REVEALED! How Christian missionaries saved Igbos during the Biafran war
– One of the earliest trials faced by Nigeria was the Nigerian Civil War 50 years ago
– The then Eastern region led by Lt. Col Odimegwu Ojukwu made an attempt have their own sovereign nation – Biafra
– More stories are still coming out from the Biafran war of 1967-70 where more than 3 million Igbos died of starvation in that conflict
A report by christiantoday.com has chronicled how Christian missionaries helped to stem the tide of violence during the Biafran war.
According to the report, the missionaries played a huge role in the region in trying to help those attacked by Nigerian forces.
Professor Jonathan Ikerionwu pictured with Bill and Audrey Cowley, who helped save his life during the Biafra war
Ethicsdaily.com, a division of the Baptist Centre for Ethics whose founder Robert Parham was the child of missionary parents in Nigeria during the genocide, has released a feature-length documentary entitled The Disturbances in time for the 50th anniversary of the events.
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According to EthicsDaily, the death toll would have been even higher if Christian missionaries and Nigerian pastors had not taken action to save lives.
The website states that their heroic work has been unknown, primarily because those involved never spoke about what happened, using veiled language and euphemisms in public reports and statements.
“Fifty years later, I think there’s a certain freedom to tell the story. They have a need to tell the story,” Parham said.
Many of the interviewees have never talked publicly about their experiences. Some feared being judged because of what they did or did not do, knowing that their decisions meant life or death for others.
“You fly by the seat of your pants; we had no training, no experience, we had no resources except to pray,” says one.
“I don’t know if we felt guilty for what happened,” says another, while another speaks of the sadness, and depression left by the events.
As well as the horrors, however, there are moving stories of rescue – like Jonathan Ikerionwu, who escaped with the help of missionaries and made his way back to the Baptist High School in Jos.
He earned a doctorate in the US and is now a professor in Nigeria, and says he owes his life to Bill and Audrey Cowley.
The Disturbances is a first-class piece of documentary that recovers a vital piece of history that could have been lost forever.
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Meanwhile, some Igbos who spoke to NAIJ.com recently in Umuahia, the capital of Abia state said they prefer to be Biafrans than Nigerians.
“There is no resources given to us. I am not happy to be a Nigerian, I was born an Igbo man and I need Biafra, that is where I am concerned,” Godwin Iweajoku, a business man told NAIJ.com.
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