Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

[Prof Segun Ogunbemi]

Achebe on Biafra War and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict        Since Achebe wrote his little book entitled: The Trouble with Nigeria in 1983, I thought he would have changed his parochial perception of the Yoruba and their revered leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo having lived in the US and taught in several Universities there. Living in the US would have normally been a reformative environment for a parochial minded scholar that Achebe is. Unfortunately at 80 he is still leaking the wounds of his defeat as a Biafra war veteran. His new book entitled, There was a Country has once again reenacted his tribal or ethnic prejudice against the Yoruba and their foremost leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. For now, one needs to wait for the book to be on the stand so that when one gets a copy to read, a proper review of it can be made. But for the time being, I just want to make a few comments based on what I have read from the excerpts and comments from others. Is Achebe speaking for all the Ibos or he is simply reliving his Biafra experience that he has not been able to psychologically outgrow? I want to believe that the later is the case. A defeat can be very traumatic and dangerously lead to a state of paranoia and I suspect that is the state of mind Achebe is today. I am sure Achebe is very conversant with the interview of the late sage shortly before the presidential election in 1983. No matter what Pa Awolowo might have said, a paranoid Achebe will not care a hoot. Achebe is already in a psychological state of mind that is not intellectually redeemable just as the sage said about Ojukwu who was the prime peddler of the lies of hatred of Awolowo against the Ibos. Did Achebe expect Pa Awolowo to support Ojukwu who failed to listen to the voice of reason and wise counsel of the Sage? Before anyone could go to war, he ought to have counted the cost including feeding, ammunitions, economic resources and strategies needed to win the war. You don’t depend on your enemies to feed and armed you against their people. Or use their currency to purchase ammunitions to advance your inordinate war ambition. It is never done. The idea of feeding the combatants by the opponent is not part of war strategy. The innocent people during the war may not necessarily be innocent. If anyone cares to read Paul Ramsey’s book on Just and Unjust War, the so called innocent who cheer the soldiers or cook for them are after all not innocent. If food items that are meant to feed children and those who do not participate directly or indirectly in the war are hijacked by the soldiers, how do you win the war?  Achebe is a literary story teller and perhaps he is not conversant with what waging war entails. The most disturbing aspect of Achebe’s new book is the timing. Why didn’t he write the book when the Sage was alive? The generations of Nigerians and particularly the Ibos who were not born before the war broke out could be corrupted with this kind of falsehood. For those of us who were adults then cannot be corrupted because we know the facts. We witnessed it. We know the ethnic group that first fired the first shot that led to the war. For firing the first shot the group became the aggressor. We know how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war but Ojukwu and people like Achebe would not appreciate all the entreaties. The Ibos cannot in any way cry foul and blame anyone except themselves. Furthermore Achebe argues that the Ibos are individualistic in their tradition without fear of God and man but endowed to pursue their egoistic interests. If the Ibos are such individuals as described by Achebe, they need to be tamed if they are to live in any corporate existence apart from their own. In a corporate existence life is give and take and not that a group takes all. The earlier the generations of Ibos who were not witnesses of the events that led to the avoidable civil war learn this moral virtue the better. The 21st century offers a world of global village not the world of Chinua Achebe of hatred, bigotry and disrespect for elders. The vituperative attack on the Yoruba Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo by Achebe is an aberration. We live in a corporate existence that is guided by reason and passion for the overall good of humans and not one’s ethnicity takes all that Achebe’s new book perpetuates.   Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

“We know how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war but Ojukwu and people like Achebe would not appreciate all the entreaties.”

 

so

 

May we have an itemized list of “how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war”

There is no obligation to have and press a point of view on a subject that one is not properly informed about. It is looking like some commentators on this subject have not heard of The Aburi Accord, midwifed by Ghana’s Head of State, General Ankrah. Both the Gowon and Ojukwu groups individually agreed and signed that Accord as the (not a) binding basis for a resolution of the troubles of 1966. Gowon returned to Nigeria after the Aburi, Ghana, meetings and unilaterally discarded it. What bad faith? What could have been more dishonest and irresponsible? Was that one of “ how much Gowon…war”? Lest we forget, Gowon’s coup was motivated by the resolve of the Northern Nigerian political elite at the time, to secede- take the Northern Provinces out of Nigerian. The Gowon putsch was called “Operation Araba” by the plotters. Gowon spurned other agreements and proposals. What was Awolowo’s advice to Gowon? We now know the cost of Gowon’s irresponsibility. Nigeria has suffered and continues to suffer since.

It is public knowledge there are supporters and followers of Awolowo who believe that the man was infallible and could do no wrong. The larger public knows otherwise. My advice to the Awolowo people is to speak with anyone who remembers Awolowo’s “penny-a-year Obas” including the present Alafin of Oyo, the family of the late Abraham Adesanya (Odemo of Ishara) and the family of the late Olowo of Owo. I need not mention the people of Ibadan and followers of the late Adegoke Adelabu, the Ogbomosho people and the family of their late son, a former premier of Western Nigeria, and the family of Sam Shonibare.

Achebe has done what a patriotic statesman would do. He has once again contribute to human history, Nigeria’s survival, development, and progress, and Nigerians’ edification and enlightenment, in simple, readable (quality) prose as he is wont to do. My thinking is that he wore both his teacher’s and wisdom hats as he wrote the book.

I have one more piece of advice. Anyone who disagrees with the great man and considers themselves worthy of the designation of academic or serious commentator on any aspect of Achebe’s book, should know what to do namely write their own book.  

 

oa  

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[OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU]

Anunoby,

Are you able to describe precisely the difference between the Aburi Accords as originally agreed and its later modification by Gowon, the reasons for that modification,  as well as Ojukwu's reason for rejecting the modified version?

I would have waited for you to respond but since the post I am responding to  is 2 days old and you might have moved on mentally, I hereby  state, to make my point unequivocally, that this point you make is false:

"Gowon returned to Nigeria after the Aburi, Ghana, meetings and unilaterally discarded it."

I am of the view from your comments, that you have not researched the civil war. A significant degree of your comments are based on Biafra centred myths.

I am of the view that a number of the most vocal and virulent Igbo scholars commenting  on the war on listserves and even on Facebook are actually people who have done little or no research on that war. They feed on a sense of pain that fuels the myths they propagate. They invoke their presence in Biafra as children as evidence of knowledge of the war, and that is where it often ends.

thanks

toyin

--
Compcros

Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems

"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Ogugua Anunoby:

One of the most dangerous aspects of discussions about Awolowo, Western Nigeria and Biafra are the lies and half-truths that are mixed with truths, and used to develop congealed positions that border on intense dislike, even hatred.

You have displayed much of it below, mixing all facts up.

Take the issue of "Penny-per-year Obas" below, which you state with much confidence but very wrongly was  Awolowo's.  In fact, it was CHIEF LADOKE AKINTOLA, who replaced  Awolowo as Premier, but become quickly him main political adversary in Western Region, that IMPOSED a penny-per-year salary on Oba SAMUEL Akinsanya (the Odemo of Ishara) - not Chief ABRAHAM ADESANYA, latter-day NADECO/Yoruba chieftain.   From the 1950s onward, Oba Akinsanya was in fact Chief Awolowo's MAIN SUPPORTER, even though much earlier in 1941, it was because of him that Awo and Zik broke ranks in the NYM over Awo's support for the Ijaw fellow Ikoli over Akinsanya. 

When it comes to the late Olowo of Owo,  in whose palace Awolowo's Action Group was launched in 1951, I do not know why Awolowo was particularly mentioned.  The ex-Olowo was BANISHED by the Military in 1966 (while Awo had been still in prison for four years)  after a revolt by his own people for what they thought was a betrayal:

QUOTE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olateru_Olagbegi_II

Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, Olowo of Owo, Kt (born August 1910 - 1998) was the King (Olowo) of Owo, an ancient city which was once the capital of an Eastern Yoruba city state in Nigeria.[1] He was appointed Olowo in 1941 and ruled for 25 years before he was deposed. His exile from power was a fallout of a regional crisis between two Action Group leaders: Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola. The Action Group which was launched in his palace a decade earlier, was led by Awolowo in the 1950s. A battle of wills between the two gladiators in the early 1960s saw Oba Olateru pitching his tent with Akintola. However, his choice only fomented tension in his community. A military coup in 1966 created an avenue for some citizens of Owo to unleash violence and revolt against Olagbegi. He was banished from power in 1966 by the military administrator of the Western Region. In 1993, he was re-appointed to his former title of Olowo after the death of the reigning monarch.[2][3] He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1960.[4] He died in October 1998 and crown passed to his son Oba Folagbade Olagbegi III.

