₦airaland Forum

At least we all now know why the North would fight to the bitter end to keep Nigeria united. Where do you people expect them to get money to pay for all this? I hope the south-south can see where their oil money is going.

I remember reading about Anini in the news papers in the mid 80's as a young boy. He held the nation hostage with terror. There was even a reward of N10,000 for anyone who could give information leading to his arrest (back in 1986,10,000 Naira could by one a brand new car). He was eventually captured and his execution along with his right hand man,Sunday Osunbor and another senior police officer called Iyamu were televised nationwide. I can't even count the number of executions by firing squad I watched in the 80's. I had forgotten all about until I read this article.

Gorgeous58:
They finally got to him

I guess they did,God knows what they promised him. Peter Obi always said that the day he leaves APGA will be the day he walks out of politics. Oh well,he has done his bit for APGA and Anambra,it is left to posterity to judge him. At least he had enough sense of loyalty not to pull a stunt like this when he was Governor unlike the turn coat Ediot called Okorocha who handed the victory Imolites gave him to the Northern/Yoruba alliance. I wish Obi well but I know that PDP will eventually mess him up because it is impossible to be a member of this party without being tainted. I predict that Peter Obi will be back to APGA later in the future when he see's what PDP is really all about.

Unfortunately,to be a successful politician in Nigeria,you have to be schooled in the art of 'thuggery'.

I used to be a Linda-Ikeji blog fan but I kind of realised that NL was better suited for me so I stopped visiting her site as much as I used to. I think they came after her after she flaunted her new Jeep. I am not a fan of people unnecessarily flaunting their wealth just to make the less fortunate envious but who am I to tell anyone what to do with their hard earned money? I can only tell people like Linda-Ikeji and all other Nigerian celebs who rush to upload picture of their latest 'acquisition' on the Internet this Igbo proverbial warning.

"Isi kotere ebu ka ebu na gba"
"The person most likely to be stung by a Wasp is one who attracts Wasps"

Look at them. PDP looters convention coming to plead with Peter Obi to join them. I read the article and nowhere does it say that Peter Obi has formally joined PDP. Peter Obi is one of the few Nigerian politicians who left office with his integrity still intact. Why would he throw away that good name over a party that is bereft of any ideals? I think that it would be a disastrous mistake for Peter Obi to join PDP because this would reduce him to the status of a 'Job seeker'

oluamid: Sorry I have to divert from the argument. There's no point continuing with it.

As a person I prefer to see issues from a nationalistic point of view rather than an ethnic or tribal one. its very difficult but it is not impossible. I'd rather 10 Nigerians die in order to save 5 million.

When you talk of freedom I can only laugh. Freedom from what? Freedom to exchange one set of masters for another? Take the creation of states for instance, one would think the creation of states will mean that each part of the country will be developed as necessary since it is a "son of the soil" that will be governor. But what do we have? The same circle of misrule.

Secession is never the answer to Nigeria's problems.




Have a great day.

Yes I agree there's no point arguing any more,we see things too different. At least,you now know why Ojukwu is revered amongst the Igbos and why he is my Hero. He chose the cause of his people above the cause of the 'British invented organisation' called Nigeria.

Have a great day too

oluamid: Shelve secessionist plans for one year? Really? When was the secession announced and when did the war start?




I hope you didn't forget that non-easterners were also given an ultimatum to vacate the east. I'm just being practical here not emotional. Yes, Igbos were being murdered in the north, let me also agree with you that Ojukwu protected non-eastern soldiers in the east(though this is not entirely true), but then, when it was sure there would be a war if the east seceded and more Igbos will die what should have been Ojukwu's reaction? Go ahead with it?




As painful as it sounds, it was a war, what do you expect? People die in wars. A a matter of fact civilians bear the brunt of wars (this is not to justify Adekunle and Yar'aduas' action though).



Like I said in the post you quoted, I'm not going to go into the politics of who was wrong and who was right. That's not what this thread is about.



Really? Can you justify this statement to the millions who died? The children? I'm shocked!

Cowardise is not running away from certain death. You don't plan to fight modern wars with machetes and catapults. It will be a huge massacre.




Whether or not the FG army had help from outside is moot, the most important thing is that the FG was more prepared for the war and would definitely win it. People lost their lives in the war, people whose only crime was that they were born Igbo and were not opportune to be in the top brass or decision making process.

