Dapper Biriye

was born 26th of September, 1920, and so, they will start the week 10 days before that date, at Peterside-Bonny. I am a Bonny man, and I’m sure you know that. So, from the Bible as well as the Quoran, the length of what God gave to somebody at the age of 80, that person was Moses, and we were told that Moses did to God some special grace by which he was able to save the Israelites in Egypt from Pharaoh. And he had a magic wand, which he Moses brushed the Red Sea in search of what was called the Land of Canaan.

"So, you see some of us who are Christian minded think about some of these important events. I’m a Christian, I’m an Anglican, and obviously I stick very strictly to where my parents brought me up in. I’m not a gambler who gambles into every Christian denomination. However, what I’m saying is that to me and to some Christians like me, this symbolic year in the Bible has meaning and the relevance of the 80th year to me is that it has to be ceremonies. That is why I listened to the South-South people’s conference. I would not want to expand it further, because every day of it is a little bit cumbersome, and if it can end in one day better. But since I am acting in concert with this group of people, it is their concerted view that matters to me.

"I was born by, Christian parents and Christian grandparents. But certainly, it was a comfortable birth. I was born by parents who were well-to-do. My mother gave birth to about fourteen children, but of the fourteen, two were girls, twelve were boys. Many of the boys died, leaving about seven. A man born in 1920, not now, was born when Nigeria itself was dark. you managed to feel free from these dark days – today of better days of comfort and success. and when a man has gone through all that in this 80th year, he has to thank God. So when you are talking about celebrating it, I don’t celebrate what I didn’t create – this is a heritage I got from God. what I will just do is to do a ceremony for it in thanks to God."

Obviously, when I was a child, I was a bit precocious because at my age of 7, I used to turn over dictionaries for my father who was a schoolmaster as well as a student. I attended Bonny Government School, and from there I went to Kings College, Lagos, which in those days was a prestigious college with a lot of facilities. However, I finished in Kings College in the middle of the Second World War. Certainly, it was a period of distress in the world."

"Those who wanted to study more could not do so because they had to do it outside Nigeria, and then it was a dangerous thing to travel out to the U.K.. However, I was not keen on going abroad because I thought I had to use what I have acquired already for my good first, and then if there was need for me to have more knowledge I could go across."

"So, when I returned from Kings College in 1941 December, I found out one important thing – the Ijaw tribe was very handicapped. At that time, there were 25 provinces in Nigeria, and the Ijaw tribe was scattered in three or four provinces. We were in what was known as the Calabar Province, we were in Owerri Province, we were in Warri Province. so just like that. So, obviously, we did not have a platform or bridge for collective action. I told my father and his age group that they should try and organise a front that could act as a platform for the Ijaws. So, my father’s age group formed what was called Ijaw Rivers Peoples League (IRPL)."

"My father in 1941 was about 41 years having been born in 1901, and he was the President-General of the League. A man called Ebenezer Opugoloya was the deputy president. he was from Okrika. Now, the league applied in 1942 for a special 26th province, and by 1947 the province called the Rivers Province was granted. So, this was my first success, that my concept was accepted by my elders, and promoted to a point of recognition. However, by 1947, when the province was created, the problem of reorganisation had started in Nigeria, in that the British who merely formed this country wanted to talk about regrouping the provinces."

"So, we were grouped into one province there in Enugu called Eastern Nigerian Provinces, and then another set of provinces in the Western Nigeria, another set in Northern region. Each of these provinces led to what became regions." "My school of thought did not quite concede to the issue of regionalism because we knew it was going to strangle the smaller group of people, and so I started what I called "stateism." I said that instead of a Rivers Province, we should have a Rivers State, and this agitation of course gained ground because the concept was accepted by lots of people down here." "You must note that I did not use my father’s platform because it was not a political party. it was just a social organisation trying to recognise the problems of the people and pursue solutions to those problems. but of course as a political visionary, I tried myself to form a political party.

"By 1950, Nigeria had the first constitutional conference in Ibadan where the country discussed the political prospects of the nation and the prospects also of an executive government — how Nigeria can take part in executive government. Then, it was an executive government by the Whitman. However, the 1950 constitutional conference was approved, but was agreed that another one should be held in 1953, this time around not in Ibadan but in London. So, the London conference of 1953 could not conclude its work as it had an additional year of up to 1954 where it decided that there should be regionalism – that is the group of provinces should be called regions and would be given authority to use money released to them by the whiteman as well as the authority to organise and govern themselves, because up to 1954, the whiteman had saved up to £100 million British Pounds

Well, the Elders Chiefs and Peoples Conference was a private sector and indigenous organisation. You can see the word there – Ijaw Rivers Peoples League – the tribe known as Ijaw was the most disabled, and Rivers was then the name given to us by our neighbours as waterside people. so you can now see that we make sure that we capture both the Ijaw tribe that was floating around and the Rivers people who had always been around here but they were not specifically Ijaws."

