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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) (38808 Views)
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Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by BlackPikiN(m): 3:18pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
The National reconciliation committee led by Awo was constituted, but you rejected it why? We did not accept it because the East was not consulted. We were a federation, that we had a dispute did not confer the right on anyone to act arbitrarily. They cannot just promulgate that, or this without the East. Remember at that time it was the North, East, West and the Mid-west, so do I allow the East to be sealed up before acting, or do I say if you go and do this you are wrong? Do I say let's go back to Aburi, let's do this or that because it is the right of the people we are trampling on? And whilst we are on this, because I believe journalists have done a terrible service to Nigeria, forgive me, but the problem is your backed legalisms. During that period, I was legitimate having been duly appointed, by a duly appointed head of state to look after the East. The quarrel to a large extent was that nobody of any legitimacy appointed Gowon. So Gowon should be arguing and explaining, what you are asking me to explain; there was nothing illegitimate about my appointment even Gowon knows because Ironsi appointed me. You met Awo on May 4th 1967, and as part of your conversation he asked you about your attitude of southeast leaders to question of the North, it was said that you responded that: " on the specific question of whether there is a possibility of contact with the North, the answer is at the battle field"? [size=20pt]This is what I have been arguing all morning, I mean this is another Nigerian propaganda, that is okay. This quotation is all wrong, I do not even speak that way. If I am going to waste my time the least that you can do is to play me the tape. If people are putting out their own account, I will write my own. But if you, on my 70th birthday are going to ask me questions, first you are not going to be given my memoirs. Secondly, you are not going to have the extracts of the book; I am going to do what I agreed to do with you which is to talk to you generally. If you then come with matters that I consider false, then before I start I would demand for the authenticity of the claims you are making because I am very much aware of the burden of history. I am the final Biafran truth, and that is why I would not be irresponsibly dragged into areas to justify Nigerian propaganda. Do you also know that I released Chief Awolowo from prison? Do you also know that I also maintained contact with Awo that when I had problem with Nigeria that he came to see me in exile? Do you know that there is nowhere in the written annals of Nigerian history where you would see a harsh word from me against Chief Awolowo. If you take all these into consideration you would find why some of your questions are provocative. And incidentally at the time you were talking, who was Chief Awolowo? On the Nigerian side, who has just been released from prison, that Gowon sent on a mission. He did not come to impose the federal might, otherwise he would not have crossed the Niger bridge.[/size] |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Ajillo: 3:35pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Guys here should come over to Cybereagles. These issues have been trashed there and no debate about them again. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Katsumoto: 3:54pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Dede1: I apologise in advance but you sir are a slippery and pathetic old man. You speak from all sides of your mouth and yet you have the nerve to accuse others of being backstabbers. Where in my posts did I differentiate between all the ethnicities that made up Biafra? My point was that Biafrans enlisted en masse (thanks to ACM) TO FIGHT AGAINST Biafra. You have stated that Yoruba together with other non-Biafran ethnicities joined the army before the Biafran invasion to fight Biafra and now that a writer that you apparently respect, wrote that sons of Rivers and South eastern states danced and enlisted to fight Biafra, you have suddenly changed tune to separate Igbo from Efik, Ijaw, Ibiobio, etc who equally gave their lives to the Biafran cause. In any case, the write-up refers to STATES and not state. I reproduce - 'Many people of Rivers and South-Eastern States[size=12pt][/size] origin were seen dancing in Lagos and enlisting en masse into the Federal Army.' It takes a real man to accept when he is beaten in a debate and you certainly aren't one with all the twists that you have had on this thread. Let me summise all your twists and lies 1. You claimed that Gowon acknowledged that he had no authority over the eastern region and started backtracking as soon as I produced the speech Gowon gave on the 1st of August 2. You claimed that NCNC won the 1951 election in the West and stated that there was cross carpeting which resulted in AG winning. After I produced results of the election, you then mentioned Ighodaro as the cross-carpeter when it is obvious that Ighodaro's switch could not have handed victory to the NCNC 3. You have maintained that NON-BIAFRANS enlisted to fight against BIAFRA AND NOW THAT it has been alleged that Biafrans fought against Biafra, you decided to segregate between Igbo and other Biafrans. Was Ike Nwachukwu also Efik? Was Elechi Amadi Ibibio? I am unlikely to respond to any other lies, inaccuracies, fallacies, etc that you are likely to raise to dig yourself further into a hole. Good day sir |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by ACM10: 4:07pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
