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Publish Rotimi's Letter, Senator Tasks Maduekwe
By Vincent Ujumadu
FOREIGN Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, has been urged to make public the letter written by the recalled ambassador of Nigeria to the United States, Brig-Gen. Oluwole Rotimi (rtd), in which the ambassador was alleged to have referred to Biafra, and also called the minister a tribalist.
Senator Ikechukwu Obiorah (PDP, Anambra South), speaking in Awka, the Anambra State capital yesterday said he is asking the minister to make the contents of the letter public so that "everybody will be assured as to the correctness or otherwise of such a letter and its content."
The senator also advocated sanctions against Rotimi should the publicised contents of the letter tally with earlier reports, saying "if in truth the Ambassador wrote such a thing, then he has to be sanctioned by the President immediately for insensitivity and conducting himself in a manner to incite tribal tensions in Nigeria."
General Oluwole Rotimi was alleged to have also written in one of the correspondence between him and the minister that "I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant-General of the Nigerian Army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafran army."
General Rotimi has however denied the allegations, insisting that the account given by the Minister on the correspondence between them was completely out of context.
But Senator Obiorah who spoke with newsmen in Awka urged the Foreign Affairs Minister to publish the said letter to avoid speculations, adding that the sanctions against Rotimi should include stopping his military pension as he had not shown himself a responsible gentleman.
The Senator who recently won his re-run election after his election was anulled by the Court of Appeal, said the statement of the former ambassador was insulting to the people of the Igbo nation, adding that he should immediately render an unreserved apology to them.
"My attention and the attention of fellow Nigerians have been drawn to the disagreement between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of Nigeria to the United States of America, Brig. General Oluwole Rotimi (rtd) on the letter written by the Ambassador to the Minister in which he said, quoting what I read in the newspapers that he had dealt with people like the Foreign Minister in the past when he was Adjutant-General of the Nigerian Army that thoroughly defeated the ragtag Biafran army.
"I call for the publication of the letter, so that everybody will be assured as to the correctness or otherwise of such a letter and its content.
And if in truth the Ambassador wrote such a thing, then he has to be sanctioned by the President immediately for insensitivity and conducting himself in a manner to incite tribal tensions in Nigeria.
"A lot of people still feel very sad about their losses during the unfortunate civil war. So for a person of the calibre of the Ambassador to be attributed with such a statement is highly insensitive and highly inappropriate. It is not something that should be taken for granted. It is not something that should be swept under the carpet.
"I believe one of the past Nigerian Presidents was also accused of making such a remark, where he said that the Igbos were defeated in the war and therefore should not dream to have an appropriate place in the Nigerian Federation and this one coming again from this person of high calibre is disturbing. We cannot trivialize it by saying that it is a mere altercation between the Minister and the Ambassador.
"If the Ambassador said this, if he wrote this in a letter, then appropriate sanctions must follow and must follow immediately.
And that should start with proper apology to the nation actually, not just the Igbos but to the nation which he seeks to denigrate because making such a statement in this kind of situation, is such that can cause serious disaffection among the rank and file of the people.
"So, I condemn the assertion by Rotimi and I will be raising this point when we meet in the South East caucus of the Senators, so that we can issue a more formal statement."
Source: Vanguard, 20th February 2009.
Recall: Correspondence with Maduekwe Distorted, Says Rotimi
By Bunmi Oni
Recalled Nigeria Ambassador to the United States, Brig. Gen. Oluwole Rotimi (rtd), has said the account given by Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Maduekwe of the correspondence between him and the minister where he allegedly referred to Maduekwe as a tribalist is inaccurate.
He also said the reference to the defeat of Biafra in the correspondence was completely out of context.
Rotimi reacted for the first time on the altercation between him and the minister, for which President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua approved his recall home, in a statement he posted on the website.
The ambassador said he had no intention to cast any aspersion on any ethnic community in Nigeria, having worked and continue to work for the unity of the country.
President Yar'Adua had approved Rotimi's recall for "gross insubordination."Rotimi's recall had stemmed from his running disagreement with Maduekwe over issues bordering on activities of the mission, policy, protocol and hierarchy.
The disagreement that was said to have started last year resulted in a series of correspondence between Maduekwe and Rotimi, culminating in a letter written by the latter in which he allegedly called the minister a tribalist.
He also reportedly boasted: "I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant -General of the Nigerian army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafran army."
Maduekwe who was piqued by the contents of the letter, particularly the reference to the Biafran War, had formally complained to the President in a memo attaching Rotimi's letter.
Maduekwe had in the letter to the President stated: "This man (Rotimi) has no temperament to be an ambassador of Nigeria in our most important mission.
"This is a strategic assessment of the situation. Anyone who has such a disposition may not be able to handle the Nigerian embassy in Washington, which is deemed in Nigerian diplomatic circles as a strategic and sensitive mission.
"The recommendation that he be recalled has to do with his capacity to run the place. It is not personal."
Three days ago, the amabassador was given 44 days, around end of March, to return to Nigeria.
Rotimi's statement entitled, "Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi Statement" read: "I wish to acknowledge receipt of the message of the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs conveying the directive of His Excellency the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umar Musa YarAdua, (GCFR) recalling me as his principal representative in the United States of America. I will dutifully comply with this order.
"However, I wish to also seize this opportunity to correct some misconception and distortion attributed to the Honorable Minister Chief Ojo Maduekwe by the media.
"The little snippet of information released to the press stating that in the exchange of correspondence between us, I called him a tribalist is inaccurate. In addition, the reference to the defeat of "Biafra" was completely taken out of context.
"Moreover, I would like to assure all patriotic Nigerians that I have no intention to cast any aspersion on any ethnic community in Nigeria. I have always believed in and worked for and will continue to work for the unity of Nigeria even when I am not in the public service.
"I have had the privilege and honor to serve under distinguished and gallant senior officers of different ethnic backgrounds in my service to the Nigerian Army. In addition, the God Almighty has blessed me with children whose mother is half Igbo and half Yoruba.
"Finally, let me state with all my heart that this distortion is deeply regretted and I honestly apologize to anyone who has felt slighted in any form.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria."
Source: This Day, 19th February 2009.
Nigeria's Envoy to US Asked to Return Home by March
By Kingsley Nwezeh with agency report,
The Federal Government yesterday gave retired Brig.-Gen. Oluwole Rotimi, Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States, 44 days to return home following his recall.
THISDAY had exclusively reported Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi's recall at the weekend following his altercation with Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe during the inauguration of President Barack Obama as the 44th President of the U.S. on January 20.
An official statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja said that ``President Umaru Yar'Adua has approved the definite recall of Gen. Oluwole Rotimi as Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States.
"Accordingly, Ambassador Rotimi has been advised to wind up his affairs and formally take leave of his hosts in keeping with diplomaic practice,'' the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes the statement as saying.
"He is to return home not later than 31st March 2009,'' the statement said.
"Mr President is appreciative of the services and contributions of Rotimi to the progress and stability of Nigeria and wishes him well in his future endeavours,'' the statement added.
In an interview with NAN on the matter, Maduekwe said ``Matters like this should be treated with utmost dignity and forgive me if my not being as forthcoming as you wish might give the impression that the solidarity of information I do enjoy with the media is being down played here".
``Two things are involved here, one, the national interest, two, the dignity of people's office whether it's the office of an ambassador anywhere in the world, not just Washington.
``It's a very important office which we should treat with a lot of respect as indeed the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs who is the president's man to conduct foreign policies in 104 missions,'' Maduekwe said.
It would be recalled that the disagreement between Maduekwe and Rotimi resulted in exchange of correspondence between the duo.
