ipodstinks:
By Kelvin Amurun.
Before the war, the Mid West region which was carved out of Western Nigeria in 1963 and was never prominent in the various crises that plagued Nigeria prior to the civil war. However it can be noted that a leader of the coup Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu hailed from the region. The Mid West before the invasion fell into a sort of mediatory role. The Mid West felt a sort of false security in the days leading to the invasion. Two days before the invasion the Commander of the 4 Area Command of the Nigerian Army based in the Mid West Colonel CD Nwanwo had announced that the region was militarily prepared and equipped to repulse any enemy attack.
But it was not understood who the “enemy” was whether it was Biafra or Nigeria. However subsequent events showed that the region was somewhat sympathetic to the Biafra struggle on hearing of the massacre of Southerners up North. Indeed many Mid Westerners had also been affected in the Northern massacre and gave first hand report of what had transpired after escaping down South.
Food items found their way into Biafra from the Mid West despite the call by the Federal Government for a total boycott of the secessionist enclave.
It was also rumoured that Lt Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu and Rtd Gen David Ejoor were meeting secretly to discuss the crisis before and even after the declaration of Biafra.
According to an article by SE Orobator, Ejoor the Governor General of Mid West had admitted that those actions were taken to prevent battle on Benin soil to protect everybody’s interest including the Igbo speaking citizens of the region even though he primarily supported the Federal Government.
It is a fact that before the invasion, the public at large harboured no ill feelings against Biafra or the Ibos in general. The Mid West was not hostile to the Ibo cause.
There were youths who wore T-shirts of Ojukwus portrait with the inscription “on Aburi we stand”.
There was a cordial relationship between Ibo speaking Mid Westerners and other ethnic groups.
All that changed on August 9 1967 with the Biafra invasion of the region.
The Biafra forces led by Brigadier Victor Adebukunola Banjo on 10 August 1967 appealed to the Mid Westerners in a radio station that the area was about to be invaded by Northern troops. This was propaganda.
Biafra was suffering defeats on the front line in the Nsukka axis againt the Federal troops and wanted to prevent the invasion of Enugu by diverting attention, so the military gamble of Ojukwu was to enter the Mid West with a flanking attack which could have taken the Federal Government off guard if Banjo had continued the momentum and surprise element in proceeding past Ore to Lagos the Federal capital. The command by Ojukwu to stop Banjo from proceeding to Lagos may have turned the tide of the war for the Federal Army and changed the momentum. Ojukwu`s invasion of the Mid West may have been a military strategic brilliance to some expert military strategists.
A school of thought in the military lessons of the war asserts that stopping Banjo from going past Ore was Ojukwus blunder. However another school of thought claims that the Biafra Army will be too stretched behind and could be caught off by the Federal Army from behind if they had proceeded with the momentum and surprise through Ibadan to Lagos. Also it was unpredictable how a Yoruba public will react on seeing Biafra invasion soldiers on their soil. If only Ojukwu had read Suntzu`s Art of War which states:
“When torrential water tosses boulders, it is because of its momentum. When the strike of a hawk breaks the body of its prey, it is because of timing”
Personally in the military strategy of counter strike, I think Ojukwu should have thrown caution to the wind and given Banjo a free hand to proceed on the advantage of a surprise attack. No one was expecting Biafra soldiers in Lagos and this will rattle the Federal Government to withdraw troops against Biafra to defend Lagos and Ibadan. I sense Ojukwu did not trust a Yoruba man to lead his onslaught to Lagos and several key factors like supply and logistics may not have been properly arranged.
If Ojukwu was going to copy Hitlers “Blitzskrig” of invasion of Europe, he just missed it by his hesitation and distrust of Banjo, Ademulegun and Ifeajuna. The invincibility of the British Army at the zenith of the British empire lied not largely on the brilliance of her officers alone but on a free hand given to this officers by the throne to decide initiatives and good judgement on what to do when they have their backs to the wall. But let us leave military strategy to another day.
Simply put, the Federal Government and Mid West Region did not prepare for the August 10th invasion.
I will not go into details of the Banjo`s radio broadcast, but summarily it revealed that Biafra invaded the Mid West to forestall its occupation by Northern troops or any Nigerian troops that could have been less sympathetic to the Biafra cause.
Ojukwu had to strike fast because it was rumoured that the Federal Government was pressurizing Mid West Governor Ejoor to grant Federal troops passage to Biafra but Ejoor refused.
After the invasion, Major Albert Okonkwo was appointed to govern the Mid West by Ojukwu on 17 August. He described the invasion as a temporary administrative arrangement to forestall incursion of Northern troops. There was no truth in the claim because at that time there were no Northern soldiers in the region.
Over 6 thousand Biafran soldiers had crossed the River Niger Bridge into Asaba. At about 3 a.m on August 9 1967 Biafran soldiers led by Banjo entered Asaba. On reaching Agbor, they split up into 3. 18th battalion under Major Humphrey Chukwuka moved in to the oil rich Niger Delta, 13th battalion under Col Mike Inveso towards Auchi and 12th battalion Lt Col Festus Akagha towards Benin city. Benin was captured with little opposition. However the 13th battalion while capturing the towns of Okene and Iloshi started shooting at civilians indiscriminately. Hundreds died. Biafra soldiers met a small unit of Nigeria army and pursued them to the Siluko river were the two sides stood to exchange fire before the Nigerians managed to escape under the cover of darkness.
Unknown to Banjo, Biafran soldiers under Lt Col Oechi attacked the residence of Governor Ejoor on the orders of Ojukwu to capture Ejoor dead or alive. Ejoor`s guards resisted the attack. This resistance gave David Ejoor time to escape and flee to Lagos.
