"Almost 30 years before Rwanda, before Darfur, more than 2 million people - mothers, children, babies, civilians - lost their lives as a result of the blatantly callous and unnecessary policies enacted by the leaders of the federal government of Nigeria. It's this charge that's dominated the book's Nigerian press, so far as I can see, the accusation, on the one hand, that Awolowo hatched "a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation - eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations."

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Source: Chinua Achebe (1986). “Arrow of God”, p.132, Heinemann

About the author

Chinua Achebe

Novelist, Poet

Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist and critic, renowned for his novel 'Things Fall Apart,' which explores themes of identity and colonialism in Africa.

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