Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo New York City, USA rudyokonkwo@yahoo.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
continued from<::::
The military coup of 1966 presented a pretext to carry out a plan that had been laid out years before. It was a plan that aimed at a total extermination of the Igbo or at least their contentment. The pogrom and the brutal war that followed was the final solution to the perceived Igbo problems in Nigeria. When Anthony Enahoro traveled round the globe arguing that starvation was a weapon of war, he was following the script for the total extermination of the Igbo. When Benjamin Adekunle boasted to foreign reporters, "I want to see no Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no Pope, no missionary and no UN delegation. I want to prevent even one Ibo from having even one piece to eat before their capitulation. We shoot at everything that moves and when our troops march into the centre of Ibo territory, we shoot at everything even at things that do not move...," he was following the same script.
Just like the once accommodating Germany became a graveyard of Jews when Hitler came, Nigeria became a graveyard of Igbo when Gowon came. And equally like Germany, Nigeria failed to accomplish the final solution plan. The only difference was that the Jews learnt from that horrible Holocaust experience and formed their own country while the Igbo failed in that struggle for Biafra and returned to embrace Nigeria as if nothing happened. Thomas Sowell, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University and a renowned scholar on Races and World Economies wrote that, "Most of the great mindless slaughters of the 20th century -- whether of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, the kulaks in the Soviet Union, the Jews in Germany, the I[g]bo in Nigeria or the Tamils in Sri Lanka -- have been slaughters of those who dramatically eclipsed the accomplishments of others."
The kulaks were liquidated. The Armenians, the Jews and the Tamils are still struggling and still fighting to keep the memories alive and stop it from ever happening again. The Igbo on their part, forgot what happened and why. But the Nigerians, disappointed in their unfinished job, have not forgotten. Instead, they are busy preparing for the final battle. In ways subtle and covetous, they are laying the ground work for what we all know must come. They are making public and closed door speeches in which they are promising that "how to do this, when to do this, will not be disclosed." The seed of the trouble, as far as the Nigerian side sees it, is in the nature of the Igbo. As long as Igbo will not denounce their Igboness, it will happen again. And this time, it may be a total annihilation, from Port Harcourt to Lagos on to Gusau via Abuja.
Acknowledged, it had been difficult, and will always be difficult, for the rest of Nigeria to interpret the Igbo life and worldview. There is a big difference between what the Igbo think and what others think the Igbo think. This misunderstanding, in many quarters, has continued to be transformed into inert hatred. The myth of the Igbo, constantly in the face of Nigerians everywhere, has proved very difficult for many to decipher.
In a 2005 Igbo Day keynote speech titled, The Primacy of Political or Economic power: The Igbo Dilemma, Professor Anya O. Anya noted that:
There is an inherent paradox and contradiction in the lgboman's place in Nigeria. On the one hand given his industry, his intelligence and his enterprise, the Igboman is a desirable gift to Nigeria and the stuff of which great nations and great civilizations can be built. On the other hand, given his presumptive confidence in his abilities and his unabashed hunger to succeed at whatever cost, he engenders fear and unwelcome visibility amongst his compatriots. His lack of subtlety, his drive to overcome and his insatiable "greed" for material progress engenders resentment and often inexplicable, and perhaps, undeserved hostility in the host communities. His "loud" style of Life and the facility with which he can adapt to and adopt new ways can also be unsettling to foreign cultural formations that have come in contact with the lgbo including the colonial masters. There is thus an underlying sense of conflict in the lgbo presence in Nigeria.
For those who care but do not know and those who know but do not care, the Igbo are not perfect. Like so many other groups, the Igbo have those uncommon human frailties and foibles as well as unique virtues and wisdoms. When their sense of vanity is heightened, their sense of modesty is diminished. When their sense of belonging is enhanced, their sense of variance is lessened.
