chukwuawka:

It is even clear how 42 years after the war, there are strong calls for the re-instatement of the Republic of Biafra by MASSOB and even most of you out there. We are aware that change does not come so suddenly; it takes time and some meticulous planning. Today I can authoritatively say that that change is taking place as you are reading this article. But very slowly and steadily. When HE shall be revealed, the world will be flabbergasted how the rejected tribe has turned out to be the chosen one.

@ Chukwuawka,
Nwanne udo dirigi, biko achorom idere gi na email gi, we need people like you, and all u said is the pure and gospel truth,

obuekwe:

In the past fifty years Africa, just like other parts of the world has experienced many social and political upheavals of earth-shaking magnitude.  Of all the wars that have happened within this period both in Africa and elsewhere none has had so much devastating and of a far-reaching effect in terms of human death tolls and collateral property damage like the Biafra War. Yet in spite of this fact it is about the least remembered and talked of wars of recent history.  Why?

GAR3TH:

Because. . . .

1 - Its wasn't the most nor was it near as devastating and far-reaching effect in terms of human death tolls and collateral property damage as other wars in the last 50 years. There were more important and meaningful wars that were fought in the same time period.

2 - After 40 years people have moved on, unfortunately there are still a few chess beaters out there.

3 - The war was basically a joke, Both side were at fault and in the end you got a pointless war. Biafra could had easily got a UN sponsored referendum back in 1967, they could have got a UN sponsored referendum through out those 40 years and they could get a UN sponsored referendum today. So why didn't they? Mid west region got a referendum as did many other countries/places, so why not biafra? why war?

4 - Biafra was an Igbo movement and not an eastern region nor a southern movement, this is why you ONLY see some igbos screaming biafra and NOT Ijaws, ibibo, Efik or edos[b]. The igbo movement that was biafra started claiming other people's land who didn't even want to be part of biafra, Hence why the war started.[/b] Like point number 3, if biafra was serious, they should have got a referendum first, like many other places in that time period got., instead of starting a war and claiming land. In summary, it was a pointless war hence why no one talks about it.

GAR3TH:

Because. . . .

1 - Its wasn't the most nor was it near as devastating and far-reaching effect in terms of human death tolls and collateral property damage as other wars in the last 50 years. There were more important and meaningful wars that were fought in the same time period.

2 - After 40 years people have moved on, unfortunately there are still a few chess beaters out there.

3 - The war was basically a joke, Both side were at fault and in the end you got a pointless war. Biafra could had easily got a UN sponsored referendum back in 1967, they could have got a UN sponsored referendum through out those 40 years and they could get a UN sponsored referendum today. So why didn't they? Mid west region got a referendum as did many other countries/places, so why not biafra? why war?

4 - Biafra was an Igbo movement and not an eastern region nor a southern movement, this is why you ONLY see some igbos screaming biafra and NOT Ijaws, ibibo, Efik or edos. The igbo movement that was biafra started claiming other people's land who didn't even want to be part of biafra, Hence why the war started. Like point number 3, if biafra was serious, they should have got a referendum first, like many other places in that time period got., instead of starting a war and claiming land. In summary, it was a pointless war hence why no one talks about it.

Valon4ego:

rubish talk! Wonder where you derive your theory from

THERE is a "Kingdom of Biafra" on some old maps which were made by early white explorers of the west coast of Africa. Nobody is now sure what that kingdom was, what its laws and arts and tools were like. No tales survive of the kings and queens.

As for the "Republic of Biafra" we know a great deal. It was a nation with more citizens than Ireland and Norway combined. It proclaimed itself an independent republic on May 30, 1967. On January 17 of 1970, it surrendered unconditionally to Nigeria, the nation from which it had tried to secede. It had few friends in this world, and among its active enemies were Russia and Great Britain. Its enemies were pleased to call it a "tribe."

