₦airaland Forum

How Chief Awolowo did not betray Biafra.

Earlier today, I was involved in an online discussion where an Igbo commentator insisted that Chief Obafemi Awolowo betrayed Biafra by agreeing to join General Gowon’s government after assuring the Biafrans before leaving Calabar that the west would secede if the East secedes.
I explained that inside General Gowon’s government, Chief Awolowo was working for Biafra by insisting that all Northern troops be evacuated from the west. They left and stationed themselves at Ilorin. Colonel David Ejoor of the Midwest was also working for Biafra by insisting that the Midwest will not allow an attack on Biafra from her territory. The FG did not try to counter the position.
The path by which the west and the Midwest would secede was not necessary to be known to Biafra. Chief Awolowo had said if the matter can not be resolved, the west would also secede and that was enough. Him joining the Gowon government does not reduce anything from his position.
Then the Biafrans invaded the west and the Midwest with their Liberation army led by Colonel Victor Banjo, a Yoruba that Colonel Ojukwu released from prison in the East. Colonel Ojukwu wrote in a letter to Colonel Banjo that he would choose the governor of Lagos.
Chief Awolowo did not bargain with Colonel Ojukwu that the Yoruba will embrace a Biafran invasion with open arms when even civilians in the Midwest attacked the Biafran soldiers and killed many. The Yoruba can not move from British overlordship to Igbo overlordship. That was the issue. They therefore entered the civil war to defend their land and it ended as it did.
The war, meaning the Nigerian civil war, however painted, was originally a war between the East and the North and Lagos just happened to be the federal capital.
If the East had respected the territorial integrity of the Midwest and the West, then their only challenges would have remained attacks from the Northern direction and insurrection by Eastern minorities at home. The end result may have been Biafra, meaning total breakup or a renegotiation of Nigeria.
Chief Awolowo and Colonel David Ejoor did their best for Biafra and it is definitely wrong to continue labeling Chief Awolowo as a betrayer. There was nothing wrong in Chief Awolowo joining General Gowon’s government because if he did not join hands with them, how would it have been easy for him to get the Northern troops out of the west as easily as he did?. He had his own strategy and battles are won with strategy. He did not betray Biafra. .
On the issue of twenty pounds given to all Biafran bank account holders after the war. There was a need to solve the problem of people having deposits in Biafran currency. Chief Awolowo solved it by closing all the accounts and giving every account holder twenty pounds each including those who had only ten shillings in their accounts. The total sum given out probably surpassed the total sum the Igbos had in the banks initially. Twenty pounds was a lot of money in 1970.
On the issue of the blockade, we must also remember that the war may have been going on till today if not for the blockade. A short brutal war is better than a long war. There is no right way in war and there are no rules. May God not position our nourishment in the hands of our enemies. May the souls of the dead rest in peace.
Any further questions?.

The man really tried, if not for him it would have been a genocide...

He deserves to be crowned Eze posthumously

Yoruba bunkum as always

SerpentAWOLOWO:
Yoruba bunkum as always

If you have nothing to contribute why not pass?

Not sure I follow this argument of people working for Biafra whilst inside Gowons cabinet.

What is know is that Awolowo told Ojukwu that the time was not right for secession. From Awolowos perspective Northern soldiers were in the West and Lagos - the commercial and political capital of Nigeria.

Ojukwu instead launched his Kamikaze war. Had it not been that for the first few months of the war Gowon to the consternation of even his cabinet insisted on first using the police in what he called " police action" the war would have been shorter.

Ojukwu was something of a hot head - even his father said as much. As far as Awolowo was concerned, one should not fight a war that he can not win. Ojukwu believed differently - hence the extent of the war.

But Awolowo and Ejoor were loyal to the government they served in. Once Ojukwu took his stand, they took theirs.

I am not reporting what I heard ten, twenty years after the war but what I heard and saw before and during the war.

Undoubtedly there are some conversations nobody was party to but to say Awolowo and Ejoor were somehow fifth columnists within the Gowon government is not true.

BreconHills:
Not sure I follow this argument of people working for Biafra whilst inside Gowons cabinet.

What is know is that Awolowo told Ojukwu that the time was not right for secession. From Awolowos perspective Northern soldiers were in the West and Lagos - the commercial and political capital of Nigeria.

Ojukwu instead launched his Kamikaze war. Had it not been that for the first few months of the war Gowon to the consternation of even his cabinet insisted on first using the police in what he called " police action" the war would have been shorter.

Ojukwu was something of a hot head - even his father said as much. As far as Awolowo was concerned, one should not fight a war that he can not win. Ojukwu believed differently - hence the extent of the war.

But Awolowo and Ejoor were loyal to the government they served in. Once Ojukwu took his stand, they took theirs.

I am not reporting what I heard ten, twenty years after the war but what I heard and saw before and during the war.

Undoubtedly there are some conversations nobody was party to but to say Awolowo and Ejoor were somehow fifth columnists within the Gowon government is not true.

I am not saying they were fifth columnists but they helped Biafra in the way I stated and there could have been a way of.resolving the matter even after war had broken out if the liberation army did not invade the west. The invasion was a miscalculation on Ojukwu's part. He saw it as a liberation but the west and the Midwest thought otherwise despite that a Yoruba was leading the force.

lawani:
I am not saying they were fifth columnists but they helped Biafra in the way I stated and there could have been a way of.resolving the matter even after war had broken out if the liberation army did not invade the west. The invasion was a miscalculation on Ojukwu's part. He saw it as a liberation but the west and the Midwest thought otherwise despite that a Yoruba was leading the force.

