By Ibraheem A. Waziri

iawaziri@yahoo.com



[b]It’s just that ignorance reign in Nigeria or our public intellectuals do not have passion for details and deep philosophical enquiry into the nature and realities of our socio-cultural formation and its history for the best of their opinions. These can be the only open and not so stretched explanations to Chinua Achebe’s blatant, below status and insincere depiction of the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 - 70 in the light of a so called jihadist expansionist goal of Muslims of northern Nigeria. The excerpts of his latest book, There Was a Country, as published by the UK Guardian, Tuesday, 2nd 2012, make bold this meaningless assertion: “But if the diabolical disregard for human life seen during the war was not due to the northern military elite's jihadist or genocidal obsession, then why were there more small arms used on Biafran soil than during the entire second world war? Why were there 100,000 casualties on the much larger Nigerian side compared with more than 2 million – mainly children – Biafrans killed?” Needless to mention that Achebe is not alone in this kind of portrayal that is typical of recent Igbo ‘intellectuals’ when it comes to discussing the civil war. The task of re-educating them and the crop of their students is therefore necessary if the dream of a greater Nigeria in fair neighbourliness is to be realized[/b]. Yes, northern Nigerians are mainly and majorly proud and faithful Muslims with unique culture and a record of close interactions with other world civilizations since time. They have for long known and understood that not everybody must look like them or believe in what they believed in, before peace, social cohesion and fair neighbourliness are justifiably established. In fact it can be authoritatively said that northern Nigeria of the 1960s, formed one the most cosmopolitan and accommodating social spaces in the whole world.


When the Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah wanted to initiate and draft Nigeria’s prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the premier of the northern region Ahmadu Bello into his Pan-Africanism they clearly told him that they were not racists and believed in the universal nature of truth, justice, fairness and equality of humankind regardless of race or ethnicity and that reflected the way they managed northern Nigeria and the country in general.


It was this world-view with its values and norms guiding intra and inter-pinning of human relations that saw a northern Nigeria of the 1960s as a home to many Igbos. In modern history the top one percent of the most literate and influential Igbo personalities once lived in northern Nigeria or spoke Hausa, the dominant language in the North. It was here that Major Chukuma Kaduna Nzeogwu’s parents settled and gave birth to him in 1937. He grew up with all opportunities unhindered and got the award of love, justice and trust of the then premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello until he finally, easily and safely got access to him, in the night, in his house, in the privacy of his bedroom and killed him in front of his wife with no struggle, no any suspecting guard to check him or even ask him hard questions. It is finished. Brutus killed his Caesar in cold blood of treachery, hatred and breach of trust. Describing a similar situation in the same operation kill, [b]where Major Ifeajuna an Igbo soldier and Major Nzeagwu’s co-kill planner ad partner, shot Brigadier Maimalari, Bernard Odogwu, an Igbo Nigerian Diplomat at the times of the events, in his book, No Place to Hide - Crises and Conflicts inside Biafra, clearly put it, “I am particularly shocked at the news that Major Ifeajuna personally shot and killed his mentor, Brigadier Maimalari. My God! That must have been Caesar and Brutus come alive...” What then could have been the fate of other Igbos in many parts of the North who enjoyed the same love, trust and protection of the other northerners who began to see a new streak of arrogance, condescension in the behavior of the Igbo who were illussioned in the new leadership of General Ironsi to the extent that , as told by our parents, they used to mock the northerners, imitating the cries and squeaks of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa before he died in the hands of Major Ifeajuna. Still Igbo intellectuals engage in this mockery as the Nigerian military historian Max Siollun, recently re-told the story of Nzeogwu’s kill which clearly portrayed Ahmadu Bello as a coward and a simpleton who hide behind his wife when he saw that Nzeagwu was certain to get him[b].


[b]These provocations and the details of stories such as captured by David Muffett, a British colonial officer who wrote the account of the 1966 coup in a book titled, Let Truth Be Told, outlining the Igbo elite’s detailed plan to take control of not only the political structures but even the social structures of the North by killing all the then northern emirs in the final. Some including Achebe are still contesting that the kill was not an Igbo carefully planned affair but rather a coup plotted against all Nigerian leaders of then. Yet all Igbos in prominent positions were missed in the fire and it was said the president, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe was missed because he was out of the country for a medical checkup. The question is could they have missed Sir Ahmadu Bello or Abubakar Tafawa Balewa if any was on a medical trip or they would have postponed the plans for more appropriate date that would guarantee and ensure an all inclusive kill? Yet, the pogroms that followed the events and the civil war were unfortunate (more objective details of which were written by Elechi Amadi in Sunset at Biafra)[b].


