#BiafraFallenHeroes: We Remember Those Who Fell By The Bullets Of The Nigeria Security Joint Forces At National High School, Aba; The Darkest Of All Days In Enyimba City

By Chijindu Benjamin Ukah | For Biafra Writers

May 28, 2020

It was the darkest day in Enyimba city of Aba, Abia state on Monday February 9, 2015, when the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, gathered at National High School in Portharcourt road, Aba, singing, dancing, praying and crying to the Most High God for the release of the illegally detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu and for His intervention in the restoration of Biafra.

In the heat of the praise, worship and prayer, came the men of the Nigeria Police Force on several Hilux vans and cars, invading the school compound. Not too long after their arrival, men of the Nigerian army also arrived in their numbers, marching in a single file and surrounded Biafrans as they continued praying and singing. The Nigerian soldiers mounted surveillance and positioned in readiness to maim and shoot innocent, defenseless people as though they were in war front.

All of a sudden, they began shooting at the peaceful but disquieted crowd of unarmed people. First, they fired teargas canisters, followed by rains of bullets. What was their crime? They were with only their Bibles and musical instruments, praying for salvation from the artificial and inorganic contraption (Nigeria), and seeking for the restoration of their original identity, culture and dignity (Biafra).

Read Also: #BiafraFallenHeroes: Reminiscing The Great Moments Of A Great Icon, Selfless Leader And Pioneer Biafra Head Of State, Gen. Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

We shall not forget! As a result of your death, your children were made fatherless, motherless; your wives were made widows and your husbands, widower. Your parents were rendered childless and your children orphans. They could not even allow us to recover your remains to give you a befitting burial; they took your corpse away. Some of you were buried in secret mass graves against our culture, some were burnt in the bush while others were dumped and left to decay in burrow pits after they poured acid on them.


We shall not forget that you laid down your life for Biafra to be restored. We shall not forget that you died that we may live. We shall continue to fight until that which you died for is achieved. We remember you in our heart of hearts.

We invoke the natural weapons of the most high; the dust of the earth, wind, water, moon and sun to rise and fight your killers until there is no last man standing.  Brave heroes and heroines of the great Biafra; rest on.

The Biafra Times
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

#BiafraFallenHeroes: We Remember Those Butchered On 2nd Dec. 2015 By Combined Team Of The Nigeria Security Forces

By Chukwuemeka C, |The Biafra Times

May 28, 2020

MISS Anthonia Nkeiruka Ikeanyionwu, aged 20, was among the fallen heroines who met their untimely death during the picketing at Ojukwu gateway, Onitsha Head bridge on Wednesday, December 2, 2015, by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB).

Tragedy struck when few weeks to the end of the year, bullets from the guns of some trigger-happy Nigerian soldiers, in league with other joint sister agencies who were deployed to quell the protest by the IPOB, suddenly flew in from God-knows-where and struck dead Miss Anthonia Nkeiruka Ikeanyionwu, a 200-level student of Educational Management and Policy, Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze, Anambra State, leaving her in a pool of blood.

The picketing at the Head bridge by IPOB, was to drive home their demand for the unconditional release of the then illegally detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu who was languishing at Kuje prisons without any form of trial. Biafrans were simply picketing under moral and ideological precepts against the continued detention and incarceration of Mr Kanu.

The Biafra protesters had converged from various states in Biafra land and beyond to ask for his release only to be attacked at odd hours by the combined team of the Nigerian army, police, civil defence, navy and what have you.

Apart from Miss Ikeanyionwu, the incident led to the death of other innocent hawkers, a 'suya' merchant and passersby who got struck by the stray bullets while some surviving victims sustained varying degrees of injuries as a result of the violent, uncultured and unprofessional engagement of the security operatives.

Furthermore, evidences abound of unarmed and defenseless pro-Biafra protesters being gunned down in cold blood by Nigerian security agents during demonstrations.

Read Also: #BiafraFallenHeroes: Reminiscing The Great Moments Of A Great Icon, Selfless Leader And Pioneer Biafra Head Of State, Gen. Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

It could be recalled that in respect to the cold murder of Miss Ikeanyionwu and others, a human rights group, The Kingdom Human Rights International, on behalf of IPOB and families of the deceased victims, filed a lawsuit before a Federal High Court in Abuja, demanding an aggregate sum of N8.5 billion in damages against the federal government over the killing and maiming of pro-Biafra protesters on October 20 and December 2, 2015 in parts of South East and South South geopolitical zones.

