Biafran War Memories

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Author Archives: biafranwarmemories

Nigerian MiGs were trying to shoot us down

January 10, 2020by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

A whole lot of things comes to my mind [when I think about the Nigerian Biafran War]. The main thing would be working on the airlift when we used to […]

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When rocket was sounding

January 8, 2020by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Mary Doris Akabueze. I don’t remember how old I was at that time when the war was fought. I am 50 years [this is a rough estimate; […]

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Hide inside trees and bananas

January 5, 2020by biafranwarmemories 2 Comments

Okay. I am Chief Christopher Ayogu. Knight of Saint Paul, KSP. I was born December 24, 1947, in this Okpuje [in present-day Enugu State]. This Okpuje Ani village, in Okpuje […]

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I drink my piss…I shit maggots

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My name is Donatus Nsionu.  Dem born me 1933 for Awkuzu here [a town in Anambra State]. You no sey the time wey dem born us, everywhere neva open like […]

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The road will kill you

August 27, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Kenneth Ezenifite. 85 years old. Born here in Awkuzu [a town in Anambra State, Nigeria]. I was at home. I was going to farm when the war started. I was […]

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Alexinia Oforchebe

When we got home, there was nothing

August 21, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Mrs. Alexinia Oforchebe. [I was born in] 1939 in this Awkuzu [a town in Anambra State, Nigeria].   I was married then [when the war started]. I had […]

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I was married to a Biafran

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I was born in New York. My name is Rina Okonkwo. I grew up in the US and I moved to Nigeria in 1973. Em, well, I lived in New […]

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Uli airport was what made us survive

August 8, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Venerable Professor Jacob Ukwuchukwu Onyechi. I was born in October 18, 1951. I was born in Awka, Nigeria. That’s in the present Anambra State. Old Anambra. It’s […]

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I found grenades in her handbag

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My name is Uba Idris. I was born in Dan Hassan village in Kura local government [in Kano State, Nigeria.] It has been about seventy two years ago. What I […]

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Hiding themselves like everyone else was

July 17, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Cecelia Anizoba. [I was born in] 1935. It was in Awkuzu [a town in Anambra State, Nigeria] that they gave birth to me. I was in Awkuzu [when the war […]

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The ordinary man in the east saw hell

July 17, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

We had a terrible civil war [in Nigeria] and purely built on mundane things like ‘oh, you are an Igbo man. You should not have this,’ or ‘you are a […]

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Judgment is left to be done by God

July 2, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Eh, Sergeant Garba. No, put Mada instead. Yeah, because no one really knows me by the other name [Garba]. I was born in Zamfara state. I am seventy eight years […]

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Give us gun, we are all angry

June 26, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

I am called Dr., my surname, Nwakire. My first name, Onuzuruike. My father’s, Nwagwu. I was born fifth of November 1950. I studied at Government College, Umuahia.   I was […]

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I was very proud to be a Biafran

June 11, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Yes, my name is Gordon J. E. Nwosu, Gordon J. Enyogu Nwosu. I live in New Rochelle, New York. I am retired from teaching mathematics. I was born July 1947 in […]

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It was sounding GBAH!

June 11, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Agnes Ndife. I was born here in Awkuzu. Tell her [the interviewee] that I am 85 years old. We were in Awkuzu when the war started. I […]

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Just run and never look back

June 4, 2019by biafranwarmemories 1 Comment

My name is Theresa Igbenagwo. What I know is that I am 87 years old. I was born in Awkuzu [Anambra State, Nigeria]. I was in Onitsha [in 1967 when […]

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I used my eyes to see

June 4, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Monica Ubianuju Nwannakwe. 1957 [ I was born], in Awkuzu [in Anambra State, Nigeria]. [I was with my mother when the war started]. I am the only […]

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I was a student-turned-soldier overnight

May 28, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Nnamdi Onwualu. I was born in 1952…1952. December 1952. I was born in the northern part of Nigeria in a town they call Bakori. It’s in Katsina […]