In Lagos, the Ibo army officers in the Mid West were accused of having collaborated with the rebel forces to make the invasion possible. It seemed viable at that time that treachery or a non challant attitude of the Mid West authorities was the reason for the invasion. If the Government had made adequate measures to beef up its defence at Asaba and the outlying border area, perhaps the invasion could have been prevented.
Even after Governor Ejoor had been informed of the invasion of Asaba as it was taking place at 3 a.m by military Area Commander Col Nwanwo, no adequate arrangements were made to offer any resistance whatsoever.
Troops loyal to the Federal Government could not put up any full resistance since majority of them were not armed and the armoury was locked with the keys kept by the officers in charge.
Even though Governor Ejoor had suspected a sort of conspiracy among the military officers in his cabinet, it was now too late to do anything about it.
Ejoor admitted in his press conference in 25 September 1967 that his fault has been too much trust and confidence in his colleagues.
Of the seven senior officers assisting him, six were Ibos, and three of the six were his old friends in Government College. Lt Colonel Okwechime, Lt Col Nwanjei and Lt Col Nzefili. The camaraderie spirit blinded Governor Ejoor to trust his colleagues almost absolutely. However the priorities of his colleagues were quite different.
Ejoor also proclaimed that supporting the Federal side did not compel sacrificing the Igbo speaking Bendel.
Obviously the Igbo officers had exploited the trust and confidence reposed on them by Governor Ejoor and as a result lowered the defences of the Mid West to repel Biafra soldiers.
Was Ejoor guilty of non vigilance? That is left for posterity to judge.
The invasion of the mid west culminated in the breakdown of mutual trust that had existed between the Ibos and non Ibos of the region. The non Ibos did not find it funny and could not fight back because they were not armed.
Secondly the apparent sympathy for Ibo and the Biafra cause which had prevailed amongst the Mid West youth suffered an irreparable dent. The Mid Western youth were not only humiliated but they were upset at the molestation by Biafran soldiers on their women and children.
According to Nwanne W Okafors book titled: Victimization During the Nigerian Civil War: A focus on the Asaba Massacre, during the war military operations were executed by the federal troops to weaken the Biafra soldiers with the main aim to getting them to surrender. In retaliation, the Biafra soldiers, in resisting federal troops fought back by attacking towns that were under the protection on the federal troops. The mass killings of non Igbo speaking people were evident. Raping and extortion, seizure of properties and other forms of inhuman punishment was rampant.
The federal troops were also guilty of rapes, looting and outright brigandry perpetuated on the Igbo speaking people of Asaba. The killing of many civilians in October 1967 in Asaba is well documented.
A vigilance council group was set up shortly after the invasion and was primary concerned with spying on mid western civil servants. Its secretary S Osuh played a prominent role. The council led by Okonkwo met 3 times daily in the ministry of works and transport, Benin City.
The membership drive were not easy because non Ibos and even Ibo speaking citizens of the mid west were no longer willing to cooperate.
There was a road block unit which confiscated food items including goats sheeps and chickens from the citizens. This confiscated items ended up in army barracks in the mid west and Biafra.
The Okonkwo regime was oppressive and each day the sympathy of the Mid Western towards the Biafra cause was dieing at break neck speed.
I will again refer to the Chinese Sunt zu`s Art of War does and donts which military commanders around the world often disregard when invading an area. The Chinese philosopher and Military strategists warns against cruelty against the citizens of the conquered land. Suntzu explains that treating the inhabitants of an invaded land fairly can save the lives of the invading troops and win solidarity to their side.
The Banjo led troops even though they had momentum on their side became oppressive towards the people of the Mid Western region. And so Mid Westerners simply hoped and waited for the arrival of federal troops.
On August 20 a group of Urhobo/Ijaw rebels raided a Biafra camp and were successful at killing about 50 soldiers while 16 rebels were killed. The Biafra Government began broadcasting Biafra propaganda in the region while the Nigerian government did the same. On September 19, Ojukwu declared Governor Okonkwo President of the Republic of Benin in an attempt to make Mid Westerners loyal to a Government other than Nigeria.
On September 20 while General Mutala Muhammed troops were attacking the Biafran 12th
Brigade stationed in Ore, the retreating troops began to loot the city and stole about £3 million from the Central Bank. Benjamin Adekunle`s landing in Warri forced many Biafra soldiers to abandon their uniforms and weapons before integrating into the local communities.
Under the supervision of General Mutala Mohammed, in retaliation for the assassination of Ahmadu Bello at the hands of Kaduna Nzeogwu one year earlier, Nigerian soldiers shot over 600 unarmed civilians in Asaba.
The bodies of some of the victims were retrieved by family members and buried at home. But most were buried in mass graves without appropriate ceremony.
CONCLUSION
War is the fall of man. Both sides carried atrocities on the minorities. The minorities in the Mid West were never anti Biafra until their land was invaded. In fact minorities in that area looked forward to hearing the well polished Oxford trained Ojukwu`s voice on radio broadcast, however all this changed when, without any warning Biafran troops invaded their land and not only doing that, but setting up an oppressive government and killing anyone that they felt was against the succession. Minorities in that region never intended to secede with Biafra but clamoured for its own separate state in the community of the Nigerian nation. Biafra on the other hand strategically invaded this region on the presumption that they will be welcomed with open hands. Biafran troops could have helped themselves better by being fair and kind to the host. The reports of extortions, executions and rapes did not help matters when the countering Federal army began pushing Biafrans back into the East and while the retreating soldiers were shooting at anything that moves, any slight advantage given to minorities on killing Ibos were taken with welcomed pleasure of revenge.
The truth must be known.

