₦airaland Forum

ammyluv2002:
Five/four years back, the workers were encouraged(not forced) to pay 10k for "A day with daddy GO" here in Abuja at the International Conference Centre. I wanted to attend the meeting, but refused to pay the 10k not that I couldn't really afford the money at that time, but I felt somehow and I asked my Pastor then "Why do I need to pay 10k for this" and he said "Well, you will be given a gift, food and they also want to limit the crowd....." He(my pastor) finally paid 10k for me to attend and I was blessed plus my beautiful gift which was expensive tho!

My point is, we don't need to pay for such things. Aren't we supposed to take Christ as our role model? They might have their reasons for it, but does it speak good of us? How does an unbeliever see it? How then do we draw them to Christ?

Well, let me not go deep into this sha. God will help us all!





Cc Sanchez01

At the peak of Nigeria’s civil war in 1968, as hundreds of thousands starved to death in Biafra, it was deadly politicking between the conflict’s two key figures-Yakubu Gowon and Odumegwu Ojukwu- that kept food out of the region, escalating the death toll, a secret U.S. dispatch detailing the war says.

The document says disagreement on shipments between Mr. Gowon and Mr. Ojukwu, were more to blame for the failure of relief materials reaching dying children, women and men desperately in need of food.

The confidential cable, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, provides a rare insight into one of the most fatal angles of the war, as narrated by a superpower that regarded itself neutral in the conflict but which seemed to have sympathy for Biafra.

The disclosures came as the nation recalls devastating details of the conflict that killed millions; a recollection shoveled into national consciousness by foremost writer, Chinua Achebe’s new book, There Was a Country.

Mr. Achebe’s portrayal of the late leader of the defunct Western region, Obafemi Awolowo, as the mastermind of Nigeria’s policy of blocking food shipments to Biafra, ignited a week of fierce verbal exchanges between the Igbos and the Yorubas.

But in part, the U.S. account offers a sharp contrast to Mr. Achebe’s position, blaming instead, war-time military ruler, Mr. Gowon, and secessionist leader, Mr. Ojukwu, for the imbroglio.

Mr. Gowon, the cable said, discontinued air shipments to the Eastern region despite pressure from the United States and the Red Cross, fearing transport airplanes were being used to convey arms to Biafra.

Initial shipments by the Red Cross, suspected to be pro-Biafra at the time, had delivered 16 to 20 tons of food a night in a lone DC–4, feeding an estimated 850,000 people in Biafra three meals per week, the memo said.

But the Gowon-led military government barred the airlifting, which originated from Sao Tome and Principe, a Portuguese colony at the time. Portugal was amongst the few European nations that backed Biafra.

The Nigerian side, the cable written from the United States said, was however willing to allow land shipment, and would offer air permit only on guarantees they will not be abused for arms shipment.

Those were conditions Mr. Ojukwu refused to accept, even while thousands of his people, including children, were starving to death.

The former Biafran leader also rejected food shipments sent by road fearing they might be poisoned, and that such route might open an advance corridor for federal government troops, the dispatch adds.

The Red Cross too, would not implement any relief operation without the explicit approval of both sides.

While all these happened, at least 400 to 600 died a day from starvation, the document stated.

“All of this is happening in the shadow of what is pretty clearly a build up for a new federal offensive designed to take the 10,000 square miles still held by the rebels,” the memo said.

“There are also mounting reports on increased Biafran military activity, allegedly (though probably falsely) led by French officers. If either or both sides take the offensive, the relief problem becomes almost impossible,” it warned, adding that the US needed to take “a strong go at the Feds (federal government) on this point, but their answer is a forbidding “The other side has left us little choice.”

The “other side” mentioned in the document, appears to refer to Mr. Ojukwu’s Biafra, which, more concerned with winning the war, refused to accept the conditions spelt out by the Nigerian government for delivering food to the troubled region.

The details dated August 12, 1968 was sent by Edward Hamilton of the US National Security Council Staff to a Special Assistant to the then US president, Lyndon Johnson.

They appear to have been compiled from diplomatic filings and media reports which surged with the discovery of children dying of starvation on the Biafran side.

The document formed part of confidential U.S. State Department central files on Biafra-Nigeria, between 1967 and 1969.

Since becoming public last week, Mr. Achebe’s war memoir has stirred some of the most rabid sentiments since the war ended in 1970.

The award-winning writer’s criticisms of Mr. Awolowo’s role in the war, has put Mr. Achebe up for blistering criticisms from Mr. Awolowo’s supporters, mainly fellow Yorubas; while mainly Igbo have also attacked the Yorubas, while siding with Mr. Achebe, a kinsman.

Somehow, in his 1983 electioneering remark, republished recently in the heat of Mr. Achebe’s allegations, Mr. Awolowo admitted initiating the food policy, but said it was targeted at Biafra’s fighting personnel to help bring the war to a quick close.

The U.S. memo speaks of a diverse section of influences that leveraged Mr. Gowon’s decisions and the role of the international community in the conflict.

It speaks of the possibility of a rare agreement between Mr. Ojukwu and Mr. Gowon to allow relief through a designated airstrip succeeding, “although Gowon is under immense pressure from his hawks-which include almost the entire Hausa population- not to allow any relief, particularly any which involved air traffic into Biafra.”

The document referred to a frustrating showing of former colonialist, Britain, acting “as though they have decided that the only solution is a military solution imposed by Gowon.”

