0lumide:

Oh please!! The same Awolowo that was tried for treason and described Nigeria as a mere geographic expression is now to be blamed for Nigeria init? Same Ojukwu that came back for pension init?

Point your tribalist fingers at your folks dummy!!!

Did Awolowo lead Nigeria? silly Cunnt,

RoadStar:

The same Awo that aligned himself with the geographical expression and served under a military junta as soon as he came out of prison.
I don't think Awo for one lacked foresight, I think like most politicians today, he was self centered and lacked a clear political ideology.

~Bluetooth:

Where were you when Zik decide to form alliance with the boko harams when he could have done so with Action group ? Seems he wanted to dominate the boko harams who are mostly educated in islamic education !

RoadStar:

Exactly, No politician is foresighted or short sighted, They are all self centered, harlots.
It just irks me when I see ordinary people trying to defend them.

~Bluetooth:

Not really. . .Awo saw what Zik couldn't see,pleaded with him in order to form a united south against the North but Zik thought otherwise.What I know is that on Boko haramism in Nigeria,Awo cannot be blamed for it !

~Bluetooth:

Not really. . .Awo saw what Zik couldn't see,pleaded with him in order to form a united south against the North but Zik thought otherwise.What I know is that on Boko haramism in Nigeria,Awo cannot be blamed for it !

RoadStar:

It seems u are a gullible person. Have u heard of the word posturing ?
These politicians take sides and position based on the potential gains at the point in time.

Did u know that Awo eventually formed an alliance with Zik ? When his breakaway faction NNDP went into alliance with NPC ?
Did U know that both Zik and Awo at various points of the Era had supported coups with Awo tried and imprisoned and eventually serving under Gowon ?
Did you know that Ojukwus main motivation for the war was to be head of state of Biafra ?

All I am saying is no one is more guilty and no one is more absolved in this whole sh.it

~Bluetooth:

I asked you a simple question and I demand an answer instead of trying to mix up issues.Why did Zik align with Tafawa Balewa,a grand ancestor of boko haram instead of Awo,his fellow southerner ?

RoadStar:

I think you are getting carried away with the same old Zik/Awo superiority argument.
If u read my thread I have never in no way tried to defend Zik/Gowon or Ojukwu.

If you have issues as to why Zik was not mentioned,
I think you should direct that to the OP.

I am only stating that your defence of Awo is baseless as he is as guilty as any other politician of his time and even now.

jason123:

@ OP
If we follow history, I think you are blaming the wrong people. I blame Azikwe. Why? Because the so called Awolowo NEVER wanted the North to be part of the union but Azikwe wanted them to be. Even the North NEVER wanted this union but Azikwe did.
You cannot just go to the Coup and the war without going through the events that lead to the coup, war and today's situation. What you did lacks objectivity.
Even Awolowo warned Ojukwu and told him to present his delegates and the West will support him but Ojukwu was arrogant and dismissed it. Even the so called Biafra failed, not because of Awolowo but because of its disregard for the minorities in the Eastern region and the invasion of the MW. The so called Starvation could not have been done by Awolowo as some people want us to believe. It was done by the Eastern minorities who where coastal.

Ojukwu never tried negotiating with his neighbours. He simply invaded and killed all oppositions. He NEVER for ONCE, tried to negotiate with the MW and the West. He simply brought Banjo to invade them. Note: NO NEGOTIATION!!!

The people you blamed NEVER wanted Nigeria. But since it was formed and they (North) saw the benefits, they now want Nigeria by force. As for Awolowo, he simply did what was best for his people, after all, "Nigeria is a mere geographical expression".

Justcash:


This is what the North and West fought to sustain. If you think it is not, tell me what else they fought for? Revenge? After they got their so called revenge, why didn't they leave the farce of a country? [/b]

jason123:

@ OP
If we follow history, I think you are blaming the wrong people. I blame Azikwe. Why? Because the so called Awolowo NEVER wanted the North to be part of the union but Azikwe wanted them to be. [size=13pt]Even the North [b]NEVER wanted this union but Azikwe did.[/b][/size]
You cannot just go to the Coup and the war without going through the events that lead to the coup, war and today's situation. What you did lacks objectivity.
Even Awolowo warned Ojukwu and told him to present his delegates and the West will support him but Ojukwu was arrogant and dismissed it. Even the so called Biafra failed, not because of Awolowo but because of its disregard for the minorities in the Eastern region and the invasion of the MW. The so called Starvation could not have been done by Awolowo as some people want us to believe. It was done by the Eastern minorities who where coastal.

Ojukwu never tried negotiating with his neighbours. He simply invaded and killed all oppositions. He NEVER for ONCE, tried to negotiate with the MW and the West. He simply brought Banjo to invade them. Note: NO NEGOTIATION!!!

