A few random thoughts about £20 and abandoned properties, in response to some questions posed to me this morning...

First, some cities fell/were liberated (depending on how you look at it) by the federal side earlier than others.

However, the £20 thing only started in November 1969 when it was certain that the war was won.

Just as importantly, is that the war economy ruled in all parts of the South-East until the decree regarding money was enacted in 1970.

Then there was the sore point of Asaba and Onitsha.

The male populations of both towns were more or less eliminated during the war, Asaba even worse than Onitsha which is why for 30 years afterwards, Asaba was called the "City of Landladies".

It was so bad there that Asaba was not even counted in the 1973 census.

But because Asaba happened not to be in Biafra, they didn't get the £20 "largess" despite having lost everything during the fighting and the massacre of 7 October 1967.

Now, as per the economic losses, and the deliberate policies to impoverish the East, I always ask, how many people have heard of the 2NEC, or the EEC, and most times I always get a blank look, but when I mention Lakaji, people know what it is.

I've written about it before. The policy to impoverish the East manifested in such things as the location of Ajaokuta, the abandonment of the Eastern ports, etc.

It had unintended consequences in places like Adamawa, Benue, Borno. https://bit.ly/3gaaI2h 

The reason I remain sympathetic to Gowon despite his foolishness is that he had a good heart.

It was Gowon who ensured that Ukpabi Asika was able to start up the 3Rs after a fashion.

When Murtala came, he put a stop to all that, and began moves to enshrine the Abandoned Properties thing into law, moves that were finalised by Obasanjo after Murtala was murdered.

Now, this story will not be complete without talking about the reason why people in Port Harcourt did what they did during and after the war, something that has led to a lot of anger and bitterness, that still lingers 50 years later.

In 1966/67 Igbo properties were seized all over the North, in Lagos and in Port Harcourt.

I'm yet to meet the Igbo family, including my mother's, that did not get their property back in the North after the war. I've talked about it before. https://twitter.com/Chxta/status/1084488401913548802

In the West, some got their property back, others, such as my Pa's uncle, did not.

He was able to get back on his feet because he had property in #England.

Truth is, even more than Lagos, the North gave property back to the Igbo. But PH refused completely.

To be fair to the people in PH, they had a historical bitterness. History did not start in 1967.

Shortly after the British built Port Harcourt from Igwuocha, in 1912, they began to import people from the hinterland to the area to become District Commissioners et al.

Most of those people were from the Oshimiri area as we were the first Igbos to fully embrace Western education.

Now, most of those people used their positions to appropriate land from the native Igwuocha people (Ikwerre if we want to be pedantic), at next to nothing.

This was easy because the natives at the time were uneducated.

The comedy show Ichoku gives an insight into how things like that happened.

The Igwuocha people never forgot. So 1967 to 70 presented them the perfect chance to take their lands back, and they did.