COMMITTEE ON GENOCIDE.

EKWE NCHE.

Pages 30-39

v. OJI RIVER KILLING OF HOSPITAL STAFF AND PATIENTS

The Times of London, 2nd August 1968, carried on Pages 5 and 9 gruesome

stories of Nigerian atrocities in Biafra. In these stories it indicated that

in a hospital outside Enugu, the vandals shot all fourteen Biafran nurses who

stayed behind and then went down the wards killing the patients as well. And

sadly enough, according to Mr. C. N. C. Nnolim, these Biafran civilians

massacred by the Nigerian soldiers were not even buried but left in the open

air to be devoured by vultures and wild beasts.

In his report Mr. C. N. C. Nnolim, the Divisional Officer for Nkanu Division

indicated that in May 1968 the Nigerian vandal soldiers entered the little

village of Amurri and removed fourteen people, including a prominent Obe

trader, Mr. Ngwuocha and from Ozella Awkunanaw in June 1968, the vandals

removed about 500 People, men, women and children. Like the fourteen who were

removed from Amurri, the report said, nothing has been heard of them and some

of them the report suggested might have been shot while others might have

been forcefully conscripted into the enemy vandal army. Mr. Nnolim is

available for testimony.

vi. OKIGWI 30TH SEPTEMBER 1968

The Nigerian vandal army that entered Okigwi murdered two International

Committee of the Red Cross delegates in Biafra, two missionaries, several

other foreign relief workers and over 100 Biafran civilian, men, women and

children. The slaughter was unprovoked. The Nigerian authorities have

admitted these acts but claim that they were done by drunken soldiers.

vii. ASABA 700 IBO MALES KILLED:

The brutal episode whatever its cause dramatically reinforces evidence of

genocide. Jack Shepherd, the Senior Editor of "Look" Magazine said in

November 26th 1966 issue that "Perhaps 8,000 Ibo civilians died when the

Mid-West was 'liberated' by troops under Col. Murtala Mohammed. Col.

Benjamin Adekunle's men killed 2,000 people in 'South Eastern State' when the

Mid-West village of Ishiagu was taken. Federal troops shot at women and

children as they moved with Automatic weapons through every hut. Between 100

and 400 men died.

Asaba was one of the centres of mass killings of the natives. On the 5th

October one Okwudalue, who has now been made the Asagba in place of the

traditional ruler who had escaped to Onitsha, was made to summon a meeting of

all available

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natives to welcome the Nigerian troops. Soldiers with rifles went into every

house drawing out everybody and telling them that those who failed to turn up

would be regarded as enemies. The people rushed out in thousands and

everywhere was filled with shouts of 'One Nigeria'. Chiefs and prominent

women dressed in their traditional white clothes to welcome the troops.

There was dancing and drumming all over the town. Suddenly the crowd was

surrounded by soldiers and on the orders of the commanding officer, bullets

were sprayed on them. It is not possible to say exactly how many people died

in all, but they were not less than two thousand. The women were carried

away to Agbor where they were forced to serve as 'comforts' to the soldiers.

The sworn affidavits of Messrs. John Kanayo Odita, Francis Dike Okwudiafor

and Anyibuofu Onya-Onianwah hereby attached tell the story.

viii. SAPELE AND WARRI

Giving an account of the Sapele and Warri massacres, an eye witness, Mrs.

Violet 0. Ikwuazom, a trader of 3 Obianwu Street, Onitsha disclosed that:

"Although the Mid-West Radio admitted that 450 were killed, this was very

much underestimated. They killed about 1,000.

"When the Nigerian vandals entered Sapele they joined forces with the hiding

Urhobo soldiers to unleash yet another pogrom against Biafrans and West

Nigerian Ibos. The men stripped naked were ordered to stretch their hands

upwards and to dance and sing 'Ojukwu call me'. Then they were finally shot

by Hausa and Urhobo soldiers. Many other young Biafrans had their hands tied

behind them and shot before they were pushed into the river. The mass

killing of people continued for days ... At the Warri taxi park a gang of

ferocious looking men accosted us. The gangsters called us Ibos. We were

all stripped naked and mercilessly beaten up. Scores of other Ibo women in

Warri were victims of this brutality". It is impossible to say how many

people have been killed. A correspondent of London Financial Times of 7th

November 1967 said that over one million lives have been lost in this

senseless war and about 85% of these are civilians. Donance O. Cinneide was

right when he said "And how can the civilised world continue

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to stand by while a cruelly wronged Biafra is under attack from an army that

confirmed its intentions by the further slaughter of thousands of civilians

after the capture of Asaba, and the occupation of Benin and Calabar".

