When the Biafran war ended in January 1970, it was a traumatic experience for the people of the short-lived Republic of Biafra. It was also a relief from anguish, suffering, starvation, bloodshed, carnage and uncertain future. For the Biafran warlord, Gen. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, it marked the beginning of a long period of exile in Cote d’Ivoire, one of the few countries that recognized Biafra. Others were Tanzania, Zambia and Haiti. Chukwuemeka Ike, former registrar of West African Examination Council (WAEC) and active participant in the fratricidal war captured his war experiences in his war novel, Sunset at Dawn, while one of the pioneers of Nigerian novel and a major participant in the avoidable and unavoidable war, Cyprian Ekwensi fictionalized his war experiences in Survive the Peace.
Frederick Forsyth, a renowned British author and friend of the Biafran warlord titled his Biafran war experience in The Biafra Story. Forsythe later wrote Emeka, authorized biography of the Biafran leader. The British journalist was in Biafra during the war. He was in touch with Ojukwu during the period of exile and accompanied him to Nigeria at the end of his exile.
Following Ojukwu’s exit of the troubled Biafra, some days to the collapse of the still-born or aborted Republic in search of the proverbial peace, many Biafrans and even Nigerians were not very sure what the revered Ikemba could do next. Some were not even sure if the war had actually ended or not. Some thought Ojukwu would come back and resume the hostilities again. To others, Ojukwu flight out of Biafra via Uli Airport marked the end of the 30 months hostility and brutality of a nation.
However, in the minds of notable Ndigbo and even common people, one thing is certain. ‘Agarachaa must come back.’ This expressive graffiti was boldly written on the back of Mercedes 911 trucks or Awara Awara which served the people of Biafra the means of transport within the territory and outside. Even some kombi buses had the same agarachaa… inscription, which in English means, a sojourner must come back, in reference to the revered Biafran warlord, Emeka. Some artists wrote it on the walls along Upper Iweka to Niger Bridge with a caricature of the heavily bearded Biafran leader. True to their prediction, the Biafran leader later came back.
No doubt, many books have been written on the tragic Biafran war, including memoirs, novels, drama, poetry, short story and history. The novel genre still dominates the major accounts of the Biafra and Nigeria civil war. People can read more on the war from novels inspired by the event than history books dedicated to the war. Perhaps there was an attempt by the Gen. Yakubu Gowon administration and others after it to totally obliterate the history of the war. That can explain why he renamed the Bight of Biafra as the Bight of Bonny. One of the evils of Gowon’s 12–state structure of Nigeria is the deliberate dismemberment of Ndigbo. Other state creation efforts have not addressed what Gowon did to Ndigbo.
That is why the other five geo-political zones have at least six states each, the South-East, which Gowon’s East Central State metamorphosed into, has only five states. Even one zone, the North-West has seven states. This marginalization is one of the evils of our 36-state structure. To Ndigbo, this means huge loss of revenue put in trillions of naira over the years, inadequate social, economic and political representations, among other denials. But what the historians have neglected, novelists have ably filled the gap. The war will still attract more books and even films because war stories are most sought after. Those who didn’t witness the genocidal war would like to experience it in books. And the war narrative continues.
Many books on the Biafran war have written the ingenuity of Biafrans, technological achievements, survival strategies, war propaganda, the gallantry of Biafran forces, casualties and other themes, but none to the best of my knowledge, has dwelt on Ojukwu’s years of exile, its politics and homecoming. That is exactly what frontline, prolific Nigerian journalist and aide to Ojukwu, Kanayo Boniface Esinulo, has done in his slim war memoir, Ojukwu: Exile, Diplomacy and Survival. With this 156-page book, Esinulo has filled the yawning gap in the Biafran war narrative, which has been short in Ojukwu’s exile, the permutations for his return and eventual reintegration into the Nigerian society once again.
It is not even surprising that Kanayo will be the one to fill this gap. He was both a witness and an active participant in the entire drama. He saw the war till the capitulation of Biafra. The prelude entitled ‘The Final Hour’ portrayed the end of Biafra in a moving prose. He later went into exile with the Biafran leader and worked for him for the 12 years the exile lasted and was with him years after until he decided to be on his own.
The memoir is an interesting and compelling addition to the corpus of the Nigerian civil war literature and must be read by all who want to know more about the Ojukwu persona, his years in exile and eventual return. There are so many things about the Ikemba that Kanayo’s engaging and poignant prose has unearthed. Esinulo’s memoir is indeed one of the best books on Ojukwu and the war, which remains a must read for historians, researchers, students and the general public.
The first chapter with the title, General Ojukwu—Different Things to Different People, is revealing enough and spiced with many nuggets and facts many people don’t know about the enigmatic Biafran leader. This is quickly followed with the racy chapter two where the author dwelt on those things that can’t be said. There is indeed no doubt that in a book of this nature, certainly some things cannot be really said. Like a woman’s Bikini, Kanayo’s book hides as much as it reveals. To understand Kanayo’s mind, the book requires diligent and careful reading. Any book is loaded with layers of meaning, including the intended and the unintended and those of the interpretative community.
Other enticing and interesting chapters of the book include the visit to Ojukwu by the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Kanayo’s visit to Nigeria that landed him in detention in Nigeria Police notorious cell at Alagbon Close and eventual detention in Kirikiri Maximum Prison, and his needed escape to Europe as well as the visit to Ojukwu by Ghanaian editors. The seventh chapter dealt with the struggle for Ojukwu’s return. The subsequent chapters dealt with the meeting of Nigeria’s erstwhile secret police boss, Alhaji Shinkafi with Ojukwu in London, the role of former Senate President Chuba Okadigbo, the historic homecoming of June 18, 1982, the tit-bits of exile and the appendices.
This is Kanayo Esinulo’s first bold intervention in the literature of the Biafra war. Writing about a persona like Ojukwu is not an easy task and dwelling on a theme as big as the Biafra war is not easy either. I commend the author for telling the compelling story with much sincerity, accuracy, vibrancy and urgency. Perhaps he will do a sequel to this narrative in future.