UNQUOTE

By the way, "the present Alafin of Oyo"  Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III asssumed office in November 1970, and was NEVER imposed a penny-per-year salary by anybody.   In fact, he  was only 16 years old when his father  Oba Adeyemi II  was deposed and exiled  in 1954 for conflict not really with Awo but with Bode Thomas who was a prominent Oyo citizen.

QUOTE

Lamidi's father, the Alaafin of Oyo Oba Adeyemi II Adeniran, was deposed and exiled in 1954 for sympathizing with the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). He had come into conflict with Bode Thomas, deputy leader of the Action Group.

UNQUOTE

As to Aburi, which was in January 1967 and was a club meeting of millitary dictators , there is NO RECORD that Awolowo was in ANY advisory capacity immediately before or immediately after it.  In any case, the Aburi Agreement was NEVER expected to be firmly ratified there and then, but was to be subject to FURTHER discussions following home consultations by the two groups. That is precisely what happened, and what should have happened later was further negotiations, even including a return to Aburi, not secession and war.

There you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 10:44 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu> wrote:

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

Adepoju,

 

Did the Aburi Accord provide for one party, Gowon or not,  to modify it unilaterally?

 Are you aware that Hassan Usman Katsina, a senior military member of Gowon’s team joked about the Accord and Ojukwu mesmerizing people at the meeting with what he called Ojukwu’s  “Oxford English”? He acknowledged that his party was not prepared for the meetings which for him, was reason enough to discard the Accord.

Are you aware of Ghana’s General Ankrah’s statements on Gowon’s refusal to be bound by the Accord?

 

oa

[OLADMEJI ABORISADE]

RE: CHINUA ACHEBE ON BIAFRA WAR AND THE ROLE OF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO IN THE CONFLICT: COMMENTFROM OLADIMEJI ABORISADE:
 I have been following this interesting debate.   It has a starting point. But some people fail to realise  that it must end.  I belong to the group of people who hold the view that the case of  "Biafra" must rest and Nigeria must design programs to bridge the gap. It may not be right to claim that 42 years after the war ended, Obafemi Awolowo starved the Igbos. Please, if we take a quick look at the actionns of Michael Stewart, 1906-1990(MP) who made it clear that it may not be consistent with any  war policy  to fight enemy and at thesame time feed, Obafemi Awolowo may not be blamed for starving the enemy  of the Federal Government to surrender. It is equally necessary to know that Michael Stewart was responsible for supplying arms to the Federal Government to enable it crush the break away Biafra.There are certain things that must be done to end war. Individual cannot be blamed.
 Thank you,
oladimeji aborisade.

---

From: Anun...@lincolnu.edu
To: toyinvinc...@gmail.com; usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 20:28:46 -0500
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

[Kenneth Kalu]

"Achebe is already in a psychological state of mind that is not intellectually redeemable just as the sage said about Ojukwu who was the prime peddler of the lies of hatred of Awolowo against the Ibos." - Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

 

"Living in the US would have normally been a reformative environment for a PAROCHIAL minded scholar that Achebe is." - Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

"No matter what Pa Awolowo might have said, a paranoid Achebe will not care a hoot." - Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

Prof. Ogungbemi's description of Prof. Chinua Achebe - "not intellectually redeemable", "parochial minded scholar", and "paranoid Achebe", etc. Oh, my God! 

 

It is really disturbing to see how otherwise respectable Nigerians allow primordial sentiments to guide their views. I thought everyone was entitled to their views. Using such strong words to describe anyone simply because they hold a different view to yours is simply sad, to say the least. Now, it seems anyone who holds a different view from those of Chief Awolowo or those of Prof. Segun Ogungbemi is "not redeemable" and "parochial minded". When this line of thinking comes from people that the society should look up to, it is easy to see why Nigeria is moving in its present direction. Very sad, indeed! 

 

Shaking my head in disbelief

 

Kenneth Kalu

From: Mobolaji Aluko <alu...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 10 October 2012, 22:26
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

[shina7...@yahoo.com]

" I have been following this interesting debate.   It has a starting point. But some people fail to realise  that it must end.  I belong to the group of people who hold the view that the case of  "Biafra" must rest and Nigeria must design programs to bridge the gap."

Oladimeji Aborisade

And how do we even begin to 'design programs to bridge the gap' when successive governments in Nigeria have been cowardly enough to confront the multidimensional necessities attending Biafra, the case you want us to put to rest? Is that 'Biafra' not a significant part of Nigerian history, and therefore must feature in any attempt to move Nigeria forward?

If intellectuals like Achebe decides to stay with it, contrary to your puzzling suggestion, then they should be applauded for it, and their opinion aggregated in the attempts to move Nigeria forward.

Adeshina Afolayan

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

---

From: OLADMEJI ABORISADE <olaabo...@msn.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:10:24 -0400

To: USAAfricaDialogue<usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

Thank you O. Aborisade for your thoughtful contribution.

Nigeria has to move on. It is the case however that moving on is more difficult to do for all parties, if there are, issues that have not been clearly and fairly resolved and also necessary lessons that might not have been learned. I believe that everyone knows that every war should be ended sooner rather than later. This is not to say however that all is always fair and right in war. There is always the moral side to all human disagreements and conflict, even war. It is the recognition of the human cost of war more than its material costs, that causes Public International Law to include includes the laws of war. Does anyone remember war crimes?

Your reference to Michael Stewart is taken. He could not have meant starving non-combatants including children, the infirm, and the aged/old. Did he? Then again, it was convenient and profitable for him to take the position that he did. Should anyone be surprised that Michael Stewart  “was responsible for supplying arms to the Federal Government to enable it crush the break away Biafra”. I do not think so. He was British. The Harold Wilson’s British government had a dog in the fight. Michael Stewart was not batting for Nigeria or Biafra. He was batting for Britain. I might add that Harold Wilson did reflect on the methods and human cost of that war in retirement. He publicly expressed regret about the methods, and  the human cost of the war, especially on the Biafran side. This for me, is where Awolowo fell short.

Now, we do not know for a fact that there will not be another war in Nigeria. It is for this reason if no other, that conversations such as this one should take place and lessons learned from history. Achebe in my opinion,  has done Nigeria a favor with his latest book. Everyone is advised to take time to ruminate on its contents if they are to help Nigeria and Nigerians not to miss the opportunity that Achebe has provided.

As I tried to say in an earlier post on this forum, those who desire reconciliation at conflict’s end should know not to do or say things that could make reconciliation more difficult or impossible. If you intend to make-up, manage the break up.

[Nkolika Ebele]

Prof Segun,

Reading your write up I came to the conclusion that Achebe succeeded with  what he wanted with the book, that is starting this conversation, for good or for bad, many of you are engaged by this book and eager to read it. By the way, the  views expressed by Achebe on this issue is shared by majority of the Igbo. Since you have better and  rational views on the events of the war, you can do another book that will put the records straight since  Achebe's as you claim is jaundiced by parochialism.

Nkolika

Awka

From: Mobolaji Aluko <alu...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Godwin Okeke]

Dear Ken,
Well captured! But leave Prof. Ogungbemi alone. My advice to him is that if the elders in this forum do not measure their words, we the young ones will abuse the hell out of them!!!
Mmaduabuchi,
We are still watching

---

From: Kenneth Kalu <ken...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 9:30 PM

[Segun]

It is not the case that I don't want to respond to your comments, everyone of you who had read responses from Femi Fani-Kayode, Ayo Adebanjo among others would have got answers to your questions. 

Ebenezer Babatope is coming with more historical documents that will help you know that Awolowo was never an enemy of the Ibos. 

Ojukwu would have counted the cost of going to war properly. I was in Kaduna in early January 1966 before the coup on January 15, 1966. 

The coup victims from the North and South West without any Ibo leaders killed made it suspicious what the Ibos were up to. Azikwe ran away. He later said that he ran away from the scene of danger. Which means he knew that the coup was coming. He would have averted it and saved the pogrom in the North and millions of people who became victims of Biafra war. 

