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NDIGBO, OJUKWU & BIAFRA:
WHERE DID WE GO WRONG (PART II)

Who is Ikemba of Nnewi, Dim, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, People's General, Eze Gburu-gburu Ndigbo?

anuary 15, 1966 I was still in primary school. There was a military coup and every one was rejoicing for the removal of corrupt politicians, so we were told. The dawn of new era, pregnant with renewed hopes and possibilities. I was one of those proud primary school kids who lined up along our narrow roads, waving enthusiastically, our green-white-green Nigerian flag, cheering exuberantly in reception of our newly appointed military governor, Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu. It was electric and life was imbued with spirit and meaning.

Within a year all hopes were shattered and the whole world came crumbling and tumbling down. Euphoria gave way to gloom, optimism to uncertainty. A new republic of Biafra was declared and things were never the same again for Ndigbo.

Before the events leading to the declaration of Republic of Biafra, there were certain presuppositions, which were construed as indisputable facts, through scorch-earth propaganda bombardment. Like perceptions, they gained currency and acquired weight amongst Ndigbo with power of categorical imperative.

Some of them are but not limited to:

• That the pogrom of Ndigbo in the Northern part of Nigeria was unprovoked and premeditated.
• That the only option left for Ndigbo was to declare secession and take control of their destiny in their own hands to avoid future pogrom.
• That "on Aburi we stand" meaning that, Ndigbo had religiously and stringently followed the terms of agreement reached between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the government of Eastern Nigeria as a way of resolving Nigerian civil crisis. Disappointingly, the Federal Government of Nigeria had abridged and reneged on every term of said agreement and wanted to stage war against Ndigbo to completely and totally enslave Ndigbo in the hands of Hausa and Fulani Oligarchy.
• That declaring secession was legal as dictated by the UN and OAU charter on self-determination as inalienable right of any group of people or peoples.
• That our region (Eastern Nigeria) was replete with huge deposit of crude oil. Once our New Republic takes off, we (Ndigbo) are on our way to El Dorado.

All of the above statements have elements of truth in them. But these elements of truth inherent in these postulations were often times, inverted, perverted, dressed with deck-up lies, propped up with inflammatory and incendiary tribal epithets, just for one purpose, and for one purpose only. That is, to inoculate, medicate, intoxicate and narcotize Ndigbo with inflamed primordial passions as prerequisite to completely submit themselves to their leader without asking questions or, as it were, blindfolded. That is, turning Ndigbo into a collective domestic-human-animal, as it were, strait-jacked to think and express feelings after the dictates and directives of her master, the control freak, who in this case was Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Psychology and wellbeing of Ndigbo, at this juncture, were preprogrammed with poisonous propaganda, which entered into collective consciousness of Ndigbo, and were one-dimensionally formatted, for strategies of fight or flight response system. War became a time bomb, menacingly, ticking away. As was intended, eventually an irreversible combustible condition was attained in a tremendous tension, anticipating an opportune time for violent detonation. Additionally, and for the most part, these elements of truth were expertly distilled, deviously amplified or sterilized, and intentionally devoid of their logical contexts and extenuating circumstances to register full decisive impact on Ndigbo. They were mindless propaganda purposefully authored by Ojukwu's administration, insidiously calculated and tailored, to sell Ndigbo bad bill of goods in preparation for collective expeditionary suicide mission. Psychological vulnerabilities and insecurities of Ndigbo at those trying periods in the mid-sixties were artfully, craftily and cunningly exploited by power hungry, selfish egomaniac,EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO, . Government controlled mass media, both print and electronic, was cleverly employed and empowered in orchestrating total brainwash of Ndigbo. Fertile ground was finally created by opportunistic Ojukwu's administration as a precondition, anticipatory to benightedly, predispose credulous Ndigbo, as willing grist to the mill. Human base natural instincts of Ndigbo were subtly abstracted and laid bare-naked on the baker's table, mischievously designed by power-drunk Ojukwu and his travelers, to be kneaded, molded into its deadliest level of concentration. Overflow of Confidence and untutored egos of our power hungry, grandmaster and purveyor of divisive tribal politics were exponentially inflated elevated and adumbrated to its severest intoxication and intensity. Proposals for a comprehensive, peaceful conflict resolutions and reconciliation by well-meaning individuals and organizations, were promptly rejected by our intransigent leader for selfish reasons. All doable and practical entreaties and overtures by peace-loving people all over the world to avert catastrophic war were dismissed with speed of light by Ojukwu for reasons best known to him. The most selfish "People's General, Eze Gburu-gburu Ndigbo", cunningly saw and falsely interpreted olive-branch being extended to him as abhorrent, inimical, antithesis and anathema to the interest of Ndigbo.

Now that power-hungry "Eze Gburu-gburu Ndigbo" had Ndigbo on choke-hold, he became overtly over-clever by one and half. Sometimes, Ojukwu would like to come across a responsible statesman and a peacemaker by proposing peace-talk on how to achieve peaceful resolution on one hand. Simultaneously on the other hand, Ojukwu would craftily and cleverly invent with master-stroke shrewdness some convoluted terms of reference for such peace-talk. Embedded in such convoluted terms of reference for peace-talk, Ojukwu with the expertise of a neuro-surgeon, would covertly infuse strings of impractical, impossible conditionalities. Those impossible conditionalities were Ojukwu's stock in trade in professional chicanery and deceptions in anticipation of pre-designed, pre-calculated failure of such peace-conference already subverted with inbuilt insolvencies. With the air of a celebrity magician who has just transfixed and stupefied his audience with master trickery at the end of a class act, Ojukwu would go on air with the greatest weapon in his arsenal, which was and still is, his naturally gifted oratory in Queens English. This architect-in-mischief in the department of tribal jingoism, Dim,Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, would dazzle and mesmerize credulous Ndigbo how "Hausa/Fulani vandals had defeated every attempt proposed on peace-talk table and were eager to engage Ndigbo on war attrition to complete extermination Ndigbo. Ojukwu was admonishing Ndigbo to fight to the last man. Do I hear fight to the last man. On hind-sight, is it not weird and very laughable indeed and a demonstrable testimony that the People's General,EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO could lie with borrowed teeth as a matter of principle. Even the most loyally adherent of Ojukwu's apologists cannot deny the fact that the war was still raging many miles away when His Excellency, the most revered People's General, EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO, cowardly and theatrically without any reservations qualms, with his tail between his legs melted away in the dead hours of the night in search of elusive, fictitious peace that never was. I cannot obtain any independent verification whether His Excellency, the most revered People's General, EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO, inspected guard of honor, assuming that there was one on that eventful wee hours of the night. It could be that in that appreciable haste he forgot military protocol. Probably for safety and security reasons the general would have been smuggled into the plane through the backdoor.

The lesson is loud and clear. When you conceive a Republic based on lies, that Republic will crumble based on lies. You reap what you sow.

