" ...At Enugu, Aba, Umuahia and Onitsha, militia units were organized... The brave Biafran girls donned their militia uniforms, carried their guns and marched side by side with the men. It was a spectacle too revolutionary to be forgotten in the history of the short-lived republic..." - Prof Ikenna Nzimiro (1982).
----------- --------- --------- ---- We join the BF in congratulating His Excellency General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (the general of generals) on his 74th birthday anniversary.
LONG LIVE THE FEDERAL STATE OF BIAFRA! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Biafra Foundation 1629 K ST. NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 TEL NO: 202 508 3795 FAX: 202 508 3759 Email: Biafrafoundation@ yahoo.com
Congratulations to His Excellency General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu on his 74th birthday anniversary.
The Biafra Foundation wishes to congratulate His Excellency, General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who celebrated his 74th birthday anniversary on Sunday, November 4, 2007. It is with much respect and a great sense of gratitude that we salute this hero of heroes, who may rightly be described as the central axis around whom revolved our most defining moment in time – the Biafra phenomenon. Indeed, the Biafra struggle of 1967 to 1970 represents our unequalled triumph of will and lasting legacy in the political firmament of black Africa. It was under his able leadership that we attained the most remarkable and memorable feats that continue to bedazzle and confound the world. Yes! the name ‘Biafra’ has been permanently etched in the annals of world history, a didactic exhibit in the world’s collective subconscious, and in the socio-political lexicon of all as a testament to the supremacy of man’s will to survive against all odds; the invincibility of a principled group targeted for extinction by a debauched majority. General Ojukwu was at the helm of affairs during this memorable period of our history.
Great personalities, as with great moments in history, often arrive unannounced until the ramifications of their occurrence begin to take effect. To quote from Mazi Ken Ogbaa writing in the Vanguard newspaper issue of November 21, 2003: “In all civil societies, the birthdays of great men like General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu usually offer people opportunities to reflect on the lives of such men who live in their societies. That is so because many believe that, at the metaphysical realm, some of the great men are avatars: men sent down to earth by their Gods at particular moments in history to save mankind from evil machinations of their fellow human beings. They include the revered sage, Ghandi of India, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of the United States, and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Such men are regarded as national or universal leaders only after they die or leave office. At that time people begin to appreciate the full value of their services to society that no one else can easily offer.”
General Ojukwu was born on November 4, 1933 at Zungeru and he later went on to attend such prestigious schools as King’s College, Lagos, Eton College in England, and crowned it all with his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the famous Oxford University, England. With such a respectable and well-educated background added to his father’s stupendous wealth, he could easily have adopted the opulent and ready-made lifestyle of a high-ranking administrator in government or business. Yet he chose an undignified military career, even taking the pains of joining as a recruit in the infantry when his father’s influence prevented his admission into the Officers Corps as appropriate to his educational background. This indeed is clear evidence of the workings of Divine Providence which was preparing him for the crucial role he was to play in the future. We are convinced that the strategic role he was to play in the history of his people is yet to be fulfilled.
As General Ojukwu joins the ranks of elders in our society, we pray that his “Chi” will protect and guide him to fulfill the destiny for which he was created. As succinctly described by Mazi Ike Okonta in the Nigeriaworld issue of November 16, 2003: “Elders in Igbo political culture are the vital pivots on which political order and social harmony turn. While the people are sovereign, the elders, temporal representatives of the gods, are the guardians of this sovereignty. Ojukwu is that rarity in contemporary Nigerian politics: He has stayed the course. You may disagree with his method and political stance. But one thing can not be denied: Ojukwu has remained a powerful champion of Igbo interests and has not strayed from this course since the first bullets were fired in July, 1967.”
We therefore venerate this unparalleled Biafran hero particularly on this happy occasion of his 70th birthday. We are further pleased to note that he is untiring in his efforts to defend our interests anytime this may be threatened. He remains our hero for he has proven himself worthy of our trust. In the Nigerian politics of today where money is freely employed to buy people’s influence and opinion, Ojukwu’s influence and popularity in the former eastern region of Nigeria has made him a veritable target to be bought over by the enemy. Yet he has remained steadfast to his avowed course in defense of our interest. That is a true hero of his people. In his own words describing a hero as reported in the Vanguard newspaper of October 31, 2003: “My concept of a hero is that man you see walking in from the sunset tattered, tired with mud splashes on his body and his clothes; that man walking in from conflict is the hero, not the man in white splendid robes sitting somewhere. Because you see my view is that when there is a job to be done, it is my honor to be among those called to do it.”
May we end this tribute with a reverent appreciation of this most humbling definition of a true hero and strive to always emulate the implied lesson of selfless service in our efforts to serve our people. Long Live your Excellency General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and may you live to conclude and for long beyond the Biafra Actualization project.