Rotimi had written a letter in which he refered to the minister as a tribalist boasting that "I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian Army that thoroughly defeated your rag tag Biafran army"
Irked by Rotimi's letter, Maduekwe had complained to the President, in a memo attaching Rotimi's letter.
"This man has no temprament to be an ambassador of Nigeria in our most important mission. This is a strategic assesment of the situation. Anyone who has such a disposition may not be able to handle the Nigerian embassy in Washington which is deemed in Nigerian diplomatic circles as a strategic and sensitive mission.
"The recommendation that he be recalled has to do with his capacity to run the place. It is not personal", Maduekwe said.
Source: This Day, 17th February 2009.
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Ministry recalls Nigerian ambassador to US
By Olayinka Oyebode, Oluwole Josiah and Waheed Bakare
The Federal Government on Monday formally recalled the country's ambassador to the United States of America, Brig.-Gen. Oluwole Rotimi (rtd).
Rotimi was given up till March 31, 2009 to fully comply with the recall order and return home.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was made available to our correspondents on Monday did not state the reason for the recall.
It said, "The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, has approved the definite recall of Brig.-Gen. Oluwole Rotimi (rtd.) as Nigeria's Ambassador extra-ordinary and plenipotentiary to the United States of America.
"Accordingly, Ambassador Rotimi has been advised to wind-up his affairs and formally take leave of his hosts in keeping with diplomatic practice.
"He is to return home not later than 31st March, 2009."
Although officials of the ministry were not forthcoming on the reasons for Rotimi's removal, indications at the ministry pointed to a protracted conflict between the minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe and the ambassador as the major reason.
The conflict was said to have started from disagreements over the operations of the mission in what seemed to be Maduekwe's strict supervision of the mission in the United States.
The minister had told the ambassadors during their induction retreat in Obudu, Cross River State, just before their posting that they must adhere to due process of diplomatic operations for proper monitoring and effective discharge of Nigeria's foreign policy.
Maduekwe was reported to have argued that although the ambassadors were appointed by the President, protocol demanded that communication between their missions and the country be rooted through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It was also his position that the ambassadors were answerable to the President through the ministry, and warned that the practice of always writing memos directly to the President would not be tolerated.
It was, however, gathered that the trouble between the minister and Rotimi was more of an ego war between the two of them.
Maduekwe, our correspondents learnt, complained about the ambassador's alleged insubordination before President Yar'Adua and recommended that he be recalled.
Efforts by our correspondents to get ministry officials to speak on the development were unsuccessful.
Spokesman of the Ministry, Mr. Ayo Olukanmi, said he would not comment on the matter beyond what had been stated officially.
He said, "I cannot say anything about it now, I must tell you I am not in a position to tell you anything. In fact, I don't know anything about it. I read it the way you read it."
Special Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on Media, Ms. Sarah Sanda, could also not confirm the report of the conflict between the ambassador and the minister, saying she had been on vacation since December.
Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, Mrs. Boade Akiola, said she had also just returned from her annual vacation and was not aware of the controversy in the ministry for the past months.
It could also not be confirmed if the envoy had received the letter recalling him back to the country as our correspondents were informed that being a public holiday in the US, Rotimi would not be at his table on Monday.
A former Ambassador to The Netherlands and Togo, Mr. Aderemi Esan, however, said that a personality clash between a supervisory minister and a serving ambassador might not be sufficient grounds for recall.
Although, Esan was yet to have details of the issues involved, he, however, said he did not expect that the President would recall an ambassador, because of a clash with the minister.
He explained that the most fundamental reason that could lead to the recall of an ambassador is if there was a disagreement between the Ambassador and the headquarters (foreign affairs ministry).
He said that the most fundamental factor that is usually considered is whether the country's foreign policy could be conducted effectively, as a result of the development, adding that once it was realised that the country's foreign policy could not be effectively conducted through the ambassador, then he would be recalled based on the authority of the President.
He said, "The issue is: will the Ambassador be able to perform his duty as head of that mission? If he is seen to be incapable of doing that, the headquarters will take a decision on the authority of the President."
He, however, said that if the issue was about interference in the running of the mission, as reported in the media, then Rotimi had reasons to feel resented.
Citing the reported exchanges between the minister and Ambassador Rotimi, which was reportedly copied to the deputy, the ex-envoy said that so many things might have been done in ignorance, adding that the diplomatic service was no longer what it used to be.
Stressing that the headquarters could recall an ambassador on the authority of the President, Esan recollected the recall of a former ambassador in the 1970s, who, according to him, was fired because of his complicity in the illegal importation of cement from his country of accreditation.
He said, the ambassador, Ahmadu Sukah, was not only recalled, but was also eased out of service.
Source: Punch, 17th February 2009.
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Nigerian Ambassador to US, Oluwole Rotimi, Sacked
•Calls Foreign Minister a tribalist
•Boasts that he defeated Maduekwe's "ragtag" Biafran Army
By Yemi Adebowale in Lagos and Constance Ikoku in Washington DC
President Umaru Yar'Adua has appro-ved the immediate recall of Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States, retired Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi, for "gross insubordination."
Sources at the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC said the decision to recall Rotimi followed his running disagreement with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, over issues bordering on activities of the mission, policy, protocol and hierarchy.
The disagreement that was said to have started last year resulted in a series of correspondence between Maduekwe and Rotimi, culminating in a letter written by the latter in which he called the minister a tribalist and boasted, "I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafran army."
Maduekwe who was piqued by the contents of the letter, particularly the reference to the Biafran war, formally complained to the President in a memo, attaching Rotimi's letter.
Maduekwe in his letter to the President stated: "This man (Rotimi) has no temperament to be an ambassador of Nigeria in our most important mission.
"This is a strategic assessment of the situation. Anyone who has such a disposition may not be able to handle the Nigerian embassy in Washington, which is deemed in Nigerian diplomatic circles as a strategic and sensitive mission.
"The recommendation that he be recalled has to do with his capacity to run the place. It is not personal."
It was on this basis that the President immediately approved his recall from the mission. In the interim, Ambassador Wakil, the Deputy Ambassador has been asked to oversee the mission pending the appointment of a replacement.
All efforts to reach the Ambassador last night on his mobile phone proved unsuccessful as it kept entering voice mail. Voice messages were not returned as at press time either.
A Nigerian embassy official in Washington disclosed that the root cause of the friction between both officials started sometime last year when Maduekwe wrote two letters inviting the Ambassador and his deputy, Ambassador Wakil to a meeting in Abuja to discuss the emergence of Barack Obama as the 44th US President and what it would mean for Nigeria-US relations.
Rotimi was said to have felt slighted that the minister wrote a separate letter to his deputy whom he regarded as his subordinate.
He subsequently wrote two protest letters - one to Maduekwe and a second one to the Secretary to the Govern-ment of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed. He also asked that the trip be rescheduled to enable him sort out one or two things.
Not satisfied, Rotimi further wrote to Senator Jubril Aminu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the same issue.
Rotimi then proceeded to Abuja when he did not receive an official reply from the minister. Maduekwe on the other hand was reportedly irked that the Ambassador proceeded on the trip without the necessary approval.
Rotimi's action, an embassy official divulged, was seen as an infringement of an important regulation regarding the movement of public officers.
Insiders familiar with the Nigerian civil service set up said his trip was arbitrary given his protest letter and request for a postponement of the meeting, and that since he had not received feedback, it was seen as gross insubordination within foreign service regulations.According to an official: "when you write, you wait for a reply. Movement must be sanctioned by your boss."
Similarly, Maduekwe's effort to streamline the operations of the foreign affairs ministry, particularly the embassies, was said to have been resisted by Rotimi in Washington.
The minister's brusque style of leadership has reportedly ruffled feathers in the foreign service where most officials are used to "business as usual" bosses.
