₦airaland Forum

laudate:
BIAFRA: THE UNTOLD STORY OF NIGERIA’S CIVIL WAR

Excerpts: Published on February 19, 2013 by . | Secret American diplomatic dispatches, spread over 21,000 pages, provide previously unknown information about the Nigerian Civil War

Unknown to the forward planners, according to the US documents, Ojukwu had been meticulously preparing for war as early as October 1966, after the second round of massacre in the North. He had stopped the Eastern share of revenues that were supposed to accrue to the Federation Account.

By 30 April 1967, he had recalled all Igbos serving in Nigeria embassies and foreign missions and those that heeded his call were placed on the payroll of the government of Eastern Region. The 77,000 square kilometres of the Republic of Biafra – a mere 8 per cent of the size of Nigeria – was already divided into 20 provinces, with leaders selected for each. They had their own judiciary, legislative councils, ministries and ambassadors. Alouette helicopters and a B26 bomber were procured from the French Air Force through a Luxemburg trading company.

Hank Warton, the German-American arms dealer, had been flying in Czech and Israeli arms via Spain and Portugal since October 1966. The military hardware, they could not get, they seized. A DC3 and a Fokker F27 were seized from the Nigerian Air Force in April. NNS Ibadan, a Nigerian Navy Seaward Defence Boat (SDB) that docked in Calabar Port, was quickly made Biafran.

Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, who was supposed to be in Enugu in prison for his role in 1966 coup, joined in training recruits in Abakaliki. Foreign mercenaries were training indoctrinated old people, young men and teenagers recruited as NCOs [Non-commissioned Officers] in jungle warfare, bomb making, mortar and other artillery firing. Ojukwu, through speeches, town hall meetings, market square performances and radio broadcasts, succeeded in convincing his people that their destiny was death or a separate state. All his performances in Ghana that culminated in the Aburi Accord of January 1967, or discussions with the Awolowo-led National Conciliation Committee five months later, turned out to be ruse.

The underground war preparations, the secret arms stockpiles openly manifested themselves as Ojukwu’s stubborn refusal to accept offers or concessions during these peace meetings.

But the Biafrans knew that their vulnerable line was along Ogoja, Ikom, Calabar, Port Harcourt, and Yenogoa. Support from the six million people making up the Eastern minorities was very much unsure. The minorities viewed their leaders in Biafra high command as traitors. And without the minorities, Biafra would be landlocked and most likely, unviable as a state. More so, their vast oil and gas resources were the reason they contemplated secession in the first place.

The Biafra high command believed that if there was going to be any troop incursion from there, they are going to be transported through ship. They already had a B26 bomber to deal fire to Nigeria’s only transport ship, NNS Lokoja, anytime it approached the Biafran coastline.

https://waidigbenro./tag/okoi-arikpo/

The below, already cancelled what you posted above. Gowon and US believed Biafra was holding the Minorities against their wish? Well it's simple, let's put it to a plebiscite. Guess who was scared of a plebiscite?
" In an authoritative and detailed
memorandum on the background, cause
and consequences of the Nigerian civil
war issued in November 1968 by more
than sixty British subjects, including Sir
Robert Stapleton, the last British governor
of the Eastern region( 1959-60), it was
concluded that of the 37 percent of the
population which they estimated that
minority group represented in Biafra, only
10% would favour continued association
with the federal government". The. New
York review of Books, Volume 14,Number
8. April 23, 1970

laudate:
BIAFRA: THE UNTOLD STORY OF NIGERIA’S CIVIL WAR

Excerpts: Published on February 19, 2013 by . | Secret American diplomatic dispatches, spread over 21,000 pages, provide previously unknown information about the Nigerian Civil War

Unknown to the forward planners, according to the US documents, Ojukwu had been meticulously preparing for war as early as October 1966, after the second round of massacre in the North. He had stopped the Eastern share of revenues that were supposed to accrue to the Federation Account.

By 30 April 1967, he had recalled all Igbos serving in Nigeria embassies and foreign missions and those that heeded his call were placed on the payroll of the government of Eastern Region. The 77,000 square kilometres of the Republic of Biafra – a mere 8 per cent of the size of Nigeria – was already divided into 20 provinces, with leaders selected for each. They had their own judiciary, legislative councils, ministries and ambassadors. Alouette helicopters and a B26 bomber were procured from the French Air Force through a Luxemburg trading company.

Hank Warton, the German-American arms dealer, had been flying in Czech and Israeli arms via Spain and Portugal since October 1966. The military hardware, they could not get, they seized. A DC3 and a Fokker F27 were seized from the Nigerian Air Force in April. NNS Ibadan, a Nigerian Navy Seaward Defence Boat (SDB) that docked in Calabar Port, was quickly made Biafran.

Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, who was supposed to be in Enugu in prison for his role in 1966 coup, joined in training recruits in Abakaliki. Foreign mercenaries were training indoctrinated old people, young men and teenagers recruited as NCOs [Non-commissioned Officers] in jungle warfare, bomb making, mortar and other artillery firing. Ojukwu, through speeches, town hall meetings, market square performances and radio broadcasts, succeeded in convincing his people that their destiny was death or a separate state. All his performances in Ghana that culminated in the Aburi Accord of January 1967, or discussions with the Awolowo-led National Conciliation Committee five months later, turned out to be ruse.

The underground war preparations, the secret arms stockpiles openly manifested themselves as Ojukwu’s stubborn refusal to accept offers or concessions during these peace meetings.

But the Biafrans knew that their vulnerable line was along Ogoja, Ikom, Calabar, Port Harcourt, and Yenogoa. Support from the six million people making up the Eastern minorities was very much unsure. The minorities viewed their leaders in Biafra high command as traitors. And without the minorities, Biafra would be landlocked and most likely, unviable as a state. More so, their vast oil and gas resources were the reason they contemplated secession in the first place.

The Biafra high command believed that if there was going to be any troop incursion from there, they are going to be transported through ship. They already had a B26 bomber to deal fire to Nigeria’s only transport ship, NNS Lokoja, anytime it approached the Biafran coastline.

https://waidigbenro./tag/okoi-arikpo/

The below, already cancelled what you posted above. Gowon and US believed Biafra was holding the Minorities against their wish? Well it's simple, let's put it to a plebiscite. Guess who was scared of a plebiscite?

Of course, Ojukwu was preparing for war, cos he that wants Peace must be prepare for war.

It's on record that Ojukwu after the first massacre, met with all Northern leaders, begging for the protection of Easterners lives.
The Northern leaders gave Ojukwu assurances of safety of the. Easterners, so Ojukwu pleaded with the East to go back again to North , that we are all Nigerians, but what happened again? The Northern military leadership looked the other way as the Northerners once again massacred Igbos for a second time.
" States are made to
serve people; governments are
established to protect the citizens of a
state against external enemies and
internal wrong-doers".~ Julius Nyerere

It became clear to Ojukwu that both the North military leaders and commoners will not stop until they have exterminated the East. preparing for war was the logical thing to do, even when he wanted Peace.

Ojukwu would still agreed to discussions and negotiations at a neutral ground in Aburi Ghana,fearing a repeat of Ironsi murder should he choose any Nigerian venue, but what happened? Gowon and the North still found a way to break the agreements reached at Aburi, deciding to produce a decree of their own.

