During the 1983 elections, Chief Awolowo was hosted to a town hall interview in Abeokuta, where in addition to other pertinent topics of the day, he spoke on his role in the civil war, the 20-pound policy, starvation as a weapon, change of currency, abandoned property etc.
MODERATOR: Yes Mr…….Mr. Oparadike.
QUESTION: Chief Awolowo, your stand on the civil war…Your stand on the civil war, however unpopular it may have been to the Biafrans or Ibo people, helped to shorten the war. Today, you’re being cast as the sole enemy of the Ibo people because of that stand, by among others, some of the people who as members of the federal military government at that time, were party to that decision and are today, in some cases, inheritors of power in one Nigeria which that decision of yours helped to save. How do you feel being cast in this role, and what steps are you taking to endear yourself once again to that large chunk of Nigerians who feels embittered.
AWOLOWO: As far as I know, the Ibo masses are friendly to me, towards me. In fact, whenever I visit Iboland, either Anambra or Imo, and there’s no campaigning for elections on, the Ibo people receive me warmly and affectionately. But there are some elements in Iboland who believe that they can maintain their popularity only by denigrating me, and so they keep on telling lies against me. Ojukwu is one of them. I don’t want to mention the names of the others because they are still redeemable, but ….Ojukwu is irredeemable so I mention his name, and my attitude to these lies is one of indifference, I must confess to you.
I’ve learnt to rely completely on the providence and vindication of Almighty God in some of these things. I’ve tried to explain myself in the past, but these liars persist. Ojukwu had only recently told the same lie against me. What’s the point in correcting lies when people are determined to persist in telling lies against you, what’s the point. I know that someday the Ibos, the masses of the Ibo people will realize who their friends are, and who their real enemies are. And the day that happens woe betide those enemies. The Ibos will deal with them very roughly, very roughly.
That has happened in my life. I have a nickname now, if you see my letterhead you’ll find something on top, you’ll find a fish done on the letterhead. Some people put Lion on theirs, some people put Tiger, but mine is Fish. And Fish represents my zodiac sign, those of you who read the stars and so on in the newspapers; you’ll find out that there’s a zodiac sign known as pisces, in Latin pisces mean Fish.
So I put pisces on top, that’s my zodiac sign being born on the 6th of March,….er well, the year doesn’t matter, it’s the day that matters. And then on top of it I write Eebudola. All of you know the meaning of that. You know I don’t want to tell a long story but………………Awolowo school, omo Awolowo, the started in Urhobo land, in Mid-west in those days. They were ridiculing my schools, I was building schools -brick and cement, to dpc level, block to dpc level and mud thereafter. And so the big shots in the place..”ah what kind of school is this? is this Awolowo school? Useless school” and when they saw the children..”ah these Awolowo children, they can’t read and write, Awolowo children” that’s how it started, with ridicule, and it became blessing, and now they say “Awolowo children, they are good people” no more ridicule about it, that’s how it started, so the Eebu becomes honor, the abuse became honor.
And so when I look back to all my life, treasonable felony, jail, all the abuses that were heaped on me, to Coker Inquiry, all sorts, and I see what has happened to the people who led, who led all these denigration campaign, where are they today? Those that are alive are what I call Homo Mortuus- dead living, oku eniyan, that’s what they are, those that their lives have gone.
So when I look back, I come to the conclusion that all these abuses which have been heaped on me all my life for doing nothing, for doing good, they have become honor, and so Eebudola is one of my nicknames. So I’ve cultivated an attitude of indifference, I’ve done no evil to the Ibos.
During the war I saw to it that the revenue which was due to the Iboland- South Eastern states they call it, at that time..east central state, I kept it, I saved the money for them. And when they ….was librated I handed over the money to them- millions. If I’d decided to do so, I could have kept the money away from them and then when they took over I saw to it that subvention was given to them at the rate of 990,000 pounds every month. I didn’t go to the executive council to ask for support, or for approval because I knew if I went to the executive council at that time the subvention would not be approved because there were more enemies in the executive council for the Ibos than friends. And since I wasn’t going to take a percentage from what I was going to give them, and I knew I was doing what was right, I wanted the state to survive, I kept on giving the subvention - 990,000 almost a million, every month, and I did that for other states of course- South eastern state, North central state, Kwara and so on.
