₦airaland Forum

oluwalfa:
Was your grandfather a sabo?

He had northern blood..

oluwalfa:
Was your grandfather a sabo?

What a strange question! How can his grandfather be a sabo, when he wasn't even a Biafran??

tbaba1234:
He had northern blood..

So a probable enemy. They did the right thing to look for him. It was war. He survived. Get over yourself.

oluwalfa:
So a probable enemy. They did the right thing to look for him. It was war. He survived. Get over yourself.

Get over myself Na wa oh!!

I simply told a story. He was not a soldier. He was a regular man who could have been killed for his tribal affiliations.

I have no problem with the biafran soldiers. There is nothing to get over.

tbaba1234:
Get over myself Na wa oh!!

I simply told a story. He was not a soldier. He was a regular man who could have been killed for his tribal affiliations.

I have no problem with the biafran soldiers. There is nothing to get over.

He could have ben killed but he was not. My own people were killed in their thousands just for their tribal affiliations. So when you describe the defeat of our protectors by foreigners as "fortunate", permit me to take offence.

Biafran soldiers were gallant. Biafran soldiers were highly moral and very professional. Unfortunately those that crossed to your side were led by a chief sabo and offspring of cowardice called Banjo. Turn your frustrations westwards.

oluwalfa:
He could have ben killed but he was not. My own people were killed in their thousands just for their tribal affiliations. So when you describe the defeat of our protectors by foreigners as "fortunate", permit me to take offence.
Biafran soldiers were gallant. Biafran soldiers were highly moral and very professional. Unfortunately those that crossed to your side were led by a chief sabo and offspring of cowardice called Banjo. Turn your frustrations westwards.

Biafrans were tyranical. My grandfather had most of his male children hidden except the few that voluntarily went to war. At least 1 in 3 of Biafran soldiers were forcefully recruited and taken to war front while most of those that refused were killed. Any elder who held a contrary view to Ojukwu and his fellows were tagged "sabo" and killed by the Biafrans. This happened everywhere from Benin to Calabar to Rivers and even in the heart of Igboland. It is no different from the way the present day agitators are calling Okorocha, Amaechi and Kachikwu traitors for either supporting or working with Buhari.

oluwalfa:
He could have ben killed but he was not. My own people were killed in their thousands just for their tribal affiliations. So when you describe the defeat of our protectors by foreigners as "fortunate", permit me to take offence.

Biafran soldiers were gallant. Biafran soldiers were highly moral and very professional. Unfortunately those that crossed to your side were led by a chief sabo and offspring of cowardice called Banjo. Turn your frustrations westwards.

Dem don start.... "Biafran soldiers were highly moral", my left foot!

We should canonise them and make them saints. Let the people of the old Midwest vote on this one.

The revisionists will soon be here.... dem don dey come, one by one! Hehehe !

abagoro:
Biafrans were tyranical. My grandfather had most of his male children hidden except the few that voluntarily went to war. At least 1 in 3 of Biafran soldiers were forcefully recruited and taken to war front while most of those that refused were killed. Any elder who held a contrary view to Ojukwu and his fellows were tagged "sabo" and killed by the Biafrans. This happened everywhere from Benin to Calabar to Rivers and even in the heart of Igboland. It is no different from the way the present day agitators are calling Okorocha, Amaechi and Kachikwu traitors for either supporting or working with Buhari.

Thanks for telling it the way it is, jare!

abagoro:
Biafrans were tyranical. My grandfather had most of his male children hidden except the few that voluntarily went to war. At least 1 in 3 of Biafran soldiers were forcefully recruited and taken to war front while most of those that refused were killed. Any elder who held a contrary view to Ojukwu and his fellows were tagged "sabo" and killed by the Biafrans. This happened everywhere from Benin to Calabar to Rivers and even in the heart of Igboland. It is no different from the way the present day agitators are calling Okorocha, Amaechi and Kachikwu traitors for either supporting or working with Buhari.

