This should end the debate BTW Nigerian and Ghanaian jollof. Hope it gives you some laughs.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Restructuring the Nigerian Mindset: Lessons from Okey Ndibe's Visit

by Deji Yesufu

Two weeks ago, I began the "Restructuring the Nigerian Mindset" series on this column and it is obvious to me now that the series is going to run longer than I expected. So I invite you to just sit back and savour the discussions. Last week I looked at Mrs. G's statement at my daughter's school about a teacher giving his primary one students freedom but yet still in control of the class. Today I want to discuss various lessons I gleaned from Okey Ndibe's recent visit to Nigeria, with the hope that those lessons will liberate our mindset as Nigerians. By the way, my focus in these series of papers is simply that Nigeria does not need political restructuring; rather, it is our mindset that needs to change. So far, since introducing the subject, I have been dwelling on education.

Okey Ndibe is primarily a writer. He is known in the Nigerian literary community as a columnist. His Sunday column in the Guardian in the year 2004, introduced me to political literature. I was always so enthralled at his manner of taking the Obasonjo government to task without mentioning a word of insult. For this, he was arrested many times at the airports as he sought to leave or enter the country. He is still on the SSS list at our airports. Okey is also a novelists and has written a couple of books that are international bestsellers, including "Arrows of Rain" and "Foreign Gods, Inc". His latest book, "Never Look an American in the Eye", is his memoirs of his stay in the United States since 1988. The stories are so captivating and the book is the talk of town in the literary world today.

I learnt via Facebook that Okey was coming to Nigeria in July on a book tour for his latest work. Ibadan was to be his last stop around the country, so I planned to be there to hear him. Fortunately he was billed to address students at the University of Ibadan too. So I keyed into the two events. Even though I had never met him, I had learnt that Okey was a good friend of my father and had stayed at my Dad’s place in the State of Nevada, USA, when he was once visiting. Therefore it was a "reunion" of some sort when we eventually met in Ibadan. Now to the lessons Okey's visit taught me and the need for restructuring the mindset of the Nigerian.

Okey repeated a phrase often: "a story that must be told never forgives silence". That statement was made in response to questions on why his literary style was so much similar to those of Chinua Achebe. He explained that his writings were actually a mixture of Soyinka's literary ethics and Achebe's writing style. He said that the aforementioned quote was his reworking of Soyinka's "the man died in every person who kept silent in the face of tyranny". Okey was urging his listeners to find their voices. It is instructive to note that Okey's visit to UI drew only a couple of students and lecturers to the Arts Theatre were the event held. However when the ignominious “Apostle” Johnson Suleiman visited the same institution in April this year, the car park of the Chapel of The Resurrection was filled to capacity. Lesson one: The man is dying in many Nigerians. Nigerians must find their voices in the face of political and religious tyrants. We must discover the things that are important and pursue them.

Okey spoke a great deal about the wonders of Providence in his life. This story is important because many Nigerians look to God for miracles but they forget that vital aspect of hard work, patience, thriftiness and good old common sense. Okey left Nigeria in 1988 to be Editor of a magazine that Chinua Achebe and some other persons had founded. The magazine was highly acclaimed but it suffered low advert patronage, and folded up after two years. Okey was therefore without a job only after two years in the USA. By an act of Providence, he met a Professor who offered to get him an opportunity to do a Masters degree in creative writing, if he would only submit the first few chapters of the book he was writing. Okey was not writing any book; he had no plans to be an author but in a few days, he had written out a draft and submitted it. It won him the grant to do his Masters and that book became his thesis, which was finally published as his first book: "Arrows of Rain". Lesson two: Miracles and God's Providences reach men in the place of duty and not in the house of prayers.

My observation of the man Okey Ndibe reveals him to be a man of great humility and simplicity. In contrast to his column, where he can be quite vitriolic, I saw a man with a genuine love of people at heart. Probably this is what informs his attack on rent seeking establishments. Okey wore only one type of clothing in all his public outing, throughout the book tour: a black shirt on a black jean trouser. Probably in line with the thinking of a Mark Zuckerberg, Okey will rather spend time with thinking than dressing to leave a good impression on people. His simplicity was legendary; with absolutely no sense of an air of importance around him. He answered questions forthrightly, he reeled out his accomplishments as a writer with grace at heart, and the aptness to teach was so profound. There is no doubt that that simplicity that is found in many persons that possess substance in them could be seen in him; rather than the noise that emanate from empty barrels. Lesson three: be meek.

The final lesson, out of many others, that one could glean from Okey's visit is the tragedy of the brain drain that has befallen our nation. While Okey's journey to the USA was not so much due to the phenomenon called brain drain, it is a fact that a person like Okey cannot be a permanent teacher in our public institutions because the establishment, both political and institutional, will frustrate him out. The best that we can get of him are occasional visits like this or honorary academic lecturing opportunities. Nigerians need to see people like Okey Ndibe as true heroes and learn from them. Unfortunately, even learned people don't know him. Probably when he wins the Noble Prize for literature, he would become well known. But for now, I present to you Okey Ndibe: a Nigerian doing us proud in the committee of nations. Get his books, especially the latest "Never Look an American in the Eye", and glean something of the way and manner true graceful and great men think.

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/restructuring-the-nigerian-mindset-lessons-from-okey-ndibes-visit/

pazienza:
On Banjo and Ore March.

Good afternoon all. My name is Deji Yesufu. I am the author of the article pasted by the opener of the thread.

I have read most of the posts here but found this screenshots the only one I can respond to.

Unfortunately. I cannot provide an adequate response now but the beauty of my write up was to allow Banjo speak. Therefore in response to these clips, I'll quote Banjo from one of the numerous letters he wrote his wife and then offer a perspective:

Banjo: "It is really very interesting to read the French attitude to a lot of things. Those of us who have studied English and lived in the English system tend to accept only what the English think about themselves and about others. All writers have their biases, based on their background, attitude and nationality. There are really no objective writers. The English have a ridiculous habit of pretending that they are the most fair and objective writers in the world. It is just part of their reverse arrogance, just like their much vaunted sense of fair play and their humility. Actually they are just like everybody else."


The implications of that statement made years before Frederick wrote his book, for sale, is that the story conjured up on Banjo in that book are lies.

Like the many mercenaries employed to fight the Biafran war, Frederick was employed to produce a narrative that will put Ojukwu and his Biafra in the good light.

But it is true that anyone can call anyone a liar and so in a few days from now, I shall be producing another story on Banjo that will reflect to all what really happened. It will be published on Nairaland by God's grace.

CC: Mynd44.

