they can always fight the truth, but cannot defeat it.

van bonattel: they can always fight the truth, but cannot defeat it.

i wonder oo , if achebe lied then it would have been a different issue but achebe only stated what most of us already know.

Achebe is entitled to his opinions. If the opinions of Achebe are potent enough to trigger war then Nigeria does not deserve to exist as a nation. It seems everything nowadays is capable of triggering war in Nigeria, including any talk of what happened in the past. One of the rather unfortunate things I find about Nigeria is its unwillingness to deal with its past as a nation.

Any child going through the Nigerian educational system might never know that Biafra ever happened or what it really was about. I don't know (and I might be terribly wrong)of any National museums that catalogue what IS our past in that regards. Such things are a bit worrying because they show the signs of a deeply insecure union where many monumental things are left unsaid because 'there will be war'.

It seems everything in Nigeria is capable of triggering war and instability except corruption and nepotism. So the question is this: Can we heal the union without talking about it as a nation? Can we move on without first looking back? And by the way when I mean talk about it, I don't mean the petty little spats that go on on this forum on a daily basis, I mean national discourse. People died on both sides of that war and yes, heavily on the side of the Igbos. As a nation, is ignoring them as if they never existed the sacrifice required to keep Nigeria together? What makes a nation and what makes a union?

We need more understanding of ourselves, because beyond the politics that goes on with the political elite where it seems we are all divided for the benefit of their continued control of the nation, many Nigerians want the same things: a nation where they can feel valued and achieve their potential. What has to give to get that?

Truth is indeed bitter, the biafra war was the most horrible war since 1945, in less than three years more than 2million Igbos died those that are responsible for this crime most surely go to hell.

truth is very difficult to bear.

vanunu: Truth is indeed bitter, the biafra war was the most horrible war since 1945, in less than three years more than 2million Igbos died. Those that are responsible for this crime most surely go to hell.

Wow. Ojukwu must be frying as we speak then.

Reacting to the statement, CPC National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said: “From whichever perspective you look at it Chinua Achebe is a statesman, whose mastery of prose is globally acknowledged. The question is: what is the portent of this memoir by Professor Chinua Achebe at the twilight of his life? Does he intend to make us to continue a controversy that would definitely outlive him?

He said the statement was capable of triggering war.

the north and south are always scared whenever the hidden truth about the genocide against the igbos is mentioned.

that controversial and shameful issues of the war that Nigeria wants to hide is actually the reason why Nigeria will never, ever move forward. an igbo proverb say that "if an abominable act is concealed, it will continue to hunt and create havoc on the conscience of the perpetrators - the perpetrators always go on defense mode whenever the issue is mentioned!"

the first step towards placing Nigeria on the part of progress is by tendering unreserved apology to the igbos - unless that is done, Nigeria will continue to retrogress!

Accusing Prof Achebe of eliciting war based on his memoir is like trying to cover pregnancy wit a blanket!

greateros:

the north and south are always scared whenever the hidden truth about the genocide against the igbos is mentioned.

that controversial and shameful issues of the war that Nigeria wants to hide is actually the reason why Nigeria will never, ever move forward. an igbo proverb say that "if an abominable act is concealed, it will continue to hunt and create havoc on the conscience of the perpetrators - the perpetrators always go on defense mode whenever the issue is mentioned!"

the first step towards placing Nigeria on the part of progress is by tendering unreserved apology to the igbos - unless that is done, Nigeria will continue to retrogress!

Accusing Prof Achebe of eliciting war based on his memoir is like trying to cover pregnancy wit a blanket!

Exactly. How can i show love to a country that was built on the blood of two million of my people,its easy for other nigerians to shout 'one nigeria',but not the igboman. Achebe spoke the mind of most igbos.

Nigeria cannot just sweep the biafra question under the carpet,never!