But I did that for the Ibos, and when the war was over, I saw to it that the ACB got three and a half million pounds to start with. This was distributed immediately and I gave another sum of money. The attitude of the experts, officials at the time of the ACB was that ACB should be closed down, and I held the view you couldn’t close the ACB down because that is the bank that gives finance to the Ibo traders, and if you close it down they’ll find it difficult to revive or to survive. So it was given. I did the same thing for the Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria, to rehabilitate all these places, and I saw to it as commissioner for finance that no obstacle was placed in the way of the ministry of economic planning in planning for rehabilitation of the war affected areas.
TWENTY POUNDS POLICY
That’s what I did, and the case of the money they said was not given back to them, you know during the war all the pounds were looted, they printed Biafran currency notes, which they circulated, at the close of the war some people wanted their Biafran notes to be exchanged for them. Of course I couldn’t do that, if I did that the whole country would be bankrupt. We didn’t know about Biafran notes and we didn’t know on what basis they have printed them, so we refused the Biafran note, but I laid down the principle that all those who had savings in the banks on the eve of the declaration of the Biafran war or Biafra, will get their money back if they could satisfy us that they had the savings there, or the money there. Unfortunately, all the banks’s books had been burnt, and many of the people who had savings there didn’t have their saving books or their last statement of account, so a panel had to be set up.
I didn’t take part in setting up the panel, it was done by the Central bank and the pertinent officials of the ministry of finance, to look into the matter, and they went carefully into the matter, they took some months to do so, and then make some recommendation which I approved. Go to the archives, all I did was approve, I didn’t write anything more than that, I don’t even remember the name of any of them who took part. So I did everything in this world to assist our Ibo brothers and sisters during and after the war.
And anyone who goes back to look at my broadcast in August 1967, which dealt with post-war reconstruction would see what I said there.
STARVATION POLICY
Then, but above all, the ending of the war itself that I’m accused of, accused of starving the Ibos, I did nothing of the sort. You know, shortly after the liberation of these places, Calabar, Enugu and Port Harcort, I decided to pay a visit. There are certain things which I knew which you don’t know, which I don’t want to say here now, when I write my reminisces in the future I will do so. Some of the soldiers were not truthful with us, they didn’t tell us correct stories and so on.
I wanted to be there and see things for myself, bear in mind that Gowon himself did not go there at that time, it was after the war was over that he dorn himself up in various military dresses- Air force dress, Army dress and so on, and went to the war torn areas. But I went and some people tried to frighten me out of my goal by saying that Adekunle was my enemy and he was going to see to it that I never return from the place, so I went.
But when I went what did I see? I saw the kwashiorkor victims. If you see a kwashiorkor victim you’ll never like war to be waged. Terrible sight, in Enugu, in Port Harcourt, not many in Calabar, but mainly in Enugu and Port Harcourt. Then I enquired what happened to the food we are sending to the civilians. We were sending food through the Red cross, and CARITAS to them, but what happen was that the vehicles carrying the food were always ambushed by the soldiers. That’s what I discovered, and the food would then be taken to the soldiers to feed them, and so they were able to continue to fight. And I said that was a very dangerous policy, we didn’t intend the food for soldiers. But who will go behind the line to stop the soldiers from ambushing the vehicles that were carrying the food? And as long as soldiers were fed, the war will continue, and who’ll continue to suffer? and those who didn’t go to the place to see things as I did, you remember that all the big guns, all the soldiers in the Biafran army looked all well fed after the war, its only the mass of the people that suffered kwashiorkor.
You won’t hear of a single lawyer, a single doctor, a single architect, who suffered from kwashiorkor? None of their children either, so they waylaid the foods, they ambushed the vehicles and took the foods to their friends and to their collaborators and to their children and the masses were suffering. So I decided to stop sending the food there. In the process the civilians would suffer, but the soldiers will suffer most.