I don't believe that some people were meant to die and some were not. What makes Ojukwu better than the millions who lost their lives? In my opinion, nothing.

I won't begrudge you your hero worship of the man, just don't expect the rest of us to do so too. And I still maintain my position that all our so-called founding fathers (Awolowo, Azikwe, Tafawa Balewa, Aminu Kano and the rest), Ojukwu inclusive, are tribalists and narrow-minded individuals who took decisions based on their own selfish interests and personal ambitions.

You don't understand the Republican nature of the Igbos. The point to note here is that Ojukwu sensibly sought after peace before declaring Biafra. You can only criticise Ojukwu for leading his people in a war which they mandated him to wage ,even if ill prepared,if you can criticise Gowon for usurping a position he had no legitimate right to and for starting a war when he could have renegotiated. My brother,there are few things in life worth dying for and one of those things is freedom even at the cost of millions of lives. Our fore-fathers fought much better equipped white imperialists all over Africa with spears,catapult,arrows and stones and even though they lost,they kept their dignity. The Biafran war was no different when the only option to fighting was to accept northern domination. The very things Ojukwu fought for such as self determination,sovereignty and the right of choice are today enshrined in the constitution of most democracies. Just as Awlolowo is a Hero to Yorubas but vilified in Igboland,so too do I expect Ojukwu to be "persona non grata" in other places. Our heroes our heroes for different reasons. Even Shekau is somebodys Hero.

I remember reading somewhere during the time Atiku was VP that the government allocated over 200 security personnel to guard and protect just his family and I wondered why his family needed that amount of security for. 30 children?!! Now I know why! I don't buy the story he told about building other properties from "rent money". Did his tenants pay him 30 years advance? Any Nigerian who has ever been to Apapa wharf knows how Atiku and his fellow Custom officers made their money.

oluamid: Take your own advice about studying.


I'm not going to go into the politics of who was right and who was wrong, but if Ojukwu was the saviour of the Igbo as you seem to think, then he could easily have shelved his secessionist plans to save Igbo lives. But no, he had to fight out a battle of wills against Gowon who to all intents and purpose had a larger army, equipment and was more prepared for war, thereby causing the death of the Igbos he was trying to save in the first place. Ironic, isn't it?

Its one thing to rule but its another to lead. Ojukwu should have been able to sacrifice his own life for the "motherland" as he so easily inspired many to. He ought to "lead" from the frontlines not the comfort of his government house. Immediately the war got to his front steps, he ran away.

Therein lies my problem with the man.

But Ojukwu did shelve secessionist plans. He shelved it for one year (the killing of easterners started with operation Araba in June 1966,Ojukwu did not declare Biafra until the end of May 1967).One thing about Ojukwu which many may not know is that while Murutla and co were killing Igbo officers in Kaduna, Ibadan,Lagos and Kano. Ojukwu actually protected the northern soldiers in Enugu garrison. Ojukwu gave instructions that they should not be touched and even gave them a safe passage to Enugu train station where they boarded trains and left for the North to the consternation of a vengeful Igbo population who wanted to go into the barracks and kill all of them. Remarkably,two soldiers of note who got on that train and escaped due Ojukwus benevolence were Yaradua and Adekunle. Both men would return months later during the war to commit war crimes. Yaradua led troops that captured a part of Onitsha and went ahead to execute 300 worshippers who had sort refuge in a church there. Adekunle openly bragged about his 'shoot anything that moves' so I won't go into that. 40,000 easterners were massacred mainly in North,how many did you want Ojukwu to wait to be killed before he did something to save his people? Why didn't you ask Gowon why he rushed to war instead of abiding by the Aburi accord he signed or why he didn't return to the negotiating table?Only a coward runs away from a fight because his opponent has a bigger stature.Nigerian soldiers may have been better equipped but that wasn't why they won the war. They won because of the massive support they got from Britain,Russia and the Arab league not what they had at they start of the war. Ojukwu was head of state,it was not his business to lead battle from the war front. When Enugu was about to fall,he transfared the capital to Umuahia and left. I don't know if you wanted him to stay back and be slaughtered,would that be brave or stupid? Ojukwu was one of the greatest men to come out of Africa and I'm indeed lucky that I met him 4 times before he died.

obayaya: No Nigerian Leader, Past or Present divides opinion like the late General Murtala Mohammed. His 199 days rule as Nigeria's Supreme Commander was the most promising period in Nigeria's history after the war.

