BIAFRA_MASSACRE OF 1967--1970: “I want to see no Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no Pope, no missionary, no UN delegation. I want to prevent even one Ibo from having even one piece to eat before their capitulation. We shoot at everything that moves and when our troops march into the centre of Ibo territory, we shoot at everything, even things that do not move” (Benjamin Adekunle, Commander, 3rd Marine Commander Division, Nigerian Army to French Radio Reporter). “All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder”, (Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian Minister of Finance, July 28, 1969) “Until now efforts to relieve the Biafran people have been thwarted by the desire of the central government to pursue total and unconditional victory and by the fear of the Ibo people that surrender means wholesale atrocities and genocide. But genocide is what is taking place right now and starvation is the grim reaper. This is not the time to stand on ceremony, or go through channels or to observe diplomatic niceties. The destruction of an entire people is immoral objective, even in the most moral of wars. It can never be condoned”, (Richard Nixon, during the presidential campaign, September 9, 1968) “Federal troops killed, or stood while mobs killed, more than 5000 Ibos in Warri, Sapele, Agbor” (New York Times, 10th January, 1968). “Its (mass starvation) is a legitimate aspect of war (Anthony Enahoro, Nigerian Commissioner for Information at a press conference in New York, July 1968) “Starvation is a weapon of war, and we have every intention of using it against the rebels” (Mr Alison Ayida, Head of Nigerian delegation, Niamey Peace talks, July 1968.) “The Igbos must be considerably reduced in number”, Lagos Policeman quoted in New York Review 21 December, 1967) “One word now describes the policy of the Nigerian military government towards secessionist Biafra: genocide. It is ugly and extreme but it is the only word which fits Nigeria’s decision to stop international Red Cross and other relief agencies from flying food to Biafra ( Washington Post editorial, July 2, 1969). “In some areas in the East, Igbos were killed by local people with at least the acquiescence of the Federal forces, 1000 Igbo civilians perished in Benin in this way” (Max Edward Reporter, reporter on the ground - New York Review, 21 December 1967). “After federal forces take over Benin, troops killed about 500 Igbo civilians after a house to house search with the aid of willing locals” (Washington Morning Post, 27 September, 1967) “The greatest single massacre occurred in the Igbo town of Asaba where 700 Igbo male were lined up and shot as terrified women/children were forced to watch” (London Observer, 21 January,1968) “Federal troops killed or stood by while mobs killed more than 5000 Ibos in Warri, Sapele, Agbor (New York Times, 10th January, 1968). “There has been genocide on the occasion of the 1966 massacres, the region between the towns of Benin and Asaba where only widows and orphans remain, federal troops having, for unknown reasons, massacred all the men” (Paris Le Monde, 5th April, 1968) “In Calabar, federal forces shot at least 1000 and perhaps 2000 Igbos, most of them civilians” (New York Times, 18th January,1968) “Bestialities and indignities of all kinds were visited on the Biafrans in 1966. In Ikeja Barracks (Western Nigeria) Biafrans were forcibly fed on a mixture of human urine and faeces. In Northern Nigeria numerous housewives and nursing mothers were violated before their husbands and children. Young girls were abducted from their homes, walking places and schools and forced into intercourse with sick, demented and leprous men” (Mr Eric Spiff, German War Correspondent, eyewitness, 1967) “650 refugee camps, contained about 700,000 haggard bundles of human flotsam waiting hopelessly for a meal, outside the camps, was the reminder of an estimated four and half to five million displaced Kwashiokor scourge, a million and half children, suffer(ed) from it during January; that put the forecast death toll at another 300,000 children. More than the pogroms of 1966, more than the war casualties, than the terror bombings, it was the experience of watching helplessly their children waste away and die that gave birth to, a deep and unrelenting loathing. It is a feeling that will one day reap bitter harvest unless” (Frederick Forsyth, British Writer, January 21st 1969) “The Nazis had resurrected just here as Nigerian forces” (Washington Post, editorial, July 2, 1969). “The loss of life from starvation continues at more than 10,000 persons per day over 1,000,000 lives in recent months. Without emergency measures now, the number will climb to 25,000 per day, within a month and 2,000,000 deaths by the end of the year. The new year will only bring greater disaster to people caught in the passion of fratricidal war, we cant allow this to continue or those responsible to go free” (Senator Kennedy appeals to Americans Sunday November 17, 1968) “Myself and the same UNICEF representatives went on to convey something of what lay behind this intransigence: Among the large majority hailing from that tribe who are the most vocal in inciting the complete extermination of the Igbos. I often heard remarks that all Nigeria’s ills will be cured once the Igbos have been exterminated from the human map.” (Dr Conor Cruise O’Bien, 21 December, 1967, New York.

