emiye: Awo was the best president, Nigeria never had. A very unassuming,eagle eyed and intelligent leader. He scored 10/10 in the leadership domain. He was also not impulsive, a trait many past/present leaders do not have.

Andro Blaze: ^^^Wat does your post hav to do wit wat the OP pointed out?

Slizbeat:
no doubt abt it, i am an igbo bt i disagree wit d 10/10 leadership domain. If u wrote 9/10, i wud agree bt u wrote 10/10. My guy, no one is perfect, if he was given d chance, u wud have seen at least a mistake he wud make.

Logic Mind: My daughter who has never known any tribalism in this world as she is so young once saw a photo of awolowo and said: "frog man".
I laughed and told her that she is very insightful as she is looking at the closest link between a reptile and a human being.
Awolowo was a snake. Talking and analysing, and making promises. When the time came to act what did he do? Took up finance minister job and started a policy of starvation of one third of what he called his fellow country men.
But karma has a way of doing things.
Our people are better than his people today.
His fulani masters made him drink rat poison.
Yorubaland is still more underdeveloped than before anytime in living memory.
His people are begging for oil subsidy.
His people can't survive without us.

Most people on this forum especially the Eastern folks lack common sense, somebody was trying to explain simple English that even my primary school cousin will be able to decipher. He knows some of you have a very low IQ if not you wouldn't be blaming Awo for your predicament.

Every body try to plead with your silly leader (Ojukwu) not to start a war that he wouldn't be able to win. Have you ever seen a situation whereby a nation win a defensive war. You are waging a war against a supposedly enemy country and you are using the currency of that country. And you blame the Finance Minister for blocking your food supply. You got to be joking! You expect your enemy to be feeding your stomach.... I want to believe some knuckle head in your area are starting to mobilize some idiots into revisiting the war again...you are welcome....but before you do that, all you have to do is to ask your Grand parents to tell you tale of the war and maybe you will have a rethink.

CONFIDENTIAL
28th March, 1966


The Supreme Commander and
Head of the Federal Military
Government, Lagos.

Thro: The Director of Prisons,
Prisons Headquarters Office,
Private Mail Bag 12522,
Lagos.



Sir:


PREROGATIVE OF MERCY: SECTION 101 (1) (a) OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERATION ACT 1963


1. . I am writing this petition for FREE PARDON under Section 101 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Federation Act 1963, on behalf of myself and some of my colleagues whose names are set out in the Annexe hereto.


2. Before I go further, I would like to stress that the reasons which I advance in support of this petition, in my own behalf, basically hold good for my said colleagues. For they share the same political beliefs with me, and have intense and unquenchable loyalty for the ideals espoused by the Party which I have the honour to lead.


3. There are many grounds which could be submitted for your consideration in support of this petition. But I venture to think that SEVEN of them are enough and it is to these that I confine myself.



(1) In the course of my evidence during my trial, I stated that my Party favoured and was actively working for alliance with the N.C.N.C. as a means, among other things, of solving what I described as ‘the problem of Nigeria’, and strengthening the unity of the Federation. In October 1963 (that is about a month after my conviction and while my appeal to the Supreme Court was still pending), a Peace Committee headed by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, made overtures to me through my friend Alhaji W. A. Elias to the effect that if I abandoned my intention to enter into alliance with the N.C.N.C. which, according to the Committee, was an Ibo Organisation, and agreed to dissolve the Action Group and, in co-operation with Chief Akintola (now deceased), form an all-embracing Yoruba political party which I would lead and which would go into alliance with the N.P.C., I would be released from prison before the end of that year. I turned down these terms because I was of the considered opinion that their acceptance would further widen and exacerbate inter-tribal differences, and gravely undermine the unity of the Federation.


TODAY, THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT, OF WHICH YOU ARE THE HEAD, LEAVES NO ONE IN ANY DOUBT THAT IT STANDS FOR NIGERIAN UNITY. BUT IT MUST BE EMPHASISED, IN THIS CONNECTION, THAT IF I HAD PRIZED MY PERSONAL FREEDOM ABOVE THE UNITY OF NIGERIA, I WOULD HAVE BEEN SET FREE IN 1963. IN THAT EVENT, THIS PETITION WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY, AND THE WORK OF CONSOLIDATING THE UNITY OF THE COUNTRY TO WHICH YOU AND YOUR COLLEAGUES NOW SET YOUR HANDS MIGHT HAVE BEEN MADE EXTREMELY MORE INTRACTABLE AND IRKSOME.

