The Caged Bird Sang No More: My Biafra Odyssey 1966-1970, by Philip Efiong

The Caged Bird Sang No More: My Biafra Odyssey 1966-1970, by Philip Efiong. 30° South Publishers (Pty) Ltd. Pinetown, South Africa 2016. ISBN 9781928211808 / ISBN 978-1-928211-80-8

The Caged Bird Sang No More: My Biafra Odyssey 1966-1970, by Philip Efiong. 30° South Publishers (Pty) Ltd. Pinetown, South Africa 2016. ISBN 9781928211808 / ISBN 978-1-928211-80-8

With his memoirs, The Caged Bird Sang No More: My Biafra Odyssey 1966-1970, Philip Efiong hoped to correct previous accounts about himself and other aspects of the Nigerian Civil War.

Philip Efiong  

Writing a book on the Nigerian Civil War and the crises that led to it is not an easy task. This is particularly so for me because I must write about friends and people I knew intimately. Nigeria's first military coup d'etat took place on 15 January 1966 and caused great human suffering and death in various parts of the country. This was followed on 29 July 1966, by a counter coup d'etat, spearheaded by officers of Northern descent. This second coup brought about widespread killings of Eastern Nigerians, mainly of Igbo ethnic extraction. The coups also brought in their wake, a 30-month fratricidal war, with the former Eastern Region of Nigeria as its main theatre. The war ended when I signed the surrender instrument in Lagos on 15 January 1970. This story has been told and retold in a number of shapes and forms and for varying reasons. Some have written to prove their innocence and helplessness in the roles they played (even when they wielded considerable influence and power at the time). Some have written to show how they won or lost the war, some have written to make quick money because they had a good story to tell. Others have written to justify the principles and causes in which they believed and for which others lost their lives. Depending on the reader's prejudices and beliefs regarding the civil war, my story will also be seen in the light of any of, or a combination of, these reasons. However, it is my sincere hope that regardless of such prejudices and beliefs, this narrative will function as the pinprick of an injection needle: a fleeting pain (in our conscience rather than our flesh) which will bring in its wake, lasting relief, and even initiate a cure for our sociopolitical and other problems. I also feel compelled to write this book, lest we forget. Lest Nigerians forget that a little over thirty years ago (a very short time in the life of a nation) we succumbed to political greed and blackmail; we practiced gross social injustices and perfected the craft of half-truths and self deceit; we cloaked platitudes with the garb of sincerity to justify the perpetration of ineptitude; we mortgaged our conscience to pride and prejudice, and we murdered justice to keep dishonesty and the trauma of national disenchantment alive. In the end we fought the most bloody war that, perhaps, Black Africa has ever experienced. It lasted for thirty months and then ended with 'neither victor nor vanquished'. Indeed, it was a very strange and sad war! Lest we forget that the great powers (which see us as part of their Black African puppet show) sided with or against us (or played whatever roles they chose to during that war) purely on the basis of their own national interests. Their care and concern for all we were worth reflected their greatest economic and political interests in our affairs; lest we deceive ourselves that in the event of a recurrence, international intervention will be swift, sincere, concerned, and disarmingly human. Far from throwing Biafra at the mercy of the federal military government by surrendering (as some commentators such as Frederick Forsythe in his book Emeka have written) the truth is that I stuck my neck out to salvage what was left of Biafra and thus fostered the survival and unity of the Nigerian nation. I had at least two other options open to me. [...]

This is an excerpt from: The Caged Bird Sang No More: My Biafra Odyssey 1966-1970, by Philip Efiong.

Title: The Caged Bird Sang No More
Subtitle: My Biafra Odyssey 1966-1970
Author: Philip Efiong
Genre: War memoirs
Publisher: 30° South Publishers (Pty) Ltd.
Pinetown, South Africa 2016
ISBN 9781928211808 / ISBN 978-1-928211-80-8
Softcover, 15 x 23 cm, 352 pages, 50 b/w photos, 3 maperles

Efiong, Philip im Namibiana-Buchangebot

The Caged Bird Sang No More: My Biafra Odyssey 1966-1970

The Caged Bird Sang No More: My Biafra Odyssey 1966-1970

The Caged Bird Sang No More is late Major Philip Efiong memoirs on his personal Biafra Odyssey from 1966 to 1970.