₦airaland Forum

GorkoSusaay:
Ojukwu's conduct of the war was really bad. Biafra never stood a chance, really.
While Ojukwu's decision to secede Eastern Nigeria from Nigeria can be understood, what cannot be is his desertion as General Commander of the Biafran forces in January 1970. Nothing can justify his flight to Cote d'Ivoire with his Mercedes Benz, leaving his underlings to do the most courageous thing during the war: surrendering to Nigeria and ending the bloodletting of civilian populations

gidgiddy:
Mr Parker was the British Ambassador for the eastern region although his official title was deputy high commissioner, Eastern Region of Nigeria. This is to show the level of autonomy the regions had back then.

GorkoSusaay:
Ojukwu's conduct of the war was really bad. Biafra never stood a chance, really.
While Ojukwu's decision to secede Eastern Nigeria from Nigeria can be understood, what cannot be is his desertion as General Commander of the Biafran forces in January 1970. Nothing can justify his flight to Cote d'Ivoire with his Mercedes Benz, leaving his underlings to do the most courageous thing during the war: surrendering to Nigeria and ending the bloodletting of civilian populations

PenSniper:
You are apparently a confused fellow.

gidgiddy:
Your problem is that you don't know Nigerian history. All you are doing is echoing the washed out version of Nigerian history that the Lagos/Ibadan expressway media have been peddling about for years to justify their involvement in genocide

PenSniper:
List of High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Nigeria
Countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations typically exchange High Commissioners, rather than Ambassadors. Though there are a few technical differences, they are in practice one and the same office. The following persons have served as British High Commissioner to the Federal Republic of Nigeria since the country gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1960:

1960–1963: Antony Head, 1st Viscount Head[1]
1964–1967: Sir Francis Cumming-Bruce[2]
1967–1969: Sir David Hunt[3]
1969–1971: Sir Leslie Glass[4]

T9ksy:
Bad ke? It was atrocious for a lack of more apt adjective to depict his careless and selfish behaviour. The chest -beating orangutan lookalike still went to war despite the fact that, with Gowon's decree 8, he Ojukwu had already got 90% of what he asked for and taking full cognisance of reality on the ground which is that he is simply gambling with the lives of his own people by falsely claiming to be fighting not as an under-dog.


He played on his people's emotions by telling them that the Nigerian army was geared up to exterminate the whole lot of them so they might as well die fighting however when it became obvious that his big fat head was on the block he scampered away into safety leaving his kith and kins at the mercy of those he claimed were poised to annihilate them.

That guy should have been strung up by the b.a.ll.s for war crimes!

gidgiddy:
Your problem is that you don't know Nigerian history. All you are doing is echoing the washed out version of Nigerian history that the Lagos/Ibadan expressway media have been peddling about for years to justify their involvement in genocide

gidgiddy:
Ojukwu fought hard for three years. In 1970, his commanders adviced him that they could no longer hold out. Ojukwu the handed over to Philip Effiong and flew out. When Philip Effiong the announced a halt to the fighting and and eventual surrender, the Nigerian Soldiers who did not know that Ojukwu was gone searched for Ojukwu for three days to kill him. If Ojukwu had stayed back, he would have been killed and his body would have been paraded for the world press to see and used as a propaganda tool. So what would have been the point of Ojukwu staying back to be killed over a war that had almost ended? Ojukwu left and later came back, when he died, he recieved one of the greatest burials in Africa. If he had stayed back, the Federal Soldiers would have cut off his head and used it to play football

gidgiddy:
I could hit the search button on Google and land on any SW propaganda website that can economical with the truth. The above could be the view point of any body. The question Im asking which you don't want to answer is, how could Ironsi have repealed or abolished the regions when at the time he died in 1966 all 4 regions existed? Like I said before, the unification decree, or the decree 34 you are talking about did take some powers away from the regions because it centralised government which is how all minitary regimes functions. Gowon abolished regionalism in 1967 and announced the creation of states. Did Ironsi return from the dead and posses the body of Gowon or something?

infoispower:
Are you just choosing to adore blindly or you are ignorant about the facts:

I believe that experienced political leaders of the older generation like opara,ibiam,zik,awo,bello even balawa
would place appropriate value on the lives and well being of its follower’s un like the military leadership mindset
that sees humans as a pawn on a chess board battlefield.
Regardless of ojukwu mistakes i would have admired him if he had not fled,after such destruction and loss of
lives of his kin men,women and children as a result of his decision ,that was the height of cowardice that made his brave
and strong personality Questionable .
most of his inner circle and advisers heard on THE RADIO that he had fled for ivory coast.