[b] The necessity for a new start by
agreement was accepted by a Conference
of military leaders from all parts of the
Federation, in Aburi, Ghana, in January,
1967. There is a certain difference of
opinion about some of the things which
were agreed at the Conference. But there
is no dispute about the fact that everyone
joined in a Declaration renouncing the use
of force as a means of settling the crisis
in Nigeria. Nor does anyone dispute that it
was agreed that a new constitution was to
be worked out by agreement, and that in
the meantime there would be a repeal of
all military decrees issued since January,
1966 which reduced the powers of the
Region. There was also agreement about
rehabilitation payments for those who had
been forced to flee from their homes, and
about members of the armed forces being
stationed in their home Regions.
The Aburi Conference could have provided
the new start which was necessary if the
unity of Nigeria was to be maintained. But
before the end of the same month,
General Gowon was restating his
commitment to the creation of new states,
and his determination to oppose any form
of confederation. And on the last day of
January, the Federal military authorities
were already giving administrative reasons
for delay in the implementation of the
Agreements reached at Aburi. It was the
middle of March before a constitutional
decree was issued which was supposed
to regularize the position in accordance
with with the decisions taken there. But
unfortunately this Decree also included a
new clause - which had not been agreed
- and which gave the Federal authorities a
reserve power over the Regions, and thus
completely nullified the whole operation.
Nor had any payment been made by the
Federal Government to back up the
monetary commitment for rehabilitation
which it had accepted in the Ghana
meeting.
In short, the necessity for an arrangement
which would take account of the fears
created during 1966 was accepted at
Aburi, and renounced thereafter by the
Federal authorities. Yet they now claim to
be defending the integrity of the country
in which they failed to guarantee the most
elementary safety of the twelve million
peoples of Eastern Nigeria. [/b]

Julius Nyerere a true Pan Africanist captured Ojukwu and Biafra's position like this. God bless his soul.

If you claim that there is nothing like 90%
of the implementation of an agreement,
then you need to take a course in
negotiations. The same point can be re-
negotiated over and over again, over a
length of time provided both parties are
willing to continue with the negotiation.
That is why diplomats and lobbyists are
well-paid, in many countries in the world.
There is a course called Progamme on
Negotiation, (PON) at the Harvard
University, which is dedicated to
developing the theory and practice of
negotiation and dispute resolution, in a
range of public and private settings. I
recommend that you take it.
When over 90% of an agreement is offered
and those making the offer are ready and
willing to implement it, it shows good
faith. the remaining 10% can be re-
negotiated at a later stage. It does not
make sense to turn down the 90%, when
your fellow citizens are facing pain, horror
and hardship which is exactly what
Ojukwu did.


Nothing like 90% application of an agreement. parties give and take during negotiations, that's when there is room of agreement and disagreements, once an agreement is reached, it's final.

The West just reached an agreement with Iran over their nuclear deal, be rest assured that agreements will be considered failure should Iran default.

And moreover, every agreement has a rate determining segement, and that rate determining segement for Aburi was autonomy of Each of the regions.

By rejecting that part of the agreement, Gowon simply made no room for future negotiations, as without autonomy of the East, he could always remove Ojukwu and replace him with a stooge that will allow Gowon to re negotiate conditions and get all he wanted. But with Eastern autonomy, Gowon knew he stood no chance.

The only people that faced Igbo citizens with horror were Northern military leaders who served as accomplices as their almajiris massacred Innocent Easterners in the North, not once, but twice, and even when we fled the North to the East, they still brought death to us in the East. Ojukwu was the man who stood between us and our killers, the Arewa-Odua, that's what history will remember him for.

http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/87243/1/why-aburi-accord-failed-by-asiodu.html

WHY ABURI ACCORD FAILED, BY ASIODU

Chief Philip C. Asiodu, one of the central Super permanent secretaries of the era, and prime actor of the day, recounts the details, no holds-bared, revealing and insightful.

Ques: You spoke about the coup, Ojukwu and the famous Aburi accord which tried to address some of these problems. What in your opinion led to the collapse of the Aburi Accord.

Ans: You see unfortunately, the dramatist personae of the time, many of them have gone. Anything not founded on objectivity , transparency and truth cannot last. Somehow, Ojukwu persuaded Gowon that they were going to Aburi as gentlemen of the Nigerian Army to discuss certain things. Acknowledgement of what happened. Already, of course he knew that after the pogrom against Easterners, against Igbo in 1966, the Army, except in Lagos and the West had gone back to their places of origin. Now, no need bringing officials. So, guys we're going to talk as officers and gentlemen. Of course Gowon did not inform his secretary to government. He did not tell anybody, until the eve of the day he was going. So, if you were going to a conference, you will normally say what is the agenda. You will prepare, with the assistance of the agenda.

Think about them. Think about various scenarios, and go and discuss. That didn't happen. Lo and behold when they reached Aburi, there was Ojukwu with a battery of permanent secretaries and one of the most formidable intellect this country has ever produced, Dr Pius Okigbo. All in the delegation.

Who went with Gowon? Nobody. Not even secretary to the government. None of the so-called permanent secretaries. And they went there and talked and said they reached agreement. He stepped down as supreme military commander and they talked about the divisions in the Nigerian army and if Nigeria was attacked, then they will consult and decide whether they are going to fight.

In modern days it took like 24 hours to finish Poland. You will still be consulting. Anyway, be that as it may, nobody could make ambassador, nobody becomes a super scale officer, senior assistant secretary, group 7 except there was a unanimous agreement. And if you know history, there was once in history where a single member of the parliament can exercise veto. They did this and they came back. Just like they looked at the proposal after the second coup of July 66, some of the northern assistants in Nigeria, were saying we will blew up Carter bridge, brew up the second mainland bridge.

When they subjected this Aburi accord to simple analysis, it was simply saying Nigeria is no more practically. And as far as was concerned, the civil war or no civil war, then chaos would have started later.

All the same, we said look, … if we still want to be a country….authority which deals with customs, currency, federal trunk roads, foreign and external defences, that is more than enough for a government. But it must be able to act.

You can not say that in the Ministry of Defence, you can not promote somebody a Lt Col, except you have a unanimity. You cannot move one plane to another place except through unanimity. Even when you have those limited powers, they must be able to function. And you cannot function in the context of those things they said. And then what you have is four countries.

Ques: And the permanent secretaries vetoed it?

Ans:No .The permanent secretary made analysis and said look, "if you are really serious, if you say you are having Nigeria, you must have central function which must be fulfilled. There is no need saying this is central function and you cannot fulfill it." So, we analysed and said these were based on incorrect premises. People came with proper papers, well formulated.

The other side just went thinking they were going to do initial breaking of the ice. Therefore, please try to reconcile this to ensure that we still have a country. Gowon in fairness, vetoed that approach, and still proceeded to have decree number 8 of 1967. If you go and read that decree, and if the East had accepted that decree, there would have been no need for secession. Nigeria would have disintegrated within three months. And you can not move anybody without unanimity. You collect revenue, you cannot transfer it…

Ques: Decree 8 was an affirmation of Aburi accord?

Ans: It was an affirmation of the Aburi accord which gave the East under Ojukwu, more than 95 per cent of what Aburi meant. But because there were maybe one or two phrases which they didn't like, if they read that thing and it is still there, they have got what they wanted.

