Nigeria’s political history is a story in
contradictions. This accounts for why her
quest for national unity and integration
has been unsuccessful, quite to the
chargrin of the few genuine patriots who
had dreamt of a Nigeria that would be the
envy of all in the community of nations.
But upon the attainment of political
independence, the hope that a Nigeria
nation could emerge out of a multitude of
tribes and tongues has unfortunately
evaporated like ash such that it seems it
could never realize it’s rather cherished
but unfulfilled dreams.
While we try to “understand our
differences” as Sir Ahmadu Bello advised
rather than to “forget our differences”
there seems to be a progressive rise in
the quantum and intensity of ethnic
consciousness as shown by the reactions
by ethnic Lords over sundry issues.
This dangerous tendency was recently
manifested following the release of a
book written by Prof Chinua Achebe and
titled: “There was A Country: A Personal
History of Biafra” In the latest book the
renowned literary icon, blamed the plight
of the Igbos especially following the war
on the deliberate economic policies
formulated by the late Chief Obafemi
Awolowo as Finance Minister and Deputy
Chairman of the Federal Executive council
which was headed by General Yakubu
Gowon, the then Head of State.
These policies, according to the literary
icon impoverished and economically
strangulated the Igbos including other
Easterners. These myriads of reactions
bring to the force the contradictions, the
mischief and sheer absence of love and
understanding of the plight of other
Nigerians by those who have arrogated
national interest and welfare to
themselves and see any other person as
undeserving of concern. My honest
contention would be that it is always very
good to apportion blames if by doing so
the wrongs done could be rectified or
remedied.
In the case of Biafra and Nigeria,
undoubtedly, great wrongs have been
done with noticeable harm. Ethnic
chauvinists and pretenders to the
Nigerian unity project are wont to say
that Biafra is past and should not be
revisited, but they must be advised that
we are all products of history.
It has been asserted that those who
chose to ignore the lessons of history are
more often than not ignored by history
itself. This is true of Nigeria.
It has refused to learn from history as a
guide to the future but has rather
unwittingly been repeating the same
mistakes all over again. The result is that
it has become like a patient who after
medical diagnosis throws away the
reports which contained details of his
ailment and the recommended treatment
to be administered d. when he eventually
appears before the doctor, the process is
ordered to recommence once again, and
chances are that before another process
of medical examination is concluded, the
situation has become precarious and
regrettabley, beyond medical redemption.
The issues mentioned in the said book are
all too familiar, but if one may ask, “what
were the immediate and remote causes
of the Nigeria Civil War (1967-1970)? Who
should be blamed for the events that led
to the declaration of independence by
“Biafra”?
What was the real intention behind the
war and post –war policies? The earlier we
sincerely give answers to these salient
questions, the better for our quest for
nationhood. The moment we begin to tell
ourselves the home truth even when such
revelation and admission/confession is
against our personal or tribal interest, the
better for the healing process to
commence in full swing.
Without any fear of contradiction, let me
state clearly that the mindless and
senseless massacre and destruction of
Igbo lives and properties following the
counter coup by the reactionaries led by
Lt Col. T. Y. Dnjuma more than anything
else caused the attempted secession bid
by Colonel Udumegwu Emeka Ojukwu,
then Military Governor of the then
Eastern Region.
The macabre that attended the well-
organized and superbly supervised
genocide perpetrated against the Igbos in
the north and supported by the northern
leaders, albeit as a ‘retaliation’ against
the murder of their leaders in the first
coup de’tat could have been nipped in
the bud if the beneficiaries of the
“unitary” government for which General
Aguyi Ironsi was sacrificed had taken any
sincere step to dissuade their people
from the course they had taken against
the innocent Igbos who had to pay a
great price for their belief in one Nigeria
and their spirit of enterprise.
Let the facts be stated the umpteenth
time for the mischievous and peddlers of
falsehood who distort clear undeniable
facts of history for their selfish and tribal
interests.
Agreeably, the northerners were never
known and have never been know to be
pro-Nigerian in their thoughts,
inclinations and pronouncements, and for
the records, they never wanted
independence for Nigeria and neither did
they embrace the idea of one Nigeria
Resolutions of the Northern Regional
House of Assembly regarding the
“strangers” on their soil, the various
pronouncements of Sir Ahmadu Bello,
Premier of the Northern Region, and the
aborted speech by General Gowon
announcing the division of Nigeria are all
in the public domain for Nigerians to see.