But the characterization of Northerners as Muslim jihadists who were already prepared and ready to stage a ‘holy jihad’ against Igbo, as a reason for the war is very untrue and intellectually insincere. Just because Igbo intellectuals have to find reasons then it doesn’t mean every reason must be dashed out. Just because they need someone to blame doesn’t mean the 21st century image of fundamentalist Islam must be projected backward into the story of Nigeria to justify a perspective. Besides what religion did the major actors of the war on the federal side professed? General Yakubu Gowon, General Theopilus Danjuma and General Joseph Garba, were Christians. Chief Awolowo, the intellectual architect of the War was a Christian. General Olusegun Obasanjo and General Adekunle were all not Northerners. The prominent name in the commands that is a core Muslim northerner was only General Murtala Muhammed. Even if all the others were Muslims what sense could it have made for the Muslims to have fought the Igbos only to establish the leadership of General Yakubu Gowan who was a Christian, the same and only reason they supposedly could have fought the Igbos? Gowon enjoyed the support of all Muslim northerners as my good friend Alhaji Yakubu Musa, currently a media assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan who is from a devout Muslim family, once mentioned how he was named Yakubu in celebration of Gowon’s visit to Kano on a day that coincided with his birthday. No.



The truth of the matter is Igbo betrayed the trust given to them in the then northern Nigeria by the singular act of betrayal of Nzeagwu on Ahmadu Bello and the subsequent poor management of their relationship with their hosts that bred suspicion of complicity in the plans of the kill and a thought of greater conspiracy. The way forward is not to employ a wider and more efficient propaganda machinery to score cheap sympathy and sponsor the production of a sensationalist movie in the Holly Wood, Secret of the Sun, starring Bruce Willis and displaying that northern Nigerian Muslim Hausa will attempt to do the same in the present Nigeria and in the recent future and can be stopped only by the Americans.



The way forward is to always tell the truth, accept faults, take responsibilities for errors and constantly preach the gospel of keeping trust, commitments and fair neighbourliness.


Let’s make the younger generation and the entire world know that we are one in Nigeria and the top one percent of Igbo most informed political and public intellectuals lived in the North or even spoke Hausa.


This ranging from Chinua Achebe himself, Cyprian Ekwensi, Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeagwu, General Emeka Ojukwu or Dr. Nmandi Azikwe. Cyprian Ekwensi even copied and translated the literary work of my uncle, John Tafida Umaru titled, Jiki Magayi, from Hausa to English, titled it African Nights Entertainments, and dubbed it his own without acknowledgement, adding to his literary stock, achievement and fame. The world must know the good contribution their living in the North and speaking its language brought into their skills and perspectives that which won them the accolades they so celebrate and rejoice in, today, a fact which they and their friends always want to hide!

Booked

This is d hard truth and we'll written piece of article. I dnt like it when northeners are always painted as blood sucking jihadist. May God help us.

products of quotas system. show us prove that that Cyprian ekwensi copy your uncle work ? please stop laing

Is the hausa op saying that Nzeegwu sneaked into Bello's room to kill him alone and Bello's guards simply ushered him in because they trusted him? This is the height of revisionism. Documented history has it that nzeogwu and other went their armed with guns and tribalistic, nepotist, Igbo-hating Bello sensing danger hid behind his wives. There was no sneaking in or backststabbing anywhere. An Igbo man is not a coward that stabs you from behind. The cowardly backstabbers in nigeria know themselves.

Orjioorji:
products of quotas system. show us prove that that Cyprian ekwensi copy your uncle work ? please stop laing