[ November 07, 2007, 02:23 AM: Message edited by: Amadi O. ]
___________________ achieve Biafra and show the difference Posts: 642 | From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Nov 2002
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Congratulation to the Ikemba, H.E and C-in-C Emeritus of the Biafran armed forces. We shall never forget. In the words of Fredrick Forsyth, H.E Ojukwu is, "Someone whom you could trust with your life and family, and go wherever you want. For he would put his life on the line for them, such is a true good man. His Biafran experience made him a universally acclaimed accolade. Many Happy Return H.E Ikemba 1. Hail Biafra The Land of The Raising Sun
Posts: 79 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Jun 2007
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After centuries of useless wars to force unwilling nations into unworkable unions, Europeans have now come to the simple conclusion of letting each whether big or small nation be. All the small and big nations of Europe are now accommodated in one big super-state or confederate. This simple idea has stopped all the wars of self-determination in Europe. Now it does not matter whether you are Irish, Scottish, French, German etc. within the European super-state. What is the best format for the African state?
The Biafran war at its core was a war of ideas about how best to organize the African state. His Excellency General C. Odumegwu-Ojukwu is a full general of the Biafran army. The Biafran army (its uniform, military doctrine, symbols etc.) is NOT the Nigerian army and vice versa.
When Watson said that blacks were stupid, he was shouted down. Now see the mess? The Biafra-Nigeria war was fought between two standing armies. On the one side, His Excellency General C. Odumegwu-Ojukwu is a general of the Biafran army. On the other side, Yakubu Gowon is a general of the Nigerian army. This simple fact is never grasped because of black stupidity. The Biafran war was not just another bush skimirsh. It was the most ferocious and bitter war in African history. Military historians have calculated that more arms and ammunitions were used in that war than the entire British army in the 2nd World War. It is stupid and utterly immoral to reduce the question of military leadership of the war to Nigerian pension and other trivialities.
American General Thomas Jonathan Jackson(Confederate army).
This is not even about Gen. Ojukwu per se, it is about blacks having a sense of history and learning to respect themselves by applying the same basic standards in judging themselves as other human beings on earth. When blacks diminish themselves, others use them as foot mats and call them perjorative names- tribes, warlords, tribal chiefs, witches etc. instead of nations, community leaders, generals, doctors etc. Simple.
German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (Wehrmacht)
For example, the Second World War was fought between the German army and other armies - Red Army, British Army etc. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, a German soldier fought on the German side. Rommel lost, but he is is still celebrated as one of the greatest military leaders in history and his rank respected by his opponents. Ditto for the generals of the old Soviet army including Marshal Zhukov even now the USSR has ceased to exist as an independent country. Is Zhukov a Field Marshal or not? Even in the USA, the soldiers who fought on the side of the confederate army are still respected and addressed by their proper ranks.
Russian Field Marshal Georgi Zhukov (USSR)
Only blacks talk rubbish. In Nigeria, illiterate thugs like Obasanjo, Babangida, Abacha, Diya etc. and murderes like Murtala Mohammed, Yakubu Danjuma etc. call themselves generals and other fancy titles. Some of then have never fought any war except with their wives.
If there is any one general to emerge from Africa, that general is General C. Odumegwu-Ojukwu. He has the education, the training, the experience, the swagger, the frame, the intellect to be a general. Oh yes! Not the pot-belled, weepy, women-shooting, Darfur-shooting- targets and sundry clowns of the Nigerian army.
Igbo General Odumegwu-Ojukwu (Biafra).
Ndeewo! Ani
Long Live the Federal State of Biafra!
[ November 10, 2007, 05:31 AM: Message edited by: Amadi O. ]
___________________ achieve Biafra and show the difference Posts: 642 | From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Nov 2002
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"For anyone to call Ojukwu a general, the rank he did not achieve in the Nigerian army in a Nigerian state is deluded to say the least and treasonable in contempt." -QUOTE
The Nigerian Army is an episodic army. Its Generals are episodic. Ojukwu earned his pips fair and square in a real, battle-tested army. Its an insult to even compare him, or ask him to reduce himself to the stature of Generals who earned their pips by plotting coups, or for leading the W.A.I. brigade in Oshodi. Generals who can not read battle plans, talk less of interpreting maps. Ojukwu wears his pip of the Rising Sun proudly, and will be interred fully, on the day that it happens, with the full colours of the Biafran forces arrayed, the wind flying his pennants, and the symbol of the Rising Sun draping his immortal remains. The Army he commanded proudly remains the Peoples Liberation of Army of the Republic of Biafra. And just so you would know, the Republic of Biafra is not only a cartographic reality, and for as long as its principles, its ideology, and its living symbol, General Ojukwu remains alive, Biafra lives; cannot be wished away, and it remains an option. Anyone who looks closely would see that Biafra's flag still flies in the places that matter. It is a story that will not go away, until Nigeria either resolves its contradictions or fades away naturally. The Biafrans have time: they will wait it out either way. And either way it is resolved, Ojukwu's pip as General of the Peoples Army remains intact. It is in fact a superior pip.
Obi Nwakanma
Happy Birthday General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Hail Biafra, Land of the Rising Sun!!
___________________ achieve Biafra and show the difference Posts: 642 | From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Nov 2002
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Amadi I agree with in some places in you posting. Biafra is not Ojukwu per se, because the elders of the land mandated him to proclaim the Republic. If you see the declaration you'll know what I mean.