What we objected to in Achebe's book is the lopsidedness and lack of objectivity plus the invocation of hatred that he presents at this time in Nigerian history. Because of his self-hate agenda for Awolowo and the Yoruba race, he has drawn the line of demarcation that makes people to see how the Ibos reason, if it were true that Achebe spoke the minds of majority of his people and not simply his personal opinion. He has the right to write whatever he wants but in doing so, he must remember whether it is to the overall interest of humanity. 

To fan the ember of hatred at this time when he is 80, I am sure is not the best legacy to leave for posterity. 

Segun Ogungbemi. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 12, 2012, at 10:02 AM, Godwin Okeke <sol...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Ken,
Well captured! But leave Prof. Ogungbemi alone. My advice to him is that if the elders in this forum do not measure their words, we the young ones will abuse the hell out of them!!!
Mmaduabuchi,
We are still watching

---

From: Kenneth Kalu <ken...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 9:30 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

"Achebe is already in a psychological state of mind that is not intellectually redeemable just as the sage said about Ojukwu who was the prime peddler of the lies of hatred of Awolowo against the Ibos." - Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

 

"Living in the US would have normally been a reformative environment for a PAROCHIAL minded scholar that Achebe is." - Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

"No matter what Pa Awolowo might have said, a paranoid Achebe will not care a hoot." - Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

Prof. Ogungbemi's description of Prof. Chinua Achebe - "not intellectually redeemable", "parochial minded scholar", and "paranoid Achebe", etc. Oh, my God! 

 

It is really disturbing to see how otherwise respectable Nigerians allow primordial sentiments to guide their views. I thought everyone was entitled to their views. Using such strong words to describe anyone simply because they hold a different view to yours is simply sad, to say the least. Now, it seems anyone who holds a different view from those of Chief Awolowo or those of Prof. Segun Ogungbemi is "not redeemable" and "parochial minded". When this line of thinking comes from people that the society should look up to, it is easy to see why Nigeria is moving in its present direction. Very sad, indeed! 

 

Shaking my head in disbelief

 

Kenneth Kalu

From: Mobolaji Aluko <alu...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 10 October 2012, 22:26
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

Ogugua Anunoby:

One of the most dangerous aspects of discussions about Awolowo, Western Nigeria and Biafra are the lies and half-truths that are mixed with truths, and used to develop congealed positions that border on intense dislike, even hatred.

You have displayed much of it below, mixing all facts up..

Take the issue of "Penny-per-year Obas" below, which you state with much confidence but very wrongly was  Awolowo's.  In fact, it was CHIEF LADOKE AKINTOLA, who replaced  Awolowo as Premier, but become quickly him main political adversary in Western Region, that IMPOSED a penny-per-year salary on Oba SAMUEL Akinsanya (the Odemo of Ishara) - not Chief ABRAHAM ADESANYA, latter-day NADECO/Yoruba chieftain.   From the 1950s onward, Oba Akinsanya was in fact Chief Awolowo's MAIN SUPPORTER, even though much earlier in 1941, it was because of him that Awo and Zik broke ranks in the NYM over Awo's support for the Ijaw fellow Ikoli over Akinsanya. 

When it comes to the late Olowo of Owo,  in whose palace Awolowo's Action Group was launched in 1951, I do not know why Awolowo was particularly mentioned.  The ex-Olowo was BANISHED by the Military in 1966 (while Awo had been still in prison for four years)  after a revolt by his own people for what they thought was a betrayal:

QUOTE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olateru_Olagbegi_II

Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, Olowo of Owo, Kt (born August 1910 - 1998) was the King (Olowo) of Owo, an ancient city which was once the capital of an Eastern Yoruba city state in Nigeria.[1] He was appointed Olowo in 1941 and ruled for 25 years before he was deposed. His exile from power was a fallout of a regional crisis between two Action Group leaders: Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola. The Action Group which was launched in his palace a decade earlier, was led by Awolowo in the 1950s. A battle of wills between the two gladiators in the early 1960s saw Oba Olateru pitching his tent with Akintola. However, his choice only fomented tension in his community. A military coup in 1966 created an avenue for some citizens of Owo to unleash violence and revolt against Olagbegi. He was banished from power in 1966 by the military administrator of the Western Region. In 1993, he was re-appointed to his former title of Olowo after the death of the reigning monarch.[2][3] He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1960..[4] He died in October 1998 and crown passed to his son Oba Folagbade Olagbegi III.

UNQUOTE

By the way, "the present Alafin of Oyo"  Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III asssumed office in November 1970, and was NEVER imposed a penny-per-year salary by anybody.   In fact, he  was only 16 years old when his father  Oba Adeyemi II  was deposed and exiled  in 1954 for conflict not really with Awo but with Bode Thomas who was a prominent Oyo citizen.

QUOTE

Lamidi's father, the Alaafin of Oyo Oba Adeyemi II Adeniran, was deposed and exiled in 1954 for sympathizing with the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). He had come into conflict with Bode Thomas, deputy leader of the Action Group.

UNQUOTE

As to Aburi, which was in January 1967 and was a club meeting of millitary dictators , there is NO RECORD that Awolowo was in ANY advisory capacity immediately before or immediately after it.  In any case, the Aburi Agreement was NEVER expected to be firmly ratified there and then, but was to be subject to FURTHER discussions following home consultations by the two groups. That is precisely what happened, and what should have happened later was further negotiations, even including a return to Aburi, not secession and war.

There you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 10:44 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu> wrote:

“We know how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war but Ojukwu and people like Achebe would not appreciate all the entreaties.”

 

so

 

May we have an itemized list of “how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war”

There is no obligation to have and press a point of view on a subject that one is not properly informed about. It is looking like some commentators on this subject have not heard of The Aburi Accord, midwifed by Ghana’s Head of State, General Ankrah. Both the Gowon and Ojukwu groups individually agreed and signed that Accord as the (not a) binding basis for a resolution of the troubles of 1966. Gowon returned to Nigeria after the Aburi, Ghana, meetings and unilaterally discarded it. What bad faith? What could have been more dishonest and irresponsible? Was that one of “ how much Gowon…war”? Lest we forget, Gowon’s coup was motivated by the resolve of the Northern Nigerian political elite at the time, to secede- take the Northern Provinces out of Nigerian. The Gowon putsch was called “Operation Araba” by the plotters. Gowon spurned other agreements and proposals. What was Awolowo’s advice to Gowon? We now know the cost of Gowon’s irresponsibility. Nigeria has suffered and continues to suffer since.

It is public knowledge there are supporters and followers of Awolowo who believe that the man was infallible and could do no wrong. The larger public knows otherwise. My advice to the Awolowo people is to speak with anyone who remembers Awolowo’s “penny-a-year Obas” including the present Alafin of Oyo, the family of the late Abraham Adesanya (Odemo of Ishara) and the family of the late Olowo of Owo. I need not mention the people of Ibadan and followers of the late Adegoke Adelabu, the Ogbomosho people and the family of their late son, a former premier of Western Nigeria, and the family of Sam Shonibare.

Achebe has done what a patriotic statesman would do. He has once again contribute to human history, Nigeria’s survival, development, and progress, and Nigerians’ edification and enlightenment, in simple, readable (quality) prose as he is wont to do. My thinking is that he wore both his teacher’s and wisdom hats as he wrote the book.

I have one more piece of advice. Anyone who disagrees with the great man and considers themselves worthy of the designation of academic or serious commentator on any aspect of Achebe’s book, should know what to do namely write their own book.  

 

oa  

 

 

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Prof Segun Ogunbemi
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 1:52 PM
To: USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

Achebe on Biafra War and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict        Since Achebe wrote his little book entitled: The Trouble with Nigeria in 1983, I thought he would have changed his parochial perception of the Yoruba and their revered leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo having lived in the US and taught in several Universities there. Living in the US would have normally been a reformative environment for a parochial minded scholar that Achebe is. Unfortunately at 80 he is still leaking the wounds of his defeat as a Biafra war veteran. His new book entitled, There was a Country has once again reenacted his tribal or ethnic prejudice against the Yoruba and their foremost leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. For now, one needs to wait for the book to be on the stand so that when one gets a copy to read, a proper review of it can be made. But for the time being, I just want to make a few comments based on what I have read from the excerpts and comments from others.

