A PEEP INTO CHINUA ACHEBE’S
‘There was a country’
- By Iheanetu Clarkson Evans
Africans often say that what ten young people struggle to see from
the top of the palm tree has already been seen by an old wise man seating under
the tree. Chinua Achebe in his magnum opus Things Fall Apart captured in the
simplest readable language the way of life of the typical African Igbo and his
philosophy before the interception of western culture which crawled in via
religious trepidation wearing coats of many colors (The bible and the sword)
with sheath guard..
Through that novel scholars of African literature and history
adapted the stories of Achebe to their own local scene and landed with a
corroboration of fact that he only used his Igbo stage as an aperture into other
Africanoid setting. That most widely read African literature or historical
fiction today was at earlier time peddling and being to be accepted for
publication.
Achebe in all his work has always found subtle inclinations that
arouse indebt curiosity and intellectual quislings of the third mind. In his
latest entry ‘There was a country’ which was his personal history of what led
to Biafra. I wish I could have been permitted
to use the cliché ‘No longer at ease when the centre can not hold’
Chinalumuogu ‘Chinua’ like the thorough stories teller we know he
is started by taken us through brief history of who we are, were we are coming
from end were he through we should be going to as a people.
He captured this in his introductory page which definitely is not
my priority in this wobbling critique, though we know it is very important to
understand the very essence of the entire happening and like he said in his
Igbo proverb
‘A man who does not know where the rain started to beat him can
not say where or how he dried his body; by this idiom the writer attempts to
prepare the mind of the reader to follow the lines one after the other,
considering in my personal view that every egusi pot of soup was forcefully
concord with different helpless ingredient merged together to accept a blend of
edible delicacy or concoction as the case may be.
But in ‘there was a country’ I see a big pot porri of some thing
that looks like the egusi soup which is regarded as Nigeria’s most widely eaten
dish or National soup if you like to call it that way.
Whenever I want to read a new book, I start by first and fore most
admiring the cover page even though I have come to learn that cover pages are
like the city wagons, the outside might be yellow and the inside blurred.
Then I would pan through the synopsis and the content page haven
oiled my appetite, I would now conjure my reading space to see if it can create
an accommodation for intellectual assimilation into my medulla oblongata,
depending on my perception of the book, but with a writer such as the Prof. I
did not even realize I had been hypnotized before the conclusion of the search
flinging.
Achebe in this work took us through the six centuries of the
capitulation of Africa by the Caucasians captors and another less than a
century of political tutoring ,toddling and meandering of our self chauffeuring
of the political ship amidst strong stormy waves of the Atlantic ocean and its
dangerous surge into our own natural dwelling.
The writer seized the opportunities of the diary to give us his
biography and family literature which he had not done in much of his books that
I have read except if he has an autobiography.
That was noble in the sense that a lot of his Faithfull’s now have
that information provided in reasonable detail and enviable humility as the
case may be.
One notable striking future of Professor Achebe is his powerful
retentive memory to note down even minutest details that could have been
ignored by chain browsers of today’s social network” Internet” from his primary
school through to Government College Umuahia and the university college Ibadan.
I spotted the writer’s lucid passion for description of human character in such
friendly manner which is not quite common with most writers. This remarks
actually informed my opinion to attempt a re-view of this latest bride of our
big master; this same attribute in another clime could be misinterpreted to
mean playing the ostrich hence in Nigeria. We say ‘one man’s food is
another man’s poison.’
The part one of the book was also saddled with the responsibility
ushering us into the body or subject matter of the main topic of the book.
Here we observe the powers of the application of wisdom in
narrating stories, his un-eruptive use of metaphors, his love for synonyms,
poetic rhymes and moderate usage of acronyms to dowse down tension, in what
could have been a conflagration of chemical reactions on burning comptemporary
issues, such as the delicate stories of the personality of the Igbo, a large
ethnic tribe that have remained a subject qualms within the socio political
geometry of Nigeria even since the penetration of the British colonial rule
into this shores about two centuries ago.
Chinua, broke this perception into a clearer understandable
language in page 74 “A History of Ethnic Tension and Resentment”, in
which he summarized the republican and egalitarianistic tradition of Ndiigbo as
a big chunk of their been misunderstood by other ethnic tribes whom he
described as unhindered and hampered by religious and traditional cleavages (my
own word). His metaphorical use of the termite to describe the nature of the
Igbo spirit have very much captured or qualified the phrase resentment and
likening the behavior f the Igbo to the Jews is almost in Ernest saying ‘two by
two’ or ‘ten and ten pence’.
It is very difficult containing the termite because their
organizational drill makes them the most efficient of all creatures created by
God.
Amongst the Igbo, you may likely have read or come across people
bearing tittles such as “Ijere” which means tiger ant.
A study of the behavior of the tiger ant in general tells you how
hard working and restless these creatures can be, nothing can be as exciting as
taking time to watch the construction of an ant hill mould, sure the
organizational skills thrilled you. Achebe told us how the Igbo emerged
out of their tick rain forest to occupy almost every sector of the Nigeria
economy, even though western education and Christianity had it a tedious war
before it penetrated into their clans.
Furthermore, in preparing our minds to
understand the nitty gritty of future events that took place, the writer
reminded the reader that their had been clashes against the Igbo as far back as
1952 which is to say that the 15th January
1966 coup led by an Igbo officer was only a scratch that opened the sore of the
leper or adding salt to injury(but not mental injury) Chinua Achebe’s mindset
through his narration of the Kaduna Nzeogwu led coup in page 78-80 speaks
saintly against the five man military mutineers, who through their radical
perhaps excess patriotic zeal painted with radical impatience pulled down
the first republic, while their action consumed the lives of some front line
politicians in the north and a few in the west without a significant touch on
any eastern politician. Commenting on the acrimonies that had been deepened as
a result of the coup, the writer curiously lashed the plotter for stirring the
dampen muddy water which provoked the throttle in the mouth of the occidental
deity to request for the blood of the military supreme commander of the Army,
major general J.T.U. Agu-ironsi who whisked the strum off the young
revolutionaries before using his head to pay for the sins of Kaduna
Nzeogwu and his cohorts, Achebe minute on page 81 that the Arewa(northern)
elders has handed a list of demands to the Aguyi Ironsi led government which
startled the six footer supreme commander to suspect that his earlier ban of
tribal associations throughout the nation immediately on assumption of office
may have fallen into deaf ears.
