ACHUZIA LETTER TO OBASANJO IN 1977 TO RELEASE HIM FROM PRISON

ACHUZIA LETTER TO OBASANJO IN 1977 TO RELEASE HIM FROM PRISON.


Chief Joe Achuzia does not need much introduction as it concerns the 30 month civil war that engulfed Nigeria. Joe though a civilian before the outbreak of hostilities emerged after the war the most feared, dreaded and successful Biafran Army Officer. At the tail end of the war, he was amongst the few that fought till the end and surrendered to the federalist troops. He was however put behind the bar by Gowon Junta.

“I have written several petitions both to General Yakubu Gowon and General Murtala Mohammed all to no avail. But I must thank God for little mercies. Looking at my plight I have become so philosophical about it that I might be looking at the picture with a jaundiced eye. I see myself as an entity in the midst of an unfolding history.

Your Excellency, we fought a civil war just as America fought a civil war. Like America the war ended on the same note of no victor nor vanquished, yet unlike America where General Grant gave General Lee freedom to go with his war horse and arms (American civil war April 19th 1865) I and my colleagues were disarmed and detain.
As of date I am the only one still left in detention for the civil war, which ended on a note of no winner no vanquished. May be both of us have a role to play in history, as I have always wondered what story history would have told mankind if General Lee had lived instead of dying by his own sword as the gallant soldiers of old. What sort of a country would today America have been? I believe that providence has now enacted the same scenario here in Nigeria and for all students of history to study.
Unlike General Lee I refuse to take my life. I implore you to please give me my freedom and give history a chance. I pray to Almighty God to give you the wisdom and courage to grant me my freedom.”.

He was detained from 1970-1977 for fighting a war of survival that they say ended on 'No Victor, No Vanquished"