Sir: ,Mr Buchanan's letter of 15 November impressed me very
much in that he is really adept at using the technique of the half-truth. All his four refutations are blatant falsehoods inspired by his personal hatred and grievances.
I answer him point by point :
(a) The official records he cited also have it that the eighteen army officers were not all lbos. That they were promoted and paid while in 'prison' was the decision of the Supreme Mili- tary Council and not General Ironsi's unilateral
decision. Nigerian public opinion was in fact
against their punitive detention (not prison, as Mr Buchanan says) which Ironsi decided upon against the majority view of the Supreme Mili- tary Council in order to placate the North.
(b) Because the lbos are a sixth of Nigeria's population they ought not, therefore, to have held 45 per cent of the Federal public service posts? What twentieth century arrant nonsense! Appointments to the service were made on indi- vidual capability and merit and not on regional population distribution. According to Mr Buchanan's logic the Federal public service should have been staffed mostly by illiterates and indolents simply because they come from the region with the largest population. Which region had the highest percentage in the Nigerian army?
(c) The Gowon junta repudiated not only the financial obligations arising therefrom but also the Aburi Agreement in its entirety. Further- more, it mounted economic blockade against the Eastern Region long before the christening of Biafra. Why then should Biafra not retaliate by sequestration of federal assets within its ter- ritory? To accuse the lbos of murder, assassina- tions and inciting riots for the leadership of Nigeria is mere falsehood. And, indeed, casts grave doubts on Mr Buchanan's knowledge of Nigerian affairs.
(d) That you dislike a race of people does
not absolve you from helping two of its mem- bers to whom you feel you owe a personal gratitude. He helped his lbo servants just be- cause they were good to him. After twisting and deliberately distorting facts against the lbos Mr Buchanan still had that shamefacedness typical of Wilsonian hypocrisy to deny his hatred for the Ibos.
Since were are 'arrogant, 'devious,' and the 'worst-hated tribe in West Atrica,' we should then be left alone in Biafra.
E. N. Omenukor
211 O'Connor Street, Ottawa, Canada
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