This request by the northern elites pushed
the head of state to embark on a nationwide tour to cool embers of the people,
a process which became his waterloo in the hands of his own bodyguards along
with his host, the courageous lieutenant colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, who was
governor of the western region . Though the professor did not hide to inform us
that the counter coup was carried out by northern soldiers but he seems to have
shielded the names of the actors even though some of the actors themselves have
come out arrogantly fearlessly in the media to own up without any sign of
remorse. Theophilus Danjuma has boasted his out escape several times over.
Murtala Mohammed who bowed to colonel Dinka’s archery during
the summer of 1976 also flaunted his role in the counter coup. Covering or
sweeping over names can not help our history at this times of reconciliation,
even though we know nature has its own natural way of paying back anyone who
has desperately taken the life that only the omnipotent can create.
The reportage of our past history in its
true perspective is very important as the lessons to be learned could help us
build a better society that would show respect to individual cum collective
feelings. The pogrom which I always personally refer to as the extermination
remains the saddest and most excruciating human height of animism propelled by
savage cruelty and envy using Colin legume’s London observer newspaper report
or account of the killings that took place all over the northern region of
Nigeria meant only been economical with the actual number of people that were
slained. Northern Nigeria occupies more than 750,000 square kilometers of Nigeria or 68%
of the total land area. There is no way the reporter could have gotten any
number that would be accurate. I rather may consider the 50,000 that the
federation of Igbo towns union came out with; if at all there is any sense or
remedy in even mentioning numbers. Since the slaughtering of Igbo lives and the
sacrifice of her blood has ever since continued to be used to appease the
deities of major northern towns till date. Though I have observed recently that
the Hausa, Fulani gods are fed up with the consumption of stubborn Igbo blood
that has only intoxicated the deities to the extent of driving their spirit
bizarre, it neither yielded them any financial growth or earned them physical
mental balance, rather deficiency of ideas and hyper active disorders which has
now resulted in demanding for the calm blood of Kataf, Jukuns, Igala,Tivs
Birons, Alago and all the other minorities in the north.
Page 91 “The nightmare begins” This topic
to me appears too vague if in the right sense it was talking about the meeting
colonel Ojukwu had with eastern politicians and elders of thought of the twenty
sixth may. I know the writer possibly intends to draw the attention of the
reader towards the impending war but I wonder why he chose this catch phrase
instead of a direct topic that would capture the essence of the meeting. This
is very important in order to make Iconoclasts’ know that the war was not a
unilateral decision by 33 years old Colonel Ojukwu, who was the leader of Biafra only because of his position then as the military
governor of the east seconded by the fact that he was bold and very passionate
about the Igbo course.
Biafra was in the right sense, the region
that had the core of intelligentsias in Nigeria. .Professionals were not
lacking in any field. The leaders of thought representing the different Igbo
sub divisions, Ijaw, Ibibio, Efik, Ogoja, Ogoni where all present to take the
decision which led to the succession and declaration for ‘Biafra’.
Ojukwu could not have hypnotized the
entire eastern region into a war without the support of the people. Do not
forget that more than half the number of Nigeria
freedom fighters who fought for the independence of Nigeria came from the eastern
region.
I also expected the writer to be more
elaborate here instead of just pinching the surface of one key area that have
divided the Igbo ethnic nation into political dichotomies as a result, states
creation which were indiscriminately carved in order to put a wedge in the
relationship amongst the Igbo themselves visa avis the other ethnic minorities
living in the eastern region. For instance, most of the Igbo within oil
producing areas near the coast or boarder lines were removed from the core Igbo
state in order to build a friction amongst the people. Example are some
villages in Egbema were carved into river state, Ahoda, Obigbo now (Oyigbo),
Etche, Ikwenne, Ogba, Ndioni, Ndoki, Elele, Omalelu, etc.
This confusion was indeed a perfect master
stroke designed to tear the people and their est. spirit de corp. Though
General Yakubu Gowon has since accepted this milieu as a grand design to land
lock and compress the Igbo into a much smaller land area in order to avert any
incoming insurgency by Ojukwu and his Igbo brotherhood.
Part 2: The Nigerian-Biafran war Achebe
informs us of the 185 Army officers of eastern origin who were slaughtered in
retaliation against the January 15th 1966
coup, led by Nzeogwu. He also chronicled aptly the other events that followed
including the mass return of Igbo and their families back into the eastern
region; The OAU partial intervention scheming which became a charade of the
first order. The triangle game of UK,
France and USA. Of course every ardent African
enthusiast knows that the overall interest of these Caucasians in Africa is the natural resources principally before any
other primodiality. Human life means nothing to them except if it has value to
their overall interest. For instance, Achebe tells us on page 99 that Michael
Leapman, a reporter with the independent news uncovered what he must have
termed as Harold Wilson’s “secret agenda”. To us in Biafra
as it were, we are no longer snoop rats that you easily trap with cheap baits.
We already knew that the sole immediate
British interest was and is still to balkanize us for their own selfish
interest. The Brits have always been known for this chess game. They mastered
the act in the last half of the millennium when they rushed out of their
ancient cocoon and timidity to grab a place in the African sun after under
studying the philosophies of the Greeks and medieval Roman
Empire. I do not give a hoot whatever Rick Fountain of BBC was
able to uncover a secret report about Biafra’s so called intrigue or what have
you, what is utmost undoubtful is that Britain and other Caucasians as the case
may be are just ordinary leech or at most wood maggot (eruru) in Igbo language
who come as parasites into your bone marrows, when they finish sucking you dry,
they live you to die with leukemia.
Our very revered writer surely brought
these schemes of the western hunks in order to attract the curiosity and intellectual
discuss of Africanists to the front burner of our socio-economic politics. The
only thing that disturbs me is that not only have they completely usurped
continually the natural resources of the continent but they have also white
washed the mentality of an average African to a level of servitude except if it
can ever be possible again to have the likes of the Nkuruma, Sankaras, Patrice
Lumuba, Jerry, the former Biafran leader Ojukwu and a few other radical,
Madiba,Rawlins,Albert Luthuli etc ,.
It is interesting to know that while the
fratricidal war were brewing, creative writers still found space to carry on
with their intellectual passion which of course provided room for academic
discuss and more over opening information flow to people who had been placed in
the dark with happenings in the Nigerian theatre. He dedicated ten quality
pages to give account of the involvement of notable Nigerian men and women of
letters, some of them suffered incarceration for their effort to broker out
peace, Wole Soyinka vividly come to mind, having spent more than two
years in prison walls for a frame up of espionage in favor of Biafra.