The People's General, power-maniac, "EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO", during the events preceding the declaration of Republic of Biafra, would never miss any opportunity to belligerently engage in making and broadcasting strident, confrontational speeches and statements calculated to provoke response from the Federal Government of Nigeria. EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO at this juncture was employing every tactic and trickery in the book baiting the Federal Government of Nigeria into providing him with an enough sufficient reason and evidence to declare the Republic of Biafra. But, beneath the veil of tough, populist rhetoric of our erstwhile governor, resides psychical cruelty of delusions and madness, absolutely addicted to power as an end in itself. This quest for power, at all costs and the overzealous predisposition that everything in Ojukwu's eyes is a fair game, was symptomatic of Ojukwu's life-long consuming ambition, which precipitously, has no example in the annals and pageants of Ndigbo enterprise. Our leader whom we naively reposed our unflinching trust and confidence, with carte blanche, shamelessly and heartlessly contrived, without any scintilla of equivocation, to ignominiously use and dispense Ndigbo as guinea-pigs and toilet tissues at his whims and caprices towards his power hungry journey. This "EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO", pursued all these with zeal and vigor, employing deft manipulations in its highest sophistication, through forgeries and misinformation, at the expense of heart-broken Ndigbo. To pursue and grab this machiavellian power to its logical conclusion, "Your Excellency, the People's General, EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO," had first to provide credible instrument of cover so that Ndigbo would see things not as they are but how Ikemba wanted them to see things. Eastern Nigeria Consultative Assembly was the consequence. Eastern consultative assembly was created as a ploy instrument and diabolical cover with the pretext of giving itself the appearance of legitimacy and authenticity as representative voice of the masses. Would it be any surprise that Eastern Nigerian Consultative Assembly was populated with hand-picked rubber-stamp stooges. Some of these hand-picked members of Eastern Consultative Assembly were in every shape, manner and respect analogous to their carbon-copies of the distant past during the dark era of slavery in African history, whom without shame and moral fibers sold their brethren and sisters into slavery with mere bottle of liquor and tobacco. Majority members of Eastern Consultative Assembly were simpletons and crass illiterate local chiefs who can barely discern their left form right. How troubling and infuriating that these scavengers called Eastern Consultative Assembly members were the people that mandated "Your Excellency, the People's General, EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO" the authority to declare Sovereign Republic of Biafra. Would it be any wonder how these people with limited intellectual abilities and gravitas would understand the implications and intricacies of secession project they were handpicked to midwife, legislate and give birth to. "EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO", what a convoluted charade and a class act in deception. This use of Ndigbo as disposable objects is as mind bungling as it is reprehensible and unconscionable, when on close intellectual scrutiny and inquiry, it only invites scorn and chagrin but not without derisions. Does anyone know any better nausea than this classic, bovine, crass ambition of one man, impelled to rather rule in hell as "Your Excellency, the People's General, EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO than to serve in paradise with nobility of soul and spirit in stewardship of his fatherland.

When the Nigerian civil war broke out, Ndigbo rallied behind their leader, Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the then governor, in absolute religious trust and loyalty. Ndigbo were already preconditioned and foreground with deadly, cobweb spinning, prefabricated falsehoods pivoted on gross over-amplification and over-exaggeration of tragic, heart-wrenching, catastrophic events visited on Ndigbo in the Northern part of Nigeria from tribal misunderstandings that eventually led to the conflicts and pogrom. "Your Excellency, the People's General, EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO at this point had Ndigbo on leash. The General became more audacious and daring and was playing Ndigbo like bongo drums. The extravagance of unmitigated herd mentality and mass hysteria displayed by Ndigbo, in blindly and benightedly in the broad day-light following without question, was the greatest error ever committed by Ndigbo in her history. Think about this for a moment. To have blindly followed a leader, without taking moments to step backwards, to critically analyze, with penetrating acuity, the pros and cons of inherent risks and dangers, before embarking on this wild goose chase project, has single-handedly dealt a devastating blow to the spiritual wellbeing of Ndigbo. Understandably, one can take solace in the fact that what gave birth to this uninhibited error was directly linked to military dictatorial environment Ndigbo found themselves. This blank check, naively given to power-monger opportunist, whom we mistakenly assumed to be our sincere leader, was purchased in blood of Ndigbo. Is there any Ndigbo man or woman, at home or abroad, who is so unscholarly as to question or doubt that what we got in return for putting our lives and trust in one man's hand was psycho-spiritual, socio-politico-economic, suicide. Their consequences are still reverberating in increasing weight and power, and, there seems to be, no sign of abatement. This one single, but, costly error has wiped the slate clean of all pioneering, innovative contributions made by many irreproachable, morally superior and sophisticated, cerebral and intellectual giants of Ndigbo political class before the advent of opportunistic preacher of tribal hatred tidings and divisiveness, "Your Excellency, the People's General, EZE WURU-WURU NDIGBO. Such devastating blows to the collective psyche and psychological well being of Ndigbo have many paralyzing consequences. Their effects today are provocatively and offensively palpable in its crudities and manifestations. It has produced in its wake an intractable, congenital, psychological gruesome petrifying open-sores. It expresses itself, in collective complexes of negativism, self-doubts, reaction formations in Ndigbo. Is it any argument that in contemporary Nigeria of today, vast majority of Ndigbo feel, both in their behaviors, utterances and writings as outsiders, outcasts and rejects in their own country. This country call Nigeria was the handiwork of exceptional Nigerian nationalists. Amongst these Nigerian nationalists were bunch of Ndigbo nationalists, who stood shoulder to shoulder, marching and walking step-by-step, in equal gait and intensity, arm in arm with their contemporaries all over Nigeria. Those were the glorious days when, Ndigbo were joyful, prideful, exuberant with zest for life, super confident in their abilities to make anything impossible, possible. A very well educated Igbo man sees himself as a duplicate copy of the very best in British Victorian tradition, I mean this in the most positive way. Igbo trades want to give their kids the best education to be like Zik, JOJ Okezie, Mokwugo Okoye, K.O.Abadiwe, M.I.Okpara, Akanu Ibiam, S.G. Ikoku, Prof. Dike, Prof. Chike Obi, Nwafor Orizu, Chinue Achebe you can name them and list goes on and on. They were the best and the brightest. They exemplified period of excellence and meritocracy. There were traders in Igbo land but they know their place and where they belong. Then, petty trading was seen as transitory stepping stone for something higher. Not in terms of perpetuity or permanence nor a prideful vocation to be advertised, even amongst peers and the locals.

Today, and regretably, we are antipodes to our former selves both in thoughts, deeds and actions. What a shame that super enterprising and resourceful Ndigbo are currently sidelined as ranting, revving, disgruntled spectators on the outside looking in, while the statecraft is being piloted and directed by the "others".

Who are these "others". These "others" by the way are, unfortunately and erroneously, man-made creation and invention, through default by our ignorance in comprehending human nature and conditions of our human existence. Nature and nurture were confounded. Fetish superstitions were employed in explicating and interpreting sociology and etiology of the genesis of tribal formations. Intellectual dwarfs took the helms of political leadership. In their defense against their intellectual limitations they resorted to ancient fetism and started to erect walls between brothers and sisters. These were same people who for millenniums had lived together in social, economic and political intercourse, inter-marrying before the birth of tragedy. Today separate and separateness are preachy credo of both our political and religious ruling class. Based on the errors of the intellect, differences are artificially extrapolated from nothing, magnified and elevated to create huge gulf of divide amongst brethren. In the end, these differences that becloud our thoughts, actions and deeds that make brothers and sisters grow inexplicably, intolerant and suspicious of one another will be nothing more than high price to pay for invisible hands of ignorance.