My father was in Gowons war time cabinet and I can tell you that this is not true. I am very conversant with the history of that time. But I leave you to your opinion.

lawani:
How Chief Awolowo did not betray Biafra.

Earlier today, I was involved in an online discussion where an Igbo commentator insisted that Chief Obafemi Awolowo betrayed Biafra by agreeing to join General Gowon’s government after assuring the Biafrans before leaving Calabar that the west would secede if the East secedes.
I explained that inside General Gowon’s government, Chief Awolowo was working for Biafra by insisting that all Northern troops be evacuated from the west. They left and stationed themselves at Ilorin. Colonel David Ejoor of the Midwest was also working for Biafra by insisting that the Midwest will not allow an attack on Biafra from her territory. The FG did not try to counter the position.
The path by which the west and the Midwest would secede was not necessary to be known to Biafra. Chief Awolowo had said if the matter can not be resolved, the west would also secede and that was enough. Him joining the Gowon government does not reduce anything from his position.
Then the Biafrans invaded the west and the Midwest with their Liberation army led by Colonel Victor Banjo, a Yoruba that Colonel Ojukwu released from prison in the East. Colonel Ojukwu wrote in a letter to Colonel Banjo that he would choose the governor of Lagos.
Chief Awolowo did not bargain with Colonel Ojukwu that the Yoruba will embrace a Biafran invasion with open arms when even civilians in the Midwest attacked the Biafran soldiers and killed many. The Yoruba can not move from British overlordship to Igbo overlordship. That was the issue. They therefore entered the civil war to defend their land and it ended as it did.
The war, meaning the Nigerian civil war, however painted, was originally a war between the East and the North and Lagos just happened to be the federal capital.
If the East had respected the territorial integrity of the Midwest and the West, then their only challenges would have remained attacks from the Northern direction and insurrection by Eastern minorities at home. The end result may have been Biafra, meaning total breakup or a renegotiation of Nigeria.
Chief Awolowo and Colonel David Ejoor did their best for Biafra and it is definitely wrong to continue labeling Chief Awolowo as a betrayer. There was nothing wrong in Chief Awolowo joining General Gowon’s government because if he did not join hands with them, how would it have been easy for him to get the Northern troops out of the west as easily as he did?. He had his own strategy and battles are won with strategy. He did not betray Biafra. .
On the issue of twenty pounds given to all Biafran bank account holders after the war. There was a need to solve the problem of people having deposits in Biafran currency. Chief Awolowo solved it by closing all the accounts and giving every account holder twenty pounds each including those who had only ten shillings in their accounts. The total sum given out probably surpassed the total sum the Igbos had in the banks initially. Twenty pounds was a lot of money in 1970.
On the issue of the blockade, we must also remember that the war may have been going on till today if not for the blockade. A short brutal war is better than a long war. There is no right way in war and there are no rules. May God not position our nourishment in the hands of our enemies. May the souls of the dead rest in peace.
Any further questions?.

The Nigerian 3rd Marine Commando led by Benjamin Adekunle with many Yoruba soldiers attacked Bonny on 25th/26th July, 1967. Biafran soldiers only got to Ore on the 17th August of 1967. That's three weeks after Yorubas have shown their allegiance to the north and committed to fighting Biafra. Mind you, a Yoruba naval officer also led the naval attack of Bonny same time.

Awolowo was released from Calabar prison in August 1966. 10months later after witnessing the pogrom against Ndigbo mostly in the North including some instances in the West decided to join Gowon’s government in June 1967 shortly after Ojukwu declared Biafra on May 30th of the same year.
He was credited to have said "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, only to fight us harder."
I guess Awo's statement has spoken much about his view of Igbos. He was fighting a war of unity with his enemies. He's no different from Gowon who declared "no victor, no vanquished" but refused to rehabilitate and reconstruct the East after the war. Gowon even arrested some of the Biafran soldiers and put them in jail after the war had ended. You can verify this by listening to Ben Gbulie when Chinedu Asuzu had an interactive session with him.

What goes around surely comes around. The millions of innocent lives starved to death by these men and the Nigerian contraption will continue to call out for vengeance.

Yujin:
The Nigerian 3rd Marine Commando led by Benjamin Adekunle with many Yoruba soldiers attacked Bonny on 25th/26th July, 1967. Biafran soldiers only got to Ore on the 17th August of 1967. That's three weeks after Yorubas have shown their allegiance to the north and committed to fighting Biafra. Mind you, a Yoruba naval officer also led the naval attack of Bonny same time.

Awolowo was released from Calabar prison in August 1966. 10months later after witnessing the pogrom against Ndigbo mostly in the North including some instances in the West decided to join Gowon’s government in June 1967 shortly after Ojukwu declared Biafra on May 30th of the same year.
He was credited to have said "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, only to fight us harder."
I guess Awo's statement has spoken much about his view of Igbos. He was fighting a war of unity with his enemies. He's no different from Gowon who declared "no victor, no vanquished" but refused to rehabilitate and reconstruct the East after the war. Gowon even arrested some of the Biafran soldiers and put them in jail after the war had ended. You can verify this by listening to Ben Gbulie when Chinedu Asuzu had an interactive session with him.

What goes around surely comes around. The millions of innocent lives starved to death by these men and the Nigerian contraption will continue to call out for vengeance.

just Dey play

U went to a war u didn't prepare for n u expect same people u are fighting to give u food

Does that even make sense?

That's the typical Igbo way of doing things, act before thinking