Another fact of history is that Dr Nnamdi
Azikiwe left the Eastern Region, contested
and won election into the Western
Regional House of Assembly and was in
the process of forming the government in
the Region, his party, the National
Convention of Nigerian Citizens, NCNC,
having won the majority of seats at the
Election, but the late sage Awolowo
sensing disgrace and obvious loss of
relevance, orchestrated through blackmail
and recourse to primordial ethnic
sentiments and emotions, the “cross-
carpeting of the NCNC members of the
House to the Action Group, AG,. This
singular act killed the spirit of national
unity and accommodation that was
becoming visible by the wider acceptance
of NCNC by the Westerners.

The result of this political ‘master-stroke’
by Awolowo forced Azikiwe
unceremoniously back to the Eastern
Region where he, out of frustration;
having failed to also go the central
Legislature in Lagos equally orchestrated
a fresh election to the Eastern Region
House of Assembly. This singular act again
affected the brotherly love in the region
and the nationalist spirit as the Efiks,
Ibibios and the Annangs etc who were
the major victims began to lose hope in
the federation, nay the Eastern Region.

This perhaps explains why the Igbos were
denied their support during the course of
the war. Agreed also that in war, just like
Awolowo rationalized, that “everything is
fair and starvation is one of the weapons
of war, could it rightly be said that post-
war anti-people and anti-development
policies are accepted especially were it
was declared,”no victor, no vanquished”?
It is not true that humanitarian service
provided by international voluntary
organization to Nigerian held territories
were denied the civilian populace in
Biafra, not the soldiers?
Was this not a clear case of genocide
alongside the earlier pogrom in the north
targeted at Igbos?

And if, as the Awolowo and Gowon apologists are arguing, that
they don’t deserve any blame for the
suffering of the Igbos nay Easterners
during and after the war, can any truly
sensible person rationalize the policy
conceived and implemented by the said
otherwise great Awolowo to the effect
that every Easterner (mostly Igbos) that
had whatever amount of money in the
bank was only given “20 pounds”
Not only this, property belonging to Igbos
across the country were seized by the
Federal Government and were classified
as “abandoned” properties even when the
owners had survived the war and needed
a means of sustenance.

The late Ikemba (Ojukwu) had to fight for
many years to repossess his father’s
property in Lagos State. The result of this
deliberate and mischievous economic
policy was despite deceitful programme
of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction. And when public
enterprises were nationalized, no Igbo
man/woman was in a position to
purchase any shares in those companies.
This was against the backdrop of the fact
that the Eastern Region, up to the late
1960s was rated as the fastest growing
economy in the world.
The literary Icon, Prof Chinua Achebe has
not committed any crime by writing his
memoirs while alive. Others are enjoined
to also tell Nigerians what they know
about the war, the pogrom and proffer a
way out. We have lied for too long, we
have pretended for too long. Time for
admission of wrong and confession of sins
is now. The Igbos deserve our sympathy
and off course, apologies. Iboro Udom
writes from Akwa Ibom state

Source: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/opinion/of-achebe-awolowo-gowon-and-biafra/

You all should get a life.
Is Awolowo also the cause for the tribal and religious bashing that keeps happening on this forum everyday?

You na no get work to do.
Person wey don die na im una still dey blame for your disunity.

A bit of history in its pure form by a neutral

Awolowo was simply a beast in human form and I will agree with the writer that anybody who supports him (awolowo) is senseless so now I know how to treat them. May peace continue to elude awolowo and his disciples.

Mr. Globe:
A bit of history in its pure form by a neutral

Awolowo was simply a beast in human form and I will agree with the writer that anybody who supports him (awolowo) is senseless so now I know how to treat them. May peace continue to elude awolowo and his disciples.

So na style you dey use shepe for Tinubu and others be that.

acidtalk: You all should get a life.
Is Awolowo also the cause for the tribal and religious bashing that keeps happening on this forum everyday?

You na no get work to do.
Person wey don die na im una still dey blame for your disunity.

Its seems you are among the senseless lots. If awolowo didnt cross this part in his lifetime, I doubt the bashings that keep hapening on this forum everyday would arise. READ THE ARTICLE. Everybody eas living in peace until that serpent arrived.

acidtalk:

So na style you dey use shepe for Tinubu and others be that.

