Philip Emeagwali's video: A Child Soldier s Story: Thunder Road to a Biafran War Front The Nigeria Civil War

I'm @Philip Emeagwali. In July 1969 and at the banks of the River Niger at Ndoni, Biafra, I was conscripted at gun point and conscripted as a 14-year-old soldier into a war that was on par with the American Civil War or the Spanish Civil War. Without any formal training as a soldier, I was marched at gun point to the Biafran side of the Oguta War Front. At Oguta War Front, Biafran soldiers were living on less than one cigarette-sized cup of garri a day. Garri is pulverized, fried cassava root. Biafran soldiers added palm kernel nuts and water from the Oguta Lake to their garri. When I arrived at Oguta War Front, some Biafran soldiers had gone for days without food and they were threatening to leave their holes. After forty-eight [48] hours without food, I became woozy with hunger. Because they was nothing to eat at Oguta War Front, I was immediately reassigned to the Officer’s Mess (or kitchen) of the Biafran Army at Ndoni. Two months before my arrival at the Oguta War Front (Biafra), and in May 1969, Murtala Muhammad, who would later become the president of Nigeria, and Mohammed Shuwa were given command of the Nigerian army at Oguta War Front. In late May 1969, and two months before I arrived at Oguta War Front, Mohammed Shuwa had defeated the Biafran army and captured downtown Oguta. A few weeks later, downtown Oguta was recaptured by the Biafran Army but recaptured after a loss of 500 soldiers. I was conscripted into the Army and conscripted at the market at Ndoni (Biafra). I was conscripted to replace one of the 500 Biafran soldiers that died in the battle to recapture downtown Oguta (Biafra). The battle of Oguta War Front was personally commanded by Odumegwu Ojukwu, the leader of Biafran nation. When I arrived at Oguta War Front, Joseph “Hannibal” Achuzie, nicknamed “air-raid” was commanding the Biafran soldiers. I learned that Olusegun Obasanjo, who would later become the three-time president of Nigeria, was commanding the opposing Nigerian Army at the Oguta War Front. Olusegun Obasanjo arrived in Oguta War Front in July 1969 and arrived at the same time that I arrived in Oguta War Front. In July 1969, I arrived at Oguta War Front and arrived as an untrained soldier and arrived at about the time Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo arrived with 30 tanks and 10,000 trained soldiers. Those Nigerian soldiers killed or wounded 2,200 Igbo civilians. In July 1969, Biafran soldiers were trained at the war front. Biafra soldiers were only trained to aim-and-shoot-to-kill. Three months after I arrived at Oguta War Front, Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo recaptured the city of Oguta and did so on October 9, 1969. I was a Biafran child soldier that was transferred from the Oguta War Front to serve as a cook in the Officer’s Headquarters at the bank of the River Niger, at Ndoni, Biafra. I served in the Biafran army for the six months that preceded the end of the Nigerian civil war that ended on the Fifteenth of January of 1970. TOPICS philip emeagwali and Biafra, Nigerian Biafra Civil War, Nigerian Civil War, refugee, child soldier, hometown, Onitsha, Oguta, Biafran soldiers, Nigeria, Africa, For information about Philip Emeagwali, http://emeagwali.com https://facebook.com/emeagwali https://twitter.com/emeagwali https://instagram.com/philipemeagwali https://flickr.com/philipemeagwali https://linkedin.com/in/emeagwali https://soundcloud.com/emeagwali https://youtube.com/emeagwali Philip Emeagwali 180125 2 2