Here is a post I made on Nigeriaworld. I hope that members of Eastern BiafraNigeria minority ethnic groups would join the debate and tell us what their beef is against their Igbo brothers. Brother COLO, please repost your wonderful comments here so that more people may respond to you. I hope that Chuba will also repost his post here.

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Now that I have an alternative home at BiafraNigeriaWorld, I am glad to return to this board.

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Brother COLO:
With insight, Chuba has shone some light on the Igbo/Eastern Minority situation. However, what is lacking in Chuba's analysis is a concrete statement of the gravaman (if really any) of Eastern Minorities' case against their Igbo neighbors. In a country, where injustice is measured on scales that readily include pogroms and genocide, it has been particularly difficult to appreciate the Eastern Minorities' claims of ill-treatment by their Igbo neighbors, where their Igbo neighbors have NEVER embarked on campaigns of pogroms and genocide against the minorities.

To the best of my knowledge, all that the Eastern minorities have been able to point to so far are accounts of how Eyo Ita (an Eastern minority member of the Eastern legislature) was prevented by the majority Igbos from becoming the Premier of Eastern Region, as well as some stories about transfers of funds from some bank by some Igbos after control of the bank went to Eastern minorities. It is difficult to see how such mundane matters could justify sabotage against their own region during the Biafran war. After all, during the famous carpet-crossing event in the Western Region Parliament, Zik suffered the same fate in the Western House of Assembly as Eyo Ita did in the Eastern House of Assembly. To date, I do not recall any Igbos making the carpet-crossing event the center of Igbo-Yoruba politics. Instead, Igbos complain about the pogroms, the genocidal murders through out Nigeria, and the wickedness of Awo during the Biafran war. It seems to me that even under the best of circumstances, such mundane disputes as has been recited by Eastern minorities would still exist. It is inexcusable to latch unto such irrelevancies as a basis for taking sides with the enemy in a war against your own Region.

That the Igbos have failed to carry along their minority neighbors in their platforms is not disputed. What is disturbing is that Eastern Minorities have woefully failed to make a reasonable case excusing their sabotage of their logical allies, the Igbos, especially during a war of survival. The events cited are a lousy excuse for the minorities to create the type of enmity that now exists between them and their Igbo neighbors. The Minorities deepened that enmity with their greedy abandoned property grab.

Only in Nigeria do we have a group of minority ethnic groups that are emboldened to steal property from a numerically superior group. Some one must have told these minorities that they will never be called upon to account for their criminality. I will NEVER vote for any one who countenances the abandoned property criminality. Indeed, such a candidate will have me to contend with. Always.

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Seun
_____________________________________________ http://216.97.36.212/board/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000523.html

Brother I think you just covered everything in the beautify essay above. I think as long as our Eastern minority brothers and sisters continue to look at Igbos as their enemy their real enemy will continue to walk away with our family jewellry unchallenged. The Igbos could careless about the Oil in the Minority areas of Eastern region. There is enough oil in the Igbo areas for us not to worry about the oil in the minority areas. However for both of us the Igbos and Minorities to reach our God given potentials we have to see each other as brothers and sisters.

while appreciating their views, yet none of those are a justification for blind hatred of the Igbos. Granted that they suffered unjust attacks, killings and maimings from the Biafran soldiers during the war and the denial of premiership votes/position by the Igbo Reps (orchestrated by Zik), those actions were evil. (I believe Chief Ojukwu, et al rendered a public apology for those actions). But did they not suffer the same atrocities from the nigerian army that consisted of Hausa/Fulani, the middle belt, Yorubas, and their own minority tribal people? By voting and aligning with the above groups, (who never liked and will never like them) the implication is that they've sold themselves to perpetual slavery and defilement.

Some things are clear. the Igbos never exploited the minorities for their resources or land. They are not expansionists and had lived peacefully side by side with their neighbors until the British (discovered) everyone. They are fiercely competitive, optimistic and notice worthy, among other things, wherever they are. These has been known to earn them unjustified hatred. So in all, the Igbos can only be what they naturally are, Igbos.