By Ibrahim Musa
In the literary world, Cyprian Ekwensi is a household name. This holds true particularly for the volume of work he churned out within the corpus of African literature. He was a very good story teller, especially of the urban tale, that many people see him as a better story teller than the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka or even the more famous novelist, Chinua Achebe. In a stark contrast, John Tafida can be considered a nonentity. He is not even popular in the region (northern Nigeria) where he was born and bred, and where Hausa, the language he wrote in is the unofficial lingua franca. The world knows very little about Tafida who lived in the obscure Wusasa quarters in Zaria, and wrote, perhaps, only one book in a vernacular. All these disadvantages robbed him of a chance to popularity and even a recognition for Pulitzer or Booker Prize, or some other award. In another contrast, the two did not even write in the same medium (language) and there was no clear evidence their paths ever crossed.
Why am I interested in these novelists despite that my background has nothing to do with literature? As a physician, I should be seen writing about diseases and cure, or on great personalities in Medicine. For obvious reasons, I have scant interest in reading novels. My little passion for it died with my teen age. However, from the few I have read I am left with a puzzle that refused to get solved despite my curiosity and nagging. I learnt how to read in Hausa language first before I could read in English. So, it was natural that most of the books I came across early in my life were authored in Hausa. I must confess that very few of those books left a mark on me since the vast majority had pattern of telling stories on romance with happy ending. Scholars of Hausa literature even tagged them as Kano market literature; apparently a pejorative term signifying poor writing quality, juvenile treatment of the subjects and limited creativity. However, there was a generation of creative works before the advent of Kano market literature which was outstanding. I can still remember passages and snippets from Abubakar Imam’s Ruwan Bagaja, Tafawa Balewa’s Shaihu Umar, John Tafida’s Jiki Magayi, Gwarzo Muhammad’s Idon Matambayi, and Bello Kagara’s Gandoki. These five novels were authored decades before I was born and they remain classics. They emerged out of a literary competition organized by the then head of the Translation Bureau in Zaria, Mr. Rupert East, in 1933. Incidentally, Mr. East himself is the co-author of Jiki Magayi. The main drive behind that award was to stimulate culture of creative writing in Hausa language. The overall winner, Imam, went on to become well established as an author whose other books like Magana Jari Ce, Karamin Sani, and Tafiya Mabudin Ilmi became must read for every pupil passing through formal school in northern Nigeria.
It was not until 1955 when John Tafida’s Jiki Magayi was published. This notwithstanding that it won an award in 1933. By 1962, Cyprian Ekwensi also published his novel titled An African Night Entertainment. These two books, by commission or omission, happened to be exact replica of each other. They only differed in a way that one was written in Hausa and the other in English. From the first sentence to the last paragraph, Ekwensi appeared to have lifted and translated verbatim the work of John Tafida. I tried to find out whether Tafida’s consent was sought before his work was copy-pasted? I could not get a definitive answer to this query. What is apparent to me is that there is no acknowledgement or reference anywhere to Jiki Magayi as the original idea which Ekwensi stole and appropriated the whole credit for himself. Nothing like that appeared in the preface or foreword of Ekwensi’s plagiarized book.
In the Encyclopedia Britannica entry page, Ekwensi; an Igbo man, was said to have been be born on September 26, 1921, in Minna (present capital of Niger state). By implication, he was barely 12 years when Tafida authored Jiki Magayi. This evidence is a pointer that Tafida wrote his book at the time Ekwensi could not have dreamt of becoming a novelist. Ironically, it appears that there is a grand design to lend this issue a fig leaf. This is a clear case of literary fraud that should not be let to go without correcting the wicked wrongdoing.
It is not uncommon in the literary world to see prominent personalities involved in giraffe of other people’s work without proper attribution. Even Martin Luther of saintly projection was found to have plagiarized some sections of his dissertation. His famous speech titled “I Have a Dream’ was also a subject of contention. Yet no single case to my knowledge is as worst as Ekwensi’s, not even Johnny Cash’s case of absorbing Gordon Jenkin’s lyrics in his song titled “Folsom Prison Blues” could parallel the injustice done to Tafida by Ekwensi.
Finally, I crave the indulgence of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and National Copyright Commission to institute a joint probe that would unravel the mystery behind this serious distortion of literary history, or what I choose to call literary fraud of the millennium. We owe it to John Tafida to ensure that justice is done him and his remaining family. If it is discovered that his work was lifted without consent or compensation, every penny derived from that work should be given to his family. The fact that none of them came forward to sue Ekwensi for stealing their work is a signal that they may not be in the right frame of social standing to warrant such. They need this compensation to pay school fees to train more Tafidas. I also expect the federal government of Nigeria to withdraw the national honor awarded to Ekwensi. We have seen in Germany where two ministers (defense and education) were stripped of their PhD honors after it was discovered that they had extensively plagiarized their work.

"John tafida" what ever that's mean,a product of quota system challenging Achebe? wonder shall never end! and how is ahmedu bello a pan Africanist when he said"he rather give a job to an European than to give it to an igbo man? you think every body is almajiri? or did you think we are product of free education?

some people go just dey talk nonsense. oga sir, pls were u there when these events took place? How come u want me to believe your account above every one else? it's very funny d way we reason In this age. to even say African nights entertainment was his uncle's work.....mehn!!! I tire oo

