TalkNigeria list serve: discussion on Ejoor's interview
Dear IBK,
Did you ever hear the open saying at Island Club that the Igbo domination of Nigeria is a matter of time?
I actually never had a penchant for such clubs, but yes records show that such rumors were rife at some point in time, even in the pre-Independence trade union movement...but were never confirmed. However -and this might explain the reason why- some of the finest and most active officials of the movement (Nduka Eze and Gogo Chu Nzeribe, for example) were Igbos. It is interesting that those that fought against such rumors were as well some of the most active and brightest Yoruba unionist (e.g 'Horse power' Adebola and Ibidapo Fatogun). One could conclude thus that it was a rumor akin to that of the Jewry conspiracy with which Hitler justified the genocide and on which anti-antisemitism thrives (my argument here, I must say does not in any way suggest a support for the equally criminal onslaughts of the Israeli state on Palestinians) .
Igbo ascendancy, domination and the position grabbing during the NPC and NCNC alliance is no fantasy. Igbo domination of the officer corps of the Nigeria army is also a fact not fantasy.
With allowance for the emphasized is (mine, please) being was (which unfortunately still does not address when that was actually was: pre-Independence? pre-Civil war?) and accepting it at its face value (I do not have evidence to support or vitiate you claim of it being a fact, really), the question to me is thus: could there be a sole interpretation of this as being = a conscious, organized conspiracy? I actually have no answer to this, nor does you stating that it is so, necessarily amount to it having been so. As for me, I will not speculate, but -if I happen to be interested in understanding such development- I would rather seek for the possible why(s) in more places than an Igbo conspiracy direction. This would include, why were the Yoruba (for example) less interested in joining the army? Could it be that there was a stronger feeling amongst us that it was a place strictly for vagabonds? (of course we would not have been the only ones with such a position as Ojukwu's father's stand on his joining the army is well known...)
What I am saying here basically could be that while I am familiar with published facts about the intervention of the British High Commission in the developments after the counter-coup helping to direct what would have been Araba (Northern secession) into a re-assertion of the Northern (elites') power bloc's hegemony, to the best of my knowledge, none exists corroborating your view. Of course, my knowledge is limited to what I know, I would thus very much appreciate your pointing me in the direction of the document you mentioned in another posting on the pre-Independence coup moves of Igbo officers. If it could be purchased online I will get the book(s) (while awaiting Ejoor's....) to be better educated on the issue.
If others knew Ojukwu knew of a coup why should Ejoor's knowledge of the same be fantasy?
The second paragraph in my earlier posting that this reference seems to engage was actually buttressing the first....it is obviously not Ejoor (or any one else's as this has been documented anyway) knowledge of Ojukwu's being aware of the plans from Damisa to January 15. What I consider a phantasy, and this of course is my own view, which is based on what I am thus far aware of, is Ejoor's such slick merging of:
the roles of the 'five majors' of January 15, '66, Ironsi (who quenched their idealist fires) and Ojukwu into one grand whole tied to Zik's being merely a ceremonial Head of State.
If a man's room was sprayed at Ikoyi Hotel by Igbo led coup plotters should we begrudge him his legitimate fears that Igbo wanted his head? What is fantasy in that?
I would not make light of any such attempt to kill a man and thus never made any such assertion as implied in your referenced paragraph here. My view of Ejoor's fantastic spin with regards to himself rather dwells on his assertion that Ironsi had intentions of having him (Ejoor) killed once Ironsi left the Mid-West, even though the question was on how he felt on learning of Ironsi (and my own brother; Fajuyi's) murder without making any connection whatsoever with the assassinations (which was real and is now a moment in our national history) and his claim of a plot to assassinate him!
Let us be fair to this man even if we all have our fair doses of misinformation we were fed depending on which side of the civil war we stood.
First, when a bicycle-riding escapee of a General, in whose abandoned jurisdiction some of the fiercest blood-letting was wrought makes such assertions after four decades filled with tons of materials by several participants and observers (including foreign ones like the praise-singing Frederick Forsythe) and only when journalists from one newspaper or the other seek him out for an interview at the age of 77, then whether the 'new' information he proffers is true or false, he could be adjudged not to have been fair to our collective national history....and rightly so.