Super1Star:
Osus and their penchant for betrayal is legendary.

See the way the Osus in Ejoor's cabinet betrayed him, despite their long time friendship.

EzeUche:
More propoganda from the Yoruba.

Biafra is gaining steam in the East.

IPOB is in every village

Nigeria has given the people of the south south a raw deal

We offer a better deal.

ipodstinks:
Is that all what you have to say?, Thought you are intelligent.

EzeUche:


Why waste the effort in refuting propoganda from your people?

The real South-South know that Nigeria has not been kind to them.

That is why you people are hellll bent on bringing possible events from 50 years ago while we are in the present.

ipodstinks:
By Kelvin Amurun.
Before the war, the Mid West region which was carved out of Western Nigeria in 1963 and was never prominent in the various crises that plagued Nigeria prior to the civil war. However it can be noted that a leader of the coup Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu hailed from the region. The Mid West before the invasion fell into a sort of mediatory role. The Mid West felt a sort of false security in the days leading to the invasion. Two days before the invasion the Commander of the 4 Area Command of the Nigerian Army based in the Mid West Colonel CD Nwanwo had announced that the region was militarily prepared and equipped to repulse any enemy attack.
But it was not understood who the “enemy” was whether it was Biafra or Nigeria. However subsequent events showed that the region was somewhat sympathetic to the Biafra struggle on hearing of the massacre of Southerners up North. Indeed many Mid Westerners had also been affected in the Northern massacre and gave first hand report of what had transpired after escaping down South.
Food items found their way into Biafra from the Mid West despite the call by the Federal Government for a total boycott of the secessionist enclave.
It was also rumoured that Lt Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu and Rtd Gen David Ejoor were meeting secretly to discuss the crisis before and even after the declaration of Biafra.
According to an article by SE Orobator, Ejoor the Governor General of Mid West had admitted that those actions were taken to prevent battle on Benin soil to protect everybody’s interest including the Igbo speaking citizens of the region even though he primarily supported the Federal Government.
It is a fact that before the invasion, the public at large harboured no ill feelings against Biafra or the Ibos in general. The Mid West was not hostile to the Ibo cause.
There were youths who wore T-shirts of Ojukwus portrait with the inscription “on Aburi we stand”.
There was a cordial relationship between Ibo speaking Mid Westerners and other ethnic groups.
All that changed on August 9 1967 with the Biafra invasion of the region.
The Biafra forces led by Brigadier Victor Adebukunola Banjo on 10 August 1967 appealed to the Mid Westerners in a radio station that the area was about to be invaded by Northern troops. This was propaganda.
Biafra was suffering defeats on the front line in the Nsukka axis againt the Federal troops and wanted to prevent the invasion of Enugu by diverting attention, so the military gamble of Ojukwu was to enter the Mid West with a flanking attack which could have taken the Federal Government off guard if Banjo had continued the momentum and surprise element in proceeding past Ore to Lagos the Federal capital. The command by Ojukwu to stop Banjo from proceeding to Lagos may have turned the tide of the war for the Federal Army and changed the momentum. Ojukwu`s invasion of the Mid West may have been a military strategic brilliance to some expert military strategists.
A school of thought in the military lessons of the war asserts that stopping Banjo from going past Ore was Ojukwus blunder. However another school of thought claims that the Biafra Army will be too stretched behind and could be caught off by the Federal Army from behind if they had proceeded with the momentum and surprise through Ibadan to Lagos. Also it was unpredictable how a Yoruba public will react on seeing Biafra invasion soldiers on their soil. If only Ojukwu had read Suntzu`s Art of War which states:
“When torrential water tosses boulders, it is because of its momentum. When the strike of a hawk breaks the body of its prey, it is because of timing”
Personally in the military strategy of counter strike, I think Ojukwu should have thrown caution to the wind and given Banjo a free hand to proceed on the advantage of a surprise attack. No one was expecting Biafra soldiers in Lagos and this will rattle the Federal Government to withdraw troops against Biafra to defend Lagos and Ibadan. I sense Ojukwu did not trust a Yoruba man to lead his onslaught to Lagos and several key factors like supply and logistics may not have been properly arranged.
If Ojukwu was going to copy Hitlers “Blitzskrig” of invasion of Europe, he just missed it by his hesitation and distrust of Banjo, Ademulegun and Ifeajuna. The invincibility of the British Army at the zenith of the British empire lied not largely on the brilliance of her officers alone but on a free hand given to this officers by the throne to decide initiatives and good judgement on what to do when they have their backs to the wall. But let us leave military strategy to another day.
Simply put, the Federal Government and Mid West Region did not prepare for the August 10th invasion.
I will not go into details of the Banjo`s radio broadcast, but summarily it revealed that Biafra invaded the Mid West to forestall its occupation by Northern troops or any Nigerian troops that could have been less sympathetic to the Biafra cause.
Ojukwu had to strike fast because it was rumoured that the Federal Government was pressurizing Mid West Governor Ejoor to grant Federal troops passage to Biafra but Ejoor refused.
After the invasion, Major Albert Okonkwo was appointed to govern the Mid West by Ojukwu on 17 August. He described the invasion as a temporary administrative arrangement to forestall incursion of Northern troops. There was no truth in the claim because at that time there were no Northern soldiers in the region.
Over 6 thousand Biafran soldiers had crossed the River Niger Bridge into Asaba. At about 3 a.m on August 9 1967 Biafran soldiers led by Banjo entered Asaba. On reaching Agbor, they split up into 3. 18th battalion under Major Humphrey Chukwuka moved in to the oil rich Niger Delta, 13th battalion under Col Mike Inveso towards Auchi and 12th battalion Lt Col Festus Akagha towards Benin city. Benin was captured with little opposition. However the 13th battalion while capturing the towns of Okene and Iloshi started shooting at civilians indiscriminately. Hundreds died. Biafra soldiers met a small unit of Nigeria army and pursued them to the Siluko river were the two sides stood to exchange fire before the Nigerians managed to escape under the cover of darkness.
