PARTING THE RED SEA: FACT OR FICTION?

1. The story says the man Pharoah Ramesses II freed his people the Israelites after years in slavery, was Moses. God initiated series of plagues, finally Pharoah agreed to release the Israelites, they leave Egypt & head for the promised land

2. Fast, racing against time, the Israelites head for freedom. But Pharoah changes his mind, sends his army to chase them down & kill them.

The Israelites increased their pace, off they ran, but their way is blocked by an impenetrable obstacle - the RED SEA.

3. They are trapped & Ramesses Egyptian army is closing in fast. The Bible tells us the next amazing thing, something extraordinary happened.

Moses stretched out his arm, the water parts & the Israelites escapes right through the exploded seabed.

4. As Egyptian army pursued, the waters flood back destroying Pharoah’s army.

A great story by many stretch, but did anything like this really ever happen? Most scholars agree the story of Moses & the Israelites have been in the time of Ramesses II, the Greatest of all Pharaohs!

5. He reached his highest powers around 1230 BC, so we have a precise date.

It’s an all too familiar story, but there’s a problem. Biblical text tells about the Israelites in Egypt for so many years. We are talking generations, but no one has found any physical trace of them.

1. Like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Patrice Lumumba was the independence leader & the first Prime Minister of the DRC. He was a pan-Africanist, an African nationalist, & the casualty of the US-Soviet Cold War. He was first deposed by Mobutu Sese Seko in 1960, with support from US & Belgium.

2. Then assassinated in 1961 by a firing squad, under the command of Tshombe Katagan regime. A mutiny broke out in the army shortly after Congolese Independence. Lumunba had requested aid from US & Belgium, to stop the “Katangan secessionists” that had risen from the mutiny.

3. Both US & Belgium refused, prompting Lumumba to turn to an unlikely foe - The Soviets.

This provoked the United States, & Belgium (US ally). The Katangan secessionists carried on with support from Anglo-Belgian mining company, & a large contingent of Belgian military chiefs.

4. Katangan army was quickly organized & trained by Belgium. Mercenaries of various nationalities were equally engaged. In the end, the DRC was engulfed in a conflict - the CONGOLESE CRISIS as we know it today. It is arguably an exact replica of the Biafran Genocide in Nigeria.

5. Belgium officially apologized for its role in Lumumba’s assassination in 2002. Mobutu went on to seize power for himself in a second coup in 1965. He received massive military, diplomatic & economic support from the US, France & Belgium.

1. Yes Northern Nigeria had upper hand (not of their making btw), but they were first in the pecking order of things, had better interactions with the West (Britain in this context). But did all of that “western influence” penetrate into Northern society?

2. I understand history is a very delicate subject in Nigeria. It arouses sentiments & biases. Understandably so, Nigeria history is not GOOD, no matter how you look at it, it doesn’t favor the people of Nigeria. So the government would rather not allow it in Nigeria schools.

3. Like it or not, the North have LITTLE to show, for a people whom Britain favored. Much of Eastern Nigeria societies, resisted the colonial conquests. Benin Kingdom put up a resistance. But today, western ideals & influence has penetrated much of the East, even its hinterlands

4. In terms of growth & advancement (western influence altogether) SW societies tops all of that. One would think Northern Oligarchy had a plan for their people, had their people in mind during those early interactions with Britain.

5. But all they did with ALL the powers Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth vested on them, was control their people, to this day even. They control the information flow, the religious beliefs, they are still the gatekeepers of their culture.