But it was such, that hostilities would have broken out among four independent countries. Not one on one.

Read here: http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/87243/1/why-aburi-accord-failed-by-asiodu.html

[b] Since Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu died, there has been no clear leadership or unity of the Igbo. Why is it so? Even the late Dim, never considered himself as an Igbo leader; if you called him an Igbo leader, he would just chuckle. Don’t get me wrong, he enjoyed the respect and adulation he got from his people. If you saw the way he lived his life among Ndi’igbo, everybody is trying to recreate those attributes that made him so loved by his people. Leaders emerge; leaders are not crowned in Igbo land. By their fruits you shall known them. The greatest unity the Ndi’igbo had was from 1966 to 1970. Can you tell us your civil war experience. Did Ojukwu conscript you to fight during the war? No person of my age was conscripted. We desired to join the Biafran Army, we did not fear the military front, we did not fear to die and that was what made the war last as long as it did. If Ojukwu didn’t declare that war at the time he did, we would have killed him. In my set in the Biafran School of Infantry, I was commissioned the same day with Ojo Maduekwe, he wasn’t conscripted. I was commissioned the same day with Joseph Okonkwo, the first Peoples Democratic Party Chairman in Anambra State, he wasn’t conscripted and so many. In fact, if you were turned down, you agonised you didn’t take part. We didn’t regret dying, that was a war we didn’t regret any wound we got. And I had serious wounds in 1968, which I’ve carried till today. Looking back now, would you say that as a nation we have learnt lessons from that sad episode? Definitely, we have learnt lessons. To us, the issue was not a matter of Biafra; it was a matter of security of lives and property. It was also a traumatic psychological experience for us to feel unwanted by brethren and by societies where we wanted to belong. In typical Igbo fashion, we said to ourselves that if people rejected us, we should not reject ourselves. I think we’ve learnt that lesson now and we are all over Nigeria and even the killings that happen now, only a few are targeted at us. Many are collateral damage. In 1966, it was definite pogrom. We’ve learnt the lesson that you can’t have pogrom and expect to be one country, if that is one lesson we have learnt, I think we have learnt something. You were close to Ojukwu, tell us some things about him that many people do not know. I thank God that I was privileged to have known him for as long as I knew him. I had admired him as a young man. Two things about Ojukwu that the world may not know: He was strong physically, he was strong emotionally. In the language of young people, he was the one person I wanted most to chill with. There are two things he told me: The decision to declare war was the most agonising time of his life, he spent time alone in his office clutching his rosary, this is not the attitude of somebody who wanted to be emperor from the word go. The second thing that he told me was that he could never get out of his system the picture of those people who were killed after he had asked everyone who fled the North, to go back. If those people, who had come to safety, went back and died in gruesome circumstances, he was always praying to God to forgive him. If you entered his study, you will see this picture of a huge Igbo man who was beheaded and his body sent down to the East by train. He had people like Uche Chukwumerije, the late Chuba Okadigbo, Ambassador George Obiozor and others around him. What came out was not Ojukwu’s view, what came out was superior argument but in this superior argument, you saw that Ojukwu was a man of great intellectual capacity. I can see why those who didn’t have that kind of intellect will feel threatened. One other thing during the war that people didn’t know was that Ojukwu always slept with his boots on; so, whenever there was crisis, Ojukwu needed just five minutes to move out and to get to the point of the crisis. He wasn’t afraid of a fight. Sometimes, we thought he had a death wish, he wasn’t afraid of bullets and mortars. [/b]

pazienza:
Nothing like 90% application of an agreement. parties give and take during negotiations, that's when there is room of agreement and disagreements, once an agreement is reached, it's final.

The West just reached an agreement with Iran over their nuclear deal, be rest assured that agreements will be considered failure should Iran default.

And moreover, every agreement has a rate determining segement, and that rate determining segement for Aburi was autonomy of Each of the regions.

By rejecting that part of the agreement, Gowon simply made no room for future negotiations, as without autonomy of the East, he could always remove Ojukwu and replace him with a stooge that will allow Gowon to re negotiate conditions and get all he wanted. But with Eastern autonomy, Gowon knew he stood no chance.

The only people that faced Igbo citizens with horror were Northern military leaders who served as accomplices as their almajiris massacred Innocent Easterners in the North, not once, but twice, and even when we fled the North to the East, they still brought death to us in the East. Ojukwu was the man who stood between us and our killers, the Arewa-Odua, that's what history will remember him for.

Stop groping in the dark. Your knowledge of world affairs and what constitutes a negotiation is rudimentary.

You keep chanting "an agreement is an agreement," like a groundnut seller. Agreements are re-negotiated everyday, otherwise lawyers would not have any job to do. Likewise, diplomats. How long did it take for Israel and Palestine to sit at the same table to negotiate in the past 4 decades, with America as the intermediary? Till today, they are still fighting, but they are still negotiating.

You made reference to Iran. How many negotiations have been held with Iran in the past 10 years by America?

If there is an agreement, if one party breaches one or two points of such an agreement but still goes ahead to implement 70% to 80% of that agreement, then the remaining part that is yet to be implemented can be re-negotiated.

Have you ever heard of the term 'force majeure' to use an example. If it comes up at any time, then one or both parties to an agreement have the right to suspend the implementation of that agreement. Even though, 'force majeure' did not apply in this case.

Ojukwu's belligerence and refusal to respond to the federal government after Aburi to discuss issues further, showed extreme bad faith. Many people have said that his going to Aburi was just a cosmetic exercise and he had no intention of fulfilling the terms. It later proved to be true.

[b] Would you then describe him as suicidal?
Ah, you could say so. Fleeing Biafra was
a collective decision. Let me put it this
way, If Ojukwu had been captured and
humiliated by remaining as he wanted to
remain, it would have dealt an irreparable
damage on the Igbo psyche. Anybody who
knew the details of the Ugwuta operation
will know that Ojukwu was suicidal.
Since the end of the civil war, the Igbo
claim to be the target of victimisation, a
recent one being the deportation of some
Igbo people from Lagos. What can be
done to stem this trend?
That was completely inexplicable. Up till
now, I cannot understand it. I also don’t
think Governor Babatunde Fashola gave
an apology, Fashola said he was sorry,
that he was misunderstood by people, he
was sorry that he was misunderstood, he
should have said he was sorry for what
he did. Fashola is a person who gave us
the greatest respect when we went to see
him as members of the burial committee
for Ojukwu. I think he must do more than
he has already done. What people feel is
that that was not an apology, that it was a
contrived thing not to damage the
campaign of Chris Ngige (the All
Progressives Congress candidate in
Anambra governorship election). Fashola
is a person we as Igbo people love; we
have the greatest respect for him. The
family and Igbo families are so
interwoven. It was Asiwaju (former Lagos
Governor, Bola tinubu) that appointed Joe
Igbokwe (APC’s spokesman in Lagos).
What Fashola did frightened many of us
and he needs to go further than what he
has done, it is almost like Okonkwo killing
Ikemefuna who called him father. I think I
will stop here because I like him very
much, if I didn’t like him, I would have
said a few things. [/b] http://www.punchng.com/feature/interview/ndigbo-would-have-killed-ojukwu-if-he-had-not-declared-war-a-b-c-nwosu/


Like I said before, I respect Uwaechue, but he is entitled to his own opinions, and not his own facts. Facts are sacrosanct, they don't bend, even for Uwaechue.

