For The Love Of A Nation, For The Vengeance Of A Father.

[Robot]

Adaptation from the yet-to-be published novel, A SEASON OF THE SUN by Ahaoma Kanu
...Read the full article.

[Agidimolaja]

War no good o! You better agree so, folks.

We must all see to it that another war is avoided.War is not picnic, it is bitter conflict. War is blodletting exercise. War is killing and maiming. To hell with war!

Possibly if modern day advocates of another Biafra could read stories like yours, they may cease to court troubles and stop their provocative war cries.

I'm as well sure that no Igboman in his right mind would want to go on such mission impossible because there is not on the ground such situation like that of 1966 that may provoke the idea of another Biafra.

Your story was so heart touching and I'm sure it is the whole truth as you presented it. It is almost fourty years now, yet the memory is still fresh in your head.

Nevertheless we on the other side of the conflict too had our own moments of sorrows and angers. Although exBiafrans are always too quick to report what was done to them,they failed however,to report what they too did to us. They talked of our hostilities towards them but would not mention their grave hostilities towards us.

The war was not a walk-over hence it lasted for thirty months. It was conflict and in some instances, bitter conflict and in conflicts there would be casualties. Biafrans had casualties so also the federal forces.

Inside Abala market, Federal forces,including my Platoon Sgt.Ambrose, a Tiv man were blown into shreds by "ogbunigwe" .So also was Kasali, my homeboy and good friend.

After we retook Abala market, we found the bodies of some soldiers that were earlier on captured including another close comrade, Sunday, a Mid-Westerner{now Edo}. Their heads and limbs were all gone.Do we have reasons to be angry and vengeful? You be the Judge!

One day, I was at our 12 Brigade HQ in Azumini,on a mission,when news came to meofhow34th Battalion just suffered shelling attacks. Among the casualties was another close friend of mine Leke from Ibarapa area.

I quickly rushed down to the Brigade's MRS acoss the road and to its theatre where he was placed.

He struggled to get up when I entered the room but his injury would not let him do so. He reached out to his pocket and brought out his blood-stained wallet.

As blood was still streaming out of his mouth, he called out my name and gave mehis wallet.As I stretched out my hand to grab it, he said, "If God let you get out of this war alive, give it to my father. Tell him, I was gone and to take heart". Those were all that fate allowed him to say before he breathed his last. He died in my presence. His wound was too bad.

His orderly quickly gave him a clean salute and hurried out of the place as his eyes were welling up with tears.

The attending doctor stared at me as if he was expecting me to say or do something. I wasgrieved to the heart as I stood so speechless beside this fallen combatant but I must not,as professional soldier display emotions,especially at a time like this.

I put my emotions into check as the doctor covered him up and we walked out quietly.

I stayed behind until all medical rituals were performed and the military paperworks were hurriedly put together.

I was called to where he was laid among other fallen comrades. There were seven of them awaitingburial. Several graves were already dug down and he was buried with full military honour some distance away from mystical Azumini River.

I briefly mourned his departure and then departed to my location in Abala where the struggle continued with the vow to do unto Biafra what Biafra did to our troops and my friends. I was only being human,just like the boy whose dad was killed.

After the war, precisely in March 1970 I fufilled his last wish. I journeyed to his village and broke the sad news to his family through the King to whom I went first and gave a full account of what happened.

You talking of sadness, sorrow, anguish among Biafrans?Let it be known to you this day that on Federal side of the war too, there were similar pains angers, sorrows and sadness.

This is only one of many sad events that occured in my presence during the war. Hopefully we shall never fight another war.

Please tell the Niger Delta militants to stop their war cries because when that war arrived, it shall bring along with it unpleasant cosequences.War no good o!

[VOR]

Biko, nyere nna m aka, ekwela ga onwu o biko,” he pleaded, I saw the pain and the fear with which he said those words

...he said,"If God let you get out of this war alive,give it to my father.Tell him,I was gone and to take heart

These stories are indeed heartbreaking. War is not a good thing and should be avoided. A couple of days ago another villager recalled was she witnessed during the war, all shocking "why did this have to happen" stories. I pray we never ever have to go through such again in Nigeria. All good men and women should join hands to ensure we save ourselves and children from such, lets jaw jaw not war war o! People say, eni kan lo'mo, eni kan lo'ye (it is he/she that is affected that appreciates the impact)

Ahaoma, I can't wait for the book to be launched, let me know so Agu Nwanyi can support o. Really, this was beautifully captured. Well done!

[Olamide]

War is not only bad because of the loss of lives, properties, dignities and savings, it also demeans the people and set you back decades. I remember while working in Sierra Leone with an American organization immediately after the war that I employed this gentleman who seemed to be very articulate and too intelligent to be an ordinary Security Guard.