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NIGERIA'S MILITARY MIGHT IS A HOAX By Idowu Adelusi
The self acclaimed superiority of Nigeria’s military in Africa has been described as a hoax by a university don and military strategist, Dr, Osisioma Bazil Chnedu Nwolise Dr. Nwolise, of the Political Science Department, University of Ibadan, in an exclusive interview with Sunday Tribune in Ibadan at the weekend, claimed that Nigeria cannot stand up to countries like France in a serious war for two months without capitulating.
Against the backdrop of a warning by America of a possible terrorist attack on Nigeria by the al-Qaeda, a muslim fundamentalist group, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Andrew Aziza had boasted that the military was capable of defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
However, Dr. Nwolise, a one- time lecturer at the National War College, Abuja and pioneer Director, Department of Peace and Conflict Resolution of the college, said that what Nigeria has is a military organisation and not military power.
He said for now, Nigeria has a military organisation that is sufficient to defend the country’s territorial integrity to some extent. “When I say to some extent, it means there are limits to what we can do,” he argued.
Dr. Nwolise, who teaches international politics and military strategy, said that Nigeria, after 47 years of existence still buys her weapons from outside, adding that the Defence Industry Corporation(DICON) in Kaduna can only manufacture tear gas, salt, furniture and other soft wares.
He claimed that Brazil’s defence industry was established the same period as that of Nigeria, saying as at today, the Brazil’s defence corporation manufactures armoured cars, jet fighters and other powerful military hardwares. He said DICON in Kaduna could only assemble weapons it cannot manufacture.
The don argued that outside interests can conspire against Nigeria since we depend on them for supply of our weapons. He said, for instance, if we have 200 armoured cars, 30 jets, and they are grounded due to lack of spare parts or destroyed in the war, Nigeria would be finished.
He also faulted the centralization of DICON in Kaduna, saying the idea was primitive.
Hail Biafra Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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Every single thing the Prof said is try. But I will like to add that the reason for the shamble of the DICON is look at who runs it. They would never trust an intelligent Igbo man or woman who knows what to do run it. So they gave it to an ignorant who then takes the intelligent on as an assistant, and overrules him or her on things greater for the boss to understand. I'm surprise that industry still exist. But I bet you it's not worth being used to train students not to talk of manufacturing anything. In the first place the idea of the defence industry was given to Gowon by his British masters and over-lords after the civil war. One thing is having the infrastructure, and quite another knowing how to run it.
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Every single thing the Prof said is true. But I will like to add that the reason for the shamble of the DICON is look at who runs it. They would never trust an intelligent Igbo man or woman who knows what to do run it. So they gave it to an ignorant who then takes the intelligent on as an assistant, and overrules him or her on things greater for the boss to understand. I'm surprise that industry still exist. But I bet you it's not worth being used to train students not to talk of manufacturing anything. In the first place the idea of the defence industry was given to Gowon by his British masters and over-lords after the civil war. One thing is having the infrastructure, and quite another knowing how to run it. Hail Biafra The Land of The Raising Sun
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By Gary Brecher ( war_nerd@exile.ru ) Browse Author (123) « Previous (60) Next (61) »
The exile asked me to do a special 200th column, something about old wars and new wars, so I thought I'd talk about THE BUSH WAR BUILDING up right now in the Niger River delta in Nigeria. The TV's talking about how the locals are forming an army to make the Nigerian government give them a share of the income from all the oil they've found in the delta, but nobody mentions that this miserable maze of fever swamp was the focus of the biggest war in modern Africa -- the Biafra war.
Nigeria's a typical West African mess of a country, only bigger and meaner. It's divided up the usual way: the coastal tribes are Christianized from sucking up to the European colonists. The further inland you go, the drier, hungrier and more Islamic it gets. The Brits grabbed the Nigerian coastline from the Portuguese when they realized there was money to be made, and turned the two big coastal tribes, the Ibo and the Yoruba, into their overseers on the Nigerian plantations. That left a lot of the inland Muslim tribes, the Hausa-Fulani people of the Sahel, permanently pissed off, sharpening their knives and biding their time. The Hausa-Faluni got their chance in 1963, when the last Brit in Nigeria hopped on a plane, yelling back to the Natives "Congratulations, chaps! You're independent!" As soon as the Brits bugged out, the tribal massacres got going. Muslims in the north hacked to death every Ibo they could find. They hated these smartasses from the coast -- and now the Redcoats weren't there to stop them from taking revenge. 30,000 Ibos were killed in a few days. The massacres kind of soured the Ibo on the idea of Nigeria as one big happy intertribal family. In 1967 an Ibo General in the Nigerian Army declared that the Ibo region was now an independent country, "Biafra." The Nigerian Army, a big, sleazy outfit, begged to differ and invaded the Ibo region in SE Nigeria. The Army had 250,000 men. The Biafra/Ibo army had maybe a tenth that many, but they were brave and smart -- the Ibo had always been the brains of Nigeria. Every time it was a question of real battle on anything like equal terms, the Biafran rebels won. They stopped the government troops cold, then grabbed tactical surprise by staging a long-range raid into Western Nigeria. A risky advance like that by untrained civilian recruits (which is what most of the Ibo fighters were) is really impressive. But sad to say, courage doesn't count for much in West African warfare. It's ruthlessness that wins these wars, and the Nigerian junta had it. Instead of facing the Ibo army man to man, the Nigerian troops grabbed the coastline around the Niger River delta, the supply route the Ibo needed. They stopped all food shipments heading for Ibo territory and sat back to let the Ibo starve.
