When you finish reading, make
your own conclusion as to were
really lies the enemies of the
Igbos - within or without.
During the 1983 elections, Chief
Awolowo was hosted to a town
hall interview in Abeokuta, where
in addition to other pertinent
topics of the day, he spoke on
his role in the civil war, the 20-
pound policy, starvation as a
weapon, change of currency,
abandoned property etc.
MODERATOR: Yes Mr…….Mr.
Oparadike.
QUESTION: Chief Awolowo, your
stand on the civil war…Your
stand on the civil war, however
unpopular it may have been to
the Biafrans or Ibo people,
helped to shorten the war.
Today, you’re being cast as the
sole enemy of the Ibo people
because of that stand, by among
others, some of the people who
as members of the federal
military government at that time,
were party to that decision and
are today, in some cases,
inheritors of power in one
Nigeria which that decision of
yours helped to save. How do
you feel being cast in this role,
and what steps are you taking to
endear yourself once again to
that large chunk of Nigerians
who feels embittered.
AWOLOWO: As far as I know, the
Ibo masses are friendly to me,
towards me. In fact, whenever I
visit Iboland, either Anambra or
Imo, and there’s no
campaigning for elections on,
the Ibo people receive me
warmly and affectionately. But
there are some elements in
Iboland who believe that they
can maintain their popularity
only by denigrating me, and so
they keep on telling lies against
me. Ojukwu is one of them. I
don’t want to mention the
names of the others because
they are still redeemable, but
….Ojukwu is irredeemable so I
mention his name, and my
attitude to these lies is one of
indifference, I must confess to
you.
I’ve learnt to rely completely on
the providence and vindication
of Almighty God in some of
these things. I’ve tried to explain
myself in the past, but these liars
persist. Ojukwu had only recently
told the same lie against me.
What’s the point in correcting
lies when people are determined
to persist in telling lies against
you, what’s the point. I know
that someday the Ibos, the
masses of the Ibo people will
realize who their friends are, and
who their real enemies are. And
the day that happens woe betide
those enemies. The Ibos will deal
with them very roughly, very
roughly.
That has happened in my life. I
have a nickname now, if you see
my letterhead you’ll find
something on top, you’ll find a
fish done on the letterhead.
Some people put Lion on theirs,
some people put Tiger, but mine
is Fish. And Fish represents my
zodiac sign, those of you who
read the stars and so on in the
newspapers; you’ll find out that
there’s a zodiac sign known as
pisces, in Latin pisces mean Fish.
So I put pisces on top, that’s my
zodiac sign being born on the
6th of March,….er well, the year
doesn’t matter, it’s the day that
matters. And then on top of it I
write Eebudola. All of you know
the meaning of that. You know I
don’t want to tell a long story
but………………Awolowo school,
omo Awolowo, the started in
Urhobo land, in Mid-west in
those days. They were ridiculing
my schools, I was building
schools –brick and cement, to
dpc level, block to dpc level and
mud thereafter. And so the big
shots in the place..”ah what kind
of school is this? is this Awolowo
school? Useless school” and
when they saw the children..”ah
these Awolowo children, they
can’t read and write, Awolowo
children” that’s how it started,
with ridicule, and it became
blessing, and now they say
“Awolowo children, they are
good people” no more ridicule
about it, that’s how it started, so
the Eebu becomes honor, the
abuse became honor.
And so when I look back to all
my life, treasonable felony, jail,
all the abuses that were heaped
on me, to Coker Inquiry, all
sorts, and I see what has
happened to the people who
led, who led all these
denigration campaign, where are
they today? Those that are alive
are what I call Homo Mortuus-
dead living, oku eniyan, that’s
what they are, those that their
lives have gone.
So when I look back, I come to
the conclusion that all these
abuses which have been heaped
on me all my life for doing
nothing, for doing good, they
have become honor, and so
Eebudola is one of my
nicknames. So I’ve cultivated an
attitude of indifference, I’ve done
no evil to the Ibos.
