The Politics of Biafra: And the Future of Nigeria

THE

POLITICS

OF BIAFRA

AND THE FUTURE OF NIGERIA

Chudi Offodile

Copyright © 2016 Chudi Offodile.

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ISBN: 978-1-4834-6143-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6144-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6142-7 (e)

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Contents

List of Maps

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PRELUDE TO WAR

Chapter 1 Preview

Chapter 2 The Igbo Identity Crises

Chapter 3 The 15th January 1966 Coup

Chapter 4 The 29th July 1966 Counter Coup

PERIOD OF HOSTILITIES

Chapter 5 On Aburi We Stand…

Chapter 6 The Biafra Intelligentsia

Chapter 7 Biafra’s Non-Igbo Actors

Chapter 8 Britain and The Horrors of War

IGBO

POLITICAL TRAJECTORY

Chapter 9 Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904-1996)

Chapter 10 The Rupture: Ojukwu vs Zik

Chapter 11 Achebe Takes on Zik

[POST WAR YEARS]

Chapter 12 The Asika Years (1970-75)

Chapter 13 The Years of Decline (1976-1998)

Chapter 14 Dr. Ekwueme’s Bid for Power

Chapter 15 The Years of Decline (1999-2015)

BIAFRA: FROM SURRENDER TO REBIRTH

Chapter 16 MASSOB, IPOB, BILIE Human Rights Initiative

THE FUTURE OF NIGERIA

Chapter 17 Biafra and Nigeria

Chapter 18 The War Philosophy

Chapter 19 Sardauna Was A Federalist

Chapter 20 Conclusion

APPENDICES

Chapter 21 Restructuring Nigeria for Prosperity

Chapter 22 Reconstructing Nigeria for Prosperity (2)

Chapter 23 Reconstructing Nigeria for Prosperity (3)

References

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my father,

Christian Iloegbunem Offodile – in memoriam

(1931-2009)

And the post war generation of the Igbo who dared and succeeded in the face of marginalisation.

THE AUTHOR

Chudi Offodile was born in Lagos, Nigeria, on the 19th of November 1964. At the age of two in 1966, his family was forced to relocate to Enugu, capital of Eastern Nigeria at the time, following widespread hostilities and indiscriminate killing of Igbo people and other Easterners after the January 15th 1966 coup and the counter coup of 29th July, 1966. The attempt by Biafra (Former Eastern Region of Nigeria) to secede from Nigeria, led to a civil war that lasted from July 1967 to January 1970. He spent most of his formative years in Enugu, where he also had most of his education.

He graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu campus, in 1987 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in November 1988, after the mandatory one-year legal training at the Nigeria Law School, Lagos. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in Business Administration from the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus in 1994.

He was elected to Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives in May 1999 as the representative for Awka North/South federal constituency of Anambra State.

Offodile served as the Chairman of the special committee on joint venture oil operations from 2001 to 2003 and as Chairman of the public petitions committee between 2003 and 2005. He was also Member of Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) between 2000 and 2005. He retired from electoral politics after two unsuccessful attempts to get elected to the Senate in 2007 and 2011.

Offodile has written several articles published in Nigeria’s notable newspapers. He is a notary public and Managing Partner in the Abuja-based law firm of Chudi Offodile & Co and is married with five children.

LIST OF MAPS

Biafra – Nigeria’s Former Eastern Region¹

Map of Nigeria Showing Six Geo-Political Zones²

PREFACE

Nearly fifty years after the end of the Nigeria-Biafra War in 1970, Nigeria is still grappling with the Biafra dilemma. No matter its pretensions, Nigeria will at some point have to reform its present pseudo-federal arrangement to create a more inclusive, equitable and proper federal structure. If not, the country will continue to face epileptic developmental thrusts, militancy in the Niger Delta and a ruinous intensifying clamour for self-determination by disadvantaged ethnic groups, especially the Igbo.

The Igbo are also facing the dilemma of conflicting world view. They hold a romantic reminiscence of Biafra, conceived in tragic circumstances and ended in tragedy – genocide. Yet, its people remain proud of its brief existence and romanticise its accomplishments, military and technological feats, administrative competence and of course its leader, late General Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Efforts to reintegrate the South East into Nigeria since the end of the war have not fully succeeded, yet the Igbo have a significant presence all over the country and dream of a proper federation of equal opportunity for all. But the structure of the federation is skewed against the Igbo and in a sense, against Nigeria itself. The present structure has failed to provide real development due to its centralised nature. To make matters worse, successive federal governments since 1970 have made little or no investment in the South East zone, resulting in massive migrations from the South East to the economic centres of Lagos and Abuja and other parts of the nation.