The Biafrans were still winning every battle and losing the war like Lee in 1865 -- starved out, strangled from behind. They realized they needed to open the supply route and decided to take back the Niger delta. And they got some help from outside. The best example, one of the few real heroes you'll get in this sleazy world, was a Swede, believe it or not. A Swedish aristocrat, no less. Count Carl Gustav von Rosen volunteered to do close air support for the Biafran army, hosing down government troops and raiding their bases, flying tiny civilian prop planes like little Swedish Cessnas. Is that glorious or what? The mismatch in the air war was total. The Nigerian AF had MiG-17 fighters and Il-28 bombers, DC 3 transports converted to bombers and a few choppers. Those Ilyushin and MiG designs were the high point of Soviet military aviation. Don't kid yourself -- the Soviets built some great planes. The Il-28 was a big, fast bomber with a bombload of 16,000 pounds and a three-man crew, including a tail gunner manning twin 23mm cannon. You wouldn't want to tailgate one of these. The MiG-17 was even better. It might have been the best fighter in the world when it went into service in 1953, and even in the mid-sixties it was good enough to win against our Phantom F-4s in dogfights over North Vietnam. US pilots were way more scared of the MiG-17 than the follow-on model, the MiG-21. The slick moves and big cannon of the MiG-17 were one big reason the USAF stopped thinking of fighters as manned SAMs -- all speed and no finesse -- and went back to planes with nose cannon, maneuverability and started teaching air combat at Top Gun schools. Up against all this big international hardware, the Biafrans had...nothing. Then this crazy Swede von Rosen came up with the kind of idea that would only work in Africa. Since he couldn't get the Biafrans any jet aircraft, he'd just buy some prop-driven trainers and refit them for combat. Von Rosen is such a great character he almost makes me reconsider hating Swedes. He was a throwback to when the Swedish pikemen turned the tide of the Thirty Years War. Von Rosen specialized in noble lost causes. Way back in 1938, when he was just a kid, he volunteered to fly for the Finns in their ultra-cool, hopeless fight against the Red Army. The Finns had no bombers so von Rosen just grabbed a civilian airliner, loaded it up with bombs and dropped them on the Reds from the passenger doors. "Welcome, Comrade passengers! Coffee, tea or 500 pounds of HE?" Thirty years later, in August 1968, von Rosen was working as a civilian pilot delivering aircraft to Africa. He ran into some priests who were trying to find somebody brave enough to fly medical supplies past the blockade into Biafra. The mercs they'd hired called it off as too dangerous. Von Rosen volunteered to fly a DC 7 into Biafra with the supplies. The Biafrans were so grateful, and were fighting so bravely against all the odds, that von Rosen warmed to them like he had to the Finns. The Biafrans needed help to deal with the Nigerian AF, which was fighting a nasty war even by African standards. In the whole war, there"s not one case of the Nigerian AF attacking a military target. That would've been dangerous -- and not nearly as much fun as bombing refugee camps, strafing hospitals, and napalming fleeing civilians.
Von Rosen tried to find the Ibo some modern military jets, but nobody wanted to sell to the Biafrans for fear of upsetting the Nigerian government, a much bigger customer. So von Rosen started thinking about small prop-driven aircraft. There's a long history of using slow prop planes in bush warfare. Even the USAF, which has a major hard-on for afterburners and chrome, was forced to adopt a slow, armored CAS plane, the A-10. They hated it at first but it proved itself in both Gulf Wars, when fancy toys like the Army's dog of an AH, the Apache, left the field with its tail between its legs. In Nam, the classic jungle air war, we used two planes that were slow as molasses but did the job. One of the best and ugliest was the A-1 Skyraider, a chunky WW II style plugger. The USAF hated it and was always trying to twist combat reports to make the F-4 look good and the Skyraider look bad, but pilots agreed: you were better off going in low and slow in a Skyraider than zooming by in an F-4. Even the Skyraider was like an SR-71 compared to the little putt-putt plane von Rosen built his force around: the MFI-9, a tiny prop-driven Swedish trainer that looks like those ultralights people build in their garages. This plane could park in subcompact spaces at the Stockholm mall. It had a maximum payload of 500 pounds -- me plus a couple of medium sized dogs. Lucky those Swedes are so skinny. Von Rosen bought five of these little "Fleas" down the coast in Gabon, slapped on a coat of green VW paint to make them look military, and installed wing pods for unguided 68mm unguided anti-armor rockets. Then he and his pilots -- three Swedes and three Ibo -- flew them back to Biafra and into combat. They blew the Hell out of the Nigerian AF and army. These little Fleas were impossible to bring down. Not a single one was knocked out of the sky, although they"d buzz home riddled with holes. They flew three missions a day and their list of targets destroyed included Nigerian airfields, power plants, and troop concentrations. The Fleas turned their weaknesses into advantages in true guerrilla style. They were so slow that they had to fly real low -- which made them almost impossible to hit in the jungle, since you never saw them till they were on top of you. The low speed made for better aim: almost half the 400 68mm rockets they fired hit their targets, which is an amazing score for unguided AS munitions. (There used to be a joke in the USAF that if it wasn't for the law of gravity, unguided AS rockets couldn"t even hit the ground.) The Biafran AF managed to destroy three MiG-17s and an Il-28 on the ground. Killing enemy planes on the ground may not be as glorious as shooting them down in a dogfight, but they're just as destroyed. The Fleas also took out a couple of helicopters, an airport tower, a Canberra bomber and a half-dozen supply trucks. And they blew away at least 500 Nigerian troops. It was one of the few really glorious exploits you get in war these days. Why they haven"t made a movie of it, I don't know. Guess they think we"d rather see tennis pros fall in love or some **** like that.