As such, the little or lack of cordial relations between both men compounded matters, making it almost impossible to mend fences.
In addition, other occurrences pointed to strained relations between the public officers. The usual practice is that an Ambassador receives the foreign minister at the airport when he arrives a country, and sees him off at the end of his official trip.
This was not the case when the minister visited Washington sometime last year to give a talk at a think-tank in the capital city.
However, by January this year, Rotimi tried to seek a rapprochement when he led a delegation to receive Maduekwe who flew into Washington as the head of the Nigerian delegation to President Obama's inauguration.
But the short-lived détente came under strain again when Rotimi, during the swearing-in ceremony, introduced Emeka Anyaoku, the president's special envoy, as the leader of delegation in the presence of the minister.
THISDAY learnt that there was actually a disagreement before the trip as to who should lead the delegation to the event.
Eventually, Anyaoku was mandated to head the Federal Government team, while Maduekwe led the foreign ministry team.
But this presented an image problem for Nigeria, because it gave the impression that the home base was in disarray.
Another official of the Nigerian embassy in Washington alleged that Rotimi only appeared for work at the embassy thrice a week and retired to Florida where he has a home, for the rest of the week. "How can he effectively run a key embassy like this," the official queried.
Before the latest incident that led to Rotimi's recall, Anyaoku it was gathered, tried to reconcile the two men shortly after Obama's inauguration, but failed.
Rotimi was a former military governor of the old Western State from 1971 to 1975. He arrived Washington DC on 31st March 2008, and presented his Letters of Credence to the then President, George Bush at the White House, on April 9, 2008.
His sudden recall means that Nigeria will have to deal with the signals the incident would send to the international community, explained a diplomatic source.
One way to save face is to show that Nigeria is ready to revamp its foreign relations machinery and sharpen is focus on improving the effectiveness of the country's foreign missions overseas, he said.
Source: This Day, 14th February 2009.
Candidly speaking Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi is a rotten tribalist, an insensitive dead-beat dad, a chieftain in the infamous Obasanjo failed third term fiasco and a complete misfit in this our "one Nigeria" project.
* Oluwasina
To all those who keep on believing in "ONE NIGERIA" this is what the pay back will continue to be. These maggots in the person of Rotimi, pot belied soldiers will continue to insult Biafra and in your face insult. If this maggot can say this about Biafra after several years, imagine the type of services he has been rendering to the Biafrans of his imaginary Nigeria and imaginary defeat?
* Cornelius
Other discoidal issues include the funding and the style of leadership in an Emabassy considered a jewel in Nigeria's diplomatic boardroom . was purely a political pick , recommended by . He came to the Diplomatic square with an old military mentality and no credential . Another example of putting an incompetent at the expense of the nation . Since his arrival in Washington DC , he has repeatedly refused to grant an interview to the Press ( a duty he must undertake ) even to American Media . He prefers instead of issuing statements that sometimes require a feedback . He dismantled most of the good reforms his predecessor put in place . Among the Embassy staff , he was feared not respected because , our source says, he has the tendency to act irrational .
No matter the disagreement we have with the current administration , the recall of Mr Rotimi should be a welcome diplomatic relief for Nigeria's diasporans in America and the Unity of the Republic . The man is unfit to come to Washington . said a clearly excited staff ( who was happy to see his boss go ) and who refused to have his name on print for fear of repraisal . Another staff told us that . Diplomatic activities are minimal at best as we observed on the ground for three days last November .
Finally , regarding his quoted statement about Biafra . It is offensive and you be in disbelief that such an old man would utter such a garbage . The statement is meant to inflict an emotional harm ......contd .
* Ano
My people, could you believe the Ambassador called foreign minister a tribalist. Boasts that he defeated Maduekwe's "ragtag" Biafran Army. Read on. President Umaru Yar'Adua has appro-ved the immediate recall of Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States, retired Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi, for "gross insubordination. "
Sources at the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC said the decision to recall Rotimi followed his running disagreement with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, over issues bordering on activities of the mission, policy, protocol and hierarchy.
The disagreement that was said to have started last year resulted in a series of correspondence between Maduekwe and Rotimi, culminating in a letter written by the latter in which he called the minister a tribalist and boasted, "I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafran army."
Maduekwe who was piqued by the contents of the letter, particularly the reference to the Biafran war, formally complained to the President in a memo, attaching Rotimi's letter.
Maduekwe in his letter to the President stated: "This man (Rotimi) has no temperament to be an ambassador of Nigeria in our most important mission.
"This is a strategic assessment of the situation. Anyone who has such a disposition may not be able to handle the Nigerian embassy in Washington, which is deemed in Nigerian diplomatic circles as a strategic and sensitive mission.
"The recommendation that he be recalled has to do with his capacity to run the place. It is not personal."
It was on this basis that the President immediately approved his recall from the mission. In the interim, Ambassador Wakil, the Deputy Ambassador has been asked to oversee the mission pending the appointment of a replacement.
All efforts to reach the Ambassador last night on his mobile phone proved unsuccessful as it kept entering voice mail. Voice messages were not returned as at press time either.
A Nigerian embassy official in Washington disclosed that the root cause of the friction between both officials started sometime last year when Maduekwe wrote two letters inviting the Ambassador and his deputy, Ambassador Wakil to a meeting in Abuja to discuss the emergence of Barack Obama as the 44th US President and what it would mean for Nigeria-US relations.
Rotimi was said to have felt slighted that the minister wrote a separate letter to his deputy whom he regarded as his subordinate.
He subsequently wrote two protest letters - one to Maduekwe and a second one to the Secretary to the Govern-ment of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed. He also asked that the trip be rescheduled to enable him sort out one or two things.
Not satisfied, Rotimi further wrote to Senator Jubril Aminu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the same issue.
Rotimi then proceeded to Abuja when he did not receive an official reply from the minister. Maduekwe on the other hand was reportedly irked that the Ambassador proceeded on the trip without the necessary approval.
Rotimi's action, an embassy official divulged, was seen as an infringement of an important regulation regarding the movement of public officers.
Insiders familiar with the Nigerian civil service set up said his trip was arbitrary given his protest letter and request for a postponement of the meeting, and that since he had not received feedback, it was seen as gross insubordination within foreign service regulations.
According to an official: "when you write, you wait for a reply. Movement must be sanctioned by your boss."
Similarly, Maduekwe's effort to streamline the operations of the foreign affairs ministry, particularly the embassies, was said to have been resisted by Rotimi in Washington.
The minister's brusque style of leadership has reportedly ruffled feathers in the foreign service where most officials are used to "business as usual" bosses.
As such, the little or lack of cordial relations between both men compounded matters, making it almost impossible to mend fences.
In addition, other occurrences pointed to strained relations between the public officers. The usual practice is that an Ambassador receives the foreign minister at the airport when he arrives a country, and sees him off at the end of his official trip.
This was not the case when the minister visited Washington sometime last year to give a talk at a think-tank in the capital city.
However, by January this year, Rotimi tried to seek a rapprochement when he led a delegation to receive Maduekwe who flew into Washington as the head of the Nigerian delegation to President Obama's inauguration.
But the short-lived détente came under strain again when Rotimi, during the swearing-in ceremony, introduced Emeka Anyaoku, the president's special envoy, as the leader of delegation in the presence of the minister.
THISDAY learnt that there was actually a disagreement before the trip as to who should lead the delegation to the event.
Eventually, Anyaoku was mandated to head the Federal Government team, while Maduekwe led the foreign ministry team.
But this presented an image problem for Nigeria, because it gave the impression that the home base was in disarray.
Another official of the Nigerian embassy in Washington alleged that Rotimi only appeared for work at the embassy thrice a week and retired to Florida where he has a home, for the rest of the week. "How can he effectively run a key embassy like this," the official queried.