ix. AFIKPO

The Nigerian invasion of Afikpo through the Cross River presents another story

of calculated liquidation of the civilian population. Mr. Samuel Inyang, a

non-Ibo Biafran, Chemist and Druggist by profession, tells the story of his

experience in Umuana village. His sworn affidavit is herein attached. There

were no Biafran soldiers at Umuana when the Nigerian soldiers entered the

village as happens in each and every occasion of a massacre.

x. NSUKKA

The Nigerian troops first attacked in this area early in July 1967. The

population has been entirely decimated. Only a few still live to tell the

tale. The sworn affidavits of the following survivors are hereby attached:

(1) Sylvester Madubuattah

(2) Dominic Eze

(3) S. K. Eze

xi. IKOT EKPENE

This is a non-Ibo speaking area of Biafra. Two eye witnesses, John Samuel

Akpaidiok of Ituk Mbang and Chief Raymond Akpan Orok of Urua Inyang village

have lived to tell the story of what Nigerian "liberation" meant to the

so-called "minority" elements. Their affidavits are attached to this

complaint.

(e) Aerial Conduct of the War by Nigeria is Directed to Genocide

As mentioned in the intercepted messages above, the object of Nigerian daily

bombing mission in Biafra is to destroy all civilian lives. All the towns

and villages in Biafra have been bombed times without number. Listed

hereunder are a few most striking ones:

i. Itu Leper Colony, January 23 1968:

The 63 year old Mary Slessor Hospital, Itu was razed to the ground by combined

bombs, rockets and bullets attacks from Nigerian jet fighters and bombers.

Page 32 Contd.../

Authentic photos show the extent of damage done by the Nigerian planes to the

Mary Slessor Hospital. International Herald Tribune (Paris) lst February

1968 reported the bombardment of Itu thus: "One of the heaviest damage the

foreign press saw was at the Mary Slessor Hospital of the Presbyterian Church

... at Itu on the Cross River, North-West of Calabar. One doctor and one

patient were killed in the building by the blast. Three people standing

outside were wounded and died later.

ii. Aba, 21st December 1967:

One of the worst bombings in Aba was that carried out on December 21st 1967

when two Nigerian jets bombed the heart of the residential area of Aba. 15

people were counted dead and one of them a prominent medical practitioner,

Dr. Augustine Onyejiaka. Among the houses affected by this wicked raid were

117 St. Michael Road, 137 and 135 Cameroun Road. The bombing of civilians

has been witnessed by prominent foreign visitors and journalists. One Walter

Partington of the Daily Express reported in the 23rd April 1968 issue of how

70 people died (Biafrans) in a hit and run attack on Aba by Nigerian bombers.

He went on: "I saw a young girl hideously charred, dragged from under a

burnt out Volkswagen. Two children and two men lay near.

iii. Aba, 26th April 1968:

"I have seen things in Biafra this week which no man should have to see.

Sights to scorch the heart and sicken the conscience. I have seen children

roasted alive, young girls torn in two by shrapnel, pregnant women

eviscerated, and old men blown to fragments; I have seen these things and I

have seen their cause; high-flying Russian Ilyushin jets operated by Federal

Page 33 Contd.../

Nigeria, dropping their bombs on civilian centres throughout Biafra ..."

iv. Onitsha, November 19-24, 1967:

Massive bombing of the civilian population of Onitsha was carried out by the

Nigeria Air Force and the targets were non-military targets. Targets

included:

(a) Christ the King College

(b) Dennis Memorial Grammar School

(d) Onitsha General Hospital

(e) The Magistrates Court

Scores of various residential areas in the town.

v. March 11, 1968:

Below is a list of some of those who were killed by the hired pilots of the

Nigeria Air Force in Onitsha province in one raid only on 11th March 1968:

NAME DESCRIPTION

1. Mrs. Acha Amanchukwu A middle-aged woman selling palm wine

2. Sunday Egbanike A driver aged 25

3. Patrick Onyechi A scholar aged 16

4. Emmanuel Unaegbu Aged 16

5. Adafor A girl aged 5

6. Onyeisi A twin male aged 2 1/2

7. Alexander Ezeadi A refugee from Asaba aged 23

8. Dominic Obiosor Aged 80

9. Mrs. Rose Nwadiafor Ogoegbunam A married woman and mother of Juliet

10. Juliet Ogoegbunam A child aged 3

11. Mrs. Ifeoma Adibuah A housewife

12. Mrs. Adibuah's child A little child aged 5

13. Chinwo Anyikwo Aged 3 daughter

14. Mrs. Victoria Anyikwo Housewife

15. Akonam Chude Aged 5

16. Mr. Francis Ezeugo Okolo A petty trader aged 20

17. Mr. Onysharaenyi A casual labourer

vi. Bombing of Market Places

Here are a few instances:

February 17th 1968

Awgu market was bombed killing 150 People and wounding 100 people.

