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Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe - Politics (6) - Nairaland

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Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 11:05pm On Oct 03, 2012
ekt_bear: I have to go run some errands...back in a few

OK, you are permitted my boy.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by dayokanu(m): 11:05pm On Oct 03, 2012
Ricky_Ross: This will soon degenerate into online war between Igbo & Yoruba.

Am tired of talking about the past, esp[ecially the Biafran war. By the way, has my Igbo brothers learn lessons from the war? Are we not still making the same mistakes till this day?

Many Igbos prefer to site their investments outside of Igboland? You keep developing Lagos and other states and you later claim you own it? I have heard Igbos now own Lagos, and this drives Yorobahs crazy? How can we own Lagos? What about us turning Onitsha or Aba into world class cities? Or we prefer to develop other peoples lands and later claim marginalization?

I am not ready to talk openly about the past war. The future is here, we can correct the ills of the past now if we are interested. Those who are interested in online war should go ahead, me no get strength

For the first time on NL you post sensibly.

Keep it up
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 11:10pm On Oct 03, 2012
CyberG:

Okay...but be careful for as soon as they resort to insults and personality attacks, you know they are out of steam. I have seen that before and this is their only tactic to distract their losing arguments.

An argument based on established facts can never be lost. The fact that you guys lose your reasons whenever you hear anything ibo will never change anything. Awolowo was described by an erudite professor for what he is, in fact, the Achebe I know is only being diplomatic with that comment back there. A more blunt person would have put it as it is, Awolowo was a tribalistic lunatic, period.

2 Likes

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by T9ksy(m): 11:16pm On Oct 03, 2012
van bonattel:

A more blunt person would have put it as it is, Awolowo was a tribalistic lunatic, period.


That my dear, is your own bloody opinion but fortunately we yorubas don't give a rat's arse about what

you or any other ibo thinks of Awo. Your opinion of Awo is inconsequential to us.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by ACM10: 11:18pm On Oct 03, 2012
van bonattel:

An argument based on established facts can never be lost. The fact that you guys lose your reasons whenever you hear anything ibo will never change anything. Awolowo was described by an erudite professor for what he is, in fact, the Achebe I know is only being diplomatic with that comment back there. A more blunt person would have put it as it is, Awolowo was a tribalistic lunatic, period.
Thank you my brother! Achebe is a born diplomat. I can sense that he made a conscious effort to avoid describing Awolowo with an unflattering term. What Achebe wrote in his memoir is not new to us. My problem is that some segment of Nigerians refused to accept that Awo was an overly ambitious politician who had no shred of decency.

1 Like

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by Nobody: 11:24pm On Oct 03, 2012
van bonattel:

An argument based on established facts can never be lost. The fact that you guys lose your reasons whenever you hear anything ibo will never change anything. Awolowo was described by an erudite professor for what he is, in fact, the Achebe I know is only being diplomatic with that comment back there. A more blunt person would have put it as it is, Awolowo was a tribalistic lunatic, period.

I am sure you don't consider this a statemnt of fact:

It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations. However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbos at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose – the Nigeria-Biafra war

It is my impression that Achebe was out to slander Awo just like any ibo spare part dealer. Objectivity and facts be damned.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by asha80(m): 11:25pm On Oct 03, 2012
afam4eva:
You mean you'll prepare for ten years for a war? Even though you know that you're not a life regional premier. You'll probably be outsted in a few years. Meanwhile, while you're preparing, your people will keep being massacred, lef, right and center but you'll still be preparing. I bow for you oga.

Note that it has never been Ojukwu's decision to secede from the beginning. All this was brought to the fore Post Aguiyi-Ironsi and the events that came thereafter.

The same thing we accuse Ojukwu for doing is the same thing that no one has the balls to do today despite the fact that things are worse of that they were pre-biafra. We keep shouting break-Nigeria from left, right and center and no one seems to be stepping up to the plate
. The moment another Ojukwu steps up from the east, thirty years down the line, he will be labelled as the worse thing to happen to Nigeria.

the bolded is probably the best comment on this thread.let everyone keep deceiving themselves and be waiting for someone to bell the cat.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by Nobody: 11:35pm On Oct 03, 2012
asha 80:

the bolded is probably the best comment on this thread.let everyone keep deceiving themselves and be waiting for someone to bell the cat.

