₦airaland Forum

OBITUARIES, HOW FAR?

Biafra was an unqualified evil in minority lands.

I am quite interested in your Biafran War story. Up till now, the Igbos have completely dominated that narrative…

Yes, they’ve been blessed with powerful writers like Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie, Chinelo Okparanta, etc., and an army of Biafran War scholars, you know… I think, like you, most Nigerians would be interested in knowing what happened to our minorities in Biafra. I am just happy that after 50 years, I have been able to do it my way. I say my way because I am not the first minority to write about the Biafran War.

How do you think the Igbos would react to the Biafran atrocities against our minorities in your book?

Most of them think they alone suffered in the war… but, Professor Okey Ndibe, a foremost Igbo intellectual, novelist and essayist, really asked great questions at the Rain Taxi interview a day after the book came out.
Okey was really brilliant. That’s an example of someone who is listening, someone who can empathize. I sincerely believe it would be to the benefit of our Igbo brothers and sisters to listen. Knowledge is a good thing. The Igbos themselves are a people who believe in diversity. We cannot say it enough: the Igbo suffered a lot in the war—but they, too, can learn. Biafra was an unqualified evil in minority lands. They just plundered the place, raping men and women. They looked down on us. We were nothing to them. Many of them still look down on us today… otherwise, how do you explain this so-called map of the new Biafra that still includes minority lands? Who told them the Isokos want to be in Biafra? Have they asked your people?


I must tell you right away, the Annangs, Efiks, Ibibios, Orons, Ogonis, etc., who’ve read the book are quite happy to see their towns and languages and their war dilemmas and atrocities in the book. Why should we remain fringe characters or nameless “saboteurs” in these narratives? Look, [b]Biafra was no better than Nigeria in raping and torturing and killing [/b]our peoples…We’ve been erased from the war narrative for so long. As long as you keep writing about the war as a fight between the Yorubas and Hausas and Igbos (the three major ethnic groups), the Igbos remain the victims. But as soon as widen this lens to include the minorities, at least in Biafra, then the story becomes complicated. You begin to see that the Igbos might have had their knee on our neck even while being crushed by the horrible Nigeria army.

• Ajeluorou is the publisher of online art/culture platform, AnoteArtHub (www.anotearthub.com).

https://guardian.ng/art/new-york-my-village-biafra-from-another-minoritys-lens/?fbclid=IwAR2r4PM9OTAp0p_yRFQoYHWHv5-1I2T0eBMVei2F9_0XovL39FoNUamvh8E

New York Times: The Biafran Minorities
It had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most.

Several things must not go unnoticed by a world horrified at the Nigerian tragedy and baffled by its complexities. At the showdown, Colonel Effiong, one of the few non‐Ibos in Biafra's top echelon, was left to cope with the collapse and preside over the liquidation of the secessionist effort. Nor should the world overlook that part of Colonel Effiong's surrender broadcast that said: “Our people are disillusioned and those elements of the old regime that made negotiations and reconciliation impossible have removed themselves voluntarily from our midst.”

The fact is that some Biafran leaders had long desired to negotiate for some form of Nigerian reunification under Organization of African Unity auspices rather than persevere with a hopeless secessionist struggle at appalling human cost. But these men never prevailed over the Ibo hawks who always had their way with General Ojukwu and now, judging from Colonel Effiong's remark, have presumably fled abroad with him.

Another fact which General Ojukwu inadvertently dramatized in leaving the final responsibility on Col nel Effiong is that at least until the last stages of the thirty‐month war it had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most. The attitude of these five million—forty per cent of Biafra's original population —toward secession was always questionable.

Many of them never wanted an independent Biafra, having resented Ibo domination in Nigeria's former Eastern Region for many years. Some of the minorities suffered savage reprisals at Ibo hands for refusing to leave their homes and accompany the retreating Biafran troops. They made up the vast majority in Biafra's refugee camps as the secessionist enclave was reduced to the Ibo heartland. It may seem unkind to recall these things at the moment of Biafra's collapse after a tremendous struggle against overwhelming odds. But the record of Biafra's agony must be kept straight even at a time when the world's attention is rightly concentrated on alleviating the suffering and restoring peace.

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/17/archives/the-biafran-minorities.html

Brimstone77:
...

The rubbish you typed above is solely your personal problem..

You should be telling this your tales to people like okonjo iweala,jj okocha, etc not me..

Igbos in The east alone can deal with you when the time comes..


For now enjoy when it last..

But just no that VENGEANCE is fast approaching..