In trying to find an answer many observers of negativity in Igbo life seek, I stumbled on "The Focus of Igbo Worldview," a paper presented by Prof. Donatus I. Nwoga. In it he wrote:
The opportunity which the present times have given for the predominant attributes of the Igbo to blossom into the ugliness of materialistic indiscipline, and lack of grace and finesse, must not be taken to represent the all-time behavior of the Igbo. A characteristic which could have been favorable and positive in one phase of the history of a people, which could again be positive and beneficial in another phase, could present the greatest negative consequences in a transitional phase. In practical terms, the attributes which make the Igbo appear vulgar and materialistic at this phase, could be the same attributes that made them achieving and titled people in the past. The present could merely be revealing the impact of new, uncharted times to the chaotic instinct in those who had been restrained by the limiting structures and facilities of the ordered past. And it is important to retain then the diachronic consciousness that transitional people have the handicap of having lost the grace and poetry of their past, without yet acquiring the grace and poetry, or at least the discipline and sanctions of the modern.
The duty those who believe in Nigeria owe to this transitioning Nigeria is to give her a structure. In a structured Nigeria where there is law and order, people will be treated as individuals according to the laws of the land. Those who currently take advantage of the disorder in Nigeria would have to get in shape or face the letters of the law. In a just and equitable society, those who are industrious, honest and creative will soar. Until then, those who dream of changing the nature of the Igbo or any ethnic group for that matter are confounded with many paradoxes.
Having said that, the fundamental truth is that the Igbo, as part of humanity, have the right to live anywhere - with or without Nigeria. Let it be known that the original sin of the Igbo has not changed and will never change - it is the sin of being Igbo. It is from it that all other sins emerge and get magnified. The Igbo have nothing to prove and must not begin a defense of that right or a discussion of their Igboness on the terms of their oppressors. It is a matter of expediency for the Igbo to know this and for the Igbo to understand its implication in their final battle for survival.
If the Igbo had not embraced western education in the mid 30s and overtaken the rest of Nigeria thirty years after; if the Igbo had not accepted Nigeria and immigrated away from their tropical rain forest of the east to all corners of Nigeria; maybe, the pogrom would not have happened. For many, a good Igbo is one who is only Igbo in his home; who is not Igbo everyday and everywhere; who is apologetic for being Igbo, and who wears the following expression on his forehead: how dare you assume I am Igbo?
For every life there ever was, many terrible things happen. But nothing is as terrible as being afraid to love somebody. In that regard, I have utmost sympathy for all those who are afraid to love the Igbo for they do not know what they are missing.
And they are many.
___________________ Give me Biafra or give me death. Posts: 33 | From: USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
posted
Rejoinder to Rudolf Okonkwo's "Igbo: The Final Battle"
Written by Taslim Anibaba
Mr Taslim Anibaba, a Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) writes from Lagos, Nigeria
Taslim Anibaba's Profile
Any River that wants to identify its source will dry up - Yoruba adage
It is increasingly taking place - the struggle to put the igbo question on the front burner. This is in spite of the facts that (1) it is among the three biggest tribes in Nigeria (2) it has, since the end of the war been included in running the affairs of the country (3) federal resources are channeled to this group just like any other in NIGERIA (4) the Ibo man is everywhere in Nigeria doing one thing or the other and often times wanting to not only run the economy but also the traditional power machinery wherever they are. The fourth being the reasons other Nigerians often disagree them.
But be that as it may, I often wonder - what do the Igbos want? In reality do they really lack anything that others enjoy? Or why the penchant for thrusting the Igbo factor into national consciousness every now and then.
The other major groups and even the so-called minorities do not thread this path.
So I sometimes wonder if it is a phobic response to a war that ended more than 30years ago, a subtle BLACKMAIL, or hyper compensatory striving which is chronic in nature.
I just dont understand why this unceasing cries for BATTLE, War etc.
We are talking about building a nation and these war mongers and ethnic paperweights will not let us have peace. Can someone tell me if the igbo quota is not correctly filled at the national level or if monthly allocations are not given to the igbo states. Are the Igbos not represented at the national assembly and other national establishments.
The earlier we get away from the past and drop this toga of God knows what the better.
Let us build a nation. Of course you dont expect others to be siddon looking when you are shouting war everyday. Is the challenge to the ibos today, as claimed by you, a response to the war “being planned” by the other groups or a design to provoke other ethnic groups to war. You honestly have to answer that question.
