By John Owen Nwachukwu A former governorship aspirant in Anambra State and elder statesman, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, has said that foremo...
By John Owen Nwachukwu
A former governorship aspirant in Anambra State and elder
statesman, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, has said that foremost Biafran leader, Ikemba
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, never wanted to lead people of the old eastern
region into the 1966 civil war.
Obidigbo explained that after the Aburi meeting it was the
leader of the Nigerian side, Lt-Colonel Yakubu Gowon, that reneged.
In an interview with DAILY POST, Obidigbo pointed to two
reasons Ojukwu did everything to avoid the war. He said Ojukwu believed his
region lacked the capacity to fight a war and that Igbo, as itinerant as he is,
would love to remain in a larger environment which Nigeria offers.
“Well, let me take you back a little to history. During the
war, there’s something that a lot of people did not know. Ojukwu didn’t want
that war. He didn’t want it,” Obidigbo said.
“And he did everything possible to stop it, to prevent that
war. I was small, but I was close enough to the government to know what was
happening.
“Ojukwu had two reasons. One, he said that they’re not
militarily prepared for the war, they don’t have anything. And then number two,
that Igbo man is very itinerant; that Igbo man would like to operate in a large
environment which Nigeria state offers.
“But people will now tell you that Ojukwu wanted the war.
Ojukwu never wanted the war. That was why he went to Aburi to discuss. And when
they came back from Aburi, it was Gowon that reneged and then which led to
other discussions.”
Speaking further, Obidigbo said that part of the agreement
that favours the Yoruba is that as soon as the war ended, they will close all
the ports that border Igbo land so that everybody will be compelled to do business
through Lagos.
According to him, “The agreement, as I heard that favours
the Yoruba, is that as soon as the war ends, they will close all the ports that
border Igbo land so that everybody will be compelled to do business through
Lagos, to continue to beef up the economy of the West. I think that was part of
their own bargain for the war.
“So what we want is a level playing ground. Let whoever is
there, let him be there but let us have our businesses and let us have our
life.”
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