BECAUSE CHINUA TOUCHED THE HONEST BUBBLE (PART ONE)..

There was a country a book written by Chinua Achebe Has caused more than just a stare in many quarters both in and outside Nigeria. THERE WAS A COUNTRY was “just” a memoirs that has turned into a book. Many people from different quarters sees the book as a master piece while many others sees it as a senile man’s write-up. I remember reading what a Yoruba friend of mine wrote about Chinua Achebe, he called him names. After reading it I laughed. Chinua Achebe is not just an Igbo man to me but we are actually from the same state (does it matter?).

So I took my time to go online to read people’s opinion about the book. As funny as it may be, the Igbos praised the book, the Yorubas  called Chinua Achebe names & Hausa/Fulani are yet to make a published statement. To me THERE WAS A COUNTRY is more than a book it is like the Bible Book of Revelation. This book opened eyes beyond history and theoretical teachings. The reason why many people are against the book is because it is trying to open a wound that our political leaders think that is healed.  

I am one of those few Igbos that believe in one Nigeria. Well from my own findings Ojukwu was not out to make the Biafrans become a country of their own. It was because the Gowon led government didn’t do what was in Aburri agreement. Ojukwu wanted a country where his (Biafra) people will be free to go around without being afraid that they will be killed. Zik stood for one Nigeria and he died with that believe. If you look round Zik is the only Nigerian both among living and dead that has streets or something named after him in every state of the federation (I stand to be corrected). The Nigeria that Zik longed for and the Nigeria that Ojukwu fought for has not yet materialized. The information that has eluded so many Nigerian is that Ojukwu never fought for Nigeria to be divided. Ojukwu wanted a Nigeria where every Nigerian especially the Igbos would be free to move around without molestation and fear of being killed. It was when he didn’t get what he was looking for that he opted for the later; WAR. He actually went for a separate country and that country was called BIAFRA. I am yet to know what and where that name BIAFRA came from. A friend of mine from Puerto Rico told me that in their place Biafra is a name for rejected people or those living in a far place. This actually gave me hard time thinking about it. Does it mean that we the Biafrans are rejected or does it mean that we are living in a very far place from Nigeria? Looking at it from any angle we are both rejected and living in a far place from Nigeria’s main stream.

The Nigerian civil war ended over 40 years ago but the war is still raging in every sector against the same people. Biafrans are not only the Igbos, the Ibibios, Effiks, Anans, Ogojas etc are all Biafrans. These people I mentioned are passing through untold hardship from this marriage called Nigeria. Bakassi issue is aftermath of the war. Can you tell a Bakassi indigene that the war has ended? How can the war end when he is losing or has lost his ancestral home? He did not lose it because he was careless or because he sold out. But because Gowon wanted to punish the Ojukwu’s Biafra. Chinua Achebe only published notes of the things he saw or jotted down during and after the war. When I hear our house of Assembly members talk about Bakassi issue, I only laugh because some of them know that they are fighting a lost battle.

There are many untold stories of the war. Those who knew what happened are keeping quiet. Why are they keeping quiet? What are they hiding from the rest of us? So anybody that tries to talk becomes an enemy. What happened between Gowon and Ahmadu Ahijo the then president of Cameroon? Gowon the then Nigeria head of State in the year 1967 entered into a written agreement with the then Cameroonian president Ahmadu Ahijo of blessed (evil) memory and in that agreement Gowon seeded Bakassi to Cameroon so that Biafra would not be able to get help from France or any other country. Because that is the only gateway to get food or help to the Biafran starving people. Gowon sold the good people of Bakassi for nothing. Gowon did so much wrong to the good people of Bakassi. 

Awo & Ken Saro Wiwa were the two people that hurt the Biafras most. What Awo did hunted him politically till he died. Saro Wiwa himself helped the Nigerian government to seize all the properties owned by the Igbos in Port Harcourt. I have just finished reading a review of the book by Noo Saro-Wiwa whom I believe is a child of Ken Saro Wiwa for the GUARDIAN UK. Funny as it may be Achebe was perfectly right in the things he said. Awolowo the then finance minister was the person that paid 20pounds (Nigerian) to Igbos not minding how much Biafran pounds you have. The truth still remain that the then Nigerian government wanted to render Igbos “economic useless and perpetual beggars“ but unfortunately the fighting spirit of the Igbo man is beyond stopping by any human being. The northerners and Yoruba who knew what happened during the civil war are still amazed on the kind of infrastructural development they see at a place like Onitsha by 1980 which had no standing building by 1970. From my findings as a child, Awo wanted total “economic annihilation“of the Igbos, thank God it didn’t work.

When Chinua Achebe said the Igbo intellectuals were the only ones that wanted one Nigeria. That is true because Ahmadu Bello focused on his people and Awo focused on his people and Zik our own man focused on the whole Nigeria. Even today it is only Igbos that are still looking for one Nigeria.

Thanks so much. Well as for Zik i respect him so much but he never really suported the war. He was just being a good states man (i dont know about him messing around). Everybody that contributed to the death of innocent Biafrans are paying a heavier price today. I want to say this here...from my findings OJUKWU who I love still even in death, it is because of the love I have for him that made me to study the civil war and its itinerary. Ojukwu never fought cos he wanted a country. He fought because his people were being murdered by the northerners. Gowon, Awo, Saro Wiwa are all war criminals. Ojukwu is not also that innocent but he fought for what I still called a justified cause.

Check out investment of the Igbos all over the country. How many companies and industries does Hausas & Yorubas have in Igbo land? Dangote a Nigerian that I love so much has no establishment anywhere in Igboland (i stand to be corrected if he has). Until 1990 or 1992 there was no important federal government establishment in anywhere in Igboland except UNN which was a brain child of Zik and UNN is also the first University in Nigeria not UI (that is for latter discussion). However, the success of Igbo man is in his ability to mix well with other tribes, tongues and nationalities. Igbos are seing wealth where others see death. Igbos are nationally a people who believe in democracy & independent. What is happening amongst igbos is not “acrimony“but “it is a you are not my God attitude“which makes every lazy person in this world to hate them. So Igbos goes to other countries and dig up gold which they bring home.

The War ended in 1970. But politically the war is still raging. Educationally the war is still on. To GOD be the glory for the fighting spirit of the Igbo man. Thank GOD for the spirit of survival of the Igbo man. I was not born during the war. But as a little boy I was interested on my people. I wanted to become a soldier to fight for my people but somehow GOD has other plans for me. I will not be directly involved with politics but I will live to see that the sweat and blood of our heroes past won’t be a waste.

So many of us born many years after the Nigerian civil war know nothing about the war. When will Nigeria teach her children what happened during the war? We talk of Alexander the Great, Napoleon, world war 11 but our own civil war is a taboo. Because some people think that if it is taught in our schools they will open old wounds. But the wounds are still fresh as they were during and immediately after war. Nobody is talking about what really happened to Bakassi people. Is it not time we tell our children that we sold out Bakassi to economically block a starving people?

Finally I believe in Nigeria. I believe that there will be no more civil war in Nigeria. I believe that Nigeria will not breakup. I love green white green. I love Nigeria. I always say that NIGERIA is GOD‘S VISION. God bless NIGERIA.