’Until there is fairness , equity, justice and love for one another, Nigeria would remain down but once these virtues are propagated, healthy competition will creep in because all the best brains in the world are from Nigeria. Go to Europe and you will discover that the best brains there are from Nigeria – the most brilliant people all over the world, yet nothing is happening here because of tribalism and unnecessary bickering and antagonisms,” he said

+1000 likes

greateros:

the north and south are always scared whenever the hidden truth about the genocide against the igbos is mentioned.

that controversial and shameful issues of the war that Nigeria wants to hide is actually the reason why Nigeria will never, ever move forward. an igbo proverb say that "if an abominable act is concealed, it will continue to hunt and create havoc on the conscience of the perpetrators - the perpetrators always go on defense mode whenever the issue is mentioned!"

the first step towards placing Nigeria on the part of progress is by tendering unreserved apology to the igbos - unless that is done, Nigeria will continue to retrogress!

Accusing Prof Achebe of eliciting war based on his memoir is like trying to cover pregnancy wit a blanket!

Ndigbo say that truth is indomitable. If you put it inside a box, it will escape as gas. If you put it inside the ground and cover it, it will germinate like a plant.
Nigeria should face her past demons and deal with it.
There shall be no peace for the wicked, says GOD!

BTW Mr. Rotimi Fashakin is NOT CPC.
He is from the tribe that is under scrutiny, so he cannot be an unbiased party.

Nigeria is a country built and sustained on falsehood , Land in perpetual Darkness, false census figures, used in falsifying revenue allocation , false patriotism , falsification of official finanacial figures and now falsification and hiding of the truth about the civil war .

Does CPC ever wonder why for about 42 years since the war ended Nigeria has not made any progress, even with awolowo and Gowon in power what progress did Nigeria make aside conering the ownership of foreign companies.

Now any attempte to uncover the truth about the Real census (christian /muslim/tribalpopulation) makes the country unstable and threathens National Cohesion and National security .

For how long will this continue, no wonder The same people who swore to shed the last drop of their blood for the unity of the country were very quick to give away Bakassi so as to sustain the false hood at the expense of territorial integrity of Niger Deltans.

Little wonder UME admission statistics which hitherto was on Jamb Website has been hurriedly removed so as to sustain age long lies and misinformation of educational attainment of same people,Also the Airport flight statistics which hitherto was available online has been hurriedly removed so as to deny Zones which presently have no international airports and make them perpetual slaves to Lagos and Abuja airports.

Everyday is for the Liar but one day for the owner of the resources

Yigbo's culture

Gowon! He is the only one remaing and funny enuf, he has no remorse for what he did!
If you ask him " he will say he was saving nigeria"
Same nigeria has been killing innocent ppl of his tribe calling them bokoharam!
Same nigeria has killed twice human being than the whole of west africa!
Same nigeria has been killing each other because.of foreign gods!
Same nigeria has destroyed a village like udi !
Same nigeria has been rap..ing everyone in the a.s.s! No food! No light in 21 century! Etc
Even he (gowon) i swear dint even let his children go to school in nigeria that he killed millions to protect!

Awolowo just like every other human being may hate a group of ppl, just like someone who hate muslim, a french that dont like germans or a white american that dont like blacks etc the war is just an opportunity for him aswell as adekunle to bring out their emotions.

I believe that those Biafran soldiers and the descendants of those biafran soldiers who ambushed and steal food meant for the vulnerable group are still alive.knowing the psychology of an average uniformed man even in present day nigeria,those women and children would have been derided as 'bloody civilians' who dont need the food as much as they the soldiers do.They must have been feeling wise in their eyes everytime they loot the food meant for the children.Those igbos who participated in these dastardly act should take the blame,they should apologise for stealing food meant for their wives and children.
What beats my imagination is how a war can be won by just 2 simple policies-
1)change the currency and
2) stop food from reaching the soldiers

how ojukwu(despite his oxford education in history and military trainning) and his war advisers failed to pre-empt this baffles me

