An Intro To Renascent Igbo Religion: November 2014

Saturday, November 15, 2014

THE DEFEAT OF BIAFRA WAS MASTERMINDED BY ITS PROTAGONISTS WHO FAILED TO GARNER FOREIGN ALLIES THAT FIRST TROOPED TO US,--- The Aristocratic Biafran Leadership Suppressed Every Opposition and So Frightened Off Genuine Military Participation by Hardcore Soldiers.

OGBUNIGWE AND ODIMEGWU DEFEATED BIAFRA

14/11/2014 05:12:20 HRS GMT

An In-Depth Analysis of the Psychodynamics of the Lapses in Biafra

By Degema Strike Force OC;

Major Kenechukwu Nzeogwu Mbaezue, BA 6532

· Whereas The Manufacture And Proper Utilisation Of Our Shore-Batteries Frightened And Rallied The Whole World Against Us

· The Aristocratic Biafran Leadership Suppressed Every Opposition and So Frightened Off Genuine Military Participation by Hardcore Soldiers.

· The Result Was That Improper Political And Military Management Ignited Disaffection That Weakened A Coordinated Prosecution Of The War.

A HISTORICAL REVIEW TO SEE HOW IGBOS BUNGLED CHANCES OF BEING THE TRUE LEADERS OF THE NIGERIAN NATION

Nigeria

became independent on October 1, 1960. In 1961 the Cameroons trust territories were split in two. The mostly Muslim northern Cameroons voted to become part of the Northern Region of Nigeria, while the southern Cameroons joined the Federal Republic of Cameroon. Regional and ethnic tensions escalated quickly. The censuses of 1962 and 1963 fueled bitter disputes, as did the trial and imprisonment of leading opposition politicians, whom Prime Minister Balewa accused dubiously of treason. In 1963 an eastern section of the Western Region that was ethnically non-Yoruba was split off into a new region, the Midwestern Region. Matters deteriorated during the violence-marred elections of 1964, from which the NPC emerged victorious. On January 15, 1966, junior army officers revolted and killed Balewa and several other politicians, including the prime ministers of the Northern and Western regions. Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, the commander of the army and an Igbo, emerged as the country’s new leader.

Ironsi immediately suspended the constitution, which did little to ease northern fears of southern domination. In late May 1966 Ironsi further angered the north with the announcement that many public services then controlled by the regions would henceforth be controlled by the federal government. On July 29 northern-backed army officers staged a countercoup, assassinating Ironsi and replacing him with Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon. The coup was followed by the massacre of thousands of Igbo in northern cities. Most of the surviving Igbo sought refuge in their crowded eastern homelands.
In May 1967 Gowon announced the creation of a new 12-state structure. The Eastern Region, populated mostly by Igbo, would be divided into three states, two of them dominated by non-Igbo groups. The division would also sever the vast majority of Igbo from profitable coastal ports and rich oil fields that had recently been discovered in the Niger Delta (which until then was a part of the Eastern Region). The leaders of the Eastern Region, pushed to the brink of secession by the recent anti-Igbo attacks and the influx of Igbo refugees, saw this action as an official attempt to push the Igbo to the margins of Nigerian society and politics. On May 27, 1967, the region’s Igbo-dominated assembly authorized Lieutenant Colonel Odemegwu Ojukwu to declare independence as the Republic of Biafra. Ojukwu obliged three days later.
War broke out in July 1967 when Nigerian forces moved south and captured the university town of Nsukka. Biafran troops crossed the Niger River, pushing deep into the west in an attempt to attack Lagos, then the capital. Gowon’s forces repelled the invasion, imposed a naval blockade of the southeastern coast, and mounted a counterattack into northern Biafra. A bitter war of attrition followed, prolonged by France’s military support for the Biafrans. In January 1970 the better-equipped federal forces finally overcame the rebels, whereupon Gowon announced he would remain in power for six more years to ensure a peaceful transition to democracy.

Biafran Soldier

The Nigerian civil war started in 1967 when Nigeria’s Eastern Region seceded and proclaimed itself the Republic of Biafra. The author was pleasantly surprised at seeing himself as a 19-year old soldier at Oguta water front, a river port for medical supplies, without his knowledge till 20 years after the fratricide. The bloody conflict devastated Biafra before Biafran forces surrendered to the federal Nigerian army in 1970.

Hulton Deutsch/Corbis

POLITICS OF OIL AND DEMANDS FOR REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH
Given the bitterness of the civil war, the restoration of peace and the reintegration of the Igbo into Nigerian life were remarkably rapid. Aiding the resumption of normalcy was a booming oil trade (by the mid-1970s, Nigeria was the fifth largest producer of petroleum in the world). However, along with rapid growth came shortages of key commodities, crippling congestion in the ports, and demands for redistribution of wealth. Although a national development plan resulted in some redistribution, the bulk of Nigeria’s income remained in the hands of an urban few.
In 1974 Gowon announced that the return to civilian rule would be postponed indefinitely. His timing was poor: High prices, chronic shortages, growing corruption, and the failure of the government to address several regional issues had already created a restless mood. On July 29, 1975, Brigadier Murtala Ramat Muhammed overthrew Gowon in a bloodless coup. Muhammed moved quickly to address issues that Gowon had avoided. He replaced corrupt state governors. He purged incompetent and corrupt members of the public services. He instigated a plan to move the national capital from industrial, coastal Lagos to neglected, interior Abuja. Civilian rule, he declared, would be restored by 1979, and he began a five-stage process of transition.
The reforms made Muhammed extremely popular with many Nigerians. On February 13, 1976, he was assassinated in a coup attempt, but his administration remained in power. His successor, Lieutenant General Olusegun Obasanjo, continued Muhammed’s reforms, including the move toward civilian rule. Obasanjo also created seven new states to help redistribute wealth and began a massive reform of local government. In 1977 he convened a constitutional assembly, which recommended replacing the British-style parliamentary system with an American-style presidential system of separate executive and legislative branches. To ensure that candidates would appeal to ethnic groups beyond their own, the president and vice president were required to win at least 25 percent of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 19 states. The new constitution took effect in 1979. The restructured administration was called Nigeria’s Second Republic.

Republic of Biafra

The Biafran civil war was precipitated by an attempt by the Nigerian government to lessen the political power of certain Nigerian ethnic groups by dividing the country’s 4 existing regions into 12 states. The former Eastern Region declared itself independent in May 1967 as the Republic of Biafra, left, and the civil war ensued. By January 1970 the Biafran forces controlled only a small portion of Biafra, right, and surrendered.

1968: Nigeria

Biafra Encircled.

After a year and a half of bitterly fought civil war, the Federal Republic of Nigeria had all but defeated breakaway Biafra. Toward the year's end, advancing federal forces had reduced Biafra's borders from an original 29,484 square miles to under 4,000 square miles, or an area some 100 miles long and 30 miles wide. In May, Biafra's vital port and oil center, Port Harcourt, fell to federal troops. In September federal forces took Aba, Biafra's last administrative center and the largest of its few remaining towns. Umuahia, the last Biafran stronghold, was encircled in November. The war was kept going by guerrilla tactics and by foreign-supplied military equipment and food. During the second half of the year the world was shocked by reports that as many as 25,000 Biafrans were dying each day from starvation, the result of the viselike federal blockade through which only harassed night flights could penetrate with food.

Civil War Background.

With an active Parliament and a sturdy economy, the most populous country in Africa had seemingly made an easy transition to independence in 1960. Nigeria's 250 tribes, each with its own language and customs, were divided into three and later four regions, each dominated by major tribes: Hausa and Fulani in the North (29.8 million), Yoruba in the West (12.8 million), and Ibo in the East (12.4 million). Although Western impact came late to the larger and more populated Muslim North, ruled by powerful feudal emirs, its legislative majority dominated the federal Parliament.

The better-educated, change-oriented, aggressive Ibos in the East, many of whom emigrated to key positions outside their crowded region, resented Northern dominance and the many evidences of federal corruption. The tragic events of 1966 began on January 15 when a military coup by army officers toppled the government and led to the establishment of military rule under an Ibo general, Johnson T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi, who surrounded himself with Ibo advisers. Northern resentment led to attacks on Ibos, and on July 29 the regime of General Ironsi was overthrown, and Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Yakubu Gowon, a Northern Hausa, became the chief of state of the Federal Military Government (FMG). In September some 20,000 to 30,000 Ibos were massacred, and many more were attacked and maimed. Having reason to believe themselves marked for extermination, Ibos from all over Nigeria returned in a mass migration to the Eastern Region, where, under their regional military governor, Lieutenant Colonel (later General) Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, many pressed for local autonomy and the more militant called for independence. The break came on May 30, 1967, three days after the federal government divided the four regions into 12 states in a move to decentralize and thereby reduce tribal antagonisms. Cut off by the division from coastal trade and oil resources which would have made them economically viable, the Ibos declared the independence of the Eastern Region under the name of the Republic of Biafra (taken from the name of an inlet on the Gulf of Guinea). Fighting broke out in June, and despite Biafran forays during the early months of the war, the federal forces had, by the end of this year, closed an ever-narrowing ring around Biafra, which continued to resist in guerrilla fashion.

Foreign Support.

Somewhat incongruously, the countries supplying arms and other aid to federal Nigeria include Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United Arab Republic. Britain's motives include its colonial ties and post-independence trade and oil connections with Nigeria. Soviet aid of MIG fighters is attributed to anticipated ideological, trade, and oil concessions in federal Nigeria, which it sees as the inevitable winner. Egypt sympathizes with its Muslim co-religionists in the Northern Region. The United States, officially neutral, has barred arms sales to either side. But the U.S. government has acknowledged the FMG as the only legitimate government of Nigeria, a move which has evoked anti-U.S. sentiment among Biafrans. Public reaction against shocking reports of Biafran starvation has led three European countries—Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, and Belgium—to halt arms shipments to federal Nigeria.

