Umunne m, ana m ekele unu nile,

Series of events in recent times create an imperative for leadership of opinions which should aid our continued progress/survival in the Nigerian nation. It is specifically at times like these that we most need unity of purpose. So, please read patiently and digest responsibly.

So, let me cut to the chase!

First, I wish to thank every Nigerian who stands with the truth, and urge the rest to repent.

Secondly, I thank the Almighty God for his steadfastness and love towards Ndigbo, and the immense blessings he has showered on us over the years, from January 1970 till now. It is self evident that Ndigbo made giant strides over the past 42 years; only a blind person would think otherwise. We achieved far beyond the expectations of our civil war foes, including those who plotted our outright extermination.

As I always say, these successes are not handed to us by anybody; neither are they results of government policy. They are products of sheer doggedness, grit, passion for one’s job, fear of God, fearlessness, discipline, spirit of partnership (onye aghala nwanne ya), education, adventure, and collective repudiation of evil (the Bible says that righteousness exalts a nation). The list is not exhaustive, but if you are Igbo, you know the rest. I have never seen a family progress beyond one generation if that family is evil, or dwells in iniquity (leading a lifestyle of evil). Igboland is what it is today because of the cumulative effects of all the qualities I listed above. Yes we are progressing, and in leaps and bounds! BUT I’m worried now. Why am I worried? I’m worried because our progress will certainly attract the old twin enemy –ENVY and JEALOUSY. Yes, not everyone is happy about our progress.

Let me give one example –the “Achebe(ian) truth” chronicled in his latest book THERE WAS A COUNTRY is eliciting disproportionate "indignation" from certain quarters in Nigeria. Quote me anywhere, it would be very difficult to find ONE Igbo who disagrees with Achebe’s version of the civil war events. I am still searching the cyberspace and have come across NONE. Popular proverb says that only the shoe wearer knows where it pinches. It is trite that an unaffected party can never understand the pain!

So, why is the book generating so much passion from certain quarters in Nigeria completely unaffected by the impact of the starvation policy during the civil war? Why do certain individuals (particularly Yoruba) blow their fuses, even when some of their own kinsmen support Achebe’s version of events? Why is there so much vitriol coming from these corners of Nigeria? Already, you see some of them making threats and promising genocide on our people for sticking with the truth and refusing to be shouted down.
Why are certain people from Yoruba land determined to become Awolowoans instead of Yoruba? Achebe never generalized in his book; he singled out Awolowo for censure, yet you see people from Yoruba land talking as if he censured the whole of Yoruba land. The more they try to claim the censure, the more ludicrous the attempts seem. However, that should not be our concern. People are free to choose their own gods and are also free to worship that god whenever and however they choose.

My only interest is that we Ndigbo must keep a very close eye on the pronouncements and statements coming out of Yorubaland. If we even as much as blink, it can prove one mistake too many! We may be sitting on a ripe fruit! The amount of chatter going on in cyberspace should warn us Igbo to develop and imbibe a new paradigm of worldview.

The clear disjoint between Achebe’s censure of Awolowo and the disproportionate (almost collective) opposing response therefore tells me that the anger and chatter has little, if anything at all, to do with Achebe’s book. It seems to me, that the “controversy” generated by the book is only being manufactured by enemies of Ndigbo to create a pretext for an anti-Igbo paradigm in Nigeria. However, this is precisely when we need to be focused, strong, courageous and united! This is when we need unity within ourselves most! This is actually an opportunity for us to avoid some of the mistakes of pre-1966. Take a cursory look at Nigeria, you would see that God has given us another opportunity; let us not blow it! We only need to be strong, courageous and united. Let us never forget, that our loss in the civil war was initiated by an altruistic nationalistic action led by our sons who couldn't stand by and watch the destruction of Yoruba land. That action backfired seriously and we paid in millions of innocent lives. I wish for us to always remember that, and NEVER forget.

