The Unprepared Fantasy Paradise Called Biafra

Hello readers! Welcome to another GUEST POST WEEKEND here on A Loco Viva Voce. Today’s Guest Post is an article written Emeka Ubesie.

Emeka has previously written a couple of Guest Posts here on alocovivavoce.com. Here are their link in case you missed them http://alocovivavoce.com/2015/09/12/the-lost-african-goddess/ & http://alocovivavoce.com/2015/09/13/hip-hop-is-not-for-children/
Are you a writer? Or do you know a writer? Email your write-ups to guestpost@alocovivavoce.com for a chance to have your work published on GUEST POST WEEKEND!

Read Emeka’s article after the cut and enjoy!


The Unprepared Fantasy Paradise Called Biafra

The euphoria of the actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra has become an outlandish symphony, that most young Igbos have decided to dance to under a shimmering hot sun in this 21st century, without a proper assessment of the benefits and upshot of dancing to such a fatal song of this tempo, at the wrong time.

I’m an Igbo man, whose ancestors had played a vital role in preserving the heritage of the Igbo culture and values, in the little way they could and I’m proud to say here that most of my fallen ancestors that had gone to the world beyond, participated actively in the Biafra Civil War, which was led by Ojukwu in 1967-1970. I wasn’t in existence at that time, but rather, I was privileged to cohabit with some intelligent homo sapiens that fought the war for years and the experiences they garnered, were bequeathed in my consciousness. I’m one of those million lucky young Igbos that were fortunate to hear the Biafra War story from the orifice of some of our ancestors that pulled the trigger, right in the battle field and even participated in the building of the so called “Ogbunigwe”, the local bomb.

My father told me his own version of the Biafra War story when I was younger, of how he fought the war, alongside his brothers at a very tender age. Tony Ubesie, one of my ancestors of a blessed memory, who later became a Captain in the Biafra Army at the age of eighteen, also had his own account of the war. Tony was among the few individuals that were opportune to pass through the four walls of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka after the war, where he studied Igbo linguistics from 1976-1980 and I’m so pleased to have navigated through the same walls and also partook from the same ‘’Lions Heritage,’’ just as he did. He was later nicknamed Bullet, a.k.a Ukpaka Gbagburu Enyi, during the war. Tony dropped an Igbo novel that was titled ‘’Juo Obinna,’’ after the Civil War and this wasn’t his only novel anyway. Through this novel, he was able to decipher gently, his experience during the Biafra War and this well narrated, explicit and articulated master piece was published by Oxford University Press in 1977, if my memory still serves me right. I believe that most of these young Igbos that are busy clamoring for the State of Biafra at this virgin period have not read a single book that told the story of our Civil War. Most of them cannot even speak our native language (Igbo), let alone reading it – what a shame.

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http://alocovivavoce.com/2015/12/05/the-unprepared-fantasy-paradise-called-biafra/