Von Rosen's Fleas weren't enough to turn the tide of the war. The rest of the world turned their backs on the Ibo, let the Nigerians starve them into submission. The USSR sold the Nigerians every plane, tank and gun they could cram into their shopping cart, and the British loaned their pilots to fly as Nigerian AF mercs, bombing Biafran civilians and blowing up convoys bringing food and meds to the Ibo villages. The famine in Biafra was the first time we saw pictures of African kids with skeleton arms and legs and big balloon bellies looking up at the camera. It was easy to get shots like that in Biafra, because the whole country was starving. A year into the war, the Ibo had nothing left. No food, no ammo, not even fuel, which is ironic when they were sitting on the big Niger delta oilfiends. Even the bravest troops can't fight when they're dying of starvation. So in 1969 the Nigerian Army sent 120,000 men pushing through the center of Biafra, dividing the Ibo zone in half. It was like Sherman"s march to the sea -- it broke the Biafrans' backs. Early in 1970 Biafra surrendered. Nobody knows how many people died. The low guess is a million, the high ones maybe three millions. Almost all were Ibo civilians. The Nigerians punished the Ibo for their uppity behavior by freezing them out of the loot they got from oil revenues and other graft, the one industry in Nigeria. For 30 years the Ibo have been watching the oil pumped out of their land to buy more Mercedes for a bunch of sleazy generals and politicians. They've got a right to be pissed off -- but the Biafra war showed them that in Africa, right ain't got much to do with it. Like the greatest Swede of 'em all used to say, "God is on the side of the big battalions."
Hail Biafra
Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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I couldn't have put it any better dear Amadi and to add to what waypoint1 said, "God is on the side of the big battalions" and their masters and overlords the evil type of white people who would sell their mothers and soul for a piece of black action. Where blacks kills one another. But one thing I know is that we shall one day return and like the biblical Zion, rebuild that which was destroyed by the evil and their forces of negetivities. Hail Biafra The Land of The Raising Sun. Udo Diri
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BAYELSA STATE A JOKE OR A DREAM COME TRUE?????
After several years of clamoring and supplications, Bayelsa State was created in 1996. The state was a dream-come-true for the Ijaw who had hoped to use it as launching pad for the advancement of the Ijaw Nation. It was to be the Mecca for all Ijaws at home and abroad. So much was expected. Indeed, a lot was expected amidst great hope and great expectations. Sadly, it was not to be. Since its creation -- more so in the last nine years -- several bubbles has busted, several dreams turned into nightmares; and the dream of a Mecca became a mirage. Bayelsa is today a cathedral of broken dreams, a valley of pain. It is a state where political incest, debauchery, and cardinal sins have become a way of life. In Bayelsa State the poor have no voice; the rich and the powerful have no conscience; and the government is aiding and abetting in the rape and molestation of its own people.
Since the advent of the current republic, the state has had three civilian governors: Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha; Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; and Timipre Sam Sylva. The three men were born and raised in the creeks and canals of the Ijaw Nation. The three men also have three commonalities: they all come from meager homes; grew up and witnessed the economic and political backwardness of the state; and all three have had the opportunity to correct some of the economic and political anomalies, imbalances and poverty of the body and soul that is commonplace in the state. Sadly all three men -- when each had the chance to make changes and bring about justice and some measure of equity -- have failed the people. They turned out to be ignorant, timid, and indifferent to the plight of the state.
The first (Alamieyeseigha) became the governor because there was a confluence of three favorable events: (1) his political opponents underrated his cunning ability; (2) no one thought that a man of such low intellect could ever become the governor and so was given a lot of space with which to operate; and (3) his party, the PDP, had more resources and state-presence allowing it to rig the election and thus ascend to power. Against all odds, Alamieyeseigha became the state's first elected executive governor. After all these years, it is still not uncommon for a section of the state's elite to wonder aloud: "how did he get to be governor?" They continue to pay for their indifference and absentmindedness.
