Former presidential aide and Minister of Health, Prof. Alphonsus Nwosu, has added his voice to the controversy generated by Prof Chinua Achebe’s book - There Was A Country.
Question: Chinua Achebe’s new book on the Nigerian/Biafra civil war has stirred up controversies. What’s your view on it?
Answer: I will make two points. First, there is no controversy; a fact was presented about the starvation of the innocent children of Biafra. A very well-known fact is that Chief Obafemi Awolowo defended this policy of famine when he said starvation was a legitimate weapon of war. It is a fact that Awolowo himself gave reasons why he defended it. Achebe simply stated the facts. And for us, Ndigbo, we are angry that Awolowo who we thought was our uncle and ally was the one who was saying we deserved to suffer. We felt disappointed.
Many people have said worse things about what Awolowo said. There is Dan Jacobs, in the ‘Brutality of Nations,’ there is Federick Foreseth and numerous others. Achebe said the same thing in 1983. In the present book, worst things were said by Achebe regarding the abuse, breach of code of conduct and irresponsible utterances of Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle, he is also Yoruba. Why is nobody attacking him?
Many people have said worse things about what Awolowo said. There is Dan Jacobs, in the ‘Brutality of Nations,’ there is Federick Foreseth and numerous others. Achebe said the same thing in 1983. In the present book, worst things were said by Achebe regarding the abuse, breach of code of conduct and irresponsible utterances of Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle, he is also Yoruba. Why is nobody attacking him?
We wonder why nobody is attacking Achebe for what he said about Adekunle which the international community was outraged at. Achebe also said late Anthony Enahoro and Permanent Secretary, Allison Aida, said the same things about starvation being a legitimate instrument of the war. They are repeated in Achebe’s book, why is nobody attacking Achebe for maligning Tony Enahoro or Aida?
What Achebe tried to do was to draw attention to things that are not done in a nation and refusing to accept that certain people can be sacred cows and not be blamed if they cross the line. The minuscule of his book is about Biafra, how the lessons of Biafra can forge a brighter future for us as a nation, those who cannot see this from Achebe’s book are not being fair to the book.
This man should shut d fuck up!!! why did Ibos start a war they cant win?
ReplyDeletethat is why you will forever remain where you are!
DeleteNot surprised! our brothers from the South-East always look for who to blame for their problems. Gbengs
ReplyDeleteWe Yourba's are hypocr.. Iyabo
ReplyDeleteOmoale
DeleteIN ANY WAR, THERE ARE ENEMIES FROM THE OPPOSING ANGLES. NOBODY HELPS HIS ENEMY TO CONQURE HIM. AT THAT TIME THE IGBOS WERE REBELS, AND EVERY THING NEEDED TO CURTAIL THE REBELS HAD TO BE DONE. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A WAR HERE. I WANT TO REPEAT THAT STARVATION IS A LEGITIMATE WEAPON OF WAR. IF THERE WAS NO HIROSHIMA, THE 2ND WORL WAR WOULD NOT END THE TIME IT DID, IF NOT FOR THE STARVATIO, THE BIAFRAN SUN WOULD NOT BE SET THE TIME IT DID. THIS TIME, WE SHOULD ALL FOCUS ATTENTION ON HOW TO PREVENT SUCH UNNECESSARY WAR CAUSED BY OJUKWU HIMSELF.
ReplyDeleteThe tious Nigerian Civil war was a lesson to all, The Igbos were too o ambitious , they overan the mid west and get to Ore in Ondo state within 24hrs of declaring state of Biafra, they ignited the war and not Awolowo as depicted. In war time you do not feed your enemy to get stamina to fight you Chikena.
ReplyDeleteThe Ibo should realize that there are always consequences of war and starvation is one of them.No body will feed his enemy during the time of war.They should blame their leaders who declared d war and sent innocent men and women to their early grave.Shame on all these bastards who are trying to re-write history and blame innocent people.
