AlexBells:
It is not very accurate to blame Awolowo, Ojukwu knew from Aburi that the West had been defeated. However Awolowo did take some mischievous steps afterwords like advising the Eastern blockade and taking Igbo money in the bank but we rose from the Ashes and became the best

AlexBells:
It is not very accurate to blame Awolowo, Ojukwu knew from Aburi that the West had been defeated. However Awolowo did take some mischievous steps afterwords like advising the Eastern blockade and taking Igbo money in the bank but we rose from the Ashes and became the best

AlexBells:
It is not very accurate to blame Awolowo, Ojukwu knew from Aburi that the West had been defeated. However Awolowo did take some mischievous steps afterwords like advising the Eastern blockade and taking Igbo money in the bank but we rose from the Ashes and became the best

AlexBells:
It is not very accurate to blame Awolowo, Ojukwu knew from Aburi that the West had been defeated. However Awolowo did take some mischievous steps afterwords like advising the Eastern blockade and taking Igbo money in the bank but we rose from the Ashes and became the best

SeeWahala:
The only thing I know awolowo accomplished during the war was to invent RATAK kill & dry.

He tested it on himself too a very meticulous man he is

flokii:


Stale..

Awolowo died peacefully at his Ikenne home at the age of 78 years and was laid to rest in same Ikenne. He died a happy and fulfiled man

Stop peddling lies and falsehood around.

LegendHero:
Bode George waking up late.

We don’t need him to tell us this. We all know before.

flokii:


Stale..

Awolowo died peacefully at his Ikenne home at the age of 78 years and was laid to rest in same Ikenne. He died a happy and fulfiled man.
Stop peddling lies and falsehood around.

Christistruth00:


Aburi was rejected by the Niger Delta people and they made sure it failed because it gave them and their Ancestral Homeland over to Ojukwu to control forever


Is that a lie?
If it is tell us what Aburi gave the Niger Delta people

flokii:


You're not being truthful..

After Aguiyi Ironsi was killed in the Northern counter coup barely 6 months into his Military rule as Head of State, politicians sat down and decided to hand power over to North to pacify North not to exit Nigeria.. then the Northern elites back then settled for Yakubu Gowon to become Head of State at barely 31years of age (still the youngest ruler in Nigeria's history till date).
Ojukwu of course kicked against this move and refused to recognize the Federal Government under Gowon, instead was finalizing plans to exit Nigeria together with oil rich Niger Delta region including Port Harcourt (without the consent of Niger Deltans). The meeting at Aburi was to call Ojukwu to order and remind him that declaring biafra would amount to treason (as Nnamdi Azikiwe and his fellow Igbos had kicked against secession clause earlier, claiming Nigeria's unity was non-negotiable). Ojukwu still went ahead regardless to declare Biafra with hope that France and co. he promised crude oil would support him. Little did he know that there was more to world politics especially when oil is involved.

The Igbos started attacking Lagos first, infact Pen Cinema then was attacked with bomb killing Yorubas in large numbers.. As if it wasn't enough, Ojukwu ordered his biafran soldiers to march into Mid-West with the motive of taking over the region and subjecting it to Igbo rulership which they did. An Igbo Military officer was appointed President over what he (Ojukwu) later termed Republic of Benin (including present day Edo State and Delta State). It was after that "success" that the biafran soldiers marched further into South West hoping to take control as they did in the Mid West but met fierce resistance from gallant Yoruba soldiers at Ore in present day Ondo State where scores of the biafran troops were killed and they had no option than to retreat back into the Eastern region. That marked the beginning of the 3 long years civil war which Yorubas got involved in seeing all the moves of Ojukwu that he didn't have genuine intentions about secession. The rest is history.

DMerciful:
He committed suicide, everybody knows this

AlexBells:
It is not very accurate to blame Awolowo, Ojukwu knew from Aburi that the West had been defeated. However Awolowo did take some mischievous steps afterwords like advising the Eastern blockade and taking Igbo money in the bank but we rose from the Ashes and became the best

The Biafran Anger Against Obafemi Awolowo

Sadly, many Nigerians of Southeastern origin have a very deep seated grudge against Nigeria due to misinformation they have been fed with all their lives. These misrepresentations and historical revisions have been passed on to them during their formative years by parents who actually believed the wartime propaganda .

Many myths still believed by young Igbos today originated from the original Radio Biafra, which Uche Chukwumerije, and of which Okokon Ndem was its most powerful voice.