The minorities decided that the Igbos has earned their eternal hatred and sabotage and aligned with the Hausa/Fulani, et al, who promised rosier future/life than they'd ever have had with the Igbos. Now, its left to all to ponder and wonder if they got what they bargained for. Sure the Igbos have been painstakingly and systematically decimated and maligned, but that was/is the mission of the Nigerian government. If the minorities are still suffering the same fate as the Igbos, after all the overtures they gave and the promises they were given, then its time they look deep within themselves to re-examine where the rain started beating them so that they can ascertain where it could have stopped beating them.

The atrocities the Igbos have been visited with in Nigeria are unprecedented and unparalled any where in that country. No tribe had gone thru the pogrom we have been subjected to. Our pregnant mothers were disemboweled while alive and our children were thrown into wells and buried alife. Need I talk of our men? We were dis-possessed of all that we owned including our daughters who were carried off as booties by the Nigerian army whom most of you supported. Did that make the Igbos rabidly hateful of hausa/fulani, et al...even as they still unabatedly hate us? Are we not in that region including every region in Nigeria doing the things we do best, inspite of all?

orems
Senior Member
Posts: 839
From:
Registered: Sep 1999
posted March 25, 2001 08:35 AM

Good points by Laolu,Nwa Aro and Big Steve.What people should know is that of course Obasanjo knows why the war was fought but what he is doing is divide and rule and people can see through it.About the governor of Bayelsa state he too knows the truth but like Nigerian politicians he did not talk because believe it or not he may think that he may thrive in the confusion or might actually agree with the President.To fully understand about the politics of Rivers i reccomend the 12 day revolution by Isaac Adaka Boro.You will understand the reasons why he fought against Biafra even though it was the Federal Government that jailed him together with Nottingham Dick and one other chap.To fully understand what is going on you have to look at age old hostilities,subterfuge and smokescreens also making intellectually lazy people confused.If you go through all our libraries private individuals have more on the civil war than them so when a false thing gets circulated overtime it causes confusion.What well meaning people can do is to provide books on these events for people to read for themselves.

Topic: Biafra War Was Fought Over Resource Control; Niger-Delta Oil is Nigeria's: OO
C. Ikpatt
Senior Member
Posts: 320
From:Philadelphia, PA, USA
Registered: Jan 2000
posted March 27, 2001 12:51 PM

For those on either side of line, take a very close look at what OREMS posted March 25, 2001 08:35 AM:
>>To fully understand about the politics of Rivers i reccomend the 12 day revolution by Isaac Adaka Boro.You will understand the reasons why he fought against Biafra even though it was the Federal Government that jailed him together with Nottingham Dick and one other chap.To fully understand what is going on you have to look at age old hostilities,subterfuge and smokescreens also making intellectually lazy people confused.<<

Biafra is a vanquished Republic. That neither make reasons for 'Biafra' wrong nor does it minimize the fact that 'Nigeria' won the war and was made even more sensitive by that war. Why not let sleeping dogs lie and concentrate on tasks of nation building ahead?

Niger Delta is not about 'Biafra' or 'Nigeria' post civil war. It is not about OO's position on Biafra. It is about a minority group plundered, raped, denied and cheated. What I am noticing on this Board and with the Nigeria Press over OO's Bayelsa visit is the fact that sections of polity/media are harping on the wrong cord. I am yet to read of one sound editorial on plight of a suffering people who really do not care about 'Biafra' and/or 'Nigeria.'

OJUKWU
Senior Member
Posts: 211
From ENVER,COLORADO, USA
Registered: Aug 1999
posted March 27, 2001 01:40 PM

Well said C. Ikpatt.
IP: Logged

OJUKWU
Senior Member
Posts: 211
From ENVER,COLORADO, USA
Registered: Aug 1999
posted March 27, 2001 01:40 PM

Deleted
[This message has been edited by OJUKWU (edited March 27, 2001).]

Nextlevel
New Member
Posts: 45
From:Mt. Laurel, NJ
Registered: Mar 2001
posted March 27, 2001 01:57 PM

I don't know why this is necessary.
OLATUNDE
The memorization and regurgitation of canned information is not a substitute for knowledge. Real knowledge consists of the ability to sort through a bewildering mass of (sometimes contradictory and opposing) information, theses and opinions as a means of achieving one own's INDEPENDENT opinion. And that is the TRUTH!

Nowhere in this did you assert the OBJECTIVITY of knowlegde. You basically said that real knowledge is the ability to form independent opinions. What doesn one do with this real knowledge if not make decisions? What does one do with this real knowledge if not from public policy?

