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Showing posts from September, 2009

Biafran Retrospect: Umu-Igbo Express Gratitude to a Man Who Saved Them

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By Rev. Father Tobe Nnamani Dr George Hussler and Rev Father Tobe Nnamani Gabon 1970: A gift given to Dr Hussler by the Biafran children at "Village KM 11" Rev. Dr. Hussler and Chief Joseph Mmeh “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” - Cicero - Preamble In April 1968, the survival of the nascent Republic of Biafra was hanging on the balance. After the fall of Enugu in September 1967, Biafran major cities continued to fall one after the other into the hands of the enemy. Consequently, what was left of the Biafran Secretariat consisted of a mobile van moved from one corner to the other. While major world powers watched with folded arms, debating on the proper interpretation and application of the principles of territorial sovereignty and non-intervention in the OAU Charter, the Federal soldiers continued their ferocious onslaught on the defenseless Biafran population. They rampaged, pounded, bombed and shelled villages and towns including

Florida Autumn Retreat: Asaba, Kingdom on the Niger, Unites to Bury Her Dead

BY Emma Okocha , The Vanguard, Forwarded by Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe “On the grant of the Charter to the company in July 10, 1886, the man to whom Goldie turned to as Chief Justice was Sir James Marshall. The headquarters was at Asaba.’’ — Oluwole, T. S. Elias, Makers of Nigerian Law, Lagos 1963. Also See Gills Geography, Text in use up to 1912, it was clearly stated that Asaba was the capital of Southern Nigeria. “The greatest single massacre occurred in the Ibo town of Asaba where 700 Ibo male were lined up and shot’’ — London Observer, January 21, 1968. “There has been genocide, for example on the occasion of the 1966 massacres…. Two areas have suffered badly …Firstly, the region between Benin and Asaba where only widows and orphans remain. Federal troops having for unknown reasons massacred all the men. Accordingly to eyewitnesses of that massacre the Nigeria commander ordered the execution of every Ibo male over the age of ten years’’ — Monsignor Georges [sent down on a fact -findin

Nigeria: Ali Mazrui's Diagnosis and Prescriptions

By Ali Mazrui Ali Mazrui, Africa's most famous political scientist, dissects the history of Nigeria to make comparative statements. Professor Ali Mazrui is the Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies and The Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities, State University of New York at Binghamton. He is the author of over twenty five books, including Towards A Pax Africana. He was author and narrator of the acclaimed nine-part television series, The Africans: A Triple Heritage. He is also a senior scholar in African Studies at the Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, the A. D. White Professor-At-Large Emeritus at Cornell University, the Albert Luthuli Professor-At-Large, University of Jos, Nigeria,and Chair, Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Washington, D. C. USA. The Path to Nigeria Greatness: Between Exceptionalism and Typicality The cohesion of the United States as one country rests on the roles of two personalities - George Wa