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It was bad enough

May 21, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Elizabeth Ugonwa Anyakoha. I was born June 18, 1948 in Imo State. Arondinzuogu is the town. Yes. Ehm, 1966, I was 17 or 18 years. I just […]

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Death was around the corner

May 9, 2019by biafranwarmemories 1 Comment

What comes to mind is sheer terror, the constant and incessant appearance of military jets, Nigerian military jets that would just show up with little notice and at all hours […]

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We leave everything and run

April 15, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Patrick Obute. I was born when just a few individuals went to school. When I started working for the government, my name was written as David. I […]

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They planned to destroy us

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My name is Hajiya Hauwa Muhammad. I should be almost 50, 60 [years old]. [I don’t know the year I was born]. You know this age thing and how complex […]

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The beginning of the catastrophe

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My name is Nduka Agbim, a resident of Georgia in the US. I was born 1951, December twenty-first. So the war is called Nigeria Biafra War of 1967 to 1970. Of […]

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They were forced to dig their grave

February 3, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Okay, my name is Christian Enechukwu. I was born in Ishiagu, Ivo local government, Ebonyi state, on the fifteenth of March, 1955. I’m 63 now. I schooled at St. Anthony’s Primary […]

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It was headed for a terrible tragedy

January 29, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Well, my name is Dr. Herbert Ausubel. I am an American trained at Harvard Medical School. I trained in history before I entered Harvard Medical School and in fact I […]

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They fire me through the window

January 29, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Ali Yahaya. I was born 1950, January eighth, 1950. [In] Enugu. Egweti Barrack. My father was a soldier. [In] 1966 [when the coup and the killings happened], I was […]

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Daddy, what are we going to do?

January 29, 2019by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Elder Macpat Chike Emerike. I was born 1950. The twenty-first, August. I was born at Amaokwe Item [in Abia State]. Yes, I witnessed it. I witnessed it all the […]

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People threw away their children

December 21, 2018by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Roselyn Ukerele. I was born in Amizi, Umuahia in 1944. August. When the war started I was in Amizi, Umuahia with my mother and my two brethen, […]

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I put grass in my mouth

November 23, 2018by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Mrs. Amauche Egwuonwu. I was born at 8th July, 1940 at a place called Eha Amufu [Enugu State]. [But my town is Item in Abia State.] When the war started, I […]

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Bullets Raining Like Water

November 21, 2018by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Okay, my name is Dr. Ngwu. Leonard Ngwu. I was born on third September, 1951. Third September, 1951. In the first place, I worked as the personal secretary to his Honorable, his Excellency, Honorable Dr. Nnamdi […]

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We formed the Biafra Students Association of North America

June 10, 2018by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike. I come from Isuochi, source of Imo River, the great Imo River in Abia state. I live in Abuja. I have served this country […]

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The Igbos were being killed

May 27, 2018by biafranwarmemories 1 Comment

  My name is Evangelist Musa Paul-Gindiri. I was born here in the city of Jos in 1962 and I have always been here except for the few times I […]

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Marketplace is a war target

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I am Evangelist Timothy Ayuba. My father’s name is Pastor Ayuba. I was born at Panyam District, present Mangu Local Government, formerly Pangshing division during the colonial rule, during the […]

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They forced people to join

May 27, 2018by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Sunday Ezenwa. I am 50, eh, I am 55 years or thereabouts. Actually, what I remember about the [Nigerian-Biafran Civil War] was as at then I was […]

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One Calabar man we buried alive

May 12, 2018by biafranwarmemories 1 Comment

Samuel is my name. Samuel. Ajamekwe. I am 65. First, I fought in the Nsukka sector. From Nsukka sector to Eha Amufu, from Ihamufu to Calabar sector. Eha Amufu. It is […]

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We did so much injustice to ourselves

April 25, 2018by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Medina Dauda. I was born on the twenty fifth of October, 1958 in Kaduna, precisely in Unguwan Shanu of Kaduna north and I started my- would I […]

