By Ifeanyi Chijioke
Eculaw Group , it’s high time you distanced your writes from Biafra War-related history. This advice is necessary to preserve dignity and avoid deliberate distortion. If you are confident, we can host a debate to settle the matter. I am not IPOB. I am not an agitator. Just an informed and polished author.
Your recent piece is not only a distortion of history but also a disrespect to the Igbo people. Biafra has come and gone; we have moved on from it, but you simply want to discredit our history because of a misguided young man who opened a limited liability company called IPOB.
I wouldn’t mind taking you on a debate to correct the ignorance you spew out each time you write something related to the history of the Biafra War.
Your latest piece, which addressed Emmanuel Ifeajuna’s spectacle, is not only a distortion of history but also ignorance decorated with fake research and investigation.
Let me correct your impression there. The concept or idea that Ojukwu executed Ifeajuna because he was in competition with him (a rival) or the story that he executed Ifeajuna because Ifeajuna felt Biafra wasn’t going to defeat Nigeria is nothing but a conspiracy theory. No self-confessed record. No witness account. No supporting events. No link whatsoever. Just you taking up a conspiracy theory and writing trash. And who even told you that Ojukwu was expecting victory against Nigeria?
History is not critically challenged with conspiracy theories or contemporary stories; rather, it’s often challenged with self-confessions of actors or investigations (involving actors, witnesses, or those who lived in that era) that connect or modify existing history.
What you wrote, which says that Ifeajuna and Ojukwu were rivals, and that rivalry resulted in the execution is a fallacy that investigation and history captioned ‘conspiracy theory’
I don’t want to offer a lecture on what transpired, but let me give you something to ponder on. If you dare, let’s debate and get the correct history rather than emotionally charged fallacies of yours. Look, I have done investigation and had live interviews and detailed chats with veterans of the war. Even one of the Midwestern recruits who reported Ifeajuna’s activities that led to his arrest. You can imagine what I know from the actors. Now ponder on these seven points that would hopefully put your fallacy to rest.
1. Ojukwu didn’t prosecute Ifeajuna; the head of Biafran intelligence did. Odogwu prosecuted him. (Documented fact)
1a. (Documented fact) His prosecution was accelerated (rushed) because there was no time, as Biafra was in the middle of war (federal troops were rapidly advancing).
2. There were witnesses among Midwestern troops who confessed or bore witness (against Ifeajuna) to what transpired (documented fact). I was fortunate enough to interview one of them; he is still alive. He is one of the founders of Biafran Vandals. I know the name “Biafran Vandals” is new to you. I can offer a lecture on that and the history of the group.
3. (Documented fact) Ifeajuna was second to Banjo; even when he fought with a fellow Midwestern officer, Ojukwu intervened and made sure he was not punished. (This gesture shows no rivalry or competition.)
4. (Documented fact) Ifeajuna’s sabotage was reported to Biafran military intelligence headquarters by troops, and he was arrested by the intelligence department. Ojukwu wasn’t part of the initial process. His order to execute was sorted, and he granted it; for the sake of transparency, he couldn’t shield him as usual.
5. (Documented Fact) Ojukwu released Ifeajuna after the coup of 1966 and facilitated his position in the Biafran Army as lieutenant colonel and then Biafran chief of staff of the Midwest Liberation Force (101-division). This alone shows there was no competition or rivalry.
6. You singled out competition and rivalry with Emmanuel Ifeajuna. (Documented fact) Bro, did you forget Brigadier Victor Banjo, Major Philip Alale, and Samuel Agbam (civilian) suffered the same fate as Ifeajuna? Was Ojukwu also in competition and rivalry with Banjo, Philip, and a bloody civilian?
7. Finally, just as Trump was telling Iran a few days ago that they had better surrender because they don’t stand a chance, one lieutenant colonel in Iran went behind Iranian leadership and discussed a way to give up Iranian leadership and end the war because Iran cannot win. Despite whatever the argument was, sabotage is sabotage. Whatever reason that inspired the sabotage doesn’t absolve the lieutenant colonel of sabotage.
Ifeajuna sabotaged Biafra and was duly prosecuted. If anyone regretted the fallout, it was Ojukwu who lost his friend and brother to the military execution.
