PROFESSOR JIDEOFO
KENECHUKWU DANMBAEZUE ANALYSES OF WHY IGBOS OFTEN DERAIL IN COMMUNAL LEADERSHIP
Whereas our Igbo collective wisdom enunciates
‘anyukoo mmamiri onu, ogbaa ufufu’, we often failed to heed those words
of our elders when they matter most, why?
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
theCameroons 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 northernBiafra. 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.
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 northernBiafra. 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 whenNigeria’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
Microsoft ®
Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
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 ofNigeria’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 SecondRepublic.
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 ofNigeria’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 SecondRepublic.
Microsoft
® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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 ofBiafra, right, and surrendered.
© Microsoft
Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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 reducedBiafra'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
tookAba, 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 withNigeria. 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 theU.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 Biafrathe 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, theIvory Coast,
and Zambia—recognized Biafra in May.
HERE WAS THE DIPLOMATIC ERRORS MADE BY ARISTOCRATIC
LEADERSHIP THAT MORTGAGEDBIAFRA’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 ofMassachusetts, 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 Londonduring
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; Biafrahas 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 toNigeria. 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 federalNigeria 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 ofBiafra. 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
duringNigeria'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 theSoviet 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 ofNigeria'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 Biafraon 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.
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 reducedBiafra'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
tookAba, 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 withNigeria. 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 theU.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 Biafrathe
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, theIvory Coast, and Zambia—recognized Biafra in
May.
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 theBerlin 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 inLondon by Nnamdi Azikiwe, a distinguished elder Ibo
serving asBiafra'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 recognizeBiafra, 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 Yorkand 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 Biafrafront 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
bySwitzerland in late October.
Nigeria resumed commerce with Cameroon on
the Benue Riveron August 14 as a result of an agreement on
strengthening ties and signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation
with Dahomeyon 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.
Microsoft
® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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’
1. 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.
2. BEING A TANSIAN, a Tansian “Vademecum”, Gostak Printing & Publishing Co.
Ltd, Uwani-Enugu, Nigeria, 2013.
3. 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;
· 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.
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.
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INTRODUCTION
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Saints' Days
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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 VaticanCouncil 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.
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SAINTS IN ART
AND PATRON SAINTS
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Sidebars
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HISTORIC
DOCUMENTS
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From Lives of
the Artists: Cimabue
|
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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.
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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 ofRussia, Patrick of Ireland, James the Great
ofSpain, 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
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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
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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/
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Further Reading
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Saints
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Primary Sources
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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...
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ALSO IN ENCARTA
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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 inRome 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.
Microsoft
® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
HAVE
ALL THESE HURDLES NOT BEEN CROSSED BY OUR EPISCOPAL HIERACHY CLERGY AND LAY
FAITHFUL IN THEONITSHA ECCELESIASTICAL PROVINCESINCE 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.
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. Africais 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 theAmerican 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).
In 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 inAfrica that we can export to
other nations worldwide.
EXTENDING THE FRONTIERS OF TANSIAN HUMANITARIANISM
SSSMIT WORLDWIDE BASED AT AGULERI INNIGERIA
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;
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.
Followers
Blog Archive
About Me
As a doctor and a theosphist I am available to all
shades of human beings at my websites, e-mails and clinic located at C82,
Federal Housing Estates, Trans-Ekulu, Enugu or during the summers; at Ezeawara
town in Ihiala LGA of Anambra State if I am not on holidays to Houston-Texas, USA.
