coolitempa:
Coming from the same Zik that preached one Nigeria till he died....come again. The same Zik that inserted the clause that precluded any region from breaking away before independence...the same Zik that abandoned Bia.fraud for Nigeria at the height of the conflict....these ipods are surely swimming in delusion when they blame an innocent man like the great Awo who was following the constitution.

Youngadvocate:

You agreed there was a pogrom/a senseless blood-letting and massacre (which I will soon dig out) and then you agreed Ojukwu was a soldier, even more, a leader of the Eastern Nigeria. What was a soldier supposed to do when the people he had sworn to protect were continually Massacred, so much so, without justifiable Basis?

pazienza:


Yoloba liar. No one stopped Awolowo from seceding from Nigeria, atleast not Zik. The British made it clear that there was no option for independence of any Nigerian group outside Nigeria.

Bamenda that wanted to secede were given the option of either joining Cameroun or remaining with Nigeria, no option of independence was offered.

I'm sure that if Awo pushed for unity of Odua with Benin republic, the French and British would have reached a compromise and let him.

"Secondly at the 1954 Constitutional Conference
that was held in Lagos, the Action Group, under the
distinguished leadership of Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, demanded that the “right to secession”
be included in the proposed new constitution. This
was rejected by the Colonial Secretary, Oliver
Lyttleton."
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/time-
think-femi-fani-kayode/


Yolobas must learn that non of their falsehoods against Ndiigbo will survive 21st century scrutiny.

Intrepid01:


Sometimes I wonder if the hatred in you peoples life is just in the flash or blood, but I cant but believe it is congenial.

There's nothing that can be done to pacify children of hate, Hausa-Fulani that purnished your fathers and mother's during the war you don't take them up but Yorubas.

Sometimes I wonder when you people talk of hatred towards you from the Yoruba, if not that you and your fathers are naturally ungrateful people. You would have known that before an after the war no tribe has bn more accommodating to the yeebos than Yoruba....

No tribe ppotwcted your properties during the war than Yorubas did but cos Yorubas are forever ahead of you, which is too bittter for you to swallow, na to hate.

Besides, what is you peoples problem with Yoruba succeeding, if we decide to it not , it is none of your fathers business.

Only cowards and people that have accepted to be perpetual loosers run away from challenges. Yeebos lost and wanted to run awa, the same way they lost in 2015 and crying to secceed.

The naked truth is, you people will continue to loose in Nigeria and wont be allowed to go anywhere, you'll be seriously whipped to line. Politically you're irrelevant and a minority in this Country.

Intrepid01:



Can you see that your sense of reasoning n comprehension needs urgent improvement?

Who made him the leader of the Eastern Nigeria?

Does bn the Governor of Eastern Nigeria,via appointment of the FG at the time translates to "leader" in your own word?

You decided to be smart by half and left all.the damming points and ask an irrelevant question, maybe you should ask yourself what caused the pogrom as well.

pazienza:


So in other words, you have no problem with your forerunners cooking up image damaging Igbophobic falsehoods and handing it down to you lots to continue propagating in this 21st century.

But you have problems with Ndiigbo debunking your lies and redeeming our image from your campaign of calumny?

Youngadvocate:

Bro, I am not fighting with you. Can't just start now.
However, on the question of whether Ojukwu was a Leader of the Eastern Nigeria...come on...that shouldn't even resurface. Every Easterner looked up to Ojukwu as at then. For your benefit, I would recommend you read the account of N.U. Akpan, the then Chief of (Civil Service) Staff in which he highlighted how Ndi Igbo "looked up to him as their saviour from the Massacre". They pleaded with him to recall Igbo people in Kaduna, Kano and other crisis torn areas then.
Ojukwu was just more than an idol then and it would be expensively ridiculous to say the least.

Nalikedis:
What is so difficult about ending a war? why solicot for the help of OAU to stop a war? wait...When the war finally ended did we need the help of any OAU or president to end it? abeg...Ojukwu should have just called gowon and declare the war over... and that's the end... abi? Zik met with his friend to push Biafra issue to the fore in O.A.U... Awo led Nigeria delegation to the meeting to upturn Zik pro Biafra moves.. so wetin dey there? abeg...

Intrepid01:


Bros I am not also fighting you.....Ibos looked up to Ojukwu at the time cos he was outspoken about their course. He assumed the role of a leader . Nobody made him the leader of the Ibos but himself. Come to think of it, how can he even be chosen as the leader of the Ibos when people like Nnamdi Azikiwe was still living?

But the dude was power drunk, he wanted power by all means and couldn't stomach the fact that Gowon is now the Head of State.

