There had been words, words and more words
on the pathetic situation of the inmates of the War Disabled Person’s Camp at Oji River in Enugu.
Local and International media outfits have from time-to-time, in consonance with the interest they seek to ingratiate,
taken turns to dwell on the plight of these victims of the 1967-1970 Nigeria-Biafra War. Some have foolishly inputted
that the plight of these victims is a clear demonstration of the uncaring nature of the Igbo people. Others who
seek to rubbish what Biafra stood for and accomplished under very difficult circumstances have
even gone to the level of absurdity by placing the plight of these gallant soldiers on the doorsteps of Dim General
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the former leader of the Republic of Biafra.
The illogicality of this simplification
smacks of ignorance or mischief or both. It blatantly ignores the “no victor, no vanquished” note on which the
war officially “ended” on January 15, 1970. Also,
it places the responsibility of proper rehabilitation
of these veterans on the wrong people or person taking cognizance of the fact that Yakubu Gowon’s policy thrust
of the so-called 3Rs; Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reconciliation, organically following his declaration
of “no victor, no vanquished”, at the “end” the war covered these victims. His government ought to have taken care
of them. Rather than frontally challenge Gowon and the successive BiafraNigerian governments for woefully failing
to honestly execute that policy; rather than offer practical steps for ameliorating the plight of these veterans,
what one reads or hears all the time is the cheap insults heaped on the person of erstwhile Biafran leadership,
or on the entire Igbo nation. This is absolutely unfair!
In the last few weeks, perhaps, triggered
by the escalation of ethno-religious crises in the Northern part of BiafraNigeria which is now under the constant
threat of Islamic terrorists, and in which the same evil forces who sought to wipe out the Igbo people from the
face of the earth in the 60s are still massacring and burying them in mass graves, there had been a recycling of
the thought pattern on the Disabled Veterans of Biafra at Oji River by entrenched interests locally and internationally.
Assertively, these interests who continue to see the plight of these victims as instrument for demeaning the Igbo
people do not mean well for the Igbo race. They do not mean well for the victims.
The very upsetting part of this development
is the adoption of this thought process by some folks in the Igbo Diaspora community. This is very unfortunate.
It is unfortunate because our folks should be taking practical steps towards bringing a long lasting solution to
the plight of these brothers of ours and their families, having realized that the Nigerian government has failed
to take the responsibility of rehabilitating them after 34 years.34 years is long enough for Nd’Igbo to come to
this conclusion. Thirty-four years is long enough for Nd’Igbo to take a decision to avoid creating a generation
of Igbo people, offspring of these our battered brothers, who would be unable to trace their ancestry like the
Igbo people wickedly shipped to the “New
World” during the inhuman slave trade.
This is what would stare future generations of Igbo in the face should we fail to act now. And this is the perspective
in which one would want the issue to be seen, understood, and addressed.
For better appreciation, it is important
that one places on record a brief history of how our brothers became “rejects” in their fatherland. As already
noted, one of Gowon’s failed 3Rs policy thrust was the rehabilitation of wounded and disabled soldiers on both
sides of the conflict. The Nigerians took theirs to Lagos and
established a well-funded rehabilitation centre where they prepared and supported them to begin normal lives. And
this was after their medical needs had been met.
On the Biafran side, the Biafran soldiers
who were badly wounded in battles were quartered at the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu. They were quartered there preparatory for rehabilitation and reintegration
into the society. Like their Nigerian counterpart, they were deserving of their medical needs being met along with
preparing them through equipping them with skills that would enable them to function independently and provide
for themselves and their dependents. For five years, the then government of East Central State
under Efulefu
Ukpabi Asika ignored these people and their needs. From investigation done on this issue, the Asika government
received huge resources from public-spirited organizations based abroad, especially, those based in the Nordic
countries, Germany and the United States. As was common in the anti-Igbo Asika’s regime, the resources were never applied to meet the needs
of these veterans. Rather, Asika diverted these resources to meet his pocket and the pockets of his cronies.
