₦airaland Forum

ariesbull:
In case some of you have forgotten history, here is what Uncle Wole Soyinka wrote in his memoir.

“Those who, out of sheer hatred, rewrite history should do well to remember what Ndigbo did for Awolowo at his darkest time in politics.

When Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, conspired to politically annihilate Chief Obafemi Awolowo, it was Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, Premier of Eastern Nigeria, who boldly stood on the side of justice and principle.

As Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka records in his memoir, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, Dr. Okpara did not just sympathize — he acted. He provided financial and political support to Awolowo’s camp, reabsorbed Prof. Sam Aluko and other loyalists dismissed from the University of Ife into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and sent Mazi Ukonu and the Eastern Nigeria Broadcasting Service to broadcast the authentic results of the Western Region election from Awolowo’s Ibadan residence, directly challenging state-sponsored electoral fraud.

In an extraordinary gesture of solidarity, Okpara appointed Mrs. Hannah Awolowo, wife of the imprisoned leader, as Honorary Minister in the Eastern Nigerian Government, equipping her with a Mercedes-Benz, chauffeur, and full ministerial privileges.

This was not merely symbolic — it was an open declaration of interregional support and mutual respect.

Equally important was the role of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik), then President of Nigeria. When Northern leaders sought to transfer Awolowo to a remote prison in the North — where his safety would have been uncertain — Zik exercised his presidential authority to ensure that Awolowo was instead imprisoned in Eastern Nigeria, where he was treated with dignity and humanity, against the wishes of the Sardauna and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa.

This interethnic solidarity was not accidental. It formed part of the broader United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) — a coalition of progressive forces led by the NCNC and the Action Group, which resisted Northern domination and championed democratic ideals.

During this alliance, Dr. Okpara courageously entered Ibadan, despite being declared persona non grata by Akintola, to campaign for the Awolowo faction. His reception by the people was so electrifying and defiant of Northern hegemony that he was affectionately nicknamed “M.I. Power” by the Western press.

These actions by Eastern leaders — Dr. Okpara, Dr. Azikiwe, and others — represent one of the noblest chapters in Nigerian political history: a moment when ethnicity bowed to justice and regional differences were set aside in pursuit of a united democratic front.

These truths must be remembered, not distorted or forgotten. Let no one, out of ignorance or bigotry, erase the fact that it was the East — it was the Igbos — who stood with Awolowo when others sought to silence him.

Let us teach correct and verifiable history as it happened, not as some would prefer to rewrite it.

— Otunba Rick Oladele

madridguy:
Election is around the corner and some people are trying to gum body as usual

Northernblood8:
Otunba Rick Oladele is not an Igbo name

DomPerignon:
OP, Yorubas voted for your Obi last time around and some of the most outspoken defenders of your Obi were Yorubas.

How did you lot of the SE obidients repay that support ?

The attack on Tinubu and his tribe was driven by you lots .

It became so glaringly obvious even to the delusional Yoruba-buts that they began renouncing their obidient membership.

But now that elections is on, you remember you need Yoruba and other tribe votes to get your obi into Aso Rock.

Never!

Northernblood8:
Otunba Rick Oladele is not an Igbo name

madridguy:
Election is around the corner and some people are trying to gum body as usual

DomPerignon:
OP, Yorubas voted for your Obi last time around and some of the most outspoken defenders of your Obi were Yorubas.

How did you lot of the SE obidients repay that support ?

The attack on Tinubu and his tribe was driven by you lots .

It became so glaringly obvious even to the delusional Yoruba-buts that they began renouncing their obidient membership.

But now that elections is on, you remember you need Yoruba and other tribe votes to get your obi into Aso Rock.

Never!

sweerychick:
It's only on nairaland that I see this so called beef between Igbo and Yoruba, out there everyone gets along even Peter Obi acknowledged that he has his highest support base in the southwest. It's only the likes of Tinubu and his paid urchins online and offline that are causing this tribal tension

ariesbull:
In case some of you have forgotten history, here is what Uncle Wole Soyinka wrote in his memoir.

“Those who, out of sheer hatred, rewrite history should do well to remember what Ndigbo did for Awolowo at his darkest time in politics.

When Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, conspired to politically annihilate Chief Obafemi Awolowo, it was Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, Premier of Eastern Nigeria, who boldly stood on the side of justice and principle.

As Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka records in his memoir, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, Dr. Okpara did not just sympathize — he acted. He provided financial and political support to Awolowo’s camp, reabsorbed Prof. Sam Aluko and other loyalists dismissed from the University of Ife into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and sent Mazi Ukonu and the Eastern Nigeria Broadcasting Service to broadcast the authentic results of the Western Region election from Awolowo’s Ibadan residence, directly challenging state-sponsored electoral fraud.

In an extraordinary gesture of solidarity, Okpara appointed Mrs. Hannah Awolowo, wife of the imprisoned leader, as Honorary Minister in the Eastern Nigerian Government, equipping her with a Mercedes-Benz, chauffeur, and full ministerial privileges.

This was not merely symbolic — it was an open declaration of interregional support and mutual respect.

Equally important was the role of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik), then President of Nigeria. When Northern leaders sought to transfer Awolowo to a remote prison in the North — where his safety would have been uncertain — Zik exercised his presidential authority to ensure that Awolowo was instead imprisoned in Eastern Nigeria, where he was treated with dignity and humanity, against the wishes of the Sardauna and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa.

This interethnic solidarity was not accidental. It formed part of the broader United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) — a coalition of progressive forces led by the NCNC and the Action Group, which resisted Northern domination and championed democratic ideals.

During this alliance, Dr. Okpara courageously entered Ibadan, despite being declared persona non grata by Akintola, to campaign for the Awolowo faction. His reception by the people was so electrifying and defiant of Northern hegemony that he was affectionately nicknamed “M.I. Power” by the Western press.

These actions by Eastern leaders — Dr. Okpara, Dr. Azikiwe, and others — represent one of the noblest chapters in Nigerian political history: a moment when ethnicity bowed to justice and regional differences were set aside in pursuit of a united democratic front.

These truths must be remembered, not distorted or forgotten. Let no one, out of ignorance or bigotry, erase the fact that it was the East — it was the Igbos — who stood with Awolowo when others sought to silence him.

Let us teach correct and verifiable history as it happened, not as some would prefer to rewrite it.

— Otunba Rick Oladele

Airlord2030:
The only vote I will vote for an Igbo man is the vote to have Biafra and leave my land permanently..

Abi LZAA nor be so?

DomPerignon:
OP, Yorubas voted for your Obi last time around and some of the most outspoken defenders of your Obi were Yorubas.

How did you lot of the SE obidients repay that support ?

The attack on Tinubu and his tribe was driven by you lots .

It became so glaringly obvious even to the delusional Yoruba-buts that they began renouncing their obidient membership.

But now that elections is on, you remember you need Yoruba and other tribe votes to get your obi into Aso Rock.

Never!

Sheuns:
There’s no beef between Igbo and Yoruba.

christistruth01:
This is Onuakalusi voted in to represent Oshodi Isolo retweeting insults at Yorubas

ariesbull:
In case some of you have forgotten history, here is what Uncle Wole Soyinka wrote in his memoir.

“Those who, out of sheer hatred, rewrite history should do well to remember what Ndigbo did for Awolowo at his darkest time in politics.

When Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, conspired to politically annihilate Chief Obafemi Awolowo, it was Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, Premier of Eastern Nigeria, who boldly stood on the side of justice and principle.

As Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka records in his memoir, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, Dr. Okpara did not just sympathize — he acted. He provided financial and political support to Awolowo’s camp, reabsorbed Prof. Sam Aluko and other loyalists dismissed from the University of Ife into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and sent Mazi Ukonu and the Eastern Nigeria Broadcasting Service to broadcast the authentic results of the Western Region election from Awolowo’s Ibadan residence, directly challenging state-sponsored electoral fraud.

In an extraordinary gesture of solidarity, Okpara appointed Mrs. Hannah Awolowo, wife of the imprisoned leader, as Honorary Minister in the Eastern Nigerian Government, equipping her with a Mercedes-Benz, chauffeur, and full ministerial privileges.

This was not merely symbolic — it was an open declaration of interregional support and mutual respect.

Equally important was the role of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik), then President of Nigeria. When Northern leaders sought to transfer Awolowo to a remote prison in the North — where his safety would have been uncertain — Zik exercised his presidential authority to ensure that Awolowo was instead imprisoned in Eastern Nigeria, where he was treated with dignity and humanity, against the wishes of the Sardauna and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa.

