The memories of the Nigerian Civil War has evolved into one amber that the gloominess of forgetfulness can never erase. it has become a quenchless flame, which now seem to emit everlastingness to the rising sun of Biafra.
Just as the vulture hovers over carcasses, so were the drifting of those words over my head when I saw for the first time on television- Nnamdi Kanu. The news reporter representing channels television deemed Kanu a United Kingdom-based political activist. It was also reported that he was arrested in Lagos on 14 October, 2015 and has been held in prison since then despite various court orders that ruled for his release.
“He is a leading member of one of several Biafran separatist organisations, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and the director of London-based radio station- Radio Biafra.” The reporter concluded about Nnamdi Kanu.
In the light of this, I ventured into the summary of IPOB and this was what I found:
What is IPOB all about?
The word IPOB is the acronym of the indigenous people of biafra. They claim to be the original inhabitant and rightful owners of the lands and communities of the south east, some parts of south south and middle belt Nigeria.
IPOB believes strongly that Biafra people are simply under occupation, servitude and modern day slavery strategically structured by the Hausa-Fulani controlled Nigerian establishment.
The activities of IPOB is led by Nnamdi Kanu.
Also highlighted on IPOB website was the killing of its members: “On Remembrance Day itself, the security forces shot people in several locations. Amnesty International has not been able to verify the exact number of extra judicial executions, but estimates that at least 60 people were killed and 70 injured in these two days. The real number is likely to be higher.”
Due to this imbibed information, a certain kind of depression comforted itself on me and I became sullen with sadness. The windows of my eyes promptly barred my sight from the romance of visions, the effects of sounds became estranged with soundlessness. And although I could still feel the wave of thoughts within my head, but then they floated with slowness. All these were happening in less than a moment, and before the beginning of another minute, I was gone...
.....
I have tried and tried tirelessly to remove from my mind this remembrance, but all of my efforts have succeeded in meeting with hopelessness; for it seem more to me like I am bound to live with it for the rest of my life.
I remember being a soldier. I remember too that the valley of sorrow was where my battalion was stationed. And even though it was a terrible place for anyone to be at any point in time, still, I remember the stern command that commanded us to wait until the first gunshot- calls us to forge.
Thus, upon that command, we lingered...
Another day dawned on us again while we waited, but this day was totally different from the previous ones. There was a silence in our veins, and the firmament was clouded with an unusual kind of stillness. Everyone of us had already resolved, for the stillness was too hush for us to do otherwise.
And, on that day being calendered the sixth of July 1967, the first gunshot was fired! And what came after the echo was the gruesome darkness of the Nigerian Civil War.
With rage we were charged to forge Upon hearing that which we've been waiting for, and in madness we did. But we were not the only ones the gods had wanted to kill, it would be later recorded that over two million lives were lost as a result of the Biafra war.
Equally important, it should be noted here that the cause of the Biafra War was the declaration of the Biafran Republic. Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu, the then regional governor of the Eastern region made the declaration; and in order for the Federal Republic of Nigeria to stop the new republic from seceding, the Biafra war became inevitable.
Also, it should be highlighted that a military coup, coupled with a counter military coup and the persecution of Ibo's living in Northern part of Nigeria in addition with the Control over oil production in the Niger Delta; played a vital strategic role in the cause of the declaration of Republic of Biafra.
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History of the republic of Biafra
The Republic of Biafra was a secessionist state in eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to January 1970. The Bight of Biafra was where it took its name. The inhabitants of Biafra were mostly igbos, and they were the ones that led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria.
Indeed, it was that secession that gave birth to the the Nigerian civil war.
Other ethnic groups that constituted the republic of Biafra based on the carved map were the Efik, Ibibio, Annang, Ejagham, Eket, Ibeno and the Ijaw among others.
The republic of Biafra lasted for just two-and-a half years. And its then capital, was the coal city of Enugu.
Was Biafra a recognized state outside Nigeria?
The Biafran State, which is also the Republic of Biafra, was officially recognised by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Zambia. Other nations which did not make formal their recognition, but provided support and assistance to Biafra includes Israel, France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Rhodesia, South Africa and the Vatican City.
Meanwhile, the progress of our forge was neither marred by irregularities nor by the constant gushing of blood. We were more than determined, and that determination came from the fervidity of our madness. Like wounded birds, our men fell. Like fallen trees, they gallantly dropped dead. But compared to the countless bodies lying lifelessly on the roadside of every Biafran state our progression led us through, nothing could be said to have happened to us.
As a matter of fact, memories will never be able to find words for the tongue in other to explain to the ears- that which the eyes have seen.
For 30 cold months, animosity and hatred were made bare for the world to see what it looks like. For 30 terrible months, the bountiful land of Africa was desecrated with blood; as thousands of children suffered and died from hunger and starvation.
Yet it has been made to believe that all these were necessary for the unification of a “One Nigeria.”