Williams found his Biafran troops to be completely different from those who he commanded in Katanga.

chukwuawka:

Ndiigbo can develop their homeland. Whatever else they have denied us, we still retain full control of the five south Eastern states. The five Igbo state governments could integrate the economies of these five states into a kind of Economic Union of Eastern Nigeria, with one central Planning/Management committee. Without Federal assistance, we can still turn this zone into the South Korea of Africa, in terms of economic and technological developments. We can do it. As individual states, we can not achieve much, but if we integrate the economies of our five states, we will be bigger and stronger than many wealthy nations of Europe and the far East. Most of those wealthy nations don't have oil so let's not bring oil into it. What they needed for their economic take off, and got, were great leaders. The combined resources of our five states, human and material, could take us to wherever we want to go. If only we know where we want to go. IF only we had leaders who know what to do with what we have. Our major problem, therefore is not maginalisation, but a failure of leadership. We need men who can take a leap of the imagination and initiate positive actions and programs that would bring Ndiigbo out of our present predicament. Right now Igbo are wandering, un-led and unguided, through the vast dangerous expanse of Nigeria wilderness. IF not so, how can we talk of 50 million hardworking, highly intelligent people being marginalised in a third world country like Nigeria. Ndiigbo are bigger than marginalisation.

Onlytruth:

There is a little piece of "Ikemba" in every responsible Eastern Nigerian. All you need is to scracth the surface a little and there it is!

Well, I personally believe that we Ndigbo must FIRST acknowledge that we have deviated seriously CULTURALLY. How did we do that?
We copied the cultures of the groups that defeated us in the war. The war dealt us a SEVERE blow, and has led to a situation where our people started adopting strange ways of life.
Before the war, a rich Igbo man was HARDLY known. That is why no one really knew how rich Sir Lious Odumegwu Ojukwu (Ikemba's father) was. Yes they knew he had money, but they never really knew how much. The Igbo of those days never worshipped anyone with money. The men we respected (not worshipped!) were HONEST and DECENT men.
We ran thieves and dubious men out of town! ALL OF THEM. 

One of my uncles become the leader of one very important Igbo organization (won't mention name) even though he was virtually a poor man without a secondary school level education. In that organization, there were all types of rich men and Ph.ds and other professionals; but guess what, they all chose an HONEST man. Today that would be almost impossible!

Today, we praise men and call it "iti mkpu" or "Oti mkpu" (praise singer). We never had that in Igboland. Please you all should bear with me and follow me here, because I'm going somewhere with this "preaching".

Now, before, an average Igboman knew that the ONLY way to greatness are HONESTY and HARDWORK. That is how we produced the Achebes and all the great men of Eastern Nigeria. Today, most of us believe in short cuts. Do you know the type of hardwork that produce masterpieces, be they works of art or scientific invention?
I lament, because we the youths of Igboland have abandoned the ways which our fathers followed, which made them great. That is why we have MASSOB, but they cannot do anything other than allowing themselves to be killed willy nilly by trigger happy Nigerian policemen and army. Do you all think that our fathers of the 50s and 60s would tolerate a permanent police seige of Igboland without doing something about it? How do you all think our fathers were able to withstand the civil war for almost 3 years? Is it by "iti mkpu"? I'm laughing! 

So, here me loud and clear:

NDIGBO MUST REJECT SELF AGGRANDIZEMENT ASAP! 

Today, our problem in Igboland are the Chiefs, Ph.ds, Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers and all types of titles which shield men from showing their individual achievements or prove their integrity before they are given positions of responsibility and leadership. This has to end before anyone takes us serious in Nigeria.

Recalling our achievement during the war is important, but what is more important is for us to honestly drop everything that would make it impossible for us to answer the call of defending ourselves and our children if need be. Self aggrandizement is a cancer that must be cut out of our land. TODAY!

houvest:

I know that At the World Igbo Congress(WIC) of 2009 or 2008, such an economic plan was mapped out for the SE states. I do noy know how far they went to pursue its implementation. But it is the Biafra of the mind that Ikemba was talking about. If we cannot use the Biafra of the mind to develop the SE to an enviable level how can we demonstrate a future Biafra of territory? Thanks for your ideas. Please keep more coming. Different creative and constructive ideas are welcome for the survival and greatness of our people. We would analyse and synthesize all these and choose what is best for us.

houvest:

I know that At the World Igbo Congress(WIC) of 2009 or 2008, such an economic plan was mapped out for the SE states. I do noy know how far they went to pursue its implementation. But it is the Biafra of the mind that Ikemba was talking about. If we cannot use the Biafra of the mind to develop the SE to an enviable level how can we demonstrate a future Biafra of territory? Thanks for your ideas. Please keep more coming. Different creative and constructive ideas are welcome for the survival and greatness of our people. We would analyse and synthesize all these and choose what is best for us.

