How Gowon Re-integrated The Igbos
By
Haruna Poloma

THE ghost of the Biafran rebellion of 1966 - 1970 (note 1966, not 1967) was recently resurrected by Chinua Achebe, when he stirred the hornet’s nest in a war memoir provocatively titled “There Was A Country”. Whether that controversial title is an attempt to ascribe post-mortem “state-status” to the failed dream of a sovereign Biafra, or a present-day denial of the collapse - 42 years ago - of that misadventure by a present-day octogenarian, or simply a continuation of the revisionism by pro-Biafra sympathizers keen on re-writing a version of the war history favourable to their dream, remains open to debate.
I happen to belong to a generation that was born around the war period, which places me in my mid-forties today. Now in a country with a life expectancy of 45 years, one should feel lucky to still be alive to witness elders, at least twice one’s age, commenting on events that correspond in occurrence to the time of one’s birth. But that sense of gratitude is violently affronted when the comments of one such elder and a venerated scholar, Chinua Achebe, distort historical facts. His reckless allegation of “genocide” against General Yakubu Gowon, who ruled Nigeria at the war period, is not only a gross fabrication but tantamount to biting the very fingers that fed the Igbos at a difficult and trying moment of brutal conflict, when a less sympathetic and more vengeful character would have acted with severe and drastic ruthlessness.
As soon as Achebe’s account went viral on the social media, I became tempted to revisit the entire catalogue of the false assertions in the book that I deemed untrue, and to bring historical evidence to bear in their refutation. But for reasons of time and space, I have chosen simply to enumerate some of the policies implemented by General Gowon, both in the course of the Biafran rebellion and its aftermath in order to facilitate the re-integration and rehabilitation of our Igbo brothers and sisters into a federal Nigeria, rather than pursue a pointless contestation with Achebe. I consider such approach more beneficial to our younger generation for whom the Biafran rebellion is only a distant history, just as the 2nd World War appeared to my own generation.
The first thing to note about Gowon’s attitude to the Biafran rebellion was that he refused to view the conflict as a war with a foreign foe. Accordingly he declared a “police action” rather than a war against the secessionists. And this came only after seven different attempts by the OAU at peaceful resolution of the conflict, in addition to the “Aburi” meeting and subsequent fateful declaration of secession by Ojukwu. Moreover, in the course of the armed confrontation itself, General Gowon directed the issuance of a code of conduct for all federal troops, which required the rebel forces to be treated “fairly and decently” as well as the strict observance of the Geneva Convention in the course of operations by federal troops.
Specifically, the code of conduct required that under no circumstances should pregnant women be ill-treated or killed. Children must not be molested or killed; they should be protected and cared for. Hospitals, Hospital staff and patients should not be molested. Biafran soldiers who surrender will not be killed, but disarmed and treated as prisoners of war and were entitled in all circumstances to humane treatment and respect for their person and honour. No property, building, etc was to be destroyed maliciously and no looting of any kind was permitted. Women were to be protected against attack on their person and honour, and in particular against rape or indecent assault. Wounded soldiers and civilians were to be protected and given medical care, etc. General Gowon also agreed with his field commanders that no medals will be given to any soldier on the federal side after the war, as the conflict was an internal affair between brothers. Note that no similar code was issued or observed on the side of Biafra.
After the cessation of hostilities, General Gowon declared a general amnesty to all Biafran troops, which exonerated them from prosecution for treason and other war crimes and offences (no victor, no vanquished). Many soldiers who fought on the Biafran side were reabsorbed into the federal armed forces after the war. An opportunistic review of the career progression of few of the reabsorbed officers, which remains a matter of public record today, indicated that Navy Lt. O.E. Ukiwe rose through the officer corps of the Nigerian Navy to the rank of a Commodore, with which he retired in 1987. He also served as a member of the highest ruling organ, the Supreme Military Council (1975-1977), Military Governor of Niger State (1977), Military Governor Lagos State (1978), Flag Officer Commanding the Western Naval Command (1984-85), Director Naval Faculty of the Command and Staff College in Jaji (1981-84) and finally Chief of General Staff - de facto - the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1985-87).
Navy Lt. Ndubuisi G. Kanu also rose to the rank of a Rear Admiral in the Navy in addition to Military Governorship of Imo and Lagos States between 1977 and 1978, respectively. Air Force Lt. Samson Emeka Omeruah progressed through the Nigerian Air Force to attain the rank of Air Commodore, in addition to holding political appointments that included Military Governor of Anambra State, unprecedented three time appointments as Minister of Sports of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairmanship of the Nigerian Football Association, before his demise in December 2006. Similarly, Lt. Peter Ademokhai rose through the Officer Corps of the Nigerian Army to the rank of a Major General in addition to serving as General Officer Commanding the 1st Mechanised Infantry Division of the Nigerian Army. Army Lt. Sam Momah also rose to the rank of a Brigadier-General in addition to serving as Minister of Science and Technology of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
