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Re: "The President in Civil War" by
In his essay "The President in Civil War" (Vanguard April 15, 2000), Dele Shobowale writes: "Furthermore, there was no evidence that the Biafran Army committed more atrocities against people in the areas occupied however, briefly than the Nigerian troops who came later to dislodge them". This statement is one of the often repeated falsehoods about the Midwest Invasion of 1967. For the record I refer him to the 1967 Justice Omo-Eboh Tribunal of Inquiry report on Rebel Atrocities. At Urhonigbe Rubber Plantation alone (one location), well over 300 Midwesterners (including women and children) were slaughtered by Biafran troops allegedly for refusing them food. Many were hanged, others buried alive, and others shot. This is not to say violent reprisals were justified - because genocide is never justifiable. But it is important that the lives of "minority" Midwesterners not be trivialized in accounts of the civil war. It should be possible to lament the irresponsible behavior of federal troops (and civilian collaborators) in several theaters without downplaying the lives of those innocent Midwesterners who were massacred by the other side. The evidence is there - well kept in Midwestern, later Bendel and now Edo Government archives. Separately, some prominent non-Igbo Midwesterners were kidnapped and taken away to Biafra and detained - for 888 days - until the end of the war for no militarily justifiable reason - in some cases destroying their family lives forever. I might add too that some Asaba people who may not have been "pro-Enugu" were also detained by Ojukwu and taken across the Niger. The Asaba and other Midwestern Igbo speaking people suffered from both sides. So much for buffer zones. Secondly Shobowale states: "They needed a buffer zone between them and the federal forces and the minority areas of the South-South provided that buffer zone. Considerations on the Biafran side were mostly military because it was a fight for survival." Again I refer him to US State Department Diplomatic archives from 1964-1968 (available on the internet - http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/vol_xxiv/zi.html). BEFORE Biafra was declared in May 1967, then Lt. Col Ojukwu had already hinted (in April 1967) to American diplomats who had appealed to him to accept decree No. 8, that he was considering invading Lagos. Telegram 7981 from the US Embassy in Lagos, dated April 11, 1967 reported that "At one point in conversation Ojukwu had casually thrown out comment that he might have to order his troops to take Lagos." That invasion - or the attempt - eventually occurred in August. Indeed, as has been observed in a previous write up, using Major General Garba's book, "Revolution in Nigeria - Another View. London, 1982 " as a reference, as far back as April 6th, 1967 almost two months BEFORE the proclamation of secession, special branch police reports had alerted the federal government of certain activities that were to take on significance later. Two officers from the eastern region, (Lt. Col. Ude and Major Obioha) were in contact with some of their counterparts in the Midwest to make arrangements for the possible occupation of the Midwest by troops from the Eastern Area Command. The pretext would be that the Midwest was not strong enough to defend itself and that Midwest Ibos needed protection. This occupation was to be coordinated with a simultaneous seizure of the Western region, which (according to the report) was why some individuals (presumably Ojukwu, Awolowo and Adebayo) were advocating that "northern" troops leave that region. Ude and Obioha allegedly met with Lt. Cols. Igboba, Nwawo, Okwechime and Nwajei, along with Major David Odiwo and a civilian hotelier, Joseph Nwababa. Igboba and Nwajei reportedly reconnoitered the Ilusi and Ubiaja areas of the region to determine their suitability as a springboard for operations. This option would have meant bypassing Benin while advancing through Owo to Ibadan. Using the African Continental Bank (ACB), money was allegedly laundered through Nwababa to Military and Police operatives. The last has not been written on the war. Nowa Omoigui Columbia, SC USA
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