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Enahoro's First Press Conference in
London (as Nigeria's spokeperson) after the war began in 1967.
This was the opening statement of Enahoro's First Press Conference in
London (as Nigeria's spokeperson) after the war began in 1967. He had been
pardoned a year earlier on August 3, 1966. Gowon signed the instrument
of pardon for all the treasonable felony convicts on August 2, 1966, a
day after formally taking over the government on August 1, 1966.
Between July 29 (when Ironsi was killed) and August 1, 1966 Nigeria
had no government.
Before dealing with the subject of our meeting, I would like to take
this opportunity to thank the British Press and, through you, the
British people for the support which they generously gave me four
years ago in my extradition case. I am emboldened to meet you today
by the memory of that support and by the knowledge it gave me that
once the British Press and people are given the facts, there can be no
doubt as to where their sympathies would like in the Nigerian crisis.
Britain and Nigeria are fellow members of the Commonwealth, with all
that this implies in friendly interchange in various fields and at
many levels. The British created Nigeria and together we have built
it. Britain has substantial commercial and industrial interests in
Nigeria; the annual turnover of British trade with Nigeria, for
example, is of the order of $510 million a year. Some 20,000 United
Kingdom subjects live and work in Nigeria. Nigeria supplies 10% of
Britain's oil requirements. For these and other reasons, the
Nigerian crisis must be of some concern to people in Britain.
Clearly, from what I have said, there is much else besides oil
between our two countries, although oil has come very much to the
fore lately because of events in the Middle East. Let me say at once
that Britain's interest in Nigerian oil is the same as ours - to keep
it flowing. I do not doubt that as soon as circumstances permit, the
flow will be resumed and will grow. It is now being suggested in some
quarters that the rebel administration in Enugu has de facto control
of the area in which most of the oil installations occur and that the
Oil Companies might therefore make their payments to Enugu treasury.
I need hardly say that such payment would be contrary to the
Agreement and would be totally unacceptable to the Federal
Government. As is well known, a Government which has no control of
territorial waters and external trade can hardly claim sovereignty
over its territory. The effective blockade by the Nigerian Navy has
shown that the Enugu Regime does not have control of territorial
waters or external trade. Therefore, though Ojukwu may be able to
take some action which may temporarily affect oil production, only
the Federal Government of Nigeria is in a position to take the more
significant action of preventing the off-take and marketing of oil. .
. What now, about the future? Let me first correct some
misconceptions which I have discovered here. It is said that the
so-called Biafra is a gallant little nation fighting for
self-determination, threatening nobody, wishing to live its own life,
led by a young Rockefeller. Why then not let them go? This is no the
case. Biafra is not and never was a nation and there hasn't been
much gallantry in our recent past. We have no Rockefellers, let
alone a young one. The act of union which created Nigeria also
created Eastern Nigeria and there was Nigeria long before there was
an entity known as Eastern Nigeria. If the union of Nigeria is
dissolved, there are no legal bonds to tie together the Ibos and the
coastal kingdom and other tribes of Eastern Nigeria, who would be as
fully entitled to self-determination as the Ibos are. What is more,
they have shown that they would fight for it. If secession by Ojukwu
and his group is accomplished, Nigeria will most probably
disintegrate. Once fractionalization starts, it certainly will
result in the further disintegration of the former Eastern Region of
Nigeria. Neighboring states with ethnic and other problems similar
to ours will in due course also disintegrate, and a chain reaction
will be set up all over Africa. Africa would end up in petty little
principalities. Each successor 'mini state' would be sovereign
enough to acquire foreign protectors and purchase arms. Such a
situation, with its inevitable dislocations and frictions over
boundaries, trade and division of assets, would produce wars.
Foreign countries would intervene on behalf of their 'protectorates'
and the conflagration would become bloodier and more permanently
damaging to the interests of Nigeria, of Africa, and of foreign
countries with stakes in the area. It is said that Biafra would be
self-sufficient economically. There would, of course be no Biafra
for any length of time. Only some 5 per cent of Nigeria's oil is
produced in the Ibo areas. 60% is mined in the Rivers area and all
the pipelines at present run through the Rivers area and 35% is
produced in Mid-West State. Of the total value of agricultural
exports from the former Eastern Nigeria, the 7,000,000 Ibos produce
$25 million and the 5,000,000 non-Ibo peoples produce $48 million.
Further, the only 'new lands' left in Eastern Nigeria for settlement
is in the non-Ibo Ogoja and Calabar areas. Wiser heads in the
Central East (i.e. Ibo) who are at present shut out of public affairs
by Ojukwu appreciate therefore that the interests of the Ibos can be
best secured in a Nigerian Federation where the industry of their
people and the resources of others can be harnessed for the common
good. It is said that the present struggle is one between the largely
Moslem North and the largely Christian East. This is an outdated
conception of the crisis. The creation of States completely alters
the picture. There is now no Northern entity and no Eastern Nigerian
identity. Were this not the case, if States had not been created,
and if this were a North versus East match, I, for my part, would
have found it difficult to accept office at this time. Nigeria is
very much a secular state and religion does not play any significant
part in Nigerian politics. There is a large number of Moslems in
Western Nigeria and Lagos. General Gowon is a Christian. So am I.
What is now going on is a struggle for the very survival of our
nation .
Compiled by NOWAMAGBE AUSTIN OMOIGUI, MD
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