^^^ Too early to take to your heels sir! We never wanted this debate, but you forced us to. You want to impress your tribesmen. So sit back and do just that. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 4:28pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
ACM10: If you understood how strong the desire was to see the eastern region of nigeria divided among some people from the eastern region of nigeria, perhaps you would understand the meaning and significance of this quote. Mr Elaigwu is basically providing "evidence" (as if more were really necessary) of the support the move to divide the east had among some of those actually from the east. Dede1 did much more than claim easterners went to fight against Biafra (which is obvious) in 1967 however and his specific claim has yet to be substantiated. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by pazienza(m): 4:37pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Katsumoto: Stop your fabrications,dede had proved time and time again that the nigerian soldiers that attacked bonny( biafra) from escravos,where made up of western and mid western elements,and that attack came before biafra's match to ore... Ignorance? Let me tell you what ignorance is. Ignorance is saying that the eye witness account given by Ojukwu is not worth looking into,but a letter purportedly written by a dead man,and fabrications made by western and mid western(Nigerian) media/writers are gospel truth. Ignorance is trolling nairaland with a fake letter,said to have been written by Ojukwu,as you and your yoruba brothers did for years in nairaland. Get down your high horse,'cause you are not as brillant as you think you are. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by BlackPikiN(m): 4:38pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
onyejiokem: ma friend next time if u havn't anytin reasonable 2 say don't post at all. Hw poor are u in reasonin' dat u hav 2 qoute again knowing fully wel dat d letter is a long one. Pple lik u shudn't be seeing in dis section. ''ewu'' Onye nzuzu. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 4:55pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
pazienza: What Dede1 did there was to deliberately mix up events with his own embellishments added on and keep repeating the same story so many times that almost nobody bothered to check if it were true. Nigerian soldiers attacked Bonny. A group of these soldiers were then redeployed to Escravos instead after Biafra's invasion of the midwest. That's what actually happened. Dede1 has never proven his "massive midwestern recruitment pre-Biafra's invasion of the midwest" story and seems totally unwilling to do so despite repeated requests for such information. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by pazienza(m): 5:22pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
PhysicsQED: Can you post the source of this your information? |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Dede1(m): 5:28pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Katsumoto: It is not my place to ruminate with the choice of language of one Mr Elaigwu. However when he wrote “Many people of Rivers and South-Eastern States origin were seen dancing in Lagos and enlisting en masse into the Federal Army” after Gowon had announced the creation of 12 States, he never minced words of his intentions. If Gowon had addressed himself as C-in-C and head of state in the so-called speech, there should have been no issue of his authority over the country. However, he cunningly addressed himself as Lt Col and Army Chief of Staff. Again, it was not Gowon’s place to address the nation in such situation. It was the duty of the Army Supreme Headquarters and should have rightfully broadcasted by one Ogundipe who was Chief of Staff Supreme Military Headquarters and the 2ic to C-in-C. I do not make claims but acknowledge facts with expeditionary research. There is no doubt in my mind that NCNC won the 1951 regional election in western region of Nigeria. The reason behind the example of Chief SO Ighodaro and Otu Edo was to let you know that all the craps you post as election result of 1951 were nonsense because almost the groups in the post were not political parties or parties with national coverage as required by law to stand electioneering scrutiny of the era in discuss. While on the Ighodaro, I should remain you that when 1954 regional election showed face, the chief ran under AG platform and lost his deposit. I guess we have serious misunderstanding who was actual Biafra or not. Again, I think a good argument could be made for those who were in eastern region when the region was declared Biafra or easterners who patriotically believed in Biafra can be described as Biafrans. Even some folks among us today who were not born in Biafra or eastern region but had forbearers who were Biafrans and had patriotically accepted the spirit of Biafra are Biafrans nonetheless. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 5:31pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
