₦airaland Forum

So PM news went to dig up some interview Awo gave in 1982 that clears up the air on the allegations made against him recently. After reading this, Igbos should know their true enemy.

Biafra : Awolowo replies Achebe from the grave

Nigeria’s literary legend, Chinua Achebe in his latest memoir on the defunct Biafra, accused a Nigerian political legend, Obafemi Awolowo of demonstrating hatred against Igbo via the policies Awolowo initiated when he was Vice-Chairman and Finance Minister in General Yakubu Gowon’s cabinet during the Nigerian civil war.
Achebe did not make any new accusations; such dogged the Nigerian politician when he was alive and he had debunked all of them . Awo died in 1987 without fulfilling his life-long dream of presiding over Nigeria. The surprise however is that Achebe had decided to unearth the same old unfounded story 25 years after Awo’s demise.
What Achebe wrote about Awo:
“The wartime cabinet of General Gowon, the military ruler, it should also be remembered, was full of intellectuals, like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, among others, who came up with a boatload of infamous and regrettable policies. A statement credited to Awolowo and echoed by his cohorts is the most callous and unfortunate: all is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder’.
“It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations. However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbo at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose with the Nigeria-Biafra war, his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafran case, it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations.”
Thanks to www.nigeriavillagesquare.com, we bring Awo back from the grave to confront Achebe’s lies, in his own words.
When you finish reading, make your own conclusion as to whom had lied: Achebe or Obafemi Awolowo.
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.
CIVIL WAR
MODERATOR: Yes Mr…….Mr. Oparadike.
QUESTION: Chief Awolowo, your stand on the civil war…Your stand on the civil war, however unpopular it may have been to the Biafrans 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 pisces, in Latin pisces mean Fish.
So I put pisces 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 matters. 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 Urhobo 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 these 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 won’t 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 ambushed 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.

Why not look after your son for now? Best answer to your question is this:
If you were dead and able to see your living husband, how long will you be OK for him to mourn you for? For real love, it is usually for the rest of the spouse life. For marriage based on money, it is between 1 second - 1 month. Others may vary

I think its safe to conclude these gals wont be getting 500k from Jonathan.

It came down to the oldest members of the team losing it for Nigeria. What on earth was our keeper thinking? The spirit of Yakubu Aiyegbeni is still with Nigerian football.

Last time Nigeria played a penalty, we won it.

Penalty is the best result for Nigeria. If we lose on pen, no shaking.

Typical European vs African game. Fast paced Europeans trying to boss midfield. Looks like panic, but it isnt. Nigeria just need to calm down and let them do all the running. If the gals can hold the ball more and frustrate the French, then we will play our wing play well. Having said that, where is Nigeria's playmaker Tessy Biahwo. She will shine in this kind of match

[quote author=oga_mclovin]i think our "girls" have been found out. They are mostly agbayas parading as teenage girls, check out the link below.

http://sportige.com/nigeria-cheating-09-2012-at-the-womens-world-cup/[/quote]Thank you very much for bringing up this issue. The report is flimsy! Though I doubt the age of some of our players, but I can vouch for 70% of the team being U17. I recently posted the picture of some of the team players for people to judge. I will also repost some of the pictures if I have time.
As for the 'proof' of the silly reporter, it is very flimsy and too thin. In fact, he got most of the proofs the wrong way round. His first evidence is that Blessing is the younger sister of Victoria. He concludes this because Blessing says 'God go make you BIGGER sis. Luv you to death'. He concludes that means she was referring to her elder sister (illiteracy). God making someone bigger doesnt mean they are your bigger sis.
I think sometimes we need to be wary of lazy Nigerian journalists who always try to bring down our players.

Ozichim: Can you make your point clear.
Even when Roman Catholic is fighting with Protestant, it is assumed to be Christians against Christians. Not Christians against another religion or unbeliever. Moreover they are fighting for who will secure more land or wealth and, as I said don't judge Christianity with anybodies life, use the Jesus life/Bible to check what Christianity is all about.

If we use Mohammed life to Judge/check Islam you know what we will arrest Mohamed for homicide and ethnic cleansing, Mohamed will be asked to defend himself in world curt for man slaughter etc, believe me, if it is now, Mohamed will be life imprisoned.

