Gen. Yakubu Gowon. |
As
a young handsome army officer of less than 32 years of age, General Gowon
reneged on Aburi accord (reached on 4th and 5th January, 1967 "at a
meeting attended by delegates of both the Federal Government of Nigeria (the
Supreme Military Council) and the Eastern delegates, led by the Eastern
Region's leader Colonel Ojukwu. The meeting was billed to be the last chance of
preventing all out war") when he came back to
Nigeria to give tacit support, with the backing of Britain and her allies, in a
carnage that stood - at that time - only, second to the holocaust.
Thereafter,
when he's gotten more than a mouthful of blood, he agreed to a ceasefire and
declared the 3Rs.
The
first implementation of the 3Rs was to reduce every Igbo person to £20. Then
followed by an "indiginisation" exercise that was carefully crafted
behind the Igbos, in addition to all abandoned property nuisances. What would
they have achieved or bought with £20 in the exercise?
It's
possible to begin to argue that the war was necessitated to preserve a Nigeria.
What was the purpose of the post war anti Igbo policies, one may ask? Was the
war ended so as to follow the backdoor - though obnoxious and anti-human means
- to extirpate the same Ndi Igbo, you refused to go, from the surface of the
earth?
Today,
almost major groups in Nigeria are seeing what Igbos saw, over 48 years ago.
Who's, then, setting Nigeria back? We keep saying that what goes around comes
around, but we're not praying for it. Let every man who has the opportunity to
preserve humanity cash in on it, because we all are members of humanity. Later
day repentances may be an aberration, most often. Not all perpetrators of
anti-human activities are lucky to go scot-free. Even if they do, their
offspring get caught, most often.
I
call on politicians - across the country - to read history and remember the
factors of Nigeria and give peace a chance. Let the last civil war become
enough sacrifice for a prosperous Nigeria.
Gentleman
officer, we wish you many more years of good health lined with bliss as you
celebrate your 85th birthday. We run by the new law. We refuse to pay an eye
with an eye.
Chris
Onyishi (ctekchris@yahoo.com).
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