The poetical chief priest and wordsmith of
university college Ibadan,
Christopher Okigbo, translated his heaven’s gate master piece passionately with
his precious blood at the Nsukka battle field within six months of the war.
Till date Christopher is still only known and remembered amongst literary world
which is also been revisited here. Achebe mentioned virtually the position of
most intellectual writers and their role during the hostilities but one
spectacular hint noted in his bit by bit narration of these literary gurus.
There fraternity elucidates misery and candors of tight relationship. That bond
existed among the fellers irrespective of their different ethnicities and
cultural cleavage. As a mere larva of human specie at the period in
Achebe`s description, I began to ruminate in retrospect the type of society
Nigeria would have been prior to the pulling down of the first republic,
especially here in southern Nigeria, it could have been probably something
close to my family dinner each time my siblings arrived home during any of the
Christmas holidays in my village some where in Mbaise southern Igbo land,
Nigeria.
On page 118-126 of part 2
The major Nigerian actors in the conflict
“Ojukwu and Gowon”. The writer attempts to carry out a dramatic personae of the
two key actors other than what a lot of us followers of our country’s
contemporary issues already know, the incept into this two great gentleman of
our nation could be well likened to that old political rivalry between Caesar
and Brutus’ according to the tales of William Shakespeare.
From another perception I read in the
classical novel “The prince” Nicole Machiavelli that princes are not often
times born hence princes can also be made.
One of the salient factors that
underscored the personal wrangling between the two men definitely had to do
with class and social status.
Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu was by every means
and standard a prince of the first order, the princely background of the
Ojukwus of Nnewi is no doubt pulled from a rooted blue blooded royalty. Sir
Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, Emeka’s father was the son of an ancient high chief in
Nnewi, a town within the centre of Igbo heart land. Sir Louis himself of course
was the Nigerian lord of the mansion whose wealth transverse the entire nation
beyond such was the background of Emeka, the oxford trained historian who went
to join the army in order to carve an entirely different niche away from his
father’s strong influence. He was of course a spoilt brat who had the puffy
tradition of a typical, English boy. Emeka was by every inch princely both in
character and action. He was also humane and very principled; to his people he
was an alter ego of some sort. He loved his people especially the Igbo for whom
he scarified elitism and personal comfort as was epitomized in their defense
from total annihilation, with out compromising for any selfish interest.
Gowon on the other hand came from a humble
average family in Pankshin Plateau State;
his parents were Christian missionaries who spent much of their period
evangelizing in core Hausa areas of the north particularly, the ancient city of
Zaria.
I personally know that in the days of
Yakubu Gowon many northerners did not take to education and the
privileged ones who managed to go up to standard six in the elementary
school either took to soldiering or worked at the several tin mines as clerks,
for Gown who was also called ‘Jack’ to have gone to secondary school and later
as tradition enlisted into the military academy means that his parent would
have been part of the first set of educated people in the north “No wonder why
they could work as missionaries”
Children of missionaries like Achebe also
are often times brought up under very stern tutelage and religious discipline,
that could explain the high level discipline and charisma of Yakubu Gowon which
surely endured him to very important people, who had soft spot for him more
over as lock and destiny would have it going by Achebe`s story, Gowon must have
been one of the few person that stepped into the right place at the right time,
especially when you consider the antecedents that brought him to power and all
the chess games and machinations. You could also conclude my earlier reference
on Nicole Machiavelli’s novel titled ‘The prince’ here Gowon from a humble
background has been made a prince that deserves all the special gifts, like
Agathocles the Sicilian rose to become the king of Syracuse an ordinary son of
a potter. Though this example are abound very much in Africa
just like our own brother ‘Oboma’
After the personal analysis of the two
princes, the writer noted a few salient factors which could have contributed to
the friction or disagreement to include the personal ego of each of the
principal character, the propaganda war, the fear of total domination by each
of the Regions races. The interest of external bodies such as
Britian, Russia, the USA etc.
In my summation I feel that first and
foremost the two men, giving their age as at the time of the crises could not
have taken a better position than each of them took because we could also liken
them to the youth of today and with that draw up an articulate comparison of
characterization even though they were very intelligent but one could still see
very vividly some of the pragmatic mistakes in decision taking for instance
Ojukwu’s refusal to accept the six hundred propound sterling offer by Britain
for relief supplies in protest to Britain`s double standard and open
military support for the Nigeria side. Even though the action could be seen
from another angle as heroism but some Biafrans saw it as arrogance; accepting
the aid probably could have reduced the pains of the suffering Biafran
civilians and children in particular, but what I expected of Britain was to ask
Nigeria to vacate the Biafran frontier which were solidly blockaded with the
assistance of British naval commanders at Oron and Eket on the south eastern
flank of Biafra. The British ab initio was the first to advice Gowon to scuttle
the Aburi peace accord for their own selfish interest.
As a matter of fact I personally saw the
British offer as share hypocrisy painted with a double edged sword. Ojukwu
definitely was not the sorth of person that such cheap sympathy could buy, what
Biafra needed was empathy and not omelets.
Senator Francis Ellah being one of the arc
leaders of Biafra in his opinion felt the Biafra could have accepted the
chances or opportunities of entering into a confederal system of
government during the 1968 March peace meeting here we are not told which of
the meetings because we were all aware of the Aburi accord, that also
recommended a confederation and how it was scuttled by the federal government
advisors and the British high commissioner Sir, Cumming Bruce it’s possible
that Biafra thought meeting the meeting might end up being another mediocre fun
fare that would never be respected.
Gowon may not be completely culpable either
because; he acted only on the advices of his advisors, such as Chief Obafemi
Awolowo Enahoro, the British high commissioner. It was very clear that Gowon at
a time during the pogrom concluded that their was no basis for one Nigeria.
Suddenly he received an encouragement from the British high commissioner and
Chief Obafemi Awolowo who threatened that if the Eastern region secedes the
west would also have no choice than to follow suit. Further more, there may not
have been the degeneration of friction leading to succession if the second
pogrom had not taken place.