The people you blamed NEVER wanted Nigeria. But since it was formed and they (North) saw the benefits, they now want Nigeria by force. As for Awolowo, he simply did what was best for his people, after all, "Nigeria is a mere geographical expression".

jason123:

@ OP
If we follow history, I think you are blaming the wrong people. I blame Azikwe. Why? Because the so called Awolowo NEVER wanted the North to be part of the union but Azikwe wanted them to be. Even the North [b]NEVER wanted this union but Azikwe did.[/b]
You cannot just go to the Coup and the war without going through the events that lead to the coup, war and today's situation. What you did lacks objectivity.
Even Awolowo warned Ojukwu and told him to present his delegates and the West will support him but Ojukwu was arrogant and dismissed it. Even the so called Biafra failed, not because of Awolowo but because of its disregard for the minorities in the Eastern region and the invasion of the MW. The so called Starvation could not have been done by Awolowo as some people want us to believe. It was done by the Eastern minorities who where coastal.

Ojukwu never tried negotiating with his neighbours. He simply invaded and killed all oppositions. He NEVER for ONCE, tried to negotiate with the MW and the West. He simply brought Banjo to invade them. Note: NO NEGOTIATION!!!

The people you blamed NEVER wanted Nigeria. But since it was formed and they (North) saw the benefits, they now want Nigeria by force. As for Awolowo, he simply did what was best for his people, after all, "Nigeria is a mere geographical expression".

RoadStar:

I think think the title of this thread should be "Its all Ziks Fault !"

I for one think that the British wanted the union and Zik was more or less pushing the British interest. Afterall he was a Governor General for the colonial government as at the time so he was representing the position of the British.
And as at the time, I doubt if any Nigerian had the power to change that.
Remember u were offered independence under the british discretion and u this not win independence as u would be made to believe.

We could as well blame Lord Lugard for all I care.

But at least Zik was ideologically one Nigeria from the onset.
But your men Awo and Ojukwu shifted positions when it suited them.

RoadStar:

I think think the title of this thread should be "Its all Ziks Fault !"

I for one think that the British wanted the union and Zik was more or less pushing the British interest. Afterall he was a Governor General for the colonial government as at the time so he was representing the position of the British.
And as at the time, I doubt if any Nigerian had the power to change that.
Remember u were offered independence under the british discretion and u this not win independence as u would be made to believe.

We could as well blame Lord Lugard for all I care.

But at least Zik was ideologically one Nigeria from the onset.
But your men Awo and Ojukwu shifted positions when it suited them.

jason123:

@ OP
If we follow history, I think you are blaming the wrong people. I blame Azikwe. Why? Because the so called Awolowo NEVER wanted the North to be part of the union but Azikwe wanted them to be. Even the North NEVER wanted this union but Azikwe did.
You cannot just go to the Coup and the war without going through the events that lead to the coup, war and today's situation. What you did lacks objectivity.
Even Awolowo warned Ojukwu and told him to present his delegates and the West will support him but Ojukwu was arrogant and dismissed it. Even the so called Biafra failed, not because of Awolowo but because of its disregard for the minorities in the Eastern region and the invasion of the MW. The so called Starvation could not have been done by Awolowo as some people want us to believe. It was done by the Eastern minorities who where coastal.

Ojukwu never tried negotiating with his neighbours. He simply invaded and killed all oppositions. He NEVER for ONCE, tried to negotiate with the MW and the West. He simply brought Banjo to invade them. Note: NO NEGOTIATION!!!

The people you blamed NEVER wanted Nigeria. But since it was formed and they (North) saw the benefits, they now want Nigeria by force. As for Awolowo, he simply did what was best for his people, after all, "Nigeria is a mere geographical expression".

redsun:

Yorubas were already in d war as part of united nigeria before Ojukwu headed west and west was d seat of nigeria then.

The 'police action' land phase of what is now referred to as the Nigerian Civil War subsequently began in earnest at 0530 hrs on July 6, 1967. Troops concentrated at Vanderkya [in Benue State] under the command of Major Martin Adamu opened a barrage of fire in support of an assault on Garkem and Obudu in the Ogoja sector. A few hours' later troops under Major Sule Apollo opened up a second front from Ankpa and Idah toward Enugu Ezike and Okutu in the Nsukka sector.

jason123:

@ OP
If we follow history, I think you are blaming the wrong people. I blame Azikwe. Why? Because the so called Awolowo NEVER wanted the North to be part of the union but Azikwe wanted them to be. Even the North NEVER wanted this union but Azikwe did.
You cannot just go to the Coup and the war without going through the events that lead to the coup, war and today's situation. What you did lacks objectivity.
Even Awolowo warned Ojukwu and told him to present his delegates and the West will support him but Ojukwu was arrogant and dismissed it. Even the so called Biafra failed, not because of Awolowo but because of its disregard for the minorities in the Eastern region and the invasion of the MW. The so called Starvation could not have been done by Awolowo as some people want us to believe. It was done by the Eastern minorities who where coastal.