Before the latest incident that led to Rotimi's recall, Anyaoku it was gathered, tried to reconcile the two men shortly after Obama's inauguration, but failed.
Rotimi was a former military governor of the old Western State from 1971 to 1975. He arrived Washington DC on 31st March 2008, and presented his Letters of Credence to the then President, George Bush at the White House, on April 9, 2008.
His sudden recall means that Nigeria will have to deal with the signals the incident would send to the international community, explained a diplomatic source.
One way to save face is to show that Nigeria is ready to revamp its foreign relations machinery and sharpen is focus on improving the effectiveness of the country's foreign missions overseas, he said.
* Cornelius
Analee?, ma oburukwa ndi ofe nke anyi. Now that the by the likes of the so-called now EX-Nigerian Ambassador to the US, your book "ENYI BIAFRA" came in at the right time.
NIGERIANS:
There goes the Uneducated Mindset of those in the Leadership of the Nigeria nation!! Nigerians are fond of Misplacing Titles, Ranks, and Certificates for Intelligence and being Well Educated. Nigerians, does this deserve any collective, but Unified Action, especially from the Diasporans in USA? Disgraceful, isn't it? Otoiheoma Egbe.
* Onyeukwu
This man's statement is too painful to discuss. It is like dancing on the grave of the millions who were murdered while brandishing his blood stained fists. I hope this humiliation hurts him, even just a little bit. The sad truth though, is that he is not alone. Many feel the same way, but keep their feelings under wraps. This fool of a man let emotions get a better part of him and actually put his feelings in writing. His crimes finally caught up with him and made him so stupid as to make this statement which will haunt him for life. It shall be well.
* Nwada
Onye na amaghi ebe mmiri bidoro maba ya, may not know when the rain has stopped!
So no matter how you cut it, the beginning of wisdom for ndiIgbo is to acknowledge the truth that:
-Yes Biafra army was rag-tag
-Yes ndiIgbo were roundly defeated
-Yes ndiiGbo risked annihilation in that gambit
-yes a defeat in war has repercussions, which can only be address by tactic and a consciousness fueled by such experience
So the acknowledgement of these facts will make us individually and collectively more prudent, Conscientious and conscious as ndiIgbo in better managing our affairs and having a sense of community and alert to the mistakes that made the war and our consequent defeat inevitable.
If Igbos since after the war, and given the pronouncement of "no victor and no vanquished", have approached their issues with the focus and tenacity of the Jews post the holocaust, there is no doubt that the Rotimi's of this world will not be.
So my brother all the jingoistic fervor will not change a thing until Igbos by actions and deeds project an understanding of selves and avoid all the self inflicted problems be it under development in Igboland or internecine political bickering and betrayals of collective aspirations by the political class.
Even in the Diaspora where one can at least say that individuals are on the average performing above the poverty line that bring about the easy recruitment of folks into political brigandage and other antisocial behaviors we lack the capacity to organize into a formidable organization steeped in the core Igbo values and ethos, as our forebears operationalized. Because of personality issues, envy, jealousy and hatred, personal aggrandizement, impatience and lack of respect for constituted authority...
So until ndiIgbo acknowledge their realities, rebrand and project a progressive, united, "educated" and politically astute and conscious class based on our recent experience and history, and stop begging for their existence as if anyone owes them anythinga, I'm afraid the Rotimis of this world will continue to take ndiIgbo forgranted as a defeated and rudderless bunch!
By the way, I'm happy and I commend Ojo Maduekwe for not allowing such impolitical temperament and insurbodination from Rotimi not go unaddressed. That is what I expect any minister, talkless an Igbo to do in the face of such undiplomatic conduct. And that should do it without escalating one man's stupidity into a national foible.
* Bravo
AMBASSADOR ROTIMI'S INSULT TO IGBO: AN INVITATION TO VIOLENCE
The attention of the Human Rights, Justice and Peace Foundation [HRJPF] has been drawn to a statement credited to the recently sacked Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States, Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi, Rtd.
According to Thisday newspaper issue of February 14, 2009, the Ambassador, in one of his letters to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe over diplomatic issues, boasted "I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafra army."
It is saddening that, despite the "No Victor, No Vanquished" policy adopted by the Federal Government of Nigeria at the end of the unfortunate Nigeria/Biafra civil war, Rotimi would make such a derogatorily inciting statement. This is not only an invitation to violence but also rebellion against the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The HRJPF therefore condemns this in its entirety.
Since the "No Victor, No Vanquished" policy adopted by the Gowon's administraion in the aftermath of the callous spilling of the bloods of over three million Igbos was planked on the fact that a leader (the Nigerian state) does not defeat his people but when he does, he becomes a dangerous invader; and considering that Ambassador Rotimi has portrayed the Federal Government of Nigeria as an illegal and dangerous occupant of the defunct Biafran territory, the HRJPF calls on the Nigerian Senate to ban him from holding public office for life. This will serve as a deterrent against future reoccurrence of this.
Enough is enough!
* Nwosu
Unfortunately, I can't separate the apples from oranges in this case because in the midst of the furor surrounding Rotimi I did not want us to be chasing rats while our house is on fire. Like i said, all the jingoistic fervor that such impolitical pronouncements well up in our people, once in a while, translate to naught; and cannot change a thing to the extent that ndiIgbo continue to do things thesame old way, like the civil war only thought them how to be greedy, selfish, self aggrandansing, self negating and politically inane. I dont know but from my perspective and given knowledge of how the Ziks, Okpalas, Ibiams, Mbakwes etc carried on and the collateral effect on Igbo psyche and their standing in Nigeria or even in the world, I cant help but think that our present Igbo both at home and abroad need a rethink if we are to doff the cloak of defeat the Biafran war wrapped us in. I know this can call for a treatise but I know I'm not the one to do it now, unfortunately!
Anyway, sorry if I disappoint you in not joining the band wagon in this battle cry- which of course is the convenient thing to do in these circumstances. However, Rotimi is an individual and his views are his views and the minister and government have done the right thing in their reaction and sanction. What is left for us is to learn from hence the rain started beating us so that we will know when it had stopped, by acknowledging our reality rather than denying it- even if it hurts when someone else reminds us. The denial amounts to self deceit that hamstrings us from emerging from the baggage of that war. I think that was the gist of my earlier submission. I'm sure you have the capacity to comprehend as much, in spite of the "long grammer". ndiIgbo at home and abroad have carried on like that war and its ugliness never happened. Ndi ajuru aju anaghi aju onwe ha! We need a rethink to plug our self destructive tendencies. And look around you all these jingoists are knee deep in the confusion and subversion of the collective will and aspiration be it here or at home.
* Iberosi
Iberosi, No offense meant, you have just mixed apples with oranges and trying sort them out will be a waste of time here.
You have good points but you are putting them together with this Mr Rotimi's tribalistic tendencies and his venomous statements meant to inflict emotional pain. The so called truths you listed are laughable when lined up against this man's wickedness and the motives behind them. So please spare us the long grammar. If you want to address the problems facing ndi igbo, do that, but not in connection with this atrocity. Ndewoo.
* Enemukwu
Umu Igbo,
Onye kwuru na ogu Nigeria na Biafra ebiela?. May be this so-called Ambassador to the United States thinks that he is still 'Adjutant-General' and the Foreign Minister is one of his soldiers. So, he can address him as he likes as in the above EXCERPT going as far as INSULTING the Foreign Minister's Ethnic group that number almost 50 Million with about Ten Million living in other parts of the World. If there is a TRUE government in Nigeria, this Rotimi of man should have been 'bundled' into the next AVAILABLE plane and repartriated back to Nigeria. He should not even be seen in any part of the U.S. be it Florida because Umu Igbo will see him. WHO SAID THAT Nigeria-Biafra war has ENDED.?!!!.
