Ileke-IdI:


Can anyone compare this feminine rant to this intelectual post below?

slowpoke how many times will we go over the same thing on nairaland , i bet u enjoy idleness . like i said all these ranting wont change the fact that awo was a convicted criminal and that yorubas especially nairaland warriors are just confused and dont know what they want.

Dede1:

Please do not go there with you slide show. I read about on Benin dude or Edo man who was also involved in the carpet-crossing incident. Due to the Chief’s selfish indulgence, the people Benin declared him and his family politically persona non grata in Benin till today.

Do you actually know what S.O. Ighodaro's political views were prior to the 1951 election and whether he leaned toward the NCNC or the AG?

Get that book and find out. If he stated that he leaned towards the AG before the election, which he did, and denied being a member of the NCNC, which he did, then I don't see what the issue is as far as him "carpet crossing". The only issue seems to be that he didn't tell the two other representatives (Humphrey Omo-Osagie and Chike Ekwuyasi) of Otu Edo contesting alongside him that he was for the AG, but he did state that he was not an NCNC member before the election.

Ighodaro was the Iyase of Benin for a long time after serving in the Western Region's government, so I don't know what you mean by persona non-grata.

bashr8: slowpoke how many times will we go over the same thing on nairaland , i bet u enjoy idleness . like i said all these ranting wont change the fact that awo was a convicted criminal and that yorubas especially nairaland warriors are just confused and dont know what they want.

You're one of many ranting here. How can you complain about a problem when you're the problem?

Katsumoto:

You have started again with beer parlour gist; T9ksy has been waiting for your own results of the 'cross carpeting' incident for over a year now.

Please post your results or forever hold your peace.

Barrister Samuel Osarogie Ighodaro, first Benin Lawyer and later, Iyase of Benin.

PhysicsQED:

Do you actually know what S.O. Ighodaro's political views were prior to the 1951 election and whether he leaned toward the NCNC or the AG?

Get that book and find out. If he stated that he leaned towards the AG before the election, which he did, and denied being a member of the NCNC, which he did, then I don't see what the issue is as far as him "carpet crossing". The only issue seems to be that he didn't tell the two other representatives (Humphrey Omo-Osagie and Chike Ekwuyasi) of Otu Edo contesting alongside him that he was for the AG, but he did state that he was not an NCNC member before the election.

Ighodaro was the Iyase of Benin for a long time after serving in the Western Region's government, so I don't know what you mean by persona non-grata.

Did the book actually inform you about the modalities of the elections in 1951?

cheikh: Shymmex


@^^ The topic is about Awo's letter and the contents etc. That's what I hope I was drawing attention to not "tribe" or ethnic jingoism that animate and occupy our consciousness 24/7.
I am an African [/b]first before anything else. That's bigger than anything we may wish to ascribe to our being. The world is about "competition/War". Can we afford to be slack and small minded whereas the rest of the world including fellow Africans are thinking "big" and following it up with positive ACTIONs for their own people?. I am not exactly enamored with Naija like most other Nigerians who make such "spurious" insincere claims about the place or "religion". I am neither Hausa/Igbo/Junkun,Zango-Kataf or Yoruba . Whatever I am does not/must not matter in analysing issues or sharing ideas/ conversations as a human being without prejudice. Part of our weakness as a people is that we tend to let our emotion and prejudice rule over our better judgement. [b]We tend to forget that we are at "War" or in competition with the rest of the world who do not mean us well . Nigeria will perennially be a weak and hopeless "nation" in the eyes of the rest of the world and in our own eyes most importantly, because we let "mundane"(tribe) issues preoccupy our consciousness while a very tiny cynical minority loot/appropriate our so called common wealth. My brother, "truth" does not know "tribe", "colour" or whatever. It is constant and unwavering just like a flowing stream. You can only appreciate/acknowledge it or ignore it at your own peril. War can be very cruel and wicked indeed. We cannot ignore its therapeutic and liberating consequences as well, or else we loose the essence of it all in the first place. It is no wonder some of our people in both sides of the Nigerian divide tend to be very emotional instead of being "cold" eyed in looking at the issues involved in war time(s). If the Igbp were in Awo's situation/position will they behave any different? War is not beautiful and definitely not about sentiments. I guess most Africans especially Nigerians do not really know much about the science/Art of War hence the never ending crude sentiments about Awo's Actions/policy. Effective Decisions have to be made quickly and the luxury of deliberating over "deaths" etc do not matter. War is about destruction and loss of lives etc. It is not a friendly football match. It requires serious study and thinking things through before embarking on such "death wish" because war is death by choice by combatants/actors . I am not sentimental at all about Nigeria let alone about silly emotional tirades of individuals who know nothing about politics and War.