Achebe did not dwell much into the second
pogrom may be in order not to over whip emotions on page 127 the writer used a
short poem “The first shot” to summarize the first military action taken by the
federal government in order to stop Biafra from breaking away. We were
also told us how the action got a rebuff of strong resistance at Nsukka
and Ogoja axis by the Biafrans made up of a make shift three thousand army
returnees and volunteers from the University of Nigeria who suffered terrible
casualties due to lack of weapon and adequate training. Nigeria also quickly landed the shores of
Calabar and Eket through the 3rd marine commander led by colonel Benjamin
Adekunle fighting from the water front and sealing off sea access for Biafra, while it looked as if the new republic was going
to collapse in few days. Ojukwu and his think tank lunched what they considered
‘A way out by using the Mid Western Axis. This was a perfect tactics to capture
Gowon in Lagos but very unfortunately colonel
Banjo and Ifeajuna who led the operation later had their own plans as they got
to Ore town
in present day Ondo state. The same Banjo and Ifeajuna who scuttled the
Nzeogwu’s coup a year ago, by failing to carry out their details in the Eastern
Region over flimsy excuses..
Some have critiqued the Biafra’s invasion
of the Midwest with out a reciprocal thought
of the survival of the eastern civilians and children who had been bashed
through the northern and eastern frontier of the enclave.
Had the leaders of the Midwest mission
carried out their instruction to the letter, it was possible the war could have
taken a different dimension of total dissipation of the country between north
and south or at worst the Yoruba in their natural diplomatic nature could have
opted out of the brouhaha or forced to fight alongside the Biafrans. It was
very unfortunate that this master stroke of a plan collapsed due to the lowsy
nature of Banjo and Ifeajuna and their egocentric zest and indecision at the
sleepy town of Ore, in the present day Ondo state, which was regarded by most
Igbo travelers as half way from Onicha either to or from Lagos then capital and
Eldorado of the nation.
I could not comprehend any reason why the
Midwest would not have been part of the conflict considering the many presence
of their indigenes in both Nigeria
and Biafra armies. The region being a melting
point of ethnic correlation and cultural diffusion between the three major
tribes of Nigeria
certainly could not have been continually ignored in such emotionally driven
crises of that magnitude. Do not forget that a reasonable number of the top
commanders of the Biafra army came from the Igbo speaking part of the Midwest including Nzeogwu who led the first coup on
January 15th 1966.
A John de st. Jores report of the
ramshackle nature of the Biafra army tells
that the easterners were not ready for any war.
In as much as some Midwesterners were not
happy with the Biafran invasion for certain obvious reasons, it was never
reported in any media that the Biafran Soldiers were belligerents. Though their
may have been some odd propaganda as it were in every war situation but nobody
ever said that the Biafra soldiers were found in in descent act such as looting,
rapping, civilian assaults. This meant that they were more business like or
focused towards their aim unlike what the Nigeria army commanders owned up
they did to Igbo civilians with out any sign of remourse.
The killings of civilian male adults at
Asaba and other small nearby villages and the rapping of Igbo ladies including
married women could have been more viciously projected by the writer whose
words are respectively taken as statement on marble for posterity.
These atrocities could have been taken as
war crimes in some other climes where human life is valued. General Harunas`s
obstinate response at the Oputa panel is just a characteristic reflection of
the current goings on in the northern part of Nigeria, where more than ten
thousand souls have fallen to the ethnic religious killings from 1976AD to
2013AD.
Through out the war the Nigerians army
carried out mass killings rapes, looting and other act of brigandry in all the
cities they captured. All these were reported by international war co-respondents
across the globe.
Page 141 through 149 of part two
The author rejuvenated our mind set with
the Biafra’s’ day celebration of 1969, which exhibited the very essence of the
Biafra revolution through a perfectly crafted document put together by a group
carefully selected intelligentia, led by Professor Chinualumogu Achebe and
presented before am international live audience by the people’s general himself
and also aired on radio and television. The document was later christened
Ahiara declaration because the Umuahia, capital of Biafra
was already under siege of being attacked by air raid. This scholastic paper
should have being published as an appendix in this book in order to educate and
further ignite the curiousness of Nigerians who where not privileged to be
around during that period of our history. It could have also aided the African
renaissance movement to appreciate the very essence of the Nigerian civil war
and the injustices perpetuated by the western nations on the continent of Africa. Most times Nigerians and Igbo in particular were
carried away by the oratorical skills of general Odumegwu Ojukwu than the very
essence of the message delivered.
In page 149-174 the writer took the reader
on a rendezvous’ of what constituted Biafra, its people, strength, economy and
what have you, I just want to correct an impression that have been sold into
the heads of a lot of Nigerians since after the civil war. That Ikwere and
Egbema are Igbo people who speak Igbo as a first language in their own native dialect
like every other Igbo sub set. I am only reacting to the ethnic tribes
that were out lined on page 150 of the book “ There was a country’ I am sure
this must have been a minor over sight or the same jaundiced creations that
came with civil war survival strategy and political orchestration as earlier
admitted by general Gowon.
Achebe used this book to inform some
iconoclast that Biafra was a full fledged
sovereign nation with every organ of government in place and functional through
out the duration of the war. Probably it could haven been the first truly
African nation, created by Africa, and ruled
by Africans with African renaissance beaming all over her. It must have amazed
any third party out side the Biafra enclave
how the embattled nation was able to put on stiff resistance considering all
odds.
Achebe here attempted to capture the main
essence of the true Biafra patriotism which
has its plate form resting on the will of the people to survive contraptions.
The military strength of Biafra as explained originally depended more on
individual heroism and team spirit rather than the usual military war heads and
arsenal, this could be seen from all the war front where individuals displayed
exceptional skills, at least the writer was fair in mentioning certain officers
like, the legendry Joe Achuzie “Air raid who was also known as the ‘Hannibal’He
was a Nightmare on the federal on all the fronts. Mention was earlier made of
col. Archibong the trotter who fell on the south eastern flank to Adekunle`s third
marines.
The Abagana ambush was indeed spectacular
because in modern war fare intelligence and logical calculations are very
important in as much as an army could parade the sophiscation of their military
war heads; its also a mile stone but more advantageous when the brain is in
focus. No story is told of the Nigeria civil war without the Abagana combat
except that no writer including Achebe was able to explain how Murtala Mohammed
escaped after losing nearly all his men at this sector, was he sacrificing his
men to be slaughtered by Ojukwu dare devil Ogbunigwe (Bucket) that rugged
scientific ingenuity built by the Biafra research and production agency.
Although Achebe was not a Nigerian-Biafran civil
war correspondent so to speak but he has given an account that surpasses most
of the other writers or at best corroborates their dairies. Just that on the
Abagana ambush, I did not read about the escapades of corporal Nwafor that much
talked about NCO or rating whose boldness and gallantry Madiebo and a few
others eulogized, I also know that as a little boy in Biafra
my uncle who fought in this sector also talked about corporal Nwafor. It would
have been a good adventure story for young people in military service. The
writer talked about Biafran organization of freedom fighters BOFF without a
mention of the Boys company (Those were young boys who were trained in the act
of intelligence gathering or espionage) .