As recently as 20th December, 1965, identical peace terms (the only variant being that the alliance with the N.C.N.C. which was now a reality should be broken) were made to me here, in Calabar Prison, by a delegation representing another Peace Committee headed by the self-same Chief Justice of the Federation and purporting to have the blessing of the Prime Minister, with the unequivocal promise that if I accepted the terms my release would follow almost immediately. I rejected the terms for the reasons which I have outlined above.


(2) One of the monsters which menaced the public life of this country up to 14th January, this year is OPPORTUNISM with its attendant evils of jobbery, venality, corruption, and unabashed self-interest. From all accounts, you are inflexibly resolved to destroy this monster. That was precisely what my colleagues and I had tried to do before we were rendered hors de combat since 29th May, 1962.


On two different occasions I was offered, first the post of Deputy Prime Minister (before May 1962), and second that of Deputy Governor-General (in August 1962), if I would agree to fold up the Opposition and join in a National Government. I declined the two offers because they were designed exclusively to gratify my self-interest, with no thought of fostering any political moral principle which could benefit the people of Nigeria. The learned Judge who presided over the Treasonable Felony Trial, commented unfavourably on my non-acceptance of one of these posts and held that my action lent weight to the case of the Prosecution against me. I must say, however, that in all conscience, I felt and still feel that a truly public-spirited person should accept public office not for what he can get for himself — such as the profit and glamour of office — but for the opportunity which it offers him of serving his people to the best of his ability, by promoting their welfare and happiness. To me, the two aforementioned posts were sinecures, and were intended to immobilise my talents and stultify the role of watch-dog which the people of Nigeria looked upon me to play on their behalf, at that juncture in our political evolution.


(3) This leads me to the third ground. From newspaper reports, it would appear that you and your colleagues — like all well-meaning Nigerians — are anxious that on the termination of the present military rule, Nigeria should become a flourishing democracy. Now, democracy is a political doctrine which is very intimately dear to my heart. It was to the end that it might be accepted as a way of life in all parts of the Federation that I campaigned most vigorously and relentlessly in the Northern Provinces of Nigeria, from 1957 to 1962, to the implacable annoyance of some of my political adversaries. It was to the end that this doctrine might survive the severe onslaught of opportunist and mercenary politics that I refused to succumb to the temptation of the National Government. Many views — some of them well-considered and respectable — have been expressed about the value or disvalue of opposition as a feature of public life in a newly emergent African State. Speaking for my party, I submit that the Opposition which I led did, to all intents and purposes, justify its existence and was acclaimed by the masses of our people as essential and indispensable to rapid- national growth. This was so, because it was unexceptionably constructive. The abrogation of the Anglo-Nigeria Defence Pact was one of the feathers in its cap. Some of the policies which the Government of the day later adopted — such as the creation of a Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the introduction of drastic measures to correct our balance of payments deficit — were among those persistently and constructively urged by the Opposition inside and outside Parliament.

The point I wish to emphasise here is that it was not out of spite or hatred for any one that I chose to remain in Opposition instead of joining the much-talked-of National Government. I did so in order to serve our people to the best of my ability in the position in which their votes had placed my Party, and to ensure that the young plant of democracy grows into a sturdy flourishing tree in Nigeria.


(4) Since the declaration of emergency in the Western Region on 29th May, 1962, political tension has existed in Western Nigeria. My conviction on 11th September, 1963, together with the surrounding bizarre circumstances, has led not only to the heightening of that tension in Western Nigeria but also to its profuse and irrepressible percolation to the other parts of the Federation. The result is that it can be said, without much fear of contradiction, that today the majority of our people are passionately concerned about and fervently solicitous for the release of myself and my colleagues.



The work of reconstruction on which you and your colleagues have embarked demands that all the citizens of Nigeria in their respective callings should give of their maximum best. A state of psychological tension, however much it may be brought under control or repressed, does not and cannot conduce to maximum efficiency. In spite of themselves, people labouring under emotions which this kind of tension automatically generates are bound to make avoidable mistakes which in their turn have adverse effects on national progress.


It is, therefore, in the national interest that this tension should be relaxed, if possible, without further delay.