"So the Ijaw-Rivers Peoples League was formed in 1941 under my father’s leadership, and it grew up as a geo-political programme, not necessarily a political party. However, from 1941 to 1950, it remained a purely geo-political programme of these people, and some of us who felt we should have a political front had to develop what was known as Rivers State Congress."

"On the concept of this new movement, I had to suggest that the individual programme of the Ijaw-Rivers people should remain, and since most of the people were civil servants, they couldn’t come into purely political party, and since our aim was to have a Rivers State, and a Rivers Province had been formed but overtaken by circumstances those who were not purely civil servants agreed that we form a Rivers State Congress, and I think I was appointed the secretary. Chief Inko-Tariah was made the Chairman. The congress moved on from 1951 to 1953."

"Other members of the congress included people like one Egi of Nembe. in fact people came from each of the areas: there were a bit of the people from Ogoni like S.F. Nwika who was a member of the Legislative Council. I must not forget that some Ikwerre people were equally in the forefront like Chief E.J. Oriji and some of their brilliant undergraduate lawyers and politicians. You may know that the condition for political development as we moved on to 1956 were dictated from Britain, and they were that we should have a constitutional review in 1953. That programme took place in London, but could not conclude and so, it came back to Nigeria in 1954. but of course in that 1954 they agreed that there will be a constitutional conference in 1956. So, the composition of the 1956 Constitutional Conference was now to reflect substantial shades of political opinions in Nigeria. but this gave us a little bit of puzzle. We had developed ourselves but we knew that we couldn’t develop into substantial shades of political opinion."

"What I thought they mean by that was those who were the majority party in the legislature either as majority or opposition party – this was how we conceived it, and now, I decided to make up the question of treaties, knowing that Lugard when he was in Nigeria started by signing treaties with various people, and the treaty he signed with the north was that of cession of their territory in addition to ceding their political rights.but down the coast, he did not sign treaties of cession, he signed treaties of friendship and protection. And putting all these together, they formed substantial shades of political opinion in Nigeria.

You see, government interpreted this as the rights of chiefs in the three different regions to be involved in constitution making from 1956 upwards. So, Britain and Nigerian governments, including the regional governments agreed that in each region there should be two chiefs. For the Western Region, the Ooni of Ife and the Ewi Ado-Ekiti were chosen. For the Northern Region, the Emir of Katsina and the Emir of Kano were chosen, while in the Eastern Region, government made sure that the Rivers territory was reserved to have one seat, and the rest of Eastern region to have one seat. So, in the Rivers territory, Kings and peoples of that territory decided that Biriye should go and represent them. For the rest of the Eastern region, a man called Chief Eyo Essien of Uyo was made to go and represent them because he was the President, Eastern Chiefs Conference."

"Before this concept of two chiefs was allowed, Chief Essien had been the President of Eastern Chiefs Conference, so they could not dislodge him at that stage – long laughter…. Wha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1rVSNk0X-4

This thread is going to deep, Ojukwu, Biafra and Ironsi in a messy mud but I'm following

alanto:
This thread is going to deep, Ojukwu, Biafra and Ironsi in a messy mud but I'm following

I don't think so. There was Adaka Boro before Ojukwu. But Eastern Nigeria remains standing,though with different names.

tommy589:


I don't think so. There was Adaka Boro before Ojukwu. But Eastern Nigeria remains standing,though with different names.

eastern nigeria only have igbos...

I read about him in Gen Alabi Isama’s book

He was a very Staunch supporter of the Federal Troops during the Civil War

and Rallied Support for them when they invaded the Eastern Region to recapture it from Ojukwu

Captain8:
eastern nigeria only have igbos...

No o Eastern Nigeria constitutes other ethnic groups like ijaw, efik, kalabari etc

tommy589:


No o Eastern Nigeria constitutes other ethnic groups like ijaw, efik, kalabari etc

stopped typing baseless things. Kalabari is Ijaw kingdom.

besides,, na u carry Ijaw go put for EASTERN region?

if you don't know anything just relax and read comments.

no be only eastern region k,,,,ma northern region.

Captain8:
stopped typing baseless things. Kalabari is Ijaw kingdom.

besides,, na u carry Ijaw go put for EASTERN region?

if you don't know anything just relax and read comments.

no be only eastern region k,,,,ma northern region.

