Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Professor Pat Utomi has expressed displeasure over the conspiracy of the forces controlling the Nigerian state to suppress history and facts about the country for selfish political reasons.
Utomi who featured as the Keynote Speaker at the second edition of the Ikengaonline Town Hall meeting Thursday night, condemned the deliberate attempts by those he said had captured the country to sweep some historical facts under the carpet.
Professor Utomi expressed surprise that Nigerian authorities would rather not want the history of the civil war taught, arguing that the country has so much lessons to draw from the events of the war.
Utomi who claimed that he was told that the officers who ordered the massacre of Igbo in Asaba during the Nigeria civil war, all died a violent death, said there was nothing wrong with talking about the events of the war with a view to making Nigeria a better country.
He said that the law of Karma later caught up with those behind the genocidal act against innocent victims of the Asaba massacre.
Utomi further regretted that former Head of State, Gen. Murtala Mohammed, was made to appear like a superhero by his proteges whereas he should have been put on trial for war crimes.
Professor Utomi who spoke on the theme: “Handshake Across the Niger: The Imperatives of Southern Unity, Now and Beyond,” wondered why the Nigerian state would always want the events of the civil war swept under the carpet.
According to him, apart from the Jewish holocaust, and perhaps the Rwandan genocide, the genocide against Biafrans during the Nigeria civil war was the worst genocide against humanity in the modern world.
Professor Utomi who said he was 11 years when the war broke out regretted that the Biafran holocaust was being swept under the carpet.
He recalled that an American lieutenant, William Kelly, who opened fire against civilians during the Vietnam war was later put on trial back in the US and jailed for war crime while those who committed worse crimes were being celebrated as heroes in Nigeria.
He advocated the teaching of civil war history in schools so that the younger generation would learn from history.
“Nigeria is captured and those who captured it are now living in their fears,” he said, adding that “we struggle to write history without a people.”
Professor Utomi who tried to establish links and similarities between the Igbo and Yoruba especially in terms of linguistic affinity urged for unity and collaboration among southern Nigeria.
He commended leaders of southern Nigeria and the Middle Belt including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for their unflinching support for the candidacy of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, in the spirit of equity and fairness.
Utomi condemned politics of divide-and-rule which he said was responsible for unnecessary strife and tension between tribes in the country.
In his contribution, one of the co-anchors of the 90-minute virtual meeting, Dr Osmund Agbo, noted that “one of the biggest disasters of the Nigeria project is the propensity to suppress history.”
He wondered why the Federal Government would always want to criminalise anyone trying to talk about the Biafran history.
Various Speakers who participated at the event harped on the need for stronger ties and robust cooperation among peoples of southern Nigeria.
