Matthew Mbu, a former Foreign
Minister and United Nations, UN, ambassador, has revealed how late Biafra
warlord, Dim Odimegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, plotted to detain him after the Civil
War.
He said he cautioned Ojukwu as
the war progressed to surrender due to the suffering of the civilian population
in the Southeast.
Mbu said people around Ojukwu
convinced the warlord to detain him because of his advice to end the war.
These revelations were made
public through an autobiography the late ex-Minister left behind to be
published by his family.
The book entitled “Dignity in
Service,” is due for public presentation on Tuesday next week at the Yar’Adua
International Conference Centre, Abuja
He said, “We had the hawks and
the doves, on the Biafra and the federal side that made the contest bloody. As
the war progressed, I cautioned Ojukwu based on the realities that were
obvious, especially the suffering of the civilian population. The hawks of the
civil war were in their own world.
“They convinced Ojukwu to detain
me because of my advice of caution. I remember when I once came in from a
foreign trip, Chief M. D. Yusuf, my friend said: ‘Do you know how close you
were to being detained?
“We were surprised you weren’t
detained. Ojukwu was to detain you, your friend was to detain you, we knew he
was going to detain you.’ I said, ‘Yes when I came back from my foreign
missions, they saw me and they began to cry and said you are going to be detained,
he is going to detain you’, because I told him the truth.
“My overriding interest was just
to bring peace to the whole situation. That was how I led the Biafran diplomacy
during the war and eventually signed the communiqué that ended the war. Some
people who went on diplomatic mission never came back again. But I was going
out and coming in frequently.”
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