Before I even begin writing, I must stand up and thank Afenifere for their godly boldness in speaking the truth about the Niger-Delta problem, despite the fact that the issue does not benefit them directly.  The most noble thing any individual or group can ever do is to speak and act in such a way that the truth will bring relieve to his fellowman or countryman without a direct benefit.  This is what Afenifere has done by instructing a criminal called YarAdua not to go to his colonial master (Britain) to get instructions on how to kill and destabilize the Niger-Delta for British interest.  Civilized nations of respect and high credibility, like the United States, fought off and still rival their colonial master (Britain).  In Nigeria, where criminals of northern Nigeria where born to rule, they still run to Britain to teach them how to kill southern Nigerians for southern Nigerian resources.    

Niger-Delta is the owner of Nigerian oil.  They are the one who are supposed to decide how they will drill it, manage it, and sell it.  Since it is a part of Nigeria, the Nigerian Government only has to make sure that the Niger-Delta decisions are producing the maximum revenue in the most effective way possible.  At the end of the year or each month, the Nigerian government can collect their 50% revenue (nothing else) from the Niger-Delta as a fee to Nigeria amongst other fees they collect from other parts of the country.  This is very important because when other parts of Nigeria see the Niger-Delta prospering from their resources, they too will be forced to adequately manage their resources or create a man-made venture for themselves to be proud of.   This is how you bring out creativity and economic responsibility in a nation.  If you take all the oil from the Niger-Delta or give them just peanuts in return for their resources, the others will never be motivated to produce.  No one wants to get cheated for what is theirs or be killed and oppressed for what he or she possesses.  Does YarAdua really think by letting Britain kill the southern Nigerians of the Niger-Delta that productivity and prosperity will come to Nigeria?   

Are there no Niger-Delta citizens that can chair the Niger-Delta summit?  Does YarAdua or Northern Nigeria need to choose a sycophant (chairman) for them even when they think they do not need a summit?  If a Niger-Delta summit is needed, Niger-Delta should be the one to call it, choose their leaders, and invite the Nigeria government to participate to see how they choose to manage their land and its resources for the betterment of the country.  If YarAdua must even choose a leader for them, must it be Gambari and Gowon – Northerners for southern Niger-Delta oil?    Even if a Northern must be chosen, must it be the same old non-productive elements of the region?  Actually, even Gowon had to come out and shout that he was old and his body was not strong enough to handle the job of leading the Niger-Delta summit.   

What a shame!!!!  Gowon as a former head of state needs to learn for Afenifere on how to rule and be an elder statesman.  It was good that he did not accept the job, but the reason should not have been his age.  Instead, he would have used that opportunity to chastise YarAdua into understanding that the Niger-Delta oil situation should be best handled by the Niger-Delta people with the support of all Nigerians.  He basically implied that YarAdua is doing a good job and he should please choose another Northerner because he was too old.  YarAdua! YarAdua!! YarAdua!!!  Did the newspapers not say not too long ago that he was sick and dying in Europe?  Why is it that in Nigeria incompetent, wicked, and evil people just keeping living on to continue their culture of unproductive oppression?  Now a supposed sick and dying man is going to Britain to get an agreement on how to kill those who should be managing their wealth for the benefit of Nigeria for Britain.  This is like a story in Atlanta, where a man who unsuccessfully tried to kill himself three times, eventually took a gun to go kill another.    

Evil thrives when good does nothing.  All Nigerians must stand to condemn evil.  It does not matter if it is committed by their clansman or if they will not benefit from speaking the naked truth.  Where are the northerner Nigerians is all of these injustices?  They claim that they were born to rule, but only talk when things favor them.  Is that an act of leadership or the foundation of a criminal?  You only talk when you are hungry, but turn the other cheek when others are hungry because you are the one stealing their food.  Injustice somewhere is injustice everywhere.  We do not wait to get hungry before we fight for everyone to have enough food.  All Nigerians, especially Northern Nigerians with decency, must stand up boldly and publicly to condemn YarAdua, Gambari, and Gowon for not doing what is in their power to resolve the Niger-Delta issue adequately for the genuine peace and prosperity of the Nigerian nation.  After all, people tend to respond appropriately when even their own turns against them.

Responses:

Dear Ehi,

I had adopted you as my blood brother for some time now but couldn't find the time to let you know! I  read your articles and look forward to the next each time. I am a Biafran at heart but I wouldn't want to belong in a country that may not include you as a fellow compatriot. So, for now I will try to remain a Nigerian ( and an American also).
Thanks for your contributions and keep it up.

Ifeanyi

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Sir,

You asked: Are northern Nigerian leaders criminal by blood?
Answer: No.
 
Sadly, Nigerians do not recognize injustice unless they are directly affected. In 1966-70, the same people went to Europe, Russia etc. and imported Mig 17s and some of the most advanced weapon systems on earth. With these, they launched a war of genocide against Igbo people, murdering over 3 million with the gleeful participation of other nigerians  (1966-70). The man who headed the murderous onslaught was urged to go on with one nigeria. That genocide marked the end of Nigeria as a single viable country.

In celebrating the massacre of over one million Igbo women and children, one nigerian fellow gloated:
 
'Gutters in Benin and Warri were reportedly flowing with [Igbo] bodies [killed by Edos] and pigs ran amock eating those that were not quickly removed from the streets.  For many years, eating Pigs in Benin was a taboo because of [the dead Igbo bodies they ate] ...'

So when did you wake up to realize that is wrong for northern leaders to import weapons to massacre southern peoples?