For five years, Asika who is widely remembered
in Igbo land for his infamous philosophy of “onye
ube ruru, ya rachaa” literally translated
to mean “one who fortune smiles at, should take full advantage of it without any sense of moderation or care for
others,” ignored and mistreated these people, pretty much in the same way he mistreated the other needy groups
in Igbo land after the unjust war levied on his supposed kinsfolk. For five years, these folks hoped, tolerated
and endured. They hoped for the full implementation of their rehabilitation, using the resources that came from
abroad, if the Gowon’s government was unwilling to match his words with deed and extend to them the same treatment
he had already extended to the Nigerian soldiers wounded during the war. They tolerated unwholesome meals. They
endured being treated like dogs by the agents of that administration.
Of course, endurance has a limit. And
these Biafran soldiers physically battered, psychologically wrecked and economically deprived began to protest
these indignities being foisted on them by Asika and his agents, through protest marches. There protest had instant
impact. It brought their plight to the general public. Much more than putting their suffering on the bar of public
opinion, it attracted the attention of the foreign-based NGOs who have made contributions to their rehabilitation
and reintegration. This was bad news for Asika. It was bad news for his masters in Lagos, BiafraNigeria’s seat of power at the time. And their response was swift. It was brutal. It was
inhuman, really animalistic and telling, to say the least.
On 11th of July, 1975, the Asika
regime decided to move against those he termed “irritant invalids and remnants of Biafra.” On that fateful day, the veterans woke up to discover that stern and battle ready BiafraNigerian
soldiers had surrounded them. Without the courtesy of allowing them to pick their personal effects, they were horded
into the newly acquired Oriental Lines buses and driven at devilish speed to Oji River Leper Colony. This action
was a punitive measure taken to hide the veterans from those who have started asking questions about their non-rehabilitation,
especially, those who have contributed in cash and kind towards their rehabilitation. And the choice of the leper
colony was to further complicate their disability by exposing them to leprosy and thereby hastening their demise.
Much as this was wicked and most inhuman by the standard of any civilized person, it did not come as a surprise
to those who knew Ukapabi Asika’s antecedents.
At the time they were moved to the center,
they were 650 in number. Over the years, many have died from their untreated injuries. Others have died out of
frustration and no clear means of survival. Presently, there are about 50 disabled veterans with an average of
one wife and 5 dependents. Some of them still have festering wounds. They have no access to medical treatment.
They have no access to good drinking water. Their dependents have no access to good education. There is one non-functioning
Toilet Paper Plant, which was initiated by a group of Igbo Americans that goes by the name: World Igbo Congress,
(WIC).
Sadly, all the silly photographs being
displayed by WIC fails to mention that the Toilet paper “factory” is not operational and is therefore of no value
whatsoever to the veterans.
Yet, on the WIC website one is confronted with
the following caption:
“WIC Initiated the effort to build an industry for the War veterans so as to stop their
resorting to begging for livelihood”.
And as is public knowledge, these disabled
Biafran veterans survive through begging by the expressway linking Onitsha
and Enugu. As Igbo people who have no culture of begging, one can only imagine
what they are going through engaging in what every Igbo person regard as humiliating. For WIC, it must all count
as suave politics to tell the world that WIC initiated, made an effort and built an “industry” for the war veterans. Nd’Igbo must have degenerated to a nation of simpletons to applaud a man who invests more than three
years claiming to initiate the feeding of his sibling who remains as hungry as when the initiative was born.
It is about time committed Igbo people
around the world; in particular those of us in the Diaspora came up with a comprehensive program to reverse the
BiafraNigerian governments’ and Asika’s wicked design against those men of valor. The idea of transforming their
present location into a modern central asylum cum gypsy centre which is what the WIC is probably attempting to
do by establishing a stagnant cottage industry there should be considered very revolting. Such approach would only
lead to creating an Igbo society that would have nowhere to regard as their ancestral home in the long-term. The
idea being bandied in some quarters that these victims are devolved into State Centers of their origin should be
rejected. That will still amount to creating an aberration within the Igbo society as already observed.