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March 3rd, i968

The Eke Nomeh market was rocketed, 78 people died and 150 wounded.

December 14th 1967

Nigerian jet bombers bombed Itu market killing 6 and wounding over 23 others.

September 14th 1968

The Nigerian jet bombers bombed Aguleri market (Otuocha) while in full

session, killing 500 and wounding over 1,000 people. The affidavit of one

Lawrence Nmezi, Police Sergeant stationed at Aguleri gives an eye witness

account.

September 4th, 1968 - Ihiala Market and Hospital

On 4th September 1968, Nigerian war planes bombed, strafed and rocketed the

Ihiala market and Roman Catholic Hospital. Mr. Jude Nwokeke Aninwe, Police

Officer in charge Police Station, lhiala, tells the story as an eye witness

in his affidavit hereby attached.

vii. Hospitals

Without any prick of conscience the vandals bomb hospitals as military

targets. Here are a few examples:

Eket, December 28th 1967

Nigerian jets bombed the Lutheran Mission Hospital

Itu, January 23rd 1968

Mary Slessor Hospital, Itu was razed to the ground by combined bomb, rocket

and bullets from Nigerian jet fighters and bombers. On 3rd March 1968

Matthew Rosa, correspondent of the "Observer", writing under the caption

"School and hospitals bombed" said: "As I write, Nigerian planes have just

carried out their 48th raid on Biafra, or Oruku in the south-east ... I have

examined after the bombing, the nine destroyed hospitals which are BOROMIO

Catholic Hospital at Onitsha, the General Hospital at Arochukwu, the

Methodist Hospital at Onitsha, the General

Page 35 Contd.../

Colony and Mary Slessor Hospital at Itu, the Lutheran Mission Hospital at

Eket, Obioma Chelsea Home for Handicapped Children and the Infectious Disease

Hospital at Port Harcourt and the Eja Joint Hospital Itigidi."

viii. Schools

Continuing, he says "Nigerian Planes have also destroyed the Girls' Secondary

School at Owerri, Christ the King Elementary School at Aba, the Anglican

Girls' Secondary School at Enugu, Christ the King College and Dennis Memorial

Grammar School at Onitsha, Holy Ghost Teachers' Training College at Umuahia,

Union Girls' Secondary School at Ibiaku, and the Lutheran High School at Uyo."

(f) Food Poisoning

The following official statement issued by the Government of the Republic of

Biafra shows the extent to which Nigeria is prepared to go to exterminate

Biafrans:

"(32) lhiala, November, 1967.

Biafran health workers and other Scientists discovered arsenic acid in bags of

salt, sugar and tins of milk and tomatoes infiltrated into Biafra through the

mid-West by the Nigerian Government".

The statement has not been denied.

(g) Genocide through Starvation

One of the genocidal devices employed by Nigeria in her efforts to annihilate

Biafrans is starvation. After all, did Nigeria not claim that "starvation is

a legitimate instrument of warfare". As a result of the stringent economic

blockade on the young Republic, imported foods like tinned milk, tomatoes,

sugar, salt, meat, beans, etc. are virtually non-existent in the market. The

food shortage has resulted in malnutrition and cases of "kwashiorkor"

disease. This situation has caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of

lives. The main victims

Page 36 Contd.../

are old men and women, nursing mothers and children. This terrible situation

coupled with the wanton destruction of farm lands and crops in areas overrun

by federal troops has led to mass starvation and death. Despite the

tremendous efforts being made by world-wide Relief Agencies in sending tons

of food to the starving people of Biafra, authoritative opinions held that

one million or more Biafrans will have died by January 1969 as a result of

starvation. Such opinions have been expressed by relief workers in and out

of Biafra. For instance, on page 24 of the Daily Telegraph (London) of 1st

August 1968, a German doctor, shocked by the appalling famine situation in

Annang Province said, "I estimate that 30 to 40 per cent of the children in

Annang Province will die from disease caused by malnutrition. Other doctors,

with more experience of Africa than I, put the figure as high as 80 per

cent". Actually, according to the report of a Roman Catholic priest working

in the area,

the death toll per day in one of the camps at Ikot Ekpene rose to 50. The

story is the same all over Biafra.