(5) A petition of this kind is, by its very nature, bound to be replete with self-adulation. I hope and trust that, in the circumstances, this is excusable. It is in this hope and trust that I assert that my colleagues and I have the qualifications and capacity to render invaluable services to our people and fatherland. Every day that we spend in prison, therefore, must be regarded as TWENTY-FOUR UNFORGIVING HOURS OF TRULY VALUABLE SERVICES LOST TO OUR YOUNG COUNTRY. Even my most inveterate enemies have given the following testimony about me: ‘AWOLOWO HAS STILL A GREAT DEAL TO GIVE TO THIS COUNTRY.’

No country however advanced and civilised can afford to waste any of its talents, be they ever so small. Nigeria is too young to bury some of her talents as she was compelled to do under the old regime.


It is within your power to restore my colleagues and me to a position where our fatherland can again rejoice at the contributions which we are capable of making to its progress, welfare and happiness.


(6) Nigeria is now SIXTY-SIX MONTHS old as an independent State. The final phase in the struggle for Nigeria’s independence was initiated by my Party in the historic Self-Government motion moved by Chief Anthony Enahoro and supported by me on 31st March, 1953. IT SHOULD BE REGARDED AS MORE THAN IRONICAL, AND AS PALPABLY TRAGIC, THAT TWO OF THE ARCHITECTS OF THAT INDEPENDENCE AND, INDEED, THE PACE-SETTERS AND ACCELERATORS OF ITS FINAL PHASE SHOULD BE UNFREE IN A FREE NIGERIA.


In precise terms, I have spent FORTY-SIX out of the SIXTY-SIX MONTHS of independence in one form of confinement or another. I happened to know that the leaders of the old civilian regime, in spite of themselves, did not feel quite easy in their conscience about the plight into which they had manoeuvred me in the scheme of things; and I dare to express the hope and belief that you, personally view my present confinement with concern and disapproval.


(7) It is usual — almost invariably the case — on the accession of a revolutionary regime, for political prisoners and, indeed, other prisoners of some note, to be released as a mark of disapproval of some of the doings of the old regime, or in token of the new dawn of freedom which comes in the wake of the new regime.


It would be invidious to quote unspecific instances. But in the case of my colleagues and myself, by courageously and adamantly opposing the evils which your regime now denounces in the former civilian administration, I think we are perfectly justified if we expect you to regard us as being in tune with your yearnings and aspirations
for Nigeria, and therefore entitled to our personal freedoms under your dispensation.


4. In view of the foregoing reasons which clearly demonstrate


(i) that I have always and, under trying circumstances, steadfastly and unyieldingly


(a) stood for the UNITY OF NIGERIA,
(b) been opposed to POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM with its attendant evils,
(c) fostered the growth of DEMOCRACY in Nigeria;


(ii) that my incarceration


(a) has led to the heightening of political tension among Nigerians, which tension can only be relaxed by my release,
(b) has deprived our fatherland of invaluable services such as we have rendered before, and can still render now and in future, in greater measure; and


(iii) that the evils which my colleagues and I condemned and valiantly refused to compromise with in the old civilian government are what you now quite rightly denounce, and are taking active steps to remove in order to pave the way for national and beneficial reconstruction,


I most sincerely appeal to you to be good enough to exercise, in favour of myself and my colleagues, the prerogative of mercy vested in you by Section 10 (I) (i) (a) of the Constitution of the Federation Act 1963, by granting me as well as each of my colleagues A FREE PARDON. If you do, your action will be most warmly, heartily, and popularly applauded at home and abroad, and you will go down to history as soldier, statesmen, and humanitarian.



Yours truly,

OBAFEMI AWOLOWO

“Hospitals, schools, refugee camps and markets have been and are being systematically attacked by the Nigerian Air Force. We witnessed such attacks and saw hundreds of casualties from previous attacks. The red crosses are now camouflaged on the roofs of the hospitals (and on the roofs of the headquarters of the International Red Cross) because they obviously attract bombing and strafing, even when (if not particularly when) the hospital buildings are isolated and far from any town, cross road or any installation even remotely of military significance. Refugees – most of them children and many of them elderly, all of them famished – who number at least four million – have to be fed at night because during the day feeding lines were systematically strafed by MIG 17s of the Nigerian Air Force or bombed by its Ilyushins.”