The suit, which was filed by counsels in the firm, Okere Kingdom Nnamdi, Paul Nwoko, and Richard Udozo, also joined the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Attorney General of the Federation, the National Assembly of Nigeria, and the Chief of Army Staff as respondents.

Others also joined in the suit were: the former Inspector General of Police, the Commissioners of Police in Imo, Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States commands, the Commandant General of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Director General of the Department of State Services.

Among other reliefs, the suit was seeking a declaration of the court as crime against humanity, unlawful, cruel, brutal, and wicked the killing of “unarmed, non-violent and peaceful protesters who are exercising their right to peaceful assembly, freedom of association and right to self-determination as guaranteed by sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution and Articles I, IV XIX of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, by the combined team of the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies.”

Though peacefully buried and laid to rest on December 8, 2015, Miss Anthonia Ikeanyionwu will always remain in our minds as part of those who sacrificed their lives for the irrevocable restoration of Biafra and that we shall always remember. She died that we might live to continue in the pursuit to regain our nationhood. And for that single reason, we will forever adore and cherish her even after death.

#BiafraFallenHeroes


THE BIAFRA TIMES 
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

#BiafraFallenHeroes: Reminiscing The Great Moments Of A Great Icon, Selfless Leader And Pioneer Biafra Head Of State, Gen. Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

By Victoria O. C. Agangan || For Biafra Writers

May 28, 2020

The image so often associated with Africa – a child with stick-thin limbs and swollen belly – dates back to the first televised famine, the Biafra war. The man who understood the power of that image was an Oxford-educated Nigerian soldier, Emeka Ojukwu.

Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, to use his full name, proclaimed the short-lived Republic of Biafra in 1967. His demeanour of a gentleman-rebel standing up to the Nigerian Goliath appealed to western intellectuals such as Frederick Forsyth and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. A Swedish count built and flew planes for the Biafra country's air force and its struggle for independence inspired the French humanitarian Bernard Kouchner to create Médecins Sans Frontières.

The son of one of Nigeria's most successful transport entrepreneurs, Ojukwu was from the Igbo tribe born on November 4, 1933, in Zungeru, the northern part of Nigeria. He received the best education – King's College, Lagos; Epsom College, Surrey and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he graduated with honours in modern history in 1955. He refused to go into his father's business and instead spent two years as an unglamorous administrative head officer in the Eastern Nigerian public service.

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In 1957, Ojukwu joined the Royal West African Frontier Forces as a recruit. He rose rapidly through the ranks, ending his training at Sandhurst at the time of Nigerian independence in 1960. Under British indirect rule, Nigeria had been crudely divided along tribal lines: politics was for the northern Hausa tribe, commercial clout was the preserve of the supposedly industrious Yorubas on the south-western coast and education was for the administratively inclined Igbos in the east of the country.

Unhappy at northern heavy-handedness and discrimination, Igbo officers staged a coup in 1966 and installed Ojukwu as governor of the Eastern Region, which includes the oil-rich Niger Delta. When the counter-coup came six months later, Ojukwu refused to step down.

As the Eastern governor, Ojukwu sought peacefully to resolve matters. He tried to maintain military hierarchy by insisting that Brigadier Ogundipe took the mantle of leadership instead of a junior officer, Col. Gowon but Ogundipe was convinced in London to step into the Nigerian High Commission.

On 29th September, a fatal pogrom with beastly brutality was carried out mostly against the Igbos and other ethnic groups in the Eastern region by the northern elements. Maimed, bruised Biafrans returned en masse, yet Gen. Ojukwu never abated his quest for peace having previously made futile attempts for a badly damaged unity that has become irreparable. He proceeded to Aburi, Ghana on 4th January, 1967 for a peace conference with Gowon, Gen Joseph Ankarah was the host. There, Ojukwu succeeded in getting Gowon to sign a peace treaty called "Aburi Accord."

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Upon return, Gowon reneged on the agreement reached at Aburi. He split the Eastern region into three states. He was solely responsible for the war. Gen. Ojukwu from Nnewi, Anambra state, left with no other option, declared the defunct nation of the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967 with the mandate of the Eastern Nigeria Consultative Assembly. Three days later, Gowon declared war and besieged Biafra. The diplomatic war in the present day Nigeria is a replica of what Biafra has continously faced in the past.

