Chief Jasper Okoro
Forty-Eight years after the Nigeria-Biafra war ended, Chief Jasper
Okoro, a veteran journalist, who was one of the youngest soldiers on the
Biafra side has narrated his experiences, describing the war as that of
resistance, vengeance and self-survival.
Biafra has continued to reecho; 48 years after; what does Biafra mean to you?
Taking a reflection of the hostilities that bedeviled the Nigerian
state and the eventual emergence of Biafra in the later ‘60s, I remember
with considerable thought Biafra as a country that was a home theatre
of horror where scores of thousands of even civilian casualties were
recorded. Biafra is a country that was. Biafra, named after the Bight at
the shores of the Atlantic, in my mind, is one of the greatest nations
in black Africa that was destined to be, but unfortunately could only
survive for 30 months. Biafra resurrected indigenous scientists,
inventors of sorts, military marshals and tacticians. Remarkably, the
war of Nigeria-Biafra was a pitiable spectacle. The Ojukwu’s Biafran
slogan was “To preserve Biafra, to maintain the freedom of the Midwest,
and to liberate the West, a task that must be accomplished”. This was
against Nigeria’s Gowon chant of “To keep Nigeria one is a task that
must be done.” So, Biafra was a people fighting for self-survival and
against annihilation at that time.
Do you still believe in the cause?
The Biafran cause is varied. As a cause against oppressive forces,
yes; as a cause for equity, yes; but as a country in a country no. I say
vehemently no because all through history, it is impossible for a
country to claim sovereignty while it is within the full government of
another. To me, those agitating in the name of MASSOB or IPOB should
rather transform to Movement for the Actualization of a Nigerian
President of Igbo extraction and proper restructuring of the country, to
the advantage of the Igbo. Most of the principal actors of the two
movements never knew about the Biafran war – even the events that led to
it, how it was executed and how it ended. Those of us who participated
as young officers of the Biafran Army would have a clearer belief of the
Biafran cause. So, all these things we hear from young people today, to
me, are mere noise. You can’t actualize Biafra by shouting; worshipping
one man and closing down businesses in the name of sit-at-home for
Biafra. I agree that Biafra is like a religion, but not the kind of
agitation we’re seeing these days.
How were you enlisted into the army in view of your tender age?
It was indeed to me adventurous. I saw the Biafra-Nigeria war as a
war of resistance, vengeance and self-survival and so I voluntarily
opted to make that patriotic and heroic sacrifice by joining the army.
In Biafra, the underaged were also recruited into the military service
although my own case was, so to say, special; special in the sense that
at the breakout of hostilities in the North in 1967; those of us in the
secondary schools were ordered to go home and the educational
institutions were shut. Then, I was at the St. Enda’s Secondary School,
Inyimagu; now Iboko Boys in present day Ebonyi State. Back home at
Afikpo, I joined trainees at Government College Afikpo where a certain
expatriate groomed us in military tactics of sorts. At that time the war
had broken out. Later, I joined the Special Home Brigade trained by
Captain Dominic Nwobodo who later was the Green Eagles captain in the
late 70s. This special brigade prepared us as Guerilla frontiers, but
was not regarded as the regular military force. The day Afikpo town fell
to the federal troops, I was far away at Apiapum in the Cross River
area when I was detailed to accompany six wounded troops to Mater
Misericordiae Hospital since I knew the place well. On reaching the
Amasiri-Afikpo junction, one Brigadier Amadi ordered our vehicle to head
to Nguzu-Edda where the Biafran Red Cross Society and the makeshift
military aid station were relocated.
From information, my home, Afikpo was deserted and the town
burnt-down. I decided to go on hunt of my parents, brothers and sisters
so as to join them. My search took me to a refugee camp located at the
St. Joseph’s Primary School, Uzoagba in Ikeduru, Owerri Division. In the
camp, I was appointed to assist the camp warden, Mr Okere who worked
with other Red Cross officials. Following an unruly behaviour of a
certain soldier on pass to his village, the community elders, in concert
with the camp warden, wrote a petition to that effect and I was sent to
submit the petition to the nearest military base which was at Atta,
Ikeduru. With an official bicycle of the camp, I proceeded to Atta,
asking questions about the location, as I went along, until I finally
located the Battalion Training Depot. Coincidentally, the Regimental
Sergeant Major who I was directed to report the case to happened to be a
paternal relative of mine, RSM Unya. In a tease, a Commissioned Officer
whom I later identified as Lt. Oparaji was in his company and he asked
if I could handle a weapon and I said yes and went further to prove that
I had had such training. Lt. Oparaji was so moved by such courage
and patriotic zeal of mine, and after certain tests he assigned me to
accompany him on the conversion of militias to the Regular Forces at the
St. John Bosco’s Secondary School, Ishiagu in Afikpo Division. It was
there I got officially enlisted and an authentic Biafran number assigned
to me. Eventually, I undertook training at the 10 Battalion Training
Depot, Atta.
How were you able to cope?
