he storm generated by the unguarded statement made by Dupe Adeleja-Minister of State for Defense (Navy) is not about to abate anytime soon. Mrs. Adelaja called former Nigerian soldiers who fought on the Biafran side "traitors" who do not deserve pension. Many commentators on this website like John Igbokwe, have made very brilliant arguments on why Obasanjo must sack this so-called Minister. I agree with them and would not change anything they have written. In this day and age, Nigeria's official cadre should have no room for flippant and attention-seeking air heads who open their traps with abandon and spew forth hate and venom capable of disintegrating the very glue that hold Nigeria together today. I am almost sure that Modupe has no clue about what happened during that war, neither does she understand that most of these heroes she foolishly called "traitors" were reacting to the pogrom in the north which claimed the lives of men, women, children (born and unborn) of the eastern Nigerian origin and threatened to wipe out a whole generation of people. If that "privileged" moron understood all this, may be she would not have made this far-reaching and ill-advised statement.

This lady has obviously become a big case of embarrassment to Obasanjo and his fledgling administration and nothing short of a resignation will placate Ndigbo. I have read several accounts where some are demanding apology from Adelaja; but from my point of view, she spoke from her heart and even if she apologizes, it will be tantamount to arrant nonsense because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. We will presume that she said her mind, but the problem is that her mind is unacceptable in present day Nigeria. Obasanjo must therefore show her the way out, otherwise, this is an issue he would have to explain and contend with many more times come 2003! I will be here to remind the electorate.

I am waiting for Obasanjo to publicly distance himself from Dupe's silly statement, but so far, he has not done that, yet, he was the one that issued the so-called pardon of former Nigerian soldiers that fought on Biafran side. If that pardon was given with the genuine hope of healing the gaping chasm between Ndigbo and the rest of Nigeria, Obasanjo should not have waited a second after that statement was made to distance himself from it and sack Adelaja. This leaves me with two suppositions: Obasanjo is systematically trying to retract his pardon statement and simply used Dupe Adelaja to test the waters or Retired General Haruna was right when he said at the Oputa panel that Obasanjo issued the pardon "to get votes". The President must let us know which one is his position; he can keep silent on this issue as much as he wants, but it will not go away.

Some people may not understand why Ndigbo are very sensitive about this statement, they tell us to "lighten up" and not take it too serious. Obviously, my reaction to that is " who feels it knows it all" and just as John Igbokwe aptly pointed out in his piece titled "Sack Dupe Adelaja", those people Dupe Adelaja referred to as "traitors", happen to be heroes to Ndigbo as a people! They fought so the rest of us would live, they fought to prevent the systematic annihilation of Ndigbo, and they fought so people like me would be here today and ensure through my commentaries, that Dupe Adelaja does not have any respite until Obasanjo has sacked her and put someone with brains there.

This issue takes an added sensitivity for me because I lost a teenage brother in the Biafran war. He was not a former Nigerian soldier but he was just a 17-year-old boy at the Merchants of Light School Oba, Anambra State when the war broke out. He was appalled by the pogrom, he was appalled by the killings, he was appalled by the genocide and so he enlisted and fought so Ndigbo would not be annihilated, he fought so his parents and his siblings would live. He died fighting that war. He was Capt. Fidelis Ikechukwuka Uzokwe. According to the last accounts we had about him, he died fighting at the Onitsha sector. Dupe Adelaja listen and listen well: Fidelis was and is still my hero and the hero of many; he believed in the same cause that our heroes you called "traitors" believed in. Your statement is therefore insensitive, miscalculated and unveils an innate inability to grasp the meaning of the word pardon, it reveals a palpable ignorance of the full meaning of the phrase "no victor, no vanquished". For your information Mrs. Adelaja, in 1970, right at the end of the Biafran war, General Gowon declared that there was no victor and no vanquished in the 30-month strife. By that singular declaration, he may have subverted the evil machinations of some persons with sadistic tendencies who (if unchecked) would have systematically embarked on reprisal killings culminating in summary decimation of the Biafran population. Even though Yakubu Gowon did not do much to re-integrate the Ibos into the main stream after this declaration, the Ibos managed to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. However, Gowon's declaration may have prevented people like you Dupe, that want Ndigbo to be "buying and selling" perpetually (as you suggested) from succeeding.

My advise to you Dupe, is not to sit tight because if you do not resign, the totality of Nigerian electorate will reject your "dey Kampe Oga" when 2003 comes around.