The grave mistakes of Alamieyeseigha -- supporting Abubakar Atiku against Obasanjo, brazenly spearheading the resources control fight, his over-sized libido, his greed and licentiousness, and his penchant for abusing and daring President Obasanjo -- caused his cards to collapse, bringing forth months and years of misery and judicial calamity. His impeachment allowed Goodluck Jonathan to take over as the chief of state. Jonathan was an obedient Deputy Governor. Here was a deputy who, as oral accounts indicate, never gave his boss much grief. He did what he was told and was happy just being there. But providence smiled on him when one of President Obasanjo's schemes came alive.
Goodluck Jonathan as the state governor was not much different from Alamieyeiseigha: he was lazy and incompetent, he was not accountable and transparent in his financial and political dealings, had clannish tendencies, he looked to the North and the West for solution to his problems and never trusted his fellow Ijaw brothers and sisters, maintained a choir of praise-singers, was intolerant of critics and criticisms, allowed his wife to run a parallel government, and acted as though the state was his fiefdom. Government affairs come to a screeching halt whenever Alamieyeseigha took one of his frequent trips. Jonathan learnt from his former boss, and so delegating authority was a foreign concept.
Unlike Alamieyseigha, however, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan did not travel the globe and did not maintain a pool of mistresses. Some have attributed these dissimilarities to one factor: Jonathan didn't have the luxury of time. He didn't have the time because of the circumstances surrounding his ascension and also because he had to keep a close watch on Alamieyeseigha's agents and loyalists and in solidifying his governorship. Jonathan, it should be noted, was not as beloved whether in the creeks or in Yenagoa. One false move, or if he slept with both eyes closed, he'd find himself neck deep in the River Nun.
Governor Alamieyeseigha was a character. Not too bright academically. Not well-liked by the educated and the Diasporan Ijaws. He was egotistical, full of himself; a man who fell in love with himself and went about calling himself Governor General. He appended PhD and JP to his name and demanded he be so addressed. He thought of himself as the alpha and the omega. Like a child in a store, he was into collecting expensive toys and mementos and real estates and whatever else caught his fancy. At times he behaved like father-Christmas -- dolling out the state's money as though it belonged to him. He was, in the opinion of many, the greediest of all his contemporaries. Privately, he was a sad man. And in the end, he was abandoned by most of his friends and praise-singers.
Goodluck Jonathan, in the opinion of many, was an enigma. A closeted political genius; easy-going and a man who operated mostly under the radar. He is also academically brilliant and well respected by his contemporaries, but is unable to translate such unto the streets and creeks of Bayelsa State. "In Bayelsa State," as I was told, "the voice of the people and noise emanating from the creeks matter… Without the creeks, one might as well be operating in the belly of the grill." Conscious of the fact that he lacks credibility in the creeks, he generally does not "fight or go to war or stand his stand." This has led to the widespread perception that he is "weak…a man lacking in conviction and self esteem." Whether the perception of him is warranted or not, one thing is clear: as the governor of Bayelsa State, he was like his predecessor: incompetent and wasteful with no computable achievements to his credit. And not unlike Alamieyeseigha's wife, Jonathan wife also had a parallel government and also dipped her hand into the state treasury.
And then there is Timipre Sam Sylva, the newest fellow in Creek Haven. Most of what has been said about him is unprintable; and so they shall remain until a future date and time. That said, astute observers of Bayelsa State politics have noted four trains in the short period of his governorship: that he is absent-minded in terms of governance; seem dazed and confused and unable to believe he is the governor; seem taken and lost in the trappings of the office; and seems to have some negative shades of Alamieyeseigha and Jonathan in him. All these characteristics points to a governor who might outdo his predecessors in terms of wastefulness, corrupt practices, and incompetence. I have been told that he "is not particular bright…below average…but an effective errand boy…"
In the short period since he became the governor, Mr. Timpre Sylva has left the state (for leisure pursuits and supposed government businesses) more than twenty-four times. Existing data shows that he has spent about 40% of his time on the road. At this rate, he will out-travel and outspend Alamieyeseigh and Jonathan combined in about two-and-half-years. As a result of his excessive travels, he failed to notice that some junior and primary school teachers in the state had not been paid their salary since May/June, he failed to notice that other civil servants are being owed three to six months arrears, he failed to notice that about 80% of the state is in total darkness, while the 20% that has light is in darkness about 80% of the time. He failed to notice the fetidity that has become commonplace in the state capital, Yenagoa. This governor has failed to notice and failed to address many important issues.
In addressing the salary arrears issue, Governor Timipre Sylva, in his wisdom, has had to inaugurate a five-person administrative panel of enquiry "to look into the remote causes of the delay in the payment… the panel should also find out the amount and the months for which staff were owed salaries…" In the opinion of many "this is simply another avenue with which to waste time and waste the people's resources." Questions: how much is it going to cost the state in providing offices, staff and other necessities to make the panel functional; how much are members of this panel going to be paid; how many of such panels are going to be constituted every time the governor and his administration messes up? Do the ministries of education know the number of people on the state's pay roll? Was the commissioner for education fired for dereliction of duty?
