"A Wake Up Call?"
We lie truly and genuinely in order to unravel a huge complication that we got into; We truly tell the lie as the truth and the truth as the lie
In the Backdrop of political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the southeastern provinces of Nigeria was a self proclaimed republic of biafra, this conflict was described as the result of economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various people of Nigeria.
The causes of the Nigerian civil war were exceedingly complex. More than fifty years ago, Great Britain carved an area out of West Africa containing hundreds of different groups and unified it, calling it Nigeria. Although the area contained many different groups, three were predominant: the Igbo, which formed between 60-70% of the population in the southeast, the Hausa-Fulani, which formed about 65% of the peoples in the northern part of the territory; the Yoruba, which formed about 75% of the population in the southwestern part.
The semi-feudal and Islamic Hausa-Fulani in the North were traditionally ruled by an autocratic, conservative Islamic hierarchy consisting of some thirty-odd Emirs who, in turn, owed their allegiance to a supreme Sultan. This Sultan was regarded as the source of all political power and religious authority.
The Yoruba political system in the southwest, like that of the Hausa-Fulani, also consisted of a series of monarchs being the Obas. The Yoruba monarchs, however, were less autocratic than those in the North, and the political and social system of the Yoruba accordingly allowed for greater upward mobility based on acquired rather than inherited wealth and title.
The Igbo in the southeast, in contrast to the two other groups, lived in some six hundred autonomous, democratically-organized villages. Although there were monarchs in these villages (whether hereditary or elected), they were largely little more than figureheads. Unlike the other two regions, decisions among the Igbo were made by a general assembly in which every man could participate.
During the 1940’s and 1950’s the Ibo and Yoruba parties were in the forefront of the fight for independence from Britain. They also wanted an independent Nigeria to be organized into several small states so that the conservative and backward North could not dominate the country. Northern leaders, however, fearful that independence would mean political and economic domination by the more Westernized elites in the South, preferred the perpetuation of British rule. As a condition for accepting independence, they demanded that the country continue to be divided into three regions with the North having a clear majority. Ibo and Yoruba leaders, anxious to obtain an independent country at all cost accepted the Northern demands.
Achebe's "There was a country" tells the story of biafra from a cultural and political perspective. Achebe argued in his book that by 1960, Igbo people dominated commerce and the public sector in a land where the three biggest ethnic groups (the Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo) were jostling for supremacy. Achebe attributes Igbo domination to their self-confidence, inherent democratic values and adaptability, which were suited to Nigeria's modernising economy. But many Nigerians resented it, and Achebe admits that the Igbo could be cocky, brash and money motivated, and Extremely Materialistic, though he disagrees with the popular suspicion that there was a pan-Igbo agenda to control Nigeria – his people have too strong an "individualistic ethic".
Six years after independence, corruption and electoral rigging preceded a military coup that overthrew Nigeria's first prime minister, the Muslim northerner, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa . Although most of the coup-plotters were Igbo, Achebe disputes that it was an "Igbo" coup, partly on the basis that its leader, Major Nzeogwu , had grown up in the north and was Igbo in name only. Nevertheless, the murder of Nigeria's northern leaders led to pogroms in which 30,000 Igbos living in the north were killed. The bloodshed culminated in General Emeka Ojukwu's declaration in 1967 that the Igbos' south-eastern region would secede from a country in which his people "felt unwanted".
According to Chinua achebe Igbos weren't mere casualties of war, Achebe insists, but victims of calculated genocide.
Reactions
Apart from Achebe putting out half truths as far as this action is concerned, it is amazing and tantamount to intellectual dishonesty for him to incorrigibly wanting to hold Obafemi Awolowo alone responsible for the Federal Government decisions under Colonel Yakubu Gowon during those years and obviously unwilling to hold Chief Alex Ekweme equally responsible for the crimes committed against Nigerians during the Shehu Shagari era! This is not just intellectual dishonesty on the part of the “intellectual” Achebe, it is hypocrisy of the highest order. Remi oyeyemi ( Sahara Reporters)
I found There was a country a rewarding, profound, intellectually stimulating journey and the sort of work EVERY NIGERIAN SHOULD READ. If only wishes were horses, then beggars would be riders, the old cliche reminds us. Nena commented on guardian.co.uk
There are many international observers who believe that Gowan’s actions after the war were magnanimous and laudable. There are tons of treatises that talk about how the Igbo were wonderfully integrated into Nigeria. Well, I have news for them: the Igbo were not and continue not to be reintegrated into Nigeria, one of the main reasons for the country’s continued backwardness, in my estimation. Chimamanda Adichie.
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