Nnamdi Azikiwe Says The Time Is Right For Peace in Nigeria | August 1969

Thursday, August 28 1969. Footage of former Nigerian president, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe giving a press conference in London at the premises of the Nigerian High Commission. Flanked by the High Commissioner, Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe (rtd) and other officials, Azikiwe told the gathered press that the time was now right for an end to the conflict between forces of federal Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra. He announced his impending return to Nigeria where he was convinced his ethnic kinsmen of Igbo ethnicity would be able to live in security. He pointed out that many Igbos were living outside of the secessionist enclave "safe and secure in their persons and property". He had earlier stated that he had been put under house arrest by the regime of Biafra's head of state, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, from February to August 1968. Once part of Ojukwu's brain trust, Azikiwe claimed that during his detention, he had begun to have grave doubts about the merits of the Biafran situation. Source: Reuters News.