These group of boys, and girl were in the
age bracket of six and fourteen years depending on their intelligence and
maturity, I accompanied my elder brother a couple times to recky and I must
tell you it was very dangerous and interesting, in fact I am scripting together
some of my own juvenile stories for publication.
The use of propaganda as an instrument of
war came to its full glare with the Nigeria Biafra civil war though Achebe did
not bother himself with the rhetoric of the commentators from both sides of the
divide never the less we learnt from This book, that the Nigerian civil war was
about the first fully televised conflict in history with horrible scenes,
pictures and agony of blood lettings from the war front.
Many years after the conflict, Nigerians
were still shrouded with painted fibbing which beclouded the mindsets of all
people to believe that all was well, while the injured were forced to swallow
their pains and agonies internally. Achebe re-ignited the genres sensitivity of
the average intellectual Nigerian, with information concerning the
international coverage of the civil war both by electronic and print media,
more especially that glaring view of the horribly starved Biafra children who
were more or less better described as walking ghosts, a situation most people
from other climes thought never existed but only on the barrel of Ojukwu’s
propaganda machine gun via his commentary team of Chukwu mereije and Okon Oko
Ndem. On the federal side Enahoro led the propaganda dispelling machine, a role
he confessed he regretted playing only during the June 12th 1993, annulled general election.
Achebe brought to the fore a lot of issues that
remained unsung by the other commentators of the war, either because of his
defiant consummate craft of acquiring information or his crass passion as a
player during the imbroglio coupled by his unapologetic nature which he
displayed all through in his style of writing. For instance, the role Harold
Wilson’s government played to set Nigeria
on fire and his open pretence to media reports concerning the genocide of
civilians’ populace in Biafra and the sea
blockade which caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Biafran under aged
children. It is interesting to know, though disappointingly that Wilson
hypocritically visited Nigeria during the conflict along with his battalion of
marines on board British war ship “fearless” a trip that was snubbed by the
Biafran government for failing to sail to the eastern harbor and also
addressing the critical issues of the war rather than his extended Greek gift
of invitation which Ojukwu and Biafra did not recognize as a worthy olive
branch. He only embarked on this journey with his battle ready marines just to
create or Smake insigna in order to win back the mindsets of British people who
had been disappointed over his role in setting the conflagration.
Wilson’s action never deferred from the Britain
original imperialist agenda in all her colonies, except that in the case of
Biafra their was the apprehension that a leverage for her might not be of a
sure benefit to the United Kingdom over all interest, since it became glaringly
clear that Ojukwu’s arrogance towards the Caucasians in general many not allow
the queen and her subjects free meal should Biafra succeeds in her ambition. It
is important to also note that though the ordinary Britain may have condemned the
action or pretext of the British government led by Wilson but they failed to
realize that, their country ever since becoming a nation independent of the
ancient roman empire less than a thousand years ago have always depended on the
economics and fortunes extracted from their newly acquired colonies which we
all know helped in cutting the teeth of industrial revolution of Europe, which
began around the sixteenth century.
Away from the British and western partiality we
were told that Nigerians of the two divide made several independent effort to
end the war through peaceful resolutions, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe the first
president of Nigeria and also an emissary of his native land Biafra proposed a
fourteen point peace plan to the united nation through a lecture he delivered
at the Oxford University in February 1969.
It was instructive to note that the beautiful and
impartial peace proposal offered by the great Zik was snubbed and termed not
implementable, one could not have been amazed by this rejection considering the
fact that Britain wanted a total defeat of Biafra military mean while the
submissions of the great sage was later indirectly adopted today by the united
nations for their different war torn countries and theatres of war as the
panacea to the squabbles.
The united nation remained very adamant through
out the imbroglio, hob knobbing pretentiously to issues of glaring war crimes
against Biafra civilians and glossing over our
rages by international civil societies.
On page 216 the writer attempted to clear the air
on the views or opinions of most ignorant Igbo population who did not
understand the role of Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe during the Biafra
struggle.
Not withstanding that Zik was the greatest of the
titans who secured political independence for the Nigerian federation and also
the architect of political compromise who convinced southern Nigerian delegate
to the constitutional conferences to exercise patience in order to
accommodate the northern part of Nigeria who at that time where still naïve for
self rule.Chinua made us understand that apart from not been informed about
going into a war which though biafrans were forced into; he, Zik was the one
who wrote the Biafra national anthem which he adapted from one of his poems.The
pathological extermination or genocide carried on his ethinic Igbo race prior
to the civil war challenged his inner will and reluctance which helped Biafra
secure some diplomatic recognition (see requiem Biafra) a book writen by
Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe himself. Achebe further tells us that Ojukwu confessed not
involving the former president because of his compromising nature.
Thus true to Ojukwu’s thought that Zik would not
have supported arms struggle or cessation as a panacea; during an interview he
granted journalist after the war, yet the same Zik worked as an emissary for
Biafra until middle summer of 1969 when he felt that the suffering and wastage
of lives of the innocent Biafra people had become too unbearable for the war to
continue and more over Ojukwu`s obstinate refusal to accept certain concessions
in order to help the war come to an end. From the writer’s account of which I
have reviewed here and probably expounded, one could see the difference in the
dramatic personae of the two most prominent Igbo who shared the same political
and spiritual faith but divided slightly in ideology which could have been
influenced by the difference in age and individual personalities. This argument
would for a long time to come remain a chess puzzle since the two men have
crossed and transverse into another realm.
This memoire made us to understand and appreciate
the intricacies of wars. On page 217 through to 227, of the book under my
review, we began to see what appeared like an array of finality as the federal
side who had been badly critised by event theorists and gesticulators now
capitalized on the frailty and vulnerability of the Biafra enclave to carry out
a re-organization and exchange of banters in new command orders which saw a
timely imminent surrender by the Biafra armed forces who by this time had
reached a crescendo of collapse. The introduction of the new commanders was
actually a genuine tactics.