His first action as head of state was to scrap the 1973 census, which was weighted in favor of the north, and to revert to the 1963 count for official purposes.

He purged the Civil Service and began demobilization of Nigeria's overbloated Armed Forces. He initiated an expansion of the Private sector into areas dominated by Public Corporation.

His rule was popular amongst the masses. The people had faith in his rule.

Perhaps, his biggest contribution to Nigeria came in the area of Foreign Relations. He adopted the Nigeria first orientation. Nigeria became neutral rather than nonaligned in international politics.

His "Africa has come of age" speech at the OAU was instrumental to the resolution of the conflict in Angola and became a model for Africa's self realization.

He was assassinated on 13th February, 1976.

[img] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:ZeroRatedMobileAccess&from=Murtala_Mohammed&to=/wiki/File:Mohammedandakinyemi.jpg[/img]

As a young Officer, His role in the Coups of the 1660's can never be overemphasized. He was the arrowhead in the coup that ousted Ironsi.

As the GOC of the 2nd Division during the Civil War, Murtala Mohammed supervised the massacre of nearly all the male folks from the present day Asaba in cold blood.

He's fondly remembered for his insistence on Amphibious crossing of the River Niger despite recommendations from Lagos that he should wait for the bridge which was being repaired at the time. He finally made the amphibious crossing on the 3rd attempt after failing twice.

************************

General Murtala Mohammed is my hero. Maybe if he was allowed to remain in office for a longer time, Nigeria would've been better for it.

It could be that all he did was initial gra gra, but then we wouldn't know. He was a patriotic Nigeria and gave Nigeria his best. Both as a soldier and as her Head of State.


General Murtala Ramat Muhammed

How can this war criminal,failed soldier and ethnic cleansing murderer of a man be your hero? It is a national disgrace that this mans face is on the N20 note and has an international airport named after him. A man who supervised the ethnic motivated killings of over 300 Igbo soldiers and who's troops started the killings of defenceless civilians all over Nigeria with his 'operation Araba'. A man who's troops continued this dastardly act with the slaughter of over 700 civilians who came to welcome him on Asaba. A man who led thousands of men to their deaths trying to cross the river Niger. A man who commited one of the worst acts of military indecipline by not only retiring everyone who was above him in rank when he came to power but then promoted himself from one star Brigadier to a full 4 star General in one jump. Murutala was the military face of the Northern Nigerian oligarchy that destroyed Nigeria. The man was a disgrace to the military uniform he wore.

I hope we invent a time machine so I go back to 1914 and 1960 to ask the British

"WHAT DA FORK ARE YOU ABOUT TO DO?!!?!"

Nothing to celebrate in Naija except a disastrous 54 year old mistake.

Without a shadow of a doubt,Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu:
1] First graduate and quartermaster-Genral of the Nigerian army
2]Son of the richest man in West-Africa but chose to join the army as a lowly recruit-private even though he had degree from Oxford University at the time.
3]First Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria.
4]Amist the wholesale killing of easterners in the north,still chose to seek the peace and unity of Nigeria by going to Aburi,Ghana where he signed a peace agreement that required to recognise Gowon who was junior to him as head of state.
5]stood up against the northern domination of Nigeria when all others would not.
6] Declared the Republic of Biafra on 30th May 1967 when Gowon not only failed in his constitutional role to stop the killing of Igbos but also broke the terms of the Aburi agreement.
7] Ojukwu by declaring Biafra became the only Igbo man to this day who chose stand by his people above all considerations,even the notion of 'one Nigeria'.

A great man he was.

tonytony208: You are so empty. You pple are so confused. Which one do u really want? Biafra or lagos?.

And who says we can't have both? Underestimate us Igbos at your peril........... Sometimes,I think we already got both

barcanista: Thank you. We need to let bygone be bygone, learn from the mistakes of the past and forge ahead. In this age that we are now, we shouldn't be preaching tribal sentiment nor ethno-championism(yea I may be guilty of this but it doesn't make it right). As long as a section of the young people continue to revisit the whole scenario with aim of the usual blame game, when we know the koko of the matter, Nigeria will be having problems-because these people interpret everything using the tribal card.