The bolded is simply sabotage. In any country at war where conscription is compulsory, hiding is treason punishable by death. There is no such thing as forceful recruitment. You were required to fight and you must. Army is not democracy.
The rest of your story is just hearsay. Biafrans never killed anybody for holding contrary views however if you start saying treasonable words in front of soldiers, don't complain if they treat you as a traitor.
Biafra was great.

oluwalfa:
He could have ben killed but he was not. My own people were killed in their thousands just for their tribal affiliations. So when you describe the defeat of our protectors by foreigners as "fortunate", permit me to take offence.

Biafran soldiers were gallant. Biafran soldiers were highly moral and very professional. Unfortunately those that crossed to your side were led by a chief sabo and offspring of cowardice called Banjo. Turn your frustrations westwards.

He was not killed because he ran away. If the federal forces did not come, he might have been caught. Your protectors were occupying my town, they were occupiers to me not protectors.

Biafra soldiers did commandeer foodstuffs meant for civilians for instance. Would Biafra soldiers have done better if they captured more territory? We really do not know.

I believe that we need to start moving away from these things and forge a great future. There is no doubt that there are legitimate grievances but we can not and should not develop hate for people because of a war that they did not cause. Most Nigerians alive today, did not witness the war.

laudate:
Thanks for telling it the way it is, jare!

because he was there?

The war has come and gone....

tbaba1234:
He was not killed because he ran away. If the federal forces did not come, he might have been caught. Your protectors were occupying my town, they were occupiers to me not protectors.

Biafra soldiers did commandeer foodstuffs meant for civilians for instance. Would Biafra soldiers have done better if they captured more territory? We really do not know.

I believe that we need to start moving away from these things and forge a great future. There is no doubt that there are legitimate grievances but we can not and should not develop hate for people for a war that they did not cause. Most Nigerians alive today, did not witness the war.

I can not move on when I am still being treated as if I am an enemy in my supposed country. I cannot forget the millions of my brethren that died for freedom. I may not have witnessed the war but I am living the consequences. My ancestors that fought just that I might be free and proud are insulted daily in the zoo and you want me to forget and build? Mbanu.
I am tired of you guys and your foreign-made country. I want out.

oluwalfa:
The bolded is simply sabotage. In any country at war where conscription is compulsory, hiding is treason punishable by death. There is no such thing as forceful recruitment. You were required to fight and you must. Army is not democracy.
The rest of your story is just hearsay. Biafrans never killed anybody for holding contrary views however if you start saying treasonable words in front of soldiers, don't complain if they treat you as a traitor.
Biafra was great.

Hmmn... here comes the defender of the Biafran army!! Your claim that Biafrans never killed anybody for holding contrary views, is totally at variance with what a lot of people experienced during the war, both within Alaigbo and outside it.

Please stop trying to create a halo for the Biafran soldiers, as people lost friends and relatives on both sides, during the war.

So labelling someone else's recall of events as 'hearsay,' is uncomplimentary and nasty. I bet if it was an Igbo family reciting this story, about how the federal forces wanted to kill his grandfather, you would have applauded him!

laudate:
Hmmn... here comes the defender of the Biafran army!! Your claim that Biafrans never killed anybody for holding contrary views, is totally at variance with what a lot of people experienced during the war, both within Alaigbo and outside it.

Please stop trying to create a halo for the Biafran soldiers, as people lost friends and relatives on both sides, during the war.

So labelling someone else's recall of events, as 'hearsay' is uncomplimentary and nasty. I bet if it was an Igbo family reciting this story, about how the federal forces wanted to kill his grandfather, You would have applauded him!

There were videos and eye witness statements of both locals and foreigners detailing the attrocities of Nigerian soldiers. There was one of the nigerian commanders bragging about how he would shoot civilians and even things that do not move in Igboland. There is none about Biafra except rumours and hearsay.

oluwalfa:
There were videos and eye witness statements of both locals and foreigners detailing the attrocities of Nigerian soldiers. There was one of the nigerian commanders bragging about how he would shoot civilians and even things that do not move in Igboland. There is none about Biafra except rumours and hearsay.