CHANGE OF CURRENCY
And it is on record that Ojukwu admitted that two things defeated him in this war, that’s as at the day he left Biafra. He said one, the change of currency, he said that was the first thing that defeated him, and we did that to prevent Ojukwu taking the money which his soldiers has stolen from our Central bank for sale abroad to buy arms. We discovered he looted our Central bank in Benin, he looted the one in Port Harcourt, looted the one in Calabar and he was taking the currency notes abroad to sell to earn foreign exchange to buy arms.
So I decided to change the currency, and for your benefit, it can now be told the whole world, only Gowon knew the day before, the day before the change took place. I decided, only three of us knew before then - Isong now governor of Cross River, Attah and myself. It was a closely guarded secret, if any commissioner at the time say that he knew about it, he’s only boosting his own ego. Because once you tell someone, he’ll tell another person. So we refused to tell them and we changed the currency notes. So Ojukwu said the change in currency defeated him, and starvation of his soldiers also defeated him.
These were the two things that defeated Ojukwu. And, he reminds me, when you saw Ojukwu’s picture after the war, did he look like someone who’s not well fed? But he has been taking the food which we send to civilians, and so we stopped the food.
ABANDONED PROPERTY
And then finally, I saw to it that the houses owned by the Ibos in Lagos and on this side, were kept for them. I had an estate agent friend who told me that one of them collected half a million pounds rent which has been kept for him. All his rent were collected, but since we didn’t seize their houses, he came back and collected half a million pounds.
So that is the position. I’m a friend of the Ibos and the mass of the Ibos are my friends, but there are certain elements who want to continue to deceive the Ibos by telling lies against me, and one day, they’ll discover and then that day will be terrible for those who have been telling the lies.
QUESTION: Chief Awolowo, your stand on the civil war…Your stand on the civil war, however unpopular it may have been to the Biafrans or Ibo people, helped to shorten the war. Today, you’re being cast as the sole enemy of the Ibo people because of that stand, by among others, some of the people who as members of the federal military government at that time, were party to that decision and are today, in some cases, inheritors of power in one Nigeria which that decision of yours helped to save. How do you feel being cast in this role, and what steps are you taking to endear yourself once again to that large chunk of Nigerians who feels embittered.
AWOLOWO: As far as I know, the Ibo masses are friendly to me, towards me. In fact, whenever I visit Iboland, either Anambra or Imo, and there’s no campaigning for elections on, the Ibo people receive me warmly and affectionately. But there are some elements in Iboland who believe that they can maintain their popularity only by denigrating me, and so they keep on telling lies against me. Ojukwu is one of them. I don’t want to mention the names of the others because they are still redeemable, but ….Ojukwu is irredeemable so I mention his name, and my attitude to these lies is one of indifference, I must confess to you.
I’ve learnt to rely completely on the providence and vindication of Almighty God in some of these things. I’ve tried to explain myself in the past, but these liars persist. Ojukwu had only recently told the same lie against me. What’s the point in correcting lies when people are determined to persist in telling lies against you, what’s the point. I know that someday the Ibos, the masses of the Ibo people will realize who their friends are, and who their real enemies are. And the day that happens woe betide those enemies. The Ibos will deal with them very roughly, very roughly.
That has happened in my life. I have a nickname now, if you see my letterhead you’ll find something on top, you’ll find a fish done on the letterhead. Some people put Lion on theirs, some people put Tiger, but mine is Fish. And Fish represents my zodiac sign, those of you who read the stars and so on in the newspapers; you’ll find out that there’s a zodiac sign known as pisces, in Latin pisces mean Fish.
So I put pisces on top, that’s my zodiac sign being born on the 6th of March,….er well, the year doesn’t matter, it’s the day that matters. And then on top of it I write Eebudola. All of you know the meaning of that. You know I don’t want to tell a long story but………………Awolowo school, omo Awolowo, the started in Urhobo land, in Mid-west in those days. They were ridiculing my schools, I was building schools -brick and cement, to dpc level, block to dpc level and mud thereafter. And so the big shots in the place..”ah what kind of school is this? is this Awolowo school? Useless school” and when they saw the children..”ah these Awolowo children, they can’t read and write, Awolowo children” that’s how it started, with ridicule, and it became blessing, and now they say “Awolowo children, they are good people” no more ridicule about it, that’s how it started, so the Eebu becomes honor, the abuse became honor.