Biafra has received military aid from France, ostensibly for trade and oil preference should Biafra win. France also reportedly wants to spite the United States and Great Britain. On July 31 the French government called for a resolution of the war on the basis of the right of self-determination. Portugal has given Biafra the use of its air ports and telecommunications. Tanzania, in April, became the first country to recognize Biafra as an independent state. Three other African countries—Gabon, the Ivory Coast, and Zambia—recognized Biafra in May.

HERE WAS THE DIPLOMATIC ERRORS MADE BY ARISTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP THAT MORTGAGED BIAFRA’S CHANCES AT WINNING THE WAR

Reports of Starvation.

In October the head of the World Council of Churches relief program in Biafra estimated deaths from starvation at 186,000 in July, 310,000 in August, and 360,000 in September. Relief flights of food to Biafra, which reached an average of 15-18 a night, reduced deaths in October to about 200,000. Forecasts predicted 25,000 deaths a day in December unless a cease-fire was called. The International Committee of the Red Cross has fed 750,000 victims daily in what is left of Biafra, plus 500,000 daily in areas taken by federal troops. Many groups and prominent individuals, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, have criticized the American government for not sending direct food relief to Biafra. But U.S. officials maintained that they could not authorize such flights without permission from the federal Nigerian government and that U.S. government food and other aid must be channeled through private church relief agencies and the ICRC. Direct night flights to Biafra have been harassed by federal Nigeria, which had demanded that relief shipments land on federally held territory. Biafra would not accept such an arrangement, however, claiming that food passing through federal hands might be poisoned. In November the federal government said it would allow daytime flights of relief supplies into the Biafran airstrip at Uli, but the Biafran regime did not agree to this arrangement, possibly because night flights containing arms shipments would then be open to federal attacks.

Unsuccessful Peace Talks.

Peace talks began with unsuccessful secret sessions in London during January and February. More promising preliminary talks in early May led to an agreement that peace negotiations should begin in Kampala, Uganda, later that month. These talks, however, made little progress and were cut off by Biafra on May 31. At the August 5-September 9 talks in Addis Ababa, under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity, the warring representatives again deadlocked. Federal Nigeria has insisted that Biafra give up independence as a condition for peace; Biafra has replied that only autonomy can save the Ibos from massacre. On August 12, Pope Paul VI appealed for an end to the civil war. At a September meeting in Algeria, the OAU passed a resolution calling on Biafra to cease its fight for independence and to cooperate with Nigeria in seeking peace. Most of the 40 OAU member nations themselves contain tribal minorities with easily awakened antagonisms toward their central governments. It is feared that Biafra's success might prompt other rebellions and lead to a balkanization of Africa. Nigeria's ambassadors have played upon this fear in the capitals of African nations.

At least one Biafran friend altered her stand. Dame Margery Perham, an Oxford University specialist on Africa who in August declared Biafrans as 'overwhelmingly the injured party ... who dare not surrender,' changed her mind on a subsequent visit to Nigeria. In September she broadcast a plea to Biafrans to surrender as the only way to save millions from death and starvation.

Economic Developments.

Federal Nigeria introduced new currency notes on January 3 in a move to stop Biafra's use of Nigerian pounds to buy arms abroad. Biafra was thus forced on January 30 to issue its own currency notes—which it imported from Switzerland—and postage stamps.

While the cost of the civil war is incalculable in lost lives, one American economist estimated the financial cost to federal Nigeria at over $840 million. Nigeria was also hurt financially when Great Britain devalued the pound, as Britain is Nigeria's main trading partner. On January 18 the federal finance minister announced new controls on nonessential imports in an effort to strengthen the country's foreign reserves.

From Biafran Commando Recruit to Sergeant to Lieutenant to Major by Bush Commissions

PIECEMEAL NARRATIVES THAT ELUCIDATE MY PERSPECTIVE THAT OUR LEADERS REFUSED TO PEOPLE-ORIENTED ACTIONS WHEN THEY MATTERED MOST

1967: Nigeria

Strife-torn Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, erupted into civil war as the Ibo tribesmen of the Eastern Region broke away from the federation and set up the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra. Fighting broke out over a wide area; federal troops finally took Enugu, the Eastern Region's capital. At year's end federal troops appeared to have quelled the rebellion, although tribal antagonisms remained more deeply divisive than ever during Nigeria's seventh year of independence.

Secession of Eastern Region.

Major General Yakubu Gowon, the federation's chief of state, decreed on May 28 the division of the federation, which had consisted of 4 regions and a federal territory, into 12 states, 3 of them from the Eastern Region, each to be autonomous and responsible for law and order. Two days later the Eastern Region, led by its Oxford-educated military governor, Major General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, seceded from the Federation of Nigeria, declaring itself the Republic of Biafra (named after the Bight of Biafra, an inlet on the Gulf of Guinea).

The secession followed long-simmering hostility among Nigeria's hundreds of tribes, many of them separated by religion, culture, and language. The largest tribes are the 31 million Hausas of the Northern Region and the 12.8 million Ibos of the East. Most Ibos are Christians; they are well educated by African standards, politically forward-looking, skillful, and energetic. Many Hausas are Muslim, conservative, and several generations behind the Ibos educationally. (Gowon, a Hausa, is a Christian; his father was a Methodist minister.) The long and savage history of Hausa-Ibo violence reached a climax in January 1966 when Ibo army officers staged a bloody coup against the Northern-dominated federal government, and an Ibo general (Johnson T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi) took over as interim ruler of the country.

Six months later the Northerners struck back by murdering the Ibo chief of state and launching a pogrom against the 1.5 million Ibos living in the Northern and Western regions. Some 20,000 to 30,000 Ibos were massacred; hundreds of thousands fled back to their crowded Eastern Region. The embittered Ibos wanted security and more autonomy for the Eastern Region than Federal Governor Gowon was willing to grant.

The East's Ojukwu gave Gowon until Mar. 31, 1967, to put into effect agreements reached at a conference held in Ghana in January for a loose confederation of states for

Nigeria

, promised aid for Ibo refugees, and other concessions. When the deadline passed without action, Ojukwu hit back by requiring taxes (about $40 million in 1967) from foreign oil companies in the Eastern Region to be paid to the Eastern treasury rather than, as before, to the federal treasury. This act Gowon denounced as 'illegal and unconstitutional.' Ojukwu responded by seceding on May 30, and Gowon ordered federal troops to bring the rebellious 'Biafrans' back into the federation.

Civil War.

While the federal navy blockaded Eastern Region ports to prevent the shipment of oil, the federal army invaded the Eastern Region. By July it had taken the university town of Nsukka in the east and the market town of Ogaja in the west on a 100-mile war front. The relatively small forces on both sides were augmented by volunteers. The federal offensive halted as Biafran guerrillas struck back in confused clashes between wandering groups of ill-trained armies.

Fighting the federal troops to a standstill, the Biafrans, joined by mutinous federal soldiers under Ibo officers, took the offensive and captured Benin, capital of the neighboring Midwestern Region, on August 9, thus spreading the civil war to the second of Nigeria's four regions. Shortage of matériel bogged down both armies, while radio propaganda from both sides claimed victories.

The Biafran-appointed Ibo military governor of the Midwestern Region declared its independence. Shortly thereafter, on September 20, federal troops reoccupied the Midwestern Region and with their coming the formerly tolerant Midwesterners took a heavy revenge on the half-million Ibos (20 percent of the Midwestern Region's population) living in their midst. Ibo corpses lined town streets and country roads.

Foreign Arms.

The United States prohibited arms shipment to Nigeria. Great Britain supplied light arms to the federal army but banned plane shipments. Federal forces were reinforced by the arrival of a reported six Czech L-26 jet planes and six obsolete MIG fighters, six MIG trainers, military supplies, and mechanics from the Soviet Union. The Biafrans obtained two obsolete B-26 bombers and a few helicopters. It was estimated in October that the civil war had cost both sides $140 million for arms so far. The federal government asserted that Portugal was aiding the Biafran cause.

Biafra's Capital Taken.

In a radio broadcast on October 1, the seventh anniversary of Nigeria's independence, Gowon appealed to Easterners to abandon their secessionist leaders and promised Ibos their rightful place in the federation after the civil war ended. Shortly afterward federal troops slashed deep into Ibo territory and rained shells on the Biafran capital of Enugu. By the end of October the civil war had reached a decisive stage with the toppling and emptying of Enugu and the encirclement of Biafra on three sides. Ojukwu offered his resignation, but Biafra's House of Chiefs and Consultative Assembly gave him an overwhelming vote of confidence and promoted him to full general, thus seeming to halt hopes of a negotiated peace. An offer to negotiate a cease-fire had come earlier from the leaders of the Organization of African Unity meeting in Kinshasa, capital of the Congo, in September. The arrival of their six-member peace delegation was postponed several times.

1968: Nigeria

Biafra Encircled.

Civil War Background.

Foreign Support.

1969: Nigeria

Civil war continues.

The most populous country in Africa continued to hurtle toward disaster in the third year of a devastating civil war. By September 1968, Federal Military Government troops had squeezed Biafra's 12.4 million people into a 5,000-square-mile area; the area has now been reduced to less than 3,000 square miles. The starvation of more than 1.5 million people on both sides has shocked the world as the war has dragged on, with the FMG receiving British, Soviet, and Egyptian military aid and Biafra receiving Portuguese and French aid. Other nations have responded with food and medical shipments, which must cross FMG territory to reach Biafra.

Biafrans fear that the FMG will poison the food; the FMG insists on inspecting shipments to prevent arms smuggling. The FMG halted flights by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on June 5 and continued to fire on illegal night flights made by paid volunteers. Both sides continued to use starvation deliberately for political ends. The once prosperous Ibos, sure that they will never regain their former high status in

Nigeria

, fought on in this bitter war.

The United States remained officially neutral but continued to recognize the FMG as the only legal government. Americans supplied money, food, and medicine to relieve Biafran suffering, but this may only help prolong the conflict.

