FROM THE ARCHIVES: OJUKWU'S LETTER TO VICTOR BANJO ON THE INVASION OF THE MIDWEST
"TAKING OUR DESTINIES INTO OUR HANDS" - 22 August 1967

From: The Military Governor,
Republic of Biafra, Enugu.

My Dear Victor,

1. For some time now, you and I have been discussing the circumstances that have led to the current and inevitable disintegration of what was the Federation of Nigeria. We have been fully convinced that the aim of the Hausa/Fulani complex has ever been, and will ever remain, the total domination of every other part of what was known as the Federation of Nigeria. It is impossible to forget that the crisis which led to the army take over in January 1966, the coup of the Northern soldiers led by Gowon in July 1966, the wholesale and indiscriminate massacre of the people of what is now Biafra- and, to a less degree, the people of the Mid-West and West, including the Yorubas, were all the direct result of Hausa/Fulani attempt to subjugate and use as tools, the gallant people of Western Nigeria namely the Yorubas. We do not need to remind ourselves of the heavy losses in life and property suffered by the Yoruba people in their fight for justice and freedom during 1965.
2. Sharing our belief that the people of Yorubaland have a right to live a life of equality and self-respect and justice free of domination and dictatorship from any quarter, you have both identified with the cause of the Biafra struggle for survival and expressed your determination to see the people of Yorubaland freed from Hausa/Fulani domination.
We, the people of Biafra, for our part are willing and have decided to give you and the people of Yorubaland every assistance to achieve your aim.
3. After clearing the whole question with my Executive Council, I, as the Commander in Chief of the Biafran Armed Forces, have decided to place at your disposal Biafran forces, for the liberation of Yorubaland on the following clear conditions:-
(i) You will have nothing to do with the Military Administrator in the Mid-West Territory during your sojourn there prior to your move to the West.
(ii) The willingness and preparedness of Biafra to assist any part of the former Federation of Nigeria wishing and willing to liberate itself from the Hausa/Fulani domination, does not in anyway whatever imply any inclination on her part to compromise her sovereignty or preserve what remains of the defunct Federation of Nigeria. In other words, our sovereignty and break with Nigeria is irrevocable. Nothing must, therefore be said or done by you or any member of the Liberation Army to give a contrary impression.
(iii) Biafra is determined to maintain and safeguard her sovereignty and ensure that her integrity and safety are never again threatened.

(Read the rest of the letter here: http://ndibenonso..com/2014/12/ojukwus-letter-to-victor-banjo-before.html)

thus requests are ridiculous

So sad.yorubas wer the once who betrayed baifra...ask awolowo and he will tell you how him and gowon plotted and starved the biafran mother and children.

I can't read d letter of those that want breakup in Nigeria.
#onenigeria

He couldn't secure biafra that was been invaded yet he wanted to liberate yoruba land that was not under any invasion. The runaway coward only wanted to annex lagos just as his people are trying to do today. The Thief met his waterloo at ore were his men got SUYAnized.

The great Odumegwu Ojukwu,hero of our time!

cyprus000:
So sad.yorubas wer the once who betrayed baifra...ask awolowo and he will tell you how him and gowon plotted and starved the biafran mother and children.

when ojukwu was stealing the food meant for biafran kids and giving it to his soldiers nko? Why do you think he looked well fed all through the war? You can't expect your enemy to. Feed you while you fight him.

eighTHREAD:
when ojukwu was stealing the food meant for biafran kids and giving it to his soldiers nko? Why do you think he looked well fed all through the war? You can't expect your enemy to. Feed you while you fight him.

wer is the prove?,he did dat?

cyprus000:
wer is the prove?,he did dat?

by Our Reporter
One of the many aides of the late Biafran leader,
Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, resigned
angrily in August 1968 after accusing him of
frustrating international efforts to get food aid
across to civilians caught on the wrong side of the
civil war.
Robert S. Goldstein, an American and Public
Relations Representative of Biafra in the USA,
accused the late Ojukwu of using ‘ starving hordes
as hostages to negotiate a victory in the war.
His letter of resignation, which was first
published by the defunct Morning Post on August
17, 1968, resurfaced in the wake of Prof. Chinua
Achebe’s damning condemnation of the role of the
late Chief Obafemi Awolowo during the war,
especially the blockage of food to the rebels.
Goldstein, in the letter, recalled various efforts
he made to swing public opinion in Europe and the
USA in favour of the defunct Biafra and the
subsequent recognition of such countries like
Gabon,Tanzania, Zambia, Ivory Coast and Haiti
until Ojukwu began to undermine those
achievements by “hoping to use these
unfortunates with world sympathy on their side as
a tool to further your ambition to achieve war
concessions at the upcoming peace talks in Addis
Ababa.”
(See full letter on page 60)
He said: “Urgent telex messages were received
from ‘Biafra’ telling of tens of thousands of
people starving in the refugee camps, the villages,
the bush country – stating if something weren’t
done in the next few months over a million women,
children and aged would be starved to death. I
immediately contacted the Press, urgently
petitioned the State Department for action on
their part.
“ Food, medicine and milk were sent to the only
available ports open for immediate shipment to
‘Biafra’ via land routes through Federal and Biafra
territory, under the auspices of world
organisations such as the International Red Cross
among others.
“Then came the incredible answer from ‘Biafra’
that land corridors could not be acceptable until
there was a complete ceasefire, and that an
airlift was the only solution to feed the starving.
“You then appeared before the various Heads of
State and representatives of the OAU at Niamey
in Niger. I fully expected you to at least accept
the world help that was offered your starving
throngs. However, you delayed, hoping to use
these unfortunates with world sympathy on their
side as a tool to further your ambition to achieve
war concessions at the upcoming peace talks in
Addis Ababa. Thus, innocent victims continue to
perish needlessly of starvation, the most
agonising death that can befall any living
creature.
“I cannot in all conscience serve you any longer.
Nor can I be a party to suppressing the fact that
your starving thousands have the food, medicine
and milk available to them…..it can and is ready to
be delivered through international organisations
to you. Only your constant refusal has stopped its
delivery. Source: thenationonlineng.net/new/revealed-how-ojukwu-rejected-food-aid-for-starving-biafrans/