This interethnic solidarity was not accidental. It formed part of the broader United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) — a coalition of progressive forces led by the NCNC and the Action Group, which resisted Northern domination and championed democratic ideals.

During this alliance, Dr. Okpara courageously entered Ibadan, despite being declared persona non grata by Akintola, to campaign for the Awolowo faction. His reception by the people was so electrifying and defiant of Northern hegemony that he was affectionately nicknamed “M.I. Power” by the Western press.

These actions by Eastern leaders — Dr. Okpara, Dr. Azikiwe, and others — represent one of the noblest chapters in Nigerian political history: a moment when ethnicity bowed to justice and regional differences were set aside in pursuit of a united democratic front.

These truths must be remembered, not distorted or forgotten. Let no one, out of ignorance or bigotry, erase the fact that it was the East — it was the Igbos — who stood with Awolowo when others sought to silence him.

Let us teach correct and verifiable history as it happened, not as some would prefer to rewrite it.

— Otunba Rick Oladele

DomPerignon:
OP, Yorubas voted for your Obi last time around and some of the most outspoken defenders of your Obi were Yorubas.

How did you lot of the SE obidients repay that support ?

The attack on Tinubu and his tribe was driven by you lots .

It became so glaringly obvious even to the delusional Yoruba-buts that they began renouncing their obidient membership.

But now that elections is on, you remember you need Yoruba and other tribe votes to get your obi into Aso Rock.

Never!

madridguy:
Election is around the corner and some people are trying to gum body as usual

Streetinvestor2:
Walahi obi does not need Yoruba votes to win president. How many votes did you people give SW president in last election. Was it not just 2.5 million votes from SW.For me the hate dey bit my body join

DomPerignon:
And you will get northern and SS votes for your mind ba

Northernblood8:
Otunba Rick Oladele is not an Igbo name

ariesbull:
In case some of you have forgotten history, here is what Uncle Wole Soyinka wrote in his memoir.

“Those who, out of sheer hatred, rewrite history should do well to remember what Ndigbo did for Awolowo at his darkest time in politics.

When Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, conspired to politically annihilate Chief Obafemi Awolowo, it was Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, Premier of Eastern Nigeria, who boldly stood on the side of justice and principle.

As Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka records in his memoir, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, Dr. Okpara did not just sympathize — he acted. He provided financial and political support to Awolowo’s camp, reabsorbed Prof. Sam Aluko and other loyalists dismissed from the University of Ife into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and sent Mazi Ukonu and the Eastern Nigeria Broadcasting Service to broadcast the authentic results of the Western Region election from Awolowo’s Ibadan residence, directly challenging state-sponsored electoral fraud.

In an extraordinary gesture of solidarity, Okpara appointed Mrs. Hannah Awolowo, wife of the imprisoned leader, as Honorary Minister in the Eastern Nigerian Government, equipping her with a Mercedes-Benz, chauffeur, and full ministerial privileges.

This was not merely symbolic — it was an open declaration of interregional support and mutual respect.

Equally important was the role of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik), then President of Nigeria. When Northern leaders sought to transfer Awolowo to a remote prison in the North — where his safety would have been uncertain — Zik exercised his presidential authority to ensure that Awolowo was instead imprisoned in Eastern Nigeria, where he was treated with dignity and humanity, against the wishes of the Sardauna and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa.

This interethnic solidarity was not accidental. It formed part of the broader United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) — a coalition of progressive forces led by the NCNC and the Action Group, which resisted Northern domination and championed democratic ideals.

During this alliance, Dr. Okpara courageously entered Ibadan, despite being declared persona non grata by Akintola, to campaign for the Awolowo faction. His reception by the people was so electrifying and defiant of Northern hegemony that he was affectionately nicknamed “M.I. Power” by the Western press.

These actions by Eastern leaders — Dr. Okpara, Dr. Azikiwe, and others — represent one of the noblest chapters in Nigerian political history: a moment when ethnicity bowed to justice and regional differences were set aside in pursuit of a united democratic front.

These truths must be remembered, not distorted or forgotten. Let no one, out of ignorance or bigotry, erase the fact that it was the East — it was the Igbos — who stood with Awolowo when others sought to silence him.

Let us teach correct and verifiable history as it happened, not as some would prefer to rewrite it.

— Otunba Rick Oladele