And who ever that have hand in the death of any Igbo person will pay..

https://www.nairaland.com/7113293/asaba-inlaw-whole-world-couldnt


Asaba Man Responds On Facebook To Asaba Is Igbo Claims

Asaba Inlaw: "In This Whole World You Couldn’t Find Anyone To Marry But An Igbo"

Short story: One of my earliest and most persistent memories is this - near my village, 1 kilometer from Asaba, was a camp where people lived.
Who are they I asked - “Wa bu Ndigbo” I was told. Translation: “They are Igbos”.
I was confused. Aren’t we Igbos, but I said nothing.
Another occasion I heard some commotion in the direction of the camp. Oh don’t be worried I was told. They are Igbos. Again so thought but we are igbos!

Fast forward 3 decades.
A friend of mine from Aba who married from Asaba, over a beer told me “I can’t get over Asaba people. During my native law, my wife’s people kept abusing her in the same language I spoke. They kept saying ‘so in this whole world, you couldn’t find anyone to marry but an Igbo?’”
These are true accounts.
People from my area… even the indigenes of ONITSHA (I’ve been told) consider themselves Not Igbo.
I grew up seeing my people refer to others as “Those Igbo people”.
I have just learnt that the phrase “Igbo enwere Eze” was coined by core Igbos to separate themselves from the Onitsha indigenes…
Following that logic, Asaba nwere eze .... kedụ ka ọ ga-esi bụrụ igbo?
ka anyi biri n’udo nwanne m nwoke
m zuru ikpe m

It’s not an issue to be swept under the carpet. We need to consider it seriously.

Just because everyone in America speaks English doesn’t change their ancestry (some are of German, Italian, Russian, African, Chinese ancestry...).
Ancestry can only be determined scientifically by DNA analysis. My sister discovered she has ancestors from Mali, Senega... of course!! The river Niger flows through those nations before it passes the shores of my village which sits on the West Bank of the Niger net Asaba.

Bottom line, you cannot teach a man how to write with his left hand in old age.
The real issue is why so many Igbo speaking people reject the idea they’re Igbo. (Like some Egyptians in an interview I watched - who can’t understand why they’re considered Africans at all!).
Let’s have an academic discussion why!
We may learn valuable lessons.
��‍♂️�
Good morning.

*****The heavy cannibal lines on below map indicate the limits of Igbo land and culture. All who fall outside the cannibal line are not Igbos. Plain to see.

This is a response to this mumu post

https://www.nairaland.com/7112529/origin-agbor-obi-agbor

Brimstone77:
...



I stand with the biafra of Igbo speaking tribe..

There are no Ibos in the Niger Delta. There are nations that adapted some form Ibo language being a language of commerce. There are little pockets of islands of people who will identify as Ibo but even those tiny little sample don't want to be part of Biafra because of Ibo criminal reputation. There is no advantage in anyone being Ibo unless you are compelled to.

Notice in this Colonial map of cannibalism that eating human beings did not spill to Asaba. This represents the clearest scientific proof in cultural anthropology that Anioma is not Ibo as the decision to eat human beings is a major dividing line in civikizations.

I sincerely believe it would be to the benefit of our Igbo brothers and sisters to listen.

JewsAreSatanic:
This is as impossible as hell freezing over.

They believe if they repeat a falsehood long enough, it will become true. In the Ibo brain they believe they will wear out the Niger Delta people into ultimate submission. An impossibility.

Biafra was an unqualified evil in minority lands.

New York, My Village… Biafra from another minority’s lens
By Anote Ajeluorou

Florida-based Nigerian writer, Uwem Akpan, has mastered the art of writing about pain. This is self-evident in his first work, a collection of short stories, Say You’re One of Them, a fictional account set in troubled places in Africa that had the world enthralled about this emerging talent. Now with his new work, New York, My Village, Akpan has come out with a work that will rattle many in Nigeria and New York City in its brutal frankness and clinical postmortem of a war that happened some 50 years ago and the dire fate of minorities within the Biafran enclave. But it goes beyond that war to also look at the great New York metropolis and racism in publishing and how the city is all too human to fall prey to some of man’s many foibles that, put on scale, equate the simple villager with the sophisticated city dweller. This interview is heralding a series that is exclusive to AnoteArtHub and The Guardian on Sunday, as Akpan tours the world to promote his new book.

Congratulations on the launch of your new book, New York, My Village. It’s some 13 years since you published your last collection of short stories, Say You’re One of Them. Why did it take you so long to come out with another offering?
WELL, what took me so long? I don’t know. Maybe I underestimated the task. At some point, I was so depressed because of what I discovered about the Nigerian Civil War. Biafra fought two simultaneous wars—one against Nigeria, one against the minorities within Biafra. We were being crushed, to accept Biafra. New York, My Village is about this second war—what Biafra did to the minorities, how the Igbos turned against their hapless neighbours. The book is also about race in American publishing. I also like to say, there was also the crippling fear whether I could write anything near Say You’re One of Them. It’s been a difficult time for me really.