How much do you know about the life of Mohammed (S.A.W)? How much have you read for yourself? How much have you heard from your crusaders? Are you ready to be educated? If so, Mohammed (S.A.W) was the best human to walk the face of the earth. He was as simple as you fine a man. As peaceful as a man gets. As refined, as intelligent, as just, as quite. Think of every beautiful thing about Man, he has it. Yet he is human. His flaws are there for all to see.
If you are up for some education this afternoon, I can lead you to some places to get the correct information about Mohammed (S.A.W), but first you must be ready to learn. You may liberate your mind today. Who knows

Ozichim: There is nothing to ague in this topic, the whole world know that Christians are not violent. Use Jesus Christ life as an example to prove this. Jesus is the Christian yardstick. Christians are trying to follow the foot step of Jesus. infact Jesus asked his followers/lovers to carry their cross and follow him. Jesus asked his followers not to return evil for evil and if slapped to turn the other cheek for another slap. Jesus even asked his followers to love & pray for their enemy.


Christianity is a stumbling block to many, anyone that kicked this stone will have his leg broken and if this stone(Christianity) should fall on anybody it will grind the person to pieces.

The reason for all this is that, it will be so terrible for anybody that refused/failed to accept Jesus Christ in this life, hereafter.

My problem with you (and your kind of person) is that you cannot think independently. You're a one way thinker. You're not ready to learn or to think deep. You are very shallow and ignorant. Thats not the best way to follow a religion. Google the word 'Conjectures'-thats what most of your posts have been.

jude33084: I believe Ŧħåϯ whatever we are doin or saying should be related Ť☺ Nigeria christians or muslims. How should Wђɑ̤̥̈̊† happened in Denmark, Isreal or US affect us in Nigeria? Are we Danish or Amriacan? Why do muslims in Nigeria(up north) kill their brothers here just because of what happened in Denmark or US? Did we provok them? Have U̶̲̅ any human sympathy at all? So because one hausa ♏ãn called ♍♈ God names in τhe north I should kill innocent hausa ♏ãn in τhe south? Does Ŧħåϯ make any sense Ť☺ U̶̲̅? I have been Ť☺ Dubai(UAE) aŋԂ I know how they treat our muslims(blacks) yet U̶̲̅ pick up arms Ť☺ kill because killing is legalise in koran

Stop τhe Killing aŋԂ People will Regard Islam

Very good you're getting more specific. Hausa is not equal to Islam. Not all Muslims are Hausas and not all Hausas are Muslims. The case of the killings in the North is one of injustice allowed to go on for too long. It has nothing to do with Islamic doctrine. They do not kill for Islam. Islam forbids the killing of innocent be it Christian or Muslim.
Now that you're thinking specific, think when and how and why the Hausas started killing non-Muslims. If you cannot answer the question, go on google and dig up facts.

lakeside025: U̶̲̥̅̊ got it wrong somewhr, I watched †ђξ three matches σƒ †ђξ french side αη∂ they aя̩̥̊ε̲̣ not tactical than us while we aя̩̥̊ε̲̣ too compose than them αη∂ we are both tactical on †ђξ same pattern, but †ђξ only problem there ιѕ that they have good mid field than us in which long killer passes can come out of thr αη∂ I know coach dedevbo will work on that...

My brother, I understand your point. But Nigeria had a very easy ride through the group stages. The match against Canada is my only measue of the team so far. While our strength is in attack, we forget easily how weak our defence can be. At U17, its a good thing because we can intimidate the opponents. But these French gals will come at us tomorrow. I expect the coach to at least bring back Yetunde Adeboyejo to roughen things upfront and hold play well. Everytime Nigeria gets attacked tommorow, I will be scared. If we score a goal with one of our first 5 shots on goal, then we may have it easy. But France will not allow us get into their face. Thats a fact. They are more technically gifted than other teams we've played.

Ozichim: I forbid you mentioning the prophets in the Bible when talking about Koran. Who mandated the Muslims or Mohamed to mention those prophets in his book (Quaran)? We Christians don't know Mohamed and we never call him prophet. But we expected many false prophets/ Anti Christ to come up one way or the other to disprove or counter what Christ has thought. Don't worry; It is not only Mohammed, more false Prophets will still come. Muslim is just about +-500 years while others are about +-200 etc.

Christian holy book (Bible) never mentioned Mohamed, so why should Mohamed come and target Christian doctrine? If Christians has been violent; Muslim religion won't have lasted more than one month.
I accuse Mohammed of piracy and forgery and he should be arrested for pirating the Bible.

I would have loved to see your face to know how ignorant people look. Seriously

My big fear is that we may again concede first against the French. The game will come down to tactics from the bench, and the Nigerian bench isnt the best. I see our gals playing with their heart, but the French may just be too tactical for us. If we get lucky, we may win.