The highest authorities of the Biafran government did not believe Banjo's story. The officers hearing the court martial of these four officers found them guilty of plotting to overthrow the government of Biafra which Ojukwu headed. They were sentenced to death. Banjo's last moment reels with poignancy. It was said that all four men walked to the site of their death with head high. Banjo, without his glasses, stood erect as he was tied to the poles. Their executors took position and opened fire on them. After the first round of fire, all three men were dead except Banjo. Defiant till the end, he let out a cry _"I'm not dead yet... I'm not dead yet..."_ This time all executors directed their rifles at Banjo alone. After the second round of shots, Banjo is still screaming defiantly: "I'm not dead yet..." However the third rounds of shots silenced him.

Kunle Ojeleye in his book, The Politics Of Post War Demobilization And Reintegration In Nigeria, commented on how ill prepared the Biafran army were and that Banjo and the three others were killed because they dared to request better equipping for the soldiers. Hear him:

_“Indeed, it was at the behest of this feeling that four Biafran military officers wrote a memorandum to the Biafran administration requesting for a review of the war effort. among others, their memorandum requested: that Biafra should have its own currency; there should be an immediate re-organisation and appropriate equipping of the Biafran army; the admittance of civilians into the Biafran decision making body and the decentralisation of the Biafran government; the mortgaging of Biafran oil in exchange for urgently needed military aid and equipment; and in the absence of all the preceding four requirements, immediate negotiation with the federal forces for a peaceful settlement of the crisis._

*_“For daring to take such a course of action, Lt.-Col. Victor Banjo, Major Emmanuel ifeajuna, Samuel Agbam and Major Alale were labelled as traitors, accused of wanting to overthrow the Biafran administration, court martial, and executed (Ottah 1981).”_* At the end, these four men were right. Biafra lost the war because it was ill prepared and because one man, Ojukwu, was chasing a pipe dream.

Banjo had told his wife that that whatever happens, he would let her know of his well being. One morning, following Banjo's death, Banjo's wife woke up in far away Sierra Leone with a dream on her heart. A bird had come into their home and after flying about a bit, it flew out of the window into the blue skies. Mrs. Banjo knew instinctively that that her husband was dead(3). She would eventually relocate to Nigeria and bring up her children as Nigerians, as her husband had wished.

A few months after Odumegwu Ojukwu died, following a prolonged illness, I was in the office of Prof. Olayinka Omigbodun (nee Banjo), the second to the last daughter of Victor Banjo, at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. I had come to see her on the book she wrote of her father. Among a few things we discussed I remember her saying this and I paraphrase: "the man who caused all these is today being buried as a national hero, while my father lies somewhere buried in an unmarked grave"(4). The bodies of those four men were never found. Many of their families have found it difficult to reach closure on them.

Chris Ngwodo has rightly pointed out that the civil was wholly unnecessary. It was a war that was the result of the youthful exuberance and pride of 36 year old Ojukwu and 31 year old Gowon. Unfortunately those beating the drums of secession and war today are the same youths who have refused to learn from our history. Banjo fell out with Ojukwu from day one when he refused to support his secession course. However they both needed each other and they rode on themselves until the ride could no longer continue. Prof. Wole Soyinka, in his Memoirs, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, said when he met Banjo in Enugu, he saw a man who bought into his idea of a Third Force.

While the Nigerian and Biafran course was the first and second forces, set at warring against each other, Soyinka and a few others saw themselves as The Third Force. The Third Force aimed simply at stopping the war. They did everything to delay it. And if the youth leadership we had then were listening to them, there would not have been a war and the over three million lives lost would not have occurred. Gen. Alabi Isama, in his book on the civil war, "The Tragedy of Victory", wrote about so many gallant officers lost needlessly to this war. For his efforts at trying to broker peace between Nigeria and Biafra, Wole Soyinka was imprisoned by the Gowon government without trial all the war. He was refused permission to even bury his father. Gowon would however apologize personally to Soyinka for this years later.

The man Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is asking Nigeria to go back to this painful lane again. Someone has said that a call to secession is not the same as a call to war. I have however reminded him that history has equated most calls to secession to a call to war. If it were not so, why are IPOB members armed to the teeth today? Why are they brow beating their people to obey some sit at home order? While this country can very well call for a referendum to decide on the question of Biafra, the mere fact that free and fair elections cannot hold in the Eastern part of this country is proof that no free and fair referendum can hold in the East. Besides, what states in this Federal Republic will call themselves Biafra? The last I heard, the people of the oil rich Niger Delta are averse to secession. And Kanu needs to get his elders involved in his course. He needs to respect his state governors, Senators and Rep members. As long as he treats these people as thrash, he cannot get their support. And government will not listen to a rabble rouser. When all these is done, we will then settle the matter of the thousands of intermarriages between Biafrans and other parts of this country. As far as I can see with all these matter on ground, Biafra is a dead agenda.

Victor Banjo, though dead, yet speaketh. His last words that he is not dead rings true. As a member of the Third Force, who did everything to avert war, he was calling on the people of this generation to sheath their swords. A united Nigeria is better than a splintered one, he's saying. He's telling us that if Nigeria divides, there will be no end to its division because every region of this country are still made up of people groups. If we cannot live together now, we will not live together in splintered groups. He's calling on us to jaw jaw, rather than war war. He's asking our young men to redirect their energies to more fruitful endeavors. He's saying that if we do not do the hard work of living together, the easy path of secession, which we think is better, will only be littered with the body and blood of our best minds.

The motives of those calling for secession today is even more insincere than those who called for it years back. If Biafra of Ojukwu days was born out of the genocide perpetrated against lbos, who is killing IBOs today? Let this Biafra cry cease. Let the legitimate claims of IBOs be looked into. Let us live together happily ever after. We are better off together than divided.

This write up is dedicated to my friend across the Niger: Chidi Iloegbu. Thanks for reading my articles.

"My name is Brigadier Victor Banjo. I command the liberation army in Mid-West. Before then, l commanded all the operations in the Northern front._

_“I know all the other three accused persons fairly well. The second accused, Philip Alale, l met for the first time on July 9, 1967 when there was a collapse of the Nsukka front among our troops. Neither himself nor myself was then an officer in the Biafran Army._

_"We went to Nsukka together with Brigadier Philip Effiong to assist to watch Philip talk to the troops with vehemence and sincerity. That, to a great extent, helped to rekindle their sagging morale._

_“His Excellency, Col. Ojukwu, was as well at Nsukka that night. I later found out from the Governor that Philip Alale has been his close friend and that the man was primarily instrumental in organising the support of the masses for the declaration of the Republic of Biafra._

_“I know that Major Alale has been involved in settling some conflicts in the trade union movements, which might well account for the extraordinary hostility of one of the witnesses for the prosecution. I remember, in fact, that when l was about to return to the Western Command, His Excellency refused to allow Major Alale accompany me because he needed Major Alale for the task of preparing a political programme for the Republic of Biafra. It would be impossible to conceive of Major Alale being tried by this tribunal for the offence in this charge._