Say You’re One of Them received rave reviews and endorsement from many eminent cultural figures, like Oprah. How did that experience particularly shape your creative impulse?
It was wonderful to be so celebrated. But as I have said, it also frightened me. I even hid from some friends who couldn’t understand the “delay.”


And then CNN went to Ikot Akpan Eda, your village, in Akwa Ibom State. If I remember correctly, they interviewed your parents…
Yes, they did come to my village. It solved a lot of problems for me. Because before then, many Nigerians did not believe I was even from this country. Journalists were going to Ikot Akpan Eda to ask my mom whether she was actually my mother, whether she gave birth to a son in 1971, whether I truly began primary school at Saint Paul’s, Ekparakwa.

Really?
Yes. Part of the confusion was that my stories were set in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, etc. I was living in Zimbabwe and Michigan and Spokane and Nebraska, all in the US. Fellow Nigerian writers did not even know me. I got to know strange people were travelling to Akwa Ibom State to ask my mother questions because she panicked and phoned me one day and asked why all these people were coming to ask about me. I immediately asked her not to talk to anybody, in case they were kidnappers…! Everybody stayed in their lanes once CNN hit Ikot Akpan Eda.

With CNN and Oprah Winfrey spotlighting you, how much strain did that weight of expectation put on you? It’s taken 13 years for you to come up with another book. Were you anxious as the years dragged by without a title from you?
I was a mess. But, you see, even when we cannot pray, the Spirit takes over, as the Bible says. With the painful, heavy material before me, I didn’t always see the road. I wanted to give the world an album of sorts, a book to help people deal with this complex world.

Does New York, My Village answer to that weight of expectation from your readers?
I don’t know, but I am happy, so happy. Relieved. It’s published. It’s in my name. We move.

You said on Facebook and Instagram that the Strand, the iconic, #1 bookstore in New York chose the book as the ‘Pick of the Month for November 2021.’ Greenlight Bookstore, which I understand is the #2 bookstore in that city, has also picked it. I also read somewhere it’s an Editor’s pick at Amazon. This must be overwhelming for you…
What were the chances that I would write about New York City and their best bookstores would love it or that Amazon would pick it?


But Say You’re One of Them was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal’s bestseller, which is not to be taken lightly, as not many writers get that special appellation for their books. Maybe, at this point, I should ask you what exactly it means to you now or back then…
It was crazy to see my book go that far! It was my agent who sent me the news in 2009. Back then I didn’t know how to look for these things. I didn’t pay attention. Yes, I have been blessed in many ways. I was happy a lot of people read the book.

It’s a bit of a paradox that Ekong, your protagonist, juxtaposes his village in Akwa Ibom State with the great New York City. What exactly should readers expect from this new offering? What informed the choice of title?
One, I wanted a catchy, gripping title and I think this does it. Two, though New York City is a mega, sprawling city, these folks are human beings like the villagers in Isokoland or Annangland. Three, I wanted to talk about the different villages within that city. Four, I wanted our Nigerian readers or readers from developing countries to see that New York City is as helpless as some rural villages when it comes to certain issues. Nobody is an expert on how to be human.

I am quite interested in your Biafran War story. Up till now, the Igbos have completely dominated that narrative…

Yes, they’ve been blessed with powerful writers like Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie, Chinelo Okparanta, etc., and an army of Biafran War scholars, you know… I think, like you, most Nigerians would be interested in knowing what happened to our minorities in Biafra. I am just happy that after 50 years, I have been able to do it my way. I say my way because I am not the first minority to write about the Biafran War.

How do you think the Igbos would react to the Biafran atrocities against our minorities in your book?

Most of them think they alone suffered in the war… but, Professor Okey Ndibe, a foremost Igbo intellectual, novelist and essayist, really asked great questions at the Rain Taxi interview a day after the book came out.
Okey was really brilliant. That’s an example of someone who is listening, someone who can empathize. I sincerely believe it would be to the benefit of our Igbo brothers and sisters to listen. Knowledge is a good thing. The Igbos themselves are a people who believe in diversity. We cannot say it enough: the Igbo suffered a lot in the war—but they, too, can learn. Biafra was an unqualified evil in minority lands. They just plundered the place, raping men and women. They looked down on us. We were nothing to them. Many of them still look down on us today… otherwise, how do you explain this so-called map of the new Biafra that still includes minority lands? Who told them the Isokos want to be in Biafra? Have they asked your people?


