#BBOTM: "Nigeria and Biafra: My Story" | Philip Efiong

Fantastic recall of events, to the best of my knowledge, and the best record I have so far read about Biafra; and I have read most of the books written on the topic by the primary operators. I survived Biafra, ending up in Biafra 2 or 3 (I cannot remember the numbering well at this point; most likely Biafra 3) from Okobodi Itu, to Itumbauzo, Idima and survived the grisly experience of crossing the Ozu Abam-Bende road during the last days of Biafra (Apologies if I got the spelling of some names wrong).

This is an experience, I will not wish on my worst enemy or want to live through again even in a nightmare,with the whole world as a prize. People who are clamoring for another fight, right now, possibly had it all good during the last days of Biafra or lived abroad or were not born or have reasons beyond my comprehension which they should explain properly in a form people should understand very well.

For the benefit of the general population, they should think very hard about what they are fighting for and the way they are going about it. War to the sane mind should always be a very last resort, if there is no way humanly possible to avoid it.

One would really not know the importance of salt (for example, a simple food item) until he or she goes through the experience of not having a sprinkle of salt in the menu for over one year. That was my experience. I am not trying to trivialize a serious issue; all I am trying to do is to keep it real, for the benefit of the larger population of people who would, as usual, end up being the grass in a fight between two elephants.

This is not a joke. It really scares me. People should be careful. War is not like selling pure water in plastic bags. It is a damn outright rough, costly and inhumane business. One thing I may have against the book is the length of coverage given to global Nigerian issues before homing onto the real Biafran story. On second thought, this may be important for the full coverage and understanding of the Biafran war and what led to it.

Another disturbing aspect of his recall was his version of what happened to Banjo, Ifeajuna and the rest of other people in their group. If his account is correct, that will make me very angry (and rightly so) with the all-consuming official version sold to Biafrans that these men were nohting but saboteurs.

Reviewed by: UEnyi

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