BIAFRAN WAR: BIAFRA WAS NOT FIGHTING A DEFENSIVE WAR - RENO OMOKRI
OPINIONS - Posted on: 12th Sep. 2023 at 7:58AM
Some people ask why I am bringing up the history of the Nigerian Civil War. It is straightforward, really. Because it is the duty of intellectuals to expose lies told by propagandists, through digging up facts. If I, or other Nigerian scholars, had been alive to our responsibility years ago, charlatans would not have filled the vacuum, and used Radio Biafra and other channels, to manipulate millions of our brothers and sisters into hating their fellow Nigerians citizens, as well as their country with lies such as that:
Ojukwu released Awolowo (he did not. Awolowo was released by Lt. Colonel Gowon on August 1, 1966).
Awolowo and the Yorubas betrayed Ojukwu and the Igbos (not true. Awolowo tried to prevent war by visiting Ojukwu and urging him not to secede. When he failed, Wole Soyinka visited him for the same purpose and was imprisoned by Gowon for 22 months).
Biafra was fighting a purely defensive war (false. The Republic of Biafra invaded and occupied the Midwest between August 9 – September 20, 1967. They appointed an Igbo Biafran named Major Albert Okonkwo, as the Military Governor, and killed many civilians without trial, as well as robbed the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Benin Branch, and also invaded the Western Region and captured Ore, in present day Ondo state).
That Chief Awolowo said, "Starvation is a legitimate weapon of war" (Awolowo never said that. That is a Radio Biafra lie. Chief Awolowo, to the chagrin of the then Head of State, ensured humanitarian relief was sent to Biafra, but Radio Biafra convinced the civilians that Chief Awolowo had poisoned the food, and much of it was diverted to feed Biafran troops).
That Yorubas are cowards (not true. The most successful Nigerian Army fighting troops were the Third Marine Commando, under Colonel Benjamin Adekunle, and later Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo, who defeated the Republic of Biafra and took their surrender).
That Biafra had a legal right to secede (not true. The idea for a secession clause was mooted by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1954, during the Lagos Constitutional Conference, but Nnamdi Azikiwe rejected it and galvanised a majority of the conference attendees to kill the idea.
After this was rejected, Chief Awolowo again wrote to the then Governor General of Nigeria, who rejected the clause on the grounds that the majority, led by Nnamdi Azikiwe, were not in support of it.
It was because of Nnamdi Azikiwe that section 86 was inserted into our constitution with the proviso that if any region should secede, it will be an act of treason.
Nnamdi Azikiwe himself wrote about this in an essay, which was published by the New Nigerian Newspapers in 1975, and has since been republished by other papers and by Mr Azikiwe himself.
Were it not for Azikiwe, Biafra would have had the legal right to secede.)
So, if you are upset that I am exposing all these facts, please ask those trying to revise history to stop, and there will be no need for me to debunk their claims.
Reno Omokri
#TableShaker
Some people ask why I am bringing up the history of the Nigerian Civil War. It is straightforward, really. Because it is the duty of intellectuals to expose lies told by propagandists, through digging up facts. If I, or other Nigerian scholars, had been alive to our responsibility years ago, charlatans would not have filled the vacuum, and used Radio Biafra and other channels, to manipulate millions of our brothers and sisters into hating their fellow Nigerians citizens, as well as their country with lies such as that:Ojukwu released Awolowo (he did not. Awolowo was released by Lt. Colonel Gowon on August 1, 1966).
Awolowo and the Yorubas betrayed Ojukwu and the Igbos (not true. Awolowo tried to prevent war by visiting Ojukwu and urging him not to secede. When he failed, Wole Soyinka visited him for the same purpose and was imprisoned by Gowon for 22 months).
Biafra was fighting a purely defensive war (false. The Republic of Biafra invaded and occupied the Midwest between August 9 – September 20, 1967. They appointed an Igbo Biafran named Major Albert Okonkwo, as the Military Governor, and killed many civilians without trial, as well as robbed the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Benin Branch, and also invaded the Western Region and captured Ore, in present day Ondo state).
That Chief Awolowo said, "Starvation is a legitimate weapon of war" (Awolowo never said that. That is a Radio Biafra lie. Chief Awolowo, to the chagrin of the then Head of State, ensured humanitarian relief was sent to Biafra, but Radio Biafra convinced the civilians that Chief Awolowo had poisoned the food, and much of it was diverted to feed Biafran troops).
That Yorubas are cowards (not true. The most successful Nigerian Army fighting troops were the Third Marine Commando, under Colonel Benjamin Adekunle, and later Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo, who defeated the Republic of Biafra and took their surrender).
That Biafra had a legal right to secede (not true. The idea for a secession clause was mooted by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1954, during the Lagos Constitutional Conference, but Nnamdi Azikiwe rejected it and galvanised a majority of the conference attendees to kill the idea.
After this was rejected, Chief Awolowo again wrote to the then Governor General of Nigeria, who rejected the clause on the grounds that the majority, led by Nnamdi Azikiwe, were not in support of it.
It was because of Nnamdi Azikiwe that section 86 was inserted into our constitution with the proviso that if any region should secede, it will be an act of treason.
Nnamdi Azikiwe himself wrote about this in an essay, which was published by the New Nigerian Newspapers in 1975, and has since been republished by other papers and by Mr Azikiwe himself.
Were it not for Azikiwe, Biafra would have had the legal right to secede.)
So, if you are upset that I am exposing all these facts, please ask those trying to revise history to stop, and there will be no need for me to debunk their claims.
Reno Omokri
#TableShaker
Posted by: Emdee David
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