On the brighter side, it is only the employment of profound explosion of knowledge outside the classroom through meaningful education and social engineering to emancipate the critical mass from the clutches of inherent prejudices, ignorance, morality of the mores and the ambits of certain retrogressive traditions and customs. It is through such enlightenment of re-evaluation of our current values and self-overcoming that will bring about liberation of spirit from this compartmentalized, self-imposed prison. Instead of erecting walls we need to be breaking them down. Life becomes what gives birth to itself. It is not by fetish superstitions but rational creativity. Consequently, a new paradigm of living and experiencing and viewing humanity as a significant whole will give birth to new life with overflow of abundance of possibilities. This is my beef against the gospel being preached by Ojukwu and his elks.

For those crooked-minded sentimentalists, naïve dilettantes, tribalism-craze, shortsighted and hasty-minded irredentists, they will only wish to maintain status quo in fanning embers of divisive propaganda. These irredentists, beneath the veil of their petty bravado, resides simmering and glowering flames of un-integrated inner chaos of self-torture and self-famish, precipitated occasionally, through indignant outbursts as sectarian leaders. As we all know, every thing that is boiling, will require a vent to lower its temperature or else an explosion will issue. When they preach divisive politics of separation and separateness to the masses, in response the gullible masses in their insipidity will rise to their feet, cheering themselves hoarse in jubilation and in complete idiocy will crown them "Eze Ndigbo Gburu-gburu). But an eagle eyed, astute observer will easily see through the masquerading theatrics of an impostor who parades himself as the conscience of the masses. Today in Nigeria, these irredentists are holding sway because of unhealthy consolidated mediocrity of the critical mass. Like Ojukwu, these agents of darkness and disunity, whom the masses falsely assume to be their authentic leaders, because they never tire in their siren songs, piping on them day and night that their tribe is morally superior, intellectually divined with vision and creativity but are being denied through (that most vile perverted word) "marginalization" because of their tribe and religion. Even though they score big amongst the gullible masses through sophisticated gyration of hypocrisies. They are the vampire and tarantulas who latch like leeches on the masses upon whom every reasonable person ought to be on guard at all times.

For Ndigbo who have some choice words for me like "Efulefu" (prodigal son), sabo (saboteur or a sell out of Ndigbo), I have bad news for you all. I am unrepentantly, both Efulefu and Sabo combined together in its advanced stage of synthesis beyond help and without qualms. From your executioner's glance, I could see the peering chilly hangman oozing out that knows no other ideals, except revenge and vengeance, to have me in the gallows to draw blood. That may verily happen for many things are possible in life. If that happens, that act alone, will not be capable enough to snuff-out life from the ideals upon which I premised my writing. What has given me faith and hope, and has lighted my ways, times without number, which renders every other thing else secondary, is my conviction and belief, that your children, grand and great-grand children, generations after them, will ultimately become my apostles, evangelizing, dancing and singing my beautiful songs of greater brotherhood of mankind. Growth means expansion, regeneration, inclusion, absorption etc. Separate and separateness is degeneration, constriction, compression and dying. My choice is to empower and create environment for growth. Growth cannot occur without changes. It is consistent with the life we know. Life is becoming and not being. Break-down into pieces the table of ancient values that have no valuable value today. For something new to grow something old must die. This is how nature maintains equilibrium. Nigeria is not an exception to the rule. Here is my way and which way is yours, you may have to ask and answer for yourself.

Let us continue this conversation further with some of the questions l have for our erstwhile, Oxford trained People's General, Dim Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu, the People's General, Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the grand apostle of chauvinistic politics of tribalism:

1. Most of the players in the past Nigerian civil war have written books cataloguing their individual experiences of events as they saw them during the war. Some of these authors did not have formal university education. A demonstrable example is our current Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo. Our People's General, the fighter of Ndiigbo collective interests, if you are so convinced and believed yourself not to be a colossal fraud, as l seem to think you are, and that you did not exploit resultant vulnerabilities and misfortunes of Ndiigbo during Nigerian civil crisis, within the period from 1966 to 1970, may l ask you in all humility: where is your own written account of events? Do you doubt that you were the epicenter and the principal player in the Nigerian civil war. The war you selfishly conceived and engineered to further your inordinate ambitions has condemned Ndiigbo, almost, perpetually to servitude without any reprieve in sight, so to speak.

2. When you became governor of Eastern Nigeria in 1966, one of the first cardinal things of note you did was to remove Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as the chancellor of University of Nigeria Nsukka. You were not one of the coup plotters. Based on your betrayal intrigue of Major Nzeogwu in forestalling January 15, 1966 coup attempt, you were handsomely rewarded with the plum appointment as Eastern Nigeria Military Governor. This author is not a person to directly or indirectly support any forceful overthrow or change of government. In all humility, when did you start nursing and harboring grievances against Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. I am not Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe's apologist but my question is intended to establish that you had started harboring your diabolical ambitions prior to Nigerian crisis that you creatively exploited to become "Your Excellency, the People's General, Eze Wuru-wuru Ndigbo". Based on information available to the general public today, it became self-evident why an Oxford trained educated historian, of all the varied opportunities available at the given time in Nigerian history, you had to avail yourself of career in the military. In advanced democracies a career in the military by people with advance degrees is not uncommon. At the time you did, you were the fist university graduate to join Nigerian military service. Some of the existing mind-set of people enlisting in the military from the South, at the time in question, was that career in the military service were entirely the proclivity of men in the society that were tagged, rightly or wrongly, as never-do-wells or drop-outs. Then, it was considered an aberration for someone with higher degrees, and most especially in the Southern part of Nigeria to join the military service. Your own case was more than baffling and stupefies reasoning faculty since your father was a very wealthy man. At the time you enlisted in the military service people of similar background as you were, were gravitating towards careers in academia, politics and industry. You joined the military in 1958 and six years later you were looking to recruit others to forcefully overthrow the Federal government of Nigeria. Those you wanted to recruit were, retired Major General David Ejoor, General Yakubu Gowon and late Col. Victor Banjo (whom you coldly executed for retreating from Midwest). Both retired General Gowon and retired Major General David Ejoor have publicly confirmed your recruitment plans to illegally over-throw democratically elected government of Nigeria in 1964. Even as l write this article you have never denied nor refuted your power-hungry ambition to seize power illegally against constituted authority. No one would question if your enlistment in the Nigerian army was not politically and selfishly motivated. When you returned from your studies oversea you wanted Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the then Premier of Eastern Nigeria, to give or offer you a prestigious or high-powered position in his government. Zik asked you to apply like everybody else and you were not pleased since he (Zik) was a close friend of your father. It is also on record that Zik never secured any job position for any of his children. You were asking him to give you what he had not given to his own children. What you did was to take up a job with the state civil service and was posted as a district officer in Udi. You hated Zik for not dancing to your tune of music and for him to violate his personal principles and ethics of fairness and equity. If Zik had done that, that is called nepotism. If you look at early Nigerian nationalists, none of them rode to power through the backdoor. You joined the military to achieve what you could not on personal merit. Run for elective office and win elections. That was how Zik, Okpara, Awolowo, Okadigbo, Oyeabo Obi, Echerue etc became leaders. You are not even shame that you have never won elective office in Igboland but you are parading yourself as the leader of the Igbo. Your resume - became dictator governor and illegally committed treason by seceding the territory you were supposed to govern out of Nigeria. Your calculated short-gun and short-cut approach to becoming "Your Excellency", Nigerian Head of State was dashed for lack of interest by the officers you were trying to recruit. Write a book and defend yourself if you have the galls and balls.

