BOOK REVIEW: The Nigeria-Biafra War (1967-1970)-My Memoirs by Patrick A. Anwunah

The Pogrom Everyone Still Denies

by Ambrose Ehirim

The Nigeria-Biafra War (1967-1970)

My Memoirs
by Patrick A. Anwunah
Foreword by
Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu
Spectrum Books Limited, 381 pp. $30.00

COMMENTS:

"As the Biafran Army Commander and therefore, an active participant in the Nigeria-Biafra War, I have written my own account of the war to cover details of tactics and general operational conduct. Colonel (Barrister) Patrick Anwunah, a remarkable Staff Officer both in Nigeria and Biafra, has now through his memoirs, revealed the logistics and general administrative aspects needed to sustain the Biafran Army at war for three years. He has thrown more light on the situation that led to the 'Statement of Peace' by General Philip Efiong to end the war in January 1970."

Major General Alexander Madiebo (rtd)
Commander,
Biafran Army

"The memoirs of Barr. Col. P.A.O. Anwunah, who happened to be my student at the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, has clarified a lot of issues not fully appreciated at the ending of the Nigeria-Biafra war. Reading these stories is highly recommended for all Nigerian (and African) youths for the benefit of hindsight and foresight."

Prof. Hochi A. Okafor, SAN
Vice Chancellor.
Nnamdi Azikiwe University,
Awka

"The memoirs of Barrister (Colonel) Patrick Anwunah embodying the entire story and history of the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967-1970) from the Biafran perspective, has come out on time to draw the attention of all Nigerians to the biblical truths enshrined in the book of Proverbs that righteously exalted a nation while sin or (crimes) is reproach on any people.

As members of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International, Enugu Chapter, where we regularly meet to share and enjoy the goodness of the Lord, the Colonel has used his wartime experience to urge all Nigerians to make more serious efforts to draw nearer to God if they want or desire to join the class of world citizens who are proud to call themselves 'The Happiest People on Earth.' Consequently, he is urging all Nigerians to hurriedly transform themselves from being mere churchgoers to being true christians and believers.'"

Conrad Bosah
Deputy Advert Manager (Enugu)
VANGUARD Newspapers

"History has suffered from the shortage of stories by the principal participants in the making of modern Africa, especially the perplexing post-colonial period. Patrick Anwunah, Esq has plugged a gapping gap in the history of Nigeria in particular and Africa in general with a first hand account. This much-awaited memoirs of an important insider in the Nigeria-Biafra war is an immense addition to the collection of historical materials for not only professors and students of African and African Diaspora studies but also for military historians worldwide and the general public."

Dr. M.O.Ene
Seton Hall University
New Jersey, USA

I AM NOT SURE HOW MANY BOOKS, JOURNALS, ARTICLES THAT I have read including oral stories told pertaining to the pogrom and Nigeria Civil War. I have read quite a lot and still counting as the story will never be complete in our own time and beyond since our offsprings will most likely pass it on and on. Just like any human tragedy, the pogrom and the catastrophic civil war must be told until eternity. I read some of the books back home , but I have read many more in Diaspora I now have heaps of the tragic event all around my study with the stories and analysis basically the same; but, though, from different perspectives considering the time and positions taken regarding an Orwellian act which goes down to date as the most blood-soaked event in the history of Africa.

From Chukwuemeka Odumegwu's Biafra: Selected Speeches and Random Thoughts, to Arthur Agwuncah Nwankwo and Samuel Ifejika's Biafra: The Making of a Nation, Adewole Ademoyega's Why We Struck: The Story of the First Nigerian Coup, Wole Soyinka's The Man Died, Elechi Amadi's Sunset In Biafra, Buchi Emecheta's Destination Biafra, Chukwuemeka Ike's Sunset At Dawn, Dan Jacobs' Brutality of Nations, Alexander Madiebo's The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War, Flora Nwapa's Never Again, John J. Stremlau's The Internatiional Politics of the Nigerian Civil war, Egbebelu Ugobelu's Biafra war Revisited: A Concise and Accurate Account of Events That Led to the Nigerian Civil War, Ralph Uwechue's Reflections on the Nigerian Civil War and many other related war notes and stories that had been in place, I think I now have a grip of the war's tale, including the "tell-flaws."

Patrick A. Anwunah's memoir is fascinating and a lot more has been revealed. It is an insiders point of view reminiscing mankind's horrible crimes against humanity the Hausa-Fulanis still deny. Anwunah had noted his book was "not designed for politics," but "a humble effort to bring about some understanding, reconciliation and healing." Born in Awka, the author attended Government College, Umuahia. Enrolled as an Officer Cadet "directly from school" and trained together with Mike Okwechime, Yakubu Gowon, Arthur Unegbe and Alexander Madiebo at the Royal Miltary Academy, Sandhurst, England. He joined the Biafran side during the crisis and dedicated his life to a worthy cause; the Sovereign State of Biafra.

