by Sulaimon Olanrewaju
Okunnu
I feel a bit disappointed at the statement credited to one of Nigeria's leading literary lights and, indeed, one of Africa's leading lights, Professor Chinua Achebe. I am quite disappointed about the book alleged to have been written by him about a subject in which I played a leading role on the federal side.
The allegation about Chief Obafemi Awolowo starving the Igbo-speaking Nigerians is totally false. Chief Awolowo was not actively involved in the peace talks. The first peace talk between Nigeria and the other side (that's what we called the Biafran delegation in diplomatic circles during that period) was in London. It was initiated by the then Commonwealth Secretary General. It later shifted to Kampala. During the talks in Kampala, a Nigerian official (Mr Banjo) was kidnapped and till today his body has not been recovered. I was not involved in the peace talks in London and Kampala.
The next peace talk was in Niamey (Republic of Niger) about May 1968, after the return of General (Yakubu) Gowon to Nigeria and the departure of Colonel (Emeka) Ojukwu, I led the federal delegation. From Niamey, we shifted to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). The Addis Ababa peace talks started on the 5th August, 1968. I was second in command to Tony Enahoro. Ojukwu departed after the first day or so and Tony (Enahoro) left after about a week. I took over the leadership of the federal delegation from the second week of August till the third week of September. The leader of the Biafran delegation was Professor Enny Njoku, a distinguished Nigerian who later became the vice chancellor of the University of Lagos. We were in dialogue for that period of time. After the first week when it was all about the return of Biafra to the Nigerian federation, the dialogue shifted to relief materials and we said corridors should be created for relief materials to pass from within the country and especially outside the country to the war affected areas, especially the Biafran enclave. That took us four or five weeks, just to agree on land corridor, air corridor and river corridor.
When we could not resolve the issue in Addis Ababa, we had to adjourn and the last peace talks took place in Monrovia (Liberia). At that meeting, unlike Addis Ababa where Emperor Haile Selassie himself presided over most of the talks between the two parties day in day out, there were present President William Tubman, who was the host, President Hamani Diori of Niger, President Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon, Emperor Haile Selassie and President Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo were all in attendance. Ghana sent its Inspector General of Police who was the Vice-President of their military council. So, we slugged it out. On this occasion, I again led the federal delegation. Sir Leo Mbanefo, who was formerly Chief Justice of the Eastern Region, a distinguished lawyer who incidentally was an old boy of Kings College, which I also attended, led the Biafran side. The talks were largely on relief materials and the corridors to allow relief materials to go into the Biafran enclave.
There was no one on the federal side, the federal government led by General Gowon, I can say this because I was actively involved in the peace talks, who wanted to starve our Igbo-speaking compatriots. If anything, it was Ojukwu who used starvation as a weapon to prolong the war. We were anxious to open corridors for relief to pass through. At the end of the day, we even agreed that we could open a corridor from Fernando Po by air to Port Harcourt. We considered river corridor from Port Harcourt to Aguta, which was at that time under rebel control. All these were rejected by the other side. It was Ojukwu who starved our Igbo-speaking compatriots.
Was Ojukwu at any of the meetings?
As I have told you, he was in Niamey personally. He left when Gowon left. I also saw him in Addis Ababa. In any case, his own emissaries were there led by Sir Leo Mbanefo and Professor Eni Njoku. It was the other side that starved our Igbo-speaking compatriots.
You are convinced that the delegation was acting on the instruction of Ojukwu to stall the peace talks?
Ojukwu had full control, the record is there. I put all these in my book, Femi Okunnu: In the Service of the Nation. I did not write that book from memory, I wrote it from records, records of papers submitted by both sides. It was not Chief Awolowo that starved the Igbo-speaking people, it was not the federal government under General Gowon, it was Ojukwu, who used starvation as a weapon of war.
I can say this about Chief Awolowo, I was one of his critics during my student days. My criticism of him was about the regional politics of the Action Group. As a student leader in Britain and leader of the Nigerian Youth Congress in Nigeria between 1960 and 1965, I was critical of regional politics. However, I was his admirer with respect to the way he organised the Action Group and the way he ran the Western Regional Government. As fate would have it, I was privileged to serve along with him in Gowon's government from May 1967 until he left us in 1970 after the war. I can say categorically as far as this issue is concerned, it was Ojukwu who used starvation as a weapon to prolong the civil war. It was a weapon used by Ojukwu to make Biafra a reality.
Incidentally after the civil war, I was General Gowon's emissary to President Houphouet Boigny of Ivory Coast for the return of the children which Ojukwu sent to that country on the ground of starvation for propaganda purpose. I negotiated the return of the children and in fact visited them.
As for the issue of rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement after the war, as the Federal Commissioner for Works, within two months of cessation of hostilities, I had ensured the repairs of Onitsha-Asaba Bridge. The war ended in mid-January, by mid-March, I symbolically, along with my good friend, Ukpabi Asika, who was the administrator of the East Central State and General (Olusegun) Obasanjo, who was the Chief of Army Engineers, opened the Asaba-Onitsha Bridge for movement of people and goods. If it was the intention of the federal government to starve our people across River Niger, we would not have reopened the bridge within two months.
Some of us had friends from across the Niger. I had friends at Kings College who were from across the Niger. Some of us were happy to have them back after the war.