+100000

Africa has been at war with the rest of the world for a long time, and I can say we're a conquered race of people - hence, why we're messed up the way we are..

Thanks for the comment..

Hotep!

You seem convinced that S.O. Ighodaro carpet crossed because people said he did. Wouldn't it make more sense to show that he actually had some pre-existing arrangement to contest as an NCNC member than to just continually assert that he carpet crossed because people said he did?

If he said he was not an NCNC member before the election, which he did, I don't see what point you have.

Dede1:

Barrister Samuel Osarogie Ighodaro, first Benin Lawyer and later, Iyase of Benin.

So the 'carpet crossing' of one member of Etu Edo (Ighodaro) candidate to AG (never mind that the other two Etu Edo candidates crossed to NCNC) is what you and Zik termed as tribal politics and led to the unjust, childish, and immature labelling of Awo as the introducer of tribal politics in Nigeria? Never mind that Ighodaro was not even Yoruba, and he held only one seat in an 80-seat Assembly. So Zik lost the premiership of the Western region because of the vote of a Benin man? SMDH

Dede1 you have no argument.

Dede1:

Did the book actually inform you about the modalities of the elections in 1951?

Dede1, it's an obscure book and I couldn't be bothered to scan it much less try to memorize its contents but what I remember was being surprised that there was even any debate over carpet crossing after reading Ofeimun's article.

S.O. Ighodaro was never an NCNC member and he had denied any membership of the NCNC before the election so I don't see what point you could have. He didn't say he was an AG member by the way, just that he leaned more towards their school of thought.

demmy:

When he had become the President.

Are you minding him? At first Gowon didn't have any authority over the Eastern region, then Katsumoto posted Gowon's speech, he then replied by saying Gowon was Army Chied of Staff! And so what? He was the head of state at the time of the speech!

bashr8: the black man like you and gowon and awolowo will continue to be stupid and that is the reason why war is all over africa.now tell me exactly the logic for dishonouring aburi accord that allowed regions to do their thing or the reason nigeria sacrificed over 500 thousand nigerian soldier minus the over one million biafrans that died all to unite a fake entity for the benefit of the brittish who just want oil at the best possible deal(which they could only achieve by supporting nigeria as biafra would not entertain such), yet you people come out every day to cry about curruption and abuse presidents upt and down when your country was built on lies, deceit , blood and stupidity.

bro u seem not to understand me, actually am an advocate of d third force i.e that war isnt always d best way to solve issues, dat is by d way.
What i tried to say was dat ojukwu wasnt ready for war though but he shd hav seen reason earlier, u cant secede and survive without food dat supposedly comes from ur enemy, so much civillian lives were wasted to achieve nothing.

afam4eva: I knew what this thread was going to turn into. That's why i issued a warning before hand.

No Mr. LIAR. You wanted it locked down so as no to let any TRUTH or LIGHT shine on the darkness of LIES you and your tribalistic goons have soiled Nigeria with! It's so sad that you are still pretending like you care when all that still pains you is the perpetual loss of a war you cannot WIN even if you fight it like every year! Go ask Hitler, your mentor!

As soon as I saw Kats on this thread, I said: I DEY LAFF OOO and I haven't even read what he had to say to perpetual liars like Dendebele and OnlyFATLies! LOL...make I go read am now!

ACM10:
@Katsumoto,
Can u ever present your argument without condescending? Well, I will ignore that inherent trait of yours. This issue has been thrashed many times on this forum, of which u participated in most of those debates. I don't know why u are bent on revisionism. You continue to throw mud at the wall hoping that it sticks. I guess that your stubborn position is borne out of patriotism and loyalty to your tribe. That's why you tend to allow your loyalty to colour your objectivity.

1. Awolowo is a slimy character. He is neither here nor there. His position on sensitive issues is almost always ambiguous. Prior to independence, Zik insisted on unity and stood by it, Sardauna insisted on unity on their own terms and stood by it, Awolowo insisted on the introduction of seccession clause, then waivered.

2. I want to remind you that Awolowo's Action Group came 3rd after the 1959 election. I believe that Zik knows Awolowo's slimy nature more than we do. (Awo proved time and again that he cannot be trusted during his struggle with Akintola) That's why Zik did not consider him worthy in character to go into alliance with him. Even though Awolowo's party came 3rd, he still has an eye on the post of the prime minister in the event of an alliance with Zik's party. Can you imagine how ambitious he can be?

3. Awo engineered the cross-carpeting of Zik's party elected member of yoruba extraction into the Action Group, thereby setting off the dangerous trend of tribalism in Nigerian politics. His action forced Zik to relocated to the east to usurp Eyo Ita's power.