pazienza: https://www.nairaland.com/945502/nigeria-break-up-2015/13#10923238 |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 6:38pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Dede1, Otu Edo was in alliance with the NCNC after 1951, right? So what's your issue with S.O. Ighodaro again? We both know the Edo (Bini) people expected him to opt for the NCNC as that was the preferred national party in that area from what people have written but failing to live up to other people's preconceived notions or letting down their expectations is quite a different thing from actually violating a pre-existing agreement of some sort. Despite what you may have read, Otu Edo was not formed as some sort of "subsidiary" of the NCNC but as its own party - and try to remember what happened between the Otu Edo and their ally, the NCNC, in 1964. The same Otu Edo almost entered into an alliance with the NPC after that squabble, but people are supposed to believe that it was some kind of "local branch" of the NCNC rather than a local party that could go with whoever? That it entered into a long alliance with the NCNC at a later date does not mean that when elections were held in 1951 every member of the Otu Edo was part of the NCNC. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Dede1(m): 6:50pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
PhysicsQED: You really disappointed me with this post. Do you tend to tell me you hedged your facts on a link to a posted by someone who could not discern the difference between 1967 and 1968? One of the glaring stupidity or highlight in the post was citing a division (army unit) from Lagos Garrison Organization which is not up to a brigade or even battalion. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Dede1(m): 6:58pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
PhysicsQED: Dede1, Otu Edo was in alliance with the NCNC after 1951, right? Please read what I wrote to comprehend properly. To the best of my knowledge, Otu Edo was a cultural organization that had political ramification as well. Since it was not a political party or a party with national coverage, the members contested under the chosen platform of NCNC. It is also my understanding that Otu Edo may choose to contest on the platform of other party than NCNC. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 6:58pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Dede1: You seem convinced that attacks were launched from Escravos before the Midwestern invasion by Biafra - I've never seen proof of this. I'm not sure whether I really care. The claim that Gowon recalled two battalions from Bonny to Escravos in 1967 is also contained in Obasanjo's book My command (1980). If you have an issue with this, then you should provide legitimate sources stating otherwise. Like I said, I don't even care that much about the "soldiers went from Escravos to Bonny rather than Bonny to Escravos" claim from you. What I really want to see, and what you continue to fail to provide evidence of is this "massive recruitment of every non-Igbo ethnicity in the Midwest whose names I can remember prior to the Midwest invasion" story. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Dede1(m): 7:10pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
PhysicsQED: I am not interested in any form of debate with the followers of hack writers who were clearly enemies of Biafra over the military assault on Ubani (Bonny) which originated from Escravos, Mid-western region. Some players in the theater of the war such Adaka Boro who was involved in the amphibious operation on Bony were trained in Escravos. My intentions are to disabuse the minds of young Biafrans who might have been poisoned with the junks enemies of Biafra imbedded in obscure newspapers or Internet. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 7:11pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Dede1: Well your understanding is wrong. Where are you getting that all the members contested "under the chosen platform of NCNC"? I would hazard a guess that there was a general understanding that somebody who was a member of Otu Edo would not go for the AG over the NCNC because of the origins of Otu Edo and what motivated its formation, but a general understanding is not the same thing as an actual agreement. The only things I have come across which could even imply what you've written above are those writings which falsely claim that Otu Edo was some sort of local branch of the NCNC. I don't know how a local party is supposed to have national coverage and I also don't understand how a local party can be excluded from running and capturing its local area on the basis of not being part of an allegedly larger party which allegedly has "national coverage". You're claiming that local parties could not win areas unless they affiliated with a "party with national coverage" (how does one define national coverage? Did the NPC have national coverage in the south? Did the NCNC have national coverage outside of the East and West?) beforehand? |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 7:34pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Dede1: I've looked up the part in bold and the only thing I could find on it were that Ijaws from what is now Rivers state were briefly trained in Escravos before joining in the assault on Bonny by Nigerian soldiers in 1967. In light of that, why do you continue to promote this story of some mass recruitment of every non-Igbo ethnic group in the Midwest from Urhobo right on down to Ososo at Escravos? |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Dede1(m): 7:46pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