Is Achebe speaking for all the Ibos or he is simply reliving his Biafra experience that he has not been able to psychologically outgrow? I want to believe that the later is the case. A defeat can be very traumatic and dangerously lead to a state of paranoia and I suspect that is the state of mind Achebe is today..

I am sure Achebe is very conversant with the interview of the late sage shortly before the presidential election in 1983. No matter what Pa Awolowo might have said, a paranoid Achebe will not care a hoot. Achebe is already in a psychological state of mind that is not intellectually redeemable just as the sage said about Ojukwu who was the prime peddler of the lies of hatred of Awolowo against the Ibos. Did Achebe expect Pa Awolowo to support Ojukwu who failed to listen to the voice of reason and wise counsel of the Sage? Before anyone could go to war, he ought to have counted the cost including feeding, ammunitions, economic resources and strategies needed to win the war. You don’t depend on your enemies to feed and armed you against their people. Or use their currency to purchase ammunitions to advance your inordinate war ambition. It is never done. The idea of feeding the combatants by the opponent is not part of war strategy. The innocent people during the war may not necessarily be innocent. If anyone cares to read Paul Ramsey’s book on Just and Unjust War, the so called innocent who cheer the soldiers or cook for them are after all not innocent. If food items that are meant to feed children and those who do not participate directly or indirectly in the war are hijacked by the soldiers, how do you win the war?  Achebe is a literary story teller and perhaps he is not conversant with what waging war entails. The most disturbing aspect of Achebe’s new book is the timing. Why didn’t he write the book when the Sage was alive? The generations of Nigerians and particularly the Ibos who were not born before the war broke out could be corrupted with this kind of falsehood. For those of us who were adults then cannot be corrupted because we know the facts. We witnessed it. We know the ethnic group that first fired the first shot that led to the war. For firing the first shot the group became the aggressor. We know how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war but Ojukwu and people like Achebe would not appreciate all the entreaties. The Ibos cannot in any way cry foul and blame anyone except themselves. Furthermore Achebe argues that the Ibos are individualistic in their tradition without fear of God and man but endowed to pursue their egoistic interests. If the Ibos are such individuals as described by Achebe, they need to be tamed if they are to live in any corporate existence apart from their own. In a corporate existence life is give and take and not that a group takes all. The earlier the generations of Ibos who were not witnesses of the events that led to the avoidable civil war learn this moral virtue the better. The 21st century offers a world of global village not the world of Chinua Achebe of hatred, bigotry and disrespect for elders. The vituperative attack on the Yoruba Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo by Achebe is an aberration. We live in a corporate existence that is guided by reason and passion for the overall good of humans and not one’s ethnicity takes all that Achebe’s new book perpetuates.   Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.

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[dickson igwe]

I put it to Prof. Ogungbemi that he has insulted his age, generation, academia and tribe through his irrational conclusions about Prof. Achebe. I demand that he withdraws his statements immediate with apology via the same media through which he made them to the Igbo race, academia, his generation, the great wonderful people of Yorubaland, our amiable Pa Awo (may his soul rest in peace), and Prof. Achebe who me simply expressed his personal opinion. Where is intellectualism if debates are one sided?. Yet, Ogungbemi carries the highest banner of intellectualism. TUFIAKWA!!!!!.... The respect and honor I have for cultured great sons and daughters of YORUBA origin cannot allow me to loose my temper to address properly Ogungbemi by engaging the issues in his utterances against his fellow academia who expressed himself. However, Sir, you made me now know that some people may have picked what they profess from the dust bean. you have forced the wind to blow, there is no hidden place for the chicken`s anus. Finally, professors must profess rationally by calling this absurdity to order. --- On Fri, 10/12/12, Godwin Okeke <sol...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[Segun]

I wish your response had substance but unfortunately it did not. 

If you know what it means to be a scholar perhaps you will not respond the way you did. 

Intellectualism requires ability to critically examine issues with objectivity. It is lack of objectivity that made Achebe, an Ibo story teller to receive the kind of criticisms has has received so far. 

Just wait until we all have the book in our hands and not the excerpts. He will get more criticisms after we have read the book. So those of you who are his soldier ants must get ready to defend him. Maybe by the time you read the book you will be disarmed. 

Segun Ogungbemi. 

 

Sent from my iPhone

You have displayed much of it below, mixing all facts up..

Take the issue of "Penny-per-year Obas" below, which you state with much confidence but very wrongly was  Awolowo's.  In fact, it was CHIEF LADOKE AKINTOLA, who replaced  Awolowo as Premier, but become quickly him main political adversary in Western Region, that IMPOSED a penny-per-year salary on Oba SAMUEL Akinsanya (the Odemo of Ishara) - not Chief ABRAHAM ADESANYA, latter-day NADECO/Yoruba chieftain.   From the 1950s onward, Oba Akinsanya was in fact Chief Awolowo's MAIN SUPPORTER, even though much earlier in 1941, it was because of him that Awo and Zik broke ranks in the NYM over Awo's support for the Ijaw fellow Ikoli over Akinsanya.  When it comes to the late Olowo of Owo,  in whose palace Awolowo's Action Group was launched in 1951, I do not know why Awolowo was particularly mentioned.  The ex-Olowo was BANISHED by the Military in 1966 (while Awo had been still in prison for four years)  after a revolt by his own people for what they thought was a betrayal: QUOTE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olateru_Olagbegi_II

Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, Olowo of Owo, Kt (born August 1910 - 1998) was the King (Olowo) of Owo, an ancient city which was once the capital of an Eastern Yoruba city state in Nigeria.[1] He was appointed Olowo in 1941 and ruled for 25 years before he was deposed. His exile from power was a fallout of a regional crisis between two Action Group leaders: Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola. The Action Group which was launched in his palace a decade earlier, was led by Awolowo in the 1950s. A battle of wills between the two gladiators in the early 1960s saw Oba Olateru pitching his tent with Akintola. However, his choice only fomented tension in his community. A military coup in 1966 created an avenue for some citizens of Owo to unleash violence and revolt against Olagbegi. He was banished from power in 1966 by the military administrator of the Western Region. In 1993, he was re-appointed to his former title of Olowo after the death of the reigning monarch.[2][3] He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1960..[4] He died in October 1998 and crown passed to his son Oba Folagbade Olagbegi III.

UNQUOTE By the way, "the present Alafin of Oyo"  Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III asssumed office in November 1970, and was NEVER imposed a penny-per-year salary by anybody.   In fact, he  was only 16 years old when his father  Oba Adeyemi II  was deposed and exiled  in 1954 for conflict not really with Awo but with Bode Thomas who was a prominent Oyo citizen. QUOTE Lamidi's father, the Alaafin of Oyo Oba Adeyemi II Adeniran, was deposed and exiled in 1954 for sympathizing with the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). He had come into conflict with Bode Thomas, deputy leader of the Action Group. UNQUOTE As to Aburi, which was in January 1967 and was a club meeting of millitary dictators , there is NO RECORD that Awolowo was in ANY advisory capacity immediately before or immediately after it.  In any case, the Aburi Agreement was NEVER expected to be firmly ratified there and then, but was to be subject to FURTHER discussions following home consultations by the two groups. That is precisely what happened, and what should have happened later was further negotiations, even including a return to Aburi, not secession and war. There you have it. Bolaji Aluko

On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 10:44 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu> wrote:

