This is a letter from a yoruba man to an igboman in power .he will definately not show any hatred for the ibo race and cmon he published it himself,meaning it still have a political motive.what do you think? What a men thinks and what he writes are different.am not saying awolowo is anti ibo but cmon its still politics and we have to think logicaly

rhymz: @Katsumoto
I have always stated that no matter what revionists like yourself read and write about the war, it can never be as authentic or nearer to the truth as some of the accounts given by Ojukwu himself about the war.
When one chooses to view issues with preconcieved conclusions and goes ahead to strengthen their stance by reading books on the war by authors whose views are bias, articles by propagandist, and distorted third party accounts from your likes.
One thing you can not fault Ojukwu on is the fact that unlike many of the officers of his time, he was the most educated and erudite with prolly the best ability to vividly tell the real story and reasons for the war.
I shall post some of his responses to questions posed to him by a reporter that
he exclusively granted an interview; the questions ranged from facts, distortions that have become some people's truth, suggestive statements in the mould of facts, rude embelishments, outright propagander down to the ridiculous. Ojukwu being a man of sound mind and judgement did not fail to nip it in the bud....anyway, enuf gisting....make I get down to bizness.....

So..to counter sound arguments from katsumoto, you reach for words from Ojukwu?

<sarcasm> Because, as we all know his opinions can be taken as FACTS and 100% free from bias </sarcasm>

What next? We ask Charles Taylor for the 'truth' of what happened in the Liberian Civil war and document his words as facts?

Truly, i am extremely unimpressed with the dearth of brainpower you folks have put into your responses to Katsumoto's assertions.

My friendly advice to you is to stay out of this while Dede1, ACM and bashr8 tarnish their reputations with their feeble defences. Flee now and fight Katsumoto another day!

Who released him from prison? Gowan or Ojukwu. The two of them claimed so. Ojukwu granted an interview that he and not Gowan.

