Abagana Ambush Part of Nigerian Civil War

Abagana Ambush Part of Nigerian Civil War Date 31 March 1968 Nigerian           Civil War A Biafran Soldier In The Bush On Alert Before The                                 Invasion Of Abagana.

Abagana Ambush Part of Nigerian Civil War Date 31 March 1968 Nigerian Civil War A Biafran Soldier In The Bush On Alert Before The Invasion Of Abagana.

Operation UNICORD Midwest Invasion of 1967 Enugu First Onitsha Operation Tiger Claw Second Onitsha Port Harcourt Abagana Ambush Operation OAU Owerri Operation Hiroshima Operation Leopard Operation Tail-Wind

The Abagana Ambush (March 31, 1968) was a military ambush by Biafran guerrilla troops led by Major Jonathan Uchendu that wiped out the Nigerian 2 Division.[9] Of the 6000 Nigerian troops ambushed, only very few survived including General Murtala Muhammad.

Background

On October 4, 1967 the Nigerian 2nd Division began bombarding Onitsha and continued the assault for eight days before a 10 boat armada crossed the Niger River into the city. The occupying Nigerians didn't pursue retreating Biafran soldiers and instead opted to loot and burn the Onitsha market to the ground. The Biafran 11th and 18th Battalions under Maj. Joseph Achuzie and Col. Assam Nsudoh formed a pincer and attacked Onitsha from two directions, capturing and killing most Nigerian soldiers.

In December 1967 the Nigerian 2nd Division an 6th Battalion crossed the Niger River at Idah and began making their way towards Onitsha, finally capturing the City after several attempts. The Nigerian Forces now intended to link up the 1st Division at Enugu with the 2nd Division at Onitsha. To this end the Nigerian 2nd Division moves out towards Enugu in a long convoy supported by armored cars on 31 March 1968.

Ambush

On March 31, 1968 a 106 vehicle convoy of the Nigerian 2nd Division transporting 6000 infantry as well as armor from Onitsha to Enugu was ambushed and decimated in the town of Abagana by a small troop of Biafran soldiers led by Maj. Jonathan Uchendu. Homemade Ogbunigwe rocket missiles were launched by the Biafrans at a tanker truck carrying gasoline which caused an enormous explosion that tossed armored cars like tin cans.[10] 350 tons of equipment were destroyed or captured by the Biafran troops.

Aftermath

The successful ambush at Abagana gave both Biafran soldiers and civilians hope in the war as well as temporarily halting the Nigerian advance into Biafran territory. General Murtala Mohammed was relieved of his command and never commanded a division again.

Notes

Jump up Though John de St. Jorre mentions Colonel Joseph Achuzie as commander of the operation,[1] Major-General Alexander Madiebo (General Officer Commanding the Biafran Army) credits Major Uchendu.[2] Chinua Achebe and others also credit Uchendu. From all indications, Achuzie was the commanding officer of Uchendu`s division and strategically planned the operation, while Uchendu led the actual ambush.

Jump up ^ International journalists present in Biafra at the time like Frederick Forsyth, Gilles Caron and other authors give the strength of the ambushed Nigerian troops as 6000 men supported by armor, of which almost all were lost.[5][6][7] Chinua Achebe gives the much lower figure of about 500 Nigerian troops.[3] All sources state that the convoy was about 100 vehicles long including troop transport, ammunition transport, tankers and armored cars.

NDI-IGBO AND THE BIAFRA QUESTION’ by Okafor Judith

Biafra have suddenly became the latest and greatest talk in the whole world after many years of the Biafra~Nigeria civil war were the Nigeria government massacred millions of Biafrans. Different reactions have been on the up rise daily as many shows serious concern mainly on the past and present genocide, injustice and evil unleashed by the Nigeria state on these peaceful Indigenous ‘NDI-IGBO AND THE BIAFRA QUESTION’ -Okafor Judith

People who only demanded for their freedom and exit from Nigeria. On regards to the bloody war which if mentioned by the Igbo speaking people in Biafraland, some groups becomes upset,

Okafor Judith from Orlu in Imo state Biafra land, wrote on her Facebook wall:

“I have heard so many people ask, “Why won’t Ndi-Igbo forget the memories of the 1967-70 civil war and move on?” Or “Why is it that Ndi-Igbo can not forget the bitterness of the civil war and move on?”