A battle for oil.

The war-drained FMG treasury was bolstered by industrial expansion, increased cotton exports, and an oil boom. Wartime import restrictions have forced local production of some manufactured goods, so that industrialization has nearly doubled since the war began. Cocoa and peanut production have slipped, but cotton exports have increased. Oil is the FMG's big money-maker. Port Harcourt, recaptured by the FMG early this year, is the source of over half the country's oil. By 1975, Nigeria expects to earn $840 million (mainly from Shell-British Petroleum and Gulf Oil), double the current revenue from all sources. Oil income is also expected to be important in financing postwar reconstruction.

After May, Biafran ground and air forces struck repeatedly at FMG's Port Harcourt oil installations. Some dozen hedgehopping and rocket-equipped Swedish-built Minicon training planes were flown mainly by Biafran pilots trained by Carl Gustav von Rosen, the Swedish count who is Biafra's chief air force adviser. These Biafran air strikes aimed to sap the FMG's oil-based economy and to goad British and American oil companies into pressing the FMG for peace.

Relief flight talks stalled.

After the shooting down on June 5 of a Red Cross mercy flight by the FMG, only a trickle of relief shipments on night flights piloted by private volunteers reached besieged and starving Biafrans. On August 3 a Canadian crew of four died in a Canair Relief Agency night flight plane crash near Uli airstrip in Biafra. On September 12 the ICRC reached an accord with the FMG on a three-week experiment of day flights with FMG arms inspection at the Red Cross base in Cotonou in neighboring Dahomey and further FMG inspection rights in the capital of Lagos. The plan seemed likely to abate Biafra's fear of poisoned food dispatched from FMG territory and was also a slight change from the FMG's former requirement that relief flights originate or touch down in FMG territory. But hopes were dashed on September 14, when Biafra Radio rejected the accord as militarily advantageous to the FMG. On October 22, Biafra Radio proposed that the ICRC resume night flights and hand over food and supplies to private pilots willing to risk FMG ground fire. A new relief proposal was made in October by several prominent Americans, including former vice-president Hubert H. Humphrey, Mrs. Coretta King, and Lieutenant General William H. Tunner, who commanded the Berlin airlift in 1948. The plan would use 12 jet-powered helicopters operating from an aircraft carrier 50 miles off the Nigerian coast to shuttle food and medical supplies directly to FMG and Biafran starvation areas.

Peace hopes dim.

Worldwide hopes for Nigerian peace did not materialize from Pope Paul VI's three-day visit to Uganda, July 31-August 2, despite his talks with representatives from both sides. Peace hopes were revived again in late August by statements made in London by Nnamdi Azikiwe, a distinguished elder Ibo serving as Biafra's representative abroad. He is a hero of Nigerian independence, a former prime minister of the Eastern Region, and was

Nigeria

's first president.

Having originally opposed secession, he now called on Biafra to give up the struggle and labeled as unfounded Biafra's fear of genocide in a reunited Nigeria. He pointed out that more Ibos now live without harassment in FMG territory—up to 5 million—than the approximately 3 million Ibos still in besieged Biafra. Biafran leaders were shocked and angered by his views, by his return to the FMG capital of Lagos on September 5, and by the warm reception given him by Major General Yakubu Gowon, the FMG leader.

Peace initiatives were thought more likely to come from the 41-nation Organization of African Unity, which held its sixth annual meeting September 7-11 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss Nigerian peace, among other matters. President Julius K. Nyerere of Tanzania, one of four OAU countries to recognize Biafra, called for a cease-fire. FMG representatives would not accept a cease-fire unless Biafra ended its secession.

Ibo leaders in turn rejected negotiations based on reunification. A fresh approach sounded by the FMG's Gowon on September 10, calling for peace talks without preconditions, reportedly was accepted by Biafra two days later, but no direct talks took place in September or October. Acting from his present position of strength, Gowon was reportedly anxious for peace talks and seemed loath to make a massive quick kill, as urged by FMG hawks. Biafra's General Odumegwu Ojukwu and other leaders continued their guerrilla resistance, believing that they would be executed and the Ibos would be long harassed if Nigeria were reunited.

Amnesty for civilians.

The FMG's Gowon marked the ninth anniversary of Nigeria's independence of October 1 by ordering the release of civilians imprisoned during the civil war. The first major figure released was playwright Wole Soyinka, freed from a northern Nigerian jail in Kaduna on October 8. His plays have appeared on New York and London stages. A yoruba of western Nigeria, be had publicly sympathized with the Ibos in September 1966 and had been jailed August 17, 1967, after a visit to Biafra.

Military action.

Little military action occurred after April, when Biafra won back the town of Owerri, now its provisional capital. Biafra continued to make hit-and-run ground attacks and desultory air hits on oil refineries near Port Harcourt, 15 miles north of which the Biafra front line was said to be. So far an estimated 500,000 Biafrans have been killed in action. Biafran leaders claimed that 7.5 million Ibos minority tribes live in the oppressed Biafran enclave, but FMG authorities argued that the number within Biafra's shrinking defense perimeters was much smaller.

1970: Nigeria

Civil war ends.

Organized resistance in Nigeria's 30-month, bitterly fought civil war ended January 12 with a declaration of surrender over Biafran radio by Major General Philip Effiong. He succeeded secessionist leader General Odumegwu Ojukwu, who fled January 11 to asylum in the Ivory Coast. Unconditional surrender was accepted on January 15 by federal Nigerian leader Major General Yakubu Gowon, who declared general amnesty 'for all those misled into attempting to disintegrate the country.' He added: 'We have been reunited with our brothers.' The end became imminent on January 10 with the collapse of Owerri, Biafra's third provincial capital, and on January 12 Uli airstrip, Biafra's last link with the outside world, was captured. The civil war took an estimated 2 million lives, including many Biafran children and women, and cost over US$840 million according to the federal government.

Relief efforts.

The federal government's insistence on supervising all foreign relief operations in war-devastated areas, partly because of the pro-Biafra bias of some relief agencies, allegedly made for more red tape and a slowdown in meeting relief needs. An April 11 report from relief workers stated that 50,000 persons had died of starvation since the end of the civil war. The Nigerian Red Cross relief operations distributed an estimated 3,000 tons of food a week to 3 million people, mostly children, at the peak of the emergency in March. Relief operations were gradually reduced in scale and were taken over on June 30 by the National Rehabilitation Commission, which coordinated the efforts of voluntary relief agencies. These agencies promised to keep 14 teams operating until the end of September.

Reconciliation and reconstruction.

An international team of observers reported on January 16 that neither widespread starvation nor mistreatment of Biafrans had been found in the areas visited between Port Harcourt and Owerri. Secretary General U Thant of the UN, in Lagos on January 18, also reported no evidence of violence or mistreatment of the civilian population. In Lagos on February 19, U.S. secretary of state William P. Rogers praised Nigerians for their 'vital work of reconciliation and reconstruction.'

Such early favorable accounts were marred by later reports of severe troop misbehavior, continued scarcity of food, and slow disposal of relief supplies. In February, 35 Catholic priests were jailed and fined for breaking immigration laws, and 64 missionaries, including ten nuns, all active in Biafran relief work, were deported. An August 15 decree stated that any public servant who supported the rebellion would be dismissed or forced to retire. The federal Ministry of Information clarified the decree on August 17 by stating that its purpose was not to penalize all officials but only those who were proved to have exhibited 'undue enthusiasm' in furthering the rebellion.

Gowon announced on April 20 that former Biafra would be reinstated as the East-Central State on an equal basis with the other 11 states in federal Nigeria. The state would be led by Ukpabi Anthony Asika, an Ibo who had been appointed administrator of the East-Central State in 1967 and who had remained loyal to Nigeria during the civil war. The government made a flat exchange payment, worth US$56, to each of the 200,000 persons who had deposited Biafran currency in the Central Bank. Railway restoration was begun in areas devastated by war, some night flights were resumed, the eastern ports of Port Harcourt and Calabar were opened to foreign ships, telephone lines were restored between Lagos and Enugu, government incentives were offered to villages to organize rural development projects, and a number of schools were reopened.

Foreign relations.

Nigeria

moved toward normalizing its foreign relations, particularly with nations which had recognized or aided Biafra. Gowon met in Lagos on February 25 with French deputy Aymar Achille-Fould; although the restoration of amicable relations was announced, some antipathy remained toward France because of its support of Biafra. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the opening of the summit meeting of the Organization of African Unity on September 1, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia announced that a 'total reconciliation' had taken place between Nigeria and the four African countries which had recognized Biafra: Gabon, the Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Zambia. Earlier, in May, resumed relations were sought by the Ivory Coast, whose president had conferred on the matter with the presidents of Chad and Gabon, all three of which are tied closely to France. Secessionist leader Ojukwu, in exile in the Ivory Coast, also attended the meeting. In October, Ojukwu was asked to leave the Ivory Coast, ostensibly because he broke his promise to refrain from political activity by granting news interviews. He was reportedly refused asylum by Switzerland in late October.

Nigeria

resumed commerce with Cameroon on the Benue River on August 14 as a result of an agreement on strengthening ties and signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation with Dahomey on August 19. Also in August, Gowon visited Algeria, the Sudan, and Egypt.

Civil war lessons.

Federal victory evoked worldwide press speculation about the reporting of the civil war, starvation as a weapon of war, and the motives of intervening powers. In retrospect, some critics cite press reports as all too often emphasizing atrocities at the expense of socioeconomic and political analysis. Some editors and reporters presented a primitive stereotype of Africans, particularly federal soldiers. In order to gain world sympathy, recognition, relief, and arms, powerful Biafran lobbies in such countries as the United States and Great Britain encouraged emotional reports presenting Biafrans as wronged, beleaguered, and starved. Advocates of this position point out that Biafran capitulation was caused as much by waning outside support as it was by federal military action.

