May 30, 2019 marks the 53rd anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of Biafra. For the sake of a younger generation that has not been taught Nigerian history, it is important to put some context to the emergence of Biafra. It may all have started from the political crisis of 1964 which culminated in the coups of January 15, and July 29, 1966. What is clear is that the declaration of Biafra followed a...
In a 2000 paper published in the International Journal of African Studies, I presented a case for local police devolutions in Nigeria that will bring the police closer to the people. The article argued that a colossal policing command headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria could not possibly provide adequate policing functions to the security trepidations of the citizens. That proposition was deduced before the mayhem of the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeastern part of Nigeria...
I am the mother of a Black Man (there are many of us), I am traumatized by the death of George Floyd. His mother, just like me, was a mother of a Black Man. I am a traumatized mother of a Black Man and I’m telling you that this isn’t about politics, this is about human rights and as human beings we are better than this, we have to do better than this. Our sons...
Yet, here I am still standing, pledging allegiance to NIGERIA with all sense of patriotism—a nation still being governed by some of the leaders that masterminded the devastating genocide I survived 53 years ago. Evacuating a large family from the village, Achala, to remote farmland called Eziobibi, almost twenty miles away on foot, and through near inaccessible road-paths, and under severe weather conditions was not a joke. I was seven at the time, and I...
In the days following the stroke which would eventually take his life, one issue weighed heavily on Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s mind. That ‘issue’ was the immortalization of Bruce Mayrock, the 20 year old who set himself ablaze in front of the UN Building in New York on this day (29th Of May) in 1969 to draw attention to the plight of the Biafran people (a people whom he had never met, and whom he believed...
Many years ago, the General, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu spoke about the “Biafra of the mind.” Only a few, I think, understood him. Well, they say, only the deep speak to the deep. But let me attempt here to tease out Dim Ojukwu’s prescription: the greatest proof of Igbo survival and aspiration must be to model, wherever Onye-Igbo stands, the ethos of innovation, excellence, ingenuity, and ability that marked the Igbo endeavor in Biafra. We must...
WAP brings under one domain, a four-part documentary of the very hostile Nigeria’s Civil War by Hector-Roosevelt Udunna Ukegbu, PhD. Ukegbu, is a graduate of the University of Lagos, where he was a student leader; he also graduated from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York; St. Gregory’s College, Ikoyi, Lagos, and the Owerri Grammar School, Imerienwe. He is also a columnist with the WAP. Igbos and Folly of Biafra (Part I) Pilotnews May...
Fruitless Peace Negotiations. The End of Biafra. Today—Which Way Forward? Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war — Ernest Hemingway On September 7, 1968, as renowned Biafran diplomat Raph Uwechue recounts, some anxious senior Igbos held a meeting in the Algerian capital Algiers where an OAU summit which would tackle the imbroglio of...
With the pattern of duplicity and cruelty that conjures the Donald Trump’s policy actions against the people of color, tell me how these ethically malnourished oppressors can educate any organization about good character and accountability? For clarity, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is not like Chase. Nope, it is not the traditional bank where folks drive through a narrow pathway to use the ATM. It is a bilateral development finance institution facilitating sustainable economic and...
As I write, the wild beasts are in the house, our house, your House; according to their kinsman, to ‘do business’. How could a race of people known for their resolute prowess of Africa’s wildest outposts, people who beg for a living, have the wherewithal to do business? Dear God: I hope you will find the time to read this. I have been wanting to write you over these years, but the story about your...
