NAIJASOM: The irony of life;

Most of the surviving children have grown up and living in mansions while the children of those who fought against them are suffering in poverty.

"Destiny can be delayed but can never be denied"

onitshaigbo: I declare in Jesus' name that never again will we Igbos suffer defeat!
We are Jews and Biafra will rise as a powerful, prosperous, and independent nation just like our fellow Jews in Israel!
If the rest of Nigeria tries to attack us, we will lay waste to Abuja and Kano like Israel is doing to Gaza.

cruise14: It's unfortunate that the refugees back then are now claiming to be the owners of a place once set up as shelter and refugee camp for them.

Smartsyn: Some men adviced Gowon to close the Cameroonian borders so as to prevent food and other relief materials from entering the Biafran territory and eventually many women and children were starved to death.

God ll forever punish those men, even in their death..

zendy: A lot of people make ignorant comments on Nairaland. I was born after the war and so was not a living witness to it but that did not stop me from reading books and researching about it. I also got first hand accounts about the war from my mother who was a refugee in camp similar to the one in these pictures and my father who was a captain in the Biafran army. I know all about the war. The important question to ask is "why was the war fought?" The counter-coup of 1966 saw northern officers rise and butcher any Eastern Nigerian officer or soldier they could lay their hands on but that didn't stop there. Easterners were butchered across the north and western region. Ojukwu was then military Governor of Eastern Nigeria. Ojukwu told Gowon to stop the killings but he didn't. Ojukwu even encouraged the Easterners who ran back home to return to the north only for them to be killed in greater numbers. Ojukwu sat down with Gowon in Aburi,Ghana and discussed the escalating crises and they came up with an agreement called the 'Aburi Accord' that would bring peace and keep Nigeria as one. Gowon signed this agreement only to return to Lagos and turn his back on it. With easterners being massacred in their thousands all over Nigeria,what would anyone expect Ojukwu to do? He did what he could to bring peace but it didn't work. How many of you would have stood by and watched your own being killed in the name of 'one Nigeria'? Ojukwu did the only thing any sane man would have done to protect his people after all peace initiatives by him had failed and that was to ask his people to return home and declared Biafra. Biafra was about the right of a people to self determination,freedom of association and the right to protect ones life and property. If any of us had been Ojukwu,we too would have declared Biafra. The war followed and the only reason that Nigeria defeated Biafra was the overwhelming support it got from super powers such as Britain and Russia. I want to add that it was the God given right of anyone or a people to decide if they want to be Nigerians or not,you can't force someone to be Nigerian. The war was fought for one single reason. For the oil resources of Eastern Nigeria. That's all it was, the northerners need the economic resources of the people of the South-east and South-south like fish needs water. Anyone who believes that the northerners and their Yoruba collaborators fought this war because of the 'everlasting love' they have for the Igbos and the people of the SS is a fool. 2 million people died,millions more suffered and for what? To give northerners and Yorubas control over the rest of Nigeria for 40 years. Look at the Nigeria they presided over,a country riddled with corruption,incompetence,porverty and insecurity. This is the so called dream of 'one Nigeria'? I pray that there will not be another war in Nigeria but we all know that Nigeria is living on 'borrowed time'. We will all go our different ways in peace or in pieces.

seunmsg:

I wish people like Asari Dokubo who have been beating the drum of war can go view the civil war picture archive and see the destruction and carnage that took place then. People who have witnessed real war and the resultant suffering will never wish their country to go through such again. War should never be an option to settle political differences. Nigerians really need to wise up and protect the unity and peaceful coexistence of this country.

Smartsyn: Some men adviced Gowon to close the Cameroonian borders so as to prevent food and other relief materials from entering the Biafran territory and eventually many women and children were starved to death.

God ll forever punish those men, even in their death..