3. On May 26, 1967, the rubber-stamp Eastern Consultative Assembly met in Enugu. The following day, May 27 your rubber-stamp, handpicked Consultative Assembly issued a seven point resolution mandating you to declare Eastern Nigeria as a free sovereign and independent State by the name of the Republic of Biafra. My questions to you in this regard are the followings:
   1. How did one become a member of Eastern Consultative Assembly. Were these members of your consultative assembly elected by the people or did you hand-picked them yourself. If you did hand-pick them, were they to serve your interest or the interest of the Ndiigbo. Was your intention and plan of appointing these assembly members only as a pretext and cover for your hidden agenda in pursuance of your selfish ambition of becoming a Head of State. Did you ever in your planning consider conducting plebiscites of other ethnic minorities in Eastern Nigeria to find out how they stand in relation to your diabolical plans. Do you still wonder who was responsible for having Ndiigbo assets confiscated as abandoned properties in the minority states of former Eastern Region of Nigeria. Have you ever wondered the losses these minorities must have incurred in terms of psychological traumas from the war, destruction of their assets and properties during the civil war because of your inordinate ambitions. Do you see why "abandon property" was a consequence of your error of judgment and political miscalculations. Whenever you talk about marginalization of Ndigbo and you give "abandon property" as a case in point is very absurd. Mr. Mischief Maker, do you know that your mouthing "abandon property" as one of the injustices against Ndigbo, you are invariably compounding Ndigbo problems in Nigeria. Since critical thinking is not your strength, let me show you why you are multiplying Ndigbo problem in Nigeria. First, you have not established who was supposed to pay for destructions in those states due to your misadventure and impoverished poor judgments. Second, at a meeting with foreign diplomats in Lagos, dated April 24, 1967 the Head of State of Nigeria, then Col. Gowon warned you in unequivocal terms saying: "I want to make it abundantly clear that in the event of Lt. Col Ojukwu carrying out his threat to secede, this will be a clear signal in the first place to create a COR-State for the protection of the minorities in Eastern Nigeria whom we know do not want to part from the rest of the country. This action of creating the COR-state will be backed by the use of force if need be." Have you ever explained to Ndigbo that because of your illegal acts of incorporating by force and executive fiat innocent people of COR-state was the result of abandon property issues. When you talk about "abandon property" issues what you are indirectly doing is raising the wall and barrier between the indigenes of COR- state and Ndigbo. If truth and truthfulness is your strength and you explained to Ndigbo why their properties in these COR-States were considered "abandon property", Ndigbo would understand and take it stride and move on without the bitter resentment they harbor against their brothers and sisters in these COR-States. It is always a just law that if one willfully injure and destroys another person or persons there ought to be reasonable liabilities to be paid. Instead of Ndigbo directing their resentment against our brothers and sisters in COR-states, it should be directed against you the chief anarchist of contemporary Nigeria. Third, Ndigbo is now a land-locked territory because they do not have access to the sea. This is the consequence of your madness and selfishness. Tell Ndigbo, even though honesty and forthrightness are not your forte, that they are far better off to accept losses of war and even apologize to these wonderful people of COR-states and move on. Stop putting into Ndigbo heads your foolishness and idiocy and a case in point. Do you think Nssukka man has much in common with Ohaoffia man as Ohaoffia man has with Uyo man. Nssukka man has much in common with Benue indigenes than with Imo people. Do you see how superfluous and empty your separate and separateness theory is to any logical mind. Any independent observer and objective person will easily deduct that critical thinking is not your strength. Your strength is in cunning and craftiness. Any one with modicum of open mind would easily see how analogous the treatment of preys in the wild by the Beast of Prey and the way you, the "Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo was treating Ndigbo. The difference is only on style and not on substance. If you observe how higher primates in the wild prey on their victims with stealth and bait, then you will know what kind of intelligence you are employing in the enterprise of human affairs. Cunning and craftiness is used for short-term utilities. It is used to prey on victims for momentary satisfaction and gratification of "Beast of Prey", the human animal, you are. In contrast to your primordial thought processes, high intellectual intensity and acuity is used in modern world for self-preservation and life-enhancement. The employment of intellect is self-evident in the analysis of cause and effect, pros and cons etc both in their short, medium and long-term utilities. Cunning and craftiness is the kind of intelligence used with high efficacy and effectiveness in the activities of self-preservation. Like fight and flight response system. Tribal war like Biafra is a case in point. Intellect is employed in its services of long-term utility for enhancement of life. It is used to process, synthesize variabilities and ambiguities in a wide range of human enterprise predicated on articulation and stabilization of events in terms of their calculabilities, probabilities, possibilities, regularities, cost and effect, action and reaction, pros and cons etc. In this department, the People's General, Ikemba, Eze Wuru-Wuru Nigbo, you are an unmitigated, colossal failure which was on display in your leadership of Ndigbo to spiritual waste-land of barrenness and self-contempt. Let me give one practical example how Ndigbo are behaving today as aftermath of your war. We see this every day when a non-Igbo person makes a statement that is contrary to Ndigbo views on events of the civil war or political activities of our time, however innocuous or harmless, an array and army of holocaust of Ndigbo from every nook and cranny of the globe will descend on such author, raining abuses and obscenities. One is forced to steps backward and wonder since when has intellectual dissent translates itself into an indelicacy. One author even went as far as asserting that another writer whom he disagreed with on the subject under review received his PhD in Ojuelegba (meaning forgery or from unrecognized institution) in Lagos. One wonders with shame and consternation when scholarship is dragged from summit to the level of a guttersnipe. This is just a literary interpretation but on a deeper level something else is at play. It is a demonstration and exemplification of fragilities, frailties, inadequacies, insecurities, inferiorities, reactive and reactionary responses of Ndigbo as a result of avoidable Nigerian civil war which you (Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo) tied around the neck of Ndigbo as albatross and is still weighing down on Ndigbo for the past three decades and who knows when the effects will come down a notch within a manageable level.

