Known as Edson Arantes de Nascimento, PELE of Brazil is the very best footballer that the world has ever seen (some say it’s Messi but save that for another day). Pele did something spectacular during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970). The King of Soccer actually disrupted the war! The war was being fought between the forces of the Nigerian military government led by General Yakubu Gowon and the secessionist forces of Biafra led by Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Because of Pele who had an exhibition game to play in Lagos in 1967, the two warring factions decided to stop the war and had a ceasefire for 48 hours for the King of Soccer to display his supernatural skills and talents. Pele played alongside Pepe and Zito that fateful day. One of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars was stopped just for Pele to play. Amazing, very amazing

Thank you for your time.
Get more exciting details:
http://iyaniwura.com/pele-the-nigerian-civil-war/

And they continue after he left while eye of death (ojukwu) ran to where ?

Thanks@OP for bringing this to our notice.

You are most welcome, thanks for your time.

iamtheprincipal: Thanks@OP for bringing this to our notice.

Wow.. Eziokwu..

If only he joined our league, millions of souls would have been saved.

The Nigerian Ceasefire Legend

So did Pelé’s visit really cause a pause in hostilities in the Nigerian civil war? And if not, where did this story come from?

There are several versions of the ceasefire story on the Internet. One version states that the match took place in 1967 while another claims it was in 1969. There are reports that the match was played in Lagos and there are also accounts that it was played in Benin.

The ceasefire story is a myth, despite the reports of this story on websites like CNN, Time, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Goal.com, Wikipedia, Globoesporte.com, etc. There is no reported Nigerian evidence of this story. Two key Nigerian newspapers – Nigerian Daily Times (Lagos) and Nigerian Observer (Benin) – were researched for this piece. There was no mention of a civil war ceasefire for a Santos match in the 1969 issues of these two newspapers. Both papers extensively covered Santos’ two matches in Nigeria thus making them credible sources.

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.

The only problem with Pelé’s Nigerian civil war ceasefire story is that it isn’t true.

http://africasacountry.com/2015/10/when-pele-played-in-nigeria-during-its-civil-war-did-he-really-bring-a-ceasefire/