A 45 years old lies, "Matters Arising"

"People were told that it was an Igbo coup but that is not correct. It is a very interesting part of the Nigerian story. In the first place, there have been many serious lies that have been told by our leaders in the last 45 years of Nigeria's history. Our leaders have not been bold enough to tell us the truth...the plan of the coup makers was to release Awolowo from jail and make him their own leader."

----- Odia Ofeimun, former Secretary to Obafemi Awolowo in Guardian Newspapers Sunday May 6, 2007.

"Thousands of Yorubas in Lagos and throughout the West celebrated into the early hours today over the release of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the hero of the Action Group who was jailed for subversion in 1962. The decision to free Awolowo and his associates had already been made a week ago, July 27, by General Ironsi and they were to have been released tomorrow, Thursday, August 4. But the public did not know this.."

------ New York Times August 3, 1966.

"Do you also know that I released Chief Awolowo from prison?"

--- General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Vanguard Newspapers Monday November 17, 2003.

"The leader of Nigeria's Western Region Chief Obafemi Awolowo declared today that if the East seceded, the West and the Federal Territory of Lagos would also break away from the federation. Before a cheering throng of Western leaders in Lagos today, Chief Awolowo threw his prestige and the weight of the Western Region behind the East in its confrontation with the Northern-led federal military government."

--- New York Times Monday May 1, 1967.

"...a war against the East could only be a war favoured by the north alone. Second, if the true purpose of such a war is to preserve the unity and integrity of the Federation, these ends can be achieved by the very simple devices of implementing the recommendation of the Committee which met on August 9, 1966, as re-affirmed by the decision of the military leaders at Aburi on January 5, 1967."

--- Excerpt from Obafemi Awolowo's speech to Western Leaders of Thought at Ibadan May 1, 1967

"Three weeks ago, Chief Awolowo publicly endorsed the East's demand for a loose confederation of Nigeria's four existing regions: East, West, Mid-West and North. Chief Awolowo also went on record as saying that if the East seceded, the West will automatically follow, setting in motion the possible brake-up of the federation. The fact that he has now consented to join Gen. Gowon's advisory group indicates at least his temporary acceptance of the General's policies."

---- New York Times. June 3, 1967.

"The record of Awolowo, the only major political leader left in Nigeria, made it highly likely that his stand would be strongly influenced by his antipathy toward the Ibos and that he would opt for unity if offered a leading role in the FMG."
--- United States Diplomatic Archives: Nigeria (1964 - 1968). Foreign Relations of the United States 1964 - 1968, Volume XXIV Africa. Department of State, Washington D.C.

"Awolowo saw the dominant Igbos at the time as the obstacles to that goal (leading political power), and when the opportunity arose - the Nigeria-Biafra war - his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafra case it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation - eliminating over two million people mainly members of future generations."

--- Chinua Achebe Africa's greatest writer and world's most widely read author of the 20th century in his book: "There was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra" page 233, published November 2012 by The Penguin Press, New York USA.
"All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don't see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder."
--- Chief Obafemi Awolowo (minister of Finance, 1967 - 1970) New York Review. 21 December, 1967.

"But there were hard-liners in Gowon's cabinet who wanted their pound of flesh, the most powerful among them being Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Federal Commissioner For Finance. Under his guidance a banking policy was evolved which nullified any banking account which had been operated during the Civil War. This had the immediate result of pauperizing the Igbo middle class and earning a profit of 4 million pounds for the Federal Government Treasury.

The Indigenization Decree which followed soon afterwards completed the routing of the Igbo from the commanding heights of the Nigerian economy to everyone's apparent satisfaction."
---- Chinua Achebe in "The Trouble With Nigeria" pages 45 and 46, published in 1983 by Cox and Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire, Britain.

"Awolowo had been a steadfast Yoruba Nationalist from the 1940s to date. He had no record of betrayal, double-talk or even indecision in the pursuit of his goals. But above all he had in recent years as the leading civilian member of the Gowon administration presided over a monumental transfer and consolidation (through anti-Igbo policies) of economic, bureaucratic and professional power to his home base. This singular achievement secured for Awolowo for the first time in his political career something approaching 100 percent support among the Yoruba."
---- Chinua Achebe in "The Trouble With Nigeria" page 55, published 1983 by Cox and Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire, Britain.

"Awolowo dismantled Fiscal Federalism in 1968 (usurping oil ownership and control from South-East and Mid-West Regions to the center controlled Hausa-fulani-Yoruba) and as the author of Gowon's economic policy from 1967 - 1970, he stripped the Southern Minorities of their resource rights and control through the Chief G.I. Dina Commission."
--- Obi Nwakanma Vanguard Newspapers Sunday July 31, 2005.

"Since 1969 (under Yakubu Gowon/Obafemi Awolowo war regime), Nigeria's military governments centralized control of Oil Industry under the presidency. Obasanjo is, however, the first head of state to also serve as Oil Minister, further limiting public scrutiny of the country's oil sector."

--- David Philips, executive director of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. Guardian Newspapers Monday January 1, 2007.
"Awolowo was a devil and his policies led to the present problems that the people of Niger Delta are fighting."
--- Asari Dokubo Champion Newspapers Tuesday march 22, 2005.

"The same UNICEF representative (Deputy Director E.J.R. Dickheyward) went on to convey something of what lay behind this intransigence" "Among the large majority hailing from the tribe (Yorubas) who are most vocal in inciting the complete extermination of the Ibos, I often heard remarks that all Nigeria's ills will be cured once the Ibos have been removed."
Dan Jocobs Senior United Nations Information Officer for UNICEF in his book "Brutality of Nations" page 42, published by random House Inc. New York 1987.