incidentally,just like Osama was trained in america and later attacked americans,achebe was trained in yorubaland and even during the war,was residing in yorubaland enjoying the hospitality of the yoruba he is attacking today.
achebe hopes to make a great fortune from the sale of his book despite it would be pirated by some igbo boys,he smiles to the bank.he will be remembered as a (con)artist,an invalid cripple reference who became a bilionaire in his 80's selling falsehood and acrimony.If he would be given a state burial like ojukwu is better left to be imagined.I feel sad that achebe did not see anything wrong in the conduct of those savage biafran soldiers hijacking food meant for children.

onomeasike: I believe that those Biafran soldiers and the descendants of those biafran soldiers who ambushed and steal food meant for the vulnerable group are still alive.knowing the psychology of an average uniformed man even in present day nigeria,those women and children would have been derided as 'bloody civilians' who dont need the food as much as they the soldiers do.They must have been feeling wise in their eyes everytime they loot the food meant for the children.Those igbos who participated in these dastardly act should take the blame,they should apologise for stealing food meant for their wives and children.
What beats my imagination is how a war can be won by just 2 simple policies-
1)change the currency and
2) stop food from reaching the soldiers

how ojukwu(despite his oxford education in history and military trainning) and his war advisers failed to pre-empt this baffles me

incidentally,just like Osama was trained in america and later attacked americans,achebe was trained in yorubaland and even during the war,was residing in yorubaland enjoying the hospitality of the yoruba he is attacking today.
achebe hopes to make a great fortune from the sale of his book despite it would be pirated by some igbo boys,he smiles to the bank.he will be remembered as a (con)artist,an invalid cripple reference who became a bilionaire in his 80's selling falsehood and acrimony.If he would be given a state burial like ojukwu is better left to be imagined.I feel sad that achebe did not see anything wrong in the conduct of those savage biafran soldiers hijacking food meant for children.

Please permit me to call you a fool. The truth is really before you like a scary ghost.

onomeasike: I believe that those Biafran soldiers and the descendants of those biafran soldiers who ambushed and steal food meant for the vulnerable group are still alive.knowing the psychology of an average uniformed man even in present day nigeria,those women and children would have been derided as 'bloody civilians' who dont need the food as much as they the soldiers do.They must have been feeling wise in their eyes everytime they loot the food meant for the children.Those igbos who participated in these dastardly act should take the blame,they should apologise for stealing food meant for their wives and children.
What beats my imagination is how a war can be won by just 2 simple policies-
1)change the currency and
2) stop food from reaching the soldiers

how ojukwu(despite his oxford education in history and military trainning) and his war advisers failed to pre-empt this baffles me

incidentally,just like Osama was trained in america and later attacked americans,achebe was trained in yorubaland and even during the war,was residing in yorubaland enjoying the hospitality of the yoruba he is attacking today.
achebe hopes to make a great fortune from the sale of his book despite it would be pirated by some igbo boys,he smiles to the bank.he will be remembered as a (con)artist,an invalid cripple reference who became a bilionaire in his 80's selling falsehood and acrimony.If he would be given a state burial like ojukwu is better left to be imagined.I feel sad that achebe did not see anything wrong in the conduct of those savage biafran soldiers hijacking food meant for children.

You are not making any sense, you talk about soldiers,tell me,who were the soldiers.
My uncles joined the biafra army when it was obvious that they were going to be killed by the egyptian mercenaries air rades which were been directed at peoples homes,and market places. People joined the army to save their families from the vicious nigerian land army and egyptian airstrike mercenaries that was intent on exterminating the igbo race. Didnt adekunle openly tell the world that they shoot at 'anything that moves'. My mother has lived throughout her life with the trauma of haven seen an airstrike that was directed towards a market place tear her best friend into pieces of meat,she saw many family members and friends die in that market that day. How do you expect her to show love for this country,or even raise children that would love this country? Most igbo people still bear the scars of the biafran war,to most of us,the war was a war of survival.

