Chief Ayo Adebanjo is one of the surviving acolytes of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. In this interview with Ayo Esan, he speaks about the accusations laid against Awolowo by renowned novelist, Professor Chinua Achebe, who in his latest book, ‘There was a country’, passes scathing remarks on Awolowo and the roles he played during the civil war. Adebanjo’s reactions to extracts from the book are ingrained. He is virtually saying, ‘Achebe has lied against the dead.’ Excerpts:

Professor Chinua Achebe in his new book has accused the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo of having caused many Igbo people to die of starvation, by a federal policy of cutting off food supplies to the East. What is your reaction to this?

As to the question of the pogrom and the annihilation of the Igbo, there can be nothing further from the truth. Achebe is just being mischievous. For him to say that in his latest book does not surprise those of us who were around during the war. This is because, such statements were propagated during the war and we thought it was just a war propaganda emanating from the Igbo Biafra. And some writers at that time who were supporters of Biafra’s cause including Professor Achebe, wrote such. Like I said, his statements and accusations against Awolowo are not unfamiliar to those of us who were around during the civil war, and who knew that falsehood and half-truths were bandied around then, especially from Biafra Radio and supporters of the Biafra cause, notable among whom was Professor Chinua Achebe. But we know as a fact that Achebe has pathological hatred for Awolowo and for the Yoruba race in general. You remember his reaction when Professor Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Laureate Award? He said he (Soyinka) stole it from him and all that. That is the type of a person he is. But what surprised me is that at the age of over 80, a man like that could now resort to these types of old things that separated us. The different groups have been trying to live together in peace. We have been working with the Easterners.

What he is talking about is not true. Then you now say Chief Awolowo wanted to starve the Igbo to death; that is not true. They were supplying food there but it was discovered that the food being supplied there were cornered by Biafran soldiers. And until they stopped that, war didn’t end. If the foods were being sent and the soldiers would not allow the people to benefit, we better stopped it so that there wouldn’t be anything to corner. That was strategic.

He also talked about their financial institutions.

Talking about their financial institutions, that he wanted to impoverish them, that he only gave them 20 pounds after the war…But there was no record of the amount they had in the banks before the war. The claimant couldn’t show their passbooks, the banks themselves had been burnt. And Achebe just wants them to say ‘well, pay Tom, Dick and Harry’ when the whole country is bankrupt. In fact, how can you say many of them had substantial amount in banks, when as it is the normal thing, there will be a run on the bank? And particularly, the Igbo who knew they were fighting for their country would have withdrawn their money. But that notwithstanding, the Central Bank set up a committee to look at what could be done in that circumstance. It was that committee, whose members Awolowo did not know, that recommended 20 pounds. And 20 pounds was not small money at that time. That is by the way.

He also said that Awolowo wanted to eliminate the Igbo, because he saw them as an impediment to his ambition to rule the country. This is very important, but that is not true. It is true to say that Awolowo wanted to rule the country but it is very unkind to say he wanted it by eliminating a section of the country. Awolowo made all efforts to rule the country with the progressive elements. And this he demonstrated not by words of mouth. Even in the election we had before independence, he offered to serve under Dr Nnamdi Azikwe. This is also important because many people didn’t know that he wanted an alliance between the Action Group and the NCNC, where Dr. Azikiwe will be the Prime Minister and he the Minister of Finance. But the NCNC turned it down but chose to work with the NPC. And to confirm this, anybody who can do the research should get the New Nation published in 1977 by Gbolabo Ogunsanwo . In that publication, Dr Okpara referred to that incident and said he regretted that he did not support that proposition.

That is somebody Achebe said wanted to eliminate the Igbo for him to rule the country. But in actual fact, he had offered himself to work under an Igbo man.

