The Ibibio Civil War Experience, How We Were Treated By The Igbo Biafrans

The Ibibio Civil War Experience,How We Were Treated By The Igbo Biafrans

Nigeria-Biafra War 1967 - 1970

According to Professor Ime Ikiddeh in his work, "The Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970: The Ibibio Experience", Ibibio People were to be found in the following multifarious situations:

i. "Thousands of Ibibio People , who were working in the public and private sectors in non- Ibibio areas of Eastern Nigeria now cut off from home, many in the Biafran heartland

ii. Those Ibibio conscripted into the Biafran army , some from among these workers ; others abducted from their homes in Ibibioland.

iii. Those that had fled from the North during the massacres and from Igbo areas as the conflict escalated and who were lucky to arrive home alive as refugees

iv. Ibibio top shots in Lagos and hundreds of their supporters who helped to set up the first South Eastern State Government before that administration could move to Calabar

v. Ibibio abroad within and outside Africa

vi. The ordinary rural Ibibio who lived in their villages in precarious existence characterized by fear , privation, pain and sorrow for the 30months of the War" ( end of quote)

Maurice Matthew Obot et al notes, that the vast majority of Ibibio remained Nigerian at heart and in action. Everywhere the Ibibio people were found in Biafra at home or out of it, the Ibibio were held in suspicion by the Biafrans.

If the Ibibios were not dragged out of their homes or from work for questioning , then they could be arrested at one or other checkpoints and roadblocks which littered both usable roads and abandoned village paths in the Republic.

Offences ranged from being in possession of Nigerian money or a Nigerian authored book or other document not judged favourable to the Biafran cause. It was an offence to wear a dress or carry a bag or other accessory which could be remotely associated with the colours of the Nigerian flag, just as it was a great offence to tune to Radio Nigeria or the BBC , when Radio Biafra was on air....

Quite often a good looking car belonging to the Ibibio man was ceased by the Biafran soldiers "for so called state duties" or because the motorist carried pompous Nigerian airs or someone in the vehicle gave a soldier a Nigerian look! Instant death, torture , detention for further interrogation or summary trial was among available penalties. Many Ibibio families lost their bread-winners and other valued members through check-point trials and security abductions .

For Ibibio men in the villages , no humiliation could be more, than having to hide in the Bush , sometimes for weeks at a stretch ,and peeping into their homes only in the dark. For the women , what greater shame than to watch helplessly as their unprotected daughters were dragged out of their homes to be savagely raped by men in uniform.

Federal troops had taken Calabar early in the conflict . In 1968, they had got into the coastal towns of Oron and Eket . It took sometime for them to successfully cross into the Mainland part of South Eastern State which is the Ibibio heartland. When they eventually did , it was through Itu in an amphibious operation , which placed Ikot Ekpene and Uyo within easy reach...Crossing the Itu River was not an easy task. The Biafrans had a large concentration of troops in the area. There were reasons; Ikot Ekpene was strategic , being at the border with Aba and Umuahia districts of Igboland. As the war progressed, Ikot Ekpene's geographical position had the most disastrous consequences...Nigerian troops captured and lost the town with hardly a human being left in it. Most of its citizens either escaped into the villages or drifted into Uyo as refugees.

The Biafran government treated the people of Uyo in a very bad way. Many Ibibio citizens were arrested , interrogated and detained on trumped up charges. They were beaten , tortured and sometimes killed. The homes of the Ibibio people were looted and vehicles seized by the Igbo Biafrans.

During the war, many Uyo indigenes had to conceal their identity to survive.

When the Federal Nigerian Troops arrived, it was common for the fleeing Biafran troops to shoot at different directions in desperation. Thus many Ibibio People got killed in such unprovoked last-ditch Biafran action.

In his book "The Tragedy of Victory : On the Spot Account of The Nigerian-Biafran War In The Atlantic Theatre", the Nigerian Brigadier - General - Alabi Isama chronicles the sacrificial contributions of the people of Uyo and the Ibibios in general, for posterity."

Source:

Ime Ikiddeh

"The Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970:

The Ibibio Experience"

"Uyo: An Identity Revealed" 2016

By, Maurice Matthew Obot

Otoabasi Akpan Umana

Uwem Jonah Akpan PhD.

Godwin Alabi Isama

"The Tragedy of Victory : On the Spot Account of the Nigeria -Biafra War in the Atlantic Theatre. Ibadan: Spectrum Books,2012.

Image credit:

Front Cover of the Source