Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

Ogugua Anunoby:

One of the most dangerous aspects of discussions about Awolowo, Western Nigeria and Biafra are the lies and half-truths that are mixed with truths, and used to develop congealed positions that border on intense dislike, even hatred.

You have displayed much of it below, mixing all facts up.

Take the issue of "Penny-per-year Obas" below, which you state with much confidence but very wrongly was  Awolowo's.  In fact, it was CHIEF LADOKE AKINTOLA, who replaced  Awolowo as Premier, but become quickly him main political adversary in Western Region, that IMPOSED a penny-per-year salary on Oba SAMUEL Akinsanya (the Odemo of Ishara) - not Chief ABRAHAM ADESANYA, latter-day NADECO/Yoruba chieftain.   From the 1950s onward, Oba Akinsanya was in fact Chief Awolowo's MAIN SUPPORTER, even though much earlier in 1941, it was because of him that Awo and Zik broke ranks in the NYM over Awo's support for the Ijaw fellow Ikoli over Akinsanya. 

When it comes to the late Olowo of Owo,  in whose palace Awolowo's Action Group was launched in 1951, I do not know why Awolowo was particularly mentioned.  The ex-Olowo was BANISHED by the Military in 1966 (while Awo had been still in prison for four years)  after a revolt by his own people for what they thought was a betrayal:

QUOTE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olateru_Olagbegi_II

Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, Olowo of Owo, Kt (born August 1910 - 1998) was the King (Olowo) of Owo, an ancient city which was once the capital of an Eastern Yoruba city state in Nigeria.[1] He was appointed Olowo in 1941 and ruled for 25 years before he was deposed. His exile from power was a fallout of a regional crisis between two Action Group leaders: Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola. The Action Group which was launched in his palace a decade earlier, was led by Awolowo in the 1950s. A battle of wills between the two gladiators in the early 1960s saw Oba Olateru pitching his tent with Akintola. However, his choice only fomented tension in his community. A military coup in 1966 created an avenue for some citizens of Owo to unleash violence and revolt against Olagbegi. He was banished from power in 1966 by the military administrator of the Western Region. In 1993, he was re-appointed to his former title of Olowo after the death of the reigning monarch.[2][3] He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1960.[4] He died in October 1998 and crown passed to his son Oba Folagbade Olagbegi III.

UNQUOTE

By the way, "the present Alafin of Oyo"  Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III asssumed office in November 1970, and was NEVER imposed a penny-per-year salary by anybody.   In fact, he  was only 16 years old when his father  Oba Adeyemi II  was deposed and exiled  in 1954 for conflict not really with Awo but with Bode Thomas who was a prominent Oyo citizen.

QUOTE

Lamidi's father, the Alaafin of Oyo Oba Adeyemi II Adeniran, was deposed and exiled in 1954 for sympathizing with the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). He had come into conflict with Bode Thomas, deputy leader of the Action Group.

UNQUOTE

As to Aburi, which was in January 1967 and was a club meeting of millitary dictators , there is NO RECORD that Awolowo was in ANY advisory capacity immediately before or immediately after it.  In any case, the Aburi Agreement was NEVER expected to be firmly ratified there and then, but was to be subject to FURTHER discussions following home consultations by the two groups. That is precisely what happened, and what should have happened later was further negotiations, even including a return to Aburi, not secession and war.

There you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 10:44 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:

"We know how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war but Ojukwu and people like Achebe would not appreciate all the entreaties."

 

so

 

May we have an itemized list of "how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war"

There is no obligation to have and press a point of view on a subject that one is not properly informed about. It is looking like some commentators on this subject have not heard of The Aburi Accord, midwifed by Ghana's Head of State, General Ankrah. Both the Gowon and Ojukwu groups individually agreed and signed that Accord as the (not a) binding basis for a resolution of the troubles of 1966. Gowon returned to Nigeria after the Aburi, Ghana, meetings and unilaterally discarded it. What bad faith? What could have been more dishonest and irresponsible? Was that one of " how much Gowon…war"? Lest we forget, Gowon's coup was motivated by the resolve of the Northern Nigerian political elite at the time, to secede- take the Northern Provinces out of Nigerian. The Gowon putsch was called "Operation Araba" by the plotters. Gowon spurned other agreements and proposals. What was Awolowo's advice to Gowon? We now know the cost of Gowon's irresponsibility. Nigeria has suffered and continues to suffer since.