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zendy: A lot of people make ignorant comments on Nairaland. I was born after the war and so was not a living witness to it but that did not stop me from reading books and researching about it. I also got first hand accounts about the war from my mother who was a refugee in camp similar to the one in these pictures and my father who was a captain in the Biafran army. I know all about the war. The important question to ask is "why was the war fought?" The counter-coup of 1966 saw northern officers rise and butcher any Eastern Nigerian officer or soldier they could lay their hands on but that didn't stop there. Easterners were butchered across the north and western region. Ojukwu was then military Governor of Eastern Nigeria. Ojukwu told Gowon to stop the killings but he didn't. Ojukwu even encouraged the Easterners who ran back home to return to the north only for them to be killed in greater numbers. Ojukwu sat down with Gowon in Aburi,Ghana and discussed the escalating crises and they came up with an agreement called the 'Aburi Accord' that would bring peace and keep Nigeria as one. Gowon signed this agreement only to return to Lagos and turn his back on it. With easterners being massacred in their thousands all over Nigeria,what would anyone expect Ojukwu to do? He did what he could to bring peace but it didn't work. How many of you would have stood by and watched your own being killed in the name of 'one Nigeria'? Ojukwu did the only thing any sane man would have done to protect his people after all peace initiatives by him had failed and that was to ask his people to return home and declared Biafra. Biafra was about the right of a people to self determination,freedom of association and the right to protect ones life and property. If any of us had been Ojukwu,we too would have declared Biafra. The war followed and the only reason that Nigeria defeated Biafra was the overwhelming support it got from super powers such as Britain and Russia. I want to add that it was the God given right of anyone or a people to decide if they want to be Nigerians or not,you can't force someone to be Nigerian. The war was fought for one single reason. For the oil resources of Eastern Nigeria. That's all it was, the northerners need the economic resources of the people of the South-east and South-south like fish needs water. Anyone who believes that the northerners and their Yoruba collaborators fought this war because of the 'everlasting love' they have for the Igbos and the people of the SS is a fool. 2 million people died,millions more suffered and for what? To give northerners and Yorubas control over the rest of Nigeria for 40 years. Look at the Nigeria they presided over,a country riddled with corruption,incompetence,porverty and insecurity. This is the so called dream of 'one Nigeria'? I pray that there will not be another war in Nigeria but we all know that Nigeria is living on 'borrowed time'. We will all go our different ways in peace or in pieces.

SirHouloo:
The web of leaders we had then were so daft that they couldn't reason out how to end the civil war. The only intelligent personality, a man with vision, a true leader, giving military tactics, though not one himself now deserves a train of curses. I believe that the story of Nigeria unity cannot be said without making mention of the output of his brilliance.

Feedmemore: The question is, did Nigeria become better after the war? 44yrs after the guns went silent, are we better off? Are we building a nation based on equity, justice, religious freedom, economic prosperity?

Smartsyn: Some men adviced Gowon to close the Cameroonian borders so as to prevent food and other relief materials from entering the Biafran territory and eventually many women and children were starved to death.

God ll forever punish those men, even in their death..

jaybee:

You tried; but did not get the gist. Ojukwu wanted to be head of state. by all means, including sacrificing a section of the country in a needless and unwarranted war, even a child would know Ojukwu can not win. the igbos fought a foolish war for pride and got the un-mistaken result. its no use trying to reconstruct history now. lets all learn a lesson on wild goose chase.

chloride6:
Do you want to eat?
Or
Do you want to fight?
You really can't have both now, can you?

onitshaigbo: I declare in Jesus' name that never again will we Igbos suffer defeat!
We are Jews and Biafra will rise as a powerful, prosperous, and independent nation just like our fellow Jews in Israel!
If the rest of Nigeria tries to attack us, we will lay waste to Abuja and Kano like Israel is doing to Gaza.

Gombs: It shall forever remain in the minds of the igbos, not the words of their enemies, but the silence of their friends...

But look at the igbos and the SS now....u cnt compare the strides they made in these years, yet ndi ugwu na ndi ofe ose ju na ndigbo aya nwuro mmri towoh iko.

Abokis busy driving backwards towards stone age, and busy blaming GEJ
Those West of the Niger only sabi "Eko oni baje o"

In summary, GEJ till 2019... after that, NOI for president till 2027....that's if rapture never happen.

I hope those people who advised Gowon to close the Cameroonian border are happier people now? God dey watch una and una descendants in 3D 700inch pasma TV

salam1: So d boarder was closed nd all dis tin happened was it dat d igbos don't farm or wat mi I know understand o

Mynd44:
Please look....so we all can see the price of our mistakes, our decisions, our bigotry, our comments, our hate, our strive, our no being able to live in peace, or madness and pettiness

kingthreat:

God bless you bro. May the soul of the great Awolowo RIP