General Gowon’s compassion, mercy and kindness were not limited to fighting soldiers alone. He undertook the resettlement of displaced persons and rebuilding physical facilities in the east. Ex-Biafran civil servants who were in the public service at the regional level were permitted to report to their new states for reabsorbtion, while those at the federal level were also eligible for reabsorbtion into the federal service if they so desired. Each returning civil servant in the east received salary advance as “mercy pay” along with three weeks leave to enable them settle down after the war. Gowon also appointed for the first time and without precedent two Igbo civilians, Ukpabi Asika and J.O.J. Okezie, to represent the East Central State in the Supreme Military Council, which was the highest policy organ in the country.
Gowon also established a National Rehabilitation Commission under Mr. Timothy Omo-Bare and saddled it with the task of collection and distribution of drugs and other humanitarian gifts from foreign governments and international NGOs, a responsibility later transferred to the Federal Ministry of Economic Development and Reconstruction to expedite the flow of relief materials to war affected areas. Moreover, Gowon ensured that Ships carrying relief materials were granted advance clearance at Nigerian ports and accorded duty-free entry by Customs. Foreign relief workers were automatically granted visas at Nigerian Embassies abroad upon clearance with the Director of Relief Operations.
As part of the reconstruction and rehabilitation in the war affected areas, Gowon restored telephone link between Lagos and the East Central State within three months after the surrender of Biafra. The Onitsha Bridge which was the major link between the east and the west was reconstructed also within three months of the cessation of hostilities. Within a single year of ending the war, most manufacturing industries were reactivated in the east, and the cement factories in Calabar and Nkalagu were re-commissioned into production. To revamp agricultural production in the war affected areas in the east, Gowon also set up the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to support agriculture and provide loans to farmers although many of the loan recipients in the east “diverted them to other areas of business instead of agriculture” (Ojeleye 2010, P.89).
The list of other policies by General Gowon specific to enhancing re-integration of the Igbos after the war were legion, and cannot be reasonably addressed in this brief essay. Yet 42 years after the war, revisionists afflicted with the peculiar Nigerian ailment of selective amnesia, are now re-branding the same architect of our modern Nigeria, General Gowon, as a genocidal tyrant. But what did neutral foreign observers have to say on Gowon’s reconciliation efforts? Harold Wilson the British Prime Minister characterized it as “magnanimity in victory”. The Danish Ambassador to Nigeria, Trocis Munk, commented that “where yesterday we saw recriminations, distrust and destructions, we find today reconciliation, compassion and reconstruction”. Woodrow Wyatt stated that “there can be no instance in history, certainly not in this...century, where the victors have moved so quickly to succour the defeated and to heal the wounds of war”. M. J. Dent commented that “it was unequalled for its generosity in the annals of civil conflict and a real contribution in the making of peace”.
With the benefit of hindsight, it became evident that the Biafran leadership were the very architects of Biafran destruction, who set out to mislead innocent Igbo men and women into unnecessary rebellion in gratification of their selfish motives of personal aggrandizement. Let me confine my historical evidence to support this claim by quoting the Biafran elites themselves:
[b] • “how is it possible for one young man (Ojukwu) - a young and largely inexperienced soldier at that - to impose his will for so long on some fourteen million people among who is to be found one of the highest concentrations of the intelligent and educated elite of black Africa?” – Raph Uwechue;
• “those elements of the old government regime who have made negotiations and reconciliation impossible have voluntarily removed themselves from our midst” - Phillip Effiong;
• “Emeka (Ojukwu) craved for a heroic act that would make him greater than his father...Emeka was born out of wedlock. Emeka craved for an achievement that would force his admirers to forget his (illegitimate) birth...what turned Emeka into a bedroom Napoleon...was a complex of inadequacy” – Nelson Ottah;
• “Ojukwu rejected advice time and again on the need for timely compromise... (and the Biafran masses)...enslaved by an extremely efficient propaganda network and cowed by the iron grips of a ruthless military machine, had neither the facts nor the liberty to form an independent opinion” - Raph Uwechue;
• “The failure of Biafra’s leadership to acknowledge the absolute necessity for a compromise, even in the face of overwhelming odds, not only prolonged the war but ensured it ended the way it did...Thus did an insensitive group, clinging to sovereignty at all costs, succeed in taxing to exhaustion the resources of one of Africa’s most gifted races” – Raph Uwechue.[/b]
I rest my case.
*Poloma is of the School of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Limerick, Ireland.