“We know how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war but Ojukwu and people like Achebe would not appreciate all the entreaties.”   so   May we have an itemized list of “how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war” There is no obligation to have and press a point of view on a subject that one is not properly informed about. It is looking like some commentators on this subject have not heard of The Aburi Accord, midwifed by Ghana’s Head of State, General Ankrah. Both the Gowon and Ojukwu groups individually agreed and signed that Accord as the (not a) binding basis for a resolution of the troubles of 1966. Gowon returned to Nigeria after the Aburi, Ghana, meetings and unilaterally discarded it. What bad faith? What could have been more dishonest and irresponsible? Was that one of “ how much Gowon…war”? Lest we forget, Gowon’s coup was motivated by the resolve of the Northern Nigerian political elite at the time, to secede- take the Northern Provinces out of Nigerian. The Gowon putsch was called “Operation Araba” by the plotters. Gowon spurned other agreements and proposals. What was Awolowo’s advice to Gowon? We now know the cost of Gowon’s irresponsibility. Nigeria has suffered and continues to suffer since. It is public knowledge there are supporters and followers of Awolowo who believe that the man was infallible and could do no wrong. The larger public knows otherwise. My advice to the Awolowo people is to speak with anyone who remembers Awolowo’s “penny-a-year Obas” including the present Alafin of Oyo, the family of the late Abraham Adesanya (Odemo of Ishara) and the family of the late Olowo of Owo. I need not mention the people of Ibadan and followers of the late Adegoke Adelabu, the Ogbomosho people and the family of their late son, a former premier of Western Nigeria, and the family of Sam Shonibare. Achebe has done what a patriotic statesman would do. He has once again contribute to human history, Nigeria’s survival, development, and progress, and Nigerians’ edification and enlightenment, in simple, readable (quality) prose as he is wont to do. My thinking is that he wore both his teacher’s and wisdom hats as he wrote the book. I have one more piece of advice. Anyone who disagrees with the great man and considers themselves worthy of the designation of academic or serious commentator on any aspect of Achebe’s book, should know what to do namely write their own book.     oa       From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Prof Segun Ogunbemi Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 1:52 PM To: USAAfric...@googlegroups.com Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

Achebe on Biafra War and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict        Since Achebe wrote his little book entitled: The Trouble with Nigeria in 1983, I thought he would have changed his parochial perception of the Yoruba and their revered leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo having lived in the US and taught in several Universities there. Living in the US would have normally been a reformative environment for a parochial minded scholar that Achebe is. Unfortunately at 80 he is still leaking the wounds of his defeat as a Biafra war veteran. His new book entitled, There was a Country has once again reenacted his tribal or ethnic prejudice against the Yoruba and their foremost leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. For now, one needs to wait for the book to be on the stand so that when one gets a copy to read, a proper review of it can be made. But for the time being, I just want to make a few comments based on what I have read from the excerpts and comments from others.

Is Achebe speaking for all the Ibos or he is simply reliving his Biafra experience that he has not been able to psychologically outgrow? I want to believe that the later is the case. A defeat can be very traumatic and dangerously lead to a state of paranoia and I suspect that is the state of mind Achebe is today..

I am sure Achebe is very conversant with the interview of the late sage shortly before the presidential election in 1983. No matter what Pa Awolowo might have said, a paranoid Achebe will not care a hoot. Achebe is already in a psychological state of mind that is not intellectually redeemable just as the sage said about Ojukwu who was the prime peddler of the lies of hatred of Awolowo against the Ibos. Did Achebe expect Pa Awolowo to support Ojukwu who failed to listen to the voice of reason and wise counsel of the Sage? Before anyone could go to war, he ought to have counted the cost including feeding, ammunitions, economic resources and strategies needed to win the war. You don’t depend on your enemies to feed and armed you against their people. Or use their currency to purchase ammunitions to advance your inordinate war ambition. It is never done. The idea of feeding the combatants by the opponent is not part of war strategy. The innocent people during the war may not necessarily be innocent. If anyone cares to read Paul Ramsey’s book on Just and Unjust War, the so called innocent who cheer the soldiers or cook for them are after all not innocent. If food items that are meant to feed children and those who do not participate directly or indirectly in the war are hijacked by the soldiers, how do you win the war?  Achebe is a literary story teller and perhaps he is not conversant with what waging war entails. The most disturbing aspect of Achebe’s new book is the timing. Why didn’t he write the book when the Sage was alive? The generations of Nigerians and particularly the Ibos who were not born before the war broke out could be corrupted with this kind of falsehood. For those of us who were adults then cannot be corrupted because we know the facts. We witnessed it. We know the ethnic group that first fired the first shot that led to the war. For firing the first shot the group became the aggressor. We know how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war but Ojukwu and people like Achebe would not appreciate all the entreaties. The Ibos cannot in any way cry foul and blame anyone except themselves. Furthermore Achebe argues that the Ibos are individualistic in their tradition without fear of God and man but endowed to pursue their egoistic interests. If the Ibos are such individuals as described by Achebe, they need to be tamed if they are to live in any corporate existence apart from their own. In a corporate existence life is give and take and not that a group takes all. The earlier the generations of Ibos who were not witnesses of the events that led to the avoidable civil war learn this moral virtue the better. The 21st century offers a world of global village not the world of Chinua Achebe of hatred, bigotry and disrespect for elders. The vituperative attack on the Yoruba Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo by Achebe is an aberration. We live in a corporate existence that is guided by reason and passion for the overall good of humans and not one’s ethnicity takes all that Achebe’s new book perpetuates.   Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.

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[Okechukwu Ukaga]

"We know the ethnic group that first fired the first shot that led to the war. For firing the first shot the group became the aggressor."

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.

Segun, which ethnic group fired the first shot, when and where? 

OU

Okechukwu Ukaga, MBA, PhD
Executive Director and Extension Professor,

Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership, University of Minnesota, 

114 Chester Park, 31 W. College Street, Duluth, MN 55812

Website:http://www.rsdp.umn.edu/Northeast/index.htm

Phone: 218-341-6029  Fax: 218-726-7566

Book Review Editor, Environment, Development and Sustainability

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." - Richard Buckminster Fuller

[Rex Marinus]

" It is lack of objectivity that made Achebe, an Ibo story teller to receive the kind of criticisms has has received so far. 

Just wait until we all have the book in our hands and not the excerpts. "

-Segun Ogungbemi

 

Segun Ogungbemi does truly "know what it means to be a scholar." His knowledge and grasp of scholarship is so vast that he can critique a book "objectively" without first reading it. Well, all of us I'm certain, will be waiting for him to FINALLY read the entire book, and then make that earth-shattering statement that will turn Chinua Achebe, that "Ibo(sic) storyteller" into mush, with Ogungbemi's fearful pen and his divinatory power of language and sign. We are waiting. I am waiting.

Obi Nwakanma

 

---

From: Segun...@yahoo.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2012 21:00:24 +0100
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

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[Mobolaji Aluko]

Okechukwu, Segun:

No "ethnic group fired the first shot" in the Nigerian Civil War.  It was a secessionist portion of the country - made up of a number of ethnic groups, with a majority of Ndigbo - being forcibly engaged in a re-unification battle with the rest of Nigeria, made up of quite a number of ethnic groups (majorly Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba).  Nigeria first declared a Police Action - thinking that it was not as serious as it first was - but when it was confronted with some fire-power from Biafra, it changed it to a full-scale war on or around July 9, 2012.

Here is a fairly accurate of the first few months of the Civil War:

QUOTE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Civil_War

The Nigerian government launched a "police action" to retake the secessionist territory. The war began on 6 July 1967 when Nigerian Federal troops advanced in two columns into Biafra. The Nigerian army offensive was through the north of Biafra led by Colonel Shuwa and the local military units were formed as the 1st Infantry Division. The division was led mostly by northern officers. After facing unexpectedly fierce resistance and high casualties, the right-hand Nigerian column advanced on the town of Nsukka which fell on 14 July, while the left-hand column made for Garkem, which was captured on 12 July. At this stage of the war, the other regions of Nigeria (the West and Mid-West) still considered the war as a confrontation between the north (mainly Hausas) against the east (mainly Igbos)[citation needed]. But the Biafrans responded with an offensive of their own when, on 9 August, the Biafran forces moved west into the Mid-Western Nigerian region across the Niger river, passing through Benin City, until they were stopped at Ore (in present day Ondo State) just over the state boundary on 21 August, just 130 miles east of the Nigerian capital of Lagos. The Biafran attack was led by Lt. Col. Banjo, a Yoruba, with the Biafran rank of brigadier. The attack met little resistance and the Mid-West was easily taken over. This was due to the pre-secession arrangement that all soldiers should return to their regions to stop the spate of killings, in which Igbo soldiers had been major victims.[8][12] The Nigerian soldiers that were supposed to defend the Mid-West state were mostly Mid-West Igbo and while some were in touch with their eastern counterparts, others resisted. General Gowon responded by asking Colonel Murtala Mohammed (who later became head of state in 1975) to form another division (the 2nd Infantry Division) to expel the Biafrans from the Mid-West, as well as defend the West side and attack Biafra from the West as well. As Nigerian forces retook the Mid-West, the Biafran military administrator declared the Republic of Benin on 19 September.

