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Adekunle: “I have to kill the Ibos. Sorry!” Unfortunately, some of our friends (of Igbo extraction) have pilloried him severely for this statement and believe that he deserved no honour in death”–Rotimi Fashakin, APC

Adekunle: “I have to kill the Ibos. Sorry!” Unfortunately, some of our friends (of Igbo extraction) have pilloried him severely for this statement and believe that he deserved no honour in death”–Rotimi Fashakin, APC New York[RR] Reacting to the passing of “Black Scorpion”, Benjamin Adekunle,citizens of former Biafran-Territory, mainly Igbo, have reacted negatively on the […]

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Adekunle: “I have to kill the Ibos. Sorry!” Unfortunately, some of our friends (of Igbo extraction) have pilloried him severely for this statement and believe that he deserved no honour in death”–Rotimi Fashakin, APC

New York[RR] Reacting to the passing of “Black Scorpion”, Benjamin Adekunle,citizens of former Biafran-Territory, mainly Igbo, have reacted negatively on the genocidal activities of late Benjamin Adekunle in 1968 interview with German reporter, Randolf Baumann, Republic Reporters investigations unearthed.

But, some from South-West of what is today called Nigeria,still see Benjamin Adekunle as their hero, thereby fueling anger and animosity by those from former Eastern Region, Nigeria.

According to Rotimi Fashakin, APC, Publicity Secretary, reacting to the publication by Republic Reporters in 2010, on Adekunle’s interview with Randolf BAumann, has this to say: “I have read some of the inelegant and utterly uncomplimentary things written about the late Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle. For me, he was a courageous soldier with very deep and patriotic love for Nigeria. As a growing lad in Lagos Island in the late sixties, I remembered that able-bodied Men often hid themselves to prevent forced conscription anytime the Black Scorpion came to Town. He was not just feared on the war front, but the civil populace also held him in awesome mysticism.

“Perhaps, the greatest memory of Benjamin Adekunle firmly etched on my mind was the narrative of exemplary leadership as told me by a retired three star general who served under him in the 3rd marine commando. In the weeks, days preceding the massive amphibious landing in Bonny, some of the officers became petrified as to the slim prospect of the mission being successful.

He added, “The reasoning was that, in contemporary military history, it was only General Douglas MacArthur who did such a large landing at Inchon in the Korean War, code-named ‘Operation Chromite’ in 1950. So, one of the officers – who later rose to become a two-star general- prodded the rest to move against their commander “before he succeeded in killing all of them.” When asked how he hoped to eliminate the commander, he suggested his being drowned in the Lagos lagoon with a huge milestone around his neck. One of the officers present then suggested that they bounced the idea off the second-in-command (Major Gibson Jallo). It was Jalo who, in a fit of rage, threatened to Court-martial all of them. In parting, he called all of them by name and told them that: “if anything should happen to him, i know all of you.” That intervention from Gibson Jalo was what effectively aborted that sinister plot. On the day of the operation, it was Benjamin Adekunle’s boat that was ahead of all the other boats on the march towards Bonny. Gibson Jalo then turned to some of the officers: “That was the man you wanted to kill!” It was a demonstrable show of exemplary leadership!

“I have read with anguish some of the utterly denigrating things said in memory of a man who hazarded his life for the unity of the Country. Said he in an interview in 1968: “I did not want this war but I want to win this war. Therefore I have to kill the Ibos. Sorry!” Unfortunately, some of our friends (of Igbo extraction) have pilloried him severely for this statement and believe that he deserved no honour in death. How utterly mistaken! Some have even openly applauded the two South Eastern Federal Legislators who refused to accord the traditional one-minute silence in memory of this remarkable Nigerian, as directed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the legislative hallowed chambers. Again, this behaviour was couched on a defective herd mentality! As the Yoruba assert: collectively, we must show wisdom and not asininity. What these folks fail to realise is that what is uppermost in the mind of a Military commander is how to win a war and in the quickest time. The more a war lingers, the more the fatalities figure soars and the more the susceptibility loss of Troops’ morale. Let us draw a parallel in contemporary history. During the second world war, the Japanese showed stubbornness with their kamikaze attacks and surprise forays into American territory like the Pearl Harbour Attack. As a means of bringing the war to an end quickly, the Americans dropped the Atomic bomb on two Japanese cities (first on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and three days later, on Nagasaki). It worked! The Japanese saw the devastating effect of the war and surrendered! Of course, the devastating effect of the Atomic bomb is still felt in those two Japanese cities more than fifty years later, aside the tens of thousands that were killed immediately.

The Americans knew that an invasion of Japan would have cost in excess of one million casualties, hence the decision to drop the bombs. Today, the two Nations (Japan and US) have fostered greater friendship after the cessation of hostilities on August 15, 1945. For me, the continual reference to the role played by Benjamin Adekunle, in this style of prosecuting the war, as to why he must be excoriated is akin to what the late MKO Abiola poetically captured as: “running and looking back at the same time.” A philosopher once captured it properly that

“if God wanted us to dwell so much on our past, he would have made another pair of eyes at the back of our heads.” Like Lot’s wife, any one that indulges in looking back when it is imperative in moving forward, there is clearly one destination for that loss of purpose: DESTRUCTION. Unfortunately, someone may read this and label me “an Igbo hater.” Undoubtedly, there are various dispensations in the mutation from a geographic space to Nationhood. The Civil war, which ended more than forty four years ago, was one phase that, as Nigerians, must be consigned to history if we must foster amity and genuine reconciliation for the badly needed progress.

