ABSTRACT TAKEN FROM MY LATE FATHERS DIARY. Since 1950 we have watched as our people were expropriated and discriminated against in other parts of Nigeria. The experience of three harrowing genocides in 1945, 1953 and 1966 involving a total of nearly 40.000 dead( acceptable estimate 3million) and countless others maimed and destitute, provided abject lessons which could not but be taken seriously. Self preservation is probably the strongest human instinct (Ojukwu 1966) and it was this that compiled the harassed and persecuted Igbos to seek refuge in their homes and among their kinsmen. The inordinate ambition of the then government of Nigeria coupled with the unrealistic desire to acquire the vast wealth and resources of the Igbos while neglecting her people, a practice which continues till date, was too hard for the Igbos to bear. The clear mad and homicidal desire to exterminate the Igbos from the face of the earth compelled the Arondizuogu people to rise to the protection of their fellow Igbos. It was inconceivable and unimaginable for the descendants of the great Mazi Izuogu and Iheme to stomach the boast made by Gowon to crush the Igbos in 48 hours. History has never proven that any African nation has ever defeated or can stand the bravery and courage of the Arondizuogu people. It is a firm belief amongst the Aros that nothing can shake the will and resolve of a determined and brave people; hence the saying that “Aro eweghi obere” (The Aros do not have small or weak people”. Furthermore, the utterance from Gowon proved to most Igbos and Arondizuogu people in particular that we had nothing good to expect but destruction from the hands of Nigerians. The Aros could not stomach the massacre of fellow Igbomen or the defilement of Igbo women. For a people who had worked tirelessly and were one of the greatest advocates of unity through the involvement of our sons such as Dr K.O Mbadiwe, Mazi Mbonu Ojike, Mazi L.N Obioha and Alvan Ikoku, it was unacceptable and frustrating to most Arondizuogu people to hear the claim made by Gowon that the Igbos wanted to secede in other to keep the vast natural resources to ourselves. This argument by Gowon was one of the unkindest accusations on a people that had worked so hard for the unity of a country and had invested so much in other parts of Nigeria.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 19:00:39 +0000
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