Although Benin City was retaken by the Nigerians on 22 September, the Biafrans succeeded in their primary objective by tying down as many Nigerian Federal troops as much as they could. Gen. Gowon also launched an offensive into Biafra south from the Niger Delta to the riverine area using the bulk of the Lagos Garrison command under Colonel Benjamin Adekunle (called the Black Scorpion) to form the 3rd Infantry Division (which was later renamed as the 3rd Marine Commando). As the war continued, the Nigerian Army recruited amongst a wider area, including the Yoruba, Itshekiri, Urhobo, Edo, Ijaw, and etc. Four battalions of the Nigerian 2nd Infantry Division were needed to drive the Biafrans back and eliminate their territorial gains made during the offensive. The Nigerians were repulsed three times as they attempted to cross the River Niger during October, resulting in the loss of thousands of troops, dozens of tanks and equipment. The first attempt by the 2nd Infantry Division on 12 October to cross the Niger from the town of Asaba to the Biafran city of Onitsha cost the Nigerian Federal Army over 5,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured or missing.

UNQUOTE

Any attempt to represent the Civil War either purely as an ethnic engagement or a religious engagement - by Prof. Achebe, Prof. Ogungbemi or anybody else for that matter - is disingenuous, and plays into the hands of propagandists.  If there were people that starved in the war - as there were many - then they were Nigerians like you and I holed up at that time in a secessionist enclave, and not for any other reason.

The death of ALL Nigerians in that Civil War is regrettable.  We should never have any such war, and glorification of any side of the war merely invites another if care is not taken.

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

PS:  I finally got a hold of a copy of Prof. Achebe's book in Abuja a few days ago - but only for a very brief period of time.   Olusegun Adeniyi flashed it to me in passing by me in a car, and when I took a hold of it and insisted on taking it away, he BEGGED me as an aburo would an egbon, and I had to oblige him.  I am sure that if I had insisted, he would have backed down, and I would have finished reading the book now.  But the reviews are in anyway....

[Okechukwu Ukaga]

Bolaji, my broda:

If we want to accurately and honestly talk about who "fired the first shot", then we have to state clearly without gymnastics the it is in fact the Nigerian army that "fired the first shot" through the police action. And that police action was countered by the secessionist portion of the country in self defense. The, the federal army enhance their effort...and the whole thing snowballed into the civil war.  

In any case, Segun's statement about which ethnic group fired the first shot, etc, not only exposes his ignorance but also illustrates his bias.  

OU

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Okechuwku my broda:

It is NOT a useful argument who fired the first shot, whether real (like "who fired the first gun shot?") or metaphorical (like "who took the first inciting step, remote or immediate,  that eventually led to war?")  

None of us here was at the particular war front - except for Cyberspace pretenders - to determine the real first shot, while the metaphoric fist shot, we can go back and back: secession announcement, 12-state creation, carpet crossing, Awo/Zik, etc..

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

[dasy...@yahoo.com]

My brothers, Profs Aluko, Ogungbemi, Okechukwu, and dear members of this great family of USAAfrica dialogue, it is not a healthy discourse either, I mean Prof Achebe's ill-timed book which has achieved more than the author's sincere original intention, "...the need to learn from history". It reminds me of our elders' saying, "the word is an egg, when it drops on the ground you cannot put the pieces together any more". Already, I see indications  of a further fragmentation of kinship, of relationship built on forgiveness and Christly love for one another. 

Rather than be hasty in our responses as did the youthful and overzealous military officers who carried out the first military coup, or be biased in our debate as those who failed to implement their own assignments in the coup, or be as erratic as the "Boko Haram" sect of Nigeria's mid-60s who slaughtered innocent Igbos in the  North, we should be wiser, we should all admit that terrible mistakes were made either by commission and omission,  on every side and, we should, therefore, spare our energy on the rightness or otherwise, of all that culminated in the fratricide we call civil or Biafran war. Or we shall all be guilty of not learning from history! 

Let me illustrare with this example: it cannot by any standard be justified, to have violated an otherwise decent and promising girl at her prime youth, then at a later time, at the point she is trying to settle down to a happy married life, the rapist returns flaunting his exploitation of years back, at her innocent helpless face, with relish.(the Nigerian context)

So one can understand the reactions and responses, so far, in light of the mental and physical assault, the inflicted multiple pains, and losses occasioned by the very unfortunate war, which are better imagined, and best forgotten, just like the case of the metaphoric "raped girl". There was no sense in the rapist's return to torment his victim of many years with "a better forgotten event" regardless of its indelibility, unless he is an unrepentant beast and a sadist! 

 Now what has Prof Achebe's new book achieved? No doubt, he did not cause the war, but his book has succeeded in... opening up old wounds, generating old hate and blind tribalism, encouraging arrant mediocrity and adult delinquency, given the reactions, some genuine, some, plain ignorance;  and on this listserve, tearing friends and respected colleagues apart. We must avoid turning the our sacred sanctuary of profound intellectuals into a madding house and revered priests should not degenerate to the level of Ojota-Lagos "area boys"!

 At Achebe's 80 years, the book is certainly going to  be a best seller, given the author's uncommon skill of story telling and pedigree. His current effort under reference also translates into much dollars for the author and his publishers. But can we sincerely say that it impacts positively on our fragile unity as a nation, or on our sense of patriotism as true Nigerians?

Perhaps I may also add that my Igbo bretheren should look beyond the civil war as the cause of the current challenge of Igbo national re-integration. To the best of my knowledge, there is no tribe that has succeeded with national integration in the first place, whether under the military or the civilian government. What we have had in this country has mostly been individualized integration of a pack of wolves and scavengers who do not believe in  "the Nigeria project or interest"; they  are in politics for the acquisition of "necessary power" to serve and protect their "own" interest (ill gotten wealth) "at all cost including robbing the people and the nation's treasury silly in order to take care of their sickly appetite, and satisfy the wants of their children and unborn children. These individuals are drawn from all existing tribes; many more are being recruited, while those believe no one can change the situation busy putting up themselves to be recruited.

 It is greed, self-centeredness, and parochialism that culminate in the unpecedented corruption that is the challenge currently ravaging our land!

I advise we put our house in order if as true patriots we believe in the Nigeria project. We must not be distracted by the tragic crimes of the past and current political leaders. Let us engage in a healthier discourse: how to get our nation back on track. Let us make our contribution in this family more robust, especially on what we can possibly do to wrestle our dear country from the monstrous claws of the cabal that neither have positive vision nor clue to move the country, our nation, forward. 


Ademola Omobewaji DASYLVA, PhD,
Professor of African Literature & Oral Lirerature;
Coordinator, Ibadan Cultural Studies Group,
University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
& Convener, TOFAC.,

Visiting Professor of African Literature,
Department of English,
Redeemer's University,
Mowe, Km 46, Lagos-Ibadan Express Way,
Ogun State, Nigeria.
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Web: arts.ui.edu.ng/aodasylva
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dasy...@yahoo.com

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-------- Original message -------- Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict From: Mobolaji Aluko To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com CC:

K

[OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU]

Segun Ogungbemi is largely correct in his summation of   Achebe's essay, where he sums up his views, focusing on the place of Igbos in Nigeria. Ogungbemi is correct in describing Achebe as parochially minded. I would go further and describe Achebe as delusional. 

I also insist that, to a person, the Igbo fighters  I have read here so far  are largely ignorant of the war. Their analysis are shallow and at times uninformed as to facts. Their comments are largely anecdotal and show little reflexive engagement with the war and its aftermath. 

I expect  that those Igbos  who are better informed are keeping quiet. 

That person who claims Achebe is speaking for Igbos should speak for himself. He is likely to be living in a fantasy.

I have been busy, but before the end of today, I will demonstrate 

1. The schoolboy character of Anunoby's postulations about something he has only heard of but not studied: the Aburi Accords

2. The folklorish kind of history represented by such postulations about the civil war as  blaming Nigeria for firing the first  shot. 

3. Why Ogungbemi is largely right about Achebe. Why Achebe has cheated Nigeria, himself and his Igbo people by that essay he wrote.