* Nnanta.
Forty years of Israelites journey from Egypt to the promised land is not by choice, it was due to their disobedient behavior. Whenever any nation abandon God and fail to do the right thing at the right time, God will definitely abandon that nation. The evil and sins against humanity, the indiscriminate killing of ordained servant of God and massacre of innocent defenseless citizens must call for retribution. What Nigerian government did to Ndi Igbo during and after the war will put that nation in the back page until they repent and correct their hatred to innocent industrious citizens. For every action whether good or bad must have reaction of equal measure that will be applied to it. Nigeria has been red tagged, it happens for reason no matter how you may define it. It is not a surprise at all.
* Ugo
This is not Yoruba/Igbo imbroglio. This is a General who served during the worst civil war ever initiated in the Republic . Atrocities were alleged and commited . Thousands of Igbo civilians died unnecessarily . Most are believed to be massacred in par to genocide . As a top military officer at that time , and with his current remarks , his participation as an officer of the Nigerian Army , comes into scrutiny . My thought is that , with his perspective of defeating a " rag-tagged Army " , he must have commited a very vicious war crimes that is subject to prosecution . My question remains ; What else is the " General " hiding about his role in the civil war?
This story captures the essence of Nigeria and why we are where we are. What rational country will have a 70 year old man who went to military school when only drop outs joined the army (and Obama was in kindergaten) as ambassador to US? What rational country will make a political and intellectual prostitute like Ojo Maduekwe its FM? Someone who worked with YarAdua and then worked with Abacha that killed him? Worked on OBJ's 3rd term project and now with UMYA?
Poor country!
* Joe
Candidly speaking,
Ambassador Oluwole Rotimi is a rotten tribalist, an insensitive dead-beat dad, a chieftain in the infamous Obasanjo failed third term fiasco and a complete misfit in this our "one Nigeria" project.
* Ude
"We begin to die the moment we keep silent about things that matter" - Martin Luther King Jr
My friend, every Yoruba thinks like Oluwole, a dangerous backward way of building unity in a country like Nigeria, and it is time Ndi Igbo everywhere in the world join hands to investigate their conducts during that war, which include the rapings of Igbo girls, women and poisoning with Salt and Milk that caused the deaths of millions young Igbos in 1967 to 1970.
If the children of the surviving Holocaust could bring a lawsuit against German government 62 years after the Nazi Holocaust, I think 42 is not too late to bring a lawsuit against this bastard and his like who are boasting of having defeated the Biafran Army. Those that Oluwole and Nigerian soldiers raped are still alive.
* Enyi
Nowa,
As you well know, "History is what the historians tell us it is" . However, I have thrown every caution regarding this out of the window. Do you really think that UMYA just yanked Oluwole out of office without prior verification of the authenticity of the said letter? Please give me a break. And by the way, this has nothing to do with the Yorubas as a group or any other group(s) "imbroglio" per Idowu. But, it has everything to do with Oluwole a notorious third term activist and his monkey wrench amidst project "one Nigeria".
* Ama
"There Is No Easy Road to Freedom Anywhere" - Nelson Mandela
Just a note of caution.
Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi (rtd) was NOT the Adjutant-General of the Nigerian Army during the civil war. In fact he may not even have ever held that position. He succeeded the late Lt. Col. Arthur Unegbe as Quarter-Master- General (QMG) of the Army (based in Lagos) after the latter was murdered by Major Christian Anuforo during the January 15, 1966 coup.
Rotimi served as QMG until 1969 when he became Commander of the Ibadan Garrison Organization (IGO) succeeding Col. Obasanjo who moved on to become GOC 3MCDO after Col. Benjamin Adekunle was posted out. He later became Military Governor of the West in 1971.
The role of an Adjutant-General is to oversee administration, personnel and organisational issues. In the old organizational system, both the QMG (Q Branch) and AG (A Branch) and the Head of Operations (G Branch) were senior officers who assisted the Army Chief at HQ.
Rotimi never even for one day saw action at the warfront. However, in his role as QMG he was in charge of SUPPLIES for the whole army.
As Commander of the IGO, he was in charge of deep rear internal security and helped crush the Agbekoya farmer revolt in the West. He was not even involved in counter-insurgent operations against Biafran incursions in the Midwest (in 1969), which were run from Benin by then Lt. Col. Paul Tarfa and the ever ready battalion of the Federal Guard.
Therefore, the quote in the THIS DAY paper attributed to an alleged letter he wrote to the Foreign Minister is very strange:
"I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafran army."
Makes me wonder whether it was a printers devil (by THIS DAY), or a poorly recalled verbal rendition of the alleged letter by a source unfamiliar with military terminology or perhaps even an outright fake letter. It would be surprising indeed for Brig Gen Oluwole Rotimi (rtd), not to know which positions he held during the war, unless he is demented. There is a big difference between an AG and a QMG.
That said, the alleged statement, if true, was quite unfortunate and unbecoming.
* NAO
RE : ROTIMI'S RESENTMENT OF MADUEKWE !!
Compare Rotimi's resentment of Maduekwe's authority with the resentment of the authority of the Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on CONSTITUTION REVIEW, and see if this sets a trend?..
* Godwin
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Igbo to recapture lost culture with Things Fall Apart
From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
ANOTHER step to recapture the rich historical and cultural values of Ndigbo will be taken on Friday in Enugu with the first festival of Igbo Culture and Civilisation in commemoration of the golden jubilee of Professor Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
The move, The Guardian learnt, was in realisation of the fact that although Ndigbo have imbibed Western culture as a way of life, its continued existence as an ethnic nationality without its fundamentals, which portray the group as a distinctive people, would mean an end to its civilisation.
Leading other Igbo organisations to the three-day event is the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Others are the Catholic Institute for Development Justice and Peace (CIDJAP), Conference of Democratic Scholars (CODES), Izu Umunne in Jos, Plateau State, Ndigbo, Lagos, Aka- Ikenga, Igbo Studies Association in America and Whelan Research Academy, Owerri.
Former Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese, Enugu and Director of CIDJAP, Prof Obiora Ike, told reporters yesterday that Ndigbo would use the 50th anniversary of Things Fall Apart to showcase her rich cultural heritage as a way of rediscovering her lost identity.
He said: "Colonisation, invasion and imposition of leadership from outside have impacted seriously on our culture. It has impacted on our dress code, language, behaviour, arts and tradition. It is bad, especially when our youth follow Western culture sheepishly, paying little or no attention to who they are and what they represent".
According to him, Ndigbo believes that any development is the progression of culture, stressing, however, that the people lost their identity when they started accepting anything that comes their way as a way of life.
He went on: "That is why everybody will claim that there is beauty in Western culture. That it has several advantages and is superior to other cultures of the world. But we want to use our congress to say no to the fact that a people without culture are a finished people. We want to call our minds back that our people have a way of doing things, a way of living together, irrespective of how the Western religion and practices have dominated our landscape."
He said that Things Fall Apart captured, in clear terms, Igbo culture and traditions, expressed in music and dances.
Ike stated that with the inability of Igbo protagonists to document what could be likened to "conventions and practices of their people, "Things Fall Apart, therefore, has become a veritable tool that has existed for a time having promoted the culture and tradition".
He stated that the beauty in Achebe's work was that it has been acknowledged worldwide as a literary piece with great exception, that the culture and tradition of the Igbo nay Africa remains superior.
He disclosed that all the practices, conventions, norms, culture, traditions of the Igbo people were contained in the book which he said comes in "context of modernity and antiquity".
The three-day event will feature presentation, drama, traditional music and dances, folklore and film presentation among others, which were captured in Things Fall Apart.