Over 3 million Igbo peopel murdered in the worst genocide ever committed on the African soil. Above is a genocide picture and below is a Radio-TV Kaduna genocide anthem:
   
Mu je mu kashe nyamiri 
Mu kashe maza su da yan maza su
Mu chi mata su da yan mata su
Mu kwashe kaya su
 

CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION-NG

Ani
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I sympathize with the Igbos for their cause, but they invaded Edo without warning and killed about 500 people in Edo north who resisted their presence.  When you invade a land and kill its citizens, then you become the enemy no matter your cause.  Matching through Edo to go fight northern aggression is one thing, but to occupy Edo as a territory of Biafra is another.  In my articles I have always condemned northern misrule and injustice, and I clearly stated that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere in this current article.  As for the Genocide anthem of Kaduna, I will need the translation in English.  Thanks for reading.

Ehi

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Sir,
 
In essence, your protestations against injustice breaks down when the genocide against the Igbo is involved?
 
You broke into Igbo homes, dragged out Igbo women and children who lived in your midst and massacred them.
You went to Benin prison, seized Igbo already held captives there and buried them alive. You joined Murtala
Mohammed to massacre 8000 Igbo males at Asaba in 1967.
 
One of your number Mr Anthony Enahoro became the chief ideologue of state sponsored starvation as an instrument of war,
a policy that translated to the shooting of Red Cross planes and massacre of their crew members against the Geneva Convention and led to the death of a million Igbo children. Those women and children you murdered, did they occupy your land?

So you see why your belated lamentations ring hollow. Why ? Because you must go to equity with clean hands.
But hands are dripping with the blood of murdered Igbo women and children.

Ani

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Brother,

Do not let anger cloud your judgment.   I was born about a decade after the Civil War.  I do not speak Hausa/Fulani and I do not know of any Civil War songs.  You are preaching to the choir; I am one your side.  The Edos saw the Igbos as invaders whose victory meant their oppression on their soil, so they fought back.  This history saddens me because our oppression is up north and I do not know why we could not collaborate instead of fighting each other.  It is one thing to fight for your right, but it is another to impose your will on another forcefully.  If the Edos did not join you, you should have marched through Edo to accomplish your goals.  To take Edo as a Biafra territory was an act of war, injustice, and a breakdown of brotherhood.  I have always stood for justice in favor of the oppressed, but our fight must be sound and just. 

Ehi

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Thank you for your contribution. The genocide against Igbo people was the most horrific crime
ever attempted on African soil. It was enacted in full view of the world media and became
one of the most copiously documented events in histoy. Who did what and when is well archived
for posterity. 
 
Now, the Edos did not fight soldiers who invaded their soil. Instead, they turned on ordinary Igbo families-
women and children - living in their midst and massacred them in cold blood. On top of that, Anthony Enahoro,
an Edo man, became the architect of a a genocidal policy of siege which killed over a million Igbo children,
children who never set foot on Edo soil...  

The tragedy of Nigeria is that the perpetrators of this historical crime are now living in ignorance, denial and
self-serving rationalizations. But the mere fact that you are today bemoaning the very same Northern hegemony
which your parents fought so hard to install raises several questions which only you can answer.  
 
I do hope that our short interaction has further broadened your view about the historical origin of the northern
attitude which you have attempted to describe in your article I now leave you with this document
 
Wadoo!

Ani

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Ehi Aimiuwu:

The photos that Mazi Ani is sharing with you are the reasons while Ndi Igbo have forgiven but will never forget. From your replies, one can deduce some kind of human kindness and sense of justice from you. But you seem to be an exception amongst many from your Edo state that continue to minimize the genocide other Nigerians visited on my people, Ndi Igbo.

The photos you have seen are just a tip of the ice berg of the mass murders of the Igbo from July 29, 1966 till January11, 1970.

Asagwara

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I would like to thank Mr. Ani and Prince Asagwara for their candid dialogue thus far.  I assume Prince Asagwara should be from Onitsha because the Igbos is stereotyped as a people without a King.  I have discussed with some older Edos about attacking the local Igbos instead of the attacking the Igbo soldiers, but they believed that they were the same.  After all, after occupying a place, you have to govern and administer it.  Who was going to govern Edo and how?  The Igbos would only have succeeded in controlling Edo only through its local relatives.   

The Edos were not prepared for war.  They woke up one morning and found Biafran soldiers everywhere.  The Governor of old Bendel ran for his life because he did not join Biafra.  Even the Oba was basically under house arrest without warning.  Keep in mind that the only time we were ever defeated, occupied, and governed in our over 1000 year history was during the British occupation in 1897.  The Edos were still recovering from the reality of losing their Empire (from west of Eastern Nigeria to Ghana), losing their independence, facing the fact of becoming a minor group in the New Nigeria, and within 70 years of it, another occupation from their neighbors.  

Many Edos actually got mental over their new reality.  They were about to go from British rule to Igbo rule.  What about the Oba, their language, and their history?  If the Igbos had won the war, where will Edo be today?  At least, we still have an identity.  The only way to prevent permanent insignificance was to fight the Igbos within.  If you cannot beat the soldier with the gun, maybe you can beat the one with the pen.  After all, the pen is mightier than the gun.  A gun might kill a man, but the pen will control 10 generations. 

At that moment, the Edos saw the Northerners and Nigerian Army as liberators.  They did not necessarily fight to keep Nigeria one; they fought for the sake of sanity and the honor of their cultural heritage for their children.  They do not talk about the war or genocide because it reminds them of a terrible time of humiliation in their history.  Biafra should have defended Igbo land ONLY and your neighbor would have come to your aid because your cause was justified (Igbo killings in the north before the war and a monopoly govt).  Why did you kill and occupy your neighbor’s house first?  Who was going to stand with you after fighting your neighbors?  Be honest, would the Igbos have treated the Bendelites fairly if they had won, if so, why take their land?  God bless.

Ehi

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