Almost 45 years after the war ended,they same problems that caused the war are still with us. And they will never go away unless we call a spade a spade. The agreements that Ojukwu signed in the Aburi accord restructured Nigeria in to a 'confederation' of 4 regions with each region having greater control of its internal economic and political life. The Aburi accord gave autonomy back to the people and made the central government weak and this is how it should be. But the northerners and their 'born to rule' mentality did not want this and that is why the war came and over 3 million people perished.How can we justify a situation where northerners and Yorubas own over 80% of the oil block in South-South? How can we justify that we have 36 'dictators' known as state Governors who answer to nobody? How can we justify that less than 5 people can sit down somewhere in Abuja and decide the fate 160 million people? To this day,I as an Igbo man cannot wear Igbo attire and walk around the streets of Sokoto without risking my life but a Sokoto indigene can put on Hausa attire and walk around Enugu with no absolutely no worries at all. Who is the master and who is the Slave? Nigeria is not a workable entity, it is just 'Monkey dey work but Baboon dey chop'. The same northerners who contribute nothing to the Nigerian state want to tell all of us how Nigeria should be and that is unacceptable to me as an Igbo man same way it was unacceptable to Ojukwu. It is inevitable that this country will disintegrate one day,maybe even next year. We can't keep deceiving our selves that this British made "Garage trade fair" called Nigeria is really a nation.

The Nigerian civil war was caused by Gowon and the northerners. Anyone who bothers to research what actually happend at the time would see that Ojukwu was doing everything he could to avoid war but the northerners had a different idea. Even as the easterners were banging on Ojukwu to pull eastern Nigeria out of the federation,Ojukwu still had the presence of mind to go and seek the peace and unity of Nigeria in Aburi. Who was Gowon to catapult himself above other officers senior to him like Adebayor,Ejoor and Ojukwu to become head of state? Gowon went back on the Aburi agreement because he realised that it stopped him from becoming a dictator and entrenching northern hegemony. The civil was fought because Ojukwu refused to do what all other officers who were senior to Gowon like Adebayor,Ejoor,Wey and Kam Salem chose to do. To bow down and a55-lick a junior officer like Gowon just because he was a northerner. Ojukwu knew these men were setting a bad precedence. It was all well because 8 years later when Murutala Mohammed struck,he retired all of them in one fell swoop. A lot of Nigerians still think that the war was about keeping Nigeria one,the real aim of the war was the economic and political subjugation of Nigeria by the northerners. Doesn't anyone actually believe that if it had been the northerners who had the oil and sea-port,they would have fought a war to keep Nigeria one so we can all partake in sharing their oil wealth? Lol

tsolz300: IN WAR, ALL IS FAIR..

The easterners got wat they deserved

Secession is a crime.
I wonder why you Igbos still thinks ojukwu did the right thing and yet you all want shekau dead.
Stewpidity runs in the nigeria Jews blood though...
How is shekau different from ojukwu?
They are both rebels!!!!
And ojukwu got what he deserved during the war...
Imagine the great ikemba dressed as a lady, running like a headless chicken to ivory coast..how pathetic

The difference between Ojukwu and Shekau is that Ojukwu was not prepared to lead his people into the slavery known as 'one Nigeria'. Do you younger Nigerians actually study the history of Nigeria these days? Secession is a crime? Because the White man came and 'baptised' you a Nigerian,you still carry around the slave name he gave you with pride. My dear,no one forces anyone to be Nigerian and any group of people can opt out of Nigeria any time they want. Self determination is a right,not a privilege. As for this talk about Ojukwu dressing up as a woman,what rubbish. An uncle of mine was in the Biafran airforce and was present at Uli airport the day Ojukwu left. Ojukwu was dressed in full Military regalia and even inspected a guard of honour before boarding the plane.