Cut the crap! The fact that there was no video recording, does not mean the event did NOT happen! So stop this misguided attempt to paint Biafran soldiers as saints!

If an Igbo was reciting the atrocities he went through in the hands of federal forces on this thread, will you claim his account was not credible because there was no video or eyewitness accounts?

There were eyewitness accounts given about the rough treatment that Biafran soldiers meted out to inhabitants of the old Mid-West who were non-Igbo. Yet, each time such references are made, your internet army shouts it down!

oluwalfa:
because he was there?

In the same way, you were also present during the war years, especially during the subsequent invasion of the old Mid-West?

laudate:
Cut the crap! The fact that there was no video recording, does not mean the event did NOT happen! So stop this misguided attempt to paint Biafran soldiers as saints!

If an Igbo was reciting the atrocities he went through in the hands of federal forces on this thread, will you claim his account was not credible because there was no video or eyewitness accounts?

There were eyewitness accounts given about the rough treatment that Biafran soldiers meted out to inhabitants of the old Mid-West who were non-Igbo. Yet, each time such references are made, your internet army shouts it down!

You confuse hearsay with eyewitness account.

princdebola201:
Orobator was in Benin, the capital of the
Midwest, at the time of the Biafran invasion,
and describes himself as keenly aware of
developments during the period . He later
conducted research on the invasion and went
on to become a professor of
history, specializing in international relations.
The essay is "The Biafran

Crisis and the
Midwest".
Published in African Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 344
(Jul., 1987), pp. 367-383.
Published by: Oxford University Press on
behalf of The Royal African Society.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/
stable/722748 .
The entire essay on the Biafran misadventure
in the Midwest is moving in its analysis of what
the Biafrans lost through the invasion in
terms of goodwill as well as in creating a
situation that united the Midwest with the
Federal forces against Biafra in the
subsequent events that marked the turning
point of the war.
I will present Orobator's summation of the
cost of the invasion to Biafra in another mail .
I post below an extract from the essay.
The most relevant sections on Biafran war
crimes are highlighted:
"
The relationship between the two
sides deteriorated progressively and
the Biafran efforts to secure the
people's support failed.
The battle front reports were
equally unfavourable to the
Biafrans who then resorted to
extensive witch-hunting against
suspected saboteurs.
The Biafran forces, who were
relatively calm during the first one
month of the occupationperiod,
became progressively edgy,
tightening the various governmental
gadgets of societal control.
As the Biafran hostility developed to
crisis proportions, the dusk to dawn
curfew was further enforced, the
Vigilance and Security Councils
given additional powers, and the
Biafran Army and Militia became
more ruthless in their dealings with
the civilians.
The civilian collaborators doubled
their spying activities to callous
dimensions. [45]
The situation drifted for the worse.
Taking the MidWestern refusal to
support the secessionist movement
as a demonstration of an anti-Ibo
and pro-Hausa stance, the Biafrans
intensified their search for
suspected saboteurs as every set-
back on the battle front was
invariably blamed on sabotage.
Heavier reprisals followed.
At Abudu, over 300 bodies,
including those of children, were
found in the Ossiomo river as the
Biafrans withdrew. [46]
Similarly, on 20 September 1967,
'there was a mass killing of non-
Ibo MidWesterners at Boji-Boji
Agbor', and on 23 September,
'non-Ibo speaking MidWesterners
were apprehended by rebel
soldiers at Asaba, Ibusa and
Agbor and taken [in two lorries]
to a rubber plantation along
Uromi-Agbor road and
massacred'.[47]
The more minor cases of rape,
extortion, seizure of properties,
and other punishments featured
abundantly.

