In celebration of ‘our’ forgotten heroes, gallant soldiers, unfulfilled dreams and innocent souls, today July 6, mark an important date in history of nation building in Nigeria. It symbolized the first shot that kick-off regrettable Nigerian civil war. Prior to the failure of negotiation, arbitration and reconciliation between the separatist and her forceful united marriage to stop the bloodshed; this resulted to the use of force of arms and ammunition that led to outbreak of the Nigeria civil war that start July 6, 1967-January 1970. It started from the lugardian union of 1914 between eager one and quasi eager one. This weird unhappy polygamy was made a reality by giving central of the marriage to the entity that wanted to be and has the most to gain from it. This political marriage lacks the element of union between a wife and her husband; the wife was not consulted or woo by seeking attention of love for preference sake. After independence, Nigeria was faced with struggle along regional lines, the fear of domination, election malpractice etc, this ginger the spirit of revolution in the heart of the military ‘correctists’ to act as unbiased umpire to restore the total breakdown of law and order. It may be agreeable that the Emmanuel Ifeajuna coup had some hazy political notion and certain populist objectives as the spoke person Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu broadcasted: “the aim of the revolutionary council is to establish a strong united and prosperous nation, free from corruption and internal strife” , but not to justify that it was not a sectionalized operation. Janowitz argued: the intervention of military in government could be traced to internal dynamic of military structure itself “the ethnic cleavages…” this termed January 15, 1966 as an Igbo coup as some ethno-bigotry argued, based on facts and figures on ground (Major ethnic groups that suffered casualties). The coup that brought Gowon into power was impelled into rebellion with desire for revenge. A second coup by the rebellious northern officers terminated the lives of Unitary Head of state Aguiyi Ironsi an Igbo man and Western Military Governor Adekule Fajuyi, ‘Then the murders became massacre.’ As reported, thousands of Igbo non-combatant citizens in the north were killed between May and September 1966. As Chimamanda Adiche ‘things left untold’ reported: had the massacre not occurred, or had dealt with differently, the South-eastern region would not have seceded and declared itself the independent nation of Biafra. As from the opposite view posits that the war would not have happened had it not been the personal ambition of the Biafran warlord Odumegwu Ojukwu. ‘Father’ of African literature Chinua disputes it: “I believe that following the pogroms, or rather, the ethnic cleansing in the North that occurred over the four month starting in may 1966, which was compounded by the involvement, even connivance, of the federal government …secession from Nigeria and the war that followed became an inevitable” . With the creation of new states in breaking up the hegemony of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups, dispersing development, and also on a conscious attempt to curtail the powerful centrifugal forces inherent in the quasi-federal Biafra lead to the off short of the war. And “since peaceful negotiation could not solve the political crisis, negotiation gave way to the use of force of arms and ammunitions and that resulted to the outbreak of the civil war…….which lasted for 130 weeks and 4 days”- Anyaele (1994) with devastating and regrettable hostilities In the latest intellectual verbal war emanated from Chinua’s last but not the least work ‘THERE WAS A COUNTRY; A PERSONAL HISTORY OF BIAFRA’ has produced a lot of reactions and counter reactions on his ‘hatred’ over Awolowo whom the the Yorubas of the west see as their political philosopher and hero. Inside it, is his conclusion “…there are tons treatises that talk about the Igbo were wonderfully integrated into Nigeria. Well, I have news for them: the Igbo were not and continue not to be reintegrated into Nigeria, one of the main reasons for the country’s continue backwardness, in my estimation”. One of his contemporaries who was arrested and detained for his anti-war view in a stark contrast, Wole Soyinka posits that “it is however a book I wish he had never written-that is, not in the way it was. There are statements in that book that I wish he had never made”. Regarding the case of ethnic cleansing he continued, “The reading of most Igbos over what happened before the civil war was indeed accurate-yes, there was only one word for it-genocide. Once the war began however, atrocities were committed by both sides……The Igbo must remember, however that they were not militarily prepared for that war”. In his effort for cease fire and peace, he told Ojukwu this during the heat of the war ‘bluff is no substitute for bullets’. In my own objective view without prejudice or bias, I reckon with the statement of the Biafran Lord Himself: “Just as it would be wrong to write about the civil war because people are writing, it would also be wrong to write if it would re-open wounds”. Cited in Vanguard June 6, 2013: To justify all, former Vice Chancellor of the Prestigious University of Nigeria Professor Chinedu Nebo put in a farewell message to the decease (Chinua Achebe, the story teller): “Yes, some of the things he wrote, said or did could be controversial…or his book –‘there was a country’ –many actually miss the point by putting Achebe on the hot seat for those deeds, they forget that he was an intellectual. And one of the most visible elements of intellectualism is that those who inhabit that elevated platform often disagree on virtually every issue, yet remain friends.” In the current political dispensation, the body polity is gradually heating up, the fascists and their sponsored groups are threatening the unity and sovereignty of the state. Some have threaten to make this nation ‘ungovernable’ if!....some also retaliated that our hard earned Nigeria would be history if!. Hmm! on these premises I stand to say No! Nobody has the monopoly of violence and if they think otherwise they should lead in the fore front of their self-egocentric struggle just like the King Leonardas of Spartan 300 finest soldiers. We are wise now, leaders lead by example. In Nigeria historical context each political action, tension or conflict had evoked more violence in reaction and the political elites who initiated the action are normally not the ones who reap the more violent reaction and destruction. The Kano riot of 1953 as reported by General Olusegun Obasanjo (1980), “was a reaction to humiliation of Northern Legislators in Lagos most of whom are alive and still politicking while the rioters are dead, unsung and long forgotten”. Youth is an important element in development of any nation, as a visionary youths, let us denounce the deceitful statement ‘leaders of tomorrow’, we are the leaders of our dreams and visions, we refuse to be used as ‘fatal’ tools (permit me, Eru iku) in the hands of Political-cum-I-must-achieve-this–power-at-all-cost leaders. I end, if Ojukwu could admit that: “I feel proud that I am a Nigeria”-Ojukwu (1989:199) let us all recognize our differences and believe in unity in diversity. United we stand in peace, divided we fall in pieces. History will not repeat itself except we want to repeat history in a theatre of war-a word Long Live Nigeria! Long Live Unibadan!! Long Live Katanga republic!!! OTUNEYE DUROJAIYE REMI (MKR)
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 09:58:26 +0000
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