Unknown to Banjo, Biafran soldiers under Lt Col Oechi attacked the residence of Governor Ejoor on the orders of Ojukwu to capture Ejoor dead or alive. Ejoor`s guards resisted the attack. This resistance gave David Ejoor time to escape and flee to Lagos.
In Lagos, the Ibo army officers in the Mid West were accused of having collaborated with the rebel forces to make the invasion possible. It seemed viable at that time that treachery or a non challant attitude of the Mid West authorities was the reason for the invasion. If the Government had made adequate measures to beef up its defence at Asaba and the outlying border area, perhaps the invasion could have been prevented.
Even after Governor Ejoor had been informed of the invasion of Asaba as it was taking place at 3 a.m by military Area Commander Col Nwanwo, no adequate arrangements were made to offer any resistance whatsoever.
Troops loyal to the Federal Government could not put up any full resistance since majority of them were not armed and the armoury was locked with the keys kept by the officers in charge.
Even though Governor Ejoor had suspected a sort of conspiracy among the military officers in his cabinet, it was now too late to do anything about it.
Ejoor admitted in his press conference in 25 September 1967 that his fault has been too much trust and confidence in his colleagues.
Of the seven senior officers assisting him, six were Ibos, and three of the six were his old friends in Government College. Lt Colonel Okwechime, Lt Col Nwanjei and Lt Col Nzefili. The camaraderie spirit blinded Governor Ejoor to trust his colleagues almost absolutely. However the priorities of his colleagues were quite different.
Ejoor also proclaimed that supporting the Federal side did not compel sacrificing the Igbo speaking Bendel.
Obviously the Igbo officers had exploited the trust and confidence reposed on them by Governor Ejoor and as a result lowered the defences of the Mid West to repel Biafra soldiers.
Was Ejoor guilty of non vigilance? That is left for posterity to judge.
The invasion of the mid west culminated in the breakdown of mutual trust that had existed between the Ibos and non Ibos of the region. The non Ibos did not find it funny and could not fight back because they were not armed.
Secondly the apparent sympathy for Ibo and the Biafra cause which had prevailed amongst the Mid West youth suffered an irreparable dent. The Mid Western youth were not only humiliated but they were upset at the molestation by Biafran soldiers on their women and children.
According to Nwanne W Okafors book titled: Victimization During the Nigerian Civil War: A focus on the Asaba Massacre, during the war military operations were executed by the federal troops to weaken the Biafra soldiers with the main aim to getting them to surrender. In retaliation, the Biafra soldiers, in resisting federal troops fought back by attacking towns that were under the protection on the federal troops. The mass killings of non Igbo speaking people were evident. Raping and extortion, seizure of properties and other forms of inhuman punishment was rampant.
The federal troops were also guilty of rapes, looting and outright brigandry perpetuated on the Igbo speaking people of Asaba. The killing of many civilians in October 1967 in Asaba is well documented.
A vigilance council group was set up shortly after the invasion and was primary concerned with spying on mid western civil servants. Its secretary S Osuh played a prominent role. The council led by Okonkwo met 3 times daily in the ministry of works and transport, Benin City.
The membership drive were not easy because non Ibos and even Ibo speaking citizens of the mid west were no longer willing to cooperate.
There was a road block unit which confiscated food items including goats sheeps and chickens from the citizens. This confiscated items ended up in army barracks in the mid west and Biafra.
The Okonkwo regime was oppressive and each day the sympathy of the Mid Western towards the Biafra cause was dieing at break neck speed.
I will again refer to the Chinese Sunt zu`s Art of War does and donts which military commanders around the world often disregard when invading an area. The Chinese philosopher and Military strategists warns against cruelty against the citizens of the conquered land. Suntzu explains that treating the inhabitants of an invaded land fairly can save the lives of the invading troops and win solidarity to their side.
The Banjo led troops even though they had momentum on their side became oppressive towards the people of the Mid Western region. And so Mid Westerners simply hoped and waited for the arrival of federal troops.
On August 20 a group of Urhobo/Ijaw rebels raided a Biafra camp and were successful at killing about 50 soldiers while 16 rebels were killed. The Biafra Government began broadcasting Biafra propaganda in the region while the Nigerian government did the same. On September 19, Ojukwu declared Governor Okonkwo President of the Republic of Benin in an attempt to make Mid Westerners loyal to a Government other than Nigeria.
On September 20 while General Mutala Muhammed troops were attacking the Biafran 12th
Brigade stationed in Ore, the retreating troops began to loot the city and stole about £3 million from the Central Bank. Benjamin Adekunle`s landing in Warri forced many Biafra soldiers to abandon their uniforms and weapons before integrating into the local communities.
Under the supervision of General Mutala Mohammed, in retaliation for the assassination of Ahmadu Bello at the hands of Kaduna Nzeogwu one year earlier, Nigerian soldiers shot over 600 unarmed civilians in Asaba.
The bodies of some of the victims were retrieved by family members and buried at home. But most were buried in mass graves without appropriate ceremony.
CONCLUSION
War is the fall of man. Both sides carried atrocities on the minorities. The minorities in the Mid West were never anti Biafra until their land was invaded. In fact minorities in that area looked forward to hearing the well polished Oxford trained Ojukwu`s voice on radio broadcast, however all this changed when, without any warning Biafran troops invaded their land and not only doing that, but setting up an oppressive government and killing anyone that they felt was against the succession. Minorities in that region never intended to secede with Biafra but clamoured for its own separate state in the community of the Nigerian nation. Biafra on the other hand strategically invaded this region on the presumption that they will be welcomed with open hands. Biafran troops could have helped themselves better by being fair and kind to the host. The reports of extortions, executions and rapes did not help matters when the countering Federal army began pushing Biafrans back into the East and while the retreating soldiers were shooting at anything that moves, any slight advantage given to minorities on killing Ibos were taken with welcomed pleasure of revenge.
The truth must be known.

