Samuel E Umweni
2 November 2008
column
Hardly had the news of the fall of Umuahia died down than there were shouts of jubilation in the direction of the gate. There were shouts of "Hail Biafra; Biafra ga di" as warders rushed into the yard to spread the good news to their comrades on guard duty.
To add to the excitement the armed soldiers who were on guard and patrol duties were equally excited and in their jubilation started to fire their "Mark 4" rifles into the air. This sudden outburst of gunfire attracted the Chief Superintendent and his henchmen into the yard thinking that maybe there had been an attempted jailbreak. They, however, quickly stopped the now sporadic shooting after ascertaining the cause. We in the cell were already frightened to death, but still some of us clung to the barb-wired windows to find out what fate was going to befall us. Had this happened during the lull period, we would have guessed that maybe Nigeria was already tired of continuing with the war and had been pressured by the Big Powers to call it a day. But they had just captured the important rebel town of Umuahia and it only remained a matter of weeks to clean up the remaining villages. The puzzle was great. Nevertheless we soon learned the cause of this sudden jubilation.
Owerri had been recaptured from the "Nigerian vandals" by the gallant Biafran forces. When this news was broached to us, we became stunned and just couldn't believe it. Nigerian troops had never been known to have been beaten out of a position they had once held firmly. It was unthinkable and not only would it be a calculated ruse to help boost the now sagging morale of the Biafrans, it was a sort of make-belief to keep their minds off the devastating effects of the futile and senseless war they were fighting. Within the next few days, as if to lend credence to the Owerri news, news also reached us that some of the redundant warders were to be posted to Owerri to reopen the prison there. It was also rumoured that all offices and Police and Army HQs were to be moved back to Owerri. News about the recapture of Owerri and about troops and civilian movements back to Owerri was no longer a hidden secret to us.
The warders were now too willing to talk as if to say to us: "There, we told you that Biafra would survive. Wait until the war ends, then we will deal with you Sabos squarely". On our part we tried to add two and two together but found it difficult to make four. By our way of thinking, even if they succeeded in unseating the Nigerian forces from Owerri, it would certainly be too premature for them to think that Owerri would be safe enough to order all civilians to move back only after a week of military occupation. Suppose the Nigerian troops had regrouped and were fighting their way back, what would happen to the civilians who had been foolish enough to return? Even if the Nigerian troops did not fight back immediately, surely Owerri would definitely be a sitting duck for incessant air raid from the Nigerian Air Force. Apart from that, all ground forces would now be poised on Owerri, and shells would be dropping there like showers of rain. It would, therefore, not only be unthinkable but also senseless and suicidal for civilians to heed the clarion call for their return to Owerri. Gradually, however, the truth began to dawn on us that for one reason or the other Federal troops must have decided to pull out of Owerri for tactical reasons.
Maybe we chose a wrong time to see Chief Superintendent Okeke. In fact Adeola and I had booked an appointment with the Chief Warder, Mr Ifediba, to see the boss right from the first week of his assumption of duty. Three weeks had passed and nothing came of it. We had given up hope and contented ourselves with the relief food given to us by the good and kind Samaritans in our cell. Quite unprepared and without any rehearsal on our part, we were marched to the Superintendent's office one bright early morning. When the Chief Warder came for us, he gave no indication of what we were wanted for and so we began to speculate that maybe the Nigerian and Biafran governments had at last reached an agreement about our representation through the International Red Cross.
We got to the office to discover that we had guessed wrongly. We were offered seats when we got to Okeke's office and he discussed with us as if he had readyÂmade answers to all our questions. Of course I had no money deposited with the Records Office, but then whatever money Adeola had could jolly well be regarded as mine. On our first day of initiation as Ntueke inmates, Adeola had with him 10 pounds in Nigerian coins, and about 100 pounds in Nigerian one pound notes. At this stage of the war, one Nigerian shilling was equivalent to one pound or one pound ten shillings or two pounds Biafran money depending on which black-market you traded in. The Nigerian one pound note was equivalent to 25 pounds Biafran money. So taking the highest bidder, Adeola was worth about 2,900-3,000 pounds in Biafran money when we entered Ntueke prison.
After all Okeke's preliminary talks about his inability to get us in touch with the International Red Cross, Adeola then requested that we be allowed to use his money to buy extra food from the markets through the "aftercare". To this request, Okeke also had a ready answer. He told Adeola that as a head of department, he ought to realise that when one officer takes over from another there is usually a period of handing-over and that all monetary transactions were done through the Treasury. As an upright man he, Okeke, would have to be above board. He would, therefore, pay Adeola's money into the Biafran Treasury from which he would be withdrawing, piecemeal, when and if required. We saw the trick in this and begged him not to. What this meant would be that Okeke would pay his own worthless cheque for 110 pounds into the treasury in Adeola's name and collect Adeola's Nigerian 110 pounds (worth 3,000 Biafran pounds) into his pocket thereby making a profit of 2,890 pounds Biafran money in the bargain. We pleaded and pleaded with him but he refused.