PhysicsQED: NCNC was the only political party touted as national party or party with national and international coverage in the ear in discuss. It is unfortunate that someone, due to ethnic or tribal inducement, seemed to tarnish such reputation. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Dede1(m): 7:51pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
PhysicsQED: What made you think I could believe an iota of your posts when you had issues with the plight of Ighodaro in crossing to AG and NCNC as a party with national coverage? |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 7:52pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Dede1: The NCNC and its members were definitely a credit to the nation in the pre-independence era, especially for their non-ethnic/regional orientation. I have no problem with the NCNC. I just was not satisfied with your explanation for your claim because it does not seem to make sense that a party's great national spread necessitates all local/independent parties automatically being subsumed under it. If you have a better explanation for your claim please provide it. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 7:54pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Dede1: You don't understand my point. NCNC having national coverage does not somehow force all local or independent parties to join it. The NPC didn't have "national coverage", but that didn't stop them from winning the places that they won for their party, so what part of your claim makes sense? |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by noiseless: 7:57pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
I must confess that this KATSUMOTO enjoys being battered by the truth and yet because he is hailed as the "ONAKANKANFO" of sharialand by his likes, instead of fighting with some sophisticated weapons, he rather keeps trying to decieve himself and his cheerers with charms and cooked up lies hoping to win. DOES HE NOT UNDERSTAND THAT TRYING TO WALK ON WATER WHEN ONE IS NOT CHRIST EQUALS SUICIDAL? |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Dede1(m): 9:28pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
PhysicsQED: I do not know where got the idea that since NCNC came across as a party with national coverage all local/independent parties automatically being subsumed under it. After all, Niger Delta Congress in eastern region contested under the platform of NPC. Some memebers of Urhobo Progressive Union also contested elections under the umbrella of Action Group. This mindset of overbearing ethnic sentiment remains one of the reason I furiously call for Republic of Igbo land. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 10:02pm On Jun 30, 2012 |
Dede1: There was nothing mandating political parties to ally with the three larger parties before the elections because of the size of those parties or because those parties claimed to have "national coverage" (however that term is defined exactly). They allied with the larger political parties at different times as they deemed fit for their own benefit. You are the one claiming that "national coverage" (which has yet to be defined) of the large parties made local parties automatically have to have their members run "under the platform" of one the large parties in order to win an election - essentially asserting that certain political parties were automatically and arbitrarily given an advantage over all other political parties even before the election happened. Ighodaro was never a member of the NCNC just as some other members of local political parties were not members of the NCNC, AG, or NPC in other regions. I do not see what obligation he had to opt for the NCNC. [The NDC allied with the NPC in 1959 and we are talking of 1951. I don't know what relevance that has any way as my point is about the fact that the larger parties didn't have some mandatory predetermined advantage before the election happened.] |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Ajillo: 3:40pm On Jul 01, 2012 |
PHYSICS, Don't you know that NCNC was a conglamorate or some kind of rainbow coalition. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by T9ksy(m): 7:42pm On Jul 01, 2012 |
Dede1: "Prof" dede, don land anoda one o! Are you referring to the same NCNC that did not even contest in the northern part of nigeria? Oh well, am not going to request proof from you as i know you only deal in personal opinions, i.e yours only. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by ACM10: 8:05pm On Jul 01, 2012 |