You can never be a 5-star general... Ojukwu was wrong to go to war ill-prepared an without due consultation with the other "neutral" stakeholders(ethnic groups/tribes) in the South...

Art of War by Sun Tzu

- The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

- The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
(Something Ojukwu never did)...


I'm out...
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 11:35pm On Oct 03, 2012
Aigbofa:

I am sure you don't consider this a statemnt of fact:

It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations. However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbos at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose – the Nigeria-Biafra war

It is my impression that Achebe was out to slander Awo just like any ibo spare part dealer. Objectivity and facts be damned.

The man was diplomatically stating what he felt/feels and there is nothing slanderous in that. He provided reasons to substantiate his claims. Those spare parts dealers you are so trying to insult are much better than you, but your bigotry may have clouded your reasoning.

T9ksy:


That my dear, is your own bloody opinion but fortunately we yorubas don't give a rat's arse about what

you or any other ibo thinks of Awo. Your opinion of Awo is inconsequential to us.

Honestly, I think you do, you wouldn't be sweating and swearing like drunken sailors trying to save the guys skin since morning if you don't care to launder the image of your choice ancestor.

1 Like

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by whitecat007: 11:37pm On Oct 03, 2012
The minority you were trying to take along kicking and screaming sabotaged your biafra dream. Next time go it alone.
Dede1:


It is only in the world of moronic dingbats that nationalistic movement and agitation for self-governance are heartily criticized. It is unfortunate functional illiterates in Nigeria had difficulties discerning the differences between nation or country and a region. Biafra was a region which constituted integral part of Nigeria and never existed as a nation until the declaration of independence.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by dayokanu(m): 11:40pm On Oct 03, 2012
One of the jokes I have heard is that your enemy at war should care about your feeding
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by asha80(m): 11:42pm On Oct 03, 2012
shymexx:

You can never be a 5-star general... Ojukwu was wrong to go to war ill-prepared an without due consultation with the other "neutral" stakeholders(ethnic groups/tribes) in the South...

Art of War by Sun Tzu

- The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

- The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
(Something Ojukwu never did)...


I'm out...
not interested in being in the army let alone being a general.your statement here does not controvert the fact that nigeria is in a big mess and all the noise about break nigeria,restructure nigeria bla bla bla would never happen until someone who has balls can enforce any of the two or the whole citizens of the country would continue to wait for eternity for a great crises in the mold of pre-67 or june 12 to happen.

1 Like

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by Nobody: 11:43pm On Oct 03, 2012
It doesn't matter what Chinua said......mehnn, afta i read all d storybooks of baba chinua , so d guy come later jamblah like this.....


Na Old age be this o!!!






Kinni Awon okoro ti e n jasi ke,

OPC vs MASSOB 2067.......we go plant cocoa and obi with cashew on the loser's soil!!


Loser alwaz cry while winner laftaplauz like this grin
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by reporter1: 11:43pm On Oct 03, 2012
Only a fool will embark on a war and expects to be fed by his enemy. I do not expect Achebe to apportion blame to Ojukwu and his incompetent
generals since he was an ambassador for Biafra.

The truth is that Ojukwu was hell bent on going to war, there was nothing anyone could do to dissuade him.
Awolowo warned him against going to war, but he was filled with too much testerone to listen to the old sage.

Why Biafrans cannot comprehend this simple fact is beyone me.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 11:44pm On Oct 03, 2012
shymexx:

You can never be a 5-star general... Ojukwu was wrong to go to war ill-prepared an without due consultation with the other "neutral" stakeholders(ethnic groups/tribes) in the South...

Art of War by Sun Tzu

- The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

- The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
(Something Ojukwu never did)...


I'm out...

Ojukwu was a genius, I mean, how else can you describe forsight, what he saw 45 years ago (that we can never be one nation) is still as correct today as it was since 1914 mistake. We only pulled him back because of our tribal hatred, not because his cause lacked merit. But we shall all suffer the consequences of the mistake by Awolowo and co, who were busy licking the yansh of hausa people. In the end, its the wider Nigerians that are paying for that stupidvity and not even the ibo people.