_"I know Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Ifeajuna very well. He had been my colleague in the old Nigerian Army, although a junior colleague. I know about his involvement in the coup of January 1966. He was responsible for the deaths of a few people. He was with me in prison for quite some time._

_“I have had opportunity of discussing the details of that coup with him. I know he regrets the bloodshed that took place on that occasion in fact, his aversion to bloodshed is in the nature of an obsession, which to a certain extent, militates against his efficiency as a commander of troops in the battlefront._

_“These considerations were primary in my mind when he was offered to me as a commanding officer for the Western operations. Instead, l chose to make him my Chief of Staff. As Chief of Staff, he discharged himself with such confidence that constituted in no small measure to the success of that operation._

_“Lt-Col. Ifeajuna joined the group of young men who have been in the habit of giving advice to His Excellency on State matters. During my short disagreement with his Excellency on the MidWest political policy, he was himself personally instrumental in bringing to His Excellency, my point of view on the Mid-West operation. I am aware that he subsequently became a frequent member of this group._

_“My stay in Biafra, after having been released from prison, has been due to my friendship with Col. Ojukwu. I clearly remember once telling him that l would return to the West. He told me that he needed me here because he felt he needed someone who could ta to hi without ceremony; someone in a position to give blame t him for his mistakes. Most of the political manoeuvres that Col. Ojukwu planned early this year in connection with achieving Southern solidarity against the North, were planned with me._

_“When he decided to declare an Independent Republic of Biafra, l pleaded with him to postpone it as both the people West and Mid-West wee not ready or at that stage, sufficiently strong militarily to take the same stand, even though they would wish it._

_“I pointed out to him his declaration of Biafra at the time was not consistent with our plans and agreements. I told him that the people of the West who were acting on the basis of the fact that l would bring assistance to them from here, would consider the decision to declare Biafra at that time a betrayal of our arrangements. I tod the military Governor that l would leave Biafra for the West or for the outside world after his declaration of Independence._

_“However, when l discovered the emerging trend that followed the declaration of Independence of Biafra, it became clear to me that a war with the North was imminent. I decided to stay behind and assist in the prosecution of the war, both for the sake of my friendship with Colonel Ojukwu and in the hope that having assisted to fight back the Northern threat to Biafra, he would assist me with troops to rid the Mid-West and Lagos of the same menace._

_“I came into the war at a moment of temporary collapse of the Biafran fighting effort, when it became quite clear to me that the fighting effort of the Biafran Army was not only being incompetently handled, but also being sabotaged. Since then, it has been my fortune to command the Biafran troops on their successfull exploits._

_*“On the whole, l had in private, told Col Ojukwu that l could never be made to stand charged for having plotted against his office and his person. There was no plot against him.”*_

This action jolted Gowon from his sleep but incensed Ojukwu. Ojukwu recalled Banjo to Enugu and placed him on house arrest. Ogunsheye reports that Banjo was so popular with the troops in Benin that Ojukwu had to trick him back to Enugu. Subsequently the invasion of the mid West began to suffer disorder and Ojukwu was forced to return Banjo to command the Benin front.

On the side of the West, there was mixed reaction in the minds of Yoruba people when news of the Biafran take over of the mid West reached them. On one hand, they saw the Biafran brigade led by a Yoruba, as a liberation army and they looked forward to their coming. But as news of the atrocities being perpetrated on the non Igbo's of the mid West by the Biafran army reached the West, the Yoruba's became less convinced that the Igbo were really coming to liberate them from the shackles of their colonizers - the Hausas. Banjo himself was reluctant to invade Ibadan and Lagos without having at least 50% grass root support. Banjo’s sister wrote of how he called her requesting to know the feeling in town. Fact is that the Yoruba elders of that time were not decided and Awolowo as number two man to Gowon made matters more difficult. Soyinka wrote of how he drove around Ibadan, trying to convince Obasanjo to permit Banjo a smooth sail through Ibadan into Lagos. Obasanjo, the head of the military in Ibadan, would have none of it. Banjo could have rolled into Ibadan successfully but he would not invade Ibadan without the cooperation of his people. His sister reminded him of Afonja and the Ilorin emirate and he said he remembered. He would eventually be felled as another Afonja of the 20th century.

Banjo had also reached an agreement with Ojukwu to take over the government of Gowon and allow the Easterners to go their way, with a possible secession of the North too. But Ojukwu had reneged on an agreement he had with Banjo not to sack the government of the mid West. The mid West was meant to be a passage through and not a destination. The two of them argued over this matter for days on the phone in Benin, giving the Nigerian government sufficient time to recover from the take over of the mid West. Muritala Mohammed was sent by Gowon to recover the mid West and invade Biafra itself. The Nigerian army successfully pushed their Biafran counterpart out of the mid West. This was the period the famous _Ogun Ore Olekun_ occurred. The Biafran army blew up a part of the Niger Bridge, thereby impeding the Nigerian army's surge into Onitsha.

Ojukwu welcomed his defeated army back to Enugu with open arms. He had mended fences with Banjo and had promised him greater task ahead. But in a few days, trumped up charges of a coup were levied against Banjo. Banjo had made Ifeanyi Ifeajuna his chief of staff. Ifeajuna had acted as a go between with Banjo and Ojukwu at Benin. However the charges of plotting to overthrow the government of Biafra was levied against Brigadier Victor Banjo, Lt. Col. Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Major Philip Alale and Mr. Samuel Agbam. At their court martial, it was Brigadier Victor Banjo that stood as counsel for himself and the three others. His words, as recorded by Alexander Madiebo(2) in his book, are these:

"I'm Not Dead Yet!": The Story of Victor Banjo
by Deji Yesufu

I have written this historical account as my contribution to the Biafran secession debate. I desire that Nigerians be informed and that this country remain united. If you share this desire with me, you have my permission to share this article to other platforms

Victor Banjo was executed by firing squad by the regime of Col. Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, on trumped up charges of planning a coup against the government of Biafra, on September 22nd, 1967. I met Victor Banjo in 2008.

I had taken up a job as an A-level teacher of Physics in March 2008 at the Educational Advancement Center, Bodija, Ibadan. Among the children I taught in the set that wrote the May/June examinations of that year, was the grand child of Victor Banjo. His aunt, Prof. Mrs. Olayinka Omigbodun, had just published the book "Gift of Sequin: Letters to My Wife", which she wrote in her father's name. The book was a compilation of letters which her father, Victor Banjo, had written to their mother, while he was in prison. The young man, Banjo's grandchild, gave the book to the literature teacher in the school I was teaching in and I just happened to lay my hands on it. Through its pages, I met Brigadier Victor Banjo.

Victor Banjo was among officers arrested by the government of Aguiyi Ironsi after the coup of January 15th 1966, that led to the deaths of the then Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, the then Finance Minister, Sir Okotie Eboh, and a number of civilians and military officers. Banjo denied he ever was knowledgeable of the coup and many of the coup plotters attested to the fact that he was not one of them. But Ironsi left him in the gulag and Yakubu Gowon, who succeeded Ironsi, refused to heed the numerous letters of appeal Banjo wrote him from prison to be released.