   2. You were given the mandate to declare free sovereign state of Biafra on May 27 and on May 30th you went ahead to declare Republic of Biafra. To unsuspecting observer and uninitiated it would appear that it took you three days to make such a huge decision that would have profound impact on Ndigbo and Nigeria. Of course not. That particular decision was very simple and easy for you. Like the Igbo adage "Ehe ana acho la uko ala ka ahuru la uko elu" (translated within this context to mean - your life-long ambition finally fell on your laps). The haste and rush was because a rug was about to be pulled out beneath your feet. The Federal Government was about to bring out her full weight and power to bear on an impulsive, intemperate, recalcitrant, foolhardy, politically inept, intellectually middle-of-the-road, morally bankrupt, power-hungry misfit, most dishonest Nigerian of our time, Ikemba, Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo. Mr. Oxford trained historian, Ikemba and Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, you are not a cripple, you were campaigning all over Nigeria asking Ndigbo to waste their votes on you and elect you the mirage President of Nigeria. Nigeria is the country you once vowed to destroy until you were chased back almost humiliatingly to your mother's womb and you cowardly ran away like a badly beaten goat who was feasting on cassava tubers, to an enforced, self-imposed exile. On the strength of the magnanimity and fairness of Nigerians you were granted amnesty to come back home thinking you have purged yourself of rebellion and respect for constituted authorities. At every turn in your history you never learnt anything. What would those architects of fairness who pleaded for your return have to show for their efforts. Our former Vice President, a rare intellectual giant and humanist of our time is one of those in the vanguard to grant you amnesty to come back to Nigeria. In your swollen head as the "His Excellency, the Head of State Brain-Damage Republic, you refused to accord respect to Dr. Alex Ekwueme. Do you have anything to show in terms of gratitude except empty diatribes of Igbo nationalism that appeals to illiterate Ndigbo traders and your stiff-necked irrational followers of separate and separateness ideologues. You know as a historian that lest penalty for your offence, treason, at the barest minimum is life in jail without the possibility of parole. Here again you are a free man and you are back at your destructive habits all over again. Last election you wanted to swear yourself-in as a winner even though there was constituted authority empowered by law and statutes to declare winners and losers. When the secretary of the Ohaneze, the most erudite professor of constitutional law, Prof. Nwabueze, knowing the implications of your irrational, rebellious, narrow-minded, grown-adult tantrums, he diligently, and dutifully dissociated your conduct from that of the Ohaneze Ndigbo. Today you are scheming, plotting, conniving, mudslinging, blackmailing everything related to Ohaneze only to destroy Ohaneze Ndigbo. The most celebrated rebel of our time, either your way or highway has never taken leave of you. Ohaneze Ndigbo was formed when you were in exile for committing unspeakable crime against your fatherland. Now, you have shamelessly vowed to destroy what you did not create. Show us any infrastructure you have created or in association with others to serve the interest of Ndigbo. Ask Okoh men and women what Dr. Alex Ekwueme did for them and you will hear an ear-full of laundry lists. Show us one single project, l am all ears. Can we talk about the things you destroyed since you came back from the exile. You introduced the most violent political thuggery in Igboland. You created Ikemba Front and was pouring acid on your opponents. Ikemba Front was the handmaid of Bokkassi Boys. Today, we have seen how the graduates of your school can plan an abduction of a governor as a consequence of enabling environment you help to create. You told Ndigbo when you came back from your humiliating exile that Ndigbo should join NPN as a measure to humble Zik with the most spurious excuse that it was time for Ndigbo to move back into the mainstream of Nigerian politics. Today, one is tempted to ask in all humility, is your political party, Ndigbo political party "APGA" in the mainstream of Nigerian politics. What about the consequences of your action. Today, the fabric of Ndigbo political structure is in tartars, bearing the stamp and the imprint of the most divisive character, that has no example, in Igboland in particular and Nigeria in general. Who do you appeal to most? The most illiterate petty trader in Aba and Onitsha markets in the East, Alaba in Lagos etc. What gave birth to people like Uba in Anambra State, if it is not your divisive politics and backdoor power grabbing, what is. Your next project is to destroy Ohaneze Ndigbo.

      When you returned from exile, l took serious exception and offense on Gen. T. Y. Danjuma in suggesting that you have to go to the floor of the Senate and denounce secession and rebellion. Today l am not so proud of myself to say that l am on the same side of the fence with Gen. T. Y. Danjuma. Back to the our main subject. What were the factors that informed your decision to declare Republic of Biafra. Did you do any risk analysis what the consequences of failure would be. Would it be reasonable to say that your benighted misjudgments and decisions have as a consequence, straitjacketed Ndiigbo in this messy, despondent condition they find themselves in Nigeria. When Ndigbo shout marginalization, who do you think was responsible. You have one viable alternative. Submit and dedicate your whole remaining entire life in the monastery and in charity work to atone for the death of men and women your rascality and prodigality doom for early demise or impoverished as a result of that your ego trip war you immersed the whole country into.

   3. Before declaring sovereign state of Nigeria, in all humility, would you please name the top Eastern Nigerian military officers you consulted before setting the stage for your misadventures. Would it not be right to assume that you had other burning ulterior motives underpinning your decisions not to involve competent, well-trained professional military officers with vast knowledge of the impending disaster you were concocting to wrap around the neck of Ndiigbo as albatross in pepertuity. Would you not agree with me that one does not need military training to figure out that in strategic military planning for war, one of the decisive factors to consider would be reinforcements and re-supplies. Biafra has no land territorial boundary with any other sovereign country. Inter border smuggling was unquestionable out of equation. Therefore, it stands to reason that any naval blockade against Biafra will choke and render her defenses and survival futile, impossible and impracticable. Would it be right also to assume that your ego trip and showmanship is superior to collective wellbeing of Ndiigbo in exposing them defenselessly to the hazards of the war. Furthermore, you knew or did you not know, that by consulting top Ndiigbo military officers, they would have seen through these boorish simplicities underlying your diabolical ambitions and would have bombarded you with barrage of questions which would have preempted all your pretenses at altruistic motives. Trained military officers with eagle eyes would have understood the complexities and implications of your grand misadventure which was fraught with foolishness, selfishness and showmanship. Your ceaseless bombardments of propaganda machinery convinced gullible Ndigbo that they were at the verge of being attacked if they did not declare secession. Why was such bogus lie necessary, if not to have Ndigbo in your grip as determinate prelude to collective suicide in return to your swearing in as "Your Excellency the Head of State Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic" after your optical delusion of consciousness.
   4. Before you started rolling out drums of your Illusionary Brain-Damage Republic did you consider the strength of your opponent, and what your opponent had at stake to determine the degree of their resilience and staying power. Mr. suicide gambler, did you consider that if you had succeeded in creating your Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic the resultant impact was to cut Northing Nigeria access to the sea. Which means, any import or export of products through the seaport from the eastern part of Nigerian ports they would have to pay duties and other associated tariffs. Your Brain-Damaged-Republic could at any time of its choosing decides to stop their importation or exportation of things by land from and to overseas. Therefore, your Brain-Damaged Republic could hold their economic and political well-being hostage. Do you have any doubts that, assuming they have full grasp of the entire implications of your project, they will fight you into their old-age, their children and generations after will continue fighting you. Are you beginning to fully grasp the wide range of impossibilities and impracticalities of the survival of your pet project, your Brain-Damaged Republic. I bet you did not see this far enough because critical thinking is not your strength. Mr. Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo is it not the high time you explain this to your teeming adventurers whom God gave huge backbone but was proportionately counterbalanced with chicken type brains. I fully understand why your human-herd mobster followers would prefer to fight first and think later. During the war you admonished Ndigbo to gallantly face armored-cars with Mark IV brand, (cork and fire) riffles which they did. Those who questioned the rational and the madness of prodding Ndigbo to commit suicide were branded saboteurs and were treated accordingly.