Second, on mis-information: I do agree that in the final instance there is hardly strictly 'objective' account of any historical moment. We all look through the past with some prism or the other. But this is because information as such becomes mixed with and can hardly be wholly separated from perspective. It is not surprising that to minimize blur in the picture of what had been, historians place great premium on primary sources. Now when you talk of misinformation do you suggest that primary sources that have been placed in the public domain were doctored or that there are exist authentic primary sources that vitiate what thus far have been the bases of contending perspectives on the war?
Third and most important, if you ask me (since the benefit of the past is to guide our tentative steps into an uncertain future from within a present-in-flux) , what lessons have we learnt about 'sides'?
For me there were two sides in the war much more important than the two sides often presented to us by different (read politically- ethnic) elements of one side. The first of these sides was/is the side of the elites whose power squabbles dragged the country down the valley of the shadow of death. The persons on this side were and still are to be found in the various geo-political zones and nationalities comprising Nigeria. Not a single child of the arrow heads of this side died in the war. Not one of them went hungry in those years of sorrow tears and blood, not one; be it in 'Biafra' or on the Federal 'side'.
The other side comprised largely of poor wretched of the earth, they were to be found (they still can be found) as Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ikwerre, Ogoni, Kanuri, Tiv, Ibibio, Ijaw, Idoma, Jukun, Chama, Urhobo, etc. I say largely the poor, ignorant, hapless and helpless. But there is also a small fraction of this popular side. It is constituted by genuinely committed, elements that themselves could have been part of the elites by dint of their intellectual prowess and material achievements. Idealists that fell for the 'Sankara story' (apologies to Abami Eda) of either Biafra or the tongue-in-cheek 'going on with one Nigeria' as a task that had to be done. In this 'tribe' you have the Adaka Boros, Christopher Okigbos and Kaduna Nzeogwu, to mention a few.
Like you, I believe, I am on the second side, the popular side. I am however strongly of the view that seeing the challenges of this side through the same 'misty morning' that clouded the sights of such great minds with genuine commitments that were transformed into the elites interest-serving division of our ranks along ethno-regional lines will not get either Nigeria or the nations within it that we deem our stand to be for, any closer to a genuinely emancipatory new dawn.
My regards,
Baba Aye
*************************************************************************************
--- On Sun, 4/5/09, Ibukunolu Alao Babajide wrote:
Baba Aye,
Did you ever hear the open saying at Island Club that the Igbo domination of Nigeria is a matter of time?
Igbo ascendancy, domination and the position grabbing during the NPC and NCNC alliance is no fantasy. Igbo domination of the officer corps of the Nigeria army is also a fact not fantasy.
If others knew Ojukwu knew of a coup why should Ejoor's knowledge of the same be fantasy?
If a man's room was sprayed at Ikoyi Hotel by Igbo led coup plotters should we begrudge him his legitimate fears that Igbo wanted his head? What is fantasy in that?
Let us be fair to this man even if we all have our fair doses of misinformation we were fed depending on which side of the civil war we stood.
Just my two kobo worth.
IBK
************************************************************************************
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 12:54:07 -0700 (PDT)
Ejoor surreptitiously formulates a conspiracy theory of sorts, which ties the roles of the 'five majors' of January 15, '66, Ironsi (who quenched their idealist fires) and Ojukwu into one grand whole tied to Zik's being merely a ceremonial Head of State.
If I remember well, Ademulegun (a Yoruba amongst the five) did assert that Ojukwu was not unaware of the 15/01 coup but made it clear that he had heard nothing about it if it failed. In no account thus far (save Ejoor's now...very early in the day you could say!), to the best of my knowledge has such bold phantasy of conspiracy been explictly or implicitly stated.
One is tempted to think that Ejoor might be suffering from senile dementia when also in response to this question:
When General Ironsi came on a visit to your region, 24 hours after he left your zone, he was kidnapped by some sections of the army along with the Governor of the Western Region where they were killed. What was in your mind when you heard the news?
his response was thus:
The fact was this. He visited Western Region after leaving my place. The idea was that he did not want my killing to take place while he was there
.....and he failed to subsequently make any connection whatsoever to Ironsi and Fajuyi's murder on one hand and 'the fact'....according to his gospel.
