamdi Azikiwe, were the most vocal proponents of a one and indivisible Nigeria while the North, scared of competition with the more illustrious South were keen on having their own country through the then popular chants of Araba! As classified documents and interviews granted by some of the British personnel involved then would later reveal. The British prior to independence were able to convince Ahmadu Bello that the North, through a manipulated census, favorable landmass, far more number of seats at the parliament and dominance of the army would still be able to control Nigeria politically even with their obvious shortcomings.

Fast-forward to 1966, the West was in crises, during the operation wetie and wild-wild West fame with riots, curfews and political killings common place. A biased federal government supporting Akintola, premier of the West against the popular choice of Awolowo. Then emerged a young Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, a Delta-Igbo man from the Midwest but was born and resided in Kaduna. He had ideas of an utopian Nigeria devoid of corruption and other ills. To actualize this, he planned alongside Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Major Adewale Ademoyega and several others that included ethnic Tivs, Ijaws, Hausa/fulani, Urhobo, Yorubas, Igbos etc while those that were assassinated included tafawa Balewa (the Prime minister), Ahmadu Bello (Premier of the North), Samuel Akintola (Premier of the West), Festus Okotie Eboh (Minister of Finance), Brigadier Maimalari, Col Arthur Unegbe (he was in charge of armory) and about seven others that were mudered in cold blood. Incidentally, the Premiers of the East and Midwest, both of whom were Igbos escaped unhurt. This was probably why it was called an Igbo coup despite the fact that the roll call of the perpetrators was a pan Nigeria list. Six months later, there was a counter coup and Aguiyi Ironsi, was assassinated and in quick succession, hundreds of Igbos in the army were massacred in the army across the country which was followed by a pogrom that resulted in the death of an estimated thirty thousand Igbo civilians in the North. If the counter coup plotters led by Theophilus Danjuma had stopped with the assassination of Ironsi and many top Igbo officers in the army, they would have been justified in their vendetta mission but when they extended it through omission or commission to mass murder of Igbos in the army and tens of thousands of Igbo civilians living in the North, it transformed into a mission on ethnic cleansing, comparable to the holocaust in terms of its magnitude and horror. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, Igbos demanded for secession against a state that couldn't protect them, not because they preferred having their own country but simply because they had no choice. After much politics between Ojukwu and Gowon bothering on the latter's refusal to implement Aburi accord and the creation of twelve states to break Ojukwu's grip on the Eastern region. In response, Ojukwu declared Biafra and a thirty month civil war ensued that resulted in the death of an estimated three million Igbos and other minority tribes, if such large number of people had died during combat, it will be better understood but they died in one of the worlds worst known siege or blockade, in terms of geographic reach and casualties. It was worse than both the Nazi German siege on Leningrad (former st Petersburg) during second world war that resulted in the death of about 670,000 people and the Serb siege on Sarajevo during the Bosnian war that led to the death of about 150,000 people. Majority of those that died on the Biafran side was as a result of starvation and Egyptian airstrikes! Battered on all sides, Biafra surrendered and Gowon promised a 3R's policy of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction which later turned into a cheap rhetoric that was never kept despite the oil boom of the 1970's.

Like Achebe once said, what united other Nigerians was their consensus hate on Igbos and every regime seemed to sustain this unwritten rule. In 1976, during the military regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, Justice Mamman Nasir boundary commission was formed and with it came more punishment for the Igbos, Oil bearing and Igbo speaking communities were blatantly carved out (Egbema and Ndoki areas) of East central state and ceded to Rivers state without recourse to their kit and kin.

This Nigerian form of apart-held system against Igbos continued till the time of Goodluck Jonathan who tried to reverse some of these obnoxious policies.

THE WAY FORWARD [b][/b]

1. Abolish quota system and let admissions into Federal schools be on merit.
2. Implement True Federalism and resource control with Oil producing states paying royalties to the centre.
3. Institutionalize Ben Nwabueze's template to the deputy senate president on the new six zonal structure as Federating units.
4. Giving every region a sense of belonging through Federal establishments rather than concentrating in some and abandoning others.
5. Encourage cattle ranching or at most build grazing reserves across Northern states.
6. Disperse military formations proportionately across the country instead of having a particular ethnic group dominate the army or establishing a huge chunk of the military apparatchik in a single state or region.

In conclusion, this will solve most of Nigeria's problem like inter ethnic strife, militancy in the Niger-delta, secession agitation by the Biafrans and also engender economic prosperity and growth for the Nation.

www.orientalblog.

Neighbor. Have you played your victim card today?