Considering the fact that the former commanders
had become drought of new ideas to continue the campaigns to any logical
conclusion. I also see the new commanders as men of destiny considering that
the Biafra enclave had shrunk into less than one fifth of the original seize,
after about twenty seven months of fierce fighting, bombardments and hunger
strafing, it is very important to always state the obvious in order, not to
pass very erroneous impression of our history to our youth. May I use this
opportunity to also state that the most respected of the federal commanders was
the black scorpion whose real name is ‘Benjamin Adekunle’ of the third
marine; whose command dealt the most devastating blow that wreaked the entire
water front of Biafra and her hinterland cities of Port Harcort, Aba, Owerri,
Ahoda, etc were it not for the very early escaped of the black scorpion and his
firm grip of the conquered territories or if you like liberated areas,
definitely the final out come of the war would not have been the same.
The black scorpion was in deed a terrible
nightmare and his nemesis on the Biafra side
was Achuzie Joe “The Hannibal”. This remark on Adekunle is very crucial and may
evoke some radical critics and emotion. The military stake holders and social
commentators said the man was robbed of the medal he deservedly won because of
his apolitical nature instead of the other hullabaloos’ brought against him.
No wonder why most writers on the federal side
have not properly eulogized the man the way Biafra’s
or Igbo sing the ‘Hannibal’ “Joe Achuzie”.
The fall of Owerri finally into the hands of the
federal army was of course the load that broke the camels back and this came
shortly after the epic Ahiara declaration of 1969 in which the peoples general
Emeke Odumegwu Ojukwu delivered a world press conference and also to the entire
Biafra people the reason behind the Biafra revolution. It is not very important
boring us with the adventurous capturing or kidnapping of the oil workers in
Kwale (Ukuani) now Delta state, who were reported as playing the espionage role
for the federal side, the simple reason for this is that oil workers, miners
and explorers all over the third world are most times only after their selfish
interest and more over they forecast a swing of the pendulum.
‘The last flight’: Ojukwu in my view remained a
hero in the eye of his fellow Igbo, most especially because he survived the war
to give them hope. Though in the eye of detractors death or capture of the Biafra leader could have been victory or faith
accomplished but this to the average Igbo could have meant total defeat and
endless annihilation of the black Jews. Achebe was very diplomatic in this
analysis else he could have very sternly defended the exile better than I am
trying to do here. I am very adamant because I witnessed the war as a little
boy whose senses were very much in tact and responsive to stimulations of the heat.
Come to think of it, if Boko Haram and the muslim
north could be this brutal on the Igbo and none Christians today, then it means
it could have been Golgotha strode if Biafra had been all round defeated
and if Ojukwu had died on the process.
The presence of Ojukwu gave Ndiigbo a Hugh
confidence of hope, that kind of confidence a child exudes when he sees his
father and that accounted for the larger than life seize image every real Igbo
portrayed of him during his funeral. Let me finally point out that the
slaughtering of Ndiigbo and Christians in the north in the last three years
consistently without any retaliation was because the big man became very frail
and finally bowed to the cold hands of death and his shoes has not fitted
anyone else.
Going back to the core of my peep before my
emotions on Boko Haram insurgency, Chinua Achebe re-invigorated history and
enmity on page 226 and 227 when he took the reader through a panorama of the
final surrounded and defeat or collapse of Biafra with approximately three
million souls perished and quantum of children suffering of kwashiorkor and
malarial, even many months after the end of hostilities in which your
reviewer was a partial victim as my two younger brothers who were even more
vulnerable appeared like living skulls of the horror tales, quoting the writer
he said “The notoriously incompetent Nigerian government was not responding to
those in need quickly enough” and as if the war was still going on Achebe
writes that instead of helping the dying souls the Gowon administration went on
to ban relief agencies who brought succor to the paled children thereby living
their little soul bare and wondering while the gods are so harsh on them.
It was
during this period that I saw the first horrible night mare in my life as a
very young boy in the first week of January 1970 ‘A dark Nigerian solider with
deep facial mark was busy raping a lady at the Connor of our compound when the
father of the lady courageously hacked the man’s neck off his body, the first
time I saw immorality and cruelty do the dance of shame’Oh my God! The lady was
perplexed perhaps, while the foolish soldier’s body gushed out blood like waste
water from the drain pipe and so it was rape of young ladies all over, until
this incidence which I personally witnessed. Rape has become part of the
agonies of a defeated people at most war thorn countries to the extent that it
has almost been accepted by war generals as booties or adventure. Some of these
abnormalities were not reported in Achebe’s memoire and other writers of the Nigeria civil
war.
A good number of Igbo and eastern ladies where
forcefully taken or adopted for marriage during this period by Nigeria
soldiers some of them are the wives of the army generals today. However the war
came to a complete end with General Gowon’s magnimous “no victor no vanquish”
pronouncement, there’s no doubt the event of surrender and signing of MOU could
have drawn up a sonorous plausible emotional feeling amongst the two
parties to the armistice who had been at battle with each other for about three
years.
The exact date was January 15th 1970, Biafra delegation
was led by the indefatigable second in command of the Biafra army and the chief
of army staff, major General Philip Effiong while the federal military government
was led by General Gowon and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the solemn ceremony took
place at Dodan Barracks Ikoyi, Lagos.
It was important to high light this over time for
national conscience and re-armament of the Nigerian people, especially those
who did not learn the lesson of the civil war and zealots who are head bent on
igniting troubles. The writer left us with some hypothesis on page 228“THE
QUESTION OF GENOCIDE”
Except for the fact that the writer categorically
stated that he only wanted to scratch the surface and maybe evoke a little
curiousness which was not different from what took place within the first few
weeks of the publication.
“Truth is the worst wound on the soul of man, it
is also the bitter pill that initiates the conscience” Usman Danfodio equally
said that truth heals the conscience so people hate truth and would do every
thing possible to circumvent it irrespective of the weight and what it
portends.
Some very emotionally hypoactive people whose
passion for nation building is only driven by their immediate selfish interest
and ethnic jingoism, rushed into malicious attack of their much
celebrated author for the simple reason that the man responded to what they
regarded as dulci crux opus may be for want of time and a little spicing of the
soup with salman fish, I believe Achebe had provided all the answer to
this questions in subsequent pages of this book and more so in his earlier epic
publications, especially ‘A letter to my country men which was first publishes
over two decades ago when the great sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo was still alive.
The simple answers to the questions are:
(a) Yes the
Federal Government deliberately carried out genocide against the Igbo nation
using starvation as a weapon of war.
(b) Yes the
information blockade around the war was a calculated historical suppression in
desperate bid to deny the atrocities committed.
