Showing posts with label recruits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recruits. Show all posts

Saturday, April 8, 2023

INSIDE BIAFRA: The Documentary Film



Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated Eastern Region of Nigeria. Biafra was established on 30 May 1967 by Igbo military officer and Eastern Region governor C. Odumegwu Ojukwu under his presidency, following a series of ethnic tensions and military coups after Nigerian independence in 1960 that culminated in the 1966 massacres of Igbo people and other ethnic groups living in northern Nigeria. The military of Nigeria proceeded to invade Biafra shortly after its secession, resulting in the start of the Nigerian Civil War.




From "Biafran Child" :

It was not long after the first gunshot was fired by the Federal Forces of Nigeria in 1967 that Nsukka fell and many of the students of the University of Nsukka were the first casualties as they were the vanguard of those who called for secession after the pogrom of the Ibos in the Northern regions of Nigeria.  The first gunshot marked the beginning of the internecine civil war. 

If you like, go up
If you like, go down.
Go up or down,
Jehovah knows those who are his.

The Biafran recruits and soldiers sang in Igbo, our mother tongue as they marched in rows through the village of Obolo-ugiri early in the morning.

The young recruits were clean-shaven and wearing white vests, white short knickers, and white snickers, whilst the soldiers wore their green Biafran Army camouflage uniform; all adorned with the badges of the rising sun in bright yellow colour.  There were badges on the face-caps and jackets.

The recruits carried wooden guns whilst the soldiers carried the real guns, which were rifles.

Instead of the Hausas to rule us
Let the world scatter to pieces.