I invited him into my office one day and interviewed him to discover that he had obtained an M.Sc. in Chemistry and Lab Technology from University of Louisiana, USA. He was the Chief Chemist at the Rutile Mining Company in Moyamba District, Sierra Leone and living like royalty until one day, the RUF rebels attacked the mine and they had to flee. He fled with only a pair of tennis shorts because he was playing tennis in the evening after work when the attack occured. From being a Senior Management staff with a good job, prospect for better future, a nice car and two houses that earned him rent every month, he became a refugee, penniless and reduced to depending on the mercy of others to survive with his family. There were nojobs, so he applied for the position of Security Guard to be able to earn money to take care of his family. That is what war does to people. I also witnessed the miseries of war in both Liberia and Sierra Leone while serving with Ecomog and will not like to see something like that again anywhere.

[Jucihart]

I remember vividly a line mark on my father's back neck and when we asked him wat that mark was, he said it was a bullet that narrowly missed him during the Biafran-Nigerian war. What that means is that I would not have been in existence if something had gone wrong. I can only but imagine what people went through or are feeling about their loved ones lost during that horrible season. The pain sure does remain. Time they say will heal, but I ask, does it heal completely? The scar remains and so the healing is incomplete.

My father has never supported any kind of war and so when the MASSOB issue was raging then, what he simple told us was that He who had seen war once will not want a second attempt.

That's a wonderful piece guy, and I cant wait to see it in print. Well visualised and presented.

[Obugi]

Agidi,

War no good o! You better agree so,folks.

I don't agree. What if war will ensure a free and prosperous future for (y)our future generations? There are many prosperous, happy countries that were forged in war.

We must all see to it that another war is avoided. War is not picnic,it is bitter conflict.War is blodletting exercise. War is killing and maiming.To hell with war!

Maybe, maybe.

Possibly if modern day advocates of another Biafra could read stories like yours,they may cease to court troubles and stop their provocative war cries.

I'm as well sure that no Igboman in his right mind would want to go on such mission impossible because there is not on the ground such situation like that of 1966 that may provoke the idea of another Biafra.

The conditions that provoked Biafra in 1966 are still around. Its hyprocrisy to cry for peace and then tolerate conditions that provoke war. War results from a natural human instinct to either impose injustice or redress it. Which one were you doing as a Federal soldier?

You talking of sadness,sorrow,anguish among Biafrans?Let it be known to you this day that on Federal side of the war too,there were similar pains angers,sorrows and sadness.

That goes without saying. The question is, what cause were you fighting for? The simple unvarnished answer is that Federal Nigerian soldiers were fighting to deny Biafrians, or at least the Igbo, their right to self determination.

Why would a well meaning person enlist to fight such a war, or agree to carry out orders to prosecute it? There is such a thing as conscientious objection to war. People like Wole Soyinka went to prison protesting Nigerias pursuit of that war.

This is only one of many sad events that occured in my presence during the war.Hopefully we shall never fight another war. Please tell the Niger Delta militants to stop their war cries because when that war arrived,it shall bring along with it unpleasant cosequences.

If ever the peoples of the Niger Delta declare independence, I would not sign up to fight against them, nor would I carry out any govt order to do so. I would rather die than participate in any effort to deny freedom to fellow African Negroes.

What about you?

Be sure to educate your children on the above points I've raised. If we all thought through the real causes of the last war and lesson that should be learned, then we can realistically avoid another one.

That you're even discussing the injustices in the Niger Delta today is because of the low-level war percolating there. Without it, Nigeria's N-i-g-g-e-r-s would just continue exploiting their fellow Africans in peace. Unacceptable.

War no good o!

Depends on what you're fighting for - and whether there are any viable alternatives to achieving acceptable ends.

! Get Yours !
Obugi.

[Agidimolaja]

Obugi,



You have the right to disagree with me when I submitted that war is no good. This is probably due to the fact that you did not see war orexperienced it.Maybe if you were in one, you would have a rude awakening whenever the word "war" is mentioned.

Jocihart's dad said it all,that whoever have seen war one time shall not attempt to see it again. Youdo not know what war is all about.

Certain nations may havegone to war before they fully emerged as nations,yet on most cases they did not want to go to war and if the participants are alive today , they too will tell you ofhorrors of war.

Even in prosperous USA, you need to see the effect of war in the lives of several Vietnam vets. None of them will tell you he prays to be in another combat.Even the much elderly Pearl Harbour survivors would tell youabout horrors of that morning with tears streaming out of their eyes.