The idea of a separate country regurgitated by Ralph Uwazurike’s Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), which began as a protest organisation in 1999, has somehow gained traction in the South East and parts of South South geopolitical zones following a combination of factors, which will be analysed in due course. But given a choice between a more equitable Nigeria and a new Biafra, without doubt, a more equitable Nigeria would be the preferred choice of a greater majority of the Igbo. Therefore, two broad schools of thought or ideological positions have developed within Igbo society since the return to democratic rule in 1999. As the Igbo political elite gradually lost relevance, a separatist ideology quietly gained ascendancy. One major challenge is that the anti-separatist opposing ideology has no standard bearer and there is no coherent internal force pushing for Igbo interests in Nigeria. Contrarily, Nnamdi Kanu emerged from the sidelines to make a forceful push for self-determination in tandem with several other separatist organisations already operating in Igboland and other parts of former Eastern Nigeria.

The Igbo business and political elite, call them the federalists if you wish, are persuaded that Igbo interests are better served in a restructured Nigeria while the separatists believe that there exists a permanent conspiracy against Igbo people in Nigeria and advocate a breakaway with willing neighbours, for the country of their dream – Biafra.

In the context of the political and ideological struggle within Biafra between 1967 and 1970, this division is not new. The federalists belong to the Nnamdi Azikiwe school of thought and the separatists to the Emeka Ojukwu school of thought. The Zik – Ojukwu ideological separation that occurred in 1969 lives with us till this day and will be dealt with in Part Three. On the matter of Biafra and the future of Nigeria, the Igbo require more than one point of view.

On the strength of this conflicting world view and the growing stridency of the separatists, it has become necessary to undertake a review of the events preceding the war in Part One, the period of hostilities in Part Two and take a tour of the Igbo political trajectory in Part Three. Part Four deals with the post war years and the decline of Igbo political power. Part Five focuses on the push for Biafran rebirth, its meaning, formation, sustenance, structures and contradictions. Part Six deals with the future of Nigeria and analyses its faulty foundations.

I have undertaken this work mindful of the sensitive nature of some of the issues discussed. It is an endeavour embarked upon in good faith and in the national interest and I accept responsibility for all views and opinions expressed in this book. Will there be consequences? Possibly! But I am emboldened by the fact that the truth shall set us free.

Chudi Offodile

June 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Let me place on record the support of my wife, Vivien Ogechukwu Offodile, a medical doctor and public health professional. We have been married since 2nd August, 1997 and are blessed with five children: Tobenna, Chibudem, Chimdi, Ijeabalum and Kimeluka (Pinky). There were so many things I could not do with my mac pro laptop but in the course of this work and by the grace of my wife, I overcame. I also found her opinion on issues discussed in this book very useful and I thank her and our children for their love and encouragement.

I thank Jacqueline W. Farris, Director General of the Shehu Yar’Adua Foundation, for providing counter narratives that helped me sharpen my position on some issues and to Joop Berkhout, Professor Okechukwu Oko, Osita Chidoka, Carolyn Edward Ohirhian and Abiodun Adeniyi for availing me of useful documents. I also thank Professor Chukwuma Soludo for permitting me to use his three-part treatise on Reconstructing Nigeria for Prosperity, published in Thisday Newspaper of 3rd September 2012, 17th September 2012 and 1st October 2012 as part of this book.

INTRODUCTION

The writing of this book was influenced by the impact of the Biafran War on my family and recent events that made me to think deeply about the Igbo condition in Nigeria. These include: the gradual but persistent shift towards political insularity, the attraction of Biafra to a post-war generation of the Igbo frustrated with the place of the Igbo in Nigeria and massive street demonstrations in several cities in the former Eastern Region, especially, Port Harcourt, Aba, Onitsha and Enugu in support of Biafra.

During an informal discussion with my friend and former colleague in the House of Representatives, Dr. Wale Okediran, I raised these issues as we probed the Nigerian condition. I told him that I had an outline of a book on the subject already formed in my mind. He thought the issues were quite serious and advised me to go ahead and write the book. After prodding me a couple of times, I set to work. Wale, a medical doctor, prolific author and former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, helped me structure the outline of the work and pushed me to commit to deadlines. I thank him for his support and encouragement.

The Biafran war took its toll on my family, like most families in the former Eastern Nigeria. My elder sister, Christine, and I were born in Lagos. Christine was born on the 2nd of June 1963, and I on the 19th of November, 1964. By September 1966, my family was forced to escape to the East, from whence we came. My younger siblings, Nnenna and Emeka, were born in Biafra and Nkem, the last, was born after the war. My father, Chris Offodile, now late, was the first Nigerian Editor of the Hansard, the official parliamentary reports of the Federal House of Representatives, in Lagos, Nigeria, at the time of the crisis in 1966. He was also a newscaster with the defunct Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). A tall, handsome and athletic man, he had the family signature feature – a big nose. My father was also a passionate lawn tennis player. He was the Secretary of the Nigeria Lawn Tennis Federation and a member of the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club. He was also Nigeria’s Lawn Tennis team manager to the First All Africa Games of July 1965 in Brazzaville, Congo. His boundless energy was committed to the service of his fatherland, though events were soon to take an ugly turn. My mother, Priscilla Offodile, was a nurse at the General Hospital, Oke Awo, Lagos.