The President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Ralph Uwaechue, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, Prof. Richard Okafor; Director-General, National Film Video Censor Board, Emeka Mba and Prof. Osita Eze, among others, will speak on various issues during the festival.
Source: The Guardian, 11th February 2009.
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Since God has abandoned Nigerians to sort themselves out,
How do we start on this tall order of a Project? Any suggestions and or Ideas from anybody?
TONY EGBE
Mazi Tony,
God has neither abandoned Nigeria nor Nigerians instead, it is Nigerians that have abandoned God and each has gone h/her way like sheep without shepherd. God has generously provided Nigeria with enormous Natural resources even more than many other nations of the world, yet a Nigerian makes bold to state that the same generous God has abandoned his nation, unbelievable. Our impartial father (God) has given Nigeria her own share of his resources and even more abundantly too. He provided us with senses to know good and bad including sense of judgment, therefore what we do with his provisions for us should be our responsibility and not his to make them boom or doom for us. However, methink that to sort things out (since you asked) Nigerians must return to the basic as follows:
(a) Keep close eyes on the ten life-saving instructions of God, aka the ten commandments.
(b) Recognize always that a cool kobo is better than a hot million naira.
(c) That to be a good leader you should be a good follower.
(d) The so called leaders must recognize that nature does not permit vacuum and that every living organism must find something to fulfill the the three life basic needs food, clothing, and shelter. That deprivation of any or all of the above will drive the organism to find a way to fend for itself (h/herself) either civilly or by force.
(e) Nigerians must return to their senses and pick up the lost knowledge about the law of comparative advantage including the power of division of labor. For example, natural farmers must leave politics and return to their farmlands, born teachers must return to the classrooms, traders must return to their buying and selling, engineers, physicians, students, and etc must return to their God given talents and leave politics to natural politicians. Until then, the nation will continue to be confused and filled with all sorts of unsavory behaviors.
(f) The so called Nigerian leaders must learn at all cost to be honest, have national interest at heart, respect their fellow citizens right to livelihood, learn to practice fair play, justice, and uphold the rule of law.
(g) Nigeria must have a working constitution that will be strong and firmer than cob web. Whatever the nation has presently in the name of constitution is just like a cob web which catches only smaller insects but powerless with the big and bigger ones. Nobody, and I mean no citizen should be above the law of h/her land.
(h) The haves in the nation must equally realize that riches are blessings only to those who make them blessing to others. They must know that their tall razor-made fences around their mansions can only keep them safe within and not without all the time. Their biggest safety will be achieved when they compassionately extend their riches to the less privileged in the society and teach others how to fish too.
Finally, those who feel closer to God by virtue of their knowledge of the bible or Koran (Pastors and Imams) must realize that godly people please God only when their walk measures up to their talk, and not when it measures with their earthly wealths.
It is also my feeling that Nigerians can make good followers if a good leader emerges. I strongly feel as stated above because of my experience about Nigeria and Nigerians during the late Gen. Buhari/Idiagbons short lived regime. During that short period of time, civility, order, and respect for lives and properties were practiced, obeyed, and the positive impact was felt by all. I wish they were allowed to stay and chisel more sense into us , things could have been better and we wouldn't have continued to sort afar things that are at our finger tips. But my fear returns because majority of Nigerians are deaf to the voices of reason.
* Eugene Iwuamanam
The Principles of the Biafran Revolution known
as The Ahiara Declaration.
INTRODUCTION
PROUD AND COURAGEOUS BIAFRANS,
FELLOW COUNTRY MEN AND WOMEN,
I salute you. Today, as I look back over our two years as a sovereign and independent nation, I am overwhelmed with the feeling of pride and satisfaction in our performance and achievement as a people. Our indomitable will, our courage, our endurance of the severest privations, our resourcefulness and inventiveness in the face of tremendous odds and dangers, have become proverbial in a world so bereft of heroism, and have become a source of frustration to Nigeria and her foreign masters. For this and for the many miracles of our time, let us give thanks to Almighty God. I congratulate all Biafrans at home and abroad. I thank you all the part you have played and have continued to play in this struggle, for your devotion to the high ideals and principles on which this Republic was founded.
I thank you for your absolute commitment to the cause for which our youth are making daily, the supreme sacrifice, and a cause for which we all have been dispossessed, blockaded, bombarded, starved and massacred. I salute you for your tenacity of purpose and amazing steadfastness under siege.
I salute the memory of the many patriots who have laid down their lives in defence of our Fatherland. I salute the memory of all Biafrans - men, women and children - who died victims of the Nigerian crime of genocide. We shall never forget them. Please God, their sacrifice shall not be in vain. For the dead on the other side of this conflict, may their souls rest in peace. To our friends and well-wishers, to the growing band of men and women around the world who have, in spite of the vile propaganda mounted against us, identified themselves with the justice of our cause, in particular to our courageous friends, officers and staff of the Relief Agencies and humanitarian organisations, pilots who daily offer themselves in sacrifice that our people might be saved; to Governments, in particular Tanzania, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Zambia and Haiti. I give my warmest thanks and those of our entire people.
THE STRUGGLE
Fellow country men and women, for nearly two years we have been engaged in a war which threatens our people with total destruction. Our enemy has been unrelenting in his fury and has fought our defenceless people with a vast array of military hardware of a sophistication unknown to Africa. For two years we have withstood his assaults with nothing other than our stout hearts and bare hands. We have frustrated his diabolical intentions and have beaten his wicked mentors in their calculations and innovations. Shamelessly, our enemy has moved from deadline to deadline, seeking excuses justifying his failures to an ever credulous world. Today, I am happy and proud to report that, all the odds notwithstanding, the enemy, at great cost in lives and equipment, is nowhere near to his avowed objective.
In the Onitsha sector of the war, our gallant forces have kept the enemy confined in the town which they entered 15 months ago. Despite the fact that this sector has great strategic attraction for the vandal hordes, being a gate-way, as it is, to the now famous jungle strip of Biafra, and the scene of the bloodiest encounters of this war, it is significant that the enemy has made no gains throughout this long period.
In the Awka sector of the war, the story remains the same. The enemy is confined only to the highway between Enugu and Onitsha, not venturing north or south of that road.
In the Okigwe sector, from where the enemy made the thrust that brought him into Umuahia, the situation remains unchanged, with our troops making the entire enemy route from Okigwe to Umuahia no joy ride. In Umuahia town itself, fighting has continued in the township.
In the Ikot Ekpene, Azumini and Aba sectors of the war, the vandals, whilst maintaining their positions in Ikot Ekpene and Aba with our troops surrounding them, have continued to suffer heavy casualties in their attempt to hold firmly on to Azumini.
We now come to the Owerri/Port Harcourt sector. After the clearing of Owerri township and our rapid move towards Port Harcourt, our gallant forces are holding positions in Eleele town, in the outskirts of Igirita and forward of Omoku.
Across the Niger, the successes of our troops have been maintained despite numerous enemy counter-attacks. Our Navy has continued to support all operations along the Niger with good results. Our guerrillas have continued their magnificent work of harassing the enemy and giving him no respite on our soil. I salute them all.
In the air, the Biafran Air Force has made a most dramatic re-entry into the war, and in a brilliant series of raids has all but paralyzed the Nigerian Air Force. In four days' operations, eleven operational planes of the enemy were put of action, three control towers in Port Harcourt, Enugu and Benin were set ablaze, the Airport building in Enugu, and the numerous gun positions were knocked out. The refinery in Port Harcourt was set on fire. And, more recently, three days ago, the Ughelli Power Station was put out of action. The brilliance of this performance, the precision of the strike, the genius of target selection, have left Nigeria in a daze and her friends bewildered. Another way of looking at this is that in four days of operation, the Biafran Air Force has destroyed more military targets than what the Nigerian Air Force has been able to do for two years.