Similarly, the story was not different in every Biafra States we placed boots on;
and below are the list of states we journeyed passed…
List of Biafran States
If then, the Republic of Biafra had survived, these would have been the States that would have parted ways with Nigeria.
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Abia
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Anambra
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Akwa Ibom
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Bayelsa
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Enugu
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Ebonyi
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Imo
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Delta
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Rivers
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Cross River
It should be recalled that the Republic of Biafra was divided into four majors “tribes” namely: the Igbos, the Ibibio-Efiks, the Ijaws and the Ogojas. The Urhobos, Isokos and Itsekiris are not to be counted as majors.
Moreover, despite the fear and tears that was raging the land, the Biafran flag still coloured almost every corner of the major Biafra states. Men, women and children waved the flag with hope and dream. A hope born from the very depth of their souls, and the dream of a nation whose sun would one day rise up high to shine forth glory for the whole world to see.
The Flag of Biafra
The flag of the Republic of Biafra consists of red, black, and green horizontal colours. At the middle of it, a golden sun rises over a golden bar; the sun has eleven rays, representing the eleven provinces of Biafra.
What does the colours in the Biafran flag represent?
Red: the blood that unites all people of Black African ancestry, and shed for liberation;
Black: black people whose existence as a nation, though not a nation-state, is affirmed by the existence of the flag; and
Green: the abundant natural wealth of Africa.
Be that as it may, the recognition of that beautiful symbol of freedom did not last long. The dream of the Biafran people was shattered before the throne of reality; and the hope, which had succeeded in growing into a willow tree, was mercilessly hewn down. But then, that Biafra tree wasn’t a rootless tree. It had a root, and that root had sunk deep into the depth of their soul.
The Republic of Biafra would have been a poetic republic. A republic of wit, depth and life. The Biafran women would have been queens, and the men- warriors. The children would have easily known wisdom through tales told at moonlight; and in knowledge, they would have grown.
Consequently, the people of Biafra would have long-gone defeated the ugly daemon of betrayal, which now seem to have find suitable soil for its handling. Commerce wouldn't have savaged the Biafran people to this extent, which now makes it seem like nothing else matters.
Indeed, the people of Biafra would have been a united people. A people bonded by a common fulfilment; the blessed fulfilment of the Rising Sun…
But defeat is a deplorable thing, a blind survivor told me. “So also is the sound of a broken dream.” I returned.
Lt. Col. Ojukwu, the proclaimed Head of State of The Biafra Republic, in view of the chaos and hopelessness surrounding the situation, handed over to the Commander Biafran Army Maj. Gen. Philip Effiong- the administration of Biafra.
When Did the Biafra War End?
Lt Col Ojukwu, the Biafra commander, flew out of the enclave with his immediate family members in search of peace; on the 10th January 1970. Maj. Gen. Effiong then consulted with the Biafra Strategic Committee on the situation and they decided that it was okay for despair to take the place of the Biafran dream. The only honorable way to do this was to surrender.
In his surrender announcement to the people of Biafra on Radio Biafra, part of Maj. Gen. Effiong address said:
Fellow Countrymen,
As you know I was asked to be the officer administering the government of this republic on the 10th of January, 1970. Since then I know some of you have been waiting to hear a statement from me. Throughout history, injured people have had to resort to arms in their self defense where peaceful negotiation have failed. We are no exception. We took up arms because of the sense of insecurity generated in our people by the events of 1966. We have fought in defense of that cause. I am now convinced that a stop must be put to the bloodshed which is going on as a result of the war. I am also convinced that the suffering of our people must be brought to an end. Our people are now disillusioned and those elements of the old regime who have made negotiations and reconciliation impossible have voluntarily removed themselves from our midst. I have, therefore, instructed an orderly disengagement of troops.
I urge on Gen. Gowon, in the name of humanity, to order his troops to pause while an armistice is negotiated in order to avoid the mass suffering caused by the movement of population. We have always believed that our differences with Nigeria should be settled by peaceful negotiation. A delegation of our people is therefore ready to meet representatives of Nigerian Government anywhere to negotiate a peace settlement on the basis of OAU resolution.
Hence, with dejection, the Republic of Biafra raised the white flag. And the manifestation of her collapse, revealed itself with grief and misery.
It’s been 50years since the Biafran war ended. It’s been 5 decades since a setting sun refused to rise. There are so many things I remember still about the Biafran war. Things so many, whose luxury of forgetting I know will never afford.
I still remember the first gunshot that called forth the endless others. I remember too, the terror and the scourge. I remember also that if Lt. Col Yakubu Gowon was sound minded, and Lt. Col Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was reasonable, this sad history wouldn't have occurred. However, it has now become the nature of man to place sentiment over reasoning and sound mindedness, and the outcome of this error is always fatal. And that was the case of the Nigeria civil war.
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