By my second birthday in 1966, we had become refugees of sorts in Eastern Nigeria. The military coup of 15th January, 1966 and the counter coup of July 29th 1966 triggered a chain reaction that led to the mass killing of easterners in the Northern part of Nigeria and some parts of the West, including Lagos. We escaped from Lagos in September 1966 and arrived in Enugu, where we stayed throughout the period of pre-war hostilities. When the war broke out in May 1967 we moved from Enugu to Awka. And later to Ngwa and Emekuku and then to Umuchima, Orlu, in present day Imo State, fleeing from the advancing Nigerian Army and taking cover from air raids till the end of the war in 1970. Although I was born a Nigerian in 1964, I enjoyed Biafran citizenship for two and a half years (May 1967 to January 1970) before becoming a Nigerian again after the war. My two younger siblings were Biafrans by birth and became Nigerians only after the war. The only true Nigerian in my family is my last sister, Nkem, born in 1975, five years after the war. Most Igbo families have a similar configuration of mixed citizenship.

To say that the war had a devastating impact on my family is an understatement. But despite the disruptions, life had to go on. My father served in Biafra as the deputy head of the Bureau of External Publicity and also supported the great efforts of Sam Nwaneri and Okokon Ndem in Radio Biafra. Two of my uncles were outstanding military officers in the armed forces of Biafra. George Offodile (Jnr), was a Captain in the Biafran army and Chukwuezugo Offodile, a Second Lieutenant in the Nigerian Air Force and later, Base Commander in the Biafran Air Force. George (Jnr) was named after my grandfather, George Chukwuneke Offodile, whose father Offodile Nwamalevhi Ndigwe was one of the warrant chiefs appointed by the British colonial government and a member of the Eastern Nigeria House of Chiefs. George Senior worked with the Coal Corporation in Enugu before he secured a contract to supply timber used by the main contractors constructing the Enugu-Makurdi rail tracks. This made him settle in Utonkon, Northern Nigeria, now, Benue State, source of the timber and a location almost equidistant between Enugu and Makurdi. He lived and worked there from the early twenties till the outbreak of hostilities in 1966. My father and all his siblings were born in Utonkon.

It was on YouTube that I saw a documentary that featured George [Jnr], who had just finished high school at Holy Ghost College, Owerri, and voluntarily joined the Biafran army to defend his nation. He made the point that he was prepared to die for Biafra. Chukwuezugo was already a Second Lieutenant in the Nigerian Air Force and was attending an Intelligence Officers course in the United States when Biafra was declared. He left the United States and entered Biafra through hostile terrain to join the Biafran Air Force. He was reabsorbed into the Nigerian Air Force after the war but by the time the signal reached him, he was already a 200 level student in the United States. George played for Rangers International Football Club after the war and left for the United States in 1972. They both returned to Nigeria in the eighties as highly qualified professionals and helped to clarify some issues, for which I am most grateful.

My dad, despite pressure from my mum, refused to return to Lagos after the war. His enthusiasm in project Nigeria had waned. He was fortunately reabsorbed into the East Central State, Ministry of Information, first as Principal Information Officer and then in 1972 as Chief Information Officer/ Press Secretary to the Administrator, Mr. Ukpabi Asika. In 1974 he was appointed the Director General of the East Central State Broadcasting Service (ECBS) and later, Anambra Broadcasting Service, a position he held until he was compulsorily retired by the military administration in the newly created Anambra State in 1976. He was active in the politics of the Second Republic. As part of his service to the Igbo people, he authored the biography of one of its greatest leaders, Dr. M. I. Okpara, former Premier of Eastern Nigeria. My father died on the 23rd of June 2009, at the age of 78, two years after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Almost all the books I used in my research for this work were from his library, including secret memos, correspondence and other invaluable documents worth much more than material property. Thank you, Obudugbo, Ononikpo Ozo, grandson of Chief Offodile Nwamalevhi, Vbum, the Warrant Chief of Awka. I am sure you are in heaven because you were a good man who forgave easily, an attribute I would have liked to inherit from you. If finding a space in heaven were hereditary, I have good news for you. The bishop and clergy of Awka Catholic Diocese during the centenary celebrations (100 years of the Catholic Church in Awka) on April 16th, 2016 honoured your grandfather, Offodile Nwamalevhi, for bringing the Catholic Church to Awka in 1916. Your father, George Chukwuneke Offodile was also honoured as the first Awka indigene to be baptised in the Catholic Church. Special prayers were offered specifically for your grandfather that his soul will be admitted into heaven, because although he invited the Roman Catholic missionaries to Awka and gave them a piece of land to erect a church and school, he refused to be converted. He has now been converted posthumously!

My mum went back to work at the Specialist