“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 Igbo at the time as the
obstacles to that goal, and when the
opportunity arose – the Nigeria-Biafra
War – his ambition drove him into a
frenzy to go to every length to
achieve his dreams.
“In the Biafran case, it meant
hatching up a diabolical policy to
reduce the numbers of his enemies
significantly through starvation –
eliminating over two million people,
mainly members of future
generations.” - Chinua Achebe
More Criticisms trail Achebe’s
comment on Awolowo, Civil war:
Okurounmu: He is unnecessarily
sectional and tribalistic
Babatope: He has no right to
irresponsibly murder history
Olunloyo: Achebe’s action
unfortunate
More criticisms have continued to
trail the comment of renowed
novelist and poet, Professor Chinua
Achebe on the role played by late
Chief Obafemi Awolowo during the
nation’s civil war.
Achebe in his recently published war
memoir, There was a Country, had
accused Awolowo of ethnicity and
selfishness which he said made him
to work against the Igbo race during
the nation’s three-year civil war
which ended in 1970.
Excerpts of the book: “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 Igbo at the time as the
obstacles to that goal, and when the
opportunity arose – the Nigeria-Biafra
War – his ambition drove him into a
frenzy to go to every length to
achieve his dreams.
“In the Biafran case, it meant
hatching up a diabolical policy to
reduce the numbers of his enemies
significantly through starvation –
eliminating over two million people,
mainly members of future
generations.” These assertions were
yesterday pilloried by members of
Awolowo’s political family and other
prominent Yoruba elders and
opinion leaders.
Speaking in a telephone conversation
with Sunday Mirror, one of
Awolowo’s loyalists and a member
of the pan-Yoruba sociocultural
organisation, Afenifere, Senator Femi
Okurounmu described Achebe’s
position as unfortunate. His words:”I
have read the comments that the
man is said to have made in his
book and from what I have read, I
want to state categorically that the
man was being unnecessarily
sectional and tribalistic.
“It was not about Nigeria’s history
but purely Igbo’s tribalistic point of
view. Because when you have a
war, it is part of the war
instrumentality to employ blockage
of instruments of warfare. To carry
out the blockage against your enemy
so that they don’t get supplies to use
against you.
“So, if because of the blockage you
couldn’t get what you deserved, that
is one of the consequences of going
to war. And that is just the tribalistic
reason upon which the fellow
(Achebe) premised his comment; he
has looked at it from a tribalistic point
of view.
“In any case, how would Awolowo
become president just because they
were killing Igbo? The Igbo who
suffered were the ordinary masses
of the Igbo; the Igbo elite did not
suffer; they were still getting their
foods and feeding fat.
“So it (a Biafran State) wouldn’t have
in anyway affected Awolowo’s
ambition to become president”.
In the same vein, other members
who reacted through an online news
service also condemned the
playwright.
Notably, octogenarian and chieftain
of Afenifere, Chief Olaniwun Ajayi,
described the publication as
unfortunate and an error.
His words: “It is a great error; he
never said anything about what
Awolowo did to prevent the civil
war”.
Also, former Transport and Aviation
Minister, Ebenezer Babatope, noted,
“While Achebe is free to write on any
topic that suits his fancy, he has no
right whatsoever to irresponsibly
murder history by recklessly
attacking a great leader like Papa
Awolowo. Nigerians should expect
detailed, honest, factual and objective
replies to the Achebe nonsense after
we have copies of the book in our
hands.
“This is not the first time that Achebe
will publish scathing attacks on Papa
Awo. He did it in his book written
about 30 years ago titled, The trouble
with Nigeria. The battle against
falsehood has started.”
Maintaining the same position,
former Oyo state governor, Dr.
Omolulu Olunloyo, said, “It is
unfortunate that Professor Achebe
could label Chief Awolowo a tribalist.
Both Awo and Zik were members of
the Nigerian Youth Movement.
“He cannot begin now to blame
Awolowo for the war. Awolowo did
not start the war; rather, he pleaded
against it. The only thing that he said
then was that if, by any error, the
Igbo were allowed to leave the
federation, Yoruba would also leave.
“The civil war was started by the
Igbo. The Igbo, in the course of the
war, killed many Yoruba and Hausa/
Fulani leaders, including Sir Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello,
Chief Ladoke Akintola, Festus Okotie-
Eboh and many officers, including
Ademulegun, Maimalari, leaving out
their own, like Michael Okpara.
“Even while they were in
government, (General Thomas
Aguiyi-Ironsi’s government), the
Igbo spared no thought of freeing
Awolowo who was then in prison.
So, why should the man be now
labeled a tribalist?”
Equally, Save Nigeria Group
spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, noted,
“It is unfortunate that a great man of
letters of Achebe’s status has
descended to the arena of Biafran
propagandists, who are always
ready to sacrifice the truth to achieve
emotional blackmail.
“He has betrayed his intellectual
calling by joining in the circulation of
low quality rumours against Awo. I
had looked forward to reading the
book, but now I doubt if I would
pick up a copy even if dropped at
my gate.”