Let me react to the accusation that Awolowo wanted to impoverish them during the war. When Gowon created the states and created the East Central State, which was mainly for the Igbo, Awolowo as Commissioner of Finance, was keeping all the allocation that was due to that state. He was keeping it for the state. After the war, he handed it over to them for development. After the war, the African Continental Bank (ACB) and the Co-operative Bank of Eastern Nigeria which were the financial institutions of the East that were moribund during the war, Awolowo lodged substantial amount of money there for the banks to continue operation. Is that an attitude of somebody that hates them? After the war, he now wrote to all prominent Igbo leaders abroad, including Professor Achebe, to come back home. Among those who came back home as a result of that and who he himself personally sponsored were Chief M.C.K. Ajuluchukwu and his wife, who was a doctor. And after returning home Awo facilitated a job for his wife at the Lagos Teaching Hospital. That is a man that doesn’t like the Igbo. He even employed Ajuluchukwu himself. Do you know Ajuluchukwu was the editor of Azikiwe’s West African Pilot? So he wasn’t a small man among the Igbo, just like Jakande was the editor of the Nigerian Tribune. He even made him (Ajuluchukwu) the Director of Research and Information of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) which was his party. That was the man who was said to hate the Igbo. How do you reconcile that? So, all he was saying was just based on the fact that he doesn’t like the Yoruba and Awolowo. And this is after over 40 years or thereafter.

http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/interviews/achebe-has-never-liked-awolowo-or-the-yoruba-adebanjo/

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
No love lost between 2 tribalists.
One would think that there were only 2 tribes in Nigeria.
Na wah!

The wicked lies that have been told against the Yoruba people under the mango trees of the East have persisted for ages even when many Igbo have come and saw for themselves; how they have thrived unmolested everywhere in Yorubaland, the lies persist because people like Achebe, an icon of Igbo people, are always there to lend their intellectual falsehood to the tales by the moonlight. I think it is about time to fight back and set the records straight.


People like Achebe came up with tribalism theory against Awolowo. In their selective ignorance they forgot that Azikiwe went back to the East to drive away Eyo Ita who was the Prime Minister because he was from the minority tribe. Nobody talks about that. What do they really want from us?


It is on record that Chief Awolowo approached Dr. Azikiwe during the 1959 elections when no clear leader emerged to give Action Group votes to him so that Azikiwe could become the Prime Minister and he Awolowo, the Finance Minister, but Zik turned him down and traded Prime Ministership for ceremonial presidency with Tafawa Balewa. What do they really want from us? It is on record that NPC/NCNC alliance was used for maximum effect to oppress the Yoruba and other minorities of the South with Igbo people taking about 97 per cent of whatever was due to the South in a country that understood only North/South dichotomy; that the so-called Igbo dominance (at the federal level) is traceable to this evil and oppressive alliance. With federal might, they installed Igbo vice-chancellors in universities in Yorubaland, which was and is still not practicable in their own clime. We did not bulge neither did the Yoruba people complain. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Dr. Azikiwe’s alliance with Northern People Congress railroaded Chief Awolowo to the prison and he never lifted a finger to support him. It is also on record that Tafawa Balewa offered Chief Obafemi Awolowo Deputy Prime Ministership in prison, if he would support him, but great Awo turned it down. When Aguiyi-Ironsi seized power, he freed all political prisoners and despite Chief Awolowo’s passionate plea for his case to be considered, Aguiyi-Ironsi ignored him. What do they really want from us.

It is on record that the coup carried out by mostly Igbo soldiers in 1966 killed mostly the leadership of the North and West. We do not know if Awolowo would have survived, if he was not in prison. They killed almost all the most senior Yoruba military officers and even callously murdered Brigadier Ademulegun, his pregnant wife and Col. Ralph Shodeinde for no apparent reason in a coup supposedly directed at corrupt civilians. The only high-ranking member of NCNC that was killed, Chief Okotie-Eboh, was not Igbo and had problem with Mbadiwe on the Finance portfolio that he held. The latter wanted the ‘juicy’ portfolio, but Tafa Balewa rebuffed him. Yet, we did not start pogrom against Igbo residing in the West. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Adekunle Fajuyi, a Yoruba man, chose to die with Aguiyi-Ironsi; it is on record that Prof. Soyinka and Dr. Tai Solarin went to jail for the Biafran cause. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that despite everything, Chief Obafemi Awolowo went to Enugu in company of Prof. Sam Aluko and Mariere to persuade Ojukwu not to start the war yet; that he should give him the opportunity to mediate; that Ojukwu gave him his words to tarry a little bit but declared a war immediately Awo stepped out of Enugu. What do they really want from us?