Your desire to end your father's interference led you to join the army? How could he, he did everything possible to stop me from going into the army. He tried everything, went to the Governor-General, James Robertson to prevent my joining the army. And they all laughed quietly at their ability to get me stymied, particularly my own favourite governor, Sir Clem in the East, who told my father not to worry that I could not take it. Because I could not be taken for cadet training, I joined as a recruit. By the time my father knew it, my hair had been shaved, I had joined the Nigerian army, I was in a uniform, and I was in a depot in Zaria. People shortly knew who I was and they treated me like an eccentric, with a benign amusement.There was another funny episode; but I escaped all that, and again I say there was a divine intervention; because I was in this class for a weapon training, and there was this sergeant major, who put ''s'' in every word he uses, so on this particular day, he came and said "good morning gentlemans. My lessons today is the teachings for the soldiers, it is the assemblies of the rifles. But before I start my lessons this mornings, I want to make revisions. "Gentlemans," he pointed at some thing, "what is this"?, yes, somebody answered butt, "good, good" he responded. What is this? he pointed at another thing, "barrel, good, good" he said. He went on and on, until he came to this little button under the catch, and this one was the difficult one, I put up my hand and he said " you, yes Bature ". I said 'safety catch', he said "damn fool, you sabi nothing". I said wait, he went on "Damn fool, you sabi nothing". I kept quiet and listened, we went on, another two people, then one said 'na sapler ka', he said: "good, everybody na sapler ka". Which could have been all right if I had kept my mouth shut, but I put up my hand and he said " what do you want" ? I said there is no such word in the English dictionary, no such word as ''sapler ka''. He was very angry "damn fool, me you teach am English?" He ordered immediately that I should be taken to the guard''s room. I was marched like that across the parade ground. I was then pushed into the cell and locked up. The problem was that he had to file a charge. He thought about what to write and decided to put there: ''no sabi English'' which saved me because the adjutant, an Englishman, saw it and found it odd, then decided that there must be something going on. So he tried to get to me to find out what was going on, I told him what happened, he started laughing, he could not take it alone so he called his second in command, and they found the whole thing ridiculous. They knew I was an Oxford graduate, they knew that I spoke the English language better than they did. So they decided that the only way to get the sergeant major off my back was to push the case beyond them and place it before the commanding officer, and it would be the adjutant alone who would take me to him and that was how I escaped. The sergeant major was very happy that he won but the commanding officer did not even have to listen, he knew what had happened. But when we discussed, he said "I do not see what you are doing here, but you know best, but I can tell you one way that you can be useful to me." He said to me: "I have a wife, stupid fella; I have a daughter, that is all she could produce. I want you to take them wherever they want to go. I do not want them within my sight." I said yes sir. In the morning, they would go shopping, they would go horse riding, the man just wanted to spend his life not even in the officers mess, but at the European club in town. And that was actually the sum total of my recruit, and naturally, when the time came, he put my name forward for office training. On the whole, you spent 10 years with the Nigerian Army, what was it like and how did you end up in Kano? The Nigerian Army, I say this not to denigrate anyone, is the remnant of a force that had grown steadily from the West African Frontier Force, until it became at independence, the Nigerian Army. When I was there, it was a force with five battalions, and we were sort of inching our way to the six battalions. And every officer knew brother officers; because of my peculiar type of education, when I came into the army after my training, I was selected to be either an instructor, or a staff officer. But my calling was for infantry; and if you remember, a lot of British officers had a tired approach and really I was looked upon as that officer that you could leave with minimal supervision. In fact, at one stage, my annual report had these words that I was one officer ''who never served under anybody but we all served under him.'' Naturally, I was a senior officer, my number was 29, and I moved up every year since my commission, and I had created quite a bit of jealous, enmity by my rapid promotion, and that sort of alienated me from my military colleagues. And if one was not within range, I was a friend. The army, for effectiveness, was very good ceremonially, we were also good for internal security actions, but I would not vouch for its war efficiency, which you found during the war, that the army proved itself. It was the biggest and most effective defoliating agent, they would shoot through any amount of leaves and miss out the enemy. And for propaganda sake, people were given so much reputation, reputation for what? And they go about prancing about; 'we did this, we did that,' no. We have this latent problem, because we have been given this bullshit about their efficiency, they began to believe it. When I say this, I am also recognising the limitation of my own training as an officer. By Nigerian standards, I was good, but I cannot go into modern war with other people who are better trained. I was all right as an infantry officer, I was all right as a small formation officer. But I do not think that internationally, at the power points that I would go beyond the command of a brigade. That is me, so when you see pipsqueaks prancing around as divisional commanders, core commanders, I just laugh. The army today is blamed for the instability in the political system, when in your opinion do you think the army began to eye a role in the political system? The army lost discipline with the appointment of Yakubu Gowon. It was Gowon that rooted indiscipline into the Nigerian Army. This is the basis of my disagreement with the Nigerian Army Officers Corp, nothing more than that. In a way, it is the politicisation of the officers corp; I have always been committed to the professional army. We argued the appointment of Ironsi as the major-general, who would take over from Maj-General Wilbe Everad, the last British commanding officer. I maintained the position that for the army to remain, we have to follow the natural chain of command of the hierarchy. Despite the disruptions of the Ifeajuna coup, we still held together as an army. Later, it became a question of how to handle the disruption of the demise of Ironsi. If you remember, I had been posted to Enugu, so I was not in Lagos to argue this. But I kept on the telephone arguing the point, that Ogundipe should take over; no problem then, because there was a chance of resolving the issues. Nigeria was let down by Ogundipe, because his action tended to give more strength to people who believe that anybody could be the head at any time; I say no to that kind of thinking. Those who designed the military structure knew what they were doing. When I finally learnt that Ogundipe had fled, I did not stop. I then proposed Adebayo, he should take over by seniority, then of course, Gowon proclaimed himself commander over and above so many senior officers. It is true that people acquiesced but that was when discipline broke down. So I was not in Lagos, but I did what I could, but Gowon became head of the army. The danger was that some of those who acquiesced did not have the guts to move across to Gowon, they remained under command, here in the East. That confused the whole thing, but basically, that was what the whole war was about. The question is: 'do we have an army or don''t we?' Some people chose to have an army of war lords, anywhere you are, if you look outside the window and you command more rifles, you become the boss. No, you should have a superior loyalty; loyalty to the institution not so much to the men. If I had been in Lagos, we might have saved the situation; but I had won two arguments: the one that made Ironsi the general and the one that made him supreme commander. I gave him the direction the army should go, but because I was in Enugu, I was not as effective to prevent the aberration of Gowon being placed at the head of the army, at the time he did. At the time of the coup against Ironsi, it was obvious that Ogundipe did not enjoy the support of the officers and men and had to go? When you use the word obvious, you tempt into the obvious question. How do you know, give me proof? How did it become obvious if it had not been fed into you? I was in the army, I did not see anything obvious, so tell me how? Nigerians are not interested in my thoughts, it is you they want to hear... No, the point is that a lot of these things you people take and digest, and once you are confronted with the true situation, you are so reluctant to shift, why? When Ironsi became head, was there a military council vote? He was appointed, he took over and you saw the result. Ogundipe should have taken over, why did he not? Or that he ran away, who threatened him? And they threatened him, he ran away from being in command, but ran into the arms of Nigeria and became an ambassador. I am glad we are talking about this because this is part of the half-baked beliefs of many Nigerians, and it is significant they accept these things on matters they are not experts in. That the NCOs were not taking orders from Ogundipe, who are these Non- Commissioned