BIAFRA : 50 YEARS ON, THE MIRAGE OF A NATION'S SOBER REFLECTION

BIAFRA: 50 YEARS ON, THE MIRAGE OF A NATION'S SOBER REFLECTION

Written by Paulinus C Ikeorah.

Just because my head was without form in 1967 doesn't stop me from having an opinion about the Nigerian Civil war.
However, in this piece I promise to be as objective as my conscience can carry and to spill any possible truth that is at my disposal.

Nigeria is a beautiful country, blessed with diverse culture, abundant natural and human resources and one of the friendliest of weather that there is, not until January 15, 1966 when General Kaduna Nzeogwu a junior military officer from the Igbo tribe led the Coup d'état which led to the death of prominent figures in the Nigerian polity. In this article I will place a microscopic view on:
1. The History and account leading to the Nigerian Civil war.
2. The current position of the struggle for the Biafran state and finally
3. The challenges of the successionist idea.

Late Lord Lugard amalgamated the Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914 predominantly not because of cultural or even tribal homogeneity but because of economic reasons; to curb the budget deficit in the Northern protectorate by applying the surplus from the Southern protectorate to the deficit in the north and by so doing balancing the financial crisis in the then British territory, Nigeria.
On October 1st 1960 Nigeria gained independence from England.

THE COUP.
Fuelled with the anger that Civil rule and Democracy in the new Nigeria was breeding corruption, on January 15th, 1966, Kaduna Nzeogwu a rogue ultra-nationalistic military officer born and bred in northern Nigeria but born to Eastern Nigeria parents, in concert with other military officers orchestrated the first military coup in Nigeria , leading up to the death of the first and only Prime Minister of Nigeria Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bellow both from Northern Nigeria and Samuel Akintola from Western Nigeria among prominent others. With Kaduna Nzeogwu were Emmanuel Ifeajuna an Igbo by tribe, Adewale Ademoyega a Yoruba by tribe, Timothy Onwuatuegwu also an igbo by tribe, 2nd Lieutenant Saleh Dambo from North and Atom Kpera from the minority Tiv tribe.

Before the coup the then President, Nnamdi Azikiwe from the Igbo extraction of Nigeria (East) left the country making most of the killings one sided, tilting mainly towards the Hausa/Fulani north and just a few deaths targeted toward the Yoruba West. Almost no death of junior military and/or civilian personnel  were recorded in the East. The coup failed to make Kaduna Nzeogwu the new military Head of State and the affairs and running of the country rested on the parliament acting through the office of the leader of parliament, Nwafor Orizo. In the heat of the coup Parliament agreed to hand over power to the highest ranking military officer, Aguiyi Ironsi who accepted the power on Jan 17.

COUNTER COUP "A. K. A JULY REMATCH".

Armed with the conviction that the January coup was an Igbo orchestrated incident, and just like a Champions League match, General Murtala Mohammed went out on a rematch war against the Igbo tribe. With him in the plot was 2nd Lieutenant Sani Abacha from North, Lieutenant D.S. Abubakar also from North (Hausa/Fulani tribe) and Lieutenant Ibrahim Babangida. The counter coup led to the death of the military Head of State Aguiyi Ironsi and his host, Adekunle Fajuyi from the Yoruba tribe during a state visit. The major reasons for the counter coup were, but not limited to:
1. The murder of Northern civilian and military leaders.
2. Promotion of several Igbo Majors to LT. Colonel.
3. The annoyance and disappointment in the Aguiyi led military government for not trying and bringing to book for treason and mutiny perpetrators of the January coup.

After the July 'rematch' coup, there were recorded Civil unrest in the country and the subsequent measure of penis between Yakubu Gowon and Odumegwu Ojukwu as to who was to become the next military Head of State. The Political turmoil led to a full scale war on 6th July 1967. The war was basically a conflict between Nigerian (Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and other smaller ethnic groups) against the successionist Igbo (and few other smaller tribes,less than 25% the  total population of Nigeria at the time).

