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22—SATURDAY Vanguard, MARCH 3, 2018
Achuzia: More Biafran an after Biafra
They nicknamed him ‘Air Raid’
simply because Col. Joe Oseloka
Achuzia probably killed more Biafran
soldiers than some Nigerian troops.
He so believed in Biafra that soldiers
who ran away from battle were
summarily executed by him.
According to Biafra’s Army Chief,
General Alex Atta Madiebo, the name
Air Raid came on a day Administrator
of Okigwe Province, Sam Onunaka
Mbakwe, visited the frontline.
Mbakwe’s official car looked exactly
like Achuzia’s so when the soldiers
saw the vehicle approaching they
scampered for safety thinking it was
the latter.
Mbakwe, wearing the rank of
colonel found out that the shout of air
raid was not to dodge enemy jet
fighters but to run from Achuzia who
was fond of shooting his boys without
any restrictions.
One soldier who escaped Achuzia’s
bullets, Sasa Nwoke, of the Eighth
Commando Brigade under Major
Juventus Ojukwu and a crew of the
Armoured Vehicle, Corporal Nwafor,
would later eulogise the officer.
Nwoke wrote: “The man, Air Raid
Achuzia, was a soldier to the core, a
Spartan who would rather commit
suicide than surrender. To him retreat
was tantamount to surrender or worse
still to cowardice. The man simply
loathed cowards. In him I saw a
soldier who had no respect or regard
for bullets in flight and he seemed to
have married a heroine of a wife, the
daughter of a German general, I
presume.
I remember seeing her, a couple of
times, arrive in the company of her
ten-year-old son adorned in a
colonel’s apparel in the thick of battle.
She would stand and chat with her
husband and son for a while oblivious
of the raging battle, a hair’s breath
away.”
Achuzia actually tried to kill
teenage Sasa in Uzuakoli, where
Major Ibrahim Babangida got a bullet
in the leg and was replaced by Maj.
Mamman Vatsa. At the end he said
the boy was lucky not be turned to
Uzuakoli manure.
Achuzia also earned another
cognomen, Hannibal. His Land Rover
with registration number, BA[Biafra
Army] 7 was very well known by
troops. He began with the Biafra
Militia and ended up as Commander
of 15 Division. At the end of the war,
Achuzia was the one who led
Nigerian Army officers to the peace
table before the formal surrender.
General Emeka Ojukwu was the
power behind Achuzia, using him to
check and balance regular and more
seasoned officers. And the colonel
played to the gallery effectively. He
fought all over Biafra, from Onitsha
as a company commander to the
Midwest, to Owerri and to Okigwe
as commander of a division.
He single handedly changed the 13
Division to 15 Division on the grounds
that the number 13 carried along with
it some ill luck. Achuzia also took
over the “S” Division from Col. Tim
Onwuatuegwu. Both officers never saw
eye to eye and once tried to kill
themselves in the presence of Madiebo.
One of the seasoned Biafran soldiers
and a member of the “S” Brigade,
Richard Magana,[Nwa Lawyer]
believes Achuzia did not do so much to
win the war. It was alleged that due to
his inexperience, Maj. T.I. Atumaka,
was lost in Owerri. Atumaka was the first
commander of the “S” Brigade which
grew to a division.
Achuzia was not the only Hannibal in
the Biafra Army. There was a younger
officer, Hannibal of Carthage, Okpani
Nkama. An all round sportsman at the
Government Secondary School, Afikpo,
he was also at the Nigeria Military
School[NMS] Zaria.
His Afikpo mates included Reverend
Precious Omuku and Tete Mbuk. The
quartet of Herbert Obi Eze, Paul
Ndimele Omeruo, Bernard Akpunonu
and Lorderick Emejuru moved to Afikpo
from Zaria when war broke out and
distinguished themselves as young
officers.
Achuzia claimed to have fought for the
British in the Korean war from 1950-
1953 using the name George Taylor.
Some accounts say he arrived Nigeria
on July 29, 1966 during the counter
coup and was indeed saved by Lt. Col.
Murtala Mohammed.
In Korea, the United Nations raised
troops led by US General Douglas
MacArthur. Most of the UN soldiers
were Americans who pushed beyond the
38 th parallel before they were beaten
back by communist backed North Korea
in a war that cost about 4.7 lives.
It was under that circumstance that
Achuzia, an engineer, survived
although records of his involvement
have not been tendered publicly.
Madiebo did not see Achuzia as one of
the best officers on the Biafran side.
Achuzia was commissioned Major by
Madiebo based on the recommendation
of Brigadier Conrad Nwawo. Strange
enough, the same Achuzia with no
formal military training became one of
Achuzia remained an Ojukwu
loyalist until the Ikemba
passed on about seven
years ago. He also became
actively involved in matters
of Igbo interest speaking not
just as an Igbo from Asaba
but as Secretary Genearal of
Ohaneze Ndigbo
Ojukwu’s trusted officers and was even
placed above Nwawo.
Madiebo said:”Achuzia realized as
soon as he got into the Army that the
two vital requirements needed by an
officer to win the admiration and
respect of the people of Biafra were
publicity and playing to the gallery.