   5. You detained Col. Hilary Njoku for the entire duration of the entire civil war simply because he openly expressed reservations to your rejection of Decree No. 8. Adopting Decree No.8 would have avoided the horror of civil war but that would have completely thwarted your ambition of becoming "Your Excellency", the People's General, the Head of State of Biafra Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic. Would it be correct to say that you would not have any qualms to exterminate the entire Ndiigbo provided your ambitions were met.

4. Here are some of the antics you employed to kill any peaceful negotiations:
   1. During the Aburi conference of January 15 and 16, 1967 it was agreed that civil servants of Eastern Nigerian who fled from the North would continue to receive their salaries till March 31st, 1967 the end of financial year, provided that they did not hold any other paying jobs. The Federal Government of Nigeria authorized the salary payments as per agreement. Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the Head of State of Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic, was it true or not.

   2. On March 17, 1967 Decree No. 8 was promulgated to implement the Aburi agreements. The terms of your demands were virtually met under the Degree No 8.

   3. The Superem Commander of Nigerian Arm Forces was changed to read Commander-In-Chief consistent with your demand. Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the Head of State of Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic, was it true or not? Your request was granted and implemented.

   4. To avoid putting the executive power of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in one man's hand, that was Col. Yakubu Gowon, you suggested that that such power be vested in the hands of governing body, which was, Supreme Military Council. .Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the Head of State of Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic, was it true or not? Your request was granted and implemented.

   5. To make your request foolproof and watertight, the newly created Supreme Military Council cannot make laws that had far reaching greater national security impact without the approval of all the four regional governors. The power of executive authority of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was now vested in the Supreme Military Council. Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the Head of State of Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic, was it true or not? Your request was granted and implemented.

      Ojukwu's Objections And Disagreements With Decree No. 8 Are The followings.

      • Decree No. 8 upheld the part of Constitution that stated in part and l quote, "no region could exercise authority in a manner that placed the corporate integrity of the federal government in jeopardy". Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the Head of State of Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic, what exactly did you actually find objectionable with this provision of the law? As a historian, do you know any country in this globe that would do or act otherwise contrary to, with or without Decree 8. Was it not your attempt to subvert and torpedo any peaceful resolutions that was offered and to pave way for your life-long burning desire of becoming head of state, even if it was in hell.
      • Decree No. 8 stated under what conditions such state of emergency could be declared all over Nigeria or any part of Nigeria by the Supreme Military Council. Decree No. 8 stated that before such state of emergency would be invoked, three out of four regional state governments must be in agreement. That is 75% of the governing body. This is what our most revered "Timber and Caliber" late Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe called "accord con-cordial". Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the Head of State of Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic, what exactly did you actually find objectionable with this provision of the law? Was it not your attempt to subvert and torpedo any peaceful resolution to the then impending cataclysm.
      • Decree No. 8 also stated that when an emergency is declared, the federal government has the sole authority to suspend or overrule any laws and regulation previously passed by the said regional government. Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the Head of State of Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic, what exactly did you actually find objectionable with this provision of the law? Was it not your attempt to subvert and torpedo any peaceful resolution of the crisis.

        Your argument against that section of Decree No 8 were the followings:

      • That as the Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria you have the sole authority to maintain safety and security of indigenes of Eastern Nigeria. That to deny you such power under the state emergency was a contradiction of the terms and agreement of Aburi accord. In all humility, the most erudite liar in Igboland, Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the Head of State of Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic, where in the Aburi accord was the state of emergency discussed? Additionally, the secretary to the Eastern Nigerian Regional Government, AN Akpan, did not share your views and he completely disagreed with you. At the time all your senior eastern army officers disagreed with you. Was it the reason why they were not informed and consulted prior to declaring secession.

        "Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, how did this Decree negatively impact Ndigbo as you have always purported that you were protecting or fighting for their interests? The only person this Decree would have impacted should there be violations was Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, the Head of State of Illusionary Brain-Damaged-Republic. How? You could be removed, retired or transferred which will abort your craving for becoming "Your Excellency The Maximum Ruler of Biafra". How enervating, debilitating, nauseating for any objective Ndigbo man or woman to know that the reason why our people were slaughtered and maimed during war was to protect, the job of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. In Igbo aphorism, it is said, "okuku eri eri, oborsa aborsa" translated to mean - either l have it or no one else will have it.

   Activities of Chukwuemaka Odumegwu Ojukwu As Agent Provocateur In Triggering Civil War In Nigeria.

   1. On March 23, 1967 a Ghanaian delegation arrived in Eugu, as independent observers to focus your attention to the implications and consequences of your impending actions. Your mind was harden like that of Pharaoh, and answering "Head of State, The President of Brain-Damage Republic, you must. Anything in your way must be scarified for your ultimate goal.

   2. On March 26, 1967 you flew in to Accra to meet with General Ankrah over purported question of federal debts to the eastern region. Mr. Deception Extraordinary, the Great Grand Wizard Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo, General Ankrah of Ghana was not the Auditor General of Federal Republic of Nigeria. In your logic how could General Ankrah ascertain the veracity of your claims. Mr. Trickster, the greatest architect of 419, why you did not follow court system to lay your claims butt-naked bare to the public if you did not have nefarious plans in your mind. Going to Ghana was to give impression that you were seeking peaceful resolution but what you were doing was seeking support to illegally secede from Nigeria. You were on a publicity stunt.

   3. On your return from Ghana you held meeting with Colonel Adebayo, Commodore Wey and Mr. Tim Omo-Bare at Onitsha. The meeting was to find any solution possible in resolving and preventing the impending catastrophe and dark cloud hanging over Nigeria and her law abiding citizens. But anarchy and destruction stood firm in your head and your antics were to sabotage any attempt on peaceful resolutions to the civil crisis.

   4. On March 30, 1967 there was another meeting of Supreme Military Council in Benin in furtherance of ways and means of resolving the crisis and also to put finishing touches to the Decree 8 document.

   5. On March 31, 1967 to coincide with the end of the financial year, you unilaterally, petulantly and provocatively issued the Revenue Collection Edict 11 of 1967, principally legislating into law "Resource Control" of all revenues from Eastern Nigeria including oil revenues without authorization from the Federal Government. This act alone would tantamount to secession and a declaration of war. Those close minded Ndigbo, what do you make of this radicalism and irrationality from your most revered "Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo", the most intemperate and mercurial, unpredictable power-monger coming out of Igboland.

