Month: May 2014
BREAKING THE SIEGE MENTALITY OF THE IGBOS: THE BUILDING STORY OF THE BIAFRAN WAR
When Chinua Achebe released his book – “There was a country”, the painful old wounds of the civil war resurfaced, leading to the exchange of verbal fire between young Nigerians on social and print media. War of words and furious pens replaced the 1967 to 1970 gun barrels. Achebe’s book began with an Igbo proverb: “A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body”. He went further to talk about Africa and the 1885 Berlin colonial boundaries. He emphasized that the book is his own personal story of the war. Two years after the book was released, coupled with the death of the Author, the furious nerves began to cease and the ethnic war of belligerence and attrition subsided. Then suddenly like the release of the molten magma, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie released her movie “Half of a Yellow Sun”; this came after her unsuccessful attempt to convince Africans to accept the alien culture of same sex marriage.
The Book (Half of a Yellow Sun) did not raise public debate like the movie. Nerves spontaneously began to rise when rumour filled the cyber space that the movie “Half of a Yellow Sun” was banned in Nigeria. The Igbo youths felt cheated and they insisted that the world must hear their own side of the story. It was later discovered the movie was not actually banned; this was however too late to withdraw the damage and the litany of insults that was dished out. One wonders why the epic movie ‘Battle of Love’ and ‘Across the Niger’ produced by Kingsley Ogoro did not generate such controversy; could the reason be that Kinsley’s movie is purely a ‘made in Nigeria’ movie? Or could it be that the Igbos felt his own storyline was not ‘pro-Igbo’ enough? This was what Chimamanda said about her storyline: “I have taken many liberties for the purposes of fiction; my intent is to portray my own imaginative truths and not the facts of the war. While some of the characters are based on actual persons, their portrayals are fictitious as are the events surrounding them”. So if the book is based on fiction then why the uproar?
Why is Stephen Akuma raising the Biafra issue again? Nowadays people hardly discuss issues in Nigeria without scratching and opening up the scars of civil war. Most of the arguments by the Northerners and Easterners normally lack any iota of objectivity. So I feel it is appropriate at this period of national tragedy to write (to the best of my knowledge) an article to educate/inform young Nigerians of an aspect of what led to the war. A lot of stories have been said about the 3 years civil war. My dad told me how he was able to save the life of an Igbo woman and her two children in Kaduna but could not help the husband who was whisked away by a mob action and lynched. My Ijaw friend told me how the Igbos declared a state of emergency in their territory and killed them like chickens which made them to join the Federal troops in the war. My Efik friend told me how they were only employed as chefs and stewards under the Biafran government. My Benin friend told me how Ojukwu unilaterally drew a map of Biafra and enveloped them without seeking their consent. My Delta friend told me how the death of Festus Okotie Eboh affected rapid development in their area. One of my Igbo friends narrated to me frightening tales about the war, how the Nigerian troops killed his dad but his greatest disappointment was the fact that at heat of the war, Ojukwu who led them into the war took his family and ran away. Ikemba Ojukwu on his part said that Biafra was created as a self-defence measure, that once you are able to cross the Niger Bridge, you will be saved. These are some stories about the war. Whether they are true or not is not my primary concern; my concern is that I listened to both sides of the story as opined by Chimamanda in her lecture at Oxford University titled – “The danger of a single story”.
Major Ifeajuna made an attempt to publish a book about the 1966 coup but his manuscript was considered as egocentric by Achebe (you can find this in the book THERE WAS A COUNTRY). Major Ifeajuna was later executed during the civil war by Ojukwu who saw him as a threat to his seat. I am still waiting for Major General Ike Sanda Omar Nwanchukwu’s (The leader of the Igbos at the Confab) to write his own account, since it was purported that he fought on the Nigerian side. A book by Sen. Arthur Nzeribe will also be a good read because they said he supplied arms to the Nigerian Army during the war. People can write anything they want; we are all covered under article 19 of the UN charter on human right. The only issue is when people make up stories about the war just to heat up the polity and to incite a young generation of Igbos against other tribes. One thing I always tell Nigerians is that our common denominator is poverty not an ambivalent history. Poverty has neither tribal mark nor a religious symbol.