1 Like

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 11:50pm On Oct 03, 2012
reporter?:
Only a fool will embark on a war and expects to be fed by his enemy. I do not expect Achebe to apportion blame to Ojukwu and his incompetent
generals since he was an ambassador for Biafra.

The truth is that Ojukwu was hell bent on going to war, there was nothing anyone could do to dissuade him.
Awolowo warned him against going to war, but he was filled with too much testerone to listen to the old sage.

Why Biafrans cannot comprehend this simple fact is beyone me.

Now consider this...........

Ojukwu was hell bent for going to war, after seeing women rapped, small girls abused, whole populations killed, travelers beheaded, old men slaughtered, just because of the stupid army boys that killed a few northern leaders.

Now, Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that you will not fight to remove your people from such blood sucking vampires? and if you truly think you will not fight a war about this, then you have no soul.

1 Like

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 11:54pm On Oct 03, 2012
asha 80:
not interested in being in the army let alone being a general.your statement here does not controvert the fact that nigeria is in a big mess and all the noise about break nigeria,restructure nigeria bla bla bla would never happen until someone who has balls can enforce any of the two or the whole citizens of the country would continue to wait for eternity for a great crises in the mold of pre-67 or june 12 to happen.

It will surely happen, only that ibo people should stand aside and look, this time around the yoruba should tackle the hausa. If they are not interested, then we are not either, afterall ibo people are doing great in their world.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by ACM10: 11:54pm On Oct 03, 2012
reporter?:
Only a fool will embark on a war and expects to be fed by his enemy. I do not expect Achebe to apportion blame to Ojukwu and his incompetent
generals since he was an ambassador for Biafra.

1. The truth is that Ojukwu was hell bent on going to war, there was nothing anyone could do to dissuade him.



2. Awolowo warned him against going to war,

but he was filled with too much testerone to listen to the old sage.

Why Biafrans cannot comprehend this simple fact is beyone me.

Pls can you provide evidence for your first and second assertion? I'm waiting . . .
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by Nobody: 11:55pm On Oct 03, 2012
van bonattel:

Now consider this...........

Ojukwu was hell bent for going to war, after seeing women rapped, small girls abused, whole populations killed, travelers beheaded, old men slaughtered, just because of the stupid army boys that killed a few northern[b] AND OTHER NIGERIAN leaders. [/b]

Now, Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that you will not fight to remove your people from such blood sucking vampires? and if you truly think you will not fight a war about this, then you have no soul.

Silly army boys happenened to be mainly ibos, and all ibo leaders happened to escape without a scratch.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by tpia5: 11:58pm On Oct 03, 2012
Does anyone know the history of ikenne people?

Any verifiable oral legends, etc.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 11:59pm On Oct 03, 2012
dayokanu: One of the jokes I have heard is that your enemy at war should care about your feeding

If not for your senility which is now common knowledge, I would have schooled you on the point that the Biafra was fighting a war of survival only, and never considered the Nigerians 'enemies' in the real sense of it. The fact that you called them enemies for asking to be left alone sums up the hopeless contraption called Nigeria.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 12:01am On Oct 04, 2012
Aigbofa:

Silly army boys happenened to be mainly ibos, and all ibo leaders happened to escape without a scratch.

Fine, go after the silly army boys and kill them, or kill the ibo leaders in retaliation, what has the eleven year old girl rapped done to deserve her fate, maybe she shot the sarduana?

OH! REASON, WHERE ART THOU?

1 Like

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by Katsumoto: 12:03am On Oct 04, 2012
van bonattel:

Ojukwu was a genius, I mean, how else can you describe forsight, what he saw 45 years ago (that we can never be one nation) is still as correct today as it was since 1914 mistake. We only pulled him back because of our tribal hatred, not because his cause lacked merit. But we shall all suffer the consequences of the mistake by Awolowo and co, who were busy licking the yansh of hausa people. In the end, its the wider Nigerians that are paying for that stupidvity and not even the ibo people.

