Why I kept Awolowo in pr!son after an order to release him - Ohwo

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Abraham Madu

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Aug 6, 2026, 1:30:55 PM (3 days ago) Aug 6

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Why I kept Awolowo in pr!son after an order to release him - Ohwo

In an interview with Nigerian Tribune some years ago, Chief Gabriel .O. Ohwo, a retired Superintendent of the drēãded Calabar Prisøns under the Eastern Nigeria Government when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was serving a prisøn term, explained how Awolowo reacted on August 3, 1966 to the announcement of his release.

"It was 3rd August, 1966 when (Yakubu) Gowon said Awolowo should be freed, but I didn’t allow him to be released on that day. That day, I went to the prisøn, he had heard in the news that he was to be set free that day. When I got there, I said “Papa, I hope you would not be annøyed if I won’t let you go today.” He said: “no, as a law student, you know that unlawful imprisønment is when you are dētained against your wish, but, right now, I have been set free. Nobody is dētaining me now against my wish. It is my own wish. So at your pleasure, I can stay here until it pleases you to release me.” And I said, “thank you sir."

"Why I didn’t want to release him on that day was because the Calabar people were the ones in charge of Action Group in Eastern Nigeria then; they were the ones f!ghting for him there because of the imprisønment. And if I should release him that day, they would bømbard him and, who knows, some mixed-multitude might find a loophøle to k!ll him. And that was what I was avoiding. I just wanted the atmosphere to settle down first before releasing him. So, I released him when everybody thought he had gone. I drove to the prisøn as early as 5 in the morning, took him in my car and drove to the Calabar airport to drop him. I made sure the small aircraft that came to convey him had taken off before leaving the airport. Everything I did impressed him terr!bly!" He said.

When asked about the narrative that it was the Eastern Nigerian Government under Emeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu that released Awolowo, Ohwo, a Delta state indigene, said, "It’s not true. Awo’s imprisønment was not a state issue, so he could not have been released by Ojukwu. It was Gowon that released him. It was the Federal Government which was in charge of the prisøns that released him.