I must say I am disappointed at Chinua Achebe, I thought he was a Nigerian. By now, we must be talking about Nigeria; not Igbo or Yoruba or Hausa or Ibibio or Fulani. We should be talking about Nigeria. For Nigeria to be great, for it to be the leader of the African continent, to be economically great, we should stop talking about ethnicity. We should be talking about Nigeria and Nigerians; Nigeria first, Nigeria second, Nigeria third.
Of course you cannot wipe away our cultural differences; Igbo have their culture, the Hausa have their culture, the Ijaw have their culture, the Edo have their culture, the Kanuri have their culture, the Onitsha have their culture, the Onitsha's culture is similar to that of Lagos and they both borrowed it from Benin. We must respect our respective cultures and preserve our cultural heritage. But in terms of building a country, we should be like the Indians. You don't hear of Indians from Bombay or Calcutta or New Delhi; anywhere you meet an Indian, he tells you that he is from India. So, Nigerians should now start talking about the country Nigeria. If a Nigerian is asked where he is from, the answer should be 'I come from Nigeria'.
A writer of Achebe's standing should stop seeing himself as an Igboman but should see himself as a Nigerian. That should be the legacy he should strive to leave for the millions of Igbo-speaking Nigerians. He should encourage them to see themselves as Nigerians and he should not falsify history.
As the federal government's special envoy and leader of the peace talks, why do you think the peace talks failed?
The peace talks did not fail as such. We spent weeks on the talks. But if you say the peace talks failed, it is because the other side refused to negotiate seriously. They were only interested in the sovereignty of Biafra. That was the goal of Ojukwu; an independent Biafra and he tried to use starvation to attain that goal. Thank God the goal failed and Nigeria remains and I hope we will be more united than we currently are and not be divided by ethnicity. We are being turned apart by ethnicity. We cannot make it as an independent nation that is economically strong if we continue to play the ethnicity card.
Between 1970 and now, has there been any difference? We are still talking about ethnicity 42 years after the civil war.
Unfortunately, it is worse now. It is because of ethnicity and corruption that we are where we are now. We have been left behind by countries that started after us; Indonesia, Malaysia etc. They are now well ahead of us.
Again, talking about ethnicity, China is not talking about ethnicity, that is why China is now number two in the world, soon to become number one. Chinese see themselves as one country; they may have their different languages but they see themselves as one country. That is the source of their strength as a country. No Chinese will tell you he is from one province or the other, they simply tell you they are Chinese. Nigerians should learn to see themselves as one.
Even our leaders are promoting regionalism...
Unfortunately, our leaders are very much the perpetrators of this position which is killing the oneness of the country.
Why do you think they do that?
For political power; they want small power, they want regional control. If you want to be a leader then you play on the weakness of your people and whip up ethnic nationalism. Our leaders should start whipping up Nigerian nationalism, not regional nationalism.
Would tinkering with our constitution be useful in changing that orientation?
We have been tinkering with the constitution...I don't see anything much wrong with the constitution. There are only a few areas that we ought to sit down and discuss; revenue allocation is one, local government administration is another. These are the two major areas that need to be addressed, not a blanket review of the constitution.
Unfortunately, we are creating more states, state creation weakens the federal strength of this country, and it weakens federalism.
Really?
Yes. The states are too small and they have no financial standing. That is why they all march to Abuja for allocation. Did you hear of Chief Awolowo or Dr Nnamdi Azikwe or Sir Ahmadu Bello coming down to Lagos for allocation?
The constitutions of 1954, 1960, 1979 and 1999 are basically the same. The major area of difference as I have said is revenue allocation. The federal government has acquired for itself too much money.
What would you recommend?
Let's go back to the old formula.
Let's look at the post-war era. Igbo-speaking Nigerians are still complaining that they were not properly integrated after the war.
Every ethnic group complains of marginalisation. The Yoruba also complain of marginalisation, the Hausa, the Kanuri, the Edo, they all complain that they are marginalised. But the fact is that nobody is marginalised.
Why then is everybody complaining?
It is because we like to complain. If Prophet Mohammed or God in His own mercy decides to come down to this country, Nigerians would complain. If Jesus Christ comes to this country, Nigerians would complain. It is our pastime. But it is time we sat down to do serious things to move this country forward.
Why do you think Professor Achebe decided to pin this badge of using starvation as a war weapon on Chief Awolowo?
Honestly, I don't know why he singled him out and I don't want to hazard a guess.
Were there policies championed by Chief Awolowo during the war that could have suggested that he was anti-Igbo?
Not at all. He did not champion starvation contrary to what is presented by Achebe in the extract of his book which I read. That is why I told you that we spent weeks on how we could get relief materials to those on the other side.
Let me tell you some of the things that happened. Ojukwu used some of the relief flights to carry arms. That also brought down the talks but we were willing to open corridors on water and on land but his delegates would have none of that, they were more interested in the recognition of Biafra as a sovereign country. That was the main preoccupation of Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
The Gowon cabinet was made up of old and young people. We had Dr Dikko, the first medical doctor from the North; Chief Awolowo, Mallam Aminu Kano, Joseph Tarka, Anthony Enahoro; we were a mixture of radical and conservative, old and young. The essence of that cabinet was to help to end the war. It was a cabinet of all talents.
You know that Gowon said there was no victor, no vanquished and he proceeded with that. We did not have any war trials after the war, the focus was reconciliation. Going by what happened after the war, I can't see any cause for this sort of writing.
NigerianTribune
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