VOBI 10 30 09 BEYOND COMPREHENSION.  

How did it happen that a people famous for their intelligence, courage, audacity, high sense of justice, unalloyed commitment to freedom and liberty, outspokenness, industry, entrepreneurial ability for centuries have become so mentally befuddled, confused, incoherent, cowed, as to actively aid their sworn enemy in their own enslavement, persecution, subjugation and carefully choreographed extermination. For centuries the Igbo have been known for their intelligence, courage, audacity, high sense of justice, unalloyed commitment to freedom and liberty, outspokenness, industry, entrepreneurial ability. They demonstrated these qualities all over the world.  

When they were shipped as slaves to South Carolina and Georgia in the United Stated some of them walked off the ship, straight into the Atlantic Ocean and drowned rather than be made slaves. That incident is still celebrated in South Carolina as Igbo Landing. In Virginia , USA the revolt of Igbo slaves was legendary. They will never go down without a fierce fight. Booker T. Washington, Paul Robeson, and numerous other revolutionary and powerful African Americans were Igbo. In fact it is estimated that at least 60% of the descendants of African Slaves in the United States is of Igbo ancestry. Slave owners expressly requested for Igbo slaves because of their industry and resilience. Oludaa Ikwuano (Gustavus Vassa) is Igbo.  

While being transported to the New World as slaves the Igbo rebelled as they got to the Island of Hispaniola (Haiti), fought and overpowered their slave masters and freed themselves and then went on to establish the Nation known today as Haiti . The Igbo who were shipped to Brazil as slaves rebelled against their slave masters, fought those who were enslaving them, and started the movement towards their freedom. In Brazil the Igbo revolt resulted in the establishment of the Igbo Republic of Palmaris which lasted 45 years before it was conquered. There, Ibotirama is still in remembrance of those fearless Igbo. All across the Caribbean – Cuba , Jamaica , Trinidad , Barbados , Belize , St. Kitts, etc the valor of the Igbo in resisting and fighting tyranny, and slavery is very well documented.  

Along the Coasts of Africa especially in Ghana , Gabon , Congo , Benin Republic ( Dahomey ), Angola , Mozambique large numbers of Igbo slaves who escaped while they were being transported into slavery, form huge populations of these countries today. In Eastern Nigeria many of the groups claiming different ethnicity today know full well that they are Igbo (Ibibio, Efik, Calabari, Oron, Ikwerre) . Until very recently, the Oba of Bini depended on Igbo warriors for the defense of Bini Kingdom . The Egba and Ijebu of Western Nigeria who now call themselves Yoruba know very well that they are Igbo.  

Wherever they are, the Igbo are tough, resilient, and unyielding in their defense of their freedom and liberty. For centuries throughout the four corners of the world they have been known for this. It does not matter whatever principality or culture they encounter, they still maintain this fierce resistance of enslavement and ferocious defense of their freedom and liberty. The world acknowledged and praised this principled stand of the Igbo during the Nigeria Biafra war. In his account of the Nigeria Biafra War, John De St. Jorre reported the words of a French deputy who visited Biafra during that war and who recorded for posterity the bravery of the Igbo against insurmountable odds thus: “Before I came to Biafra, I heard that Biafrans fought like heroes, but after my visit to Biafra, I can tell you that Heroes fight like Biafrans.” It therefore defies comprehension; it defies explanation why several so called Igbo leaders have become willing tools in the hands of Nigerian genocidists, and home grown Hausa Fulani Yoruba colonialists who for more than forty years have been hell bent on enslaving, persecuting, dehumanizing and ultimately destroying the Igbo.  

Chief Ralph Uwachue, President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo at a recent public function in Owerri was begging the Hausa Fulani Yoruba oligarchs and the Sokoto Caliphate to please reintegrate Ndigbo into the Nigerian mainstream. He was saying this forty years after the Nigeria Biafra war ended. He was saying this more than sixty years since Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nwafor Orizu, Mbonu Ojike, Alvan Ikoku, M. I. Okpara, Akanu Ibiam, Dennis Osadebay, Eyo Ita and so many other Igbo people spearheaded the fight for the liberation of the peoples of West Africa from British colonialism and secured freedom and independence for the people of Nigeria. These Igbo people suffered incredible hardship and persecution at the hands of British colonialists who hated the Igbo for their audacity in challenging their colonial policies. Ralph Uwachue was begging the Hausa Fulani who contributed nothing, absolutely nothing towards the struggle for the independence for Nigeria to please reintegrate the Igbo into the garbage called Nigeria. As if that was not insult enough few days later he launched a venomous attack on C. Odumegwu Ojukwu the former Head of State of Biafra as he tried desperately to tell the world what a failure Odumegwu Ojukwu was as head of state. It would have been laughable if it wasn’t really tragic that the man who was the Biafran Representative, essentially the Biafran Ambassador to France, the man who was an integral part of Biafran government during the war but who in all his wizardry and diplomatic astuteness could not convince the French to come out in open support for Biafra is now bad mouthing Biafra, the best run state in Africa in war time. Uwachue’s silly and ludicrous mini war against Ojukwu forty years after the fact, especially now that Igbo youths and Biafran citizens are slaughtered in thousands every month by colonial Nigeria, smacks of pettiness and lack of vision. What has Uwachue done since the end of the war to relieve the suffering of Igbo youths; what has he done about those Hausa Fulani Yoruba who murdered 700 Igbo men, the cream of Asaba community in cold blood; what has he done about his Hausa Fulani Yoruba masters who starved more than 2 million Biafran babies, children, old men and women to death? What has he done? What has he achieved as president general of Ohaneze? Or does he not know that Jewish leaders are still hunting down and bringing to justice Nazi perpetrators of the Jewish holocaust even as we speak. He is begging illiterate Hausa Fulani to pull Ndigbo back into hell on earth called Nigeria rather than declaring that Ndigbo are entitled to their freedom and independence. Lizard brain! Igbo nationalists must be turning in their graves at Uwachue’s foolishness.  

