quote:From available information, JSP Nwokolo is a PDP big wig who hand-picked many of the Igbo sell-out members of Obasanjo's cabinet during his first term, including the crooked Tim Menakya of the Obasanjo-Umeh-Ojukwu faction of APGA. Nwokolo was also the man who led Obasanjo to the location of Biafran military officers, bribing his way throught the ranks of field commanders, causing many deaths along the way, and ultimately forcing the officers to sign onto criminally lopsided surrender terms. It is disgraceful that while Ojukwu was leader of Biafra, he considered Nwokolo too dangerous and locked him up during much of the war. But, now that others are in charge in Igboland, Ojukwu considers Nwokolo a worthy ally upon whom Igbo interests should be entrusted.
Ogechi,
These points are sound, yet this disgrace appears to be the disgrace of the Igbo nation for not having looked in at APGA all along to determine who and who constituted that party instead of giving it blind allegiance.
The question becomes has Ojukwus allegiance to the Igbo cause changed or has his personal approach to achieving it changed without Igbos taking sufficient note?
Does the intensity of surprise and embarrassment we now feel justify the inclination to act out Obasanjo's script and label Ojukwu a "traitor" and seek to justify that it is his allegiance to the Igbo cause that has changed instead of his uninvestigated personal approach?
Is Ojukwu entitled to his own personal approach in achieving the Igbo cause? and to what degree do Igbos bear responsibility for failing to have confined and relegated that personal approach to his personal life instead of now questioning his overall allegiance to the Igbo cause with so much indignance and self righteousness in a manner that avoids falling wholesale victim to the intended desire to initiate and make permanent the break up of the APGA party which was being seen as an increasingly formiddable organization?
No doubt Ojukwu is now an easy target because Igbos are legitimately pissed that the APGA party was rendered as vulnerable as it proved to be, but I must remind all that the AD party suffered much the same consequences at the hands of Obasanjo and in their case the killing of Bola Ige was added as injury to the insult which Obasanjo had already started orchestrating.
There must be a way out and a way to address how we proceed from here other than seeking to justify why it must be that Ojukwu and Victor Banjo had all along been traitors compelling Igbos to die for them in the name of Biafra. This is too much reaction for just one supposed move by Obasanjo, and I wish we would regain composure and salvage that which is salvageable to enable us move on lest we project our race as fickle.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Chiboy, You summarised the Ojukwu situation very well. A symbol should not automatically wield government power or spend their entire life chasing after such a power. Symbolic personalities like Nelson Mandela who understood this have impacted positively. Others, especially in Nigeria, who don't understand this end up ruling or chasing after government patronage until thier corpses decay. If the truth be told, Igbos have not done particularly well with the same old Ekwueme, Ojukwu etc representing us all the time. Between now and the time they attended the last conference in 1994, Igbos are worse off. What magic do the likes of Ojukwu or Ekwueme bring to the table? Honestly, I don't see any. If there is, why is it they are easily out manoeuvred eg Ekwueme outrigged/cheated in the PDP presidential race?
Posts: 621 | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
Your posts on this matter have been very fair I think, and extremely effective. But even when the old horse is sent out to pasture, is there harm in washing its coat and cleansing its sores, and perhaps pouring in a little healing ointment? especially if one or two of its wounds were given on under doubtful desert. Nevertheless, I concur with you here.
quote:On the other hand we can adopt the "see no evil hear no evil" approach, and comb through the fine lines of every publication relating to this issue to see how Ikemba can be excused from blame. I don't even believe his communication with Obasanjo if proven will automatically amount to betrayal as he may have had his strategy, but the outcome has been to say the least uncomplimentary to both himself and his constituency therefore like a good general it's time to accept responsibility and go. We must not be like the proverbial fly that followed the corpse into the grave, the task of liberating Ndigbo does not begin and end with Odumegwu Ojukwu. He has done his part no doubt for which we must appreciative.
At this point I think the debate concerning Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, should end, and I wish this thread would be closed.
posted
Ogechi, Cool down.You are now crossing the thin line between fact and fiction. The report says that JSP Nwokolo was present during Ikemba`s speech.He was not brought there by Ikemba.I wonder what you expected Ikemba to have done.Walk him out before his speech?
