Ademola Adegbamigbe

Frederick McCarthy Forsyth, the English journalist and author, will be 82 this year. He was born on 25 August 1938. At such age when a man is moving closer to his grave or Maker, his conscience becomes sharper, his propensity for remorse gets greater. He tends to make all past crooked ways straight. He confesses his sins or does so vicariously- that is, on behalf of his clan or community or country.

That is exactly what Frederick Forsyth has done, blaming his country, Britain, for its bias against the Igbo during the Nigeria-Biafra war that spanned three years, 1967 to 1970. Another Briton who became contrite was Harold Smith, a colonial officer who admitted that Britain deliberately made the North to dominate the South here in all ramifications, using well choreographed policies of demography, appointments and politics.

Forsyth is a household name in the Commonwealth countries and beyond for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan, The Cobra, The Kill List, The Biafra Story and others. According to William Okugo Okereke: “This is the Man who has the true history of the 30 months genocide against Biafrans. He is not an Iboman! His books on Nigeria/Biafra are Emeka and The Making of an African Legend.”

It was when he covered the war in Nigeria as a BBC correspondent that the bias of Britain became clear to him. He revealed this in a recent article in The Guardian of London: “Buried for 50 years: Britain’s shameful role in the Biafran war.”

It was for this reason that the writer walked away from the BBC, narrating, “Six months later, in February 1968, fed up with the slavishness of the BBC to Whitehall, I walked out and flew back to west Africa. Ojukwu roared with laughter and allowed me to stay. My condition was that, having rejected British propaganda, I would not publish his either. He agreed.”

In the article, Forsyth reveals the sins of Britain: “I arrived in the Biafra capital of Enugu on the third day of the war. In London I had been copiously briefed by Gerald Watrous, head of the BBC’s West Africa Service. What I did not know was that he was the obedient servant of the government’s Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO), which believed every word of its high commissioner in Lagos, David Hunt. It took two days in Enugu to realise that everything I had been told was utter garbage.

“I had been briefed that the brilliant Nigerian army would suppress the rebellion in two weeks, four at the most. Fortunately the deputy high commissioner in Enugu, Jim Parker, told me what was really happening. It became clear that the rubbish believed by the CRO and the BBC stemmed from our high commissioner in Lagos. A racist and a snob, Hunt expected Africans to leap to attention when he entered the room – which Gowon did. At their single prewar meeting Ojukwu did not. Hunt loathed him at once.

Read a related story here

“My brief was to report the all-conquering march of the Nigerian army. It did not happen. Naively, I filed this. When my report was broadcast our high commissioner complained to the CRO in London, who passed it on to the BBC – which accused me of pro-rebel bias and recalled me to London.

“What is truly shameful is that this was not done by savages but aided and assisted at every stage by Oxbridge-educated British mandarins. Why? Did they love the corruption-riven, dictator-prone Nigeria? No. From start to finish, it was to cover up that the UK’s assessment of the Nigerian situation was an enormous judgmental screw-up. And, worse: with neutrality and diplomacy from London it could all have been avoided.”

Like Forsyth, Harold Smith, an accomplice in the lopsidedness of Nigerian politics, confessed (as quoted in thenigerianvoice)

“Despite seeing vast land with no human but cattle in the north, we still gave the north 55 million instead of 32 million. This was to be used to maintain their majority votes and future power bid. The West without Lagos was the most populous in Nigeria at the time but we ignored that. We seriously encouraged the north to go the military. We believed that the south may attend western education, but future leaders will always come from military background. Their traditional rulers were made influential and super human. The northerners were given accelerated promotions both in the military and civil service to justify their superiority over south. Everything was to work against the south. We truncated their good plan for their future. ‘I was very sorry for the A.G.: It was a great party too much for African standard. We planned to destroy Awolowo and Azikiwe well, the west and the east’. And sowed the seed of discord among them. We tricked Azikiwe into accepting to be president having known that Balewa is the main man with power. Awolowo has to go to jail to cripple his genius plans for a greater Nigeria”

Below is Forsyth’s article on the bias of Britain against the Igbo, entitled:

“Buried for 50 years: Britain’s shameful role in the Biafran war.”