Ejoor should put pen to paper and let's hear his full tales by moonlight. Meanwhile, I think one of his national orders (without which his profile would not be complete) was left out: General Commander of the Order of Bicycle Riding (GCOBR)....perhaps the old man is merely just riding away on the wings of mental bicycle, sans handle...
Baba Aye
************************************************************************************
--- On Sun, 4/5/09, rotimi osunsan
Brother IBK:
First, thanks for sharing your valuable' coherent knowledge with us. I respect that. My distrust of Ejoor's statement was based on his protracted silence compounded by his bicycle story which didn't wash with most folks back then. I didn't mean to insult the man who had served and thus contributed in some measures to our country. The period of his silence actually created the credibility gap. I must admit though that I am not a great historian on the war. My opinion is based generally on personal knowledge and experience during the period. I was a very curious younger fellow and checked stuff out - almost as a self-styled journalist while in school. I definitely would want to be like you when I grow up - read more books! I didn't mean to offend anyone. I just thought (could be totally wrong!) that Ejoor could be freaking out with age and may therefore require some deserved attention. The timing of his story seems so weird to me, I am sorry to say! It has nothing to do with my opinion of Ojukwu or any others. Again, thanks for the shared information. I have learned something. It's appreciated. Enjoy the Palm Sunday too.
Regards,
Rotimi Osunsan
Washington DC
*************************************************************************************
Rotimi Osunsan,
Your cursory dismissal of David Ejoor's account simply because it does not tally with your rosy and sanguine imaginary pedestal you place Ojukwu is dangerous.
I lost 3 uncles in that war and over 90% of those who died when Hannibal Achuzie blew the Niger bridge are my kinsmen.
Read Chukwuemeka Okala's lamentations and how people because of domination tell a man who says he is not Igbo, you must be one.
You do great disservice to those who gave you your current freedoms by the ultimate sacrifice of their lives so you can belittle their valour and cheapen their bravery.
The bicycle story was told by Ejoor to convince Gowon that he was never in support of Ojukwu. All of you who insinuate cowardice to him cannot clean his boots when bravery is concerned. He would have been killed by those crazed invaders had he been caught.
That is the man you equate with the WW2 veteran and Vietnam veteran in your school? All because you want to justify a position you are ignorant about?
What Ojo Madueke did to Oluwole Rotimi was child's play compared to what the Igbo did when they went into alliance with NPC. They filled all parastatals unabashedly with Igbo. Do you not hear about Chuckwuma Agwunobi boasting of Igbo domination in the Nigerian Railways Corporation? Go and ask or read TOS Benson, Ayo Rosiji, and Adeniran Ogunsanya about how Zik Igbonized NCNC when he hijacked it after the death of Herbert Macaulay.
When Mbonu Ojike boasted that "the Igbo domination of Nigeria is a matter of time" was he also crazy?
All I ask of you is to research and read the events in Nigeria from 1947 to 1967 and your eyes will open. Ejoor is telling the truth. He was there. The characters involved were his colleagues. He ate and drank with them. He knew them well. Better than you will ever do.
All the noise you hear today can be summed up into. Yorubas should have accepted Igbo invasion and domination instead of Hausa domination. What they never know until it is too late is that nobody dominates the Yoruba. I repeat Nobody, Europeans, not Hausa, and definitely not Igbo.
Go and find out what Obafemi Awolowo and the Yoruba leaders of thought knew in 1967 and did to keep Nigeria one. The 12 state creation is the ultimate anti domination tool. That was Obafemi Awolowo's masterstroke and that is why Igbo demonise him.
My dear brother like I also have, there are gaps in your knowledge and appreciation of these events. Like me make it your hobby to read and acquire the facts.
Chief Anthony Enahoro said recently that had Ojukwu out of greed not invaded mid west he would still be governing his Biafra today and he is right. In 1959 NCNC went into alliance with NPC. In 1964 the same to the detriment of Yorubas. When their marriage collapsed why did they not face each other? Why did Ojukwu not send troops to the Nsukka sector? No sir! He wanted Lagos. That was his prize.
Enuff said for now. Go and ask about what Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola meant when he said, "Eyin o mo won ni? Ekini ani, ekeji ani, eketa ani, ekerin ani, ekarun, ekefa, ekeje be be lo ani, ehn Igba wo ni eyin o to wa ni?"