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Igbos were saved

April 25, 2018by biafranwarmemories 2 Comments

I am Dr. Bulama Mali Gubio. I was born in Kararam village of Magumeri Local Government Area of Borno State in July 1952. But in my infancy, my parents moved […]

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If you die, you say ‘bye bye’

April 25, 2018by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

I am Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence O. Akpu. I am one of the disabled veterans of Biafra, quartered at Okigwe in Imo state. 1966, I was at Lafia [in present day […]

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We jumped the fence and ran to the woods

April 23, 2018by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Dr. Emmanuel Oduah. I was born at Odekpe, Ogbaru Local Government, Anambra State. December 24, 1954. December 26, 1954. When the war broke out, I was at […]

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You know what they do to that boy?

August 14, 2017by biafranwarmemories 1 Comment

I was born in Nigeria in Port Harcourt, Rivers State now in 1947. The eighth of April. [My name is] Christiana Ofiaeli. When the war started, I was in England. […]

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We heard the sound of death

August 6, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Okie dokie. My name is Charles Chukwuemeka Oputa, otherwise known as Charly Boy. I was born in a little town in Imo State called Oguta. It’s called the Blue Lake […]

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They allowed children to be decimated

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My name is His Royal Highness Igwe Christopher Chukwumeka Ejiofor. I am the traditional ruler of Oyofo Kingdom in Ezeagu Local Government Area in Enugu State. My title is Ezekwesili […]

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The war delayed our marriage

August 6, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

I am Mrs. Joy Onubogu. I am from Ogidi in Anambra State. I was born in 1944. I am 73 years old. I live in Jos [in Plateau State, Nigeria] […]

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They said women should not be killed

August 5, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

  My name is Hamsatu Allamin. In fact, I was born in 1958 in Nguru. Then, my father was a civil servant working there. Nguru is in Yobe state bordering […]

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It was a very slow death

August 5, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Okey Eweani. I am from Enugu-Agidi in Anambra State, Nigeria. I was born in Jos, Plateau State in 1958. What comes to my mind [about the war] […]

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They had opened her stomach, taken the baby

July 2, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Okay, I’m Enuma Okoro. I was born in 1946 and I experienced the war for a short period of time in Enugu before I left for the states in 1968. […]

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So people must die

July 2, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name, it’s Elizabeth but when I got married to my husband he gave me Habiba as my name. Okay? I am 63 years old. When I was born at […]

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Them kill am, then shoot am

June 20, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Esther. My father’s name is Imagosie. Esther Imasogie. I am 92 years old and 10 months. I was born in 1924. During the [Nigerian Biafran] war, I […]

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When dawn broke

June 20, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Sulei Usman. I was born in Bauchi. We moved here to Maiduguri [Borno State] in 1966. Our father brought us. I was thirteen at the time. We […]

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My father…they butchered him

June 19, 2017by biafranwarmemories 2 Comments

My name is Laura Nwando Onwualu. I was born 1954 in northern Nigeria, Plateau State, Kura Falls. I don’t remember much about the Nigerian-Biafran War but I remember then I […]

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Every young man was eager to fight

June 15, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My names are Engr. Mark Chijioke Uchendu. I am from Ihitte Uboma in Imo State of Nigeria. I am born in the same Local Government, born in Okigwe town. 1960. […]

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Starving out a population

June 15, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Joyce Barnathan. I think I was in maybe early high school days. I’m trying to remember if it was high school or junior high school. There was […]

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The Igbos were molesting us

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    My name is Bala Mohammed. I  was born here in Kaduna, 1947 on the ninth of May. I attended my elementary here in Kaduna. Later in the year 1967, […]

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People were eating rats

May 30, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

  My name is Theresa Nwakaego Nsionu. I was born in 1941. What I remember is that war was so severe. People suffer it well. Well, we were in Jos, […]

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They take my husband by force

May 30, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

  My name is Irene Okeke. I don’t remember what year I was born. I don forget all. My husband dey die. So since then, I no dey remember anything […]