Officers? What rank? I am being deliberately mischievous to make a point, forgive me. Why should you know. It is my profession and I wish that you would be a little hesitant with these statements that come from Nigerian propaganda to legitimise Gowon. It is just like the propaganda that says you have to be very careful in the North, the North does not like Ojukwu, and you journalists, you continue saying it, when in fact even the Northerners in ANPP, and quite a number in PDP, say if Ojukwu stood for election side by side with Buhari, we do not know who would win. Because we are very popular with the North of today, but the Eastern journalist of today say, no, no, the North will not do this, or do that. And it becomes the truth of our misguided era. No, the only way we would have known what the reaction would have been was for Ogundipe to take up his position, and then we would know. Even today, wherever I go to talk, even at the war college, they recognise the commanding presence of their superior officer, and that is it. One of the reasons adduced by observers for the July coup , is that it was a revenge coup since the January 15 attempt was inspired by mostly Igbo officers (interrupts) And Ogundipe was Igbo? That is not the point(interrupts) That is the main point. That it was an Igbo coup did not make it a Yoruba coup. Between January 15 and July 29, do you think that Ironsi had taken steps to put back some discipline in the army, as a way of correcting the breakdown of order the January coup caused? I would be very honest with you, and I would ignore certain Nigerian propaganda. You see, we were brought up as one Nigerian Army, when the British were pulling out, they left one commanding officer, we found ourselves being pulled by ethno-centric forces, we found ourselves being pulled apart. The idea that Ironsi, after serving the world as Major-General, Force Commander in the Congo, should come back to Nigeria and be relieved of his rank, sharpened the ethnic divide of the army. Even when I moved and argued that the important issue was the chain of command and the military hierarchy, that the institution we inherited, we should keep inviolate. It was easy for many people to say you, Ojukwu would say that, after all you are an Igbo man. The mere fact that he took over the Nigerian Army remained, and he went round and spoke to so many people, it is possible he could have done more. But I do not think that he saw the danger, so he dealt with it at the level he understood it. Ironsi, a good soldier perhaps, I never saw him in war, but I saw him in the Congo, and the way he was appreciated showed he had very good military instincts. I think he did enough to reassure everybody of the brotherhood of the officer corp. Enough! I saw him doing it when he went round. But my own personal feeling was that he did one of the things I blame Igbo leaders for, because they always think the answer is to cry mea culpa, mea culpa. You can do it without accepting guilt, but he leant over backwards accepting guilt. For example, the appointments he made were in accordance with our own rules, he believed in Nigeria. Even before his death, I told him that I did not like the congregation of Northern officers in Benin, he said no, no "they are my boys". I said yes, but it would be better because of what has been going on, that he should try and mix them up even those around him, but he did not. It was the same thing when I said there is danger in these meetings being held in Nasarawa and Kano. Our good friend, JS Tarka, gave me a tape to listen to, and I gave it to him to listen to and he listened and he was quite upset. He called Kam Salem, he gave him the recorder and the tapes "to go and listen to what your brothers are planning for me." To reassure me of his solidarity with the North right there, he dialled to speak with Sultan Abubakar, and he spoke to him in fluent Hausa, and all that was to convince me that Tarka was wrong and that he was on very close personal contact with the Sultan, what could be better! So he did what he could within his understanding of the best he could. Those who planned the coup against Ironsi said their grouse was Decree 34 which created the unitary system and the second was that Ironsi was reluctant to punish the January coup plotters? What was said was that those who plotted the coup would be investigated, I was there at the Supreme Military Council (SMC). General Ironsi said that those who were involved would be investigated and would, if found guilty, be charged accordingly. But who was in charge of investigating this matter? It was Gowon. That he did not do it was wrong, that they then took action after how many months, four or five months, is odd. Blaming Ironsi for a promise unfulfilled after four months only; you know that all of these are mere rationalisations for the actions that they had taken. It was because of what happened on January 15, 1966, that we started having difficulties, and Ironsi decided to go round. If you notice in his moving round, it was so anti-East that Enugu was not even on the list for Ironsi to visit, which was wrong. The Decree 34 that you talked about, what actually was in that decree? The point is that I was in the SMC, and I do not think that there was any decree that Ironsi issued which we in the SMC did not sit round and we all discussed. I know that there was a move for the creation of a unitary government at the SMC, but it had not been written at all. Nigeria was not unified, that was why I remained military governor in the East; if it had been, I would not have remained governor in the East. The other person they hated was F.C Nwokedi; but if you remember, what the SMC told Nwokedi and the nation, was that he should go round and discuss, and come back and report; but the rationalisation you find is that he had gone and reported and it was clear a decree was going to be promulgated, not that it had actually been promulgated. Ironsi did not do anything to the contrary, the government was not unified, rather, it was the civil service. How does one command areas that he actually had no jurisdiction over? And if they say that is the reason for killing Ironsi, and killing Nigeria, why is that since they have taken over, they still retained the system of appointing governors? What the decree did was to unify the civil service under a military system. At the time you were in touch with Ogundipe, you knew Ironsi had died? No, not officially. I had the rumour that he had been assassinated, so I began making contacts because I wanted to force them out in the open so that we could start dealing with the real situation. It was said that you told him that if he makes radio announcement that you would follow from the East, giving your support, was that what you said? It is a long time now, but I can tell you that to establish Ironsi was a question of something like 'please do not keep the nation waiting, whatever it is, now that the rump of Tafawa Balewa government had vested authority, you speak to the nation and get to work.' That if that happens, I would from the North lend some support, and the various commanding officers would also show support. We manage it and stabilise the situation, but this second one, I told him I did not like the crowd around him in Benin, the officers were from a particular grouping; it is possible that because of the seniority, he did not identify the tendencies, I was a lieutenant colonel, so I was closer and I knew their tendencies . When the upheaval then took place, I began first to talk to Murtala Mohammed, who was in Ikeja, we understood each other, and what he said to me was very straight forward and simple: " I do not want to stay with Nigeria. I just want us to separate the North from Nigeria, which would mean that we would move the Northerners of a certain standing to the North". I said to him: 'if that is the case, okay, go ahead with it.' But as I later on understood, some western diplomats, the British, and Americans and some permanent secretaries, told them not to break up Nigeria. I learnt they told them everything they wanted, they now have, so why leave the country? But I said no, if we have to do it together, we must return to the chain of command, the hierarchy of the military. Then I started to get in touch with Ogundipe, it was difficult at that time, but with my own Yoruba connections, I found him. Apart from Ogundipe and Adebayo, who else might it have fallen upon to lead the Army? Ogundipe was then a full colonel, after him it would have fallen probably to Bassey, who was senior to all of us, the only person he was junior to was probably Ironsi. When Gowon made his national broadcast, you followed up with your own broadcast, was that when you made up your mind to secede? I told you earlier that the whole question was that we return to hierarchy as we had it in the Army. Gowon was in Lagos and he took over, he spoke to me and I told him no, that he can''t take over. I made it clear that it was not his right. By accepting to negotiate with him at Aburi, was that not a recognition of a fait accomopli? I do not know what you call a fait accompli. When you suddenly caught a robber that invaded your house and carried your belongings, what do you do? You start talking with him, is that a fait accompli? If it were a fait accompli, there would have been nothing to discuss. This thing got accomplished at the end of the war. There is the suggestion of the rivalry between you and Gowon being a factor... (interrupts) I will not let you finish, because you are feeding ideas into my mind. Please, if you have to use a little courtesy to respect me and let me know what you are talking about. Your were administratively senior to Gowon, even though he joined the army two years before you did, and it is suggested that it provoked some rivalry having him assume command... It did not, you are the one reading