   6. At this stage of the game "Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo" was no more making any secrete secession plans but was beginning to be overtly categorical about eastern region seceding from Nigeria. Ojukwu passed an edict promulgating legal education, statutory bodies council, court of appeal and registration of companies edicts. To add insult to injury or in-your-face kind of belligerency, and act of chutzpah, Ojukwu seized federal assets and parastatals in the eastern region of Nigeria. It was no more if but when Ojukwu would formally declare the Republic of his prompting. Ojukwu audaciously expelled all non-Ndigbo except Midwest Ndigbo from Eastern Nigeria. Clarion call for arms was vibrating all over the place and Ojukwu was flexing muscles in his regular showmanship fashion. In appreciation, gullible and credulous Ndigbo was beginning to give Ojukwu nickname that rents the air when he was within the vicinity or passing by: "power, power…power…, Like in a typical Igbo adage "when a fowl is about to die or expire it loses every sense of perception and apprehension. To make the matter worse, the "Abiriba" people were beginning to entertain Ndigbo with their ancient war songs and theatrics. I am ashamed to say that vast majority of Ndigbo convincingly believed that the prowess of legendary tales of Abiriba war exploits will hold sway to protecting the young republic in the making. Like Saddam Hueisan in the first gulf war who thought he was going to fight America military machine might with 1st world war type of military approach. Shooting from the trenches as if he was still fighting Iran. Smart-bombs were at the cutting edge of modern warfare and Saddam was light-years behind the time. That is how one would view preparation of war by Ndigbo. The Abriba people were supposed to be killing Nigerian enemies through the magical power of which manifests itself in Black Magic terms of "killing your enemy without your enemy seeing you". It may sound very absurd to the ear, how long ago did Anambra State Governor, Ngige go to take oath at the shrine. You be the judge.

   7. Our recalcitrant, obstinate, power-struck, know-it-all, showmanship, publicity stunt, braggadocio, maximum "Head of State" in waiting, took it a step further or level of drum war beat. Unbelievably, now the governor of a region was calling all the shorts. Our Maximum Ruler, abrogated and revoked the Federal Supreme Court as the final Court of Appeal for Eastern Nigeria. Ojukwu's radicalism was getting out of hand and he wants every one who cares to know that he was the master barking orders and giving conditions to his subject, Federal Government of Nigeria. [You see, tori don boku. Olowu Omogie (forgive me if l murder Yoruba language) (E huru iha, "Okpo Chi Nti 1" and "Anu Ihe I", Eze Wuru-Wuru Ndigbo" 'Eha ihe kwe".] Man pass man. Our own Diki Tiger bin don finis Oyumbo man kpata kpata for boxing, even say him no go school at all. Make you think wetin, our,Nwa Nna, wie go Oxford Obodo Bekee, see how im de speak gramer like na him make grama. Na im papa na milonia, him don't take im papa money bi weapon. Him go show Hausa man say na Igboman get sense pas even Oyibo man. Nzo gbu nzo, eyi ba eyi, nzo gbu, eyi ba eyi,,,,

   8. On April 22, there was Supreme Military Council meeting to evaluate the pending crisis that was spinning out of control. It became clear Lt. Col. Gowon was beginning to appear too soft on Ojukwu and his rebellious frame of mind. After the SMC meeting, Lt. Col. Gowon was mandated to respond to Ojukwu accordingly by imposing economic sanctions on eastern Nigeria. The SMC issued communiqué at the end of the meeting setting 1969 as the date to return to civilian rule.

   9. On April 24, Ojukwu hijacked a Nigeria Airways F-27 plane going from Benin to Lagos. At this point Lt. Yakubu Gowon patience has been tasked to the maximum. Gowon was beginning to look wimpy and there were pressure from the SMC and Northern Region for Gowon to act swiftly and decisively.

   10. On same day, April 24, Gowon addressed foreign diplomats in Lagos appraising them with the fluid situation in the country. He said to them and l quote: "I want to make it abundantly clear that in the event of Lt. Col Ojukwu carrying out his threat to secede, this will be a clear signal in the first place to create a COR-State for the protection of the minorities in Eastern Nigeria whom we know do not want to part from the rest of the country. This action of creating the COR-state will be backed by the use of force if need be."

   11. The Fatherly Role Played By Chief Awolowo. Contrary to wrong-headed believes of Ndigbo, Our most revered Sage of indisputable excellence interceded in the messy crisis with his full weight to resolving the crisis but for the prodigality of the most repugnant leader ever to emerge from Igboland, "Anu Ohia 1", Lt. Col Ojukwu. On May 1st,1967 Chief Awolowo, categorically and unequivocally, in clear terms, addressed Western Leaders of Thought, that Western Region would not be any part of imposed military solution to the crisis. Chief Pa Awolowo, went further to say and insisted that the Eastern Nigeria be kept within the federation (even if it meant looser constitutional arrangements as recommended on August 9, 1966 and reaffirmed at Aburi). Our foremost Nationalist, Chief Pa Awolowo, declared and l quote "if the Eastern Region is allowed by acts of omission or commission to secede from or opt out of Nigeria, then the Western region and Lagos must also stay out of the federation." As a distinguished Statesman, Chief Pa Awolowo went further to clarify things to make himself abundantly clear by saying and l quote " that in any adhoc committees that might be formed for the purpose of finding a peaceful solution, the West and Lagos would participate only on condition of equality with other regions". Let me be clear here. It is very common amongst Ndigbo to misinterpret this noble proposal and position of Chief Pa Awolowo, to mean that if the East secedes, then the West will follow. What a mischaracterization and perversion of the highest order, and the most distasteful propaganda of calumny against the most revered Nationalist of our time Chief Obafemi Awolowo by mischief makers of Odumegwu Ojukwu extractions. Any time Ojukwu fails on any of his ill-concieved, shallow-minded gambits, some one must be responsible. Because of Ojukwu's inferiority complex, he can and will never take responsibility for any of his numerous failings.

