By Temple Chima Ubochi

45TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE START OF THE BIAFRAN GENOCIDE:
REMEMBERING THE IGBO MEN; WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES

On May 30, 1967, the Nigerian government led by Yakubu Gowon, with the help of some foreign powers, declared genocide against Ndiigbo, in the name of civil war, because, a people whose security wasn't guaranteed in the Nigerian nation, decided to opt out of the British arranged entity in order to control their lives and destinies by themselves. But the neo-colonialists, in collaboration with their local cohorts, didn't allow that, because, letting the Biafrans to secede, would had denied them the continuous control of the purse and pulse of the Nigerian oil that was only obtainable then in the former Eastern Region that was seceding. Just as a U.S. State Department Memo (1944) has it that "Oil resources constitute a stupendous source of strategic power, and one of the greatest material prizes in world history."

Prior to the war, Ndiigbo were haunted and killed everywhere in Nigeria. During the first massacre in the north, about fifty thousand Ndiigbo were killed. Then, during the second massacre that happened both in the north and in the west, about seven hundred thousand Ndiigbo were marked out and slaughtered. After all efforts to stop the massacring of Ndiigbo failed, the Oha Ndiigbo mandated Ojukwu to declare Igboland an independent nation, on the basis of self defence. Then, the Fulani oligarchy, and their foreign masters, mandated the government of Gowon to declare the genocide against Ndiigbo. Nikolaevich Tolstoi (1828-1910) wrote "You may not be interested in war, but war is very interested in you." Suffice it to say that there was a calculated plan to annihilate Ndiigbo out of existence in Nigeria, once and for all. The Nigerian forces bombed market places, hospitals, schools and homes killing unarmed civilians who didn't provoke them in any way. Those they couldn't finish through air bombardments, the Nigerian soldiers wiped out with tanks and guns. No wonder that Edward Abbey (1927-1989) wrote that "the tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state controlled police and the military are the weapons of dictatorship". According to Ojukwu, "the only reason why it was not called genocide then was because of the cold war. If it were today, what they did to Igbo people were much much worse than what happened in Rwanda or Eastern Europe. At that time, anything ethnic based was an insult to humanity and ethnicity became a term of abuse in politics. The aim of the genocide: it was to impose the final solution to the Igbo problem in Nigeria (to wipe out the entire Igbo race)".

Unfortunately, the international community overlooked the genocide committed against Ndiigbo while those who committed the holocaust against six million Jews were tried and imprisoned by the Nuremberg Tribunal, and, Germany is still paying restitution to the state of Israel every year, since then, till this day. Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), a member of the Nuremberg Tribunal then wrote "We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their fallen leaders are on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it...No grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy". Those who committed genocide in former Yugoslavia, were tried and imprisoned by International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Slobodan Milosevic died in custody and Radovan Karadzic is in custody. Those who committed the Rwanda genocide were tried and imprisoned by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. People like Callixte Nzabonimana and Augustin Ngirabatware had been sentenced.

Today, this column is not going to write about the war, as a lot have been written in that regard. Today, this column wants to honour the men, women and children who lost their lives for Biafra. Those people lost their lives for our collective good, although that Biafra is still a mirage for now, they deserve better from us for all they gave to the cause. Because, the Bible says in 1John 3:16 that "this is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His Life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers". Our big hero and the great one, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, has marched on to higher glory, he will remain in our hearts forever, just as Benjamin Disraeli wrote that "the legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example". But, there are other unsung heroes and heroines, who made the ultimate sacrifice, who laid down their lives, so that Biafra will stand. Just as Will Rogers (1879-1935) wrote that "Diplomats are just as essential in starting a war as soldiers are in finishing it." Those forgotten ones, are the ones this column is honouring and remembering today.

The crux of this article is that the three million plus Ndiigbo, who lost their lives during the genocide called Nigerian civil war, deserve recognition, they deserve commemorations, they deserve our honour and they deserve our constant remembrance. Just as Henry Ward Beecher (1813 -1887) wrote "they hover as a cloud of witnesses above this nation", and, unless the ultimate sacrifice they made is recognized, there may be no head way for Ndiigbo, as a people, in particular, and Nigeria, as a nation, in general, because, their blood is crying out for justice. The Bible tells us in Proverb 10:7a that "the memory of the righteous will be a blessing". So, as America marks its memorial day and remembers its fallen heroes, so is this column remembering those who died for the sake of Biafra, for the Bible says in John 15:13 that "greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends", and, just as James A. Garfield (1831 -1881) wrote that "for the love of country they accepted death". Today, we all should salute their courage, we should recognise their sacrifice, and we should do something memorable in honour of those Biafran heroes who gave their lives. Of course, they were heroes, just as Joseph Campbell (1904 -1987) wrote that "a hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself".

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A son never forgets!
They gave their lives so that I may live in freedom and dignity!
Nigeria murdered sleep! Their blood is upon Nigeria's head forever, and will continue to haunt the country until necessary reparation is done.

I remember the Yoruba sons, women and children who also gave their life for Nigeria.

A daughter never forgets.


I remember the Hausa/ Fulani men; women and children who gave their lives

A neighbor never forgets.

Their bood is forever on the head of Nigerians and Biafrians. No wonder this nation is cursed.