Ojukwu was a rallying point for the East, as trailers and trailers of Eastern corpses killed by the almajiris with the tacit support of Northern military kept arriving the East, anger, anguish and a sense of revenge descended on the East, Ojukwu had mis calculated, sending us back to the North only for Easterners to be brought back as corpses.

Eastern youths of UNN were demanding that Ojukwu should do something, Angry youths and bereaved parents were demanding the same. Eastern secession was the people's choice, not Ojukwu's, nobody lords it over East, you only carry out our demands or get booted out! What's the point of co existing in the same country with people that want to exterminate you, that was the sentiment in the East then,angry Youths willingly enrolled into the Biafran Army.

Yorubas and their Arewa partners cannot re write Biafra history for Biafrans.

I read Joe Achuzia's book Requiem Biafra growing up.. however now I know sadly that his book was full of embelishment.. Not taking away from his achievements during then but it is sad for me to realise that the hero was also a maniac ..

laudate:
Stop groping in the dark. Your knowledge of world affairs and what constitutes a negotiation is rudimentary.

You keep chanting "an agreement is an agreement," like a groundnut seller. Agreements are re-negotiated everyday, otherwise lawyers would not have any job to do. Likewise, diplomats. How long did it take for Israel and Palestine to sit at the same table to negotiate in the past 4 decades, with America as the intermediary? Till today, they are still fighting, but they are still negotiating.

You made reference to Iran. How many negotiations have been held with Iran in the past 10 years by America?

If there is an agreement, if one party breaches one or two points of such an agreement but still goes ahead to implement 70% to 80% of that agreement, then the remaining part that is yet to be implemented can be re-negotiated.

Have you ever heard of the term 'force majeure' to use an example. If it comes up at any time, then one or both parties to an agreement have the right to suspend the implementation of that agreement. Even though, 'force majeure' did not apply in this case.

Ojukwu's belligerence and refusal to respond to the federal government after Aburi to discuss issues further, showed extreme bad faith. Many people have said that his going to Aburi was just a cosmetic exercise and he had no intention of fulfilling the terms. It later proved to be true.

Iran negotiations with the West always failed,which was the exact reason Iran was sanctioned. And the sanctions lifted recently when an agreement was reached with Iran. Agreements are only binding when you don't seek to emasculate your opponent in order to get upper hand.

You don't change agreements, you change negotiations.
By seeking to use divide and rule, Gowon sought to scuttle all agreements reached at Aburi. For without decentralization of FG powers, Gowon can decide to remove Ojukwu the next day and replace him with a stooge.
All the agreements reached at Aburi were all anchorred on decentralization of FG powers, without which nothing could be achieved.

Gowon simply doesn't understand what agreement meant.

oduastates:
Yes , this is another one of the crap they keep spewing .
After conniving( azikwe) with the North( ahmadu bello) to create the Midwest and conveniently ignoring all the autonomous movement from the northern region and the eastern region ( ijaws , efik , ogonis ), the stage was set for nemesis to catch with them.
Azikwe and ahmadu bello did it to weaken the western region . Eventually they threw Awo in prison on trumped up charges with just one witness testimony.
They ignored all the pleadings for separate regions by the minorities
Karma is a biiiitcccchhhh.
Karma caught up with the east when the intransigence and the petulance of ojukwu during the aburi negotiations finally resulted in Gowon showing his hand . Ojukwu said the eastern region would not share the newly discovered oil in the land of the minorities with the North ( the western region paid for herself )
This is after sharing from resources from other places before oil .
what did Gowon do ?
He checkmated ojukwu.
He did exactly what should have been done ( as per the agitations of minorities before independence) when the Midwest region was created .
He created more states as per the wishes of the minorities .
Seeing that the ijaw oil that the igbos were banking on had been removed from their grasp, ojukwu declared Biafra as the only means to retain control of that oil.

Igbos are nothing but thieves.

Yes, Biafra did not really surrender. If she did, nobody would be talking about it today.
The fact remains that Biafra was defeated militarily, and the ONLY reason for that loss is LACK OF HEAVY MILITARY ASSETS.
Biafra was fighting with light arms: mortars, rifles (most of which were non-automatic), locally made Ogbunigwe (IEDs really), and bare hands.
The only Biafran made weapon that really tickled my fancy was the "Flying Ogbunigwe" -the guided anti-ship missile which had so much potential but lack of resources limited its production and use. And by the time it was available, the war was almost lost.
The Owerri incident whereby an entire Nigerian battalion was totally surrounded and cut off, but could not be finished off due to lack of heavy artillery and anti-tank weapons by Biafrans, summarizes the war for me.

[b] Somehow, Ojukwu persuaded
Gowon that they were going to Aburi
as gentlemen of the Nigerian Army
to discuss certain things.
Acknowledgement of what
happened. Already, of course he
knew that after the pogrom against
Easterners, against Igbo in 1966, the
Army, except in Lagos and the West
had gone back to their places of
origin. Now, no need bringing
officials. So, guys we're going to
talk as officers and gentlemen. Of
course Gowon did not inform his
secretary to government. He did not
tell anybody, until the eve of the day
he was going. So, if you were going
to a conference, you will normally
say what is the agenda. You will
prepare, with the assistance of the
agenda.
Think about them. Think about
various scenarios, and go and
discuss. That didn't happen. Lo and
behold when they reached Aburi,
there was Ojukwu with a battery of
permanent secretaries and one of
the most formidable intellect this
country has ever produced, Dr Pius
Okigbo. All in the delegation.
Who went with Gowon? Nobody. Not
even secretary to the government.
None of the so-called permanent
secretaries. And they went there
and talked and said they reached
agreement. He stepped down as
supreme military commander and
they talked about the divisions in
the Nigerian army and if Nigeria was
attacked, then they will consult and
decide whether they are going to
fight. [/b]


This is a very silly comment, so it's Ojukwu's fault that Ojukwu came prepared for the negotiations and Gowon didn't come prepared? Choi! Some people lack brain cells.

This is akin to students that have a debate, the intelligent one read well on the topic out hand, and the slowpoke didn't read and came unprepared.

When the debate ended, of course there was only going to be one winner, so the slowpoke went home and started complaining that the brilliant student wasn't sincere, he was cunning, and why is he so? Because he prepared well to a debate.

Infact, the above quoted Post is an indictment to Gowon and the zoological republic, it lays to bare the exact reason why the country has remained a third world country. A country led by morons!

pazienza:
[b] Since Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu died, there has been no clear leadership or unity of the Igbo. Why is it so? Even the late Dim, never considered himself as an Igbo leader; if you called him an Igbo leader, he would just chuckle. Don’t get me wrong, he enjoyed the respect and adulation he got from his people. If you saw the way he lived his life among Ndi’igbo, everybody is trying to recreate those attributes that made him so loved by his people. Leaders emerge; leaders are not crowned in Igbo land. By their fruits you shall known them. The greatest unity the Ndi’igbo had was from 1966 to 1970.