Nigeria cannot just wish away the biafra question,they might have refused to teach about it in schools,but in most igbo homes,the pictures tell us the stories. Achebe is doing nigeria a favour bringing this issue to the fore.

You guys need to defuse this madness before it consumes everyone... It was a war, and you're allowed to use everything at your disposal... Achebe is an elder statesman and he should know better than to exacerbate a bitter past in Nigerian history maliciously in a way that might end up consuming generations unborn... Perhaps, he's trying to show his bitter hatred for the late sage... However, why now? And why the sensational rhetoric and the revisionist agenda?? Every student of Nigerian history knows the truth, and Awolowo did what he had to do to end the hopeless war - and save the country... I would've done the same thing if I were to be in his shoes... You've to be prepared to go to war - and it's asinine to expect your enemy to feed you during wartime... Fait accompli! - time to move on, and be prepared for war next time...

It's great to talk about history because: "History is a clock people use to tell their historical culture and political time of the day. It's a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human geography. The history tells them where they have been, where they are and what they are. But most importantly history tells a people where they still must go and what they still must be." However, it becomes problematic when statesmen of Achebe's calibre starts peddling lies and half-truths... Awolowo was power hungry; so was Ojukwu(Achebe's first cousin) who wanted Biafra to himself and other parts of Southern Nigeria; so was Nnamdi Azikwe who wanted to become the premier of the Western region(despite not being from the region) and had to go back to the Eastern region to marginalise the minority groups there; and so was Ahmadu Bello who wanted to sink his Qu'ran in the Atlantic ocean and continue where his ancestors left off... All your founding fathers were power hungry TRIBALISTS... Singling out Awolowo is just stupid IMO!!

I'm going to buy the book... But I hope he also critiqued Ojukwu, Nnamdi Azikwe, Gowon et al with the same venom about the roles they all played in the events that led to the war, their roles during the war, and what they did after the war... Failure to do that would show how bigoted he really is.... And I hope he also included the indiscriminate bombings of Lagos civilians by the Biafrans and their white mercenaries who wrecked havoc on Nigerians - and how Biafran soldiers wanted weapons instead of food...

Where do the Northerners stand in all this madness?? The war was between them and Igbos - how come Igbos are not confronting them Scared much??

So awo meant that all the food brought into biafra was consumed by a few thousand soldiers while their own children starve and die? My father joined d army after general muhammed brutally sacked onitsha is what is no brothers war. D americans have listed general muhammed as a war time criminal for genocide since how many decades now and ppl still don't want to accept d truth. Even fela and wole soyinka refused to join d war because it was an unjust war and were jailed for it. So who will write a defence for awolowo? NOBODY. The truth is bitter.

Onlytruth: BTW Mr. Rotimi Fashakin is NOT CPC.
He is from the tribe that is under scrutiny, so he cannot be an unbiased party.

Eze sir, so its about a tribe not an individual ( awolowo). I thought the whole issue is about the war crimes of awolowo and his thirst for power at all cost!!

If awolowo hated you so much then why did he ensure that houses of the Igbos in lagos and other realestate were not collected from them. In one case, rent was even collected on behalf of the owners and handed over when the war ended.

If awolowo hated you so much then why did he give the ACB(main bank for Igbo traders in the 70s) 3.5million pounds to restart so that Igbo traders could have access to funds.

If awolowo hated you so much then why did he save all funds that accrued to the South Eastern states during the course of the war and ensured that the cash was handed over to them once the war ended. This subvention was at the rate of 990000pounds per month calculated for every month of the war.

If awolowo hated you so much then why did he fund the Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria as a way to help rehabilitate the eastern states.

If awolowo hated you so much then why did he ensure that Igbos with proven accounts got their money back from the different banks. The only losers were the ones who had withdrawn their money and converted them to biafran notes. their cash was essentially worthless.

