Updates to WANTED NIGERIAN WAR CRIMINALS LIST #BiafraExit #BiafraReferendum

Last year on September 7, 2016 , I published a list of Biafra's Most Wanted Nigerian War Criminals. I did this in response to Nigeria posting a list of Wanted Biafrans while the leader of the IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra,) Nnamdi Kanu was still being held in Kuje Prison in Abuja, Nigeria. My list is not completely inclusive of the current genocidal terrorist butchers at large. Many that have made the Biafrans' life hell since the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 by Lord Lugard, British colonialist are thankfully dead. But new ones arise from the pits of Hell daily.

I had the names of twenty of those that IPOB considers MOST wanted for their war crimes. I had help from Biafra Intelligence and other well informed Biafrans that shall remain anonymous for their own safety.

Today I will add six more wanted Nigerian war criminals which brings my total to twenty-six. Today I had help from one of my sources. I will begin with the new additions:

PRESIDENT OF OHANEZE NDIGBO: CHIEF JOHN NWAODO
This guy is actually an Igbo but is a perfidious turncoat to his Biafran people. Nwaodo is against self-determination for Biafra and preaches restructuring Nigeria. His level of betrayal is especially despicable as he is of the same tribe as many other Biafrans. His group, the Ohaneze are considered "The Elders." In my opinion, since many Ohaneze witnessed the pogroms, genocide, and starvation of millions of people (reported between 2.5 million to 6 million) during the Civil War of 1966-1970, they are the worst. They are kapos. According to an article in the Biafra Herald, the Ohaneze are political prostitutes.

John Nwamdo

POLICE COMMISSIONER OF ANAMBRA STATE MR GARBA UMAR
Appointed as a new police commissioner of Anambra, which was the scene of the very recent massacre at St. Phillips Biafran Catholic Church in Ozubulu, Anambra, where worshippers were gunned down and scores killed at a 6:30 A.M. service. IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu attributes the massacre to the Ohaneze. Police Commissioner Garva Umar ruled out terrorism. In May 29 and 30, 2016 unarmed, peaceful Biafran protesters were killed by Nigerian police.

Garba Umar

PRESIDENT OF AREWA YOUTHS YERRIMA SHITTIMA

A group called the Arewa Youths (Hausa Muslims) and led by Yerrima Shittima issued an ultimatum, known as The Quit Notice to all Biafrans residing in Northern Nigeria. Much chaos has been caused by this demand promising retaliation if all Biafrans do not vacate the Northern Region. They gave a three month notice and October 1, 2017 is the day to "Quit the region."

Yerrima Shattima

FORMER ABIA STATE GOVERNOR ORJI UZOR KALU

According to Forbes Magazine, Kalu is among the fifty richest men in Nigeria. In February 2016 a mass grave containing corpses of Biafrans was discovered in Abba, Abia State. The dead's hands were tied behind their backs and they were shot to death by Nigerian Military and Police. Kalu has become a loud voice against the actualization of Biafra by blaming Biafrans for the economic destruction of the South East region. This is not the first time that he has come out against Biafra. 

Orjo Uzor Kalu

EBONYI STATE GOVERNOR DAVE UMAHI

The Governor of Ebonyi State is angry that Indigenous People of Biafra say that he is committing crimes against humanity. Not only have the Biafran traders had their goods destroyed in the marketplace, Biafrans believe there is a plot to arrest all IPOB principal officers by Umahi. Umahi is also reported to be ready to ban social media in Ebonyi State. among other nefarious schemes.

Dave Umahi

FORMER LAGOS STATE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE ABUBABAK TSAV

Composer of an anti-Igbo song calling for a genocide of all of Biafra, Tsav is said to be instigating an all out war in entire Nigeria. Tsav puts all blame on Nnamdi Kanu. 

Abubabak Tsav

The earlier list of twenty Nigerian War Criminals can be found here.

Stay tuned for new additions.

Exclusive! Conversations With Naomi: Adam Gordon, English As A Second Language Teacher #TheRaiseAct #ESL

Adam Gordon, BA, MA
ESL Teacher

I have known Adam Gordon online for many years and continue to appreciate his presence and support on Twitter. His profession as a teacher of English as a Second language has interested me. The Raise Act  (Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment, the bill introduced earlier this year by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and David Perdue, R-Ga.) was publicly backed last week by President Donald Trump.  

