The Stench of Unity

 

Charles Keil’s Testimony

In 1966, Charles Keil, an ethnomusicologist and activist, was on a research tour of Nigeria. On observing the horrible genocidal massacres happening in Makurdi, in late September, 1966, he noted that:

The ethnic cleansing of the Igbo, which took place in Makurdi, Nigeria (late September, 1966) was premeditated. It was preceded by months of vigorous anti-Igbo and anti-East discussions in the midst of the Tiv, Idoma, Hausa and other Northerners dwelling in Makurd. Other cities in the North faithfully followed this trend. The Nigerian Army led the mass slaughters. While Colonel Gowon was on radio, pronouncing his assurances of safety to Easterners, the plots and massacres were intensifying...

And Charles Keil lamented:

“…After counting the disembowelled bodies along the Makurdi road, I was escorted back to the city by soldiers who apologised for the stench, and explained politely that they were doing me and the world a great favour by eliminating the Igbo.”

Leaders of Northern Nigeria fastidiously plotted genocide against the Igbo. They let loose their savage soldiers and purposely bred-to-kill hordes of miscreants—their civilian cohorts. Those human bloodhounds. They spilled into all the northern cities, searching out Easterners and the Igbo in particular, massacring them, while Nigerian airwaves kept blaring that sickening slogan: ‘To Keep Nigeria One, is a Task that Must Be Done.’

So it was, that everywhere in Northern Nigeria then was littered with dead bodies of the Igbo, savagely slaughtered, to keep Nigeria’s physical unity intact.

And…the soldiers apologised to Charles Keil for the stench, and explained ‘politely’ that they were doing him and the world a great favour by eliminating the Igbo.

What a mind-set! That long entrenched atrocious attitude among our fellow countrymen, against us, which persists till this day!

Though we may forgive; how can we ever forget how the atmosphere of Nigeria’s cities became fetid; reeking of the suffocating stench of decaying human flesh—the putrefying corpses of the many thousands of savagely slain Igbo?—the stench of Nigeria’s unity! The Stench of Unity. 

           

Copyright: Chike Nwaka

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