He, in short, saw the vital need for
doing and saying what the people
wanted to see or hear whether those
things impeded the war effort or not.
Like a few others, he discovered the
magic of speeches of glorious
intentions among the Biafran public,
even if these were not followed up by
action.”
Achuzia remained an Ojukwu loyalist
until the Ikemba passed on about seven
years ago. He also became actively
involved in matters of Igbo interest
speaking not just as an Igbo from
Asaba but as Secretary Genearal of
Ohaneze Ndigbo.
He also took the title of Ikemba Asaba
and spoke out against marginalization
of his people by successive Nigerian
governments. At almost 90 years he
remained a strong defender of Igbo
interest and was willing to fight again
if the opportunity offered itself.
Achuzia lived, fought, survived the
war and died 48 years after.
From Chibok to Dapchi: Sad tale of the girl child
It would seem that the pun about
Nigerians now waking up, daily, and
wondering what exactly will be the
next bad news, seems to be sticking,
no longer as a joke but reality.
And so it was that last week Monday,
February 19, 2018, the nation woke to
the tragic news of abduction of 110 girls
from Government Girls Science and
Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State,
again by members of the Boko Haram
terrorist group, which government had
severally said had been decimated.
In the same state of Yobe, about four
years ago, members of the same
terrorists’ sect had invaded the
Government Secondary School, Buni
Yadi, where they murdered scores of
male students of the school.
Also, the Chibok, Borno state
incident of 2014, where about 272 girls
were kidnapped from their school by
the terrorists group, is still fresh in our
memories.
Though in the Chibok incident,
which presents similar scenario with
the Dapchi abduction, some of the girls
reportedly managed to escape from
their captors. And while about 100
were freed, in exchange for Boko
Haram militants following a
negotiations said to have been
brokered by the International
Committee of the Red Cross, over 100
others are still held captive by the
Boko Haram.
Incidentally, both abductions
happened shortly after security
operatives stationed in those locations,
were said to have been withdrawn.
But how these terrorists easily
disappear into thin air, without a
trace, after successfully carrying out
such operation, remains a puzzle yet
to be solved by any group.
Instead, what one gets to hear after
the deed must have been done is likely
an outright denial, followed by blames
and counter blames as observed in the
latest incident between government,
police and the Army.
Immediately news of the Dapchi
abduction broke early last week,
Nigerians were told that no girl was
missing. Later on, the story changed
that the army had rescued about 50
of them and it didn’t take long for
Yobe state government to also make a
U-turn, apologising to the people that
earlier information on rescue was
false.
The dimension also introduced by
the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, to the effect that the
abduction was meant to embarrass
President Muhammadu Buhari, did
not make things any better.
Then came the story of 100 jets
being deployed, Wednesday, to
search for the girls, an aspect that
actually made the whole thing sound
like one huge joke. And social media,
naturally, made mincemeat of it.
If that story were to fly, it would
mean one fighter jet per one missing
girl, which is good. But whether
Nigeria could afford 100 fighter jets
in the skies at the same time left many
wondering what the APC-led
government wanted to achieve with
the bogus claim. It also left many
wondering who actually are involved in
these abductions, and for what purpose?
A member of the House of
Representatives from Bauchi State, Mr.
Mohammed Sani-Abdu, actually
suspects sabotage in the manner the
Dapchi abduction took place, pointing
accusing finger at the security system.
“This is a big shame to Nigeria
because this incident took a pattern that
indicated that our security system is in
a serious trouble,” he said.
Another lawmaker from Akwa Ibom
State, Henry Achibong, hits harder,
describing the Dapchi abduction as
“failure of government to cater for the
citizenry.”
In fact, he said it might just be a
diversion created by government to take
the attention of Nigerians away from the
killings being carried out by the
“rampaging” Fulani herdsmen.
His argument really is that if as we
are told that the military has practically
defeated Boko Haram, how then is it
Despite other factors militating
against girl-child education in the
north, not many parents would
gladly allow their wards to go
back to school in an
environment they are constantly
attacked and abducted
possible they could abduct this number
of girls from a school?
The debate followed after the
member representing Dapchi
community in the House of
Representatives, Mr. Goni Bukar-
Lawal, had moved a motion on urgent
public importance to bring the plight
of the schoolgirls to the attention of
the House.
Bukar-Lawal, who said several
abductions of pupils by Boko Haram
in Yobe State had taken place in the
past, unreported, wondered why the
military withdrew its men from the
area prone to attacks. And pronto, the
school was attacked shortly after.
And in line with Speaker Yakubu
Dogara’s view, the traumatic
experience of the Chibok abduction
should have served as a warning to
security agencies to provide adequate
protection to all schools in the North-
East.
To think this is happening in states
listed among those with worst girl
child education, simply means more
apathy to school enrolment for the girl
child.
Despite other factors militating
against girl-child education in the
north, not many parents would gladly
allow their wards to go back to school
in an environment they are constantly
attacked and abducted.
Such a situation, no doubt, will
worsen the already alarming rate of
female illiteracy in the area that
produces the highest adolescent girl
marriage, highest under 15 childbearing
and highest risks of maternal
death and injury, all of which
constitute factors that retard
development of any nation.