The truth is, according to you, using real knowledge to form opinions.

Unless you redefine what you meant by that quote, no matter whatever you say to the contrary, you have basically asserted knowlegde to be the equivalent of opinion formation. From that, I can infer that you mean that policies should be based on opinions, since you consider the formation of opinions the test of real knowledge.

Just say what you think. Your legal reasoning is beginning to wear me out.

Your substitution is correct. Obasanjo did make a similar statement too. I was wrong in that regard and I apologize.

quote:

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Chuba
New Member
Posts: 121
From:London
Registered: May 2000
posted March 27, 2001 04:29 PM
I can understand, amidst the rhetorical battle over the cause(s) of the civil war, the attempt to draw attention to the minorities, who have seemingly been forgotten in the fray. It is mistaken, however, to suggest that their fortunes have nothing to do with Nigeria or Biafra, and that therefore the current debate is irrelevant to the people of the Niger Delta.
The fate of the Niger Delta has everything to do with Nigeria, and with the Igbos—the dominant group in the east, the immediate neighbourhood of the Niger Delta. Indeed the most important strategic dilemma that has always faced the peoples of the Niger Delta has always been the nature of its relationship with its much larger Igbo neighbour.

It is this relationship, not oil, that any student of Niger Delta history and politics will have to understand. The nature of the relationship is of the classic small-large state type: Russia/Poland, USA/Mexico, Germany/the Low Countries. In these relationships, the smaller society fears its cultural, political, and economic domination by the larger state. In turn, the larger state fears that its enemies will use the smaller one as a Trojan horse to destroy it. Often, there is also the larger states’ exasperation and irritation at the smaller states’ refusal to come within its sphere of influence.

The smaller states in these relationships have always sought to defend themselves against the real or imaginary threat of their larger neighbours by forming alliances with other big and powerful groups. So, in the past, the Poles formed an alliance with the UK to protect them against the Russians, the Mexicans with the Germans against the US, and the Low Countries with the British against the Germans.

This is the nature of these relationships all through history, and all over the world. It is also the nature of the Igbo/minorities relationship. Grasping this fact helps to clarify the eastern minorities often intriguing pattern of political behaviour.

For instance, northern dominated political parties have often received their largest votes outside the north from the eastern minorities states. This is despite minority resentment of what they see as the exploitation of their oil wealth by northern dominated federal governments. Why then vote for northern parties?

The answer, of course, is their fear of domination by their Igbo neighbours. This fear outweighs their resentment of the way their oil wealth has been plundered. In the manner of small states throughout history, the minorities have always gone for the protective cocoon of an alliance with the north. This fear, and not oil, is the major factor that explains the politics of the eastern minorities. Indeed, the character of Niger Delta oil politics is to a large extent a consequence of the nature of Igbo-eastern minority relationship. Had the relationship been more amicable, the history of Nigerian, and particularly Niger Delta, oil, would have been different.

Igbos, on their part, have never understood or appreciated the eastern minorities deep-seated fear of Igbo domination. This lack of understanding has often led to behaviour that, in the eyes of the minorities, seems to justify those fears.

The historical, and continuing, inability of the Igbo elite to understand and assuage eastern minority fears must rank as their biggest political blunder since the creation of modern Nigeria. It is the source of their politically most debilitating weakness. For, contrary to what most pundits say, the Igbos biggest political handicap is not the absence of unity. The Igbos are as united as any other large Nigerian group. Their major problem, rather, is that they are alone.

They have never been able to enlist the support of other groups for their political goals, especially other groups in their region. The effect, therefore, is that unlike all the other major groups, they, alone, have been unable to hold their region.

The current “marginalisation” campaign, and the related campaign for an Igbo presidency, suffers for this strategic weakness. Now, as in the past, the Igbo political class has no strategy for achieving its goals, a strategy that would necessarily have the state of Igbo/minorities relationship at its centre. The result, as ever, may well be failure, as the minorities, as usual, look everywhere but towards the Igbos for political partnership.

The minorities, on the other hand, have also suffered severe consequences due to the eastern minorities-Igbo schism. The severe exploitation of the wealth of the Niger Delta is one such consequence. Unprotected by the sphere of influence of the nearest large group, the Niger delta has been like a political orphan, despoiled, raped, and abandoned by groups whose interest in its affairs is, partly due to geography, fleeting, superficial, and mercenary.