   12. On May 4th, 1967 Chief Pa Awolowo was on the move again searching for ways to diffuse tension and to bring about reconciliation. It is pertinent at this juncture to mention that Awo was released from prison by Gowon and one would have expected Awolowo to gratuitously be leaning on the side of Gowon. Awolowo by all accounts was a man of principle and he stood for fairness and equity. The National reconciliation committee was constituted and in their wake they sent a delegation led by Chief Awolowo to Enugu to find ways to defuse the situation. Ojukwu gave the following convoluted terms:
       1. That for the East to participate in any peace talk, there must be agreed agenda, an acceptable venue and defined time limit. Editorial: Ojukwu would not go to any meeting for fear of abduction by imaginary enemies.
       2. That the economic sanctions against the Eastern Region must be terminated forthwith. Editorial: Ojukwu was the one who seized Federal Assets in the east and revenues from all resources from the East. Who is so daft to think that Federal Government would succumbed to this mindless blackmail by Ojukwu. Besides, there were Northern soldiers, like Murtala, who felt that Gowon was not being firm enough in handling Ojukwu. Editorial: The truth is this, Gowon was giving Ojukwu every opportunity to rethink and come back to the Nigerian fold where he rightly belonged. Ojukwu as always, with perpetual, perennial poor judgments, was also erroneously reading Gowon as being weak and indecisive.
       3. Awolowo to be clear and convince himself in the direction Ojukwu was taking, Chief Awolowo asked Ojukwu about the attitude of Eastern Leaders to the North and the question of secession, Ojukwu's response was "on the specific question of whether there is a possibility of contact with the North, the answer is at the battlefield." Thus, tactless Ojukwu played his hand. Editorial: Who knows if it had ever occurred to Ojukwu that secession from Nigeria involves every component part of Nigeria. But the crisis enveloping Nigeria was between Ndigbo from the East and Hausa/Fulani from the North. Then this author would like to ask, what sense would it make to draw every part of Nigeria into the crisis as it seemed Ojukwu was irrationally trying to do. There is a saying in Igbo language and is translated this way: if one man were to host a multitude of people to a dinner, the invitees will finish every food and refreshment given to them. Turning the table around, if same multitude of people were to host one man, that one man will not finish the meal. This is normative underpinning in Ndigbo culture. This goes to the heart of problem with Ojukwu. Our Oxford trained historian was not, and is not and will not be equipped with critical thinking. Either you have it or not, period.

   13. May 17, another attempt at peace-talk was made either at the National Institute for Oil Palm research (NIFOR) in Benin or on a British Aircraft Carrier or Frigate off the shores of Lagos. It did not happen do to leaks and security reasons. Ojukwu leaked this information through the mass media that the Federal Government was trying to capture him alive because he was fighting the cause of Ndigbo. What a fallacy and agent of darkness to plunge Nigeria and Ndigbo into a national calamity that will destroy lives and properties.

   14. On May 20, 1967 Gowon accepted the proposals and recommendations of the National Reconciliation Committees. Ojukwu thundered with his normal impassionate gesticulations condemning the committees as non-starters. Ojukwu flatly dismissed the committees and its members as not qualified, not competent, not knowledgeable enough to mediate and reconcile the crisis which was tethering on disintegration of the country. Ojukwu was not interested in whatever result the Aburi accord would lead to. Ojukwu was principally interested in the collapse of the Aburi accord, even though, the Federal Government of Nigeria had already accepted over 95% of the terms of agreement and was working on the remaining five percent. The record shows that the Western Nigerian Regional government and Yoruba Leaders of Thought were demonstrably and conspicuously in sympathy with the plight of Ndigbo and they went every length within the human possibilities to throw their weight behind Ndigbo. By implementing over 60% of Aburi accord would have meant that Nigeria was a confederating country. Security of each region was in the hands of regional governors. The executive power of the Federal Government was vested in the hands of Supreme Military Council and any decision they would make was subject to concurrence of four regional governments. What Ojukwu was protesting was about the conditions attached to invocation of state of emergency. Even at that, the Western and Midwest regional governments were on the of the same side with Ojukwu's government. These two regions opposed the mutiny that saw killing of Igbo military officers. These regions have common interest with Ndigbo, countering the domination of Northerners in the military. Plan was afoot on a crash program to recruit, train western regional indigenes to the military force. They also were in agreement that each region, which was already approved, would import arms to reinforced the military in their region for peace and security. They were in agreement that posting of military personnels of indigenes of one region to another would discontinue until such a time confidence was restored in the military. There was concurrence even by the northern regional government that the process of restoring confidence in the military was going to be a slow and long process. Ojukwu was not interested in any peaceful resolution but to secede from Nigeria and serve as "His Excellency, Head of State of Brain-damage Republic". Every other attempt at peaceful resolutions must be thwarted, torpedoed, subverted, undermined and stonewalled.

   15. On May 20, 1967 SMC had a meeting to reflect on the withdrawal of Northern troops from the west, which was one of the sticking points of the negotiation. Finally, the Federal Government of Nigeria went the extra-miles and accepted the recommendations of Supreme Military Council to remove Northern troops from Ibadan and Abeokuta. On hind-sight, we know that Ojukwu had dubious ulterior motives for demanding that the troops of northern indigenes be taken out of Ibadan and Abeokuta. Ojukwu was planning how to over-run Western region and Lagos without encountering any military resistance.

   16. On May 26, 1967 Gowon announced the withdrawal of northern troops from the west consistent with the recommendations of the National Reconciliation Committee and the Supreme Military Council.

   17. On May 26, 1967 the Eastern Consultative Assembly met in Enugu. This Eastern Consultative Assembly was constituted by Ojukwu and its members were handpicked by Ojukwu. As the name indicates, it was consultative and advisory, but had no legislative powers that was either statutory or mandatory. A kind of organization without teeth but an instrument of political propaganda and forgery instituted and constituted to give the Maximum dictator, the governor of eastern region the cover as representing the entire people of eastern region including her minorities.

   18. On May 27, 1967 Eastern Consultative Assembly issued a seven point resolution mandating Ojukwu to declare "at the earliest practicable date, Eastern Nigeria as a free sovereign and independent State by the name of the Republic of Biafra."

   19. On May 29, 1967, Ojukwu declared the sovereign, independent State of Brain-Damaged Republic of Biafra. Who is so intellectually handicapped and dwarfed to even entertain for one second that it took over-ambitious, power-hungry dictator, Ojukwu two days to conceive, analyze, digest the implications and consequences of secession. The plan has been on a drawing board waiting for the opportune time. Ojukwu can fool majority of Ndigbo but not all of Ndigbo.

   On same day, May 29, 1967 at about 9pm Gowon declared a state of emergency over the whole country. Gowon was given the power of commander in chief. Gowon immediately promulgated Decree No. 14 of 1967 which broke the backbone of Ndigbo. Decree No. 14 was the state creation. Twelve states were created out of four regions of Nigeria. The eastern region was broken up into East Central, South Eastern, and Rivers states. The minorities of Eastern Nigeria were empowered to become more independent, more resolute and what they were murmuring under hush-hush was now given breath of life, empowered and emboldened. Ndigbo were rendered impotent and landlocked. The huge price to pay for irrationalities, impulsivities, crass poor judgments, political immaturity, parochial irredentism, intellectual constraints, egomania, showmanship, peacock of peacocks, sea of vanities. Like anything inflated, only a pinch of a needle and air will escape, leaving the punctured hollow and empty. This juncture marked the beginning of Ndigbo political diminution, dwarfism, impotence, castration and irrelevance. What a price to pay for herd mentality. This conclude the Part 3 of Ndigbo, Ojukwu and Biafra. In Part 4, l am going to write about Ojukwu's witch-haunting and scape-goating others for his military failures and ineptitude. Part 4 will deal with Ojukwu's immoralities in inventing charges to put innocent people in detention with the sole aim of rendezvousing with their wives. I will cite one example. The Part 5 of my writing will center on Ojukwu's character since his return from self-imposed exile. I will show how he is again plotting to destroy Ohaneze Ndigbo for selfish reasons.

   Subsequent write ups will be about relationship of Ndigbo with other tribal groups in Nigeria. My final article will be to propose how Nigeria will move forward.