The story of the Nigerian civic war has never been a palatable one due to enormous wasteful of human and material resources. Students of history will always have a reminisce of the holocaust that drove the country into a verge of collapse.
The sad experience propelled Nigeria to lose it best brains in all field of human endeavor. The amount of lost cannot actually be quantified. It is sad to note that the bloody massacre was uncalled for.
We all know the genesis of the most barbaric genocide of our own people. In this case “No victor No vanquish” as the then Federal Government under General Yakubu Gowon proclaimed and set committee for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction was a driving force to clear the mess.
Most people had described the Nigerian-Biafra as senseless, while others claim it was gross misunderstanding among the idea of confederation and a total division or a separation.
It is obvious that no one will like the dark days when freedom is curtailed when our communities experienced war, killings and maiming.
In the recent times, the once peaceful state of Rivers State has started degenerating into pockets of gun shots, violence, kidnapping and hatred by mostly our own people that communal policing our environment has been politically balkanized. The havoc rendered by these future leaders is very unholy. Most importantly, we should not allow our dear state to be divided by party line. The recent All Progressives Congress (APC) registration is trailed by accusations and counter-accusations and violence.
History will also not to be forgotten in a hurry when Iraq annexed Kuwait and also the one done by Japan in 1910 when they annexed Korea and by the atomic bombs intervention on Hiroshima and Nagasaki those countries were set free by their captors thanks to the American government.
With the traumatic history, these countries have refused to fail but what about Nigeria? Chinua Achebe of the African profile writer para-phrased Nigerian problem when he said “The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of it leaders to rise to the responsibility to the challenge of personal example which are the hall-mark of true leadership”.
What is the role of the youths in this unpalatable disturbing history of ours. For example, the seemingly unrest that have gradually return in Rivers State is questionable.###
By Pius Dukor
