I have no regrets fighting for Biafra —Okike, ex-Biafran soldier

How did you join the Biafran Army?

I was in class four at Sacred Heart College, Aba in present Abia State when the Nigeria/Biafra civil war broke out. We were conscripted into Civil Defence before being moved into the Biafran Army by our Vice Principal, Mr. Onwuegbu, who took over the school immediately the Irish Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Smith left the country with four of his countrymen following the broadcast by then Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon that the police had taken action to calm the rebellion in Eastern Nigeria in 1967.

 

What was your experience like?

Asking me to tell you my experience of the civil war is like reminding me of the pogrom and suffering our people passed through in the three years the war lasted. The civil war was terrible. There was no food; no water and there was nothing to call your home. I was at the battle front fighting for Biafra nation. No money was paid to us as we saw the war as sacrifice to rescue Biafra land from going into extinction. The Hausa/Fulani led Federal troops wanted to annihilate the Biafrans.

There were killings, injustice and oppression against Ndigbo and the pogrom in the North triggered the war as the people of the Eastern Region demanded secession to stem further killings and live as a separate entity. Other ethnic nationalities refused that Col. Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu should establish an independent state of Biafra and unfortunately for us, the world powers backed Gowon and vehemently refused that we go our separate ways. Only four countries, including Gabon were on the side of Biafra.

As a matter of fact, it was difficult to survive in Biafra land during the war as there was blockade at all borders, air and sea and it took the courage of an organisation called Caritas to wade into the war through its humanitarian work. The Caritas, a humanitarian group in the Catholic Church, saved the Easterners from dying of Kwashiorkor due to hunger and starvation. This humanitarian group took risk, flew in their airplane and supplied us food in midnight. They dropped food on makeshift runways which are tarred roads. The pilots are given codes to differentiate them from enemies. We ate lizards, frogs and leaves at battle field as there was no farming or trading at battle fields and many parts of Igbo land.

I got injured at Owaza near Rivers State and I still feel the pain up to this day. War is not a tea party. I lost blood and on many occasions, I had to use dead bodies as shield. That I am alive is still a miracle to me. That is why I am bitter that nobody is recognising or talking of our ordeals in the war. Ndigbo were slaughtered in their numbers in the North. Ndigbo were oppressed and marginalised and these caused the war.

 

Have we learnt any lesson?

Today, things have not changed. The North is still regarding leadership of this country as their birthright.  I know it will end someday. Biafra is not dead. Biafra lives in the heart of every Biafra soldier and indeed in every Igbo man. I blame the British for the conspiracy against Ndigbo. The British tutored the Hausa/Fulani that they should not allow Ndigbo to rule Nigeria.

At 71, I cannot go to war again. Who am I going to fight for? I did my best at that time and now it is left for the younger generation to continue where we stopped. I have no regret fighting for Biafra.

I strongly commend Igbo freedom fighters like the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the founder of Biafra Zionists Federation (BZF), Benjamin Kanu. If not for some of these pro-Biafra leaders, the Hausa/Fulani jihadists would have since taken over Igbo land. I continue to wonder why our political leaders are not speaking out. Where are Igbo educated elite? Where are the business class and legal luminaries? Are they not quiet out of cowardice and foolishness?