If anything the ibo man is well represented in all the geo-political zones in Nigeria and whereas the Hausa man can live for a lifetime in Lagos and other places and not request or demand for indigeneship. The Yoruba man will live a lifetime in the North or East without demanding for indigeneship or even own a stall in the East, our ibo brothers are always clamouring for indigeneship and political control wherever they find themselves. Is that fair. What you deny others you forcefully request from them. Is that equitable. Yet this is the same man who will tell you that the remains of his departed ones should be brought home for burial - that it is a taboo for the remains of an iboman to be buried outside iboland! So it is a case of you can eat your cake and have it. As stated earlier in my response to the first part of this essay, the ibo man will forbid his female children to marry other tribes , yet he wants to claim indigeneship in his place of residence.
Essays published in NVS have also revealed a crisis of identity as far as our ibo brothers are concerned. They are Nigerians today, Jews tomorrow and Hebrew the next day. Something is definitely wrong somewhere.
I have a lot of Ibo friends, I respect them and save for the ibo culture I would have married an ibo lady, I have been to most parts of Ibo land. so i don’t understand why the rumours of war or impeding war has to constantly come from our brothers in the east.
You will hardly hear others beating this drum. Or is it a case of the child crying WOLF?
And only this morning, almost all the papers carried the news of the burning of the house of the Owelle of Onitsha late Zik of Africa. Zik , an orator, a statesman, a gentleman, the beautiful bride of the Nigerian politics, a man who pierced through the Yoruba forest of the thousand demons to establish NCNC in the 60s. A man who every Nigerian from all walks of life will remember for his selfless service to the nation was desecrated by his own people. It is a shame
This action shows clearly that our brother from the east have decided to finally bid farewell to decency and have opted to glorify recklessness, barbarism, violence and extinction. A Yoruba adage says that any river that wants to know its source will dry up. Zik is the fountain not only of Nigeria(at least in the sense that he was part of the team) but exclusively the fountain of the East. I grew up to know the high reverence that my father had for Zik.
In the 80s I was traveling between Port-Harcourt and Owerri or Enugu when the driver of our vehicle showed us a place and he said it was inhabited by WAWA PEOPLE. I then asked who are the wawas and he replied that they are the uncivilized, barbaric,uncircumcised,and naked people.
Perhaps those who burnt down Zik’s house are from this clan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that this article is not about insulting anybody or group, It is an analysis of the way I and perhaps others see our brothers from the east. And against the background of the article by Rudolf titled “ IGBO THE FINAL BATTLE” one cannot but present the other side of the coin. I may not be entirely right, as I am human with a mind prone to errors but It is not my intention to engage in a tribal war. I have lots of Ibo friends and I love them.
posted
There can be no compromise! There can be no excuses! There can be no apologies! Lies will not suffice! The debt can never be repaid! The world must not be allowed to forget! The guilt of the world will remain from now to eternity.
*************
One wonders why we continue with a meaningless conversation. Why try to force a group to continue a union it considers meaningless.
When between 50,000 to 500,000 innocent citizens were massacred in the North and West because they were Igbo or looked like Igbo, Nigeria gave up the right to call Igbo citizens of Nigeria. In the ensuring genocaustal (genocide and holocaust) war, when more than 3 million Igbo were either starved to death or slaughtered, Igbo had finally been pushed out of Nigeria.
‘One Nigeria’ is an unworkable abomination, put together by the British to serve their interest and not African interest. All fair thinking so called Nigerians including the Yoruba, understand that there is no future in Nigeria and hence their goal to form their own independent nations. Why continue to beat our heads against an unyielding wall, when the truth has always been before us? Even Pa Awo (a Yoruba patriot), realized that the unwieldy contraption called Nigeria would suffocate the Yoruba hence his goal to work for the Yoruba nation, it a shame that the great “Zik of Africa” was too far gone in his fantasy of “Pan Africa” to realize that and envision what Pa Awo, had seen.
We could continue this debate but it is meaningless. When Nigeria has disintegrated, the Nations that are born out of that abomination will be real African countries we can all be proud of. Be it ODUDUWA Republic, Islamic Republic of AREWA, Republic of Biafara, or any other real African countries born from that abomination. Remember, we will continue as neighbors but the difference will be that each nation will plot the path it feels will benefit its people. Hopefully even you, my brother see the possibilities!