So Ojukwu was a genius because he wanted to secede, whether rightly or wrongly, in 1967 after the pogroms in 1966!!!!!

But was he a genius when he stated openly that the Igbo would export civil servants to the rest of Nigeria after Ironsi promulgated decree 34, 'blessing' Nigeria with a unitary system of government and after Ironsi simultaneously cancelled tests in Hausa to give Igbo civil servants an advantage?

Why did Ojukwu not caution Ironsi against that like Gowon, Ekpo, and Katsina did? Why didn't Ojukwu say, 'my General, this unitary system of government will lead to chaos'? But no, they all saw the opportunities in front of them after benefiting from a coup executed by Igbo sons.

1 Like

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 12:04am On Oct 04, 2012
ACM10:

Pls can you provide evidence for your first and second assertion? I'm waiting . . .

You should not bother yourself, no such thing happened. Awolowo supported the split and promised Zik to do same with the west, but turned back and betrayed the east, that was the version I heard.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 12:08am On Oct 04, 2012
Katsumoto:

So Ojukwu was a genius because he wanted to secede, whether rightly or wrongly, in 1967 after the pogroms in 1966!!!!!

But was he a genius when he stated openly that the Igbo would export civil servants to the rest of Nigeria after Ironsi promulgated decree 34, 'blessing' Nigeria with a unitary system of government and after Ironsi simultaneously cancelled tests in Hausa to give Igbo civil servants an advantage?

Why did Ojukwu not caution Ironsi against that like Gowon, Ekpo, and Katsina did? Why didn't Ojukwu say, 'my General, this unitary system of government will lead to chaos'? But no, they all saw the opportunities in front of them after benefiting from a coup executed by Igbo sons.

If you are not a compound fuul, you would have known that 8 months was a very short time in the then world of no telecomms and limited literacy to reach such agreements with the people.

And telling Ojukwu to caution Ironsi, his superior officer shows how shallow you are.

1 Like

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by T9ksy(m): 12:12am On Oct 04, 2012
van bonattel:

Honestly, I think you do, you wouldn't be sweating and swearing like drunken sailors trying to save the guys skin since morning if you don't care to launder the image of your choice ancestor.

Honestly, we don't! Take it or leave it.

How can we expect you ibos to say anything complementary about your greatest arch-enemy, Awo?
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by Katsumoto: 12:13am On Oct 04, 2012
ACM10:

Pls can you provide evidence for your first and second assertion? I'm waiting . . .

You can read Soyinka's "You Must Set Forth At Dawn".


Here is the true account of what took place as taken from scripts of the discussion between Papa and Chief Ojukwu (the Ikemba). The discussion was taped by the Ikemba and the recorder was captured after Enugu fell.

On Saturday, May 6, 1967, at 5.15 pm, a meeting began to take place, at the State House, Enugu, between the then Excellency, Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu (the Ikemba) and a delegation of the National Conciliation Committee (Committee) led by the most Honorable Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The Committee was represented by Professor Samuel Aluko, Chief Mariere, Chief J.I. Onyia, while the Eastern Region was represented by Lt. Col Imo, Lt. Col Effiong, Lt. Col. Kurubo, Mr. C.O Mojekwu, Mr. N.U. Akpan, Professor Eni Njoku, Dr. Nwakanma Okoro, Dr. P.N.C. Okigbo, Mr. C.A. Onyegbale and Mr. Ndem with the Ikemba presiding over the meeting. The names are listed for the purpose of verification of facts presented herein below with those of them who may still be alive,

Papa: The main concern of these delegates is to ensure that Nigeria does not disintegrate, and I would like to see Nigeria bound together by any bond because it is better than breaking the whole place up because each unit will be the loser for it. Th[b]e economy of the country is so integrated that it is too late in the day to try and sever them without risking the death of one or both of them. So we have come, therefore, to appeal to you to let Eastern representatives attend the meeting of the Committee (ON-GOING NATIONAL CONCILIATION MEETING) I do not want to put myself in a position where I will be treated as an advocate of the Eastern cause. Let the Eastern delegates go there, make their case and then as a member of the Committee I will get up and say I support this entirely. If at the meeting the East and West present what they want for a new Nigeria whether temporarily or permanently, and the North says "no, we are not going to have it", I will go out and address a World Press Conference and send our case to that body and say this is what we have done and the North has turned it down.[/b] I will then take any step that is necessary to bring into effect what we want. The North needed to be in a position of being presented with the United front of the South.

