FRANK UKONGA LECTURE SERIES 6
THE NIGERIAN BIAFRA WAR, CHINUA
ACHEBE’S MEMOIRS, & MATTERS ARISING.
PREAMBLES: In January 1966 Major
Sochukwuma Nzeogu a military officer of the Nigeria Army in company of company
of five others of Major Banjo, Major Ifiajuna, Major Ademilegun and co
truncated the democratic government of the Nigerian Federation through a bloody
military coup de Etat which many historians view as a lopsided coup in its
planning and execution in favor of a particular geo political and ethnic region
of the polity. Despite this the rein of leadership fell on the hands of Major
General Aguyi Ironsi who quickly unified the various colligating nations of
Nigeria by introducing a unitary system of military government and ruled for
some months until he was ousted by another coup de Etat that brought in General
Yakubu Gowon as the new leader of the Nigerian Federation.
Colonel Odumegu Ojukwu was then
the commandant of the Eastern flank of the Nigerian Army and to cut the long
story short he opted out of Nigeria seceding the Eastern Region into what
became popularly called the Biafra Nation through the infamous Ahiara
declaration.
This affrontation against
constituted authority of the federal Government was not acceptable to other
colligating members of the polity and it led to a 3 year civil war in the Nigeria
federation. On the Nigerian frontiers Gen. Murtala Mohammed led the Ist
division that moved in to Biafra through the
Mid West region, Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle , the black scorpion,led the
infamous 3 ed Marine commando that closed in from the South -South flank, while
Major Gen Mohammadu Shua led the last flank that closed in from the Benue Enugu
axis. Other gallant military officers that participated actively from the
Nigeria frontiers includes Major General Hassan Utsman Katsina, Major General
Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, Major General Maimaliari, Major General Abba Kyari,
Major General Alao Akinrinade, Brigadier General Adekunle Shotomi, Major
General Shehu Musa Yar Adua, Col Shitu Alao, Brigadier General Samuel
Ogbemudia, Major General David Ejoor, etc
On the Biafra
side we had Major General Achuzia, Major General Philip Effiong, Col Banjo,
Major Sochukuma Uzeogu, Major General Alexander Madiebo, and Major Ifiajuna
etal
In the war administrative set up
of General Yakubu Gowon, he released chief Obafemi Awolowo from prison and
appointed him Vice Chairman of the Supreme Military Council which translate to
the post of Deputy Head of State/Prime Minister and he also made him the
Minister of finance of the Federation and a special adviser and partner in
keeping Nigeria one. Major General Yakubu Gowon exercised great wisdom in his
great respect for Chief Obafemi Awolowo ,a great Social Democrats and this in
return Chief Awolowo gave him General Yakubu Gowon his maximum cooperation to
make him succeed in his noble ideals in keeping Nigeria one as he inherited it
from his predecessors and handing it over as one Nation with one destiny to
other generations of Nigerians. And of course these are the higher achievements
in terms of leadership assessments in being able to keep the sovereignty you
inherited in its geopolitical size, in its territorial integrity as one or
perhaps expanding it. All other category of measure as economic prosperity,
infrastructural development, education etal is subjective to the primacy and
supremacy of the category of keeping the territorial integrity you inherited
intact.
THE MEMOIRS OF CHINUA ACHEBE AND
OTHER MATTERS ARISING
We must cognitize that war is
war; be it civil, cold or international warfare and the end objective is for
your side to win the battle. Of course there will be lots of alliances and
horse trading addressed to same point of wining. And occasionally we must
understand particularly esoteric minds that the question of war and winning
successfully warfare be it civil arms struggle, secessionist wars, or political
struggle is not a tea party. Whence warfare has become on a global basis a school
of thought and there are various philosophical precepts and departments. Most
Successful war Generals are those that study deeply the terrain of the war and
map out stratagems of wining. But a rigorous research into all the various
stratagems be it that of General Shaka De Zulu, that of General Sun Tsu, that
of General Patton, that of Almilca Cabra of Cottage, Gbenkis Khan and all the
Mongol generals or even the methods of
Alexandra the great as polished and guided by Aristotle, or that of General Napoleon
Bonaparte or that of Pompey, or Octavus Caesar, or that of Queen Amina of
Zaria, that of Shehu Idris Aloma of Bornu, Fulani Samanguru of Mali and Futa
Toro or that of Salim Salim, or Sulaimon
the Magnificent of Byzantine and Ottoman civilizations or that of Winston
Churchill, Stalin or Roosevelt, or that of the post modern strategists of
Robert Green they all have a similar undertone of common underlying reality of
the Machiavellian philosophy addressed to win at what ever cost. Though, this
may be disguised in various shades and camouflages.