Some reporting of humanitarian efforts may have unfairly presented the federal government's reasons for insisting on supervision of relief shipments. Some relief agencies publicly favored Biafra, frankly called themselves 'bootleggers of mercy,' and gave the rebels tacit recognition by illegally dealing directly with them. Little stressed, too, were the paranoid Biafran fear of poison in federally inspected food, the possible arms concealment in relief shipments from or passing through countries recognizing Biafra and committed to its victory, the inefficiency of competing relief agencies, their interdenominational rivalry in order to gain an advantage for future proselytizing efforts, and the capitulation of the big powers to their propagandized public, which wanted to hasten and increase relief shipments.

Speculation also centered on the motives of the intervening powers and on the consequences of their intervention. Britain's support of the federation it had launched was clear, and its subsequent trade benefits were understandable. Former French president de Gaulle's aid to Biafra was seen as consistent with his antipathy to the Anglo-American alliance, his encouragement of separatism as in Quebec, his hoped-for dominance of Biafran oil-production potential, and his fear that a powerful federal Nigeria posed a threat to African countries in the French economic orbit. The Soviet Union's motives were explained as another attempt to gain a foothold in West Africa after its recent failures in Guinea and Ghana. The United States' prohibition of arms to either side was seen as a test of its resolve not to act as world policeman and not to counter every Soviet intrusion. In general, observers felt that, having learned the stern lessons of big-power involvement, federal Nigeria is likely to pursue an independent course and to keep foreigners at arm's length for some time to come.

Outlook.

Restrained optimism marked Nigeria's tenth independence anniversary on October 1. Gowon promised a new national census by 1973 and a new constitution as preludes to elections leading to a return to civilian government by 1976, or earlier if possible. Most close observers saw Gowon's leadership as a necessary factor in maintaining peaceful progress, but few had expected the elections to be delayed as long as six years. Those who are optimistic about Nigeria's future point to the rapid pace of the return to economic and social normalcy.

A reasonable reconciliation with the Biafrans has been achieved despite dire predictions of their being massacred. The federal victory held together over 400 diverse tribes, and the 1967 redrawing of the former four contentious regions into 12 more equitably balanced states should help prevent tribal differences from causing another war.

In February the oil industry output exceeded the highest prewar level, making Nigeria the world's tenth-largest oil producer. In November, Gowon announced a four-year plan to develop Nigerian industry. The government plans to control the nation's industries and 'strategic natural resources' to make sure companies comply with the planned growth timetable. The oil industry, presently entirely foreign run, will be taken over by a planned national oil corporation. The development plan appropriated $658 million, of which $114 million will be spent in 1970-1974, for implementing industrial expansion. In addition, money was allotted for expansion and modernization of the public transportation, educational, and agricultural systems.

RELEVANT STATISTICS THAT OTHER RESEARCHERS MAY NEED:

Area and population.

Area, 356,669 sq. mi. Pop. (est. 1970), 55,100,000. Principal cities: Lagos (cap.; 1963), 665,246; Ibadan, 627,379; Ogbomosho, 319,881; Kano, 295,432; Oshogbo, 208,966.

Government.

Federal military government; member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Head of state and of government, Major General Yakubu Gowon, rules Supreme Military Council and is advised by 12-member civilian Federal Executive Council, with Chief Obafemi Awolowo (Yoruba tribal leader) as vice-chairman.

Finance.

Monetary unit, Nigerian pound; £1 = US$2.80. Budget (est. 1968-1969): revenue, £147.7 million, of which £54.4 million reverts to state governments; expenditure, £92 million.

Trade (1968).

Exports, £211.1 million; imports, £192.6 million. Principal exports: petroleum (6.9 million tons), groundnuts, cocoa, palm kernels and oil, rubber, raw cotton, cotton seed, tin. Principal imports: manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals. Principal trading partners: United Kingdom and other Commonwealth nations, United States, Japan, Netherlands, West Germany, Italy.

Education (1967, excluding the 3 eastern states).

Primary enrollment, 1,778,976. Secondary enrollment, 142,837. University enrollment: Nigeria Nsukka, 3,482; Ibadan, 2,559; Ahmadu Belle, 1,351; Ife, 1,258; Lagos, 1,436.

Armed forces (est. 1969).

Federal

Nigeria

, 100,000.

FULL TRIBUTE IS PAID TO ARCHIVES COLLIER'S YEAR BOOK DR JIDEOFO KENECHUKWU DANMBAEZUE, D. Sc.

I acknowledge all downloads I made from Archives that consist of articles that originally appeared in Collier's Year Book (for events of 1997 and earlier) or as monthly updates in Encarta Yearbook (for events of 1998 and later). Because they were published shortly after events occurred, they reflect the information available at that time. Cross references refer to Archive articles of the same year.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

WHY HAS THE VATICAN REFUSED TO CANONIZE OUR SAINTLY BROTHER BLESSED CYPRIAN MICHAEL IWENE TANSI BUT HAS DONE SO FOR MOTHER TERESA AND JOHN PAUL WHO CAME TO NIGERIA TO ANNOUNCE HIS BLESSED STATUS????

SPIRITUAL SONS OF SAINT CYPRIAN MICHAEL IWENE TABANSI WORLWIDE WITH BRANCHES IN EVERY COUNTRY WHERE HIS BLOOD RELATIVES LIVE AND EARN THEIR LIVING WILL NOT CONTINUE TO WAIT FOR VATICAN ANY MORE

HEADQUARTERS @ AGULERI, BRANCHES WORLDWIDE,

Founded on 1st November 2014, Feast of All Saints.

Msgr. JB to design the Official Logo to be placed here

AN OVERVIEW

If one does not lick his fingers in the tropical harmattan season, the dry winds will oblige him by doing it free-of-charge. Canonising our own Blessed has been put on hold by

Vatican

for reasons best known to them. Again, it is said that ‘ Necessity is the mother of invention’. That sums up the origin of this association. We are a team of interdisciplinary certified, proven and tested professionals in every field of endeavour poised to widen the horizons of Tansian Humanitarianism by replicating his virtues and works of love, charity and evangelism.

Why has our own BLESSED not been canonised whereas the Pope who declared him ‘blessed’ has been elevated to sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. Did he not attain the rank before both Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II? We may be ignorant of the little technicalities delaying the Holy See but we are not ignorant of the saintly miracles our dear son has performed for decades now. Why is

Vatican

dragging its feet? We are no longer waiting for anyone to boss us over the authenticity of what we can clearly see in our palms or the veracity of visible evidences of divine favours that our kith and kin have gained through BLESSED IWENE TANSI. Did we campaign for a Pope to come down here and announce it to us? - - NO IS THE RIGHT ANSWER. We did not lobby anyone to elevate him. The Holy Spirit and his brother monks did. So, who are we waiting for? We are the ones restricting ourselves. He was declared a SAINT that same day he was pronounced ‘Blessed’. Rearrange the letters in “TANSI” and you will realise for the first time that

Vatican

inadvertently already named him a SAINT. This latest association of laymen professionals are his spiritual sons. He is our SAINT, and we will prove it so by our LABOURS OF LOVE FOR HIM. Join us today.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

This has already been dictated to Rev. Prof John Bosco Akam many years ago; from 2008 - 2014. Read these books’

THE PATH OF HOPE, Tansian University Umunya poised to make a Difference, ISBN 978-978-48382-4-5 Gostak Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd, No 1 Onubogu lane, Uwani-Enugu, Nigeria, 2008.
BEING A TANSIAN, a Tansian “Vademecum”, Gostak Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd, Uwani-Enugu, Nigeria, 2013.
BLESSED IWENE TANSI, My Role Model, ISBN 978-978-49596-1-2, Gostak Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd, No 1 Onubogu lane, Uwani-Enugu, Nigeria, 2014.

* The Very Rev. Msgr. may never have known at the times he wrote them that the Holy Spirit had programmed this founding of the SPIRITUAL SONS OF SAINT MICHAEL IWENE TABANSI.

** You are privileged to be called upon to be the foundation member. Read the books and send us your C.V. We are not restricted by any cleavages; religious, denominational, political nor sectarian divides.

*** Once you are a professional and you have the divine unction to serve humanity with your skills endowed by our Almighty Creator as our SAINT MICHAEL IWENE TANSI did, send us an email to;

· akamnonujb@gmail.com

· saintkenez@yahoo.co.uk

REMAIN BLESSED AS YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID

LET US SEE UNEDITED ENTRIES IN ONLY MICROSOFT ENCRTA ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR NOW

Canonization, in the Roman Catholic church, an act by which the pope publicly proclaims the sanctity of a deceased person, whom he thereupon proposes for the veneration of the universal church. Canonization is usually the final act of a lengthy process that begins with beatification. The decree of beatification is an official declaration that a person lived a holy life and can be venerated as one of the “blessed”; canonization awards the full title of “saint.” In the Orthodox church, the process of canonization is less formal and is carried out by local synods of bishops.
The modern custom of canonization originated in the early Christian practice of paying public honor to the martyrs. For many centuries thereafter the title of saint was bestowed by popular acclamation. Not until a comparatively late period was a procedure equivalent to canonization adopted.
The earliest acknowledged instance of a solemn decree of canonization is that of Udalric or Ulric, bishop of Augsburg, declared a saint by Pope John XV in 993. Pope Alexander III in 1171 reserved the right of canonizing exclusively for the papacy. Pope Urban VIII, in two constitutions promulgated in 1625 and 1634, made more stringent regulations and laid down the canonization procedure that, with slight modifications, is still followed.
Canonization, without a special dispensation, cannot be decreed until 50 years have elapsed since the claimant's death. The process that precedes the decree of canonization seeks to establish two characteristics of the claimant according to the testimony of competent witnesses: eminent virtues, technically referred to as virtues in a “heroic degree,” and the performance of at least two authentic miracles. If the initial investigation is satisfactory, the pope takes the cause into his own hands and issues letters assigning the cause to a committee of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which then examines the virtues and miracles specifically. The claimant's cause is now said to be introduced. The introduction of the cause, that is, of the pontifical process, entitles the beatificandus, or candidate for beatification, to be called “venerable.” Many candidates have reached this point in the proceedings and have failed to go beyond it. If the candidate passes successfully through the proceedings, a decree of beatification is pronounced. Before the further process of canonization can be instituted, witnesses must testify that the candidate has worked a certain number of miracles since beatification. The case then once more passes through the hands of several congregations, the last of which is held in the presence of the pope, when the final decree is agreed upon.
The ceremony of canonization occurs in Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican and is one of the most solemn and imposing of all papal functions.
Equipollent or equivalent canonization is founded upon proof of immemorial veneration, or of some papal sanction given to veneration, prior to the date of Urban VIII's constitution. In such cases the pope may at once pronounce the decree of canonization. Equipollent beatification is a summary process of a similar kind. The pope accepts the results of the preliminary process and at once decrees beatification.