Can you tell us your civil war experience.
Did Ojukwu conscript you to fight during the war? No person of my age was conscripted. We desired to join the Biafran Army, we did not fear the military front, we did not fear to die and that was what made the war last as long as it did. If Ojukwu didn’t declare that war at the time he did, we would have killed him. In my set in the Biafran School of Infantry, I was commissioned the same day with Ojo Maduekwe, he wasn’t conscripted. I was commissioned the same day with Joseph Okonkwo, the first Peoples Democratic Party Chairman in Anambra State, he wasn’t conscripted and so many. In fact, if you were turned down, you agonised you didn’t take part. We didn’t regret dying, that was a war we didn’t regret any wound we got. And I had serious wounds in 1968, which I’ve carried till today.

Looking back now, would you say that as a nation we have learnt lessons from that sad episode?
Definitely, we have learnt lessons. To us, the issue was not a matter of Biafra; it was a matter of security of lives and property. It was also a traumatic psychological experience for us to feel unwanted by brethren and by societies where we wanted to belong. In typical Igbo fashion, we said to ourselves that if people rejected us, we should not reject ourselves. I think we’ve learnt that lesson now and we are all over Nigeria and even the killings that happen now, only a few are targeted at us. Many are collateral damage. In 1966, it was definite pogrom. We’ve learnt the lesson that you can’t have pogrom and expect to be one country, if that is one lesson we have learnt, I think we have learnt something.

You were close to Ojukwu, tell us some things about him that many people do not know.
I thank God that I was privileged to have known him for as long as I knew him. I had admired him as a young man. Two things about Ojukwu that the world may not know: He was strong physically, he was strong emotionally. In the language of young people, he was the one person I wanted most to chill with. There are two things he told me: The decision to declare war was the most agonising time of his life, he spent time alone in his office clutching his rosary, this is not the attitude of somebody who wanted to be emperor from the word go. The second thing that he told me was that he could never get out of his system the picture of those people who were killed after he had asked everyone who fled the North, to go back. If those people, who had come to safety, went back and died in gruesome circumstances, he was always praying to God to forgive him. If you entered his study, you will see this picture of a huge Igbo man who was beheaded and his
body sent down to the East by train.

He had people like Uche Chukwumerije, the late Chuba Okadigbo, Ambassador George Obiozor and others around him. What came out was not Ojukwu’s view, what came out was superior argument but in this superior argument, you saw that Ojukwu was a man of great intellectual capacity. I can see why those who didn’t have that kind of intellect will feel threatened. One other thing during the war that people didn’t know was that Ojukwu always slept with his boots on; so, whenever there was crisis, Ojukwu needed just five minutes to move out and to get to the point of the crisis. He wasn’t afraid of a fight. Sometimes, we thought he had a death wish, he wasn’t afraid of bullets and mortars. [/b]

This was an interview granted by Prof. A.B.C Nwosu, who spoke on the Nigerian Civil War, the life of late Biafran warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, to the Punch Newspapers and it was published on Oct 13 2013. Always try to give credit where it is due. http://www.punchng.com/feature/interview/ndigbo-would-have-killed-ojukwu-if-he-had-not-declared-war-a-b-c-nwosu/

The fact that Prof Nwosu was not conscripted, does not mean others were not! Do your research! Philip Emeagwali was conscripted. In his own words, "In July 1969, I was conscripted into the Biafran army and sent to Oguta war front, without any military training or food. I later escaped to Ndoni and volunteered to serve as a cook in the Officer's Mess of the Biafran Army."
http://emeagwali.com/biafra/nigeria-biafra-civil-war-after-the-war-was-over.html

In fact, what Prof. Nwosu said was "nobody of his age was conscripted." Prof. Nwosu at the time of this report was at least 60 years old or more. However, he did not mention what age he was referring to, and he did not say younger men, were not conscripted.

carnegiefan:
Yes, Biafra did not really surrender. If she did, nobody would be talking about it today.
The fact remains that Biafra was defeated militarily, and the ONLY reason for that loss is LACK OF HEAVY MILITARY ASSETS.
Biafra was fighting with light arms: mortars, rifles (most of which were non-automatic), locally made Ogbunigwe (IEDs really), and bare hands.
The only Biafran made weapon that really tickled my fancy was the "Flying Ogbunigwe" -the guided anti-ship missile which had so much potential but lack of resources limited its production and use. And by the time it was available, the war was almost lost.
The Owerri incident whereby an entire Nigerian battalion was totally surrounded and cut off, but could not be finished off due to lack of heavy artillery and anti-tank weapons by Biafrans, summarizes the war for me.

Biafra did not surrender??!

Did you read Gen. Effiong's speech?

pazienza:
Iran negotiations with the West always failed,which was the exact reason Iran was sanctioned. And the sanctions lifted recently when an agreement was reached with Iran. Agreements are only binding when you don't seek to emasculate your opponent in order to get upper hand.

You don't change agreements, you change negotiations.
By seeking to use divide and rule, Gowon sought to scuttle all agreements reached at Aburi. For without decentralization of FG powers, Gowon can decide to remove Ojukwu the next day and replace him with a stooge.
All the agreements reached at Aburi were all anchorred on decentralization of FG powers, without which nothing could be achieved.

Gowon simply doesn't understand what agreement meant.

Guy, you just failed elementary negotiations 101!

Please take it from those who know.... agreements can be (and often are) re-negotiated, and they are often re-negotiated (e.g. when the status quo changes, circumstances change or when one or both parties request the need to do so, in the light of new facts that have arisen etc).

So, I beg you ...don't allow people to laugh at you when you say agreements cannot be re-negotiated. Chai!

Was Decree 8 not anchored on decentralisation of powers??! It proposed a confederacy with a very weak centre, oh!

pazienza:
Like I said before, I respect Uwaechue, but he is entitled to his own opinions, and not his own facts. Facts are sacrosanct, they don't bend, even for Uwaechue.

Ojukwu was a rallying point for the East, as trailers and trailers of Eastern corpses killed by the almajiris with the tacit support of Northern military kept arriving the East, anger, anguish and a sense of revenge descended on the East, Ojukwu had mis calculated, sending us back to the North only for Easterners to be brought back as corpses.

Eastern youths of UNN were demanding that Ojukwu should do something, Angry youths and bereaved parents were demanding the same. Eastern secession was the people's choice, not Ojukwu's, nobody lords it over East, you only carry out our demands or get booted out! What's the point of co existing in the same country with people that want to exterminate you, that was the sentiment in the East then,angry Youths willingly enrolled into the Biafran Army.

Yorubas and their Arewa partners cannot re write Biafra history for Biafrans.

Guy, you are the revisionist now. Nobody is re-writing any history for Biafra.

You are the one that has refused to accept that there are many sides to a war, and as such there are different perspectives about such a war! The dramatis personae always vary depending on the event, and they all have different stories to tell. That was why in one of my earlier posts, I recommended that you should read different books on Biafra, especially those written by other authors, when you were stubbornly citing Diamond's views as if it was your Bible on the civil war.

Uwechue's report about the war, is just as valid as Ojukwu's side of the war. And Uwechue's opinions are supported with hard core facts ranging from diplomatic dispatches from various embassies, actual meetings with heads of states, eye witness accounts of things that transpired etc.