Joe Igbokwe visited South Africa with a bunch of Yoruba people. While there he saw the development and started wondering if he was in the United States of in Singapore. When he came back to his base in Lagos, not Enugu, Asaba or Aba he started regretting why God had not allowed British colonialists to continue to colonize the Igbo for another thirty years. Shocking! Shocking!! Shocking!!! What would make an Igbo man, a member of the Igbo Nation noted for their fierce defense of their freedom; noted for their rebellion against enslavement, colonization and oppression; what would make this Igbo man say a thing like this. It is mind boggling. Igbo nationalists who sacrificed so much in order to gain freedom and independence for our people must be screaming in their graves. Igbo are known as can do people – check their record during the Nigeria Biafra war and decide for yourself! They almost built their own airplane from scratch. It is these same people who in 1964 had already planned to build underground subway to connect major cities in Eastern Region from Port Harcourt to Owerri, Onitsha, Enugu to Afikpo, Umuahia, Arochukwu and Calabar; it is the same Igbo that had build thousands of industries in all the nooks and crannies of Eastern Region by 1984; it is that same Igbo that Joe Igbokwe is praying that the British should have colonized for several more decades. Zik and Igbo nationalists stopped the British from establishing apartheid system in Jos. What would these Igbo nationalists say about Joe Igbokwe’s utterly ridiculous death wish? 

Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, another big time Igbo leader actually said that there is no other salvation for Ndigbo than to be in One Nigeria. What he was saying to Igbo youths is that if there is no Nigeria all of them and their families will die. We won’t even comment on this one. It is beyond there is no word to describe it. We will just let you be the judge.  

Anambra State Association, the association of Anambra indigenes resident in the United States organizes a wonderful humanitarian medical trip to Anambra State every summer. They gather volunteer doctors and nurses, collect medications and head to Igbo land to treat patients who are sick and need medical attention. This is really great humanitarian service and is highly commended. However we ask just a few questions – how long are you going to do this? Why is it that our people the most educated, talented, and entrepreneurial people in all Africa cannot take care of their sick and are forced to depend on handout and volunteers like fourth world countries? Why? Is it better to teach a person how to fish or to give him a fish every once in a while? Could being in the garbage called One Nigeria be the problem why you and your people have been reduced to the status of fourth world countries comparable to Somalia and Afghanistan? Have you ever asked yourselves this question?

It has now been revealed that our people are on top of the list for asylum seekers all over the world. We are now in the same league as Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Bangladeshi, and Burma. Is this who we are? Is this what the Igbo have become – beggars who subsist on handouts? Is this what Nigeria has done to us, a once proud and courageous people?     It appears that the loss of the war dealt a devastating blow to the intellect, psyche, and self confidence of the Igbo. This is why so many so called Igbo leaders have been, and continue to beg the Hausa Fulani Yoruba oligarchs and the Sokoto Caliphate to please accept them and reintegrate them into the hell on earth, the garbage called One Nigeria. Igbo pride, courage, talent, resilience and creativity which have characterized the Igbo all over the world for centuries seem to have all but vanished completely. The Igbo have become demoralized; the Igbo spirit of can do has been degraded; the Igbo spirit of rebellion against tyranny, oppression, and enslavement has been severely eroded. Igbo is in deep, deep trouble. It is incomprehensible; it is inexplicable. All Igbo men, women and children who hope to see the sterling qualities of our Igbo people revived, preserved,  and handed down to future generations must step up to the plate now and ask for nothing but total independence for our people from Nigeria because Nigeria is the worst poison anyone can give to the Igbo.

May God bless all the intelligent people of Biafra and the sovereign independent State of Biafra!