posted
This is a very sad story about the guys that fought the war for us. What have you ever done for these guys personally?
The Forgotten Army
quote:Roderick Roy, a Briton, who stopped by March 3 to give them alms told Newswatch he read about them in a local newspaper on his arrival in Nigeria two days earlier. “I think it is a scandal actually that none of the eastern governors is showing interest in looking after people who have given their lives to fight for a cause they believe in. It is very sad,” he said.
quote:“Odumegwu-Ojukwu has been passing here, he has never one day stopped to talk to us. We have written him, he has never replied. After all, he is now the Eze Ndigbo.
From Newswatch:Thirty-two years after the Nigerian civil war ended, wounded veterans still nurse wounds on mind and body By Betty Onuh Along the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, by Oji River local government of Enugu State , a group of men mostly in their 50s and 60s are seated in wheel chairs on both sides of the road all day. They wave pleadingly at motorists. Occasionally, some people stop briefly to give them some money. Thirty-two years after the Nigerian civil war, these men who fought for Biafra have become human relics of the war. “We must come out here to beg because we have nothing to eat. As you can see, we are disabled and cannot work, and our children are going to school,” said Usim Chuks, 57, the spokesman of the group. He was a second lieutenant in the Biafran army. He told Newswatch that they were bitter because they have been abandoned by government and largely forgotten by the society. “They refused to remember us, that we are human beings like them. The sin we committed is that we fought a war, and that war is a just war, we fought for our survival. If they say there is no victor, no vanquished, then we are supposed to be placed on pension,” he contended. Chuks and his colleagues are a pathetic sight. They all have one form of deformity. Some have one arm, others one leg and many spinal cord injuries. Each day their children or children of their neighbourhood hired at the cost of N20, take them to the road side where they beg. At the end of each day, they share the proceeds. Most of the time, there is not much to share. But Sundays are lucky days for them. More motorists stop by on Sundays to give them money, biscuits, bread and fruits. Roderick Roy, a Briton, who stopped by March 3 to give them alms told Newswatch he read about them in a local newspaper on his arrival in Nigeria two days earlier. “I think it is a scandal actually that none of the eastern governors is showing interest in looking after people who have given their lives to fight for a cause they believe in. It is very sad,” he said. Roy also said the federal government ought to have provided adequate healthcare and regular pension for them. His wife, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, a painter, comes from nearby Awka, Anambra State . “I have an interest but what I can do is very little,” he said. The disabled men and their families live in a camp near Oji River . The few blocks of buildings are partitioned into several tiny apartments. There is no potable water and the electricity there is epileptic. Two dilapidated blocks of red mud buildings serve as the community’s primary school. There is a lepers’ colony and the Salvation Army Centre for children in the neighbourhood. Around the area is also the special school for the blind, deaf and dumb. The general hospital which serves the disabled community is overgrown with weeds. Most of the departments, such as orthopaedic and emergency are permanently under lock and key. A first time visitor to this ghetto is bound to wonder: is this place the trash can of the wounded, the infirm and the hopeless of an insensitive society? Josephine Edeh, a middle aged widow who lives in the veterans’ camp told Newswatch that life was unbearable for her and her family. She lost her husband, Joseph, a former officer in the defunct Biafran army about 10 years ago. She has, however, been allowed to stay in the camp with her three sons since they have no where else to go to. Edeh said she does menial jobs like weeding in people’s farms to support her children in school. “Sometimes the children stay back home when there is no money for their school fees,” she said. Once in a while they get assistance from charitable organisations especially churches, but no government has given them any help in recent years. Felix Okeke, vice-president of their association, Disabled Veterans of Ex-Biafra, who is now bedridden joined the war in 1967 when he was 20 years old. He was wounded in action at Nkpor Junction, Onitsha in 1969. He was thereafter taken to Armed Forces Hospital at Enugu till July 11, 1975 when he and the rest of his colleagues were taken to the present camp at Oji River . But life, he said, was not difficult at first. “We were given regular allowances till 1983 when the military took over,” he said. That was the beginning of their problems. He said they were starving until the idea struck them that they could beg along the then newly-constructed Enugu-Onitsha Expressway. Okeke said he had been able to sustain his wife and six children from the alms he receives by the road side. His thirty-year-old son, Elochukwu, a graduate of marketing from