In light of the current events, I state as follows:


(1) We must support Achebe with every fiber of our beings because he stated the truth!
(2) We must step into our opponents’ shoes (whoever they may be and wherever they are) to look at them the way they look at us (very important!).
(3) Ndigbo must as a matter of urgency stop assuming that everyone in Nigeria means well for us.
(4) We must work with ANYONE to ensure that our future and investments in all parts of Nigeria are secure.
(5) We must NOT allow our values to obfuscate our reality (if anyone wishes us death, we must wish him/her death too -that is Mosaic law!)
(6) We must be ready to inflict on the enemy 10 times the amount of evil that the enemy plans for us (that is how Israel survives). We must reciprocate good of course.
(7) We must NEVER support any person or group politically who does not protect our interest in the Nigerian nation.

I am a Christian, but if my survival would be threatened because of my Christian beliefs, I would convert to Judaism, Islam or any other religion that recognizes my right to self defense and military conquest of my enemy (if necessary). We must borrow a big leaf from the Jews because there is no nation on this planet with more similar circumstance with Ndigbo.


Umu Igbo, aku di mkpa, mana ndu ka aku!

In the process of making economic advancement, we must make military and political advancements too, else, one day we will lose all.

Onye obula muru anya ka azu!

Here I stand!

Signed,

Onlytruth, Ndu di n'eziokwu 1 of Igboland, Eze Ndigbo Nairaland

Look at what are book they are yet to read talkless of having a copy is causing instead of the Orubanyi to attack Achebe they are attacking an entire race with vitrolic,caustic and ascerbic remark(Orubanyi) remove Y.

Hmmm

Those Awoists who hope to obfuscate the truth by making noise and drawing irrelevant distractions are wasting their time. Prof. Achebe is not a man known to shy away from speaking the truth. I have read this book,There was a country, a personal history of Biafra, and Prof Achebe really mentioned Awolowo in passing. He didn't make him a subject matter.So i don't understand why Awoists should be making so much noise. Except of course,they knew the man was a war criminal and just didn't want his past exposed. Too bad, it is all exposed now.

.

You know they are loud mouthed.Biafra will forever remain an enigma imagine almost the whole country fighting a war against Ndi Igbo.For the war to drag on for 3 years shows that Biafra is mighty and powerfull.

Chidi4u: You know they are loud mouthed.Biafra will forever remain an enigma imagine almost the whole country fighting a war against Ndi Igbo.For the war to drag on for 3 years shows that Biafra is mighty and powerfull.

That's impossible because you lost the war and your chicken village war leader ran like a pussyyyyy with the money he charged for landing fees while his people starved. On top of that, you are still irrelevant and nobody in Nigeria so what mighty and powerful are you talking about again?



Delusional people....lmao

Britain,Us France and U.s.s.r four permanent members of the United Nations joined Nigeria in the fight yet the Biafrans could not be quickly annahilated.Three years is such a long time upon all the international conspiracy against us.

Rantings of fools. Ojukwu committed genocide against his own people.

And then the lion of Ikenne committed Sucide.perhaps his evil Machinations never fully materialzed hence this abominable option.

Hahahaha! Funny how Yorubas have turned AWOLOWO into Yoruba and Achebe into Igbo. This just goes to show how banded they are in their myopic tribalism.
Igbos now know who the enemy is. The North can be excused for their narrow world view and general ignorance. What excuse does the Yoruba have for how they behave?

I fear people like Eko Ile may develop heart attack over this issue. lmao... we can all now see the manifestation of the saying truth is bitter. The so called awoist were thinking this genocide act of awolowo will be swept under the carpet like the literary do in their everyday lives but thanks the Hero Achebe has pulled the carpet wide open before the national and international community. Now their god and ancestor awolowo has been exposed for the selfish lot (who will – albeit unsuccessfuly – go to any extent for power) and war criminal he is. Every awoist is restless and panting, like a worm that has been bathed with salt. must really hurt. But notwithstanding, on Achebe's position we stand.

Germannig: Hahahaha! Funny how Yorubas have turned AWOLOWO into Yoruba and Achebe into Igbo. This just goes to show how banded they are in their myopic tribalism.
Igbos now know who the enemy is. The North can be excused for their narrow world view and general ignorance. What excuse does the Yoruba have for how they behave?