Ojukwu never tried negotiating with his neighbours. He simply invaded and killed all oppositions. He NEVER for ONCE, tried to negotiate with the MW and the West. He simply brought Banjo to invade them. Note: NO NEGOTIATION!!!

The people you blamed NEVER wanted Nigeria. But since it was formed and they (North) saw the benefits, they now want Nigeria by force. As for Awolowo, he simply did what was best for his people, after all, "Nigeria is a mere geographical expression".

Unlike Ojukwu who was foresighted enough to see that Nigeria was doomed from the onset, Gowon, Awolowo, OBJ etc were just too selfish and short-sighted to even notice it.

J12:

All our past leaders should be blamed, but rulers who I believe should be blamed more are:
Ironsi, Gowon, Ojukwu, Awolowo, Nzeogwu and Azikiwe.

Justcash:

Ironsi; For stopping the first coup, and not even following up with an effective prosecution of the culprits.

Gowon; For fighting a war without a single idea of what he is fighting for. Failing to call a SNC to peacefully find out what the different regions of Nigeria wanted.

Awolowo; For not sticking to his plan to secede with the west. For playing too much of ethnic politics.

Azikiwe; For fighting so hard to create a united Nigeria, and for being too nationalistic.

K. Nzeogwu; For leading the first coup and not ensuring that it was successful in the East too (Source of suspicion)

Balewa: For playing too much of ethnic politics.

Katsumoto:

JustCash

Your points are too flawed. You want to blame others for the mistake made by Zik. Who benefitted from Zik's one Nigeria vision? Was it not Igbos? If the Igbos had everything they wanted in the East, they wouldn't have migrated to other parts of the country. When Zik aligned with the North in 1959, guess who got all the ministerial and administrative positions allocated to the South? Yes, you guessed it, the Igbos. The Yorubas and other Groups were left on the sidelines until Akintola broke away from the AG with the help of who? Zik and Okpara who thought that Akintola would defect to their party but played a fast one by preferring to form his own party and aligning with the North. Now when the situation of the Igbo changed with Akintola joining Balewa's government with positions held by Igbo now going to Akintola's supporters, what do you think happened next? Coup by Igbo officers.

In 1957, the Governor-General, Sir James Robertson, gave the three regions the choice of self-autonomy and independence but it had to be a majority decision. Awo voted for independence for the Western Region, Ahmadu Bello said the North wasn't ready for self-governance and would prefer to remain under British rule. Zik voted to put off Independence for the Eastern region, prefering to wait for the North to be ready. Zik had the choice of a country for the Eastern region but he wanted Nigeria at all cost.

Now fast forward to the general election in 1959. The North won the most seats in the house. Awo offered to join a coalition with Zik with Zik as Prime Minister (the PM had the real power) but Zik preferred to form a coalition with the North and accepted a redundant position as Governor-General with no real powers.

In 1962, there were problems in the Western Region between Awo and Akintola who both belonged to the Action Group. Akintola was sacked but due to actions of NCNC (Zik's Party) members, the removal of Akintola wasn't effected. Balewa and Zik imposed a state of emergency in the West because of chair throwing in the Western House yet there were no states of emergency in the North and East for far more violent actions on the streets (the TIV crisis and the Okrika riots). Awo was subsequentlyjailed on trumped up charges.

Now after the imprisonment of Awo, Zik thought that his party NCNC would take control of the Western region but Akintola decided to form his own party rather than join the NCNC. In the elections of December 1964, NNDP took control of the Western region. The NCNC cried that elections were rigged. According to Fazil Ope-Agbe (Akintola's right hand man), the ensuing mayhem in the West was sponsored by Okpara and Zik. With the AG in retreat, NCNC calculated that if Akintola's party fell apart, the NCNC would be in a position to pick the pieces. This is not far-fetched considering Zik's antecedents in the West.

With Akintola holding firm, NCNC didn't gain the advantage it sought. One year later, a group of officers who were predominantly Igbo, executed a coup that eliminated leading politicians and officers from the North and West. So after all these, you really expected that Awo would simply just follow the East in a secession bid. Awo's loyalty was to his people. He did what he felt was best for his people concerning the circumstances. Despite all that, Awo advised Ojukwu not to go to war. When Awo offered to organise a meeting with Northern officers, Ojukwu replied, 'On the specific question of whether there is a possibility of contract with the North, the answer is at the battle field.'


Don't ever lay the blame for the Nigerian fiasco at the feet of a man who didn't want it in the first place. Place it at the feet of those who wanted One Nigeria at all cost and didn't want it when it no longer suited them.I am tired of all these forgetful revisionists on NL.