Naomi: Adam, Welcome to Conversations With Naomi. Thanks for lending your expertise. I want to get a true perspective on immigrants learning English. The Raise Act might be a negative for immigrants wanting to come to America that do not speak English. It brings the humanitarian versus economic issues of immigration to the forefront. I believe your opinion and experience is crucial to discussion of this topic.  First, I have questions about your background as it applies here. Your views as an expert on immigrants learning English is crucial. Please tell our readers what led you to pursue your profession as an English as a Second Language teacher?

Litvin Collection
USHMM
Washington DC

Adam: I got my BA in history. At first, I wanted to be a history teacher. Before I got my MA, I wanted to spend some time traveling. I applied to the Peace Corps and I also applied to a job teaching English in Japan. I decided on the job in Japan. A one year contract turned into three years in Japan and one year in South Korea. I enjoyed that experience a lot. When I returned to Texas, I decided that English as a Second Language was the field I wanted to teach.

Naomi: How did teaching English in Japan and South Korea impact you? What did you enjoy the most?

Adam: I enjoyed seeing new places and meeting new people. People who actually live in a country get to have a view that short term tourists don’t get. I gained a better world view by living in these countries and making friends from many countries. People who live in a new country have to learn to be adaptable. It impacted me because I know what my students go through when they try to learn a new language in the United States. I also understand what it means to move to a new country alone.

Naomi: How do the overseas learners differ from students here in USA?

Adam: The biggest difference is the exposure. When I have students here in the USA, they still practice and use English when they leave the classroom. For some students overseas, I was their entire exposure. Both Japan and South Korea have small foreign populations so there wasn’t much of a chance for English students to practice.

Naomi: What do you enjoy most in teaching non-English speakers?

Adam: I enjoy helping students reach their goals. Many want to go on for a college education but lack the academic English skills. Others just want to learn better conversational English so they can communicate better with others here in the US. Many times language learners have questions not only have the English language but also about American culture. I like being able to answer these questions and help them. Students often trust me as a teacher to ask questions more than others.

Naomi: What is the biggest challenge that you face in your profession?

Adam: Languages are not easy to learn. Students need to be patient. Teachers have to be patient when helping students. It doesn’t take long to improve language skills, but it takes a long time to become fluent in English. Some students also develop faster in one skill area than another. When a student is strong in one area like speaking but not in writing, it can be frustrating. Time management and patience are always important when learning.

Naomi: Can you explain the method used that teaches English to students when the instructor does not speak the students native language?

Adam: When it comes to the very low level students, vocabulary development is a must. I love using a picture dictionary and Google regularly. I couldn’t imagine teaching a lower level class without these tools. Vocabulary development definitely helps when building basic grammar and conversation skills. We also need to spend time on the pronunciation and the ABCs. This is hard in English because the letters and pronunciation don’t always match like they do in other languages.

Naomi: When I was in Israel taking Hebrew classes (Ulpan) I felt their system lacking in teaching Hebrew as a Second Language. Do you think the method that you use would help immigrants to Israel learn Hebrew?  Would you consider teaching ESL in Israel to Hebrew speakers?

Adam: Using pictures to build on vocabulary is always helpful when trying to teach grammar and conversation. When speakers of a new language also have to learn a new alphabet that can be challenging. As long as students are getting pronunciation practice for the Hebrew alphabet and learning the vocabulary, it could work. Taking Hebrew classes in Israel would be easier for those of us who had a Bar/Bat Mitzvah and attend Jewish services. We already know the writing. Then build on the conversation on top of that.

Yes, I would consider teaching ESL in Israel. I would still like to move to Israel at one point in time. I would like to continue the career that I have had. I enjoy adult education and I hope I will be able to find a job focusing on that when it is time.

Naomi: The Raise Act is a point system for new immigrants and having English language skills is part of that. What is your feeling about how this would affect your profession as a teacher of ESL, both now and in the future? 

