Dr. Chike Obidigbo, a former governorship aspirant in Anambra State and elder statesman, has stated 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.”