4. Awolowo was tried in the civilian court of law(not millitary tribunal), and found guilty of treasonable felony. Of which he was later jailed. Awo's lawyer has all the time and freedom in the world to argue against the case brought against their client. The propaganda talk of putting Awo behind bar on trumped-up charges is complete bullshyt.

5. Awo wrote a later to Aguiyi Ironsi pleading for clemency, commution of his sentence and presidential pardon. Which was later granted and approved by Ironsi. Though the order was yet to be carried out before his assassination.

6. Ojukwu did not accept the authority of Gowon. Therefore Gowon cannot order Ojukwu to release Awolowo from Calabar prison. Ojukwu released Gowon either as a goodwill gesture or to carry out the order of Ironsi before he died. It's on record that Ojukwu has complete control of all the affairs of eastern region including the millitary, police, custom, prison, etc. Gowon was simply a pawn in the hands of northern officers like Danjuma and Murtala. He could hardly assert his authority on his boys, let alone the eastern region. The owner of the vehicle that conveyed Awolowo back to the west does not change the trajectory of this debate. Therefore I consider it inconsequential. I might ignore your responses at my discretion. But don't misinterprete it as a sign that you defeated me with your superior argument, since I consider this debate a waste of time. I knew quite well that I can't change your well-dug views. So u are free to hold fast to it. Cheers.

Garbage as usual! LOL. Yelling with your neck muscles flexing and eyes popping would not pass your usual BS for sensible posting. You just have to know that like Demndelebele, nothing of your lies can ever work!

Dede1: I am so happy that Yoruba people and non-Biafran southerners have congregated here again to unload irresponsible falsehood about the events of July 29, 1966 to May 29, 1967.

It is unfortunate Yoruba peeps who are shouting their voices hoax about broadcast of August 1, 1966 made by Gowon failed to see the damning politics in signing the release of Awolowo from prison when on the same broadcast, Gowon informed anybody with ears that he (Gowon) did not have control over eastern region of Nigeria.

It is only a moronic dingbat will accept the fact that Lt Col Ejoor, Commodore Wey and Lt Col Hassan Katsina constituted the executive council that anointed Gowon the Head of State.

It would have been balanced art of contortion if these deluded revisionists have iota of decency to mention to undiscerning onlookers on the board that Lt Col Ojukwu issued a counter radio broadcast to the one Gowon gave on August 1, 1966.

This poor thing has not made any atom of progress since the last 6 months let alone all his life since the bitter loss of the war. You will kick the bucket and nothing will happen, you will remain the dingbat joke that you perpetually are! Imagine if Awo you deride falsely were like you fighting useless fights e-fights in a virtual world of his own, perhaps you people might still be in slavery / colonialist mode today! Well, at least everyone knows Awo, will ants even know the name of your entire kin when they feed on them in their graves? Well, I don't think so because you have used all your life to whine about a war you could never win! Well move, on. A loser is not one who only lost fair and square but one who is unable to move on!!

Ol boy, the level of energy Katsumoto puts into his lies and revisionism is amazing. The fact that I could not readily present proof to back up my assertion does not mean that the proof does not exist.

I hereby call on mod. OAM4J to lift his leprous fingers off this thread! I don't know why he should continue to hide the comments from Igbo posters with a flimsy excuse that they contributed nothing to the debate except insults while giving Ileke idi, CyberG, Dayokanu, and a host of them free hand to dish out insults on Igbo posters without contributing meaningfully to the debate.

ACM10: I hereby call on mod. OAM4J to lift his leprous fingers off this thread! I don't know why he should continue to hide the comments from Igbo posters with a flimsy excuse that they contributed nothing to the debate except insults while giving Ileke idi, CyberG, Dayokanu, and a host of them free hand to dish out insults on Igbo posters without contributing meaningfully to the debate.

Are you crazy? When did I insult Igbos on this thread?
I've made sure to stay off y'all's weekly [b]OBA[/b]femi-Ojukwu discussion.
Kia kia, remove my ID from your nonsense.

You post nonsense, it gets deleted. What makes you think I'm not the one reporting to the Mods?

To the guy that made mention of Acts of War , God bless you. I urge all our all-knowing, sophisticated, brave , wise strong, irrepressible and salt of Nigeria Igbo to read and understand The acts of War by Sun Tsu written centuries back , who propounded the man ..... theory which is the philosophy adopted by most successful militaries in the world after WWII including the US UK Canada . It is the same principle adopted by the federal govt as suggested by Awo towards the middle of the civil war that our all-wise neighbours are loathing about. The truth, it will pain una to the bone, like it, hate it, the whole world knows the truth if you like learn from your defeat and move forward or continue in the blame it removes not a hair from us.