Just this week, the governor was reported to have said to a provincial newspaper: "I Have Forgiven My Opponents," this after the Election Tribunal or some other body squashed the petition of his main rival. Nonsense! What is there to forgive? He, as the man who stole the election, should be the one asking the people, his conscience, and his God for clemency. He is the sinner, the thief, the rogue, and the vagabond who made nonsense the people's electoral wishes. To make comical of an already sorry and silly situation, "he and his deputy, Premobowei Ebebi prostrated on the floor of the altar of King of Glory Chapel as the bishop of the chapel prayed for them and charged them to care for the needy, the poor and everybody in the state." What a joke!
Alamieyeseigha, Jonathan, and now Sylva: Three Ijaw sons that were "mandated" to judiciously manage the people's resources, develop the state, and pave the way for the future, have all turned out to be monumental failures. Well, we know that Alamieyesigha and Jonathan were highly ineffective, corrupt and wasteful; Sylva has the opportunity to turn things around for the benefit of the people. Sadly, his early steps show he will most likely outdo his predecessors in all things negative and dreadful. He shows no sign of progressive thinking. He shows no sign of accountability and transparency. He is turning out to be bad news for the Ijaw Nation and for Bayelsa State. How did a state this young, this vibrant and this resourceful end up with three masquerades and jokers as Governors? Did the Ijaw offend God, their gods, and their ancestors?
Since 1999 the state has received billions and billions of naira from the federal treasury, yet, there is nothing to show for it. Absolutely nothing! Billions and billions of naira has been stolen or mismanaged; several other billions wasted on meaningless projects. Today, a sizeable segment of the elites are playing deaf and blind so as not to jeopardize their source of underground income and entitlements, others are afraid to raise their voices so as not to draw unwanted attention to themselves. And so what we now have -- beginning from the days of Alamieyeseigha -- is a state of silence, fear and cowardice. Those who should speak up are too scared to do so.
Fact: for more than 90% of the populace there is no potable water, no electricity, no access to quality education and quality health care; there are erosion and flooding problems, and problems around access to nutritious meal; civil servants are not being paid on time, and certainly there is no clean environment and an environment for young and impressionable minds to grow and have a better life. With billions and billions of naira entrusted to the care of masquerades and jokers -- what we got, what we have is a state and a condition where hopelessness and poverty reigns supreme. What's the problem with the Ijaw of Bayelsa State? What's the matter? Three men, three governors, three thugs, three thieves, and three masquerades: these are the men that have presided over the affairs of the state. Three jokers!
Hail Biafra Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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VANGUARD Thursday, 14 June 2001 GENERAL ALEX MADIEBO, A BIAFRAN COMMANDER, OBASANJO AND HISTORY RECORDS By A.A. Madiebo
Major General Alex Madiebo was a commander in the Biafran Army. Until recently he has remained calm in retirement, but President Obasanjo provoked some comments from the retired general which he argued was the real reason why the Ibos fought the rest of Nigeria. Obasanjo had commented that the civil war was all about resource control, but Madiebo has a more fundamental explanation to offer.
WHEN Nigeria embarked on the civil war in 1967, she emphasized that she fought the war only for national unity with the slogan: "To keep Nigeria One, is a task that must be done." But recently, President Obasanjo restated the aim of that war when he said in Yenogoa that the war was motivated by resource control considerations. He implied that the Biafrans fought just to gain control of the oil wells of the Delta Region. The President added: "If Biafra had won the war, I would have been dead; your governor would not have been in the position he is today." These assertions are far from the truth, and I consider it my duty therefore as the commander of the defunct Biafran Army, to try and put the records right as briefly as possible, for the benefit of posterity.
To start with, it is regrettable that such inciting statements (whether true or false) should come from a Southern Nigerian President at a time the South is enjoying the strongest political unity since 1952. It is most embarrassing to note that, for their tenure as rulers of Nigeria, no Northern Nigerian Head of State ever incited one Nigerian tribe against the other in peace time, for whatever reasons. This is why the President’s frequent anti-Ibo statements in recent times both in Yenogoa and elsewhere, should be of great concern to all Nigerians. These unguarded utterances if not restrained may adversely effect the Southern Nigeria political unity, in the same way the carpet-crossing drama of 1952 did in the Western House of Assembly. That show of shame divided the South politically, and pitched Zik against Awolowo for the rest of their lives, to the political benefit of Northern Nigeria. It has taken the South almost 50 years to recover from the consequence of that incident. But now that we are faced with a situation where our President assumes a belligerent mood whenever he visits the South-Eastern States, and walks hand in hand with the State Governors when he visits the West, the newly found political unity of the South is again threatened.