Ikemba: I started off this struggle in July with 120 rifles to defend the entirety of the East. I took my stand knowing fully well that by doing so, whilst carving my name in history,[size=16pt][/size] I was signing also my death warrant. But I took it because I believe that this stand is vital to the survival of the South. I appealed for settlement quietly because I understood that this was a unclothed struggle for power and that the only time we can sit down and decide the future of Nigeria on basis of equality will always be equality of arms[b]. Quietly, I built up. If you do not know it, I am proud, and my officers are proud, that here in the East we possess the biggest army in Black Africa.[/b] I am no longer speaking as an underdog, I am speaking from a position of power. [SEE NOTE 3a] The only way for the South to present a united front is for the South to meet and hammer out that united front. It is a point which must be cleared first before proceeding to make a statement of whatever it is. That is why to my mind, at the present stage of the crisis the ideal thing is for the Southern people to meet in any platform and discuss and hammer out any difference they might have because I will have nothing to do with the North. Then going further, it would then mean that to do this the South to meet; because if we wait for their permission, we will wait for ever. On the specific question of whether there is a possibility of contact with the North, the answer is at the battle field.[size=26pt][/size]
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by Dede1(m): 12:13am On Oct 04, 2012
ekt_bear: Did this same military governor not successfully remove all the northern soldiers from the eastern region, or not, prior to the Aburi accords?

So, essentially all of the soldiers in the Eastern region at the time of the Aburi accords were under his command, yes?

If it were me in that position, then I would be in no rush. I would take my sweet time.


I suggest you check your facts before blowing your empty horn in the public. Usurper called Gowon had already ordered members of Nigerian armed forces to return to the region of their origin.

Ojukwu, as the military governor of eastern region, only ensued that those members of the armed forces serving in the eastern region who were not natives of eastern region returned home safely at the backdrop of massacre of easterners in other regions and overwhelming urge to perpetrate revenge.

It very shameful most Nigerians will rather turn into ignoramus than embrace simple truth when pressed by tribalism

1 Like

Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by Katsumoto: 12:16am On Oct 04, 2012
van bonattel:

If you are not a compound fuul, you would have known that 8 months was a very short time in the then world of no telecomms and limited literacy to reach such agreements with the people.

And telling Ojukwu to caution Ironsi, his superior officer shows how shallow you are.

What is wrong with this one? What are you talking about? Please make your point intelligently, if you are possible of such, or sod off.

Of what relevance is 8 months to the month I made?

Katsina, Ekpo, and Gowon were senior officers to Ironsi? ? ? You can respectfully put your objections to your boss. Its like saying a CEO doesn't receive advise from his subordinates.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by reporter1: 12:23am On Oct 04, 2012
ACM10:

Pls can you provide evidence for your first and second assertion? I'm waiting . . .

This issue has been trashed out many times over here on NL. You can dig up the threads if you have the time.

Didn't Ojuwku boast about having the largest army in black Africa? Didn't he satate that the only plcace he would meet Nigeria was
at the war front? Do those statements not sound like a man who wanted war?

About Awo warning him, you should read the transcript of the meeting b/w Awo and Ojukwu.

War is war; and bad things happen during war.
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by Katsumoto: 12:24am On Oct 04, 2012
Yes, Gowon created states to undermine ojukwu but that was after ojukwu refused to accept decree 8 because it would have meant that ojukwu could be replaced by Gowon.


