Igbo Issues According to Terhemba Osuji

By Terhemba Osuji | February 9, 2017 Once again the social discourse is alive discussing a post on Facebook by a certain Aliyu Hashim, a northerner, that "if Buhari dies Walahi, we Northern peoples are ready to destroy Niger Delta and Igbo land even Obasanjo will be included we are ready for war to divide Nigeria all northern leaders kill by southern peoples since the creation of nigeria, Walahi we are ready to surrender our life" That post has generated a lot of debate on Facebook with Nigerians roundly condemning the statement.  While many Nigerians are inclined to discard this post by this bigot as a one off statement, it should not be discounted easily, in light of many other incendiary posts, as it nevertheless exposes the thought processes and seething resentment by enough northerners about Igbo and niger Delta people all viewed as the same by northerners in targeting bloodletting.  It must be stated that the Igbos who have made a habit of migrating to the north in sear...

Compiled by Terhemba Osuji Lt Colonel Ojukwu Declared the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967. Immediately following that declaration there was mass mobilization of Biafrans into the army to counter the Federal Government which quickly condemned the declaration and immediately began directing army units towards Biafran borders to put down the rebellion. The Senior Officer Executive corp of the army including Ojukwu himself were made up of former officers of the Nigerian Army. The went about their task with zeal and under strenuous conditions to open several military training camps to handle the flood of patriotic recruits many of whom they had to turn away. The Biafran Army had only a few bolt action rifles at its prime arsenal in Enugu and its quick formation barely gave it enough time to organize or develop its fighting units before it was forced to weather an attack by the Nigerian Army at Garkem. Nevertheless, and despite the overwhelming shortage of arms it launched an invasion of ...

Nigeria’s Armed Forces Day, also known as Remembrance Day is celebrated every year on January 15. It was set to that date to commemorate the end of the Civil war through the official surrender of the Biafran Armed forces to the Nigerian Government thereby ending the armed struggle by the Igbo tribe to secede from Nigeria in 1970. Typically, most of the activities focus on marches, laying of wreaths at the tomb of unknown Nigerian soldiers and other activities related to recognition of veterans, but not much mention is made in these speeches and activities nor are tributes paid to the forgotten veterans and fallen rebel soldiers of the secessionist Republic. It is very important to note that the insidious shell of the Biafran Armed forces was made up of former officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces. They formed the nucleus of the armed forces and many served honorably and in senior officer commands of the secessionist armed forces training the volunteers who populated the ranks of the ar...

By Terhemba Osuji You can gauge the sadistic intent and mission objectives of the Nigerian army by the code names it gives to its operations.  We had crocodile smile in the Delta and now we are dancing with pythons, actual code name Operation Python Dance, coming on the heels of a scathing report by amnesty international about the civil rights violations by the army in the South East.  It is obvious to even the blind that the agitation for Biafra is in the nonviolence phase, yet buried in all the usual hogwash about providing security, is the direct and coded message to imagined rebel secessionist armed forces aka IPOB/Massob agitators that they will use the rules of engagement to disperse all peaceful demonstrations in the Nigerian army's press release about the new operation, a clear case of paranoia which must be labeled as Igbo phobia. From even the most casual observations it is obvious that nothing mobilizes Nigerians or its security forces more than taming Igbo in all s...

Many people are using the recent army boot supply contract by the army to merchants in Aba as an indication that Buhari does not hate Igbos, What a joke, I wouldn't go as far to say he hates Igbo people, after all he has had two Igbo running mates, but I would suggest that he is ambivalent or indifferent about the neglect of the east judging by the discriminatory policies being planned by his administration. It is time for Nigerians to understand that leaders must take the strongest action against institutionalized discrimination, as America was forced to do through legislating affirmative action, because the Nigerian system is structurally fashioned to exclude the east, and it takes the mighty efforts of the leader Buhari is shaping up not be, to query and fire the ministers and advisors pushing forward development plans excluding the east, that is where PMB's indifference comes into play by not taking corrective action.  The issue is not applauding the administration for ...

There is a major disconnect in Nigeria's geo political zones between its elected representatives and the aspirations of its people. This vacuum was evident quite recently when the administration of Goodluck Jonathan conducted a parallel constitutional conference made up of nominated members from each of the zones even as it had elected representatives in its presidential layer system of government. This disconnect has continuously produced virulent agitation by the military wings of the various tribes, and in the case of the Igbo, the rising profile of Nnamdi Kanu. Many people might consign him as a trouble making trouble riser, but the force behind him is no joke as evidenced by the shutdown of economic activities including closure of schools and markets in the east. Nnamdi Kanu created a storm by launching his Biafra Radio which drew record subscribers and ignited subdued Igbo nationalism. He also created the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) group that has followership from th...

As Nigeria journeys through nationhood, it is incumbent to remember that, on this day, May 30, 1967, Lt. Colonel Ojukwu was compelled to succeed from Nigeria and declare the Republic of Biafra. For a country were most information and historical fact is based on propaganda and urban myths and were history is no longer taught in schools you will find that many Nigerians display a stunning degree of ignorance about the historical background and chain of events leading up to the declaration of Biafra and perceive it as a decision made in a vacuum lacking in reason or without provocation.   The factors leading up to the war could take you back several decades, but it is instructive that Biafra was declared only six short years after Nigeria gained its independence from Britain in 1960 and the most direct and immediate causes can be condensed to a few interrelated events, including:   1) The first Nigerian coup machinated by military officers of mostly Igbo origin that tar...