Orobator was in Benin, the capital of the
Midwest, at the time of the Biafran invasion,
and describes himself as keenly aware of
developments during the period . He later
conducted research on the invasion and went
on to become a professor of
history, specializing in international relations.
The essay is "The Biafran Crisis and the
Midwest".
Published in African Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 344
(Jul., 1987), pp. 367-383.
Published by: Oxford University Press on
behalf of The Royal African Society.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/
stable/722748 .
The entire essay on the Biafran misadventure
in the Midwest is moving in its analysis of what
the Biafrans lost through the invasion in
terms of goodwill as well as in creating a
situation that united the Midwest with the
Federal forces against Biafra in the
subsequent events that marked the turning
point of the war.
I will present Orobator's summation of the
cost of the invasion to Biafra in another mail .
I post below an extract from the essay.
The most relevant sections on Biafran war
crimes are highlighted:
"
The relationship between the two
sides deteriorated progressively and
the Biafran efforts to secure the
people's support failed.
The battle front reports were
equally unfavourable to the
Biafrans who then resorted to
extensive witch-hunting against
suspected saboteurs.
The Biafran forces, who were
relatively calm during the first one
month of the occupationperiod,
became progressively edgy,
tightening the various governmental
gadgets of societal control.
As the Biafran hostility developed to
crisis proportions, the dusk to dawn
curfew was further enforced, the
Vigilance and Security Councils
given additional powers, and the
Biafran Army and Militia became
more ruthless in their dealings with
the civilians.
The civilian collaborators doubled
their spying activities to callous
dimensions. [45]
The situation drifted for the worse.
Taking the MidWestern refusal to
support the secessionist movement
as a demonstration of an anti-Ibo
and pro-Hausa stance, the Biafrans
intensified their search for
suspected saboteurs as every set-
back on the battle front was
invariably blamed on sabotage.
Heavier reprisals followed.
At Abudu, over 300 bodies,
including those of children, were
found in the Ossiomo river as the
Biafrans withdrew. [46]
Similarly, on 20 September 1967,
'there was a mass killing of non-
Ibo MidWesterners at Boji-Boji
Agbor', and on 23 September,
'non-Ibo speaking MidWesterners
were apprehended by rebel
soldiers at Asaba, Ibusa and
Agbor and taken [in two lorries]
to a rubber plantation along
Uromi-Agbor road and
massacred'.[47]
The more minor cases of rape,
extortion, seizure of properties,
and other punishments featured
abundantly.

For instance, a Warri-based
lawyer, E. K. Iseru, testified at the
Tribunal that he was stripped
naked and detained for three days
without food for agitating for the
Rivers State, and, when he
complained of hunger, he was
promptly told: 'there is no food
for Hausa friends'. [48]
45. Author's personal file. Also see
Press Release No. MW 215 of
1/2/68, p. 5.

46. This disclosure was made at
the Tribunal[ Rebel Activities
Tribunal of Inquiry (Ministry of
Information, Benin City)] by Chief
D. N. Oronsaye, formerly Principal
of the Provincial Teacher Training
College, Abudu. See also Press
Release No. MW 157 24/1 /68, p. 4.
47. Press Release No. MW 410
23/2/68, pp. 6-7.
48. Press Release No. MW 157 of
24/1/68, pp. 2-3.
Saturday, 27 October 2012 22: 30 "
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Death to sabo
the only regret is that some of them were left alive to spew nonsense

oluwalfa:
Death to sabo
the only regret is that some of them were left alive to spew nonsense

u never make sense ever with the three nairaland accounts you are using. i'll ban ur browser ip address off nairaland.

Imagine some pple having sleepless night just bcoz of book spacing.

Onijagidijagan:

u never make sense ever with the three nairaland accounts you are using. i'll ban ur browser ip address off nairaland.

il y en a qui ont essaye

princdebola201:
Orobator was in Benin, the capital of the Midwest, at the time of the Biafran invasion, and describes himself as keenly aware of developments during the period . He later conducted research on the invasion and went on to become a professor of history, specializing in international relations. The essay is "The Biafran Crisis and the Midwest". Published in African Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 344 (Jul., 1987), pp. 367-383. Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African Society.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/ stable/722748 . The entire essay on the Biafran misadventure

Guy, why are you looking for trouble now?? You had better let sleeping dogs lie. Hehehehe ... you want the Biafran Internet Army to pursue you??