In an attempt to trace the root cause of civil war, I read three books about the war. Two were written by Nigerians while one was by a Briton called D. J. M. Muffet (He was an administrative staff in the office of the Prime Minister at the time of the 1966 coup). I consider Muffet’s account to be more neutral in all ramifications – his account of the 1966 coup gave a clearer direction of what led to the coup. Prior to the 1966 coup, one of the closest officers to Ahmadu Bello was Major Kaduna Nzeogwu – he had access to the inner chambers of the Sarduna. In Lagos, the ADC to Tafawa Balawa was Major Okafor. Muffet described Kaduna Nzeogwu as a professional soldier who neither smokes nor drinks and attended morning mass every day. He was fluent in Hausa but could barely speak Igbo. Kaduna was described in another book as someone with a revolutionary drive; that while he was at the military school in United Kingdom, he had a big map of Africa in his room and he placed a peg on the countries in Africa that were yet get their Independence. He was just 25 years at that time and perhaps he shared in Kwameh Nkrumah’s plan for the United States of Africa.
Nzaogwu’s revolutionary drive might probably be the reason why he was incorporated in the coup – a coup he knew nothing about. Muffet said that when he (Nzaogwu) got control of Kaduna (Northern Province), he called all the permanent secretaries together but he didn’t know what next to do because he was not told the real agenda of the coup and he was not power drunk. He was only used because of his revolutionary drive. It was also reported that he was very angry that Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara were not killed. This leads to the following questions:
Why was Zik and Okpara not killed in the coup?
Was it a coincident that Zik had to be in London at the time of the coup?
Why was the highest ranked Northerner in the Nigerian army (Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari) killed in the coup?
Why was Maj. Gen. Ironsi spared?
After the coup, we were left with two options: To either continue with democracy with Nnamdi Azikiwe (Igbo man) as the head or to go with Military rule with Maj. Gen. Ironsi (Igbo man) as the head. The Northerners at this point felt cheated and having lost their key statesmen/Leaders in the coup, there was probably no strong voice to stop the mob. Ahmadu Bello was seen in the North as a small god, what the Igbos call ‘chi’. His death and that of Tafawa Balewa was too big for the Northerners to swallow. What if the Igbo leaders were also killed like the Northern leaders, would there have been a reprisal attack? I can go on and on and on but I feel the message now should be reconciliation and putting food on the table of all Nigerians. We shouldn’t continue to habour on the ugly past but to build a new future and ensure that such ugly past never returns.
We the Black people all over the world have a common badge and Identity which is the colour of our skin. Whether you are a Blackman from America, Europe, Australia, Caribbean or Africa, we all have a common history. We in the Pan African movement picture all Blacks as same with Africa as our mother country. I thought that by now young Africans will continue with Kwameh Nkrumah’s ideas – the struggle for the creation of United States of Africa where all the colonial boundary of Berlin Conference will fizzle out and Africa will exist as one country. Nigeria is the hub of the Black race and we the youths should be championing this integration. My heart normally bleeds when I see/hear young Africans talk about division instead of integration. The bigger picture of a United Africa is what I look at! The link below explains the motive behind this article.
https://sacs945.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/nigerians-and-the-it-doesnt-matter-philosophy-of-rwanda/
RELIGION FROM THE NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE
I watched a documentary of hajj in Saudi Arabia and I noticed how some pilgrims from Mozambique were not allowed to pray with some Arabs because of the colour of their skin. I also watched a documentary of racism in Israel where blacks were humiliated and deported for no reason other than the colour of their skin. This shows that the Arabs and Jews consider the colour of their skin before their religion. It is however unfortunate and Ironic that the Black people in Nigeria consider the foreign/borrowed religion before the colour of their skin.
My single problem with religion in Nigeria is that in most cases, it is used for promoting the bourgeois/rich class at the detriment of the proletariat/poor class. There is a saying by Prophet Mohammed that if you have food and the people living in 40 houses around you have nothing to eat, you will be held responsible for their inability to feed. I expect my Muslim brothers to promote this particular teaching of the Prophet instead of promoting child marriages and child abuse under the name of Almajiri.
There is also a saying by Christ in the Bible book of Matt 6: 19-21: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are”. Pastors should stop extorting money from the poor to buy Private Jets or Exotic cars. They should rather end the flamboyant lifestyle, sell their Private Jets/Exotic cars and give the money to the poor; this is actually how to store our treasures in Heaven.
I am not against how people practice their religion but I am against any aspect of a religion that infringe upon people’s fundamental human right by capitalizing on their ignorance and gullibility. Whether Islam, Christianity, Baha’i, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Rastafari, Shinto, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism or African traditional religion, we must practice it with a human face and deep conscience else it will fall into what Karl Marx described as the opium of the masses. Religion should not be all about taking man to heaven but bringing heaven into a man.