Is ojukwu a Hero or a Villain? by Max Siollun

January is a key month in Nigeria’s history. This January marks the 41st anniversary of the end of the Nigerian civil war, and the 44th anniversary of the Aburi accords – the debate in Aburi in Ghana which nearly pre-empted the war. The pivotal figure in both events is Chukwuemeka Odumegwu ojukwu.

ojukwu is a man that evokes conflicting emotions. To some he is a born leader and a hero. To others he is an ambitious man that tried to break up his country. Where ojukwu is concerned, no one is a neutral. The conflicting opinions on him are emblematic of his inconsistent personality and history. ojukwu is an educated man that entered a profession that many Nigerians regarded at the time as a profession for the uneducated. He is a southerner born in the north who fought a three year long war against the north. He is a man who once led an attempt to secede from Nigeria, but later ran for President of Nigeria.

A leader must be judged by what benefits or misfortune he has brought to his people. Has ojukwu brought anything positive to his people? His record is grim. The “accomplishments” ojukwu has brought his people include:

• Leading them in a brutal civil war they had no chance of winning, and which resulted in a million of them dying.
• Even when it became clear that his people were starving to death in massive numbers, he continued the war which was doomed from the start.
• He fled and left his people after the war.
• The civil war caused his people to be stereotyped as disloyal and led to an unwritten discrimination against them.


Yet he is still revered. ojukwu’s first official involvement in politics came after a group of young army Majors overthrew the democratic government in January 1966. Contrary to what has been written in some quarters, ojukwu refused to cooperate with the Majors – including Major Nzeogwu. ojukwu was appointed the Military Governor of the Eastern Region after the coup. This appointment was ironic as he had spent very little of his life in the east. ojukwu was the most politically active of the four military governors. By mid-1966 the army was imploding and another army coup was staged by northern soldiers during which hundreds of Igbo soldiers (including Ironsi) were killed. A central plank of this coup was the elimination of ojukwu. The ‘pointman’ who was to execute the coup in the eastern region was a young Lieutenant named Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (the older brother of Nigeria’s former President).

Aburi – ojukwu’s Finest Hour

After being dragged to the brink of an abyss by two military coups in 1966, and pogroms which followed them, ojukwu had refused to attend any meetings of the Supreme Military Council until the Ghanaian leader Lt-General Joseph Ankrah brokered a meeting in the neutral territory of Aburi in Ghana in January 1967. This was ojukwu’s finest hour. ojukwu prepared thoroughly and came armed with notes and secretaries. He managed to secure an agreement to devolve power from the federal government to the regions. This turned Nigeria into a confederation. In the words of one writer ojukwu “secured the signatures of the SMC to documents which would have had the effect of turning Nigeria into little more than a customs union".

The federal government attempted to implement the Aburi agreement in diluted form by enacting a modified Constitution (Suspension and Modification) decree (decree cool which turned Nigeria into a de facto confederation, but which did not incorporate ALL of the agreements reached at Aburi. Federal civil servants argued that to implement all of the Aburi agreements would lead to the dissolution of the federation. ojukwu declined to accept the initial draft of the decree and insisted on a full and complete implementation of the Aburi accords.

As the weaker party, could ojukwu still have showed greater pragmatism to spare further suffering for his people? Even with its flaws, decree 8 gave him 90% of what he wanted. The U.S. State Department was “impressed by extent to which decree 8 appears to meet many of East's fundamental demands for much greater regional autonomy. While recognizing that it stops short of granting everything ojukwu wants, Dept. considers decree represents genuine effort by FMG and other Mil Govs to implement Aburi agreements and to retain Nigerian unity in form which least objectionable to East…..Consulate Enugu has reported that some prominent and moderate Easterners may incline toward above view".

WINNER TAKES ALL – NIGERIA’S MALAISE


In the “winner takes all” mentality that is so symptomatic of Nigerian politics, ojukwu unrealistically held out for 100% of his demands and in the end, received 0%. His refusal to be tactically flexible by considering options other than secession, placed him and his people in a worse position than they started in. Rather than turning Nigeria into a confederation (which is what decree 8 did), ojukwu’s give no inch stance gave the federal government an opportunity to overrun the Eastern Region, carve the country into several states and concentrate massive powers in the central government. Forty years later many Nigerians now call for the restructuring of Nigeria, and for devolution of power to its regions. The opportunity to achieve this was squandered 45 years ago at Aburi.