Enugu State University , is the only one to have made it to the university among the veterans’ children so far. Newswatch learnt that Elochukwu is in Lagos but he is unemployed. Most of the disabled veterans suffer from pressure sores, an infection developed on the buttocks out of long hours of sitting in wheel chairs. “I have been bedridden for several weeks now because of the sore. I have spent N2,160 so far to buy drugs,” Okeke said. He was scheduled to see the doctor at the general hospital 4th March, but he decided not to go because he had no more money left. His colleagues share the day’s collection with him. Okeke is also very bitter at the government’s attitude towards them. “They think we are dead. We are still living. Every year they remember the dead soldiers, what of us that are still living? They ought to take care of us, after all, we didn’t cause the war,” he said. Fellow Igbo had abandoned them. He said they had written to all the south-eastern governors to draw their attention to their plight but only Governor Achike Udenwa of Imo State replied, promising to assist them. He said they had made attempts to see the Enugu State governor and others and that each time they were turned back. Chuks is also angry that Odumegwu- Ojukwu, the former Biafran leader had never shown any sympathy for them. “Odumegwu-Ojukwu has been passing here, he has never one day stopped to talk to us. We have written him, he has never replied. After all, he is now the Eze Ndigbo. He is supposed to meet the governors and say, look, these people are suffering let us help them, they have families, they are responsible human beings. Or, is he afraid that the government may think he is plotting another Biafran war if they see him talking to us?” He asked. Some of the disabled veterans stay at a Catholic-run rehabilitation home at Okigwe. Others are on the streets and busy motor parks of the eastern cities, advertising their deformities and appealing for help. Such is a common sight at Holy Ghost motor park, Enugu . The veterans there usually show the pedestrians or passengers their identification cards and their amputated limbs. Igbonekwu Ogazimorah, the special assistant to the Enugu State governor on media matters told Newswatch that it was entirely the responsibility of the federal government to cater for the war veterans. “These people fought for the unity of the country no matter the side you think they fought. It is immaterial. They had an argument and they fought for it. The federal government has the entire responsibility for their welfare,” he said. He said it was not the time for trading blames in the face of the needs of the disabled. “Some of them were drawn into war at the ages of 14, 15 and barely mature enough to know the reason why they were fighting or the fact that even somebody could die,” he said. He explained that the allegation that the veterans were denied access to the state governor was untrue. “You know, some people who work with government are stereotype, they follow rules. So, if they have no previous appointment with the governor, they may not be allowed to see him just by appearing in front of the person’s office,” Ogazimorah said. He, however, said that efforts were being made by a group, the Igbo Youth Movement, to involve the eastern governments to assist in the veterans’ rehabilitation. Another group, the Igbo World Congress, a socio-cultural group of Igbo in America and the dispora, is also said to be making some efforts to help the disabled soldiers. Maxwell Ngene, the programme co-ordinator of the Nigerian chapter told Newswatch that the group had planned establishing a tissue – manufacturing plant whose proceeds would be used to cater for the veterans, and that it was about to take off at Oji River. According to Ngene, Austin Egwuonwu, the immediate past president of the association, himself an ex-Biafran veteran initiated the vision and consequently organised a launching last year to garner support from prominent persons in the east. Many of the pledges, he said, were yet to be redeemed. “Efforts so far to conscientise and sensitise the Igbo governors to see the rehabilitation of the disabled veterans as an Igbo cause have fallen on deaf ears,” Ngene said. The issue of the war veterans and their welfare has been controversial of recent. It was thrown up when late last year the then minister of state for defence, Dupe Adelaja, labelled the veterans “traitors” who did not deserve any pension. Critics came down hard on her. She later apologised. Philip Effiong, who formally surrendered to the federal government and ended the rebellion, led some of his former colleagues to the House of Representatives to demand for the payment of pension and other entitlement to his fellow war veterans. “At the surrendering in January 1970, I declared that we are loyal to Nigeria and General Gowon assured us that no ‘victor, no vanquished, but 32 years later, it doesn’t look as if that is victory, as we were vanquished,” he said. Effiong also recalled that President Olusegun Obasanjo converted their dismissal to retirement, yet nothing had happened. Newswatch Volume 35 No 13, April 1, 2002
posted
For long now i have been thinking of what have gone wrong with my people to forget so soon our very own hero's, those who chose to lose all that we may live, those at Oji-river.
