BIAFRA NATION:How Ojukwu planned to detain me because I told him truth – Mbu

He said he cautioned Ojukwu as the war progressed to surrender due to the suffering of the civilian population in the Southeast. 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.
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.”