This issue has been discussed extensively on another thread and blood was almost spilled, (in a figurative manner of speaking!). Read all about it here: https://www.nairaland.com/714801/forceful-invasion-massacar-mid-westerners-biafrans/2#8754130

https://www.nairaland.com/2476969/yoruba-say-sw-north-saved/7#36349998

https://www.nairaland.com/2478698/pictures-biafran-children-defying-awolowo/1#36288555

https://www.nairaland.com/2403872/another-civil-war-lead-end/1

Let me perch in this corner with my groundnut and mineral to watch the unfolding fight! Oya, round one is about to begin..!!

Make i first arrange plot. Observing in 4D+ mode.

Let my people go!On Biafra i stand

So this idiotic biafrans too armed civilians and they're coming here to complain

oluwalfa:
Death to sabo
the only regret is that some of them were left alive to spew nonsense

I don't know how to rate your stupidity

This is why it is healthy to despise and be wary of the igbos.
they are eternally sly,mean and unreasonable.

may the bred and the breeder perish in your new drive for war.

hakeem4:
I don't know how to rate your stupidity

that's because you are an illiterate

biafran this biafran DAT yet u don't want them to go freely. Nigeria is a scam and must disintegrate.

oluwalfa:
Death to sabo
the only regret is that some of them were left alive to spew nonsense

ibos are very useless people sha! Few days ago when one of your thoughtless blodas made a post about nigerian army's atrocities, you were all wailing as if you were d only victims of d war. But now that evidences of your civil war evils are coming out, you are in support of murder. You love it when yout broda commit murder, but you hate it when someone murder your broda. Your comment shows dat Igbos are very useless.

bonechamberlain:
biafran this biafran DAT yet u don't want them to go freely. Nigeria is a scam and must disintegrate.

who exactly doesnt want you flaaaaatheads to go? I for one want you to go. Pack your bags today and scammer kanu too should release his make-believe lie lie army today. By tomorrow, you would have formed biafra. Eediots!

wadetaw202:


ibos are very useless people sha! Few days ago when one of your thoughtless blodas made a post about nigerian army's atrocities, you were all wailing as if you were d only victims of d war. But now that evidences of your civil war evils are coming out, you are in support of murder. You love it when yout broda commit murder, but you hate it when someone murder your broda. Your comment shows dat Igbos are very useless.

But you'll die if we leave you.

oluwalfa:


But you'll die if we leave you.

leave first now! Eediotic wailer! Empty barrel!

wadetaw202:


leave first now! Eediotic wailer! Empty barrel!

We did and you almost choked. Then Britain came to your rescue.

[quote author=oluwalfa post=36668422]

We did and you almost choked. Then Britain came to your rescue.[/quote

and now, you are too scared to leave again, abi? because of the fear of what we will do to you? Where is that make-believe igbo strenght again? How did you become like bunch of teenagers afraid of spiders.

Another review of a book written about the Nigerian civil war: https://www.nairaland.com/1193892/prof-achebes-there-country-meticulously#14282529

DuduNegro:
........

Although this is not part of that series but it is worth noting here that Achebe as Biafran Minister of Information also served in a capacity as a Foreign Diplomat and with Azikiwe, travelled round the globe to earn sympathy for Biafra. One of the people that Achebe kept close contact with was Margery Perham, a Briton. I want you to see what she disclosed to Ojukwu in this letter.


"CONCERN FROM A FRIEND OF NIGERIA"

This is Margery Perham speaking. I am speaking to you, Emeka Ojukwu, and to the Ibo people with you.

You know for you have written to me--how many Ibo friends I have and how I have tried to put the Ibo ease in Britain for many months. I know that many wrongs have been committed both against your people and by your people since this conflict began. But it is no time to speak of these things now when your Biafra is being surrounded by Federal troops, and it cannot be long before you and your people will have to face defeat.

If you try to fight to the end, many thousands of lives which Nigeria cannot spare will be sacrificed, both on your side and on the Federal side. More than this, if you insist upon holding out to the end, then thousands, perhaps millions, of women and children may die, or be wounded, or have their health fatally destroyed by hunger and hardship. And those people who have come from Britain and elsewhere to help you--doctors, nurses and others--they too might be killed or wounded. It is feeling for your people, and especially the innocent women and children, which has so deeply stirred the sympathy of people in Europe and America who have seen their suffering on television. The world which is watching would condemn you if they now believed that you were using your leadership to prolong a hopeless struggle at their expense: there would be not only sorrow, but indignation against you.