that into it. Where did you find that? There are many people who were in the army long before me that I was ahead of eventually. Do you honestly think having been to the university and gotten two degrees would not even give me an advantage? It did! There were many people who joined the army before Gowon, it did not provoke rivalry. What I am opposed to is to encapsulate a national tragedy and reduce it to a mundane level. For instance, Col. Hilary Njoku might even argue that he was senior to me, and I might disagree, but technically, he would be right because even though I became a lieutenant colonel before him, by virtue of military seniority, he was senior to me and once he became a lieutenant colonel, he assumed seniority. But Gowon''s case was a little bit different. Like you said, he joined the army two years before me, but at my commission, I had caught up with him anyway; because I got the advantage due to my university training. So that he was in the army two years before me by this time did not come into thought, I hope I have explained myself well. It was suggested that Decree 8 suspending the constitution and putting into effect some of the understanding that was reached at Aburi, was promulgated but you did not accept it, do you still remember some of the aspects that offended you? If you put the decree on the table I will look at it and tell you. As I said to you, I did not agree with the actions taken, we quarrelled and eventually, we went to war. There must be so many things that we could not agree on 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 baked 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"? 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 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. Before the war broke Gowon talked about creating the COR states ( Cross Rivers, Ogoja and Rivers state), as a way of reducing your area of influence. But did you anticipate that if you went ahead that you would still have the support of the people of those areas? That is a good question, but in any case as the head of state of Biafra, what you expect me to do is to sit beside the radio to listen to what Gowon had to say. No. We were running a republic of our own. Ont the creation of states he had no powers over us; remember that technically at that time Gowon was a rebel. In your book '' Because I am involved'' you said of Gowon, " An aspect of him which I found often disconcerting, was his ability, when pushed to the wall in any discussion, to close off his mind, to close his door, as it were, to all logic", at Aburi did you push to him to the wall? Aburi presented immense opportunity to present our case before the international community , I went there as a leader of eastern regional faction, and it was not a question of pushing him to the wall. Should I tell you what I did? You judge from what you heard'' Aburi you have the complete transcription of what happened. You have the record of all the discussions, you can read with objectivity. And you sit here after many years and ask whether I pushed him to wall; you want to reduce everything to personal dispute, I resent that I must tell you. You and Zik never agreed? Me and Zik never agreed?, how can who am I, no. He carried me on his laps when he came back from America and visited my father. All my life I referred to him as pa, my mate was his son Chuma. We were not contemporaries, he might have disagreed with my father if ever; but remember at the Foster Sutton, it was my father that bailed him out. So at least he and my father were quite close, if you feel that you are not getting all the facts no problem, but that is the fact. I found him amiable, and in Biafra I gave him maximum protection, and he even led some of delegations abroad; when he found the rings around the enclave had become tighter he took a step when I sent on a delegation he decided to flee to Nigeria, so where did you get this information about my not agreeing with him? You removed him as Vice-chancellor of University of Nigeria? I removed him as Vice-chancellor for certain reasons, but the bigger reason was that it was the only place available to me in an emergency; I brought in Ado Bayero as the chancellor it was in the midst of the crisis and I decided that the Emir should come here to show the positive attitude of our people. What particular reason do you have for removing him? Has he got glue to his buttocks, he had done a good job up to that point , but the issue as I pointed out earlier is that it became very necessary to relieve him of that position. Given the way the war ended would you have fought it differently? Well as I look back I would say yes I would have for those battles I lost, but for the ones I won I would not change anything. One of the things that I would like to do since I came back from exile is that I would like to hold a plebiscite, not that it would have changed much, but that it would have shown it was the wish of the entire people of the southeast. When you went into exile there are those who thought that you would have organised resistence to save Biafra (interrupts) Even today there are those in Nigeria who still think that I am organising some resistence. But you did not do that why? Because I did not think that it was necessary. My dear young man when you fight a war you do what you must do to define your war aims very clearly, and that is what you fight for. Well some times having achieved it you might be tempted to raise it further, but in this case my war aim was to ensure the survival of the Biafran people from the former threat of genocide. In the end many pronouncements have shown that we succeeded. At the beginning of hostilities, you had said that no power in black Africa could stop Biafra, did you really mean it? I am terrible sorry I will not reduce myself to that level of discussion. '' No power in black Africa did you really mean it'', there are ways of talking; at that time with the temper of the moment, that was it. And in any case I proved it, not borrowed power from Europe I am talking about power from black Africa. That I had a battalion of weapons?, everybody knew what I had , I said even the grass would fight. Did I mean that even blade grass would put on a uniform and start fighting. When you came back people expected you to play the oracle, but you said you would not; the present crisis of leadership in Igbo land has been traced to that fact, do you agree? There is no doubt that some people want me to play the oracle, but I do not look like an oracle. I remember telling the people that I am not a politician, but it is there being in the north, west and elsewhere that forces me into their defense, but if they want me to stop they should withdraw and come to the east; and not every time you would shout and complain that you''ve been massacred, that their shops have been destroyed and looted you look for me. So for as long as they are out there they need protection from here, that was what I said. And then finally, I enjoy talking to you, I really do; but I wish that you did a lot more reading. But tell me actually, what leader in history had gone into exile, and returned with certain youthfulness and then became an oracle? When you say something you should be able to say like x, or z, tell me.? Do you realise that whenever you try to take certain stage in Igbo politics you evoke passion not only amongst other Nigerians, but even within Igboland? So I should commit suicide, give me a suggestion. God created me that way or what do I do, cut off my tongue? Go to a cosmetic surgeon to change my face; that is a question you should pose to the almighty God, and ask him why he created me. But clearly I intend to use every ounce of energy to nudge Nigeria into the right way. When APGA was been formed your were not central to it, at what point did you then develop interest? As an idea I found it very fascinating; I would normally take interest in any existing party. But in this case I took passionate interest watching, and evaluating APGA until after it received INEC certification; but don''t forget I was the person Ohanaeze entrusted with the task of ensuring a closer interaction between it and the party, so I got the opportunity, and later I found it was the right way. Why then was it difficult for Ohanaeze to adopt APGA? They must have their reason, and I felt personally insulted that Ohanaeze should even consider some else too. I know what effort I have made to protect their interest and integrity; now for Ohanaeze to even look in the direction of a man who had the chance of fighting alongside Ndigbo, but decided to fight along side the north during that war was too much. I said no. I can take most things but not that one. So these are the problems with Ohanaeze, they are not clear where they are going, and I am the one that said Ohanaeze is dead. Maybe now they are trying to find life, I wish them luck. You were reported to have proscribed Ohanaeze, a statement many have wondered what gave you the right to say so? It is a God given right, and I would say what I think is appropriate in a democracy. And we are talking about a political situation, and we are facing an election, and I say that Ohanaeze is dead and you say who gave me the right? It is a God given right, that is my opinion. So because it is an umbrella organisation, there are certain things you are not allowed to say, come off it. It is my right and you job is to prove me wrong, and not to say that it is not right. Your forming Igbo National Assembly (INA) is seen by many people as not helping in forging a common front lacking in Igbo land, what do you say? Ohanaeze is an organisation born out of strife, I can understand the reason why they decided to be socio-cultural organisation, with that we were able to function under a military government. But as we evolve such there are greater freedoms, we have reached a