Background
He was born on June 28, 1936 in the Northern town of Jos, where his father, originally from Onitsha, was a post office worker.
He was born on June 28, 1936 in the Northern town of Jos, where his father, originally from Onitsha, was a post office worker.
At the age of 4 he left for Enugu and was later educated at St Patrick’s’ Calabar, and Edo College, Benin. He worked for three years in the Department for Marketing and Exports in Lagos and Kano from 1954 to 1956, then went to the National Archives at Ibadan as an assistant. His family helped him into the university where he gained an upper second as a BSc Economics, later winning a scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles, to get his PhD.
He returned to Ibadan to lecture in political science. When the massacres of the Ibos occurred in May and September 1966, most of his Ibo colleagues left the university and returned home. By April 1967 he was the only Ibo left.
In October 1967 Enugu, the Eastern capital, fell to Federal forces and he was appointed to what one Nigerian commentator described as “the least wanted job in the Federation” as administrator of East Central State with an office in the war-ravaged capital. His task was to encourage the Ibo people to return home and take up their normal livelihoods, to supervise a massive rehabilitation programme and rebuild local administration. Biafra finally collapsed in January 1970 and he had to absorb the enclave into his region without even having a local police force to help him. His government ran parallel to the military administration and with Lagos unenthusiastic about foreign relief organisations he was impelled to terminate their activities while they still had a useful part to play.
In Lagos he was a close adviser to General Gowon. In July 1969 he went on a delegation to Kampala to explain the Federal case. In April 1970 he was appointed as the sole civilian member of the Supreme Military Council (all the other state governors arc military men).
In February he abolished the old provincial system of administration and adopted a system based on “divisions” to bring government closer to the people. One of his main problems was to win the confidence and generate the enthusiasm of the majority of the Ibos. Intellectually detached policies, that were tough on the secessionists, diverged from those of his Economics Commissioner, Sam Ikoku, a veteran Marxist and highly experienced politician. Finally the break came with Ikoku’s dismissal in September 1972.
As the debate developed on Nigeria’s return to civilian rule, Asika indicated that the military government might decide to extend its period in power: “some of those who have been invited into political office may like the climate and decide to stay on”.