Now to Ndigbo I say: it is not clear to me when Obasanjo will fully implement his pardon for the Nigerian soldiers that fought on Biafran side because his wishy washy approach to things caution that he may yet make a volte face. However, whether it materializes or not, Ndigbo should start helping our heroes whether they were former Nigerian soldiers or not. Many of the disabled Biafran soldiers are languishing at Oji encampment without real help from their kindred. What is their crime? They fought for Biafra and became disabled in the process. Ndigbo should start taking real steps (not just talk) to rehabilitate these disabled ex-Biafran Soldiers. Those heroes gave up their body parts so the rest of us would live and now become Senators, Governors, Doctors, lawyers, and more. If there is anywhere that the Ibo man has failed woefully, it is in this regard.

It is going to be difficult for Ibos to win the argument on marginalization when our own kit and kin, our brothers, our uncles, our cousins who lost limbs, legs and eyes are languishing in Oji settlement. Some have argued that the federal Government should step in and my answer to that is if the Federal Government refuses to step in, must the Ibos also refuse to step in also? These heroes were conveniently herded into Oji area and several have been allowed to languish without support, why?

The most disheartening part is that even those that held very high positions in Biafra during the war bypass the Oji camp and never bother to look in and see how those who lost so they would live big are doing. Talk is cheap, but action is difficult. It is time for real action

What disturbs me most about this is that the South East Governors who should band together, develop a common purse from which money could be pulled together to help the ex-soldiers have not done anything meaningful, instead they engage in unnecessary in-fighting which has resulted in no tangible progress in the various South East states. They must sit up, shape up and make this a priority. Nnamani, Egwu, Kalu and Mbadinuju must step up to the plate, lead or GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Think about this, has anyone in Iboland wondered what happened to the woman whose three sons died fighting for Biafra? In civilized places, this woman would have been living comfortably out of the magnanimity of the people her sons went to fight for. Even though the Ibo as a people could not do anything for women like her during the military regimes to avoid the ire of those sadists that paraded themselves as leaders, we could do it now in a democracy. In civilized places like America and Britain, war heroes are jealously guarded and protected; why can't we do the same? The advent of democracy gives us the opportunity to go back albeit belatedly and find out what became of those women. Some families lost 3 sons; I know that in Nnewi, some lost two sons.

If the Ibo leaders of thought are not sure of what to do, let me suggest the following:

Appropriate money for the construction of a modern settlement with modern amenities for those disabled ex-Biafran soldiers languishing in Oji near Enugu. Ensure that the facility has a modern hospital to take care of them. Psychologists should be at their disposal to help them get to terms with their disabilities.

Provide them with subventions in the form of money for subsistence; People like Chief Emeka Offor and Jim Nwobodo should be of help here. Rather than use their money to destabilize the Southeast states and lambaste their governors, they should channel it into meaningful projects like this. Infact, if Emeka Offor is as rich as he says, he could single-handedly take care of all these heroes of Ndigbo.

Retrain the ex-soldiers on how to do other meaningful jobs to sustain themselves. Some have turned into beggars and this should not be happening to people who are from the same region as Alex Ekwueme, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Ojo Maduekwe, Anyim Pius Anyim, Ibeto of Nnewi, Chuba Okadigbo, Sonny Odogwu, and others. Retraining the soldiers and giving them meaningful jobs will help beef up their self-esteem. In the other parts of the world, handicapped people are gainfully employed.

Encourage writers and filmmakers to have access to them to get their accounts of the war and write about it, make movies about it and allow them to have the proceeds. This is important because those who shun history are bound to repeat it. Sweeping the Biafran experience under the rug helps no one but simply incubates anger. We have read the accounts of commanders, now we need to read the accounts of those who actually fought the war and bore the brunt of it.

Send out a call to those women who lost two or more sons during the war. Grant them one time lump sum money to help them

Finally, there must be a well-designed site where state of the art memorial should be erected with the names of those who lost their lives fighting for the Biafran cause. This is not new, it happens everywhere in the world.

If this generation of Ibo leaders fail to accomplish this in their lifetime, it will be a tragedy and a travesty and posterity will not forgive this.

31 years after the Biafran war, I am still bitter about the loss of my beloved brother just as most people on both sides are still bitter about their own losses. Disparaging the memory of these people by making outrageous statements as Dupe did, only fan the embers of people's wrath. I hope no one like Dupe Adelaja comes along again to get me going again!!!

In the New Year, I will begin a three part series on this web site of an account of the Biafran war seen through the eyes of a lad who was 7 years when it started, but turned 10 in 1970 when the war officially ended. Essentially, it is a story of a child that spent 3 of his formative years under siege in Biafra. It is called - SURVIVING IN BIAFRA. Tune in.