Abouziad’s Account
My dad does not like narrating his war time stories but from what i overheard him discussing with other adults, i guess it was a very ugly experience 4 him. He was an apprentice mechanic when onitsha was attacked and he trekked all d way 2 his maternal parents home at ideani. Angered by d needless burning of d main market, he volunteered for d army but was rejected due 2 being underaged, he got a free ride 2 a far recruitment point but was rejected again on d same reason, how ever he was able to convince them to include him in the army scout as a spy. He eventually joined d regular army near d end of the war and suffered an artillery shock commonly known as shelling shock in biafra. That got him out of active service but he was unable to go home. When d war ended he was coming back from morning mass that morning and discovered that d biafran army have surrendered, discarded their uniforms and gone home, but he only have his uniform 4 clothes so he solicited for a change of clothes ppl aroue and took up employment as a labourer locally. I wont narrate some of the things he saw during d war but i can’t understand why d christian middle belt would fight their own own brothers who have co-existed with with them peacefully for centuries. As for my mother they have to abandon their car in the middle of the road when onitsha was attacked and trekked all the way to their village as children. Their father have d forsight of bringing lots of drugs from his store when d war entered onitsha. He hid through out d war, his wife indulged in d attack trade, but when rumour spread that d hausas have entered awka and the trade route closed. The family wept 4 days thinking she was among d traders killed. She resurfaced after a few days to their great joy and that ended her attack trade. They spent d rest of d war feeding on rats,lizards, cassava leaves, caritas rations of salt and salty fish etc. They lost no body to the war. All of them eventually established successfull businesses after d war at onitsha and recouped all they lost.
http://www.nairaland.com/1004885/easterners-what-biafra-stories