Culled from:
Une 26, 2012
Obafemi Awolowo�s Letter
from Prison to
Major
General Aguiyi Ironsi
Pressing for His
Release and That of His Colleagues
(Dated 28th March
1966)
CONFIDENTIAL
To: The
Supreme Commander and Head of the Federal Military Government,
Lagos.
Thro: The Director
of Prisons, Prisons Headquarters Office, Private Mail Bag
12522, Lagos.
Sir:
Prerogative Of Mercy:
Section 101 (1) (A) of the Constitution of The Federation
Act 1963
1. I am
writing this petition for FREE PARDON under Section 101(1) (a)
of the Constitution of the Federation Act 1963, on behalf of
myself and some of my colleagues whose names are set out in
the Annexe hereto.
2. Before
I go further, I would like to stress that the reasons which I
advance in support of this petition, in my own behalf,
basically hold good for my said colleagues. For they share the
same political beliefs with me, and have intense and
unquenchable loyalty for the ideals espoused by the Party
which I have the honour to lead.
3. There
are many grounds which could be submitted for your
consideration in support of this petition. But I venture to
think that SEVEN of them are enough and it is to these that I
confine myself.
(a)In the
course of my evidence during my trial, I stated that my Party
favoured and was actively working
for alliance with the N.C.N.C. as a means, among other things,
of solving what I described as �the problem of Nigeria�, and
strengthening the unity of the Federation. In October 1963
(that is about a month after my conviction and while my appeal
to the Supreme Court was still pending), a Peace Committee
headed by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola,
made overtures to me through my friend Alhaji
W. A. Elias to the effect that if I abandoned my intention to
enter into alliance with the N.C.N.C. which, according to the
Committee, was an Ibo Organisation, and agreed to dissolve the
Action Group and, in co-operation with Chief Akintola (now deceased), form an
all-embracing Yoruba political party which I would lead and
which would go into alliance with the N.P.C., I would be
released from prison before the end of that year. I turned
down these terms because I was of the considered opinion that
their acceptance would further widen and exacerbate
inter-tribal differences, and gravely undermine the unity of
the Federation. TODAY, THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT, OF WHICH YOU
ARE THE HEAD, LEAVES NO ONE IN ANY DOUBT THAT IT STANDS FOR
NIGERIAN UNITY. BUT IT MUST BE EMPHASISED, IN THIS CONNECTION,
THAT IF I HAD PRIZED MY PERSONAL FREEDOM ABOVE THE UNITY OF
NIGERIA, I WOULD HAVE BEEN SET FREE IN 1963. IN THAT EVENT,
THIS PETITION WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY, AND THE WORK OF
CONSOLIDATING THE UNITY OF THE COUNTRY TO WHICH YOU AND YOUR
COLLEAGUES NOW SET YOUR HANDS MIGHT HAVE BEEN MADE EXTREMELY
MORE INTRACTABLE AND IRKSOME. As recently as 20th December,
1965, identical peace terms (the only variant being that the
alliance with the N.C.N.C. which was now a reality should be
broken) were made to me here, in Calabar
Prison, by a delegation representing another Peace Committee
headed by the self-same Chief Justice of the Federation and
purporting to have the blessing of the Prime Minister, with
the unequivocal promise that if I accepted the terms my
release would follow almost immediately. I rejected the terms
for the reasons which I have outlined above.
(b) One
of the monsters which menaced the public life of this country
up to 14th January, this year is OPPORTUNISM with its
attendant evils of jobbery, venality, corruption, and
unabashed self-interest. From all accounts, you are inflexibly
resolved to destroy this monster. That was precisely what my
colleagues and I had tried to do before we were rendered hors
de combat since 29th May, 1962. On two different occasions I
was offered, first the post of Deputy Prime Minister (before
May 1962), and second that of Deputy Governor-General (in
August 1962), if I would agree to fold up the Opposition and
join in a National Government. I declined the two offers
because they were designed exclusively to gratify my
self-interest, with no thought of fostering any political
moral principle which could benefit the people of Nigeria. The
learned Judge who presided over
the Treasonable Felony Trial, commented unfavourably
on my non-acceptance of one of these posts and held that my
action lent weight to the case of the Prosecution against me.