ipodstinks:
By Kelvin Amurun.

Before the war, the Mid West region which was carved out of Western Nigeria in 1963 and was never prominent in the various crises that plagued Nigeria prior to the civil war. However it can be noted that a leader of the coup Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu hailed from the region. The Mid West before the invasion fell into a sort of mediatory role. The Mid West felt a sort of false security in the days leading to the invasion. Two days before the invasion the Commander of the 4 Area Command of the Nigerian Army based in the Mid West Colonel CD Nwanwo had announced that the region was militarily prepared and equipped to repulse any enemy attack.
But it was not understood who the “enemy” was whether it was Biafra or Nigeria. However subsequent events showed that the region was somewhat sympathetic to the Biafra struggle on hearing of the massacre of Southerners up North. Indeed many Mid Westerners had also been affected in the Northern massacre and gave first hand report of what had transpired after escaping down South.
Food items found their way into Biafra from the Mid West despite the call by the Federal Government for a total boycott of the secessionist enclave.

It was also rumoured that Lt Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu and Rtd Gen David Ejoor were meeting secretly to discuss the crisis before and even after the declaration of Biafra.

According to an article by SE Orobator, Ejoor the Governor General of Mid West had admitted that those actions were taken to prevent battle on Benin soil to protect everybody’s interest including the Igbo speaking citizens of the region even though he primarily supported the Federal Government.

It is a fact that before the invasion, the public at large harboured no ill feelings against Biafra or the Ibos in general. The Mid West was not hostile to the Ibo cause.

There were youths who wore T-shirts of Ojukwus portrait with the inscription “on Aburi we stand”.
There was a cordial relationship between Ibo speaking Mid Westerners and other ethnic groups.
All that changed on August 9 1967 with the Biafra invasion of the region.

The Biafra forces led by Brigadier Victor Adebukunola Banjo on 10 August 1967 appealed to the Mid Westerners in a radio station that the area was about to be invaded by Northern troops. This was propaganda.

Biafra was suffering defeats on the front line in the Nsukka axis againt the Federal troops and wanted to prevent the invasion of Enugu by diverting attention, so the military gamble of Ojukwu was to enter the Mid West with a flanking attack which could have taken the Federal Government off guard if Banjo had continued the momentum and surprise element in proceeding past Ore to Lagos the Federal capital. The command by Ojukwu to stop Banjo from proceeding to Lagos may have turned the tide of the war for the Federal Army and changed the momentum. Ojukwu`s invasion of the Mid West may have been a military strategic brilliance to some expert military strategists.

