War time Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has criticized renowned author, Professor Chinua Achebe, over his new book on the Nigerian civil war, saying he{Achebe }does not know the issue he was writing about.
Gowon said he was ready to face the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague on the matter if necessary.
“What role did Achebe play in the secessionist plans? Achebe must have been outside the country during the war and probably did not know what happened during the period otherwise he would not have written on what he was not sure of “, he remarked.
The erstwhile Nigerian leader, who was answering questions from journalists courtesy, visit to Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu at the Presidential Lodge, Minna, Niger state, yesterday, said Achebe must have been talking out of ignorance, adding that he and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo had no regrets over their roles in the civil war, pointing out that if there was no secession, there would not have been civil war.
Gowon also debunked the claim by the author that his administration embarked on the mass killing of Igbo, adding that the federal troops did not also use hunger as a weapon to dislodge the dissidents.
“It was the Igbo that objected to the creation of corridor for movements of medical aid and food supplies to the civilian population at the period; on this, I am ready to face the International Criminal Court of Justice at the Hague for prosecution over the role played by me during the war and, fortunately, some Nigerians are still alive to bear witness to the roles played by both the leadership of the secessionist group and the then Federal Military Government under my leadership, “the war-time leader stated.
He also recalled that during the war, a ship named “Josina” and owned by the secessionist group, which they claimed was carrying agricultural implements, was captured by federal troops and it was subjected to a thorough search and the cargo turned out to be a collection of arms and ammunition.
Gowon, who was in Minna for a 2-day prayer organized by Nigeria Prays, a group he leads, said that the massive deaths recorded by the Igbo during the civil war was caused by their own propaganda machine which claimed that the northern invaders were coming to their camps and that caused panic and pandemonium among their people because some people were trying to move from one location to the other out of fear of imaginary attacks by the so called northern invaders and without food. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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I dare him to face trial in the Hauge and repeat this under proper investigation and then we'll see what will happen to him. Lies can only shield you for a short time no matter how you attack the truth and its messengers. Eventually your children will be ashamed of what you have done. In any civilised many of these so called leaders would have been hunted down like Nazis and slammed away. Only in Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteWill u shut up and allow d past to sleep,so disspointed in Achebe for waking up sleeping dogs now!our country don't need this unnecessary distraction at d moment. Let's face d enemies of today 1st
ReplyDeletePlease, will you also tell the jewish holocaust survivors who are still hunting down nazis till tomorrow to "shut and tell the past to sleep"? I guess not. So you saying that you feel that your own people are inferior beings or that for some reason you judge them buy a lower standard. Achebe has expressed his views, grow up and live with it!
Deletethe igbos deserved what they got and should keep their mouth shut if they've learnt nothing so far.we all know they are a bunch of loud for nothing sect.if you have a house and a burglar decides to break into it while you are,am sure you'll use all necessary means to protect the house.the federal govt,likened to the house owner, saw Nigeria as something that must be kept intact and protected when the igbos,likened to a burglar tried to break it up.have the they learn any lesson now?
ReplyDeleteIn a civilised country (Biafra would have been a civlised country and pregressive) your statement you have been termed as an incitement to hate. What have you gained from this one nigeria that is far from one and no fault of the Igbos? Everybody is suffering in one way or another and the nation has been reshaped and restructed out of Igbo paranoia yet the average Igbo man returns from 20 pounds to have a better income average than the rest. Search your soul deep down and tell us why you hate the Igbo but will not let them go at the same time. We will all answer to God in the end. Do you pray Sir/Madam and what do you tell God about your hatred? Do you know it is a sin to hate your fellow man?
Deleteif Igbos are burglars, the stupid federal government should live them to their fate by letting them go. Yes, let them declare the 'Christain Republic of Biafra'. Nigeria cannot do without Biafra, that's one thing they know but did not want to admit it openly. God dey
ReplyDeleteYou have no regret for your role during the war, yet you go about professing Christianity! A war in which millions of lives and properties perished out of sheer wickedness and stupidity on both sides!
ReplyDeleteYou fought to keep Nigeria one only for the same forces that you naively assisted to now descend on your own Birom people and be sacking and pillaging their villages one after the other. You aren't seen nothing yet! It is good it is happening to your people while you are still alive Mr one Nigeria! I pity your ignorance
Who is this Big Fool insulting the Igbos I do not blame you sick head, where were you when we come develope all your communities, fool you are busy going after women while we develop the entire country idiot. If you want to criticise Achebe do that like any other right thinking Nigeriab and not to insult a Group that has done a lot to keep Nigeria as one. Tell me any part of Nigeria that an Igbo man is not developing while you and your people have said no to development only engages in jealousy of the most industrious tribe known to the Black race. If you do not know how to write please shut your ceespit mouth up Bastard!
