By Paul Oranika(on Linkedin)
Perhaps the debate over Benjamin Adekunle and the differing opinions on the man is one more indication that some people would still be blinded by their bigotry and hatred to the point that it is inconceivable for these folks to reason or embrace objectivity in any way, shape or form. Such dubious mentality which prevents some people from calling a spade what it is, may be responsible for their positions over war crimes committed by Adekunle and others during the Nigerian Civil war. Unfortunately for Nigerian war criminals their records and war crimes would remain indelible in the minds of many not only for this generation of Nigerians but also for posterity.
There are two sides to this debate; one side is the praise singers for Adekunle a man who is more appropriately regarded as "the Adolf Hitler in Nigerian Army Uniform", by so many Nigerians. The other side is mainly comprised of individuals who are objective enough to call a spade what it is. Let us quote some excerpts from Benjamin Adekunle on his merits, from the interview he gave to the German reporter Randolph Baumann, of STERN Magazine. The interview took place on August 18, 1968 at Port Harcourt after the city was captured by the federal soldiers during the civil war.
Here are some excerpts and exchange between Adekunle and the German reporter, and you be the judge.
Randolf Baumann: What is happening to the European Humanitarian Assistance programs which were authorized through your government?
Adekunle: In the section of the front that I rule—and that is the whole south front from Lagos to the border of Kamerun—I do not want to see the Red Cross, Caritas Aid, World Church delegation, Pope, Missionary, or UN delegation.
Randolf Baumann: Does that mean that the many thousands of tons of food that are stored in Lagos will never get to the refugee camps in your section of the country?
Adekunle: You are a sharp one, my friend. That's exactly what I am saying.
Randolf Baumann: But you said yourself that most of the refugees in the part you captured are not Ibos.
Adekunle: But there could be Ibos among them. I want to avoid feeding a single Ibo as long as this whole people have not given up yet.
Randolf Baumann: What are your troops doing when they march into a town around Port Harcourt, an area where most of the farmers are not Ibos?
Adekunle: We aim at everything that moves.
Randolf Baumann: What will your troops do when you get to the Ibo heartland that is, to the place populated by Ibos only?
Adekunle: There we will aim at everything even if it is not moving.
Randolf Baumann: Are you racist?
Adekunle: You should know exactly where racists are. There is no such thing as racism in Nigeria.
Randolf Baumann: Do you sometimes feel sympathy for the Ibos?
Adekunle: I have learned a word from the British, which is "sorry"! That's how I want to respond to your question. I did not want this war but I want to win this war. Therefore I have to kill the Ibos. Sorry!
There you have it folks the true words of the man Benjamin Adekunle. Let us carefully analyze Adekunle's testimony. Mind you the issue was on allowing relief agencies and international Association of the Red Cross, Caritas, World Council of Churches and other relief agencies to deliver food relief to millions of Biafran Children and older men and women but particularly to the Biafran Children suffering and dying from Kwashiorkor and malnutrition during the Civil war.
During the Second World War Hitler and the Nazis did the same thing when they forced Jews into concentration camps where they deliberately starved them to death, and some were sent to their early graves through the Gas Chambers.
Although Adekunle did not operate in the same method used by Nazi Germany his chosen strategy of denying food relief to the dying Biafrans led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Biafran children. But let us go further in dissecting Adekunle's hidden agenda and hatred of the Biafran people.
When Adekunle said, "We shoot at everything that moves and when our troops march into the center of Igbo territory, we shoot at everything even at things that don't move."
This statement reveals a lot more about this man's wickedness and vindictiveness particularly towards the Igbo people. When he made that statement the war had not entered the Igbo heartland. But this evil man through his statement is reserving his harshest and most devilish actions for that period when he enters Igbo heartland. Do you see and were you able to decipher this man's anger, bigotry and hatred for the Igbos, such obsession was driving his devilish and evil actions during the war.
At the end of the war he got what he deserved and was forced into early retirement from the Nigerian army in 1974, during his prime, illustrating the fact that authorities in the Nigerian army may have been embarrassed to see this man continuing his career in the Nigerian army and for all intents and purposes his life was over then and was submerged into nothingness, and utter neglect. But he was not the only Nigerian that enforced the Hunger as a weapon of war" policy, but that is a topic for another day.
Let us hear your opinion!
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