igbodefender:
@ezeagu,
The last part of the original post says;

"Igbos should ignore this ‘referendum gift’ and remain in Nigeria and fight for their rights, because Biafra without Igbo ports of Port Harcourt (Igwe Ocha), Onne, or Bonny (Igwe Ngaa), would not be viable, and enemies of the Igbo will laugh. They will come on forums like Nairaland to mock you mercilessly.

"If you chose to agitate legally, which is your right (I for one believe we should give Nigeria another chance), then, agitate democratically and make sure you gain at least a port for the country you want. If for any reason you can’t do that, better remain in this house that Zik built (where you have 5-7 Igbo controlled states in SE and SS and give Nigeria a chance to succeed.

Source: http://www.igbodefender.com/2017/06/22/port-harcourt-bonny-onne-ports-at-stake-if-igbos-chose-biafra-referendum/#more-559

ezeagu:


This seems more like a presumption that those places (by the way Bonny has never been Igwe Nga and the people who own Bonny, whether boat-people or whatever, identify strongly with Ijaw, and Onne is Eleme as noted) will happily dance into a separation with the SE, there was no question as to whether they would want to join the SE anyway. In fact, the primary reason why Port Harcourt may not join the SE is because they do not want to, not because of Hausa or whatever.

Take this scenario of instance, if half of present day Anambra was somehow split in the SS and Nnewi was in the SS and this referendum proposal was put forward cutting them off, would you not here a roar coming from indigenous Nnewi people? The enthusiasm is just not there.

igbodefender:
Whether you call Bonny Igwe Nga or Umu Ubani, it is a strategic place with a large Igbo descended population, and that should be respected.

anibi9674:
have u ever come across any bonny person with the name emeka or obinna, chigozie or chijoke? I guess No. Their might be one or two Igbo slaves that integrated into bonny system( King jaja of opobo) but that those not make the people of Bonny Igbo's.

igbodefender:
Kindly explain how Bonny Igbos got so influential to have the first Igbo bible written in their dialect.

anibi9674:
I'M yet to see the Bible.

nengibo:

Yes na, dats why an Amanyanabo & his Alaapu council are overseeing the "igbo town", na we Rivers people dey allow this nonsense, if not why will u sell land to igbos who clearly have alterior motives

igbodefender:
Kindly go through this:

Bonny, Nigeria
Bonny is a town and a Local Government Area in Rivers State in southeast Nigeria , on the
Bight of Biafra . It was also the capital of the Kingdom of Bonny. Traditionally it was a
major trading post of the eastern delta . The natives speak an Igbo dialect called bonny
Igbo which played a huge role during the Christian evangelization of Igboland.

The first Igbo bible was translated using the bonny Igbo dialect. The natives are mostly
descendants of freed slaves from Igboland who would have been sold into slavery to the
Americas. Others could have been migrants from parts of Igboland such as Ukwa LGA in
Abia state .

Their original language , Ibani was gradually eroded as the Igbo language ,
being the major spoken language then , was picked up that today most do not speak the
original Ibani but Igbo. It is a small island located just offshore , Bonny Island, is a major
export point for oil .

The region produces a type of crude oil known as Bonny Light oil.
Much , the oil extracted onshore in Rivers State is piped to Bonny for export.

Source: http://www.abbreviations.com/bonny%2C%20nigeria

anibi9674:
see big lie, at what point was bonny located in the southeast?

anibi9674:
see big lie, at what point was bonny located in the southeast?

adonis89:
u must b insane to post diz crap.

nengibo:

Iye dabo

PapaBrowne:
I am coming with a response and it's a lesson in strategy.
@igbodefender

I was formerly a supporter of the SS being a part of the Biafra movement until I started coming across threads like this.

From my observation, IPOB has become an emotional organization that doesn't understand the concept of strategic alliances as the most important tool in winning a cause for the long term.

When you have an organization that has chosen that Biafra is solely IBO both in Language, positions and culture and yet at the same time tell you that the 10 million Efik and Ibibio people are under Biafra, then you know that some people don't understand the strategy of execution!

Suddenly Port Harcourt is Igweocha and Bonny is Igwenga in a land where Kalabaris, Ogonis, Ijaws, Ikwerres, Ndonis and a host of other people have called home for centuries.