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm Emeka, u show d typical igbo man mentality..which is selfishness and lack of true committment,tell me wat is d impact of d igbos to this economy everywhere they have been given d opportunity to bcom useful they end up misbehaving.I respect achebe so much bt Wy should he raise issues lyk dis @dis point in Tym,if we start bringin up issues lyk dis with d numerous problems @hand tell me hw beneficial dat is to our great country.its clear that you all Avnt learnt a fin frm d past and if lyks if u are given the chance again in is country u'l finally cause chaos and divide d country..pls let us all move 4ward and fink of a better 2moro.still hope 4 a tym an igbo will rule dis nation bt I pray God should not grant dis prayer in the hands of Ur lyks of,bt God should raise us God fearing and responsible igbos...
DeleteGuys, Can you guys shutup and let's face and deal with boko?
ReplyDeleteTell them Gowon. I guess Achebe is learning the ropes of revisionism with the Biafran war, albeit ignorantly. On a more serious note, Nigerians should wake up to the reality of re-writing the past objectively (deconstruction and reconstruction). I mean a historiography of milestones of our national history. Maybe that will help us locate where we screwed up and ultimately heal our ethnocentrism. The result can be very rewarding. Nation-building is what we NEED!
ReplyDeleteare igbos damn stupid or just criminally minded.since relocating back to Nigeria,i've kept statistics of pple arrested and crimes commited,found out most drugs n armed robberies reported are carried out by igbos.don't believe me,try and keep a record of reported crimes this week then let me know at the end of the week your findings
ReplyDeleteIndustrious people adapt when they see that merit does not work in an environment and see the they way to survive for the masses is illegit means. In other words, if nigeria created have enabling environment you will not have the luxury of enjoying your ignorant statement.
DeleteI strongly believe Achebe knows nothing abt the civil war. He wrote on an incident in his home country when he was away making money for himself. I know he wrote the book based on propaganda of Ojukwu led army. Tell him to read a detailed account of the war written by his kinsman, Prof. Nwuche who was in Nigeria then.
ReplyDeleteD civil war is over.me am happy I was nt born then. Maybe I wud ve been dead by now
ReplyDeleteInteresting!, has the war ended? Dear Gowon, you can pray all you can , it may not wipe the guilt you face , unfortunately, you will carry it to your grave. Since Achebe knows nothing about the war , what has stpped you that know so well from writing your memoir , you think the living does not deserve this knowledge . And for you guys , unknown and his brother, am ashamed at you. Read the book before you join issues , don't criticize , because you ve got a means to write down whatever ill thoughts you have . Mark my word , Nigeria will find no peace until we sit together and cleanse ourselves of bigotry.
ReplyDeleteInteresting!is the war truly over?, Dear Gowon, you may pray all you can , but you may not pray away the guilt of the innocent men and women you and your armies killed . If Achebe does not know anything about the war , what stops you that know so much from writing about it or you think we the living do not need to know . Have you heard about the chinese adage that says"those who do know their history are bound to repeat it". For those here, the known and unknown, we are still at war , it may not be biafra , but check around you and trust me the war is on.
ReplyDeleteThis people called 'Igbos' are the problem of this country. One idiot above is even saying that they fought to keep this country one. What an irony? Igbos dat uptill date are still nurturing the ambition of a Biafran state and dats why dey can neva rule dis country. NEVER! Pls go and continue selling Paracetamol in chemists and electronic appliances. Greedy set of people... Mtchewww
ReplyDeleteSo let them go then. Abi?
DeleteGowon found an aid convoy with and so stopped any other convoy or set rediculous terms for convoys? Sounds like genocide to me.
DeleteSome of the Bastards throwing tantrums at the Igbos are ignoramuses. From Bastard Gowon to the family of Awo will pay dearly for what they did to the Igbos out of jealousy. When it comes to Prof Achebe, I cant find any Nigerian today living that is as honourable as the erudite scholar. God will avenge all that the yorubas and hausa-fulani did to the igbos and Igbos will one day lead this country again, I have a dream.
ReplyDeleteYeah Emeka, dream on, when the dream does come true (if it ever does), we shall be waiting for you for this shall never happen again, never.
DeleteIf you all hate the Igbos such much I am extremely perplexed as to why you fight to keep them in Nigeria. Would it not be better to just get rid of the Igbos by giving them their right to self determination and let them have their country and then the rest of the nation will be happy? You hate them so much and they are willing to go but in your expreme hate you still refuse?
ReplyDeleteEmeka the 'Dreamer' am sure you guys are killing,maiming and kidnapping enough pple,igbos inclusive to be Great Criminals again.open your eyes very well beyond your tribe,accepted not all igbos are bad but statistics available to most of us paints u as d most prolific drug baron/pushers,kidnappers,fake goods importers/distributors,armed robbers and cheats.the good igbos,i duff my heart
ReplyDeleteNigerians plz try and read Achebes memoirs. In his book he wrote highly of soyinka. We should respect memoirs from a genius like him and not go about pointing Fingers and using disparaging words on our fellow countrymen. The past is our foundation and we have to address it if possible.