Akexstinger: Stop spouting like a rocket, who told u anambra spent money in developing the oil wells? Do u know the difference between a well that has been explored, drilled, cased and capped? For your info, those wells were drilled and cased by federal government "Elf total,Mobil" in the late 1960s n 70s, and after discoveries that the crude oil from these drilled wells were not in commercial quantities, the wells were not fully developed, they were cased n then abandoned. So where is the anambra money coming into this? And besides, who says building a refinery means u are the owner of the wells or that u have reservoir in ur place? Or don't u know the difference between refining and drilling? And that any country can go into refining business even if there is no crude oil deposit! We have japan, aberdeen, and so many countries where they have refineries, PTI and yet they don't have crude oil deposit. So if anambra spent millions of dollars in building a mini refinery, that is their own cup of tea, as far as we are concern, those wells are in kogi state. Kogi state can decide to build their own refinery later at their own time pending when they feel like exploiting the wells to the fullest capacity. Its all about going to into MOUs with china, singapore, japan and u will have a mini refinery in 8 months just like niger republic have done. So please spare me that issh of anambra spent money. Ibaji is my local govt.

This is all rubbish talk from lazy people in Kogi who cannot develop thier resources. It is common knowledge that the Anambra river basin is rich in oil and gas deposits. The two oil wells that Orient oil are currently operating on are in Aguleri otu. Is Aguleri in Kogi? FYI Orient oil is a fully licenced petrochemical refining and oil prospecting company which the Anambra state government has invested close to 3 Billion Naira to get it where it is. So instead of you lazy youths of Kogi putting your government to task about what they are doing to develop whatever resources maybe found on your lands,you people are busy conducting 'cross border raids' into Igbo land to reap where you did not sow.

GeneralShepherd: This story sounds foolish, cos he cannot deny being Nigerian. Why do you think there are records? Fingerprints, pictures and all?

Back then,there were no digital or Biometric passports as you have today. Many people destroyed their passports once Visas ran out. To this day,there are still many Nigerians,especially those who came to Europe on boats or on the back of trucks or even stowaways who have no records and can easily deny being Nigerian because they know that unless the authorities know where they are from,they can't be deported.

There was this Igbo guy I met in London last year. He is a German citizen. He told me that he first went to Germany on 3 months tourist Visa but decided to stay back and make something of his life. He told me that the day his Visa expired was like entering a prison. For the next 6 months,he only saw the outside world from the balcony.He dared not come downstairs incase he ran into the Police who are fond of saying "Ausviz Bitte" or "papers please". He went through hell,had to learn the language . He was later caught working illegally and when they took him to the Nigerian embassy to get papers to deport him,he denied being Nigerian.They later beat him up and released him but restricted his movement.They later gave him some sort of temporary stay and today,he is a German citizen. Anything is possible,but life isn't plane sailing for the illegal immigrant.

lastpage: Then why main and kill those "Igala-cum-Igbo men" that want to join Kogi?

Why dont you guys just let them "join Kogi" if that is where their heart lies .... and you will have a "pure-breed" Igbo in Enugu state?

That is not rocket science naa?

Some Nigerians must evolve beyond the level of PRIMATES that they call them, after-all the earth has been around for millions of years!
All this while, our evolution should have moved beyond this barbaric level of ethnicity, tribalism and cannibalism being displayed in this incident!
SMH sha.

Lastpage!

If you ask me,I would say that this incident has very little to do with who wants to join Kogi and doesn't. I think this is more of a land dispute. The same thing is happening in my home state of Anambra. For years,the government of Anambra together with private investors sunk Billions into developing oil and gas deposits and Orient oil was established . As soon as Anambra became an oil producing state,the youths of Neighbouring Kogi came up with a ridiculous story about the land that Orient oil was operating on was their ancestral land and that everything including the oil wells must be brought into Kogi. They even invaded the place and started causing problems. So these f00ls were watching as the government of Anambra was developing the place and said nothing but as soon as oil started to flow,their memory came back? If it wasn't for the Army that was drafted in there,those Kogi youths would have felt the full wrath the Igbo community.

RuudNisterooy: whether you're from up North or down south.. From d East or West. An Igbo or Hausa, Yoruba or whatever.. You're Nigerian first before anything.

As a country, we yet have alot and alot of things to learn.

Why kill yourselves over something as trivial as this? There are more pressing issues to tackle for crap's sake. Na wa o

And what were your fore-fathers before the White man came and created Nigeria? They were Nigerians-in-waiting? Don't be myopic. I am first an Igbo man before anything else and my first allegiance is to the Igbo nation. I can understand why the minorities in Enugu state want to go with Kogi,who wants to be a minority anyway? I think INEC should conduct a simple referendum and if the Igala want join Kogi,then so be it. I know for certain that no Igbo man would want to be part of Kogi.