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The Biafran ghost
18th July 2016
Like Banquo’s ghost, the past haunts us today,
again. Forty-nine years after the civil war, we are
still fighting the war. Some think the war is over.
They are wrong. The war is with us because we are
a nation of self-deceit. We lie to and at ourselves.
We say peace whereas tribulation lurks and
detonates everywhere.
That is why Boko Haram harangues us in the North.
It explains the resurgence of the IPOB and MASSOB
and the rumblings of the Niger Delta Avengers and
the barbarous entitlement of herdsmen. Even before
the past few years, when bombs were literally quiet,
tongues exploded between tribes. Rhetoric rattled
rhetoric. Tribes and tongues differed by saying
tribes and tongues differed. The June 12 excitement
was a rebirth of the divisions of the 1960’s.
We did not solve the problem when it confronted us.
When Gowon exploited his name as an acronym of
unity, GO ON WITH ONE NIGERIA turned out to be
an empty epithet, a feel-good delusion from a victor.
Nothing concrete was resolved other than fell the
enemy in battle.
Did we resolve the issue of abandoned properties?
Leading up to the war, pogrom lit up the North in
incandescent murders. Not only Igbo were killed as
many tendentious literatures say. Even Adichie’s
Half Of The Yellow Sun, for all its strengths,
portrayed the single story that the author has
campaigned against. The slaughter up North
targeted anyone who was not Yoruba, and that
included the sweep of minorities in the today’s Niger
Delta. Urhobo, Itsekiri, Edo, Efik, Ogoni, etc were
mincemeat in the cauldron of death.
Now, did we have any enquiries into that sanguinary
chapter? The northern elite, including political, feudal
and military leaders, reportedly encouraged the
barbarities. Has anyone been punished or even been
officially reprimanded? We have not even officially
investigated. We know too that Nzeogwu’s coup
was seen as tendentious, and it inspired some Igbo
to provoke northerners with their proprietary
swagger, boasting that they had taken over the
country. Have we looked at that, too? If the
swagger was bad, the killings were never justified.
But even at that, have we addressed them as a
people? Ironsi enacted Decree 34, and some analysts
said it was naïve because he did not intend to
introduce a unitary system to impose Igbo
hegemony. If that act was naïve, what of the
second act? He did not want to try the coup
plotters. That, according to critics, gave him away
as an Igbo jingoist.
Have we revisited the Aburi meeting, and its
aftermath, and how that confab either ossified or
laid bare the fissures of our inter-ethnic relations?
Were there blames? Where there acts of overreach
on both sides? Was the war avoidable? Did the
pogrom make war inevitable? How come a region
that knew it was tactically and materially inferior to
its opponent take the plunge into war?
So, we also had the war atrocities. We saw what
Ojukwu’s army did in the Midwest when Biafra
invaded, and the resentment overshadows
conversation up till today. We know of the killings of
the Igbo in Asaba and how Murtala’s Second
Division teased out trusting locals to welcome them
and killed them like animals. Gowon, who could not
rein in his generals, only had an apology over 40
years after. The apology, however heartfelt, never
brought closure.
So, when hostilities ended, Gowon declared that
there was no victor and no vanquished. We know
that was as vacuous as GOWON. We just wanted to
move on, like a child who walks into a party from a
bathroom without cleaning up. The smell and mess
linger.
The ghost has followed us ever since. In education,
over whether we should have catchment areas or
not. In the Orkar coup. In Saro Wiwa’s murder. In
the Matatsine imbroglio. In the meltdown of Fulani
and indigenes relations in the plateau. In the June
12 logjam. In the choice of Jonathan as president.
In the choice of Buhari as counter president. The list
is endless.
So, when many, including the self-serving Atiku,
called for restructuring, it was because the civil war
and ghosts of the many dead are still with us,
walking the Nigeria earth, apologies to
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Developed nations
understand the merits of closure. Last week, Britain
unveiled the Chilcot report and picked to pieces all
the facts of that ignoble chapter of the Iraq War.
Tony Blair was exposed, as well as some of the
intelligence community and the parliament. The
nation looked itself in the mirror, and mea culpa
replaced a sense of righteousness.
On the Iraq war, the New York Times issued a
lengthy apology for allowing the emotion of the day
sways its professional duties. Next time, both
England and United States will think deeper before
throwing innocents at the teeth of battle. The crisis
of the Balkans is still lapping up its culprits today.
Enquiries have dredged up the bad guys and they
are subjected to the rule of law. The Hutus and
Tutsis have also had theirs and those who inflamed
the land to butchery have been exposed and
punished. Apartheid in South Africa had its Truth
and Reconciliation Commission.
The Second World War could not be concluded
without a clear resolution through the Nuremberg
trials. The First World War was concluded without
such an enquiry. The victors simply punished
Germany and isolated it. The result: a resurgent
Germany with the Hitler of hate.