stage where I think that Ndigbo needs a political organisation. We have a party which is national, it needs INA charged with mobilisation of Ndigbo. Nobody quarrels with Ohanaeze, if they continue with being socio-cultural, no problem. If I am invited to an mmanwu festival, I will be there. But remember that Ohanaeze and its leaders over the years have been a group pregnant with politics, but very cowardly they could not express it, actually they are jealous of political initiatives. I cannot dismiss the organisation totally, even despite the question of conflict, but the problem with Ndigbo today is particularly political. Nobody under the pay of the state or federal government should be an executive of Ohanaeze, this is simple and requires nothing more than commonsense. Nobody aspiring for federal appointment should be in position in Ohanaeze. In INA I hope we would be able to do what Nigeria needs Ndigbo to do constructively, which is critical opposition. Are you aware Ohanaeze is being restructured? Yes I am aware, we are watching them, but I am not satisfied because I do not think they have got to the bottom of their problem. They first thing they have to do is to separate the politics from the socio- cultural, and there are so many things to be done. The other is that organisational I do not think they can command a lot of fellowship amongst Ndigbo. One of the reasons is that the leadership does not inspire the confidence of Ndigbo, there are so many factors that at my age and position it would be almost irresponsible of me to go into details. There is the observation that you do not get along with many Igbo leaders? Since the end of the civil war, you would find people from the north, from the army barracks and everywhere tell you these are the leaders of Ndigbo, and people go trudging after them, they are our leaders. Emeka Offor is your leader and they go after him he is our leader. They are told Chris Uba is your leader, they go after him he is our leader, come of it; soon or later we should be able to say no. These people are not our leaders, and that is what a political organisation should be able to do. Now they have ended up telling us somebody who was on the Nigerian side during the civil war is our leader and they say yes sir, he is our leader. That cannot go on. Can you confirm that you said in Owerri that you handed over the baton of leadership of Ndigbo to Chekwas Okorie? Wishful thinking, I did not say that. I said I would hand over to the likes of Chekwas Okorie, and the other thing I want you to know is that I have no intention of dying yet. In your book, you said that Nigeria is crippled by four fears: fear of change, fear of truth, fear of unity and fear of man. Have you discovered more fears? The worst fear is actually the fear of unity, at every step as I reflect about Nigeria I find that one thing we all agree on is the fear of unity. That is why I said that the beginning of wisdom of Nigeria must be a national conference, let us come together around the table. Let no subject be made a taboo, and design a Nigeria that can accommodate all of us. Nigeria should be restructured. You see when I say a national conference I never like going into details, because I would prefer everything to be discussed. And for everybody to understand me I would say if the people of this area want a Biafra, why not? And if some other people want an Oduduwa republic, why should it not be discussed; to try then to spoon feed a constitution to the Nigerian people is wrong. And the people who want to this are the military, who are the least qualified of the lot to do so. And whilst we are on it, do not tell me that every time we are changing the document the point is that the constituion is made for the people, not the people for the constitution. If we have to change the constitution every year, why not?, provided we are easing the situation for our people, there is nothing wrong with that. From your book, you said about the surrender of Biafra: " when the news of the capitulation of Biafran forces under Effiong reached me, first it was anger: anger that perhaps I had been tricked into going out on a fruitless and futile mission." Did you mean to stay back? My intention was to stay back, but whether I would have stayed is another thing. We like to beat our chest and be the great baboon, pillars of courage; but I do not know what I would have done. The intention was to stay. You described Obasanjo in our book this way: ''Here was a man who without being a great statesman in his time grew to become the greatest elder statesman of his time, what is your view of this statement now?'' I repudiate it. I think I do so unabashedly, because my in latest statement I said Obasanjo is a fraud, and I think that captures him better than anything else I have said. He is not that which he presents himself to be. He is not a civilian; he is not a democrat; he is not a Nigerian. He is not a Yoruba as such. You wrote in your book, that: '' we treat electoral opponents as malicious enemies instead of as persons with opposing view points.'' Do you today feel vindicated? Yes I do feel vindicated. Election opponents in Enugu here are being hunted by assassins, in Anambra it is not much better, in Abia it is not better. Do you think that the civilians have re- imposed order over the army? Not so long ago when I said to you that Obasanjo is a fraud, I indicated that he says he is a civilian, but he is not. When you say whether the civilians have control over the army, I say to you that it has not been tested. The Obasanjo regime in my view is not totally civilian. All his massacres are military, he clearly gave orders to some people and they carried them out. So it is difficult for me to say right now that they are under civilian control. But once we get to the constitutional conference, procedure would be established for better control of the armed forces. Do you have some ideas that you may like to share with us? In the constitutional conference it would be a passionate interest of mine to serve in the group that would try to cage that beast called the army. You see the army came out of the barracks in 1966, it would be duty of all patriotic Nigerians to see that the army is caged back to their barracks again. They have to be made professional again, what you have today are an officer corps of land lords. No efficient army can run with land lords in command, and at the end of each month they had to go back to the town to collect their rents. The army in Nigeria is a heavy burden to the national economy, and this is so because of black mail. I have argued for years that the army can be made productive, but people do not believe me they prefer we continue the colonial all- consuming army. And this does not fit well into the economy of a third world country. They should be divested of their obvious intimidatory role. For instance, a soldier can only be in uniform whenever he is on duty, and if he is moving from barracks to duty other arrangements could be made. But one thing I will not support is an army in uniform on the roads, and on foot carrying weapons it is intimidating, and when they are hungry to extort, and when they feel randy to rape. I am saying this not as an accusation, because whatever I say about the army affects me. But I am saying this to point these loopholes out to the new commanders of today. A lot of privileges you can grant the army, you do so because you look at them not as super humans. The Nigerian army has to be drastically restructured. When we were being trained, we were told that as soon as you have taken part in a coup, the entire force is disbanded, and then you build a new army whether it is a battalion, a brigade. What has happened is that in Nigeria they have tried to cover up treason. What right has Theophilus Danjuma, to butcher his general officer commanding in Ibadan, what right? What right has Gowon to benefit from such a crime, what right? The things they did led us to a grotesque situation where for six months Nigeria was being ruled from a grave. Murtala Mohammed was effective dead and buried in the grave while an inscription was in every wall as part of Murtala- Obasanjo regime; Obasanjo did not have the courage to repudiate it, it was grotesque, but we had it. On this Danjuma's role there is the view that says killing Ironsi was not part of the plot, but at Ibadan the NCO's pushed him aside and then took Ironsi and killed him? My answer is that you are either a commander or your are not. And I loathe this situation where those who committed crime remain faceless. Is there any book where you have been told which NCO''s pushed aside, and he went on to benefit from that act. And would you tell me which NCO reinstated him. What message do you have for Nigerians at your 70th birthday? I want to thank every Nigerian for one thing or the other contributing to making my day a success. The situation in Nigeria is very bad, but I want to assure them that it is not a situation that is irreparable, it can be repaired. It requires wisdom and wit. Whereas some people say we are one nation, I want to tell my country men and women that we are not. We are an agglomeration of people seeking to become one nation, the search for one nation has become very valid. We have not arrived there and the only way we can get there is through a sovereign national conference. We need and should design and re-design a polity that accommodates not one group but everybody. My fellow country men and women, I have a strong belief that we can make it. What has transpired in the past is an aberration; the concept that might is right is an aberration. It is only through a national conference that we can create a Nigerian of ourselves, instead of patching it up . My beloved people I believe that together we can make it. When is Ikemba going to retire? I will retire a few months after my death.