I must say some Igbos are converting from this colonialist mindset. Many really helped me with research, especially in Igboland. Some of them risked a lot to take me around. They did this because they know, they believe that there is a reason the minorities are not jumping on the new Biafran bandwagon. Some Igbos were even begging me to write about Biafra, because some saw me as someone who knows how to write about pain, having read Say You’re One of Them. They wanted me to write about the pain of Biafra.

My Tiv friends also wanted me to write about how the Fulani herdsmen are killing them and grabbing their lands. So it’s not only the Igbos that could learn. Nobody is happy in this country. As you know, many groups don’t want to be in this country anymore. Nigeria is dying. Everybody is challenged in the book, including white people because the book is set in America.

I must tell you right away, the Annangs, Efiks, Ibibios, Orons, Ogonis, etc., who’ve read the book are quite happy to see their towns and languages and their war dilemmas and atrocities in the book. Why should we remain fringe characters or nameless “saboteurs” in these narratives? Look, Biafra was no better than Nigeria in raping and torturing and killing our peoples…We’ve been erased from the war narrative for so long. As long as you keep writing about the war as a fight between the Yorubas and Hausas and Igbos (the three major ethnic groups), the Igbos remain the victims. But as soon as widen this lens to include the minorities, at least in Biafra, then the story becomes complicated. You begin to see that the Igbos might have had their knee on our neck even while being crushed by the horrible Nigeria army.

You teach creative writing at the University of Florida. Many Nigerian writers like Helon Habila, Chigozie Obioma, Chika Unigwe, E.C. Osondu also teach at various American universities. Wouldn’t you rather be doing so in a Nigerian university, to leave a legacy among your country’s young men and women?
No.


Why?
The universities in Nigeria at this point do not have MFA programmes. Which is a pity because Nigerians are very gifted. You need that structure and dedication. Our youths are flocking to MFA programmes in the U.S. Most of them are on scholarships here… What Nigerian writers like Helon Habila, Chigozie Obioma, Chimamanda Adichie have done is to run annual workshops…

Any plans for you to do the same for the teeming young people who need mentorship in that direction?
Someone still has to sponsor that workshop.

Do you have a Nigerian publisher for New York, My Village for the local audience?
Parresia is my publisher. I believe they will know what to do with the book. I’ve had a very good conversation with Azafi Omoluabi, the owner of Parresia. She was very down to earth and kind and full of ideas. I visited their office in Ikeja five months ago.

When do you plan to visit Nigeria to promote your new work, New York, My Village?
I don’t know yet.

• Ajeluorou is the publisher of online art/culture platform, AnoteArtHub (www.anotearthub.com).

https://guardian.ng/art/new-york-my-village-biafra-from-another-minoritys-lens/?fbclid=IwAR2r4PM9OTAp0p_yRFQoYHWHv5-1I2T0eBMVei2F9_0XovL39FoNUamvh8E




New York Times: The Biafran Minorities
It had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most.

Several things must not go unnoticed by a world horrified at the Nigerian tragedy and baffled by its complexities. At the showdown, Colonel Effiong, one of the few non‐Ibos in Biafra's top echelon, was left to cope with the collapse and preside over the liquidation of the secessionist effort. Nor should the world overlook that part of Colonel Effiong's surrender broadcast that said: “Our people are disillusioned and those elements of the old regime that made negotiations and reconciliation impossible have removed themselves voluntarily from our midst.”

The fact is that some Biafran leaders had long desired to negotiate for some form of Nigerian reunification under Organization of African Unity auspices rather than persevere with a hopeless secessionist struggle at appalling human cost. But these men never prevailed over the Ibo hawks who always had their way with General Ojukwu and now, judging from Colonel Effiong's remark, have presumably fled abroad with him.

Another fact which General Ojukwu inadvertently dramatized in leaving the final responsibility on Col nel Effiong is that at least until the last stages of the thirty‐month war it had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most. The attitude of these five million—forty per cent of Biafra's original population —toward secession was always questionable.

Many of them never wanted an independent Biafra, having resented Ibo domination in Nigeria's former Eastern Region for many years. Some of the minorities suffered savage reprisals at Ibo hands for refusing to leave their homes and accompany the retreating Biafran troops. They made up the vast majority in Biafra's refugee camps as the secessionist enclave was reduced to the Ibo heartland. It may seem unkind to recall these things at the moment of Biafra's collapse after a tremendous struggle against overwhelming odds. But the record of Biafra's agony must be kept straight even at a time when the world's attention is rightly concentrated on alleviating the suffering and restoring peace.