During the war I saw to it that
the revenue which was due to
the Iboland- South Eastern states
they call it, at that time..east
central state, I kept it, I saved the
money for them. And when they
….was librated I handed over the
money to them- millions. If I’d
decided to do so, I could have
kept the money away from them
and then when they took over I
saw to it that subvention was
given to them at the rate of
990,000 pounds every month. I
didn’t go to the executive council
to ask for support, or for
approval because I knew if I
went to the executive council at
that time the subvention would
not be approved because there
were more enemies in the
executive council for the Ibos
than friends. And since I wasn’t
going to take a percentage from
what I was going to give them,
and I knew I was doing what was
right, I wanted the state to
survive, I kept on giving the
subvention – 990,000 almost a
million, every month, and I did
that for other states of course-
South eastern state, North
central state, Kwara and so on.
But I did that for the Ibos, and
when the war was over, I saw to
it that the ACB got three and a
half million pounds to start with.
This was distributed immediately
and I gave another sum of
money. The attitude of the
experts, officials at the time of
the ACB was that ACB should be
closed down, and I held the view
you couldn’t close the ACB down
because that is the bank that
gives finance to the Ibo traders,
and if you close it down they’ll
find it difficult to revive or to
survive. So it was given. I did the
same thing for the Cooperative
Bank of Eastern Nigeria, to
rehabilitate all these places, and I
saw to it as commissioner for
finance that no obstacle was
placed in the way of the ministry
of economic planning in
planning for rehabilitation of the
war affected areas.
TWENTY POUNDS POLICY
That’s what I did, and the case of
the money they said was not
given back to them, you know
during the war all the pounds
were looted, they printed Biafran
currency notes, which they
circulated, at the close of the war
some people wanted their
Biafran notes to be exchanged
for them. Of course I couldn’t do
that, if I did that the whole
country would be bankrupt. We
didn’t know about Biafran notes
and we didn’t know on what
basis they have printed them, so
we refused the Biafran note, but
I laid down the principle that all
those who had savings in the
banks on the eve of the
declaration of the Biafran war or
Biafra, will get their money back
if they could satisfy us that they
had the savings there, or the
money there. Unfortunately, all
the banks’s books had been
burnt, and many of the people
who had savings there didn’t
have their saving books or their
last statement of account, so a
panel had to be set up.
I didn’t take part in setting up the
panel, it was done by the Central
bank and the pertinent officials
of the ministry of finance, to look
into the matter, and they went
carefully into the matter, they
took some months to do so, and
then make some
recommendation which I
approved. Go to the archives, all
I did was approve, I didn’t write
anything more than that, I don’t
even remember the name of any
of them who took part. So I did
everything in this world to assist
our Ibo brothers and sisters
during and after the war.
And anyone who goes back to
look at my broadcast in August
1967, which dealt with post-war
reconstruction would see what I
said there.
STARVATION POLICY
Then, but above all, the ending
of the war itself that I’m accused
of, accused of starving the Ibos, I
did nothing of the sort. You
know, shortly after the liberation
of these places, Calabar, Enugu
and Port Harcort, I decided to
pay a visit. There are certain
things which I knew which you
don’t know, which I don’t want
to say here now, when I write
my reminisces in the future I will
do so. Some of the soldiers were
not truthful with us, they didn’t
tell us correct stories and so on.
I wanted to be there and see
things for myself, bear in mind
that Gowon himself did not go
there at that time, it was after the
war was over that he dorn
himself up in various military
dresses- Air force dress, Army
dress and so on, and went to
the war torn areas. But I went
and some people tried to
frighten me out of my goal by
saying that Adekunle was my
enemy and he was going to see
to it that I never return from the
place, so I went.
But when I went what did I see?
I saw the kwashiorkor victims. If
you see a kwashiorkor victim
you’ll never like war to be waged.
Terrible sight, in Enugu, in Port
Harcourt, not many in Calabar,
but mainly in Enugu and Port
Harcourt. Then I enquired what
happened to the food we are
sending to the civilians. We were
sending food through the Red
cross, and CARIT
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