A school of thought in the military lessons of the war asserts that stopping Banjo from going past Ore was Ojukwus blunder. However another school of thought claims that the Biafra Army will be too stretched behind and could be caught off by the Federal Army from behind if they had proceeded with the momentum and surprise through Ibadan to Lagos. Also it was unpredictable how a Yoruba public will react on seeing Biafra invasion soldiers on their soil. If only Ojukwu had read Suntzu`s Art of War which states:
“When torrential water tosses boulders, it is because of its momentum. When the strike of a hawk breaks the body of its prey, it is because of timing”

Personally in the military strategy of counter strike, I think Ojukwu should have thrown caution to the wind and given Banjo a free hand to proceed on the advantage of a surprise attack. No one was expecting Biafra soldiers in Lagos and this will rattle the Federal Government to withdraw troops against Biafra to defend Lagos and Ibadan. I sense Ojukwu did not trust a Yoruba man to lead his onslaught to Lagos and several key factors like supply and logistics may not have been properly arranged.

If Ojukwu was going to copy Hitlers “Blitzskrig” of invasion of Europe, he just missed it by his hesitation and distrust of Banjo, Ademulegun and Ifeajuna. The invincibility of the British Army at the zenith of the British empire lied not largely on the brilliance of her officers alone but on a free hand given to this officers by the throne to decide initiatives and good judgement on what to do when they have their backs to the wall. But let us leave military strategy to another day.

Simply put, the Federal Government and Mid West Region did not prepare for the August 10th invasion.
I will not go into details of the Banjo`s radio broadcast, but summarily it revealed that Biafra invaded the Mid West to forestall its occupation by Northern troops or any Nigerian troops that could have been less sympathetic to the Biafra cause.

Ojukwu had to strike fast because it was rumoured that the Federal Government was pressurizing Mid West Governor Ejoor to grant Federal troops passage to Biafra but Ejoor refused.
After the invasion, Major Albert Okonkwo was appointed to govern the Mid West by Ojukwu on 17 August. He described the invasion as a temporary administrative arrangement to forestall incursion of Northern troops. There was no truth in the claim because at that time there were no Northern soldiers in the region.

Over 6 thousand Biafran soldiers had crossed the River Niger Bridge into Asaba. At about 3 a.m on August 9 1967 Biafran soldiers led by Banjo entered Asaba. On reaching Agbor, they split up into 3. 18th battalion under Major Humphrey Chukwuka moved in to the oil rich Niger Delta, 13th battalion under Col Mike Inveso towards Auchi and 12th battalion Lt Col Festus Akagha towards Benin city. Benin was captured with little opposition. However the 13th battalion while capturing the towns of Okene and Iloshi started shooting at civilians indiscriminately. Hundreds died. Biafra soldiers met a small unit of Nigeria army and pursued them to the Siluko river were the two sides stood to exchange fire before the Nigerians managed to escape under the cover of darkness.

Unknown to Banjo, Biafran soldiers under Lt Col Oechi attacked the residence of Governor Ejoor on the orders of Ojukwu to capture Ejoor dead or alive. Ejoor`s guards resisted the attack. This resistance gave David Ejoor time to escape and flee to Lagos.
In Lagos, the Ibo army officers in the Mid West were accused of having collaborated with the rebel forces to make the invasion possible. It seemed viable at that time that treachery or a non challant attitude of the Mid West authorities was the reason for the invasion. If the Government had made adequate measures to beef up its defence at Asaba and the outlying border area, perhaps the invasion could have been prevented.

Even after Governor Ejoor had been informed of the invasion of Asaba as it was taking place at 3 a.m by military Area Commander Col Nwanwo, no adequate arrangements were made to offer any resistance whatsoever.
Troops loyal to the Federal Government could not put up any full resistance since majority of them were not armed and the armoury was locked with the keys kept by the officers in charge.


Even though Governor Ejoor had suspected a sort of conspiracy among the military officers in his cabinet, it was now too late to do anything about it.
Ejoor admitted in his press conference in 25 September 1967 that his fault has been too much trust and confidence in his colleagues.
Of the seven senior officers assisting him, six were Ibos, and three of the six were his old friends in Government College. Lt Colonel Okwechime, Lt Col Nwanjei and Lt Col Nzefili. The camaraderie spirit blinded Governor Ejoor to trust his colleagues almost absolutely. However the priorities of his colleagues were quite different.
Ejoor also proclaimed that supporting the Federal side did not compel sacrificing the Igbo speaking Bendel.
Obviously the Igbo officers had exploited the trust and confidence reposed on them by Governor Ejoor and as a result lowered the defences of the Mid West to repel Biafra soldiers.


Was Ejoor guilty of non vigilance? That is left for posterity to judge.
The invasion of the mid west culminated in the breakdown of mutual trust that had existed between the Ibos and non Ibos of the region. The non Ibos did not find it funny and could not fight back because they were not armed.
Secondly the apparent sympathy for Ibo and the Biafra cause which had prevailed amongst the Mid West youth suffered an irreparable dent. The Mid Western youth were not only humiliated but they were upset at the molestation by Biafran soldiers on their women and children.