During my last visit to Biafranigeria about six months ago,i stopped by to find out how they are doing, by the information i recieved from these gentlemen, i noticed how miserable is the condition of these hero's that made my survival to this day possible,i was short of words while i was with them, my whole bien was filled by emotion, the shame of a failed duty kept me dumpfonded and i managed to say to them that we shall all wait for GOD'S time. by the little they recieved from me and the delightness that showed up in thier faces by with the little gesture i realised that we have totally failed our hero's, to be brief, i made it a duty to stop by and say hi! throughout the duration of my stay.
It's of my opinion that we have collectivelly fialed them, it is not yet late to change this situation if my generation will decide to appreciate the sacrifice of our abandoned hero's.
___________________ He likened the second coming of Christ to the realisation of the Biafran dream, stating that at a time people least expect, the much sought Biafra would be a reality..Rev. Fr. Cornelius Ezeiloaku Posts: 622 | From: santiago, chile | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Could someone tell me why those veterans are converged at Oji River. What was the significance of Oji River to Biafra? I would like to assist the veterans. I am also interested in finding out why there are no similar congregations of Biafra war veterans else where in Biafra. Was Oji River an important battle field? I get suspicious when people take cheap shots at General Ojukwu.
___________________ No Biafran will be permitted to play Mother Theresa to the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani, but play Osama Bin Laden to the Igbo or Biafrans! Posts: 1182 | Registered: Mar 2001
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It is not about my hometown. As a kid growing up around those guys in the middle to late 70's, I got to listen to some of their stories. I remember fondly pushing these guys up the hill from Wonderful market back to their dormitry at Gate. Wonderful was the stopping point for vehicles from Enugu, Onitsha and Awgu and Gate is the setlement for these guys, the leper colony, salvation army, school for the deaf, and school for the blind. The general hospital is also located here as is tannery.
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her. Posts: 2447 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
"It is not about my hometown .... --- Ednut
Ednut:
So, that's you huh?
It's all good!
___________________ No Biafran will be permitted to play Mother Theresa to the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani, but play Osama Bin Laden to the Igbo or Biafrans! Posts: 1182 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
I knew it, as we dey say for Biafra "one day Monkey go go for market and Ino go return" So Ednut na you be Ibiboman , your true color finally got up with you. That is the problem with having so many handles after a while you forget which is which. Brother Damian thanks for making Ednut Tunde disclose himself.
posted
It does not surprise me,Ibiboman just like Ednut is neither here nor there. Ednut why do you have to use a fake handle to start such a serious topic?
Posts: 1532 | From: USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Chiboy Because Ednut is a Yoruba parading as an IGBO, he knows that he started that thread to attack DIM Ojukwu, and if he use Igbo name then most of us will not think that is a Yoruba attacking Ojukwu. You have to know where Ednut is come from, to be able to understand the reason behind the fake name.
I think Brother Biafra and Chiboy are right, you unmasked yourself nobody did. So don't use april fool day as a cover.
___________________ Biafra: save my bullets when I die, Oh Biafra, Allelua if I surrender and that will be forever. Posts: 272 | From: Birmingham AL | Registered: Mar 2001
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