So why would you discountenance Uwechue's account, especially when you have NOT read his book? Na wah oh! His book was published in 2004. Ojukwu died in 2011. Did Ojukwu contradict him or denounce what Uwechue had written, when he was still alive??

hakeem4:
but they were conquered

after conquered obj now plead to federal govt to accept the surrender.

laudate:
No, you are the one grasping at straws and beating about the bush. I had made reference in one of my previous posts to show that the minorities agitated for their own independence. Another report puts it better.



While the Yoruba-dominated Action Group Party of the fifties, allowed the ethnic minorities of Benin-Edo-itsekiri etc, to have their own Mid-Western region carved out of the old Western region, the Igbo-dominated NCNC political party did not support the eastern minorities in their quest for a region of their own.

The above crap could only be strung together by an ill-educated bed-wetter.

laudate:
Why the name calling? Others have quoted a variety of sources in their bid to support their stance. Did you ask any of them to check the veracity of those sources, or the mental balance of the author? Is there a standard that can be applied through the internet for checking the mental balance of an author? Kindly share it with us, as we are not psychiatrists or clinical psychologists!

I was not the originator of the comment that Uwechue was a secretary in the Biafran cabinet. The source where that statement was made, was clearly cited in my last post. Another source claims that Ralph Uwechue was the Biafra Representative in France. http://www./Biafra%20facts%201967.htm

However, what is obvious is that Ralph Uwechue played key roles in Biafra, and interacted with Ojukwu at close quarters. Apart from this, the comment that Uwechue made about Ojukwu, was lifted from his own book titled "Reflections on the Nigerian Civil War: Facing the Future": a 244 page paperback published by Trafford Publishing, which was quoted directly by the author. It is available on Amazon.

There is no doubt you have issues with comprehension. Even when given the whole year to redeem a little credebility, you could not fathom out that Ralp Uwechue was ambassador of Biafra to France. Where you got the bolded in the above post that Ralp Uwechue was secretary in the Biafran cabinet beats my wild imagination. In fact, I am not surprised at the craps coming from you on this discuss. By the way, anybody associated with a government in any capacity does not include him or her as a cabinet member.

Duru1:
There is no doubt you have issues with comprehension. Even when given the whole year to redeem a little credebility, you could not fathom out that Ralp Uwechue was ambassador of Biafra to France. Where you got the bolded in the above post that Ralp Uwechue was secretary in the Biafran cabinet beats my wild imagination. In fact, I am not surprised at the craps coming from you on this discuss.

Don't be surprised, because none of it is crap. But then I can't blame you ...you must have been so used to 'crap', that you cannot tell the difference when the truth hits you.

Anyone with a modicum of civility would simply have said: "Uwechue was actually the Biafran diplomatic representative to France, and not Secretary in the Biafran cabinet?" But no, you had to insert invectives and insults because that is the way you have been taught. No problem.

Here, read this link: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/SMR.htm

It was actually an American military officer, Michael R. Stafford, a Major in the United States Army who called Uwechue a secretary in the cabinet. Here are his words:

"..In this position, Ojukwu emerged as the leader of the Ibo. Said a former Secretary in the Biafra Govenment, Raph Uwechue, "It is sad but instructive irony that Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwa, one of Africa's one-time most brilliant political promises, was the man that led his own people with such a lack of ingenuity into what was clearly a foreseeable disaster."(1) http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/SMR.htm

Go and take it up with him, if you like.

pazienza:
You don't get it. No one stopped them. You can't stop a people United and hell bent on separate existence from you, especially if their perceived injustice/marginalization is real. Awo learnt this lesson the hard way with the mid west, so did the East with Bamenda. The people were united, and the injustice was real. There was no stopping them.

That wasn't the case in the East. Eyo ita was the premier and the Obong of Calabar was the leader of the Eastern house of chiefs. There was Equity.

The Southern Cameroons was never administered as a part of Eastern Nigeria. It was administered separately under the Federal government of Nigeria. What you said above is completely false.
in October 1954, the federation of Nigeria was organized, comprising the Northern region, Western region, Eastern region, Federal Capital Territory Lagos, and the Southern Cameroons
They voted in a plebiscite as a UN Trusteeship territory that had formerly belonged to Germany, to out of the Nigerian union, and join the territory of French Cameroon.

So, I don't exactly understand why you are trying to do, by equating the independence of Southern Cameroons/Bamenda with the excision of the Mid-West from the Western region.

[b] Anybody who was present at the Aburi
meetburi meeting or has read the minutes,
the communiqués, statements, and
verbatim reports would be surprised that a
person who calls himself a head of state
could so deliberately mislead accredited
representatives of foreign governments by
saying that the implementation of each
item of the conclusions required prior
detailed examination by the administrative
and professional experts in the various
fields. The conclusions in Aburi were no
proposals but decisions taken by the
highest authority in the land.
What happened in fact was that specific
matters, namely, the decrees and sections
of decrees to be repealed, the mechanics
of army reorganization, and the question
of rehabilitation of refugees, were referred
to experts. The meeting of the financial
experts to consider the question of
rehabilitation of displaced persons has
not been held because the Ministry of
Finance does not think that such that
such a meeting would serve any useful
purpose. The army experts met and
reached agreements, but these were
rejected.
Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon told
the Heads of Missions that the agreement
about returning the regions to the
positions before January 17 also meant in
effect that the federal government in
Lagos would continue to carry on its
functions as before. He failed to inform
the world that the decisions taken at
Aburi, the federal government meant no
more than the Supreme Military Council.
No one of course who knows the sort of
advice Lieutenant-Colonel Gowon is
receiving in Lagos would be surprised by
this suppression and distortion of the
truth.
The actual Aburi decisions read as
follows:
Members agree that the legislative
and executive authority of the
Federal Military Government should
remain in the Supreme Military
Council, to which any decision
affecting the whole country shall be
referred for determination provided
that where it is possible for a
meeting to be held the matter
requiring determination must be
referred to military governors for
their comment and concurrence.
Specifically, the council agreed that
appointments to senior ranks in the
police, diplomatic, and consular
services as well as appointment to
superscale posts in the federal civil
service and the equivalent posts in
the statutory corporation must be
approved by the Supreme Military
Council. [/b]
http://www.kwenu.com/biafra/on_aburi_we_stand.htm

You know nothing if you say there was decentralization of power.

The meat of contention between Gowon and Ojukwu was decentralization of power, in this case, the power resting on the supreme military council, and all decisions made to be subjected under the military council, with Gowon serving as a figure head of that council, a commander in chief like Ojukwu suggested.

On the basis of this, Gowon had no right to create new states, give decree 8, and other things without the sitting of the military supreme council that Ojukwu should be part of.

Gowon wanted absolute power over the whole regions!

This was the meat of the negotiation, everything else was anchored on it, and this was exactly the part Gowon reneged on!

In July 1969, I was conscripted into the
Biafran army and sent to Oguta war front,
without any military training or food. I
later escaped to Ndoni and volunteered to
serve as a cook in the Officer's Mess of
the Biafran Army.


This was towards the end of the war, when the number of willing soldiers had thinned out. The not so willingly were then forced to join, as is done in war.
Emeagwali obviously was not so interested in the war, and that would explain why he volunteered to be at the kitchen rather than the war front, men like him were taunted for being weaklings those days, my dad told me.

