AWO AT 72 – BABA’S UNDILUTED STANCE ON THE CIVIL WAR
Azeez Ajibola Afolabi
“From the very beginning, from the time that I knew that the Federal Government was going to wage war instead of trying to put things in check, I made up my mind I wasn’t going to participate in the ad-hoc conference which was going on at the time, and I stated quite clearly that one of the reasons for my resignation was that they were preparing for war instead of reconciliation.
And Jakande also followed suit and resigned from the ad-hoc conference and that brought about the end of the conference. When now the National Conciliation Committee asked me to lead a delegation to Ojukwu, I saw it as an opportunity and seized the opportunity very firmly. I asked Ojukwu again and again: he shouldn’t go to war: it’s not good for Nigeria.
He wanted a southern domination. I said very well; if you want a southern dominion – if you want the south to separate from the rest of the country, just go to the conference – to fight it out there. I said your grievances are our grievances. We can’t settle these grievances by going to war. Let’s go to the conference. Let the section of the country which does stupid things know that two regions don’t approve of their policy and attitude to Nigeria. That should be enough. If then at the conference they refused to change we could then decide what to do to put them in check.
In any case all that is in the publication, I did everything that any human being could do to see that there was no war. And I think I can claim that I was the only Nigerian leader of pre-1966 era who took that stand and did it firmly.
May I add this – in that connection – Gowon thought that I took a lot of risks to my life by taking that attitude as an individual at the time; he feared that I might have been detained. There was a point where I told Ojukwu off. He made certain derogatory remarks. I made a certain point and he said all that was platitude: And I had to retort that I never talk platitudes.
When Gowon listened to the discussion: (I didn’t know that Ojukwu was taping all that we were saying; I saw a shorthand, but I didn’t know he was taping the discussion. The recorder was captured after Enugu fell). He thought it was a lot of risk for me to take.
That was it. I did everything in my power. I never even encouraged him in the slightest degree to go to war or to secede. All I said about secession was that if the Ibos by any act of commission or omission were pushed out of Nigeria, then we won’t stay. But all my columniators will always make sure they take out act of commission or omission when quoting me. They would even omit that I said “pushed out”. If they left voluntarily, that would be another matter. If they were pushed out by any act of omission or commission, a different situation would have arisen.
- Excerpt from ‘AWO AT 72’