How many real Generals (not rebel generals)from Igboland have you read or seen to have condemned Awo's tact in the civil war ? None because they know what's up. I actually refuse to join issues with people who hearts mind soul and intellect is laddened with nothing but Hate. Like I have come to conclude anyway they are right in their eyes and right they are.

veraponpo: The main problem we have in this country is allowing the Ibos to be staying with the rest of us. I have no apology fo saying this. For the following reasons:
1. They argue blindly even when they dont know. I could remember one auto part seller (Ibo man) arguing with me in 2006 (an OAU graduate) that Nigeria's population was more than that of Brazil.
2. They always believe they are wiser even when they dont have half of your knowledge.
3. They always act before they think -the reason for Nzeogwu Kaduna's coup de tat(sorry for the spelling).
4. They always see others as being inferior to them even when you are the one hosting them, teaching them and helping them. Unnecessary pomposity
5. They always believe they can out-smart u in all areas especially.
6. They see others as coward because they fought just one senseless war (Biafrian war) and lost forgeting that Yoruba started Wild Wild West war in 1962 to 1965.
7. Always call Awolowo a betrayer because he advised Gowon against them forgeting that Biafrian soldiers started it by killing Yorubas in Ore (Ondo State).

I hate the Ibos bunch of unwise elements, selfish and idiotic set of people.

I like it more when i'm hated by a nauseating Charlatant like you. To u, u're decent, wise, gentle, civilized, organized and above all educated, yet coudn't control ur useless emotion to differentiate u from those u consider to be stupid ....what a clown of a character u are. U rabbled recklessly about ur hatred for an Igbo man, yet couldn't make any sense, as ur hatred was not premised on any specific sensible issue. U met an Igbo artisan who wrongly argued that Nigeria is more populated than Brazil, that's wat u've come to celebrate on Nairaland, cos u ve never argued wrongly in ur life b4. I'll not waste my precious time on a Bufoon like u, but not fail to advice u to seek the help of a Psychiatrist.

Sooo amusing to see the ancient Dede 1 dancing around after bring caught in a barefaced lie

lestat: this is what awolowo used his position to do to over 2million biafran children, at one point a French reporter was in tears in Gabon trying to explain what she saw...over 22.000 people where dying daily of starvation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! at the advise of awolowo, this same martyred man by the Yoruba people!!! and you want me to feel love? for who?

this is what major Benjamin adekunle said in an interview during the civil war:“I want see no Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no pope, no missionary, and no United Nations Delegation. I want to prevent even one Igbo from having even one piece to eat before their capitulation. We shoot at everything that moves and when our troops march into the center of Igbo territory, we shoot at everything even a things that don’t move”—Benjamin Adekunle

source:http://www.republicreport.com/biafra-adekunles-wartime-interview-with-german-randolph-baumann-of-stern-magazine-august-18-1968-in-igweocha/

During World War 2, the British general in charge of Singapore surrendered the city to the Japanese to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of civillians living in the city, a large number of which would have perished in the final assault by the Japanese.
Any General that allows his people starve to death with no escape route in sight MUST share part of the blame...just as historians blame Hitler for condemning the german 3rd Army to death and capture by refusing to make a strategic withdrawal from Stalingrad before the Russian encirclement became complete.

Abeg I'm neither Igbo or Yoruba...I'm just all for common sense.

Timehin: Why do some people claimed AWO was against the igbos?

The letter confirmed its the northerners that are anti-igbo and events since then have shown who are their enemies.

no doubt d main anti-ibo ar d northerners but if yorubas hs given d ibos just a litle suport durin d civil war may be by nw, we wud be seperatd frm dem as a beta and develop nation since we(ibo & yoruba) share beta undastndin dan d cows. D words of BABA(awolowo) Lives.

veraponpo: The main problem we have in this country is allowing the Ibos to be staying with the rest of us. I have no apology fo saying this. For the following reasons:
1. They argue blindly even when they dont know. I could remember one auto part seller (Ibo man) arguing with me in 2006 (an OAU graduate) that Nigeria's population was more than that of Brazil.
2. They always believe they are wiser even when they dont have half of your knowledge.
3. They always act before they think -the reason for Nzeogwu Kaduna's coup de tat(sorry for the spelling).
4. They always see others as being inferior to them even when you are the one hosting them, teaching them and helping them. Unnecessary pomposity
5. They always believe they can out-smart u in all areas especially.
6. They see others as coward because they fought just one senseless war (Biafrian war) and lost forgeting that Yoruba started Wild Wild West war in 1962 to 1965.
7. Always call Awolowo a betrayer because he advised Gowon against them forgeting that Biafrian soldiers started it by killing Yorubas in Ore (Ondo State).