mr.poloma you are indeed a fool. why cant yorubas give it a rest?

must you guys behave like women all the time.

talk brief like a man, act like a man and live as men.

Awake9ja: mr.poloma you are indeed a fool. why cant yorubas give it a rest?

must you guys behave like women all the time.

talk brief like a man, act like a man and live as men.

Why don't Ibos like Achebe give it a rest. And does Poloma sound like Yoruba name to you ?

felifeli:

Why don't Ibos like Achebe give it a rest. And does Poloma sound like Yoruba name to you ?

Not until we hoist the Biafran flag.

noblezone:

Not until we hoist the Biafran flag.

Not until you hoist flag. That line always cracks me up. Haven't you realised that you people are self-destructive persons who are being restrained for your own good ? I keep asking myself these questions :
1. Why do Igbos always believe that every one else hates them ? is this not some sort of madness ?
2.Why do Igbos keep wandering all over the place and leave your "biafra" where you want to hoist flag undeveloped ? Some evil spirit dey puruse you ?
Stop smoking igbo, ok ?

felifeli:

Not until you hoist flag. That line always cracks me up. Haven't you realised that you people are self-destructive persons who are being restrained for your own good ? I keep asking myself these questions :
1. Why do Igbos always believe that every one else hates them ? is this not some sort of madness ?
2.Why do Igbos keep wandering all over the place and leave your "biafra" where you want to hoist flag undeveloped ? Some evil spirit dey puruse you ?
Stop smoking igbo, ok ?

Please, control yourself before you get cracked up. By the way, why would you crack up about Biafra and her flag?

1. It is not about Igbo's believing that everyone else hate them. Rather, it is about Igbo's facing the truth that other Nigerians are scared of facing: that Nigeria was a mistake of the overzealous white man and that we need to stay apart so we can make progress.

If you guys are comfortable with the slaughtering going on in Jos, Borno, Kaduna, Yobe, etc, we are not. We are just calling a spade a spade. Nigeria is not one, was never one and will never be one.

2. That we sojurn more than every other in Nigeria is a prove that we are more detribalised than all others. WE are not scared to settle and develop where ever we found ourselves. Yet, that we are Biafrans does not stop us from doing business in Ghana, Mali, Niger Delta, Arewa, Britain or any other country.

Emm, I don't know how and where you got the inspiration that we (or is it just me?) are on drugs, but one you must realise is that Biafra is inevitable.

Quite educating script there. I hope our younger Igbo men and women will chose to see biafra for what it truly was: a dream of a single, selfish individual which God never allowed to come true.