Let the chains of subjugation be
broken, let the yoke of slavery be shattered and let the shackles of servitude
fall.
For the voices of your ancestors
and your dead are calling. The voices of your slaughtered children wail, scream
and screech through the night and they shed whimpering and pitiful tears
through the day.
They call for justice and
vengeance that their souls may be appeased and that they may find peace and
eternal rest.
For they were slaughtered in
their millions by the barbarians and infidels and they were butchered like
cattle in the sanctity and privacy of their churches and homes.
They cry for Biafra. They cry for
the land of the rising sun. They cry for the memory of the fallen and those
that stood like men to defend their honor. They cry for the pitiful souls of
the children yet unborn.
Heed their cry and honor their
sacrifice. Forget not the land of the rising sun. Forget not Biafra.
Forget not the slaughtered
millions and those that were cut short in the prime of their infancy”- ‘The
Land Of The Rising Sun’, Femi Fani-Kayode, May 30th 2017.
I have written this essay as a
historian and not as a politician. Consequently I am not guided or bound by
political correctness but rather by truth.
I do not seek to create division
but rather to establish the facts with a view to ensuring justice and healing
the wounds.
I do not believe that we can ever
have peace in our country without that justice. I write this essay for the
helpless and innocent victims of ethnic cleansing, mass murder and genocide
that were cut short during the civil war and I dedicate it to them.
I write it as a patriotic
Nigerian who fervently and passionately believes in the equality of every
Nigerian, regardless of ethnicity or faith, and in justice for all.
I write it as the voice of the
voiceless, the servant of truth and for those that cannot speak for themselves
because they are either dead and buried or because they do not have the skill,
the reach or the wherewithal to do so.
I write it for the young and new
generation of Nigerians and particularly the Igbo who have no knowledge or
recollection of most of these ugly events and who were never taught history in
our schools because the powers that be did not want them to know. I write it in
the name of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is not an essay for the
cowardly, the faint-hearted, the slow, the intellectually challenged or the
dull but rather for those that courageously seek truth and that thirst for
knowledge about our very ugly past.
It seeks to shine the light of
truth into the darkness of deceit, lies, historical revisionism and the
continuous and godless suppression of the ugly and utterly barbaric facts.
It is a long essay and
consequently I have broken it into two parts. I urge each and every Nigerian
and Biafran that is interested in seeking truth, no matter how ugly and
inconvenient that truth may be, to read both parts and to meditate earnestly on
its contents and assertions. Fasten your seat belts and come fly with me!
50 years ago today the Nigerian
civil war began and the struggle for the sovereign state of Biafra commenced.
Since then it has been 50 years
of blood, sweat and tears for the Igbo people of south eastern Nigeria.
The only redeeming factor is the
fact the last few years has witnessed the rise of a new generation of
relatively young, fresh, strong-willed and deeply courageous Igbo nationalist
leaders who have made it their life’s work and calling to resurrect the noble
vision and compelling dream of Biafra.
Names like the heroic Nnamdi Kanu
of IPOB and notable leaders of other Igbo nationalist groups come to mind.
Words cannot possibly express the
indignities, anguish and turmoil that the Igbo have suffered in the hands of
Nigeria over the last 50 years.
And no matter how one attempts to
put it or narrate the story it is difficult, nay next to impossible, to fully comprehend
their degradation and suffering.
Few events come close to it in
world history. Some of those events are as follows. Firstly the slaughter of 10
million natives of the African Congo by King Leopold 11 of Belgium.
Secondly the mass murder of 6
million Jews by Hitler’s Nazis during the course of the Second World War.
Thirdly the massacre of 1 million
Armenians by the Turks whilst under the leadership of Kamal Ataturk, the
founder of Turkey.
Fourthly the almost total
elimination of the Red Indian tribes and races in the plains and prairies of
the American “wild west” by the white American settlers.
Fifthly the commission of
genocide and ethnic cleansing of almost 1 million Tutsis by the indigenous Hutu
population in Rwanda.
Sixthly the 30 million black
Africans that were killed by white and Arab slave traders and slave owners over
a period of three hundred years in north Africa, the Middle East and the west.
Seventhly the butchering of at
least 2 million innocent Cambodians by Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge in the killing
fields of Cambodia.
Eighthly the ethnic cleansing,
mass murder and premeditated starvation of 1 million Irish farmers, peasants
and serfs by successive English monarchs.
Ninthly the almost entire
elimination of the indigenous black Aboriginal tribes in Australia by the
British settlers.
Tenthly the systematic and
cold-blooded elimination of 25 million ethnic Russians and dissident Soviets by
Russia’s Josef Stalin.
And finally the mass murder of
thousands of Bosnian civilians by the Serbs during the Yugoslavian civil war.
Yet, as unbelievable as it may
sound, none of these monumental tragedies and acts of the most hideous,
barbaric, cruel and sublime forms of wickedness come close to the suffering of
the Igbo people of Nigeria.
This is because in all the other
cases over the years there has been a conscious attempt by humanity to stop the
madness, to bring the perpetrators of these horrific crimes to book, to serve
them justice, to show varying degrees of contrition and remorse, to compensate
the victims and to come to the firm and clear resolve that such a thing must
NEVER be allowed to happen again.
In the case of Nigeria and Biafra
this has not been the case. Instead of contrition and remorse for the horrific
events that they were subjected to both before and during the civil war, the
Igbo have been visited with even more mass murder, humiliation, degradation,
shame, marginalisation, deprivation and subjugation since 1970 when the civil
war ended right up until today.
