A experience that change my life forever
Dear 
PRE - WAR : (1960-1965)
Patricia was a graduate who studied medicine at the University Of Nsuka,she enlisted in the Nigerian army and grew to the rank of a major,a very pretty lady the first daughter (Ada),from a royal family,she was married to a lieutenant,a tall and handsome man,a man who’s third father’s and grandfather’s fought in the first world war, virtual all his 11 brothers were in the army as at then, his father was a major general in the Nigerian army,he married three wife's which was a common practice in those days.
After ten years of marriage she could not conceive,eventually when she did, she gave birth to four boys,and I am one of those boys,and this is my story.
The Nigerian Civil war (Biafran war) started in the year 6th July 1967, and ended 15th january 1970.
The war was fought between the Nigerian Government and the secessionist state of Biafra,
Patricia just came back from a military course in San-Antonio Texas,and she was immediately transferred to the Northeast(Kano State).A state with 90% Hausa a major tribe here in Nigeria,she was attached to the red-cross.
She takes out extra duties to care for the less privileged in her community, she leaves the barrack every evening and goes from door to door attending to locals with all forms of ailment,she goes with a doctor friend and she was popular in the north.
My uncle got a signal that arsenal,armament,armoury was being moved from various parts of the country to the Northeast and North-central,Ths implies that weapons were being moved from the south-west, south-south and Southeast to the North-east and North-central part of Nigeria.My uncle was a major general and was privy to such information, he was stationed at Dodan Barracks at awolowo Road ikoyi Lagos,He immediately sent sent two army private with a Peugeot vehicle,which was the official car then for senior military officersto the north to pick Patricia his brother’s wife.She had no idea war was looming.
THE BIAFRAN WAR
A coup had occured in the year 1966 chukwuma Nzeogwu a low rank army officer and a dare devil had carried out a major coup , an ambitious man, he was discribed as a man of few words,he killed the Hausa elite, e.g minister Tafawa Balewa the ‘Sarduana’ of Sokoto,Sir Ahmadu Bello And a host Of top Muslims Have Been Assassinated,but not one single Ibo (his tribe)was killed,And so there was a riot in Kano state and Ibo civilians were being butchered by the hausa militias , my mother happen to be caught in the mayhem.
The two military men sent by my uncle arrived Kano immediately and went straight to the Barack,the Ibo military officer stationed in the Northeast were were being disarmed by fellow military officers of northern extraction and shot point blank.
Patricia persuaded the officers from Lagos to pick her sister who lives close by , but on getting there, her little niece and sister have been killed by the restive youths either sponsored or out for revenge for the killing of there religious and elite leaders.
They passed a lot of road blocks, fortunately the two military officer sent by my uncle were from the Northeast but the road block were proving difficult to pass through as they fail to recognize the two military men due to the fact that they were of lower ranks, some of the road blocks were manned by military officer while some were maned by irate youths or militias
The safest route was through through Ebonyi (abakakliki) Known then as the (Salt Lake0,via rail way,she was placed in a train straight to the south -east , the two military officers came back to Lagos without her.
She arrived her home-town in Anambra state, and she was conscripted into the the Biafran army as a medical doctor, you see those days surgeons, medical doctors, weren't easy to come-by.
The civil war became severe when the secessionist state of Biafra, started loosing ground,children were being conscripted into the Biafran army,there was hunger in the land as the federal government had blocked all route and the only route open was through Cameroon.she was told us that they had to east coconut when there was nothing left, it was alleged that cannibalism was rampant .
POST WAR : A NEW NIGERIA
The Origin as to what changed my life had to be enumerated so that the root cause can be known.
She came back after the war to Lagos as a civilian as she was not absorbed into the Nigerian Army.her life was never the same again, as her properties in the north have been seized by locals.and she had to start from square one, in the year 1984 I was born into a family of four, as the last born, I wasn’t equipped with the opportunities my peers had.
The back drop of previous event had effected my mum greatly and she was always aloof,away from the realities of life,we further discovered she saw some gruesome murders back in the east.My father died of a brief illness and six months latter my mum kicked the bucket.I was seventeen as at then and I fend for myself.
I can recall vividly parties being held at our house back then my dad with his friend usually have an in-house get-together every last Saturday of the month .And my mum was a Sunday school teacher back then,and an ardent one at that,her life was like a triangle from work to church then back to home then to work.
But it is quiet unfortunate how family and Friends tend to forget you when the going gets tough,I had to do two jobs because and the night shift job was practicably my home.I can recall walking and my shoes were got spoilt i couldn’t afford to repair the shoe.things were so bad I had lost hope,as my secondary school mates were in various universities while I was doing all kinds of odd jobs.
On the 13th of August 2005, I was seated under a bridge looking for work when a car parked in front of me and my aunt came out and she said “we have been looking for you all over the country’” I was taken to her house and I looked emaciated,I was enrolled into a tutorial class and few months latter I got admission into the federal universality of Technology Akure were I studied physics.
looking back at yesterday, I had given up hope of ever becoming anything worthy of note.But faith indeed can not be changed.
P.s kindly note that while this experience of mine may seem like a fiction or movie, it is actualy the reality of which I had to live with. Thanks for reading*
Picture Source:
http://topnaija.ng/flashback-untold-story-nigerias-civil-war-biafra/
http://www.africafederation.net/Biafra_Independence.htm
http://imageenvision.com/photo/7476-picture-of-a-red-cross-truck-fueling-up-before-distributing-food-to-the-refugee-relief-camps-during-the-nigerian-biafran-war-by-kapd
https://eventswork.com/event-industry-expereince-opportunities
Feel free to ask questions*