No use rubbing it in our faces how resilient the igbos are..

The war was a mistake, everything the igbos suffered ojukwu is the cause!!

Making eloquent speechs with his Oxford accent

Talking tall without action..

Did he think Nigeria would let go of her assets without a fight??


Propagating war without having stockpiled a single weapon not even one!!!

Does he think wars are won with speechs??

Mtxhww after starting a war he couldn't finish and sacrificing the lives of millions of the people who trusted him, the least he could have done was die with his cause!! Instead ran away like a coward(Which he is) enjoyed his life and died peacefully!!!

Typical attitude of the spoilt coward

Cowards

Gmasterp:
No use rubbing it in our faces how resilient the igbos are..

The war was a mistake, everything the igbos suffered ojukwu is the cause!!

Making eloquent speechs with his Oxford accent

Talking tall without action..

Did he think Nigeria would let go of her assets without a fight??

Propagating war without having stockpiled a single weapon not even one!!!

Does he think wars are won with speechs??

ojukwu was and would remain a hero forever, u can call him what ever u wish. biafra is not owned by an individual it is for the people.

Naijaguy12345:
Cowards

look who is calling someone a coward, what happened to your man mko abiola, dat made noise and at the end ran into prison nd did nothing again until he was squashed like a bug.

Paper presented at The Conference - “MEMORY AND NATION BUILDING: BIAFRA 50 YEARS AFTER: A SOBER REFLECTION” By PROF. T. UZODINMA NWALA, President, Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF).
INTRODUCTION
Before I thank the organizers of this Conference and pay my tribute to the Memory of my friend, late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, in whose Foundation Center this historic event is being organized, let me quickly dismiss certain lingering pernicious fallacies that have dominated all discussion about the coup of January 15, 1966 and the Biafra War.
First, the Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, has alluded to the January 15, 1966 coup as an Igbo coup that, according to him, was replied by a Northern coup of July 29 1966.
Let it be said loud and clear that that coup, namely January 15, 1966 coup, was not an Igbo coup. It was a coup led by certain Igbo and Yoruba Officers, involving the active participation of soldiers from the North. The aim, as has been stated again and again by the leaders of the coup, was to release Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was in detention at the time and install him the Prime Minister of Nigeria.
That coup was foiled by Igbo military officers. Igbo political leaders and activists knew NOTHING about the coup.
Again the Incursion into the Mid-West by the Biafran troops was not a quest for territorial grabbing by the Igbos. Ojukwu sent troops under the Command of Col. Banjo in response to Chief Awolowo’s request for troops to help liberate Yoruba land from the occupation of soldiers from the North. By the time Col. Banjo got to Ore, the British had gotten Gowon to offer Chief Awolowo Vice Chairmanship of the Nigerian Government. Awolowo, therefore, asked Banjo not to proceed on his mission.
General Yakubu Gowon knows the truth of all these things. And that is why the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) had written him and asked him to tell Nigerians and the whole world the truth about the January 15, 1966 coup and the Biafra incursion into the Mid-West to stop all the lies against Ndigbo, which have been the basis of the burden they carry as a nation within the Nigerian Federation.
Secondly, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Head of State and a frontline commander on the Federal side during the war, said that they (the Federal military leaders) conducted the war without any hate or vengeance because it was a quarrel between brothers.
To this one is constrained to ask (Obasanjo) a few pertinent questions:
(1) How did the world come to describe the conduct of the war as POGROM?
(2) What about the policy that hunger was a legitimate weapon of war and so was justified in its application against the Biafrans?
(3) What about bombing of refugee camps, market places, churches, etc?
Again, when Chief Obasanjo said that they, the victorious side, have been more magnanimous than the victors in the American civil war, where, according to him, those who lost the war never had a chance to be President of America until several decades if not a century later, I would ask him, "WHAT ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA? WHAT ABOUT NELSON MANDELA?"
Such assertions rather than heal the wounds of the war, keep the wounds aglow, rather than reconcile pour raw pepper of unjustified arrogance on the wounded hearts of the Biafrans. How can you genuinely talk about reconciliation with that kind of mind-set? The truth is that for General Obasanjo, the Biafrans are defeated people. Period!
Indeed, before we can talk about reconciliation, we must accept that grave wrongs were done to the Biafrans, Before, During and Since the end of the war.
TRIBUTE TO GENERAL YAR'ADUA
