₦airaland Forum

PrecisionFx:
.

i know ur type.

The popular statement by awolowo was made in public by awolowo himself and not radio propaganda. It was so popular to the extent that the British telegraph n American time magazine all wrote about it.

Even chinua achebe affirmed same in his book " There was a Country ""





https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/09/awo-not-make-west-secede/



U can wallow in ur senslessness if it allows u sleep well at Nyt.

If this rubbish is the best you can bring to support your rubbish that Awolowo promised you to secede than you must really be naive. How can a non-military person give you such assurance?

You igbos are something else

gurnam:
If this rubbish is the best you can bring to support your rubbish that Awolowo promised you to secede than you must really be naive. How can a non-military person give you such assurance?

You igbos are something else

I have already shown u proof (From ur own vanguard newspaper) that Awolowo made that statement publicly n all u can come out with is this trashy reply.

U can keep wallowing in ur bliss of self inflicted ignorance.

PrecisionFx:
I have already shown u proof (From ur own vanguard newspaper) that Awolowo made that statement publicly n all u can come out with is this trashy reply.

U can keep wallowing in ur bliss of self inflicted ignorance.

Let me assume he made that statement, does that warrant the declaration of Biafra with no adequate preparation or international support?

PrecisionFx:
I have already shown u proof (From ur own vanguard newspaper) that Awolowo made that statement publicly n all u can come out with is this trashy reply.

U can keep wallowing in ur bliss of self inflicted ignorance.

Get out of here with your rubbish

A statement made OPENLY should have an audio record. Can you please give a link to such ?

You guys are born to lie without shame

Yyeske:
Let me assume he made that statement, does that warrant the declaration of Biafra with no adequate preparation or international support?

There is no reason to even assume anything as nothing of such is available anywhere..either classified or declassified, either in the open or in secret.

It was a Radio Biafra propaganda on the eve of the war and igbos have latched on that nonsense propaganda as one of the reason they lost the war they lost already even before the beginning of the war

Yyeske:
Let us call a spade what it is, eziokwu bu ndu(truth is life).
Igbos participated in making Nigeria what it is today.

Azikiwe rejected referendum and secession to be inserted into our constitution.

Nzeogwu and his colleagues led a one sided coup.

Ironsi created a unitary government and made the centre stronger than the regions, he didn't execute the coup plotters as expected in the military.

Ojukwu declared Biafra knowing fully well it's a declaration of war against Nigeria, no adequate preparation, weapon or foreign backup. That a pogrom was going on against Ndigbo in the north and Gowon desecrating the Aburi accord shouldn't had made him declare Biafra in a hurry without foreign backup and equipment, the US today would always go into a war with allies, we never had any.

Nnamdi Kanu brought his own madness into the mix by calling for the killing of Yorubas and Hausas, causing more friction between tribes.

This your post is totally baseless and lacks any credibility.

1. The coup was designed to destroy the government and put Awo in charge. Awo's P.A has confirmed this, many historians have confirmed this even non-Igbo masterminds of the coup like Ademoyega and Fola Oyewole have confirmed this. Calling it a one-sided coup is a pedestrian, lazy beer parlour assertion that has been squashed over and over

2. Saying Ironsi "created a unitary structure" shows you haven't done any research. You just regurgitated other people's opinions and propaganda. The regional system was destroyed on January 15, 1966. There were no more premiers after Nzeogwu and co destroyed the 1st republic. You had military administrators of North, West, East and Midwest all under Ironsi's command. The unification decree was a rubber stamp and it didn't take resource control from indigenes. That was the handiwork of Obasanjo ten years later. The decree was designed to have a unified FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE. Most importantly the Supreme Military Council deliberated on the decree thoroughly and reached a unanimous decision. Ironsi was too naive and careful to force something like on his own.

3. Ojukwu did not declare Biafra unilaterally. This should not even be discussed...

4. Kanu has nothing to do with this. Kanu never killed anybody, never hurt anybody. Kanu is the ONLY man to bring Nigeria towards the path of restructuring since the Aburi accord . Since Buhari and Buratai killed him and his parents what progress has your party made towards restructuring.

If you want to talk politics talk politics. If you want to talk history you better have your facts ready

gurnam:
If this rubbish is the best you can bring to support your rubbish that Awolowo promised you to secede than you must really be naive. How can a non-military person give you such assurance?