According to Nwanne W Okafors book titled: Victimization During the Nigerian Civil War: A focus on the Asaba Massacre, during the war military operations were executed by the federal troops to weaken the Biafra soldiers with the main aim to getting them to surrender. In retaliation, the Biafra soldiers, in resisting federal troops fought back by attacking towns that were under the protection on the federal troops. The mass killings of non Igbo speaking people were evident. Raping and extortion, seizure of properties and other forms of inhuman punishment was rampant.

The federal troops were also guilty of rapes, looting and outright brigandry perpetuated on the Igbo speaking people of Asaba. The killing of many civilians in October 1967 in Asaba is well documented.
A vigilance council group was set up shortly after the invasion and was primary concerned with spying on mid western civil servants. Its secretary S Osuh played a prominent role. The council led by Okonkwo met 3 times daily in the ministry of works and transport, Benin City.

The membership drive were not easy because non Ibos and even Ibo speaking citizens of the mid west were no longer willing to cooperate.

There was a road block unit which confiscated food items including goats sheeps and chickens from the citizens. This confiscated items ended up in army barracks in the mid west and Biafra.
The Okonkwo regime was oppressive and each day the sympathy of the Mid Western towards the Biafra cause was dieing at break neck speed.

I will again refer to the Chinese Sunt zu`s Art of War does and donts which military commanders around the world often disregard when invading an area. The Chinese philosopher and Military strategists warns against cruelty against the citizens of the conquered land. Suntzu explains that treating the inhabitants of an invaded land fairly can save the lives of the invading troops and win solidarity to their side.

The Banjo led troops even though they had momentum on their side became oppressive towards the people of the Mid Western region. And so Mid Westerners simply hoped and waited for the arrival of federal troops.
On August 20 a group of Urhobo/Ijaw rebels raided a Biafra camp and were successful at killing about 50 soldiers while 16 rebels were killed. The Biafra Government began broadcasting Biafra propaganda in the region while the Nigerian government did the same. On September 19, Ojukwu declared Governor Okonkwo President of the Republic of Benin in an attempt to make Mid Westerners loyal to a Government other than Nigeria.

On September 20 while General Mutala Muhammed troops were attacking the Biafran 12th
Brigade stationed in Ore, the retreating troops began to loot the city and stole about £3 million from the Central Bank. Benjamin Adekunle`s landing in Warri forced many Biafra soldiers to abandon their uniforms and weapons before integrating into the local communities.

Under the supervision of General Mutala Mohammed, in retaliation for the assassination of Ahmadu Bello at the hands of Kaduna Nzeogwu one year earlier, Nigerian soldiers shot over 600 unarmed civilians in Asaba.
The bodies of some of the victims were retrieved by family members and buried at home. But most were buried in mass graves without appropriate ceremony.



CONCLUSION
War is the fall of man. Both sides carried atrocities on the minorities. The minorities in the Mid West were never anti Biafra until their land was invaded. In fact minorities in that area looked forward to hearing the well polished Oxford trained Ojukwu`s voice on radio broadcast, however all this changed when, without any warning Biafran troops invaded their land and not only doing that, but setting up an oppressive government and killing anyone that they felt was against the succession.

Minorities in that region never intended to secede with Biafra but clamoured for its own separate state in the community of the Nigerian nation. Biafra on the other hand strategically invaded this region on the presumption that they will be welcomed with open hands. Biafran troops could have helped themselves better by being fair and kind to the host. The reports of extortions, executions and rapes did not help matters when the countering Federal army began pushing Biafrans back into the East and while the retreating soldiers were shooting at anything that moves, any slight advantage given to minorities on killing Ibos were taken with welcomed pleasure of revenge.

The truth must be known.

EzeUche:
More propoganda from the Yoruba.

Biafra is gaining steam in the East.

IPOB is in every village

Nigeria has given the people of the south south a raw deal

We offer a better deal.

overall90:
Revisionists again!
According to Frederick Forsyth,Ojukwu had a meeting with Awolowo in Enugu in which he complained bitterly about the presence and activities of northern troops in the west which the west could do nothing about,that was why Ojukwu set up a liberation force and put Yoruba man(a fatal error) victor banjo at head to reassure the west that he meant no harm.unfortunately Banjo through the collaboration of the British turned a traitor and asked his troops to withdraw on getting to ore and his troops who were surprised had to obey.i have seen people here brag on how the beat the biafrans at ore,but according to Foresight,no shots were fired before the withdrawal and the federal troops who were mainly trying to approach the east from the northern flanks did not enter ore until after several days.
when Banjo arrived Enugu,his plots was uncovered and he was tried and executed.
this is what Frederick Foresight,BBC correspondent wrote about the so called invasion.

More on his Book:the making of an African legend,the Biafran story

conductor3:
[s][/s]
Have you bowed down for your master today?

Jackonory:
[url]https://dailypost.ng/2013/11/22/fredrick-nwabufo-igbo-fallacy/
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THE IGBO FALLACY


In my previous didactic, tart, and dispassionate polemic entitled “The Igbo False Dimension: The Igbo I Hate” I adumbrated, exposited and espoused the tendentious logic of vehement and sustained rise in Igbo criminality in Nigeria. The piece extracted venoms from the fangs of “Igbo nationalists”. I was torpedoed with a fusillade of contumelies instead of seasoned, disciplined counterpoints by seemingly bruised Igbo people. My “Igboness” was excoriated and called into question and opprobrium. Let me reiterate here, that I am Igbo, but I will not out of blind, cowardly and defeated ethnic nationalism earthen the malfeasance and failings of my people. The burning truth will always consume the cold, easy lie.

