Victor Nwoko
Josh was a soldier. A Biafran soldier during the civil war. Prior to the outbreak of the war and the conscription of able-bodied men into the army, Josh was a miscreant. A neighbourhood thief. One time, he stole a neighbour’s hen and made a stew broth. He was caught. The next school day, the headmaster ensured he was publicly flogged and shamed for stealing.
In the thick of the war effort, Josh was now a soldier. He remembered the headmaster and the ignominious treatment he was subjected to. He vowed revenge.
One afternoon, he came to the old school quarters and attempted to steal another hen. He came with three other soldiers who hid somewhere. The headmaster caught him and began to scold him. As their voices rose, the other three soldiers came out. They took the headmaster to a remote place and beat him to stupor. He lost several of his dentition in the process. His face was lacerated in many places.
Biafra was not a paradise. Many of the survivors refuse to discuss the atrocities and indignities they were subjected to by Biafran soldiers – people they know. They took it as the price they had to pay in the face of Federally-sanctioned murders of the Igbo all over the federation. In some cases, the silence was an act of self-preservation. The Biafran propagandists were out to accuse those who complained and who disagreed with the official lines as saboteurs. What began as a quest for refuge and freedom soon became a soured rhapsody of criminal chaos.
The killings in Anambra State in the past few days speak to the repressed memories of the civil war. We are at war with non-state actors intent on enthroning anarchy across the Igbo landscape. These anarchists are hoodlums organized under the aegis of IPOB/ESN. Biafra at the height of its existence was plagued by internal chaos caused by criminal gangs in military uniforms on one hand, and that caused by the saboteur hunters. Biafra was a quest for freedom on the surface and in the hearts of the people. But it was also a contusion of criminal incivilities.
They spout a utopian Biafra that never existed. In reality, they yearn for a lawless society where they can steal, kill, and maim without consequences. I had cause to Block two friends on this app because of their support for IPOB in the face of threats and murders by the criminal group. We warned of this outcome long before it began.
We are at the beginning of the aimless journey into the wilderness. The night is still young.