You igbos are something else

Oh so awolowo was "non-military", yet he used starvation to prosecute the same war with the military of which he was the second in command?

By the way, I thought awo was your god? Whose words are yea and amen? Keep speaking from both sides of your mouth.

redflame:
[s]Oh so awolowo was "non-military", yet he used starvation to prosecute the same war with the military of which he was the second in command?

By the way, I thought awo was your god? Whose words are yea and amen? Keep speaking from both sides of your mouth.[/s]

Read the trash you wrote slowly and tell us the sense in it

gurnam:
Read the trash you wrote slowly and tell us the sense in it

Just admit you can't read sensibly and beg for assistance, then I will help. Thanks.

redflame:
Just admit you can't read sensibly and beg for assistance, then I will help. Thanks.

You should help yourself, that is the only thing that will make sense and the only thing that count.

Uchek:
Ironsi is not the founder of unitary system of government. Gowon/Awolowo government destroyed Nigeria's federalism. Go educate yourself for the benefit of your unborn generation.

In his May 24 1966 national broadcast, Ironsi, with his own cursed mouth, declared as follows:

1. ...the problem of Nigeria whose last vestiges needs to be removed is intense regionalism...
2. The former regions are hereby abolished and Nigeria broken down to smaller provinces..
3. Nigerian ceases to be what is called a federation thus her official name is now no longer " Federal Republic of Nigeria" but just "Republic of Nigeria"..
4. The Civil Service is now unified and therefore every civil servant must now see himself working for Nigeria rather than to for his region....

If Ironsi did not dismantle federalism and the regions, then can you tell us what exactly he meant with these utterance of his highlighted above?

gurnam:
Lmao! You are really bitter!! Every affliction affecting you igbos is caused by Yoruba people

Which Yoruba man promised you Presidency, if you need clarification about your promise, go and meet Boss Mustapha

Back to OP
The name Ironsi evokes a tribalistic, foolish, self-serving, greedy, Mr Decree 34 man. A typical Ibo man!

He was killed like a common dog. May his soul Rest permanently in the deepest part of hell fire

He wanted to create an atmosphere that would make it very easy fulfill the previous threats by Azikiwe that Igbo gods had destined them to lead Africans, and another one by another Igbo that it was just a matter of time for them to dominate Nigeria.
Such a terrible people.

Ironsi hated federalism with a rabid passion because it was hindering his kinsmen from assessing and exploiting other regions.

Deadlytruth:
In his May 24 1966 national broadcast, Ironsi, with his own cursed mouth, declared as follows:

1. ...the problem of Nigeria whose last vestiges needs to be removed is intense regionalism...
2. The former regions are hereby abolished and Nigeria broken down to smaller provinces..
3. Nigerian ceases to be what is called a federation thus her official name is now no longer " Federal Republic of Nigeria" but just "Republic of Nigeria"..
4. The Civil Service is now unified and therefore every civil servant must now see himself working for Nigeria rather than to for his region....

If Ironsi did not dismantle federalism and the regions, then can you tell us what exactly he meant with these utterance of his highlighted above?

After reading the above, I now like the fact that he was killed like a Dog!!!!!!

Amumaigwe:
And he created the unitary system of government on the advise of 'his people' past, present and future?

The advisory committee which proposed unitary system to him was nearly 100% Igbo in composition. Ojuwku too was a very influential governor under Ironsi but rejoiced at the promulgation of the Unification and Anti-secession Decrees by Ironsi rather than dissociate himself from them by resigning from Ironsi's junta. But just 15 months later the same Ojuwku could no longer live with the Anti-secession Decree he approved of hence he began seeking Biafra.

NdiaraIGBO:
After reading the above, I now like the fact that he was killed like a Dog!!!!!!

To me, he even died a good death by just a bullet. Those his Hausafulani ADC's should have tied the fool to the back of a military truck and dragged him all over Lagos streets till all his flesh was eaten away.

redflame:
The 5 majors were initially cheered by the general public and media organizations, so don't blame ironsi for not executing them immediately.

Cheered by which stupid public and which media. Stop lying. Were they cheered by d Hausa's after dey killed ahmadu bello and tafawa balewa....the man was in on d coup, it was perfectly planned by him to take over power.

