Did Pele, easily the greatest footballer ever, cause ceasefire between the troops of Nigeria and Biafra during the civil war? Is this story real or was it made up?

This is what I found out


The reason why some versions of the supposed
ceasefire story state 1967 could be attributed to an
error in Pelé’s 1977 autobiography My Life and the Beautiful Game. He said in the book that he visited Lagos in 1967 with Santos, but he and Santos didn’t
visit Lagos until 1969. Pelé travelled a lot with
Santos in the sixties so it is no surprise that he got
the dates mixed up. It is interesting that Pelé didn’t
mention the supposed ceasefire story in his 1977
book and yet, he does in his 2007 autobiography Pelé: The Autobiography. He recalls the match taking place at Lagos in 1969. The Benin match isn’t
mentioned in either of the books. It is also assumed in some ceasefire accounts that
the Midwest Governor, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel
Ogbemudia, opened the SaPelé Bridge to enable
Biafrans travel from Biafra into Benin to watch the
match. Actually, the toll bridge was specifically
opened on match day so that fans wouldn’t have to incur extra charges to watch the match not for
Biafrans to have access to the match. It is unlikely that any Biafran would have dared to
travel from Biafra (south-east of Nigeria) to any of
the two Santos matches. The fear of detention or
execution by Federal soldiers would have deterred
even the most passionate Biafran football fan. It
also didn’t help that four days before the Benin match, a Biafran aircraft bombed a village, Obagie,
eight miles from Benin. Four farmers were killed in
the air raid and several were injured. This Midwest
bombing would have made any ceasefire truce
between the Nigerian Government and Biafra
unlikely for Santos’ match in Benin. The Midwest Governor didn’t mention a ceasefire with Biafra in
his account about the Benin match written in his
‘Eighteen Months of Stewardship’ report. This was
published a month after the match. Guilherme Guarche, Santos historian and
Coordinator of Santos’ Memory and Statistics Centre, stated on the club’s website in early 2015 that the original source of the 1969 ceasefire story was a 1990 Placar magazine article on Pelé by Michel Laurence, a French-Brazilian journalist. This story is
mentioned briefly in the article as one of the
interesting incidents that occurred during Pelé’s
football career. “I’m not sure it’s completely true,” Pelé said in his
2007 book about the 48-hour ceasefire story, “But
the Nigerians certainly made sure the Biafrans
wouldn’t invade Lagos while we were there.” He
recalled “a huge military presence on the streets”
and protection by the army and police during their stay in Nigeria. He also said in his book that the Santos’ business
manager assured the players that the Nigerian civil
war would be stopped for their exhibition match
and it wouldn’t be a problem for the authorities. Pelé, however, doesn’t raise his doubts about the
ceasefire story during his 2011 interview with CNN.
He reinforced the ceasefire legend in this interview. Aired April 27, 2011 Excerpted interview transcript: Pelé: Yes, that’s — I feel proud of that. Because, you
know, with my team, Santos — this you have in the
film, my biography — we stop war. Because the
people were so crazy for football — they love
football, they stop the war to see Santos play in
Africa. COREN: Yes, you are referring to 1967, when the
cease-fire — Pelé: Exactly. COREN: — was announced in Nigeria for 48 hours
so that both warring factions could watch you play
in Lagos. I mean, that is just phenomenal. Pelé: All the Africans play — It is different —
because we didn’t expect that. The same what I
used to say, when we travel, where we stay, we try
to give always good message. You know? This is a
big responsibility, but I trust God. Pelé’s global status, as well as the location of the
incident (a civil war ravaged African country –
Nigeria), made the ceasefire story believable. If any
sports personality could stop a civil war in an
African country in the sixties then it would be Pelé.