(c) The war has
not been discussed or taught to the young Nigerians forty years after it ended
because we are still been pricked and hunted by our inner conscience some
Nigerians believe that most of the incidence that took place are still too
fresh to be opened and as such may evoke a pocket of sentiment .While some of
the participants feel sober over the anomalies that led to the war a few key
players are still basking in the euphoria of their of their escapade during the
counter coup and the state sponsored ethnic massacre that claimed approximately
fifty thousand lives of eastern Nigerians mainly Igbo living in Northern
Nigeria which was the main fuel that caused the fire.
I
belonged to the former school of thought that objected the teaching of the
subject to our young ones, but with current events taken place and the
continuous political insurgency in the north which has claimed large
November of human lives and properties since the early eighties of
Maitacini,Shite and some other unidentifiable groups to the current Boko
Haram well over forty thousand souls may have gone to the grave beyond,so it
becomes imperative to open up a discussion on the issues that caused the first
conflagration in order for young Nigerians to appreciate the extent covered on
the course of Nation building; especially as we celebrate the first
centenary celebration of our amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria. If
we do not make this things open, we might be doomed to repeat the costly
mistakes of the past once again.
Chinua Achebe on page 229
through his profound argument and supported by
Other distinguished
war correspondents who recorded the scenes both on electronic and print
media.How ever this does not even all for a debate as most of the principal
actors on the federal side attest to the fact that you an not be fighting with
your enemy and expect to feed him fat.Iwould quite agree in toto with some schools
of thought in the east that the genocide was predicated on jihad and Islamic
extremist in the Nigerian army. In as much as this may not be completely false
especially when one considers the current Boko Haram desidents in the Northern
part of the country which had put a dagger in the throat of many innocent
Nigerians.My presumption personally is that the republican nature of the Igbo
which translates into in his dogged approach to material wealth acquisition,
education,Politice and fearless disposition on any subject irritates other
Nigerian tribes who in their docility and cowed tradition instigates envy and
acute hatred on the Black Jews of Africa.
The
religious and jihad notion comes out of the natural religious extremes or
indoctrinated religious extremes which has bugged Africa
and the rest of the world in the last one and half century. It is important to
inform those who might be reacting to this critique to understand that the Igbo
and the entire EASTERN Nigeria is almost an Island of approximately ninety
percent Christians, five percent free thinkers, four percent African religious
practice and one percent Islamic faithfully, mainly northern settlers. Though
Achebe equally provided answers to all the problematic questions, he raised by
citing the findings and opinions of most of the international observer to the
Nigeria-Biafra civil war. This could be seen on pages 230-232, but the
contribution I find most conclusive is that of Schlesinger in which he quoted
Richard Nixon, the American president’s as follow;Untill now effort to relieve
the Biafran people have been thwarted by the desire of the Central government
of Nigeria to pursue total and un conditional victory and the fear of the Igbo
(sic) people that surrender means atrocities and out right genocide. This
is not the time to stand on ceremony or to go through channels’ or to observe
the diplomatic niceties. The destruction of an entire people is an immoral
objective even in the most moral of wars. It can never be justified, it can
never be condoned’
It is
at least important to quote this statement even though the American Government
still did not consider any official form of diplomatic assistance to Biafra.
a.
The writer posed another hectic question ‘why ere there many small
arms used on the Biafran soil than during the entire five year period of world
war II?
b.
Why were there only a hundred thousand casualties on the much
large Nigeria
side compared with more than two million mainly children killed on the Biafran
side?
The answer to the first question is a classical
test that should be looked into by every patriotic African who is worried by
the on going exploitation in the continent.
My answer to the second question is principally
because the east was the main theatre of the war or battle field as the case
may be. After a thorough study in a previous research carried out by
the federation of Igbo journalist in 1994,it was assumed that
much of the casualties during the war, occurred in the following data
shown below. do not know if other person, group or organization have been able
to come up with a similar study; A data like this one is very key to our
historical development in order to always keep in accurate view our
national archives.
It might interest you to know that
the names of the six million Jews that were slaughtered during the Hitler led
genocide of European Jews are still in the Isreali museum till date in Tel Aviv
and Jerusalem.
This review is a further in put into areas that
were not covered internationally or may be as a result of the in availability
of data and research or what have you.
The number of actual cassualities have remain a
subject. In Nigeria
censors have never been accurate at any time as a result of my in
ordinate factors.
If the
population of eastern region stood at approximately fifteen million before the
war broke out in 1967 and were told that about three million people died which
probably represents about 30% of the population, mainly
20%Igbo,6%Efik-Ibibio-Anang,4% Ijaw,Ogoja and others..The Nigerian civil war
was in deed one of the bloodiest till date.A whooping three million souls on
the side of Biafra and about one hundred
thousand souls on the side of the federal forces whowere mainly soldiers. I
personally want to use this medium to ask what lesson we have learnt
.from all these? This is in the view
of the fact that we still behave as if we have never passed through such
a situation. We easily want to get agitated over none issues to the extent of even
raising friction on subjects we might not truly be grounded in.
The
Writer on course to make his readers understand some of the intricate
behavioral nature of a war and the win- win philosophy behind such indebt
acrimony cited an example on page 233 were Chief Obafemi Awolowo in his
position as the second in command and the vice chairman of the armed forces
ruling council of Nigeria made a statement that “all is well and fair in
a war and as such starvation is a weapon of war, I do not see why we should
feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight us harder” This was
actually the statement that broke the back of the People of eastern
Nigeria (Biafra) as the action behind the weight of those words soon
became the albatross that stood in the way of victory and survival
for the Biafran enclave, but I believe that was the best
tactical option that the old man could offer in other to keep
Nigeria together and also to justify his loyality; though contrary to his
earlier cry that if the east breaks away, he would have no choice than to also
liberate the people of western Nigeria, well that goes to support the age old
political quote that no matter all odds what is paramount here is permanent
interest.Awolowo prior to the out break of the civil war never pretended
to love the country more than his Yoruba ethnic Nation nor did he at any time
crave for the acceptance of the northern Region into the sailing ship; A lot of
people believed that this turn around of his original philosophy must have
challenged the throttling pen of Chinua Achebe to carry out the expose of
Chief Awolowo’s ambitious machinations. The Writer’s waddling naturally
attracted wild venoms from the apostles of the revered former Premier of
Western Nigeria; most of them would have preferred, the stories were not told
at all than to allow the paste to stain the name that is almost a deity in the
minds of some people. The heat generated by this controversy created a Hugh
deluge of intellectual discuss at one level of the lintel and another level of
ethnic sentiment which almost burnt the furnace of the fragile but platonic
relationship existing between the Igbo and the Yoruba. Much of what Achebe
pointed out here pertaining the Chief had also been
written much earlier during the life time of the Sage by many other
writers, including Achebe and other opinionates with out any brouhaha. I
wonder why their was so much fuss this time around, may be because
the Yoruba do not take kindly to any one taking ill about their dead
heroes and seconded by another fact that most of the people who made the
most noise were just the ordinary rumour hawkers who up till this moment have
not even seen a copy of the book neither do they have the patience to seat down
and read an Achebe`s novel which would not add any meal on their breakfast table.