50 years after the first shot was
fired in a brutal and gruelling civil war in which we slaughtered no less than 3
million innocent Igbo civilians in cold blood (1 million of them being little
children) the Federal Republic of Nigeria has learnt no lessons and shown no
remorse.
In fact, the contrary has been the
case. Rather than stop, the slaughter of the Igbo has continued in the northern
part of our country without any apology and has become something of an
expected ritual and regular sport.
The Bible says “the tender
mercies of the wicked are cruel”. How true this is. What a country and what a
people we are.
Yet the suffering and
dehumanisation of the Igbo did not begin during the civil war and neither did
it end with it 3 years later.
It started on the night of July
29th 1966, almost one year before the war began, and it persists till today.
Permit me to share a narrative
that was sent to me by an Igbo friend who I believe captured the history of the
pre-civil war suffering very well in the following words.
He titled it “What A Country and
the Origins Of The Offensive Word Nyamiri”. He wrote:
“Aguiyi-Ironsi and Francis Fajuyi
had just been killed in Ibadan by a horde of blood thirsty northern officers.
The northern military had seized most barracks in the country and were
performing the ethnic Igbo cleansing that had been planned all along.
From the eve of July 29, 1966
over 270 Igbo senior military officers were killed in Abeokuta, Ibadan , Lagos,
Zaria etc.. As this butchery of human beings was going on in what was tagged a
retaliatory coup, the northern officers declared “araba” and ferried their
families home to secede from the rest of Nigeria.
But this plan was discarded when
the Britain sold the idea of oil to them and how they will profit from taking
control of the oil.
As the killing of military
officers of Igbo origin was getting to a climax, the northern civilians
unleashed their clubs and matchetes on innocent civilians all through the
north. People were cut into pieces. In 60 days over 100,000 Igbo lives were
mowed down by this sheer barbarism. In those days rail transportation was the
major means of traveling to the east from the north. So when the train departed
one will have to wait for its return before another set of Igbo could depart
from the North.
The orgy of violence by the
northern civilians was without limits. Students killed their Igbo teachers.
Colleagues at work killed their fellow Igbo colleagues. House owners killed
their Igbo tenants. It was in this frenzy and death orgy that the Igbo devised
a plan of survival. The plan was to run to the emirate and seek refuge until the
train that left for the east returned.
Many Igbo ran to the Emir’s
palaces in the north seeking refuge not knowing that the emirate was planning
the final Igbo solution. As they ran into the palace they were all welcomed. So
this encouraged other Igbo who were hiding to run to the palace as well. Then
the final solution set in when the numbers of Igbo seeking refuge was
increased. They will be allowed to die slowly: no food and no water must be
offered to them. For days the Igbo seeking refuge from the northern pogrom were
denied food and water.
They started crying, begging the
palace to give them water in their local Igbo dialect “nye mu mmiri ” but the
northern civilian heard “nya miri”. So that was the origin of the offensive
name called the Igbo by the north. Whenever they call you “nyamiri” they are
trying to remind you of your Igbo predecessors who they starved of food and
water until they all died. May 30th is another day to remember all those
defenceless Igbo civilians who died in that program that preceded the war.
May 30th is another day we
remember those who sought refuge in the emirate but were allowed to die slowly
in pain. May 30th is another day for retrospection and introspection on our
commitment to building up our homeland to cater for all the Igbo aspirations
the world over. Ozoemena. Maka odinma Ndi Igbo. ( meaning “another should not
happen for the good of Igbo people”). Send to all ur friends”.
This is a compelling, troubling
and moving narrative. It is also graphic evidence of man’s inhumanity to man
and, as a historian, I can confirm to you that every word of it is true. Yet it
does not stop there. (TO BE CONCLUDED).
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FFK, none of the current crop of the youths was old enough to comprehend the event that took place on May 30, 1967 that you are writing about. Is your message for peace or for war, is your message for unity or for divide and rule?. What is the assurance that when the old eastern region secede there will be peace among ibos, ijaws, ibibios, efiks and other ethnic nationalities that make up Eastern region?.
ReplyDeleteOne sided truth. Thank GOD, the only question I have for you is that which of the world inhumanity you mentioned in your story are orchestrated by Muslims? They were war crimes committed by non Muslim countries yet the only terrorist you know or can see in your thesaurus are just Muslims. Just because you are nobody politically in this country again does not mean you may be relevant with biafrans. Your former stories against GEJ and the East/Ibos are still fresh in our library. That's why a biased writer like you has no conscience and hence no future.
ReplyDeleteLeave the fool, when and if his godfather and friends were in government did he speak then... As to say the subjugation if ndi igbo started today, or in only buhari regime... He is in bad waters with this government over his looting so he will amplifier whatever any opposition fraction says or does to have sympathy support or friendship.... Yourba sense, we're your fathers not part of the Nigeria that fought biafra? ,.. Did the yourba man join biafra?... Don't patronize us
ReplyDeleteNever trust the classic yourba man,.. They betrayed the trust of Ojukwu except for a few good ones who spoke and where even imprisoned soyinka!.. Where was the awos and the obas.. Have we forgotten the statement of the Oba of Lagos so fast, "to push all the Lagos igbos in to the lagoon".. When ffk is speaking he is trying to loot our empathy and sympathy for his own evil and selfish reason...
ReplyDelete