Dede1:


You sound very pathetic with this post. When J. Isawa Elaigwu wrote “many people of Rivers and South-Eastern State origin seen dancing in Lagos and enlisting en masse in to the Federal Army”, he was not in any form of illusion about his assertion.

I guess you mischievously decided to play ignorant to the fact that Elaigwu meant Rivers State and South-Eastern State of the twelve original states created by Gowon. Let me refresh your memory for good understanding of the facts. South-Eastern State as referenced in the book morphed into Akwa Ibom and Cross River States while Rivers State gave rise to Rivers and Bayelsa States.

In addition, remember there was East Central State. Did you catch the dude’s drift? I suggest you drop the bull horn about the reference made by Elaigwu on the states.

Besides, it has been repeatedly rehearsed that not everybody from eastern region is regarded as Biafran hence the issue of betrayal. Even though I do not pay many dividends to references made by self-styled authorities on the Nigeria/Biafra palaver, anybody with dot of brain cell will discern that Elaigwu knowingly or unknowingly painted East Central State as Biafra hence Biafra is Igbo affair.

ACM10:
GOWON
by J. Isawa Elaigwu
West Books Publisher Limited, Ibadan.
1986.
Page 101

Katsumoto:

Did your eyes conviently miss the data from ACM? If biafrans could enlist en masse to fight against biafran, then you have no moral right to question those who enlisted to drive out an invading force.

The rest of your post is just ignorant.

onyejiokem: ma friend next time if u havn't anytin reasonable 2 say don't post at all. Hw poor are u in reasonin' dat u hav 2 qoute again knowing fully wel dat d letter is a long one. Pple lik u shudn't be seeing in dis section. ''ewu''

pazienza:

Stop your fabrications,dede had proved time and time again that the nigerian soldiers that attacked bonny( biafra) from escravos,where made up of western and mid western elements,and that attack came before biafra's match to ore...

PhysicsQED:

What Dede1 did there was to deliberately mix up events with his own embellishments added on and keep repeating the same story so many times that almost nobody bothered to check if it were true.
Nigerian soldiers attacked Bonny. A group of these soldiers were then redeployed to Escravos instead after Biafra's invasion of the midwest. That's what actually happened. Dede1 has never proven his "massive midwestern recruitment pre-Biafra's invasion of the midwest" story and seems totally unwilling to do so despite repeated requests for such information.

Katsumoto:

I apologise in advance but you sir are a slippery and pathetic old man. You speak from all sides of your mouth and yet you have the nerve to accuse others of being backstabbers.

Where in my posts did I differentiate between all the ethnicities that made up Biafra? My point was that Biafrans enlisted en masse (thanks to ACM) TO FIGHT AGAINST Biafra. You have stated that Yoruba together with other non-Biafran ethnicities joined the army before the Biafran invasion to fight Biafra and now that a writer that you apparently respect, wrote that sons of Rivers and South eastern states danced and enlisted to fight Biafra, you have suddenly changed tune to separate Igbo from Efik, Ijaw, Ibiobio, etc who equally gave their lives to the Biafran cause. In any case, the write-up refers to STATES and not state. I reproduce - 'Many people of Rivers and South-Eastern States[size=12pt][/size] origin were seen dancing in Lagos and enlisting en masse into the Federal Army.'

It takes a real man to accept when he is beaten in a debate and you certainly aren't one with all the twists that you have had on this thread.

Let me summise all your twists and lies

1. You claimed that Gowon acknowledged that he had no authority over the eastern region and started backtracking as soon as I produced the speech Gowon gave on the 1st of August
2. You claimed that NCNC won the 1951 election in the West and stated that there was cross carpeting which resulted in AG winning. After I produced results of the election, you then mentioned Ighodaro as the cross-carpeter when it is obvious that Ighodaro's switch could not have handed victory to the NCNC
3. You have maintained that NON-BIAFRANS enlisted to fight against BIAFRA AND NOW THAT it has been alleged that Biafrans fought against Biafra, you decided to segregate between Igbo and other Biafrans. Was Ike Nwachukwu also Efik? Was Elechi Amadi Ibibio?

I am unlikely to respond to any other lies, inaccuracies, fallacies, etc that you are likely to raise to dig yourself further into a hole. Good day sir

pazienza:

Can you post the source of this your information?

PhysicsQED:

https://www.nairaland.com/945502/nigeria-break-up-2015/13#10923238

PhysicsQED: Dede1, Otu Edo was in alliance with the NCNC after 1951, right?

So what's your issue with S.O. Ighodaro again?

We both know the Edo (Bini) people expected him to opt for the NCNC as that was the preferred national party in that area from what people have written but failing to live up to other people's preconceived notions or letting down their expectations is quite a different thing from actually violating a pre-existing agreement of some sort.

Despite what you may have read, Otu Edo was not formed as some sort of "subsidiary" of the NCNC but as its own party - and try to remember what happened between the Otu Edo and their ally, the NCNC, in 1964. The same Otu Edo almost entered into an alliance with the NPC after that squabble, but people are supposed to believe that it was some kind of "local branch" of the NCNC rather than a local party that could go with whoever? That it entered into a long alliance with the NCNC at a later date does not mean that when elections were held in 1951 every member of the Otu Edo was part of the NCNC.