And so when I look back to all my life, treasonable felony, jail, all the abuses that were heaped on me, to Coker Inquiry, all sorts, and I see what has happened to the people who led, who led all these denigration campaign, where are they today? Those that are alive are what I call Homo Mortuus- dead living, oku eniyan, that’s what they are, those that their lives have gone.
So when I look back, I come to the conclusion that all these abuses which have been heaped on me all my life for doing nothing, for doing good, they have become honor, and so Eebudola is one of my nicknames. So I’ve cultivated an attitude of indifference, I’ve done no evil to the Ibos.
During the war I saw to it that the revenue which was due to the Iboland- South Eastern states they call it, at that time..east central state, I kept it, I saved the money for them. And when they ….was librated I handed over the money to them- millions. If I’d decided to do so, I could have kept the money away from them and then when they took over I saw to it that subvention was given to them at the rate of 990,000 pounds every month. I didn’t go to the executive council to ask for support, or for approval because I knew if I went to the executive council at that time the subvention would not be approved because there were more enemies in the executive council for the Ibos than friends. And since I wasn’t going to take a percentage from what I was going to give them, and I knew I was doing what was right, I wanted the state to survive, I kept on giving the subvention - 990,000 almost a million, every month, and I did that for other states of course- South eastern state, North central state, Kwara and so on.
But I did that for the Ibos, and when the war was over, I saw to it that the ACB got three and a half million pounds to start with. This was distributed immediately and I gave another sum of money. The attitude of the experts, officials at the time of the ACB was that ACB should be closed down, and I held the view you couldn’t close the ACB down because that is the bank that gives finance to the Ibo traders, and if you close it down they’ll find it difficult to revive or to survive. So it was given. I did the same thing for the Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria, to rehabilitate all these places, and I saw to it as commissioner for finance that no obstacle was placed in the way of the ministry of economic planning in planning for rehabilitation of the war affected areas.
TWENTY POUNDS POLICY
That’s what I did, and the case of the money they said was not given back to them, you know during the war all the pounds were looted, they printed Biafran currency notes, which they circulated, at the close of the war some people wanted their Biafran notes to be exchanged for them. Of course I couldn’t do that, if I did that the whole country would be bankrupt. We didn’t know about Biafran notes and we didn’t know on what basis they have printed them, so we refused the Biafran note, but I laid down the principle that all those who had savings in the banks on the eve of the declaration of the Biafran war or Biafra, will get their money back if they could satisfy us that they had the savings there, or the money there. Unfortunately, all the banks’s books had been burnt, and many of the people who had savings there didn’t have their saving books or their last statement of account, so a panel had to be set up.
I didn’t take part in setting up the panel, it was done by the Central bank and the pertinent officials of the ministry of finance, to look into the matter, and they went carefully into the matter, they took some months to do so, and then make some recommendation which I approved. Go to the archives, all I did was approve, I didn’t write anything more than that, I don’t even remember the name of any of them who took part. So I did everything in this world to assist our Ibo brothers and sisters during and after the war.
And anyone who goes back to look at my broadcast in August 1967, which dealt with post-war reconstruction would see what I said there.
STARVATION POLICY
Then, but above all, the ending of the war itself that I’m accused of, accused of starving the Ibos, I did nothing of the sort. You know, shortly after the liberation of these places, Calabar, Enugu and Port Harcort, I decided to pay a visit. There are certain things which I knew which you don’t know, which I don’t want to say here now, when I write my reminisces in the future I will do so. Some of the soldiers were not truthful with us, they didn’t tell us correct stories and so on.
I wanted to be there and see things for myself, bear in mind that Gowon himself did not go there at that time, it was after the war was over that he dorn himself up in various military dresses- Air force dress, Army dress and so on, and went to the war torn areas. But I went and some people tried to frighten me out of my goal by saying that Adekunle was my enemy and he was going to see to it that I never return from the place, so I went.