I feel that until we find some way to coordinate our individual private efforts at developing the south east, the numerous projects scattered all over the place would not make much of an impact. As a people, we need to see the bigger picture of pooling our resources together for the good of Ndigbo as a whole, and not just be concerned with sighting every and any project in our 'backyard' just to say that my village has this and that. Areas with comparative advantage with regards to different types of projects should be explored and the projects sited there as far as the place in question is in the south east.

Aba and Nnewi should be made the industrial hubs of the south east; Onitsha- the commercial hub; Enugu- should be the capital of Alaigbo with the sighting of entertainment, tourist and conferencing projects/facilities; Owerri and Oguta- also should be a tourist and entertainment centres.

Igbo sons and daughters with the financial means need to come together and carry out projects for better results. We need to think big and stop wanting to be the 'lord and oga' of it all. They could then source for extra funds from the stock market and also find ways of utilising the resources (human and financial) of Ndigbo in diaspora.

Opportunities abound for business, like for instance: coal and gas fired power plants; a world class Int'l Airport hotel in Enugu; Lakeside resorts in Oguta; Intergrated mass transportation for the south east, linking Port harcourt, Calabar and Asaba; fashion/textile industries in Aba; world class (kick-a*ss) shopping mall in Onitsha; rice farming in Ebonyi; etc. With all this, criminality will be vastly reduced and the gravitational pull to the south east would be irresitable for investors and those looking for work. All we need is someone with clout (like Soludo for instance) to coordinate and sell SOUTH EAST PLC to the rest of the world.

We need to put Alaigbo on the world map.

PROUD-IGBO:

^^^The economic intergration and centralized management of the South East economy is what i strongly believe in and i mentioned something similar when responding on a thread last year about a project going on in Imo State:


I hope we can soon move to the point of actually doing something, instead of talking about solutions all the time.

9ja_I_hail:

Eze only truth your point is noted but i am impressed with the way our beloved brother chukwuawka is analyzing history and advices.Eze onlytruth may you live long

zumbigbo:

Welsh mercenary

Williams found his Biafran troops to be completely different from those who he commanded in Katanga. "I've seen a lot of Africans at war" he was quoted as saying. "But there's nobody to touch these people. Give me 10,000 Biafrans for six months, and we'll build an army that would be invincible on this continent. I've seen men die in this war who would have won the Victoria Cross in another context".[2]

Williams was assigned one hundred Biafran commandos in early 1968, and managed to keep two battalions of black mercenaries from Chad serving with the Federal Army at bay for twelve weeks using only the crudest of weapons.

Chad = Boko Haram outpost No.1

PROUD-IGBO:


I hope we can soon move to the point of actually doing something, instead of talking about solutions all the time.

Welsh mercenary

Williams found his Biafran troops to be completely different from those who he commanded in Katanga. "I've seen a lot of Africans at war" he was quoted as saying. "But there's nobody to touch these people. Give me 10,000 Biafrans for six months, and we'll build an army that would be invincible on this continent. I've seen men die in this war who would have won the Victoria Cross in another context".[2]

Williams was assigned one hundred Biafran commandos in early 1968, and managed to keep two battalions of black mercenaries from Chad serving with the Federal Army at bay for twelve weeks using only the crudest of weapons.

Dudu_Negro:

Here is info on Taffy Williams.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taffy_Williams.  You are quoting a man who lost two wars back to back. . . Katanga and Biafra.  It does not matter how many men you provide Taffy, this was a looser!  His job is to earn money, not to die for you, even though your own men are dying around him.  Your Biafran men are more credible and trustworthy than this Williams you quoted.  He was part of Apartheid South Africa, why didn't he build an invincible army in South Africa?  Read his profile and notice the lie about standing upright in a open jeep and driven round under the barrage of firepower from Federal Troops to prove his body's immunity to bullets.  Why is wikipage devoted to telling the story and bravery of a mercenary but silent on Biafran bravery?  Where is the story of your brave men riding around in open jeep and brushing off bullets? 

Dudu_Negro:

So you admit then that this looser that was paid to command Biafran army was less skilled in warfare than the people he led to their death while he himself escaped with his life? If he was that immuned to bullets why did he run when he was cornered?

Dudu_Negro:

what legacy is that, loosing two wars back to back? or fleeing from Katanga to Biafra and then fleeing Biafra back to South Africa?

Loosers and AWOLs are not qualified to tell us about bravery, their words land narrative of war lack credibility.

So, you honestly expect a mecenary to win YOUR war for you? lol