A people must always learn not to take its injustice
for granted. During the Peloponnesian War, Athens
fell because it merely slaughtered its best generals
who did not pick up its dead at sea as was the
custom. The parliament did not reason. The absence
of its best brood of soldiers allowed Sparta to crush
it.
So, when Buhari stands accused as nepotist and
regionalist in his appointments, it is because he has
not transcended the hubris of the civil war. He
invokes GOWON but he denies it when his pen signs
an appointment. When does a chief of staff to a
president become a board member of Nigeria’s
choicest corporation? How do we call a truce with
the Avengers when the NNPC board is lopsided and
has only one name from the oil producing areas?
The civil war haunts because the hostilities have
never really ended. Unnerved on his throne, Macbeth
could not exorcise Banquo’s ghost. He said, “Avaunt
and quit my sight. Let the earth hide thee, thy bone
is marrowless and thy blood is cold.”
The Biafran ghost still spills cold blood. We may
deny it and say our nation is not negotiable, but the
past keeps growling and badgering. The more we
claim we are together, the more apart we get.
COPIED
Posted By: Sam Omatseyeon:
SOURCE: THE NATION
http://www.thebiafratimes.co/2....016/07/the-biafran-g
I have being a student of the highest university in the world.. where truth is spoken Raw..we have about 80 millions students and 90 guest ,but I stole one (1) hidden secret code to unlock more hidden code...my G.D.P was above average that's why some of my follow course mate are jealous of my honesty and search for knowledge...
U wanna no the Highest university that cut across over the World.
U wanna no my lecturer ?
U wanna no my kingdom ?
scroll down
to get the answer.
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1. Biafra University is the most number one (2) top ranking in the world.
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2. My lecturer is
-Dr NNAMDI KANU
..
3. My Kingdom is the
Blessed Nation of Biafra
-Dimkpa Ikenna Biafra
Everybody is a crying for peace , none is crying for Justice.... people rise now choose justice. People wanna go to heaven but none wanna die.
#FreeNnamdiKanu #FreeBiafra
-Dimkpa Ikenna Biafra
Monday, July 18, 2016
BIAFRANS ARE ABOVE INTIMIDATION
By Ibeh Gift Amarachi
For Family Writers
Before I proceed would want the Nigeria Government
to be of knowledge that, Biafrans are far above
intimidation, so no Anti-Biafra move whatsoever can
force us to capitulate. I keep asking, for how long
will the Northern and Yoruba Bourgeoisie exploit and
carry out an erosion of the Biafran histories, by
forcing us to remain in perpetuity? How long will
they, fight to bring about total submersion of the
heterogeneous identities in Nigeria? I don't think
there is a historical trace of a mortal possessing the
power of taking a tour to the Sun and stopping it
from shining. Even the Emir of Kano Lamido Sanusi
Lamido saw the future and stated in his 1999
presentation, “IF THE MARGINALISATION OF
BIAFRANS IS NOT ADDRESSED,NO CONFERENCE
WILL SOLVE NIGERIAN PROBLEMS AND NIGERIA IS
A TIME BOMB READY TO EXPLODE". Nigeria
Politicians might have their Buccal cavities and
thought of reasoning beclouded with corruption, but
they indeed are of knowledge that, Nigeria is
obviously sitting on a Time Bomb, ready to explode
and that they are devoid of stopping the Sun from
shinning.
I would agree with some of the Anti-Biafra
statements that, most of the present Biafra
agitators were not born during the Civil War and
don't have an eye witness idea of the whole
scenario. But one thing they ought to know is this;
the present day Biafrans who were not born during
the war in 1967, will fight their own war rather than
forcefully remaining in an Artificial Entity With no
Dignity, Equity and Sanity.
Some of us might not be born during the War, but
we can engage anyone and fight our own War. We
may not be firsthand witnesses of the Nigeria-Biafra
War, but we do have an idea of the various
massacres conducted by the Fulani Herdsmen
against Biafrans. We have seen our Females
beheaded and raped in broad day light, by the
Northerners. We have seen our Shops demolished
and set ablaze by the Yoruba bourgeoisie. We have
seen our Crude Oil being exploited and our Land
contaminated with Oil Spillage by the Northern
Protectorate. We have being rendered paupers
despite being the Eagle that lays the Golden Egg
with various monetary policies, kept out of strategic
public sector appointments and our properties
confiscated. We have graduated in mass without
jobs and forced to retire by replacing us with
indigenes from the North. We have being maimed
and killed, slaughtered like Rams with impunity, so
we will fight the War confronting us.
The Nigeria Politicians including former Heads Of
State, General Olusegun Obasanjo,General Yakubu
Gowon and the President of Nigeria Muhammadu
Buhari,have boastfully and myopically stated we
have no idea of the tragic events that claimed over
Three Million Lives Of Biafrans during the War,
hence should halt the agitation for Biafra
Independence. But I want to put it to them that,
they as well lack a sense of History. When one
correlates the First World War and the Biafra quest,
it will give an insight of what is about to happen
between Biafra and Nigeria. After the First World
War,the Victors treated Germans with arrogance and
contempt same way Nigeria is treating the Biafran
people. This led to a Second World War, though the
Germans lost, but they won their Dignity and Peace.