The President as a soldier knows or should know that resource control had absolutely nothing to do with the civil war, unless Nigeria had it as their real motivation unknown to the rest of the world. For Biafra, it was simply a war of basic survival because in 1966, the oil industry had not even become a major factor in the Nigerian economy to tempt the Ibos to sacrifice 3 million lives in an attempt to gain control of the oil wells. Without doubt, the civil war had its roots in the January 1966 coup which was executed by officers and men from all the Nigerian tribes, led by mainly Ibo and Yoruba Majors plus other junior officers including those from Northern Nigeria. When the coup failed, Northern troops staged a most vicious and barbaric counter-coup in July 1966, against their counterparts from all tribes of Southern Nigeria without exception. In the first few days, every tribe in the South suffered casualties with lucky ones including the President, narrowly escaping death before going into hiding. After a few days of indiscriminate massacre, the Northern leadership re-defined the January coup as an "Ibo Coup" as opposed to a "Southern Nigeria Coup" and thus exonerated all other tribes except the Ibos. They took this action because, with the complete success of their counter-coup, the North saw no need to secede from Nigeria as they had originally planned, but needed allies in the South to enable them rule the country. With the Ibos isolated to facilitate the impending pogrom, the rest of the southern tribes and their soldiers (including President Obasanjo who was then a Major), heaved a sigh of relief. Even before that coup, the "Araba" riots of May 1966 had cost the Ibos 30,000 lives. That was followed by the ethnic cleansing of Ibos or pogrom all over Northern Nigeria towards the end of that year at a loss of 50,000 Ibo lives. As a result of the counter-coup, the civil riots and the massacres of 1966, most people of Eastern Nigeria, particularly the Ibos, were back in their home Region by the end of the year. Even there, the danger of more attacks still existed, thus giving rise to an urgent need to secure arms and ammunition for self defense. We could only do that as an independent nation, so we declared our Region an independent Republic of Biafra. The only alternative to this was to wait for the Nigerian troops to invade our homes and wipe us out without a fight. Simply put therefore, Biafra to the Ibos, meant organised resistance against the first ethnic cleansing or pogrom on the continent of Africa. Perhaps, every Nigerian tribe had its own reason for fighting the civil war, and what the President said in Yenogoa can only be assumed to be his own reason for doing so.
It does not make sense that Biafra which was motivated by resource control consideration to fight a war in which she lost 3 million lives, could withdraw from the entire Delta Region without damaging a single oil installation. What is more, though under heavy pressure throughout the war, Biafra did not mortgage the oil installations under its control to a world power for military assistance to enhance her fire power and prolong the war. All the same, if the President still wants to convince the Delta Region in particular, and all Nigerians in general about the resource control intentions of Biafra, let him answer the following questions: Why did Nigeria continue the war after the Delta Region was liberated ? Why did the President not give Resource Control as a reason for the war in his book "My Command"? Nigeria liberated the Niger Delta from Biafra over 30 years ago, why have the resources not been returned to the owners since then? Why did General Obasanjo join the civil war in mid-1969 inside Ibo heartland where the only resource left to be controlled were war exhausted Ibos? Or are the Ibos being classified as a National Resource to be controlled by Nigeria at any cost in lives to their tribe? Finally, it is common knowledge that President Obasanjo’s Ibo friend, Major Nzeogwu led the failed January 1966 coup meant to arrest the political drift and corruption at that time, in order to ensure One Nigeria. With that in mind, does the President really believe that his friend could in 1967, opt to fight and die in Biafra against one Nigeria just for resource control considerations?
The civil war ended more than 30 years ago, and most Nigerians prefer to put the sad event behind them. Biafra as an entity, died with the end of the war and our President has nothing to gain by flogging a dead horse like Biafra, except resentment from some sections of the country. What is required now is true reconciliation and relentless fence-mending which the President started when he changed the dismissal of Biafran officers to retirement. Admittedly, it may be difficult for him to completely forget his six months civil war exploits that brought the collapse of Biafra, and set the stage for him to be an Army General as well as the Nigerian head of State twice. However, whenever the General reflects openly over his glorious conquests (as he often does), he should please exercise restraint and not forget that Biafrans are now his compatriots and no more his enemies. Above all, he should always remember that the Biafran officers he voluntarily retired in May 2000, are yet to be paid any pensions and gratuities. In other words, like during the civil war, they are still without any resource to control.
Hail Biafra Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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OBJ is only trying to stire trouble because the entir country call Nigeria was to him stupid and those people he was talking to more stupid as to listen to him now Mr ex-president. He should thank his God that he was not arrested and tried for crimes against humanity in his part in the assasinations of the Eastern during the civil conflict. If the Belgrade regim with its leader Milosovich were tried, let him remember that when a Pharaoh who knew not Joesph arose in Egypt what happened. The Americans have helped him become a president to compensate him for losing out as the first black African to be appointed as the UN's Secretary General, and he thinks he could say anything. Why is he meddling in a not forgotten ugly incedent in the history of that nation. Because his own people hated him so much that he want to insight more hatrate in the East which his master Gowon did. Now the fatso can talk, why didn't him say anything when Murital was his boss or even when that small hat man Shagari was there. Let him be careful of what he says because it could come back to bite his ass. HAIL BIAFRA THE LAND OF THE RAISING SUN: NOW AND FOREVER AMEN
Posts: 79 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Jun 2007
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