Beatification, since the 12th century, an official papal declaration that a deceased person lived a holy life and is worthy of veneration. The beatified person receives the title “blessed.” The process leading to beatification involves an intensive examination of the life, writings, and reputation of the person under consideration. It is generally a step toward canonization. Before the 12th century, local bishops instituted the process and issued the declaration of beatification for their own dioceses.

Saint

I.	*INTRODUCTION*

	*Saints' Days*

Saint, name applied in the New Testament (Colossians 1:2) to the members of the Christian community generally, but restricted in ecclesiastical usage from very early times to those who have been virtuous to a heroic degree. Saints are traditionally distributed into several classes: apostles and evangelists; martyrs; confessors, originally, those who had undergone imprisonment or pains without the final crown of martyrdom and, later, male saints in general who were eminent for sanctity; doctors, saints eminent for sacred learning; virgins; and matrons and widows. For the methods by which the title of saint has been conferred in early and in modern times, see Canonization.

II.

VENERATION OF SAINTS

By the 4th century ad, the practice of venerating the saints was widespread. During the Middle Ages, however, much superstition surrounded the practice. Even before the Reformation, the Bogomils and Waldenses objected to the veneration of saints; at the time of the Reformation, the practice was generally rejected as scripturally unfounded. The Roman Catholic Council of Trent (1545-63) affirmed that it is a good and useful thing to invoke the saints on account of the benefits to be obtained from God through their intercession. The belief and practice of the Orthodox church is basically the same as that of the Roman Catholic.

Of the many saints, almost all record has perished except their names. The fullest list is found in the general table in the 61st volume of the colossal Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists, which mentions about 20,000 saints. The catalog that possesses the highest ecclesiastical authority is that of the Martyrologium Romanum. The martyrology numbers some 2700 saints, including about 20 saints of the Old Testament, arranged according to the days of their celebration. Many of these saints were honored annually with a special feast day; at one time their feast days filled about two-thirds of the Roman Catholic church's liturgical calendar, although some of the saints had become little more than names. In 1964 Vatican Council II concluded that only saints “of truly universal significance should be extended to the universal Church” and the others “should be left to be celebrated by a particular church, or nation, or religious community.” Accordingly, in 1969, Pope Paul VI approved a reordering of the liturgical calendar to achieve the council's wish. In the revised calendar, which took effect on January 1, 1970, only 58 regular, or obligatory, and 92 optional feast days of saints were retained in addition to those of Christ, the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, and the apostles.

	*III.*	*SAINTS IN ART AND PATRON SAINTS*
*Sidebars*
*HISTORIC DOCUMENTS*
*From Lives of the Artists: Cimabue*
Although a painter and architect himself, Giorgio Vasari is best known for his ten-volume Lives of the Artists (1550; revised 1568), which discusses the character and work of Italian Renaissance artists. Over the centuries, scholars have regarded Vasari's engaging and anecdotal biographies as an invaluable primary source. In his account of the career of 13th-century Florentine painter and mosaicist Cimabue, Vasari stresses the artist’s innovative treatment of religious figures and his movement away from the “stiff” Byzantine style in which he had been apprenticed to show depth and movement.
*open sidebar*

In Christian art representations of the saints, as well as of Christ, are often marked by a halo (also known as a nimbus, aureole, or glory), a ring or area of radiance about the head or entire figure, and many of the saints are pictured with emblems by which they could readily be recognized. A martyr who had a special interest in a place was called its patron as early as the 4th century. Trades and professions had their patrons, and for every disease a saint could be invoked to cure it. Among the widely known patron saints are Andrew of Scotland, Denis of France, George of England, Nicholas of Russia, Patrick of Ireland, James the Great of Spain, and Stephen of Hungary. The term hagiology or hagiography is used to denote the branch of literature that is concerned with the lives and legends of the saints.

MORE SOURCES

		*Web Links*
	*Religion: Male Saints [Getty Explore Art]* *The J. Paul Getty Museum offers a collection of works of art depicting male saints.* *http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/displayObjectList?sub=2032359*

Religion: Female Saints [Getty Explore Art]

The J. Paul Getty Museum offers a collection of works of art depicting female saints.

http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/displayObjectList?sub=2032328

Catholic Online Saints & Angels

Catholic Online explains the process of canonizing saints and provides biographies and a calendar of saints' days; the site also includes information about angels.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/index.shtml

	*American Catholic Online: Saint of the Day* *American Catholic Online offers a different biography of a saint each day.* *http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay/*
		*Further Reading*

Saints

	*Primary Sources*
	*Historic Documents*

From Lives of the Artists: Cimabue

Although a painter and architect himself, Giorgio Vasari is best known for his ten-volume Lives of the Artists (1550; revised 1568), which discusses the character and work of Italian Renaissance artists. Over the centuries, scholars have regarded Vasari's engaging and anecdotal biographies as an invaluable primary source. In his account of the career of 13th-century Florentine painter and mosaicist Cimabue, Vasari stresses the artist’s innovative treatment of religious figures and his movement away from the “stiff” Byzantine style in which he had been apprenticed to show depth and movement.

more...

ALSO IN ENCARTA

Related Articles

All Saints’ Day, also Allhallows or Hallowmas, festival celebrated on November 1 in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, and by the Orthodox churches on the first Sunday after Pentecost, in honor of God and all his saints, known and unknown. It became established as a church festival early in the 7th century when the Pantheon in Rome was consecrated as the Church of the Blessed Virgin and All Martyrs. Pope Gregory IV gave the custom official authorization in 835. November 1 may have been chosen because it was the day of one of the four great festivals of the pagan nations of the north, and it was church policy to supplant pagan with Christian observances.

HAVE ALL THESE HURDLES NOT BEEN CROSSED BY OUR EPISCOPAL HIERACHY CLERGY AND LAY FAITHFUL IN THE ONITSHA ECCELESIASTICAL PROVINCE SINCE 2007? TO BE VERY TRUTHFUL, I KNOW THAT AT LEAST MOST OF THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED BY A TEAM OF ORDAINED AND QUALIFIED PRIESTS IN OUR VARIOUS DIOCESES.
I MAY NOT HAVE ACCURATE STATISTICS ON THIS DELICATE ISSUE, BUT WERE ALL THESE HURRIWEDLY DONE IN THE CASE OF MOTHER TERESA BY THE LATE POPE JOHN PAUL II ? … THAT IS THE MOST CURIOUS QUESTION ?
AS IT STANDS, TO DATE, IT LOOKS AS IF THE ONLY WAY AFRICANS CAN ATTAIN SAINTHOOD IS BY MARTYRDOM. AND IF I MAY OBSERVE, IS IT NOT FUNNY THAT THE FEW WE HAVE WERE ALL RELUCTANTLY DONE POST-HUMOUSLY?
IT IS FUNNY TO OBSERVE THAT RACISM IS THE SO-CALLED ROMAN, HOLY, APOSTOLIC AND CATHOLIC CHURCH. WHO IS FOOLING WHO? THE WAY IT STANDS, VATICAN SHOULD BRACE UP TO A BIFURCATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IF NOTHING IS DONE QUICKLY TO AVERT THE OMNIOUS SIGNS I CAN READ IN THE CLOUDS REGARDING THE SUBDUED LOYALTY AND FOLLOWERSHIP IT CURRENTLY ENJOYS WORLDWIDE.

Every Professional Consortium Can Formulate A ‘Modus Operandi’ Similar To This One For Approval

TABANSI THERAPEUTIC & RESEARCH CENTRE

TTRC

AN OVERVIEW OF THE THERAPEUTIC ORIENTATION OF HEALTH PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS OF SSSMIT

Health in human beings is the extent of an individual's continuing physical, emotional, mental, and social ability to cope with his environment.

This definition, just one of many that are possible, has its drawbacks. The rather fragile individual who stays “well” within the ordinary environment of his or her existence may succumb to a heart attack from heavy shovelling after a snowstorm; or a sea-level dweller may move to a new home in the mountains, where the atmosphere has a lower content of oxygen, and suffer from shortness of breath and anaemia until his red blood cell count adjusts itself to the altitude. Thus, even by this definition, the conception of good health must involve some allowance for change in the environment.

Bad health can be defined as the presence of disease, good health as its absence—particularly the absence of continuing disease, because the person afflicted with a sudden attack of seasickness, for example, may not be thought of as having lost his good health as a result of such a mishap.

Actually, there is a wide variable area between health and disease. Only a few examples are necessary to illustrate the point:

(1) It is physiologically normal for an individual, 15 to 20 minutes after eating a meal, to have a high blood sugar content. If, however, the sugar content remains elevated two hours later, this condition is abnormal and may be indicative of disease.

(2) A “healthy” individual may have developed an allergy, perhaps during early childhood, to a single specific substance. If he never again comes in contact with the antigen that causes the allergy, all other factors remaining normal, he will remain in that state of health.