If Chekwas can authoritatively say that Obasanjo was behind the APGA crisis and two weeks later change his tone because he was appointed to the Confab by the same OBJ,then his credibility must reasonably come into question.Chekwas is surely a good man.But,right now,he is saying everything possible to woo Obj.He is innately scared of who would remain the party chairman.That is why he desperately needs Obj.The truth however is that his avalanche of press statements would ultimately do more harm than good.
Finally,i would appreciate if you refrain from unsubstanciated use of the word "crook" to tarnish the good image of Dr Tim Menakaya.He might have his reasons for backing the Umeh group in APGA.If there is any dedicated Igboman,that i respect he is one.I cannot enumerate my reasons here.But be rest assured that if Dr Menakaya had played against Igbo interest like Ojo maduekwe during his stay at the Federal ministry of health,he would have remained Obj`s bossom friend today.
It is interesting to note that the same characters that played prominent roles at the end of the war are still in the limelight. One could almost say that the war really never ended, only the level of hostilities decreased. Politics, like war, can make for strange bedfellows. .
Greg,thank you. You precisely made the point.We are and have still been at war in Nigeria.Only the weapons have changed.Nothing more,nothing less.Strange bedfellows may sometimes be made in pursuit of the same interest.
It is interesting to note that the same characters that played prominent roles at the end of the war are still in the limelight. One could almost say that the war really never ended, only the level of hostilities decreased. Politics, like war, can make for strange bedfellows. .
Greg,thank you. You precisely made the point.We are and have still been at war in Nigeria.Only the weapons have changed.Nothing more,nothing less.Strange bedfellows may sometimes be made in pursuit of the same interest.
You seem to be talking about another issue, which I did not address in my posts. I was addressing Ojukwu's statement that JSP Nwokolo should have been appointed to represent Igbo people at the confab. But, now that you mention it, I would like to express my outrage that such a rentier audience was Ojukwu's choice forum for attacking his party chairman. The presence of the likes of JSP Nwokolo should have raised an alarm that Ojukwu has lost his way.
quote:Originally posted by njiko umuigbo: Ogechi, Cool down.You are now crossing the thin line between fact and fiction. The report says that JSP Nwokolo was present during Ikemba`s speech.He was not brought there by Ikemba.I wonder what you expected Ikemba to have done.Walk him out before his speech?
It is interesting to note that the same characters that played prominent roles at the end of the war are still in the limelight. One could almost say that the war really never ended, only the level of hostilities decreased. Politics, like war, can make for strange bedfellows. .
Greg,thank you. You precisely made the point.We are and have still been at war in Nigeria.Only the weapons have changed.Nothing more,nothing less.Strange bedfellows may sometimes be made in pursuit of the same interest.
quote:.....I ask this with regards to you query as to when Nwokolo entered APGA ,and my belief that the answer may not absolve Ikemba in the sense you may be seeking.
.....On the other hand we can adopt the "see no evil hear no evil" approach, and comb through the fine lines of every publication relating to this issue to see how Ikemba can be excused from blame. -------Chiboy
Chiboy,
My brother ever since it started becoming apparent that Ojukwu's handling of this entire matter was woefully wrong, I have carefully avoided starting my comments with the line .."Though I know Ojukwu was wrong.. but"...
I highlghted the quotes above to address the fact that I'm not seeking absolution for Ojukwu. the manner in which you couched your posting presented the whole affair in the way that serious discourse should do ie to file this particular set of incidents up there in the continuum, and to derive our lessons from it in a manner which demonstrates we have not lost perspective.
The danger that I have seen quite often has been the desire to delve into the day by day petty details of the matter to justify specific conclusions (not even speculations) and to spread those contrived conclusions as fact in a seeming witch hunt where the witch has already been identified and condemmned.
To answer your question regarding Ojukwu and Okorie I would most certainly say Ojukwu, yet since our posts crossed I believe that part of the explanation for that answer has already been given in the post preceeding this one, suffice is to say that in every thread in which I have discussed this matter I have striven to remind Igbos that there is the bigger picture from which our eyes cannot depart.
Ojukwu is one man, he may have his faults, but I would'nt want posterity to believe that I now see those faults only because Obasanjo exposed them to me, and that I am now being puppet controlled by Obasanjo's machination to act out the scripted outcome desired by Obasanjo.
This is what the current witch hunt for Ojukwu achieves, rather than to give Igbos pause to really reflect upon where we have failed as a whole, and where we should now be going.