The book "Letters to My Wife" was Banjo's various directives to the wife on keeping the family front in his absence. The brilliance of this Electrical Engineering trained senior military officer showed even in his private letters to his wife. He left directives on how money could be sourced to take care of the children, he planned when exactly the wife was to flee Nigeria in case war broke out (and she and the children did eventually), he instructed his wife that whenever peace returned he wanted his kids raised Nigerians (the wife was from Serra Leone(1) and she fled there afterwards), and many other such instructions. He didn’t leave out words of endearment either. Strangely enough, he told the wife that if anything was ever to happen to him, he would let her know about it. In the letters, Banjo refuted the claims that he was part of the January 1966 coup plotters. In a sense, the book was written to clear his name of that list and I believe it has succeeded in doing that.

Banjo was imprisoned in Ikot Epene in Eastern Nigeria. So when the whole brouhaha began between Ojukwu and Gowon over the secession question, Ojukwu released all officers that planned the coup and had been imprisoned in the East. They all joined the Biafran rank - including Banjo. Banjo, as a Yoruba, was at first reluctant to work with Ojukwu. But Ojukwu urged him to join his government. At that time, the Nigerian crisis was mainly between the Ibos and the Hausas. The Ibos had accused the Hausas of carrying out genocide on their people in Northern Nigeria. The Hausas claimed the 1966 coup was an Igbo coup targeted at killing their Sardauna and other key Hausa leaders. The country was boiling. Killings were being carried out every day in every part of the country. The Ibos felt vulnerable and were returning in droves to the East. Ojukwu was playing with the idea of Secession. Banjo advised he delayed announcing it. Ojukwu announced the secession of the nation of Biafra on the 31st May, 1967. Civil War had broken forth in Nigeria.

The mid West, now Delta and Edo State, at first took a middle position as far as the crisis was concerned. Ojukwu sent Victor Banjo and an army of soldiers to take over the mid West. The mid West fell to Biafran soldiers in August 1967. It was a major military tactical move that many have credited to the intelligence of Banjo. Not a bullet was shot to take over Benin and it environs. But on getting to Benin, things fell apart between Banjo and Ojukwu. The plan had been that 24 hours after taking Benin, the Biafran soldiers were to be enroute to Lagos and Ibadan to take over those cities. Another account by Victor Banjo elder sister, Prof. Ogunsheye, in her book “A Break in Silence “, she said that Banjo invaded the mid West on his own initiative, leading a liberation army. The neatness of the invasion and take over took everyone by surprise. But Banjo may have made the mistake of announcing his presence in Benin by making a broadcast to the Western people, asking them to prepare to receive the liberation army.

Yemi Osinbajo, Take Charge!

An Open Letter to the Acting President of Nigeria

by Deji Yesufu

Two years ago I wrote an anonymous letter to you that was published on the front page of Nairaland on the 4th of February, 2015: https://www.nairaland.com/2130414/nairalander-open-letter-prof-yemi. From comments on that link, I understand you saw that letter. I hereby write another. One of the progress this country has made since then is that I can now boldly attach my name to an open letter to you.

This letter is occasioned by the present state of our national life and the need to urge you to take certain practical steps to save this country. As it is, it seem the country is simply on auto pilot and very much at risk of cap sizing with various issues that threaten its existence everyday.

The cry of many youths in the Eastern part of the country calling for cessation has been heard by all nations. Only the grace of God is keeping these persons at bay. There is also the unfortunate response by some Northern Youths to this cry for cessation: asking Ibos to leave the North by a certain date. Up till this moment, no one has been arrested, despite the threat of the Kaduna State government.

We thank God for the progress made concerning security in the country, the increasing victory of our troops over the insurgency in the North East, the reduction in attacks by Fulani Herdsmen, the silencing of Niger Delta Avengers and the increasing capture of kidnapping warlords. We also thank God for the economy that is recovering from recession. We are grateful to God that despite the absence of the President, governance has continued unabated. One can only say “well done”.

Despite all these, I am compelled to ask you to TAKE CHARGE of the running of government. This is what I mean: Your body language since your Principal, Muhammadu Buhari, proceeded on sick leave, has been one of compliance and “live and let live”. For obvious reasons, you do not feel obliged to do anything that might hurt your principal. Thus, despite being acting President, you are yet at the beck and call of the President. I’m simply asking you, sir, to take charge. Be a bit more assertive and let this country feel your strength, wisdom and experience. I ask that you take charge of three major things in governance.

1. Take Charge of Your Cabinet.

In other words, reshuffle your cabinet. Pick your own men. Run your own race. Sir, take charge!

The leading criticism of the Buhari government has not been that it is inept, or corrupt, or without vision. The greatest criticism of this government is the presence of certain men at the seat of power, who seem to have been running this country at proxy. The popular word for it is “The Cabal”. Sir, you know them. Get rid of them. Period. You have the constitutional power and you have the backing of the good people of this country.

I understand that when Buhari returns he may be cross with you for doing this. But, if your principal returns and finds this country better than he left it, he would not blame you for doing this. In the interview that Mrs. Buhari granted the BBC, she mentioned these men. Please, get rid of them. A few men cannot hold this country to ransom. You allow them to remain under your watch to your own peril. Remember the story of Gedaliah and Ishmael in Jeremiah 41.

2. Release Political Detainees

Every person in power covets the favor of various prominent groups and tribes in a nation they lead. I believe it is time to release Dasuki, El Zaki Zaki and any other politically induced detainee of this government.

I understand that these cases are in court. But I also understand that certain political considerations were made for both Nnamdi Kanu and the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki. I believe that Dasuki and Zaki Zaki can enjoy the same political considerations. And these are two persons from northern Nigeria that could help douse the tension that can arise with the removal of key persons in your cabinet reshuffle.

Sir, you need to take charge of these things. You must not be too far from the political sagacity of your mentor and benefactor, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu. Let such men guide your decision making as you endeavor to take charge of this government.

3. Satisfy the South East and other Politically Disadvantaged Sections of the Country.

Except we choose to be insincere, the choice of persons to political positions under the Buhari government is marvelously skewed to satisfy mostly people from the North. The South West cannot complain in the arrangement of things. But the South East are marginalized in political appointments.

This country is one. Ministerial seats are not all there is to political appointments. Please reach out to the sons and daughters of the people of the South East, and put them in conspicuous places in your government. These people will return and help douse the raging agitation for cessation. We cannot afford another civil war. We can at least silence their cry a bit.

Conclusion

You have come to power at a time like this by the simple act of God’s Providence. We would not be held accountable before for God for what was given to us, but rather for what we did with what was given to us.

