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USAfrica: Awolowo’s Starvation Policy against Biafrans and the Igbo requires apology not attacks on Achebe.
By Francis Adewale.
Special to USAfricaonline.com , AchebeBooks and CLASSmagazine (Houston, Texas)
“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 were
sending to the civilians. We were sending food through the Red Cross, and CARITAS to them, but what happen was that the vehicles carrying the food were always ambushed by the soldiers. That’s what I discovered, and the food would then be taken to the soldiers to feed them, and so they were able to continue to fight. And I said that was a very dangerous policy, we didn’t intend the food for soldiers. … So I decided to stop sending the food there. In the process, the civilians would
suffer, but the soldiers suffered most.” –said Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nigeria’s former Finance Minister.
We can either chose to live in denial and pretend that Awo never participated in the terrible decision to starve people of eastern Nigeria of foods and medicine during the Nigeria-Biafra War (1967-1970) or own up to the fact that he did it to save Nigeria, apologize for it, and then move on. The abuse of anyone who dares to raise the fact that the late Chief Awolowo was culpable for the death of millions of children as a result of the policy will not make this disastrous policy go away.
Awoists and Chief Awolowo family need to stop getting unnecessarily defensive and antagonistic when this issue is raised. Fact is fact and nothing we humans do could suddenly turned facts into fiction or fiction into facts.
Fact is Chief Awolowo championed the policy on starvation to win the war to use his words. There is no other way
to look at it. It does not diminish the greatness of the man in terms of what he achieved for his people. We can even disagree on what motivates him to take that decision: ambition? Or statesmanship? But what should not be subject to pejoratives and needless harangue is the very fact that the decision happened at his watch.
Some have tried to put the blame on Gowon or the military leaders but Chief Awolowo’s own words are clear: “I decided to stop sending the food there.” It was not a military decision by Adekunle or Murtala. This is a decision made by the Finance minister of the federation, Chief Awolowo. He owned that decision in the interview quoted above. Whenever this issue is raised Awoists and the Awolowo family usually drew umbrage, assailing whoever called Awo out on this issue and generally attacking the character of those who dare to confront Awoists on the frailties of their leaders.
It is time for Awoists to realize that Chief Awolowo is not infallible. He made some sound decision in governance as well as other horrendous decisions, one of which is this starvation policy. He might have done it to please the northern oligarchy who had promised to install him as president or he might have had a truly altruistic motive; whatever the case this is a sadistic policy that should never have been put in place by any Nigerian leader.
The impact of Chief Awolowo’s starvation decision on Biafra’s children still reverberates around the world. It was such that over 40 years later, Steve Jobs referenced it in the interview for his 2011 biography written by Walter Isaacson. In fact it had such an effect on him that it turned him against the Christian God that would permit such a cruel injustice on poor children. Lets quote the biography: “In July 1969, LIFE magazine published a shocking cover showing a pair of starving children in Biafra. Jobs took it to Sunday school and confronted the church’s pastor. “If I raise my finger, will God know which one I’m going to raise even before I do it?” The pastor answered, “Yes, God knows everything.” Jobs then pulled out the LIFE cover and asked, “Well, does God know about this and what’s going to happen to those children?”
We may not be able to know for certain if God knows about those children but we do know for a fact that Chief Awolowo knows and understand the impact of his decision on those children as evident from the above excerpted interview. To quote him directly, “So I decided to stop sending the food there. In the process, the civilians would suffer, but the soldiers suffered most.”
What is more, Chief Awolowo, as an intellectual should have known better. The 4th Geneva Convention put in place in 1949 specifically require that civilians be protected during wars. It requires parties to the conflict in Part II, Article 15 to make provisions for food supply to the civilian persons in the war zones, either directly or through a neutral State or some humanitarian organization. Nigeria did contract with CARITAS but Chief Awolowo yanked the arrangement after visiting the liberated cities of Calabar, Port Harcourt and Enugu. As he stated in the interview I quoted above he did what he did because he believed the food was being used to feed the soldiers. That may well be true, but Nigeria suffered more public relation damage for that blockade than it gained. At that point in the war it was clear that Biafra had lost. Several strongholds had been liberated and are under control of Federal forces. What do we stand to gain by starving innocent children to death to punish soldiers?
Some Awoists have argued that Professor Achebe excused the late Head of State of Biafra, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
My response to them is to wait until Achebe’s book (There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra) is out this October 2012, read it, before rushing to judgment. And by the way, when does the other guy is also bad becomes a defense to genocide? The starvation policy led to the death of millions of innocent Igbo children and civilians.
It is a moral disaster for the federal government of Nigeria and until the leaders of Nigeria own up to the depravity of that decision we will continue to drift as a nation. It is often said that a nation that will not learn from its history is bound to repeat it. If we can’t learn from such monumental loss of judgment by our revered leaders, our standing in the comity of nations will continue to slide, and our unity will remain a mirage.
I believe it is now incumbent on Awoist and the Awolowo family to finally accept the frailties of their leader before they trot out the many things he did to help the Ndigbo. Fact is Chief Awolowo helped many Ndigbo recover their properties in Lagos after the war. This is why the abandoned property saga is not as pronounced in Lagos as Port Harcourt. But all these will pale into insignificance if Awoist and the Awolowo family do not summon courage to confront the fact that Pa Awo was wrong on that starvation policy. You cannot deny the glaringly obvious inconvenient facts and expect others to appreciate your other good deeds.
It is time for Awoist to stop living in denial. War is evil and the only true debt we owe posterity is to tell the truth about our past. When we do that we honor the memories of the dead and prepare ourselves to face the future with fortitude. It is only then that the labors of our heroes past will not be in vain.
