By Greetings once again everybody, today is the 15th of January 2025, an historic day in the Nigerian history calender, in that: It was the day the first military coup occured in Nigeria, and is also the day the ensuing civil war officially ended, with the Biafran high command attending an armistice conference at Dodan barracks Lagos.
It does sound like a day, when I could have brought you a piece on any of on any of the aforementioned events, but after much thought, I have decided to rather bring you a book review first.
Our book section is very important to us, because we believe as per the Biafran war, it’s very important to hear from the actors themselves or otherwise hear from books written by researchers, because a lot of lies have deliberately been told about the civil war for various reasons, and these lies perpetuate and are held as gospel by different groups and individuals.
I strongly believe reading these numerous books on the war, settles a lot of questions we ask about the war, removes the emotive feeling and reactions we harbour towards one another ethnically, as these books tend to make the reader objective and dispassionate.
A quick example of some of the lies told about the civil war are: 1. Biafra started the war and fired the first shot – whereas Nigeria fired the first shot on the 6th of July 1967. 2. No Igbo was killed in the first coup – whereas Col Arthur Unegbe was killed and not because of the Armoury keys as believed widely in Nigeria, but because believe it or not, he an Igbo officer was too close to Brig Maimalari a Northern officer killed on the same day. Only by dispassionate, objective reading and researching can we achieve the truth and continue to heal the open wounds of tribalism and ethinocentrism in Nigeria.
Allow me to interest you in another tantalising book on the Biafran war, titled ‘Riding The Storms – with God in my Sails by Admiral Alison Madueke. I must confess that I haven’t finished reading this book, but I have read the part that concerns us, the Biafran war part, therefore I believe I can review it for us, so lets go.
After a wonderful and idyllic childhood growing up in Otukpo, in today’s Benue state and formerly Nothern region of Nigeria, were his father became rich through immense hard work, the Northernisation policy of the Ahmadu Bello government meant he couldn’t get into any secondary schools in the North, so he had to go to one in the Eastern region, in Onitcha to be precise.
Post secondary school, he went to Lagos to look for work, but really wanted to further his education, this leads to him messing around with lots of opportunities afforded him, till he attended a Nigerian Navy interview, which turned out to be life changing. I obviously won’t go into every detail, but from here this first-rate book takes off for and becomes very cinematic and entralling and very dangerous.
Admiral Madueke, in this great book, solves a mystery for me about the July 29th counter-coup, according Gen Alex Madiebo in his book which we have already reviewed (pls check it out), a certain British army Major, Mr Boyle or Boyd as Madueke calls him, was deported by Gen Ironsi’s government for seditious activities against the Ironsi regime which led to the massacre of Igbos in the North, on the 29th of May 1966. After training in Dartmouth Naval training college in England, Midshipman Alison Madueke and co arrived back to a very tense Nigeria – unknownst to them at the time, on the 27th of July 1966 and were intended to quickly proceed on another course in England, scheduled for the 30th, but the coup that toppled Ironsi happened on the 29th.
After being briefed by superiors, he and 2 others were picked up and dropped of at the Lagos airport at ikeja – again i will not go into full details as I want you all to go and buy this wonderful book and read for yourselves how God and destiny and luck can all playout in a person’s life. They get arrested for being Igbos, as all Igbo officers were being killed at that airport. but my research over the years have always pointed the finger at Warrant Officer Sergent Paul Dickson, an Idoma officer a the sole mastermind of the Igbo killings at the Lagos airport.
Admiral Madueke says after their arrest, they were taken to a house at the corner of the airport, and brought before a whiteman, who was sat a table from were he interrogated and condenmed them to death. Again I won’t go into details and urge you to go and buy this book online and read the gritty details of what really transpired. But Alison Madueke confirms that the whiteman was the same whiteman Gen Ironsi deported in May, 2 months prior, this whiteman is Major Boyle/Boyd of the British army.
How did he get back into Nigeria ? when did he get back into Nigeria ? who kept this from Gen Ironsi ? and why was he able to interrogate and condenm Igbo officers in Nigeria ? why is this hidden from Nigerian history and Nigerians, where is Major Boyle today and what happened to him ? I believe he was British Military Intelligence. There are so many secrets as to what happened in Nigeria and still happens in Nigeria, and that is why reading and research is of high importance and should be sustained. By reading, I have been able to uncover a direct British governemnt connivance with the Northern officers and civil service and authorities in the Killing of Gen Ironsi and other Igbo officers and carrying out a vicious pogrom and bloodletting against its civilian populace in the entire North of Nigeria. Thanks Admiral Madueke for such unwitting revelation.
The Book continues by stating that he did complete his course and instead returned to Biafra instead of Nigeria, where he commanded Biafran made attack gun-boats, and helped stem the 3rd marine commandos assualt on Port Harcourt for 6 months before its fall. Biafran Navy achieved a lot of victories against Nigeria and he was very much in the thick of these battles and got seriously injured many times. I have again skipped many parts.
My favourite part of the book, is that he took the final salute of the Biafran Navy near Nnempi in Orlu, today’s Imo state, the boys didn’t have to hang around being that the war was over, but they did so out of disciplene and duty to Biafra and their senior officer. They performed a march past and three hearty cheer to Biafra and its Navy and that was it really.
Please go get a copy online at : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Riding-Storms-God-Sails-Autobiography/dp/1734752335
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Ref: The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War by Gen Alex Madiebo – page 43