Sir, take charge. It would be risky. It could cost you your life. But it is even more risky if you do nothing.

I particularly pray for you everyday and all that is written here is product of my communion with God. You have overcome greater challenges in the past. You will sail through these ones too. Only be strong and be courageous.

Yemi Osinbajo, TAKE CHARGE!

CC: Seun, lalasticlala, Mynd44

ValisGod:

A RESPONSE TO DEJI YESUFU

By AKPOVETA, Valentine​ 't

Meanwhile, I just finished reading the article by Deji Yesufu.

While I think he may have done a passably good job with the abridged versions of the lessons in history, the problem, as I see it, is that he went further.

Where he would have been perfectly alright as a historian, regurgitating bits and pieces of history, and drawing some conclusions from incomplete narratives​, while ignoring contexts and the actions that the times, pressures and information of that period necessitated, I am more than a little peeved that he designed to give a simplistic solution to an obviously complex problem.

His opinions are not only a sign of a very uninformed mind, lacking a strong grasp of reality or global parallels, they also lack any real form of empathy.

He sees himself as a Third Force but his arguments are no different, in form or substance, from those who would force people to remain in an inconvenient union of imperial making without addressing the essence of the core of the agitations. Deji is not a Third Force. He is an ignorant force. A dangerous and ignorant voice.

He transposes the call by the dying Victor Banjo to the Nigerian situation, "I'm not dead yet!". He misses the poignancy of the end of that narrative. Banjo died. Eventually.

As the guns were trained on him, vomiting their metal messengers of death, he died.

The soul of Nigeria, today, is at the centre of a firing squad, with the guns of marginalisation, corruption, debilitating ignorance, sectionalism​, and whatnot, trained on her. She may cry again and again that she is not dead. But except these guns stop firing, she will die. That is an incontrovertible truth.

How many SNC's have we had? What has been the result? To think that typing out overly simplified solutions to fundamental problems that have perennially faced Nigeria and shaped every single facet of her socio-cultural and political facets- fundamental problems that have not been addressed, to think this will magically solve our problem is to reveal how out of tune Deji is with reality. We cannot wish away our problems. We cannot​ write it away either.

Deji goes ahead to say that since the Ibo's are no longer killed, then they have no reason to ask for a referendum for secession. In his narrow-mindedness, only a genocide should be reason enough to ask for secession. But that, even then, the glorious Third Force should be listened to- that even secession should not be a reason to secede. Essentially, he says everyone must stay in this forced marriage for which we had no say. He compounds the expression of his folly when he says we should just live together "happily ever after".

But this his pipe dream of "together happily ever after" is backed up with absolutely no facts. And when he goes on to say we are better off together than divided, I do not understand where he gets that idea from.

If the blood merchants who put together this contraption called Nigeria for their pecuniary gains, without regards to the several unique differences amongst the tribal groups, had put together Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana together into one country with a land mass approximately equal to Congo or Algeria, a buffoon would come to the conclusion that five countries cannot break away and function independently​. But we have these five countries existing relatively peacefully, side by side, dealing with their issues and making progress in their different ways.

Why can it not be the same for Nigeria as it presently exists? Who says that we are better together than divided? What are the indices from which that conclusion was drawn?

Yesufu, thinking he writes to unthinking people, says some really laughable things.

He says that the claim of a call to secession not being equal to a call to war is insincere. And that gathering arms in readiness for the eventuality of a war is proof that Biafrans are itching to be aggressors. This is an asinine suggestion. If he thinks that the possession of arms must be interpreted strictly as a warning of aggression and impeding war, but not as a possible safeguard against the mindless slaughter of innocent people demanding their right to self-determination and sovereignty, then indeed, it is Yesufu who needs a lesson in history.

The book of our nationhood has pages written with the blood of innocents mass murdered, and killed in droves- by rampaging mobs as well as soldiers. Unarmed people shot dead. Whole populations denied food and medicine and slaughtered for the fun of it, for the singular reason that they were Ibo's.

Now, Yesufu, in his silliness, suggests that the Ibo's should not arm themselves if their call for secession is truly sincere. That, therefore, leaves another option- a referendum. But Yesufu, the clown, shoots down the idea of a referendum too. He says the south-east is notorious for compromised elections and that since free and fair elections cannot hold in that region, then free and fair referendum cannot hold in that region.

Yesufu is a bumbling nitwit.

If we ignore the bloated census figures of a certain part of the country, if we ignore the child voting and disproportionate vote results compared to accredited voters in that part of the country, if we ignore the mass protests in that same part that usually end in blood-letting because of a loss of their popular candidate in polls, if we truly ignore all that and say that only the south-east has flawed electioneering processes, is that not an indictment on the systemic failure of the nation's electoral body? How is that a south-east problem?

If, truly, the Ibo's are beating the drums of war, then it is a drum that the system created.

Whose interests does it serve to be together yet not "together" in the real sense of the word? Whose interests does it serve to refuse to address all the issues of marginalisation and underdevelopment and, in fact, all the valid concerns of each unique group? Whose interests does it serve to continue to drag along this bumbling, unwieldy bulk of very disparate peoples in this geographic space who, when the chips are down, do not even see others as their brothers but as second class citizens as long as they do not share the same heritage or mother tongue?

How can we restructure the nation in such a way that every federating unit will take a more involved approach in their development and be responsible for the pace of their growth, rather than be tied to a central government?

These are valid questions Deji should ask. Or else remain silent. And not pollute the already befouled public space and discussions with his fetid ignorance.

While I used to be a strong advocate of one Nigeria by all means, I have grown wiser and have come to accept that the Nigerian project- this Luggardian contraption seems doomed to fail. Asides from the fact that the way Nigeria is presently constituted seems fashioned to serve the interests of a few to the detriment of the many- the interests of a section with a born-to-rule mentality over another section, asides from this fact, I believe that every people have a right to self-determination. And anyone advocating the everlasting legitimacy of this British colonial legacy, without seeking ways to adapt this contrivance to our present realities and persistent agitations, is nothing but a tyrant.

I suspect Deji is one.

This post is dedicated to common sense.

Victor Banjo: My Response to Akpoveta Valentine T.

When I wrote “I’m Not Dead Yet”: The Victor Banjo Story, I had a national dialogue on the Biafran debate at heart. I am convinced that civilized societies debate national issues until the best reasoning are produced and all are forced to align with it.

My essay drove at the heart of the secessionist cry of Igbo people, as I conjured up a story, that of Victor Banjo, to defuse the increasing clamour for Biafra among the Igbo’s. As I write, the essay has gained increasing traction among Nigerians with the Facebook post hitting an all time high of 550 shares and an uncountable number of broadcasts on WhatsApp. I thank God for this and I hope many more will read and be won over to the argument for one Nigeria.