Although the training was hectic, I coped. However, I and some few
teenagers of my cadre, were exempted from certain strenuous drills and
obstacle tests and rope climbing, but we participated in road walk,
weapons handling, etc. On two occasions, when international observers
visited our training depot, those of us who were underaged were quickly
dispatched to a remote hamlet where a certain spring was located. After
our infantry training, those of us who were in the secondary school and
who studied sciences were tested and a dozen of us that passed, out of
the 58 number, including one of my kinsmen, Augustine Alu were sent to
join other colleagues to train as army male nurses with the XXIV Medical
Battalion at the Seventh Day Adventist School premises in Ihie, Mbawsi,
Ngwa Division. We undertook a three-month crash programme in materia
medica, elementary medicine and surgery, military hygiene,
physiotherapy, etc. When Aba was threatened, we relocated to St. James’
Umudi and it was there we passed out successfully, although only a
quarter of those initially registered scaled through. So, I not only
coped with the training but I performed marvelously well.
What handicap did you have and were you able to contend them?
Our handicap and constraints were in the area of not having enough
weapons; arms and ammunition. The federal troops had sophisticated
machine guns both shot-range and long-range, bombers, fighters, buffers,
ferrets of sorts and tankers, while we made do and challenged them with
few arms including self-manufactured Ojukwu Bucket explosives, and
weapons captured from them. One remarkable thing among the Biafran
soldiers was the unity of purpose, the zeal and courage with which we
fought. The war songs (too numerous), acted as mobilizing force that
tended to push the troops to battle, thus making them forget some of the
handicaps. Our indigenous scientists and inventors helped to
manufacture various weapons while drugs were also provided for our
troops. We were also able to capture lots of weapons, wears,
consumables, food and drugs, which were ascertained safe before we used
them. Also, we regularly had encouraging briefs from His Excellency’s
Special Advisers like Akanu Ibiam, Michael Okpara and Dick Ihetu Tiger;
the renowned boxer, to name a few.
Where was your last place of operation before the war ended?
I was at the Port Harcourt war zone; to be specific; our troops were deployed at the Apan Oke Ohia and Egbu-Etchei axis.
Although special attention and exclusive concentration was placed
on the Port Harcourt sector because of the oil locations; we had
constraints of adequate weaponry, which most times placed our troops
more on defensive strategy against the enemy’s strong attacking
pressure. For one who clearly knows the geographical locations well, it
was an irony and unbelievable that we were right at Egbu Etche only to
hear that Obasanjo’s 3rd Marine Commandos had captured Owerri. Select
units of the Biafran Tigers, Dragons, and Scorpions of the Vengeance
Brigade were drafted to the area. Eventually, we succeeded in regaining
the town. However, our troops adopted a defensive strategy to create a
corridor via Umuguma through which the former Brigadier Benjamin
Adekunle’s Mariners, then under Col Obasanjo’s command made a night
passage and escape, after which our troops re-engulfed Owerri. After
their escape we made a lot of gains in terms of recovering items, which
they abandoned. It was an amazing story of what we saw in Owerri sector,
especially at the Control Post where, at the Assumpta Catholic
Cathedral, our soldiers mounted the Biafran flag amidst jubilation. But
not too long, Owerri was recaptured by the Nigerian troops under
Obasanjo’s command, we got the signal of the end of the war.
How did you get the news?
One of my brigade officers, Captain Eni Oko and I were coming back
from the Egbu Etche to Brigade headquarters, Obinze, right in the jungle
the following day, we listened to the low tune of our transistor radio:
“A Special Broadcast by the Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the
Republic of Biafra. The broadcast was preceded by the Biafran National
Anthem with the ‘Be Still My Soul’ tune and after tracing some vital
elements of the Biafran story, it ended up with; “We are now Nigerian
citizens… and the Republic of Biafra ceases to exist”. The broadcast was
continuously repeated and the voice of the presenter real. It was that
of Major-Gen. Philip Effiong, the Chief-of-Staff, Supreme Headquarters
of the Biafran Army and second-in-command to His Excellency, General
Chukwuemeka Odu egwu Ojukwu. We wandered in the thick bush and in the
morning hours, found ourselves at Oguta after crossing a canoe. It was
at Mgbidi that we confronted federal troops who ordered us to be
disarmed, clothed at a nearby Okirika shop and directed to where to feed
before we traced our way back to Afikpo, our home town. From Oguta to
Mgbidi we met a team of our kinsmen from the same war location and we
aimed at returning as a team. Among them were Capt Ike Igbo, Lt. Ewa and
Lt. Igu. But conflict resulting to assault meted on us by some of the
federal soldiers made Captain Eni Oko and I decide not to enter any of
the vehicles the Nigerian soldiers provided for us and we trekked from
Mgbidi to Afikpo. It was, indeed, a long journey; which took us four
days.
Being a journalist, have you thought of putting together your Biafran experience in book form?
Many, including the principal actors of the episode have laid in
book publications, the events of Biafra. But the story is inexhaustible.
I was scripting events as they occurred in my locations in pockets of
diaries, but unfortunately, both the compilation and my cherished Parker
pen were confiscated and destroyed when they disarmed us near Oguta
Lake as we were heading home. If they knew or saw the contents, perhaps
they could have preserved those memorable diaries. At that time, I was
merely a High School student and 17 years old. Ironically, I never knew I
would be a journalist.
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Source: The Sun
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