^^^ Jumping Jehoshaphat in a jumpsuit!! Who's gonna read all this block of text you dolt?!!

Now I remember you as the 'Rhymz' from all those crazy conspiracy theories about the moon landings and the CIA/Mossad. I thought you an unintelligent, gibbering buffoon then, i'm well on the way to being proven right.

Pergrace: I JUST DON'T KNOW WHY WE LIKE INSULTING PEOPLE ON NAIRALAND.
Everybody has the right to say what he or she likes,its called freedom of speech.
It is very wrong to insult people.There are ways to express one's feelings and insults IS NOT JUST ONE OF THEM.

NL human rights activist..some people are soo dumb-headed they cannot think straight. Just look at the anti-tribal idiots posting. You take your time..post and go..let d dumb-headed be told they are foolish..chikena!

texazzpete:

So..to counter sound arguments from katsumoto, you reach for words from Ojukwu?

<sarcasm> Because, as we all know his opinions can be taken as FACTS and 100% free from bias </sarcasm>

What next? We ask Charles Taylor for the 'truth' of what happened in the Liberian Civil war and document his words as facts?

Truly, i am extremely unimpressed with the dearth of brainpower you folks have put into your responses to Katsumoto's assertions.

My friendly advice to you is to stay out of this while Dede1, ACM and bashr8 tarnish their reputations with their feeble defences. Flee now and fight Katsumoto another day!

So by your logic, I am supposed to take as fact the 2nd hand stories and 3rd person's accounts of what may have caused the war over the words of one of the real actors of the war?
You sure know how to pick your stories to suit your purpose. Ojukwu is a far more veriable source of whatever that transpired before and during that war than your Oguiyi writer or whatever names they call me, neither is Katsumoto, who is reading accounts of the war that supports his already foreclosed stance any better.
If Ojukwu has lied in his account of the war, then all we need is to get those real players who participated in war to give their own side of the story that puts a lie to Ojukwu's claims. No matter what anyone tries to conjure up here, it must be noted that there's no such thing as an unbias writer, everyone write with a certain degree of preconcieved bias or at least on such premise.
Like the saying goes, "in war, the first casualties are not even women and childrien but the TRUTH". There's no denying the fact that each side employed propaganda during the war, so stop trying to ram "your so-called facts" down my throat when obviously, it still a product of a continued propaganda.

@Rhymz,
Quite insightful! I will take out time to read the whole interview later in the day since I'm presently occupied. The fact that he mentioned ANPP in the interview shows that he granted the interview after 1999. Yet Gowon has not issued any rebuttal to the devastating accusation of being responsible for the breakdown of discipline in the army.

texazzpete: ^^^ Jumping Jehoshaphat in a jumpsuit!! Who's gonna read all this block of text you dolt?!!

Now I remember you as the 'Rhymz' from all those crazy conspiracy theories about the moon landings and the CIA/Mossad. I thought you an unintelligent, gibbering buffoon then, i'm well on the way to being proven right.

you are a hypocrite Mr Man, if you could read Awolowo's report abi na letter una call am, then this should not be a problem if realy you cared about getting balanced accounts of what happened.
4ucking slowpoke!!

CyberG:

No Mr. LIAR. You wanted it locked down so as no to let any TRUTH or LIGHT shine on the darkness of LIES you and your tribalistic goons have soiled Nigeria with! It's so sad that you are still pretending like you care when all that still pains you is the perpetual loss of a war you cannot WIN even if you fight it like every year! Go ask Hitler, your mentor!

Now, are you happy of what this thread has become?

ACM10: @Rhymz,
Quite insightful! I will take out time to read the whole interview later in the day since I'm presently occupied. The fact that he mentioned ANPP in the interview shows that he granted the interview after 1999. Yet Gowon has not issued any rebuttal to the devastating accusation of being responsible for the breakdown of discipline in the army.

sorry about the clumsy look of the article, I actually used my phone to paste it. However, if you find it difficult reading it, you could actually go here and read it clearly: www.igbonews.co.uk/html/biafra_news_3.html#Aburi-Accord

My yoruba brother should leave this matter for once. I have read from several authors that it was Ojukwu that released Awolowo. Btw, Gowon couldn't have released Awolowo when he awolowo was in the Ojukwu's territory and jurisdiction.

Am a yorubaman, but Awolowo for what its worth should have been tried for war crime that launched poverty on women and children thru starvation. If he had forged ahead with Ojukwu in his secession plan we wouldn't have all these crises we have now, more especially the bombings in the north.

Ojukwu remains one Nigerian that I respect even in death, he saw what our nincompoop politicians could not see over 40years ago.

Ajillo:

This more of why I don't contribute much here. There are so many clowns and illiterates here. OBJ wrote in his book, "My command" that the federal army shot the first bullet of that war. Now tell me why you are not an illiterate. Have not read that book?

And you expected the head of state of Nigeria to stand idly by when a region decided to secede?

If you were the head of state and the bayelsa governor declares his independence, what would YOU do? Resort to prayers or declare a state of emergency and send in the troops?

I'm glad you don't contribute more here. You aren't very bright, are you?

Interesting interview posted above by rhymz. Read the whole thing. It's a shame how politics tore the military apart.

