For Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Prof. Tam David-West, yesterday, stated that Chief Obafemi Awolowo did not use the starvation weapon against the Igbos during the civil war in order to realize personal ambition as posited by renowned novelist, Prof. Chinua Achebe, in his latest book, There was a country.
David-West, who spoke to our correspondent on telephone in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said that all members of the war regime cabinet, led by General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) employed the stoppage of food supplies to the Igbos as a weapon to win the war.
He added that it has been explained many times that players in any war use whatever weapon they believe could help them defeat the other party, stressing that it would not be correct to assert that Awolowo, who was then the Federal Commissioner of Finance, did what he did in order to realize a personal ambition to rule Nigeria.
The professor of virology insisted that Awolowo and other cabinet members at the time employed the weapons to keep Nigeria as one indivisible entity.
“Awolowo never promoted genocide because he wanted to become president. The entire Gowon administration promoted genocide. That does not mean that any player in the government did that for personal ambition. Starvation was a weapon to fight the war then.”
However, David-West said that he would not criticize Achebe for expressing his own account of the war. He took exception to the hullaballoo generated by the new book, saying it was already assuming ethnic dimension.
According to him, Achebe could only be criticized for his interpretation of the war, not his presentation. He emphasized that there was genocide, and insisted that anyone that denies the genocide is as good as denying the holocaust.
He said: “There is no need to crucify Achebe for chronicling his own experience. It is even painful that the criticism is becoming ethnic now. I respect Awolowo and his contemporaries, including the Sardauna.
“For example, Awolowo prosecuted the civil war for 30 months without borrowing one kobo. There is no question about the fact that a lot of people died in the East. When the war started, Biafra was even more organized than the Nigerian government.mer Minister of Petroleum Resources, Prof. Tam David-West, yesterday, stated that Chief Obafemi Awolowo did not use the starvation weapon against the Igbos during the civil war in order to realize personal ambition as posited by renowned novelist, Prof. Chinua Achebe, in his latest book, There was a country.
David-West, who spoke to our correspondent on telephone in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said that all members of the war regime cabinet, led by General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) employed the stoppage of food supplies to the Igbos as a weapon to win the war.
He added that it has been explained many times that players in any war use whatever weapon they believe could help them defeat the other party, stressing that it would not be correct to assert that Awolowo, who was then the Federal Commissioner of Finance, did what he did in order to realize a personal ambition to rule Nigeria.
The professor of virology insisted that Awolowo and other cabinet members at the time employed the weapons to keep Nigeria as one indivisible entity.
“Awolowo never promoted genocide because he wanted to become president. The entire Gowon administration promoted genocide. That does not mean that any player in the government did that for personal ambition. Starvation was a weapon to fight the war then.”
However, David-West said that he would not criticize Achebe for expressing his own account of the war. He took exception to the hullaballoo generated by the new book, saying it was already assuming ethnic dimension.
According to him, Achebe could only be criticized for his interpretation of the war, not his presentation. He emphasized that there was genocide, and insisted that anyone that denies the genocide is as good as denying the holocaust.
He said: “There is no need to crucify Achebe for chronicling his own experience. It is even painful that the criticism is becoming ethnic now. I respect Awolowo and his contemporaries, including the Sardauna.
“For example, Awolowo prosecuted the civil war for 30 months without borrowing one kobo. There is no question about the fact that a lot of people died in the East. When the war started, Biafra was even more organized than the Nigerian government.
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