Literary giant Chinua Achebe's depiction of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as a man driven by an overriding ambition for power at the expense of Ibos was Friday described as nonsensical and a twist of facts.
In a rebuttal of Achebe's representation of Awolowo in a new book, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a close aide and follower of the late Yoruba sage, noted what he said was Achebe's penchant to soil the image of Awolowo.
Vowing that the battle to check Achebe had just started, Babatope told Vanguard ,Friday, that while Achebe had the liberty to write he could not murder history with his attack on Awolowo.
Achebe in the new book just released had accused Awolowo of being driven by an ambition for power which "drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams.
In the Biafran case it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation -- eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations."
Responding Friday, Babatope said: "While Achebe is free to write on any topic that suits his fancy, he has no right whatsoever to irresponsibly murder history by recklessly attacking a great leader like Papa Awolowo. Nigerians should expect detailed, honest, factual and objective replies to the Achebe nonsense after we have copies of the book in our hands.
"This is not the first time that Achebe will publish scathing attacks on Papa Awo. He did it in his book written about 30yrs ago titled 'The trouble with Nigeria'. The battle against falsehood has started."
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Though, I have not read Achebe's book, but my ubderstanding of Awo is that, No matter what one says about Awo, he remains the best Politician, whose vision and achievements surpassed his Rivals. Awo's sucessful implementation of free Primary Education in the then Western Region, marked him out as a collosus. Many of us who would have been Stark Illiterates are the beneficiaries of this Scheme. Therefore, Achebe's scathing remarks might have been due to Tribal and Regional bitter rivalries of the past, which undermined the cohesion of governance. A reference to 'Starvation' as Weapon of war was just a mere slogan and intended to quickly bring the war to an end. The victims are always the innocents in any violence. Awo could NOT be blamed for this. Awo was NOT the cause of Northern Pogrom, targetted at the Igbos. Awo was even incarcerated by the complicity of the then NPC and NCNC joint Government. Awo was released from prison to serve and mend the disintegrating Nigeria. Therefore, Awo deserves the accolades of Patriotic Nigerians, and NOT vilification, which Achebe's remarks in his book may represent. By Isunola Asi Anishere (Chief).
THIS GENERATION NEED TO GET THE FACT RIGHT. AWO HAD IGBO PHOBIA. HIS HATRED FOR NDI IGBO AND THE WAY HE ACTED IT OUT IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE LINGERING INABILITY FOR THE TWO SOUTHERN BLOCKS TO WORK TOGETHER. SENTIMENTS DO NOT DESTROY FACTS. IF YOU WANT THE FACTS THERE ARE AVAILABLE. HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF BECAUSE HUMAN BEINGS FAIL TO LEARN FROM HISTORY. BABATOPE AND HIS FRIENDS NEED TO LEARN FROM HISTORY IN OTHER TO AVOID THE PITFALLS OF THE PAST ESPECIALLY IN POWER AND NUMBER GAMES OF POLITICS TODAY. TO MENTION THE LIST WHO SAID "STARVATION IS AN IMPLEMENT OF WARFARE" DURING THE BIAFRA WAR. WHOSE ADVICE WAS IT TO THEREFORE BLOCKADE BIAFRA LAND, AIR AND SEA AND STARVE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF WOMEN TO DEATH IN THE NOTORIOUS KWASHIOKOR EXPERIENCE? WHO ADVISED THAT NDI IGBO SHOULD BE GIVEN ONLY TWENTY POUNDS FOR WHATEVER AMOUNT OF MONEY THEY HAD AFTER THE WAR? THOUGH TIME HAVE LAPSED, THE FACTS ARE THERE. IF YOU CARE WE CAN DEMONSTRATE THIS AND POINT OUT DOZENS OF WAYS THAT THE STATEMENT BY ACHEBE IS TRUE
AGAIN TO ANSWER EBENEZAR BABTOPE AND ALL THOSE WITH HIM WHO HAVE IGBO PHOBIA. GOOGLE "STARVATION AS AN IMPLEMENT OF WARFARE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR" OR "FAMOUSE QUOTES FROM NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR" YOU WILL NO DOUBT REALIZE THE TRUTH IN ACHEBE'S STATEMENT. HERE IS ONE OF THE THINGS YOU CAN FIND "All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don't see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder." Chief Obafemi Awolowo (Nigerian Minister of Finance, July 28th 1969) " , IF HONESTY MEANS ANYTHING TO CHIEF BABATOPE HE SHOULD RETHINK HIS ATTACK ON ACHEBE A RESPECTED WRITER. HE WILL NOT WRITE WHAT HE HAS NO FACS ABOUT. TO DRIVE THE TRUTH FURTHER, OBASANJO OREDERED HIS TROOPS TO SHOOT DOWN A RED CROSS PLANE FULLY PAINTED IN RED CROSS COLOURS CARRYING FOOD TO BIAFRA. HE HIMSELF WROTE THIS IN HIS BOOK MY COMMAND AS ONE OF HIS GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT. BOTH ARE MURDERES AND SHOULD BE TRIED FOR CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.
Tribal sentiment is the enemy of Nigeria and Nigerians and we can not move forward as a nation until we begin to see things the way its. Chinua Achebe will not write a book just to distroy the legacy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Babatope stated it, but we have a tribal sentment to adress here.Chief Awolowo made some mistake during the biafara war obviously he was not for the IBOS:
Tribal sentiment is the enemy of Nigeria and Nigerians and we can not move forward as a nation until we begin to see things the way its. Chinua Achebe will not write a book just to distroy the legacy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Babatope stated it, but we have a tribal sentment to adress here.Chief Awolowo made some mistake during the biafara war obviously he was not for the IBOS:
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