In cost, probably twice what the Nigerian air raids have cost us in military equipment and installations. The only superiority left in the record of achievement of the Nigerian Air Force is the number of civilians and civilian targets their cowardly raids have destroyed. Proud Biafrans, I have kept my promise.
Diplomatically, our friends have increased and have remained steadfast to our cause; and despite the rantings of our detractors, indications are that their support will continue.
At home, our sufferings have continued. Scarcity and want have remained our companions. Yet, with fortitude, we seem to have overcome th once imminent danger of mass starvation and can now look forward to a period after the rains of comparative plenty. Our efforts in the Land Army programme give visible signs all over our land of imminent victory in the war against want.
Fellow countrymen and women, the signs are auspicious, the future fills us with less foreboding. I am confident. With the initiative in war now in our own hands, we have turned the last bend in our race to self-realisation and are now set on the home straight in this our struggle. We must not flag. The tape is in sight. What we need now is a final burst of speed to breast the tape and secure the victory which will ensure for us, for all time, glory and honour, peace and progress.
Fellow compatriots, today, being our Thanksgiving Day, it is most appropriate that we pause awhile to take stock, to consider our past, our successes notwithstanding; to consider our future, our aspirations and our fears. For two long years we have been locked in mortal combat with an enemy unequalled in viciousness; for two long years, defenceless and weak, we have withstood without respite the concerted assault of a determined foe. We have fought alone, we have fought with honour, we have fought in the highest traditions of christian civilization. Yet, the very custodians of this civilization and our one-time mentors, are the very self-same monsters who have vowed to devour us.
Fellow Biafrans, I have for a long time thought about this our predicament - the attitude of the civilized world to this our conflict. The more I think about it the more I am convinced that our disability is racial. The root cause of our problem lies in the fact that we are black. If all the things that have happened to us had happened to another people who are not black, if other people who are not black had reacted in the way our people have reacted these two long years, the world's response would surely have been different.
In 1966, some 50,000 of us were slaughtered like cattle in Nigeria. In the course of this war, well over one million of us have been killed; yet the world is unimpressed and looks on in indifference. Last year, some blood-thirsty Nigerian troops for sport murdered the entire male population of a village. All the world did was to indulge in an academic argument whether the number was in hundreds or in thousands. Today, because a handful of white men collaborating with the enemy, fighting side by side with the enemy, were caught by our gallant troops, the entire world threatens to stop. For 18 white men, Europe is aroused. What have they said about our millions? 18 white men assisting the crime of genocide! What does Europe say about our murdered innocents? Have we not died enough? How many black dead make one missing white? Mathematicians, please answer me. Is it infinity?
Take another example. For two years we have been subjected to a total blockade. We all know how bitter, bloody and protracted the First and Second World Wars were. At no stage in those wars did the white belligerents carry out a total blockade of their fellow whites. In each case where a blockade was imposed, allowance was made for certain basic necessities of life in the interest of women, children and other non-combatants. Ours is the only example in recent history where a whole people have been so treated. What is it that makes our case different? Do we not have women, children and other non-combatants? Does the fact that they are black women, black children and black non-combatants make such a world of difference?
Nigeria embarked on a crime of genocide against our people by first mounting a total blockade against Biafra. To cover up their designs and deceive the black world, the white powers supporting Nigeria blame Biafrans for the continuation of the blockade and for the starvation and suffering which that entails. They uphold Nigerian proposals on relief which in any case they helped to formulate, as being "conciliatory" or "satisfactory" . Knowing that these proposals would give Nigeria further military advantage, and compromise the basic cause for which we have struggled for two years, they turn round to condemn us for rejecting them. They accepted the total blockade against us as a legitimate weapon of war because it suits them and because we are black. Had we been white the inhuman and cruel blockade would long have been lifted.
The mass deaths of our citizens resulting from starvation and indiscriminate air raids and large despoliation of towns and villages are a mere continuation of this crime. That Nigeria has received complete support from Britain should surprise no one. For Britain is a country whose history is replete with instances of genocide.
In my address to you on the occasion of the first anniversary of our independence, I touched on a number of issues relevant to our struggle and to our hope for a prosperous, just and happy society. I talked to you of the background to our struggle and on the visions and values which inspired us to found our own State.
THE MYTH ABOUT THE NEGRO
On this occasion of our second anniversary, I shall go further in the examination of the meaning and import of our revolution by discussing the wider issues involved and the character and structure of the new society we are determined and committed to build. Our enemies and their foreign sponsors have deliberately sought by false and ill-motivated propaganda to becloud the real issues which caused and still determine the course and character of our struggle. They have sought in various ways to dismiss our struggle as a tribal conflict. They have attributed it to the mad adventurism of a fictitious power-seeking clique anxious to carve out an empire to rule, dominate and exploit. But they have failed. Our cause is transparently just and no amount of propaganda can detract from it.
Our struggle has far-reaching significance. It is the latest recrudescence in our time of the age-old struggle of the black man for his full stature as man. We are the latest victims of a wicked collusion between the three traditional scourges of the black man - racism, Arab-Muslim expansionism and white economic imperialism. Playing a subsidiary role is Bolshevik Russia seeking for a place in the African sun. Our struggle is a total and vehement rejection of all those evils which blighted Nigeria, evils which were bound to lead to the disintegration of that ill-fated federation. Our struggle is not a mere resistance - that would be purely negative. It is a positive commitment to build a healthy, dynamic and progressive state, such as would be the pride of black men the world over.
For this reason, our struggle is a movement against racial prejudice, in particular against that tendency to regard the black man as culturally, morally, spiritually, intellectually, and physically inferior to the other two major races of the world - the yellow and the white races. This belief in the innate inferiority of the Negro and that his proper place in the world is that of the servant of the other races, has from early days coloured the attitude of the outside world to Negro problems. It still does today.
Not so long ago the fashion was to question the humanity of the Negro. Some white theorists attributed the creation to the Devil, others even identified the Devil as the first Negro. Later they derived the Negro from the accursed progeny of Ham. Nearer to us still in time, it became a topic for serious debate in learned circles in Europe whether the Negro was in fact a man; whether he had a soul; and if he had a soul, whether conversion to christianity could make any difference to his spiritual condition and destination. By the nineteenth century it had been reluctantly conceded that the Negro is in fact human, but a different kind of man, certainly not the same kind of man as the white. Pseudo-intellectual s went to work to prove that the Negro was a different kind of man from the white. They uncovered the abundant so-called anthropological evidence from archaelogy which "proved" to them conclusively that the Negro was no more the same kind of man as the European than a rat was a rabbit.
It is this myth about the Negro that still conditions the thinking and attitude of most white governments on all issues concerning black Africa and the black man; it explains the double standards which they apply to present-day world problems; it explains their stand on the whole question of independence and basic human rights for the black peoples of the world. These myths explain the stand of many of the world governments and organisations on our present struggle.
Our disagreement with the Nigerians arose in part from a conflict between two diametrically opposed conceptions of the end and purpose of the modern African state. It was, and still is, our firm conviction that a modern Negro African government worth the trust placed in it by the people, must build a progressive state that ensures the reign of social and economic justice, and of the rule of law. But the Nigerians, under the leadership of the Hausa-Fulani feudal aristocracy preferred anarchy and injustice.
Since in the thinking of many white powers a good, progressive and efficient government is good only for whites, our view was considered dangerous and pernicious: a point of view which explains but does not justify the blind support which these powers have given to uphold the Nigerian ideal of a corrupt, decadent and putrefying society. To them genocide is an appropriate answer to any group of black people who have the temerity to attempt to evolve their own social system.
