Igbo Leaders / People Would Do Everything Possible to Stop Yoruba From Coming Power! Perhaps Zik’s greatest blunder was his turning down Awolowo’s offer of post-independence alliance that would have made him (Zik) Prime minister and Awo finance minister. If Zik had called Sardauna’s bluff of secession and aligned with Awo, Igbos who already dominated the military, federal civil service and academia would have had Nigeria in their palms, and would probably have been positioned as Nigeria’s ruling Tutsis (or kingmakers), instead of their present pathetic grumbling about the elusive Igbo presidency. But the small-minded Zik with his lingering grudge against Awo, failed to see the big picture in the better interest of not just Igbos, but Nigeria at large. An east-west Southern alliance vs the north would have made for a more balanced and stable federation, as it is inconceivable the East and West could gang up against the large and powerful north in the same manner as the East-North alliance did against the West. That gang-up against the West led to the violent upheavals in the South west which culminated in the January 1966 coup. In other words, had Zik accepted Awo’s offer, there most likely would have been a no January 1966 coup, no July revenge coup, no pogrom of easterners, and definitely no Biafra. There was yet another way Zik could have averted the northern pogrom against his people, if he had done the right thing and alerted the Prime minister and military chiefs when he was tipped off about the forthcoming January 1966 coup. Instead Zik selfishly and treacherously only looked out for himself when he took to his heels on an elongated Carribean cruise. As rightly pointed out by Shagari in his book Beckoned to serve, not even the Common-Wealth leaders conference hosted by Nigeria in Jan ’66 convinced our runaway president to return.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 19:23:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015