Biafra&#8217;s Forgotten Soldiers X: My encounter with the commander

Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers IX: The blood of the innocent women and children cry for vengeance – Ojukwu’s ADC

by Patrick Egwu Ejike At the age of 21, Chukwuemeka Ejiofor voluntarily joined the army as a Nigerian army officer before defecting to join the Biafran army when the declaration was made in 1967. One year into the civil war, he was made the Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu. Immediately after the war in... Read More

May 20, 2017

Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers VIII: 77-year-old Mbaeri was knocked down by a vehicle while begging to survive

by Patrick Egwu Ejike On many occasions, seventy-seven-year-old Onyeoziri Mbaeri has been knocked down by vehicles whenever he and other disabled veterans go out to beg at the Enugu-Onitsha expressway. Since they were abandoned after the war, they resorted to begging on the highway in order to eat. With their children moving them on their... Read More

May 20, 2017

Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers VII: We don’t pray for another war – Veteran

by Patrick Egwu Ejike Seventy-year-old Francis Njoku tries to rest one of his legs atop his neatly dressed bedspread in a one-room apartment where he lives at the Oji-River resettlement camp for disabled war veterans. Above his bed is a white mosquito net which he brings down at night to escape from the rampaging mosquitoes.... Read More

May 19, 2017

Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers VI: Sometimes I walk aimlessly talking to myself – War veteran

by Patrick Egwu Ejike Gideon Njoku, 68, remembers and forgets. He is suffering from memory loss – a result of the psychological and emotional trauma he passed through during the war. “Sometimes I lose my mind. I look around sheepishly like someone who is lost, I don’t know what to say,” he said, removing the... Read More

May 19, 2017

Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers V: Paralaysed Oliwe spends his time writing his memoirs

by Patrick Egwu Ejike John Chukwuemeka Oliwe, 63, was a thirteen-year-old primary school pupil in 1967 when he joined the Biafran army as a child soldier. Lying in a brown-painted shelf in his room are more than 20 files of manuscripts of two books he is writing about his experiences during the Biafran war. Initially,... Read More

May 18, 2017

Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers IV: 18-year-old Eunice couldn’t save her father from death

by Patrick Egwu Ejike Sitting on a sofa in the visitor’s room, Eunice Mbaonu, 18, looks tired and gaunt. Her brother Phillip had just brought her back in a motorcycle from the hospital where the doctor diagnosed her with fever. She has been crying all day, all week, unable to be consoled by neighbours. Last... Read More

May 18, 2017

Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers III: I’m waiting for the day I will die

by Patrick Egwu Ejike Forty-seven-year-old Cecilia Ozorji is now a widow. She is currently suffering from High Blood Pressure and malaria. Her body is weak and she gestures when she wants to speak – in a low voice that you can barely hear her. Her husband, Anthony, one of the disabled Biafran veterans has died.... Read More

Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers II: ‘Please don’t cut my leg’

by Patrick Egwu Ejike Clinging to his crutches in both hands, Sylvester Egbunna 70, limps to the spot where his dotted T-shirt was hanging in front of the veranda to put on. He moves to a wooden bench which was placed in front of the veranda to sit. His thirteen-year-old daughter is sitting close to... Read More

Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers I: Bullet in my chest

by Patrick Egwu Ejike Sixty-six-year-old Lawrence Akpu is sitting on a black wheelchair which makes squeaky sound at each move – a sign that it’s in a very bad shape. Hanging on the wall are black and white picture frames and calendars of Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, leader of the defunct state of Biafra who led... Read More

SPECIAL SERIES: A tale of woes, abandonment and rejection of Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers

by Patrick Egwu Ejike In commemorating the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Biafra on May 30, 1967, I traveled to Ezeagu, Oji-River in Enugu state and Okigwe, in Imo state where the disabled war veterans of Biafra are staying in resettlement camps to write about the harrowing, heart-wrenching, sole-surviving stories of Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers –... Read More

Editor’s Note: Introducing “Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers”, a 10-part citizenship series on YNaija.com

Today we launch the YNaija.com Biafra’s Forgotten Soldiers series – a special collection of stories telling the war experiences, triumphs, woes and tales of some of the soldiers engaged in the 3-year civil war. This 10-part series will run for the next 5 days in the month of May, and is part of YNaija’s citizenship series. The idea... Read More