Ni kweli Nyerere aliitambua Biafra for humanitarian reasons. Kuna watu ambao wamejaribu kutumia udini kupotosha ukweli, wakisema kwamba Nyerere alifanya hivyo kwa sababu Waibo walikuwa ni Wakatoliki kama yeye. Kuna Waislamu nchini Tanzania waliokubaliana naye alipoitambua Biafra. Kuna hata Waislamu nje ya Tanzania waliosema kwamba nchi yetu iliitambua Biafra for humanitarian reasons. Raisi Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia, ni mmoja wa viongozi waliosema hivyo. He issued a statement in May 1968 stating that recognition of Biafra by Tanzania and other countries was a "protest against massacre." - (Africa Contemporary Record, 1969, p. 114).
Kuna wengine, ambao siyo Wakristo, waliosema kwamba Ukrisito au Ukatoliki wa Nyerere haukuhusika na uamuzi wake kuitambua Biafra au kwenda vitani na Idi Amin ambaye alikuwa ni Mwislamu. Nyerere's high moral integrity and ethical standards were also a factor katika uamuzi wake. Huu ni mfano mwingine wa mtu ambaye siyo Mkristo aliye elewa kwa nini Nyerere aliitambua Biafra:
"Has Nyerere's political behaviour sometimes reflected his upbringing as a Roman Catholic?
One school of thought explains his recognition of the secessionist Biafra in 1968 as a form of solidarity with fellow Catholics against a Federal Nigeria, which would have been dominated by Muslims. This was in the middle of the Nigerian civil war. The Igbo of Biafra were overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. It seems much more likely that Nyerere recognized Biafra for humanitarian reasons.
What about the assertion that Nyerere's military intervention in Uganda in 1979 was motivated by a sectarian calculation to defend a mainly Christian Uganda from the Muslim dictator, Idi Amin? In reality, Nyerere might once again have been more motivated by a wider sense of humanitarianism and universal ethics. He was also defending Tanzania from Idi Amin's territorial appetites....
Nyerere as president was a combination of deep intellect and high integrity...(and) was in a class by himself in the combination of ethical standards and intellectual power. In the combination of high thinking and high ethics, no other East African politician was in the same league." - (Ali A. Mazrui, in his tribute to Nyerere, "Mwalimu's Rise to Power," at Cornell University, USA; also published in the Daily Nation, Nairobi, Kenya, 17 October, 1999).