This is from one of the greatest biafran patriot who was also one of biafra's diplomats,

on page 225 of chinua achebe’s "there was a country"
quote”after ojukwu fleed,sir louis mbanefo the biafra chief justice and general philip effiong
met with a small group of biafran government officials and made the decision to surrender”un quote.



HE IS A COWARD.......

gidgiddy:
So you wanted Ojukwu to stay back, get himself killed and have his dead body paraded in front of the world press so that he can win your respect? I laugh in Igbo. If Ojukwu had done this, what do you think his enemies would be saying today? You think they would be calling him a brave man? They would have called him a fool who was caught and killed like Chicken. Ojukwu would have indeed been a fool to give his enemies such satisfaction when he had an escape route. Ojukwu lived to his 70's and when he died, he recieved a State funeral almost on the level of Mandela. That's the memory we will take of Ojukwus death, not the one you wanted for him. Ojukwu has the respect of the vast majority of his people even in death and that's what matters. It's funny that Ojukwu who fought the combined military might of Nigeria, Britain, Russia and Egypt for 3 years can be called a coward by the same people who could not fight and who ran to be a$$lickers of the North.

As for the million who died, it was Nigeria that killed them. It was Nigeria that came down to East to fight. Nigeria placed more value on keeping the colonial creation of Lord Lugard called Nigeria together than it did about the lives of so many people. Today, Ojukwu has been vindicated. The Nigeria Ojukwu fought has not progressed an inch since the civil war ended and the people are more divided than ever.

GorkoSusaay:
No, Ojukwu could have negotiated a fair political arrangement or listened to the wisdom of Zik and others, when he had the chance. You cannot encourage people to fight to death, to see their children starving and dying and when shit is about to hit the fan, you just pack up and flee with your Mercedes Benz.

Mind you, Gowon was and is very different from Murtala Mohamed and many other field commanders. He wouldn't spit on a reasonable agreement.

GorkoSusaay:
No, Ojukwu could have negotiated a fair political arrangement or listened to the wisdom of Zik and others, when he had the chance. You cannot encourage people to fight to death, to see their children starving and dying and when shit is about to hit the fan, you just pack up and flee with your Mercedes Benz.

Mind you, Gowon was and is very different from Murtala Mohamed and many other field commanders. He wouldn't spit on a reasonable agreement.

gidgiddy:
The OP made so many mistakes:

He said Ojukwu started a war: How could Ojukwu have started a war when it was Gowon that came down to east to start fighting?

He said that Ojukwu executed people like Victor Banjo, Ifeajuna, Alale and Mr Abam for opposing him: I would suggest to him to find a book called 'No place to hide: crises and conflicts inside Biafra' by Ben Odogwu. In this book he will read the ful text of how these four men were tried for plotting to topple Ojukwu and how they were secretly recorded planning their coup.

He said that Ojukwu didn't consult anyone before declaring Biafra when it is a historical fact that it was the Eastern Nigeria consultative assembly which was comprised of all the representatives and Chiefs of of the 20 provinces that made up former the eastern region that mandated Ojukwu to declare the Eastern region a separate country on 29th May 1967.

The OP said that Ojukwu rejected aid for his suffering people. Ojukwu never rejected foreign aid. What Ojukwu rejected was Gowon trying to control the distribution of the aid.

Ojukwu may have been highanded, brash and condescending but it was war situation. Hardley the time to be Mr nice guy.

The OP also failed to take into account that over 50,000 easterners were slaughtered in broad daylight and that Ojukwus signed a peace agreement in Ghana with Gowon which Gowon decided not to honour.

Ojukwu did what he had to do to protect his people and I commend him for standing up to fight northern Nigerian hegemony at a time when all others decided to be cowards and submit themselves to Nothern slavery.

AdiscoPele:
I appreciate your sincere contributions and i wont argue with you concerning the number of deaths on the federal side since you are only concerned about the biafran 'propaganda'.

What we are trying to say is that Ojukwu new, as a senior officer in the army, before the war that millions of souls will be lost because he was ill prepared. The deaths could have been avoided.

Let me ask you a question, Azikiwe, Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello fought for Nigerians independence right. Ahmadu Bello was killed in a coup by young Igbo soldiers, Awolowo was at the front of the situation trying to queel the civil war. Please, where was Azikiwe all through the civil war. Why didn't anyone hear of his contributions to ending the war.