Isnt it obvious that you are offending the people you should be courting and seeking strategic alliances with? It's a no brainer. It's blanket failure for Biafra already. Nobody that operates a theory of exclusion is ever successful in battle. Even the US when it has to go to War with small and powerless countries like Afghanistan builds a coalition of countries both small and mighty. They understand the importance of inclusive strategy.

There is too much emotion in the Biafra movement and I'm sad that it will cause another round of failure. Ojukwus biggest mistake was his attempt to force non Igbo into Biafra without them having a true stake in the decision making process and that failed strategy is beginning to repeat itself.

Telling the people of Niger Delta that there is nothing like Niger Delta or South South is a slap on a people who have chosen to represent thier minority status by a common identity. Giving the people of the Niger Delta the impression that a Biafra country would be an Igbo country is a reminder to them of how Nigeria has largely been a Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo country.

It's time for IPOB and the Biafra movement to shed the toga of emotionalism and read the art of war to all its members who don't understand that this is not a jamboree but a mission in which thier errors can cause the loss of lives of millions upon millions of people and another century of domination by the North and its supporters.

Just so you know, the North has studied the topography and are waiting patiently to instigate a crisis between the minorities of the South South and the Igbos of the South East and IPOB is giving them more than enough fodder with all this Igweocha Igwenga nonsense. And suddenly a battle that you assumed would be between The North and Igbos would suddenly be happening in Port Harcourt between Igbos and Ikwerres.

Be wise!

PapaBrowne:
I am coming with a response and it's a lesson in strategy.
@igbodefender

I was formerly a supporter of the SS being a part of the Biafra movement until I started coming across threads like this.

From my observation, IPOB has become an emotional organization that doesn't understand the concept of strategic alliances as the most important tool in winning a cause for the long term.

When you have an organization that has chosen that Biafra is solely IBO both in Language, positions and culture and yet at the same time tell you that the 10 million Efik and Ibibio people are under Biafra, then you know that some people don't understand the strategy of execution!

Suddenly Port Harcourt is Igweocha and Bonny is Igwenga in a land where Kalabaris, Ogonis, Ijaws, Ikwerres, Ndonis and a host of other people have called home for centuries.

Isnt it obvious that you are offending the people you should be courting and seeking strategic alliances with? It's a no brainer. It's blanket failure for Biafra already. Nobody that operates a theory of exclusion is ever successful in battle. Even the US when it has to go to War with small and powerless countries like Afghanistan builds a coalition of countries both small and mighty. They understand the importance of inclusive strategy.

There is too much emotion in the Biafra movement and I'm sad that it will cause another round of failure. Ojukwus biggest mistake was his attempt to force non Igbo into Biafra without them having a true stake in the decision making process and that failed strategy is beginning to repeat itself.

Telling the people of Niger Delta that there is nothing like Niger Delta or South South is a slap on a people who have chosen to represent thier minority status by a common identity. Giving the people of the Niger Delta the impression that a Biafra country would be an Igbo country is a reminder to them of how Nigeria has largely been a Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo country.

It's time for IPOB and the Biafra movement to shed the toga of emotionalism and read the art of war to all its members who don't understand that this is not a jamboree but a mission in which thier errors can cause the loss of lives of millions upon millions of people and another century of domination by the North and its supporters.

Just so you know, the North has studied the topography and are waiting patiently to instigate a crisis between the minorities of the South South and the Igbos of the South East and IPOB is giving them more than enough fodder with all this Igweocha Igwenga nonsense. And suddenly a battle that you assumed would be between The North and Igbos would suddenly be happening in Port Harcourt between Igbos and Ikwerres.

Be wise!

PapaBrowne:
I am coming with a response and it's a lesson in strategy.
@igbodefender

I was formerly a supporter of the SS being a part of the Biafra movement until I started coming across threads like this.

From my observation, IPOB has become an emotional organization that doesn't understand the concept of strategic alliances as the most important tool in winning a cause for the long term.

When you have an organization that has chosen that Biafra is solely IBO both in Language, positions and culture and yet at the same time tell you that the 10 million Efik and Ibibio people are under Biafra, then you know that some people don't understand the strategy of execution!

