The umbrella Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has called for a ceasefire in the debate on Prof Chinua Achebe’s latest book: There was a country.
The organisation cautioned the people of the Southeast and Southwest to ensure that the issue does not erode the goodwill the late Dim Emeka Odumegu-Ojukwu and Chief Obafemi Awolowo promoted with their famous “handshake across the Niger”.
The Enugu State CD Chairman, Chief O. A. U. Onyema, told The Nation yesterday that “these unwarranted exchanges of venomous views can erode the existing good relationship between the two progressive groups – Ndigbo and Yoruba”.
He added: “We strongly advise that we have to be careful not to allow the altercations to create bad blood between the two ethnic groups. The civil war has come and gone, and we are talking about one Nigeria. Therefore, issues of the past should form history for study and guide against future recurrence. It should not be resurrected to apportion blames and cause divisions.”
The CD chairman noted that Achebe has expressed his views, adding that they are not error-proof.
According to him, no one can claim absolute knowledge of all that transpired during the war period.
Onyema said: “Anyone who has a better view or information can come up with his or her own academic materials rather than be an armchair philosopher on a critical issue.
“Please, our elders, whose utterances are unpalatable for and against this book, should watch their steps and desist from updating the current generation with unwarranted altercations. We need more books on issues of this nature so that we can appreciate our mistakes and make corrections for tomorrow.
“Honestly, I urge every well-meaning Nigerian from any ethnic group to desist from issues that can create bias in the minds of our youths. This is because Abraham Lincoln once said: ‘Tell me the prevailing sentiments in the minds of your youth and I will tell you the character of the next generation’. Wrong sentiments should not be impacted into our youths, please.”
