I just read a piece by Edith Omelebele Onyebgaju on 50 years of Biafra. She spoke of how Biafrans were "Murdered in Cold Blood". Talk to every young Igbo and this the picture they all have of the Igbo's quietly seated at home when a combined Army of Nigeria, Britain, Germany and America, invaded and killed them in cold blood. A truth is that the average Igbo youth does not attempt to know the truth about the war beyond the oral narration of their aged parents who knew very little of what transpired. The best of them may have read Story Teller Chinua Achebe's story version.
The truth however was that Ojukwu wanted that war so badly. There was just nothing Gowon did not do to prevent it. This was not only because he did not want a war but also because the propaganda machinery of Biafra was very intimidating that he actually dreaded engaging Biafra. On the side of Ojukwu, he actually felt that Biafra could do Nigeria in a couple of months. No wonder, just a month into the war, he had the temerity to make an incursion into Midwest not only with the goal to colonize the West and Midwest but also to March on Lagos and capture Gowon alive!
As one of the numerous efforts to prevent the war, Gowon set up a National Reconciliation Committee. The other two Southern Regions were delegated to go plead with Ojukwu to be part of it. Awolowo lead the Western delegates while Chiefs Onyia and Mariere lead Midwest delegates. The meeting with Ojukwu held in Enugu on 6/7th March 1967.
Below is an excerpt from Ojukwus contribution. You can feel the air of Arrogance, Confidence and Power with which he talked. The meeting lasted 12 hours but Ojukwu refused the entrities. After this was Aburi and then, the war.
So young Igbos, be informed that the Igbo's were the reaggressors before the war commenced.
The truth however was that Ojukwu wanted that war so badly. There was just nothing Gowon did not do to prevent it. This was not only because he did not want a war but also because the propaganda machinery of Biafra was very intimidating that he actually dreaded engaging Biafra. On the side of Ojukwu, he actually felt that Biafra could do Nigeria in a couple of months. No wonder, just a month into the war, he had the temerity to make an incursion into Midwest not only with the goal to colonize the West and Midwest but also to March on Lagos and capture Gowon alive!
As one of the numerous efforts to prevent the war, Gowon set up a National Reconciliation Committee. The other two Southern Regions were delegated to go plead with Ojukwu to be part of it. Awolowo lead the Western delegates while Chiefs Onyia and Mariere lead Midwest delegates. The meeting with Ojukwu held in Enugu on 6/7th March 1967.
Below is an excerpt from Ojukwus contribution. You can feel the air of Arrogance, Confidence and Power with which he talked. The meeting lasted 12 hours but Ojukwu refused the entrities. After this was Aburi and then, the war.
So young Igbos, be informed that the Igbo's were the reaggressors before the war commenced.
OJUKWU:
"I appealed for settlement quietly because I understood that this was a naked struggle for power and that the only time we can sit down and decide the future of Nigeria on basis of equality will always be equality of arms. Quietly, I built up. If you do not know it, I am proud, and my officers are proud, that here in the East we possess the biggest army in Black Africa. I am no longer speaking as an underdog, I am speaking from a position of power".
"I appealed for settlement quietly because I understood that this was a naked struggle for power and that the only time we can sit down and decide the future of Nigeria on basis of equality will always be equality of arms. Quietly, I built up. If you do not know it, I am proud, and my officers are proud, that here in the East we possess the biggest army in Black Africa. I am no longer speaking as an underdog, I am speaking from a position of power".
Revisiting history, telling the facts.
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