This response to the essay by Mr. Akpoveta, which I found on Nairaland, deserves a rejoinder. He had raised issues there that is common on many hearts. Perhaps if these matters are sufficiently responded to, Akpoveta and friends will rethink secession.

Firstly, Akpoveta has described the Nigeria of today by a rather over used concept: a forced marriage. And it is from this concept of a marriage that I wish to begin my refutation of Akpoveta essay.

If Akpoveta is married, he would realize that marriage, forced or not, is a rather poor metaphor to describe the Nigerian union. Every marriage comes to that point where the union is threatened. For some, the threat last for a while. For others, it covers years. But the most enduring marriages are not those whose union is threatened but those who overcome the threat. So if Nigeria is a forced marriage, we should consider every reason to remain together. Biafra, as a Christian people, should know that God hates divorce.

Akpoveta also has issues with my suggesting we remain happily ever after – especially while I did not give sufficient facts to back up my assertion. At this point, I’ll just list a few:

1. Nations are realizing the strength and blessing in unions and thus we have the United States, Great Britain, African Union, ECOWAS and recently European Union. Nigeria as it is, is a unity of nations already. This is a blessing.

2. Our unity and diversity is a blessing. Every part of this country is a contributor to its success. The Igbo’s are know for their creativity, industry and business. The Yoruba’s for their intellectualism. Hausas for their agriculture. All these can be added up to benefit this Union.

3. This real enemy of Nigeria is not tribe or religion. It is greed, self centeredness, lawlessness and the natural Nigerian madness. If Biafra were to secede, the Nigerian evil will still tag along with them.

4. There is the wonderful Providence of God that created Nigeria in 1914. The British were just his tool at this. We should honor God and keep his creation.

5. Two is better than one. We are better off together than splintered.

Even though Akpoveta disagrees with me, I maintain that Igbo’s have little reasons to secede today compared with 1967. First there is no genocide. No one is killing Igbo’s. Every other part of this country has lost people to Fulani herdsmen too.

Igbo’s are not marginalized. They simply refused to use their opportunity. “Ebele” Jonathan amassed Igbo’s into his government. What did they do with their opportunities. Unfortunately the Buhari you didn’t vote for is the one fixing your roads now and helping to sanitize the polluted Ijaw lands of oil spills. Obviously when your sons were in power, they were only interested in themselves and not the common you. And that is what will replicate in Biafra, if you ever get that nation.

So, yes, let this country remain as it is. Let’s have the discussions continue. We have a listening government. Let’s speak as a group. Let’s debate humanely and not like rascals. As for speaking humanely, I must mention here that though Akpoveta response was brilliant, the insult replete in it betrayed his good reasoning.

And this is something those pushing for Biafra should watch against. You don’t win your course with either violence of the fist or of the tongue. You win your course through peaceful means. We have listened to Radio Biafra and we hear what your people are saying there. It is the height of hypocrisy to vaunt religion on one hand and to be raining down insults and curses on the other hand. God can never be in such a course. If Biafra cannot be earned in peace, it is not worth it.

Finally, if the Biafran advocate will defend their course with sound arguments and win folks like us to their side, I will join in the call for a referendum for them. Until then, Banjo though dead, yet speaks: Nigeria remain united.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1956913067927499&id=100008264737265

Good morning Seun and Super Mod', lalasticlal

I am making an apeal to you that this thread is placed on front page.

I understand that the Biafran question is a very contentious one and this thread itself can become a war zone. But...

Nairaland offers the youths of this country the opportunity to jaw jaw so that we do not war war. While many are already set on their ways and I Biafra no matter what, others are wrongly indoctrinated.

This thread can offer a light to those wrongly taught so that our people can make their decisions from an informed position.

Providence has given us this forum in this country to help. Pls, Seun, be a source of help to every Nigerian. Post this thread to front page. I'm convinced it will contribute to the Biafran debate.

If however you think otherwise, you can respond to this post.

- ProfDemi

Continued:

Kunle Ojeleye in his book commented on how ill prepared the Biafran army were and that Banjo and the three others were killed because they dared to request better equipping for the soldiers. Hear him:

“Indeed, it was at the behest of this feeling that four Biafran military officers wrote a memorandum to the Biafran administration requesting for a review of the war effort. among others, their memorandum requested: that Biafra should have its own currency; there should be an immediate re-organisation and appropriate equipping of the Biafran army; the admittance of civilians into the Biafran decision making body and the decentralisation of the Biafran government; the mortgaging of Biafran oil in exchange for urgently needed military aid and equipment; and in the absence of all the preceding four requirements, immediate negotiation with the federal forces for a peaceful settlement of the crisis.

“For daring to take such a course of action, Lt.-Col. Victor Banjo, Major Emmanuel ifeajuna, Samuel Agbam and Major Alale were labelled as traitors, accused of wanting to overthrow the Biafran administration, court martial, and executed (Ottah 1981).” At the end, these four men were right. Biafra lost the war because it was ill prepared and because one man, Ojukwu, was chasing a pipe dream.

Banjo had told his wife that that whatever happens, he would let her know of his well being. One morning, following Banjo's death, Banjo's wife woke up in far away Sierra Leone with a dream on her heart. A bird had come into their home and after flying about a bit, it flew out of the window into the blue skies. Mrs. Banjo knew instinctively that that her husband was dead. She would eventually relocate to Nigeria and bring up her children as Nigerians, as her husband had wished.

A few months after Odumegwu Ojukwu died, following a prolonged illness, I was in the office of Prof. Olayinka Omigbodun (nee Banjo), the second to the last daughter of Victor Banjo, at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. I had come to see her on the book she wrote of her father. Among a few things we discussed I remember her saying this and I paraphrase: "the man who caused all these is today being buried as a national hero, while my father lies somewhere buried in an unmarked grave". The bodies of those four men were never found. Many of their families have found it difficult to reach closure on them.

Chris Ngwodo has rightly pointed out that the civil was wholly unnecessary. It was a war that was the result of the youthful exuberance and pride of 36 year old Ojukwu and 31 year old Gowon. Unfortunately those beating the drums of secession and war today are the same youths who have refused to learn from our history. Banjo fell out with Ojukwu from day one when he refused to support his secession course. However they both needed each other and they rode on themselves until the ride could no longer continue. Prof. Wole Soyinka, in his Memoirs, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, said when he met Banjo in Enugu, he saw a man who bought into his idea of a Third Force.

While the Nigerian and Biafran course was the first and second forces, set at warring against each other, Soyinka and a few others saw themselves as The Third Force. The Third Force aimed simply at stopping the war. They did everything to delay it. And if the youth leadership we had then were listening to them, there would not have been a war and the over three million lives lost would not have occurred. Gen. Alabi Isama, in his book on the civil war, "The Tragedy of Victory", wrote about so many gallant officers lost needlessly to this war. For his efforts at trying to broker peace between Nigeria and Biafra, Wole Soyinka was imprisoned by the Gowon government without trial all the war. He was refused permission to even bury his father. Gowon would however apologize personally to Soyinka for this years later.

