Achebe’s Book: Ohanaeze Chief Chides Yoruba Leaders

A former General Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Ikeja, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, Mr. Pascal Chimezie has condemned Yoruba leaders who commented on Professor Chinua Achebe’s civil war memoirs titled: There was a country.

Speaking with P.M.NEWS, Chimezie expressed support for the views by the celebrated novelist in his book that the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and General Yakubu Gowon should be held responsible for the death of over 4,000,000 Biafran children through malnutrition during the civil war.

The former scribe of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Ikeja admitted that Ojukwu made a mistake by not accepting the land corridor’ arrangement made to allow safe landing of food and relief materials for Biafrans, especially children.

He picked holes in Awolowo defence which he said was made at Abokuta in 1983 during political campaigns.

He also faulted Chief Ayo Adebanjo’s defence of Awolowo on his role in the civil war.

“Many Yoruba leaders who commented on Achebe’s book and were defending Awolowo were foreigners in Biafra. They did not live there to see how children were starved and died of kwashiokor,” he said.

He said Achebe said nothing new in his book published over 40 years after the war, pointing out that in 1969, a Briton, Frederick Foresythe who was British Broadcasting corporation, BBC, correspondent in Nigeria wrote a book on the civil war and all that Achebe wrote were in the book written by the journalist.

Chimezie said that Biafra lost the war mostly because of the support Britain gave to Nigeria because of their economic interest. He claimed that Britain was supplying arms to Nigeria as part of their support.

He stated that but for the international connection, people involved in the prosecution of the war should have been tried by the International Court of Justice for genocide, stressing; “Gowon had planned to abandon the war and return to Zaria but the British High Commissioner in Nigeria and the American ambassador discouraged him.”

The former Ohanaeze Ndigbo scribe advised Nigerians to reposition the country with a view to make it excel and drop the label of a ‘failed nation’ and pool its resources to achieve a true economic independence.

—Moyo Fabiyi