The fact that someone could not readily provide evidence to back his assertion does not mean that he is making a fallacious claim or that the proof does not exist. I must confess that I'm one of those people that doubts most(if not all) of Dede1 claims. I only started to take a second look at his claims when I started to complement my heavy dependence on the online infos with books. In fact, some of my previously held beliefs has been so much challenged that I've lost faith in most infos I get online. Also whenever I listens to some historians discuss most of the topics that has been thrashed here, they regurgitates some of the assertions made by Dede1, which ofcourse we dismissed as lies. Even the books from unsuspecting historians repeats most of his accounts. The only problem with Dede1 is that he is too academic. Therefore, most young posters here could not be able to catch up with his drift. Juxtapose him with sensational liars on this forum like Katsumoto, he compares unfavourably in the truth index based on the judgement of posters who are new to these aspect of Nigerian history. But the problem is that most posters could not distinguish truths from falsehoods. I doubt if Katsumoto could be able to debate in a google-free environment. The other problem is that most of the books on Nigeria's history pre-1970 are not available online. I also discovered that most of the outrageous lies that I read on the internet are not written down in books, even when the topics of note are discussed exhaustively in those books. I encourage everyone who is interested in this part of Nigerian history just like I do, to take to the books. Cos internet is riddled with lies, half-truths and misinformation that no serious enthusiast should take them serious. I believe that next generation will be quoting our comments on Nairaland as fact, just the way some posters here are quoting articles on nigerdeltacongress and dawodu at present. 1 Like |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by PhysicsQED(m): 11:13pm On Jul 01, 2012 |
The fact that someone could not readily provide evidence to back his assertion does not mean that he is making a fallacious claim or that the proof does not exist. Of course. But it's another thing to try to force others to accept what you refuse to support. Some of those who end up disagreeing with and debating with Dede1 don't always have anything against him or have any intention of trying to make him look dishonest. I actually consider many of his posts informative. ACM10: I believe that next generation will be quoting our comments on Nairaland as fact, just the way some posters here are quoting articles on nigerdeltacongress and dawodu at present. I only posted that link because it was hosted on that particular site. If it had been posted at gamji.com or kwenu.com, I would have still posted the quote and the relevant link. I don't care much about these kinds of sites although they're sometimes useful. I also didn't really care about the article, the writer, or his overall point in the article in this instance. I only wanted to see if anyone could contradict his claim about Chief Ezerioha and other independents. By the way, anyone can look up that writer (Ben Lawrence) and read or skim through his other articles to see where his bias or favor, if any, actually lies with regard to the Civil War. It would probably surprise anyone who wanted to group him Udo Udoma. |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Katsumoto: 11:16pm On Jul 01, 2012 |
See below for picture of Gowon with Awo after his release from prison. ![]() http://www.tribune.com.ng/sun/photo-gallery/memoirs-in-pix/view-image/7a27b67761a0cf3d590d16f31e7ed1eb/jpg $10,000 prize for anyone who can find Ojukwu in that picture. Perhaps Ojukwu released Awo and Gowon seized on the opportunity to take a picture with Awo before Murtala's car took Awo to Ikenne ![]() ![]() ![]() 1 Like |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Katsumoto: 11:24pm On Jul 01, 2012 |
I asked very straight forward and clear questions and instead of some Biafrans to answer, they are resorting to name calling and other underhanded tactics. Again, please answer the following 1. Awolowo was released before July 30th 2. It was Ojukwu's car that took Awo to Ikenne 3. Ojukwu was so strong and powerful from his base in Enugu that he prevented Gowon from re-arresting Awo once Awo left the Eastern region and arrived in the Western region 4. Ojukwu started the process of releasing Awo from prison as soon as Ojukwu became Governor but it was a coincidence that it was effected one week after Gowon became Head of State 5. Ojukwu was responsible for paying the salaries of the warden in Calabar 6. Ojukwu stopped receiving his salary from the federal government and ensured that all easterners stopped receiving their salaries as well as soon Gowon became HOS And for those who believe the NCNC won the 1951 election in the west, we are still awaiting your results to support your position. 1 Like |
Re: Obafemi Awolowo’s Letter From Prison (dated 28th March 1966) by Nobody: 11:35pm On Jul 01, 2012 |
Katsumoto: See below for picture of Gowon with Awo after his release from prison. Perhaps Ojukwu was too camera shy or afraid he could be arrested for insubordination. 1 Like
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