When the Nigerians violated our basic human rights and liberties, we decided reluctantly but bravely to found our own state, to exercise our inalienable right to self-determination as our only remaining hope for survival as a people. Yet, because we are black, we are denied by the white powers the exercise of this right which they themselves have proclaimed inalienable. In our struggle we have learnt that the right of self-determination is inalienable, but only to the white man.
SELF-DETERMINATION
The right to self-determination was good for the Greeks in 1822, for the Belgians in 1830, and for the Central and Eastern Europeans and the Irish at the end of the First World War. Yet it is not good for Biafrans because we are black. When blacks claim that right, they are warned against dangers trumped up by the imperialists - "fragmentation" and "Balkanization" , as if the trouble with the Balkans is the result of the application of the principle of self-determination. Were the Balkans a healthier place before they emerged from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire? Those who sustained the Ottoman Empire considered it a European necessity, for its Eastern European provinces stood as a buffer between two ambitious and mutually antagonistic empires - the Russian and the Austrian. For the peace and repose of Europe, it therefore became a major cncern of European statesmen to preserve the integrity of that empire. But when it was discovered that Ottoman rule was not only corrupt, oppressive and unprogressive, but also stubbornly irreformable, the happiness and well-being of its white populations came to be considered paramount. So by 1918 the integrity of that ancient and sprawling empire had been sacrificed to the well-being of the Eastern Europeans. Fellow Biafrans, that was in the white world.
But what do we find here in Negro Africa? The Federation of Nigeria is today as corrupt, as unprogressive and as oppressive and irreformable as the Ottoman Empire was in Eastern Europe over a century ago. And in contrast, the Nigerian Federation in the form it was constituted by the British cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered an African necessity. Yet we are being forced to sacrifice our very existence as a people to the integrity of that ramshackle creation that has no justification either in history or in the freely expressed wishes of the people. What other reason for this can there be than the fact that we are black?
In 1966, 50,000 Biafrans - men, women and children - were massacred in cold blood in Nigeria. Since July 6, 1967, hundreds of Biafrans have been killed daily by shelling, bombing, strafing and starvation advised, organised and supervised by Anglo-Saxon Britain. None of these atrocities has raised enough stir in many European capitals. But on the few occasions when a single white man died in Africa, even where he was a convicted bandit like the notorious case in the Congo, all the diplomatic chanceries of the world have been astir.; the whole world has been shaken to its very foundations by the din of protest against the alleged atrocity and by the clamour for vengeance. This was the case when the Nigerian vandals turned their British-supplied rifles on white Red Cross workers in Okigwe. Recently this has been the case with the reported disappearance of some white oil technicians in the Republic of Benin. But when we are massacred in thousands, nobody cares, because we are black.
Fellow countrymen and women, the fact is that in spite of their open protestations to the contrary, the white peoples of the world are still far from accepting that what is good for them can also be good for blacks. The day they make this basic concession that day will the non-Anglo-Saxon nations tell Britain to her face that she is guilty of genocide against us; that day will they call a halt to this monstrous war.
Because the black man is considered inferior and servile to the white, he must accept his political, social and economic system and ideologies ready made from Europe, America or the Soviet Union. Within the confines of his nation he must accept a federation or confederation or unitary government if federation or confederation or unitary government suits the interests of his white masters; he must accept inept and unimaginative leadership because the contrary would hurt the interests of the master race; he must accept economic exploitation by alien commercial firms and companies because the whites benefit from it. Beyond the confines of his state, he must accept regional and continental organisations which provide a front for the manipulation of the imperialist powers; organisations which are therefore unable to respond to African problems in a truly African manner. For Africans to show a true independence is to ask for anathemization and total liquidation.
ARAB-MUSLIM EXPANSIONISM
The Biafran struggle is, on another plane, a resistance to the Arab-Muslim expansionism which has menaced and ravaged the African continent for twelve centuries. As early as the first quarter of the seventh century, the Arabs, a people from the Near-East, evolved Islam not just as a religion but as a cover for their insatiable territorial ambitions. By the tenth century they had overrun and occupied, among other places, Egypt and North Africa. Had they stopped there, we would not today be faced with the wicked and unholy collusion we are fighting against. On the contrary, they cast their hungry and envious eyes across the Sahara on to the land of the Negroes.
Our Biafran ancestors remained immune from the Islamic contagion. From the middle years of the last century Christianity was established in our land. In this way we came to be a predominantly Christian people. We came to stand out as a non-Muslim island in a raging Islamic sea. Throughout the period of the ill-fated Nigerian experiment, the Muslims hoped to infiltrate Biafra by peaceful means and quiet propaganda, but failed. Then the late Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto tried, by political and economic blackmail and terrorism, to convert Biafrans settled in Northern Nigeria to Islam. His hope was that these Biafrans on dispersion would then carry Islam to Biafra, and by so doing give the religion political control of the area. The crises which agitated the so-called independent Nigeria from 1962 gave these aggressive proselytisers the chance to try converting us by force.
It is now evident why the fanatic Arab-Muslim states like Algeria, Egypt and the Sudan have come out openly and massively to support and aid Nigeria in her present war of genocide against us. These states see militant Arabism as a powerful instrument for attaining power in the world.
Biafra is one of the few African states untainted by Islam. Therefore, to militant Arabism, Biafra is a stumbling block to their plan for controlling the whole continent. This control is fast becoming manifest in the Organisation of African Unity. On the question of the Middle East, the Sudanese crisis, in the war between Nigeria and Biafra, militant Arabism has succeeded in imposing its point of view through blackmail and bluster. It has threatened African leaders and governments with inciting their Muslim minorities to rebellion if the governments adopted an independent line on these questions. In this way an O.A.U that has not felt itself able to discuss the genocide in the Sudan and Biafra, an O.A.U. that has again and again advertised its ineptitude as a peace-maker, has rushed into open condemnation of Israel over the Middle East dispute. Indeed in recent times, by its performance, the O.A.U. might well be an Organisation of Arab Unity.
AFRICA EXPLOITED
Our struggle, in an even more fundamental sense, is the culmination of the confrontation between Negro nationalism and white imperialism. It is a movement designed to ensure the realization of man's full stature in Africa.
Ever since the 15th century, the European world has treated the African continent as a field for exploitation. Their policies in Africa have for so long been determined to a very great extent by their greed for economic gain. For over three and half centuries, it suited them to transport and transplant millions of the flower of our manhood for the purpose of exploiting the Americas and the West Indies. They did so with no uneasiness of conscience. They justified this trade in men by reference to biblical passages violently torn out of context.
When it became no longer profitable to them to continue with the depopulation and uncontrolled spoilation of Negro Africa, their need of the moment became to exploit the natural resources of the continent, using Negro labour. In response to this need they evolved their informal empire in the 19th century under which they controlled and exploited Negro Africa through their missionaries and monopolist mercantile companies. As time went on they discarded the empire of informal sway as unsatisfactory and established the direct empire as the most effective means of exploiting our homeland. It was at this stage that with cynical imperturbability they carved up the African continent, and boxed up the native populations in artificial states designed purely to minister to white economic interests.
This brutal and unprecedented rape of a whole continent was a violent challenge to Negro self-respect. Not surprisingly, within half a century the theory and practice of empire ran into stiff opposition from Negro nationalism. In the face of the movement for Negro freedom the white imperialists changed tactics. They decided to install puppet African administrations to create the illusion of political independence, while retaining the control of the economy. And this they quickly did between 1957 and 1965. The direct empire was transformed into an indirect empire, that regime of fraud and exploitation which African nationalists aptly describe as Neo-Colonialism.
To God be all Glory!!
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