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/17/archives/the-biafran-minorities.html

For Niger Delta, Peter Obi is the referendum on South South inclusion in Biafra, the country without map:


https://www.nairaland.com/7217810/niger-delta-igbo-peter-obi

Biafra was an unqualified evil in minority lands.

I am quite interested in your Biafran War story. Up till now, the Igbos have completely dominated that narrative…

Yes, they’ve been blessed with powerful writers like Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie, Chinelo Okparanta, etc., and an army of Biafran War scholars, you know… I think, like you, most Nigerians would be interested in knowing what happened to our minorities in Biafra. I am just happy that after 50 years, I have been able to do it my way. I say my way because I am not the first minority to write about the Biafran War.

How do you think the Igbos would react to the Biafran atrocities against our minorities in your book?

Most of them think they alone suffered in the war… but, Professor Okey Ndibe, a foremost Igbo intellectual, novelist and essayist, really asked great questions at the Rain Taxi interview a day after the book came out.
Okey was really brilliant. That’s an example of someone who is listening, someone who can empathize. I sincerely believe it would be to the benefit of our Igbo brothers and sisters to listen. Knowledge is a good thing. The Igbos themselves are a people who believe in diversity. We cannot say it enough: the Igbo suffered a lot in the war—but they, too, can learn. Biafra was an unqualified evil in minority lands. They just plundered the place, raping men and women. They looked down on us. We were nothing to them. Many of them still look down on us today… otherwise, how do you explain this so-called map of the new Biafra that still includes minority lands? Who told them the Isokos want to be in Biafra? Have they asked your people?


I must tell you right away, the Annangs, Efiks, Ibibios, Orons, Ogonis, etc., who’ve read the book are quite happy to see their towns and languages and their war dilemmas and atrocities in the book. Why should we remain fringe characters or nameless “saboteurs” in these narratives? Look, [b]Biafra was no better than Nigeria in raping and torturing and killing [/b]our peoples…We’ve been erased from the war narrative for so long. As long as you keep writing about the war as a fight between the Yorubas and Hausas and Igbos (the three major ethnic groups), the Igbos remain the victims. But as soon as widen this lens to include the minorities, at least in Biafra, then the story becomes complicated. You begin to see that the Igbos might have had their knee on our neck even while being crushed by the horrible Nigeria army.

• Ajeluorou is the publisher of online art/culture platform, AnoteArtHub (www.anotearthub.com).

https://guardian.ng/art/new-york-my-village-biafra-from-another-minoritys-lens/?fbclid=IwAR2r4PM9OTAp0p_yRFQoYHWHv5-1I2T0eBMVei2F9_0XovL39FoNUamvh8E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5nKUiMtxm4
OBI OLODORABATA

See the culture locking down SouthSouth for Pandora slowpoke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcLFEr7ZB5g

socialjustice93:
oga be calming down.. tribalism no dey tire una?

Everyone is a tribalist otherwise you are not human. We want self determination. Everyone must stand alone. Yoruba and Ibos should carry separate passports. It's not hate. It's not tribalism (a colonial word). It's is about NATIONALISM. It's about culture, language, heritage. Nigeria is DEAD.

Tinububalls:
Quick one, what in this life will an Igbo man envy a Yoruba for?
I can't thing of anything I swear.
You said culture and sea, you so so dumb.

Landlocked Dotian Cannibal.

New York Times: The Biafran Minorities
It had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most.

Several things must not go unnoticed by a world horrified at the Nigerian tragedy and baffled by its complexities. At the showdown, Colonel Effiong, one of the few non‐Ibos in Biafra's top echelon, was left to cope with the collapse and preside over the liquidation of the secessionist effort. Nor should the world overlook that part of Colonel Effiong's surrender broadcast that said: “Our people are disillusioned and those elements of the old regime that made negotiations and reconciliation impossible have removed themselves voluntarily from our midst.”

The fact is that some Biafran leaders had long desired to negotiate for some form of Nigerian reunification under Organization of African Unity auspices rather than persevere with a hopeless secessionist struggle at appalling human cost. But these men never prevailed over the Ibo hawks who always had their way with General Ojukwu and now, judging from Colonel Effiong's remark, have presumably fled abroad with him.

Another fact which General Ojukwu inadvertently dramatized in leaving the final responsibility on Col nel Effiong is that at least until the last stages of the thirty‐month war it had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most. The attitude of these five million—forty per cent of Biafra's original population —toward secession was always questionable.