You might say that I have been put up by the Federal Government [the Gowon-led Nigerian government] to make this appeal. It is not so. I think I am too well known in Britain and by many of your own people for it to be thought that I would act or speak in any other way than upon my own judgment and initiative, and as a Christian. I cannot speak for the Federal Government. I can only say that from what I have seen and heard, not only in Lagos but in visits to other parts, the East and the North, I do not believe that your people would be in danger of massacre or revenge. You must know, even if your people do not, that an immense effort is now being made to prepare the way back for your people into life in Nigeria.

I therefore beg you not to take upon yourself the terrible responsibility of refusing to surrender and of fighting to the end.

wadetaw202:


who exactly doesnt want you flaaaaatheads to go? I for one want you to go. Pack your bags today and scammer kanu too should release his make-believe lie lie army today. By tomorrow, you would have formed biafra. Eediots!

first u are uncivilized cause a civilized person would oppose an issue raised without insults. two since 1967 the cry for Biafra started up till now ur leaders have refused them independence

Stanley Orobator is a well respected professor of history In Uniben.
Ibos commit the worst crimes in the society, yet they wail and cry of witch-hunt more than any ethnic group.

K

LajaLaba:
Let my people go!On Biafra i stand

who is holdin ur pple?

bonechamberlain:
biafran this biafran DAT yet u don't want them to go freely. Nigeria is a scam and must disintegrate.

Nigeria won't disintegrate but ibos are free to leave

bonechamberlain:
first u are uncivilized cause a civilized person would oppose an issue raised without insults. two since 1967 the cry for Biafra started up till now ur leaders have refused them independence

which leaders are refusing u guys from havin independence name dem?

Biafra soldiers took over my village in Edo state and imposed a curfew. My grandfather hid in the bushes when they came looking for him.

Fortunately, they were driven out by federal forces.

tbaba1234:
Biafra soldiers took over my village in Edo state and imposed a curfew. My grandfather hid in the bushes when they came looking for him.

Fortunately, they were driven out by federal forces.

The Biafran Internet Army will conduct an e-lynching on you via their keyboards, when they read this one! Hehehe....!!

Have you read 888 Days in Biafra by Sam Umweni?

888 Days in Biafra : Dark days behind enemy lines / February 26, 2008
Author: Sam Umweni | First published in The Nation, Lagos

When they were evacuated along to Awgu, the courtesy began to dissipate. Eventually the pretence ended. They were separated and sent to different prisons. Umweni ended at Okigwe Prison. As the war progressed and towns had to be evacuated due to pressure of federal troops, they were moved and brought together at Umuahia Prison. The author also served term at Ntueke Detention Centre which he describes as “the gates of hell.” It remained his home until the end of the war.

In war time, things are bad enough. It was horrible in Biafra.

What with the federal blockade and the reality of the fact that the Igbo who spearheaded the rebellion are a landlocked people.

Right from the beginning, the crises that followed the first military coup in Nigeria and led to the Civil War had their roots in tribalism. With the declaration of the Republic Biafra, the multi-dimensional nature of the national question came to the fore. The Ika Ibo, seeing themselves as part of Igboland collaborated with Biafra.

The illusion soon evaporated as the real Igbo began to manifest arrogant discrimination against all non-Igbo in the republic. The Onitsha Ibo who had always regarded themselves as not being fully Igbo suffered as well as other minority tribes of what is now referred to as South South.

As Biafra lost battles especially on these fronts, people from the areas were herded to the prisons, detention centres, firing squad and the gallows in droves. https://soltai./2008/02/

laudate:


The Biafran Internet Army will conduct an e-lynching on you via their keyboards, when they read this one! Hehehe....!!

I believe the civil war went on for longer than it was supposed to. It should have ended when Enugu fell.

Dragging the war for too long is what led to the bad feelings and suffering.

wadetaw202:
and now, you are too scared to leave again, abi? because of the fear of what we will do to you? Where is that make-believe igbo strenght again? How did you become like bunch of teenagers afraid of spiders.

A scared people doesn't go and buy up land and live in the enemy's land. It simply shows we are not scared of the zoo and its semi-intelligent inhabitants.

tbaba1234:
Biafra soldiers took over my village in Edo state and imposed a curfew. My grandfather hid in the bushes when they came looking for him.

Fortunately, they were driven out by federal forces.

Was your grandfather a sabo?