By Frederick Forsyth

It is a good thing to be proud of one’s country, and I am – most of the time. But it would be impossible to scan the centuries of Britain’s history without coming across a few incidents that evoke not pride but shame. Among those I would list are the creation by British officialdom in South Africa of the concentration camp, to persecute the families of Boers. Add to that the Amritsar massacre of 1919 and the Hola camps set up and run during the struggle against Mau Mau.

But there is one truly disgusting policy practised by our officialdom during the lifetime of anyone over 50, and one word will suffice: Biafra.

This referred to the civil war in Nigeria that ended 50 years ago this month. It stemmed from the decision of the people of the eastern region of that already riot-racked country to strike for independence as the Republic of Biafra. As I learned when I got there as a BBC correspondent, the Biafrans, mostly of the Igbo people, had their reasons.

The federal government in Lagos was a brutal military dictatorship that came to power in 1966 in a bloodbath. During and following that coup, the northern and western regions were swept by a pogrom in which thousands of resident Igbo were slaughtered. The federal government lifted not a finger to help. It was led by an affable British-educated colonel, Yakubu Gowon. But he was a puppet. The true rulers were a group of northern Nigerian colonels. The crisis deepened, and in early 1967 eastern Nigeria, harbouring about 1.8 million refugees, sought restitution. A British-organised conference was held in Ghana and a concordat agreed. But Gowon, returning home, was flatly contradicted by the colonels, who tore up his terms and reneged on the lot. In April the Eastern Region formally seceded and on 7 July, the federal government declared war.

Biafra was led by the Eastern Region’s Oxford-educated former military governor, “Emeka” Ojukwu. London, ignoring all evidence that it was Lagos that reneged on the deal, denounced the secession, made no attempt to mediate and declared total support for Nigeria.

I arrived in the Biafra capital of Enugu on the third day of the war. In London I had been copiously briefed by Gerald Watrous, head of the BBC’s West Africa Service. What I did not know was that he was the obedient servant of the government’s Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO), which believed every word of its high commissioner in Lagos, David Hunt. It took two days in Enugu to realise that everything I had been told was utter garbage.

I had been briefed that the brilliant Nigerian army would suppress the rebellion in two weeks, four at the most. Fortunately the deputy high commissioner in Enugu, Jim Parker, told me what was really happening. It became clear that the rubbish believed by the CRO and the BBC stemmed from our high commissioner in Lagos. A racist and a snob, Hunt expected Africans to leap to attention when he entered the room – which Gowon did. At their single prewar meeting Ojukwu did not. Hunt loathed him at once.

My brief was to report the all-conquering march of the Nigerian army. It did not happen. Naively, I filed this. When my report was broadcast our high commissioner complained to the CRO in London, who passed it on to the BBC – which accused me of pro-rebel bias and recalled me to London. Six months later, in February 1968, fed up with the slavishness of the BBC to Whitehall, I walked out and flew back to west Africa. Ojukwu roared with laughter and allowed me to stay. My condition was that, having rejected British propaganda, I would not publish his either. He agreed.

But things had changed. British covert interference had become huge. Weapons and ammunition poured in quietly as Whitehall and the Harold Wilson government lied and denied it all. Much enlarged, with fresh weapons and secret advisory teams, the Nigerian army inched across Biafra as the defenders tried to fight back with a few bullets a day. Soviet Ilyushin bombers ranged overhead, dropping 1,000lb bombs on straw villages. But the transformation came in July.

Missionaries had noticed mothers emerging from the deep bush carrying children reduced to living skeletons yet with bloated bellies. Catholic priests recognised the symptoms – kwashiorkor or acute protein deficiency.