Suddenly Port Harcourt is Igweocha and Bonny is Igwenga in a land where Kalabaris, Ogonis, Ijaws, Ikwerres, Ndonis and a host of other people have called home for centuries.

Isnt it obvious that you are offending the people you should be courting and seeking strategic alliances with? It's a no brainer. It's blanket failure for Biafra already. Nobody that operates a theory of exclusion is ever successful in battle. Even the US when it has to go to War with small and powerless countries like Afghanistan builds a coalition of countries both small and mighty. They understand the importance of inclusive strategy.

There is too much emotion in the Biafra movement and I'm sad that it will cause another round of failure. Ojukwus biggest mistake was his attempt to force non Igbo into Biafra without them having a true stake in the decision making process and that failed strategy is beginning to repeat itself.

Telling the people of Niger Delta that there is nothing like Niger Delta or South South is a slap on a people who have chosen to represent thier minority status by a common identity. Giving the people of the Niger Delta the impression that a Biafra country would be an Igbo country is a reminder to them of how Nigeria has largely been a Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo country.

It's time for IPOB and the Biafra movement to shed the toga of emotionalism and read the art of war to all its members who don't understand that this is not a jamboree but a mission in which thier errors can cause the loss of lives of millions upon millions of people and another century of domination by the North and its supporters.

Just so you know, the North has studied the topography and are waiting patiently to instigate a crisis between the minorities of the South South and the Igbos of the South East and IPOB is giving them more than enough fodder with all this Igweocha Igwenga nonsense. And suddenly a battle that you assumed would be between The North and Igbos would suddenly be happening in Port Harcourt between Igbos and Ikwerres.

Be wise!

pazienza:
[b]
The way you lots turn logic on its head and change goal posts when it suits your aim of vilifying the Igbo is a wonder to behold.

Yes, Ndiigbo had always called PH Igweocha since colonial era, and Bonny Igwe nga, just as we call Equatorial guinea Panya. We are not going to stop calling them those names just to please emotional senseless set of people who have a twisted sense of reasoning where everything the Igbo man say or does is assigned a negative connotation.

I don't see you crying over Ijaws attempts at annexing Ndoki, and Ogoni attempts at annexing Oyigbo. You only see what your default mindset wants to see.

Dedetwo:


Who the hell are the Northern youth groups and some of their elders to decide where Igbo land started and ended? Who made these bloody jackasses the creator that decide who leaves or stays? Anyway, there will no referendum which is classical detraction to match toward actualization of Biafra. If Biafra could not be achieved through gentleman's approach as seen in USSR, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and India, then war is the sure way to end this insanity. No country has ever survived a second civil war in the history of earth. In the event of the second civil in Niger-Area, at least, Biafra could be actualized but certainly Nigeria will cease to exist.

Afam4eva:


My brother, i agree woth you 100%. It's for the same reason i don't take this present group of Biafran agitators seriously. I think it's pure ignorance at play here and listening to the utterances of Nnamdi Kanu, you would understand why a lot of them reason that way.

I have been ringing it into the ears of Igbos particularly on this forum for years but the idiots won't listen. They run aroung like mad dogs claiming anything in sight and disrespecting minorities who they want to be in their Biafra and these minorities really have to be wary after hearing some of the utterances of these pro Biafra vagabonds.

Like i keep saying i'm apathetic to Biafra. Whether it happens or not is a non issue but one very important to me if i'm to have any sort of sympathy for the movement is dependent on heir modus operandi. Let me use Nairaland to paint you a perfect picture about how some foolish Igbo people on here have used their own hands to make things worse for Igbos.

I joined Nairaland in 2005, the year Nairaland started and i've seen the constant and consistent deterioration of brotherhood between the South-south and Igbos. Even when the tribalism thingy on nairaland started mostly between Igbos and Yorubas, you would see Ijaws, Ibibios, Ikwerres and a lot of southern minorities supporting the Igbos. But today, it's very hard to see any Niger Delta person aligning with Igbos in any argument. Take TonyeBarcanista for example, when he came to Nairaland, he was very pro Ijaw/Igbo alliance but today, he doesn't even give a flying fvck.

The point i'm trying to make is that our tactic is self destructive and it's unfortunate that it been manned by semi onitsha and Aba market illiterate who doen't know jack about public relation.