Under pressure from Igbos in the military, he declared independence for the 29,000 square-mile region of Biafra on 30 May, 1967. A flag was designed, featuring a rising sun. A currency(in pounds and shillings) was issued and the beginnings of a welfare state were put in place. Ojukwu personally chose a movement from Jean Sibelius's Finlandia as the tune to the national anthem, in reference to the Nordic country's resistance to foreign domination.

But the region's oil wealth made Biafran independence intolerable to Nigeria and the international community and as a result, in July 6, 1967, then Nigerian Military Government headed by Col. Yakubu Gowon declared war and attacked Biafra. He besieged an already wounded people. He came with international support from thirthy countries, and for thirty months Biafra under the leadership of Gen. Ojukwu persevered against all odds.

A futile and avoidable two-and-a-half-year war cost millions of innocent Biafran lives as Nigeria created famine conditions and enlisted British and Soviet support against a ragtag army equipped with home-made military hardware.

The scar of that war is ever green in our minds — It was characterized by genocide of sorts and these included wanton killings, molestation and rape, blockage of food and aids, over three million Biafrans, men, women and children died. Many got displaced till date in foreign lands.

Read Also:  #BiafraFallenHeroes: We Remember Those Butchered On 2nd Dec. 2015 By Combined Team Of The Nigeria Security Forces

By 1969, Biafra was on its knees and Ojukwu fled into exile in Ivory Coast, handing over the baton of leadership to his second-in-command, Maj. Gen. Philip Effiong from Itshekiri, present day Akwa-Ibom state. President Felix of Ivory Coast had recognized Biafra and offered asylum to him. Twelve years later he was granted a pardon and returned to Nigeria where he formed the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and ran for president in 2003 and 2007. In 2008, he received his military pension from the Nigerian government but complained complained that it ranked him as a lieutenant-colonel rather than as a general, his rank in the Biafran army.

Vonnegut described Ojukwu as Biafra's George Washington. He wrote: "When we met General Ojukwu, his soldiers were going into battle with 35 rounds of rifle ammunition. There was no more where that came from. For weeks before that, they had been living on one cup of garri a day. The recipe for garri is this: Add water to pulverized cassava root. Now the soldiers didn't even have gari anymore. General Ojukwu described a typical Nigerian attack for us: 'They pound a position with artillery for 24 hours, then they send forward one armoured car. If anybody shoots at it, it retreats, and another 24 hours of bombardment begins. When the infantry moves forward, they drive a screen of refugees before them. If we go forward, we die. If we go backward, we die. So we go forward'".

The American writer was among a dozen intellectuals invited by Ojukwu to witness the Biafran war in a bid to influence western public opinion and secure airlifts of food. Another was Forsyth whose biography of him, Emeka, was published in 1982.

In Nigeria, Ojukwu's legacy is largely viewed as positive for having stood up for his ethnic group, having proved incorruptible and having essentially personified the country's view of itself as constantly riven along ethnic lines. After his death in November 26, 2011 at the Royal Berkshire Hospital – where he had been admitted following a stroke in December 2010 – President Goodluck Jonathan paid him a glowing tribute: "Ojukwu's immense love of his people, justice, equity and fairness forced him into the leading role he played in the Nigerian civil war."

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader, today, represents the adage: "He who runs, lives to fight another day." Presently, the Nigerian government under President Muhammadu Buhari and his Army Chief, Tukur Yusuf Buratai have killed, maimed, incarcerated, kidnapped and illegaly imprisoned and denied release even against court orders. In all these we must not relent. Our hitherto inner conscious mind have been awakened by Nnamdi Kanu. We must not relent but fight on until Biafra is restored.

We must not forget nor relent!
Adieu Gen. Ojukwu!
Long live Biafra!

THE BIAFRA TIMES
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

30th May: Why We Must Sit at Home

May 28, 2020

By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie | Biafra Writers

The first man my father trained in school, Francis Agboeze, died in the war.  Francis, classmate to Joe Nwodo, fought under the command of General Joe Achuzie. Till date, the younger brother, Remigius Agboeze, still shed tears at the mention or thought of Francis.

My mother told of how Uncle Francis would visit them in their refugee camp with food and other relief items. Sometimes he would visit alone, and at other times with a detachment of soldiers; never sitting down, his brave eyes darting here and there like viper’s. It was Francis who first showed her what a grenade looks like. She wouldn’t fail to mention how elegant and heroic Francis looked in his full Biafra military regalia.