NOW, Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me go on to thank the organizers of this Conference - the Yar’Adua Foundation and the six Nigerian Universities partnering with the Foundation; the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa who have provided support for this Conference - Biafra: 50 Years After.
What is more, I would like to pay tribute to the memory of my late friend, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. I met him for the first time during the 1994-5 National Constitutional Conference. There we struck a friendship that would have born great fruits but for his untimely death. I personally escaped being arrested with him.
General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, became a great democrat after the war despite his aristocratic background. He genuinely believed that this wobbly Federation could be given a dependable foundation. Consequently, he set out to recruit gifted compatriots to work with him for that purpose. What a great hunter of talent Shehu was!
I remember two memorable moments in our interaction. One afternoon, after lunch in his house, we sat down on the sofa. I asked him: “General why is it that when you are not smoking cigar (cigarette), you are chewing kola nut?”
He answered me, “I will not tell you his answer today. Wait for my Memoire that should be ready by my next birthday.”
At another moment, also after lunch with him and late Prof. Aborisade, we sat down on the sofa. Shehu said to me “Dr Nwala, let me show you why we Northerners are reluctant to relinquish political power.’
He brought out two volumes of strategic studies which he had commissioned some intellectuals to produce in preparation for the Constitutional Conference of 1994-5. I glanced through Volume 1 which dealt with the indices of power in Nigeria. I read the discussion, looked at the statistics and the graph, and shook my head, and said to myself, ‘this guy is a great political actor!’ I also reserve the details of what I read in that volume as well as our discussion for the sake of my forthcoming memoire.
I saw those two volumes of strategic studies at the Library of the Yar’Adua Center when I visited there about two weeks ago.
What is important in this narrative is that General Yar’Adua was a very sincere leader. He always spoke to me and to anyone in his political company from the bottom of his heart. He was sincerely in search of a genuine way forward. He was a man who knew that all is not well with the Nigerian Federation and genuinely sought the correct path to its healing!
The point of the story is to reveal a bit of the life of this great political strategist, who if he had lived after that Conference, he and the powerful circle of comrades he had built at the Conference would have helped to see to a more liberal accommodating political order in Nigeria. Shehu was the darling of a liberal democratic movement that was emerging in Nigeria before he died. He was equally hated by what many of us call the hegemonist who have consistently aborted every opportunity to create a democratic political culture. It is the latter who have consistently made it difficult to achieve a genuine reconciliation in Nigeria. It is these forces that have insisted on a Federation founded on the peace of the grave yard.
Yes, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua along with the compatriots he had worked to put together would have constituted an authentic force for reconciliation and national integration. He was a victim of the forces of hegemony.
POST BIAFRA RECONCILIATION - WHAT LESSONS?
During the trial of Adolf Hitler after Germany and her allies lost the war to the Allied Forces, the following exchange took place between Hitler and his interlocutor –
> Interlocutor to Hitler: You were responsible for the Second World War?
> Hitler: No! The Versailles Treaties was.
I believe this Conference has been provoked by the renewed agitation for Biafra. In that case, a similar question can be posed to the Biafra Self-determination Agitators in Nigeria today as to whether they are responsible for the renewed Agitation for Biafra.
I imagine that the Biafra Freedom Agitators, just like Adolf Hitler, would emphatically respond NO! They would rather blame the present upsurge for Self-determination and Biafra and all its fallouts on all those leaders on the victorious side who, rather than pursuing the path of genuine Reconciliation, pursued the path of punitive retributions against those who lost the war.
Unfortunately, as it was in the case of the defeated Germany that was neither pacified nor conciliated, nor was it permanently weakened, so do we find in the case of Biafra, that despite all the retributive measures against her people, Biafra and the Biafrans, have neither been pacified, nor conciliated, nor have they been permanently weakened.
Unlike the Treaty of Versailles that exerted bloody pound of flesh on the side that lost the First World War, the victorious side in the Second World War padded their retributive actions with the Marshall Plan. And thus, unlike the intended Carthaginian peace of the Versailles Treaty of 28 June 1919, the Marshall Plan brought a relatively permanent peace to Europe that withstood the shock waves of the Cold War including the Cuban Missile crises.