PapaBrowne:
I am coming with a response and it's a lesson in strategy.
@igbodefender

I was formerly a supporter of the SS being a part of the Biafra movement until I started coming across threads like this.

From my observation, IPOB has become an emotional organization that doesn't understand the concept of strategic alliances as the most important tool in winning a cause for the long term.

When you have an organization that has chosen that Biafra is solely IBO both in Language, positions and culture and yet at the same time tell you that the 10 million Efik and Ibibio people are under Biafra, then you know that some people don't understand the strategy of execution!

Suddenly Port Harcourt is Igweocha and Bonny is Igwenga in a land where Kalabaris, Ogonis, Ijaws, Ikwerres, Ndonis and a host of other people have called home for centuries.

Isnt it obvious that you are offending the people you should be courting and seeking strategic alliances with? It's a no brainer. It's blanket failure for Biafra already. Nobody that operates a theory of exclusion is ever successful in battle. Even the US when it has to go to War with small and powerless countries like Afghanistan builds a coalition of countries both small and mighty. They understand the importance of inclusive strategy.

There is too much emotion in the Biafra movement and I'm sad that it will cause another round of failure. Ojukwus biggest mistake was his attempt to force non Igbo into Biafra without them having a true stake in the decision making process and that failed strategy is beginning to repeat itself.

Telling the people of Niger Delta that there is nothing like Niger Delta or South South is a slap on a people who have chosen to represent thier minority status by a common identity. Giving the people of the Niger Delta the impression that a Biafra country would be an Igbo country is a reminder to them of how Nigeria has largely been a Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo country.

It's time for IPOB and the Biafra movement to shed the toga of emotionalism and read the art of war to all its members who don't understand that this is not a jamboree but a mission in which thier errors can cause the loss of lives of millions upon millions of people and another century of domination by the North and its supporters.

Just so you know, the North has studied the topography and are waiting patiently to instigate a crisis between the minorities of the South South and the Igbos of the South East and IPOB is giving them more than enough fodder with all this Igweocha Igwenga nonsense. And suddenly a battle that you assumed would be between The North and Igbos would suddenly be happening in Port Harcourt between Igbos and Ikwerres.

Be wise!

igbodefender:
Prince Charles Offokaja
If you read between the lines of what some Northern youth groups and some of their elders have been saying, you will notice that their grand design is to isolate the South East Igbos from the South South Igbos and cut a South East independent Biafra off from access to the sea, then impose crippling export duties, trade, travel and emigration restrictions on it. In their recent letter to Acting President Osinbajo, the youths stated:

“The Igbo from all over the country and in the Diaspora should be advised to converge in their region in the South-East – notice they did not add South South where Igbo Land has Asaba, as well as the ports of Port Harcourt (Igwe Ocha), Onne, and Bonny (Igwe Ngaa) – for a plebiscite to be organized and conducted by the United Nations and other regional bodies for them to categorically to decide between remaining part of Nigeria or having their separate country. That government should at the end of the plebiscite implement whatever is agreed and resolved in order to finally put this matter to rest.

“Lastly, we pray His Excellency to study the references forwarded with this letter dispassionately and decide who is more in the wrong between those who openly pledge allegiance to a country other than Nigeria backing it up with persistent threats of war and those of us whose allegiance remains with the Nigerian state but simply urge that the secessionists be allowed to actualize their dream peacefully throw universally entrenched democratic options”.

Unfavourable Customs Union
If the South East allows itself to be deceived, the trade marginalization that they will impose will be worse than any marginalization of Igbo traders currently, because such a landlocked new country carved out from only South East will depend on Nigeria for every item they import or export. If the economy of such new country is growing, some people can just sit down in Abuja and decide to impose punishing tariffs on certain goods, making your goods too expensive in the international market, sabotaging all your efforts.

Ojukwu would turn in his grave if that kind of Biafra emerges- his idea was a Biafra with access to the sea, not a Biafra surrounded by a mighty enemy willing and able to squeeze it to death. In such a country, Igbo foreign investors will be deported at will from Lagos, and you cannot sue the Governor as you sued Fashola because he will say you are foreign imigrants, not bonafide citizens of his country.