ReplyDeleteHow does the term "tantrums" come into context here, Emeka? Have you ever heard of malapropism?
ReplyDeletePls dnt mind emeka... He thought he could use some words in a 'fake' fashion as dey are used to doing wit their products in aba jst 2 deceive us. Well, Emeka u nid to go bck 2d classroom so dat u can learn proper english and how to make use of words in English language. Everything abt the Igbos is fake sotay dey wan fake english language... Lmao
ReplyDeletePpl who forget the past r in danger of repeating it. When u sll care about nothing but oil maney mad spending money, why won't ur past rot in hell? Now nobody knows what exactly happened.
ReplyDeleteSee the same sentiments thst led to the war is still alive. The igbos feel cheated, the yorubas r abusive n provocative as usual n the hausas feel the r kings.
Make una fight na.
PRINCE MATTHEW
ReplyDeleteInciting peoples is a major tool of inflaming crisis, riot, civil unrest and general demonstration which ultimately could lead to war. Achebe should learn to be an elder statesman in his ghetto and stop inciting peoples who have forgotten or do not know much of what happened 1960s.
@ Safari.
ReplyDeleteAnd you, have you ever heard of "Go F&%$K yourself stupid".
That also goes for the "Unknown" blogger. F&%$K you too.
You want an ethnic War? Bring it. We're ready. I'm sick of this never ending anti-igbo shit and can guess your ethnicity....
God saves Nigeria!
ReplyDeleteGowon IS THE MOST FOOLISH PERSON to have ever led this country.He wasted the golden years of nigeria when he stupidly frittered away the oil boom,saying 'money is not nigeria's problem'!
ReplyDeleteHe also wasted a golden generation.He is soo foolish that he does not even see the daily decimation of his Birom people,who are seen as 3rd class by his hausa-fulani lords.He is so foolish that he thinks prayer can replace policy in governance.
Gowon epitomizes foolery!!! Old fool.
To be honest most times i don't like contributing to issues like this, but i just want to quickly raise some points, am a yoruba man married to an igbo girl, and happily married....so my opinion might be a little differ from others, but Achebe never realized that it was'nt only igbo people that died during this war..,all other regions had their own record of loses.
ReplyDeletemy family lost 3 middle aged adults, one married to igbo woman with 2 children, in his attempt to escape he lost his life, up till this moment we could not trace the wife and the 2 children, maybe one of those that has been writing blasphemies could be my uncle's child/children we have been looking for for ages, so why are you asking for the heads of others you don't know and you cannot even trace their generations, it will be so nice if we can identify ourselves in this room, maybe perhaps you and your neighbours have just been exchanging abusive words.
therefore, we are one, same blood, same skin, one NIGERIA.
All this Igbo gra gra sef, If dey want to go, we should let them go now or is it by force they must stay with us. They still have this erronous belief that the niger delta people will go with them,LOL they have also forgotten that they are landlocked all their incomes will be spent paying port taxes to either the niger delta people or the yorubas.for ppl with so much so called economic sense, I wonder why they haven't thought of this.
ReplyDeleteGrt Nigeria's, i v only 1 ting to say Gowon family nd dat of Awo go pay 4 d innocent blood cring 4rm d ground, being cald a national hero wont stop d law of d earth. They re already paying d price, v u eva heard of any Gowon's child or dat of Awo? Hahahahahahaha any man wey say anoda man no go get justis even in d grave shd face same fate nd see ow swt it is.
ReplyDeleteHas anybody disputed the fact that Awolowo advised Gowon to use hunger as an instrument of war to punish the Igbos? Has Gowon explained why Igbos were given 20 pounds after the war no matter the amount anybody had in his/her bank account?
ReplyDeleteHas Gowon explained the abandoned properties crime against the Igbos? So, what did Achebe write that is not already well known?
I am disappointed that Gowon, with his dubious profession of Christianity does not tell and does not want to hear the truth. We cannot heal this land on the premise of falsehood. People like Achebe should be allowed to educate those who were not there when the pogrom happened. This reality of our past shall haunt Nigeria until the injustices done against the Igbos by Nigeria is redressed. Gen. Gowon should understand that the prayers if a sinner
Chinua Achebe. Cleanse yourself of filth such as ethnocentric rants, xenophobia, and unchristian disposition to humanity. What do you leave for posterity ??????? Remember you are no longer young !!!!!!!
ReplyDelete2 golden question Achebe should answer is this:
ReplyDelete1. HOW DO YOU DEPEND ON A COUNTRY YOU HAVE
BROKEN AWAY FROM FOR FOOD?
2. IS THIS NOT SOME COWARDICE AND AGREEMENT
THAT YOU WERE JUST BESIDE YOURSELF EMBARKING
ON THE WAR AT ALL SINCE YOU CANNOT BE SELF-
SUFFICIENT?
I think the secessionists got that wrong and Achebe should be responsible enough to not generate this kind of volatile discussion at this time especially given his status and the fact that one of the people he pelted with his submission is no longer alive to defend it.