But when I went what did I see? I saw the kwashiorkor victims. If you see a kwashiorkor victim you’ll never like war to be waged. Terrible sight, in Enugu, in Port Harcourt, not many in Calabar, but mainly in Enugu and Port Harcourt. Then I enquired what happened to the food we are sending to the civilians. We were sending food through the Red cross, and CARITAS to them, but what happen was that the vehicles carrying the food were always ambushed by the soldiers. That’s what I discovered, and the food would then be taken to the soldiers to feed them, and so they were able to continue to fight. And I said that was a very dangerous policy, we didn’t intend the food for soldiers. But who will go behind the line to stop the soldiers from ambushing the vehicles that were carrying the food? And as long as soldiers were fed, the war will continue, and who’ll continue to suffer? and those who didn’t go to the place to see things as I did, you remember that all the big guns, all the soldiers in the Biafran army looked all well fed after the war, its only the mass of the people that suffered kwashiorkor.
You won’t hear of a single lawyer, a single doctor, a single architect, who suffered from kwashiorkor? None of their children either, so they waylaid the foods, they ambushed the vehicles and took the foods to their friends and to their collaborators and to their children and the masses were suffering. So I decided to stop sending the food there. In the process the civilians would suffer, but the soldiers will suffer most.
CHANGE OF CURRENCY
And it is on record that Ojukwu admitted that two things defeated him in this war, that’s as at the day he left Biafra. He said one, the change of currency, he said that was the first thing that defeated him, and we did that to prevent Ojukwu taking the money which his soldiers has stolen from our Central bank for sale abroad to buy arms. We discovered he looted our Central bank in Benin, he looted the one in Port Harcourt, looted the one in Calabar and he was taking the currency notes abroad to sell to earn foreign exchange to buy arms.
So I decided to change the currency, and for your benefit, it can now be told the whole world, only Gowon knew the day before, the day before the change took place. I decided, only three of us knew before then - Isong now governor of Cross River, Attah and myself. It was a closely guarded secret, if any commissioner at the time say that he knew about it, he’s only boosting his own ego. Because once you tell someone, he’ll tell another person. So we refused to tell them and we changed the currency notes. So Ojukwu said the change in currency defeated him, and starvation of his soldiers also defeated him.
These were the two things that defeated Ojukwu. And, he reminds me, when you saw Ojukwu’s picture after the war, did he look like someone who’s not well fed? But he has been taking the food which we send to civilians, and so we stopped the food.
ABANDONED PROPERTY
And then finally, I saw to it that the houses owned by the Ibos in Lagos and on this side, were kept for them. I had an estate agent friend who told me that one of them collected half a million pounds rent which has been kept for him. All his rent were collected, but since we didn’t seize their houses, he came back and collected half a million pounds.
So that is the position. I’m a friend of the Ibos and the mass of the Ibos are my friends, but there are certain elements who want to continue to deceive the Ibos by telling lies against me, and one day, they’ll discover and then that day will be terrible for those who have been telling the lies.
THE TRUTH WILL ALWAYS STAND THE TEST OF TIME NO MATTER HOW HARD SOME PEOPLE TRY TO PAINT FALSEHOOD WITH SUGAR......
ReplyDeleteinteresting read
ReplyDeleteChinua Achebe is 100percent right. And I am a Yoruba man.
ReplyDeleteThis man is a bonafide fib teller, lying to his teeth.He stopped the food supplies that was sent to children sufferring from Kwashiorkor so that Biafran soldiers wont abush it and feed from it, so in effect he actually starved the Biafran nation in order to see the end of the war, so that he can quickly be President.
ReplyDeleteLook at how he was denigrating Gowon, the then head of state. He never visited the war torn areas but when the war was completely over he donned his Military, naval and airforce uniforms and then visited those areas. U see the element of jealousy in this man's comments which is typical of the Yoruba race?? He is giving himself accolades for visiting Enugu, PH and Calabar when the war was still raging on but on what capacity?? An Ordinary Commissioner of finance, a role which he could have easily refused to accept to serve under Gowon as. Gowon was the commander chief and it was his prerogative at that time to take advise from his military chiefs as to when it was safe to visit the war torn areas.He cant just wake up and decide to go there, cos it may not be safe for him as head of State!
