BIAFRA: When Brothers Went To War

BIAFRA: When Brothers Went To War - Episode 1 For ten years, Emeka believed in one Nigeria. He was just a boy from Onitsha who wanted to be a teacher. Not a soldier. Not a hero. A teacher. His father worked for the Railway Corporation, his mother sold akara by the Main Market. Their house on Venn Road had only one decoration on the wall - a map of Nigeria. From Sokoto to Calabar. One country. Green white green. In 1960, when Nigeria got independence, Emeka was twelve. They gave him a small flag at All Saints Primary School. He waved it until his hand pained him. He believed in that flag. He was brilliant in school. His teacher, Mr. Okonkwo, said "Emeka, you will go to University of Ibadan. You will teach History." That was his dream. To stand in front of small children and tell them Nigeria will be the giant of Africa. But in 1966, Nigeria broke. January 15th. The first coup. The radio said Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa is dead. Sardauna of Sokoto is dead. Premier Akintola is dead. Young majors killed them. Most of the majors were Igbo. Emeka's father turned off the radio and said, "This will bring trouble." He was right. Six months later, July 29th, the counter-coup happened. Northern soldiers killed General Ironsi, the Head of State. Then they started looking for any Igbo soldier to kill. And then they started killing civilians. The news came by train. The train from Kano to Onitsha. In August 1966, Emeka and his father went to the train station to wait for their cousin. The train came. When the doors opened, people screamed. Blood everywhere. Women carrying dead babies on their backs. Men with machete cuts on their heads. A boy of seventeen crying, "They killed my father in the market in Kaduna! They used knife!" That night, the town cried. That night, Emeka tore the map of Nigeria from his wall. Every compound in Onitsha now had refugees. Stories of how Igbos were dragged from houses in the North and killed. The word in the air was no longer Nigeria. The word was BIAFRA. Lt. Col. Ojukwu was on the radio every night from Enugu. He said, "We cannot stay in a country that kills us." Emeka's uncle called him. "Emeka, you are 18 now. You can read and write. You wanted to use chalk. Now you must use gun. If they come here to kill us, who will teach the children?" On May 30th, 1967, Ojukwu declared Biafra. The whole East exploded in jubilation. Drums, dancing, shouting. Emeka was not dancing. He was standing at the front of the queue at the Biafran enlistment office at Onitsha Township School. He wanted to be a teacher. But war does not ask what you want to be. He wrote his name: EMEKA OKORO - BIAFRAN ARMY.