“Many Umuaka boys perished at Njaba River during the war.” Chief Cyril Obioha.
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A veteran Biafran soldier during the Nigerian Biafran war has disclosed to Umuaka Times that an ambush planned and executed by the Federal troops against Biafran soldiers killed an uncountable number of Umuaka boys who were conscripted into the Biafran Army. While speaking with Umuaka Times about his experiences as a Biafran soldier in the 60s, Chief Cyril Obioha who was seriously moved emotionally when he remembered the number of Umuaka boys who perished at the Njaba River ambush described the experience as deeply shocking and horrifying. “The bombardment was so high. I don’t know how to describe it but the fact remains that most of our boys died there as a result of the ambush.”
Chief Obioha who holds several chieftaincy titles in Ibele and Umuaka in general regretted that Umuaka and the entire Igboland lost almost everything they had during the war.”Businesses stopped, education stopped, even Church services stopped. The only thing that were available were hunger, starvation and killings.”
Umuaka Times gathered from Chief Obioha that he joined the Biafran Army out of his curiosity to understand how youths were being recruited into the Biafran Army. On getting to the recruitment centre, a soldier just pointed at him and asked him to join the boys. With the spirit of Biafranism in him, he willingly joined the training instantly. “Even the bicycle that I took to the place in Orlu, it was some boys from Umuele that I handed it over to and told them to inform my wife of what happened. He further told Umuaka Times that he trained at the famous “95 Brigade Enugu codenamed Onwuatuegwu Brigade. “After our infantry training on artillery operations we went into action.”
On his assessment of the present condition of injustice in Nigeria today with regards to the factors that led to the war, he lamented that the injustices that led to the war are still occupying prominence in the Nigerian political map of today. On his final note, he appealed to the youths fighting for Biafra today to hand it over to the hands of God. “If God wants it, it will come, if he does not, no agitation will bring it.”
Chief Obioha with his children; Ik Obioha from left and Prince Emeka Obioha.
On empowerment and human capital development in Umuaka of today, he appealed to Akalites of today to always create avenues where they can use to empower the community. The chief told Umuaka Times, that during his days while he was working in Lagos, he used the opportunity and gave jobs to many Akalites from almost all the 10 villages in Umuaka.
