Obafemi Awolowo’s Twenty Pounds to Biafra
By: Deji Yesufu
A few weeks ago, a Canadian-Nigerian woman, by the name of Amaka Sonnberger, a 46-year-old lady, was seen on social media inciting people of Igbo extraction against Yoruba and Benin people. Amaka made the point that anywhere Igbo people see these people in Canada, they should ensure that their food and drinks are poisoned. The video took on a life of its own and eventually, the Nigerian government brought the matter to the Canadian authorities. What might have occasioned this latest brouhaha between people of different ethnic groups in Nigeria? It is the Nigerian civil war. This war ended in January 1970, yet the pain it triggered, like any other crisis in other parts of the world, is yet to subside. The Igbo nation feels she was betrayed by no other than Chief Obafemi Awolowo – a Yoruba man. Awo had made the statement in 1966 that if by any chance the Igbo nation is allowed to secede from Nigeria, the Yoruba nation will also leave the union. Unfortunately, on May 30, 1967, Col. Ojukwu led the Igbo nation out of Nigeria. Rather than keeping his promise, Awo joined the government of Nigeria and fought a bloody war to keep Nigeria one.
When Awolowo returned to the Igbo people in 1978/79 asking for their votes to be President of Nigeria in the second republic, the Igbo people said he betrayed them. Awolowo told them that what happened was not betrayal but an unfortunate misapprehension of basic English. Awolowo explained that the Igbo nation seceded from Nigeria but that she was never permitted to go by the Nigerian nation. His statement remains sacrosanct today: if the Igbo nation had been allowed to go by Nigeria, by all means, the Yoruba nation would have gone too. The mere fact that Nigeria went to war with Biafra is a clear statement of the fact that the Igbos were never permitted to leave. They left of their own volition and Nigeria fought a war to keep them in the union – like many other countries have done in the past and present to preserve their nation’s unity. When that debate was settled, the Igbo people roused the sentiment that Obafemi Awolowo gave each Igbo male twenty pounds following the war. They say “What exactly does Nigeria expect that we do with twenty pounds?” Awolowo was the minister of Finance under the Yakubu Gowon government, the government that prosecuted the war, and he was certainly one of the brains behind the twenty pounds sum. How did Awolowo come about giving each adult Biafran twenty pounds as part of the rebuilding process for the war? Well, while reading HID Awolowo’s biography, “In the Radiance of the Sage”, written by Wale Adebanwi, I found the answer.
Obafemi Awolowo grew up from a very humble background. His father was quite successful but the man died when Awo, his first child, was just nine years old. The custom in those days was that the wife would be married off to the man’s siblings and he would care for the late brother’s children and wife – while owning all his properties. Unfortunately, as it turns out in many cases, these men would prefer to own the properties but they leave the wife and children to care for themselves. The only thing that propelled the young Awo was remembering his father’s often-made remark that he wanted his first son to be educated. So Awolowo did all kinds of menial jobs to get himself to school. The impetus behind the free education he brought to the Western Region years later came from his own experience: perhaps if he had had someone pay his fees, he would have enjoyed school more. Awolowo spent about five years in elementary school and only one year in secondary school. Every other learning the great sage acquired was self-taught. In the early 1940s, it became clear to Awolowo that if he was going to attain his calling of becoming a politician, he would have to get a law degree.
In those days, you could only study law in England. Awo was married at this time, and he had three children. He did not believe that his wife should work and he made his position known to Hannah (HID), his wife. Like a dutiful wife, the dear woman obeyed her husband. HID was the only child of her mother – who herself was the only child of her mother. These three great women had entrepreneurship running in their blood. HID had been raised by her mother to do business. Yet, when she married Awo, the man would not allow his wife to work. However, things changed in the days to come. Awolowo passed his entrance examinations to study law overseas. He then took his now heavily pregnant wife to the bank one faithful day in 1944. He explained to her that he had saved twenty pounds in an account for her and the children. She was to use that money wisely, and that as soon as he reached England, he would ensure that he sent her more money. Hannah nodded. The following day, she escorted her husband to the ship in Lagos which took him to England for his studies. As soon as Awo was out of sight, this dear woman headed to the bank – with an eight-month pregnancy. She withdrew the money and began to trade with it. And with her experience in trading, she soon began to make a lot of money from it.
One day, Hannah sent her husband twenty pounds in the United Kingdom. He wrote her back and thanked her. He explained that the money arrived at just the time he had nothing left on him. Then he began to wonder: “…now that you have sent the money I left for you, how are you and the children going to cope?” HID did not respond. Those days, communication was not that quick and this dear woman had the liberty of distance to do a few things before her husband arrived home. Awolowo spent two and a half years in the UK and returned in 1947, a lawyer. In this period, Hannah sent her husband money four times in all. The second time he received money, the man flared up: “…who is giving you money?!” Of course, by the time he returned to Nigeria, he realized that his wife had wisely used the resources he left her and even multiplied it. He still did not think she should work but seeing that the woman was making so much money, more than he did, he permitted her. When he entered government work in 1951, he reached a deal with her: she was to work from home henceforth. She could however have someone else handle the business outlets. HID became the financial rock behind her husband. Awolowo’s political philosophy was so intense that he often lost friends and supporters. It was the financial backing of his wife that saw him through. When in 1962, he was sent to prison, HID easily handled the home front and even borrowed the Action Group money on occasions. That is where the idea of giving every adult male twenty pounds came from in 1970.
Now, twenty pounds is certainly very small money – even in today’s terms. However, when a country has just finished a costly war and is seeking to rebuild, it is not likely to have a lot of money to throw around. What would have happened in those days in Eastern Nigeria is that wise men would have formed cooperatives, combined their resources, and done business with them. And when you consider that the Igbos are the most business savvy, of the three major tribes in Nigeria, you will appreciate why, despite all the angst against Awolowo and the Yoruba extraction, these people used their twenty pounds very well. It multiplied and the Igbos are some of the wealthiest people groups in Nigeria today. I understand that many other things happened at that time. I understand that some people had property in some parts of Nigeria and by the time they returned to them after the war, the properties had been taken. I understand that some people even had money in the bank but ended up with twenty pounds. All of those are understandable. Yet, after fifty years of having prosecuted that war, with the usual resentment that could occur, the Igbo nation should realize that God has very graciously restored their losses. There is no reason to be angry with anyone – anymore. The real enemies of this country are not people of a certain tribe or religion – our enemies are people who simply do not have the good of this country at heart. They are people who would rather eat up the country so that their own selfish interest could be furthered.
It is good to learn that Amaka Sonnberger is now being prosecuted by the Canadian government and is likely to go to jail for a very long time. I am happy to realize that not many Igbo people share this woman’s demonic sentiment about other tribes in Nigeria. There are things we have in common in this country: the fact that we are all human beings and we share a geographical location called Nigeria. Those who insisted on the unity of this country understood the fact that there are diversities among us as a people. They, however, saw that rather than these diversities become a means of division among us, it could be to our advantage. Every people group in the world today are seeking more and more to come together, rather than divide. There is a lot that can be done through unity. The Nigerian civil war was too costly in people and resources for this country not to have learnt some valuable lessons from it.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY.
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