I must say, however, that in all conscience, I felt and still
feel that a truly public-spirited person should accept public
office not for what he can get for himself � such as the
profit and glamour of office � but for the opportunity which
it offers him of serving his people to the best of his
ability, by promoting their welfare and happiness. To me, the
two aforementioned posts were sinecures, and were intended to
immobilise my talents and stultify
the role of watch-dog which the people of Nigeria looked upon
me to play on their behalf, at that juncture in our political
evolution.
(c) This
leads me to the third ground. From newspaper reports, it would
appear that you and your colleagues � like all well-meaning
Nigerians are anxious that on
the termination of the present military rule, Nigeria should
become a flourishing democracy. Now, democracy is a political
doctrine which is very intimately dear to my heart.
It was to
the end that it might be accepted as a way of life in all
parts of the Federation that I campaigned most vigorously and
relentlessly in the Northern Provinces of Nigeria, from 1957
to 1962, to the implacable annoyance of some of my political
adversaries. It was to the end that this doctrine might
survive the severe onslaught of opportunist and mercenary
politics that I refused to succumb to the temptation of the
National Government. Many views � some of them well-considered
and respectable � have been expressed about the value or
disvalue of opposition as a feature of public life in a newly
emergent African State. Speaking for my party, I submit that
the Opposition which I led did, to all intents and purposes,
justify its existence and was acclaimed by the masses of our
people as essential and indispensable to rapid- national
growth.
This was
so, because it was unexceptionably constructive. The
abrogation of the Anglo-Nigeria Defence
Pact was one of the feathers in its cap. Some of the policies
which the Government of the day later adopted � such as the
creation of a Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the
introduction of drastic measures to correct our balance of
payments deficit � were among those persistently and
constructively urged by the Opposition inside and outside
Parliament. The point I wish to emphasise
here is that it was not out of spite or hatred for any one
that I chose to remain in Opposition instead of joining the
much-talked-of National Government. I did so in order to serve
our people to the best of my ability in the position in which
their votes had placed my Party, and to ensure that the young
plant of democracy grows into a sturdy flourishing tree in
Nigeria.
(d) Since
the declaration of emergency in the Western Region on 29th May,1962, political tension has existed in
Western Nigeria. My conviction on 11th September, 1963,
together with the surrounding bizarre circumstances, has led
not only to the heightening of that tension in Western Nigeria
but also to its profuse and irrepressible percolation to the
other parts of the Federation. The result is that it can be
said, without much fear of contradiction, that today the
majority of our people are passionately concerned about and
fervently solicitous for the release of myself
and my colleagues. The work of
reconstruction on which you and your colleagues have
embarked demands that all the citizens of Nigeria in their
respective callings should give of their maximum best.
A state of psychological tension, however much it may be
brought under control or repressed, does not and cannot
conduce to maximum efficiency. In spite of themselves, people
labouring under emotions which
this kind of tension automatically generates are bound to make
avoidable mistakes which in their turn have adverse effects on
national progress. It is, therefore, in the national interest
that this tension should be relaxed, if possible, without
further delay.
(e) A
petition of this kind is, by its very nature, bound to be
replete with self-adulation. I hope and trust that, in the
circumstances, this is excusable. It is in this hope and trust
that I assert that my colleagues and I have the qualifications
and capacity to render invaluable services to our people and
fatherland. Every day that we spend in prison, therefore, must
be regarded as TWENTY-FOUR UNFORGIVING HOURS OF TRULY VALUABLE
SERVICES LOST TO OUR YOUNG COUNTRY. Even my most inveterate
enemies have given the following testimony about me: �AWOLOWO
HAS STILL A GREAT DEAL TO GIVE TO THIS COUNTRY.� No country
however advanced and civilized can afford to waste any of its
talents, be they ever so small. Nigeria is too young to bury
some of her talents as she was compelled to do under the old
regime. It is within your power to restore my colleagues and
me to a position where our fatherland can again rejoice at the
contributions which we are capable of making to its progress,
welfare and happiness.