In truth, the gruesome, senseless and depressingly cold murder of a Nigerian of Igbo fount in India, and the ceaseless profusion of crimson Hindustan xenophobic outrages towards Nigerians vivify curious ponderings, somber, sober reflections and unkind truths about the sojourning Igbo. About forty thousand Nigerians live in India. Of this number, a vast queue of Igbo persons constitutes an irrepressible, but unimpressive quota. That is, the Igbo are in the majority stratum of Nigerian sojourners in India. It is therefore in the remit of unbiased logic to aver that a majority of Nigerians who commit crimes for which all law abiding Nigerians share in condign comeuppance in India are Igbo. It is also on the threshold of verifiable truth that gross proportions of Igbo Nigerians in India are wired and prodded by survivalist propensities, and as such can do anything beyond the cloud of kosher to drag on their existence. Consequently, the piercing hollering of Indians that Nigerians in their country are criminals may be the unfortunate, lachrymal truth.

Arguably, the reason for Igbo sojourning to even the remotest of places in the world has been attributed to their much vaunted entrepreneurial spirit. As a matter of fact, the claim that Igbo sojourning is driven by an atavistic entrepreneurial proclivity is enclosed between pressing, meaty layers of fallacy like the entrails of burger between fluffy loaves. Inasmuch as the “entrepreneurial sojourning” thread cannot be utterly pooh-poohed, it is judicious to explore other reasons why the Igbo are seemingly peripatetic sojourners. First, in Igbo ethology, it is a cringing evil for an Igbo man or woman to commit a “stigmatized” crime (Alu) such as armed robbery at home. This is not an obviation of abhorrent crimes committed at home by some unabashed Igbo criminals. The truth is the “home” Igbo criminals are a hopeless and shameless horde whose self esteem and sense of shame are terribly at nadir, and as a result purvey crimes at home. Inter alia, for any stigmatized crime committed at home there is a stern reprimand implicit in cleansing of the crime. The sacerdotal process of cleansing the land of a crime or an abomination is called “Ikpu Alu”. However, “Ikpu Alu” (cleansing of abominations) does not extend its sacred arm of cleansing and reprehension to crimes committed by Igbo sons and daughters in places outside the Igbo picturesque dome. It is therefore not surprising if some Igbo persons commit heinous crimes in obverse places, and come back home to receive chieftaincy titles. As a matter of fact, in some morally weak Igbo communities it is a brave thing to traffic in hard drugs. Drug barons are gleefully celebrated as Ndi kara Obi (lion-hearted people). Such is the pantomime of the Igbo and crimes.

Going by the stated point, it is therefore indubitable to posit that an unenviable number of self-conscious Igbo persons with innate criminal manuals travelled outside the Igbo enclave to peddle crimes. This confutes the general idea that the sojourning of the Igbo is driven solely by entrepreneurial inclinations and motives. To a large extent, the sojourning of some Igbo people is driven by a morbid aim of shielding their evil trades from the peering eyes of their kinsmen. Their names are protected as long as they do not traffic in crimes at home. The important thing is to be successful at crimes abroad; successful enough to build vulgar mansions at home and throw lazy cash about.

To animate my argument further, what is the entrepreneurial inclination or motive of the Igbo in India, Malaysia, Vietnam and other Asian countries peddling drugs? Is the entrepreneurial spirit of the Igbo only revivified abroad or outside Igbo land? Why should the Igbo entrepreneurial spirit find its host cozily and lopsidedly outside Igbo land? Is there a marriage between Igbo criminality all across the world and Igbo entrepreneurial genome? These are questions that defeat the long, tired argument of Igbo entrepreneurial “peripatetism.”

The fact is the “entrepreneurial” beat up logic and reason for Igbo sojourning is a bored excuse.

Analogously, Igbo sojourning atavism is also effectuated by pride, ego and vanity. A typical Igbo person will want to prove he is successful in anyway. It is wickedly mortifying to be seen as poor or struggling in Igbo land. This underscores the reason many Igbo persons smuggle themselves out of Nigeria, and because it is thought that any person in Obodo Oyibo (white man’s country) or even anywhere outside Igbo land is “doing well”. Those Igbo persons who are “cursed” to be in Igbo land are seen as struggling and as such do not deserve the courtesy of admiration and respect. It is a proud thing for an Igbo father to say, “All my children are abroad”; even when the abroad is Gabon. Such a father courts the respect, envy and admiration of other fathers in Igbo land. Again, it is a proud thing for an Igbo person to be far away from home. It gives him a mysterious air of importance. The Igbo value more their people who are not in Igbo land than their people who are in unenviable propinquity. This is the Igboawful linkage between Igbo sojourning and base vanity.

In all, there are Igbo persons in the scrawny good number whose sojourn in foreign countries is not tainted by any evil intent or base vanity, but it is a bleeding fact the singular Igbo entrepreneurial logic for sojourning is one big smorgasbord of fallacy.

Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and a poet. Email: fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com 08167992075.