He took an opportunity at the expense of his own people, just like many Ibo leaders did with him.

Often times inhave asked these questions; howany of Ojukwus, Achebes, Effiongs, Azikiwes children died either through the celebrated starvation or gun during the war?

Despite the propagated animosity during the war, how come Achebe was still able to father 2 children during the war?

How come Ojukwu was able to make provision for his family when he was fleeing but couldn't make provisions for the people of Biafra? Rather, he left them to suffer the bad fate he brought on them.

Adolf Hitler could have ran away after it became clear that he had lost, Mohammad Ghadaffi was offered assylum by Russia and Saudi Arabia, they all refused cos they were men of Honour; who were genuine in their course, stood and died for what they believed in.

But our Coward friend (Ojukwu) after beating his chest that he'll bring Nigeria to her kneels , after subjecting the Ibos to unwanted war , he fled in the middle of the night.

Maybe he would have died a hero if he lost his life during the war , rather than live a villain after the war. No wonder Ibos never voted for him in all the elections he contested. Even Nnewi Senatorial election he lost.

What a shame.

Odingo1:

What have a Yoruba man ever stood for,that is why Emirate stool is installed all over your land from illorin to offa without a single opposition to Hausa- Fulani

Intrepid01:


Bros I am not also fighting you.....Ibos looked up to Ojukwu at the time cos he was outspoken about their course. He assumed the role of a leader . Nobody made him the leader of the Ibos but himself. Come to think of it, how can he even be chosen as the leader of the Ibos when people like Nnamdi Azikiwe was still living?

But the dude was power drunk, he wanted power by all means and couldn't stomach the fact that Gowon is now the Head of State.

He took an opportunity at the expense of his own people, just like many Ibo leaders did with him.

Often times inhave asked these questions; howany of Ojukwus, Achebes, Effiongs, Azikiwes children died either through the celebrated starvation or gun during the war?

Despite the propagated animosity during the war, how come Achebe was still able to father 2 children during the war?

How come Ojukwu was able to make provision for his family when he was fleeing but couldn't make provisions for the people of Biafra? Rather, he left them to suffer the bad fate he brought on them.

Adolf Hitler could have ran away after it became clear that he had lost, Mohammad Ghadaffi was offered assylum by Russia and Saudi Arabia, they all refused cos they were men of Honour; who were genuine in their course, stood and died for what they believed in.

But our Coward friend (Ojukwu) after beating his chest that he'll bring Nigeria to her kneels , after subjecting the Ibos to unwanted war , he fled in the middle of the night.

Maybe he would have died a hero if he lost his life during the war , rather than live a villain after the war. No wonder Ibos never voted for him in all the elections he contested. Even Nnewi Senatorial election he lost.

What a shame.

Intrepid01:
Lol...kikikikikiki....it is so unfortunate that this lies will continue to spread till eternity.....look at he children of hate blaming Awolowo for self inflicted pain and death.
I read the article carefully and I could see through the wall scripted self exhonorating lies of Mr. Azikiwe. Who in many instances absolved himself of any blame whatsoever. He was so smart that he apportion blame to both sides (Awolowo , FG and Ojukwu) but none to himself. That is typical of an Ibo man, they are never wrong. Ofcourse how can they be wrong?

Imagine a stupid argument and statement from Ojukwu and his errand peace maker, you want to make peace with Nigeria. You didn't seek solution in Nigeria but rather declared a sovereignty within a sovereignty a d you're expecting the other party to come sit with you in a round table. Discussing what exactly?

Imagine some one takes a portion of your land and his seeking for peace afterward. Why not return the land and address the issue that made you do that in the first place....

Many people have not asked the right question, beyond the exaggerated pogrom of 1966 which was causedby the killing of Northern leaders by Ibo soldiers,could there be other reasons for Ojukwus hurryfor seccession?

What was really Ojukwus problem about accepting Gowon as the Head of state?

Why declare a war when you know you dont have want it takes to fight it?

If the pogrom of 1966 by Northern soldiers was bad, then Ojukwus declaration of seccession was worse. Cos that singular action resulted in more death than the pogrom.

Lastly, why will a Soldier who declared war for the love of his people ( assume), in the thick of it abandon the same people and run with his own family to anoda country?

PFRB:


Ojukwu said that the army hierarchy should be followed in succession. he pointed at Brigadier Ogundipe to take over since Ironsi had died.
When Ogundipe ran away, he pointed at Cornelius Adebayo to take over. Gowon refused and held on to power.
Both Ogundipe and Adebayor are Yorubas. I hope you know.

