By Tony Adibe
As the Igbo this season remember the tragedy of the Nigeria/Biafra War from May 30, 1966, to January 15, 1970, an Igbo pressure group, the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) has clarified the real reason behind the incursion of the Biafran soldiers into the then Mid-Western and the Western Regions of Nigeria as the civil war raged.
NewsBits learnt that since after the war, there has been a rather erroneous impression to the extent that the Biafran soldiers were on a mission of ‘conquest and expansionism’, in order to dominate and occupy the rest of Nigeria, hence the Biafran forces made inroad into the then mid-west and western region of Nigeria, up to Ore in present Ondo State.
But, 54 years after the civil war, an elder statesman, and President of Alaigbo Development Foundation, Emeritus Professor Uzodinma T. Nwala said such false narrative, from misinformed anti-Igbo elements, was fabricated to demonize Biafran forces and indeed, make the Igbo vulnerable before the rest of Nigerians and the international community.
As if putting the records straight , Prof. Nwala said that contrary to all the age-long lies and fabrications dished out by the then General Yakubu Gowon-led Military Government to mislead the world, the truth was that Biafran forces responded to the invitation from the then Yoruba leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who sent a distress call to the then Biafran Leader, General Emeka Ojukwu to send soldiers to rescue them (Yoruba) from the northern soldiers who had, contrary to the Aburi Accord, occupied the western region.
The Professor of African Philosophy spoke during an exclusive interview with NewsBits at the ADF National Secretariat, New Haven, Enugu as part of the activities to mark the annual memorial ceremony of the Biafran war and what the Igbo suffered at the time. He said it “is very sad and unfortunate” that the Nigerian government had, over the years, spread this false narrative which many people believed without even interrogating its veracity or credibility.
He emphasized that the well-researched, green-and-black colour, 21-chapter, 182-page book entitled, “The Nigerian January 1966 Coup And Biafra: Myths And Realities,” published by ADF with documented evidence has “punctured the balloon of falsehood” which was released to the world by the then Nigerian military government.
The former university don said: “Now coming to the Biafra incursion into the mid-west and western regions; when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was in prison in Calabar; people didn’t know that he hardly slept in that prison yard. The Premier of Eastern Region, Dr. M. I. Okpara used to bring him to the State House and keep him with his wife to sleep there, and in the morning, they would be taken back to the prison.
“So, after the coup, when Awolowo was released by Emeka Ojukwu, he had some discussion with Ojukwu. And he made that famous statement, ‘if by omission or commission, Igbos were allowed to leave Nigeria, the Yorubas will also leave’. Then after he landed in Lagos.
“When he got to Lagos, he saw that the whole place (western region) was controlled and occupied by northern soldiers as against the Aburi Accord in Ghana. The Aburi Accord of the military people demanded that soldiers should go back to their region of origin. Soldiers from the west left east and left the north; soldiers from the east left the north and left the west and came back to Enugu. Northern soldiers left Enugu but then remained in Lagos, and the west.
“So, Awolowo didn’t feel comfortable. He then asked Ojukwu to send troops to come and join to liberate the Yoruba soldiers from the northern soldiers in the western region. Well, Ojukwu, a very nice patriot and fine soldier. So, he now agreed, and set up a contingent, the Liberation Army to move from Benin, Ore to Lagos.
“And who was leader of the Liberation army? Col. Victor Banjo, Wole Soyinka and others were there. What was the army called? It was called Liberation Force. When Banjo got to Ore, he sent Soyinka to go to Lagos, and alert General Olusegun Obasanjo, asking him to mobilize other Yoruba soldiers to join them in liberating Yorubaland from the northern soldiers who occupied the area.”
Nwala recounted that there was, however, a sudden twist as events unfolded. He claimed that rather than Obasanjo going to mobilize other Yoruba soldiers to join the Liberation Force in line with Banjo’s agenda, he (Obasanjo) revealed the plot to Gowon, who later reached out to the British officials in Lagos, who helped him to scuttle the plan.
Nwala further said: “However, Obasanjo informed Gowon of what was happening; of course, Gowon then informed the British who were organizing them, organizing their forces and so on and so forth. The British now brought him (Gowon) and Awolowo together, and agreed on power-sharing.
“And there and then Awolowo was appointed Vice Chairman of the Military Council – a civilian, Chief Awolowo was appointed into such a position, and was promised that Gowon was going to hand over to him in two years time the presidency of the country. So, that for Awolowo, was like what one has been busy searching for in the sky, one has eventually found same thing on the ground!”
Prof Nwala recalled that Awolowo having been given such a juicy position in the government, then sent a message to Banjo asking him to discontinue his movement with the Liberation Army to the western region or else he would be treated not like a liberator but a man on a conquest mission.
According to Nwala, “So, he now sent message to Banjo and told him do not proceed further; if you proceed further, you will be treated like a man on a conquering mission, not as a liberator. So, everything was scattered as there was confusion. The whole contingent of the Liberation army collapsed, and the northern troops came now from Ore to Benin, to Auchi, to Warri, and to Asaba. That’s what happened.”
Nwala, however, regretted that for Ojukwu to have taken such a high-risk decision without due consultation with the elders of Biafra such as Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr Akanu Ibiam, Dr. M.T. Mbu, Chief Eyo Ita, and others, gave him (Ojukwu) out as a leader on a “one-man-show”, which never helped matters in Biafra.
The ADF President also spoke on the motive behind the January 15, 1966, military coup led by Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, stressing that findings from the ADF thorough research, indicated that the January 15 coup was to release Awolowo from Calabar prison and make him Prime Minister of Nigeria. He insisted that “if anything, that coup should be tagged, ‘Awolowo coup’ because if the Igbo soldiers like Emeka Ojukwu and Aguiyi Ironsi had not stopped the coup in Kano and Lagos respectively, Chief Awolowo would have been the greatest beneficiary of it.”
Nwala further said: “Yes. He (Ojukwu) was like that. He didn’t work with the elders; he didn’t work with them. I still remember when Ojukwu came to Nsukka. That was after the coup. He addressed the students. We listened to him. He was very critical of Zik and others. Ojukwu tried to legitimate himself as the overall saviour of Ndigbo.”
- Read full text of the interview in subsequent editions of NewsBits