In a few days, WIC will once again gather
Igbo efulefu at its annual jamboree, this time in New Jersey. Having been lied to so many times, it is no surprise that Dim C. Odumegwu-Ojukwu has learned his
lesson and now avoids the annual WIC show of Igbo shame. Worthy Igbo sons and daughters
are staying away this year, just as they did last year.
This is the time to act in the best interest
of these victims and in the larger interest of the Igbo society. We must not forget that these men now in their
60s, as young men, saw streams of their people brought into Enugu,
Aba, Port Harcourt
and other Igbo cities from Northern
BiafraNigeria. Some were delivered
headless. Scores of women arrived with their breasts and other sensitive parts cut off. There were pregnant women
ripped open and their fetuses crushed. And there were numerous cases of under aged girls smeared with blood having
been sexually assaulted by diseased Hausa-Fulani, Tiv, and, Idoma, and Yoruba men. And they saw other horrific
scenes and were duty bound to fight to prevent the total extermination of their race. They need to be supported
in a very comprehensive way not only for their sake, but also, for the sake of Igbo nation who may need the services
of young Igbo men and women as BiafraNigeria continues to be confronted with the challenges that made these men
to give their all between 1967 and 1970.
In my view, the way to go is the establishment
of a Foundation to cater for their needs. The Foundation should have as its Board of Trustees credible and honest
Igbo men and women who have the interest of Igbo people at heart. This is necessary to ensure prudent application
of funds generated. This has even become more compelling in the face of the disclosure that some of us; the Diaspora
Igbo community raises funds in the name of one cause or the other only to divert such funds to private ends.
Understandably, the Foundation should
be used to mobilize resources for their resettlement in their ancestral homes or a location of their choice. I
do not think anyone should frown at this suggestion of a location of their choice at a time the likes of Achike
Udenwa and Orji Uzor Kalu are busy appropriating parts of Igbo land to build cattle markets and mosques to please
their Sokoto Caliphate masters; a gesture that is hardly shown to the Igbo people around BaifraNigeria. It is possible
to come up with a cost effective design of a residential 2-bedroom structure, which could be executed through volunteerism
to further reduce the cost. If shelter which is of utmost importance can be provided for them, their secondary
needs of educating their offspring and teaching their spouses productive skills like soap making and confectionaries
making should be undertaken to enable them contribute to the sustenance of their
families. There is also a need for Adult Education for some of the veterans who could be used in the local administration
of the Foundation. And their healthcare needs should also be met with a provision from the Foundation’s resources.
In the interim, some sort of intervention
measure is urgently needed to take care of the veterans and their dependent, while the Foundation is in the works.
BiafraNigeria is a very hard place to live in now. There is widespread poverty. Able-bodied men are finding it
difficult to survive. Naturally, it is more difficult for these men who depend on a frugal amount of money they
raise daily by the expressway. They need a provisional financial assistance to survive till full implementation
of the suggested long-term remedy. Whatever can be raised for this purpose could be delivered directly to them
through the means of electronic banking. They have a quasi organization and leadership in place that can directly
take possession of such financial help.
We know that it was within the purview
of the BiafraNigerian government who instituted the 3Rs to take care of these men. It was a BiafraNigerian problem.
It was not an Igbo problem. And it was not Dim Emeka Ojukwu’s problem. But it is apparent that the BiafraNigerian
government abdicated a responsibility they voluntarily assigned to themselves. Nd’Igbo will be wallowing in deception
if they think that help will come from Abuja to
the Disabled Biafran Veterans at Oji River Leper Colony. Therefore, it is our duty to rescue them from their pitiable
state and an ignoble fate that awaits their descendants. We can choose to act wisely and holistically now or wait
the harsh judgment of posterity. 50 years down the line this could be our collective fate. We can avoid it. We
should do it from this day.