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I lost my four brothers

May 30, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

Alright, I’m Jacob Francis one of the war veterans, disabled veterans who fought for Biafra. I was born in 1951. My own family, I have about 8 children. I was born […]

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We buried the skeletons

May 30, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

I am Obum Okeke from Anambra state. I was born in 1960. The Biafran war. I was about six getting to seven, there about. I was in a primary school […]

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Their rocket got me

May 29, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name is Gideon Njoku. I was born 1951. I entered the war as a Biafra soldier in 1968. I got an injury in 1969, August 12. I volunteered to […]

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The bombs shook the ground

May 29, 2017by biafranwarmemories Leave a comment

My name. Louis Odiha. I’m 57-years-old. I’m from Eke, in the local government area of Enugu state. I should be, I think ten. 10 years old then [when the war broke […]

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We saw one Igbo guy killed

May 29, 2017by biafranwarmemories 1 Comment

I am Hajiya Amina. Ibrahim, that is my father’s name, Gambo, my husband. I was born on the thirty-first of December 1949 in Adamawa Song Local Government in a small […]

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I woke up, there were soldiers

May 29, 2017by biafranwarmemories 1 Comment

I’m Chief Mrs. Edith Daniyan and I’m from Delta. My dad is Urohobo, while my mom is Edo. So I’m from the old Bendel state in Nigeria. I’m 70 years […]

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Biafran War Memories is a digital archive of first-hand accounts of the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War. The personal stories of people who remember the war and some who lived through it are here.

The July 17, 1968 cover of LIFE Magazine featured the images of malnourished Biafran children

'Biafra: Fighting a War Without Guns' is a BBC documentary film. This film, that led the BBC's 1995 Africa season, was the first attempt to reconstruct in film the troubled history of the Biafra conflict. Featuring a long interview with Colonel Chukwumeka Ojukwu, the leader of Biafra, and leading players from that period, it argues that the Nigerian Civil War was one of the first of modern conflicts in which the war for the international media becomes as important as the fight on the ground. The film is also notable for its use of archive as an independent film element rather than wallpaper to illustrate commentary. In this photo by Agence France-Presse, Nigerian federal army soldiers, prisoners of the Biafran army, wait to be questioned on August 8, 1968 near Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom, southern Nigeria.

His head left his body! How would we react? We were just terrified.

The Biafran Airlift Mission

The Biafran airlift was a humanitarian intervention organized by private groups from 1967-1970, bringing food, medicine, and other supplies into Biafra during its bloody separatist conflict with Nigeria.

Civilians fleeing Aba to go to Umuahia in southeastern Nigerian on August 28, 1968 as the Nigerian federal troops advance toward the city during the Biafran War. AFP PHOTO / Francois Mazure

We were hearing gun shots and bomb blasts and all that so I gathered my brothers and started running with the neighbors.

There was molestation from the Igbo soldiers who were in Kaduna then. Molesting people anyhow.

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British war photographer Don McCullin’s picture of a 9-year-old albino Biafran child is considered by TIME Magazine to be one of the most influential photos of all time. “To be a starving Biafran orphan was to be in a most pitiable situation, but to be a starving albino Biafran was to be in a position beyond description,” McCullin wrote.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was founded in 1971 in France by a group of doctors and journalists in the wake of war and famine in Biafra.

John Lennon is seen here with his wife Yoko Ono on the 25 November 1969 during a press conference held after he returned his MBE to the Queen in protest of Britain's involvement in the Nigerian-Biafra War.

I don’t know who killed him, but he hadn’t died finally. He was about to die, and then somebody came and pulled his trousers. He was just left there. And then as we moved, we saw another one. That one- blood all over his body, already dead. And then that was the first time in fact I saw a corpse.

New York Times reporter Lloyd Garrison at a military checkpoint in Biafra during the 1960's

We saw several skeletons of dead people. Skeletons, when we came back after the end of the war. We buried the skeletons. We buried them. My father’s compound was flattened. It was a battlefield. It was a war front.