That same July the Daily Express cameraman David Cairns ran off a score of rolls of film and took them to London. Back then, the British public had never seen such heartrending images of starved and dying children. When the pictures hit the newsstands the story exploded. There were headlines, questions in the House of Commons, demonstrations, marches.

As the resident guide for foreign news teams I became somewhat overwhelmed. But at last the full secret involvement of the British government started to be exposed and the lies revealed. Wilson came under attack. The story swept Europe then the US. Donations flooded in. The money could buy food – but how to get it there? Around year’s end the extraordinary Joint Church Aid was born.

The World Council of Churches helped to buy some clapped-out freighter aircraft and gained permission from Portugal to use the offshore island São Tomé as a base. Scandinavian pilots and crew, mostly airline pilots, offered to fly without pay. Joint Church Aid was quickly nicknamed Jesus Christ Airlines. And thus came into being the world’s only illegal mercy air bridge.

On a visit to London in spring 1969 I learned the efforts the British establishment will take to cover up its tracks. Every reporter, peer or parliamentarian who had visited Biafra and reported on what he had seen was smeared as a stooge of Biafra – even the utterly honourable John Hunt, leader of the Everest expedition.

Throughout 1969 the relief planes flew through the night, dodging Nigerian MiG fighters, to deliver their life-giving cargoes of reinforced milk powder to a jungle airstrip. From there trucks took the sacks to the missions, the nuns boiled up the nutriments and kept thousands of children alive.

-Read Forsyth‘s full article in the London Guardian
Source. https://www.thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2020/05/29/you-committed-attrocities-against-igbo-frederick-forsyth-blasts-his-own-country-britain/amp/

That Britain aided Nigeria in the Nigeria-Biafra war is a fact.

It is just like telling us that fish or fishes live in water.


Modified: It is always good to apologies and mend fences with those that we have wronged, it brings an untold volume of peace of mind.

Did he talk about the first bloody coup in which igbo officers went on rampage killing leader of other tribes?

When will Igbos move on?
50 years is a long time ago.

This.

NoIgboSoundTueh:
When Igbos move on?
50 years is a long time ago.

When will Nigeria move on?

Nigeria keep marginalizing Igbo's and u are asking when they will move on?
If they complain instead of addressing issues Nigerians threaten them with war.

NoIgboSoundTueh:
When will Igbos move on?
50 years is a long time ago.

You will be the first to 'south' Igbo man will never rule Nigeria and you want them to move on,move to where?

Britain supplied Nigeria weapons to murder women and children.
If there is another war I don't see such cover up happen again.Thank God for social media.

Britain knew that a south with out north will be a great black nation that is why they joined us together with them and made sure they hand Nigeria over to them.They cant stand a super black nation.
They use northerners as willing tools to hold the more educated south down.

I don't know why I feel all these BBC reporters and others were all spies during the war.

I don't know if it's laziness or the op's post is too long, but I didn't read till the end.

SHAKABOOM:


When will Nigeria move on?

Nigeria keep marginalizing Igbo's and u are asking when they will move on?
If they complain instead of addressing issues Nigerians threaten them with war.

Whao, is this the same emotional manipulation again? Igbos are not ready to play politics, all that population and you are still shouting marginalised.

SHAKABOOM:
Britain supplied Nigeria weapons to murder women and children.
If there is another war I don't see such cover up happen again.Thank God for social media.

Britain knew that a south with out north will be a great black nation that is why they joined us together with them and made sure they hand Nigeria over to them.They cant stand a super black nation.
They use northerners as willing tools to hold the more educated south down.

I don't know why I feel all these BBC reporters and others were all spies during the war.

You need to use Internet to know more about your people instead of listening to Kanu or your biased elders

MinorityOpinion:
Did he talk about the first bloody coup in which igbo officers went on rampage killing leader of other tribes?

Damn Niggarr!

I thought you're Igbo

Hunt expected Africans to leap to attention when he entered the room – which Gowon did. At their single prewar meeting Ojukwu did not. Hunt loathed him at once.