Very many flimsy thinkers on this forum. I do not blame them, afterall its religion we're discussing. My 'God' is better than yours. We are peaceful and you're not, etc. Self-justification is as delusional as it gets. Only a few people have set the facts straight.
1. Do Christians REALLY not fight when they feel their 'God' or Jesus is insulted? Offcourse they do! The reaction? more violent than Muslims. The tactics? Peaceful Mission. Its like watching a James Bond film. Once a person is designated the bad guy in the movie, then the good guy is OK to kill him. That is the tactic of the violent Christians. We have the videos and blogs that are extremely violent and based on Islamophobia. The urge to kill and destroy. However, the owners and sponsors of these websites are OK to dress in suits and shake hands with Obama and world leaders because they have been designated the 'good guys'.
The other day when Israel blew up a UN school filled with kids and women, they immediately went into the 'good guy' mode. When that failed, they invoked the collective guilt of the world's good guys. They said 'you accuse us of killing innocents, you have done same too'.
The same Israel is currently openly threatening a war on the world, and they are stll the good guys.
As Nigerians, we need to think deep and do it intelligently. Let us all pause and think of the world we live in. Why do Muslims get angry? Who triggers the anger? Why are the responses so violent in some areas. Is the anger matching the provocation? I believe most reponses nowadays is bloated mainly by events of the past.
FOR TOO LONG HAVE MUSLIMS BEEN WRONGLY BOXED INTO THE VIOLENCE TAG WHEN REALLY MOST OF THE AGGRESSION HAS BEEN FROM OTHER RELIGIONS.
Best Example of the above statement: The day the Christian Norway man killed so many, The UK SUN newspaper had an initial heading blaming Muslims. Everything then was assumed to be from Muslims. I think the world is getting more foolish.

Either Oteh is doing marvelously well in whipping our lazy workers to shape or she refuses to play along with their corruption, and instead brings her corruption to lord it over them.

OK...This match is what I call a whitewash. I think we can get to 20-0 here. Seriously.

mikeywise: Can u imagine? Our number 9 (Yakubu) according to †ђξ commentator is 14 years old, how can dat be possible? Godiswatching.

How is it not possible? Are you her father?

The most exciting thing for Nigeria in this tournament is that we're using majority of U17 players. Its refreshing to see that we can have real good technical players that young. Same goes for our current U17 team. I think we will reap the reward in 6 years time or even at the next olympics.

Nigerian coach only substitutes when he sees the Canadian coach do so. EEEJEEt

Unprofessional coach and bush women physio!

yetunde adeboyejo

My main concern is the age of our players, not their performance. I strongly believe that we're getting more and more honest in age-group competitions. The U17 boys am sure has over 80% of real U17. This female U17 team has perhaps only 60%, but this is not bad at all. In the next few years, we will reap the rewards. But lets all enjoy the tournament. And Nigerian female football is on the rise now. FIFA has tagged us amongst favorites for this tournament.
Presenting some of the gals...

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19627658

BBC quotes that he has now DIED. Magic! Nigeria is not serious about Boko Haram. Someone somewhere has interest in this and we wont get to the root of Boko Haram until that person is disgraced. I believe however, that the real Abu Qaqa is the one arrested(and killed?)

I have always found female interviewers easier to impress. Most men seem to know what a woman wants to hear anyway. In technical interviews, it doesnt matter who you have, if you dont know it, you dont know it. However, if its a behavioral interview, it is always better to have the opposite sex. You just have to imagine you want to win her heart, and you have her attention, so fire on.

WOW! The pic above looks just like Ghadaffi in his last moments. KarmA

1-1. Nosa Igiebor scores for Nigeria.

2mch: For every Naira printed this person gets a percentage/fee. Not only was this person paid, but for like 20years, they will keep getting paid as long as their designs are used. I dont think this agreement was disclosed to the public or agreed upon by the previous NASS. This is why this is void and illegal. Knowing this though, it is not clear if the FG wants to get a new designer, or they just want to enslave the Nigerian currency to this same "designer" for another 20years. How this validates the N5,000 note is still unclear. This is so stupid it is shocking.

I need a proof of that!

I dont get it! If the design is not from a Nigerian, then it belongs (and can be patented) to a Foreigner. This has nothing to do with the ujustified N5000 introduction. It is unfortunate that we have leaders who take pleasure in deceiving Nigerians. Patenting the Naira does not mean the Naira is unsafe. If the patent owner comes tomorrow to ask for withdrawal of their design, all we need to do is put some new changes to the note and patent it to a Nigerian's name. Chikena!
And even having the patent will be a thing of pride to whosoever it's named after. This is a non-issue. Let Sanusi come up with a more tangible reason why N5000 is the next thing Nigeria needs

Is Okafor's business legitimate? Will it not be national shame if Okafor bought those things with drug money? National assignment shouldnt be compensated with individual gifts. He should have bought those things and sent to NFF first.

I will be on the train tomow. Anyone knows any station/ apps showing the match?