Ask about the nepotism in the NRC that brought that statement out. Then your eyes will open.
Have a happy Sunday.
IBK
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Celtel Tanzania
*************************************************************************************
From: rotimi osunsan
I wouldn't trust a word coming from David Ejoor at this junction of our history. I didn't trust, and I don't think anyone did back then, when he told his "funny" bicycle story during the war. Poor guy, he must have been devastated by the "Biafran Surge" and now probably suffering a backlash. But after how many years? You see war is terrible!. I know some guys who, a few year ago, are still freaking out on the Viet- kong attacks in Vietnam. I always watch out to keep a good distance from folks like that to this day. I am serious -a Vietnam veteran actually shot at a Nigerian classmate of his, who was my roommate. I somehow saved the guy. I also remember a Second World War veteran that harassed my childhood neighborhood in the 50s by paroling the streets late at nights in his war outfit and very crack-noisy army boots. Such are the damages and scars some suffer from wars that require psychiatric attention.
By the way, where has the "Bicycle Major" David Ejoor been all these years and why is he saying stuff like this now? I don't believe it and even if true, so what?
Rotimi Osunsan
Washington DC
************************************************************************************
Anokute:
You are celebrating too fast. The questions I would like to ask also are, is David Ejoor alive? If he is alive, why did it take him this long to tell the world that Igbos wanted to rule Nigeria, and that was the cause of the Coup of January 15, 1966? Since he was not part of the planning group, how did he know that it was because of Igbos wanting to rule caused the Coup? Was Ejoor aware of the trouble in the Western Nigeria before the Coup? When Nzeogwu gave his reasons why they struck, what stopped Ejoor then from coming out to tell this his truth? Is this not another Yoruba propaganda to insult, ridicule and undermine Igbos?
If you are a Nigerian, by now you should have heard that the first Coup in Nigeria was openly discussed in the Army Barracks in Nigeria, with factions planning their own Coups to remove the government that was not working in the interest of Nigerians but Nzeogwu's group struck first before others.
Have you not heard also that Nzeogwu and his group wanted to hand over power to Awolowo? Like you, I am happy that some names mentioned here are living. Over to them.
Enyimba
Did you ever hear the open saying at Island Club that the Igbo domination of Nigeria is a matter of time?
I actually never had a penchant for such clubs, but yes records show that such rumors were rife at some point in time, even in the pre-Independence trade union movement...but were never confirmed. However -and this might explain the reason why- some of the finest and most active officials of the movement (Nduka Eze and Gogo Chu Nzeribe, for example) were Igbos. It is interesting that those that fought against such rumors were as well some of the most active and brightest Yoruba unionist (e.g 'Horse power' Adebola and Ibidapo Fatogun). One could conclude thus that it was a rumor akin to that of the Jewry conspiracy with which Hitler justified the genocide and on which anti-antisemitism thrives (my argument here, I must say does not in any way suggest a support for the equally criminal onslaughts of the Israeli state on Palestinians) .
Igbo ascendancy, domination and the position grabbing during the NPC and NCNC alliance is no fantasy. Igbo domination of the officer corps of the Nigeria army is also a fact not fantasy.
With allowance for the emphasized is (mine, please) being was (which unfortunately still does not address when that was actually was: pre-Independence? pre-Civil war?) and accepting it at its face value (I do not have evidence to support or vitiate you claim of it being a fact, really), the question to me is thus: could there be a sole interpretation of this as being = a conscious, organized conspiracy? I actually have no answer to this, nor does you stating that it is so, necessarily amount to it having been so. As for me, I will not speculate, but -if I happen to be interested in understanding such development- I would rather seek for the possible why(s) in more places than an Igbo conspiracy direction. This would include, why were the Yoruba (for example) less interested in joining the army? Could it be that there was a stronger feeling amongst us that it was a place strictly for vagabonds? (of course we would not have been the only ones with such a position as Ojukwu's father's stand on his joining the army is well known...)
What I am saying here basically could be that while I am familiar with published facts about the intervention of the British High Commission in the developments after the counter-coup helping to direct what would have been Araba (Northern secession) into a re-assertion of the Northern (elites') power bloc's hegemony, to the best of my knowledge, none exists corroborating your view. Of course, my knowledge is limited to what I know, I would thus very much appreciate your pointing me in the direction of the document you mentioned in another posting on the pre-Independence coup moves of Igbo officers. If it could be purchased online I will get the book(s) (while awaiting Ejoor's....) to be better educated on the issue.