5th class citizen!
keep playing victim card be ranting oo!

Every tribe in Nigeria has been treated unjustly. Even the Hausa/Fulani people that we always think are having it rosy cos their people are in charge are also victims cos I wonder why we have had many presidents of northern extraction and the North is still immersed in wide spread poverty. So to be honest, your post is meaningless.

We yoruba muslims like the injustice been meted out to you SE and SS by our Baba Buhari. You did not convert to Islam and vote for Buhari so why should we give you justice.

-Fulanis are 1st class citizens
-Hausas are 2nd class citizens,
-we yoruba muslims are 3rd class citizens
-yoruba christians are 4th class citizens
-Ibos are fifth class.

You see buharisbae is right. So we must support buhari in punishing them because Buhari is greater than Awolowo. Say Baba!

buharisbae:
5th class citizen!

keep playing victim card be ranting oo!

The lady in your dp is cute in that photo. But I don't know if she would be as cute as that in reality.

[s]

Ontarget:
Every tribe in Nigeria has been treated unjustly. Even the Hausa/Fulani people that we always think are having it rosy cos their people are in charge are also victims cos I wonder why we have had many presidents of northern extraction and the North is still immersed in wide spread poverty. So to be honest, your post is meaningless.

[/s] You see why Nigeria may never get it right, intelligent people acknowledge when they are wrong and make reparation, Germany acknowledged their injustice against the Jews and made reparation to Isreal. In your warped mindset, the Igbos have no case? smh at you.

kayfra:
Neighbor. Have you played your victim card today?

Turn to your neighbour and say......
Neighbour, have you bought petrol today?

Say.....
Neighbour how much did you buy 1 liter?

MrAdetunjiBayo:
We yoruba muslims like the injustice been meted out to you SE and SS by our Baba Buhari. You did not convert to Islam and vote for Buhari so why should we give you justice.

Fulanis are 1st class citizens
Hausas are 2nd class citizens,
we yoruba muslims are 3rd class citizens
yoruba christians are 4th class citizens
Ibos are fifth class.

You see buharisbae is right. So we must support buhari in punishing because Buhari is greater than Awolowo. Say Baba!

Why do you still want Igbos to share nationality with you when you despise them so much? Why don't you allow them to leave if you cant live in brotherhood with them?

proeast:
Why do you still want Igbos to share nationality with you when you despise them so much? Why don't you allow them to leave if you cant live in brotherhood with them?

Because we are yoruba muslims and you are christian ibos, we need your oil so that Aregbe can pay salaries in the state of osun abi you want hunger to kill us in osun?

MrAdetunjiBayo:
Because we are yoruba muslims and christian ibos, we need your oil so that Aregbe can pay salaries in the state of osun abi you want hunger to kill us in osun?

Why are you ashamed of your Igbo tribe? Na wao

proeast:
Why do you still want Igbos to share nationality with you when you despise them so much? Why don't you allow them to leave if you cant live in brotherhood with them?

He is a Igbo man like you but had to disguise just to cause confusion.

buharisbae:
5th class citizen!

keep playing victim card be ranting oo!

5th class citizen?? based on what? government suppression? Nobody is playing victim card, all Igbos are asking for is a level playing ground. The Igbos have always been Nigeria's biggest asset in terms of human resources, any sensible government would make maximum use of it and not try to suppress it for whatever reason.

MrAdetunjiBayo:
We yoruba muslims like the injustice been meted out to you SE and SS by our Baba Buhari. You did not convert to Islam and vote for Buhari so why should we give you justice.

Fulanis are 1st class citizens
Hausas are 2nd class citizens,
we yoruba muslims are 3rd class citizens
yoruba christians are 4th class citizens
Ibos are fifth class.

You see buharisbae is right. So we must support buhari in punishing because Buhari is greater than Awolowo. Say Baba!

Now i tink nairaland really needs a captcha to distinguish humans from e-diots...

Swt jesus!! This really come outta a human brain??

Shame on the woman who failed to abort this nincompoop.

Imagine this failed miscarriage??

Poweredbrew:
He is a Igbo man like you but had to disguise just to cause confusion.

Did he loose his mind? why would he do such and to what end

buharisbae:
5th class citizen!

keep playing victim card be ranting oo!

Initially i thought dere were brains to compliment d beauty...

/* walks out of thread, disappointed */

proeast:
Did he loose his mind? why would he do such and to what end

His other handles are mirabetsolaye, Ooni, arodetsolaye,SegunEgba,bayotunji and many others. The mod will never ban him, maybe they like the way he is spreading hate and causing confusion everywhere.