For instance, a Warri-based
lawyer, E. K. Iseru, testified at the
Tribunal that he was stripped
naked and detained for three days
without food for agitating for the
Rivers State, and, when he
complained of hunger, he was
promptly told: 'there is no food
for Hausa friends'. [48]
45. Author's personal file. Also see
Press Release No. MW 215 of
1/2/68, p. 5.

46. This disclosure was made at
the Tribunal[ Rebel Activities
Tribunal of Inquiry (Ministry of
Information, Benin City)] by Chief
D. N. Oronsaye, formerly Principal
of the Provincial Teacher Training
College, Abudu. See also Press
Release No. MW 157 24/1 /68, p. 4.
47. Press Release No. MW 410
23/2/68, pp. 6-7.
48. Press Release No. MW 157 of
24/1/68, pp. 2-3.
Saturday, 27 October 2012 22: 30 "
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Oga OP these allegations have been debunked over and over. Please provide a link to to the source of this story. The link u gave leads nowhere

I wish you had provided the report of the rebels inquiry tribunal. The tribunal was unable to find any evidence of rebel atrocities and faded away into nowhere.

Op - abeg also bring ANY press headline of biafran "atrocities". Surely the press whether local or foreign would have carried it na. If children were found killed it must have been news back then.

oluwalfa:
The bolded is simply sabotage. In any country at war where conscription is compulsory, hiding is treason punishable by death. There is no such thing as forceful recruitment. You were required to fight and you must. Army is not democracy.
The rest of your story is just hearsay. Biafrans never killed anybody for holding contrary views however if you start saying treasonable words in front of soldiers, don't complain if they treat you as a traitor.
Biafra was great.

You can ask those who lived then to give you undiluted story. Why has Nigerian army not started compulsory conscription since we are at war? You cannot win a war by forcing people to fight against their will and mind you that attitude is one of the act that made Rivers people and other minorities dislike Igbos.

Boko haram has killed over 20,000 in front of our korokoro eyes.
What does Orobator has to say?
I guest its easier to be a political sycophantic revisionist pseudo scholar

princdebola201:
Orobator was in Benin, the capital of the
Midwest, at the time of the Biafran invasion,
and describes himself as keenly aware of
developments during the period . He later
conducted research on the invasion and went
on to become a professor of
history, specializing in international relations.
The essay is "The Biafran Crisis and the
Midwest".
Published in African Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 344
(Jul., 1987), pp. 367-383.
Published by: Oxford University Press on
behalf of The Royal African Society.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/
stable/722748 .
The entire essay on the Biafran misadventure
in the Midwest is moving in its analysis of what
the Biafrans lost through the invasion in
terms of goodwill as well as in creating a
situation that united the Midwest with the
Federal forces against Biafra in the
subsequent events that marked the turning
point of the war.
I will present Orobator's summation of the
cost of the invasion to Biafra in another mail .
I post below an extract from the essay.
The most relevant sections on Biafran war
crimes are highlighted:
"
The relationship between the two
sides deteriorated progressively and
the Biafran efforts to secure the
people's support failed.
The battle front reports were
equally unfavourable to the
Biafrans who then resorted to
extensive witch-hunting against
suspected saboteurs.
The Biafran forces, who were
relatively calm during the first one
month of the occupationperiod,
became progressively edgy,
tightening the various governmental
gadgets of societal control.
As the Biafran hostility developed to
crisis proportions, the dusk to dawn
curfew was further enforced, the
Vigilance and Security Councils
given additional powers, and the
Biafran Army and Militia became
more ruthless in their dealings with
the civilians.
The civilian collaborators doubled
their spying activities to callous
dimensions. [45]
The situation drifted for the worse.
Taking the MidWestern refusal to
support the secessionist movement
as a demonstration of an anti-Ibo
and pro-Hausa stance, the Biafrans
intensified their search for
suspected saboteurs as every set-
back on the battle front was
invariably blamed on sabotage.
Heavier reprisals followed.
At Abudu, over 300 bodies,
including those of children, were
found in the Ossiomo river as the
Biafrans withdrew. [46]
Similarly, on 20 September 1967,
'there was a mass killing of non-
Ibo MidWesterners at Boji-Boji
Agbor', and on 23 September,
'non-Ibo speaking MidWesterners
were apprehended by rebel
soldiers at Asaba, Ibusa and
Agbor and taken [in two lorries]
to a rubber plantation along
Uromi-Agbor road and
massacred'.[47]
The more minor cases of rape,
extortion, seizure of properties,
and other punishments featured
abundantly.

