Henry Chukwuemeka Onyema

Henry Chukwuemeka Onyema is a Lagos-based writer.

Fani-Kayode, Truth Is The Best Weapon

I have nothing against Kayode’s bid to project himself as the arch-defender of the Yoruba, whether within the Nigerian federation or as an independent entity. Self-determination is no sin and there is nothing to be ashamed of in forging a pan Yoruba nationalism...

Femi Fani-Kayode’s Tangled Web (Part 2)

Modern cities thrive on integration, not excluivism. If Yoruba residents in Owerri are hounded by the Imo State government I will condemn it. Lagos is not ‘no man’s land.’ Every inhabitable land on earth is owned by man...

Femi Fani-Kayode’s Tangled Web (Part 1)

Fani-Kayode wrote that the Igbo introduced tribalism in Southern Nigerian politics. He capitalised on the statements of Charles Daddy Onyeama and Nnamdi Azikiwe to buttress this charge. Onyeama allegedly declared that it was only a matter of time before the Igbo dominated Nigeria and Africa...

Ojukwu: The Megalomaniac And Demagogue: Really?

I never met Ojukwu when he was alive. But every historian and other researchers worth their brief know that you need not know your subject personally to write about him or her...

The American Files Are Not From Heaven: It Was Much More Than Ironsi Not Executing Nzeogwu And Company

My understanding of Nigeria’s chequered history from the fifties to the coup period indicates that the political leaders, by their actions and inactions, gave these idealistic, naïve and ambitious soldiers the opportunity to strike. Nigerians were sick of the politicians, though in varying degrees, by January 1966...

The Facts And Fiction Of The January 15 1966 Coup

Awoyokun asserts that if it were not for the ‘Igbo’ coup of January 15 the massacres of the Igbo in Northern Nigeria six months later would not have occurred. This thesis arises from his criticism of Achebe’s location of the massacres in resentment and blame of the Igbo for any problem in Nigeria...

Nigeria From 1966-1970: The American Files Are Not From Heaven (1)

My unquenchable interest in how and why Nigeria stopped turning between 1966 and 1970 was ignited when I saw information about classified U.S. files on the Nigerian civil war in my e-box...

The Journey Of A Manuscript

Where is the popular or notorious-depending on your stand in this matter- manuscript attributed to Major Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna? How fares this unpublished work by the man who is regarded in certain circles as the overall leader of the plotters of January 15 1966?

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