[Ewuro]

Originally Posted by G-force

Akuluouno,

Thanks for your initial comments.

Now, on the Gowon issue, we will observe that the Gowon of yesterday has been further reformed to produce the Gowon of today. The elder Statesman has grown in stature to become a more conscience-conscious person, even though he was considered a saint back in the days, especially when compared to most of his comrades.

However, I must point out one thing that prompted the inhumane tactics used by the Federal forces. It was nothing short of fear at the initial stage. The early stages of the Civil War saw very heavy casualties on the side of the federal troops, who were masively slaughtered by the Biafran troops. This shocking defeat was in great contrast to earlier statements credited to some Federal troops, who had earlier struggled to be at the forefront of the battle in order to make name and appear larger than life to the "rebellious" Igbos, and one of them actually said : " This war will take us just four days to finish off."

Also, at a certain stage, after an entire battalion of Nigerian soldiers included an entire team of European mercenaries were wiped off in the East, an angry Nigerian officer, who luckily escaped the massacre, rudely replied his superior after being taunted as a failure. He responded by saying: " Sir, give me just one battalion of Biafran soldiers and with our superior artillery and weapons, i will wipe off the whole Nigeria !!"

After such revelation, and for the fact that Biafran scientists had successfully developed locally made bombs and advanced weapons, the Nigerian troops and command thought that the only way to defeat this now suddenly larger than life Biafrans was to adopt the crudest tactics and employ as many foreign hands as possible.

Much of their response was borne out of genuine fear of being wiped off by the Biafran troops.

Interesting conjecture and postulation producing a short fiction. Un uh!