Nchamere Nd'Igbo: The Pogrom, War And Starvation: Evidence Of Anti-Igbo Pogrom

BY JOSEPH ERUNKE ( VANGUARD ) -- Explains how he convinced Shehu Shagari to grant Ojukwu pardon Nigerian Ambassador to Cote D’Ivoire during late President Shehu Shagari’s administration, Denis Ukume, has disclosed that late Biafra warlord, Odumegwu Ojukwu, wept under his shoulder for forgiveness over role in war. The 83-year-old claimed Ojukwu agreed to Shagari’s condition to be referred to simply as “Mr” without any military insignia if he (Ojukwu) would be granted pardon for his role in the Nigerian Civil War. But he said Ojukwu almost marred his chances of being accorded the amnesty when he flouted the condition a few hours after by referring to himself as “General Odumegwu Ojukwu”, in an appreciation letter he wrote to him following his role in the amnesty deal. Ukume’s claims were contained in his book, titled: “I believe”, which he published among three others, launched in Abuja. His three other books also launched alongside, were titled, “My Challenges”, Osofinco and Mamma Mia”,...

  BY ELIZABETH IWUNWA CBC Canada Elizabeth Iwunwa says that growing up, she didn't know what it meant to be Nigerian. She identifies more strongly with being Igbo.  Image: Elizabeth Iwunwa via CBC Canada 'Let us remember to find peace within ourselves and extend it to all whom we call neighbour' ----------------Elizabeth Iwunwa The victims of war are not only the soldiers who lose life and limb, but also the people who suffer pain, the destruction of their life's work and the realization of what fellow human beings are capable of. My father is one of such. My mother too, but mostly my father, for he was a child conscious of his surroundings when the Nigerian civil war began. He was only five years old. This war, often called the Biafran war, was the most fatal perpetration of Black-on-Black killing in Africa before the Rwandan genocide. It began in July 1967, ended in January 1970 and tainted Nigeria's newborn independence of seven years.   One nation in word only ...

BY CHINYERE OBASI HARVARD POLITICAL REVIEW A baby dies of malnutrition in the arms of a British nurse at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Umuahia just one of the estimated one to two million victims of the Biafran War, on June 11,1968. Image: Ron Burton/Mirrorpix On Tuesday, June 29, 2021, Nnamdi Kanu, an Igbo Nigerian with British citizenship who can perhaps best be described as an “agitator,” was arrested . No one can agree on where it happened since reports range from Kenya to Ethiopia to the Netherlands . The people who do know are keeping quiet. No one knows precisely who arrested Kanu either; Kenya is denying involvement and the United Kingdom is still requesting further information. The best information so far suggests a collaboration between Nigerian security forces and Interpol. The setup and circumstances to the arrest of Kanu in June resemble a well-thought-out whodunit, with twists and turns and a slightly sinister edge. Why was Kanu arrested? That depends on who you ask. Acc...

BY CHRIS FERGUSON THE COURIER   Harry Gillan known as Brother Raphael with pupils in then Eastern Nigeria. Image via The Courier/Evening Telegraph Harry Gillan, who helped to save an estimated two thousand children from starvation during the Biafra war, before serving as depute rector of St John’s High School, Dundee, has died aged 93. In the 1960s, as a Marist Brother committed to educating needy children, Harry, known then as Brother Raphael, was headteacher of a boys’ secondary school in south-east Nigeria. He, his fellow brothers, pupils and local residents were trapped in their region when it declared itself independent Biafra. The Nigerian national army admitted using starvation as a weapon of war. By the end of the war an estimated 3.5 million people, most of them children, had died of hunger. Brother Raphael showed exceptional bravery, facing down gunmen and driving vehicles into conflict zones to try to find food and medicine for children. Starvation was eventually eased w...

ORIGINS    A baby dies of malnutrition in the arms of a British nurse at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Umuahia just one of the estimated one to two million victims of the Biafran War, on June 11,1968. Image: Ron Burton/Mirrorpix Barely three years after independence from British colonial rule, Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, collapsed into a civil war. The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, became one of the most divisive wars in the history of post-independence Africa. Its traumatic effects, evident in persistent ethnic animosities and distrust , continues to shape the narrative of Nigerian identity and the nation’s future. Equally important, the historical origin and the painful experiences of that three-year war (from July 1967 to January 15, 1970) validates the assumption that multiethnic nationhood, which African nationalists constructed from the inherited colonial boundaries, was fragile, even untenable. Indeed, most historians would agree that t...

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