Chukwuemeka Ejiofor, Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to Biafra founder, Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, has recalled incidents of the civil war.
At age 21, he voluntarily joined the Nigerian Army as an officer before defecting to the Biafran Army when the declaration was made in 1967.
In 1970, after the war, he developed psychological and emotional problems. His father died of stroke and by the time he came back from the north, he had lost everything. His mentor and relative, Staff Sergeant Sylvanus Ezekwu also died during the struggle.
In 2008, Ejiofor, now 71, was asked to return home by his people to be their traditional ruler in Oyofo in Ezeagu LGA, Enugu state.
In an interview with YNaija, he said “We were systematically massacred in 1966. I was stationed in Lagos at that time and when it started, we had to escape at night to Enugu”.
“I feel sad. I was a victim of the Biafran war and you won’t believe it that after the war, for many years I suffered from what I call loss of memory. I lost my memory. I didn’t know all the things I had studied in college as the best student. It was very painful.
“My saviour was that I escaped from Biafra and went into exile for many years. I gradually recovered because of the healing process. I had churches, charities, like St Vincent De Paul coming to help us come out from the environment of war. We were just lucky.
“Three million was an underestimation. Every day, I pick little children from the road who were dead. There were many mass graves then that I lost count. I used to go to refugee camps to take children to Queen Elizabeth hospital, Umuahia by the next morning they are dead.
“The blood of innocent Biafrans especially women and children is crying to God for vengeance because of the cruelty and injustice done to them. It can never die away. It is a spiritual thing that can never be erased.
“We are not interested in our past. In Britain and the US, every November 11, they remember people who died in their first world war. They raise money for their veterans. We don’t have that culture here”.
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