All the jibrish Awolowo is talking about a committee being formed to enact the Twenty pounds flat rate monetray compensation policy for the igbos after the war and they came back with nothing, was just political manouevering at that time to see if he could seduce them back as his political supporters . What happened was that he Awolowo did not succeed in taking over frm Gowon and as u can see from that interview, there was no love lust btw Him and Gowon, so he deliberatly set out to lie about his position to the Igbos in his vain attempt to seduce them for political goals. Thank God he never became President. A tribalist like Awolowo no matter what shape they come in, can never rule Nigeria. So trying to twist facts as the lawyer he was, in order to change his role during and after the Biafran crisis is what he is desperately attempting to do in a last ditch fake attempt at reedeeming his very bad image. The other two Yorubas like Obasanjo and Shonekan were mere opportunist who came to power due to circumstances beyond their control as a mere TOKEN. They both reaped where they did not SOW!!!! I call them Token offers to asuage the demons of their times!! Now they have been dumped into the garbage heap of history and discarded as spent forces with no real achievments in the history of the growth and development of Nigeria!!The Yorubas are what the problem is in Nigeria today, very tribalistic and insular people and they will never change. Inspite of the civil war and Boko Haram, the Hausas are fairly easier to get along with than the Yorubas. So to summise it all, this interview was a Hogwash and an attempt by a failed, tribalistic politician to redeem an unreededmable image! Period!!!
Chinus Achebe's analysis of Obafemi Awolowo's role was right and on point,so indisputable except for clanish,Tribalistic folk talers like olu! The facts r there to corroborrate Chinua Achebe's position.
ReplyDeleteAnd Olu if u want to take on Chinua Achebe u r mistaken cos he was right there in Biafra and Nigeria,saw events for himself and had d courage to put it down as it is. Mr Olu where were u during the civil war? Dancing Owambe in Lagos or maybe yet unborn, u sloven tribalistic internet rumour monger embarrassing ur Yoruba race. Get a job Mr Olu!!!
The Ibos are quick to point to what other tribes did for them during the way. How about Ojukwu's misdeeds - the well-fed general that fled a war he started. How about Azikiwe etc?
ReplyDeleteI can't believe this man Awolowo in this interviw! That this man was willing to deny his role that caused the starvation of millions of Biafrans is shocking to d bone marrow, Thank God he was never President!
ReplyDeleteChinua Achebe is one of the few living men of honour Nigeria has ever produced. His words r wisdom! Let Olu know that he has opened a can of worms by attacking our rerspectable igbo leader and the igbo race. We know d Yorubas for who u r so u rantings on ur blog won't change anything.
U guys are missing the point! It was after Awolowo visited Enugu and saw the children and adults suffering from serious malnutrition,kwashiokor that he realised that starvation was a veritable tool of war. He went back to lagos and intensified his policy of starvation against the igbos,thus leading to millions of Igbo deaths in Biafra. A man that was hated by both the Northerners and southerners. An unapologetic tribalist!
ReplyDeleteAwolowo friend of of d igbos? Laugh wan kill meooo!
ReplyDeleteEverything Awolowo did from Changing the Nigerian currency,to his policy of mass starvation of the igbos and his twenty pounds policy were all designed to exterminate the Igbo race! What a wicked soul!!
ReplyDeleteSo,we're all passionate about our tribes,if you all cld not blame the initiators of the war but the person that provided solutions to it.
ReplyDeleteYoruba pple are 'jealous and all sort of' like somebody said but comfortably,you're living in Yorubaland and doing your business,right? You cld have stayed in your Enugu or go to Hausaland as u claim dat they are easy to do things with.
Lastly,life is about opportunity,if OBJ and Shonekan were opportunists,all other pple in the corridors of power are opportunists too.
The Ibos cause the war and they pay for it,who cares.