It is significant to note also that this report came from one of Gowon's

so-called minority areas.

The relief that comes from international organisations is insufficient. The

"International Herald Tribune" (Paris) of 12th July 1968 carried this story

On Page 5: "The supplies for Biafra are only a fraction of those stored in

Lagos awaiting distribution to needy persons on the Federal side of the

battle fronts ... " And Nigeria has no serious food problem. Nigerians,

aided and abetted by some foreign powers have committed and are still

committing these acts of genocide against Biafra. Fully aware of the

enormity of the crime of genocide and disturbed by increasing

Page 37 Contd.../

world abhorrence of their acts, Nigerians together with their secret

collaborators, have sought by every means possible to exonerate themselves

and silence Criticism. As a last resort and to give their blatant denials an

air of respectability the Nigerian Government and their collaborators have

organised a group which is styled "International Observer Team" to put up a

show of independent impartiality in investigating the Biafran charges of

Genocide. It is no wonder, therefore, that the so called "International

Observer Team" has returned their expected verdict of "no genocide'' in order

to assuage the conscience of a horrified world. The International Observer

Team has never visited Biafra nor requested Biafra for her own evidence of

genocide.

I Present the bare facts of Biafra's charge of genocide against Nigeria. A

few examples only have been mentioned in a thunderous catalogue of crimes

against humanity and genocide. Well over one million have perished in Biafra

since the Nigerian authorities put into operation their calculated acts of

genocide. Many more are yet to die except world conscience takes positive

steps to put an end to a tragedy unparalleled in the history of Africa.

CONCLUSION

1. It could be seen that from the political situation the Nigerian body

politic was an association of incompatibles and the contradictions therein

have heightened up to a position where the various ethnic groups have found

it impossible to live together. By the same process much hatred and enmity

had been bred, resulting in the readiness of the major ethnic group in power

(Northern Nigeria) to exterminate the minority ethnic groups (Biafrans), as a

means of solving the political issues.

The massacres of Biafrans in 1945 at Kano and in 1953 in the Jos area are

pointers to this evident state of affairs. The political crises, which

plagued the Federation for 7 years of her life, are also pointers in the same

direction.

The Nazi methods of Sardauna Brigades are all facts pointing to the same

conclusion. It is, therefore, not surprising that, in the present conflict,

the policy of extermination of a minority

Page 38 Contd.../

group has been assiduously pursued by the majority group (the Northerners),

who, at present, control the machinery of government in the Nigerian

Federation.

2. Further evidence of this intention to exterminate is revealed in the

7-point programme above referred to. The interesting points about the

7-point programme are the steady fulfilment of the programme as enunciated.

The regularity of the dates of the massacres - 29th May, 29th July, 29th

September, are all evidence of planning and premeditation. The pattern of

the massacres rule out the possibility of a spontaneous reaction by a mob,

for on each and every one of these occasions, the massacres all took the same

pattern on the same date, all over Northern Nigeria and Lagos. Furthermore,

there is the point that the massacres affected only one ethnic group, the

Biafrans. The point that not even the law enforcement agencies were prepared

to save the Biafrans from this woeful fate, are all evidence of the fact that

these massacres were planned with the knowledge of the authorities concerned.

There are witnesses as related above, who have testified that not only were

these massacres planned by the Government authorities, such law enforcement

agencies as the Army, the Police, the Natural Rulers, but they also actively

participated in the massacres.

3. Further evidence could also be supplied by the intransigent attitude

of the Northern Federal Government under Northern control in its refusal to

effect a political settlement by negotiations. The present insistence on a

military solution despite the fact that it is well known that on the Biafran

side at least a million people have lost their lives, either by military

action, or by starvation, goes to show such reckless disregard of human lives

could only be excused on the exigencies of the military situation.

4. The conduct of the war itself on the side of the Federal Nigerian

Government, is ample evidence that the 7-point programme has not been

abandoned. There is abundant evidence to show that military targets are not

the objectives of the Nigerian vandals. Villages have been bombed, towns

raided, and civilians massacred with the full knowledge that these acts were

in no way related to the military situation. We have abundant testimony from

foreign visitors, journalists, men of goodwill, to testify to the wanton

destruction of life and of property not necessitated by the exigencies of the

war.

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COMMITTEE ON GENOCIDE.

EKWE NCHE Organization.