By Henry Akubuiro
The Last Refuge in Biafra, Christian Adibe, 2023, pp. 206
From creative to non-fiction writers, chronicles of the Nigerian Civil War have continued to emerge from the printing press from different corners of the globe, each author approaching it from peculiar perspectives, more than five decades after the war ended.
It is a given: winners tell stories of valour. Losers tell stories of uneven matchups and costly errors. Other “casualties” –thanks to J.P. Clark, who didn’t fire a single shot at the enemy, tells stories of how the fear of dying, far from the warfronts, is more devastating than dodging enemy’s bullets. But every survivor and martyr is a war hero!
Indeed, war wears a spectral countenance. The bravest of warriors do not look at its face with excitement, for they don’t know what it will bring and when it will end. When the Nigerian Civil War ended on January 12, 1970, it came with a huge relief for all, writes Christian Chijioke Adibe, in his new book, The Last Refuge in Biafra. It was a torrid time to endure.
The oeuvre of Biafran books, in particular, has often paid witness to the unjust aggression against the Eastern Region, the pogrom in the defunct Northern Region, human right abuses, heroics of the ill-equipped Biafran soldiers and survival strategies adopted by civilians. None has done a concrete documentation of the vital role Orlu played as the last bastion for the beleaguered Biafran nation during the three-year war.
Enter Christian Adibe with a fresh perspective. The Last Refuge in Biafra by the author identifies how Orlu in present-day Imo State became a safe haven during the civil war. As city after city in the Eastern Region fell to the rampaging Federal Troops, from Enugu, Onitsha, Aba to Umuahia, Orlu stood its ground till the end.
The Last Refuge in Biafra is experiential and, partly, a product of research. The author was a schoolboy when the war started and watched the war unfold through the lens of an observer. He was to become a member of the Biafran Company, a non-combat group. He also fed from the news and propaganda of that time.
You probably hadn’t read extensively about this intriguing Orlu angle of the civil war narrative. Orlu, by the time the war started, was already a vibrant town with hotels and social amenities. It was to play a key role as a military incubator where Biafran officers were churned out and a paradise for hunted souls from across the Niger Bridge and the Igbo hinterlands.
Adibe begins the narrative by telling us what Biafra was before the creation of Nigeria – “…during the precolonial era, the Igbo who would be one of the major ethnic groups in the yet unborn Republic of Nigeria lived in segmented political systems – decentralised autonomous village and clan communities where political authority was and is still vested in the Council of Elders who usually met and still meets on ad-hoc basis to make collective policy decisions” (p.2).
He then delves into the origin of the Igbo ethnic group and the town, Orlu. There are lots of ethnographic materials in this chapter. The author also touches on the role played by the 20th century world wars in stoking the embers of freedom fighting globally, including Biafra.
From chapters 4 to 6, the reader is enlightened on factors that led to the civil war, from ethnic bigotry, the January 1966 coup and counter coup, the disregard for the Aburi Accord and the mass killings of Igbos and other Easterners in Nigeria, especially in the Northern Region. While the aforementioned are familiar stories, the next chapters are almost novel tales. From chapters 7 to 18, the author dwells more on the contrastimg developments in Orlu during the civil war, from the first signs of war in the town, the establishment of military camps, military training in Biafra and Orlu, in particular, plus occasional tales of anguish. The successes and trials of Biafrans within this period also found a place in these chapters.
Orlu was home to the School of Infantry and thousands of refugees. A good number of refugees from Asaba were in Orlu throughout the war. “Only God knows what would have happened to the displaced Biafran families during the war if there were no place like Orlu. Would it, therefore, not be a well deserved honour for the role played by Orlu during the war to be commemorated by all Ndigbo?” queries the author on page 79.
Realising the importance of Orlu, the Federal Troops made unsuccessful attempts to invade it during the war, says author. It was bombarded ceaselessly. However, the greatest takeaway from the civil war was the inventions of the Biafrans due to the economic blockade imposed by the Nigerian government: military hardwares and social utilities produced by the Biafran Research and Production unit. The domestic products included lamp, raffia palm bamboo bed, slippers, salt, etcetera. The book also speaks of the education revolution in Biafra in the face of adversities.
Fifty-three years after the end of the war, Adibe’s offering reminds us that sloganeering of “No Victor, “No Vanquished”, hasn’t succeeded in rewriting a bad script in the evolution of Nigeria. This book is revelatory. Read it.