Should he, however, come in contact with that allergen, even 20 or 30 years later, he may suffer anything from a mild allergic reaction—a simple rash—to severe anaphylactic shock, coma, or even death, depending upon the circumstances. Thus it can be seen that, unlike disease, which is frequently recognizable, tangible, and rather easily defined, health is a somewhat nebulous condition, and somewhat difficult to define.

Moreover, physical condition and health are not synonymous terms. A seven-foot-tall basketball player may be in excellent physical condition (although outside the range of normality for height) but may or may not be in good health—depending, for example, on whether or not he has fallen victim to an attack of influenza.

There are further problems in settling upon a definition of human health. A person may be physically strong, resistant to infection, able to cope with physical hardship and other features of his physical environment, and still be considered unhealthy if his mental state, as measured by his behaviour, is deemed unsound. What is mental health? Some say that a person is mentally healthy if he is able to function reasonably well. Others hold that a person is healthy mentally if his behaviour is like that of a majority of his fellows.

In the face of this confusion, it is most useful, perhaps, to define health, good or bad, in terms that can be measured, can be interpreted with respect to the ability of the individual at the time of measurement to function in a normal manner and with respect to the likelihood of imminent disease. These measurements can be found in tables of “reference values” printed in textbooks of clinical medicine, diagnosis, and other references of this type. When an individual is given a health examination, the examination is likely to include a series of tests. Some of these tests are more descriptive than quantitative and can indicate the presence of disease in a seemingly healthy person. Such tests include the electrocardiogram to detect some kinds of heart disease; electromyogram for primary muscle disorders; liver and gall bladder function tests; and X-ray techniques for determining disease or malfunction of internal organs.

Other tests give numerical results (or results that can be assigned numerical values—such as photometric colour determinations) that can be interpreted by the examiner. These are physical and chemical tests, including blood, urine, and spinal-fluid analyses. The results of the tests are compared with the reference values; and the physician receives clues as to the health of his patient and, if the values are abnormal, for the methods of improving his health.

A major difficulty in the interpretation of test results is that of biological variability. Almost without exception these reference values for variables are means or adjusted means of large group measurements. For these values to have significance, they must be considered as lying somewhere near the centre point of a 95 percent range—i.e., the so-called ordinary range or, with reservations, the range from normal to the upper and lower borderline limits. Thus, the 2.5 percent below the lower limit and the 2.5 percent above the upper limit of the 95 percent range are considered areas of abnormality or, perhaps, illness. Some areas have wide 95 percent ranges—blood pressure, for example, may vary considerably throughout the day (e.g., during exercise, fright, or anger) and remain within its range of normality. Other values have ranges so narrow that they are termed physiological constants. An individual's body temperature, for example, rarely varies (when taken at the same anatomical site) by more than a degree (from time of rising until bedtime) without being indicative of infection or other illness.

Culled from HEALTH, a Comprehensive Definition from Encyclopædia Britannica Article

To cite this page:

• APA Style: health. (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.

A KENEZIAN MODIFICATION FOR SSSMIT

I have always argued that many people mistakenly take health to refer only to physical well being of the individual. This is totally wrong. The social and mental well being is neglected without many realising that the duo actually produce the physical symptoms that develop into perennial ill-health that later is termed TERMINAL DISEASES. A good example is High Blood Pressure. Just like the philosophical question; WHICH CAME FIRST, THE EGG OR THE HEN? It is absurd that General Practitioners of Human Medicine forgot to emphasise to their patients that there are certain human relationships that produce physical diseases. We need to bring social and mental levels of health in any good definition. Dr Kenez (1981)

Physical fitness (health)

• major reference

• prevention of disease

• relationship to health

• exercises for strength

Physical fitness is a general concept and is defined in many ways by different scientists. Physical fitness is discussed here in two major categories: health-related physical fitness and motor-performance physical fitness. Despite some overlap between these classifications, there are major differences, as described below.

Health-related physical fitness

Health-related physical fitness is defined as fitness related to some aspect of health. This type of physical fitness is primarily influenced by an individual's exercise habits; thus, it is a dynamic state and may change. Physical characteristics that constitute health-related physical fitness include strength and endurance of skeletal muscles, joint flexibility, body composition, and cardio-respiratory endurance. All these attributes change in response to appropriate physical conditioning programs, and all are related to health. Strength and endurance of skeletal muscles of the trunk help maintain correct posture and prevent such problems as low back pain. Minimal levels of muscular strength and endurance are needed for routine tasks of living, such as carrying bags of groceries or picking up a young child. Individuals with very low levels of muscular strength and endurance are limited in the performance of routine tasks and have to lead a restricted life. Such limitations are perhaps only indirectly related to health, but individuals who cannot pick up and hug a grandchild or must struggle to get up from a soft chair surely have a lower quality of life than that enjoyed by their fitter peers. Flexibility, or range of motion around the joints, also ranks as an important component of health-related fitness. Lack of flexibility in the lower back and posterior thigh is thought to contribute to low back pain. Extreme lack of flexibility also has a deleterious effect on the quality of life by limiting performance. Body composition refers to the ratio between fat and lean tissue in the body. Excess body fat is clearly related to several health problems, including cardiovascular disease, type II (adult-onset) diabetes mellitus, and certain forms of cancer. Body composition is affected by diet, but exercise habits play a crucial role in preventing obesity and maintaining acceptable levels of body fat. Cardio-respiratory endurance, or aerobic fitness, is probably what most people identify as physical fitness. Aerobic fitness refers to the integrated functional capacity of the heart, lungs, vascular system, and skeletal muscles to expend energy. The basic activity that underlies this type of fitness is aerobic metabolism in the muscle cell, a process in which oxygen is combined with a fuel source (fats or carbohydrates) to release energy and produce carbon dioxide and water. The energy is used by the muscle to contract, thereby exerting force that can be used for movement. For the aerobic reaction to take place, the cardio-respiratory system (i.e., the circulatory and pulmonary systems) must constantly supply oxygen and fuel to the muscle cell and remove carbon dioxide from it. The maximal rate at which aerobic metabolism can occur is thus determined by the functional capacity of the cardio-respiratory system and is measured in the laboratory as maximal oxygen intake. As will be discussed in detail below, aerobic fitness is inversely related to the incidence of coronary heart disease and hypertension.

Motor-performance physical fitness

Motor-performance fitness is defined as the ability of the neuromuscular system to perform specific tasks. Test items used to assess motor-performance fitness include chin-ups, sit-ups, the 50-yard dash, the standing long jump, and the shuttle run (a timed run in which the participant dashes back and forth between two points). The primary physical characteristics measured by these tests are the strength and endurance of the skeletal muscles and the speed or power of the legs. These traits are important for success in many types of athletics. Muscular strength and endurance are also related to some aspects of health, as stated above. There is disagreement among experts about the relative importance of health-related and motor-performance physical fitness. While both types of fitness are obviously desirable, their relative values should be determined by an individual's personal fitness objectives. If success in athletic events is of primary importance, motor-performance fitness should be emphasized. If concern about health is paramount, health-related fitness should be the focus. Different types of fitness may be important not only to different individuals but also to the same individual at different times. The 16-year-old competing on a school athletic team is likely to focus on motor performance. The typical middle-aged individual is not as likely to be concerned about athletic success, emphasizing instead health and appearance. One further point should be made: to a great extent, motor-performance physical fitness is determined by genetic potential. The person who can run fast at 10 years of age will be fast at age 17; although training may enhance racing performance, it will not appreciably change the individual's genetically determined running speed. On the other hand, characteristics of health-related physical fitness, while also partly determined by inheritance, are much more profoundly influenced by exercise habits.

• Mental fitness (health)

The science of maintaining mental health and preventing the development of psychosis, neurosis, or other mental disorders. Since the founding of the United Nations the concepts of mental health and hygiene have achieved international acceptance. As defined in the 1946 constitution of the World Health Organization, “health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The term mental health represents a variety of human aspirations: rehabilitation of the mentally disturbed, prevention of mental disorder, reduction of tension in a stressful world, and attainment of a state of well-being in which the individual functions at a level consistent with his or her mental potential. As noted by the World Federation for Mental Health, the concept of optimum mental health refers not to an absolute or ideal state but to the best possible state insofar as circumstances are alterable. Mental health is regarded as a condition of the individual, relative to the capacities and social-environmental context of that person. Mental hygiene includes all measures taken to promote and to preserve mental health. Community mental health refers to the extent to which the organization and functioning of the community determines, or is conducive to, the mental health of its members. Throughout the ages the mentally disturbed have been viewed with a mixture of fear and revulsion. Their fate generally has been one of rejection, neglect, and ill treatment. Though in ancient medical writings there are references to mental disturbance that display views very similar to modern humane attitudes, interspersed in the same literature are instances of socially sanctioned cruelty based upon the belief that mental disorders have supernatural origins such as demonic possession. Even reformers sometimes used harsh methods of treatment; for example, the 18th-century American physician Benjamin Rush endorsed the practice of restraining mental patients with his notorious “tranquilising chair.”

• Social health also called welfare service or social work

Social health is any of a variety of governmental programs designed to protect citizens from the economic risks and insecurities of life. The most common types of programs provide benefits to the elderly or retired, the sick or invalid, dependent survivors, mothers, the unemployed, the work-injured, and families. Methods of financing and administration and the scope of coverage and benefits vary widely among countries. Social health embraces any of numerous publicly or privately provided services intended to aid disadvantaged, distressed, or vulnerable persons or groups. The term social service also denotes the profession engaged in rendering such services. The social services have flourished in the 20th century as ideas of social responsibility have developed and spread. The basic concerns of social welfare—poverty, disability and disease, the dependent young and elderly—are as old as society itself. The laws of survival once severely limited the means by which these concerns could be addressed; to share another's burden meant to weaken one's own standing in the fierce struggle of daily existence. As societies developed, however, with their patterns of dependence between members, there arose more systematic responses to the factors that rendered individuals, and thus society at large, vulnerable.

Fagged Out by Diminishing Returns; to be continued….