Nalikedis:
What is so difficult about ending a war? why solicot for the help of OAU to stop a war? wait...When the war finally ended did we need the help of any OAU or president to end it? abeg...Ojukwu should have just called gowon and declare the war over... and that's the end... abi? Zik met with his friend to push Biafra issue to the fore in O.A.U... Awo led Nigeria delegation to the meeting to upturn Zik pro Biafra moves.. so wetin dey there? abeg...

At Niamey here was Ojukwu. I was on his side. Gowon wasn’t there but Haile Sellassie, Hamani Diori, Tubman and General Akran were there representing OAU. So, I told Ojukwu, I said now you have an upper hand. These respected leaders of the OAU were there. I had briefed Ojukwu. I said ‘look your line of approach is to express appreciation for what the OAU was doing in order to maintain peace in Africa but you were prepared to co-operate and you are leaving the whole matter in the hands of the OAU to see what could be done to bring an earlier cessation of hostilities. I said just say that and thank them and sit down.

Now Gowon didn’t attend. He sent a junior man, I think Alhaji Femi Okunnu or so, to represent him. And they didn’t even attend this conference at which the four heads of state presided. It was only the Biafran side. So Ojukwu won a diplomatic victory and you know Ojukwu is a very good speaker if you give him all the facts. He was a good public relations expert and he won. He said, ‘well if Gowon was sincere why did he spite such great men and didn’t attend?’ That worked.

They agreed that Nigeria could be contacted so that we have a peace conference in Addis Ababa. It was a diplomatic victory for Biafra and so we returned to Biafra highly elated. And Ojukwu insisted that I should accompany him to Addis Ababa. Then something happened.

Some of his advisers felt that I was becoming a victim of compromise and that I was a bad influence. That all I was trying to do was to make Biafra impotent. They told Ojukwu that Biafra was holding its own militarily. And why should we want a peace conference? That he should be very, very careful with me, especially as an Onitsha man because they thought that I was using him as a means to give publicity for myself internationally and that time will come when people will look more to me than to himself.

Well, as a young man, human, he fell for such flattery. I don’t want to mention all the names, but particularly influential in swinging his opinion at that material time was Mr. C. C. Mojekwu, who was based in Lisbon. Then Mr. Matthew Mbu was our Commissioner for External Affairs and he himself did as much as possible, but then he realized that he was having someone who has power of life and death over everybody. So, we went to Addis Ababa and on the night before the conference, Matthew came to my bedroom at about 10 in the night. He said, “Do you know that all we have done, this man is going to undo them tomorrow?’ I said ‘No’. Then he brought out a printed version of a long speech. The world press said it lasted for 90 minutes.

He [Ojukwu] went back on everything we discussed. He attacked the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union - all the nations of the world and the OAU, and said that they were misleading us and that the sovereignty of ‘Biafra’ was not negotiable. We went to the conference. I sat next to him. I thought that he was going to speak in accordance with the spirit of Niamey. But he spoke for 90 minutes and he just got the whole place upside down.

Naturally Tony Enahoro - he led the Nigerian delegation - replied in kind and so we were back to square one. So, when we returned, I advised him. I told him that I was surprised at what he did but it was not late.

He said, ‘The sovereignty of Biafra is not negotiable and if anybody should try to compromise that sovereignty, then it will be an act of subversion.’ Well, that was quite clear to me so I said, ‘Your Excellency, you still have Port Harcourt and you can still bargain from position of strength - after all, the main issue in the civil war is oil and they say that in international politics, oil is combustible and as you have a combustible situation you can begin from the position of strength’. He said, ‘No, Port Harcourt is impregnable.’ ‘Very well, Your Excellency,’ I said. I went back to Nekede where I had been in protective custody since February, 1968. Two weeks later, Port Harcourt fell.

He sent for me. I said, ‘Well, Your Excellency, I did warn you. You cannot now negotiate from a position of strength but having received recognition from four states, we can still use them to see what we can do to appeal to the outside world.’ He said, ‘Very well, I think you should go to the United Nations to seek for recognition.’

I said, ‘Your Excellency, let us wait until after OAU summit in Algiers and find out what Africa thinks.’ In the meantime, I went to Tunisia to see my friend Habeeb Bourguiba of Tunisia. He wasn’t quite well, so we moved from Carthage to Hermit where he stayed. Ojukwu had always said the civil war would be won on the battlefield and not on the conference table, and Bourguiba didn’t take kindly to that. He said don’t you people advise this young man? I explained to him that I have done everything I could to advise him, but he insists on going to the battle field.