I no dey use style for anything, Tinubu has never come out to defend awoloowo so dont rppe him in yet.

Mr. Globe:
A bit of history in its pure form by a neutral

Awolowo was simply a beast in human form and I will agree with the writer that anybody who supports him (awolowo) is senseless so now I know how to treat them. May peace continue to elude awolowo and his disciples.

May peace continue to elude ojukwu and his disciples.

^
The vulture has showed up again. If you truly love awolowo like this, why not drin rat poison yourself. Its the fastest way to meet him where he is, I understand he loves you too. my suggestion.

He also killed himself.

That is very obvious, he came to steal, kill and destroy.

@Op, kindly check in for psychiatric evaluation and make sure you are prescribed the right drugs and psychotherapy in the nearest mental hospital. That is where you belong

Mr Globe

Please see below for actual results of the elections. Perhaps you can ask Prince Iboro Udom to supply his own results.

The Western house had 80 seats in total and any party with a 41 majority would have formed the government.

There were three elections for the 80 seats:
Western region elections on 24th September 1951 – 72 seats
Lagos elections on the 20th November 1951 – 5 seats (all won by NCNC)
Benin elections on the 6th of December 1951 – 3 seats (all won by Etu Edo)

Breakdown of 72 seats
AG won 38 seats including 3 won by its secretaries (Adegbenro, Hassan, and Osuntokun) who contested as independents.
Mabolaje Grand Alliance MBA (aka Ibadan Peoples Party) won 6 seats – Akinloye, Lanlehin, Akinbiyi, Akinyemi, Adelabu, and Aboderin
NCNC won 18 seats plus 7 Independent seats making 25
Ondo Improvement League won 2 seats
Adeola Odutola – Independent candidate representing Ijebu-Ode

At the end of the night on the 24th of September, 5 of the 6 MGA had declared for the AG while Adelabu declared for NCNC. Awosika of the Ondo improvement league and Adeola Odutola had both declared for the AG giving the AG 45 seats.

See official results below

http://books.google.ca/books?id=Oi0aVR4YkmUC&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=1956+election+NCNC&source=bl&ots=xlo8I8O_iF&sig=jmQDabaMysM0SG7MMZI3yFZ49dg&hl=en&ei=004zTvWKL4OnsALHmdTtCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=1956%20election%20NCNC&f=false

Of the three seats in Benin won by Etu Edo, Ighodaro declared for AG while Omo-Osagie and Ekuyasi declared for NCNC.

At the end of December 1951, seats were as follows
AG – 46
NCNC/Independents 34

The Western house was inaugurated on the 7th of January 1952 and elections to the Federal House were held on the 10th of January 1952. Three members of the NCNC crossed over to the AG and these were Kessington-Momoh, Ako, and Awodi Orisaremi (all representing Urhobo/Kukuruku division in the Mid-west). None of them was Yoruba and that clearly defeats the lame and ridiculous lies that the AG, and by extension Awolowo, introduced tribal politics in Nigeria. These three crossed over because they needed AG votes to get into the Federal House. Ako and Kessington-Momoh were elected but Orisaremi lost and returned to the NCNC. These three crossed when the AG had a clear majority and had to pay fees to join the AG.

The real reason Zik resigned was because he lost that election to the Federal House. NCNC had five seats from the West and Zik couldn’t gain any of these seats losing to other NCNC members such as Fadahunsi, Olorunnimbe, Oputa-Otutu, Denis Osadebey, and Adeleke Adedoyin.

You people are just hurting. No Yoruba is losing sleep over all this nagging like mad parrot. If this is the way you guys deal with your PTSD, you are on your own.

For the record, neither Awo nor Nigeria owe you people anything. Awo was not Igbo caretaker.

una no dey tire

lagcity: For the record, neither Awo nor Nigeria owe you people anything. Awo was not Igbo caretaker.

Exactly! these clowns are quite amusing.

Mr. Globe:
^
The vulture has showed up again. If you truly love awolowo like this, why not drin rat poison yourself. Its the fastest way to meet him where he is, I understand he loves you too. my suggestion.