Two young soldiers of the Biafran army, Moise, 14 (L) and Ferdinand, 16 (R) talk to one another in the city of Umuahia on August 31, 1968 as the Nigerian federal troops continue their advance during the Biafran war. Photo by Francois Mazure for Agence France-Presse.

20 pounds 1966 1966 coup Aba Abagana Abakaliki Abeokuta Abia Abia State Aburi Activism Adamawa Adamawa State Afia Attack Afikpo Aide-de-camp Aircraft Airlift Air raids AK47 Alex Ekwueme Amaokwe Item Americans Anambra Anambra State Anara Apapa Arms Army Arochukwu Asaba Asaba Massacre Assemblies of God Church Awka Awka-Ekiti Awkuzu Barrack battalion Battle at Abagana Bauchi Bayelsa BBC Bende Bendel Benin Benue Benue State Biafra Biafran airlift Biafran Army Biafran pounds money Biafra One Biafra War Bible bicycle Blockade Bomb Bombs Borno Borno State Boys' Brigade British Bruce Mayrock Bunker Calabar Cameroon camp Canada Cannibalism canoe Carita Caritas cassava Catholic Charles de Gaulle Children Chimamanda Adichie Christians Christmas Chukwuemeka Ojukwu Chukwuma Nzeogwu church Columbia University consciption Conscription Corpse corpses Cote D'Ivoire Ivory Coast coup Cross River State Dead bodies Delta Delta State Diplomats Diseases Doctors Easterners Eastern region Ebonyi State Edo Efik Egypt Emmanuel Ifeajuna England Enugu Enugu Garrison Ethiopia Ethnic cleansing Europe Ezinifite farm Festus Okotie-Eboh Fighter jets food France Fulani Gabon Genocide Ghana Girls Gongola State Haiti Hausa Hausa-Fulani Hospital Human meat Hunger Ibadan Igala Igbo Igbos Igbo women Ihiala Ijaw Ikeja Ikemba Imo Imo River Imo State Israel Jesus Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi Jos Julius Nyerere Kaduna Kano Kanuri King's College Kogi Kwashiokor Lagos Lagos airport Life Magazine lizards London Maiduguri Major Nzeogwu Makurdi Malnutrition Mangu Local government Market Marketplace Marriage Massacre Media Mercenary Methodist Church Michael Okpara Military Military checkpoints militia Missionaries Mothers Murtala Muhammed Muslim Muslims Nelson Mandela newspapers New York New York Times Nigerian army Nigerian Biaf Nigerian Biafran War Nigerian soldiers Niger Republic Nkwelle Nnamdi Azikiwe Nnewi North Northern Northerner Northerners No Victor No Vanquished Nsukka Nteje Ntueke Nyamiri OAU Obafemi Awolowo Obowo Ogbunigwe Ogbunike Ogidi Ogoni Oguta Oil Oji River Ojukwu Oka Okigwe Okpuje-Ani Onitsha Orlu Oshodi Otukpo Otuocha Owerri Oye-Agu Peace Corps Philip Effiong pilot Plateau State pogrom police Port Harcourt Portugal Poverty Pregnant women Priests Prime Minister Harold Wilson Queen Elizabeth Hospital Radio Radio Biafra Rape Rats Red Cross Refugee Refugee camp Refugees Relief River Makurdi River Niger Rivers State Roman Catholic Russia Rwanda sabotage saboteur Saladins salt Samuel Akintola Sapele Sardauna Sokoto Ahmadu Bello School Shehu shelling Skeletons Slaughter Snipers Sokoto Soldier Soldiers South South Africa southeast Soviet Union Starvation stockfish student Suffering Surrender São Tomé Tafawa Balewa Tanzania Teacher The Red Cross Train Trains Trench Udi Uga Airport Ugwueke Ukpabi Asika Uli air strip Umuahia United Kingdom United Nations United States of America University Uzuakoli Veteran Western Region Women World Council of Churches Yaba Yakubu Gowon yam Yobe State Yoruba Zaria
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