4. Give a catalogue of Igbo views on the war that show that Achebe  is living in a cramped ideological space  that other Igbos might not be eager to share with him and sum up the place of Igbos in Nigeria in a way that will demonstrate    that Achebe's claim that Igbos have never been integrated into Nigeria makes one wonder if he is referring to the planet Earth.

thanks

toyin

[Segun]

Okechukwu;

The police action was not meant to kill anyone unless for self-defense. The conclusion you drew from the premise was a mere assumption. The police action was not and I repeat,  was not to attack the secessionists unless they were attack.  From what the Federal Government did, it showed that the secessionists were the aggressors. That was how the war broke out.  As I have said,  I will go to my records of the war and give you accurate information. There is no bias or ignorance displayed so far. I was a witness to a lot of events that led to the war and the prosecution of the war. 

It was an  unnecessary war which ought to have been avoided.  

Segun 

Sent from my iPhone

You have displayed much of it below, mixing all facts up..

Take the issue of "Penny-per-year Obas" below, which you state with much confidence but very wrongly was  Awolowo's.  In fact, it was CHIEF LADOKE AKINTOLA, who replaced  Awolowo as Premier, but become quickly him main political adversary in Western Region, that IMPOSED a penny-per-year salary on Oba SAMUEL Akinsanya (the Odemo of Ishara) - not Chief ABRAHAM ADESANYA, latter-day NADECO/Yoruba chieftain.   From the 1950s onward, Oba Akinsanya was in fact Chief Awolowo's MAIN SUPPORTER, even though much earlier in 1941, it was because of him that Awo and Zik broke ranks in the NYM over Awo's support for the Ijaw fellow Ikoli over Akinsanya.  When it comes to the late Olowo of Owo,  in whose palace Awolowo's Action Group was launched in 1951, I do not know why Awolowo was particularly mentioned.  The ex-Olowo was BANISHED by the Military in 1966 (while Awo had been still in prison for four years)  after a revolt by his own people for what they thought was a betrayal: QUOTE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olateru_Olagbegi_II

Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, Olowo of Owo, Kt (born August 1910 - 1998) was the King (Olowo) of Owo, an ancient city which was once the capital of an Eastern Yoruba city state in Nigeria.[1] He was appointed Olowo in 1941 and ruled for 25 years before he was deposed. His exile from power was a fallout of a regional crisis between two Action Group leaders: Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola. The Action Group which was launched in his palace a decade earlier, was led by Awolowo in the 1950s. A battle of wills between the two gladiators in the early 1960s saw Oba Olateru pitching his tent with Akintola. However, his choice only fomented tension in his community. A military coup in 1966 created an avenue for some citizens of Owo to unleash violence and revolt against Olagbegi. He was banished from power in 1966 by the military administrator of the Western Region. In 1993, he was re-appointed to his former title of Olowo after the death of the reigning monarch.[2][3] He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1960..[4] He died in October 1998 and crown passed to his son Oba Folagbade Olagbegi III.

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[OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU]

With due respect, Prof. Dasylva, I doubt  if this point is sustainable:

'To the best of my knowledge, there is no tribe that has succeeded with national integration in the first place, whether under the military or the civilian government.'

Is that not a disservice to Nigeria? 

What is integration?

Achebe baldly states that the Igbos were not and have never been integrated into Nigeria. 

That is a lie. Possibly a wicked and mischievous lie. If he believes that fantasy, then he is being delusional and that should be clearly stated. No mincing words so everybody can asses the significance of the words of a so called elder that must be defused when they spread  dangerous lies. 

Igbos are among the most prominent actors in the Nigerian landscape, from Benin to Kano. The culture of trading networks across cities is defined by Igbos. The creation of trading enclaves  often significantly  ethnic centred in their proprietors, is centrally defined by Igbos, from the spare parts  markets, book markets and others in Benin and Lagos to those which I understand exist in the North. 

The centrality of Igbos in Nollywood does not need elaboration  from Kenneth Nnebue's Living in Bondage, which is the beginning of Nollywood,  to what I expect is the centrality  of Igbo traders in the funding and marketing networks that fuel  Nollywood, to the iconic visibility of male and female Igbo film stars in Nollywood. These include the gravitas of Pete Edochie,   as in the memorable Rituals, the hilariousy ridiculous Mr. Ibu, John Okafor,  the irrepressible  Osita Iheme and Chinedu Ikedezie, Aki and Paw Paw, the unforgettable Nkem Owoh of Osofia in  London and I Go Chop Your Dollar, the dashing  Tony Umez and many more better known by those who are avid Nollywood watchers. 

 Obiageli Ezekwesili, as Federal Minister of Solid Minerals and Minister of Education, Bart Nnaji as Minister of Power,   Dora Akunyil's famous time at at NAFDAC, Okonjo-Iweala's  elevation in her World Bank job  on account of the global prominence she received in her role as Nigerian finance minister, a national and subsequent global positioning  that enabled her to run for the World Bank Presidency, even as he was returned as Nigerian Finance Minister, Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, are among the footprints of Igbos at the highest levels of national service, in the most prestigious appointments,  apart from the Presidency. 

The Presidency, on the other hand,  has hardly ever been free of accusations of manipulation and it has decided more by coups from northern Nigerian soldiers than by  democratic or quasi-democratic methods. 

Exemplary achievement  from Igbos has been recognised by such achievers being asked to work in the Nigerian government or  its organs. This include the drafting of the Biafran engineering corps to a Nigerian research institute, PRODA after the war, as described by Ukaegbu, the eventual appointment of the top Biafran engineer Gordian Ezekwe, as Minister of Science and Technology, to more recent appointments at the higest echelons of the army, among others. 

The Igbo presence in Benin is so strong that the people of Benin have been agitating for years to have adequate recognition of their language in church services, and for a Benin bishop, which  I dont think they will get in a hurry. The bishops are either Igbo, European or some other group but never Benin because there is no Benin bishop. 

The University of Benin had an Igbo Vice-Chancellor well before a Benin person became VC. The Benis fought desperately before  they got the  VCship. The Igbo scholars at that university across all faculties are among the most successful. 

Even in crime, the Igbos have distinguished themselves.  Advance Fee Fraud, better known as 419, might have existed before Igbos entered into it but they professionalised it, in the process enabling it to develop its own factual and folkloristic  history,   its own mythology,   heroes and networks of apprenticeship  and mastership  reaching from Lagos to the Igbo lands of Ibuzor, among others. Eze Ego, the King of Money, is one of those near mythic names from the  419 universe. 

Strategic kidnapping began in Nigeria with the Niger Delta militants, who focused on kidnapping workers of the oil companies. It was Igbos who made kidnaping an industry, creating networks of power that  rendered entire communities  in Igboland hostage, creating a climate of terror, and discouraging affluent Igbos from going to the East, such as the reported distance Igbo actors gave their homes in the East after the kidnapping and ransom of  Nkem Owoh. Pete Edochie was also kidnapped in Igboland and the same for the wife of John Okafor.

When you have the space to excel  in both good and bad, how can you be described as not being integrated? 

Some are arguing about  Federal underdevelopment of  South Eastern Nigeria but I wonder if such claims can hold water in relation to notions of Igbos being unintegrated into Nigeria. 

What should the Edos and others do then? 

What should the Niger Delta do, their land still devastated , and their Presidential slot having emerged more by good fortune than significant  political skill? 

In the light of this brief description of contemporary  Igbo achievement in Nigeria, I hold that Achebe's declaration that Igbos have never been integrated into Nigeria is a lie. A wicked lie. If it is not a deliberate untruth, then it is the most fantastic delusion.  It has empowered people like the irrational zealot on Facebook who worked himself into a frenzy with his delusional declaration that Igbos are universally hated in Nigeria and linked that to the claim that Nigeria tried to exterminate all Igbos in the civil war.  Not surprisingly he blocked  my access to his Facebook page when I politely   educated him on the falsehood of his position. 