The Western nation have seen the unworkability of Nigeria, from where I stand, only those who would want to continue leaching from others would want this bad dream called Nigeria to continue.
May Chi Ukwu, the Mighty Yah, open our eyes so that we might accept the truth – ISEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
For more about the Igbo grievance, visit www.ekwenche.org and read the “Submission to the UN Human Rights Commission”
Posts: 166 | From: chicago | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged
posted
Ecoute' moi, Bastard, you cannot build a nation if the Igbos have no international airport, seaport, federal presence or major industrial heavy weight in Igboland, particularly in the Eastern region. It was Lagos, now here comes Abuja. When will it stop? The Igbos are everywhere because they do not have the presence of the Federal government in their region. Igbos greatest strength is that they are the gifted race. We may have surrendered the war but we are still a force to reckon. There is no oil in Lagos or Abuja, yet these two areas have major international presence. Why not in the Igbo region. The Federal government spent billions of dollars building Lagos only to relocate after so many waste. I say shut up stupid. Politics of exclusion is not the way to build a nation. Nigeria will never be a nation without the Igbo no how. They are the key to the success of Nigeria. We all know it. Somebody tell me what the Youbas have done for Nigeria. Someone tell me what the Hausas have done for Nigeria except consume and loot. The Yorubas by comparison are better than the North. The North despite having ruled the country for so many years has nothing to show for it. They are still the most backward reppellent skunks in every aspect of Nigerian lives. They have been destructive to nation building through Islam. The worst is yet to come when an Hausa man takes over in 2007, the economy and violence will make Obasanjo look like mother Teressa.
The Igbos are not asking for handouts but what is due to them in their region. You will not see me in Abuja or Lagos, hence Waypoint 1 Biafra, meaning I will depart from Minnasota and land in Enugu or PH. Shut up and leave the Igbos alone. Enough is enough. Try this...Will Nigeria build a nation without the Igbos? or is Nigeria better off without the Igbos? The answer to question 1 and 2 is absolute No.
Hail Biafra
Posts: 1673 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
The Igbo with a population of more than 80 million world wide and over 50 million in Nigeria is the largest nation in the Nigeria republic. With Igbos superior intelligent and intellectual power, it will be difficult for Hausa and Yoruba tribes to succeed in their conspiracy to hold down the Igbo. It is just a matter of time when Ndigbo will implement their grand plan. And then they will gnash their teeth.
___________________ Give me Biafra or give me death. Posts: 33 | From: USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
In the midst of his psychotic garbage, an analytical observer will find the genesis of this poor soul Talim`s neurotic Igbo phobia. The poor chap was obviously jilted by an Igbo lady, probably "at the altar" for not meeting up to standards,having noticed his psychological instability. This shock had further agravated his condition leading to irreversible changes in synaptic connections in his brain, which manifest in such symptoms as low IQ and scizophrenic tendencies. Also manifest are tendencies to tell conjectured stories which are nothing but a figment of his deluded imagination. What can we do but pray for the lost soul? Bababoys is that why you posted that psychotic nonsense from the chap? you want us to pray for his recovery?
___________________ Biafra is inevitable.Illegitimis nil carborundum. Posts: 760 | From: europe | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged
posted
With this kind of thinking, no wonder nigeria moves only backward without making progress. So this is what is driving olusegun obasanjo/yoroba management style? These people and their thinking are really like dead-weight holding the Igbo down for too long.
Thanks anyway for confirming the yoroba strategy on Igbo/nigeria. It is for those gullible Igbo efulefu who are too greedy to understand that there will never be "handshake accross the niger in southern nigeria." There is no southern nigeria; there's only Igbo, yoruba: different people, different, incompatible cultures that can never share the same country. Why would a right-thinking Igbo man want to share a country with these backward-thinking people.
[ November 14, 2005, 11:02 AM: Message edited by: Amadi O. ]
___________________ achieve Biafra and show the difference Posts: 642 | From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Nov 2002
| IP: Logged
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