Logic Mind: My daughter who has never known any tribalism in this world as she is so young once saw a photo of awolowo and said: "frog man".
I laughed and told her that she is very insightful as she is looking at the closest link between a reptile and a human being.
Awolowo was a snake. Talking and analysing, and making promises. When the time came to act what did he do? Took up finance minister job and started a policy of starvation of one third of what he called his fellow country men.
But karma has a way of doing things.
Our people are better than his people today.
His fulani masters made him drink rat poison.
Yorubaland is still more underdeveloped than before anytime in living memory.
His people are begging for oil subsidy.
His people can't survive without us.

amec: Awo was imprisoned in Calabar. He was still in jail when war broke out, something he must have been praying for just like any other human must have.

who imprisoned awo in the first place?

Zik and belewa, president and prime minister did.

Therefore there was a grudge to settle but mainly against his arch enemy Zik the Ibo president of nigeria then.

now ojukwu was young, naive, and inexperienced in the tribalistic rofo-rofo of nigeria politics then.

in his naivety and desperation to make friends for biafra he mistakenly released an old reptilic enemy of his tribe.

with chains in hands and legs, shaven head and dirty kirky prison uniform with eyes sunken as a result of hunger during incarceration the old snake with sweet promises to continue his fight against the federal injustices he observed in the contraption called nigeria, awo promised ojukwu that his first act to show appreciation (to his naivety) was to declare oduduwa republic.

ojukwu hastily despatched some teams to go and liberate the mid westerners seeing western nigeria a sure thing.

it was at ore that awo sent some elderly yorubers to lay courses on banjo and his generations to come if he did not abandon that his stupid campain that would have caused the old snake his ambition to rule nigeria even for one hour.

v. banjo abandoned his campain like every other humble yoruba boy taking orders from an elder snake. his reasons where unmilitary-like, he was found guilty of... and the rest of him is now history.

rather than declare od. republic and give eternal pride and respect to the yorubas from their brother ibos the "unselfish" baba prefered the position of war-time prime minister, or everything minister, including deputy military junta just to get revenge on one man, zik his incarcerator.

imagin how happy he would have felt then learning that tafawa belewa is dead in ziks brothers hands.

zik too is fled. leaving nigeria all for him and the small ojukwu thinks baba would be interested in a little od. republic rather than the big apple.
ojukwu was simply a kid and naive too about nigerian rofo. politics.

Aladinn:
You're a shame to fatherhood. Filling your daughter's heart with hate. So pathetic. Whats the difference between you and the man you're calling a snake? I pity what you'll turn your children into.

lucom: Over the years Ibos have tried in vain to villify Awolowo for his role before during and after the civil war, well I'm not saying he was a saint but he did what he needed to do to at that point in time to serve his country and particularly his people. Don't forget he was a Yoruba man whose acute sense of judgement dictates his actions and inactions, that said I believe we all have a lesson or two to learn from history as we forge ahead in our quest for survival in this "our Nigeria".
Hatred and bitterness won't take anyone anywhere as those full of hate tend to look back when the opportunity to move ahead present itself. The civil war has come and gone and was declared "no victor , no vanquished". Lets move on and to those still wishing it will happen again I'm sorry to tell you this no Ibo man will ever carry up arms against Nigeria again as the battle for self survival in present day Nigeria super cede any regional interest, if you doubt me check the class of the corrupt Nigerians you can't find tribalism there.

Aigbofa:


And above all ibos got phucked and there isn't a damn thing they can do about it.

noiseless: I still maintain my stands that AWO and HITLER the only difference is that one is Yoruba and the other is NAZI. I still maintain my stands that AWO and HITLER the only difference is that one is Yoruba and the other is NAZI.

ekwy nwa: Biafra, you lost a war and then, what?
You did not and will never lose the Biafra spirit
They took away your monies
And replaced it with mere 20 pounds
They destroyed your classrooms while their children enjoyed free education
They define you using optical illusion, Not knowing that the joke is coming to them

Awo was forced to commit suicide via otapiapia
Abiola was imprisoned and poisoned to death
Kudurat was slain like a sallah ram
Diya , Adisa and Olaruwaju were humiliated like street beggars
Bola Ige was silenced like a Christmas goat
Ilorin was annexed by their Hausa Fulani masters
Major Adekunle is living in sorrow and regret
Lt General Alani Akinrinade is living a life full of regrets
When Hausa Fulani sneezes Iyoroba catches cold

So,who lost the war Biafra? You?
This is not true!
We know that absence of gun shots never mean peace!
What course would an apology serve if it's handed to you?
You need none. You have done your best to confront that evil and progress.
Have you not more than tripled your properties seized?
re you still talking about 20 pounds ?
If you detest progress, then, who owns Lagos and Abuja?
You thrive everywhere you

you neither need an apology nor a recompense.
Away with their empathy!
For the odds do not stock against you,
the heat ve turned on them, the hunter is being hunted
Even the spirit of innocent Biafrans and our departed heroes knows we've not disappointed.