PrecisionFx:
U mean a coup Major Ademoyega and captain Adeleke took part in?

Those guys were purposely added so that it doesn't entirely look like an eastern thing.... Why did d northerners get angry with ironsi, initially they didn't claim that it was ethnic thing, but one thing made dem believe so...do u know that means

redflame:
The 5 majors were initially cheered by the general public and media organizations, so don't blame ironsi for not executing them immediately.

But Ironsi himself reportedly wept uncontrollably on hearing about the brutal murders of Balewa, Bello, Akintola and his own fellow high-ranking officers like Ademulegun, Maimalari, Shodeinde, Largema, etc.... meaning that he knew deep down within him that the coup was both morally and legally wrong. So why should a reasonable and rational leader of the army allow the public's sentiments affect and sway his resolve to punish some mutinous junior officers who committed such havoc against innocent officers in brazen violation of military ethics of which he (Ironsi himself) was the chief custodian?

gidgiddy:
You guys are still peddling this age old lie?

Ironsi was the only military head of state who came in and kept the 4 Regions he met on the ground. All others like Gowon and this same IBB came in and subdivided Nigeria into states.

If IBB and others had kept the 4 Regions as Ironsi did, Nigeria would have returned to Regionalism whenever democracy returned.

The state creation exercise by Northerners destroyed the structural arrangement of Nigeria so if you want to blame anyone about the structure of Nigeria, blame them and not Ironsi

In his May 24 1966 national broadcast, Ironsi, with his own cursed mouth, declared as follows:

1. ...the problem of Nigeria whose last vestiges needs to be removed is intense regionalism...
2. The former regions are hereby abolished and Nigeria broken down to smaller provinces..
3. Nigerian ceases to be what is called a federation thus her official name is now no longer " Federal Republic of Nigeria" but just "Republic of Nigeria"..
4. The Civil Service is now unified and therefore every civil servant must now see himself working for Nigeria rather than to for his region....

If Ironsi did not dismantle federalism and the regions, then can you tell us what exactly he meant with these utterance of his highlighted above?

horsepower101:
You have to give yorubas credit where credit is due. No tribe in Nigeria can beat them in propaganda..

Yorubas understand that if you repeat a lie so many times, it becomes true and they have exploited that vulnerability in human nature.

In his May 24 1966 national broadcast, Ironsi, with his own cursed mouth, declared as follows:

1. ...the problem of Nigeria whose last vestiges needs to be removed is intense regionalism...
2. The former regions are hereby abolished and Nigeria broken down to smaller provinces..
3. Nigerian ceases to be what is called a federation thus her official name is now no longer " Federal Republic of Nigeria" but just "Republic of Nigeria"..
4. The Civil Service is now unified and therefore every civil servant must now see himself working for Nigeria rather than to for his region....

If Ironsi did not dismantle federalism and the regions, then can you tell us what exactly he meant with these utterance of his highlighted above?

wirinet:
In all your write up, you avoided the fact that it was Ironsi that unilaterally imposed the unity or centralised form of government on us. So who should we blame for destroying our regional structure?

Why should we blame Nzeogwu and co when his coup failed? Did Nzeogwu ever take over the government? If Ironsi was not complicit in the coup, why did he simply reinstall the regional governments after the coup and return the army back to the barracks?
O, he wanted to rule the whole of Nigeria.

We do not love the status quo, the political elites (from all regioins) love the status quo. It gives then unlimited power and access to the national purse.

Thank you for the bolded. I have also asked them this question several times.
Nzeogwu coup did not result in taking over government, so how was it supposed to be his fault that Ironsi destroyed federalism?
Ironsi's crushing of the coup was supposedly to prevent military take over. But Ironsi himself ended up taking over as a military man. So Ironsi's action gave the same result as that which Nzeogwu's would have given if successesful.

horsepower101:
You also ignored the FACT that he (Ironsi) left the regions INTACT. It was GOWON that broke up the regions into 12 states by fiat in order to weaken the eastern region.

He only placed the civil service under military command because of the crisis in the nation at that time.

