Austin Orette
I don’t enjoy replying to these incendiary and caustic postings of Biafrans. For us to move forward, someone has to do it.
All the blame for Biafra must go to those who started Biafra and are still in denial to this day and blames everyone who has any observation to the contrary.
Today, we are witnessing another bellicose nation deny its responsibility in drawing destruction unto itself. Israel started a war and it is blaming Iran for its destruction. This is the corollary of the Biafra separatist.
They declared a war on Nigeria and since they lost, they blame everyone but themselves. The generation that declared Biafra is dying away.
Soon, most of those who were the actors in Biafra will be gone. Instead of the bitterness ebbing away, a thick wall of hatred is being erected because that generation that fought is handing over embellished stories and lies to their children, who are not interested in reexamining their positions and reappraising their stagnant thinking about the war and the issues that led to the war.
We are familiar with the fact that truth is the first casualty of war. The Nigerian civil war is not an exception in this regard.
For some reasons, the proponents of Biafra will want us to believe that they have the monopoly of the truth.
This gentleman, who says Gowon lied, should revisit Biafra without his acidic temperament. His remarks against Gowon should not go unchallenged.
His remarks are wrong, self-serving, crude, and devoid of historical accuracy.
Nigeria did not declare war on Biafra. It was Biafra that declared war on Nigeria.
Gowon was a very reluctant warrior. He didn’t want brothers to spill brothers’ blood.
He tried everything including granting a lot of concessions to Ojukwu in order to avoid the war. He was a man of peace.
The proponents of Biafra always hang on to Aburi as if there was nothing happening in Nigeria before Aburi.
It is very disturbing to see people so clear-eyed about Aburi, but they are amnestic about what led to Aburi.
If the Igbos had declared Biafra and stayed in their enclave, the story of Nigeria would have been different.
After they declared Biafra, they invaded the Midwest Region and deposed Gov David Ejoor and appointed a Biafran as the governor.
The people of the Midwest region saw hell and mayhem during the three months that the Biafrans occupied the Midwest Region.
They conscripted people into the Biafran Army, raided Banks and killed those who refused to join Biafra. It was on their way to Ore that they were pushed back by federal troops that were hurriedly assembled.
The three months of the occupation of the Midwest region by the Biafrans were hell on earth for the citizens of the Midwest region who were under the Biafran military occupation.
Since the Proponents of Biafra always take Aburi as the beginning and end of everything, I will try to examine this Aburi for all to see.
The Biafrans, to this day, have never accepted that they were the aggressors. They have handed erroneous history to their children.
This is a deliberate ploy to hide their gross negligence. They have used their propaganda machine to populate the whole system with lies and innuendos.
In a twist unknown to them, these lies have become a prison to their uninformed generations. This is the reason why the generation that was not alive during that war always speaks with anger and crudity. Nnamdi Kanu actually used Aburi to justify his aggression towards the Nigerian state.
It is time we point them to the accurate history and pull away the blanket of lies that have given them comfort in their infamy.
When a sitting senator can mount a podium and malign an elder statesman, like Gowon, then nothing is sacrosanct.
It is time Nigerians tell the Biafrans that their whole existence is a big lie generated by those who led them into the wrong alley.
The sooner they jettison these lies and form a common course with other Nigerians, the better it will be for them.
Their perpetual cry for Biafra is fraudulent and based on lies. They should be made to understand that they brought Nigeria to this nadir.
In this discourse, we may be forced to delve into their uncivilized behavior that made them to cripple the Nigerian state through murder and mayhem.
The Igbo man in Nigeria is not a victim. He is a perpetrator. They owe Nigeria apology for the disruption they caused the Nigerian state.
Aburi was a place for cessation of hostilities. No one sent Gowon to Aburi to rewrite the Nigerian constitution that was overthrown by the Igbo officers.
For the Igbos to always try to convince everyone that Aburi was the beginning and the end of their bellicosity is a big lie.
They have told this lie over and over, and they are beginning to see it as the truth, and they have wrapped this lie with all kinds of mythology. Why Aburi? This place was chosen because Ojukwu said he was not safe in any place in Nigeria. Fair enough.
If Ojukwu had insisted on a return to the status quo ante, maybe things would’ve been different. If you look at the body language of Ojukwu and Gowon during those meetings, you can see that Gowon was very pliant.
He was ready to do anything to avoid that war. It was Ojukwu who came with cautery of lawyers and made impossible demands.
The Igbos forgot that we had a constitution that guaranteed regional autonomy, which was abrogated by Aguyi Ironsi, who also abolished the regions and introduced the unitary system that started Nigeria on this perilous path.
I am always amazed when the Southeast people refuse to acknowledge the role they played in ushering Nigeria to our present hell.
Ojukwu studied history at Oxford. He must have known what befalls a people who lose wars. Instead of negotiating for a ceasefire in Aburi, he came with a team of lawyers to rewrite the constitution of Nigeria in another land.
We had a constitution that was overthrown in a coup by Igbo officers. Why is it difficult for the Igbos to understand that Ojukwu had no means to enforce any agreement? This is the core issue that the Biafrans have refused to understand to this day.
I have always said these actors were very young. It is not out of place to ascribe some of their actions to youthful exuberance.
The more I read about Aburi, the more I find out that Ojukwu was more interested in headlines and his Oxford credentials, which were impressive and were highly blown in foreign newspapers.
The foreigners were not going to fight his war. What Ojukwu and his lawyers demanded at Aburi was not anything within the power of Gowon.
All the things Ojukwu asked for can only be addressed in a parliament of the Nigerian people. There was no parliament.
Those who were in the know when Gowon returned made it clear to Gowon that what he negotiated with Ojukwu was not within his powers.
Any attempt to make the Igbos understand that what Ojukwu got from Aburi is not tenable and will not be accepted by the rest of Nigeria fell on deaf ears.
Since then, they developed the Mantra, “On Aburi We stand.“ I will repeat, no one sent two soldiers to another country to rewrite the Nigerian constitution.
Nigerians refused to succumb to this blackmail by the Igbos.
There were other negotiations. There was Arusha, and there was Kampala. Biafra had no legitimacy and the wherewithal to enforce their one-sided accord. The rest is history.
In the overall scheme of things, Aburi is a non-issue. Did Ojukwu have any negotiations with Adaka Boro who declared Niger Delta Republic?
Boro was captured and sentenced to death. Why was this so? It was so because Ojukwu and Ironsi had the power to nullify Boro’s Niger Delta Republic, and they did.
If you juxtapose this, we can say Gowon had the power to nullify Biafra and he did. The myopia of the Biafrans is a deliberate affliction. Let us move forward.
Dr Orette is a Family Medicine Doctor in Houston, Texas. He Received His Medical Degree from the University of Nigeria