The government of such new country would not dare make too much noise because if they annoy the Nigerian government, it can close the borders, and your people won’t be able to import anything until you beg for forgiveness (how humiliating). If you use your advanced military to invade, foreign powers that hate Igbo excellence will pounce on that and say you are invading a sovereign country and treat you how they treated Saddam when he invaded Kuwait. They wouldn’t mind imposing a permanent peacekeeping force (made up of the Nigerian Army), ‘to keep your government from invading any sovereign country again’. Would that be true independence?

Currently, South East based Igbo traders can use their constitutional right as citizens of Nigeria to import and export goods freely from Lagos or Port Harcourt ports and their enemies can’t stop them. Currently, Igbo entrepreneurs can move to Lagos or any part of Nigeria and set up, because they are citizens. But if you hold the kind of referendum that they are dangling before you, they are sure to insist that ‘only the Igbos of the South East are Igbos’, and only them should participate.

Any new country that will emerge from such will be an enclave surrounded entirely by an enemy nation willing to suffocate it. They will deport many of Igbos there, and starve the new country of funds to employ them. They will impose trading quotas or high tariffs to control the Igbo mainstay of trading. Before you know it, tempers may rise within such an enclave, and some world powers that hate Ndigbo in the UN will then ask Nigeria to send in peacekeepers into the surrounded Biafra on a permanent basis. You would have lost your independence, because it would only exist on paper.

Conclusion
Igbos should ignore this ‘referendum gift’ and remain in Nigeria and fight for their rights, because Biafra without Igbo ports of Port Harcourt (Igwe Ocha), Onne, or Bonny (Igwe Ngaa), would not be viable, and enemies of the Igbo will laugh. They will come on forums like Nairaland to mock you mercilessly.

If you chose to agitate legally, which is your right (I for one believe we should give Nigeria another chance), then, agitate democratically and make sure you gain at least a port for the country you want. If for any reason you can’t do that, better remain in this house that Zik built (where you have 5-7 Igbo controlled states in SE and SS and give Nigeria a chance to succeed.

Source: http://www.igbodefender.com/2017/06/22/port-harcourt-bonny-onne-ports-at-stake-if-igbos-chose-biafra-referendum/#more-559

igbodefender:


Thanks for standing by the truth as regards Port Harcourt (Igwe Ocha), Bonny and Opobo (Ubani/ Igwe Nga) being Igbo. They can't take those places away from our ethnic group. Ikwere people of Port Harcourt are as Igbo as Nkwere people of Imo State. The history of Opobo is very clear: Mazi Jubo Juboha, who became the first Jaja of Opobo founded the Great Kingdom of Opobo. The case of Bonny shows that the Igbos form a majority of its indigenes of that Great place. The first King of Bonny Okpara Ndoli was the Ndoki Igbo crown prince.

According to www.bonnykingdom.com.ng, "the journey to found Grand Bonny Kingdom was commenced by the three brothers (direct-blood descendants) of Ebeni, Opuamakuba, Alagbariye [Kala-beni] and Asimini. These three brothers of the migrated by land route from their Isedani Lineage of Kolokuma of ancestral Ijawland, in present-day Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, to the Eastern Niger Delta area of Rivers State.

They left their Isedani Lineage of Kolokuma and migrated through several mainland areas to Ndoki, where they met some of their blood relatives among whom was the Crown Prince of Ndoki, Ndoli-Okpara, who joined them in their further migration to found Bonny Kingdom.

According to http://www.abbreviations.com/bonny%2C%20nigeria 'The first Igbo bible was translated using the Bonny Igbo dialect. The natives are mostly descendants of freed slaves from Igboland who would have been sold into slavery to theAmericas. Others could have been migrants from parts of Igboland such as Ukwa LGA in Abia state .'

What these tell us that Bonny has both Igbo and Ijaw influence and the Igbo influence of Bonny should not be discounted by some Northern youth groups and their allies trying to deceive the South East Igbo to leave Nigeria and abandon their brothers in Bonny, Opobo, Port Harcourt, Asaba and every other Igbo town in the Niger Delta. Embracing referendum that will make South East Igbos abandon their brothers in Niger Delta would be the height of selfishness and foolishness.