Move on they say..

yet they tell you that Igbo man can never rule Nigeria

yet they systematically exclude the southeast in federal projects

yet they make callous statements about a whole tribe/nation ie: Elrufai family

yet they kill, humiliate and ridicule those from the Igbo tribe

points to note:

no nation can survive 2 civil wars, so keep pushing d Igbos until they have no where to run but react and confront

Germany lost the 1st world war, totally humiliated, they lost the 2nd world war more honorably. just like Germany, Igbos will redeem themselves someday

you can never annihilate the Igbo tribe, never

you can never kill the spirit of freedom, there was a Victor and there was a vanquished, but for how long? time will tell.

Frederick Forsythe....The main man of international inner politics and intelligence gathering writer...


I salute you sir , ..... for a masterpiece like ,


NEGOTIATOR......

Megredy.......if what you are saying is at variance with believe truth, then its show the truth was wrong...

Al Mansour.......I do not share your british taste for self mockery...



as for the injustice against the Igbo...you've spoken your truth,which remains me of utman dan fodio quote ,that conscience is an open wound only truth can heal...

Brittain

MinorityOpinion:
Did he talk about the first bloody coup in which igbo officers went on rampage killing leader of other tribes?

A country killed 3 million tribe men and women children inclusive and you want them to move on like nothing happened ? Think, use your head when making some statement.

big7:



A country killed 3 million tribe men and women children inclusive and you want them to move on like nothing happened ? Think, use your head when making some statement.

The figure was inflated by ojukwu and his propaganda media during the war, do you know this wouldn't have happened if igbos soldiers didn't kill Northern leaders and Yoruba leaders

DamnnNiggarr:

Damn Niggarr!

I thought you're Igbo

I'm not

,

MinorityOpinion:


The figure was inflated by ojukwu and his propaganda media during the war, do you know this wouldn't have happened if igbos soldiers didn't kill Northern leaders and Yoruba leaders

I don't even really understand what you mean by killed northern leaders and Yoruba leaders? You need to visit some reliable journals to get true facts

,,,

MinorityOpinion:


I'm not

Damn Niggarr!

Na wao.

But why you com dey carry Igbo mata for head like Kanu and Ojukwu??

You and blowmymind

big7:



I don't even really understand what you mean by killed northern leaders and Yoruba leaders? You need to visit some reliable journals to get true facts

Who assassinated SIR AHMADU BELLO, TAFAWA BALEWA, CHIEF LADOKE AKINTOLA? ibo soldiers

Don't listen to your elders biased story, it's you that need to read reliable journals to get true information

DamnnNiggarr:

Damn Niggarr!

Na wao.

But why you com dey carry Igbo mata for head like Kanu and Ojukwu??

You and blowmymind

I've nothing against good and intelligent igbos, it's Kanu and his minions that's the problem

.

ImembaCrystal:


Oga what happened to ANIOMA TRIBE, IKWERE TRIBE ok ... You call them Igbos when it suits you and call them IGBOID groups when you feel like ...

Let's not derail from the topic Pls, one thing I hate passionately is hatred, lying and propagating propaganda which a certain region is fond of, I say the truth as I see them, we can't move forward if we keep twisting the history, that is why the said tribe are still where they are now

That was yesterday.
Let face today and prepare for tomorrow; let sleeping dogs lie.

MinorityOpinion:


Who assassinated SIR AHMADU BELLO, TAFAWA BALEWA, CHIEF LADOKE AKINTOLA? ibo soldiers

Don't listen to your elders biased story, it's you that need to read reliable journals to get true information

So Nzeogu now is an Igbo man right? Not a Niger Deltan as he is from Delta state, like u enemies of Biafra always say? Confused lots.

Ojiofor:


You will be the first to 'south' Igbo man will never rule Nigeria and you want them to move on,move to where?

So Igbo want to be president of the zoo