So we crossed our fingers awaiting the verdict of Algiers. You know it was decided by 33 to 4 in favour of Nigeria. I advised Ojukwu that to go to the United Nations to seek recognition would be unrealistic since Africa had decided by 33 to 4 in favour of Nigeria. I said Nigerian envoys, the Nigerian delegations, would just percolate the membership of the United Nations and they would frown at the whole thing. He insisted.

I was then in Paris. I wrote him a letter. I said, ‘Since you refuse to go to the conference table to negotiate for peace, since you prefer that the civil war should end on the battle field and not on the conference table; since you said that the sovereignty of Biafra is not negotiable, I am afraid I cannot continue as a peace envoy because you have destroyed all the vestiges of any optimism for peace. Therefore I am relieving myself of my services as a peace envoy.

I cannot continue as a peace envoy. I cannot continue as a peace envoy because you have let me down. You left me under the impression that if I succeeded in getting recognition you will go to the conference table. You got four recognitions; you did not go to the conference table. I am therefore going to London on exile.’ http://igbobia.com/?q=igbo-fact-fileread-the-1979-interview-dr-nnamdi-azikiwe-had-with-mohammed-haruna-on-biafra.html-0

Youngadvocate:
1. On the Paragraph, I think it safe to say, with all due respect, that you seem not to be abreast with the nature of leadership. Circumstances make Leaders. Leadership isn't basically a position or a role. It is the function of a personality in a circumstances. Leaders are born out of the circumstance of either solving a problem or creating one.
2. I would perhaps, give you the benefit of the doubt by putting out the question of Azikiwe and Ojukwu who is a better leader to Ndi Igbo and graciously, I would share the responses with you and so, I believe, you take back that line comparing Ojukwu /Azikiwe when the Biafra war is given a mention.

3.From all accounts by international writers, safe Pro-Nigerian-history-distorting-writers, there is consensus underpinned in strong facts that Ojukwu left the shores of Biafra Land under unwavering persuasion from the Leaders and right thinking persons of Biafra because if he had been captured, it would have meant that one, Nigeria won the war, two, that there would never be the mention of Biafra, there could have been conviction and possible imprisonment or execution of the Biafra armies that fought the alongside Ojukwu which Nigerian Government was ever matching forward to.
4. Biafra, in the account of the war, from the side of truth, out-tpowered Nigeria, having captured her territory as far a past Ore and over the banks of kogi and Benue. Nigeria could only rely on external assistance and the of course, the Historic sabotage from a Yoruba man, Banjo and his Igbo counterpart, Ifeajunna.
5. The facts are out there that Ojukwu made all moves possible to prevent the war but the cabal that dictated for Gown never wanted that to happen because the world, influenced by the British government was yet behind Nigeria.
Please, Bro, make your research before setting out your hypothesis.

At the end of it all when I saw they (Biafran soldiers) could no longer continue and Ojukwu had fled, I did what was ideal after wide consultation.... http://www.africamasterweb.com/EffiongTheMan.html

SpecialAdviser:
Going 2ru this piece showed me how humble and peace loving Ojukwu was.

I'm impressed. What impresses me more is that those who frustrated any peace move have suffered for their stubbornness and their generation are still suffering.

pazienza:


Yoloba liar. No one stopped Awolowo from seceding from Nigeria, atleast not Zik. The British made it clear that there was no option for independence of any Nigerian group outside Nigeria.

Bamenda that wanted to secede were given the option of either joining Cameroun or remaining with Nigeria, no option of independence was offered.

I'm sure that if Awo pushed for unity of Odua with Benin republic, the French and British would have reached a compromise and let him.

"Secondly at the 1954 Constitutional Conference
that was held in Lagos, the Action Group, under the
distinguished leadership of Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, demanded that the “right to secession”
be included in the proposed new constitution. This
was rejected by the Colonial Secretary, Oliver
Lyttleton."
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/time-
think-femi-fani-kayode/


Yolobas must learn that non of their falsehoods against Ndiigbo will survive 21st century scrutiny.

SuperS1Panther:
@ laudeate -- thanks for posting th concluding part of their narratives.

The OP deliberately left that part out.

The bottom line is whether they embraced peace or not, they were resoundingly defeated and turned to war slaves and booties. End of story.

coolitempa:


At whose prompting....you will soon die from your hate of Yorubas. It is a known fact that of all three regions from the days, it was only the western region that demanded the right to secession. Your iPod infected attempt to distort historical facts is dead on arrival.

SuperS1Panther:
@ laudeate -- thanks for posting th concluding part of their narratives.

The OP deliberately left that part out.