Many of them never wanted an independent Biafra, having resented Ibo domination in Nigeria's former Eastern Region for many years. Some of the minorities suffered savage reprisals at Ibo hands for refusing to leave their homes and accompany the retreating Biafran troops. They made up the vast majority in Biafra's refugee camps as the secessionist enclave was reduced to the Ibo heartland. It may seem unkind to recall these things at the moment of Biafra's collapse after a tremendous struggle against overwhelming odds. But the record of Biafra's agony must be kept straight even at a time when the world's attention is rightly concentrated on alleviating the suffering and restoring peace.

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/17/archives/the-biafran-minorities.html

For Niger Delta, Peter Obi is the referendum on South South inclusion in Biafra, the country without map:


https://www.nairaland.com/7217810/niger-delta-igbo-peter-obi

Nwaetche:
You are neither from the South South nor from the South East but most of your posts are always fixated on these blessed areas of Nigeria.

It seems you are on a mission to cause problems between these two sisterly regions. Why not spend your time in bringing harmony to your Yoruba Nation instead of going around fishing problems where there are none.

You know so well you can campaign for BAT without going through this unfruitful route. It would never work dear spearman

Now that I know this is painful for Ibos, I will now post it as a separate topic again and again with this nice pic,

New York Times: The Biafran Minorities
It had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most.

Several things must not go unnoticed by a world horrified at the Nigerian tragedy and baffled by its complexities. At the showdown, Colonel Effiong, one of the few non‐Ibos in Biafra's top echelon, was left to cope with the collapse and preside over the liquidation of the secessionist effort. Nor should the world overlook that part of Colonel Effiong's surrender broadcast that said: “Our people are disillusioned and those elements of the old regime that made negotiations and reconciliation impossible have removed themselves voluntarily from our midst.”

The fact is that some Biafran leaders had long desired to negotiate for some form of Nigerian reunification under Organization of African Unity auspices rather than persevere with a hopeless secessionist struggle at appalling human cost. But these men never prevailed over the Ibo hawks who always had their way with General Ojukwu and now, judging from Colonel Effiong's remark, have presumably fled abroad with him.

Another fact which General Ojukwu inadvertently dramatized in leaving the final responsibility on Col nel Effiong is that at least until the last stages of the thirty‐month war it had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most. The attitude of these five million—forty per cent of Biafra's original population —toward secession was always questionable.

Many of them never wanted an independent Biafra, having resented Ibo domination in Nigeria's former Eastern Region for many years. Some of the minorities suffered savage reprisals at Ibo hands for refusing to leave their homes and accompany the retreating Biafran troops. They made up the vast majority in Biafra's refugee camps as the secessionist enclave was reduced to the Ibo heartland. It may seem unkind to recall these things at the moment of Biafra's collapse after a tremendous struggle against overwhelming odds. But the record of Biafra's agony must be kept straight even at a time when the world's attention is rightly concentrated on alleviating the suffering and restoring peace.

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/17/archives/the-biafran-minorities.html

For Niger Delta, Peter Obi is the referendum on South South inclusion in Biafra, the country without map:


https://www.nairaland.com/7217810/niger-delta-igbo-peter-obi

New York Times: The Biafran Minorities
It had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most.

Several things must not go unnoticed by a world horrified at the Nigerian tragedy and baffled by its complexities. At the showdown, Colonel Effiong, one of the few non‐Ibos in Biafra's top echelon, was left to cope with the collapse and preside over the liquidation of the secessionist effort. Nor should the world overlook that part of Colonel Effiong's surrender broadcast that said: “Our people are disillusioned and those elements of the old regime that made negotiations and reconciliation impossible have removed themselves voluntarily from our midst.”

The fact is that some Biafran leaders had long desired to negotiate for some form of Nigerian reunification under Organization of African Unity auspices rather than persevere with a hopeless secessionist struggle at appalling human cost. But these men never prevailed over the Ibo hawks who always had their way with General Ojukwu and now, judging from Colonel Effiong's remark, have presumably fled abroad with him.

Another fact which General Ojukwu inadvertently dramatized in leaving the final responsibility on Col nel Effiong is that at least until the last stages of the thirty‐month war it had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most. The attitude of these five million—forty per cent of Biafra's original population —toward secession was always questionable.

Many of them never wanted an independent Biafra, having resented Ibo domination in Nigeria's former Eastern Region for many years. Some of the minorities suffered savage reprisals at Ibo hands for refusing to leave their homes and accompany the retreating Biafran troops. They made up the vast majority in Biafra's refugee camps as the secessionist enclave was reduced to the Ibo heartland. It may seem unkind to recall these things at the moment of Biafra's collapse after a tremendous struggle against overwhelming odds. But the record of Biafra's agony must be kept straight even at a time when the world's attention is rightly concentrated on alleviating the suffering and restoring peace.