The author spent quite enough time narrating his years at the Royal Academy, life in England, his beloved family, the role of the five majors in the coup of January 15, 1966 and the counter coup of July 29, 1966. First, the January 15th coup was seen as an Igbo coup which resulted to the counter coup of July 29th, carried out chiefly by the Northern military soldiers. But the irony of the counter coup as the author implies "is" that, then Commander-in-Chief, Major General Johnson Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi's defiance of numerous hints that a coup "was" in the making and likely to be bloodier than January 15th took the Commander-in-Chief's life when he and his host, Lt-Col Francis Adekunle Fajuyi were abducted by Northern military soldiers under the command of Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma and murdered in the most brutal of circumstances. But Ironsi, according to the author, had ignored every counsel regarding a counter coup on the basis "Ironsi had a personal and official policy of appeasement towards the North." The author, thus writes;

"He therefore failed to take heed, and ignored warnings of impending counter-coup manovres against the Igbos which were then becoming an open secret throughout the country. For example, from my G Branch of the Army Headquarters Office, I learnt that a high-powered Igbo delegation from Kano led by the veteran journalist, Chief Anueyiagu arrived Lagos to brief him on the impending threats to Igbo lives and property in Kano but he would not accept to be brifed confidentially privately before a formal delegation. Similarly, when Major Madiebo from Kaduna tried to brief him on the official counter-coup plan which included the exact details as received from Alhaji Suya who was a member of the inner circle and planning committee of the northern caucus, the supreme commander would not accept to be briefed privately."

Ironsi had been careless and had made too many mistakes. He had promulgated the "Unification Decree," also known as "Decree No. 34." He was warned of the trip to Ibadan. He had banned the Igbo State Union, the authoritative mouthpiece of Nd'Igbo which most likely could have saved more Igbo lives by way of its organizational effectiveness.

Had Ironsi listened, the story probably would have changed, especially when the first stage of the pogrom took effect on May 29, 1966 as Igbo civilians in the North were subjected to mass deportation, wholesale pillage and rape. The July 29th coup was also gross. The Northern "Jihadists" and soldiers had embarked on a policy of "ethnic cleansing" of the Igbos by means of terrible tortures, expulsions and massacres because five majors organized and effected a coup of which four were Igbos and the other a Yoruba. What has innocent civilians and defenceless men and women got to do with a coup that erupted within the military circles involving corrupt politicians?

The September 29, 1966 massacre of Igbos in the North was the last straw. Countless Igbos had been murdered. Northern "jihadists" and soldiers rampaged through Igbo homes, ransacking every house and stall owned by Igbos and killing every Igbo they could lay their hands on. Pregnant Igbo women were disembowelled and young children raped. Between May through early part of 1967, most Igbos in sight were killed and their houses and stores robbed and demolished. It was a pogrom.

It was beyond comprehension as Anwunah narrates extensively. The killing of the Battalion Commander, Lt. Col Okoro in Kaduna, the "summary executions of Eastern military personnel," the brutal murder of Lt-Col Gabriel Okonweze, Major John Obienu and Capt Iloputaife in Abeokuta garrison and uncountable atrocities committed by the Northern "jihadists." But nevertheless, Biafra was not to be walked over in four days as the Nigerian vandals anticipated. Biafran scientists went to work, most of them undergraduate students from University Of Biafra, Nsukka and "inaugurated what became known as Research and Production." Weapons were produced to counter federal attacks which led to "the recapture of Owerri, Ikot Ekpene, Oguta, etc., and the destruction of the enemy at Abagana," was seen as a major Biafran victory in a war that should't have taken place had the Aburi Accord been upheld and respected.

The stalled Aburi talks was of concern when Yakubu Gowon and his genocidal campaign against the Igbo nation suddenly in a 180 degrees turn reneged and launched the first attack on the Igbo nation which was patently revealed in Joseph Garba's book Revolution in Nigeria: Another View, and Anwunah cites Garba in that regard:

"It was clear even to the most undiscerning observer that civil war as Murtala predicted months before, was inevitable...It is true that on July 6th, 1967, Nigeria fired the first formal shot in the civil war."

Though the book made quite a number of references crediting Madiebo, and a whole lot of citations from the Old Testaments much more comparing the Holocaust to the fate of the Igbos during the pogrom and civil war, it's a well-written book. Not even Wole Soyinka's memoirs, You Must Set Forth at Dawn had in great detail what unfolded in the military barracks coupled with the pogrom that subsequently led to the civil war.

Like other books on Biafra, I recommend this book. It is a remarkable eye witness account broken down to the comprehension of a 10th grade. No doubt, like any other story in that capacity, it must be told until eternity.