•Francis Adewale sent this commentary to USAfricaonline.com from Spokane, Washington.
Why Chinua Achebe, the Eagle on the Iroko, is Africa’s writer of the century. By Chido Nwangwu, Publisher of USAfrica, and first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the internet USAfricaonline.com https://usafricaonline.com/chido.achebebest.html
Nigeria’s Federal Republic of Insecurity. By Chido Nwangwu, Publisher of USAfrica, USAfricaonline.com and the Nigeria360 e-group. https://usafricaonline.com/2011/12/17/nigeria-federal-republic-of-insecurity-by-chido-nwangwu/ : IF any of the Nigerian President’s 100 advisers has the polite courage for the extraordinary task of reminding His Excellency of his foremost, sworn, constitutional obligation to the national interest about security and safety of Nigerians and all who sojourn in Nigeria, please whisper clearly to Mr. President that I said, respectfully: Nigerians, at home and abroad, are still concerned and afraid for living in what I call Nigeria’s Federal Republic of Insecurity. FULL text of commentary at USAfricaonline.com https://usafricaonline.com/2011/12/17/nigeria-federal-republic-of-insecurity-by-chido-nwangwu/
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VIDEO of the CNN International broadcast/profile of USAfrica and CLASSmagazine Publisher Chido Nwangwu. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/07/29/mpa.african.media.bk.a.cnn
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• Nigeria’s bin-Laden cheerleaders could ignite religious war, destabilize Africa. By USAfrica’s Publisher Chido Nwangwu. https://usafricaonline.com/chido.binladennigeria.html http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=USAfrica+Chido+Nwangwu+al-qaeda+terrrorism+nigeria&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 https://usafricaonline.com/tag/al-qaeda/ 310 killed by Nigeria’s ‘talibans’ in Bauchi, Yobe n Maiduguri; crises escalate. USAfricaonline.com on July 28, 2009. www.usafricaonline.com/chido.ngrtalibans09.html http://www.groundreport.com/World/310-killed-by-Nigerias-talibans-in-Bauchi-Yobe-n-M/2904584
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USAfrica: Ikemba ODUMEGWU OJUKWU’s farewell in Aba, today February 28, 2012, reflected a fitting tribute, historically meaningful celebration, proper regard and deserving appreciation of the greatest Igbo, in my opinion, to have ever lived (like him or hate him).
I SALUTE Aba (aka Enyimba city), the robust and fearless town I was born, bred and raised, for giving the Ikemba, our Ochiagha, Gburugburu, Oka oburu uzo, dike na ndu ma n’onwu, mgbadike anyi, a hero’s farewell.
To the Ikemba, may your valiant soul rest in peace and dignity.
We will, and I, Chido Nwangwu, will never forget to continue to tell my generation and the next about your towering courage through tempest and thunder; through sorrow, pain, tears, blood…. •Dr. Chido Nwangwu, Founder & Publisher of USAfrica multimedia networks, first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the internet USAfricaonline.com; and recipient of several journalism and public policy awards, was recently profiled by the CNN International for his pioneering works on multimedia/news/public policy projects for Africans and Americans. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/07/29/mpa.african.media.bk.a.cnn.
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Given the explanation that Awolowo gave that the food being sent never reached Biafran children and that Biafran children were kwashiorkor victims because Biafran soldiers were appropriating the food that was being sent, what would this author Francis Adewale have done if he was in Awolowo’s position?
Would the author keep sending the food only to be cornered by Biafran soldiers while Biafran children went hungry? What sense would that make to feed Biafran soldiers while Biafran children remained hungry? What culpability does Biafra and its leaders have to make their own children go hungry rather than surrender? Did the FG side even have an obligation to feed the enemy in the first place?
its almost thirty years too late for an Awo apology, is it not? Gowon and Nigeria were well within their rights to organize a blockade on Biafra. Ojukwu had a duty to open a corridor for supplies for the people of Biafra. Why did Ojukwu refuse to open a land corridor? What did other eminent members of the Biafra government do to convince him otherwise. Why did the “Jews of Africa” resort to the well known Arab tactics of using hungry refugees as bargaining chips?
Nobody ever said war is pretty. Biafra never gave that a thought when its adventurers bombed Yaba and Agege in the early days of the war. Biafra drew the Yoruba people and the Midwest into the war by its military action in the early days. This resort to high sounding accusations of genocide and war crimes is not only revisionist but a puerile diversion away from the greedy miscalculations that bred the disaster called Biafra.
That is a good one from Adewale. That is one good step towards reconciliation considering that it came from a Yoruba man. There is hope for full reconciliation then.
North as far as am concerned is still suffering from the blood of the innocent Igbos.My visit to Minna Niger state where two of its citizens have ruled this country have nothing to show.And to me this may continue until a serious reparation is made.It is only paining me that human life are being lost in the current BH insurgent but they are only a tool in the hand of the devil to continue meting out punishment on their land for their past sins.By the time they will finish building what was damaged…Lets watch and see.Onye obara juru anya o na-ahu uzo?Ebe obara Abel tisuru Eligwe,obuzi obara puku kwuru puku umu Igbo adighi ihe ha mere.O dika ndi Aluu Chi ha zowa ha ka…..
Finally, with balanced perspective from Achebe apology, rather than biased condemnation, should be demanded from the very perpetrators of the civil war pogrom against the Igbos, particularly the teeming lives terminated by sheer OBI OJOO. Let ill-informed supporters of this sin against man kind take note. Yesterdays was the Igbos… who knows tomorrow?
Some courageous thoughts on the Awo/Achebe debate by a Yoruba…