Objections are directed against A. B. Assensoh and G. Iweriebor

Objection 1: Against Assensoh

Assensoh is right when he states, "we may need to insert a correction
here and there of factual issues or errors that we either peruse or
notice,
especially since many of these submissions may, in future, become
quotable entities in dissertations and even published book."  This
informed the following correction of his views and statement relating to
Azikiwe and the ideology of Zikism. As Assensoh wrongly states, "... Dr.
Azikiwe returned to Africa from his educational or academic sojourn in
America (with his "Zikism" ideological inclinations intact)...". Zikism
was not invented or idealized by Nnamdi Azikiwe. Azikiwe did not believe
nor did he support the young leftist group led by late Nduka Eze (an
unsung hero), Osita Agwuna, Samuel Ikoku, Mokwugo Okoye, Raji Abdallahi
etc. Rather than support their revolutionary views and position to
British colonial rule, Azikiwe ditched them. As Prof Awa right posits
Azikiwe laid the foundation in his various writings predating 1948. In
addition, as I have demonstrated (along with Prof Iweriebor), Zik was
against Zikist Leftism as demonstrated several times during the colonial
period and afterwards. Please read HI Tijani, "Communists and the
nationalist movement" in T Falola (ed.) Nigeria in the Twentieth Century
(Durham: Carolina Press, 2002), HI Tijani, "McCarthyism in colonial
Nigeria: The ban on the employment of Communists," in A Oyebade (ed.)
The Foundation of Nigeria (Trenton, 2003). In addition, EEG Iweriebor,
Radical Politics in Nigeria, 1945-1950: The Significance of the Zikist
Movement (Zaria, 1996).
Zikism as a philosophy is not just an anti-colonial Leftism. However,
more importantly, it is an admixture of Communist Party (largely
British) ideology, philosophy and a complete opposition to colonial
government. It is revolutionary and distinct from Azikiwe's pragmatism.
It involved military action and organizational putsch. Zikism
organizational putschism is distinguished from sheer reformism,
Fabianism (of Azikiwe school of thought), or middle class complacency.
Their motto was secrecy and ruthless execution of the revolutionary
plans, such as Agwuna's attempt of Mr. Foot's life at the colonial
secretariat in Lagos in 1950. The facts are: Azikiwe was never a Zikist.
He laid the foundation of Marxian socialism in two booklets "Economic
reconstruction of Nigeria", and "Political Blueprint of Nigeria" in 1943
but never pursued a Marxian approach to decolonization. When the youth
led by great Nduka Eze refined and call for action, Azikiwe distant
himself from them and used his newspaper, particularly, the West African
Pilot to disrupt their activities. His efforts, along with Balewa and
the Sardauna, largely explain the success of British anti-Communism in
colonial Nigeria. 
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Hakeem Ibikunle Tijani
Visiting Assistant Professor of History

Henderson State University

Objection 2: Against Iweriebor

An impregnable, cocoonish Africacentricity can only be
100% efficient if it avoids the fatal pitfall of self-articulation in
non-African languages. That should be the beginning of a genuine
Africacentrism, lest we face the spectacle of Sekou Toure who used to
make Africacentric radio speeches in French on the virtues and value of
African languages. If I am to avoid
learning anything from the struggles and histories of Native Americans,
Maoris, Aborigenes, etc; if, in trying to write and reflect Africa, my
comparative insights from *Orientalism* and *Culture and Imperialism*
become tantamount to a superfluous investment in other people's
histories and struggles; if the slightest reference to CLR James,

Cesaire, and Glissant - who are not Africans - breaches the purity of
continental Africacentricity; if beneficial insights from Jewish
historical revisionism eclipse my Africacentricity, it becomes essential
for me to avoid working - and communicating with fellow African scholars
- in the language(s) through which those threatening knowledges are
delivered and validated.

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Pius Adesanmi, Ph.D

Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature

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