I am not surprised; Prof. Achebe did not disappoint in his latest work. I believe, therefore, that Prof. Achebe is entitled to his selective senility and convenient amnesia; it is only left for us, people of goodwill, to put the record straight for posterity’s sake. Igbo intellectuals of good conscience should help to re-orientate their youths that have been grossly miseducated, misinformed and disinformed by people like Achebe. It is in their interest to do so.

Ayo Turton Esq. : National Legal Counsel to Egbe Omo Yoruba USA and Canada.

ochukoccna:
The wicked lies that have been told against the Yoruba people under the mango trees of the East have persisted for ages even when many Igbo have come and saw for themselves; how they have thrived unmolested everywhere in Yorubaland, the lies persist because people like Achebe, an icon of Igbo people, are always there to lend their intellectual falsehood to the tales by the moonlight. I think it is about time to fight back and set the records straight.


People like Achebe came up with tribalism theory against Awolowo. In their selective ignorance they forgot that Azikiwe went back to the East to drive away Eyo Ita who was the Prime Minister because he was from the minority tribe. Nobody talks about that. What do they really want from us?


It is on record that Chief Awolowo approached Dr. Azikiwe during the 1959 elections when no clear leader emerged to give Action Group votes to him so that Azikiwe could become the Prime Minister and he Awolowo, the Finance Minister, but Zik turned him down and traded Prime Ministership for ceremonial presidency with Tafawa Balewa. What do they really want from us? It is on record that NPC/NCNC alliance was used for maximum effect to oppress the Yoruba and other minorities of the South with Igbo people taking about 97 per cent of whatever was due to the South in a country that understood only North/South dichotomy; that the so-called Igbo dominance (at the federal level) is traceable to this evil and oppressive alliance. With federal might, they installed Igbo vice-chancellors in universities in Yorubaland, which was and is still not practicable in their own clime. We did not bulge neither did the Yoruba people complain. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Dr. Azikiwe’s alliance with Northern People Congress railroaded Chief Awolowo to the prison and he never lifted a finger to support him. It is also on record that Tafawa Balewa offered Chief Obafemi Awolowo Deputy Prime Ministership in prison, if he would support him, but great Awo turned it down. When Aguiyi-Ironsi seized power, he freed all political prisoners and despite Chief Awolowo’s passionate plea for his case to be considered, Aguiyi-Ironsi ignored him. What do they really want from us.

It is on record that the coup carried out by mostly Igbo soldiers in 1966 killed mostly the leadership of the North and West. We do not know if Awolowo would have survived, if he was not in prison. They killed almost all the most senior Yoruba military officers and even callously murdered Brigadier Ademulegun, his pregnant wife and Col. Ralph Shodeinde for no apparent reason in a coup supposedly directed at corrupt civilians. The only high-ranking member of NCNC that was killed, Chief Okotie-Eboh, was not Igbo and had problem with Mbadiwe on the Finance portfolio that he held. The latter wanted the ‘juicy’ portfolio, but Tafa Balewa rebuffed him. Yet, we did not start pogrom against Igbo residing in the West. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that Adekunle Fajuyi, a Yoruba man, chose to die with Aguiyi-Ironsi; it is on record that Prof. Soyinka and Dr. Tai Solarin went to jail for the Biafran cause. What do they really want from us?

It is on record that despite everything, Chief Obafemi Awolowo went to Enugu in company of Prof. Sam Aluko and Mariere to persuade Ojukwu not to start the war yet; that he should give him the opportunity to mediate; that Ojukwu gave him his words to tarry a little bit but declared a war immediately Awo stepped out of Enugu. What do they really want from us?

I am not surprised; Prof. Achebe did not disappoint in his latest work. I believe, therefore, that Prof. Achebe is entitled to his selective senility and convenient amnesia; it is only left for us, people of goodwill, to put the record straight for posterity’s sake. Igbo intellectuals of good conscience should help to re-orientate their youths that have been grossly miseducated, misinformed and disinformed by people like Achebe. It is in their interest to do so.

Ayo Turton Esq. : National Legal Counsel to Egbe Omo Yoruba USA and Canada.

We want to hear how Awo starved Igbos to death and boasted about it that starvation was a weapon of war. This is crap from confirm awoists you are posting