We should clear the air on all these issues until and if we are  satisfied, if that is possible.  It  is better than bottling them up and striking out in violence or passing on resentment and possibly falsehood or half truths or outright distortions  across generations. 

thanks

toyin

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[Ademola Dasylva]

My dear brothers, Profs Aluko, Ogungbemi, Okechukwu, et al., members of this great family of USAAfrica dialogue, it is not a healthy discourse either, I mean, Prof Achebe's ill-timed book which unfortunately has gone out of control beyond the author's sincere original intention, "...the need to learn from history". It reminds me of our elders' saying, "the word is an egg, when it drops on the ground you cannot put the pieces together any more". The proverbial word was mismanaged by political (both civilian and the military) gladiators, and carelessly dropped on the ground and exploded on our heads as the civil war. Again, Prof. Achebe has dropped the proverbial word again, and, already, I can see an indication of a further fragmentation of our long cherished kinship, a puncturing of a relationship built on forgiveness and Christly love for one another.

Rather than be hasty in our responses as did the youthful and overzealous military officers who carried out the first military coup, or be biased in our debate as those who failed to implement their own of the assignments in the coup plot, or be as erratic as the "Boko Haram" sect of Nigeria's mid-60s who slaughtered innocent Igbos in the North, innocent to the degree that they never knew anything about the hatched coup plan, we should be wiser, we should all admit that terrible mistakes were made either by commission or omission, or even both, on every side and, we should, therefore, spare our energy on the rightness or otherwise, of all that culminated in the "fratricide" we call civil or Biafran war. The politicians in the past ruined our oneness, our unity. We must avoid falling into the same pit of parochialism, Or we shall all be guilty of not learning from history too!

Let me illustrate with this example: it cannot by any standard be justified for somebody to have violated an otherwise decent and promising girl at her prime youth, then at a later time, at the point she is about settling down to a happy married life, the rapist returns flaunting his exploitation of years back, at her victim's innocent helpless face, with relish.(the Nigerian context)

So one can understand the reactions and responses, so far, in light of the mental and physical assault: the inflicted multiple pains, and losses occasioned by the very unfortunate war, which are better imagined, and at best forgotten, just like the case of the metaphoric "raped girl". There was no sense in the rapist's return to torment his victim of many years by jolting her memory with "a-better-forgotten-misfortune", regardless of its indelible scar in victim's subconscious, unless the rapist is an unrepentant beast and a sadist! Her reaction might predictably be far far more violent than what we are witnessing in this forum!

Now what has Prof Achebe's new book achieved? No doubt, he did not cause the war, but his book has succeeded in... opening up old wounds, generating old hate and blind tribalism, encouraging arrant mediocrity and adult delinquency, given the actions, reactions and counter-reactions; some genuine, some, plain ignorance; and on this list serve, Prof Achebe's "faction" has succeeded in tearing friends and respected colleagues apart. Mba, mba, we must avoid turning this our sacred sanctuary of profound intellectuals into a madding house. At the same time, our revered priests should avoid degenerating to the level of Ojota-Lagos "area boys"! 

At Achebe's 80 years, the book is certainly going to be a best seller, given the author's uncommon skill and pedigree of story telling. His current effort under reference also translates into more dollars for the author and his publishers. But can we sincerely say that it impacts positively on our fragile unity as a nation,especially when our rudderless fondering Stateship is about capsizing; can we quantify the damage it is capable of wreaking to our sense of patriotism as true Nigerians, at this point in time when many families are grieving for the loss of their bombed loved ones by Book Haram sects, or homes devastated by flood coupled with the embarrassing inaction of a government that seems to have no clue; or the spate of kidnappings and organized violent killings, millions of unemployed Nigerian youth without hope anywhere, while a "few elects" only have problems with how to spend their amazing loot? In a scenario like this, when everyone is on edge, Prof Achebe's new book is a veritable petrol to fuel the crisis further and deeper. That will not certainly not be the role of any elder of Prof Achebe's social stature in my village. He bridles his mouth until people are more relaxed and ready to listen. That way, it is less explosive and rewarding as a stepping stone to progress. 

Perhaps I may also add that my Igbo bretheren should look beyond the rather over-flogged "civil war" as the real issue and the cause of the current challenge of Igbo national re-integration. To the best of my knowledge, I dare submit that there is no tribe that has succeeded with national integration whether under the military or the civilian government. What we have had in this country has mostly been individualized, and as such what we have always had is "individualist integration" of a pack of wolves and scavengers who do not believe in "the Nigeria project or interest"; they are in politics for the acquisition of "necessary" power to serve and protect their "own" collective interests (ill gotten wealth) "at all cost, including robbing the people, and looting  the nation's treasury silly in order to take care of their sickly appetite, and satisfy the wants (mark you, not "needs") of their children and unborn children. These individuals are drawn from all existing tribes; many more are being recruited, while those who believe that no one can change the situation are busy putting themselves up for recruitment.

Fellow compatriots, it is greed, self-centredness and parochialism that culminate in the unprecedented corruption that is the challenge currently ravaging our land!

I advise we put our house in order if, as true patriots we believe in the Nigeria project. We must not be distracted by the tragic crimes of the past and current political leaders. Let us engage in a healthier discourse: how  best to get our nation back on track. Let us make our contribution in this family more robust, especially on what we can possibly do to wrestle our dear country from the monstrous claws of these political clowns that neither have positive vision nor clue to move the country, our nation, forward.

Ademola O. Dasylva, PhD

Visiting Professor of African Literature,

Redeemer's University,
Mowe, Km.46, Lagos-Ibadan Express Way,
Ogun State, Nigeria.

On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 11:34 PM, Segun <Segun...@yahoo.com> wrote:

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Professor of African Literature & Oral Literature
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Ibadan, Nigeria.

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[Segun]

Toyin;

Thanks for your remark and comments. I enjoy your analytical approach. It brings clarity on issues you address to the fore.  I initially thought you to be a philosopher like me. 

Back to the antics of Achebe and his delusion, I believe he is reading our various comments.  Prof. David-West has added his voice to the debate. I am sure you have it. 

What Nigeria needs today is true federalism. Each geo-political zone to continue where Pa Awolowo stopped in the case of South West. But we have to amend the constitution to make it work or at best a national conference where each ethnicity will decide what is best for itself in the new Nigeria project. 

It is when that happens, in my view, that the issue of integration, marginalization and all what not can be resolved. 

Thomas Hobbes is correct when he argued that one of the elements of human nature is greed. We cannot cure the decease of human greed overnight. It has to be gradual and the roles of education and moral values have to be emphasized. 

I hope one day we will get to the Eldorado if we use the right tools for the journey. 

Segun. 

Sent from my iPhone

toyin

You have displayed much of it below, mixing all facts up..

Take the issue of "Penny-per-year Obas" below, which you state with much confidence but very wrongly was  Awolowo's.  In fact, it was CHIEF LADOKE AKINTOLA, who replaced  Awolowo as Premier, but become quickly him main political adversary in Western Region, that IMPOSED a penny-per-year salary on Oba SAMUEL Akinsanya (the Odemo of Ishara) - not Chief ABRAHAM ADESANYA, latter-day NADECO/Yoruba chieftain.   From the 1950s onward, Oba Akinsanya was in fact Chief Awolowo's MAIN SUPPORTER, even though much earlier in 1941, it was because of him that Awo and Zik broke ranks in the NYM over Awo's support for the Ijaw fellow Ikoli over Akinsanya.  When it comes to the late Olowo of Owo,  in whose palace Awolowo's Action Group was launched in 1951, I do not know why Awolowo was particularly mentioned.  The ex-Olowo was BANISHED by the Military in 1966 (while Awo had been still in prison for four years)  after a revolt by his own people for what they thought was a betrayal: QUOTE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olateru_Olagbegi_II

Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, Olowo of Owo, Kt (born August 1910 - 1998) was the King (Olowo) of Owo, an ancient city which was once the capital of an Eastern Yoruba city state in Nigeria.[1] He was appointed Olowo in 1941 and ruled for 25 years before he was deposed. His exile from power was a fallout of a regional crisis between two Action Group leaders: Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola. The Action Group which was launched in his palace a decade earlier, was led by Awolowo in the 1950s. A battle of wills between the two gladiators in the early 1960s saw Oba Olateru pitching his tent with Akintola. However, his choice only fomented tension in his community. A military coup in 1966 created an avenue for some citizens of Owo to unleash violence and revolt against Olagbegi. He was banished from power in 1966 by the military administrator of the Western Region. In 1993, he was re-appointed to his former title of Olowo after the death of the reigning monarch.[2][3] He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1960..[4] He died in October 1998 and crown passed to his son Oba Folagbade Olagbegi III.

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