Even as we are fighting hard to prevent these bunch of liars from forcing their lives full of lies down our throats, some evil minded STORY TELLERS are busy writing crap which they will shamelessly display as proof in years to come, how it was them who stood and vocally condenmed the activities of boko haram due to their political "SAVVYNESS & SOPHISTICATION". They might even claim to have a video tape where they were beating the sultan,emirs and boko haram members ordering them to behave themselves, and also anounced their witdrawal of political support to the northern muslims because of their (northern muslims" secret and open support of boko haram, but unfortunately "the video tape" was stolen, haa haa! Nomatter how hard you fight to distort or kill the truth, you need to do yourselves some favour and realise that after so many years of your lives full with lies and deceits towards us, and we are still alive and majority of you are not actually better off, then you must be insane thinking dishing out your rhetric full of deceits equals end of logic.

ayo011: My yoruba brother should leave this matter for once. I have read from several authors that it was Ojukwu that released Awolowo. Btw, Gowon couldn't have released Awolowo when he awolowo was in the Ojukwu's territory and jurisdiction.

Am a yorubaman, but Awolowo for what its worth should have been tried for war crime that launched poverty on women and children thru starvation. If he had forged ahead with Ojukwu in his secession plan we wouldn't have all these crises we have now, more especially the bombings in the north.

Ojukwu remains one Nigerian that I respect even in death, he saw what our nincompoop politicians could not see over 40years ago.

Truly, you are a Yoruba man from Nnewi. Why are Ibos so deceitful

PhysicsQED: Interesting interview posted above by rhymz. Read the whole thing. It's a shame how politics tore the military apart.

We'll never know how Nigeria could have been if that first coup hadn't destroyed our initial democracy and cemented lines of hatred in the hearts of Nigerians.

Tribalism is the greatest evil to hit Nigeria, right next to corruption.

Personally, I try to be as detribalised as possible and will bring up my kids that way.

PhysicsQED: You seem convinced that S.O. Ighodaro carpet crossed because people said he did. Wouldn't it make more sense to show that he actually had some pre-existing arrangement to contest as an NCNC member than to just continually assert that he carpet crossed because people said he did?

If he said he was not an NCNC member before the election, which he did, I don't see what point you have.

I do believe that tribalism is better than distortion of historical facts for cheap political reasons. Did it occur to you that Humphrey Omo-Osagie was not a member of NCNC? Have you pressured yourself to inquire why majority of Otu Edo representatives ended up in NCNC fold in Ibadan?

Having read and researched deeply the political history of the cesspit called Nigeria, the most humanistic thing to do about sorry state of Nigeria is disintegration. I guess some truth will surface if all or most ethnic groups in Nigeria go their different ways for a new beginning.

texazzpete: Sooo amusing to see the ancient Dede 1 dancing around after bring caught in a barefaced lie



During World War 2, the British general in charge of Singapore surrendered the city to the Japanese to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of civillians living in the city, a large number of which would have perished in the final assault by the Japanese.
Any General that allows his people starve to death with no escape route in sight MUST share part of the blame...just as historians blame Hitler for condemning the german 3rd Army to death and capture by refusing to make a strategic withdrawal from Stalingrad before the Russian encirclement became complete.

Abeg I'm neither Igbo or Yoruba...I'm just all for common sense.

Correct

Laying siege has been used in warfare for thousands of years. The intention is to force those under siege to surrender. There are only three options available to you

1. Fight to lift the seige (easier said than done)
2. Surrender (most logical)
3. Die while waiting for your opponents to change their minds (not gonna happen)

It is instructive to note than an aggressive army can itself be surrounded. The Egyptian Army which launched the war against Isreal in the Yom Kippur war (1973) found it self caught between the Isreali army on Egyptian soil and the Sinai peninsula (which is also part of Egypt). Without Russian and American negotiators, the Isrealis were going to destroy the entire Egyptian 3rd Army. Sadat and Egyptian General Al-Gamasy had to beg the Isrealis to allow food supplies reach its army and agreed to Isreali terms for cessation of hostilities. This event would lead to both countries establishing diplomatic ties.

Dede1:
I do believe that tribalism is better than distortion of historical facts for cheap political reasons. Did it occur to you that Humphrey Omo-Osagie was not a member of NCNC? Have you pressured yourself to inquire why majority of Otu Edo representatives ended up in NCNC fold in Ibadan?

Having read and researched deeply the political history of the cesspit called Nigeria, the most humanistic thing to do about sorry state of Nigeria is disintegration. I guess some truth will surface if all or most ethnic groups in Nigeria go their different ways for a new beginning.

Where did I claim that Omo Osagie was an NCNC member? It's not relevant to my point which is that there is no evidence that Ighodaro had any preexisting agreement to go over to the NCNC upon election merely because he was an Otu Edo member.

Dede1:

I do believe that tribalism is better than distortion of historical facts for cheap political reasons. Did it occur to you that Humphrey Omo-Osagie was not a member of NCNC? Have you pressured yourself to inquire why majority of Otu Edo representatives ended up in NCNC fold in Ibadan?

Having read and researched deeply the political history of the cesspit called Nigeria, the most humanistic thing to do about sorry state of Nigeria is disintegration. I guess some truth will surface if all or most ethnic groups in Nigeria go their different ways for a new beginning.

Dede1 stop with the twisting of facts.

Omo-Osagie, Ighodaro, and Ekwuyasi were all members of otu-Edo in Benin. As with all small parties, they sought alliances with bigger parties. That was why 2 Otu-edo members ended up in NCNC and one in AG. Similarly why 5 IPP members ended up in AG and 1 (Adelabu) ended up in NCNC.

If your argument is that Ighodaro did not join NCNC with the two others, then others can submit the same argument for Adelabu breaking ranks with IPP to join NCNC. You can't have it both ways, your argument must be consistent always and not blind to other factors. In any case, as stated earlier, even if Ighodaro joined NCNC, AG would have still had a majority. Quit whining over irrelevant occurrences.

Why do some of you always look to blame others for your failures? Just like Zik putting his failure to get elected to the federal house when 5 NCNC members, including 2 non-yorubas in Oputa-Otutu and Denis Osadebey.

At times i wonder where all these letter emanate from. is it that they've not always been in public domain or someone just woke up in 2012 and decided to write a letter on behalf of Awolowo.