And then, Francis stopped visiting. “In his place, the news of his death arrived,” mom would say in a melancholic voice, tears coursing down her cheeks to drench her blouse. Her gaze now distant, and a heavy sigh escaping her lips, mother would drift into a tale of woes – a tale of what Britain, working through Nigerian arch genocidal soldiers, did to Biafrans.

There was terrible hunger and starvation in the land. Markets, refugee camps, and even hospitals were air-raided by Egyptian, British and Soviet machinery pilots. Farms were destroyed to forestall attempts on food production. Even relief materials were intercepted and destroyed.

Mom would tell how she and other women would prepare dishes and sneak into fields to supply Biafran soldiers. When there is no food, they would roast corns, crack kernels and take them with water to the fighting soldiers. She recounted the urgency with which the soldiers accepted the items and the pleased look in their eyes as they ate. “They fought on empty stomach,” mother would intone.

“They were outnumbered,” dad would add. But for the locally made armaments which came later, they fought practically with bare hands. They would lay in wait for the enemy, and when the opportunity presents itself, sneak in on them, overpower and take their weapons. “That’s how Biafran soldiers acquired their fighting arms until Biafran scientists began local arms productions,” Dad narrated.

Yes, Ojukwu lumped together his father’s wealth into arms purchase, but the world powers, fearing Biafra would emerge a Japan of Africa, conspired together and refused us arms deal while supplying the Nigerian side. And there was Ukpabi Asika factor too. Asika and his likes that were entrusted with the fund to pursue arms deal thought a luxurious life abroad more valuable than the war and the dying Biafrans, and so they pocketed the money and left to enjoy themselves in some foreign countries.  This is similar to our politicians and Ohaneze Ndigbo taking money from Nigerian government and looking the other way as Fulani herdsmen rape and kill us today.

Armless, outnumbered and blockaded they fought for three years, rebuffing the genocidal army and preserving Biafra from annihilation. Many of them died in the battlefield; many were terribly injured, resulting in amputation, loss of sight, and many other terrible deformations.

The finest of brains were there among the dead. Think of Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo – the best thing that ever happened to African poetry. Think of Dr. Imegwu, Joe Uchendu, Amamchukwu Okeke, Nathaniel Okpala, and many others.

How about the one million children that were starved to death? What offence did they commit? Scientists were among them; medical doctors were there too, and so were legal luminaries, Economists, Agriculturists, pilots, journalists, writers, Engineers, educationists, miners, filmmakers, footballers, musicians, choristers, bankers, and industrialists like Innoson who could produce cars and jets. They were all starved to death for no offense of their own. Think of where they would have been today in the society; think of the contributions they would have made to the societal growth. Think of people like Philip Emeagwali, Bath Nnadji, Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealaa, Kanu Nwankwo, Genevive Nnaji, Phyno Fyno, P’Square and all the names that propel the economy, stir technological advancement or entertain you. If they were starved to death or crushed by sheer brutal force of genocide, would we have had the advantage of benefiting from them? If you value the aforementioned folks and their contributions to the society, wouldn’t you grieve at their demise? 

We want to grieve the untimely and forceful demise of their kind during the thirty-month genocidal onslaught visited upon our people from 1967-1970. We want to tell them that we value their sacrifices and miss what they would have contributed to our growth as a people. We want to recognize and honour them.

I started this article with the story about my uncle, Francis Agboeze. I didn’t know him but from the stories told about him, my parents’ account and loving memories of him, I came to value and miss him. I miss a man I never met. This is because he was of value to the society while he walked the earth. He died defending his fatherland.

There are many Francis amongst us … just ask around and you will hear of them. They all died defending our parents. If they didn’t stand against the aggressors, would your parents have lived to give birth to you? Denying ourselves social, economic, academic and religious activities for a day as in honour of their sacrifices is not too much of us. Remember, the world over, people celebrate and honour their dead.

Again I demand you ask around. Ask your parents, and if your parents are no more, ask your uncles and aunties. There was a Francis Agboeze in your family; there was a Francis Agboeze in your neighbourhood. There is no family or neighbourhood that did not lose a soul in the war. Will sacrificing a day in their honour keep you from prospering? I don’t think so. Keep a date with them on May 30.

May God bless, nurture and sustain you all as you sit back home in honour of our dead.


THE BIAFRA TIMES
Contact us: [email protected]
Twitter:  @BiafraWriters
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah