₦airaland Forum

logica:
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]

More here:

http://rethinkingbiafra..com.ng/2012/10/biafran-war-crimes-horror-in-midwest.html?m=1

I had read about these massacres on other websites as well. You may search if you want to know more.

How come the Federal massacres are so much more documented in content and context that it spiraled an international outrage after the war? So much that documentaries were even made in those areas affected by Nigerian massacres and are accessible on youtube today!!, not denying that Biafrans didn't commit atrocities, but the chances that the Nigerian side committed atrocities at a more horrendous scale can't be overemphasized! There are very limited if credible reports of Biafran genocides.

logica:
That I will not doubt (especially with documentary evidence) An ambush is what it is. Book Haram had been using this element of surprise and knowledge of the terrain for years against the Nigerian Army. Just know that the story of about 180 soldiers holding forte at a bridge at Ore is no moonlight tale. It is historical fact.

But then that is hardly any feat to be proud about, considering the fact that in many sectors of the war in Biafra, a vastly numbered force of Nigerian troops blessed with a preponderance of ferrets, saladin armoured cars, light and heavy weapons still saw hell when they faced a thin force of Biafrans armed with just bolt action rifles and small arms, so there were heroics on both sides...just not told enough by those that weren't there.

logica:
Guy, you can make things up sha. Mid-West succumbed easily because of the collusion of the Delta-Igbos. Initially the non-Igbos from the Mid-West were ambivalent towards the Biafrans until the Biafrans started a reign of terror of r@pe and murders and general ill-treatment; culminating in mutiny against the Biafrans and eventually leading up to anarchy in the region.

There were definitely pockets of resistance by the Federal side that were easily brushed away from the Biafrans, and that goes without saying that they weren't collaborations by Midwest Igbo officers as well, but then such is the case in all wars! Biafran troops did commit atrocities albeit in much more controlled situations than the Federal side who just ran amok and slaughtered 700 innocent civilians Asaba, and that's not including the various undocumented incidences of Federal atrocities in areas like Ogwashi ukwu, Agbor, Iselle Ukwu etc...those people still recount those tales of horror till these day.

logica:
How can they report what they didn't witness? We are talking about events which occurred before the arrival of reinforcements.

That's the problem, the Valor of the Federal troops in the Midwest though not in doubt was definitely amplified to unprecedented heights of exaggeration, do you know a platoon size of just 80 Biafran soldiers were responsible for the biggest ambush ever in the civil war at Abagana?

laudate:
Again, you persist in churning out the fallacy that the Biafran forces wiped out the Nigerian soldiers at Ore, when nothing could be further from the truth, all because you have chosen to swallow Madiebo's tales. Madiebo was far from the battlefield and was relying on second-hand information & dispatches. Those who were right there, have made it clear that the federal side vanquished the Biafran soldiers at Ore, still you are disputing the facts. Ok, believe what you like if it makes you feel better!

As for the Midwest, the Biafran forces took advantage of the fact that the federal side did not have a battalion on ground in that region, to attack the old Midwest. Ojukwu had agreed with Ejoor, that the Midwest would remain a neutral territory. But when Ejoor's back was turned, what did Ojukwu do? He gave instructions for the invasion. Less than a month later, the federal side took over the old Midwest again, & retrieved it from the Biafran forces. Where were your effective Biafran forces when the federal soldiers regained hold of the territory?

Interesting, mind providing a source to that claim that Ojukwu and Ejoor agreed on the neutrality of the midwest?? And of course all is fair in war right? We didn't fire the first shots, your Federal side did at Garden (July 6,1967), and the invasion of the Midwest was only reactionary as well as diversionary...at the time the Midwest though neutral, was still very much Federal territory..so Biafrans had every right and reason to take the war to Nigerian soil as you did to ours

laudate:
Again, you persist in churning out the fallacy that the Biafran forces wiped out the Nigerian soldiers at Ore, when nothing could be further from the truth, all because you have chosen to swallow Madiebo's tales. Madiebo was far from the battlefield and was relying on second-hand information & dispatches. Those who were right there, have made it clear that the federal side vanquished the Biafran soldiers at Ore, still you are disputing the facts. Ok, believe what you like if it makes you feel better!

Give me a neutral version aside from your Federal camp that Biafrans were roundly defeated at Ore? I need a neutral source, cause I'll definitely not swallow the tales from either your Nigerian archive of lies or even the Biafran side, both sides told culpable lies to boost their war propaganda's, so let's keep that in perspective...we can turn this into another academic debate and learn more that way.

logica:
If you know about military strategy and trickery, you will know how a small force can hold much bigger numbers at a BRIDGE. This is standard military tactic; added with the trickery where you make it appear your numbers are larger than actual. Deception.

But then nothing of that sort ever happened, cause all the books written by Federal commanders like Obj in "My command" or even Alabi Isama never reported anything close to that, what prevented the Biafrans from advancing beyond Ore was simply the ofusu bridge that was blown up by retreating Nigerians plus the valuable momentum of time that was lost by the Biafran command under Banjo at Ore, nothing more nothing less.

laudate:
So you believe "the Biafran troops were definitely thin in numbers and could not have been more than a company or platoon size," and yet "Biafra had no weapons like the Nigerians did", were able to win the battle at Ore?? As compared to a better equipped & better trained Nigerian side, with more weapons?? Is that what you think?? Is that why you believe Madiebo's account?

Element of surprise can make a small force look spartan buddy...for the umpteenth time the Midwest region was a buffer zone and was deemed neural at the outbreak of hostility, so it's very much conceivable that the region would have fallen very easily to the Biafrans cause it wasn't heavily defended, the Biafrans SURPRISED the Federal side as they didn't even see the invasion coming, and when it did the Nigerian side were pretty much in hasty retreat, the Biafrans had the momentum of surprise,speed, and a degree of good Intel...that was why the entire Midwest crumbled like a pack of wild cards when the Biafrans struck, and such was the success of the invasion that the Biafrans covered far more ground that they even anticipated, Ore was there for the taking but Banjo decided for reasons best known to him halt the attack, even your Alabi Isama reported that Biafrans had the momentum, cause he was with the Biafrans before he defected to the Nigerian side... the Nigerian troops were surely not better trained, Igbos always had the best crop of military officers right from the post independence era to ...Nigerian soldiers were simply better equipped, and that alone didn't save them when they were wiped out by a small Biafran force at the botched river crossing attempt at Asaba three times.

laudate:
You seem to be very sure of your own folktales about the bravery of the troops that Banjo was leading to Ore. Ok, what was the size of the Biafran contingent that was on its way to Lagos, and how much ammunition did they have? Let us compare and contrast the two battalions, on both sides.

I'm not disproving the veracity of claims made by your war heroes, I'm just addled with laughter at how much we are so gullible to believe everything the so called war heroes reported as "true" and this goes on both sides cause there are Biafran versions of Hollywood like feats as well...as for the size of the Biafrans that invaded the Midwest, I would never know the actual strength cause I wasn't there, but if I go by accounts of what I read to that effect, then I would say about a motley Brigade size of Biafran troops loaded on improvised armoured tanks and civilian vehicles invaded the Midwest in the dawn of August 7,1967, definitely a vastly understrength force to the large column of Nigerian troops that were later assembled under Muritala Mohammed , the Biafran troops were definitely thin in numbers and could not have been more than a company or platoon size sparsely deployed to defend the Midwest at the time the Nigerians counter attacked from Benin city...the weaponry was just as abysmal as the whole Biafran troops as we all know Biafra had no weapons like the Nigerians did, whatever weaponry that was absorbed came from the Midwest armoury when the Biafrans entered the region.

laudate:
Yes, it was Major Raphael Iluyomade. He commanded the Nigerian troops. His platoon was initially made up of 32 soldiers, but they later received a reinforcement of 175 soldiers to join them.

Lol Hollywood flick narration, if you believe that balderdash about 32 soldiers holding back a large force of Biafrans, then I have a castle in the air to sell to you...how come these unimaginable feat of bravery wasn't widely reported apart from Major Iluyomade's own version of home cooked tales by moonlight? The story is just as equivalent to the one some old folk who fought in the Biafran war used to brag to us about...like how he single handedly halted a whole battalion of advancing Nigerian troops with his well timed ogbunigwe...only difference is he always told this tale whenever he was in his alcohol induced state of mind.

laudate:
Madiebo was NOT on the Ore battle-field, but Godwin Alabi-Isama was there.

And therefore I believe anything that comes out from Alabi-Isama 's camp? while we at it then read Achuzia's own version from his book called "Requiem Biafra" I have it with me right now and it was quite a great read...and Achuzia definitely saw action in the Midwest campaign.

laudate:
Forsyth was definitely NOT neutral. He was a hack writer recruited by Ojukwu, to write his biography in the most flattering way possible. So how on earth could he have been objective? This same Forsyth came up a few years later to claim he was an M16 agent at that time, working for the British secret service. The MI6 declined to corroborate his claims.

As for the battle at Ore, please read the book written by Godwin Alabi-Isama titled the Tragedy of Victory, for a first hand account of what took place on the Ore battle-field.

You can believe the version of Alabi Osama, while I take the side of Alexander Madiebo a Biafran general who also saw it all...also read the book written by Madiebo called "The Nigerian revolution and the Biafran war."

SuperS1Panther:
You are daft if you are not well prepared for their attack.

Decimate in such a manner that it will forever be in their folklore not to find their way to your land again.

The same way Ore folklore always remind some people not to ever head towards the land of Oduduwa again.

Man your type dey run at the sound of ordinary tyre wey burst, na you get mouth pass

AnanseK:
Crocodile tears, no one will ever trust igbos. You can go anytime you chose to.

Your trust doesn't add a dime to my account or any Igbo for that matter , So you and your people are inconsequential.

Aigbofa:
I will take the account of people who were actually there.

We are still saying the same thing, but what version are we to trust when we weren't even there ourselves? Except you were born during the war and saw with your Korokoro eyes what went down, then I'll probably sit up and listen.

Aigbofa:
Frederick Forsyth was a Biafran sympathizer and a very good fiction writer. He wrote "the day of the jackal" His Biafran account was probably another fiction too.

Like I said...I'll take the fictional account of him over any Nigerian or even Biafran version, and I could interest you on so many more books that confirmed the Midwest account from even pro Nigerian sides if you want, I've spent a good part of my youth reading vastly on the Nigerian civil war, and I surely can miss out on a good debate.

AnanseK:
Genocidal blood thirsty Igbo maniacs brought Nigeria to the very sorry state of mistrust and mutual hatred we are in now.

Yeah it was Igbos that wasted the likes of Abiola, Kudirat, Annulled June 12, brought militancy to the Niger delta, and instigated fulani menace and Boko haram...always easy to blame the Igbos like the Germans blamed the Jews back in the Holocaust era...the Igbos were never your friends buddy, we left you guys in 1967 but your people said No, it must be One Nigeria....thousands died on both sides as a result of this, so why blame Igbos now?

Aigbofa:
Yours is the Biafran version of course. The Biafrans led by Banjo were brutally defeated at Ore, that is the true version. The mid west was already in the hand of the Biafrans and the main road to Lagos was not defended? I bet uncle Uche told you this story.

Pick up the book called "the Biafran story" by Frederick Forsyth a British journalist who covered the events of the war and read dude, I would rather take the version of a neutral party serious than any source from the Biafran or Nigerian side, the transparency of truth should never be tainted by ethnic sentiments, Biafran troops were not brutally defeated at Ore, the Federal garrison defending Ore was routed, Ore and Okitipupa were firmly in Biafran hands on August 8, 1967, the ofusu bridge had to be blown by retreating Nigerian troops to halt rapid Biafran advance while the main vanguard force of Biafran troops were HALTED by Banjo himself at Ore..countless courses from books written by foreign journalist even confirmed this report! Another book worth reading is the "Brothers war" by John De St Jorre...another journalist who covered the war from both sides, that has to be the most neutral version of the war as it spelled in black and white the true events of the Nigerian civil war.

Aigbofa:
You are naive, the most important battles on the Biafran side was led by Victor Banjo, a Yoruba. He led the invasion of the mid west and was only stopped at Ore, does that make it less of an ibo invasion?

The most important battle of Biafra surely wasn't the Midwest invasion sir, that was only a diversionary tactics to draw Nigerian troops away from mounting pressure on Enugu in the Northern sector of Biafra, and there were far more capable Biafran officers like Achuzia who came from the Midwest that would have led that invasion...Ojukwu for rather strange reasons that could have been for political aim settled for a yoruba of all people...he perhaps trusted Banjo too much since they were said to friends. And Banjo wasn't "stopped" at Ore, at the time the Biafrans had the momentum and could have advanced to Lagos as the road to Lagos was not defended...but of course Banjo halted the advance on the pretext of "consulting his sources in Lagos" and thus delayed the advance by some 48 hours which was just enough to buy the federal troops time to counter attack...but then one could hardly blame Banjo for doing what he did, he was Yoruba after all and it was only logical that he won't attack his own region in order not to be deemed a traitor. Had Ojukwu given command of the Midwest to a Biafran, notably of Midwest origin like Colonel Achuzia or Nwawo (two very capable officers who played vital roles in heroically defending Bjafra) the story would have been different...maybe just maybe, Biafra would have toppled the Gowon government in Dodan barracks and forced Nigeria to the negotiation table...if there was any miscalulation on Ojukwus part..it will be this one.

ImperialYoruba:
So what Yorubas were in the coup. It still remains an Ibo coup,for the same reason Biafra is an Ibo war even though Banjo was one of its officers.

What does it prove that three Yorubas are in the coup,does that justify why Ibos killed Ekoti Eboh,Maimalari,Largema, Pam, Akintola, Balewa, Ademulegun, Bello and many others?

We are yet to see anyone killed by these Yorubas in the coup. In fact you forgot to mention that Nzeogwu also recruited Hausa soldiers and the mortar used to shell Bello's residence were indeed fired by the Hausas.

It is Ibo coup and you all got wiped out for it. Learn your lesson and dont repeat. Ok?

Mor.on it does prove alot that 3 or more yorubas for all we know were involved in the thick of the coup, 3 soldiers could have had a kill ratio unimaginably higher between them so yes as long as those 3 yoruba or so soldiers marched in the cold winter of January '66 and joined their Igbo colleagues in the killing spree..they represent the whole yoruba nation by measure of association...nice logic right? it's just as mundane as your lots blaming the actions of some Igbo soldiers on an entire tribe...so the number of coup participants based on tribe shouldn't count after all going by that same logic! And 3 million lives that perished in the Biafran war surely weren't "wiped " out in vain...fast forward to today, far more Nigerians have also perished in the name of the same One Nigeria...look no further than Boko haram today and all the disasters that have plagued Nigeria since the post Civil War era

raumdeuter:
Mention the people killed by those Yoruba soldiers

ANuforo, Nwatuegwu, Nzeogwu Ifeajuna we have records of who they killed with verifiable links

Who did the Yoruba soldiers kill

They were foot soldiers who were very much involved in the coup you amala infested cranial dunce, of course those yoruba soldiers won't just have been recruited to clean the boots of their colleagues would they? As long as they had guns with them, they were very much full participants of the coup SHIKENA.

project8:
Wicked tribe always playing the victims card....
From this little flashback of history one can comfortably say they are the genesis of tribal hatred and indeed the blood of betrayal is running in them.
Some people are naturally wicked no wonder they keep disgracing us on international levels in drugs related cases. i wonder if they can manage themselves if given their country because its goin to be a crime filled country where ritualists are celebrated, where armedroberry make the law,where bribery is normal and i bet u drugs wil be a legitimate business there.
The truth is Nigeria is doin them a favour by accomodating them.if they truly wana leave Gej's era was a perfect opportunity bt becos hes of corruption and the new sherrif doesnt buy to their blackmail they spring up war of division
A simple case of greed and betrayal played btw chief ezeribe who claim to pick The now much celebrated criminal and terrorist Nnamdi kalu to be a rasio director bt kalu betrayed him to bcome leader of their well celebrated criminal struggle.
we cant separate them with betrayal cos its them.
May God bring enemies of Nigeria and it people to their knees

Aside from the thrash you just wrote, learn to punctuate your sentences cause all I see here is run-on's...I wouldn't call you a dunce in spite of yourself of course, reeking of sheer ignorance says much about you already.

A bunch of perhaps misguided military boys took the law into their own hands and decided to terminate the lives of their colleagues, truth is I would never know what got into Nzeogwu l's head to mastermind that infamous January coup...most of us weren't born then so we can only read about it from accounts of others who saw it all (and trust the stories will be riddled with half truths and inconsistent lies), so we can bash an entire ethnic group for the January coup, but it will border on sheer idiocy and hypocrisy to think the subsequent coups that happened in Nigeria weren't as bloody and merciless in its executions as the one in 1966, and that surely didn't justify the massacres of defenceless and innocent Igbo civilians all over Nigeria...but hey the great Igbo race paid the price for the misadventures of some soldiers, we have licked out wounds and moved on, today Nigeria remains a cess spit of decadence and I'm pretty sure Igbos aren't to blame for it this time.

All I just pray for right now is that my people leave Nigeria and find the much needed peace and serenity that we so need, the rest can kill each other there...it must happen in my lifetime,even if blood will have to be she'd again, I will proudly sacrifice mine for my children to enjoy their peace.

How daft threads like this even manage to see the light of day baffles me, and one will begin to wonder why there is a massive intellectual drain hampering Nigeria today.

Poetic justice well served by my Akokwa people( happens to a neighboring community to my home town Arondizuogu) Akokwa people don't play...take one from them they take 20 from you as recompense.

AlphaCentauri:
brah its chess not checkers. only big boys understand the power moves. and with that its bedtime for moi. was nice kicking it with yall.

Good thing you are taking your pathetic self to bed, cause you made absolutely no sense.

I'm surprised **** people from the west haven't accused Ipod of carrying out the attack.

omenka:
Let me hold my peace before they run mad on this thread as well.

Have you ever made an appearance on any of the threads about fulani herdsmen converting your homeland into a butchering free for all spree? are you really this much of a coward or just a pathetic piece of sh.it that lacks the simplest of human dignity? Go mourn your people who are been butchered daily by fulani's you shameless slag, talk of picking the wrong battle while your fathers house is already a piling litter of grazing cattle dung, and your mother a booty call to some turban wearing primitives...doubt this a.s.shole is even from Benue as he claims.

The fulani animals have turned Benue life into a toy, just play around with it and thrash it afterwards...seems the Benue people love to be wiped out, otherwise I can't for the life of me fathom how you continue to watch and do nothing like zombified robots while you get butchered like say tomorrow no dey...at this rate we will have to call this genocide, who the mess is the governor of that state?

Can't believe there is still a part of Nigeria where wild animals still exist and run riot...

girlfriendsnatc:
They should hurry and get on with it. The earlier the ibos start killing themselves, the better for Nigeria. Let them bomb their lands, rape their women, amputate and decapitate their men, or whatever the hell the red devil in their empty brains incites them to do. Let them destroy Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyin, and Abia. But let it be very clear, the South West will not take in this frustrated barbaric tribe as refugees. When Boko Haram started its militancy in the East, they said they were fighting for Islam, so the muslims there supported it and turned a blind eye when Christian populations, interests and investments were systematically decimated. But gradually the monster turned on the muslims too, and to date more Muslims have been killed than anyone else by Boko Haram, their lives shattered, and their territory almost destroyed completely. Same thing in Iraq, Syria, Libya...or anywhere else militants operate. By the time the militants you're supporting against the government unleash their hell on your societies, then you will know that militants are criminals, and they are not your friends. Let them start quickly, it's ibos that will be raped, brutalized, maimed, robbed, shot, terrorized, suffer trauma, sleeplessness, fear and whatever evil unbearable conditions that are consistent with war. As a lesson, I'm pretty sure if the residents of the North East could go back in time, they will never have supported Boko Haram but assisted the government in exterminating the criminals before they got powerful enough to unleash terror on their region. Ibos please keep hating on the Nigerian government trying to protect the nation and keep supporting your fellow criminal militants, let's see who will suffer when the consequences result.

What exactly is this dunce yapping about? how does the action(s) of some disgruntled group in some offshore community affect the entire Igbos? sometimes you can't feign daftness especially when it is inherent in your DNA, but stop making a public fool of yourself.