At the beginning of the war, all that joined the. Biafran Army joined willingly. My father went all the way from Onitsha to St Vincent college Agbogwugwu in Awgu Enugu state,So many were rejected then, those that were taken counted it as a thing of pride.
And it was this willing youths that were vocal in the demand for Biafra, and they were indeed the majority.

My dad joined the Biafran Army together with his two elder brothers, at the very beginning of the war and they had to travel all the way from Onitsha to Agbogwugwu in Enugu to join, such was their passion and belief in Biafran freedom.

laudate:
Guy, you are the revisionist now. Nobody is re-writing any history for Biafra.

You are the one that has refused to accept that there are many sides to a war, and as such there are different perspectives about such a war! The dramatis personae always vary depending on the event, and they all have different stories to tell. That was why in one of my earlier posts, I recommended that you should read different books on Biafra, especially those written by other authors, when you were stubbornly citing Diamond's views as if it was your Bible on the civil war.

Uwechue's report about the war, is just as valid as Ojukwu's side of the war. And Uwechue's opinions are supported with hard core facts ranging from diplomatic dispatches from various embassies, actual meetings with heads of states, eye witness accounts of things that transpired etc.

So why would you discountenance Uwechue's account, especially when you have NOT read his book? Na wah oh! His book was published in 2004. Ojukwu died in 2011. Did Ojukwu contradict him or denounce what Uwechue had written, when he was still alive??

I don't need to read Uwaechue's book to smell lies when I see one.

Biafra was the Eastern people's choice, people asked Ojukwu to declare for secession after Ojukwu had exhausted all peaceful options,to state that Ojukwu forced Ndiigbo into war is not only a historical revision, but an insult to the Igbo spirit, which will never bend to the whims and caprices of one man, so much that, we evolved a democratic system thousands of years before the Greeks knew the meaning of that.

Maybe tomorrow, history revisionists like you will come and tell us that Kanu Nnamdi forced Ndiigbo to war, when in actual sense, Ndiigbo is using Kanu Nnamdi to achieve our freedom, hence why he controls fellowership today, all over Igboland.

pazienza:
[b] Anybody who was present at the Aburi
meetburi meeting or has read the minutes,
the communiqués, statements, and
verbatim reports would be surprised that a
person who calls himself a head of state
could so deliberately mislead accredited
representatives of foreign governments by
saying that the implementation of each
item of the conclusions required prior
detailed examination by the administrative
and professional experts in the various
fields. The conclusions in Aburi were no
proposals but decisions taken by the
highest authority in the land.
What happened in fact was that specific
matters, namely, the decrees and sections
of decrees to be repealed, the mechanics
of army reorganization, and the question
of rehabilitation of refugees, were referred
to experts. The meeting of the financial
experts to consider the question of
rehabilitation of displaced persons has
not been held because the Ministry of
Finance does not think that such that
such a meeting would serve any useful
purpose. The army experts met and
reached agreements, but these were
rejected.
Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon told
the Heads of Missions that the agreement
about returning the regions to the
positions before January 17 also meant in
effect that the federal government in
Lagos would continue to carry on its
functions as before. He failed to inform
the world that the decisions taken at
Aburi, the federal government meant no
more than the Supreme Military Council.
No one of course who knows the sort of
advice Lieutenant-Colonel Gowon is
receiving in Lagos would be surprised by
this suppression and distortion of the
truth.
The actual Aburi decisions read as
follows:
Members agree that the legislative
and executive authority of the
Federal Military Government should
remain in the Supreme Military
Council, to which any decision
affecting the whole country shall be
referred for determination provided
that where it is possible for a
meeting to be held the matter
requiring determination must be
referred to military governors for
their comment and concurrence.
Specifically, the council agreed that
appointments to senior ranks in the
police, diplomatic, and consular
services as well as appointment to
superscale posts in the federal civil
service and the equivalent posts in
the statutory corporation must be
approved by the Supreme Military
Council. [/b]

You know nothing if you say there was decentralization of power.

The meat of contention between Gowon and Ojukwu was decentralization of power, in this case, the power resting on the supreme military council, and all decisions made to be subjected under the military council, with Gowon serving as a figure head of that council, a commander in chief like Ojukwu suggested.

On the basis of this, Gowon had no right to create new states, give decree 8, and other things without the sitting of the military supreme council that Ojukwu should be part of.

This was the meat of the negotiation, everything else was anchored on it, and this was exactly the part Gowon reneged on!

Ehn... why do you persist in citing other people's comments without including the sources or the links to such comments?? Don't allow anyone to accuse you of plagiarism oh!

The comments in bold were actually made by Ojukwu on May 30 1969, and published by Vanguard Newspaper on the 27th of November 2011. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/on-aburi-we-stand-the-distortion-of-accord-by-ojukwu/#sthash.guR2wUbb.dpuf

The actual Aburi decisions read as follows:

Members agree that the legislative and executive authority of the Federal Military Government should remain in the Supreme Military Council, to which any decision affecting the whole country shall be referred for determination provided that where it is possible for a meeting to be held the matter requiring determination must be referred to military governors for their comment and concurrence.
Specifically, the council agreed that appointments to senior ranks in the police, diplomatic, and consular services as well as appointment to superscale posts in the federal civil service and the equivalent posts in the statutory corporation must be approved by the Supreme Military Council.

The regional members felt that all the decrees passed since January 15, 1966, and which detracted from previous powers and positions of regional governments, should be repealed if mutual confidence is to be restored etc.,

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/on-aburi-we-stand-the-distortion-of-accord-by-ojukwu/#sthash.guR2wUbb.dpuf

If Ojukwu believed so much in the Aburi accord, how come he ignored several calls to meet with Gowon after the accord concerning the decisions taken in Ghana?? It was Ojukwu's refusal, intransigence and subsequent actions that precipitated the creation of Decree 8. Ojukwu ignored Decree 8 which would have also given him most of what he wanted, and his subsequent actions forced Gowon's hand which led to the creation of states. You keep saying Gowon had no rights to do this or that. This was a military regime, so what rights are you referring to?

Oh, Gowon had no right to issue a decree, but Ojukwu had rights to unilaterally declare secession and seize properties that jointly belonged to the entire country, abi?

If Ojukwu believed in the Aburi accord, how come he decided to corner the oil assets meant for the whole country, simply because they were in the East, without informing the SMC or regional governments in other parts of the country, when it was agreed at Aburi that this would be the path through which major decisions would be taken??

How come he seized planes belonging to the Nigeria Airways alongside coaches, land and property of the Nigeria Railways which was the joint property of the entire country, simply because they were located within his regional borders in the East, without consulting governors of the other regions or the Supreme Military Council (SMC) as stipulated in the accord??

Anyway, Ojukwu misinformed Nigerians about Aburi according to Gowon. My only grouse with Gowon was the fact that he did not make this remark when Ojukwu was alive. I would have like to see Ojukwu's reaction.

Nigeria’s wartime leader, Yakubu Gowon, a retired general, has accused Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who led eastern Nigeria in an unsuccessful secession bid in 1967, of misrepresenting the Aburi Accord to Nigerians. The accord was reached at a meeting held between January 4-5, 1967, in Aburi, a Ghanaian town, between delegates of the federal military government and the now defunct eastern region as part of efforts to prevent the looming civil war in the aftermath of the 1966 military coups. Gowon said this while marking his remarks at the launch of a book, “The people s choice” written by Rev. Fr. Charles Imohkai.