The above orientation motivates this association in providing a comprehensive health insurance for all bona-fide members, their progeny and the generality of beneficiaries of the Tansian Charity Umbrella enshrined in our Mission Statement and Constitution.

SPIRITUAL SONS OF SAINT MICHAEL IWENE TABANSI LAY PROFESSIONALS THAT HAVE DEDICATED THEIR SKILLS TO CARRYING ON THE LEGACIES OF OUR ROLE MODEL

(sssmit)

SAINT MICHAEL IWENE TABANSI, PRAY FOR US, AMEN

Why has our own BLESSED not been canonised whereas the Pope who declared him ‘blessed’ has been elevated to sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. Did he not attain the rank before both Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II? We may be ignorant of the little technicalities delaying the Holy See but we are not ignorant of the saintly miracles our dear son has performed for decades now. Why is Vatican dragging its feet?
We are no longer waiting for anyone to boss us over the authenticity of what we can clearly see in our palms or the veracity of visible evidences of divine favours that our kith and kin have gained through BLESSED IWENE TANSI. Did we campaign for a Pope to come down here and announce it to us? - - NO IS THE RIGHT ANSWER. We did not lobby anyone to elevate him. The Holy Spirit and his brother monks did. So, who are we waiting for?
We are the ones restricting ourselves. He was declared a SAINT that same day he was pronounced ‘Blessed’. Rearrange the letters in “TANSI” and you will realise for the first time that Vatican inadvertently already named him a SAINT. This latest association of laymen professionals are his spiritual sons. He is our SAINT, and we will prove it so by our LABOURS OF LOVE FOR HIM. Join us today.

CO-FOUNDERS OF SPIRITUAL SONS of SAINT MICHEAL IWENE TABANSI WORLDWIDE; AN ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONALS

THE TANSIAN MEDICAL RESEARCH CENTRE

The Precursor to TANSUTH; Tansi University Hospital

This will be a revolutionary epicentre of Innovative Research, Creative Healthcare and Tropical Medicine Oriented Unit.

SSSMIT as an interdisciplinary therapeutic consortium will be heavily engaged in medical research, both in orthodox or alternate human medicine. Our people had for so long been exposed to western conventional practice of treatment. We have for centuries relegated out traditional healing practices that our children are unaware that their great grandparents survived for centuries before the first white doctors arrived on our shores. We must re-orient our people by conducting investigative studies aimed at a rediscovery of the potent herbal medicine of our people and re-introduce them in our TANSIAN THERAPEUTICS.

What Is Alternative Medicine

Throughout the ages, people have turned to herbal medicine for healing; the sixth field of alternative medicine. All cultures have folk medicine traditions that include the use of plants and plant products. Africa is not an exception!

Many licensed drugs used all over the world today, originated from roots and plants in the herbal traditions of various cultures, such as the medication commonly used for heart failure, ‘Digitalis’, that is derived from foxglove! ‘Quinine’, the brand name for ‘Quinacrine’, which my generation drank throughout our infant years in the colonial administrtion,1950 until 1960 was manufactured by the British May & Baker Industry from ‘Dogonyaro’, a tropical tree our forefathers had been using for treating malaria for ages before the arrival of the first white man on the African continent! Its roots, stem, leaves and flowers had been processed and crystallized in Great Britain, then repackaged in yellow tablet forms and returned to the colonies as the ultimate in the treatment of Malaria; the white man’s scourge in West Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4 billion people, or 80 percent of the world’s population, use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care. If this statement is valid, and I have no reasons to doubt it, then the West is vicariously admitting that they have come down from their pinnacle of “WE KNOW IT ALL AND DEVELOPING NATIONS MUST WAIT AND FOLLOW US.

This is exactly what our investigation is all about. If our forefathers survived childhood diseases, developed, evolved and practised their own brand of traditional obstetrics & gynaecology that ensured that our parents lived long enough to give birth to our generation, then a rediscovery of their unique pharmacopoeia will definitely save the lives of many of our unfortunate bothers and sisters who are already struck by the pandemic HIV and its Siamese twin- AIDS! Or, should we fold our arms and wait for the West to provide answers to all medical problems we are also qualified to provide?

Why Are People Turning To Alternative Medicine?

The onset of the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic (HIV, the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS) in the mid-1980s was one of the reasons people began turning to alternative medicine. Conventional medicine was unable to provide an effective treatment, leading people to seek other therapies. Public interest in alternative medicine also grew as people realized that victory in the fight against cancer was a long way off.

Other perceived shortcomings of conventional medicine centred around chronic ailments. For example, a 1998 study published in the JAMA by John Astin, a researcher at Stanford University in California, found that the health problems for which Americans most frequently use alternative therapies include chronic pain, muscle strains or sprains, headaches, arthritis, and addictions.

But not everyone who uses alternative medical procedures does so because they are dissatisfied with the results from mainstream treatments. “Alternative health care is becoming more widespread and popular for reasons that have nothing to do with alternative medicine,” says Michael Goldstein, a professor of public health at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the author of Alternative Health Care: Medicine, Miracle, or Mirage? (1999).

“There is a negative feeling toward conventional medicine and the way it deals with particular problems such as chronic illness. And there is an increasing dissatisfaction with the way care is provided.”

For example, many people have expressed discontent with the health care provided by managed health-care plans. Managed health-care companies, such as health maintenance organizations (HMOs), often limit patients' choice of treatment options and providers to hold down costs. Critics of this cost-cutting approach believe it depersonalizes medical care and reduces doctors' interest in developing a relationship with their patients.

One measure of the increasing popularity of alternative medicine is that some managed care companies have begun to cover alternative treatments. Most major health insurance companies now cover at least one form of alternative therapy, often because the alternative therapy is less expensive than the conventional treatment. A 1997 study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion by Kenneth R. Pelletier, a researcher at Stanford University, found that 30 major

U.S.

insurers cover at least one form of alternative therapy. The benefits are typically tightly controlled, however.

Another factor behind the rising popularity of alternative health care is that many Americans (16.3 percent of the population, or about 44.3 million people in 1998) do not have health insurance or suffer from ailments that their insurance plan does not or will not cover. This situation has opened the door to practitioners who tout inexpensive, seemingly natural, ways to heal in lieu of mainstream, and more expensive, solutions.

FOR YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT HERE IS AN ENCYCLOPAEDIC DISSERTATION ON THE RESUME I GAVE ABOVE AND HOW WE ADAPTED IT INTO OUR SEARCH A DECADE AGO FOR AN ALTERNATIVE TROPICAL MANAGEMENT OF THE HIV SCOURGE

OUR QUESTION THEN WAS WHAT IS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE?

Alternative Medicine, also called unconventional medicine, is the use of therapeutic practices, techniques and beliefs that are outside the realm of mainstream Western health care. Alternative medicine emphasizes therapies that improve quality of life, prevent disease, and address conditions that conventional medicine has limited success in curing, such as chronic back pain and certain cancers.

Proponents of alternative medicine believe that these approaches to healing are safer and more natural and have been shown through experience to work. In certain countries, alternative medical practices are the most widely used methods of health care. However, many practitioners of modern conventional medicine believe these practices are unorthodox and unproven.

By some estimates 83 million

United States

residents use alternative medicine, spending more than $27 million a year. Reports from

Canada

, the

United Kingdom

and

Australia

also indicate a widespread interest in alternative therapies. A special report prepared for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Alternative Medicine: Expanding Medical Horizons categorizes alternative medicine practices into six fields.

The first field, mind-body intervention, explores the mind’s capacity to affect, and perhaps heal, the body. Studies have shown that the mental state has a profound effect on the immune system and subsequently these studies have provoked interest in the mind’s role in the cause and course of disease. Specific mind-body interventions include; meditation, hypnosis, art therapy, biofeedback and mental healing.

Bio-electromagnetic applications, the second field of alternative medicine, make use of the body’s response to non-thermal, non-ionising radiation. Current uses involve bone repair, nerve stimulation, wound healing, treatment of osteoarthritis and immune system stimulation.

The third field is alternative systems of medical practice. In each variation of this system, the practice is usually characterised by a specific theory of health and disease, an educational programme to teach its concepts to new practitioners and often a legal mandate to regulate its practice. Examples include; Acupuncture, popularised by the Chinese, Ayurvedic medicine, Homeopathy and Naturopathy.

Touch and manipulation are the mainstays of the manual healing methods, which constitute the fourth field of alternative medicine. Practitioners of chiropractic and massage therapies such as Rolfing structural integration believe that dysfunction of one part of the body often affects the function of other, not necessarily connected, parts. Manipulating bones or soft tissues or realigning body parts will therefore restore health.

The pharmacological and biological treatments that make up the fifth field of alternative medicine consist of an assortment of drugs and vaccines not yet accepted in mainstream medicine. Compounds such as anti-neoplastins (from human blood and urine) for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), various products of the honeybee for arthritis, and iscador (a liquid extract from mistletoe) for tumours have not been scientifically evaluated because of the expense of conducting safety and effectiveness studies.

Throughout the ages, people have turned for healing to herbal medicine, the sixth field of alternative medicine. All cultures have folk medicine traditions that include the use of plants and plant products. Many licensed drugs used today originated in the herbal traditions of various cultures, such as the medication commonly used for heart failure, digitalis, which is derived from foxglove. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4 billion people, or 80 percent of the world’s population, use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care.

This is exactly what our investigation is all about. If our forefathers survived childhood diseases, developed, evolved and practised their own brand of traditional obstetrics & gynaecology that ensured that our parents lived long enough to give birth to our generation, then a rediscovery of their unique pharmacopoeia will definitely save the lives of many of our unfortunate bothers and sister who are already struck by the pandemic HIV and its Siamese twin- AIDS!

THE PHILOSOPHY OF HAFANI RESEARCH CONSORTIUM IN PREFERRING THE USE OF HERBAL MEDICINE TO TREAT HIV.