War is no good. This is based upon my personal experinces between 1967 and 1970.Ask me if I would like to again see any of my fallen comrades blown into pieces. Ask me if I would like to see the bodies of fallen comrades being eating up by vultures before we had the opportunity to collect them for burials. Ask me if I would like to remain on death's waiting listdaily again.

I joined the Army in March of 1967 just three months after graduating from high school. There was no war then and no one even imagined that war would eventually be fought.

After the pogrom, Yorubas percieved that the next Northern target would be the West.

There was fear in Yoruba Kingom that what was done to Easternersin the North would possiblybe done to Westerners in their homeland.

As at that time Yorubas had not enough men in military service with which to resist such occurence.

People were then encouraged to joined the army so as to be able to defend the West in case we areattacked from within by Northern soldiers that are stationed there and in Lagos.

Several Yorubas answered the call and I was one of them.Instead of proceeding to HSC at Molusi College, Ijebu-Igbo, I joined the army.

I joined the army not to fight Igbos and like I said, as at the time I joined, no one was expecting any war. The rest is history.

Yes, you are right about it, Wole Shoyinka did his best at supporting the cause of Igbos and he spent some years in jail for doing so.

Col. Adekunle Fajuyi also volunteered to go along with Gen. Ironsi when the latter was arrested. Col. Fajuyi,{also a Yorubaman},was murdered along with Ironsi.

Today, are Igbosgrateful to those men for their uncommon courage? Are Igbos today not still railing curses and abuses upon all Yorubas and calling us all kinds of names while blaming us for their lost of the war, even including those Yorubas that paid great prices for Igbos' cause.

Obugi, since you will neither join up with Niger Delta to prosecute a war nor denounce them if they started one; I wish you would tell them ahead of time not to venture intowar because, warno good o! When the time comes, who no know, he go know and who no sabi,he go sabi! Trust me.

Lastly,allow me to disagree with you on your assertion that the situations that led to the civil war are still around now.I don't know about such situations.

What actually developed into the idea of Biafra was the pogrom when over50, 000 Easterners were murdered in the North. Today, I never hear of such pogrom. So what are you and thelikes of Biafra advocates crowing about?Those who are shouting at the top of their voices concerning what they called"Igbo marginalization" are very unsincere because,Igbos, as far as Nigeria is concerned are not marginalized nor cut off from the mainstream.

Apart from the office of President, where else can you not find Igbos?

And if an Igbomanwanted to become the President, let him go out and win a Presidential election. Are Yorubas again responsible for Igbos Presidential failures?

[ikechukwu]

The problem in Nigeria is not war or the fact that our people want war. The problem is basically leadership. I have found out that these days an Igbo ‘so called’ leader is not interested in whatever happens to his Igbo people in as much as being interested would not amount to a substantial improvement of his bank accounts. The Hausa leader has no business in whatever happens to his Hausa folks as regards poverty alleviation, he only uses northern agitation because it offers him a platform to steal for himself, his family and close cronies. That is the meaning of Hausa domination as far as he is concerned. In Niger delta, their leaders (who are the present day militants) are only interested in ‘resource control agitations’ anytime they realize that their ‘oil and financial allocations’ have been tampered with. They don’t give a damn about whatever poverty is ravaging their people. However these are the people that would probably benefit from any war because it would just be their war.

However Nigerians have to wake up to the fact that they must demand for a free and fair election marshaled out by a thoroughly independent INEC (devoid of any executive control) same goes for the judiciary. This is suppose to be a starting point that would bring out the overall interest in the polity for proper galvanization of peoples goodwill on the Nigerian project.

I believe this task would produce so many unintended nice reactions

[okenikpoto]

Thanks Agu Nwanyi. I am still working on the final chapters and even my agent in New York can't wait. Chill, hope to give a graphic descriptiuon of the war I missed by seven years. My uncle, Capt Ogbonnaya Oji was involved in the Nzeogwu coup and he later fought on the Biafran side as a Colonel. He refuses and never talks about the war though almost all the memoirs about the war mentions his name, he is still alive and well and when I approached him to share his experiences during the war, he just keeps saying may we never see another war.

I am not putting down a story becuase I want to show more of the suffering in the Biafran side, I am just trying to make Nigeria revisit and understand themselves in this aspect of our history we keep pretending never happened. I dont see myself as Igbo or Yoruba or Hause but I see my fellow Nigerian as my brother. But then, like Awolowo told Zik, we need to understand our differences in order for it not to happen again. But may we never see any war again in 9ja. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

VOR, na you go be the first wey I go send a copy, trust me now....with palmie ooo

[VOR]

VOR, na you go be the first wey I go send a copy, trust me now....with palmie ooo

Dalu! I yam waiting