Just as Adolf Hitler was against the Treaty of Versailles the outcome of World War 1 and therefore planned World War II to reverse the Versailles' Treaty, some Nigerians are planning to reverse the outcome of the Nigerian civil war that officially ended in January 1970. Therefore, these elements still talk about their presumed genocide during the Nigerian civil war that occurred between July 6, 1967, and January 15 1970. I don't know which GENOCIDE these elements are talking about.
In the history of warfare, the Federal Military Government led by General Yakubu Gowon at the time in question has been highly commended for inviting International Observer Team to the war fronts to follow and report on the conducts of the Federal troops. The International Observer Team were from the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity (present day African Union), Britain, Canada, Sweden and Poland. The International Observer Team issued its first interim report on October 3, 1968, in which it established that there was "no evidence of any intent by the Federal troops to destroy the Ibo people (as they were then known) or their property, and the use of the term genocide is in no way justified." The Polish representative in the Observer Team, Colonel Alfons Olkiewiez, at a press conference said that the Team had spoken to 'thousands and thousands of Ibos, soldiers, missionaries and relief workers but had found no trace of mass-killings of Ibos.' The Swedish member of the Observer Team, Major-General Arthur Raab, was quoted by Carl Gustav von Rosen, a Biafran sympathiser as having said that after seven months of observations, 'we have still not seen any signs of the mass anihilation which Ojukwu claims is threatened by the Federal side. Ojukwu is deliberately transferring military headquarters to schools, hospitals, churches and so on. In which case, can one call these civilian targets?' Conversion of civilian establishments into military base was confirmed by Chinua Achebe in his Swan song - There Was a Country - when he wrote on page 172 that his ancestral house was forcibly converted into a military base by the Biafran Army and the residents woke up in the middle of the night by artillery exchanges between the Biafran and Nigerian forces.
General Benjamin Adesanya Maja Adekunle was tremendously a hard-working, deligent and proud professional soldier. He understood that the best way to end the suffering of the people in Biafra was a quick military defeat of Ojukwu and his gang. Thus, on the 25th of July 1967, he captured Bonny Island, the only sea terminal for crude oil then, in a sea-borne assault. When the Biafrans invaded the then Mid-West State in August 1967, General Adekunle was recalled from Bonny Island to flush out the Biafrans from the Delta area of the State. The indefatigble General Adekunle soon returned to launch amphibious attack on Calabar and capturing it on October 18, 1967 and from there his troops linked up with the first Division at Ikom near the Cameroon border, thereby surrounding Biafra. In a quick succession after the fall of Calabar, he captured Itu, Uyo and Ikot Ekpene which according to Phillip Effiong hastened the collapse of the Biafran 12th Division and consequently of Biafra. In February 1968 General Adekunle led his troops to capture Afikpo, Ugep, Ediba, Itigidi and Obubra. On May 18, 1968, he demonstrated his military prowess by capturing Port-Harcourt. Thus, he singlehandedly liberated the entire, Rivers State and South East State, thereby paving way for the appointment of Governors with administative headquarters in Uyo and Port-Harcourt. In September 1968 he captured Aba and in defiance of order from Lagos, he attacked and captured Owerri. When the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson visited Nigeria in March 1969 he requested for a visit to Adekunle's headquarter in PortHarcourt. True to his nature, General Adekunle asked Harold Wilson why he was pokenosing in Nigeria when he should have sent British troops to crush Ian Smith's rebellion in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)? General Adekunle was regarded as Malcolm X or Black power advocate who should not be allowed to finish the war. Barely, two months after Wilson's visit, Adekunle was replaced by Obasanjo in May 1969.
In order to know who actually committed genocide during the Nigerian Civil War, let us consider the millitary situation as at the time General Adekunle was removed in May 1969. Ogoja was liberated on July 11, 1967, followed by the fall of Nsukka on the 15th of July 1967. Enugu the capital of Biafra was captured on October 4, 1967 and by April 1969 all the major towns in Biafra were under the control of Federal forces. But all the Igbo towns captured by the Federal forces were forcibly evacuated so that Ojukwu had a large concentration camps of men, women and children he could not feed. When Aba, Owerri and Okigwi fell in the summer of 1968, the military situation demanded that Ojukwu and his gang should capitulate and surrender. Instead, Ojukwu sent a delegate of Biafrans to France to solicit for more arms and econocic aid. Since the French refused to increase their military and economic support for Biafra, the delegate led by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe contacted Ojukwu that time was ripe for negotiated settlement with Nigeria. Angry Ojukwu asked the delegates to return to Biafra immediately and the leader of the delegate, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, absconded to London. At the same time pictures of starving and dying Biafrans began to emerge in the outside world. Yet, while addresing the so called Consultative Assembly at the end of September 1968, Ojukwu said,"Our real victory lies in our ability to prevent the extermination of our people by a heraless enemy. In so far as these aims are concerned, we have not failed (Biafra: Ojukwu's selected Speeches; Vol. 1, p. 353)." General Benjamin Adekunle did not commit any genocide against the Igbo people rather he tried to prevent Ojukwu's suicidal war against the Igbo.
S. Kadiri
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 22:40:30 -0700
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Tribute: General Benjamin Adekunle
From: okeyiheduru@gmail.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
"A no nonsense warrior of his time. A man of great honor to the Black race."---PROFESSOR Segun Ogungbemi, 15 September 2014.
Yes, indeed! What better way to honor the Black race than genocide, including shooting at the corpses of dead children and women and proudly admitting it? As long as it's my co-ethnic who did it, it's o.k..
On Mon, Sep 15, 2014 at 7:40 PM, Segun Ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:
Benjamin Adesanya Maja Adekunle, a hero, a man who loved his country and gave his life for unity and peace of Nigeria. The "Black Scorpion" as he was popularly called who put smiles on our faces at the end of the civil war. A no nonsense warrior of his time. A man of great honor to the Black race.A man who stood to challenge racists because he believed in equality of all races because all human beings are created equal by God.The country owes him a great honor and it should be given to immortalize him.
May his soul rest in perfect peace as he has joined his ancestors and may the family and friends receive the most generous hands of comfort from the ancestors and that Olodumare grants them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss of this great hero. Aase.
Segun Ogungbemi Ph.DProfessor of PhilosophyAdekunle Ajasin UniversityAkungba-Akoko, Ondo StateNigeriaCellphone: 0803304137108024670952Benjamin Adesanya Maja Adekunle, a hero, a man who loved his country and gave his life for unity and peace of Nigeria. The "Black Scorpion" as he was popularly called who put smiles on our faces at the end of the civil war. A no nonsense warrior of his time.A man who stood to challenge racists because he believed in equality of all races because all human beings are created equal by God.The country owes him a great honor and it should be given to immortalize him.
May his soul rest in perfect peace as he has joined his ancestors and may the family and friends receive the most generous hands of comfort from the ancestors and that Olodumare grants them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss of this great hero. Aase.
Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D
Professor of Philosophy
Adekunle Ajasin University
Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State
Nigeria
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Okey Iheduru, PhD
You can access some of my papers on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at: http://ssrn.com/author=2131462.
You can access some of my papers on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at: http://ssrn.com/author=2131462.
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