The theatre of the war was predominantly in Eastern Nigeria, as other parts of the country hardly even felt the rough touch of the conflict. During the war, the Nigerian government adopted all forms of war strategies: the siege and destroy strategy and a very controversial policy of 'starve them to surrender'. I wouldn't even talk about the numerous airstrikes in civilian populated areas. The most potent weapon during the Nigerian Civil war was 'hunger'. The military government seized all food supply going into Eastern Nigeria (Biafran territory). In most situations the Nigerian army intercepted foods going into Biafran lands and in some instances blew up relief aids from international communities and sympathizers. Approximately 2 Million Biafran civilians died from starvation. In fact the famine entered world awareness in 1968. In one instance the then Minister of Finance Obafemi Owolowo was disappointedly reported making the infamous speech '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’. A statement giving force to the Gowon starvation policy which goes against the very spirit of the Geneva Convention and at that a Genocide; Economic Genocide if I may say, a case of pogrom against the Igbo. The Nigerian government made a deliberate blockade of all help coming into Biafra. At a point during the war, Jeremy Thorpe the then leader of the Labor party in England cried out in parliament telling fellow parliamentarians that if nothing is done about the economic blockade in eastern Nigeria millions of people will die within weeks. The war ended in 1970 taking over 100,000 military lives from the Biafran side alone and half that casualty from the Nigerian front. War is undoubtedly an ugly thing.

Chinua Achebe and a great deal of Igbo elites hold the controversial opinion that the first military coup was a pure military affair, devoid of tribal sentiment. The argument will forever remain in the court of public opinion. Most Biafran sympathizers believe that if you should call it an Igbo coup you will have to present hard evidence or concrete witness testimony of why it should not be tagged a pure military incident.
Well, there is something every Biafran sympathizer should be aware of, that a guilty verdict is not only handed out when evidence presented points to a guilty verdict beyond all reasonable doubt. Circumstantial evidence too can suffice especially in the court of public opinion. If I see my wife naked with a man in bed I don't need to see actual penetration to form the opinion of adultery. The facts of the case clearly suggests that there were little or no Igbo casualties from the first coup and the then President from the Igbo extraction was fortunately away during the said coup. Adding salt to the Northern people's injury, the new Igbo and first military Head of State in Nigeria failed to bring to book for treason the perpetrators of this offence. It was circumstantial evidence enough to point to a more probable than not conclusion that it was an Igbo led coup despite the few participation of some Northerners and thus necessitating a rematch.

THE CURRENT POSITION OF NIGERIA AND THE MIRAGE OF IT'S SOBER REFLECTION.

It's undoubtedly true that every man has a right to self assertion but the current Biafran agitation under the Nnamdi Kanu led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) quest is something dangerous and filled with too many violent and hate speech mostly carelessly made, and to some extent undermining the integrity and sovereignty of Nigeria as a country. There are repeated cases of instances  where the Biafran struggle comes off like a hoax to enrich the pockets of a select few. These doubts in the Biafran struggle can be seen manifestedly voiced in another Biafran group called Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) under the auspices of Ralph Uwazuruike and as such a great deal of Igbo people don't know where the struggle is headed.

It's already 2017, 50 years after the war and NIGERIA is said to be reflecting in a sober mood, the lessons learnt from the war and the pains and setbacks. But the question is how can we truly say we are reflecting on our past as a people when we fail to discuss these things that shaped our history as a nation. Until this day the civil war does not form part of any academic curriculum in any stage of the Nigerian Education System, a deliberate move in my opinion to sabotage history and socially engineer everyone to forget history. How do we reflect if we do not study what we should learn from. Imagine in this context, "learning without studying".

Nigeria is perpetually in harmony with mediocrity because she is in bed with the policy of the Quota System. Almost anything done in Nigeria is not done through merit but the quota system. A less qualified person can gain admission into a higher institution because of his/her place of origin and not grades in entrance examinations. Again one can get a job or ministerial appointment not because of the weight of his/her CV or expertise but because he is coming from a particular region in the country.
This unhealthy Quota System disguised in so called Diversity reminds me of the challenges Singapore faced when they were together with Malaysia. When they broke apart, the Singaporean economy was driven out of Third World economy through excellence. That's exactly what we need in today's NIGERIA.