Biafrans are even more passionate about the quest
towards the restoration of Biafra,when compared to
Germans. And to put the record straight, we never
lost any war and if anyone claims we did, an
evidential document should be presented and an
explanation for the declaration "No Victor No
Vanquish”, should be rendered.
When the Nigeria Government led by Muhammadu
Buhari, proceeded to bribing various social network
administrators, in other to block and attempt to
hack the accounts of Biafrans,it became obvious
that similar 1967 strategy of Media Black-Out is
what Buhari is employing, little did they know that,
we are indeed above such intimidation. Various
Mobile Networks have being hugely bribed and used
to stall our conversations, trace us to our
destinations all in the quest to stop the
Independence Of Biafra, but the Nigeria Government
will continue to loss the battle, same way they lost
the billions of dollars channelled to jamming Radio
Biafra Stations. Life haunting of Biafrans through
Mobile Networks, Secret Agents, and Social
Networks will not stop this ordained quest. The
more we are killed, the struggle gets intensified and
we come out like a disastrous hurricane, not ready
to reach a compromise with any mortal.
The Biafran quest is spiritually anchored and a mere
mortal putting up a fight against her Freedom, is
like taking a tour to the Sun, because you must get
burnt. Threats of waging war against us,is too
insane of a thought,because we are already in a war
front. Every Sane mind would understand that,there
is an already ongoing war,as Burning of
Churches,beheading of Biafrans,using Nepal Bomb
on us,Shooting sporadically at peaceful Biafra
protesters,is a prove of war orchestrated by the
murderous establishment called Nigeria. If death
and maiming couldn't stop us,no act of barbarism
and hate speech can intimidate us.
http://www.thebiafraherald.co/....2016/07/biafrans-are
Monday, July 18, 2016
BIAFREXIT AND NIGERIA'S BRUTALITY
By Maxwell Chuks
For Family Writers
I believe not everyone is a lover of war but when
some men refuse to embrace peace and do things
peacefully, war then is the alternative. Mind you,
great men are not afraid to die for what they believe
in. Threats, killings and arrests have always been
the actions taken by the Nigeria government against
Biafrans with the goal of quenching the quest for
Biafra, not knowing that all those evil and deadly
actions carried out against Biafrans strengthens
them the more.
The fact remains that Biafrans cannot be silenced
and the fight for freedom will never cease until
Biafra is fully restored. I so much respect Britain
and EU for the diplomatic and intelligent way they
handled the BriExit. No one was arrested, shot at or
killed for speaking for or against the exit from EU.
That's the display of intellectual minds and the rule
of law. If it was Here in Africa (especially Nigeria),
hell will get lose. The uncivilised and immature
attitude would be on display. Even before the exit;
heads will roll, the military will paint every part of
the country with the blood of those who requested
for the exit. Britain, the colonial masters of Nigeria
(through the exit from EU) displayed a clean and
good example of true respect for rule of law,
honesty and leadership that ought to be followed in
Nigeria. Instead of hunting what she can't kill,
Nigeria should adopt the same step. Kindly give
Biafrans their freedom or better still, conduct a clean
peaceful referendum in Nigeria and let's see what
the outcome will be. Arresting people, shooting and
killing them will never solve this issue.
Speaking of war and threatening Biafrans with war
only makes things worse, because everybody knows
quite well the events that occurred during the
Nigeria-Biafra war, but it can never be compared
with what will happen if another war were to start
today because of this same issue. If war should
start today because of this issue, I don't think
Nigeria would have it their way the way they did in
1967. The world is now more civilised and
advanced, and cannot be compared with the year
1967. If Nigeria goes to war again with Biafra, to be
honest, Nigeria will not survive to tell the story.
Mark my words! Threatening a group of people who
are already backed up against the wall, and badly
seeking for freedom when they no longer have
anything to loss is just like writing your own suicide
note which would make those who read it feel very
sorry for you. Nigeria should stop the old mentality
of resolving issues with war else war will consume
what's left of the country. Anyone who preaches
peace but don't do things peacefully is a hypocrite.
Biafra and Nigeria can go their separate ways and
still become
Peaceful neighbors. And this can only occur ONLY IF
Nigeria will peacefully let Biafra go (FREEDOM) or at
least conduct a Referendum. Nigeria should stop
beating the drum of war; Let her display maturity,
and wisdom,Kindly FREE BIAFRA or call on the
united nations and other international bodies to
Conduct a referendum in BiafraLand and know if we
really want to exit from Nigeria. Biafrans are 100%
ready to Exit from Nigeria...its time the Nigerian
government stops the brutality and evil works been
directed to Biafrans, its time to Free Biafrans and
give them Biafra peacefully to avoid a second civil
war.
http://www.thebiafraherald.co/....2016/07/biafrexit-an