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Biafra - Literature - Nairaland

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Biafra by Nobody: 8:52pm On Dec 19, 2013
Please check out my amateur write-up on Biafra, and don't forget to leave your comments.
Even though I'm not exactly a guru on the subject, I have seen a number of video clips and read some books.
Like I said, the write-up is amateur-ish. Please don't forget to leave your comments.
Here goes nothing:
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As His Excellency, Ikemba Ojukwu sat, he saw things fall apart before his very eyes. The yellow sun, only half-risen, had started to set. He was no longer at ease. He subsequently journeyed out of the land of freedom, out of Biafra, in search of a sign, a happenstance, in search of peace, of solace, a glimmer of hope, in search of an arrow of God.
So he said.
Ikemba's abscondment was a hugely demoralizing blow to the already dying morale of the populace.

The tropical vegetation had withered and died – all of it. The yam mounds bore an uncanny resemblance to anthills of the savanna. Was the famine better than the massacres? Or was it worse? Was it a commensurate price to pay for freedom? Was the prize even freedom, or was it independence?

The children were dying from kwashiorkor, or what was it the local populace called it? Yes, Harold
Wilson syndrome. They named it after the oppressor himself.

The infantry was reducing in mass. Young boys and, at times, adults that wandered on uninhabited
roads were conscripted in the afternoon, their heads shaved with broken pieces of glass, and sent out to the war front in the evening. They were armed with wooden guns and locally-made
landmines, Ogbunikes, which exploded prematurely when the trucks conveying the commandoes encountered potholes.

Tanzania was the only country that had officially recognized the Independent Republic of Biafra. Bless Nyerere’s heart. Times were hard. Nigeria had barricaded all its borders. Biafrans who traded across enemy lines did so at grave risk and they traded in Nigerian currency - The infidels! There
were saboteurs everywhere. Port-Harcourt had fallen, so had Enugu, Uli, and Umunachi.
Umuahia, the capital, was next. No one knew what to do.

No one knew what to eat. The people watched the goats to see what leaves they ate, subsequently eating same.

They would ask, “If only the Ministry of Information would not lie to us. If only they would tell us the truth. If only they would tell us that we had no food in our stores. If only Dim Odumegwu would tell us we had no arms. He had sweet-talked all our children into joining the Army. What did he expect us to use against the enemy. Were we to use our fists?”.

The relief planes from the Red Cross no longer came. Word had it that they were always shot down over Nigerian airspace.
Low flying planes came everyday though.
The first day one of such planes was
sighted, a little boy shouted, “Mama, mama, come and see. Helomplane is dropping black black
eggs.” Everybody in the yard came out to see the aeroplane eggs. But they were not eggs.
No sooner had they black metals dropped than an exploding sound filled the entire compound.
The mother felt herself being lifted and suddenly landed at the other side of the compound. She looked up to see the
headless body of her son running around, blood spurting from his neck, with hot shrapnel lying in an eerily-arranged pattern around the compound.

These days, the bombs came with incessant gunfire.
People had learnt to lie on their bellies in or around vegetation with their hands over their heads, or to run into the nearest bunker at the slightest hint of an overhead drone.

“Why wouldn’t Nigeria just leave us alone?”, they would ask? But of course, they knew the answer.
Nigeria would never let go of the oil, of its newfound source of income.

On that fateful day, Mama Adanna ran into the yard shouting, “It’s over, it’s over”. Papa tuned the
transmitter radio set to Radio Biafra and set it at the maximum volume.

Essien, Ikemba's right-hand man, was speaking. Biafra had formally surrendered to Nigerian forces, to Gowon, to Adekunle.

This left many wondering. Biafra, was it all worth it? What do you think?


---------------------------------------------

Tell me what you think! smiley

(Please note that this write-up is protected by the copyright laws of Nigeria and has already been published on another website. #Nothreats.smiley )

Re: Biafra by sgtmark(m): 2:39pm On Jan 01, 2014
Let go there... Nice write up
Re: Biafra by Nobody: 5:41pm On Jan 01, 2014
sgtmark: Let go there... Nice write up

Thank you very much. Your comment is greatly apreciated.
Re: Biafra by emeka94(m): 5:54pm On Jan 01, 2014
Awesome. Magnificent. Beautifully written and crafted. Keep it up
Re: Biafra by Nobody: 5:57pm On Jan 01, 2014
emeka94: Awesome. Magnificent. Beautifully written and crafted. Keep it up

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your comment. smiley
Re: Biafra by Nobody: 9:40pm On Jan 01, 2014
Nice write up but reading about the civil war brings tears to my eyes,I just hope we don't experience such again!!!!
Re: Biafra by Nobody: 9:49pm On Jan 01, 2014
ikeola6: Nice write up but reading about the civil war brings tears to my eyes,I just hope we don't experience such again!!!!

History doesn't speak well about the war. I also pray we do not experience a similar occurrence.

Thank you for taking the time to read the piece. I appreciate it. smiley
Re: Biafra by Canine1(m): 3:34pm On Jan 02, 2014
Half of a yellow sun, cry cry
.
.
.
Nice one mon..
.
It wes worth it.
Re: Biafra by Nobody: 5:05pm On Jan 02, 2014
Can!ne:
Half of a yellow sun, cry cry
.
.
.
Nice one mon..
.
It wes worth it.

Thank you very much for your contribution, Can!ne. It is highly appreciated.
Re: Biafra by kozykid(m): 6:40pm On Jan 05, 2014
War is a shameful thing! The IGBOS made a big mistake, u don't go into wars without having the necessary weapons! Nice write Up bro
Re: Biafra by Nobody: 7:34pm On Jan 05, 2014
kozykid: War is a shameful thing! The IGBOS made a big mistake, u don't go into wars without having the necessary weapons! Nice write Up bro

Thank you very much for your contribution, kozykid. It is highly appreciated.


Nice moniker, by the way.

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