ENGLISH Greetings to Rational Beings of this computer age! By having a website
you are now recognised and respected as a Citizen of the Global Village. You
are no more a racist, a chauvinist nor a parochial religionist. You are a
special son or daughter of the Almighty Creator who has given us the macrocosms
and microcosms to share. Let us live in peace like we ought to, equal heirs to
the benefits we derive from being HOMO SAPIENS! Please visit http//www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com for the scientific creed
and international educational guidelines and youth rearing practices that can
make us ONE HUMAN FAMILY living in ONE CREATED UNIVERSE as children of ONE
ALMIGHTY CREATOR. FRENCH Salutations à des êtres
rationnels de cette ère de l'informatique! En ayant un site web vous sont
désormais reconnus et respectés en tant que citoyen du village global. Vous
n'êtes pas plus raciste,chauvine, ni une un religieux paroissial. Vous êtes un
fils ou une fillespéciale du Créateur Tout-Puissant qui nous a donné le
macrocosme et le microcosme de partager. Laissez-nous vivre en paix comme nous
devrions, héritiers égal aux avantages que nous tirons de se HOMO SAPIENS! S'il
vous plaît visitez http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.compour la croyance scientifique et directives
internationales et les pratiques éducatives des jeunesd'élevage qui peuvent
nous faire une famille vivant humain dans ununivers créé que les enfants d'un
Créateur Tout-Puissant. GERMAN Grüße an Rational Wesen dieser
Computer-Zeitalter! Durch eineWebsite, die Sie jetzt anerkannt und respektiert
als Citizen of theGlobal Village. Sie sind nicht mehr ein Rassist, ein Chauvinist
noch eine engstirnige Glaubensgenossen. Sie sind eine spezielle Sohn oder die
Tochter des allmächtigen Schöpfers, der uns gegeben hat,der Makrokosmos und
Mikrokosmos zu teilen. Lasst uns in Friedenleben wie wir sollten, gleich Erben,
um die Vorteile wir aus Homosapiens! Bitte besuchen Sie http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com für die
wissenschaftlicheCredo und internationalen Bildungs-Richtlinien und
JugendErziehungsmethoden, die uns eine menschliche Familie lebt in
ONEgeschaffene Universum als Kinder eines allmächtigen Schöpferskann. SPANISH Saludos a los seres racionales de esta era
de la informática! Al tener un sitio web que está ahora reconocida y respetada
como un ciudadano de la Aldea Global. Tú no eres más racista, chovinista, niun
religioso parroquial. Usted es un hijo o una hija especial del Creador
Todopoderoso, que nos ha dado el macrocosmos y elmicrocosmos de compartir.
Vivamos en paz, como debemos,herederos igual a los beneficios que se derivan de
ser homo sapiens! Por favor, visite http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.compara el credo científico ydirectrices
internacionales y las prácticas educativas de jóvenes de crianza que nos puede
hacer vivir UNA FAMILIA HUMANA en un universo creado como hijos del Creador
Todopoderoso.
Religion,
which is superstition sanctioned by the state, is actually an addiction to
man-made doctrines and dogmas invented, patented and copyrighted by a few
demagogues.
• It enslaves the mind more than psychoactive drugs,
• Benumbs human creativity and resourcefulness thereby
• Restricting the development of the human potential and capital.
It is the main cause of poverty of the mind and underdevelopment of third world countries as its side-effects are indolence, redundancy, laziness and dependence of finished products and services. In the final analysis, it is the predisposing factor to lack of initiative, debilitating ignorance, fetish belief-systems, abject poverty and perennial ill-health.
Perhaps its only advantage is that it makes the polity docile and amenable to the whims and caprices of their oppressive leaders. Often, it hoodwinks its adherents into believing that ‘The God’ or ‘the gods’ they worship speak to them through the voices of their egocentric clerics who therefore can conveniently exploit them to satisfy their demonic desires of sensual pleasure and inordinate ambitions of amassing wealth. Their wanton indulgence in gluttony, wine and women is seen in every action and definitely this is the foolproof evidence of their demonic genealogy.
To rescue humanity from the demonic stranglehold of idolatry that now predominates worldwide, you are invited to reason along with us and see that we provide an everlasting cure for sensual lust for food, wine, sex, wealth and power that are the trademarks of society heading for damnation! Are you going to sit on the fence and wait for another failed experiment in Messiahship that was riddled with myopic and ethnocentric bias? Who knows the Creator well enough to declare that he has ‘a chosen people’? Where is the evidence that Moses actually led the so-called people out of any oppressive regime? The history books and modern encyclopaedia did not record the enslavement of the Jewish race except as ‘they were believed as revealed truths’.
• It enslaves the mind more than psychoactive drugs,
• Benumbs human creativity and resourcefulness thereby
• Restricting the development of the human potential and capital.