The man Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is asking Nigeria to go back to this painful lane again. Someone has said that a call to secession is not the same as a call to war. I have however reminded him that history has equated most calls to secession to a call to war. If it were not so, why are IPOB members armed to the teeth today? Why are they brow beating their people to obey some sit at home order? While this country can very well call for a referendum to decide on the question of Biafra, the mere fact that free and fair elections cannot hold in the Eastern part of this country is proof that no free and fair referendum can hold in the East. Besides, what states in this Federal Republic will call themselves Biafra? The last I heard, the people of the oil rich Niger Delta are averse to secession. And Kanu needs to get his elders involved in his course. He needs to respect his state governors, Senators and Rep members. As long as he treats these people as thrash, he cannot get their support. And government will not listen to a rabble rouser. When all these is done, we will then settle the matter of the thousands of intermarriages between Biafrans and other parts of this country. As far as I can see with all these matter on ground, Biafra is a dead agenda.

Victor Banjo, though dead, yet speaketh. His last words that he is not dead rings true. As a member of the Third Force, who did everything to avert war, he was calling on the people of this generation to sheath their swords. A united Nigeria is better than a splintered one, he's saying. He's telling us that if Nigeria divides, there will be no end to its division because every region of this country are still made up of people groups. If we cannot live together now, we will not live together in splintered groups. He's calling on us to jaw jaw, rather than war war. He's asking our young men to redirect their energies to more fruitful endeavors. He's saying that if we do not do the hard work of living together, the easy path of secession, which we think is better, will only be littered with the body and blood of our best minds.

The motives of those calling for secession today is even more insincere than those who called for it years back. If Biafra of Ojukwu days was born out of the genocide perpetrated against lbos, who is killing IBOs today? Let this Biafra cry cease. Let the legitimate claims of IBOs be looked into. Let us live together happily ever after. We are better off together than divided.

This write up is dedicated to my friend across the Niger: Chidi Iloegbu. Thanks for reading my articles.

PostScript:

I've adapted this article for WhatsApp readers. If you desire it for WhatsApp to send to friends on your list, edited for much easier reading on that platform, pls inbox me and I'll send it to you there.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1953318264953646&id=100008264737265

CC: Seun, lalasticlala, Mynd44

"I'm Not Dead Yet!": The Story of Victor Banjo

by Deji Yesufu

Victor Banjo was executed by firing squad by the regime of Col. Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, on trumped up charges of planning a coup against the government of Biafra, on September 22nd, 1967. I met Victor Banjo in 2008.

I had taken up a job as an A-level teacher of Physics in March 2008 at the Educational Advancement Center, Bodija, Ibadan. Among the children I taught in the set that wrote the May/June examinations of that year, was the grand child of Victor Banjo. His aunt, Prof. Mrs. Olayinka Omigbodun, had just published the book "Gift of Sequin: Letters to My Wife", which she wrote in her father's name. The book was a compilation of letters which her father, Victor Banjo, had written to their mother, while he was in prison. The young man, Banjo's grandchild, gave the book to the literature teacher in the school I was teaching in and I just happened to lay my hands on it. Through its pages, I met Brigadier Victor Banjo.

Victor Banjo was among officers arrested by the government of Aguiyi Ironsi after the coup of January 15th 1966, that led to the deaths of the then Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, the then Finance Minister, Sir Okotie Eboh, and a number of civilians and military officers. Banjo denied he ever was knowledgeable of the coup and many of the coup plotters attested to the fact that he was not one of them. But Ironsi left him in the gulag and Yakubu Gowon, who succeeded Ironsi, refused to heed the numerous letters of appeal Banjo wrote him from prison to be released.

The book "Letters to My Wife" was Banjo's various directives to the wife on keeping the family front in his absence. The brilliance of this Electrical Engineering trained senior military officer showed even in his private letters to his wife. He left directives on how money could be sourced to take care of the children, he planned when exactly the wife was to flee Nigeria in case war broke out (and she and the children did eventually), he instructed his wife that whenever peace returned he wanted his kids raised Nigerians (the wife was Serra Leone and she fled there afterwards), and many other such instructions. He didn’t leave out words of endearment either. Strangely enough, he told the wife that if anything was ever to happen to him, he would let her know about it. In the letters, Banjo refuted the claims that he was part of the January 1966 coup plotters. In a sense, the book was written to clear his name of that list and I believe it has succeeded in doing that.

Banjo was imprisoned in Ikot Epene in Eastern Nigeria. So when the whole brouhaha began between Ojukwu and Gowon over the secession question began, Ojukwu released all officers that planned the coup and had been imprisoned in the East. They all joined the Biafran rank - including Banjo. Banjo, as a Yoruba, was at first reluctant to work with Ojukwu. But Ojukwu urged him to join his government. At that time, the Nigerian crisis was mainly between the Ibos and the Hausas. The Ibos had accused the Hausas of carrying out genocide on their people in Northern Nigeria. The Hausas claimed the 1966 coup was an Igbo coup targeted at killing their Sardauna and other key Hausa leaders. The country was boiling. Killings were being carried out every day in every part of the country. The Ibos felt vulnerable and were returning in droves to the East. Ojukwu was playing with the idea of Secession. Banjo advised he delayed announcing it. Ojukwu announced the secession of the nation of Biafra on the 31st May, 1967. Civil War had broken forth in Nigeria.

The mid West, now Delta and Edo State, at first took a middle position as far as the crisis was concerned. Ojukwu sent Victor Banjo and an army of soldiers to take over the mid West. The mid West fell to Biafran soldiers in August 1967. It was a major military tactical move that many have credited to the intelligence of Banjo. Not a bullet was shot to take over Benin and it environs. But on getting to Benin, things fell apart between Banjo and Ojukwu. The plan had been that 24 hours after taking Benin, the Biafran soldiers were to be enroute to Lagos and Ibadan to take over those cities. Another account by Victor Banjo elder sister, Prof. Ogunsheye, in her book “A Break in Silence “, she said that Banjo invaded the mid West at his own initiative, leading a liberation army. The neatness of the invasion and take over took everyone by surprise. But Banjo may have made the mistake of announcing his presence in Benin by making a broadcast to the Western people, asking them to prepare to receive the liberation army.

This action jolted Gowon from his sleep but incensed Ojukwu. Ojukwu recalled Banjo to Enugu and placed on house arrest. Ogunsheye reports that Banjo was so popular with the troops in Benin that Ojukwu had to trick him back to Enugu. Subsequently the invasion of the mid West began to suffer disorder and Ojukwu was forced to return Banjo to command the Benin front.