~I strongly recommend that Pan-Africanism be taught as a compulsory subject/course from Primary to University level in Nigeria~
ARCHBISHOP OF ABUJA, CARDINAL JOHN ONIAYEKAN WRITES A TOUCHING LETTER FROM ROME – “LET NOT EVIL PREVAIL”
We are all familiar with the wise saying that evil thrives where and when good people do nothing and keep quiet. It is also a great lesson of history that you need only a few determined people to bring down a nation. Here the rule of majority does not apply. We do not know how many members Boko Haram has. But they are not that many – and they are causing so much havoc on the entire nation. The situation is serious.
I left home on Easter Sunday, when our nation was still reeling under the tragic news of the first Nyanya bomb blast and the abduction of as yet unknown number of girl students in Borno state. Since my arrival here in Rome, we have heard of another Nyanya bomb blast, and the number of girls abducted is now being given at over two hundred. The controversy over the numbers is futile and uncalled for. One missing girl is one too many. Everywhere I go, people are asking me what is happening in our country. There is no more room for explanations, let alone excuses.
The view from outside our nation is very negative indeed. At a time like this, one would expect all Nigerians to stand together and face what should be clearly a common danger to us all. But unfortunately, such a common stand is anything but visible. There are ominous signs that if the objective of Boko Haram is to tear Nigeria apart by pitting Christians against Muslims in a fratricidal war, that objective is gradually and systematically being realized. The wanton destruction of lives and property is bad enough. But perhaps worse than that is the gradual destruction and erosion of the hard earned good relations which Nigerian Christians and Muslims have managed to build up over the years. In my 2013 Christmas message, I warned that we should not take our fragile religious peace for granted. I pleaded that we should learn from the experience of other nations where such good relations have evaporated within a short time under poorly managed social and political crisis. The Central African Republic is a case in point. In the midst of our serious security crisis, tribal and religious warlords are beating the drums of war and blowing the trumpets of conflict. I read in the internet that the Jama’atu Nasr Islam has issued a statement accusing the Federal Government of persecuting Muslims under the guise of fighting terrorism. If this is true, it would indeed be most unfortunate and ill-timed under our present circumstances. This is hardly the best way to encourage our security agents to carry out their tough and thankless task. At the other end of the spectrum, one Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye, who is described as the President/Founder of the Old Time Revival Hour, and
immediate past chairman of a group called “Northern States Christian and Elders Forum (NOCSEF), an associate of CAN”, issued a passionate statement with a presumed list of 180 missing girls, 165 of which are Christians and the remaining 15 Muslims. It is commendable that a list has appeared with their religious affiliations,and this should be of help to the security agents in tracking the girls. But the document is hardly designed to promote mutual good relations between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.
At times like this, when serious hurt has been inflicted and great injustice
perpetrated, it is natural to feel deeply aggrieved and even angry. But the effort still needs to be made to look at things as dispassionately as we can so that we can work towards a just and practical solution. For most Nigerians, I believe that it is highly desirable that we continue as “one nation under God”. But this will not happen unless we are all ready to sincerely identify our common goals and aspirations, despite our non-negligible differences and diversities. It will mean being ready to
make more concessions and compromises for the common good of the nation, well beyond the status quo. National unity is beautiful and precious, but it comes with a price which all must be ready to pay, in a fair and equitable manner. If this seems difficult, the alternative of a break-up of the nation along whatever lines would seem to me far more costly, and almost unthinkable. If a war of partition breaks out, where will the battle lines be drawn? It would be wonderful if such partitioning could be by peaceful negotiation. But that would call for nothing less than a miracle, which no one has any right to impose on God. The option to pursue unity therefore ought to be clear and obvious. The menace which Boko Haram represents is hanging on the whole nation. The solution must involve all stake-holders working together. Promoting or allowing polarization of group interests, whether political (PDP against the Opposition) or religious (CAN versus JNI) will not only weaken our common efforts, but even lead to the far greater danger of polarization of our security forces along opposing lines.
The red light is clear to anyone who cares to look. It is not an exaggeration to say that the nation is in grave danger. It is not too late to pull back from the brink of chaos. All those who believe in the future of Nigeria can no longer afford the luxury of sitting back, watching and complaining. There is need to speak out and take meaningful action, each at his or her level. As for those who rule the nation, I hope they know that the eyes of the whole world are on them. They should also know that they will answer for all their actions and inactions before their consciences, before history and before God.