I still can't understand it, frankly, except of course that they approve all Awolowo actions during the war.
Nevertheless, Awolowo is still not Yoruba tribe. He can NEVER be, because there are at least the Wole Soyinkas in Yorubaland.
Our job is to ensure that the Awoists never see the light of day in Nigerian national politics.

In fact, Ndigbo should resolutely scrutinize the "Awoist opinions" of every Yoruba seeking national office, or needing our political support.
I even advise Ndigbo in Lagos to ensure that they NEVER vote for any Awoist in any elections over there.
Any gubernatorial candidate over there courting Igbo vote should be subjected to thorough scrutiny.

Onlytruth: In fact, Ndigbo should resolutely scrutinize the "Awoist opinions" of every Yoruba seeking national office, or needing our political support.
I even advise Ndigbo in Lagos to ensure that they NEVER vote for any Awoist in any elections over there.
Any gubernatorial candidate over there courting Igbo vote should be subjected to thorough scrutiny.

You people never learn. You killed Sardauna but underestimated how much the man was loved by his people, unfortunately, you are still suffering for the senseless killing. Achebe attacked Awolowo viciously and you, foolish Eze, fail to understand why the Yorubas are angry. Awolowo is as revered in the SW as Sardauna was in the North, your advise to Ndigbo in Lagos is narrow minded, counterproductive and dumb.

ndu_chucks:

You people never learn. You killed Sardauna but underestimated how much the man was loved by his people, unfortunately, you are still suffering for the senseless killing. Achebe attacked Awolowo viciously and you, foolish Eze, fail to understand why the Yorubas are angry. Awolowo is as revered in the SW as Sardauna was in the North, your advise to Ndigbo in Lagos is narrow minded, counterproductive and dumb.

If you are smart enough, you would have deciphered that the REAL purpose of this thread is to hammer it into Igbo heads that others don't share similar mindset and worldview with us. You have just reiterated this point and bolstered my position. Thank you very much! lol
Achebe spoke the truth, BUT we should expect and get ready for any eventualities. As far as I know, the only reason why we fell into a hidden genocidal trap in 1966 and 1967 was because of our naivety in Nigeria; we never saw others as they saw us!

I was not there between 1960 and 1966 when we Ndigbo held vantage position in Nigeria; but I can guess, that there was definitely some bad blood and accusations coming our way concerning the incarceration of Awolowo for treason in Calabar; never mind that the North was largely responsible for that. We Ndigbo had no reason whatsoever to be unhappy with Nigeria (even if the west burnt to the ground); we were fine! Yet, a few idealistic young Igbo army officers felt that they could not stand by while evil threatened to destroy Yorubaland; so, they organized other Nigerians (many non-Igbo) to conduct the January 1966 coup.
You and I agree that Nzeogwu had no clue the extent to which you deified your Sarduana (no matter how un-Nigerian his political views were). The young officers only knew that he was un-Nigerian and had to go.

That is why I am here today warning other Igbo to step into others' shoes in Nigeria and view Nigeria like they do. They Igbo should always view others as they view us.
If they do that, I promise them that we shall not only survive, but THRIVE in Nigeria.

So, ndu_chucks, your hatred blinded you to the extent that you were supporting me without knowing!

Those idealistic Igbo soldiers didnt see any of Okpara, Azikwe, Osadebey, or any of the numerous Igbo ministers in the Federal govt to kill?

Anyway they got what they deserved

Onlytruth:

If you are smart enough, you would have deciphered that the REAL purpose of this thread is to hammer it into Igbo heads that others don't share similar mindset and worldview with us. You have just reiterated this point and bolstered my position. Thank you very much! lol
Achebe spoke the truth, BUT we should expect and get ready for any eventualities. As far as I know, the only reason why we fell into a hidden genocidal trap in 1966 and 1967 was because of our naivety in Nigeria; we never saw others as they saw us!