To him, “God bless Nigeria, the land of our Nativity…”, that sunk 3.5Million Biafrans in cold blood,including pregnant women, children, old people, boys and girls, et al.

“But he (The Black Scorpion) was not the only Nigerian that enforced the Hunger as a weapon of war” policy . . . “Paul Okechukwu Oranika

Ayo Ojutalayo, added, “I knew all along that Adekunle’s role in the defeat of the rebels is why he is hated, not his “shooting any thing that moves” statement. The Black Scorpion was expected to feed his enemies at the war front!

Others this agree that Benjamin Adekunle is a hero as purported by S’West leadership, to this point. For example, Paul Okechukwu, sees Benjamin Adekunle as the ‘Hitler in Nigerian Army Uniform’, he said.

He added, “Perhaps the debate over Benjamin Adekunle and the differing opinions on the man is one more indication that some people would still be blinded by their bigotry and hatred to the point that it is inconceivable for these folks to reason or embrace objectivity in any way, shape or form. Such dubious mentality which prevents some people from calling a spade what it is, may be responsible for their positions over war crimes committed by Adekunle and others during the Nigerian Civil war. Unfortunately for Nigerian war criminals their records and war crimes would remain indelible in the minds of many not only for this generation of Nigerians but also for posterity.
There are two sides to this debate; one side is the praise singers for Adekunle a man who is more appropriately regarded as “the Adolf Hitler in Nigerian Army Uniform”, by so many Nigerians.

The other side is mainly comprised of individuals who are objective enough to call a spade what it is. Let us quote some excerpts from Benjamin Adekunle on his merits, from the interview he gave to the German reporter Randolph Baumann, of STERN Magazine. The interview took place on August 18, 1968 at Port Harcourt after the city was captured by the federal soldiers during the civil war.
Here are some excerpts and exchange between Adekunle and the German reporter, and you be the judge.

Randolf Baumann: What is happening to the European Humanitarian Assistance programs which were authorized through your government?

Adekunle: In the section of the front that I rule—and that is the whole south front from Lagos to the border of Kamerun—I do not want to see the Red Cross, Caritas Aid, World Church delegation, Pope, Missionary, or UN delegation.

Randolf Baumann: Does that mean that the many thousands of tons of food that are stored in Lagos will never get to the refugee camps in your section of the country?

Adekunle: You are a sharp one, my friend. That’s exactly what I am saying.

Randolf Baumann: But you said yourself that most of the refugees in the part you captured are not Ibos.

Adekunle: But there could be Ibos among them. I want to avoid feeding a single Ibo as long as this whole people have not given up yet.
Randolf Baumann: What are your troops doing when they march into a town around Port Harcourt, an area where most of the farmers are not Ibos?

Adekunle: We aim at everything that moves.

Randolf Baumann: What will your troops do when you get to the Ibo heartland that is, to the place populated by Ibos only?

Adekunle: There we will aim at everything even if it is not moving.

Randolf Baumann: Are you racist?

Adekunle: You should know exactly where racists are. There is no such thing as racism in Nigeria.

Randolf Baumann: Do you sometimes feel sympathy for the Ibos?

Adekunle: I have learned a word from the British, which is “sorry”! That’s how I want to respond to your question. I did not want this war but I want to win this war. Therefore I have to kill the Ibos. Sorry!

There you have it folks the true words of the man Benjamin Adekunle. Let us carefully analyze Adekunle’s testimony. Mind you the issue was on allowing relief agencies and international Association of the Red Cross, Caritas, World Council of Churches and other relief agencies to deliver food relief to millions of Biafran Children and older men and women but particularly to the Biafran Children suffering and dying from Kwashiorkor and malnutrition during the Civil war.

During the Second World War Hitler and the Nazis did the same thing when they forced Jews into concentration camps where they deliberately starved them to death, and some were sent to their early graves through the Gas Chambers.
Although Adekunle did not operate in the same method used by Nazi Germany his chosen strategy of denying food relief to the dying Biafrans led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Biafran children. But let us go further in dissecting Adekunle’s hidden agenda and hatred of the Biafran people.
When Adekunle said, “We shoot at everything that moves and when our troops march into the center of Igbo territory, we shoot at everything even at things that don’t move.”

This statement reveals a lot more about this man’s wickedness and vindictiveness particularly towards the Igbo people. When he made that statement the war had not entered the Igbo heartland. But this evil man through his statement is reserving his harshest and most devilish actions for that period when he enters Igbo heartland. Do you see and were you able to decipher this man’s anger, bigotry and hatred for the Igbos, such obsession was driving his devilish and evil actions during the war.

At the end of the war he got what he deserved and was forced into early retirement from the Nigerian army in 1974, during his prime, illustrating the fact that authorities in the Nigerian army may have been embarrassed to see this man continuing his career in the Nigerian army and for all intents and purposes his life was over then and was submerged into nothingness, and utter neglect. But he was not the only Nigerian that enforced the Hunger as a weapon of war” policy, but that is a topic for another day. We congratulate those brave Nigerian House members that boycotted any efforts to honor this man, the evil that men do indeed lives after them!

Those are my views, yours always welcome
Paul Okechukwu Oranika

Update later..

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