Wow. All of this sincei last was on. Same repaeat as before on many other threads. I wonder if I should even bother anymore.

rhymz: @Katsumoto
I have always stated that no matter what revionists like yourself read and write about the war, it can never be as authentic or nearer to the truth as some of the accounts given by Ojukwu himself about the war.
When one chooses to view issues with preconcieved conclusions and goes ahead to strengthen their stance by reading books on the war by authors whose views are bias, articles by propagandist, and distorted third party accounts from your likes.
One thing you can not fault Ojukwu on is the fact that unlike many of the officers of his time, he was the most educated and erudite with prolly the best ability to vividly tell the real story and reasons for the war.
I shall post some of his responses to questions posed to him by a reporter that
he exclusively granted an interview; the questions ranged from facts, distortions that have become some people's truth, suggestive statements in the mould of facts, rude embelishments, outright propagander down to the ridiculous. Ojukwu being a man of sound mind and judgement did not fail to nip it in the bud....anyway, enuf gisting....make I get down to bizness.....

You are wasting your time with your attempt at labeling me. What I expect is a logical and concise rebuttal to the points that I raised. I am not swayed by Ojukwu's account of the war, although I have read it, just I am not swayed by Churchill's, Stalin's , etc. They provide for interesting reading but one must look to historians to provide a balanced account.

Ojukwu was playing at cheap opportunism when he stated that he freed Awo from prison. Why did he not tell the interviewer how Awo arrived at Ikenne? His comments don't surprise me anyway, going by how some Igbo sons on NL keep up with their chestbeating. On this thread alone, rather than face the arguments with logical reasoning, we have heard from Igbo sons how they are doing better than everyone, how so much more intelligent and educated they are than others. It is almost comical when one considers that this debate is NOT about 'hard to prove' standards of living in Nigeria.

To make matters worse, some of you wont even attempt to verify facts before vomiting your ignorance on a faceless forum (how ironic). One 'knowledgeable' Igbo guy claimed Awo lost the election in the Eastern house of Assembly. We have ACM10 going to his village library to check elections results from 1951 and Dede1 stating rather foolishly that Gowon announced that he had no control over the Eastern region and subsequently performing a dance similar to an Indian ceremonial dance around a fire.

Yes, I am a revisionist (your words) but at list I present my position and provide information to support it. Let me add by the way, that in true typical fashion, you failed to address the argument and instead provided a hard to read interview from Ojukwu. Was that Interview intended to address all the points raised on this thread? If so, please direct me to appropriate sections of that interview.

@rhymz

Bros, I do not bother posting such authentic masterpiece as you did in your last post because I really want these people to continue to wallow in the propaganda started in 1966 and continued till this day by Nigerians. It is not out-of-place to state unequivocally that northern, western, mid-western and non-Biafrans in eastern region were busy decorating lies and propaganda throughout the duration of Nigeria/Biafra civil war.

Sometimes it is very amazing to read conjectural craps most Nigerians put up as facts.

afam4eva: At times i wonder where all these letter emanate from. is it that they've not always been in public domain or someone just woke up in 2012 and decided to write a letter on behalf of Awolowo.

Stop being disingenuous and selectively blind. At least two posters have provided the book that contains this particular letter.

It is asinine to come up with the suggestion that the letter is recent.

Dede1,

If you have a better understanding of historical facts, I want you to verify something for me. In an article called "Revisiting Nigeria's Political History", a writer named Ben Lawrence made the following claim:

"Even then in 1951, only a few NCNC members won election to the Eastern House of Assembly on their party's ticket. In the old Calabar Province, for instance, the NCNC won two out of 13 seats. The two went to Professor Eyo Ita and an ally in Calabar Division,

the famous Mazi Mbonu Ojike, NCNC top brass and deputy mayor of Lagos, was beaten by Chief Ezerioha, an Independent, to whom with Chief Kingsley O, Mbadiwe (alias K. O.) tactically tagged to win a seat in Orlu Division. Reuben J. Uzoma, an Independent, also won from Orlu Division. So no NCNC man was elected from there, although they all later cast their lot with the party. [/b]In Onitsha, the hometown of Zik, the NCNC was floored. [b]Justice Louis Mbanefo, an Independent defeated NCNC candidate to the Eastern House and subsequently to the Central House of Assembly. Most of the Eastern victors swung to the NCNC to form the government because of the respect they had for Professor Eyo Ita, founder of the West African People's Institute (WAPI) Calabar, in the East. The Western Region was more politically organised on party basis and general franchise. The NCNC and its supposed allies thought they had 51 seats and that the Action Group and allies had 29 seats. But on that day of judgement at the inauguration of the Western House, the Action Group had 45 seats and the NCNC 35."

http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/rarticles/revisiting%20nigerias%20political%20history.htm

I only want your analysis of the parts in bold and to confirm whether they're true. I don't care about whether Mr. Lawrence got the details right in the rest of this quote because it won't be relevant to my point.

In the part in bold he claims that independents defeated NCNC challengers and then later went with the NCNC when the government was formed.

You referenced the majority of Otu Edo going NCNC as if it were an indication that there was some preexisting agreement between all Otu Edo members and between the Otu Edo and the NCNC that all Otu Edo members would opt for the NCNC when the government was formed.

The issue here is, for the Eastern region, did these particular independents (Chief Ezerioha or Louis Mbanefo) have some preexisting agreement with the NCNC to swing to the NCNC upon successful election? And if there was some preexisting alliance with the NCNC before being elected, why compete directly against the NCNC's candidate for election? Wouldn't it make more sense to just contest directly as an NCNC man or to not run in order to cede the position to the NCNC's actual candidate?

I find this example (Chief Ezerioha's example, Louis Mbanefo's example) hard to reconcile with your insistence that those who eventually swung mostly to the NCNC in the west automatically had a real and acknowledged pre-existing agreement with the NCNC to opt for the NCNC upon election merely because of their political party - since we can see that some independents in the east that swung to the NCNC blocked and even defeated NCNC candidates in certain instances.

Katsumoto:

Stop being disingenuous and selectively blind. At least two posters have provided the book that contains this particular letter.

It is asinine to come up with the suggestion that the letter is recent.

I'm not saying the letter is recent. Whether it was recent in 2012 or 1999 does not make any difference. I just want to know if there's an evidence that Awolowo actually did write that letter. Did he publish it in one of his books?