I hate the Ibos bunch of unwise elements, selfish and idiotic set of people.

U are a disgrace 2 OAU and an embarrasement 2 all graduates. How can som1 who has seen d 4 walls of a university, type dis nonsence?

@Katsumoto
I have always stated that no matter what revionists like yourself read and write about the war, it can never be as authentic or nearer to the truth as some of the accounts given by Ojukwu himself about the war.
When one chooses to view issues with preconcieved conclusions and goes ahead to strengthen their stance by reading books on the war by authors whose views are bias, articles by propagandist, and distorted third party accounts from your likes.
One thing you can not fault Ojukwu on is the fact that unlike many of the officers of his time, he was the most educated and erudite with prolly the best ability to vividly tell the real story and reasons for the war.
I shall post some of his responses to questions posed to him by a reporter that
he exclusively granted an interview; the questions ranged from facts, distortions that have become some people's truth, suggestive statements in the mould of facts, rude embelishments, outright propagander down to the ridiculous. Ojukwu being a man of sound mind and judgement did not fail to nip it in the bud....anyway, enuf gisting....make I get down to bizness.....

Yesterday afternoon this thread was at page two and someone rightly suggested that the thread should be locked and the key thrown away his reason being that an E-war will definitely start and he was right.But my surprise now is why all the warnings and it still happens,meaning those in it are all fools, my apologies though.

This shows the maturity and educational standard of nigeria and its endevouring politicians. We can see just 4rm dis piece of letter a huge gap of maturity wif our 2days politics(ians). Am also honoured to read dat awolowo was neva against d ibos and wat he did in advise to condone/punish biafra was all for d unity of dis nation. May his soul rest in peace

lestat: this is what awolowo used his position to do to over 2million biafran children, at one point a French reporter was in tears in Gabon trying to explain what she saw...over 22.000 people where dying daily of starvation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! at the advise of awolowo, this same martyred man by the Yoruba people!!! and you want me to feel love? for who?

this is what major Benjamin adekunle said in an interview during the civil war:“I want see no Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no pope, no missionary, and no United Nations Delegation. I want to prevent even one Igbo from having even one piece to eat before their capitulation. We shoot at everything that moves and when our troops march into the center of Igbo territory, we shoot at everything even a things that don’t move”—Benjamin Adekunle

source:http://www.republicreport.com/biafra-adekunles-wartime-interview-with-german-randolph-baumann-of-stern-magazine-august-18-1968-in-igweocha/

Some of you folks are simply irredeemable.

All is fair in war. US used nuclear weapons against Japan, they are best of allies today.
Germany was defeated and the whole country grounded at then end of WWII, Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe today.
US fought an unjust war in Iraq and have the country set back a few decades. There is nothing anyone can do about it.

What is beyond understanding and logic is how you folks thought your enemy during the war should be feeding your children, your army, your women! It does not make sense and it is entirely ridiculous.

Awolowo did not declare war for Igbo. He has no reason whatsoever to fight the cause of Igbo. To what end? What would he gain, what would he achieve? Biafra victory would not make him an automatic Biafran or add value to Western Region. Infact, only a fool would be in Awolowo shoes with the understanding of happenings in his era and sided with Biafra. How could such a person be blamed for the defeat in such a fratricidal war?

Ojukwu was responsible for the mess of the war for his greed, crass opportunism, amateurish military tactics, impatience and immaturity. War is not a joke. If you are not prepared for it, you don't declare it. Biafra war has nothing to do with bravery but everything with stupidity.

It seem some people are blind,asking for source of said letter

Source: Awolowo, O. (1985). My march through prison. Macmillan Nigeria Publishers

Dis letter goes to shw dat yoruba leaders of now are a disgrace to Awo. Dis man had clearly seen thru d eyes of d illiterate brutal hausa crop of politicians. Even Ironsi did not get, and still ibo leaders dnt get it. Ironsi was warned by his wife of his associatn wit hausa soldiers, he was even killed in d haus of his friend, d MIL-AD of ibadan, along wit d mil/ad. Ibos and yorubas hav & can continue 2 exist 2geda even wit deir diffrences, but not wit d hausa peeps.d hausa wit britain hav planted dis-unity in d oda regions of 9ja so as to monopolize central power. Even ojukwu(RIP) still dint get it durin d war, dats why we lost.

Yorubas should thank Nzogwu he was their Saviour, if not his action Awolowo could have died in Calabar Prison.