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THE NIGERIAN REVOLUTION AND THE BIAFRAN WAR
This book in my opinion is the best book ever written on the Biafran war. It correctly chronicles the pre-war political and ethnic tensions in Nigeria that inevitably led to the brutal war costing millions of lives. The book is also the best written in terms of every major and minor battles of the war. The author Maj Gen Alex madiebo in my opinion wrote a captivating, comprehensive and a very plausible book, it is a must read for anyone interested in the civil war. Maj Gen Madiebo was a very brilliant war General Officer Commander and according to Brig Tony Awunah, his military brilliance is probably one the main reasons a lot of Biafrans survived the war.
Major things to take away from this wonderful book are that; Gen Madiebo was a Sandhurst trained military officer and was the same set with Gen Yakubu Gowon, whom he said was very popular with the British officers for some reason ? Gen Madiebo carefully captures all the events leading up to the first and second coups of 1966, in the first coup, he was one of the officers Gen Ironsi successfully used to calm, negotiate and convince Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, who was in control of much of Northern Nigeria, to give up his coup and surrender to the loyalist federal troops.
His account of Gen Ironsi’s overthrow is quite moving and very sad to read, because Ironsi having crushed the first coup, felt very sorry for the North who had borne the brunt of the casualties and loss of power, and being that it was Ironsi that was the GOC under whom it all happened, he must have felt embarrassed by it all and it probably led to his policy of bending over backwards to placate and compensate the North, a policy that left him caught between a rock and a hard place as in the tug of war between the North and the South in miltary and political terms, the culmination was his assassination and the fall of the entire Igbo race from power in Nigeria subsequently.
There’s so much in this book that the reader can barely put it down, with the death of Ironsi, all Igbo officers were now on the run and Gen Madiebo narrates his drammatic and miraculous escape from Kaduna to Enugu and how the traumatised Igbo managed to gather themselves and prepare for the consequent Biafran war that ensued. my favourite quote from this action packed book amongst many, is how he detailed the night before the war started, and i quote ” As we went to bed I never dreamt that was going to be the first and almost the last party I was to attend in Biafra, for a major war, quite unknown to anyone, was only three hours away”. I tear up a bit each time i read this line in the book, great stuff.
This riveting book is available on Amazon, it’s a must buy and a must read. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nigerian-Revolution-Biafran-War/dp/9781561173