The fate of the Niger Delta, then, is inextricably intertwined with that of Nigeria, especially the Igbos. For the Niger Delta, the state of their relationship with their Igbo, or Biafran, neighbours will continue to determine the configuration of its political choices. These choices, in turn, will determine the fate of the Niger Delta.

For the Igbos, the same is the case. Without the eastern minorities behind them, their chances of success in the larger Nigerian political contest is severely curtailed; and the prospects of forming their own independent state, if it ever comes to that, is much greatly complicated.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, then, the fate of the Niger Delta has everything to do with Nigeria, and with the Igbos, and with Biafra if it ever comes to that.

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Ndigbo
Senior Member
Posts: 226
From:Ndigboville, Massachusetts
Registered: Mar 2000
posted March 27, 20001

Chuba,
Could you please email me at Ndigbo@hotmail.com
Thanks.

OJUKWU
Senior Member
Posts: 211
From ENVER,COLORADO, USA
Registered: Aug 1999
posted March 27, 2001 04:58 PM

I personally believe that the battle for resource control for Niger Delta area will not be easy regardless of it envronmental and economic implications for the Niger Delta and Nigeria respectively. Why, if the federal government hands over this money maker, then, what will prevent these states from breaking away from Nigeria. I know that Obasanjo and his narrow minded perspective on one Nigeria will not like to see that happen.
So that brings us back to the cause of Biafra/Nigeria war.

[This message has been edited by OJUKWU (edited March 27, 2001)

COLO
Senior Member
Posts: 1201
From:Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A
Registered: Jun 2000
posted March 27, 2001 05:07 PM
Folks,
I am glad the Board is back on. Let us continue this dialogue on PART 2. Thanks.
Brother Boardmaster,
Could you, please close this PART 1? Thanks.

ALL,
This is a continuation of the previous thread. For the benefit of reference, I'd paste the starting post, again. Thanks.
ALL,
It is sad day when a Leader, who is supposedly a devout christian, possessed of both tactful and some (?)caring principles "for all", keeps inflaming the passions of a certain section of his electorate, whom he is also their leader. It is even more bothersome when the toes, that this leader is stepping on, gave him the mandate he now enjoys. One wonders, if such recurrent and irresponsible utterances, may not provoke some to see, "NEVER AGAIN!", as words to live by, in the near future.
The plight of the Niger-Delta and the Civil War seem as a "Chronic Ulcer", to me. If left untreated, continuously irritated and provoked, may, one day (God forbid!), become intractible, bleed uncontrollably, perforate and perhaps, leave a "messy and an emergency operation" as the ONLY cure, with a morbidity and prognosis, short of desirous.

Someone needs to advice our Politicians, particularly our OO, that there should be some respect for those who fought and died in the Biafran War, Igbos and other Respectable Nigerians, alike. These were Noble Men and Women! Their Souls should be allowed to rest with God. Otherwise, their "Bones" may "Rise Again"! God Forbid such a Nightmare!

Maybe, OO doesn't know this. But the Devil one knows, is far Better than the Saint that is, yet, to come. A man who defecates on the street often forgets, but the un-guarded passers-by, who step unto it, never do. The past experiences of the Civil War should be BEST kept where they belong, IN THE PAST, in respectable museums and archives - for our deceased Warriors, for our Generation (and others that follow), and for a Respectful, Trusting and Brotherly Nigeria! It should be marked, "NO CHEAP POLITICS ALLOWED!" http://www.thisdayonline.com/news/20010317news08.html

IP: Logged

COLO
Senior Member
Posts: 1201
From:Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A
Registered: Jun 2000
posted March 27, 2001 06:16 PM
Brother Ikpatt,
Thank you for an excellent write-up, brother! By the way, did you ever receive my email?
Brother Chuba,
I may not agree with you on some of your many persuasive and very insightful writings, but on this last commentry, I AM a Fan! If you ever care to run for ANY Political Office (including the exalted Office of the Presidency) in Nigeria, or (God Forbid!) anywhere, not only will you have me campaigning for you; mine will be your FIRST VOTE!

