We shall be discussing, or, shall we say we shall be
bringing to your notice one of the biggest massacres during the Biafran
genocide that is not being mostly discussed.
THE CALABAR
MASSACRE
There was a massacre of civilians in Calabar in 1968, but
there was no clear record about who was responsible. While the Nigerian Army
was denying being responsible for the Calabar Massacre, the Biafrans were
pointing at them, being sure that it was Nigerian soldiers, because of their
rampant cases of FALSE FLAG OPERATIONS (disguising themselves as Biafrans,
invading Biafra communities, and killing large numbers of people, to establish and
deepen the acrimony between the upland and coastal parts of Biafra, in the
pursuit of the British divide and rule strategy).
Not only the Biafrans knew that it was the Nigerian
soldiers that were responsible, but even a journalist from "The Times of
London" also knew, and stated categorically that Nigerian soldiers were
responsible.
We shall be taking you to their arguments below. But
before then, let us remind the people from Calabar, Ikot Ekpene, Ogoja, and the
surrounding provinces that they all need to observe May 30th Sit-At-Home, in
memory of those Massacred in 1968 at Calabar. What matters now is that there
was actually a massacre. Let us go into the Argument.
ACHEBE'S THERE WAS
A COUNTRY
The Nigerian forces overran Calabar in early 1968 without
much resistance or investment. A seat of that ancient kingdom of the same name
Calabar is in the South eastern part of Biafra, on the banks of the majestic
Calabar River. It had for decades been a melting pot of the Easterners; Efik,
Ibibio, Igbo, and others that had produced a beautiful cultural mosaic of
traditions and dialects.
In actions, reminiscent of the Nazi policy of eradicating
the Jews throughout Europe, just twenty years earlier, the Nigerian forces
decided to purge the city of its Biafran (which they always camouflage as Igbo)
inhabitants. By the time the Nigerian forces were done, over 2000 Biafrans had
been shot, mostly Igbo civilians.
The London Times reported on August 2, 1968 that in Oji
River the Nigerian forces opened fire and murdered 14 nurses and patients in
the ward. In Uyo more innocent lives were lost to the brutality and blood lust
of the Nigerian Soldiers.
But as we all know, Nigerian will always have a different
say to this. Hear from a Nigerian military that took part in those Massacre.
GEN ALABI ISAMA IN
HIS OWN SPEECH HAD THIS TO SAY...
"Achebe’s claim on the same Page 137, that the
Nigerian forces opened fire and murdered 14 nurses and the patients in the
wards in Uyo could not be true because the federal troops needed all these
personnel and there was no way they would have killed them. He said rather than
accuse the federal troops of atrocities, the atrocities committed by Biafran
troops on the people of Uyo and Annang were legendary".
To drive home his point, he showed the reporter some
pictures portraying the damages caused by Biafran soldiers among the Annang and
the people of Uyo. He wondered why someone would hold the 3MDCO responsible for
crimes committed by Biafran soldiers. Most of the atrocities allegedly
committed by the 3MDCO, Isama insisted, were actually perpetrated by Biafran
soldiers. He said his observations as an active participant in the war could be
corroborated with a book written by Phillip Effiong, a former Biafran general
who, apart from being a top commander, was also from Calabar province of
Biafra. According to Effiong in his book, Nigeria and Biafra: My Story (Pages
220 and 221)
“… When I visited the Brigade shortly before the
invasion, particularly in Uyo and Calabar areas, I received a lot of complaints
from the local people about unsavoury treatment by our (Biafran) troops. I drew
Colonel Eze’s attention to the complaints and urged him to improve relations
with the civilians. “At Uyo, military-civilian relations were so strained that
I had to personally intervene to release a local newspaper editor from
detention. Such acts on my part were not just a question of feeling alone for
my people, but also a question of justice and sense of belonging in an emergent
Biafran State. Were these arrests, false accusations, and detentions a sign of
things to come in an independent Biafra? These issues bothered me as they would
anyone else in my position then…
“… With the fall of Calabar, Itu, Uyo and Ikot Ekpene the
rest of the mainland was militarily threatened. He also said as people greatly
emphasized that there was starvation in Biafra, he said it was the Nigerian
Army that fed the starving Biafran Children, that most times, they as soldiers,
ate just once, to make sure that the Biafran Children ate.