Recently, a young man came on my Twitter profile to declare that Nigeria fought the civil war to destroy the Igbos and that was why all Igbos were given just twenty Naira after the war.

This story is very untrue.

The whole issue about the twenty pounds (not Naira) arose as a result of the fact that after declaring the independent Republic of Biafra, the authorities of that Republic declared the Nigerian Pound as non legal tender, and on January 29, 1968, they introduced the Biafran Pound.

The Federal Military Government, immediately countered before the currency was declared by declaring that that currency was illegal and would not be recognised by Nigeria.

Upon this announcement by the Federal Military Government, many prudent 'Biafrans' withdrew all their Nigerian pound and kept it at home. One such Biafran was Evelyn Okororie, who is still alive and told her story to CNN, which published it on January 16, 2020, in a piece titled 'Biafra war: Survivors relive account 50 years after Nigerian civil war ends.'

After Biafra was defeated, Chief Awolowo, as Minister of Finance, faced a conundrum. What was Nigeria to do with the Biafran Pound?

There was no way even to verify who had genuine Biafran Pounds because Biafra had collapsed, and those responsible for printing the currency had either died, fled the country, or were denying involvement.

As a personal initiative of Chief Awolowo, who refused to take his plan to the Federal Executive Council for fear that it would be defeated by hawks in General Gowan's cabinet, the Ministry of Finance issued a circular to pay £20 to those former Biafrans whose account records of monies domiciled in Nigerian Pounds were lost, and to those who held their bank balances in Biafran Pounds.

Every account holder got a blanket £20. That money was a gift from Nigeria and, more specifically, from the humanness of Chief Awolowo. Those former Biafrans who could prove their account balances in Nigerian Pounds received all their monies.

The late Senator Arthur Nzeribe is an example of an Igbo who could prove his account balances in the Nigerian Pound. All former Biafrans who had accounts in banks outside the Eastern Region got access to all their funds after the war. The late Chief Alex Ekwueme is an example of this.

I urge those who harbour a grudge against Nigeria for that policy to please put themselves in Chief Awolowo’s shoes.

What would they have Chief Awolowo to have done? Accept the Biafran Pound and freely convert it to Naira? Does that even make sense when the Federal Military Government warned Colonel Emeka Ojukwu's government against the act?

After the Union defeated the Confederate states during the American Civil War, the Confederate States' dollars became worthless from May 26, 1865. The Union did not give any $20 to holders of the Confederate States dollars. As it should be. After the war, holders of the Confederate States dollars just lost their money. Period. That is the sad reality of war.

But in our case, Chief Awolowo, out of the goodness of his heart and not out of any obligation, gave as a gift £20 to all Biafran Pounds account holders.

If the Biafran Pounds had value, why did Ojukwu not take it along with him when he fled Biafra for Ivory Coast?

And to create a level playing ground, Awolowo took the extraordinary step of abolishing the Nigerian Pound and introducing the Naira in 1971, although it was not implemented until 1973.

Reno Omokri

festacman:



It is the same with Ikwere people seizing properties of Igbo in Port Harcourt as abandoned property to get even while properties of Igbo in Lagos and Northern Nigeria remained untouched. Today, Ikwere estate fortunes in Port Harcourt remain inferior to those of Igbo.

DMerciful:
I have never heard Awolowo's name mentioned by a non Nigerian. Even in Nigeria,
mostly SW talk about him. He was a regional champion that committed suicide.

Inspite of the coup and war, Nzeogwu and Ojukwu were given national burials

AlexBells:

What was Niger Delta

gidgiddy:
Outside his South West, nobody has any regard for Awolowo. There's a reason behind that

Slytiger:

Awolowo was given a national burial.
What is your definition of national burial?
Who was supposed to be there that wasn’t there?

Aikhomu as the No 2 citizen then led the federal delegation to the burial. Prior to that, Babangida and his wife led separate delegations to Ikenne. Public holiday was declared in the whole south west and the Parliament building in Ibadan was temporarily opened for his body to be received.

At the liberty stadium Ibadan, his body was received by many military governors, military and police and public.

His casket was carried on a gun carrier surrounded by soldiers..

Awolowo is well known abroad. He created the first TV station in Africa, help establish Obafemi Awolowo university whose graduates are doing outstanding things all over the world.

Pictures:
1. News announcing Awolowo:a first tv station in Africa
2. Awolowo with British PM
3. Awolowo and other African and world leaders take a picture with Queen Elizabeth

Christistruth00:



That's almost Exactly what Ojukwu said when their issue was raised at Aburi

He didn't want to hear anything of Niger Delta