Oluwole Rotimi: Gloating over the Igbo genocide, 1966-1970

By Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

The following notes, each dedicated to the memory of the number of Igbo children, women and men murdered by the Nigerian state and its allies in each of the four years of the Igbo genocide, are in response to the recent outrageous gloating over these horrendous murders by Oluwole Rotimi, himself a genocidist commandant during the slaughter:

1.The grim total of 3.1 million Igbo children, women and men were murdered during the genocide. This represents one-quarter of the 12 million Igbo population at the time. The Igbo genocide is the foundational genocide of (European) post-conquest Africa and remains the worst genocide in Africa to date.

2. Contrary to the Harold Wilson’s British government-inflected, Nigerian declaration of “no victor, no vanquished” on 12 January 1970, the Igbo were indeed the victors in this encounter. They survived. The Nigerian genocide state failed to accomplish its monstrous mission to destroy the Igbo. Igbo survival is a phenomenal triumph of human will and tenacity. The Igbo, relying solely on the materiality of the extraordinarily resourceful citizens’ defence forces they assembled from scratch (commanded by the handful of the pre-July 1966 Igbo officer-corps who survived the first phase of the genocide, professors, students, civil servants, businesspeople, farmers, artisans, etc., etc), overcame an aggregation of desperately brutish forces some of whom were otherwise antagonists or rivals in regional or the broader contours of international politics in the post-World War II era: Hausa-Fulani, Britain Yoruba/Oduduwa, Bini, Soviet Union, Tiv, Egypt, Berom, Yergam, Nupe, Ishan, the Sudan, Angas, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Igala, Bachama, Poland, Sura, Algeria, Jarawa (central Nigeria), Jukun, Saudi Arabia, Gwari, Guinea (Conakry), Kanuri, Syria, Idoma, German Democratic Republic, Iraq, Chad/gwodogwodo.

3. Between 1937 and 1959, the Igbo spearheaded the freeing of Nigeria from formal British occupation of the country which eventually ended in 1960. For all intents and purposes, Nigeria collapsed as a state with any serious prospects in the wake of the Igbo genocide that it launched on 29 May 1966. The singular lesson for Africa and the rest of the world from the incalculable tragedy that is called Nigeria is glaringly clear for whoever wishes to observe: one does not murder the potter and expect the pottery making-in-progress to attain a classic investiture. Despite earning the stunning sum of US$650 billion in oil sales in the subsequent 40 years, a significant proportion of this from occupied Igboland in the Delta, Rivers, Imo and Abia administrative regions, Nigeria has cascaded into a degenerative abyss politically, economically, intellectually, socially, morally and spiritually.

4. Forty years ago, Igbo people singularly and cruelly bore the brunt of the savage politics of mass murder, organised and executed meticulously and ruthlessly by the central coordinating operatives of this movement under the racist and chauvinist imprimatur of religious fundamentalism and exclusivity. Twice, during the course of two decades earlier, these operatives had staged murderous campaigns against the same Igbo in the north Nigerian towns of Jos and Kano – in dress rehearsals for the 1966-1970 “final solution”... As the virulence of this politics has since spread globally and indeed defines the dominant concern of international relations in the current epoch, the world no doubt needs to learn quite a lot from the Igbo experience. How have the Igbo “coped” with the visceral politics of hate and death in the past one-half century of a cataclysmic history? Despite the present Nigerian occupation of their homeland, the Igbo possess the critical indices for the far-reaching socioeconomic transformation of this region of Africa. They have an impressive industrial and manufacturing base that requires a radical upgrade and diversification, a disciplined workforce and an indefatigable intellectual, entrepreneurial and managerial class. The Igbo youth, 16-40, makes up part of Africa’s most educated and talented grouping. Despite the occupation, Igbo male and female students out-perform the rest of Nigeria across the entire spectrum of the education system. (On this, see particularly Okechukwu Agbor’s excellent study, “Look who is going to school in Nigeria,”) in [accessed 13 February 2009] a change of the title of Agbor’s essay to, for instance, “Igbo education during the era of occupation”, underscores, even further, the historic relevance of his study.) Strategically emplaced in Igboland is a resourceful engine of creativity that has immense possibilities for the future wellbeing of Africa and the rest of the world. It is therefore incumbent on the world to support the Igbo’s arduous efforts presently to free themselves from the Nigeria occupation. Furthermore, the world must ensure that genocidist operatives such as Oluwole Rotimi and his fellow travellers are stopped from strutting across international frontiers masquerading as “diplomats”, “businesspeople”, “presidents”, “heads of state”, even “peace envoys”.

On the eve of The Hague international court ordering the arrest of Sudanese President al-Bahier for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Darfur, it is surely unpardonable that the Rotimis of this planet are basking in the democratic sunny havens of Florida instead of being incarcerated in the Netherlands. We mustn’t forget that al-Bashier studiously learnt his vicious trade from that infamous dossier that documented the mass murders that charted the parameters of a devastating age for Africa – of which al-Bashier has contributed his own vile quota. The dossier was jointly signed by Obafemi Awolowo and Yakubu Gowon and was dated 29 May 1966-12 January 1970.

Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe is the author of Readings from Reading: Essays on African Politics, Genocide, Literature (forthcoming, 2009)