“I want to see no Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no Pope, no Missionary, and no UN Delegation. I want to prevent even one Ibo from having even one piece to eat before their capitulation.” – Brig. Benjamin Adekunle (3rd Marine Commando)
“We do not play politics. We are not masochists; rather, we are a people who choose to hunger a little to remain alive instead of feeding fat to become respectable corpses.” – Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Biafran Leader).
Before he ascended the throne as Oba Erediauwa, Prince Solomon Akenzua served as a Federal Permanent Secretary at a time Nigeria was tearing at the seams. That fact alone makes his role in 1966–1967 impossible to ignore. He was not just royalty in waiting. He was inside the room where Nigeria was being renegotiated.
First, the Civil War context. As Permanent Secretary, Akenzua was part of the federal bureaucracy navigating the collapse of the First Republic, the coups, and the ethnic suspicions that followed. The civil service then was the stabilizer. His position placed him at the intersection of policy, intelligence, and regional diplomacy when decisions had life-and-death consequences.
Second, Aburi. The 1967 Aburi Accord in Ghana was an attempt to save Nigeria through confederation. While military leaders signed, it was civil servants and advisers who drafted, interpreted, and sold the terms back home. Akenzua’s experience in federal administration meant he understood both the letter and the politics of Aburi, why it appealed to the East, and why it threatened the center.
Third, the Benin City meeting. In the lead-up to war, the Midwest, and Benin in particular, became a strategic corridor. Traditional institutions were consulted, pressured, and watched. As a Benin prince in federal service, Akenzua carried dual weight: the legitimacy of the Palace and the authority of Lagos. His counsel would have mattered in how Benin positioned itself, not neutral, but not reckless.
Oba Erediauwa later ruled for 37 years with dignity. But his early service reminds us: leadership is forged before the crown. In Nigeria’s darkest hour, Prince Solomon Akenzua was both witness and actor. And history should record both.
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