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/17/archives/the-biafran-minorities.html

For Niger Delta, Peter Obi is the referendum on South South inclusion in Biafra, the country without map:


https://www.nairaland.com/7217810/niger-delta-igbo-peter-obi

New York Times: The Biafran Minorities
It had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most.

Several things must not go unnoticed by a world horrified at the Nigerian tragedy and baffled by its complexities. At the showdown, Colonel Effiong, one of the few non‐Ibos in Biafra's top echelon, was left to cope with the collapse and preside over the liquidation of the secessionist effort. Nor should the world overlook that part of Colonel Effiong's surrender broadcast that said: “Our people are disillusioned and those elements of the old regime that made negotiations and reconciliation impossible have removed themselves voluntarily from our midst.”

The fact is that some Biafran leaders had long desired to negotiate for some form of Nigerian reunification under Organization of African Unity auspices rather than persevere with a hopeless secessionist struggle at appalling human cost. But these men never prevailed over the Ibo hawks who always had their way with General Ojukwu and now, judging from Colonel Effiong's remark, have presumably fled abroad with him.

Another fact which General Ojukwu inadvertently dramatized in leaving the final responsibility on Col nel Effiong is that at least until the last stages of the thirty‐month war it had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most. The attitude of these five million—forty per cent of Biafra's original population —toward secession was always questionable.

Many of them never wanted an independent Biafra, having resented Ibo domination in Nigeria's former Eastern Region for many years. Some of the minorities suffered savage reprisals at Ibo hands for refusing to leave their homes and accompany the retreating Biafran troops. They made up the vast majority in Biafra's refugee camps as the secessionist enclave was reduced to the Ibo heartland. It may seem unkind to recall these things at the moment of Biafra's collapse after a tremendous struggle against overwhelming odds. But the record of Biafra's agony must be kept straight even at a time when the world's attention is rightly concentrated on alleviating the suffering and restoring peace.

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/17/archives/the-biafran-minorities.html

For Niger Delta, Peter Obi is the referendum on South South inclusion in Biafra, the country without map:


https://www.nairaland.com/7217810/niger-delta-igbo-peter-obi

New York Times: The Biafran Minorities
It had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most.

Several things must not go unnoticed by a world horrified at the Nigerian tragedy and baffled by its complexities. At the showdown, Colonel Effiong, one of the few non‐Ibos in Biafra's top echelon, was left to cope with the collapse and preside over the liquidation of the secessionist effort. Nor should the world overlook that part of Colonel Effiong's surrender broadcast that said: “Our people are disillusioned and those elements of the old regime that made negotiations and reconciliation impossible have removed themselves voluntarily from our midst.”

The fact is that some Biafran leaders had long desired to negotiate for some form of Nigerian reunification under Organization of African Unity auspices rather than persevere with a hopeless secessionist struggle at appalling human cost. But these men never prevailed over the Ibo hawks who always had their way with General Ojukwu and now, judging from Colonel Effiong's remark, have presumably fled abroad with him.

Another fact which General Ojukwu inadvertently dramatized in leaving the final responsibility on Col nel Effiong is that at least until the last stages of the thirty‐month war it had been Biafra's non‐Ibo minority that suffered most. The attitude of these five million—forty per cent of Biafra's original population —toward secession was always questionable.

Many of them never wanted an independent Biafra, having resented Ibo domination in Nigeria's former Eastern Region for many years. Some of the minorities suffered savage reprisals at Ibo hands for refusing to leave their homes and accompany the retreating Biafran troops. They made up the vast majority in Biafra's refugee camps as the secessionist enclave was reduced to the Ibo heartland. It may seem unkind to recall these things at the moment of Biafra's collapse after a tremendous struggle against overwhelming odds. But the record of Biafra's agony must be kept straight even at a time when the world's attention is rightly concentrated on alleviating the suffering and restoring peace.

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/17/archives/the-biafran-minorities.html

For Niger Delta, Peter Obi is the referendum on South South inclusion in Biafra, the country without map:


https://www.nairaland.com/7217810/niger-delta-igbo-peter-obi

Igbodicool:
Yoruba will serve Sultan and Fulani forever!

Freedom is not for haters of freedom.
Secession is not for haters of secession.
Independence is not for haters of independence.
Yoruba will stuck in Nigeria that's why they are mourning Queen Eliza more than the English.

BIAFRA HAS NO MAP
NIGER DELTA "IGBOS" HATE IBOS
NORMADIC IBOS DON'T WANT FREEDOM
YORUBAS WILL BREAK NIGERIA IF ONLY TO CHASE CULTURALLY TOXIC IBOS OUT OF YORUBA LAND.

