Raphael Ede, Enugu
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has called Nigerian military to fished out those soldiers that massacred the Igbo during the Operation PYTHON DANCE vowing not to relent until they were fished out.
resident-General of Ohanaeze, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, stated this, on Tuesday, at the Night of Tributes organised in honour of a former Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Biafran war veteran, late Col. Joseph Achuzia, at Enugu Sports Club.
According to Nwodo, “I had the opportunity to confront the leadership of the Army who gave me an assurance that there is going to be a court martial of all soldiers who are identified and were involves in that behaviour that was contrary to their rules of engagement.
“I have been following this matter with correspondence and I will continue to follow it until we know those who massacred our children without cause”, he resolved.
Ohanaeze President General, who praised Achuzia, said talking about him is talking about the Biafran army during the Nigerian/Biafra Civil War. “From the Igbo-speaking part of Delta State, Asaba, threw himself, like every cause he believed in, into the war with unsurpassed bravery, exemplary military discipline and the tact of historical generals of great wars.
“His single-minded approach to the Baifran War made him the dread of any soldier who exhibited any sign of cowardice or equivocation as far as the war was concerned.
“The severity of his enforcement of military discipline earned him the nickname ‘AirRaid’ while his bravery was likened to that of Hannibal the Great, hence his other nickname, ‘Hannibal’.
“His bravery was such that he was always posted to any front that was defying solution or where the battle was toughest such that he was believed then to have been invincible and a cat with nine lives”.
Nwodo also said that the late Achuzia represented an opportunity for Igbos to dramatise “our brotherhood, our oneness in recognition of the tremendous carnage that befell on our brothers in the cause of the war in Asaba” said “when it came to given sacrifices for the Igboland, they killed more than many of us.”
“I am happy that I am one of the people that was send to Asagba of Asaba at the end of the war to say to our kit and kin in Delta that we are extremely sorry, that we have not shown enough sympathy for the carnage in that part of Igbo land and for the fact that we the brothers haven’t come to pay our respect for the dead since the war ended. All of us knelt down at the house of the Asagba of Asaba, I saw Ojukwu in his knees.
“I have lead the national executive of Ohanaeze to Asaba last year when they remembered 700 of our people who were murdered by federal troops contrary to the rules of engagement, the same kind of thing that happened to us not too long ago when we had the operation ‘python dance’.
“So as we come here today, I welcome you for coming; for Ohanaeze it is a thing of joy that we are given the opportunity for Achuzia and family to celebrate one of our own”, he said.
He said that for the services Col. Achuzia rendered, his has been etched in the lives and history of Ndigbo and will forever be remembered, especially now that the study of history has been restored into our school system.
In his part, former Military Administrator of Imo State, Navy Commodore James Anieke (rtd), described the late Col. Achuzia as ‘a courageous man’ who never feared his enemy.
He said that it is good “we had to fight the war to prove that we should not be taken for granted”.
He warned against the continued massacre of Nigerians stressing that no country had fought a civil war and survived a second time.
Dignitaries who attended the service included, former President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Gary Enwo-Igariwey; former Secretary General, Dr. Joe Nwogu; National Legal Adviser, Chuks Muma (SAN); Prof. Ogbonnia Irukwu; Chief Ejiofor Onyia; former Chief Staff to Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Chief Victor Atuonwn; Enugu State Commissioner for Local Government, Chief Chijioke Edeoga; Enugu Chairman of Ohanaeze, Chief Alex Ogbonnia; Executive Chairman, Enugu Sports Club, Chief Ben Etiaba.
Others are the sons of late Col. Achuzia; Joe Oseluka Achuzia, Simenon Achuzia, Onyeka Achuzia, Tony Achuzia, Chukwuma Achuzia, among many other dignitaries.
Daily Sun reports that the ceremony which was well attended invoked the reminiscences of the Nigerian/Biafra Civil War of 1967 to 1970.