For instance, a Warri-based
lawyer, E. K. Iseru, testified at the
Tribunal that he was stripped
naked and detained for three days
without food for agitating for the
Rivers State, and, when he
complained of hunger, he was
promptly told: 'there is no food
for Hausa friends'. [48]
45. Author's personal file. Also see
Press Release No. MW 215 of
1/2/68, p. 5.

46. This disclosure was made at
the Tribunal[ Rebel Activities
Tribunal of Inquiry (Ministry of
Information, Benin City)] by Chief
D. N. Oronsaye, formerly Principal
of the Provincial Teacher Training
College, Abudu. See also Press
Release No. MW 157 24/1 /68, p. 4.
47. Press Release No. MW 410
23/2/68, pp. 6-7.
48. Press Release No. MW 157 of
24/1/68, pp. 2-3.
Saturday, 27 October 2012 22: 30 "
Share

If the alleged author of the above crap is a renowned history professor at Uniben, I pity the students that took a course from him. One of the reasons Nigeria is in sorry state points to goofy figures such Stanley Orobator. The bolded is the same crap espoused by Nowa Omogui and probably copied from his series. I can recall that when Nowa was tasked to name a brigade or even battalion of Biafran army that committed the alleged atrocities, the dumbass drew blank. Till date, Nowa Omogui has failed to come up with even a shoulder insignia worn by Biafran soldiers. The funny part of the saga is that these imbecilic dingbats turned quark historians were able to remember the dates, places like Boj-Boji, Agbor, Asaba, Ibuzor and even rubber plantation along Uromi-Agbor road yet could not remember any unit of Biafran army or sector commander. The Biafrans are not worried if certain basement fools from southern Nigeria chose to play slave to northerners but appreciate the fact if they leave Biafra out of public foolery.

oluwalfa:
The bolded is simply sabotage. In any country at war where conscription is compulsory, hiding is treason punishable by death. There is no such thing as forceful recruitment. You were required to fight and you must. Army is not democracy.
The rest of your story is just hearsay. Biafrans never killed anybody for holding contrary views however if you start saying treasonable words in front of soldiers, don't complain if they treat you as a traitor.
Biafra was great.

Benin and Igbo are not relatives why are they being forced to fight for Biafra?, oh i get it Benin is one of your conquared territories.
Did you now see why one man refused to give you passage to Lagos?, he knows you guys can't be trusted, he already saw the motive behind the Biafran agitation, expansionism and that desperate urge to rule over others.

Duru1:
If the alleged author of the above crap is a renowned history professor at Uniben, I pity the students that took a course from him. One of the reasons Nigeria is in sorry state points to goofy figures such Stanley Orobator. The bolded is the same crap espoused by Nowa Omogui and probably copied from his series. I can recall that when Nowa was tasked to name a brigade or even battalion of Biafran army that committed the alleged atrocities, the dumbass drew blank. Till date, Nowa Omogui has failed to come up with even a shoulder insignia worn by Biafran soldiers. The funny part of the saga is that these imbecilic dingbats turned quark historians were able to remember the dates, places like Boj-Boji, Agbor, Asaba, Ibuzor and even rubber plantation along Uromi-Agbor road yet could not remember any unit of Biafran army or sector commander. The Biafrans are not worried if certain basement fools from southern Nigeria chose to play slave to northerners but appreciate the fact if they leave Biafra out of public foolery.