This would have been a good write up but saying that Ahmadu bello was anything but a neo-conservative and a tribal leader is not true.
In fact, trying to make it out that he was a great leader is nothing but an expression of bias .
In fact, his actions led to his death. Every ailment afflicting Nigeria today started Under his watch.
From corruption,jailing opposition, election rigging to using the military to suppress dissent.
Nkurumah,as flawed as he was, was a far more effective leader than Ahmadu Bello and someone who knew what had to be done.
Finally the most annoying aspect of it, where this man tries to make Pan - africanism a bad idea or phrase.
That Ahmadu bello and the writer think pan - africanism is bad says a lot about their state of mind,ignorance and their incapacity.
People who have been brain-washed and mentally incapacitated by a combination of religion , feudal elitism and cronyism and the allure of being the top topdog in a crony capitalist society.
Nothing but "we are the ones to replace the colonial masters mentality."
If Ahmadu bello thought that being a pan africanist is the same as being a racist, it is further proof that he was unfit to lead.
He and his follower can head off to Saudi Arabia, UAE or any other country to await further instructions from their masters.

One bottle of cold Orijin for u!

oduastates:
This would have been a good write up but saying that Ahmadu bello was anything but a neo-conservative and a tribal leader is not true.
In fact, trying to make it out that he was a great leader is nothing but an expression of ignorance.
In fact, his actions led to his death. Every ailment afflicting Nigeria today started Under his watch.
From corruption,jailing opposition, election rigging to using the military to suppress dissent.
Nkurumah,as flawed as he was, was a far more effective leader than Ahmadu Bello and someone who knew what had to be done.
Finally the most annoying aspect of it, where this man tries to make Pan - africanism a bad idea or phrase.
That Ahmadu bello and the writer think pan - africanism is bad says a lot about their state of mind,ignorance and their incapacity.
People who have been brain-washed and mentally incapacitated by a combination of religion , feudal elitism and cronyism and the allure of being the top topdog in a crony capitalist society.
Nothing but "we are the ones to replace the colonial masters mentality."
If Ahmadu bello thought that being a pan africanist is the same as being a racist, it is further proof that he was unfit to lead.
He and his follower can head off to Saudi Arabia, UAE or any other country to await further instructions from their masters.

Igbos are bigots, you always always attached religious sentiment to your arguments. You people will never see faults in what you leaders have done but you always find faults in other tribe leaders. You people are the most wicked people on earth, so you don't know the problems we are in this country is caused by your people. God will judge you and your selfish and wicked hearth.

ArodewilliamsT:
Is the hausa op saying that Nzeegwu sneaked into Bello's room to kill him alone and Bello's guards simply ushered him in because they trusted him? This is the height of revisionism. Documented history has it that nzeogwu and other went their armed with guns and tribalistic, nepotist, Igbo-hating Bello sensing danger hid behind his wives. There was no sneaking in or backststabbing anywhere. An Igbo man is not a coward that stabs you from behind. The cowardly backstabbers in nigeria know themselves.

Lol!!!! Ironically, the last statement could only be written by a Coward and that's exactly what you are......

oduastates:
This would have been a good write up but saying that Ahmadu bello was anything but a neo-conservative and a tribal leader is not true.
In fact, trying to make it out that he was a great leader is nothing but an expression of ignorance.
In fact, his actions led to his death. Every ailment afflicting Nigeria today started Under his watch.
From corruption,jailing opposition, election rigging to using the military to suppress dissent.
Nkurumah,as flawed as he was, was a far more effective leader than Ahmadu Bello and someone who knew what had to be done.
Finally the most annoying aspect of it, where this man tries to make Pan - africanism a bad idea or phrase.
That Ahmadu bello and the writer think pan - africanism is bad says a lot about their state of mind,ignorance and their incapacity.
People who have been brain-washed and mentally incapacitated by a combination of religion , feudal elitism and cronyism and the allure of being the top topdog in a crony capitalist society.
Nothing but "we are the ones to replace the colonial masters mentality."
If Ahmadu bello thought that being a pan africanist is the same as being a racist, it is further proof that he was unfit to lead.
He and his follower can head off to Saudi Arabia, UAE or any other country to await further instructions from their masters.

Ahmadu Bello was undoubtedly a neo-con, but let me quote what Nkrumah wrote about other leaders from the same period so as to enlighten the likes of ZKOSOSO, the Orijin drinker who equally thrives on ethnic bigotry.

ZKOSOSO:
Liar Mohammed!! Tyrant Mohammad u! Killer-profet Mohammad!!
why do all bad guys like to bear mohammed as a name! Yet they say it means the noble one!

"[b]...The fact is that, out of colonialism, feudalism was strengthened by the Indirect Rule System. Out of this historical process emerged the Nigerian bourgeoisie and its intellectual counterpart which eventually emerged as one class. This class outwitted and subdued the feudalist the emirs, oyo etc. Then the contradiction between them and the bourgeois intellectual class became manifest. This class comprises lawyers, doctors, academics, petty bourgeoisie with money and property as their main concern. Azikwe and Awolowo are typical examples of this class.