Could ojukwu have achieved his objectives – albeit at a later date, had he been more patient? The old adage is that “the best comes to those who wait”. Could he have accepted confederation in the short-term, then waited patiently until such time that the Eastern Region had enough weapons and infrastructure to sustain a fully independent state in the future?

WAS SECESSION A MISTAKE?

When armed confrontation with the federal government was imminent, ojukwu knew that the Eastern Region had absolutely no chance of victory in an armed conflict with the federal government. Where did he obtain the confidence to secede nonetheless? It certainly was not from international opinion. Western diplomats warned him that they would not recognize a new state of Biafra. In a telegram from the US Department of State to the US Embassy in Nigeria dated March 24, 1967, the U.S. warned:

"East making serious mistake if it under assumption that international recognition of independent East would be easily obtained; our info clearly to contrary". This was the consistent US position as far back as July/August 1966. The US had previously noted that “Both US Ambassador Mathews and UKHICOM Approaching-Bruce have made strong representations in opposition to secession of any area of Nigeria. We consider such development would be major political and economic disaster for Nigerian people and severe setback to independent Africa."

Yet he declared secession, knowing full well that powerful countries would not recognize his new state, and that federal troops would invade immediately after secession. ojukwu doubtless possessed outstanding leadership and motivational skills which he used admirably to pull his people solidly behind the war effort. However, exactly how did he possibly believe that the Eastern Region (armed only with a few elderly World War 2 era rifles) could succeed against an enemy armed with limitless mortars, machine guns, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, trucks and air force jets. One does not have to be a military strategist to see the folly of this decision. [size=12pt]


THE MID-WEST INVASION – A MISTAKE?

Under considerable military pressure from the federal army, in 1967 ojukwu ordered Biafran soldiers to invade the Mid-West Region as a way to relieve military pressure on Biafra’s land, and to force the federal army onto the defensive. The invasion caught the federal government totally off guard and threatened a stunning military humiliation for it.


However, did the invasion of the Mid-West turn into a public relations disaster? The Military Governor of the Mid-West Lt-Colonel Ejoor had repeatedly stated that due to the multi-ethnic composition of his region, the "Mid-West will not be a battleground". Ejoor had even refused to let federal troops cross through his territory. Hence it was regarded as neutral demilitarised territory. However the invasion forced Ejoor off the fence he had been sitting on. He fled to Lagos, now firmly opposed to Biafra. ojukwu had alienated a potential figure of friendly neutrality. The Mid-West was neutral until that invasion and may not have joined the war but for it.

Additionally, the invasion gave the rest of Nigeria the mistaken impression that Biafra's cause was not only about survival, but also about territorial conquest. It escalated the conflict and gave the federal army a free hand to start using heavy weapons, artillery and punishing air raids. Lt-Col Murtala Muhammed's 2nd division of the Nigerian army carried out massive reprisals against Igbos and murdered several hundred as punishment.

FLIGHT TO IVORY COAST

During the war, there was a widely held belief (propagated by ojukwu and other Biafran leaders) that defeat for Biafra would be met by mass genocidal massacres by the federal government. If ojukwu believed this, then his escape at the end of the war is deplorable. After over a million Igbos were killed (90% of whom were civilians), ojukwu fled in the last days of the war when his people were at their lowest ebb, despite repeatedly promising throughout the war that he would never leave them to the mercy of the federal troops. If he believed that all his people would be massacred, then his flight to a exile abroad and refusal to stand side by side with them to finish a war he led them into, cannot be applauded.

http://www.pointblanknews.com/Special_Reports/os4390.html
Re: Awolowo Was Driven By An Overriding Ambition For Power-chinua Achebe by vanbonattel: 12:26am On Oct 04, 2012
Katsumoto:

What is wrong with this one? What are you talking about? Please make your point intelligently, if you are possible of such, or sod off.

Of what relevance is 8 months to the month I made?

Katsina, Ekpo, and Gowon were senior officers to Ironsi? ? ? You can respectfully put your objections to your boss. Its like saying a CEO doesn't receive advise from his subordinates.

I dont think you know anything about the army as to compare it to a civil setting with CEO and subordinates. What happened to Diya when he tried to advice Abacha?

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