Your summary of the relationship(s) (or lack thereof) between the Igbos and the Minorities in Niger-Delta (as well as your suggested remedies) have convinced me how cerebral (and well-informed) you are with the History of the Old Eastern Region. How I wished many of my Igbo siblings could clearly comprehend such analyses, as you.

From this Minority's perspective, it is this ignorance (which you have eloquently elucidated), punctuated with some of our siblings' radical rhetoric, that have preserved a very unfair nation, called Nigeria, till today. Some of us (Minorities) believe, that the struggles of Chief E.O. Eyo, Isaac Daka Boro, Ken Sero Wiwa, et. al., may not have been unconnected with some of our Igbo Elders' complete lack of understanding, or nonchalant attitude(s), clearly opined by you on your last posting. More importantly, it is believed by most Minorities, who call Niger-Delta, home (and maybe others) that Biafra would have been, un-questionably, victorious during the Civil War, if her Igbo siblings understood the concerns and plights of theirs, long before the war.

And, until they do; hopefully through useful dialogues between them, et al., I am afraid, we'd, forever, remain where we've ever been (in this rushed 1914 Lugard amalgamtion called Nigeria), a used and abused Group of folks - unlikely and incapable of self-determination, greedy, selfish, spiteful and generally atomistic - waiting for ANY opportunist (including Khaki Boys, Foreign Oil Companies, Britain, U.S., Northern Oligarchy, "OO and Bola Ige look-alikes", et al.) to triangulate and strangulate us, at will, and continue to make away with our wealth (with few crumbs left at our so-called Leaders' feet); while we starve, perpetually, inspite of our fertile lands and brains.

I'd say to our Leaders, old and new, my siblings, far and wide; WAKE UP! WAKE UP! Wake up! wake up! wake up! At this moment, their slumber and our waiting (in pain) continues!

[This message has been edited by COLO (edited March 27, 2001).]

quote:

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Brother Seun,
It is great to read from you, again. Longest time! Welcome back, Brother. As to your concerns, I believe both brothers "Big Steve" and "Orems" have answered a bulk of them; particularly those pertaining to the abandoned property issues. Here are a little more painful facts:
- Most of the seized and still retained Igbo and Minority (Yes, my family's included)properties were in Rivers State. Most other States, including my old Cross River, returned all the Igbo properties subsequently. If any remnant of such abuses are on record in my proud State, they're anecdotal, at best; should be vigorously prosecuted and pursued, and the WRONGS righted for GOOD!

- Some Rivers State Igbos were co_conspirators to most of the Abandon Property seizures in Rivers State. Out of respect for a departed life, and my wonderful Igbo siblings, I would omit the name of the man, who stood between our two homes and our pain, in Port Harcourt. I still remember his name, eventhough I was a child.

- Wrong is wrong. Two wrongs do not make a right, and there is no international standard for quantification of "wrongs"! One man's "nothing" could, very well, be another's "last straw". Having said that, written and oral historical submissions, have confirmed, unequivocally, that there were both illegality and abuse of Eastern Nigeria Development Funds by Zik, then Premier of Eastern Nigeria. This was a Portfolio, reserved for the Chief Whip and/or Clerk of EVERY House of Assembly in Nigeria. This decision by Zik was an unprecedented act, and a a big slap on the face of his Minority Colleagues.

- I know it so well, not only because of any written historical reports, but because the late Chief Whip and Speaker of Eastern House of Assembly, Chief E.O. Eyo, was not only from my Village, but my Uncle! He was the one who moved for the impeachment of Zik, a very popular sentiment, only to be betrayed by his over-whelming Igbo Assemblymen, twenty-four hours later, when they were about to vote.

That prompted Chief Eyo's immediate resignation from then "NCNC" and the sudden embrace of Awo's "Action Group", due to the later's promise of "COR" (Calabar, Ogoja, River) State, if successful in his bid. This is where "ALL HELL BROKE!" with our Igbo Siblings, if you believe the late Obong Ikpaisong Ibibio Ye Annang (Leader of The Ibibios and Annangs), Chief Effiong O. Eyo. Despite the attempted "divide to conquer" tactics with one of our late brothers, Chief (Dr) Mike Akpabio of Ikot Ekpene, and the false sense of commitment (to him) by the Igbos, through a bogus proposal to create Annang State out of "Annang Province", the Minorities were committed to move on. Why? Because most knew that to be a ploy. For starters, they knew the proposed "Annang State" would be a ploy, considering the fact that Annang People (4th Predominant Group at the time, with Efiks, Ibibios, Atam, ways ahead in population) only had Abak and Ikot Ekpene Provinces, at least at that time - a lesson probably missed, both by the Igbos and Dr. Akpabio. It is because of this political triangulation, that the persistent rift between Ibibios and Annangs exists till today. Check your history, my brother!