It spoke of France as “actively pro-Biafran,” the defunct Organization for African Unity, OAU, as “pro-Nigerian” while Russia was “largely disinterested and identify with the Nigerians to the degree that they are interested.”

The Pope made “strong statements” but was largely powerless, it said.

At the time the memo was compiled, a meeting of the OAU was being held at the group’s Ethiopian capital, Addis Abbaba, where the country’s former leader, Haile Selassie, attempted a go at a truce on the relief issue, separate from the political wrangling between the warring sides.

For all that happened, it was the frustrating relief failing that was more disturbing particularly to the American population, whose opinions the cable says, was “pro-Biafran.”

Even so, the cable found that the US mission in Lagos was “too sensitive to the feelings of the federal government to have done much pushing” on Mr. Gowon for a fresh commitment on opening a relief corridor.

But the US policy overall, the memo said, was stimulating the Red Cross to serve as the international cover for a relief operation; asking both sides to agree to a settlement, or at least to a relief agreement; offering help necessary to make a relief operation work; and asking Mr. Gowon to “dramatize the fact” that it is not the federal government that is keeping the food out of Biafra.
Click here to download the memo

tulus:
I don't know d English name sha,but na oworho we dey call am for Urhobo.mama's banger soup calling me.

jfolorun:
The name in yoruba na eja aro. Very good with efo riro and eba.

kettykin:
How many African countries allowed their oil rich territories to be taken without a gun shot

rottennaija:
Well, same can be said of Ronaldo. A greater part of his goals come against small teams. He has the challenge now, score the goals

ajl:
You are the one that need to recheck your map..... the states from the core south-south are below those of the Southeast... to the point that none of the Southeast state share a border with the Atlantic Ocean.... they are landlocked... that's why south-south states are so called..... they are the most southerly states... lieing at the delta

cstr1000:
The southeast is as south as south can go. Check your map.
Don't let the south-south nomenclature deceive you. It does not exist.
The south-east is the real south.
And nobody is including Edo state in anything.

Laryne:
The federal government and IPOB, Biafran, Ijaws should tread with caution. This is not 1967... society is now sophisticated.
Federal government shouldn't just assume it can block supplies this time and the South south & South East shouldn't assume the have capable arsenals and guerrillas. ..

If the zombies is Maiduguri could almost bring Nigeria to a standstill the tactical Southerners should not be taken for granted.

Once more, tread with caution. .. this is not 1967!

rottennaija:
That's a real challenge, let's see how Ronaldo will Roch that. This isn't about winning Ballon d or for 4 times, win 3 world cups and let's see?

Mbaka then moved on to what could happen in an independent Biafra if it ever came to fruition. He said: “If you think we have trouble in Nigeria now, we will see trouble in Nigeria. No Anambra man would let an Enugu man be president, no Imo man would let an Abakaliki man be president”.

eezeribe:
The so called farther and soldiers must be punished for this barbaric act...
Human life in Nigeria is now almost at the same level with Agama lizard...

Litmus:
She woul be foolish if not cruel to make the statements attributed to her and I doubt she did, so please stop lying. She has young readers all over Nigeria,many of them young women and girls that find her inspiring. I doubt she would alienate so many of these young people,which is the very thing the statement attributed to her above achieves since the Biafra movement currently has its foundation in the language of hate and bigotry against other none Igbo Nigerians.

lonelydora:
This is how bribery started in Nigeria. Paying money to someone to do his job. Why the $10000? Is their job not to score goals? Don't they receive salary? This will make them to always demand for stipends whenever they play game.

Go to Ministries, you pay people to take your file to the next person, which is their job. Ohh! I remember we are in the zoo.

CROWNWEALTH019:
Shut up there

Just as you politicized boko haram

leofab:
Who cursed this state

free2ryhme:
sharaaap!!!!!!!

na so dem dey catch cancer

bad belle

fratermathy:
The explanation makes sense but have you tried to understand what possible reason would make a parent name his/her child: "Idjigherekpeki" (Bicycle went to market). That doesn't seem to make sense at all...


Another one is Akpowowo (Life is Ugly?)

fratermathy:
Its either Edo or Urhobo, no doubts about that.

HungerBAD:
Jesukristikwiifatherrrrr (Jesus Christ no dey Kill Reverend father)

farem:
That's is the Standard caption world over. The tense 'buys', grammatically fits 100% into that title. No medium expects you to conclude on the titles.
This has been for decades. News headlines are not for literary lazy and ignorant folks

No medium expects you to conclude on the titles.

ExInferis:
Will never fly window again.

Not after the grumpy jordanian on C seat who glared at me anytime i wanted to ease myself on Emirates. Which was a lot.

Give me aisle seat anytime, D or G (Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A380-800).

Pebcak:


what are they saying, best seat is business or 1st class, #let us com and be going
www.nairaland.com/attachments/5888790_walkingspider_gif73da9af91658fdefd0d3aedad8ec8035
www.nairaland.com/attachments/5888790_walkingspider_gif73da9af91658fdefd0d3aedad8ec8035

loyalchick:
Like i previously specified that it was an error , And i have already corrected it .Besides i never excluded banking job in as much i have been denied few times .i only said no marketing cos its not my field of study .. uncle abeg don't always be fast to criticize,consider other's point of view first.. Nawaoh Thanks alot all the same .

Ishilove:
Not table tennis...badminton

Solo tu, now and always

We have derailed this thread enough with our love talk. Let's meet in the other room to continue... arguing.