But I have these for those who have been asking the aforementioned questions:
The countries of Europe still discuss about the 30 year war that brought about the Westphalia treaty of 1648. 
The Jews have not forgotten the holocaust of 1940s.
Alexander the Great wars of over 2000 years ago are still being talked about.
Ndi-Igbo have every right to discuss about the war because Warsaw still discuss the attack on her by Germany in 1939 in their history classrooms. Learning one or two things from it.

The First World War that was fought in 1914 which disrupted the relative peace in Europe for over 100years is still being discussed. 
The US attack on Japanese two cities – Hiroshima and Nagasaki that led to the subsequent end of the Second World War is still being discussed till date.

The aforementioned Wars and among others were fought during the 17th century and early 20th century. While the Biafra-Nigeria war that was fought in the mid 20th century is the one that Ndi-Igbo should not be talked about, rather to forget and move on. 
Well, the bitterness of the war would have been soothed, if only the likes of Benjamin Adekunle (Scorpion), Obafemi Awolowo, Yakubu Gowon, Mohammad Buhari, Murtala Mohammed and the host of others were charged for war crimes.

The Igbo would have moved on if those that lost their jobs during the war were automatically re-absorbed into the civil service and military immediately after the war. 
Ndi-Igbo would have learnt again to fly, if the Biafra pounds was reasonably exchanged with the Nigeria’s currency and, were allowed to withdraw from their savings in the Nigerian Banks before the war. Rather the Federal government placed an embargo on their bank accounts and savings. 
The bitterness of the war would have been tasty, if the Federal government did not introduce the obnoxious financial policy: whereby Biafrans (Ndi-Igbo) were given only 20pounds, irrespective of the amount of money they had in their bank account after the war. And this was only possible when they were able to present their banking papers. Irrespective of the fact that many of them lost their banking papers in the course of this war.

It would have made more sense, if only the Federal government never introduced the ‘indigenization policy’ immediately after the war. This policy enabled only the Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani and others who were handy at that time to buy shares and became co-owners of major companies and banks, hence, leaving the Igbo at the crossroads. 
It would have made more sense, if only ‘The Reconstruction Policy’ was seriously pursued and successfully done. Apart from the Asaba end of the River Niger bridge, which was constructed at the end of the war, no other serious attempt was made by the federal government to fix all that were destroyed in Igbo land during the war.

Time would have healed so fast in varying degrees, if The University of Nigeria Nsukka was never abandoned despite the fact that it was almost reduced to rubbles during the war. This perhaps was a way of paying the university back for quickly changing its name to ‘University of Biafra’, and also producing the scientists that produced the Ogbu n’Igwe that they(Ndi-Igbo) used to suppress the Nigerian troops. I could go on and on to i many reasons, but the fact still remains that Ndi-Igbo can never forget about the war. It has legacies which should learn from”.

March 28, 2017 Press Release YET ANOTHER PLAN BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO ASSASSINATE MAZI NNAMDI KANU

We have been informed of another plan by the British Government to mid-wife the assassination of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). This time, they have concocted a document purportedly signed by 11 officers of IPOB in which these officers allegedly hired three persons at the price of ten million naira (=N=10 million) to assassinate Nnamdi Kanu.

According to the information revealed to us by a British Embassy official who is sympathetic to the Biafran cause, the following persons were said to have been hired by the 11 officials of IPOB to kill Mazi Nnamdi Kanu; 1) MAGNUS ADEGBOYEGA (a retired army officer) 2) BERNARD URANTA (SSS operative) 3) IHUOMA C. MARY We learned that these 11 officers of IPOB were chosen as decoys because of the rumours and propagandas that they were suspended/dismissed from IPOB by the Deputy Leader of IPOB for embezzling funds belonging to IPOB and using same funds to unilaterally open another radio station without authorization from IPOB leadership.