IPOB and other pro Biafran independence elements must not in conjunction with the Northern youth groups give the South East Igbo a heavy burden of becoming a landlocked 'country'.

igbodefender:
That's an error by the author who obviously wanted to write South South, but is that all you saw in the article?

PapaBrowne:
I am coming with a response and it's a lesson in strategy.
@igbodefender

I was formerly a supporter of the SS being a part of the Biafra movement until I started coming across threads like this.

From my observation, IPOB has become an emotional organization that doesn't understand the concept of strategic alliances as the most important tool in winning a cause for the long term.

When you have an organization that has chosen that Biafra is solely IBO both in Language, positions and culture and yet at the same time tell you that the 10 million Efik and Ibibio people are under Biafra, then you know that some people don't understand the strategy of execution!

Suddenly Port Harcourt is Igweocha and Bonny is Igwenga in a land where Kalabaris, Ogonis, Ijaws, Ikwerres, Ndonis and a host of other people have called home for centuries.

Isnt it obvious that you are offending the people you should be courting and seeking strategic alliances with? It's a no brainer. It's blanket failure for Biafra already. Nobody that operates a theory of exclusion is ever successful in battle. Even the US when it has to go to War with small and powerless countries like Afghanistan builds a coalition of countries both small and mighty. They understand the importance of inclusive strategy.

There is too much emotion in the Biafra movement and I'm sad that it will cause another round of failure. Ojukwus biggest mistake was his attempt to force non Igbo into Biafra without them having a true stake in the decision making process and that failed strategy is beginning to repeat itself.

Telling the people of Niger Delta that there is nothing like Niger Delta or South South is a slap on a people who have chosen to represent thier minority status by a common identity. Giving the people of the Niger Delta the impression that a Biafra country would be an Igbo country is a reminder to them of how Nigeria has largely been a Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo country.

It's time for IPOB and the Biafra movement to shed the toga of emotionalism and read the art of war to all its members who don't understand that this is not a jamboree but a mission in which thier errors can cause the loss of lives of millions upon millions of people and another century of domination by the North and its supporters.

Just so you know, the North has studied the topography and are waiting patiently to instigate a crisis between the minorities of the South South and the Igbos of the South East and IPOB is giving them more than enough fodder with all this Igweocha Igwenga nonsense. And suddenly a battle that you assumed would be between The North and Igbos would suddenly be happening in Port Harcourt between Igbos and Ikwerres.

Be wise!

Afam4eva:


My brother, i agree woth you 100%. It's for the same reason i don't take this present group of Biafran agitators seriously. I think it's pure ignorance at play here and listening to the utterances of Nnamdi Kanu, you would understand why a lot of them reason that way.

I have been ringing it into the ears of Igbos particularly on this forum for years but the idiots won't listen. They run aroung like mad dogs claiming anything in sight and disrespecting minorities who they want to be in their Biafra and these minorities really have to be wary after hearing some of the utterances of these pro Biafra vagabonds.

Like i keep saying i'm apathetic to Biafra. Whether it happens or not is a non issue but one very important to me if i'm to have any sort of sympathy for the movement is dependent on heir modus operandi. Let me use Nairaland to paint you a perfect picture about how some foolish Igbo people on here have used their own hands to make things worse for Igbos.

I joined Nairaland in 2005, the year Nairaland started and i've seen the constant and consistent deterioration of brotherhood between the South-south and Igbos. Even when the tribalism thingy on nairaland started mostly between Igbos and Yorubas, you would see Ijaws, Ibibios, Ikwerres and a lot of southern minorities supporting the Igbos. But today, it's very hard to see any Niger Delta person aligning with Igbos in any argument. Take TonyeBarcanista for example, when he came to Nairaland, he was very pro Ijaw/Igbo alliance but today, he doesn't even give a flying fvck.

The point i'm trying to make is that our tactic is self destructive and it's unfortunate that it been manned by semi onitsha and Aba market illiterate who doen't know jack about public relation.

modik:


Lol.

I guess you mean their inclusion into Biafra and not their ancestral Igbo heritage.

Except you are saying Amechi and Wike or Odili are no longer Igbo names.?

The discourse is Indigenous people and not Nigerian geographical delineation.

I can feel the extent divide and rule policy has affected our perception of our indigenous heritage. That is wickedness to say the least!