In the Chinua Achebe Memoirs it
is alleged he blamed the duo of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and General Yakubu Gowon
of leading a war strategy that staved Biafra
of necessary essential supplies that lead to the death of many. Though this is
not the first time that such a criticism has been raised but in this crucial
stage of Nigerian nascent democratic dispensation and seething milieu it began
to generate great controversies as to whether it was a willful intension or a
brilliant strategy to win the war quickly and bring Nigeria together as one
again. Of course many peoples involve in this diatribe will view it various
ways depending on the side of the divide you are crested but objectively it
would be important to study the general milieu of that era before a rational
inference can be arrived at, as to whether to apportion blame or not to the
stratagems employed by General Yakubu Gowon and Chief Awolowo in the Biafra war..
And in the context of the
aforementioned it is ingenious to posit the following observations:
1. War
lords and war Generalissimos are not from the same mould of the civilian
stocks, in esoteric cases they are from the mould of Chiron the Centurion and
most of them are well schooled in the methods of Chiron de Centurion and most
of such teachings are mostly unsafe to be exposed to the ordinary civilian
populace of a civil society and for that reason we shall not duel on them in
this lecture series nor in any of my lecture series..But the philosophy is
addressed to win in whatever thing you do.
2. Applying
the Socratic and Aristotelian methods of philosophical Reducio de Absurdum, a
question will be posed to Prof. Chinua Achebe and all those in support of his
dissertations and memoirs: “if you were in a position as head of state or
adviser to a war lord and a strategy to quickly win a civil war and bring back
your citizens back again as brothers and sisters in the no victor, no
vanquished victory pops up, would you employ the stratagems or not.”
3. The
answer to the afformention question is obvious to even the mundane, so blaming
General Yakubu Gowon or blaming His Excellency Plenipotentiary extra ordinary
Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in philosophical
instances, of the applications of certain stratagems through commissions or
omissions may have no basis in objective reality, save for chauvinistic
irredentist sentimentality; which is an aphorism of wallowing in autokiness
illusion of self pity and deep sense of guilt as in the simile of the Lilliputian
delusion of grandiose.
4. Haven
answered the Achebe question there is the need to probe further and for once
put the other questions on the table for rigorous discussions; often ascribed
to Chief Obafemi Awolowo is the aspects of blaming him for inactions due to a
statement credited to him as saying that : “ If by commission or omission the
East is allowed to secede the West will follow suit”- This is a deep esoteric
philosophical normatic statement only
discernable to esoteric minds and men of deep understanding and wisdom. Though
I quit agree that it could be obfuscating to the uninitiated minds and could be
sort of temptation to an over ambitious mind that may want to miss interpret
the great philosophical statement as a subtle comradeship in conspiracy of secession.
This obviously was not the true and real meaning of the words of the great sage…
Just as Jesus Christ said in the lords Prayers that forgive us our sins as we
forgive others… this is the core of the golden rules of philosophy but many
peoples miss interpret this great conditional words of Jesus Christ… what the s
simply means is that we shall be judged in accordance to how we judge others..
the precondition for forgiveness of sins is that you forgive others… the precondition
to receive from God is that you give to others… you will receive back in
tenfold what you do to others.. That is the meaning.. So like wise what Chief
Obafemi Awolowo was saying is that on no condition must the Eat be allowed to secede
as it will be disastrous to the making of a greater Nigeria. As the East and her great
peoples are important to the continuous greatness and leadership of Sub Saharan
Africa and the African continent… and the human race in generality… As the great peoples of the East are imperative to
the emergence of a greater Nigeria as a world supper power because of their
industry and technology it will be suicidal to allow them to go… these are the
logical interpretations of that great worlds of Chief Obafemi Awolowo… but the
mundane minds interprets it conversely and begin to blame Chief Awolowo for not
welcoming the impudence of Colonel Banjo who was sent to the West by General
Ojukwu leading a trop to liberate the western Region … and Chief Obafemi
Awolowo was instrumental to stopping Col Banjo at Ore and finally was returned
back to the east and General Ojukwu executed him on trump up charges of planning
coup d etat against him
5. WHAT
RIUNED BIAFRA AND WHAT SHOULD CONCENTRATE THE
MINDS OF PROF. ACHEBE
6. What
ruined Biafra was the disunity among the Igbo people which they still continue
to exhibit till today… the peoples of
Igbo can never be able to speak with one voice… subsequently Biafra failed out
of implosion due to the politics of sabotage and self destructs played by some
elite igbo peoples against the success of Biafra…and what should concentrate
the minds of Prof Chinua Achebe is how to unite the Igbo peoples world wide
under a new paradigm shift of becoming more relevant to the Nigerian Federation
and Africa rather than waking up mundane sentiments of bygone realms
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