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Nigeria: On the Last Flight (1)

Sonnie Ekwowusi

4 November 2008

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Although much has been said and written on the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, but with the passage of time it is becoming clearer that more remains to be said or written on the 30-month fratricidal civil war.

In fact every generation will continue to cast the war in its own mould or give it its own subjective interpretation or meaning. For example, during my last vacation I ran into a group of young university students returning from an excursion to Umuahia War Museum . In the course of our conversation, it dawned on me that the young adventurers, whose parents probably were born after the Nigerian hostilities, were least interested in the political and ideological reasons for or against the war. When I asked one of them whether he appreciated the ingenuity and creativity in the manufacturing of the Biafran Ogbunigwe, he nodded his head in the negative. Obviously the young adventurer had heard or read about other sophisticated war weaponry far better than the crude Biafran Ogbunigwe. So I could understand why he couldn't appreciate the human ingenuity I was talking about. So the story of the Nigerian civil war has to be retold with gift of the tongues and pen taking into consideration one's listeners, readers or audience, and, of course, the changing times.

I have just stumbled on an illuminated manuscript of a book on the Nigerian Civil war with the captivating title: The Last Flight. I understand the 650 page book will hit the newsstands any moment from now. My best book on the Nigerian civil war remains: The Nigerian Civil War by John de St. Jorre. Apart from St. Jorre, I have equally read other books on the Nigeria-Biafra war. But the Last Flight is unique because it is the first book that has beautifully recaptured the different air combatants and maneuvers in the Biafra-Nigeria Civil war.

Before now all the books on the Nigerian Civil war had focused on the ground battle aspect of the war. But the Last Flight focuses on the robust, incredible and exciting air-strikes of both sides of the divide. Let me quickly say that this piece is not a book review. When the Last Flight finally makes its debut I am sure experts will set out time to review it very well. But what I am doing here today is the fruit of a sheer enthusiasm that a Nigerian living abroad has found time to reveal facts, figure and colourful pictures on the air strikes during the Biafra-Nigerian Civil war which hitherto had remained hidden and unknown. The name of this Nigerian, ladies and gentlemen, is Captain August Okpe. The first thing to say about Captain Okpe is that he is a fine scholar and a thorough-bred professional who had had the privilege of graduating from the best Air Force Flight Schools in the world. Captain Okpe attended the Royal Canadian Air force School, United States Air Force Flight Safety Center , Georgia , British Airway Flight School , etc. He was a founding member of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) established in 1963. He operated a variety of aircrafts for NAF, the Eastern Command and during the Nigerian Civil war he was the Commander of the Biafran Tactical Air Command that won world-wide acclaim. Captain Okpe, together with lieutenants Ezeilo, Ukeje, and late Air Commander Emeka Omeruah, was the "most wanted" Igbo officers shortly before the Igbo sessesion. By the way, the Okpe family is a combatant family. Captain Okpe's father was a combatant soldier in World War 11 while Captain Okpe's eldest son, August Okpe 11 is a decorated US Army combatant officer of the dreadful Operation Desert Storm. Captain Okpe's grandson, August 111 will soon become a combatant Submarine Commander some day. So you can see the stuff in these Okpes.

The title of the new book indicates what the book is all about. The new book is the last flight that you must board to fly to a fantastic world of tactical military flights, air maneuvers and violent air-crashes. In The Last Flight the reader comes to understand, perhaps for the first time, the high premium placed on air strikes in the prosecution of the Nigerian Civil War. Combining the skills of great story telling with masterful scholarship, Captain Okpe unveils to the reader a full account and photographs of the first plane hijack in Nigeria, its dramatis personae and their mission; the aerobatics crashes over Ibadan and how they triggered off an unprecedented accusations and counter-accusations of sabotage and betrayal perpetuated by the German Air Force; the role of the NAF in the military coups of January 15 and July 1966; the first Biafran Air Crash; power play in the Biafran Air Force; NAF pilots and their huge exploits in the Nigerian Civil war; an account of flight 101, the Biafran bomber that exploded over Lagos metropolis, Operation "Jefta", role of Portuguese, Russian, Egyptian pilots in the air-strikes; a full account of how Biafran used helicopters to bomb Nigerian frontlines; why a German Corporal would not salute a Nigerian Officer; connection between Christopher Okigbo and the airplanes and weapons in the war; The last flights; The last Biafran pilots to be shot down only two day to the end of the war etc.

Captain Okpe dedicated the first chapters of his manuscript to the rigorous and comprehensive educational and disciplinary training in the Air Force. Reading those chapters the reader readily appreciates that to be in the Air Force, in fact, any Force, is not a small thing. It requires discipline, good professional training, high dedication and hard work. Chapter eight of the manuscript made a veiled reference to the Igbo massacre, which is also referred to as the pogrom. The gory sight of the pogrom-massacred pregnant women and their children, nightmarish experiences during the flights of Easterners-moved Christopher Okigbo, poet laureate, to furnish, in the following poetic lines, the real reason for Igbo secession: "We cry with pain and blood in our eyes. Our nostrils flared like bulls at charge; Foaming in the mouth, poised to conquer; At your peril, try to stop us". On page 87 of his epic book: The Nigerian Civil War (first published in 1972), John de St. Jorre writes: "The Federal government, having been powerless to prevent or stop the killings, made matters worse by failing to condemn them, although Hassan Katsina, governor of the North, went on record as saying the whole affair had been a terrible blot on the Region's reputation".

Delivering his key-note address at The Guardian Silver Jubilee Celebration on October 10, literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe, aggress with St. Jorre that the Federal government surprisingly turned a volte-face to the pogrom. Hear Prof., Achebe: "My feeling towards Nigeria was of profound disappointment. Not because mobs were hunting down and killing in the most savage manner innocent civilians in many parts of Nigeria , but because the Federal government sat back and let it happen. The final consequence of this failure of the State to fulfill its primary obligation to its citizens was the session of Eastern Nigeria as a Republic of Biafra at the end of the 30-month war. Biafra was a vast smouldering rubble; the cost in human lives was a staggering two million souls, making it one of the bloodiest civil wars in human history. I find it difficult to forgive Nigeria and my country men and women for the political non-challance and cruelty that unleashed upon us these terrible events, which set us back a whole generation and robbed us of the chance clearly within our grasp to become a medium range developing nation in the 21st Century".

In chapter nine of the manuscript entitled: Get us An Airplane-The First SkyJack in Nigeria , Captain Okpe narrates the first plane hijack in Nigeria . Shortly after Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Gowon reneged on Aburi Agreement and the economic blockade, air transportation become a big problem in the East. To proffer a solution, a Task Force comprising Lieutenant Colonel Chude Sokei, Sam Inyagha, Lieutenant Colonel F Obioha, Captains F.A Osakwe, Ibikare Allwell Brown, youngish-looking student Mark Odu and others decided to hijack a Nigeria Airways plane. Year was 1967. Date: 23rd April. Time 12.15 p.m. It was a Benin-Lagos bound Nigeria Airways aircraft. No sooner had the "No Smoking" sign gone off than Inyagha dashed to the toilet, unbuttoned his overflowing dress, brought out his pistol and charged at the pilot ordering him to head for Enugu instead of Lagos . Of course the pilot obeyed quickly. The controller at the Enugu airport was radioed to make preparations for the landing of a Nigeria Airways plane carrying high-ranking United Nations delegates. Tension. The passengers were frightened to death especially whenever Inyagha turns round and threatens to kill all them with his pistols.

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