The bottom line is whether they embraced peace or not, they were resoundingly defeated and turned to war slaves and booties. End of story.

WHY ABURI ACCORD FAILED, BY ASIODU |tnv | THE NIGERIAN VOICE |

Asiodu: But coming back from what I was saying. Go and read decree 8, if we had implemented it - in three months, we would have had four independent states.

Q: Why was it not implemented?

Asiodu: "Because, it didn't satisfy the Easterners. The decree had been promulgated by Gowon. It was to be implemented then. But it was seen by Ojukwu as not being sufficient. I am saying that politics is something which has to be played with some tact. Sometimes my brothers there see black and white where there is immediately green in between. Sometimes, there is really no finesse in politics. They will think the reality is not important as how you get there. The reality was that Nigeria was finished under decree number 8. The reality is that although it was finished, they didn't proclaim 'we hereby dissolve Nigeria'. But that was of no effect. You go and read it. But it was rejected...." https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/thread/12170/87243/1

Asiodu: "Then few of us- Alison Ayida, late Aliu Martins, myself, Abdulaziz, who served in the East, 'we went to ask Ojukwu what is it you want so that we could prepare the ground for a meaningful conference, where every side would know what they are saying.' Eventually, just as Ojukwu was warming up to tell us what he wanted , so that we could have come back to Lagos, sell those ideas to Gowon, and see if we can reach agreement, C. C. Mojekwu came and broke up the meeting.

He destroyed that last chance, and we flew back empty handed. Before they started cooking up the Aburi, they went to with unequal preparation. But before then, General Gowon was only communicating with him as an officer. He did know that behind Ojukwu, people were working. So, we didn't want Ojukwu to get the wrong impression. In anyway, we then agreed that a letter be prepared, addressed from my house, signed by Alison Ayida,who was in Oxford (cuts in, he was in Oxford too?) at the same time? Two of us signed this letter trying to spell out to him the consequences of what will happen if secession was declared. That there would be war and if there is war, until you vanquished federal authority, you will not get recognition which will give you access to the sea, and so on.

I can be embittered. I can feel for my people. But I have a duty to make sure that every step I take, I have calculated all the scenarios and make sure that in the worst scenario , I am not taking them to a worst decision. https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/thread/12170/87243/1

Asiodu:"When they subjected this Aburi accord to simple analysis, it was simply saying Nigeria is no more practically. And as far as was concerned, the civil war or no civil war, then chaos would have started later. All the same, we said look, … if we still want to be a country….authority which deals with customs, currency, federal trunk roads, foreign and external defences, that is more than enough for a government. But it must be able to act.

You can not say that in the Ministry of Defence, you can not promote somebody a Lt Col, except you have a unanimity. You cannot move one plane to another place except through unanimity. Even when you have those limited powers, they must be able to function. And you cannot function in the context of those things they said. And then what you have is four countries.

Q:And the permanent secretaries vetoed it?
Asiodu: "No. The permanent secretary made analysis and said look, if you are really serious, if you say you are having Nigeria, you must have central function which must be fulfilled. There is no need saying this is central function and you cannot fulfill it. So, we analysed and said these were based on incorrect premises. People came with proper papers, well formulated. The other side just went thinking they were going to do initial breaking of the ice. Therefore, please try to reconcile this to ensure that we still have a country.

Gowon in fairness, vetoed that approach, and still proceeded to have decree number 8 of 1967. If you go and read that decree, and if the East had accepted that decree, there would have been no need for secession. Nigeria would have disintegrated within three months. And you can not move anybody without unanimity. You collect revenue, you cannot transfer it…"

Q: Decree 8 was an affirmation of Aburi accord?
Asiodu: It was an affirmation of the Aburi accord which gave the East under Ojukwu, more than 95 per cent of what Aburi meant. But because there were maybe one or two phrases which they didn't like, if they read that thing and it is still there, they'd have got what they wanted. But it was such that, hostilities would have broken out among four independent countries. Not one on one.

And I think, we don't have much time now. With the present challenges in the country and the lack of serious effort to address the issue, we may even be in worse position if we are not careful. Because, this time, it will not be federal versus Biafra, but among 110 million people. So we are going to end up with warlords, if authorities should finally break down and I appeal to God that we avoid that, by stopping all these jokes as if we can continue milking this country forever.

What we are doing is not sustainable. And the sooner we address, try to create a new national austerity programme, discipline ourselves, decide that we cannot be millionaires, billionaires in little islands with a whole ocean of poor wretched people, there would be this tsunami which will overwhelm all of us.https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/thread/12170/87243/1