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Fani-Kayode says Buhari lied over comments on Biafra war

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Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim on Biafra war as the “most wicked and despicable lies” that the Nigerian leader ever told.

Buhari had on Monday during his investiture as Grand Patron of the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, claimed that the Nigerian Army was restrained when fighting the Biafrans during the civil war.

He had said that then Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, issued strict instructions to the army that Biafrans were not enemies but “brothers and sisters of the rest of Nigerians”.

“Earlier in my profession, during the civil war, I know how much sacrifice members of the Nigerian Red Cross and their international counterparts did both in the real front of operations and at the rear, on both sides. I think it is a lot of sacrifices because anything can happen to you in the operational areas.

“The risks they faced were real and I admire their courage and commitment to helping people who were in distress and were virtually in millions. Those photographs of people from the Biafra enclave spoke a lot.

“I remember with nostalgia the performance of the commander-in-chief, General Yakubu Gowon. Every commander was given a copy of the commander-in-chief’s instructions that we were not fighting enemies but that we were fighting our brothers. And thus, people were constrained to show a lot of restraint.

“The international observer teams were allowed to go as far as possible within and outside the front and I think this was generous and very considerate of General Gowon. He is a highly committed Nigerian,” Buhari had said.

But responding on his Twitter handle, Fani-Kayode wrote:

“One of the most wicked and despicable lies that @MBuhari has ever told is that the Nig. Army was restrained when fighting the Biafrans during the civil war. This is a lie from the pit of hell and it is insulting and deeply offensive.

“We must learn from our history and never repeat its mistakes. Was the Asaba massacre in which thousands of young boys and old men were slaughtered an act of restraint? Or was the killing of 2 million innocent Biafran civilians and the starving to death of 1 million Biafran children an act of restraint?

“For God sake where is our humanity? Must we lie even about our history and try to revise it? No wonder they banned the teaching of history in our schools. Too much to hide!

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“The truth is that if not for the fact that the same group of people have called the shots in our country since 1966 every single commander of the Nig. Army during the civil war, including @MBuhari ,would have been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Int. Court of Justice at the Hague by now for the atrocities they committed against the Igbo race and the Biafrans during the civil war.

“I don’t need to be an Igbo to admit that. I just need to be an honest and objective historian and a God-fearing citizen of the world. We must ask God to forgive us for what we did to the civilian population in Biafra and we must NEVER allow such a thing to happen again.

“Until that is done Nig. will neither know peace or meaningful progress. War is one thing but the targetting of innocent and defenceless civilians, including women and children, for ethnic cleansing, genocide and mass murder is another!

The civil war which broke out in 1967 and lasted till 1970 is said to have left no less than three million people dead with about two million coming from the South East which declared its region “Republic of Biafra”.

 

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