May God bless Nigeria.
BRING BACK OUR SENSES
“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
― Primo Levi
#JustThinkingAloud
How is Boko Haram feeding the girls?
How many pots of rice/beans are they cooking for them?
Alternatively, how many takeaways of Mr. Biggs do they buy per day?
Did they plan kidnapping this number of girls so as to prepare for food?
Did they buy mosquito nets to prevent the girls from suffering from malaria?
Do they have a clinic to treat the girls in Sambisa Forest if they fall sick?
How many tents were erected? Or are the girls sleeping outside in the rain?
Perhaps they have their own republic like the Kalakuta republic.
Perhaps the girls were kept somewhere in a hotel in Niger republic to be used as a bargaining tool to free their footsoldiers who are still in prison.
Why is America so sure that they will find ALL the girls alive despite the inhumane condition we been told they are?
Why are they so sure that their ‘Jack Bauer’ will not risk the lives of the precious girls in the process of killing Shekau and his army of blood suckers?
Why should we believe that the West will save 300 hostages in a rescue operation when their specially trained commandos could not rescue 3 hostages in Zamfara State two years ago?
Why is the West in a rush to come and ‘save’ Nigeria?
Why did they allow an exam to take place in an area where the security and WAEC declared as not safe enough?
Why are they finding it difficult to come up with a unanimous number of the missing girls?
How come none of the 300 girls have a Facebook account?
Why is it that only the foreign media have access to interview the chibok girls that escaped: why not Nigerian journalists?
How come there was no exchange of gun fire between the army and Boko Haram in a state under emergency rule?
Where is our ‘made in Nigeria’ drone that was commissioned by Mr. President?
Was Kema Chikwe playing politics when she said girls were not missing?
Why did the First Lady ask us to hold the Governor of Borno state responsible for the missing girls? Was she unintelligently telling us something we don’t know?
Why is the Sultan of Sokoto silent on the kidnapped girls?
Why did our security men stop the #BringBackOurGirls protest in Kaduna today?
Well, you can say he has come again with his conspiracy theory and he is politicizing an issue that involve the lives of 270/234/280/250 girls. There is a proverb in my language that says: when a man is desperately looking for a missing item, he opens even his cooking pot to look for it.
~Whatever is the interest of the confronting forces negotiating in the dark, they should please negotiate quickly and release the ‘missing girls’ to their parents~
SECURITY IS EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS
“I would like to remind the Black ministry, and indeed all Black people that God is not in the habit of coming down from heaven to solve people’s problem on earth.” ~Stephen Biko~
I am still expecting to see a hoodwinking video from Octopus TB Joshua on the Second Nyanya Bombing. People like TB Joshua should be arrested and thrown into the prison for misleading and misinforming the general public. Time has come for Nigerians to start thinking outside the confines of Mosque and Church to end this disaster before us. Any man of god/god of man who claims to be powerful should be sent to lead the JTF in Sambisa forest. They (especially the CAN president) should also loan us their private Jets for Ariel surveillance. Nigerians we have prayed enough, it is now time to keep vigilance and assist our security men with useful information to combat Boko Haram. Our Security men are not omniscient! They can only work effectively if we provide them with useful information. We however expect the security team to treat any information gotten with confidentiality and high level of professionalism.
Please report any suspicious activity in or around your home as soon as possible.
http://www.npf.gov.ng/information/attendance-and-list-of-police-pro
THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO A REVOLUTION
In the first way, the people get tired of the oppression and misrule of the elites and then they revolt against the authority. In the process of revolting, few of them will die as martyrs while many of them will live to tell the story.
In the second way, the people get carried away by the deception of a better tomorrow. While the POLITICIANS enjoy today and promise them all the pleasures of tomorrow, the PASTORS enjoy on earth and promise them all the pleasures in heaven. In the process of waiting for a better tomorrow and heaven, the people get eliminated by hunger, disease, ‘Boko Haram’ bombs etc. As their population continue to dwindle in a geometric proportion, the few who are left are suddenly awaken with a new revolutionary thought: “It is better to die standing than to live on our knees”. Then the beast in them is unleashed and they fight to gain their freedom.
I think Nigerians are more comfortable with the second way. Let’s see how it goes…….
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