Below is the chart of States in the order of their performance, at the 2015 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Abia state came first; of the 52,801 students that sat for the examination 33,762 made 5 credits and above including English and Mathematics, a comfortable cumulative pass of 63.94%. Anambra state came second; of the 46,385 students 28,379 made 5 credits including English and Mathematics, sitting comfortably in second position with 61.18% pass rate. Edo state came in third; of the 62,327 students that sat for the exam 38,052 made five credits including English and Mathematics. Next in the chart is Rivers, IMO, Lagos, Bayelsa, Delta and Ebonyi states respectively.

Only 646 candidates from 14, 784 students got 5 credits including English and Mathematics in the Northern state of Yobe, while occupying last with the success rate of 4.27%. The poorest performing states next to Yobe are Osun, Sokoto, Bauchi, Kebbi, Katsina, Gombe, Jigawa and Zamfara states respectively.

I am not positing this record and statistics to make a claim of a tribe's intelligence over the other, No. I merely make a claim for the eradication of mediocrity because Nigeria our country is currently in love and in bed with mediocrity. The same mediocrity that delayed our independence from 1956 to 1960 because we felt we needed to halt our freedom so that the North can measure up with the South educationally. This same mediocrity is killing our economy, making us base political appointments on (regional) quota system than expertise/qualification. No wonder we have one of the lowest academic qualification for elected public offices. Our Governors in respective states need to drive our education with an iron hand and NIGERIA as a nation needs to stop tolerating illiteracy.

BIAFRA THE WILL OF HER PEOPLE?

This is one question we can't give an answer to, unless we examine it clinically and that is only through the calling of a referendum in the region it so affects. On a personal level I won't be surprised if most indigenes of South-South and South-East vote to remain with Nigeria. I seriously hold the opinion that most people that hold the successionist ideology haven't really factored in the variables and complexities of separation and for that matter, even a peaceful one; one without war or bloodshed might still pose some serious difficulties. The question is, what becomes of the Biafran owned properties in other areas in Nigeria, outside the Biafran territory? The companies in Nigeria owned by Biafrans, the lands, the investments etc. Would you have your country and own half of another man's country?  What becomes the exit plan that can comfortably sit in the conscience of a future Nigerian and a Biafran? These and more are the questions that needs to be answered and once the reality begins to dawn on every average Nigerian who is selfless and objective enough to think without sentiment, then will the successionist idea begin to look the color of a threat, As much as it becomes a threat to a Nigerian, so too, a future Biafran.

It is true that most countries have successfully Splitted ,e.g India, Malaysia, Sudan etc. Even America almost Splitted at one point in history but we must know that every nation has its political gender and no two nations wear the same political reality.

I have personally not deleted the idea of true federalism as a cure to the current one sided politics, because I know for certain that the federalism we practice is without content. We need to truly make individual states autonomous, riding on her riches and to some extent contributing to the national treasury. We need to start allowing state 'A' enjoy the wealth that comes from her land than taking from state A to develop state B and/or C.

We need to Purge our dear nation of hatred, lies and tribalism. We need to start afresh. No one can help us as a nation unless we start helping ourselves. Prayer doesn't do what effort can achieve or that will be a Miscarriage of Grace.
Thank you.

Bibliography.
1.The Nigerian Civil War by Max Siollun (Historian)
2. There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe
3. Why We Struck by Adewale Ademogeye
4. Relunctant Rebel by Fola Oyewole
5. 2015 WASSCE ranking (Premium Times) by Omotayo Yusuf
6. This Day Segment (BBC) 30th June 1969

Copyright © 2017, Paulinus Chukwuebuka Ikeorah. e-Mail thatpaulinus@gmail.com

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