PREFACE: Beatifying Biafra

Excerpts from the first Nigeria-Biafra War Memorial Lecture (Friday, May 30, 1997):

From the blood splashes

Of every human species

On sacred Earth’s grass

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Biafra is a legacy of life, a harrowing human heritage, and hauteur of history. But this presentation is not about Biafra. It is not about the 30-month, brutally bloody war. As the subtitle suggests, it is about the Biafran experience, what it did to us as a people, what we did with Biafra, and what we could still do with the enduring experiences and lasting legacies. Have we learned anything at all? Are we ready to learn? Whatever we do, we must not deny or distort the facts of our unfortunate history.

It is a screeching shame that no Nigerian regime has deemed it fit to beatify the sacrifices of those who perished in what officials love to label “Civil Disturbances of 1966-1970.” Nigeria is probably the only country to fight a civil war and go about wiping away the relics of its genocidal legacy. In the process, the victor smoothly and steadfastly keeps the dumbfounded vanquished down and out of nation-building efforts. Why couldn’t the thread that holds together the eerie experiment we call Nigeria and the cornerstone of a fragile—if not fractured—federation, take its proper place in the present pathetic political process? Who is afraid of the spirit of Biafra? Why?

Regardless of personal persuasions, politics, prejudice, and pride, there are important lessons to learn from the rich but bitter Biafran experience. Unfortunately, barely 30 years after the fact and with gigantic gains in science and scholarship, a good grasp of what Biafra represents still eludes us. We wrestle with the present political problems without recognizing past political mistakes. We gloss over outrageous misuse of power, gross misappropriation of immense natural and human resources, and humongous misrepresentations.

Some say: “Why don’t we forget Biafra... let go?” Others wonder why we attach so much importance to a defining dark era in our historical heritage. It may well be, but it is your history too, our heritage. People who do not know when and where it started raining on them have little chance of knowing when and where it would stop. Which raises the question: Who are you and who are we? Who are these people who have forgotten where and when it started raining on them? Are they suffering from convenient collective or selective amnesia? Is this fancy forgettery a classical case of inexcusable ignorance?

Another question: Is this presentation necessary? Of course it is. It is not about Biafra per se; it is a contribution to the meaning of Biafra. It is about what Biafra did to Nigerians, Africans, and the world community. It is about what we did with the legacy of Biafra. Could we have done better with this legacy? Yes, or we would not be talking about endless ethnic enmities and experiencing persistent political problems that threaten to destroy humanity as we know it in the Eden of evolution and cradle of civilization: Africa.

Those who say remembering Biafra resurrects the pains are right. The process of remembering injustices and atrocities is a process of reclaiming our sanity and humanity. By reclaiming humanity, we recapture our sense of self and lost innocence. The explosion of armed robbery and terrorism and the present political paralysis are all products of failed postwar programs. If we cannot talk about the root of the malaise, we are condemned to relive it. No one really wants to go through all that again.

I sincerely hope this presentation will be a part of the search for enduring solutions.

In this volume, I will offer my candid and personal belief in the lessons and legacy of Biafra as I see it. If the mind were a carrier bag, our ancestors told us, everyone would carry one. Every human, therefore, is entitled to one. I have one. So I am not oblivious of the fact that I do not have all the answers. I present the facts as accurately as published in other reports and books referenced, but the interpretation of the events is entirely mine.

I try as much as possible not to put down any person or group. But Biafra is a passionate subject. Some facts are too chilling to tell without graphic expressions. The events did happen. They must be told as such, not as some military officers who never fired a shot outside a firing range saw it. They survived to tell their stories. Many perished and paid a precious price for the peace we have plundered and polluted.

Am I qualified to speak about Biafra? I think so. I make no claims to certified academic scholarship in military history or political science. I put on the table four simple but relevant credentials: my personal experiences during and after the war; a fairly good knowledge of what others have said and written about the crises; a foray into literary pursuit, and an avid participation in newsgroup discussions on Biafra; and, most important, I live the pains of unlearned lessons of Biafra.

I always remind people who read and or listen to me that reviews of Biafran experience should never be misconstrued to mean “Nigeria: to be or not to be.” Books on Biafra should be seen as a mirror of our past mistakes and about “Nigeria and how it ought to be.” Many who elect to vote for and profess “one Nigeria” hardly know how to make their wish come true. You cannot build a habitable house on a flawed foundation. Almost always, things snap when we least expect. It bewilders; it bewilders because its know-nothing occupants are clueless on how the house was configured and constructed.

This presentation is my own addition to a bank of history that future generations might want to consult, if they wish to make their world work well for them. They might want to know how water got into pumpkin-leaf pipe, and how to patch cracks on the wall to avoid a collapse of volcanic proportions. Then again they may not need this bank of valuable information as much as we today cling to biblical and koranic stories of Middle East nations. However, it will be a crime if future generations need to know what happened and the facts are not there!