The elite in its fight amongst themselves for political supremacy in order that whoever dominates the political scene can enhance his money and property, aided and abetted by feudal remnants (Balewa and Sarduana of Sokoto etc) these bourgeois intellectuals first united to win independence, and then divided, each fighting for political power, i.e, to be able to become the money barons and property owners of Nigeria. This is the story behind the Nigeria civil war. Neither side is for socialism. You can have some idea of why Azikwe is betraying Biafra. He is an Ibo and a Biafran (he was even Biafra's roving ambassador), but his money and property is tied up with the Federal Government. 'Where your treasure is, there is also your heart'. Ojukwu's father was one of the richest men in Nigeria. the pattern is the same in all colonial struggles, and it becomes worse under neo-colonialism.[/b]"

Sourced from 'Kwame Nkrumah: The Conakry Years : His Life and Letters. (1990). London ; Atlantic Highlands, N.J., USA: Panaf Books.'

While I usually agree with a lot of your posts, I felt it was necessary to make that intervention so as to provide a broader context for discussion. As an Nkrumaist who paid little attention to the attendant cleavages which dominated national politics during that era, for many years, I also once held similar views to yours on this subject. Like the Khmer Rouge who felt it was sufficient to reset the calendar of Cambodia to year zero, thereby doing away with years of historical baggage, in other to implement a scotched-earth policy of socialism, I also felt Nkrumah's approach was the best. Today, I have come to see things differently - that you cannot simply ignore cultural underpinnings and ethnic identity, to foist a new order on people who are at different stages of development.

In my mind, it is without doubt that Nkrumah remains one of Africa's greatest statesmen to date. At the same time, I am wiser now to know that his brand of Pan-Africanism - much like Zik's and Marcus Garvey's before - was heavily modeled on the United States of America. The problem with this approach, which Nyerere (yet another father of Pan-Africanism) rejected; was that it distorted historical realities just as Lenin and Stalin did with the USSR. It was not only inorganic, in the sense that it was primarily a top-down approach, but also derived from the template of a union which was formed by immigrants and fashioned in war - the USA.

So while Ahmadu Bello held what is best described as repugnant views about some of his compatriots, his outright rejection of Nkrumah's brand of Pan-Africanism might not have been completely without merit. Nigeria was no more ready for it at the time as it is now. In fact, it may interest you to know that 10 other nation-states, which included Liberia (not the most progressive, I might add) also railed against what they considered a rather forced approach.

Let me end by stating that, history has proved Nyerere's gradualism to be a better recommendation. If in doubt, look to the east - where you would find that Tanzania's 120 ethnic groups are not held together tenuously.

To those of you trying to twist history to fix your ass, I would never be my concern whether you agree or disagree. You have the right to believe whatever you deem fit. All your hatred toward north and its people especially Muslim, will never add or subtract sugar from my breakfast koko.

Naijacitizen:
To those of you trying to twist history to fix your ass, I would never be my concern whether you agree or disagree. You have the right to believe whatever you deem fit. All your hatred toward north and its people especially Muslim, will never add or subtract sugar from my breakfast koko.

Even at that, we must tell no lies. We must desist from writing hagiographies about the nation's founding fathers, which do little to move the debate forward.

Claim no easy victories...

"Don't tell lies. Fight lies when they are told. Don't disguise difficulties, errors, and failures. Do not trust in easy victories nor in appearances...
Practice and defend the truth, always the truth, to militants, leaders, and the people, whatever the difficulties the knowledge of the truth can create."

"These words from Amilcar Cabral, more familiar in the shortened version "Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy Victories," have inspired many not only in Africa but also around the world. More than forty years after Cabral was assassinated and almost fifty years after he wrote these words, his counsel remains highly relevant to all seeking not only to analyze reality but to change it."
(Source: africafocus.org/docs13/cabr1306.php)

x

bashnorth:
This is d hard truth and we'll written piece of article. I dnt like it when northeners are always painted as blood sucking jihadist. May God help us.

So what will you paint them as when they slaughtered over 50,000 easterners, men,women and children in 1966 alone?

Men were beheaded, pregnant women bellies ripped open and foetus executed, children drowned in wells and young Igbo girl raped and killed.

On top of all that, most Nigerians expected Ojukwu to be dancing to music of 'one Nigeria' while his people were being butchered.

To cap it all off,the entire justification for killing 50,000 people what that the leader of the coup was an Igbo man and it was an Igbo coup. The 50,000 people they killed didn't even know who Nzeogwu was.