Excerpts from the book,-- Class, Ethnicity, and Democracy in Nigeria: The Failure of the First Republic. By Larry Jay Diamond

"Expressions of ethnic antagonism were building to such intensity that even some Northern officials became alarmed, and on 24th March the Sardauna warned against the victimization of non-Northerners living in the Region. But that same day the Kano NA gave more than 2000 traders 48 hours to pack up and leave the Sabon Gari market; Igbo eviction from Katsina, Gusau, and Funtua were reported; and only the intervention of the Sardauna prevented a mass eviction in Kano (Mackintosh, 1966 556-7; Nwankwo and Ifejika, 1969: 54). 
Perhaps recalling the mass ethnic violence in Kano ten years previously, Igbo leaders became visibly concerned. A delegation of Igbos from Kano, Kaduna and Zaria visited President Azikiwe and asked him to intercede. Praising their restraint in the face of provocation, he urged them to be law-abiding and to seek a judicial remedy. From the Eastern Region, Dr G.C. Mbanugo, Chairman of the NCNC Working Committee there, cabled the Prime Minister asking him to act, ‘and Sir Abubakar, with charismatic calm, said he hard heard of no evictions and asked Dr Mbanugo to verify his facts’ (Mackintosh, 1966: 557)." 

 Here is a link to the online google book version:
http://bit.ly/124VDBj



Chief Dr G.C. Mbanugo (CFR) The Ogene of Obosi, of Blessed Memory was the Chairman of NCNC Eastern Working Committee who sent a cable to the Prime Minister, Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa pleading with him to intervene and halt the illegal persecution of Igbo people and other Easterners in Northern Nigeria. The Prime Minister calmly denied that their was any evictions and asked Dr Mbanugo to check his facts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Obosi community in Anambra celebrates octogenarians

The Obosi community in Anambra State on Saturday celebrated 180 of its people who had clocked between 80 years and 82 years of age. The celebration, locally referred to as ‘Ito-Ogbo’ and held under the aegis of ‘Udokamma’ age grade, drew well-wishers from across the country, the News Agency of Nigeria reports. Ito-ogbo, a traditional celebration of octogenarians of Obosi kingdom, is held triennially and attracts all sons and daughters of the land to celebrate the gift of longevity to the community. The celebrants receive the title of ‘Ogbueshi Nwoke’ for men and ‘Ogbueshi Nwanyi’ for the women. They are immediately exempted from paying taxes and participating actively in community service. The Corps Marshall of the FRSC and a traditional chief in Obosi community, Mr. Osita Chidoka, told NAN at the ceremony that the celebration was worth all the efforts put in place. “Ito-ogbo festival is significant in the life every Obosi man or woman; it is the time to celebrate the age grade th
Read more

A touching excerpt from, Why We Struck: The Story Of The First Nigerian Coup ~ by Major Adewale Ademoyega. Page.142-3

"The next most important cause of our failure was the behaviour of Ifeajuna himself. Having seen that Ironsi had got loose and was already raising troops against us, Ifeajuna took Okafor with him and both of  them suddenly disappeared from our midst. This raises the serious question of whether or not there was a common collusion between the two of them, and whether Okafor's failure to arrest the GOC was not a case of deliberate or willful omission. To my mind and to be quite honest, Ifeajuna should have been angry with Okafor the same way that I was angry with him. Then, if Ifeajuna had been faithful to me like I was to him, he should have stuck to me and both of us together would have planned the next line of action. This ought to be the natural course of things because Ifeajuna and I had worked together alone on this Lagos sector project for the previous three months, and more or less to the exclusion of the other majors who were brought in individually as the need for them
Read more

Saraki-Dogara Definitely On The NASS Driver's Seat

The President of the 8th Senate Sen Olusola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara are definitely on the political drivers seats. They have a couple of options.  (1) They can split the APC and form New-APC anti-Tinubu-APC cabals wing of the party.   (2) Saraki can outright defect back to PDP and retain his President of the Senate position. This will give PDP both the Senate President and Deputy Senate President positions. After all the former PDP Governo rs who jumped to APC retained their elected positions with the blessings of the courts.  PG Mu Buhari absolutely did the right thing by distancing himself from the APC internal shenanigans. He already said he would work with Saraki-Dogara faction of APC. Tinubu, Lai Mohammed and other APC cabalistic co-travelers are reacting to this development as if it was a Buhari-sanctioned political coup de tat by saying that His Excellency, the born-again Democrat, PG Mu Buhari is not the leader of APC. Really? Th
Read more