ReplyDeleteWhoever this Olu Famous guy is, He's an Ass.. You want people to reach their own conclusion but your read "Achebe's Lies" ?? Where on earth did you learn journalism?? Are you even a graduate? I won't comment on the allegation against Awolowo and neither will comment on Achebe's points cos I wasn't there.. But you can't just wake up and post nonsense here and then ask readers to choose when you've clearly given them tips on who to believe.. You're a disgrace to Journalism as a whole and bloggers in general
ReplyDeleteYes dat's true even Jonathan Goodluck is it not opprotunitist.
ReplyDeleteObafemi Awolowo spoke his mind on various issues including his roles on the civil war before his demise. The fact that some of his actions when he was the nation's'commissioner for finance actually led to the conclusion of the war should be commended. If not, nobody would have been able to predict the situation of our pple from the south south, south east and the niger delta. Awolowo discharged his responsibilities as govt finance man and adviser on financial matters. I think the igbo ppl should be careful in casting aspertion on yoruba race. This is the kind of negative ego and assumption that beclouded their imagination for the civil war. Gen Gowon who appointed Awolowo was sure of his competence and ability to find solution to the war propblem at that time.
ReplyDeleteThere Yorubas live in d east too. So the logic that igbos live in Yorubaland and doing business is plain crap. Any nigerian has a right to live where ever he wants as long as he is law abiding! Don't Yorubas live in Abuja?? Is Abuja a yoruba land? Everything that comes out of a yoruba commentator stinks of tribalism. That is a mindset they can never change!
ReplyDeleteThe headlines just shows u the type of blogger Olu is. First of all,this book by Chinua Achebe just came out a few weeks ago,decades long after Awolowo had died! Only in Olu's'mind do dead pppl come back aNd refute d'lies of the living. Olu infamous had d'opportunity to use his blog to change the world,but he chose to cocoon himself in his tribal enclave. Anywonder why not many ppl bother to comment? What a sad waste of a fine opportunity on the world wide web!
ReplyDeleteIt is a pity that may of you were not yet born during this time. Our bothers from the East should try and read what Awolowo said objectively. Let some veterans come out and debunk Awo. All that time, the likes of Achuzua and other Biafrian generals were so robust that you hardly knew if they felt the war at all. By the way, who called for the war, who benefited from the war, who abandoned his people for the war and who helped to end the war? I schooled in Igboland. I knew what my Ibo friends were saying about Awolowo. Those who denied Igbos food know themselves. Those that were hijacking the food trucks know themselves. Nobody, however highly placed, can rewrite history. The Igbos that lived and survived the war knew who their friends were.
ReplyDeleteThe freedom you are currently enjoying is the handiwork of Awo. He worked for Nigerian independence. The motion was moved in Ibadan the capital of the western region. He has enormous programmes for the country but your people selfishly conspire to shortchange him. that is why you suffer now.
ReplyDeleteJust imagine the first TV in Africa, the fist stadium in the country and etc. Don't an ingrate.
Awo the great. The best president that never rule Nigeria. Ojuku
Why can't you guys put ur names on this page if YOU KNOW, You Can be 'Man' Enough as AWO did? Whatever Policies that was adopted to end the 'War' I think it's for the good of ONE NIGERIA! As for Gowon NOT visiting the Place (War Ravaged Towns) then...later paid a visit after the War as a 'Conquering Hero' was very bad. Awo is the best Statesman to ever live in this Country! Take it or Leave it!
ReplyDeleteIf you cared to carry out proper investigation, you will see letters between Awolowo, Gowon and Harold Wilson (the then British prime minister). that will tell you where the truth lies. And Awolowo is not teling the truth. Wole Soyinka will tell you the truth and it will be an indictment of Awolowo.
ReplyDeleteFact is you guys will believe what you want to as long as it condemns Igbos. If they had carried out a truth and justice commission in Nigeria as in South Africa, maybe you guys would have learnt about your countries past history and your celebrated leaders conducts.
So after what happened, where is Nigeria today, still caught up in the mess, tribal killings, religious killings, led by useless and blind leaders.
You all went to war to keep Igbos within your mess and what has it benefitted you.
