Nigerian Civil War

I have just finished reading a book by General Alabi-Isama about the Nigerian civil war it was described as an “On-the-stop account of the Nigeria-Biafra War in the Atlantic Theatre”. This is unusual to me, and it seems a unique book as it has five people writing forwards, Sulu Gambari Emir of Ilorin, General Adeyinka Adebayo (a general in the Nigeria Army), Dr Nowamagbe A. Omoigui (a Nigerian military historian and medical doctor), General Dr Yakubu Jack Gowon (Former Head of State in Nigeria, and Head of state during the conflict), and a General of the Biafran Army. Who indicated it “may well be the first truly military account of the Nigeria Civil War to come from the Nigerian side”. He said that the account of the Mid-Western offence was incomplete since the author did not have access to Biafran Army information and it more of the sideshow than the main event. The invasion of the Mid-West was by “scantily armed militiamen” and a personal crusade of Col Victor Banjo, unknown to the Biafran army commander. He was then planning to overthrow Gen Ojukwu after discussing with some foreign powers.

General Alabi-Isama said that his book is not a “Political Story” but an “on the stop account of the war, how it was fought and those who did it, not those who claimed that they did it”. But the author dispelled that it was not a Political Story in his prologue which when he blamed the entire misfortune of our history on the elders. “The elders had misinformed and rode on the backs on the youths. The youths fought in a war they did not cause and died for what they did not understand” to me that was political. He felt that his book “will open our minds to the atrocities caused by the elders of our country who look for whom to blame for their shortcomings and incompetence”. He wrote the book after reading “My Command” by General Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ), which he said proved “sickening to read” as it “contained some serious and historical errors”. It seems we would not have to go far to identify the elders he seems to hold responsible. In less than 2 years later after reading “My Command” in 2012, he produced this book. He also had the advantage of having lots of photographs, maps, and documents which added a high degree of authenticity to the book.

The book is dedicated to his mother as her only son, she followed him to the war front and saw him through the most difficult periods of his life. Also to his colleagues both male and female of the 3rd Marine Commandos (3MCDO) who died in their effort to keep Nigeria one. 

This man has taken a specific thing against OBJ and it seems to nudge him. Continuously he goes on and on against OBJ. But the main points are

1. OBJ never wanted to go to the war front - he painted the picture as if OBJ was afraid (The only time he seems to go near the war front, is when OBJ was shot in the bottom and this occurred when OBJ was caught in an ambush).
2. OBJ used the plans that Alabi and Akinrinade had made to win the war and never made plans of his own.
3. OBJ constantly and continuously at the beginning stated he was not an Infantry soldier but an engineer and OBJ never before the civil war had never a fought a war battle i.e. had no combat experience.
4. OBJ never offered them food the first day Alabi and Akinrinde went to offer him the job of commander of 3rd Marine Commandos (3MCDO) – Alabi saw him has been very stingy.
5. Alabi and Akinrinde blasted OBJ at his house when they saw his reluctance to take the job and he thought that OBJ had it in for them since that day.
6. OBJ did not initially receive the surrendered from the Biafran forces it was him and Akinrinade.
7. OBJ was a bad commander and did not listen to the advice which leads to the death of about 1,000 men.
8. When given OBJ’s book “My Command”, and he read it, it made him sick. 

The impression the writer gave was that it was due to his actions that Lagos was not invaded and the Mid-West was saved especially at a town called Asaba, where he killed a lot of Biafran Soldiers. A lot of soldier’s lives were saved to do with his actions during the counter-coup of 1966 and that he was directly responsible for the transportation of numerous Southern Officers. Hence, there were times that he was running away from Northern Soldiers who believed he was in league with the 1966 coup plotters. And then some South-Eastern Biafran Soldiers for the fact that he killed a lot of them when they invaded the Mid-West region. I found his writing enjoyable and easy on the eye and it is interspersed with jokes and humour. Also when reading it comes across as if I was reading in a Nigerian language and not pure English as certain, terms, phrases, syntax, are written in a certain way that seems to have a double meaning and it the content written you seem to you exactly what the writer is saying. With historical facts like Hernando Cortez’s invasion of South America, Numberg trails after world-war 2, Patton invasion of Sicily, Nazi Germany fighting on 2 fronts, etc. One of such humorous sections was the account of when he was arrested on what seems unfairly for 2 weeks after the Mid-West fiasco, he was told by the prison warden that God had a reason. He was initially low in spirits and suggested that God should have put him in a 5-star hotel than a prison which seems very funny to me. He failed to see it as God intervention, till he heard that his battalion had made a frontal assault on the enemy at Onitsha under Muritala Mohammed, he believes that since so many of his colleagues died, he would have died. His mother was trying to find ways to extend his incarceration as he was less likely to die in prison being served delicious meals on a daily basis like pound yam and egusi soup, with dry fish, washed down with cold beer than in the battle front line being shot at, bombed at, in with snakes, scorpions and other deadly animals, eating God knows what. There was another time he entered a liberated village unknown to them they were served human flesh prepared to them by the people of a certain village, He “had eaten four pieces before he realized what was happening”. It turns out it was a delicacy of the area i.e. human flesh. After they all stopped he “noticed that everybody was looking at“ him. In any case, he “had already eaten and was not ready to vomit”. 

However, you see it this is a very sore area in Nigeria and till today there are areas that feel disenfranchised. He put’s substance to what is already well known in certain circles and what is taken as established facts. However, the author begins his story just before independence when he was at Ibadan Boys High School (IBHS) and he said that the thing that attracted him to the army was not a deep sense of patriotic duty or loyalty or nationalism but seeing the soldiers, with their medals, “razor-sharp iron clothes, shining, well-polished black shoes which reflected the sun” marching in unison to the musical band “fascinated” him, he was “overwhelmed” and that is what it took for him to join the Nigerian army. One interesting fact was that at the time of independence the number of Nigerian officers was in minority but after a short examination, he found himself on the way to Zaria. In the Congo, there arose a situation which required a large number of non-white officers as the British Officers being sent over were killed, hence there was a “deliberate policy to Nigerianise the junior officer cadre in the Nigerian contingent sent to the Congo”. Another historical fact that General Alabi pointed out was in the Eastern Region the premier there encourage people to wear clothes to the market and was getting people to buy second hand clothes (Okrika). Meanwhile, his counterpart in the Western Region warned people “that the introduction of second-hand clothing into Nigeria would kill our textile industries”. As at that time, they hated him for that but “today, no textile mill is standing in all of Nigeria, while second-hand clothing business booms”. 

As of the causes of the civil war, there were “several unhelpful situations were developing”. One of the causes is the politicization of the army, General Alabi felt that the North’s NPC had a majority of the 312 seats. The North “took control of governance because the southern-based parties, which were led by the so-called educated class with their allies, could not come together”. He also felt that “the so-called nationalist parties from eastern and western parts of the country, that really fought for independence, which had most of the western-educated people were still bickering and at each other’s throats while the NPC continued to consolidate its hold on power”. But the time of independence there were only 57 Nigerian officers, with the North having only 8 (14%), the West 10 (17%) and the East (65%). But after independence there was a massive drive to recruit Northern Officers, “standards had to be lowered to get more Northerners to join the army”. The drive was successful and by the time of the first coup, the number of Northern Officers had increased to over one-third of the total. 

Least I forget he was very angry at the treatment of those who fought in the war. Adekunle a war hero who died almost penniless. The ladies who were used as spies, soldiers, administrative workers, etc that OBJ never acknowledged them in his book and said were used for socials. A lot of soldiers who died for a “One Nigeria”, we're left penniless in a way it was a tragedy of victory. Gowon said there would be no celebration of the victory or medals given as he wanted to encourage cohesion. After the war, those who fought the war felt as if they wanted to forget them and their sacrifice and just move on. In the Epilogue he explained what happens in the aftermath of Nigeria’s first coup, the role of Ojukwu “he made it fail in the North”. The role of Ironsi, that “introduced a unitary system of government and started to put in place those decrees that would put Ibos (Igbos) in control of the nation”.

Obasanjo love to be the center of attraction

The man is very critical about OBJ and one could understand this because it was his book that sparked him to write his own account of the war. He does portray OBJ in a very negative light and even worse than Adekunle that he claimed tried to kill him (which he put down to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and later in the war his constant visits to Lagos - which initiated the OAU gift for President Gowon - the capture of Owerri, Aba, and Umuahia - a move he believed that the Nigerian army was ill-prepared for). He believed that this OAU idea led to a large number of unnecessary deaths, especially at Ohoba. But to a large degree, he was quite positive about Adekunle. I guess Adekunle did not write a book which he found totally disagreeable. OBJ initially refused to go to the front line as he was an Engineer and not an Infantry Officer. Another issue was regarding the alternatives open to OBJ and his choices to end the war. They had different routes of attack mapped out. Ranging from those which resulted in the least fatalities on their side to maximum fatalities on the Brafarians. According to General Alabi, OBJ preference was a movement of the whole army would “advance simultaneously with tank, artillery and air support bombardment”. He said by his estimation that the Igbos will have less than 1 million persons by 2014. The entire Nigeria Army rejected this plan. Later in the book he reprinted text by text, specific areas of “My Command”, with their page numbers and chapters, that he thought was false and his comments of what really happened. He described the book “My Command” as being “all fictionalized history”.

The book was very much interesting and apart from the fact that he repeated himself on numerous points. This I put being to the importance to the writer and is a way of being emphasized. He like myself is a student of history and he used certain battles in history to explain the battles that he had fought. I like history and am quite familiar with most of the battles he is talking about. I had the opportunity of seeing him for about 5 hours of him being interviewed on YouTube at a radio station, at his home, at the launching of his book and he looks like a very easy-going gentleman. Recently someone from the South-South, Chief Frank Kokori, a human rights activist, and former labour union leader. “He noted that the creation of a Biafran Republic could spell doom for the south-east as the geopolitical zone is landlocked and not strategic for international commerce. MASSOB said Biafra comprises all the states of the former eastern region, including the Anioma community in Delta state. Most Igbo people had refused to abandon their businesses outside the south-east to join the Biafran agitation at home.

This book at that time is very important to see how emotions can run high and it is better we take a step back and reassess our situation. And it is a very emotional story and you could feel the pain of the writer throughout the pages. From a story of a young soldier dying in his arms, until he became critical of Adekunle and his OAU plan. But the main venom is reserved for OBJ from their very first meeting and throughout some of the pages. It seemed he did not praise OBJ or maybe he did and it was lost in so many pages. Gen Alabi’s book I will recommend to anyone who wants a detailed fact by fact on how the war was won. He went into detail and with the maps, diagrams, and pictures you are in no doubt that this man was really there. I would recommend the book for those who have read OBJ’s “My Command” and want to get more information. I would recommend the book for lovers of Military History who wanted to follow each battle in the Atlantic front to some degree of detail. People who wanted to know the role of certain officers during the counter-coup of 1966. Some people may feel that the editing is poor, but I feel it gives the book life and a personal touch.