Adam: Learning a new language takes time and it can be challenging when people don’t get exposure regularly. Having this point system would affect ESOL education, but I don’t think it would end it. I am not clear about how much English would be necessary for entrance. College students still need academic English. Students might be conversational, but they may not have the necessary written skills to be successful in college or in their workplace. On the other side of things, some very bright people with degrees in this country still want pronunciation practice. Demand might lessen, but it will still be there.

Naomi: What is your opinion on putting more requirements such as in The Raise Act on immigrant refugees?

Adam: The life of a refugee is very hard. Every student I have had from certain countries like Syria, Myanmar, Iraq, and others have a horrible story of events that have happened to them. I do believe they deserve a chance to have a new home here. I don’t think it should be easy. Difficult vetting should be in place. However, I don’t think it’s right to turn away all refugees.

Naomi: Thank you Adam. I appreciate your insight on the subject of teaching English as a Second language and for being a welcome contributor to Conversations with Naomi. It is nice to get to know you better and I’d like to speak with you further on immigrating to another country alone. In my case, making Aliyah to Israel was very difficult and I want to go back and try to live there full-time again. I believe that when you do so, your skills and education will be helpful to Israel and that you will be a great contributor.

I know I am speaking for everyone when I say your work here in America, teaching our new citizens English is very much appreciated!

Adam Gordon can be reached on twitter at @AdamGordon1977 or you can email me at naomilitvin@yahoo.com and I will forward communication to him.

The Vortex

Shalom! I have not been back to Israel in over a year. What happened? Oh, the Vortex. The Vortex is a private joke between me and a good friend. It's about what happens when you say, I'm leaving the Holy Land for just a little while to go back to the old country to earn some money. And the next thing you know, a year has gone by. Sucked in by the Vortex.

Naomi Litvin, self portrait 

Many of you know that I returned to the USA during the Gaza War and then returned two times to try again to get settled. What was actually more harrowing for me than the war, was my attempt to get settled: four moves, four cities, three roommates. I have been both excoriated and congratulated for leaving Israel. No, I did not 'give up' but do admit that settling in Israel by myself is harder that I could have imagined.

And much to my chagrin, I had fallen in love with Tel Aviv, the most expensive city in Israel to live in.

A side note: I was happy to read that the Knesset voted to allow Olim (those of us who have immigrated to Israel, made Aliyah, to receive Israeli Passports immediately. When I made Aliyah in March of 2014 the rule was that I'd get a temporary passport after five months. That I did but it has already expired. So now when I go home, I will get my full passport. Hooray!

Funny thing about me... many would describe me as a secular Jew. I tweet and carry a purse on Shabbat, and even eat treif (Yiddish for un-kosher) if I feel like it. But where that rebellion ends is in how I feel about appeasing the Reform Jews in Orthodox settings. Lets all face it. The Kotel is Sacred Orthodox Ground. Just because you attend a synagogue which you call a temple, and may listen to an organ at services and have women on the bimah, don't think that I agree with you. You are starting a new religion. That's ok, enjoy. Build your temples! But leave our holy spots holy! And boycotting Israel because you can't have your way?

You see, I grew up in a dichotomous atmosphere as an American Jew. My Russian-American Zeide was the Mechitzah Warrior of Mount Clemens, Michigan who fought the Reform that wanted mixed seating of men and women and sought to change our synagogue. He was Baruch Litvin and he took it all the way to the Supreme Court of Michigan and won. The majority did not have the right to change a synagogue from Orthodox to Reform if there were those that wanted to keep it Orthodox. The founders made our little shul Orthodox and as long as the elders were alive it would stay that way.

We need to keep our traditions and honor the Orthodox even if they are in the minority. Israel does not need to be watered down. No argument, no boycott, no appeasement.

A Holocaust is a Holocaust is a Holocaust: Laura's Story from Biafra War Memories

Naomi Litvin shared by Paul Ihechi Alagba

8 mins · 

The story below is so similar to my mother's and her family's in the Holocaust in Europe. At the end Laura tries to discourage Biafra from trying for their independence from Nigeria again. It is unimaginable for her that it will happen again. The killings, the starvation, the Death Marches, rape, pillage... more than we can imagine although all of that visits us in our nightmares from our parents' stories. My mother used to say, "If there is a G-d in heaven, WHY?" The reason Biafra must try again is because the genocidal butchers are bottomless in their thirst for blood; they will revisit you whether you agitate or not. Eventually they will come for you. You must go. And if they don't want you to? Then the horror will visit them, and their families.