Notwithstanding, the sweet ploy, most Minorities resigned (en-mass) from NCNC, to join "Action Group", with their Leader, Chief Eyo. Few stubborn exceptions, like my Daddy, stayed on, "to see". Disatisfied with the numbers who left with Chief Eyo, a call from ALL Igbo leaders (at that time), was for Chief Eyo (and his supporters) to be severely punished.

- The first Village to be destroyed (during the war) by Biafran Soldiers, around our State, was mine. Over 200 able-bodied men were lined up and murdered in the raid by OUR Biafran Brothers. Most of the remaining few (who were Pro-Biafrans, like Daddy and our Igbo friends) barely escaped with their lives, when the Nigerian Army, finally, arrived. Many other Minority Villages, suffered like we did - FROM TWO FRONTS! It became a NO WIN situation for us. In truth, we became referred as Biafran or Nigerian Saboteurs, with most end-result being some form of bullets to most of our skulls, particularly the men. Do you think I shall ever forget that? NOT in my lifetime, and NEVER AGAIN, if I should have air in my lungs!

Admittedly, this was NOT ANYTHING close to the Pogrom my Igbo brothers suffered. But, I become very sensitive when ANYONE wants to sweep these issues under the rug, because of "lack of insufficient evidence". From who's eye are you looking at these "lack"? Yours? I hope not! For as the song goes, "He who feels it knows it!" We were there, and we know it too too well. NEVER WILL IT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!

- Our only plea ought to be to forgive and sheath our swords, build understanding and the lacking trust, then move on to a better Nigeria, or at least, regain the lost glories of the Former Eastern Region. Political Opportunists, the likes of OO should be told where to go, should they ever dare to inflame our passions, again, for their gains.

- Awo's Omo Oduduwa and its subsequent betrayal of Zik in the Western Premiership, followed by the 20 pound atrocity, et al., are facts and can never be forgotten in the political history of Nigeria. Why should it be convenient to, comfortably, state that similar abuse(s) and/or betrayal(s) of Minorities (Prof. Eyo Ita, for instance) ought to be drowned out as "insignificant"? Wrong is wrong; there are NO exemptions. To become one, we must, first, reconcile facts, not semantics.

By the way, I often wondered, if most of my Igbo brothers know that there are little or no physical differential characteristics between their Minority Siblings and them - a common reason the former gets caught in the crossfire whenever there are killings of the Igbos, as clearly witnessed during the "Shar'ia". It is my belief that, until we remove these planks from our eyes, we'd be waiting in vain for that promised land.

Brother Emmanuel Onuegba,
Wonderful analysis.

Brother Orems,
You, masterfully, wrote:

quote:
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I have also had twisted logic from some normally sane people that the reason the property was seized was that they were built from loans from ACB when ZIK was premier given preferentially to Igbo's.Property is a very difficult issue just like land and if people feel unfairly treated it lingers on and on.
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I AM one of those "normally sane people", you wrote about. As a matter of fact, somewhere on the Old Board, I authored such a quotation, as being ascribed to the late Ken Saro Wiwa. Sane or not sane, that he did say, and I reported it, accurately. I have no apologies for stating factual reports, wrong or right. But, I do agree with you that;

quote:
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Property is a very difficult issue just like land and if people feel unfairly treated it lingers on and on.
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Another wonderful addition, you omitted, are lost lives! Have a Good Day!

[This message has been edited by COLO (edited March 28, 2001).

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Thank you, my Sister, for your time.

Thank you very much for your candid and open minded approach to our problems. Everybody who have had the opportunity to read your post knows that you write from the heart and your heart doesn't have any atom of hate in it. My sibbling you are a very genuine human being, I am very proud to have come in contact with you.

