Another big sin of Awolowo that the Igbos wanted him crucified for was Awolowo’s plan to stop Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe from becoming the first Premier of Western Region in 1954. I give kudos to Awolowo and the few members of the Mabolaje Grand Alliance of Ibadan, an affiliate of the NCNC which crossed carpet to give Awolowo and his Action Group the chance to push the NCNC into the opposition in the Western House of Assembly at Ibadan. If Azikiwe had been allowed to rule the Western Region in 1954, I know many of my Igbo friends would have claimed today that the West was once a colony of the Igbos and they would have been right to say that. The Yorubas are forever indebted to Awolowo and the Akinloyes of this world for their clear vision by not allowing the Igbos to treat the Yorubas as their slaves forever. The late Chief Eyo Ita becoming first Premier of the Eastern Region would have been child play compared to what would have happened if Azikiwe had been named the first Premier of Western Region. That would have created an Earthquake in the power configuration of Nigeria to the big advantage of the Igbos who would have been controlling two out of the three regional Governments of Nigeria. That would have been a colossal tragedy for the Yorubas. The Yorubas can say today that we were never the colony of the Igbos at any point in our history. The Igbos would have been gloating about the time they once ruled the Yorubas. I am glad they never got a chance to make such a claim. That would have been heresy for the Yorubas. The real credit for that belongs to Obafemi Awolowo who is next in our esteem to our progenitor the great Oodua, the first Ooni Risa of Ile Ife, the cradle of Yoruba civilization. I don’t care what names the igbos call Awolowo today, the bitter truth they don’t want to hear is that Awolowo did the right thing in every position he took on Nigeria. If the Igbos call him a tribalist for that reason, they are free to do that, but so was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who quickly ran back to the Eastern Region to stop Chief Eyo Ita from becoming the first Premier of Eastern Region. Two wrongs don’t make a right. If Dr. Azikiwe was the nationalist he claimed, he should have allowed Eyo Ita to be the first Premier of Eastern Region to teach Awolowo a lesson on how to be a nationalist. If he had done that, he and the Igbos would be justified in calling Awolowo a tribalist and the Yorubas would have lost their right to defend Awo. To all of Oodua children, Awolowo was a leader in a million and the “best President Nigeria never had” We sure concurred with Ikemba Ojukwu because he spoke the truth and nothing but the truth and God bless him for saying so for the whole world to hear. Dr Wunmi Akintide
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 09:56:08 +0000
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