It is the main cause of poverty of the mind and underdevelopment of third world countries as its side-effects are indolence, redundancy, laziness and dependence of finished products and services. In the final analysis, it is the predisposing factor to lack of initiative, debilitating ignorance, fetish belief-systems, abject poverty and perennial ill-health.
Perhaps its only advantage is that it makes the polity docile and amenable to the whims and caprices of their oppressive leaders. Often, it hoodwinks its adherents into believing that ‘The God’ or ‘the gods’ they worship speak to them through the voices of their egocentric clerics who therefore can conveniently exploit them to satisfy their demonic desires of sensual pleasure and inordinate ambitions of amassing wealth. Their wanton indulgence in gluttony, wine and women is seen in every action and definitely this is the foolproof evidence of their demonic genealogy.
To rescue humanity from the demonic stranglehold of idolatry that now predominates worldwide, you are invited to reason along with us and see that we provide an everlasting cure for sensual lust for food, wine, sex, wealth and power that are the trademarks of society heading for damnation! Are you going to sit on the fence and wait for another failed experiment in Messiahship that was riddled with myopic and ethnocentric bias? Who knows the Creator well enough to declare that he has ‘a chosen people’? Where is the evidence that Moses actually led the so-called people out of any oppressive regime? The history books and modern encyclopaedia did not record the enslavement of the Jewish race except as ‘they were believed as revealed truths’.
The Creator has hidden so much from our intellectual faculties that to date we are still unravelling those He is allowing humanity to glimpse at through divine dreams, intuitions, inspirations and revelations to devout souls! Do you want to have supernatural knowledge mediated by spiritual faculties of seeing, feeling, sensing and caring for others? Look inwards, for the kingdom of God is inside you, not outside as many preachers tell you. No one ever got eternal bliss by keeping the commandments of men. It is given to altruistic seekers of that Divine Guidance in the affairs of mankind, which many yearn for but do not know where, when and how to find it. Search for it in this book!
The creator gave humans some of his powers and knowledge for recreating the material universe for the mutual benefits of all his created beings but today many use his gifts to perpetrate evil. Either by design or demonic manipulation, the obverse is the case; the first datum that every living thing recognises is that someone put it here and caters for its welfare. Dogs respect and fight in defence of their owners. Every pet realises that it is loved and taken care of by someone who has value for its existence. It is human who pride themselves of being rational beings that do not recognise, respect or realise that all of us have a single owner. It is absurd! Some believe there is an Almighty Creator who provides for each creature on daily basis, some assert that he has turned his back on us due to our congenital wickedness and cruel ways, while others simply deny his existence!
This is my summation of the problem; “Religion was/is a superstitious search by humanity for its origin, existence, meaning and relevance before the scientific era. The search was led by acclaimed sages among the elders of a community who defined its theories and practices. It is later ratified and recommended for legislation and implementation by state apparatus by convincing stratagem or coercion by politico-religious leaders. Thereafter, it is fine tuned and administered by ordained priests and priestesses who hand it down along ancestral lineages from one generation of lukewarm adherents, fanatics and mystics to another. Gradually, strong personalities emerge claiming divine appointment and so pull strong followers who idolise them as role models with supernatural powers. This obsession confirms them as beacons of adulation and finally leads to full scale idolatry.
INTRODUCTION
TO INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT
The Computer-Age Spiritual Fellowship for Citizens of Our Global Village
Many people are mere conformists. They are those personalities that are satisfied with ‘going through the motions’; doing what everyone else is doing to make a living and waiting for the final ‘call to glory’ as they brand death! Many of us are born and live an inconsequential life; bland, uneventful and without anything particular to be remembered for after our exit from this mundane world, a temporal habitation for the soul. There are some others, whose lives and contributions to the society made a difference! They changed the ‘status quo’ by either extending the frontiers of knowledge or developing their immediate communities. They improved the understanding of human nature and taught others the values of humanitarianism. These heroes and heroines touched the lives of many both inter-racially and internationally.
They added colour to the doldrums of routine existence on planet earth!
