Nigeria: Awolowo and Achebe's Tale of Fantasy, By Fani-Kayode

10 October 2012
opinion

I am a historian and I have always believed that if we want to talk history we must be dispassionate, objective and factual. We must take the emotion out of it and we must always tell the truth. The worst thing that anyone can do is to try to re-write history and indulge in historical revisionism. This is especially so when the person is a revered figure and a literary icon.

Sadly, it is in the light of such historical revisionism that I view Professor Chinua Achebe's assertion (which is reflected in his latest and highly celebrated book titled "There Was A Country") that Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the late and much loved Leader of the Yoruba, was responsible for the genocide that the Igbos suffered during the civil war. This claim is not only false but it is also, frankly speaking, utterly absurd. Not only is Professor Achebe indulging in perfidy, not only is he being utterly dishonest and disingenuous but he is also turning history upside down and indulging in what I would describe as ethnic chauvinism.

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