The vulture has showed up again. If you truly love ojukwu like this, why not contract AIDS yourself. Its the fastest way to meet him where he is, I understand he loves you too. my suggestion

@ Katsumoto:

your source always has false info,
those article written by yoruba awoist after the war.

the main truth is coming out from the first hand men not paid historians that rewrite history for awo.

katsumoto i dare you to write back to pa iboro udom with any question concerning these issues,

stop copyin and pastin here all these doctored writeups.

T9ksy:


Am a proud and unapologetic awoist and i say as you wish for me so shall it be on you and your future generations.

ashe!!!

Yorubas would say: b'ewure ba boju wehin, a fepe felepe.

9ja voice: @ Katsumoto:

your source always has false info,
those article written by yoruba awoist after the war.

the main truth is coming out from the first hand men not paid historians that rewrite history for awo.

His source is always false info while yours is the truth isn't it? Bunch if pathetic clowns

we don't need apology from anyone

9ja voice: @ Katsumoto:

your source always has false info,
those article written by yoruba awoist after the war.

the main truth is coming out from the first hand men not paid historians that rewrite history for awo.

9ja voice: katsumoto i dare you to write back to pa iboro udom with any question concerning these issues,

stop copyin and pastin here all these doctored writeups.

First, let us assume that I copied and pasted, does it prevent it from being the truth?

Second, let us look at the bio of the author of the book in the link I provided. "Richard L. Sklar is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was founding co-chair of the interdepartmental undergraduate degree program in International Development Studies." So this professor in far away Los Angeles is also an Awoist!!!! Maybe he went to school in Ijebu ode.

When are you clowns going to realise that the quickest way to refute my posts is to provide proof/evidence that supports your position? Just defaulting to 'its copy and paste' is rather silly and juvenile.


When is someone going to provide results that prove NCNC won the 1951 election in the Western Region?

tunnytox:

His source is always false info while yours is the truth isn't it? Bunch if pathetic clowns

No, I have provided my own sources; they have to provide a source first before we can even decide whether it is false or not.

Until then, I will continue to knock their heads. Can't you see how the OP has abandoned his thread? Some of them are very clever; they run to lie another day.

Passing through, gentlemen.
Just wanna mark my name on the attendance register

Was it Awolowo who killed other regional leaders and spared his own?

These oduduwa almajiris have infiltrated this thread with their balderdash as they always do with every sensible thread. someone said I dumped the thread, well I have a robust life outside nairaland. I guess its reaching for me to thrust you guys with a mature, truthful article to debate.

For the record am sick and tired of always having to say, I dont believe Yoruba history, I dont believe junk copy and past articles without any credible source and you katsumoto and many of your kind have made it a habit of throwing these 'emergency articles' to support you partisan claims. You must be related to baba suwe to think I will acknowledge this tissue of lies of Yoruba history, about the civil war inspired by awolowo.
obviously the writer was right saying awolowo supporters are senseless because how can you expect me to read his sensible unbiased account and explanation of the electoral outcome and believe your fast food junk articles.
If other igbos on nairaland engaged you unsuccessfully with that, I dont have that patience, you can shove that result and explanation down your azz. The author probably was around at the time and told you zik won, go and ask your elders, stop with this trying to look smart.

They have no results to support the ridiculous notion of NCNC winning the 1951 Western regional election but conclude that the results provide by others are partisan.

Mr Globe, please provide your own results na. Biko nu

These oduduwa almajiris have infiltrated this thread with their balderdash as they always do with every sensible thread. someone said I dumped the thread, well I have a robust life outside nairaland. I guess its reaching for me to thrust you guys with a mature, truthful article to debate.

For the record am sick and tired of always having to say, I dont believe Yoruba history, I dont believe junk copy and past articles without any credible source and you katsumoto and many of your kind have made it a habit of throwing these 'emergency articles' to support you partisan claims. You must be related to baba suwe to think I will acknowledge this tissue of lies of Yoruba history, about the civil war inspired by awolowo.
obviously the writer was right saying awolowo supporters are senseless because how can you expect me to read his sensible unbiased account and explanation of the electoral outcome and believe your fast food junk articles.
If other igbos on nairaland engaged you unsuccessfully with that, I dont have that patience, you can shove that result and explanation down your azz. The author probably was around at the time and told you zik won, go and ask your elders, stop with this trying to look smart.