The same nowa omoigui fairy tales replicated from place to place like herpes on a tanker driver.

What about abboki atrocities in the Niger Delta: Ogoni, Odi, Saro-wiwa, oil spillage, land grabbing, cheating and extortion. . .

What about abboki + Yoruba atrocities in the Niger Delta: Ogoni, Odi, Saro-wiwa, oil spillage, land grabbing, cheating and extortion. . .

abagoro:
You can ask those who lived then to give you undiluted story. Why has Nigerian army not started compulsory conscription since we are at war? You cannot win a war by forcing people to fight against their will and mind you that attitude is one of the act that made Rivers people and other minorities dislike Igbos.

What nigeria does with its army is not my problem
I am not bothered by the hatred of saboteurs

oluwalfa:
Biafran soldiers were gallant. Biafran soldiers were highly moral and very professional. Unfortunately those that crossed to your side were led by a chief sabo and offspring of cowardice called Banjo. Turn your frustrations westwards.

Na God I take beg you, stop this hero worship of the Biafran soldiers. All those who lived through the war, had different experiences to share about their interaction with Biafran soldiers.

Not every one saw the Biafran soldiers as professional, because many of those soldiers were untrained, inexperienced men conscripted from the streets and sent to the war front with little or no training.

In fact, here is a description of how the 'professional' Biafran soldiers appeared during their invasion of the Mid-West.

Quick Kill In Slow Motion: The Nigerian Civil War | CSC 1984 (SUBJECT AREA: Intelligence | ABSTRACT

Author: STAFFORD, Michael R., Major, United States Army
Title: QUICK KILL IN SLOW MOTION: THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR
Publisher: Marine Corps Command and Staff College
Date: 1 April 1984

The Biafrans probably lacked the capability to conduct such an offensive operation. In his book, Reluctant Rebel, Fola Oyewole details the lack of preparation for the Midwest offensive by his company. Here is a summary of one episode.

Upon his return from a battalion field exercise, he was ordered to form a new company at Onitsha. He delivered his car and possessions to family members in that city and reported immediately to his battalion. Within hours he moved to the Midwest.

His unit's mission was the capture of the army barracks at Ughelli. With an officer cadet as his executive officer and no experienced noncommissioned officers, the company was bused to the objective area. Ten miles from Ugbelli, he stopped the column and provided a short briefing, though he was without intelligence or reconnasissance. Fortunately there was no opposition at the objective.

Even so, the untrained and undisciplined troops engaged in sporadic firing which resulted in one wound. Such episodes illustrate just how unprepared the Rebels were for the war. The vehicles used for the attack included homemade armored cars, farm trucks and passenger cars. The Biafran soldiers were poorly equipped, and many were without uniforms. They were lucky to meet only token resistance from the few Federal Forces. ....

The Rebels gained some food, materiel, and the assets of the Bank of Benin which were expropriated in the occupation. But the losses far overshadowed those minor gains:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/SMR.htm

laudate:
Na God I take beg you, stop this hero worship of the Biafran soldiers. All those who lived through the war, had different experiences to share about their interaction with Biafran soldiers.

Not every one saw the Biafran soldiers as professional, because many of those soldiers were untrained, inexperienced men conscripted from the streets and sent to the war front with little or no training.

In fact, here is a description of how the 'professional' Biafran soldiers appeared during their invasion of the Mid-West.

From the "article" you quoted, we can see that a few poorly trained Biafrans were able to overpower highly trained federal troops in Ughelli At no time was there any mention of any atrocities against civilians. Always professional.

See nigerian army at work


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIQwpVXLZss

Note that at the end of the war, Biafra handed over Nigerian prisoners of war back to Nigeria, (Including Abdulkareem Adisa whom we captured as early as 1967) but no single Biafran POW was handed back
Nigeria killed everybody