In desperation, Adeola was forced to tell Okeke that instead of paying his hard-earned money into the already broke Biafran Treasury which had no permanent office, it would be better if Okeke produced the notes and allow Adeola to tear them into pieces and also produced the shilling coins and allowed Adeola to destroy them with nails and hammer. Okeke was furious at this suggestion and told Adeola that he was not to be taught how to run his prison. If Adeola was a Commissioner of Police, that was before and not now in Biafra. As long as he was in detention in Biafra, Adeola should realise that he was there at his mercy and whatever reports he sent to HQ mattered.
This made me very furious and at this stage I told Okeke that we had been coming through this hell for about two years. If Okeke felt he could end our misery by shooting us he could go ahead and do it right there in his office. I told him that we were no longer afraid of death, and that he could go to hell with his pride and threats. Adeola took over from there and told Okeke if he hadn't known before, how we came to be in Biafra and how we had been fairly treated so far. The money he was trying to take away from us was given to him by some kind Biafran Police officers who had worked with him before in Lagos. It was a pity that fate had brought us to this situation in life and that we regretted that the deplorable conditions of the war had so blinded Okeke that he did not realise that even at war there were some proper codes of conduct among officers. There was a prolonged silence after which he called in his Chief Warder to march us back to our cell. We never saw that money again nor were we able to make use of it for purchases.
At Umuahia, Chief Warder Okorogwu had once told us that were it in his power, he would turn everybody in Biafra to Catholicism. This frame of mind was also shared by the powers that be at Ntueke. Unlike at Umuahia where arrangements were made for visiting Protestant priests or, where this failed, the inmates were allowed to conduct their Protestant services unmolested, the reverse was the case at Ntueke. No Protestant priests were allowed into the prisons and even the inmates were not allowed to hold a joint service. Members of each cell conducted their own services.
As for the Catholics this was a different matter. Arrangement was made for a priest to visit Ntueke Prison once a week (usually every Monday evening). This service was conducted in the open with warders and armed soldiers forming a circle round the participants. Later, the unfinished block adjacent to our cell was hurriedly completed and roofed. This block eventually became the doctor's clinic as well as a chapel for worship.
On such days of worship we all trooped out of the cell to attend mass, whether one was a Catholic or not. There was one fundamental reason for this: it afforded one the opportunity to get out of the cell to breathe God's free air for a change. Secondly, we soon discovered that the Reverend Father gave stockfish to the choirboys to share in appreciation of their services. So automatically some of us took the advantage to team up with Mr Odo and the real Catholics to form a better choir, even though we were no Catholics. Yet we sang lustily and merrily away to our hearts' content with the sure hope that there would be stockfish to share at the end. The number soon became too large for the stockfish given. A quarrel ensued and the Chief Warder had to ban the formation of a choir. At this stage, I too called it a day and stopped attending Catholic services.
As for the Protestant service, we had a daily dose of it by way of morning and evening prayers. Colonel Humphrey Chukwuka and Major Ogbu found their match in George Edet who conducted service and preached sermons better than most of the present day Anglican reverends I have come across. There were some good musicians among us. With men like Dr Fiberesima, Moses Ekpo, Joe Obieku and Captain lhenacho, we soon formed a strong choir conducted by Colonel Humphrey Chukwuka. Others like Captain Onyejiaka, Captain Amalinze, Joe Ekelina, Major Ogbu, Adeola, Okonni, Brandie Dickson Owei, to name a few, joined the choir and soon we were producing some melodious music for our Sunday services. It was apparent that even those who did not take part definitely enjoyed our pastime. But this was not so with Okeke and his men who were envious of the fact that despite our misfortunes, we still persevered to keep our morale high. Okeke lost no time in sending a message to Colonel Humphrey Chukwuka that he should not take advantage of his high Army rank to turn the cell into a bedlam. He should disband his band of merry men and think of how to get released from detention.
We did not take the warning seriously for we reckoned that such a demonstration of dogmatic religious intolerance was not enough to dampen our enthusiasm. All it required was for us to carry our choir practices underground to be satisfied temporarily with mere prayers and the reading of passages from the Bible as our form of worship. As for the Catholic Mass or prayer conducted by Mr Odo, everything went well undisturbed. In actual fact there was nothing to worry about because all Odo did was to lead his fellow worshippers in saying "Hail Mary", sing one or two stereotyped hymns and preach a very verbose and, in most cases, uninspiring sermon.
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