If others knew Ojukwu knew of a coup why should Ejoor's knowledge of the same be fantasy?
The second paragraph in my earlier posting that this reference seems to engage was actually buttressing the first....it is obviously not Ejoor (or any one else's as this has been documented anyway) knowledge of Ojukwu's being aware of the plans from Damisa to January 15. What I consider a phantasy, and this of course is my own view, which is based on what I am thus far aware of, is Ejoor's such slick merging of:
the roles of the 'five majors' of January 15, '66, Ironsi (who quenched their idealist fires) and Ojukwu into one grand whole tied to Zik's being merely a ceremonial Head of State.
If a man's room was sprayed at Ikoyi Hotel by Igbo led coup plotters should we begrudge him his legitimate fears that Igbo wanted his head? What is fantasy in that?
I would not make light of any such attempt to kill a man and thus never made any such assertion as implied in your referenced paragraph here. My view of Ejoor's fantastic spin with regards to himself rather dwells on his assertion that Ironsi had intentions of having him (Ejoor) killed once Ironsi left the Mid-West, even though the question was on how he felt on learning of Ironsi (and my own brother; Fajuyi's) murder without making any connection whatsoever with the assassinations (which was real and is now a moment in our national history) and his claim of a plot to assassinate him!
Let us be fair to this man even if we all have our fair doses of misinformation we were fed depending on which side of the civil war we stood.
First, when a bicycle-riding escapee of a General, in whose abandoned jurisdiction some of the fiercest blood-letting was wrought makes such assertions after four decades filled with tons of materials by several participants and observers (including foreign ones like the praise-singing Frederick Forsythe) and only when journalists from one newspaper or the other seek him out for an interview at the age of 77, then whether the 'new' information he proffers is true or false, he could be adjudged not to have been fair to our collective national history....and rightly so.
Second, on mis-information: I do agree that in the final instance there is hardly strictly 'objective' account of any historical moment. We all look through the past with some prism or the other. But this is because information as such becomes mixed with and can hardly be wholly separated from perspective. It is not surprising that to minimize blur in the picture of what had been, historians place great premium on primary sources. Now when you talk of misinformation do you suggest that primary sources that have been placed in the public domain were doctored or that there are exist authentic primary sources that vitiate what thus far have been the bases of contending perspectives on the war?
Third and most important, if you ask me (since the benefit of the past is to guide our tentative steps into an uncertain future from within a present-in-flux) , what lessons have we learnt about 'sides'?
For me there were two sides in the war much more important than the two sides often presented to us by different (read politically- ethnic) elements of one side. The first of these sides was/is the side of the elites whose power squabbles dragged the country down the valley of the shadow of death. The persons on this side were and still are to be found in the various geo-political zones and nationalities comprising Nigeria. Not a single child of the arrow heads of this side died in the war. Not one of them went hungry in those years of sorrow tears and blood, not one; be it in 'Biafra' or on the Federal 'side'.
The other side comprised largely of poor wretched of the earth, they were to be found (they still can be found) as Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ikwerre, Ogoni, Kanuri, Tiv, Ibibio, Ijaw, Idoma, Jukun, Chama, Urhobo, etc. I say largely the poor, ignorant, hapless and helpless. But there is also a small fraction of this popular side. It is constituted by genuinely committed, elements that themselves could have been part of the elites by dint of their intellectual prowess and material achievements. Idealists that fell for the 'Sankara story' (apologies to Abami Eda) of either Biafra or the tongue-in-cheek 'going on with one Nigeria' as a task that had to be done. In this 'tribe' you have the Adaka Boros, Christopher Okigbos and Kaduna Nzeogwu, to mention a few.
Like you, I believe, I am on the second side, the popular side. I am however strongly of the view that seeing the challenges of this side through the same 'misty morning' that clouded the sights of such great minds with genuine commitments that were transformed into the elites interest-serving division of our ranks along ethno-regional lines will not get either Nigeria or the nations within it that we deem our stand to be for, any closer to a genuinely emancipatory new dawn.