Ka chi foo!

Aigbofa:

Can you imagine a little girl whose little mind is already getting soiled with hatred. And you wonder why there are so many barely sane ibos on Nairaland.

percipi1:

The Op was right to interpret. Most of you on Nairaland lack basic intelligence. Awolowo was not a military man, therefore, he could not have declared an Oduduwa republic( its all in your imagination) Ojukwu could not have released Awolowo because he had no such powers(Awolowo was released by Gowon)Ojukwu declared war on the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he lost. How and why he lost is debatable but should not be defined on a palate of ignominy. People died on both sides fighting for a cause they both considered just.

The best you people can do is to respect that cause and seek peace and cooperation. if we are to re-enact 1966, do not be surprised because history always repeat itself.

Logic Mind: My daughter who has never known any tribalism in this world as she is so young once saw a photo of awolowo and said: "frog man".
I laughed and told her that she is very insightful as she is looking at the closest link between a reptile and a human being.
Awolowo was a snake. Talking and analysing, and making promises. When the time came to act what did he do? Took up finance minister job and started a policy of starvation of one third of what he called his fellow country men.
But karma has a way of doing things.
Our people are better than his people today.
His fulani masters made him drink rat poison.
Yorubaland is still more underdeveloped than before anytime in living memory.
His people are begging for oil subsidy.
His people can't survive without us.

ekwy nwa:


Dunce, Stop displaying your stupidity on a public forum, always strive to comprehend a post before rushing to respond, I did not mention a thing about Awo declaring Odua nation, I don’t give a damn whether he declared Odua or not.

General Aguiyi Ironsi, issued the order to release Awolowo from prison, and it was another Igbo, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who enforced that order. How does Gowon get to take credit for the release of Awo from Calabar except through Yoruba convolution? The fact of the matter is that at the time Ojukwu released Awo from Calabar prison, Gowon was in no position to release even his own flatulence anywhere in the East, especially places like Calabar. If there was any doubt about who released Awolowo from prison, Ojukwu erased it when he ordered and had the prisoner brought to him in Enugu. Ojukwu then dispatched an escort of Igbo troops to return the prisoner to his home town of Ikene.

http://www.kwenu.com/publications/ndubueze/re_adenodi.htm

ekwy nwa:


Dunce, Stop displaying your stupidity on a public forum, always strive to comprehend a post before rushing to respond, I did not mention a thing about Awo declaring Odua nation, I don’t give a damn whether he declared Odua or not.

General Aguiyi Ironsi, issued the order to release Awolowo from prison, and it was another Igbo, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who enforced that order. How does Gowon get to take credit for the release of Awo from Calabar except through Yoruba convolution? The fact of the matter is that at the time Ojukwu released Awo from Calabar prison, Gowon was in no position to release even his own flatulence anywhere in the East, especially places like Calabar. If there was any doubt about who released Awolowo from prison, Ojukwu erased it when he ordered and had the prisoner brought to him in Enugu. Ojukwu then dispatched an escort of Igbo troops to return the prisoner to his home town of Ikene.

http://www.kwenu.com/publications/ndubueze/re_adenodi.htm

noiseless: This is not the YAHOOO BUSINESS where you thrive so well in internet scamm, then heartlessly emptying and leaving your victims pocket with nothing and take a runner with multiple names. Bring again any trashy piece of your usual MOMBO JOMBO crap, we can always bin them for you. BTW go and find the usual unsuspecting foreigners and feed them with your crappy/yahooo certificates as you always do, we igbos know you like the palm of our hands so stop wasting your time. HEARTLESS BONKERS!

alj harem:

trust me, igbos don't know yorubas. It is been displayed even here on Nairaland becuase if you know yorubas you would not have shown them you hate them.