I hope eventually this doesn't get into the public domain that may eventually boil over into full scale animosity.

In other words, the North and their Southern Brothers;

1. Marched on unarmed biafra, FIRST.

2. Started the war by passing through Ore into biafra, FIRST.

3. Planned, Executed and Encouraged the January 1966 coup that made the IGBO race loose the leaders that would have provided direction and leadership instead of a rebel called ojukwu.

greateros:

the north and south are always scared whenever the hidden truth about the genocide against the igbos is mentioned.

@kodewrita, that interview u were quoting was given on political ground, Awo needed igbo votes but they booed him in the east(actually even in non igbo states) and he had to cut his campaign short. That interview was to sway igbo voters to his side. Can't u see through his subtle but passionates appeal for d igbo masses to see him as a friend rather than a foe. @aze, biafra was first invaded unsuccessfully by nigeria so the east was forced to invade nigeria too. Their target was to block d advance of northern troops through today edo state in d midwestern region and capture the capital and seaport at lagos thereby ending the war with minimal loss of life and damage. The army was led by banjo, a yoruba man. His only vision was to end the northern jihadist hold on d south but even that was destroyed by awo. Do u know that just before d war d northern premier dipped his koran on d atlantic ocean and claimed d whole south as land to be won and islamisfe by d fulani in a jihad in order to conclude the jihad his grand father usman dan fodio started? Do u also know that many leading yorubas at that time was opposed to them joining d war and was violently dealt away with? Everybody knew that awo acted in his selfish interest and to checkmate d igbos who he saw as a challenge. U should also know that the first coup was led by both igbo and yoruba officers while d majority of soldiers used were northerners from d christian middlebelt, it was not a tribal or igbo coup.@ nigeria was described by awo as just a mere geographic expression. We are north one nation, not even brothers, our continuos existence is just for d benefit of the ruling class. Just bear it at d back of ur mind. @ilugunboy, neither igbos nor yorubas are blood thirsty by nature. At worst, when d book becomes widely available it redefine our relationship with each other both as a group and on individual level. Whether on d work place or d playground we have always had great respect but little love for each other since d war ended.

The yo-rubbers are the most cowarded tribe in this entity called nigeria, well that is a topic for another day. obafemi awo or awolowo is a 'nazist' following his infamous 'STARVATION POLICY', and how can a tribe that have never fought a war tell war stories more than others who have? This is to show that the yo-rubbers are cowardly parrots just like the saying 'after the mens wrestling women discuss the match' this is just what the yorrubers are doing, ' it is also said that if you are not when the dead is buried and you are asked to dig the corpse you will definitely start from the leg' this is typical of this ofe mmanued yo-rubbers, COWARDS! And let me still reiterate it here that what the world renowned elite authour and academician Prof CHINUALUMOGU ACHEBE have said is the simple truth, people especially the yorrubbers should learn how to deal with the TRUTH period! IGBO KWENU!

Moderator, why are you only publishing only stories that are against Achebe's memoirs?
This should be about the third. Please balance it by publishing views that agree with it.
All the contrary views are only of Yoruba and Hausa people.

Can somebody pls tie Muhammadu Buhari rop

hereby reproduces an excerpt from a recording on Chief Obafemi Awolowo's account of the Nigerian Civil War ....
 
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. It's a Collectors' item.
Acknowledgement: Thanks to Dr Olu Ogunremi who made the audio cassette tape available to Nigerian Village Square(an online platform)
 
Question: Chief Awolowo, your stand on the civil war, however unpopular it may have been to the Biafran people 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 pieces, in Latin pieces mean Fish.
 
So I put pieces 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 matter. 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 Urobo 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 this 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 wont 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 ambush 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.

During war, fair is foul and foul is fair - William Shakespeare.

BTW,Why did Ojukwu say Awolowo was the best President Nigeria never had??