My regards,
Baba Aye
*************************************************************************************
--- On Sun, 4/5/09, Ibukunolu Alao Babajide
Baba Aye,
Did you ever hear the open saying at Island Club that the Igbo domination of Nigeria is a matter of time?
Igbo ascendancy, domination and the position grabbing during the NPC and NCNC alliance is no fantasy. Igbo domination of the officer corps of the Nigeria army is also a fact not fantasy.
If others knew Ojukwu knew of a coup why should Ejoor's knowledge of the same be fantasy?
If a man's room was sprayed at Ikoyi Hotel by Igbo led coup plotters should we begrudge him his legitimate fears that Igbo wanted his head? What is fantasy in that?
Let us be fair to this man even if we all have our fair doses of misinformation we were fed depending on which side of the civil war we stood.
Just my two kobo worth.
IBK
************************************************************************************
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 12:54:07 -0700 (PDT)
Ejoor surreptitiously formulates a conspiracy theory of sorts, which ties the roles of the 'five majors' of January 15, '66, Ironsi (who quenched their idealist fires) and Ojukwu into one grand whole tied to Zik's being merely a ceremonial Head of State.
If I remember well, Ademulegun (a Yoruba amongst the five) did assert that Ojukwu was not unaware of the 15/01 coup but made it clear that he had heard nothing about it if it failed. In no account thus far (save Ejoor's now...very early in the day you could say!), to the best of my knowledge has such bold phantasy of conspiracy been explictly or implicitly stated.
One is tempted to think that Ejoor might be suffering from senile dementia when also in response to this question:
When General Ironsi came on a visit to your region, 24 hours after he left your zone, he was kidnapped by some sections of the army along with the Governor of the Western Region where they were killed. What was in your mind when you heard the news?
his response was thus:
The fact was this. He visited Western Region after leaving my place. The idea was that he did not want my killing to take place while he was there
.....and he failed to subsequently make any connection whatsoever to Ironsi and Fajuyi's murder on one hand and 'the fact'....according to his gospel.
Ejoor should put pen to paper and let's hear his full tales by moonlight. Meanwhile, I think one of his national orders (without which his profile would not be complete) was left out: General Commander of the Order of Bicycle Riding (GCOBR)....perhaps the old man is merely just riding away on the wings of mental bicycle, sans handle...
Baba Aye
************************************************************************************
--- On Sun, 4/5/09, rotimi osunsan
Brother IBK:
First, thanks for sharing your valuable' coherent knowledge with us. I respect that. My distrust of Ejoor's statement was based on his protracted silence compounded by his bicycle story which didn't wash with most folks back then. I didn't mean to insult the man who had served and thus contributed in some measures to our country. The period of his silence actually created the credibility gap. I must admit though that I am not a great historian on the war. My opinion is based generally on personal knowledge and experience during the period. I was a very curious younger fellow and checked stuff out - almost as a self-styled journalist while in school. I definitely would want to be like you when I grow up - read more books! I didn't mean to offend anyone. I just thought (could be totally wrong!) that Ejoor could be freaking out with age and may therefore require some deserved attention. The timing of his story seems so weird to me, I am sorry to say! It has nothing to do with my opinion of Ojukwu or any others. Again, thanks for the shared information. I have learned something. It's appreciated. Enjoy the Palm Sunday too.
Regards,
Rotimi Osunsan
Washington DC
*************************************************************************************
Rotimi Osunsan,
Your cursory dismissal of David Ejoor's account simply because it does not tally with your rosy and sanguine imaginary pedestal you place Ojukwu is dangerous.
I lost 3 uncles in that war and over 90% of those who died when Hannibal Achuzie blew the Niger bridge are my kinsmen.
Read Chukwuemeka Okala's lamentations and how people because of domination tell a man who says he is not Igbo, you must be one.
You do great disservice to those who gave you your current freedoms by the ultimate sacrifice of their lives so you can belittle their valour and cheapen their bravery.
The bicycle story was told by Ejoor to convince Gowon that he was never in support of Ojukwu. All of you who insinuate cowardice to him cannot clean his boots when bravery is concerned. He would have been killed by those crazed invaders had he been caught.
That is the man you equate with the WW2 veteran and Vietnam veteran in your school? All because you want to justify a position you are ignorant about?