After committing their heinous crime, the British Government plans to prop up lies that these 11 officers decided to eliminate the IPOB leader to cover up their tracks in the case of embezzlement and after that take over the organization. For the avoidance of doubts and the records, the Directorate of State (DOS) of IPOB met on January 12, 2017 through a conference call on Skype platform.

At that meeting, the DOS made a decision to open another radio station that will be broadcasting live from the Americas. Mr. Leonard Anemene was given the task of Project Manager for the new radio station, and it was agreed that the broadcast would be feeding into Radio Biafra London (RBL) which is the mother Radio station of IPOB under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. At no time was it agreed at the DOS meeting that the strategy would be to record a program from the new radio station and then upload to RBL for broadcasting at a later time, as is being peddled by destabilizing agents of the British Government.

At the appropriate time, the recording of the deliberations of that meeting of January 12, 2017, plus other recorded Skype communications with several IPOB leaders involved in licensing and technical issues will be published for the public to listen to and make their conclusions. For now, we will refrain from making these recorded conversions public for obvious security and legal implications on some parties who attended that meeting and the licensing officer involved. On the rumoured embezzlement of forty million naira (=N=40 million) belonging to IPOB, we are glad to announce that we have the complete bank statement of the account in question and for the period covered.

This comprehensive bank statement will be made available to the public and sent to all newspaper houses in the world so that everyone will see the financial transactions and the names of those involved and their relationships to IPOB leadership where such exist. The bank statement would be published within the next one month unless the IPOB leadership advised on a delay. In summary, we warn the British Government to end this continual plots to eliminate their citizen. Rather, the British Government should use their diplomatic connections to secure the unconditional release of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

Trying to use officers of IPOB as decoys to kill their citizen is reprehensible and must be condemned by all and sundry. We alert the world once more that these officers being roped-in by the British Government are innocent. Let the British Government be warned that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s resolve to restore his beloved nation of Biafra is unstoppable and irreversible.

We know the British Government is working hard to stop Biafra restoration; hence we will not be surprised to hear from some of their collaborators, claiming to be in IPOB leadership and who will issue a disclaimer to this press statement or try to disown the undersigned. We reiterate that restoring the sovereign nation of Biafra is a task that must be done and the leader of IPOB Nnamdi Kanu must not be harmed in any way, shape or form. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu must be released forthwith and albeit unconditionally.

#WeRemember Systematic 

Massacre of Asaba October 

1967!!

August of '67 the Biafran army had peacefully passed through Asaba, crossing the new bridge, constructed in 1966, it was later on the 5th October that the Nigerian army arrived in Asaba, knocking on doors demanding money, raping and pillaging they rounded up boys and men and took them away for execution where the victims would have to dig their own grave before being shot into it, if they didn't go from their homes with the Nigerian forces they were shot on the spot. 
The next morning, hundreds, thousands of men, women and children assembled, with elders in front. As the crowd reached a major junction, troops removed women and small children and began channelling men and boys of around twelve and upwards on to the square at Ogbe-Osowa, a village in one of Asaba’s quarters. Machine guns were revealed and shooting began. Witnesses report panic as the assembled thousands were mowed down, starting with elders at the front. Some managed to break loose and run into the bush, while others were shielded by the bodies of the dead and survived.
Thousands were killed including women and children in Asaba that day of the 6th Oct of 1967.

The media at the time did not report the news of the Asaba killings, which was covered up, muted by Nigerian government who kept a tight grip on the press, infact a picture of Col. Muhammed Murtala was published in the Daily Sketch of him standing on the bridge at the Asaba end, yet nothing was mentioned of the Onitisha end of the bridge being destroyed!

Accounts of federal soldiers slaughtering hundreds of fellow Nigerians would have seriously undercut claims at the time that the war was aimed only to keep Nigeria united and the massacres went unreported. 
The extent of the destruction is indicated by Asaba’s removal in 1969 from the government’s official list of Nigerian towns. 
*Picture attached Refugee Camp at St.Phillips Church Asaba 1967.