Dede1:
You really disappointed me with this post. Do you tend to tell me you hedged your facts on a link to a posted by someone who could not discern the difference between 1967 and 1968? One of the glaring stupidity or highlight in the post was citing a division (army unit) from Lagos Garrison Organization which is not up to battalion.

PhysicsQED:

You seem convinced that attacks were launched from Escravos before the Midwestern invasion by Biafra - I've never seen proof of this. I'm not sure whether I really care. The claim that Gowon recalled two battalions from Bonny to Escravos in 1967 is also contained in Obasanjo's book My command (1980). If you have an issue with this, then you should provide legitimate sources stating otherwise.

Like I said, I don't even care that much about the "soldiers went from Escravos to Bonny rather than Bonny to Escravos" claim from you. What I really want to see, and what you continue to fail to provide evidence of is this "massive recruitment of every non-Igbo ethnicity in the Midwest whose names I can remember prior to the Midwest invasion" story.

Dede1:
Please read what I wrote to comprehend properly. To the best of my knowledge, Otu Edo was a cultural organization that had political ramification as well. Since it was not a political party or a party with national coverage, the members contested under the chosen platform of NCNC. It is also my understanding that Otu Edo may choose to contest on the platform of other party than NCNC.

Dede1:
I am not interested in any form of debate with the followers of hack writers who were clearly enemies of Biafra over the military assault on Ubani (Bonny) which originated from Escravos, Mid-western region. Some players in the theater of the war such Adaka Boro who was involved in the amphibious operation on Bony were trained in Escravos.
My intentions are to disabuse the minds of young Biafrans who might have been poisoned with the junks enemies of Biafra imbedded in obscure newspapers or Internet.

PhysicsQED:

Well your understanding is wrong. Where are you getting that all the members contested "under the chosen platform of NCNC"? I would hazard a guess that there was a general understanding that somebody who was a member of Otu Edo would not go for the AG over the NCNC because of the origins of Otu Edo and what motivated its formation, but a general understanding is not the same thing as an actual agreement. The only things I have come across which could even imply what you've written above are those writings which falsely claim that Otu Edo was some sort of local branch of the NCNC. I don't know how a local party is supposed to have national coverage and I also don't understand how a local party can be excluded from running and capturing its local area on the basis of not being part of an allegedly larger party which allegedly has "national coverage". You're claiming that local parties could not win areas unless they affiliated with a "party with national coverage" (how does one define national coverage? Did the NPC have national coverage in the south? Did the NCNC have national coverage outside of the East and West?) beforehand?

PhysicsQED:

I've looked up the part in bold and the only thing I could find on it were that Ijaws from what is now Rivers state were briefly trained in Escravos before joining in the assault on Bonny by Nigerian soldiers in 1967.

In light of that, why do you continue to promote this story of some mass recruitment of every non-Igbo ethnic group in the Midwest from Urhobo right on down to Ososo at Escravos?

Dede1:
NCNC was the only political party touted as national party or party with national and international coverage in the ear in discuss. It is unfortunate that someone, due to ethnic or tribal inducement, seemed to tarnish such reputation.

Dede1:
What made you think I could believe an iota of your posts when you had issues with the plight of Ighodaro in crossing to AG and NCNC as a party with national coverage?

PhysicsQED:

The NCNC and its members were definitely a credit to the nation in the pre-independence era, especially for their non-ethnic/regional orientation.

I have no problem with the NCNC. I just was not satisfied with your explanation for your claim because it does not seem to make sense that a party's great national spread necessitates all local/independent parties automatically being subsumed under it. If you have a better explanation for your claim please provide it.

Dede1:
I do not know where got the idea that since NCNC came across as a party with national coverage all local/independent parties automatically being subsumed under it. After all, Niger Delta Congress in eastern region contested under the platform of NPC. Some memebers of Urhobo Progressive Union also contested elections under the umbrella of Action Group.

This mindset of overbearing ethnic sentiment remains one of the reason I furiously call for Republic of Igbo land.

Dede1:


NCNC was the only political party touted as national party or party with national and international coverage in the ear in discuss. It is unfortunate that someone, due to ethnic or tribal inducement, seemed to tarnish such reputation.

The fact that someone could not readily provide evidence to back his assertion does not mean that he is making a fallacious claim or that the proof does not exist.

ACM10: I believe that next generation will be quoting our comments on Nairaland as fact, just the way some posters here are quoting articles on nigerdeltacongress and dawodu at present.

Katsumoto: See below for picture of Gowon with Awo after his release from prison.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/sun/photo-gallery/memoirs-in-pix/view-image/7a27b67761a0cf3d590d16f31e7ed1eb/jpg


$10,000 prize for anyone who can find Ojukwu in that picture. Perhaps Ojukwu released Awo and Gowon seized on the opportunity to take a picture with Awo before Murtala's car took Awo to Ikenne