What Ojo Madueke did to Oluwole Rotimi was child's play compared to what the Igbo did when they went into alliance with NPC. They filled all parastatals unabashedly with Igbo. Do you not hear about Chuckwuma Agwunobi boasting of Igbo domination in the Nigerian Railways Corporation? Go and ask or read TOS Benson, Ayo Rosiji, and Adeniran Ogunsanya about how Zik Igbonized NCNC when he hijacked it after the death of Herbert Macaulay.
When Mbonu Ojike boasted that "the Igbo domination of Nigeria is a matter of time" was he also crazy?
All I ask of you is to research and read the events in Nigeria from 1947 to 1967 and your eyes will open. Ejoor is telling the truth. He was there. The characters involved were his colleagues. He ate and drank with them. He knew them well. Better than you will ever do.
All the noise you hear today can be summed up into. Yorubas should have accepted Igbo invasion and domination instead of Hausa domination. What they never know until it is too late is that nobody dominates the Yoruba. I repeat Nobody, Europeans, not Hausa, and definitely not Igbo.
Go and find out what Obafemi Awolowo and the Yoruba leaders of thought knew in 1967 and did to keep Nigeria one. The 12 state creation is the ultimate anti domination tool. That was Obafemi Awolowo's masterstroke and that is why Igbo demonise him.
My dear brother like I also have, there are gaps in your knowledge and appreciation of these events. Like me make it your hobby to read and acquire the facts.
Chief Anthony Enahoro said recently that had Ojukwu out of greed not invaded mid west he would still be governing his Biafra today and he is right. In 1959 NCNC went into alliance with NPC. In 1964 the same to the detriment of Yorubas. When their marriage collapsed why did they not face each other? Why did Ojukwu not send troops to the Nsukka sector? No sir! He wanted Lagos. That was his prize.
Enuff said for now. Go and ask about what Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola meant when he said, "Eyin o mo won ni? Ekini ani, ekeji ani, eketa ani, ekerin ani, ekarun, ekefa, ekeje be be lo ani, ehn Igba wo ni eyin o to wa ni?"
Ask about the nepotism in the NRC that brought that statement out. Then your eyes will open.
Have a happy Sunday.
IBK
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Celtel Tanzania
*************************************************************************************
From: rotimi osunsan
I wouldn't trust a word coming from David Ejoor at this junction of our history. I didn't trust, and I don't think anyone did back then, when he told his "funny" bicycle story during the war. Poor guy, he must have been devastated by the "Biafran Surge" and now probably suffering a backlash. But after how many years? You see war is terrible!. I know some guys who, a few year ago, are still freaking out on the Viet- kong attacks in Vietnam. I always watch out to keep a good distance from folks like that to this day. I am serious -a Vietnam veteran actually shot at a Nigerian classmate of his, who was my roommate. I somehow saved the guy. I also remember a Second World War veteran that harassed my childhood neighborhood in the 50s by paroling the streets late at nights in his war outfit and very crack-noisy army boots. Such are the damages and scars some suffer from wars that require psychiatric attention.
By the way, where has the "Bicycle Major" David Ejoor been all these years and why is he saying stuff like this now? I don't believe it and even if true, so what?
Rotimi Osunsan
Washington DC
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Anokute:
You are celebrating too fast. The questions I would like to ask also are, is David Ejoor alive? If he is alive, why did it take him this long to tell the world that Igbos wanted to rule Nigeria, and that was the cause of the Coup of January 15, 1966? Since he was not part of the planning group, how did he know that it was because of Igbos wanting to rule caused the Coup? Was Ejoor aware of the trouble in the Western Nigeria before the Coup? When Nzeogwu gave his reasons why they struck, what stopped Ejoor then from coming out to tell this his truth? Is this not another Yoruba propaganda to insult, ridicule and undermine Igbos?
If you are a Nigerian, by now you should have heard that the first Coup in Nigeria was openly discussed in the Army Barracks in Nigeria, with factions planning their own Coups to remove the government that was not working in the interest of Nigerians but Nzeogwu's group struck first before others.
Have you not heard also that Nzeogwu and his group wanted to hand over power to Awolowo? Like you, I am happy that some names mentioned here are living. Over to them.
Enyimba
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