Wrong. It was Ironsi that broke up the regions. Gowon even partially restored them at a point before he backpeddalled again.
In his May 24 1966 national broadcast, Ironsi, with his own cursed mouth, declared as follows:

1. ...the problem of Nigeria whose last vestiges needs to be removed is intense regionalism...
2. The former regions are hereby abolished and Nigeria broken down to smaller provinces..
3. Nigerian ceases to be what is called a federation thus her official name is now no longer " Federal Republic of Nigeria" but just "Republic of Nigeria"..
4. The Civil Service is now unified and therefore every civil servant must now see himself working for Nigeria rather than to for his region....

If Ironsi did not dismantle federalism and the regions, then can you tell us what exactly he meant with these utterance of his highlighted above?

Ihateyoumod:
Those guys were purposely added so that it doesn't entirely look like an eastern thing.... Why did d northerners get angry with ironsi, initially they didn't claim that it was ethnic thing, but one thing made dem believe so...do u know that means

And John Atom Kpera from Benue state and Captain Hassan Kastina were also added to make it look as of it wasnt an igbo coup?

Shayetet13:
You are speaking as though Ojukwu woke up one day without any provocation to declare biafra? When you want to condemn Ojukwu's action, atleast consider the totally unprovoked massacre of Igbo race severally in the north. As the leader of the eastern states, what other option is there to react to the senseless killings? Order killing back? He is no animal! So what other option is there? Cower and accept the continuous killings? Igbos we know are no cowards. His decision to succeed was the best line of action. His mistake probably was that he trusted a certain tribe so much to keep up to their end of an agreement. If that tribe didn't agree at first, he would have considered other options towards the succession declaration.

But the bolded started many years before Ojukwu became the Eastern governor? It even happened right under Ironsi's nose as HoS but he and Ojukwu did nothing. So why did Ojukwu later suddenly begin to give the massacres in the North as excuse?

PrecisionFx:
And John Atom Kpera from Benue state and Captain Hassan Kastina were also added to make it look as of it wasnt an igbo coup?

This r d main conspirators
Maj. Kaduna Nzeogwu (Igbo)
Maj. Adewale Ademoyega (Yoruba), author of "Why we struck"
Maj. Emmanuel Ifeajuna (Igbo)
Maj. Timothy Onwuatuegwu (Igbo)
Maj. Chris Anuforo (Igbo)
Maj. Humphrey Chukwuka (Igbo)
Maj. Don Okafor (Igbo)
Capt. Ogbo Oji (Igbo)

Only one Yoruba who played d decoy role..........look at d list n tel me which tribe is responsible for the first coup......

Were dey not Yoruba's who fought one side of Biafra and vice versa......

After d coup ironsi seized power n didn't prosecute these fellows

Deadlytruth:
But Ironsi himself reportedly wept uncontrollably on hearing about the brutal murders of Balewa, Bello, Akintola and his own fellow high-ranking officers like Ademulegun, Maimalari, Shodeinde, Largema, etc.... meaning that he knew deep down within him that the coup was both morally and legally wrong. So why should a reasonable and rational leader of the army allow the public's sentiments affect and sway his resolve to punish some mutinous junior officers who committed such havoc against innocent officers in brazen violation of military ethics of which he (Ironsi himself) was the chief custodian?

For goodness sake don't compare the ironsi regime to the latter crude military administrations of people like Buhari or Abacha.

You don't just gather people who planned an unsuccessful coup and execute them. You investigate and arraign them before the relevant court or tribunal. The government was waiting for the investigative report on the coup by then IG of police M.D.Yusuf.

gidgiddy:
Centralizing government is not the same as destroying the regional structure. They are two different things. It is not possible for Ironsi to have destroyed the Regional structure since all 4 Regions were still existing even to the day Ironsi died.

It is one thing to change the system of governing, it is another to change the structure of the country. Gowon changed the structure of Nigeria by subdividing the 4 Regions he inherited from Ironsi into 12 states.

You seem not to understand the context of Wirinet's argument. Creating States is not the problem. After all the eventual breakdown of the regions into 12 and more regions or states had already started under the democratically elected government of Balewa. The creation of Midwest had sparked off demands for Middle Belt, COR and other new regions which couldn't have been ignored by the civilian government.
Ironsi's creation of over 35 provinces was therefore not a misstep in light of that. But the issue is with the autonomy which Ironsi took away from the regions hence centralizing the authority which constitutes this your very idea of altering the structure.
Had he created 1 million provinces but left their civil services under their control, allowed them to operate exactly as the former regions were operating; no one would have been accusing him of foisting unitary system on the country today.
Why centralize a hitherto uncentralized authority? This is the single real question the whole argument revolves around.

