The highest Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has expressed its deepest sympathies for the Igbo in Haiti over the earthquake that claimed over 100,000 persons and property.
In a statement issued in Enugu by Chief Nduka Eya and Ralph Ndigwe, Secretary General and National Publicity Secretary respectively, Ohanaeze said that the destruction of economic and social infrastructure in the unfortunate incident had reduced both those directly and indirectly affected to state of lack and insecurity.
Deploring the ordeal of the Haiti, which it said became the world’s first black-led republic and the first independent Caribbean state when it threw off French colonial control in a series of wars in the early 19th century, Ohanaeze recalled the great moments of its history as the defeat of Napoleon’s army by Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe and the heroic stand against American Marines in 1915 – 1934, among others.
It said: “We recall the revolution of the poor and the Lavalas under Rev. Fr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1990; and the recurrent struggles against storms, hurricanes, earthquakes and untoward historical forces.
“As Ndigbo, our special history with Haiti magnifies back to 1969. When it seemed that the world would remain silent while we died, Haiti became the first country, not only to recognise the injustice visited on us, but to give us support as a means to bring the contending forces to seek genuine peace. That solid support, in the words of their leader, was given to the threatened ‘glorious Ibo tribes, descendants of those men who contributed to the founding of the Haitian homeland.’”
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Of historical interest — You can see a clip of Toussaint’s last moments in prison from the award-winning new short film “The Last Days of Toussaint L’Ouverture”
The ayiti or haitians are great people,haiti shall rise again and when Biafra come to reality, haiti will be industrialized.