There was a man .....

I had just finished a book by Chinua Achebe, the author of "Thing Fall Apart", called "There was a country". This book was regarded as "Long-awaited ….. and urgently needed", Also "A brave, clear-sighted treatment of the political background and brutal reality of the Nigerian-Biafran War". The book starts with an Igbo proverb, and there are a lot of Igbo proverbs and statements in Professor Chinua, books there is "He who brings kola, brings life", "a toad does not run in the daytime for nothing", etc. He stresses that "understanding the complexity of the world" is more valuable to him. This great man gave a clear-cut dialogue of his life, but most importantly, a Nigerian story and a Biafran story. This book can be said to be controversial, and one should understand that Chinua Achebe is, first of all, speaking as an Igbo man, and he is writing from someone who has been highly involved in the Biafran struggle. Although he tries to be objective and give an unbiased view, it did prove difficult, as he officially represented the Biafran government in different capacities and roles. One major regret he had, was not publishing the "Ifeajuna Manuscript", Ifeajuna was one of the Igbo Officers involved in the January 15th, 1966 coup. There were many "inconsistencies", and Ifeajuna was "trying to pass himself as something that he wasn't". As he thought he should have published it, "so at least a version of what happened, however flawed, warts and all, would be available for debate." So the way I took this book is not whether it was factually correct or historically accurate. As with my limited experience, there was no way I could confirm whether it was correct or not, but most importantly, what the writer believes to be true. Unfortunately, he died on March 21st 2013, just 5 months after the publishing of this book by Penguin Books (October 2012). And death has robbed us of this great man, who is no longer with us with his extensive experience, knowledge, and gift of storytelling. Chinua had the advantage of being brought up by his father, an "early Christian convert" who was a teacher and active evangelist who highly valued education. But from his relatives' knowledge of "Ndi Igbo", with stories unknown to his father, outside his home, he was introduced to the "older religion of my ancestors".

In this book, Chinua psychoanalyzed his father and what made him take a foreign religion. "An orphan child ... it was not surprising that my father would welcome the remedy proffered by .... a new word of God". "But my great-uncle, a leader in his community ..... he took the Ozo title..., was he to throw all that away because some strangers from afar had said so?". He described people that he had met at his primary school (St. Philip's Central School), secondary school (Government College, Umuahia), and University (University Of Ibadan), for which he had high regard. These people he met will later become great people in the nation, and some of the Biafran struggles, like Uzochukwu, Inyang, Momah, Okigbo, Egbuonu, etc., this is in the just first 10 pages of the book. He gave the impression that it was an age of innocence, and it seemed Nigeria was set for greatness. He believes the standard was very high as "receiving an education akin to the royals of England". Most of their teachers "were alumni from Cambridge, the University of London, and other major British institutions of higher learning". He received a "major" scholarship to study Medicine at the University of Ibadan, but after a year in U.I changed to the arts and lost his scholarship. After University got a job in the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) in Enugu. One thing I found strange was that he was given the opportunity for interviewers to come from Enugu. Instead of him going to meet them from Ibadan, he accepted this. Despite this, after the interview, he was given the job. He rose through the ranks rapidly due to his hard work, and despite the fact that he was married and writing, he had children, etc. He highly regarded the British who ran the empire, their discipline and commitment. Chinua believed that they ran Nigeria "with considerable care" and "was expertly run", and the handover was done with "great precision". He believes he was a spontaneous generation, and the British wanted to leave a legacy and build a nation.

Zik, according to Prof Chinua Achebe, was the father of African Independence among the "young aspiring freedom fighters, including Kwame Nkrumah", and Zik was the greatest of them all. Initially, he felt two other leaders (Awo and Bello) were tribal and "dread the prospects of Igbo domination". Apart from the big three, there were "minorities of the Niger-Delta, Mid-West, and the Middle Belt" and "were ancient kingdoms in their own right". The British were well aware of the inter-ethnic tensions and later "wanted that their friends would win power, dominate the country, and serve British interest after independence." Two days before the January 15th Coup, Chinua was approached by his friend J. P. Clark, after reading his manuscript "A man of the people", about corruption and followed by a coup by the Military,  J.P. told him that everything in the manuscript had happened in Nigeria except the coup. He realized that because of the state of the nation, the deep trouble that had rocked the nation, the national crisis of 1964, the problems associated with the census, "colonial manipulation Nigeria was a cesspool of corruption and misrule." Although people did not expect it, it was inevitable, being led by a group of junior officers mostly Igbo being led by a Northern Officer (Major Nzeogwu - whom he believed was Northern in "everything except the name") Chinua believed that coup was something Nigeria has never really recovered from.

Chinua believes that "Nigerians will probably achieve consensus on no other matter than their common resentment of the Igbo." Has it seems that the Igbo had been "an assertive group that unfairly dominated every sector of Nigerian society". The January 15th, the coup was known as an "Igbo coup", and there was a growing dissatisfaction of "Aguiyi-Ironsi (was) .... reluctant to execute the coup plotters". The failure led to massive killings of Igbo in the North and their military officers. Due to the massive influx of Easterners back to their home, Ojuwku initially wanted something like a confederation of regions. And what came across as genocide (due to the inactivity of the Federal Government to protect these citizens) and the massive killings of Easterners, especially in the North. The situation could have been handled differently, and war could have been avoided. He wrote that "there were several people who believe that neither Gowon nor Ojuwku was the right leaders for that desperate time because they were blinded by ego, hindered by lack of administrative experience, and obsessed with interpersonal competition petty rivalries".

He further told the story of suffering, Biafran Mid-West invasion, Murtala's Asaba massacre, Adekunle's Calabar'smassacre committing "apes, looting, and outright brigandry" by the Federal troops and the question of genocide. ut one thing is true is that at the time of Independence, the Igbo were the most by proportion educated tribe in Nigeria. So if you were a male and had a farm, you had more of a say in the running of the tribe than the other main tribes. So here is a saying that the ""Igbo have no king"" and the British had to impose warrant chiefs on them to carry out their ""direct rule""of government. The international community's role during the war and the role of Awo (who was GGowon'ssecond in command as the Federal Commissioner for Finance and Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council) in protecting the interest of the Yoruba.

I see the book as his own view as a person and his point of view as reflected by the title and as what happens to be from a transpersonal point of view. He cannot see the whole picture. Depending on what he can see, he will paint some people as demons and others as saints. He just has limited information, and because he was heavily involved in the Biafran cause, we cannot say he was unbiased. Later, he became heavily involved in the politics of Nigeria and was the deputy Vice-President for Aminu Kano of the PRP (People Redemption Party). He did offer hope for Nigeria in stages.

1. We should nurture and strengthens our democratic institutions, which will lead to
2. request and fairest elections that will place
3. True candidates that represent the people and not interest groups.''
4. Free press and a strong justice flourish
5. Checks and balances and laws to curb corruption
6. A new patriot consciousness

But we know Nigeria was not unique in this, ''natural resource curse'' that tribal conflict can occur over the control and exploitation of resources, and each tribe will believe that there are being dominated by another.   would believe that the Nigerian problem started after oil was discovered.