INTERNATIONAL
OBSERVERS
The Federal troops were equally culpable of this crime.
In the Rivers area, ethnic minorities sympathetic to Biafra were killed in the
hundreds by federal troops. In Calabar, some 2000 Efiks were also killed by
Federal troops. "The Nigerian Air Force left their own mark in the
minorities’ areas. They were accused of indiscriminate bombing of civilian
occupied areas. William Norris of the
LONDON SUNDAY TIMES, in an article titled, “Nightmare in
Biafra,” reported how the high-flying Russian Ilyushin jets dropped bombs in
civilian centres in Biafra. He stated that, 'Slowly, but effectively, a reign
of terror had been created'."
Another evidence to prove that Nigeria was responsible
for the Calabar Massacre is the Ugep Massacre in Calabar, five years after the
war ended. Here from an indigene;
MBASEKEI MARTIN
OBONO(@martobono)
One day, after my adventure in the farm, I returned home
to ask my mother why the location of the farm was named Soja barracks. That was
when she narrated the story of Ugep Massacre by soldiers of the Nigerian Army.
I remember her saying, “Oh we were in Washington DC then, your Daddy received a
telephone call that Umor was under attack. Two days later, we watched the
report on television news with the caption, “Ugep a ghost town?” We watched how
the town was deserted, smoke from burnt properties hovering the skies, while
goats and domestic animals roamed the streets.” She was busy and unprepared to
answer the question; she rushed through. I was confused and didn’t probe
further until recently.
It was the midnight of a Christmas Eve, when children
were sleepless and eager for day break in order to celebrate Christmas with
their new clothes, toys and abundance of rice and chicken. Youngsters and older
people had had their fill of either Palm wine, ogogoro or whatever it was they
drank at the time, and may have been in a stupor.
Ugep was razed down by a battalion of the Nigerian Army.
It was gathered that a notorious battalion used to quell the 1967 civil war was
sent to Ugep after the then Head of State did not know what to do with the Battalion.
General Yakubu Gowon thought that the best place to dump them was in Ugep
instead of disbanding them. Yet, the people of Ugep were good hosts to the
soldiers. At first, the government had not provided the soldiers with a
barracks. So, all of them lived communally with the people. Quite a number of
the soldiers were housed for free; those who were meant to pay rents owed their
landowners. They drank on credit, mingled and made friends with the Ugep people
easily. Even when the government finally built their barracks, some still lived
within the community.
MY THOUGHT
Taking a good look between this argumentators over the
Calabar Massacre, you can see clearly that the Nigerian Army was responsible
for that Massacre. Even in present time, we can attest to the fact that the Nigerian
Army is good at denying all the crimes they commit. Even when caught on video
they still lie that they were attacked first. if not caught on video, they will
lie that they never killed anyone. From the Ugep and the foreign sources, you
can see that Achebe is absolutely right in affirming that it was the Nigeria
forces that committed the Calabar massacre.
But whichever way, even as the blame game drags on, it
will be wise enough that the people from Cross River and Akwa Ibom states join
the rest of Biafrans, all over the world, to mourn and honour their people.
From the Ugep Massacre, the narrator explained how they
welcomed the army and even gave them free houses but in return what the army
could do was to Massacre and raze down their properties at the eve of
Christmas, in 1975, and no one is talking about it. But they travel to Rwanda
to shed crocodile tears. The highly hypocritical nature of Nigeria, Nigerians,
and Nigerianists, is once again in clear demonstration. Even when they forget
all these massacres, we that felt the pain will never forget. So, we urge all
old Eastern and parts of Mid-Western region, also known as Biafra between
1967-1970 to Sit-At-Home, on the 30th of May, 2019, and honour our fallen
heroes.
#HeroesDay #BiafraGenocide #NeverForget #Biafra #May30
Credit to Achebe, The Nation, Wikipedia and
Calabar Blog
Written by:
Mazi Chukwudi Okeke
For: Lagos State Media
Edited by:
Okwunna Okongwu
For: Lagos State Media
Published by:
Chibuike John Nebeokike
For: Lagos State Media
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