THE BRITISH PLOT TO UNSEAT THE BIAFRA LEADER ODUMEGWU OJUKWU
THE BRITISH PLOT TO UNSEAT THE BIAFRA LEADER ODUMEGWU OJUKWU
Did you know that by 19th September 1967, there was a plot by the British and America to unseat the Biafra military head of state Odumegwu Ojukwu in order to break the Biafra resistance spirit.
This is how it happened.
In the early hours of that morning, two men visited Brigadier Alexander Madiebo in his Brigade HQ. At that time, Madiebo was still commanding the 51 Brigade of the Biafran Army, while Brigadier Hillary Njoku was the overall Biafran Army Commander.
The two visitors were Major Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna and Major Phillip Alale.
They told Madiebo they were in contact with top British and American officials who had proposed a Peace Formula to end the war. But there was a condition:
The Biafran Leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, must be removed and replaced with someone else who will negotiate peace with Nigeria.
At that time, the Midwestern offensive had completely collapsed and Federal Forces were already massing to move into Enugu. They were waiting to see if the peace deal would be accepted. Ifeajuna was very confident the plan would go through peacefully.
Madiebo, being an intelligent officer, began to ask questions. And he discovered this:
The Biafran Leader, Ojukwu, knew nothing about this Peace Formula.
The Army Commander, Hillary Njoku, also knew nothing about it.
If Ojukwu refused to step down, force would be used against him.
The person penciled down to take over from Ojukwu was Madiebo himself.
Alexander Madiebo politely declined the offer.
He reasoned: Nobody knew what Ojukwu was doing behind the scenes. No one knew how he was getting arms for the army. No one knew how he raised money for those supplies. No one knew who the true friends of Biafra were, or what Biafra’s political standing was in the world. Anyone who wanted to take over must be ready to do better than Ojukwu – and he was not.
The two majors left.
Madiebo immediately went to Army HQ to report the matter to the Army Commander, but he couldn’t find him. He ended up discussing it with other senior staff officers. He was later summoned to the Government House, where he briefed top Biafran civilians including Dr. Akanu Ibiam and Mr. C.C. Mojekwu.
After a few hours of deliberation,
The four men that was involved were court-martialled and executed on September 22, 1967.
And the four men were: Col. Victor Banjo, Maj. Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Maj. Philip Alale, and Maj. Samuel Agbam.
That is how the song ….. Ifeajuna rere anyi, started, and Biafrans don’t forget Ifeajuna was among the first coup plotters that led to the Biafra war, and now he want to turn around and sell the Biafra people to the same Nigeria/British government that was behind the Igbo pogrom in the North and Western Nigeria, thereby making the Biafra people to lost on both sides.
Biafrans while we remember our heroes we must also remember the saboteurs.
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