Now I can not say the same unfortunately to that arrogant and ethnic demagugue your brother clement Ikpatt. I think some body need to remind Mr Ikpatt Alias Obusonju never do wrong that Ndelta is not inhabited by Ibibios and Effik alone. Mr Ikpatt stated that Niger Delta doesn't need any body hausa,Igbo or Yoruba to achieve their Goals. Which Nsisikan rightfully responded to him,if so what are they waiting for. Because Mr Ikpatt have not been able to think outside the box of his village, for that reason Mr Ikpatt is not aware that Igbos make up to 45% of Niger delta or South south political Zone.

Lets analysis Mr Ikpatt mayopic view of what in his narrow mind he sees as NDelta. Delta State is more than 50% Igbo speaking, River State is more than 55% Igbo speaking, Bayelsa State is about 30% Igbo speaking, Akwa Ibom where Mr Ikpatt came from is at least 20% Igbo speaking, ogoja part of Cross River have Igbo speaking minority. Even small part of Edo state bordering Delta state have Igbo speaking. So my question to racist Clement Ikpatt is this what will you do about those Igbo speaking areas of NDelta, deny them inter action with theirs kits and kins in the Southeast?.

I think Mr Ikpatt examplifies that statement which says that " If you think education is expensive try ignorance. Mr Ikpatt have continue to show his ignorance on Nigeriaworld message board. When most of us were members of that board we use to shot Mr Ikpatt up for his ignorance, However since most of us left that board Mr Ikpatt is running wild with his ignorance unchecked.

When we proved that the reason Mr Ikpatt was always defending Obasanjo was because Obusonju appointed his Uncle the secretary to the Federal Government. Mr Ikpatt couldn't disprove that, what did he do he went into hiding and ask the Board master to do his dirty work for him. Now Mr Ikpatt sees that most who will challenge him have left Nigeria Message Board he is roaming wild over there.

most who have commented on this issue about resources control and the Biafra war have been very objective in their assessment. Mr Chuba wrote an excellent article about the issue of Igbos and the Minorities in the old Eastern Region. What did Mr Ikpatt did, because he didn't have anything to contribute he showed his ignorant by opening his mouse and keyboard.

Don't expect the Igbos to be mute when it becomes an open season for Igbo bashing. I'm sure you'll agree that for every action, there's a reaction.

We all have or know someone with a heart-wrenching personal stories to tell about injustices meted out to us/them by one of our immediate neigboring tribes or the other. In Azumini, Igbo families were pointed out to Nigerian troops by their non Igbo neighbors and they were all wiped out without a trace.

I attended school in Ikot Ekpene. I probably would have married an Efik guy, but the fear of my family's expected violent opposition killed that possibility. He was one of the nicest (then) Cross Riverian I ever met.

COLO:

That is wrong. When it comes to killing people or taking their property, you need more than that. I am a proud South-Southerner. My family proudly fought for Biafra. We paid our dues, but we lost the war. I believe that anyone from the South-South who has a gripe against the Igbos should make sure that the gripe is legitimate. If your gripe is so insignificant that a reasonable person could see it as "nothing," you should make sure that you do not rely on such small matter to create an enimity with your neighbors.

I read where Chuba said that there were wars between Igbos and the minorities in the past. But Chuba is incorrect. Wars are historical matters. It is funny that Chuba would fail to point to any historical basis for stating that falsehood. The fact of the matter is that Igbos and the Minorities lived in peace until external influences came in. To suggest that there were wars and fail to point to any historical documents is almost fraudulent. I am a proud Ibibio. I am also exceedingly proud of my Kwa-Igbo heritage.

Please Brother don't start problem where there is none. if you read all my post you will see that I was not attacking Enobong who happens to be my good friend. However if you sneak over to Nigeriaworld Message Board and read what Mr Clement Ikpatt wrote you will find the answer to why I stated that Colo is very genuine in his writing. He and have disagreed in many occasion, But he never took it personal when we disagree. Colo is for one Nigeria I am a hard core Biafra, But we do have mutual respect for each other.

Well Nedy you don't have to agree with me, like I said I never agree with Colo whether here or in the past. However I do respect him a great deal. reason been that he genuinely advocate for his position unlike others whom I have had battles with in the past. Enobong and I have agreed probably 99% of the time, and Colo and I have disagreed 99% of the time. So when I said to Enobong that Colo doesn't have a genuine heart I meant it. There are certain people both here and the other Board who disagree with everything based on their hatred of Igbos. Colo is not one of them.