A few had tall dreams and went ahead to transform them into reality despite all odds. This group devised methods of changing the deplorable situations and the deprived circumstances of the lifestyle they met on becoming adults. Some adolescents dream of the courage to better their social status, but often take off on the wrong foot of seeking for titles, money, fame and crowning it all with indulging in romantic relationships.
Others dared to pursue the unknown, to break new grounds and blaze trails for followers to tread on. Their zeal, inquisitiveness, passion, persistence, desire, motivations and prayers were fully rewarded if they paid the prize for success; optimism, dedication and the refusal to quit. Their philosophy of life was ‘When the task gets tough, the tough get it going!’, ‘Never say, never again!’ or ‘All that it takes to make the impossible possible is the power to remove the ‘im’ in front of the possible!’
They eventually became geniuses, inventors, explorers, leaders or discoverers! They evolved into the innovators and pioneers who helped to enlarge the frontiers of human civilisations and removed the age-old boundaries of the unknown. Joining this select group of animators or league of achievers is usually not by accident or by mere wishful thinking. Beyond desire and hard work is a divine factor that must be recognised, respected and appropriated in unveiling the unknown that the Divine Architect had hidden there for ages waiting for a brave soul to convert it from obscure dormancy to utilitarian vibrancy. This author, Dr Kenez wants to know where you belong in this universal continuum. Or, are you waiting for ‘manna from heaven’?
The Computer-Age Spiritual Fellowship for Citizens of Our Global Village
Many people are mere conformists. They are those personalities that are satisfied with ‘going through the motions’; doing what everyone else is doing to make a living and waiting for the final ‘call to glory’ as they brand death! Many of us are born and live an inconsequential life; bland, uneventful and without anything particular to be remembered for after our exit from this mundane world, a temporal habitation for the soul. There are some others, whose lives and contributions to the society made a difference! They changed the ‘status quo’ by either extending the frontiers of knowledge or developing their immediate communities. They improved the understanding of human nature and taught others the values of humanitarianism. These heroes and heroines touched the lives of many both inter-racially and internationally.
They added colour to the doldrums of routine existence on planet earth!
A few had tall dreams and went ahead to transform them into reality despite all odds. This group devised methods of changing the deplorable situations and the deprived circumstances of the lifestyle they met on becoming adults. Some adolescents dream of the courage to better their social status, but often take off on the wrong foot of seeking for titles, money, fame and crowning it all with indulging in romantic relationships.
Others dared to pursue the unknown, to break new grounds and blaze trails for followers to tread on. Their zeal, inquisitiveness, passion, persistence, desire, motivations and prayers were fully rewarded if they paid the prize for success; optimism, dedication and the refusal to quit. Their philosophy of life was ‘When the task gets tough, the tough get it going!’, ‘Never say, never again!’ or ‘All that it takes to make the impossible possible is the power to remove the ‘im’ in front of the possible!’
They eventually became geniuses, inventors, explorers, leaders or discoverers! They evolved into the innovators and pioneers who helped to enlarge the frontiers of human civilisations and removed the age-old boundaries of the unknown. Joining this select group of animators or league of achievers is usually not by accident or by mere wishful thinking. Beyond desire and hard work is a divine factor that must be recognised, respected and appropriated in unveiling the unknown that the Divine Architect had hidden there for ages waiting for a brave soul to convert it from obscure dormancy to utilitarian vibrancy. This author, Dr Kenez wants to know where you belong in this universal continuum. Or, are you waiting for ‘manna from heaven’?
AGUNABU UMUELECHI BIAFRA
A MORE REWARDING 2018 AS I PRESENT MY SITREP ON GRAY HAIRS
https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100022425160768
PROFESSOR JIDEOFO
KENECHUKWU DANMBAEZUE ANALYSES OF WHY IGBOS OFTEN DERAIL IN COMMUNAL LEADERSHIP
Whereas our Igbo collective wisdom enunciates
‘anyukoo mmamiri onu, ogbaa ufufu’, we often failed to heed those words
of our elders when they matter most, why?
YOU HAVE EARNED VIEW MY TEN YEAR OLD COMPOSITE FLICKER AS A BONUS
https://www.flickr.com/photos/agunabu007/