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FREEDOMWAYS                             THIRD QUARTER 1969

he was highly successful. But his success was also to a large measure predetermined by the fact that his stand suggested division and was therefore sympathetic to the dilemma of the foreign interveners whose interests were being threatened by Nigeria's thrust towards self-sufficiency. 

the Aburi conference and its aftermath

At this point with the above outline as our guide we must examine the present state of affairs in the light of its internal shape and effect. One of the first things that Major General Yakuba Gowon tried to do was to bring about a reconciliation of the divisive forces within the army. These efforts were supported at the highest level by the senior officers of every region except the Last. As a result a deadlock within the army developed and the last and most publicized attempt to break it was the Aburi Conference which took place in Ghana in 1967. It must be pointed out that this Conference came after Ojukwu's high-powered drive to ethnicize the social problems of the nation in keeping with his July stand had culminated in the much publicized killing of several thousand people of both Eastern and Northern origins in the North and in the East. Thus it was that Aburi, which should have been a Military Conference was really a political confrontation. However, treating the crisis on the military level only, enormous concessions were made to Ojukwu's stand. It was agreed that for an undefined interim period troops would be confined to their regions of origin. This might not seem in the best interests of the principle of unity in the nation but as has been said before Major General Gowon had pledged to settle the critical situation by methods of peace and he seemed prepared to compromise his own position of power even to achieve this. However immediately Ojukwu returned to Enugu he met with his advisers and some foreign sympathizers and announced that the stage was now set for the final thrust to division. It now seems most likely that this remarkably insidious conclusion was prompted by the fact that even before deciding to go to the conference Ojukwu had been in touch with his foreign backers and had been promised their unqualified support in the event of his deciding to pull out of the Federation after this last ditch move. It even seems likely that none of the Western powers who were then observing the Nigerian situation closely was sure that the degree of rapport reached between the different parties at that meeting could actually be reached. Ojukwu was aware of this and did everything

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