Yes you and I don't have to agree like you said I am pro Biafra you are pro Nigeria. However if you promote your Nigeria causes without promoting hatred of Biafra and Igbos I will respect you as well no matter how much you and I disagree. Which is the way I view Colo, He disagree with most of us Pro Biafrans, However I don't think he hates people who advocates Biafra like me. I will continue to be pro biafra until my people a liberated from the jaw of Nigeria. Who have engaged in ethnic cleansing of Igbo Nation for so many years.

Brother Umoren,
Longest time! How are you my brother? You disappeared with "Ntisong", and was never heard of. How is "PAN-AF" Club? I miss that place so much. It's been very hectic out here. Where is my wonderful Igbo brother? Please, give him my email address. I miss, so much, the camaraderie over the "booze"! (laughs) My email remains the same. Okay?

On your political views, how can I ever forget? Your family and mine fought and defended Biafra. We had to. They were (and still are) our friends, and brothers. There was NO alternative thought(s).

I am proud that Daddy abandoned neither his friends nor his principles. "Any wrong is forgiveable, says the Lord"; he used to thunder away with some palm wine! If we didn't hide our Igbo friends, how could I be able to see my childhood brothers and sisters, (who were Igbo) today? For instance, my play Buddy, "Chief" Ngozi is a Surgeon, now in England. Hundreds of others are scattered all over the Globe. It was because we dared to be different, in a time that it was a "taboo" to be one. Thanks to our early years of brotherhood with many Igbo Siblings, during the family's stint with Nkalagu Cement!

If you consider that my paternal Uncle was with the other Party, "Action Group", we were dubbed, "Biafra-Lovers", and YES! lost MOST of the "Brains" of our family because of it. Our belief in principle and love (NOT Politics) made us to rise again. Thank God for ALL!

We were taught to believe that our Igbo siblings were no different than my Ibibios'. That didn't need much inspiration, anyway. How times have changed! In those times, NO ONE, wanted to be associated with Biafra. Our family and a few others, in Uyo, were the "Odd Ones" out. I remember how we cried our brains out(inside our "Hidden Caves"), when news came that my maternal uncle (and his entire family, except the lone one in England) were slaughtered, like Goats. Chief Nyong Essien pleaded for his life to no avail. His eldest son, a recent Oxford-Law-School Graduate wanted to be killed in his place. He made a grave mistake. My maternal uncle was, reportedly, tied unto a drum (with his eldest son who wanted to go in his place), as well ALL the members of his family (except the lone absentee), and shot repeatedly, to the thunderous applause of "Nigerian Supporters" at the Old Uyo Football Stadium! Were you there? Did you realize that all, but one of them, was killed? Can you recall such a story in Uyo? Am I exaggerating or telling a fib? What say you?

The lone one, who was in England (studying Law) during that time eventually came home to become a Prof. at ABU, a Secretary to Government, et al., and ironically, got murdered in Kaduna, during the last "Shar'ia Riots", because they thought he "looked like Igbo", with his Hausa Wife, pleading for mercy. Would you care for more war or peace? He who feels it, know it, my brother, trivial or anecdotal.

My plea is the same; let us sheath our swords. Let us bury the hatchet and be one again. You'd be amazed on how wonderful those childhood years were; the language exchange, my first "friend", the plays, et al. We can be one, and do that again, without suspicion or fears. But, quantifying wrong is not only improper, but absurd. ANY wrong is wrong, in of itself. We can build a better ONE NIGERIA. YES! our Generation can do something that failed our fathers. Fathers are NOT ALWAYS right!! Should we fail, Biafra or ANY choice is an option, sounds GAME to me!

In closing, sometimes, it is convenient to stand on the sidelines and criticize. No problem there. That is the beauty of politics. Fortunately, politics and principles are different birds. I support ANY of my siblings, if in my myopic view(s), they're right. I guess, I am as dumb as my old man; an apple doesn't fall too far from the tree! Maybe, I'd be NEXT!

Brother Dikeanatuegwu,
You, caringly, wrote,

quote:

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I think we need to separate the acts of the various minority groups. The Ibibios and others from the Cross River area supported Biafra, at least at the early stages. Their support wavered as Biafra developed problems. Today, many people from the Cross River area will still tell you that they are proud to have fought for Biafra.....

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