In pursuing the lessons of the retributive post-war treatment of the Biafrans, I would ask the leaders on the victorious side –
••• “When you took all their financial deposits in the banks and paid them only £20 (twenty pounds), what did you expect the result to be – pacification, conciliation or to have them permanently weakened?”
••• “When you allowed massacre of unarmed soldiers and leaders even when they had declared their return to Nigeria, what did you expect? I mean when you murdered Prof. Kalu Ezera or when you killed unarmed Col Onwuatuegwu in cold blood, what did you expect?”
••• “When you killed and also buried alive thousands of innocent civilians in Asaba, was that a circus show?”
I escaped being killed at the end of the war through the mysterious intervention of my college mate, Mr Nwoguegbe from Asa in Abia State who was a member of the Nigerian battalion that overran my area on that fateful day of January 8, 1970. The solders had sent for me and when I arrived at Nkwo Mbaise their base, Nwoguegbe instantly recognized me and shouted “Nkume!”
I responded “Nwoguegbe!” Despite being introduced to his commander, Captain Jibowu, the later took him to one corner, asking to be convinced why I should not be treated in accordance with the official instructions, namely to waste any such able-bodied young-man who may have been an actual or potential Biafra soldier. I was lucky. Nwoguegbe saved me, but several of my mates from my community were not. Cornellius Oguikpe, Michael Osuagwu, Efraim Chukwunoyerem, Echewodo Onwunali, all were murdered at the end of the war by the Nigerian soldiers.
Yes, post-Biafra was not attended by any genuine efforts to seek reconciliation nor even to find out what led to the war. Rather, what we have witnessed is decades of vengeance, arrogance and conspiracy against Alaigbo and Ndigbo –
Yes these are on record:
- Immediate post-war punitive massacre,
- Dismissal of some officers on the losing side, reduction in rank of others
- Dismissal of civil servants.
- Secret Execution of some officers (Col. Onwuatuegwu, Prof. Kalu Ezera)
- Abandoned property seizure of Igbo property.
- Punitive boundary adjustment.
- Closure of the Eastern Sea Port and Railway lines.
- Deliberate policy of encirclement of Alaigbo, inciting Igbo outside Igbo heartland to reject their Igbo identity.
- Deliberate policy of exclusion from the governance and power equation in Nigeria.
- Deliberate policy of destroying Igbo businesses.
- Continued massacre, lynching of Igbos in many places in the North
- Insensitivity to the plight of the IDPs of Igbo extraction who were initially the major targets of Boko Harm bombings and killings.
- No serious effort at post-war reconstruction and reconciliation
I strongly recommend to all those who care to understand how the Igbos view their predicament in the Federation to read the Petition of Ohaneze Ndigbo to the Human Rights Violations Investigating Committee of 1999. It is captioned “The Violations of the Human and Civil Rights of Ndigbo in the Federation of Nigeria (1966-1999).”
President Obasanjo should speak to the nation now about why and how that initiative of his was aborted. A Truth and Reconciliation was a great idea, but just like all National Conference decisions meant to deal with the resolution of the injustices of the system it was arrogantly dismissed and nothing happened.
BIAFRA: A COLLECTIVE GUILT
Have we forgotten that Biafra was a collective guilt and that those who created the Nigerian Federation did so to satisfy their own agenda? They designed a local agenda for the same purpose?
Have we forgotten the cause of Biafra and the war? Have we ever come together to examine why Biafra?
Obasanjo’s Truth Commission and the Justice Oputa Commission were arrogantly dismissed and nothing happened. Who was the aggressor in that war?
ABORTED EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE NIGERIAN PROBLEM
What about several efforts to sit down and dispassionately examine the fate of the Federation and how to heal the wounds of the past. Several aborted historical opportunities for peace and stability, or a genuine democratic system include -
• Ibadan Conference of Sept/Oct 1966
• Aburi Accord.
• Abiola’s election that would have set a precedent.
• 1994-5 Constitutional Conference and the 1995 Draft Constitution, the best Constitutional Draft in the history of Nigeria.
• Conferences organized by Obasanjo’s regime.
• Current Ferocious opposition to restructuring.
>> Current Ferocious opposition to restructuring.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR GENUINE RECONCILIATION - THE BIAFRA INITIATIVE
The Birth of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) – A child of the post-war East Central State Youth Volunteer Services Corps (ECSYVSC) whose memo to General Gowon led to the establishment of the NYSC by the Federal Government.
I led the delegation, as Chairman of the ECSYVSC, that delivered the Memorandum to the Federal Government on the eve of the first post-war independence anniversary, precisely on 30th September, 1970. In response, General Gowon had given Dr Ukpabi Asika’s