Biafran War Memories is a documentary archive of first-hand accounts of the 1967-1970 Nigerian-Biafra War. Nigerian-American journalist, Chika Oduah began the project in 2016 in an attempt to preserve a significant era of Nigeria's history. www.biafranwarmemories.com

"My father…they butchered him"
"My name is Laura Nwando Onwualu.  I was born 1954 in northern Nigeria, Plateau State, Kura Falls"

I don’t remember much about the Nigerian Biafran War but I remember then I was in primary 6, 1967 or 66. Yes, 66 -67 No, then, there was a time – they started teaching us a song, you know, it says it is going to be our new anthem for our new country, Biafra. So we were learning the song. What we are going to do with it we don’t know but then we started noticing people in the north – because then I was staying with my grandmother in Onitsha [in the Southeast] – we started noticing our family members in the North coming home [to the Southeast] you know. We don’t know they came back telling us stories of killing in the North about how they will come to the house. The Hausas will come to the houses, kill them you know especially the men and my father came home with my mother because they were in the North. My family came home. Though my father wasn’t killed. He was on leave [from work]. He came home and they were telling me stories. One afternoon my mother was in the market. We were home and people started running and I was very young then. I didn’t know why they were running. They said the Hausas have crossed the bridge and that they are coming into Onitsha.
We were hearing gun shots and bomb blasts and all that so I gathered my brothers and started running with the neighbors. We didn’t know where we were going. We left the house and we were just trekking and people were falling and people were crying you know because they couldn’t see their loved ones. My mother came home looking for us you know. Eventually she found us. Then my father had gone back to the North because after his leave he had to go back and we didn’t see him again so.

“We were hearing gun shots and bomb blasts”

Yes, after his leave, he decided to go back because then he was working with the white men. He was persuaded not to go back because of the killings [there in the North] but he said no. He just wants to get there, take permission from his work place and come back [to join us in the Southeast in Onitsha] so he left one morning and then we never see him again and that was it. So eventually somebody came to tell us that he was killed. He was killed actually with some people that, they were to board the train, that was September 29, 1966, they were to board the train coming back to the Southeast from Jos, Bukuru precisely. They were waiting for the train at the station that night to come to the Southeast so these Hausas, they came and killed all of them there. That was how we never saw him, my father, again till date.

Judith Bergman: writer, lawyer, political analyst on Biafra

Why Don’t All Black Lives Matter?

Western social justice warriors couldn't care less about Biafra

By Judith Bergmen• 06/07/17 6:03am 

 
 
 
 

A man points at a Biafran flag painted on a wall on Old Market road in Onitsha on May 30, 2017, during a shutdown in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Nigerian civil war. Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty Images

Fifty years ago, on May 30, 1967, Biafrans seceded from Nigeria, and declared their own state. The Nigerian government refused to accept the secession and responded by launching a war on Biafra in July 1967. The assault included a blockade of the nascent state, and resulted in the genocide of more than two million Biafrans, many of whom were children who starved to death because of the blockade. After three years of war, the nascent state of Biafra ceased to exist. 

Biafrans are an indigenous African people, who are ethnically predominantly Igbo. The territories that constitute present-day Nigeria became a British colony in 1914, merging a number of different indigenous African peoples in the artificial construct of Nigeria, among them the Biafrans. In 1960, Nigeria became independent, retaining the artificial shape left over from British colonization. 

Most likely, you will have heard nothing about this Biafran anniversary, nor about the peaceful efforts of Biafrans today to bring about an independent Biafra and the Nigerian government’s brutal suppression of those efforts. The media is not covering it, universities and think tanks are not hosting conferences about it, the United Nations Human Rights Council is not passing resolutions about it, and human rights activists and social justice warriors are not marching in the streets for Biafra. The world community is universally and shamefully silent on the plight of the Biafrans.