(f)
Nigeria is now SIXTY-SIX MONTHS old as an independent State.
The final phase in the struggle for Nigeria�s independence was
initiated by my Party in the historic Self-Government motion
moved by Chief Anthony Enahoro
and supported by me on 31st March, 1953. IT SHOULD BE REGARDED
AS MORE THAN IRONICAL, AND AS PALPABLY TRAGIC, THAT TWO OF THE
ARCHITECTS OF THAT INDEPENDENCE AND, INDEED, THE PACE-SETTERS
AND ACCELERATORS OF ITS FINAL PHASE SHOULD BE UNFREE IN A FREE
NIGERIA. In precise terms, I have spent FORTY-SIX out of the
SIXTY-SIX MONTHS of independence in one form of confinement or
another. I happened to know that the leaders of the old
civilian regime, in spite of themselves, did not feel quite
easy in their conscience about the plight into which they had
manoeuvred me in the scheme of
things; and I dare to express the hope and belief that you, personally view my present
confinement with concern and disapproval.
(g) It is
usual � almost invariably the case � on the accession of a
revolutionary regime, for political prisoners and, indeed,
other prisoners of some note, to be released as a mark of
disapproval of some of the doings of the old regime, or in
token of the new dawn of freedom which comes in the wake of
the new regime. It would be invidious to quote unspecific
instances. But in the case of my colleagues and myself, by
courageously and adamantly opposing the evils which your
regime now denounces in the former civilian administration, I
think we are perfectly justified if we expect you to regard us
as being in tune with your yearnings and aspirations for
Nigeria, and therefore entitled to our personal freedoms under
your dispensation.
4. In
view of the foregoing reasons which clearly demonstrate:
(i) that I have always and, under
trying circumstances, steadfastly and unyieldingly
(a) stood for the UNITY OF NIGERIA,
(b)been opposed to POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM with its attendant
evils, (c)fostered the growth of DEMOCRACY in Nigeria;
(ii) that
my incarceration:
(a) has led to the heightening of political tension among
Nigerians, which tension can only be relaxed by my release,
(b)has deprived our fatherland of invaluable services such as
we have rendered before, and can still render now and in
future, in greater measure; and
(iii)
that the evils which my colleagues and I condemned and
valiantly refused to compromise with in the old civilian
government are what you now quite rightly denounce, and are
taking active steps to remove in order to pave the way for
national and beneficial reconstruction, I most sincerely
appeal to you to be good enough to exercise, in favour of myself and my colleagues,
the prerogative of mercy vested in you by Section 10 (I) (i) (a) of the Constitution of the
Federation Act 1963, by granting me as well as each of my
colleagues A FREE PARDON. If you do, your action will be most
warmly, heartily, and popularly applauded at home and abroad,
and you will go down to history as soldier, statesmen, and
humanitarian.
Yours
truly,
OBAFEMI
AWOLOWO.
THOSE
CONVICTED FOR TREASONABLE FELONY.
I. THOSE
STILL SERVING THEIR TERMS
1.Chief Obafemi Awolowo 2.Chief Anthony Enahoro 3.Mr.Lateef K. Jakande 4.Mr.Dapo Omisade 5.Mr.S.A.Onitiri
6.Mr.Gabby Sasore
7.Mr.Sunday Ebietoma
8.Mr.U.I.Nwaobiala
II.THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY SERVED THEIR
TERMS.
1.Mr. S.A.Otubanjo
2.Mr.S.J.Umoren
3.Mr.S.Oyesile.
III.THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET BEEN TRIED.
1. Mr.S.G.Ikoku 2.Mr.Ayo Adebanjo
3.Mr.James Aluko