He said: “I have seen that you (Imokhai) have gone back in history in your research when Ojukwu and myself had the Aburi Accord. “I was fascinated by that because I can assure you that that meeting was to break the ice and for all of us, the military leaders at the time, be allowed to be able to agree to be discussing our problems in Nigeria and to solve them.‎"

“What happened to us at Aburi was that I couldn’t make it down (to Nigeria) because I was unfortunately down with a fever. “Ojukwu got back (before me) and made a statement and that wasn’t what we discussed and that was the beginning of the misunderstanding. “Since you presented that we had a meeting, I thought I should make that comment and to correct that.”

Read more at: https://www.thecable.ng/gowon-ojukwu-misinformed-nigerians-aburi-accord
http://newtelegraphonline.com/gowon-accuses-ojukwu-of-distorting-aburi-accord/

He also gave further insight into this aspect at a public function held in Anambra state.

Speaking as a guest speaker at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Universirty, (COOU) pre-convocation lecture to herald the 6th Convocation of the university , Gowon said that Ojukwu’s stubbornness which led him to hold a state broadcast contrary to the agreement in the Aburi accord and also declaring that the accord was for a con-federal government was the reason for the war.

He said, “The accord was meant to enable parties involved break the ice and meet as officers and gentlemen to discuss and solve our problem and preferable in our homeland but Ojukwu insisted on a foreign land.

“We went there with no preposition paper, but to meet and discuss, but Ojukwu came with a prepared paper. On return from Ghana it was agreed that I will make the first broadcast and the regional heads will make theirs, but I was down with malaria when I came back and Ojukwu went on air to say we agreed to a confederation which I had strongly objected.

“This was why we made Decree eight, which Ojukwu rejected. We made the decree and were ready to implement it to the letter because we had given Ojukwu all that he wanted. I got the secretary to the government and Some senior civil servant to review the accord and we came up with the decree I had mentioned. So who ever said the accord failed because of me is not saying the truth, and if there had been no succession by Ojukwu, there would be no civil war.

“I have read several accounts with some amusing me. One of the most misunderstood is that which pertain to the Aburi accord and failure to stop the civil war. Ojukwu had already taken some anti government stand including the hijacking of Nigeria Airways plane and annexation of branches of CBN, Post Offices and cornering of revenue to the new state, and all these meant succession which led to the war.” Gowon said.

He insisted that even in the outbreak of hostilities, he never referred to themselves as enemies, but truly enough because they were rebelling against the Federal government there had to be trouble. http://www.odogwublog.com/2015/03/blame-ojukwu-for-nigerias-civil-war.html

“We went there with no preposition
paper, but to meet and discuss, but
Ojukwu came with a prepared paper.

This part got we rolling on the floor! Really? Morons leading a country, you went to a negotiation without papers, no plan, nothing just to discuss and probably eat and drink? Right!

And yet this was a man that led Nigeria for like 5 years? How then can he negotiate better deals for Nigeria in international arena where he wouldn't have the advantage of declaring war on the country to get his way, simply because he failed at negotiations?*grins*

So tell me now, who came to Aburi ready to negotiate for peace, hence prepared well by doing his home work, and who came with no plans of really negotiating, hoping to declare war later?

If Ojukwu believed in the Aburi accord,
how come he decided to corner the oil
assets meant for the whole country,
simply because they were in the East,
without informing the SMC or regional
governments in other parts of the country,
when it was agreed at Aburi that this
would be the path through which major
decisions would be taken??

The crude oil, coal and palm oil in the East belongs to the East, and not to Nigeria.

Just as the Cocoa of the West belongs to the West

And the groundnut of the North belongs to the East.

Each region harvests it's resources and pay a token to the FG, according to the derivation formula.

Other political decisions is to carried out by the centre, which in this case should now be the Supreme council.

This is how our regionalism has been working, why should it be now changed?
Because the East found oil, or because some people jettisoned their secession plans( Araba) because of the newly discovered Eastern region wealth, and would now die on top of it? Right.

How can the Eastern oil wealth be meant for the whole country? Was the North tin ore made for the whole country? Was the East Coal made for the whole country, or do we have an existing derivation ration between the centre and the regions?

pazienza:
I don't need to read Uwaechue's book to smell lies when I see one.

Biafra was the Eastern people's choice, people asked Ojukwu to declare for secession after Ojukwu had exhausted all peaceful options,to state that Ojukwu forced Ndiigbo into war is not only a historical revision, but an insult to the Igbo spirit, which will never bend to the whims and caprices of one man, so much that, we evolved a democratic system thousands of years before the Greeks knew the meaning of that.

Maybe tomorrow, history revisionists like you will come and tell us that Kanu Nnamdi forced Ndiigbo to war, when in actual sense, Ndiigbo is using Kanu Nnamdi to achieve our freedom, hence why he controls fellowership today, all over Igboland.

You have NOT read the book, "yet you can smell lies?" Hehehe... wonders will never cease. What are you? Psychic? Or twisted?? Choose one.

Thank God Uwechue was Igbo. Otherwise you would have dismissed him as part of the Arewa-Odua evil doers, fighting to exterminate your people. You do suffer from a persecution complex, judging by the way you describe other ethnic groups in Nigeria.

Next you said,"Biafra was the people's choice." No one is arguing with that. But as a leader Ojukwu should have warned his people about the costs of going to war, the losses that would ensue and the hardship, pain and suffering that emanates from embarking on such a course of action. He should have told them that their proposed Biafra lacked adequate ammunition to protect them and that getting food would be difficult, if they decided to go to war. Instead, he chose to lead them to war. No problem. But why do the Igbo keep blaming other ethnic groups for all they lost in the war, since they were the ones that voluntarily embarked on the war, in the first place?

At least on the Nigerian side, Adebayo the military governor of the Western region warned not just his own people, but also Ojukwu and his men on the devastating consequences that were likely to occur.

"I need not tell you what horror, what devastation and what extreme human suffering will attend the use of force. When it is all over and the smoke and dust have lifted, and the dead are buried, we shall find, as other people have found, that it has all been futile, entirely futile, in solving the problems we set out to solve." Major-General Robert Adeyinka Adebayo, Military Governor of old Western Region 1966-1971 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Adeyinka_Adebayo#cite_note-6
http://www.kwenu.com/biafra/nowa_may30.htm

As for Nnamdi Kanu, you guys are free to do with him what you wish. If he decides to lead the Igbo into another unfortunate position, please do not go back to anyone to file any complaints.

The regional members felt that all
the decrees passed since January
15, 1966, and which detracted from
previous powers and positions of
regional governments, should be
repealed if mutual confidence is to
be restored.

By this part of agreement, the regions should run like they have been ran before the first coup.

In other words, the regional control of regional resources, and 50-50 sharing formula between the regions and the Center returns.

The only difference being that the Supreme council now serves as the center.

Of course, Gowon didn't understand the implication of that part of the deal, right? He had inferior intellectual and mental capacity, yet he went to a negotiation table without a paper!

Lol!