It is public knowledge there are supporters and followers of Awolowo who believe that the man was infallible and could do no wrong. The larger public knows otherwise. My advice to the Awolowo people is to speak with anyone who remembers Awolowo's "penny-a-year Obas" including the present Alafin of Oyo, the family of the late Abraham Adesanya (Odemo of Ishara) and the family of the late Olowo of Owo. I need not mention the people of Ibadan and followers of the late Adegoke Adelabu, the Ogbomosho people and the family of their late son, a former premier of Western Nigeria, and the family of Sam Shonibare.

Achebe has done what a patriotic statesman would do. He has once again contribute to human history, Nigeria's survival, development, and progress, and Nigerians' edification and enlightenment, in simple, readable (quality) prose as he is wont to do. My thinking is that he wore both his teacher's and wisdom hats as he wrote the book.

I have one more piece of advice. Anyone who disagrees with the great man and considers themselves worthy of the designation of academic or serious commentator on any aspect of Achebe's book, should know what to do namely write their own book.  

 

oa  

 

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Prof Segun Ogunbemi
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 1:52 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Achebe on Biafra war and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict

 

Achebe on Biafra War and the Role of Awolowo in the Conflict        Since Achebe wrote his little book entitled: The Trouble with Nigeria in 1983, I thought he would have changed his parochial perception of the Yoruba and their revered leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo having lived in the US and taught in several Universities there. Living in the US would have normally been a reformative environment for a parochial minded scholar that Achebe is. Unfortunately at 80 he is still leaking the wounds of his defeat as a Biafra war veteran. His new book entitled, There was a Country has once again reenacted his tribal or ethnic prejudice against the Yoruba and their foremost leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. For now, one needs to wait for the book to be on the stand so that when one gets a copy to read, a proper review of it can be made. But for the time being, I just want to make a few comments based on what I have read from the excerpts and comments from others. Is Achebe speaking for all the Ibos or he is simply reliving his Biafra experience that he has not been able to psychologically outgrow? I want to believe that the later is the case. A defeat can be very traumatic and dangerously lead to a state of paranoia and I suspect that is the state of mind Achebe is today. I am sure Achebe is very conversant with the interview of the late sage shortly before the presidential election in 1983. No matter what Pa Awolowo might have said, a paranoid Achebe will not care a hoot. Achebe is already in a psychological state of mind that is not intellectually redeemable just as the sage said about Ojukwu who was the prime peddler of the lies of hatred of Awolowo against the Ibos. Did Achebe expect Pa Awolowo to support Ojukwu who failed to listen to the voice of reason and wise counsel of the Sage? Before anyone could go to war, he ought to have counted the cost including feeding, ammunitions, economic resources and strategies needed to win the war. You don't depend on your enemies to feed and armed you against their people. Or use their currency to purchase ammunitions to advance your inordinate war ambition. It is never done. The idea of feeding the combatants by the opponent is not part of war strategy. The innocent people during the war may not necessarily be innocent. If anyone cares to read Paul Ramsey's book on Just and Unjust War, the so called innocent who cheer the soldiers or cook for them are after all not innocent. If food items that are meant to feed children and those who do not participate directly or indirectly in the war are hijacked by the soldiers, how do you win the war?  Achebe is a literary story teller and perhaps he is not conversant with what waging war entails. The most disturbing aspect of Achebe's new book is the timing. Why didn't he write the book when the Sage was alive? The generations of Nigerians and particularly the Ibos who were not born before the war broke out could be corrupted with this kind of falsehood. For those of us who were adults then cannot be corrupted because we know the facts. We witnessed it. We know the ethnic group that first fired the first shot that led to the war. For firing the first shot the group became the aggressor. We know how much Gowon government put into the prevention of the war but Ojukwu and people like Achebe would not appreciate all the entreaties. The Ibos cannot in any way cry foul and blame anyone except themselves. Furthermore Achebe argues that the Ibos are individualistic in their tradition without fear of God and man but endowed to pursue their egoistic interests. If the Ibos are such individuals as described by Achebe, they need to be tamed if they are to live in any corporate existence apart from their own. In a corporate existence life is give and take and not that a group takes all. The earlier the generations of Ibos who were not witnesses of the events that led to the avoidable civil war learn this moral virtue the better. The 21st century offers a world of global village not the world of Chinua Achebe of hatred, bigotry and disrespect for elders. The vituperative attack on the Yoruba Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo by Achebe is an aberration. We live in a corporate existence that is guided by reason and passion for the overall good of humans and not one's ethnicity takes all that Achebe's new book perpetuates.   Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.

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