According to him, the Biafra agitators unwittingly bought into the propaganda sold by those opposed to Biafra by making their agitations seem like an Igbo affair.
Effiong Jr. said this during an interview with Hassan Arouni of BBC’s Focus on Africa.
He said: “I think there is something fundamentally wrong with their (IPOB) approach which is the fact that they have made it an Igbo problem.
“Of course, minorities were extremely involved, died, suffered, and played major roles.”
On his memories of the Biafra civil war, Effiong Jr. said: “I remember the plane bombing; that is one thing that stands out. I remember the planes bombing and one having to run away from them.
“Most of the outside world did not have an inkling of what was happening inside Biafra. Some did. And you have got to give credit to places like Ireland; the church made that possible. You know the Catholic Church has had a long philanthropic tradition and that helped spread the word.”
On whether, Nigeria learnt any lesson from the civil war, he said: “Nigeria and Nigerians have not learnt their lessons from the Biafra war.
“We are perhaps more divided that we ever where. First of all the war wasn’t about unity but it even divided us more. Even today, people can’t really talk about having friends from other ethnic groups.
“When you look at elections for instance or the fact that went and lived in a different state; there would be restrictions in the kind of positions I could hold. You find out that the concept of unity has not actually been realized.”
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