An Honest Explanation of the Nigerian Civil War | The Biafran Story

Comments · 12K

• NE

  @NewAfrica · 6 years ago (edited) · pinned

  Please help support our growth by subscribing to our Patreon: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/NewAfrica">https://www.patreon.com/NewAfrica</a><br>You can also support us by making a donation here: <a href="https://paypal.me/SupportNewAfrica?locale.x=en_GB">https://paypal.me/SupportNewAfrica?locale.x=en_GB</a><br>Follow us on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/WeAreNewAfrica">https://twitter.com/WeAreNewAfrica</a><br>Follow K.B. Taiwo on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/KB_Taiwo">https://twitter.com/KB_Taiwo</a> <br>Follow us on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/newafricaofficial/">https://www.instagram.com/newafricaofficial/</a><br><b>The Nigerian civil war is infinitely more complex than can be explained in a 45 minute video. What we&apos;ve tried to do here is to give the &quot;bare bones&quot; of the conflict and also leave viewers with some food for thought about Nigeria&apos;s future. We would have loved to make the video much longer and explain all the intricacies but we were financially constrained. We hope you can all appreciate the effort that has gone into this work and use this as a springboard into further research about the Biafran War.</b>

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• MI

  @micci973 · 6 years ago

  I remembered what my parents told me about how they survived the war.<br>My father said that, there was a day when Biafran soldiers entered communities to get young boys from 15 and above to train. He was picked as he was 16 going to 17 at that time. They&apos;ll train them for 3 weeks (a month as most) and send them off to the battle field. They ate in very small quantity twice a day, sometimes, they will give them a small bowl for certain number of persons to eat. When it was time to send them off, they lined them up and painted their body black as camouflage. He said he remembered feeling soo scared because he hasn&apos;t perfected the act of the gun and that because he was the first son, he wondered if he will ever see his family again (his younger brother was like 6 years). In the border between Nigeria and Biafra, they would set a camp (not typical tents with fire though but with grasses and woods to hide them and wait for an opportune time to strike. It was that night that my father made a decision that he couldn&apos;t leave his family behind. He was like a provider to them, because he was not only young but the eldest child, he could easily get food from different camp sites and take it home to feed to his sick mother and little siblings as well as to anybody. So he made a decision to go check on his family that night and with hope of returning back to the camp very early in the morning. And with that, my father narrowly escaped death as that place was ambushed by the Nigerian soldiers after he left cause he said from afar, he saw corpses he could recognize right away and ran back home.<br>My mother said that when ever they heard that the Nigerian soldiers were coming, people will see themselves running to the Oji River (a river in Enugu State) to cross over and go hide in an area saturated with thick bushes away around the water. That she remembered crying because she hated it. She was around 7 to 10 years old at that time. The water would be too deep that the older ones would have to carry the younger ones on their shoulders if they want to cross the river to the other side (that was bushy as well) and carry them on their arms if they are hiding in the water grasses. Her family were always among the first to hide cause Nigerian Soldiers entering means deaths. That sometimes, you won&apos;t be able to sleep well at night cause you will be looking out for jet sounds. If they hear it, everyone will run out with fear of being bombed and Igbos lost important documents. There are times that they ended up sleeping in bushes with Mosquitoes and other insects biting you uncontrollably. sometimes, if you are unlucky scorpions and snakes. The only person that saved her family was her 2 eldest sisters, one worked with the army while the other one worked in a monetary bank. They always send relief like food, medications, money, clothes etc from their place of work to the family. Her eldest sister even initiated the plan to sneak her family members to Ibadan to stay as she said, was quite peaceful if you compare it to Biafra and after she successfully brought her family to Ibadan, the family lost her (the soldier) when the war was coming to an end. They still don&apos;t know if she is dead or alive. And that was where they lived until the war was over.<br>They told me so many things about how they survived, and the crazy things that happened. They literally saw many dead bodies both on road and in bushes that my parents lost count. Villages were safer than the Urban areas cause that was where the fight took place mostly but that doesn&apos;t mean villages were left out in the war. That when the war finished, Nigeria refused to send anything like funds and materials, thereby making the Igbos leave their region to look for a better place to get money and go to their land to invest what they could earn from their businesses. <br>It is even my culture that &quot;if an Igbo man does not build his own house in his land, he is not yet a man&quot;<br>Sorry if this is long and thanks for read it till this point 🤗.

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• PS

  @Pstyles_animations · 1 year ago

  They made Ojukwu look like the bad guy back then in school, they told us he tried to separate Nigeria and we felt he was a bad guy meanwhile he was fighting for Justice, he must be very brave, I&apos;m not igbo and I&apos;ve not watched the video until the end but I support Biafra in this fight

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• NA

  @nasiruhamza7457 · 6 years ago

  I&apos;m an Hausa Man. But I&apos;m so sorry for I had accused Igbo&apos;s people wrongly. Indeed you people are warriors. I Salutes my Able Igbo&apos;s brother and sisters. Love you all

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• FA

  @favouroriaku3116 · 3 months ago

  The madness happening in Nigeria brought me here.. June 5 2026😢😢

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• SA

  @saltaenutrof · 6 years ago

  Wow, just wow. Nothing&apos;s changed at all. This should be taught in Nigerian secondary schools. The Igbos deserved better.

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• OG

  @oghenetegaoruade5018 · 6 years ago

  My Pain is that, this would never enter the history classroom in Nigeria. Many Nigerian&apos;s growing up may never know anything about the civil war! but would be taught about world war 2.....

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• TR

  @trommelbiel · 6 years ago

  I was one of those malnourished kids who nearly died of kwashiorkor in the Biafran heartland. Almost 60 now and living in London I cannot wait to fight for Biafra.

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• KI

  @Kizito_From_1995 · 3 months ago

  Nigeria of today still hasn’t changed,Im igbo and this is my first time watching a documentary on my lovely people of biafra,Fri 5th of June 2026

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• MI

  @ministerifypraise · 1 year ago

  My Dad served as a Biafran Army. He died 2021 😢😢😢😢😢😢 I miss you a lot, Dad . You were a man of integrity, hardworking, and a pace-setter.

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• PR

  @princesseetoilesadeeq7767 · 5 years ago

  My husband is from the Biafra region, at times I can see the sadness in his eyes, he lost his mother, father and two brothers during the war. It’s sad, but no one talks about it. Thank you for sharing this video.

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• KA

  @kazeemoguntola2043 · 5 years ago

  I understand why high school don&apos;t lecture history anymore. They Don&apos;t want the coming generation to have knowledge of anything.

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