On the side of the West, there was mixed reaction in the minds of Yoruba people when news of the Biafran take over of the mid West reached them. On one hand, they saw the Biafran brigade led by a Yoruba, as a liberation army and they looked forward to their coming. But as news of the atrocities being wroughted out on the non Igbo's of the mid West by the Biafran army reached the West, the Yoruba's became less convinced that the Igbo were really coming to liberate them from the shackles of their colonizers - the Hausas. Banjo himself was reluctant to invade the Ibadan and Lagos without having at least 50% grass root support. Banjo’s sister wrote of her he called her requesting to know the feeling in town. Fact is that the Yoruba elders of that time were not decided and Awolowo as number two man to Gowon made matters more difficult. Soyinka wrote of how he drove around Ibadan, trying to convince Obasanjo to permit Banjo a smooth sail through Ibadan into Lagos. Obasanjo, the head of the military in Ibadan, would have none of it. Banjo could have rolled into Ibadan successfully but he would not invade Ibadan without the cooperation of his people. His sister reminded him of Afonja and the Ilorin emirate and he said he remembered. He would eventually be felled as another Afonja of the 20th century.

Banjo had also reached an agreement with Ojukwu to take over the government of Gowon and allow the Easterners to go their way, with a possible secession of the North too. But Ojukwu had reneged on an agreement he had with Banjo not to sack the government of the mid West. The mid West was meant to be a passage through and not a destination. The two of them argued over this matter for days on the phone in Benin, giving the Nigerian government sufficient time to recover from the take over of the mid West. Muritala Mohammed was sent by Gowon to recover the mid West and invade Biafra itself. The Nigerian army successfully pushed their Biafran counterpart out of the mid West. This was the period the famous "Ogun ore olekun" occurred. The Biafran army blew up a part of the Niger bridge, therefore impeding the Nigerian army's surge into Onitsha.

Ojukwu welcomed his defeated army back to Enugu with open arms. He had mended fences with Banjo and had promised him greater task ahead. But in a few days, trumped up charges of a coup were levied against Banjo. Banjo had made Ifeanyi Ifeajuna his chief of staff. Ifeajuna had acted as a go between with Banjo and Ojukwu at Benin. However the charges of plotting to overthrow the government of Biafra was levied against Brigadier Victor Banjo, Lt. Col. Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Major Philip Alale and Mr. Samuel Agbam. At their court martial, it was Brigadier Victor Banjo that stood as counsel for himself and the three others. His words, as recorded by Alexander Madiebo in his book, are these:

"My name is Brigadier Victor Banjo. I command the liberation army in Mid-West. Before then, l commanded all the operations in the Northern front.

“I know all the other three accused persons fairly well. The second accused, Philip Alale, l met for the first time on July 9, 1967 when there was a collapse of the Nsukka front among our troops. Neither himself nor myself was then an officer in the Biafran Army.

"We went to Nsukka together with Brigadier Philip Effiong to assist to watch Philip talk to the troops with vehemence and sincerity. That, to a great extent, helped to rekindle their sagging morale.

“His Excellency, Col. Ojukwu, was as well at Nsukka that night. I later found out from the Governor that Philip Alale has been his close friend and that the man was primarily instrumental in organising the support of the masses for the declaration of the Republic of Biafra.

“I know that Major Alale has been involved in settling some conflicts in the trade union movements, which might well account for the extraordinary hostility of one of the witnesses for the prosecution. I remember, in fact, that when l was about to return to the Western Command, His Excellency refused to allow Major Alale accompany me because he needed Major Alale for the task of preparing a political programme for the Republic of Biafra. It would be impossible to conceive of Major Alale being tried by this tribunal for the offence in this charge.

"I know Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Ifeajuna very well. He had been my colleague in the old Nigerian Army, although a junior colleague. I know about his involvement in the coup of January 1966. He was responsible for the deaths of a few people. He was with me in prison for quite some time.

“I have had opportunity of discussing the details of that coup with him. I know he regrets the bloodshed that took place on that occasion in fact, his aversion to bloodshed is in the nature of an obsession, which to a certain extent, militates against his efficiency as a commander of troops in the battlefront.

“These considerations were primary in my mind when he was offered to me as a commanding officer for the Western operations. Instead, l chose to make him my Chief of Staff. As Chief of Staff, he discharged himself with such confidence that constituted in no small measure to the success of that operation.

“Lt-Col. Ifeajuna joined the group of young men who have been in the habit of giving advice to His Excellency on State matters. During my short disagreement with his Excellency on the MidWest political policy, he was himself personally instrumental in bringing to His Excellency, my point of view on the Mid-West operation. I am aware that he subsequently became a frequent member of this group.

“My stay in Biafra, after having been released from prison, has been due to my friendship with Col. Ojukwu. I clearly remember once telling him that l would return to the West. He told me that he needed me here because he felt he needed someone who could ta to hi without ceremony; someone in a position to give blame t him for his mistakes. Most of the political manoeuvres that Col. Ojukwu planned early this year in connection with achieving Southern solidarity against the North, were planned with me.

“When he decided to declare an Independent Republic of Biafra, l pleaded with him to postpone it as both the people West and Mid-West wee not ready or at that stage, sufficiently strong militarily to take the same stand, even though they would wish it.

“I pointed out to him his declaration of Biafra at the time was not consistent with our plans and agreements. I told him that the people of the West who were acting on the basis of the fact that l would bring assistance to them from here, would consider the decision to declare Biafra at that time a betrayal of our arrangements. I tod the military Governor that l would leave Biafra for the West or for the outside world after his declaration of Independence.

“However, when l discovered the emerging trend that followed the declaration of Independence of Biafra, it became clear to me that a war with the North was imminent. I decided to stay behind and assist in the prosecution of the war, both for the sake of my friendship with Colonel Ojukwu and in the hope that having assisted to fight back the Northern threat to Biafra, he would assist me with troops to rid the Mid-West and Lagos of the same menace.

“I came into the war at a moment of temporary collapse of the Biafran fighting effort, when it became quite clear to me that the fighting effort of the Biafran Army was not only being incompetently handled, but also being sabotaged. Since then, it has been my fortune to command the Biafran troops on their successfull exploits.

“On the whole, l had in private, told Col Ojukwu that l could never be made to stand charged for having plotted against his office and his person. There was no plot against him.”

The highest authorities of the Biafran government did not believe Banjo's story. The officers hearing the court martial of these four officers found them guilty of plotting to overthrow the government of Biafra which Ojukwu headed. They were sentenced to death. Banjo's last moment reels with poignancy. It was said that all four men walked to the site of their death with head high. Banjo, without his glasses, stood erect as he was tied to the poles. Their executors took position and opened fire on them. After the first round of fire, all three men were dead except Banjo. Defiant till the end, he let out a cry "I'm not dead yet... I'm not dead yet..." This time all executors directed their rifles at Banjo alone. After the second round of shots, Banjo is still screaming defiantly: "I'm not dead yet..." However the third rounds of shots silenced him.