We no go gree, its Biafra or nothing.

Gmasterp:
No use rubbing it in our faces how resilient the igbos are..

The war was a mistake, everything the igbos suffered ojukwu is the cause!!

Making eloquent speechs with his Oxford accent

Talking tall without action..

Did he think Nigeria would let go of her assets without a fight??


Propagating war without having stockpiled a single weapon not even one!!!

Does he think wars are won with speechs??

Mtxhww after starting a war he couldn't finish and sacrificing the lives of millions of the people who trusted him, the least he could have done was die with his cause!! Instead ran away like a coward(Which he is) enjoyed his life and died peacefully!!!

Typical attitude of the spoilt coward

Infact let's skip the part of calling Ojukwu a coward because obviously you are ignorant of the war. You sound like the war was sort of a personal fight for assets when it's a call for restoration of Fairness and equality which Gowon stupidly ignored for the romance with the western world. NB no body goes iinto a war victorious, you only go into a war with a plan, the end result of a war is a result of a thousand plans that fall place.. Gracias

Only God's knows the future of Nigeria. so let's just watch how the drama called "Nigeria" unfolds

Stinson007:
Infact let's skip the part of calling Ojukwu a coward because obviously you are ignorant of the war. You sound like the war was sort of a personal fight for assets when it's a call for restoration of Fairness and equality which Gowon stupidly ignored for the romance with the western world. NB no body goes iinto a war victorious, you only go into a war with a plan, the end result of a war is a result of a thousand plans that fall place.. Gracias

fairness kor equality ni how many "BIAFRAS" can you have??

Let's assume you had your biafra not everyone will feel they are being treated fairly!!

So anytime an ukwani man feels slightly he'll call for his own biafra!!

Anytime an Ikwerre man feels treated unjustly he agitates for his own biafra!!

Who has every solved a problem by running from it??

Rather than face the problem NIGERIA you want to run like cowards!!

P. S maybe you have a hard time comprehending.. The essense of my first write up is to show ojukwu had NO PLAN and yes considering the amount of oil producing states in ojukwu's biafra it's really a huge asset to NIGERIA

It's this type of thread you will find Afonjas, not Arewa masturbating.

Gmasterp:


fairness kor equality ni how many "BIAFRAS" can you have??

Let's assume you had your biafra not everyone will feel they are being treated fairly!!

So anytime an ukwani man feels slightly he'll call for his own biafra!!

Anytime an Ikwerre man feels treated unjustly he agitates for his own biafra!!

Who has every solved a problem by running from it??

Rather than face the problem NIGERIA you want to run like cowards!!

Nigerias problem has enveloped your thoughts of how a civilized nation works, A group can't complain for same for over 50 years and you play deaf to their plea for justice. Go to America for instance the Blacks who are immigrants in America have ruled and share in a common nationality, whether xtrian or not, they have a unity of purpose. Like wise in places like the UK. Humanity can never be suppressed, it will definitely fight back. Nigeria can't work with the present structures, I understood you want a united Nigeria but I too but let's be realistic who will accept restructuring in this country, can a farmer do without its hoe.. Be wise
NB Ojukwu couldn’t have had no plans and Held federal forces for 2years, is that one a point. Ojukwu rallied support of different army intelligence including yorubas. He couldn't have done that without a plan... Am done with its an exercise of futility.. I mean can you force a donkey to drink water.. Ride on

Stinson007:
Nigerias problem has enveloped your thoughts of how a civilized nation works, A group can't complain for same for over 50 years and you play deaf to their plea for justice. Go to America for instance the Blacks who are immigrants in America have ruled and share in a common nationality, whether xtrian or not, they have a unity of purpose. Like wise in places like the UK. Humanity can never be suppressed, it will definitely fight back. Nigeria can't work with the present structures, I understood you want a united Nigeria but I too but let's be realistic who will accept restructuring in this country, can a farmer do without its hoe.. Be wise
NB Ojukwu couldn’t have had no plans and Held federal forces for 2years, is that one a point. Ojukwu rallied support of different army intelligence including yorubas. He couldn't have done that without a plan... Am done with its an exercise of futility.. I mean can you force a donkey to drink water.. Ride on

Wanted to reply you but probably isn't worth my time