Your people should stop being ungrateful to a man who stood for your fathers when there own ran away.

I have never heard any Igbo youth mention Zik or when call him a coward. That I believe is because the stories told by your elders never mentioned him, and no one has the guts to ask.

To the 20pounds issue, note that most Igbos who had accounts in Nigerian banks withdrew all their savings before going back to the east. Let your elders be sincere with you for once.

PenSniper:
The fact you need to ponder upon is- is regionalism synonemous with unitary system of government ?
As of the time Gowon took over, the regions existed without their powers of autonomy which had been taken away by decree 34.
Isn't it funny that so far you are the only one i know of that has ever denied the import of decree 34 by Ironsi ?

93xtr9r:
Laudate, the hypocrite, you're still displaying your double-faced treachery with your devilish propaganda against Igbos since you so much dread to be left behind with your Northern masters.

Do well to face OduaArewanistan republic where you're most needed as loyal, slavish subjects.
Leave Igbos out of your miseries.

T9ksy:
Bad ke? It was atrocious for a lack of more apt adjective to depict his careless and selfish behaviour. The chest -beating orangutan lookalike still went to war despite the fact that, with Gowon's decree 8, he Ojukwu had already got 90% of what he asked for and taking full cognisance of reality on the ground which is that he is simply gambling with the lives of his own people by falsely claiming to be fighting not as an under-dog.


He played on his people's emotions by telling them that the Nigerian army was geared up to exterminate the whole lot of them so they might as well die fighting however when it became obvious that his big fat head was on the block he scampered away into safety leaving his kith and kins at the mercy of those he claimed were poised to annihilate them.

That guy should have been strung up by the b.a.ll.s for war crimes!

PenSniper:
You mean i don't know Nigerian history a la Ibo propaganda you mean ?

Hello Pal, i was a living witness of all that happened in Nigeria right from the time of "weti e" in the SW to the end of the war. I kept myself abreast of the goings-on by avidly listening to our wonderful WNBS through another of our unique asset of those days, thank to the great Awolowo, called the Redifusion as well as reading the "Daily Times".

laudate:
Eeyah... Xtrorse the psychotic, deluded, mental patient that keeps dragging Nd'Igbo into disrepute with his deranged antics. Which asylum did you escape from? May Chineke deliver you from your mental problems! Isee...

laudate:
Guy, even your own rejoinder has so many errors. What year were you born and whose viewpoints are you quoting?

Which peace agreement was signed in Ghana? If you are speaking about the Aburi accord, a lot of key players have come out to state their own side of the facts and render a true account of what transpired during the meeting. Go and do some research to get the real facts.

Ojukwu wanted a confederacy and a lot of other things as well. Over 80% of his demands were met, yet he still went ahead to declare secession after several entreaties not to do so, and a lot of warnings about the consequences of his action. So please stop recycling hearsay and free your mind!

laudate:
What am I seeing? You mean that in the year of our Lord 2016, someone is still arguing blindly that Decree 34 did not extinguish the autonomy of the regions or kill the spirit of regionalism? Ye gods! What planet is the person living on? The Unitary decree not only killed the regions, it made sure they existed in name only by the time Gowon took over. This is just an elementary aspect of Nigeria's political history!

laudate:
Chisos! Uncle, how old are you, if you don't mind my asking?

gidgiddy:
Yes the peace agreement I meant was the Aburi agreement. You can imagine the level of acrimony that was around to necessitate Ojukwu and Gowon meeting outside Nigeria. Whatever account you heard about Aburi, the most important thing which everyone will agree on is that an agreement was signed by Gowon and Ojukwu in front of the then president of Ghana, General Ankrah. Now you said that Ojukwu got 80% of what he wanted? Yes this is true. He got it on paper in Aburi, Ghana. He did not get in reality in Nigeria. Do you know why Ojukwu declared Biafra? Ojukwu declared Biafra because Gowon broke the cardinal rule of the Aburi agreement rendering the entire agreement useless. The Aburi agreement stated that Gowon would not change the confederal structure of Nigeria agreed in Ghana unless all four Military Governors of the four regions also agreed. It didn't matter if three of them agreed, all four must and had to agree. On the 27th of May 1966, Gowon violated this agreement by announcing the abolishment of the 4 regions and the creation of 12 states. Gowon acted in direct contravention of the agreement he signed because Ojukwu never agreed to repealing the regions. In response, Ojukwu declared Biafra 3 days later. Ojukwu never got what he negotiated and signed in Ghana.