Continue believing your lies. the truth shall set you free, until you look into and accept the truth, Nigeria shall forever be in the dark
Awolowo is a baby killer,a war monger.dats d fact,nd u yorubas,pls accept ds truth.his evil face shud be removed 4rm d 100 naira note,he doesn't worth it.4 sure,he awo is chilin in hell now.as 4 me,i wont hv anything 2 do wit any yoruba again,not after betraying me in brazil.
ReplyDeleteI dont care who is telling the truth or who is lying. fact remains, that independent international correspondents reported things as they were. interviews given by Awolowo, Gowon, Adekunle at the time point them as child killers.
ReplyDeleteWole Soyinka became an enemy to the nigerian authority for opposing what they had planned. he spoke out against them. Awolowo, was hell bent on carrying out his deep hatred of people of the south east. His hate goes back a long way, not only did he hate igbos, he hated benin, Urohbos, Tiv, calabars, yet he forgot that it was igbos who rescued and released him from prison. He also forgot that It was igbos who insisted that Lagos be capital of Nigeria and not Calabar as first suggested.
American govt reports, released British govt documents confirm that Awolowo and Gowon embarked on a programme of ethnic cleansing determined to exterminate people of the south east of nigeria.
It is not a hidden truth within Awolowos camps that he has a deep seated hatred of all people who are not yoruba but most of all Igbos.
These are the indisputable facts. Now go and do your own reseach before drawing up a laugbable conclusion equivalent to a JS1 student.
the only way to answer bigotted people like olu and his gang is to refer them to documented evidence compiled and written by International independent observers......... It may not help,, because they are incapable of reading and drawing up a conclusion.
That is why nigeria is so backward because the majority can not read. Information is hidden in books and they fear to read incase of what they will discover.
Awolowo you have killed the Igbos in their thousands but your people will pay in millions very soon.
ReplyDeleteHmmm nigerians why point accusing fingers on awo. Ojukwu who started dis war in d first place was d one who brought calamity to igbo people. If d was no war d will be no casualty M war comes with casualties and ojukwu was feeding well couldn't he have thought of his people he stole d food and ate he took all d monies and he ran away so wot are we saying why blame d man dat stoped d war yes it may have been a stringent way but it was fruitful cos it ended d war so pls b objective I am neither igbo nor yoruba nor hausa but d truth must b told d beginer of this war brought insanity to d entire igbo land
ReplyDeletePeople, this is not the time to cast aspersions on each other, let us use the opportunity of Achebe's book to study our history and see how we can improve our future.
ReplyDeleteThank God we do not have these dominant tribal figures like awo, zik, Sardauna and others but the guys that currently govern have replaced tribal interests with self aggrandizement to the detriment of all.
Let us use the lessons of World War 2 in determining our past... who were the main protagonists then... UK, Germany, US, Japan, Italy and Russia. Now 60 years later who are the closest world partners if not the above stated countries, this is despite serious and dispassionate discussions of the various countries during this time.
We are Nigerians, we are knowledgable, let us debate, Let us not rant. Let us be an example to the rest of Africa and the world!!
@ Ade Cassius, I like your reasoning. No need to recount on who lied or not in a war that happened decades past at the detriment of the future. Although we need the history to know where and why Naija has failed so as to wake up to present day challenges. Ethno-political divergence is a common thing globally. It is a hard fact to know even down in families that "some animals are more equal than others". Leaders and Nigerian leaders in particular, should always look at both faces of the coin and formulate a strong shield and belief system that would embrace this litany of differences so as to keep Naija state aloft.
ReplyDeleteGod bless Naija.
people are evil,regardless of tribe. there is no such thing as a good war. it doesn't matter how good your intentions are.right now there is a war going on that is eating the very fabric of our humanity, picking at old sores and wound will only hasten the infection of our state. there is no other Nigeria, if we use tribalism of the past to judge our decisions for the future we may as well set ourselves on fire. i love the intellect of the yoruba, the diligence of the ibos and lets not forget the loyalty of the hausa. lets stop looking at these as differences, instead as, the instrument to build this state to its reputable cadre.
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