I believe, and had stated in another thread following the perceptive observations of CSE that it has long been time for Ojukwu's role to stay confined to a muted ceremonial/consultative one, so that a set of young turks can emmerge to fulfill the demands of the Igbo nation more relevantly to the needs of our times, in fact going further than that I believe that a republican minded group of people such as the Igbo deserve more than individual leaders and should start implementing an accountable structure and system complete with checks and balances upon which we rely, so that no individual is ever entrusted again with the survival of our race no matter if he had done it once because we found ourselves unprepared in the face of genocide.
This way we begin to accept accountability and stop the tendency of shamefully seeking out scapegoats among ourselves everytime our enemies strike at us.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ogechi Odili: But, now that others are in charge in Igboland, Ojukwu considers Nwokolo a WORTHY ALLY .....
Tufiakwa! [/QUOTE Ogechi, My point is that you have not provided where you got your erroneous impression that Ojukwu considers Nwokolo a worthy ally.Especially as regards to Chekwas and APGA crisis.What i read from the posting you provided is that Ojukwu considers Nwokolo should have been invited too to the confab owing to his "closeness" to Obj "the Big Boss".i donot know in what sense Ojukwu made those remarks but,i truely cannot figure how that remark directly informs your prompt implicit conclusions that JSP Nwokolo is Ojukwu`s "worthy ally". Thus,the reason why i maintain that you crossed that line of the known facts by appending your own seemingly desired conclusions to an apparently open statement.
quote:Are there other Nigerians who you think should have been nominated?
In his response, Ojukwu named three Igbo persons, including JSP Nwokolo. Nwokolo is not the only Igbo person who is friends with Obasanjo, Ojukwu's "boss." Therefore, Nwokolo's name did not pop out of Ojukwu's mouth merely to express that Obasanjo and Nwokolo are friends, or that Nwokolo should have been chosen on that basis alone.
Chris Ubah is arguably closer to Obasanjo than JSP Nwokolo, and Uba's anti-Igbo atrocities are not worse than Nwokolo's. But, Ojukwu did not mention Uba.
I concluded, as it is my right to do, that Ojukwu was expressing his own opinion about the worth of Nwokolo as a representative of Nd'Igbo. I also do think that we are being asked to dismiss too many of Ojukwu's misconducts as mere coincidence. The string of debacles by this one man is getting way too long to be so dismissed.
Posts: 155 | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Ogechi, I donot deny that your conclusions might not be right afterall.Infact,i concur that Ikemba got it all wrong with the handling of the APGA and the CONFAB thing.He sure would be licking his wounds for his miscalculations now.
However,i donot subscribed to your assertion that he has a "string of debacles".The man fortunately or unfortunately found himself as the military governor of the eastern region during the 1966 and`67 massacres.He did what i believe was right under that unfortunate circumstance.He failed and was defeated.A lot of people have not forgiven him for that failure and there is a continously a veiled attempt to refer to that unsuccessful painful struggle whenever and wherever Ikemba`s weaknesses as a mere human is discussed.He probably made a huge mistake in the handling of the APGA crisis but,that never diminishes his undisguised desire for the good of his people.Ikemba is only human like you and me.Thus he is bound to make errors of judgement sometimes. Which i think is a little bit too unfair to be sewn together as a 'string of debacles'.
quote:The man fortunately or unfortunately found himself as the military governor of the eastern region during the 1966 and`67 massacres.He did what i believe was right under that unfortunate circumstance.He failed and was defeated.
Njiko,
Please get your facts right. The decision to secede was a collective one made by the peoples of the then Eastern Biafranigeria. It was natural that people would accept that he lead the effort at self determination since he was first and foremost a military man and then the governor of what would be Biafra.
The criticism which people level at him is not that we lost but because of the manner we lost. We lost several opportunities simply because the man believed in his hype as the all knowing.
Posts: 585 | From: London. | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
The criticism which people level at him is not that we lost but because of the manner we lost. We lost several opportunities simply because the man believed in his hype as the all knowing. [/QB]
Bros, Sorry o! Can you be a little bit more explicit on the above statement?Please enlighten me on how Biafra would have EVER prevailed militarily against the prevailing world opinion and circumstances of that era.Infact,i even blame Ojukwu for holding out for too long(30 months) on the hopeless military imbalance Biafra faced.Thank you.
The string of debacles to which I refer is the one that has trailed Ojukwu since his return from the Ivory Coast. I do not fault him for what he did in Biafra. I fully appreciate that he may not have had much time to reflect on some of his actions in Biafra. Besides, the decision to declare Biafra was not Ojukwu's alone; it was the will of the region that he governed.
