May 20, 1967: Days after a meeting with Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in Enugu in which he resigned from the Nigerian Foreign Ministry and pledged to transfer his services to the Igbo, Austine SO Okwu returned to the United States, packed up some personal belongings and hurried to London to start a Biafran Foreign Mission.
The Biafra Mission in London was unlike any other I had participated in. Not because he had to build it from scratch, he already had in 1962 when he opened Nigeria’s first diplomatic mission in Dar es Salem, Tanzania, but the urgency of the mission made it unique.
The measurement of the results was in minutes and hours. Unlike the resistant Igbo upstarts, the Federal Republic of Nigeria had had months to dream of a war in which, in a matter of days, the Igbo would be crushed the way ruthless lions devour orphaned rabbits.
July 6, 1967: Nigerian forces dropped artillery shells on the town of Ogoja. If the Igbo were to have a chance of survival, all the more so because they did not have a formidable army, rapid international engagement was imperative.
Within hours of his arrival, Okwu began working by phone, renewing political and social contacts with Igbo journalists, students, youth and organizations.
Circumstances and time did not allow for any of the usual luxuries of protocols, parades, parties, pay packets and diplomatic bouquets that are bestowed on foreign representatives. Instead, it was a low-to-no-budget squad, reminiscent of the way Biafran soldiers fought the Nigerian invaders with fists, sickles, diplomatic talismans, clubs, and wooden stakes.
Ambassador Martin at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, initially relieved when he learned that Austine had resigned, was quickly infuriated when he learned that the former Foreign Ministry chief had been making calls and holding seminars to educate the public about the plight of the Igbo. .
Austin knew too much! What will it reveal? Send a memorandum to the Nigerian High Commissioner in London,” Martin roared, “and ask London to foil and watch Mr. Okwu at all times.”
Beatrice, Okwu’s wife, called to confront him about the veiled threat. ‘He who has ventured must prepare for sorrow,’ she warned.
Oil and Weapons of War
As is always the case in wartime, he who thinks the fastest and acts the fastest wins the enemy.
Since oil money was the reason Nigeria invaded the Igbo, the federal government had an immediate plan to capture and secure the eastern riverine oil area of Nigeria. And Austin too.
To repel federal forces from the oil zone, Biafra needed sea and river combat arsenals. Austine wasted no time making contacts and engagements with armed operatives. He called Enugu, the capital of Biafra. I have a dozen armed speedboats and amphibious submarines ready for delivery. Please answer,’ he pleaded.
Their calls hit deaf ears. Perhaps the noise of the machine guns has drowned out my calls, he wondered. Finally, a belated reply came asking about the weapons. By this time, the Fed had captured the waterfront area and imposed a naval blockade on the Eastern Region.
Rumors in Harmattan
Until someone has a turn in the drama of life, he always sees what others do not see. Such was the case three months after Austine went to London. A rumor arose and spread like Harmattan fire in the minds of the Cynics. Who among the Igbos was best suited to represent Biafra in London? A politician, a British-trained Igbo lawyer, an academic or a street-tested diplomat?
When the rumors died down, Austine SO got the message: Biafra needed him to leave London and go to East and Central Africa.
‘Why?’ he challenged the notion.
The answer was not long in coming: ‘Because of his experience and knowledge in that region. We need you to convince your old friends Julius Nyerere from Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda from Zambia to support Biafra.’
Lately, his mind had been oscillating from the future to the past, on one level trying to predict what the future held and on the other reflecting on the lessons of times past.
He recalled how, as Acting Commissioner of Nigeria (1962-1964), he met Prime Minister Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia met him in Ghana in early 1962 when he was the head of the Nigerian Foreign Ministry and young Kenneth was a freedom fighter soliciting introductions from Nigerian politicians. ‘I’m sure she owes you a favor,’ his mind whispered.
‘But how does one decide, when called, to leave a wife and children and go to a distant land to serve a beleaguered race of uncertain destiny?’ Okwu wondered repeatedly. Some decisions, he discerned, deserve the opinion of trusted friends.
Reallocation to East and Central Africa
Emeka Anyaoku was a colleague whose opinion Austine valued highly.
‘That I have to do?’ Austine asked Mr. Anyaoku. “Instead of leaving London and going to East and Central Africa, I am considering resigning from the Biafra Foreign Mission.”
‘Austine,’ said Mr. Anyaoku, his voice assertive but woven with brotherly courage, ‘you have to go. Recognition by East African countries is vital if Biafra is to have a fighting chance. ‘My father-in-law,’ Mr. Anyaoku continued, ‘no one else could give a better result. East and Central Africa are places you know very well. Please don’t let resignation enter your mind. Resigning will deal an irretrievable blow to Biafra’s morale.
Austine competed for a moment before saying: ‘But I feel like I have to stay in London, close to my family. Our children are young and begin to worry about my absence. Will it be the Igbo…?
‘Listen, Austine,’ Mr. Anyaoku chimed in softly, ‘I feel your desperation for the family; I know you have made sacrifices time and time again, and as for the Igbo, let posterity judge.
After that conversation with Emeka Anyaoku, Austine broke the news to his wife, Beatrice.
“I’m going back to East Africa,” he said, a noticeable crack in his voice that only silence could mend. In the days that followed, Beatrice watched him pack two suitcases, selecting a brown shirt over a similar one and rejecting black shoes over a brown pair. Three top hats, three multicolored bow ties, several pens, writing paper, and about ten folded newspapers, some old and some new, entered.
Full diplomatic circle and pending tasks
Having served Nigeria in London and returned to the city to serve Biafra, and having served Nigeria in Tanzania from 1962 to 1964 and now set to return in July 1967 as Ambassador to Biafra, Austine marveled at how fate had forced his career to become a diplomatic full circle.
Your task: convince diplomats, presidents and countries in East and Central Africa to help Biafra defend itself from the might of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and stop any further bloodshed by the Igbo.
Even with a staff of only three, sometimes only two, Austine SO Okwu still had several enviable achievements for Biafra.
paraphrasing from his book
“At the risk of sounding arrogant, I will say for the record that I worked harder than anyone else to have Tanzania recognize Biafra on May 8, 1968, and Zambia on May 20, 1968.”
author’s reflections
Amidst all the other parallel diplomatic proposals, bombs and mortars, fighter planes and bazookas, Ogbungwe continued to wreak havoc on both federal troops and the Biafran Army and civilians during 1967, 1968 and late 1969. It was not until January 1970, after three million Igbo had died, including hundreds of thousands of Igbo children that starving, and with many families heartbroken by the loss of sons, daughters and parents, that Biafra surrendered, still a proud and unstoppable race.
a reference book
Details of Austine SO Okwu’s diplomatic services for Nigeria and for Biafra are found in his book, Truly for Justice and Honour: Memoirs of an Ambassador from Nigeria and Biafra. It is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants a first-hand account of the events leading up to and during the Nigerian Civil War: 1967-1970.