ReplyDeletei can't stop laughing whenever this topic comes up. Are Ibos so foolish that they think their opponents will feed them while at war?? Its absurd and this shows the continued cowardice on the ibo race. Why would Awolowo, Adekunle and other Nigerians fighting to make you denounce your 'Mickey Mouse' declaration of a Nation (Biafra)give you food while at war?? U guys are jokers. I have seen clips of the war on youtube from the documentary and all I could say is ' C'mmon!! why are your leaders so foolish and shallow minded to have put you (innocent ones)through this much pain'. If Achebe and other reasonable people amonst you had adviced Ojukwu(Mr Sweet Banana)and others then, you wouldn't be facing this much neglect in Nigeria.The fact remains in Nigeria that Ibos are n will continue to be seen as Enymies. If you doubt my statement, wait till 2015 and u'll see howmuch you will continue to be marginalised
ReplyDeleteDis man na idiot! oya go n meet Awo 4 his grave n tell him u ar angry wt naw,yamirin banza kawai. Musa
ReplyDeletethe pogroms that
ReplyDeletefollowed the events and
the civil war were
unfortunate (more
objective details of which
were written by Elechi
Amadi in Sunset at Biafra).
But the characterizatio n of
Northerners as
Muslim jihadists who were
already prepared and
ready to stage a
‘holy jihad’ against Igbo, as
a reason for the war is very
untrue and
intellectually insincere. Just
because Igbo intellectuals
have to find
reasons then it doesn’t
mean every reason must
be dashed out. Just
because they need
someone to blame doesn’t
mean the 21st century
image of fundamentalist
Islam must be projected
backward into the
story of Nigeria to justify a
perspective.
Besides what religion did
the major actors of the war
on the federal
side professed? General
Yakubu Gowon, General
Theopilus Danjuma
and General Joseph Garba,
were Christians. Chief
Awolowo, the
intellectual architect of the
War was a Christian.
General Olusegun
Obasanjo and General
Adekunle were all not
Northerners. The
prominent name in the
commands that is a core
Muslim northerner
was only General Murtala
Muhammed. Even if all the
others were
Muslims what sense could
it have made for the
Muslims to have
fought the Igbos only to
establish the leadership of
General Yakubu
Gowan who was a
Christian, the same and
only reason they
supposedly could have
fought the Igbos? Gowon
enjoyed the
support of all Muslim
northerners as my good
friend Alhaji Yakubu
Musa, currently a media
assistant to President
Goodluck Jonathan
who is from a devout
Muslim family, once
mentioned how he was
named Yakubu in
celebration of Gowon’s visit
to Kano on a day that
coincided with his birthday.
No. The truth of the matter
is Igbo betrayed the trust
given to them
in the then northern
Nigeria by the singular act
of betrayal of
Nzeagwu on Ahmadu Bello
and the subsequent poor
management
of their relationship with
their hosts that bred
suspicion of
complicity in the plans of
the kill and a thought of
greater
conspiracy.
The way forward is not to
employ a wider and more
efficient
propaganda machinery to
score cheap sympathy and
sponsor the
production of a
sensationalist movie in the
Holly Wood, Secret of the
Sun, starring Bruce Willis
and displaying that
northern Nigerian
Muslim Hausa will attempt
to do the same in the
present Nigeria and
in the recent future and
can be stopped only by the
Americans.
The way forward is to
always tell the truth,
accept faults, take
responsibilitie s for errors
and constantly preach the
gospel of
keeping trust,
commitments and fair
neighbourliness . Let’s
make the
younger generation and
the entire world know that
we are one in
Nigeria and the top one
percent of Igbo most
informed political and
public intellectuals lived in
the North or even spoke
Hausa. This
ranging from Chinua
Achebe himself, Cyprian
Ekwensi, Major
Chukwuma Kaduna
Nzeagwu, General Emeka
Ojukwu or Dr. Nmandi
Azikwe. Cyprian Ekwensi
even copied and translated
the literary
work of my uncle, John
Tafida Umaru titled, Jiki
Magayi, from Hausa
to English, titled it African
Nights Entertainments,
and dubbed it his
own without
acknowledgement , adding
to his literary stock,
achievement and fame. The
world must know the good
contribution
their living in the North
and speaking its language
brought into their
skills and perspectives that
which won them the
accolades they so
celebrate and rejoice in,
today, a fact which they
and their friends
always want to hide!