WE HAD NO OTHER OPTION THAN TO LOOK INWARDS FOR COST EFFICIENT ALTERNATIVES; PALLIATIVE OR PROPHYLACTIC REMEDIES, TO STEM THE SPREAD OF THE PANDEMIC IN AFRICA AND REDUCE THE EXORBITANT DRUGS MARKETED BY THE WEST.

Use of “Moringa Oleifera” in Hafani’s Alternative Therapy

Our search for cheaper means of caring for PLWA in the rural community who may not have access to synthetic multivitamins took us the doors of Epidemiologists. One of our consultants, who works at the National Arbovirus and Vectors; Research Division of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr N. A. Ozumba, has processed and packaged the leaf powder form of this great plant, which he labelled “MOVITAAMIN”, abbreviated DOM.

The name is derived thus: MO-VIT-AA-MIN tells us that the plant Moringa Oleifera is very rich in and provides the Vitamins, the essential Amino Acids, and Minerals that our body needs.

In this case, it goes beyond supplementing human nutrition to the more significant function of bolstering the immune system of people living with HIV-AIDS, thereby enhancing prophylaxis and improving the appetite of its beneficiaries! In the field, it has been sampled and tested on pregnant and breast-feeding women, malnourished infants and people living with HIV-AIDS for three years with magnificent results. It is equally reported to have increased the physical and mental well being of those who use it just as food supplement! We have scientifically documented evidence that any interested research scientist can verify, duplicate, replicate, validate and standardise!

“Moringa Oleifera”, comes from the botanical family; Moringaceae, of the genus; Moringa. Fourteen species make up the genus, but our choice is the most popular and the best known in scientific circles. It is a fast growing and drought-resistant tree, native to Northern

India

but now widely distributed all over the tropics and sub-tropical zones of the world. It was known and highly valued by the ancient Egyptian, Roman and Greek civilisations. Recently it has been recognised as a multipurpose plant with vast potentials, in human and animal nutrition, traditional folk medicine, agro-forestry, and is equally used for water purification by environmentalists, production of high quality oils for the cosmetic industry, and it used in illumination and as lubricant for fine watches.

(For details consult Morton; 1991, Folkard and Sutherland; 1996).

Nigeria

, the plant grows profusely in the wild all the year round since we are yet to appreciate and exploit its nutritional values. Whereas it called the horseradish tree in Britain, ben aile in France, in Nigeria, the Fulani call it; Rini maka, the Hausas call it; Zongalla gandi, the Yoruba call it; Idagbo monoye, while the landlords of Igboland label it;Odudu Oyibo or Ikwe oyibo!

The leaves are outstanding among all leafy vegetables in the tropics as it a very rich source of both Vitamin A and Vitamin C when eaten raw! They are equally a good source of the various versions of the B vitamins and soluble minerals. “The Calcium content is high for a plant. Phosphorus is low as it should be. The content of Iron is very good. (It is reportedly prescribed for anaemia in the

Philippines

). They are an excellent source of protein and very low source of fat and carbohydrates. Thus the leaves are on of the vest plant foods tat can be found”(Martin cited in Price, 2000).

Going through the comparative table analysing the content of these vitamins per 100 grams of the plant, the dried Leaf Powder contains twice much more than both the Pods and fresh Leaves do! For more details, consult Fugile et al; 1999 & 2000). In the West African sub-region only in

Senegal

is the plant fully exploited for its nutritional value. However, every part of the Moringa plant is used in traditional medicine in every rural community in the

Americas

, Africa and Asia.

Presently, scientific laboratory investigations and our experimentation in the search for alternative management strategies for HIV-AIDS in Africa at UNTH from 2001 2005, have confirmed its therapeutic efficiency as well as its remedial effectiveness in nutrition/dietetics by pre-literate healers all over the globe! It is this certainty that emboldens us to recommend that other health researchers evaluate our claims! With the three regimens code-named HAT/2003/…VCO, AVT and SMV, we have achieved success in arresting the sporadic spread of the pandemic in our community! You, too, can!!

Many licensed drugs used today originated in the herbal traditions of various cultures, and therefore Hafani Research Consortium utilised the natural roots, herbs and other resources in the tropics to alleviate the throes of our kith and kin dying from the incurable HIV-AIDS pandemic rather than complacently wait for foreign patented drugs. We neither owe anyone any excuses, explanations nor apologies for using what we have in the tropics to manage the health issues and medical problems facing us as altruistic, patriotic and humanitarian research scientists. The age when Africans and Asians stood still when Europeans sneezed is over and gone for good. We must paddle our own canoes and stop being stagnated or regressed adolescents waiting for our daily bread to be rationed out to us!

Hafani Research Consortium is blazing the trail! Do you care for our rural communities? You can only answer that question by taking a resolution to stop sitting on the fence. Are you still tied to the apron strings of your erstwhile colonial masters? This is opportune time to liberate yourself and others. Apply the knowledge of scientific research you acquired in the university and alleviate the problems of our brothers and sisters by appropriating the high sounding prefixes and accolades attached to your names! This, and only this, is our mission!

We are not holding briefs for anyone, group of persons or institution. We do not represent any religious or political organisation, not even the WHO nor the UN. We are simply medical experts and natural scientists motivated by the need to find lasting solutions to the throes our kith and kin are passing through by suffering this pandemic. We are ordinary humanitarians trying our best to be our “brothers/sisters keepers”!

If the International Scientific Community is stating that they have no cure for now, shall we remain complacent while our women and children are plagued by this contraption of western science; whereas they are busy doling out free condoms and their own brands of anti-retroviral drugs that are merely prophylactic, our relatives are dying in millions here in Africa? No! ‘God forbid bad thing’ our native folks say!

The Almighty Creator in his Infinite Wisdom had/has endowed every community with the natural remedies for all the diseases that abound in their environment. It is left for dedicated elders and renowned sages in these communities to discover these healing remedies and employ them the maximum benefits that their kith and kin can derive there from. This is what we have initiated to rescue our people from Western dominance.

Dr Jideofo Kenechukwu Danmbaezue, D.Sc.

HAFANI RESEARCH TEAM LEADER, 2001 – 2011

NOTA BENE; Every proposal here is tentative. You are free to throw out the bath water but retain the precious baby to mature into a renascent and revolutionary teaching hospital, the first of its kind in Africa that we can export to other nations worldwide.

EXTENDING THE FRONTIERS OF TANSIAN HUMANITARIANISM

SSSMIT WORLDWIDE BASED AT AGULERI IN

NIGERIA

Quotations are from Original King James Version placed side by side with Original Revised Standard Version for ease of Understanding the English

PROCEDAMUS VIA IWENE TANSI is based on 1st John, Chapter 3

1 ¶ Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (KJV)

1 ¶ See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (RSV)

2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (KJV)

2 Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (RSV)

3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (KJV)

3 And every one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (RSV)

4 ¶ Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (KJV)

4 ¶ Every one who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (RSV)

5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (KJV)

5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. (RSV)

6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (KJV)

6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. (RSV)

7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. (KJV)

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does right is righteous, as he is righteous. (RSV)

8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (KJV)

8 He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (RSV)

9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. {is born: or, has been born} (KJV)

9 No one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. (RSV)

10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (KJV)

10 By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother. (RSV)

11 ¶ For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. {message: or, commandment} (KJV)

11 ¶ For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, (RSV)

12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. (KJV)

12 and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. (RSV)

13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. (KJV)

13 Do not wonder, brethren, that the world hates you. (RSV)

14 ¶ We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. (KJV)

14 ¶ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. (RSV)

15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. (KJV)

15 Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (RSV)

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (KJV)

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (RSV)

17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (KJV)

17 But if any one has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? (RSV)

18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (KJV)

18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. (RSV)

19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. {assure: Gr. persuade} (KJV)

19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him (RSV)

20 ¶ For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. (KJV)

20 ¶ whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (RSV)

21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. (KJV)

21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; (RSV)

22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. (KJV)

22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. (RSV)

23 ¶ And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. (KJV)

23 ¶ And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (RSV)

24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. (KJV)

24 All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us. (RSV)

PRACTICALISING THESE NOBLE IDEALS FOR WHICH OUR BROTHER SAINT CYPRAIN MICHAEL IWENE TANSI SPENT HIS EARTHLY LIFE EXCERCISING AMONG THE LESS PRIVILDGED IS ALL THAT HIS SPIRITUAL SONS IN THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR FATHER OF US ALL IS THE ‘MODUS OPERANDI ET VIVENDI’ OF THIS ALL INCLUSIVE ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAS POISED TO RENDER HUMANITARIAN SERVICES FREE-OF-CHARGE TO THE NEEDY IN EVERY COMMUNITY THEIR EXPERTISE IS NEEDED.
WE ARE CERTIFIED, TESTED AND TRUSTED PROFESSIONALS FROM EVERY WALK OF LIFE. OUR SERVICES TO HUMANITY HAVE NEITHER LINGUAL, RACIAL, ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL OR SOCIAL STATUS BOUNDARIES NOR INTELLECTUAL BORDERS. CALL ON US FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE IN ANY HUMAN NEED; INDIVIDUALLY OR COLLECTIVELY; AND WE SHALL HEED YOUR DISTRESS CALL, COME TO RENDER FREE CONSULTANCY SERVICES WHILE YOU PROVIDE THE PHYSICAL INGREDIENTS NECESSARY TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR DESIRED PEOPLE-ORIENTED, NON-SECTARIAN AND POSITIVE COMMUNITY TARGETS.

CALL THESE TELEPHONE NOS; 08017092020 or 08104414689

SEND DETAILED EMAILS INDICATING YOUR NEEDS TO;

akamnonujb@gmail.com OR agunabu1948@gmail.com

YOU ARE WELCOME FOR YOU HAVE JUST REACHED THE LAST BUS STOP OF THE SPIRITUAL SONS OF THE GREAT SAINT CYPRAIN MICHAEL IWENE TANSI UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OF OUR CREATOR.