"Professor Segun Ogungbemi, please is it a fact or fiction that Chief Obafemi Awolowo did deceive the pro-Biafra Igbo leaders by telling them (before the civil war broke out) that "if the Eastern Region seceded from the Nigerian Federation, the Western Region would follow suit"? I repeatedly heard this assertion (in different words, of course) when I lived in Nigeria as a Journalist, and some Igbo friends (who were enlightened enough to know the truth) also told me that the eminent Yoruba Chief did say that to get stalwart Igbo politicians out of the impending post-Yakubu Gowon Nigerian civilian political game. Please, what is your brief response to such claims?"
Let me first express my concern for your good health. I hope the pain is subsiding. I want to wish you a quick recovery. Our collective Ancestors wish you a speedy recovery.
On the question you raised above, it is TF, the historian guru of our time that can appropriately answer the question bearing in mind that I am not an historian. Having admitted this fact, I can offer you the truth of what I have heard and read about the matter but first, it is not true that Chief Obafemi Awolowo deceived pro-Biafra Igbo leaders.
Please consider your quotation below with the one I have quoted from Chinua Achebe:
"if the Eastern Region seceded from the Nigerian Federation, the Western Region would follow suit"?
"Awolowo warned Gowon's federal government that if the Eastern Region left the federation the Western Region would not be far behind."
May I ask if the two quotations mean the same thing? What Chief Awolowo was saying, in my view, is that the unity of the country is sacrosanct and General Gowon should do everything within his power to keep the country united. If however the Gowon's government failed to keep Nigeria as one country and the Igbos were allowed to have their way, it would be compelling for the Yoruba not to "be far behind". Pa Awolowo made a political and moral statement for the wise to learn from it and work towards making Nigeria an indivisible State.
That is all I can say for now about the question you have raised.
Once again, I wish you a quick recovery.
Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D
Professor of Philosophy
Adekunle Ajasin University
Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State
Nigeria
Cellphone: 08033041371
08024670952
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