NA DAT LESBIAN IPOBI IBO GIRL UJU ANYA KILL THE QUEEN

This is the last straw. APC is done as a party. Tinubu has been handed an empty shell.

Biadrug Republic. That passport na death to carry am. Ibo don wotowoto Nigerian passport. Make everyone go answer him papa name.

Stanley Igbo
Direct Hit

MUST WATCH: MAGA Republican from Ghana Now US Citizen Sends a Powerful Message to Joe Biden

Following Joe Biden’s tyrannical and threatening speech to the nation, Americans were outraged for declaring war on the American people — especially those Americans who hold traditional views like the sanctity of the family, the need for secure borders and boundaries, capitalism, meritocracy, Judeo-Christian principles, the goodness of America, the greatness of the American system.

One of those who reacted to Biden’s speech was Alma Ohene-Opare. He was an immigrant from Ghana and waited 18 years to become a naturalized citizen of the United States.


The majority of Americans agree with the message that Alma Ohene-Opare gives to Biden. The video has now gone viral, with over 2 million views, 320,000 likes, and 40,000 comments on TikTok as of this writing.

Below is the excerpt of Alma’s message to Joe Biden:

Hi, everyone. This message is for the President of the United States, so if you know someone close to him, please tag them so they can bring this to his attention. My name is Alma Ohene-Opare. I am a person of faith, a husband of 16 years and a father of four wonderful children. I am also an immigrant to the United States of America.

I came here at the age of 19, full of hope, optimism, and a willingness to do what was necessary to achieve the American Dream. After 18 years of waiting and hoping, I was finally granted the privilege of becoming an American citizen in 2021. Today, I am a proud American, a law-abiding patriot, and a man willing to defend the principles and values that made America great and brought people like me here. Mr. President, I am also a conservative Republican, or what you have recently labeled a MAGA Republican.

Over the last few days, you have looked into the camera and called me and millions of other people like me extremists. You have told me and my children that we don’t matter to you because of our beliefs. Your spokespeople and the media have labeled as dangerous, full of hate and a threat to democracy. You went as far as to suggest that we would not stand a chance against the government’s f fifteens in defending our country from tyranny, your party leaders have taken your cue and called as terrorists. And all this without taking any time to acknowledge our humanity, listen to our concerns, or seek to understand our fears.

I was born in a country where my rights were not always guaranteed. And to hear the President of America and the leader of the free world dismiss more than 70 millions of his own countrymen as fringe and extreme and not worth listening to, breaks my heart and makes me wonder what I should tell my children about the future of this one’s great shining city on a hill. This is the reason many of us embrace the call to make America great again. It is because we believe our great nation is under immoral physical and spiritual assault. We are MAGA because we want to restore the promise in the hearts of our children that this is the place where their efforts will be rewarded and where their true potential can be realized.

We are MAGA because we believe in freedom of speech, the freedom to exercise our religion. We believe in limited government and the rule of law. We are MAGA because we love the Constitution and believe our founders established a means for we, the people, to defend it from enemies, both foreign and domestic. I am MAGA because I want to be able to look into the eyes of my four black children to assure them that they are not victims, that they hold inside them what it takes to achieve anything they set their hearts on. We believe our leaders should put America and its interest first before any other nation.

We believe our government should not saddle our children and grandchildren with insurmountable debt, chasing after a misguided idea of controlling or changing the course of the climate. Millions of us were horrified to witness what happened on January 6 and believed that justice must be served. But we also see through the attempt to paint all republicans with a false moniker of insurrectionists and to conflate the genuine misgivings of those who feel disaffected and disenfranchised with an unfounded accusation that we are somehow against democracy. We are MAGA because we love law enforcement but doubt whether the justice department or the FBI can be trusted to deal fairly and impartially when they have given us clear and repeated evidence of their political bias against half of the country. As a new American, this November will be the first time I get to exercise my right to vote, the right I have waited nearly two decades to earn.

I understand the urge during an election season to attack those you see as political opponents, but, Mr. President, I am not your enemy. And the tens of millions of MAGA republicans are not filled with hate towards anyone. We love this country. We are heirs of the great legacy of freedom this country has afforded us and wish to exercise our right to be heard and not demonized.

So I ask you, Mr. President, to tear down this wall of divisiveness and division that seeks to pit your fellow citizens against one another. Heed your own call for unity and lay off the rhetoric that seeks to demonize and defame millions of people who would give their lives and fortunes to defend these United States. If you believe in the redemption of America, then give my children a reason to hope, a reason to believe that our best days are ahead of us in spite of the challenges we face as a country. Thank you for listening.

Watch the video below:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP5gOqkUF_A