In 1963, Obafemi Awolowo was jailed by Balewa due to treason at Uyo,Eastern Region.
He also lost his son to car crash.

During his imprisonment, M.I Okpara hired a house & urged the Igbo owner of a House near the prison to vacate from the house for Awolowo to live in that house.

The man vacated and Awolowo lived in that house. So, every night he would sleep in that house but at daybreak he would go to prison and stay and all the cooks and stewards he had were paid from Enugu by the Eastern Government.

His wife HID Awolowo who was mourning two losses, her incarcerated husband and dead Son, was placed on a ministerial salary from Enugu and all allowances that accrued to ministers in those days were paid to her.
In 1966, he was released by Ojukwu and moved to Ikenne.

In an interview, Ojukwu reiterated.

"I released Awolowo from jail. Even that, some people are beginning to contest as well.

Awo was in jail in Calabar. Gowon knows and the whole of the federal establishment knows that at no point was Gowon in charge of the East.

The East took orders from me. Now, how could Gowon have released Awolowo who was in Calabar? Because of the fact that I released him, it created quite a lot of rapport between Awo and myself and I know that before he went back to Ikenne.

I set up a hotline between Ikenne and my bedroom in Enugu. He tried like an elder statesman to find a solution. Awolowo is a funny one. Don’t forget that the political purpose of the coup, the Ifeajuna coup that began all this, was to hand power over to Awo.

We young men respected him a great deal. I thought he was a hero and certainly I received him when I was governor. We talked and he was very vehement when he saw our complaints and he said that if the Igbos were forced out by Nigeria that he would take the Yorubas out also.

Later Gowon wooed Awolowo through his Wife to join the government, in his words in an interview.

"Yes, we really pleaded with mama; she was the one who encouraged papa to accept that invitation and so, for that, we ever remain grateful to her for what she did."

NB: Uyo was under Calabar Province then.