I was not there between 1960 and 1966 when we Ndigbo held vantage position in Nigeria; but I can guess, that there was definitely some bad blood and accusations coming our way concerning the incarceration of Awolowo for treason in Calabar; never mind that the North was largely responsible for that. We Ndigbo had no reason whatsoever to be unhappy with Nigeria (even if the west burnt to the ground); we were fine! Yet, a few idealistic young Igbo army officers felt that they could not stand by while evil threatened to destroy Yorubaland; so, they organized other Nigerians (many non-Igbo) to conduct the January 1966 coup.
You and I agree that Nzeogwu had no clue the extent to which you deified your Sarduana (no matter how un-Nigerian his political views were). The young officers only knew that he was un-Nigerian and had to go.

That is why I am here today warning other Igbo to step into others' shoes in Nigeria and view Nigeria like they do. They Igbo should always view others as they view us.
If they do that, I promise them that we shall not only survive, but THRIVE in Nigeria.

So, ndu_chucks, your hatred blinded you to the extent that you were supporting me without knowing!

Good tok broda.Yorrobers have perfected the art of setting the country on fire,then screaming for help.The naive Igboman usually steps into the traps by trying to put out the flame for the yorrober guy.Then,the same Yorrober that set the fire in the first instance will raise alarm that the Igboman has set his house on fire and get people to murder the naive innocent guy.Igbos must learn when to stay out of the fry and just let Yorrobbers deal with the fire they set intentionally. Igbos must master the yorrober man's nature of thriving in chaos and deceit.The first lesson is don't trust anything they tell you.

cjrane:
Good tok broda.Yorrobers have perfected the art of setting the country on fire,then screaming for help.The naive Igboman usually steps into the traps by trying to put out the flame for the yorrober guy.Then,the same Yorrober that set the fire in the first instance will raise alarm that the Igboman has set his house on fire and get people to murder the naive innocent guy.Igbos must learn when to stay out of the fry and just let Yorrobbers deal with the fire they set intentionally. Igbos must master the yorrober man's nature of thriving in chaos and deceit.The first lesson is don't trust anything they tell you.

Isn't it obvious these Igbos need another round of bashing to recognize that theft are Third Class citizens in this Country. After the failed misadventure of the Civil War, the same Yorubas these idiiiiotts collectively abused led their reintegration back into Nigeria.

cjrane:
Good tok broda.Yorrobers have perfected the art of setting the country on fire,then screaming for help.The naive Igboman usually steps into the traps by trying to put out the flame for the yorrober guy.Then,the same Yorrober that set the fire in the first instance will raise alarm that the Igboman has set his house on fire and get people to murder the naive innocent guy.Igbos must learn when to stay out of the fry and just let Yorrobbers deal with the fire they set intentionally. Igbos must master the yorrober man's nature of thriving in chaos and deceit.The first lesson is don't trust anything they tell you.

Isn't it obvious these Igbos need another round of bashing to recognize that they are Third Class citizens in this Country. After the failed misadventure of the Civil War, the same Yorubas these idiiiiotts collectively abused led their reintegration back into Nigeria.

What? Igbos "collectiively" insulted yorubas. When was this bros

Degis:

Isn't it obvious these Igbos need another round of bashing to recognize that they are Third Class citizens in this Country. After the failed misadventure of the Civil War, the same Yorubas these idiiiiotts collectively abused led their reintegration back into Nigeria.

Let truth be told even though heaven may fall.

Yes, he did speak the truth but certain people rather peddle falsehood. Oh well, only the truth will suffice in the long run.

The truth is that, a bloody civilian taught a military warlord a lesson he refused to learn when he was still growing up in the barracks (the warlord was busy chasing kids hawking mango in the barracks).

The truth will always be bitter no matter how its been swallowed! @poster imeela nke ukwu. Chukwu gozie gi.

Well...if you are Biafraecentric ..and still believe in Biafra, you will totally sink in Achebe'e work without asking questions.

To you...It's an axiom that needs no further scrutiny

Exactly,thank u eze.

Biafra was born and Biafra fell because we didnt see others the way they saw us.
Ironsi labelled northern elements as friends and surrounded himself with them. Ojukwu labelled yorubas as friends, trusting the future of biafra on a yoruba man called banjo,sharing secrets with aluko, never saw awolowo as his no1 foe he was.

The mistakes of the past must not be repeated.

^^ Mistakes of the past especially killing other peoples leaders and sparing yours shouldnt be repeated