But, thirteen years in exile is plenty of time for reflection and should have engendered soberiety and maturity. With his experience, at 71, Ojukwu should be a sage, not a gullible lackey so easily outwitted by Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani buffoons, dictators in Abuja or Lagos or their obdurately reprobate minions in Awka, Onitsha, and Nnewi.
I don't know if it is deliberate on your part, but I have noticed that each time I write or respond to what you have written, you shift away from the issue in a manner that falsely imputes to me content absent in my post. I am fully capable of tranmitting in my posts any allegations I deem appropriate to level against Ojukwu or anyone. So, there is no need to fish around for things not contained in my posts.
Posts: 155 | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
I don't know if it is deliberate on your part, but I have noticed that each time I write or respond to what you have written, you shift away from the issue in a manner that falsely imputes to me content absent in my post. I am fully capable of tranmitting in my posts any allegations I deem appropriate to level against Ojukwu or anyone. So, there is no need to fish around for things not contained in my posts.
Sis, I must say thank you for your time in this thread.I truely donot fish around your posts.I just quote some ambiguities so that i understand better what you mean.You would not believe how much i learn from your every post.
There you go again. How did you conclude that Ogechi had to be a Sis and not a Bro? MeBiafran and I had that conversation before. Posts: 155 | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
I am afraid that Obasanjo's original aim may have been accomplished here. We are here discussing this same issue over and over again. Many of us ardent Ojukwu suppoters have accepted that the man made a mistake and failed woefully in the way he has acted in the last two months.
However with recent event, I have started to have a soul seaching trying to retrace our footsteps, trying to acertain "ebe nmiri siri banye na opi ugbogoru". I am disappointed with Ojukwu for a different reasons, I could care less about Chief Okorie or any of his cronies. My biggest disappointment here, is that Obasanjo many have thrown Igbo issues into disarray with his dubious way. why do I say this? one may ask, Now ever since Obasanjo announced his Jamboree of February 21. Other groups like ACF and Afenifere went into closed door meetings to iron out and harmonized their position, while they still kick against it. What did Ndi-Igbo do, Both Ohanaefu and Igbo national assembly was preoccupied with fighting each other in the press while the North and the west were planning their strategy. This is where my anger lies that Ojukwu may have became Dike noo n ulo ewu amuo na Obu or Dike noo na ulu ete ama nmiri. If Ojukwu and the socalled Igbo leaders have not been preoccupied with trying to position themselves on who will be appointed and who will not be. They would have had time to seat together to marshall out their agenda and positions, so that it wouldn't have mattered who is going there for Ndi=Igbo as long as that person is going their to articulate Igbo Position. Ndi-igbo Sii Uka akpara akpa isi ka eji ekwe ya.
I have read where the younger members of Arewa Consulate Forum forced their will on the older members, about what their position should be in that National diaglogue. Trust me Igbos and may be the South south will be the least prepared in that jamboree. I bet you the Yoruba Governor and the Northern Governor sat down and make their list. If you check the list again you will see that those representing both Yoruba and the North are who is who in their fold. However when it came to Igbos who do we have? the likes of Ike Nwachukwu and Kema Chikwe. Come on guys Onye ulo ya na ere oku adighi achu oke.
Obasanjo have succeeded in making sure that Igbo is in disarray, he threw a bone to these guys, and off they went fighting each other while others were bettering their position. This brings me back to the painful civil war again. When Igbo army officer were in charge of Nigeria armory, they stuck to playing by one Nigeria book Hausa soldier came in and emptied the armory, leaving us to start a war with only 200 rifles.
Ojukwu days are numbered directly or indirectly, this may be the final issue that will remove him from National or ragional stage. Is time for him to resign himself to father figure which is to advise and motivate. Having said that, let me go on by quoting the Gospel here " whom shall we send"? I don't hear antbody stepping forward saying " Here I am Father place send me. Think about this guys out of the 36 States Only Abia State list was tampered with an Igbo state, while we are here still debating Ojukwu and chekwas Okorie, why haven't anybody sort further expalanation why an Igbo list was tampered with. What type of security profile did Obasanjo used in disaqualifying Mr Lambert chosen by Orji Uzor Kalu. Is time we move forward and talk about our future and the future of Ndi-igbo.
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