Ihateyoumod:
This r d main conspirators
Maj. Kaduna Nzeogwu (Igbo)
Maj. Adewale Ademoyega (Yoruba), author of "Why we struck"
Maj. Emmanuel Ifeajuna (Igbo)
Maj. Timothy Onwuatuegwu (Igbo)
Maj. Chris Anuforo (Igbo)
Maj. Humphrey Chukwuka (Igbo)
Maj. Don Okafor (Igbo)
Capt. Ogbo Oji (Igbo)

Only one Yoruba who played d decoy role..........look at d list n tel me which tribe is responsible for the first coup......

Were dey not Yoruba's who fought one side of Biafra and vice versa......

After d coup ironsi seized power n didn't prosecute these fellows

"" Only one Yoruba who played d decoy role ""

And which decoy role is that?

nku5:
For goodness sake don't compare the ironsi regime to the latter crude military administrations of people like Buhari or Abacha.

You don't just gather people who planned an unsuccessful coup and execute them. You investigate and arraign them before the relevant court or tribunal. The government was waiting for the investigative report on the coup by then IG of police M.D.Yusuf.

Ironsi's military junta was as crude as all those of his successors because he armtwisted the civilians and subverted a sovereign people's constitution to land himself in power unlike his predecessors who only took over from fellow military governments. Secondly he was impervious to public opinion throughout his six months reign unlike his successors who allowed themselves to be guided by public opinion in one or two instances. So his was the crudest.

On the punishing of the coup plotters,
he set up a panel to investigate it and was waiting for the report according to you. Beautiful defense! But why couldn't he do same with Isaac Adaka Boro's mutiny which even happened after Jan 15, but quickly charged him to court and got him convicted and sentenced to death by hanging all within two months? Double standards?
Again, based on Isaac Boro's mutiny Ironsi quickly promulgated the Anti-secession Decree in his constitutional amendment that followed. However, he refused to promulgate a Decree of capital punishment for future coupists in that raft of new Decrees. Why?

Deadlytruth:
But the bolded started many years before Ojukwu became the Eastern governor? It even happened right under Ironsi's nose as HoS but he and Ojukwu did nothing. So why did Ojukwu later suddenly begin to give the massacres in the North as excuse?

That is what is called breaking point. All over the world, except with the fulani herdsmen, people dont usually start retaliatory or reactionary moves almost immediately. They give benefit of the doubt while talking, complaining and agitating hoping that common sense will prevail until they can no longer take it. That is how every sensible people behave. Thanks for noticing that Ojukwu and Ironsi were sensible. However, we cannot say the same of the northerners cos they continued killing, provoking a succession(From a people who would rather be on their own than retaliate by killing back just like the herdsmen do today over cows). You could see clearly that the succession move was the only civilized move to take at that point that breaking point was attained.

PrecisionFx:
"" Only one Yoruba who played d decoy role ""

And which decoy role is that?

To make pple like u believe that it wasn't Igbo's killing Yoruba's n Hausa's

Shayetet13:
That is what is called breaking point. All over the world, except with the fulani herdsmen, people dont usually start retaliatory or reactionary moves almost immediately. They give benefit of the doubt while talking, complaining and agitating hoping that common sense will prevail until they can no longer take it. That is how every sensible people behave. Thanks for noticing that Ojukwu and Ironsi were sensible. However, we cannot say the same of the northerners cos they continued killing, provoking a succession(From a people who would rather be on their own than retaliate by killing back just like the herdsmen do today over cows). You could see clearly that the succession move was the only civilized move to take at that point that breaking point was attained.

I, personally, would not have breaking point when it comes to the issue of killing of my kinsmen. I will begin to take action immediately after the first incident. Ojuwku and Ironsi should have known that a person who can even kill without it being for the purpose of self defense will never one day see reason to stop killing. To such people, killing is fun hence they deserve not patience in the hope that they will change. In fact the practical truth of life is that the earlier you demonstrate to your enemy that you posses the capacity to retaliate to a greater degree whatever he does to you, the more careful he will be about you. That is the essence of the Former USSR's MAD treaty and the US philosophy of "War is the path to peace". Were Ironsi and Ojukwu not aware of these principles?