No vex

christistruth01:
I read about him in Gen Alabi Isama’s book

He was a very Staunch supporter of the Federal Troops during the Civil War

and Rallied Support for them when they invaded the Eastern Region to recapture it from Ojukwu

Copied from. Wikipedia:
He was many parts and different things to different people - a university students leader, a teacher, policeman and Nigerian army officer.[citation needed] An undergraduate[4] student of chemistry[5] and student union president at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he left school to lead a protest against the exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta[6] areas which benefited mainly the federal government of Nigeria and Eastern region with capital in Enugu and nothing was given to the Niger Delta people. He believed that the people of the area deserved a larger share of proceeds of the oil wealth.[citation needed] He formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, an armed militia with members consisting mainly of his fellow Ijaw ethnic group. They declared the Niger Delta Republic on 23 February 1966 and fought with federal forces for twelve days before being defeated.

Amalgamation

tommy589:


No vex

eastern region stopped existing since 1966 when Adaka Boro used force..

Nigeria was divided into three regions in year 1950s...namely the north, west and east.

Ijaw people were divided into the two regions west and east.

Ijaws in the eastern region agitate for a separate region because of the oppression of the igbos.
Like wise Ijaws of the western region also agitate for sperate region so as join with their Ijaw brothers.

So later Yorubas allowed the Ijaws and other tribes in the western region to go formed what is called midwestern region......but the igbos in other part refused because of oil.

So it became a war to war agitation.

That's why Adaka Boro came up with arm agitation which the king pharaoh igbos will understand........so Adaka Boro arm agitation led to the forceful creation of the old rivers state by gowon.........it was this creation of the rivers people out of the egyptian eastern region that caused the biafra war..

After an agreement in ghana that the sperate region Ijaws are agitating for should never create so as to remain an indivisible easstern region,,,,,,but when gowon came back to nigeria,,Ijaw leaders like Dapper Biriye and others Pressure gowon to breach that ghana agreement.....that why ibos and ibibios used war...

So eastern region is a satanic and demonic region that has been long abolished due to it numerous crimes against humanity.

eastern region only exist in the myopic minds of the king pharaoh igbos.

So don't mind them when social media and be shouting yeastern yeastern.....

Captain8:
eastern region stopped existing since 1966 when Adaka Boro used force..

Nigeria was divided into three regions in year 1950s...namely the north, west and east.

Ijaw people were divided into the two regions west and east.

Ijaws in the eastern region agitate for a separate region because of the oppression of the igbos.
Like wise Ijaws of the western region also agitate for sperate region so as join with their Ijaw brothers.

So later Yorubas allowed the Ijaws and other tribes in the western region to go formed what is called midwestern region......but the igbos in other part refused because of oil.

So it became a war to war agitation.

That's why Adaka Boro came up with arm agitation which the king pharaoh igbos will understand........so Adaka Boro arm agitation led to the forceful creation of the old rivers state by gowon.........it was this creation of the rivers people out of the egyptian eastern region that caused the biafra war..

After an agreement in ghana that the sperate region Ijaws are agitating for should never create so as to remain an indivisible easstern region,,,,,,but when gowon came back to nigeria,,Ijaw leaders like Dapper Biriye and others Pressure gowon to breach that ghana agreement.....that why ibos and ibibios used war...

So eastern region is a satanic and demonic region that has been long abolished due to it numerous crimes against humanity.

eastern region only exist in the myopic minds of the king pharaoh igbos.

So don't mind them when social media and be shouting yeastern yeastern.....

Agreed Awolowo allowed the creation of Midwest from Western region.

Without insult, tell me the regional premier of Niger delta province and the name of the region where Niger delta province was identified with when Adaka struck

tommy589:


Copied from. Wikipedia:
He was many parts and different things to different people - a university students leader, a teacher, policeman and Nigerian army officer.[citation needed] An undergraduate[4] student of chemistry[5] and student union president at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he left school to lead a protest against the exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta[6] areas which benefited mainly the federal government of Nigeria and Eastern region with capital in Enugu and nothing was given to the Niger Delta people. He believed that the people of the area deserved a larger share of proceeds of the oil wealth.[citation needed] He formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, an armed militia with members consisting mainly of his fellow Ijaw ethnic group. They declared the Niger Delta Republic on 23 February 1966 and fought with federal forces for twelve days before being defeated.

Prime Minister Balewa was already planning to give the Niger Delta People their own Referendum

after he And Azikiwe had fallen out when he was assassinated

christistruth01:



Prime Minister Balewa was already planning to give the Niger Delta People their own Referendum

after he And Azikiwe had fallen out when he was assassinated

I am not sure the Prime minister had such authority. Even if he had, it's like shooting himself in the foot. Don't forget,the middle belt were also agitating for their own region too.

The one for the creation of Midwest was strictly by members of Western parliament.And the majority from other provinces in Western region voted in support of the creation

tommy589:


Agreed Awolowo allowed the creation of Midwest from Western region.

Without insult, tell me the regional premier of Niger delta province and the name of the region where Niger delta province was identified with when Adaka struck

did you read what I wrote their?