In all I
noticed personally that the noise has helped the book to sell above expected
rate at a time when our reading culture had almost evaporated and condensed in
to the open air. Some have attempted to paint or label the revered novelist as
a Sectionist just for saying what a glaring fact.
We must
make a little effort to understand what constituted inclusive partisanism from
segregate exclusionism. Achebe like Wole Soyinka,Tai Solarin,Colonel Umar,Aminu
Kano,Maitama Sule,Fela Anikulakpo Kuti and even Kaduna Nzeogwu the leader of
the January 15th 1966 coup no doubt belong to that rear
specie of the avian which appears in winter to perch on the trunk of some large
Iroko trees with peaceful olive branch. There epistles may incite curiousness
and irritate some corrupt members of the society and small minds because they
contain radical truth which may stire the hornets
Their
personalities cut across ethnic boundaries but that is not to say they do not
have a traditional root from which their fore bears sprang up, they were
just patriotic Nationalist who thought freely with open mind, that
equally accounted for the reason why most of them who join political parties
end up often with the leftist reformationist parties with
radical doctrines including Achebe himself who co-founded the Peoples
Redemption Party (PRP) in the second Republic.
Achebe
was an Africanist with the redemptionist fang, who woke up from the wink of our
plural trance, to openly challenge the obnoxious authority of Western colonialism
and sent it to the converse to the chagrin of our People who thought Europeans
were Heavenly beings. Through his work ‘‘things fall apart ‘introduced the
African version of the English language which mocked the Victorian culture of
the British, through his exposition of the African culture and ancient
philosophies. That in no small manner killed the ego and chauvinistic
mannerisms of the whites within our corridors to begin to look at us Africans
as equals and not savages from the next planet.
It is
mere impossibility to do a review or critique of the professor’s latest work,
which I call his last `diary with out quotations from his magnam opus (page124)
when he charged like a lion and asked:
Does the
white man understand our custom?
How can
he when he can not even speak our tongue?
But he
says that our customs are bad;
And our
brothers have turned against us
The
white man is very cleverly
We were
amused at his foolishness
And
allowed him to stay
Now he
has own our brothers and our clan
No
longer act like one
He has
put a knife o the things that held us together;
And we
have fallen apart.
It is
obvious Achebe never deviated from his original philosophy of exposing what he
considered (aru) or evil or abnormality. He quoted Elie Wisel
“There
may be time when we are powerless to prevent injustice,
But
there must never be a time when we fail to protest”
In anger
and protest of the miss rule that has been going on in the government of our
country, Achebe courageously turned down the prestigious honour of Commander of
the Federal Republic (CFR) which was awarded to him subsequently by the
Government of Goodluck Jonathan and his predecessor.
CORRUPTION
AND INDISCIPLINE; On page 249 the Writer reiterated his common song, like every
other revolutionist ; he reminded us about his epic ‘The trouble with Nigeria
‘He says Nigerians are corrupt because the system they live under today makes
corruption easy and profitable, they would cease to be corrupt when corruption
is made difficult and unattractive.
Let one
expert come out and fault the old man’s finding through the world Bank that
$400(four hundred billion dollars) has been stolen from Nigeria’s treasury
since her independence in 1960, he went further to quote the Global bank by
equating the stolen money with the total GDP of Norway and Sweden, two of the
richest Scandinavian Countries, with some of the highest standard of living
index in the world.
The
Professor as a Social critique and commentator has succeeded in savoring the
vulnerability of the average Nigerian Poor class, whose average income per
annum does not exceed $800 (eight dollars) this he states on page 250 has led
to the failure of the State and the rise of terrorism, ethnic problems,
debauchery and other immoral activities such as kidnappings, ritual killings,
looting of government properties etc..As an elderly States man who championed
the literary renaissance of Africa, he did not
only chastise the system through his creative writings, he also admonished the
leadership in strong language to be up and doing. With out throwing away the
dirty water and the baby inside, like a typical African Grand father he
suggested some veritable way forward
He
exhibited his patriotism and optimism on the last paragraph on page 252, were
he suggested the sovereign national conference and a continual debate,
both in large and small forums through different media on page 253,
he wrote as follows; I for see the Nigerian solution would come in
stages. First we have to nurture and strengthen our democratic institution for
the finest and fairest election possible. He advocates for a free press freedom
and strong justice system.
He
advised that the checks and balances should be propabably.put in place in order
to cut curb corruption, after which every other thing would take its natural
footing.
To me
these were like a parting speech of a dying father to his Children.
with
this Summation came the end of the main book in which one of the worlds most
Re-known Writer kissed good by to us all,I may not have to bother you with the
appendix page because I had already touched on most of the subject
matters on the course of the review but I would not ignore to say
one or two things about the beautiful post scripts in which Chinua Achebe
eulogized The Great Nelson Mandela as a role model for Africa
leaders to emulate. He did not fail to admonish
some
seat tight heads States such as those whose names he mentioned on 257 and 258.
After a thorough the study of this wonderful historical diary which has driven
a part way to our socio-political re-armaments, You may have come to agree with
me that indeed there was a country” No wonder the father of modern leadership
Nelson
Mandela who described Achebe as “the Writer in whose Company the Prison walls
fell down” .
Please
pardon some idiosyncrasies you came across, I started this Critique or
review before the news of the old man spread like the Ocean tide and smirched
me like a piece of rock out of the volcano and as such I had to
re-defined the mission of my assignment to conjour my earlier
pre-monition that this may just be the professors last diary ,considering that
he touched all aspect of the Nigerian Society. In order words I wish ton
use this medium to pay my little tribute to this man who has taught me and many
other African about the literary and Historical re-naissance.
To you
Achebe and Nelson Mandela, I dedicate my soon to published Collection of poems
titled “I CRY FOR AFRICA”
-----CLARKSON
IHEANETU EVANS
Independent
Producer \ Social Commentator
Radio
Nigeria,
Broadcasting House
Ikoyi
–Lagos
(070-83612076, 080-51194998)
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