From London to Africa, how a diplomat who signed up to serve Nigeria ended up serving his people

May 20, 1967: Days after a meeting with Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in Enugu in which he resigned from the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and pledged to transfer his services to the Igbo, Austine SO Okwu returned to the United States, packed some personal belongings, and hurried to London to start a Biafran Foreign Mission.

The Biafran Mission in London was unlike any other in which he had participated. Not because he had to build it from scratch, he had already done so in 1962 when he opened Nigeria’s first diplomatic mission in Dar es Salem, Tanzania, but the urgency of the mission made it unique.

The measurement of the results was in minutes and hours. Unlike the resistant Igbo upstarts, the Federal Republic of Nigeria had had months to dream of a war in which, in a matter of days, they would crush the Igbo like ruthless lions devour orphaned rabbits.

July 6, 1967: Nigerian forces dropped artillery bombs on the town of Ogoja. For the Igbo to have a chance of survival, especially since they did not have a formidable army, rapid international engagement was essential.

Within hours of his arrival, Okwu began working over the phone, renewing political and social contacts with Igbo journalists, students, youth and organizations.

Circumstances and time did not permit any of the usual luxuries of protocols, parades, parties, payment packages, and bouquets of diplomatic flowers that are bestowed on foreign representatives. Instead, it was a low-to-no-budget squad, reminiscent of the way Biafran soldiers fought Nigerian invaders with fists, sickles, diplomatic talismans, clubs, and wooden stakes.

Ambassador Martin at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, initially relieved to learn that Austine had resigned, quickly became furious when he learned that the former head of the Foreign Ministry had been making calls and organizing seminars to educate the public about the plight of the Igbo. .

Austin knew too much! What will it reveal? Send a memorandum to the Nigerian High Commissioner in London,” Martin roared, “and ask London to thwart and keep an eye on Mr. Okwu at all times.”

Okwu’s wife Beatrice called to confront him about the veiled threat. ‘He who has ventured must prepare himself for the penalty,’ she warned.

Oil and Weapons of War

As always in wartime, whoever thinks faster and acts faster defeats the enemy.

Since oil money was the reason Nigeria invaded the Igbo, the federal government had an immediate plan to capture and secure Nigeria’s eastern riparian oil area. And Austin too.

To repel federal forces from the oil zone, Biafra needed maritime and river combat arsenals. Austine wasted no time making contacts and engagements with armed operatives. He named Enugu, the capital of Biafra. I have a dozen armed speedboats and amphibious submarines ready for delivery. Please answer,’ he begged.

Their calls hit deaf ears. Perhaps the noise of the machine guns drowned out my calls, he wondered. At last, a belated reply came asking about the weapons. By then, the Fed had captured the waterfront and imposed a naval blockade on the Eastern Region.

Rumors in Harmattan

Until someone has a turn in the drama of life, they always see what others don’t. This was the case three months after Austine went to London. A rumor arose and spread like Harmattan fire in the minds of cynics. Who among the Igbos was best suited to represent Biafra in London? A politician, British-trained Igbo lawyer, academic or street-tested diplomat?

As the rumors dissipated, Austine SO got the message: Biafra needed him to leave London and go to East and Central Africa.

‘Because?’ he challenged the notion.

The answer was not long in coming: ‘Because of his experience and knowledge in that region. We need you to convince your old friends Julius Nyerere from Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda from Zambia to support Biafra.’

Lately, his mind had been oscillating from the future to the past, on one level trying to predict what the future held and on the other reflecting on the lessons of times past.

He recalled how, as Nigeria’s acting commissioner (1962-1964), he met Prime Minister Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia met him in Ghana, in early 1962, when he was head of the Nigerian Foreign Ministry and the young Kenneth was a freedom fighter who solicited introductions to Nigerian politicians. ‘I’m sure he owes you a favor,’ his mind whispered.

‘But how does one decide, when called upon, to leave wife and children and go to a faraway land to serve a beleaguered race of uncertain fate?’ Okwu wondered repeatedly. Some decisions, he discerned, deserve the opinion of trusted friends.

Reassignment to East and Central Africa

Emeka Anyaoku was a colleague whose opinion Austine valued highly.

‘That I have to do?’ Austine asked Mr. Anyaoku. “Instead of leaving London and going to East and Central Africa, I am considering resigning from the Biafra Foreign Mission.”

‘Austine,’ Mr Anyaoku said, his voice assertive but woven with brotherly courage, ‘you have to go. Recognition by East African countries is vital if Biafra is to have a fighting chance. ‘My father-in-law,’ continued Mr. Anyaoku, ‘no one else could give a better result. East and Central Africa are places you know very well. Please don’t allow resignation to enter your mind. Resigning will deal an irretrievable blow to Biafran morale.

Austine competed for a moment before saying: ‘But I feel like I have to stay in London, close to my family. Our children are young and are beginning to worry about my absence. Could it be the Igbo…?

‘Listen, Austine,’ Mr. Anyaoku chimed in softly, ‘I’m sorry about your despair for the family; I know you have made sacrifices time and time again, and as for the Igbo, let posterity judge.

After that conversation with Emeka Anyaoku, Austine broke the news to his wife, Beatrice.

“I’m going back to East Africa,” he said, a noticeable crack in his voice that only silence could mend. In the days that followed, Beatrice watched him pack two suitcases, selecting a brown shirt over a similar one and rejecting the black shoes over a brown pair. Three top hats, three multicolored bow ties, several pens, writing paper, and about ten folded newspapers, some old and some new, entered.

Full diplomatic circle and pending tasks

Having served Nigeria in London and returned to the city to serve Biafra, and having served Nigeria in Tanzania from 1962 to 1964 and now set to return in July 1967 as Biafra’s Ambassador, Austine marveled at how fate had forced his career to become a full circle diplomat.

Their task: convince diplomats, presidents and countries in East and Central Africa to help Biafra fend off the might of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and stop any further Igbo bloodshed.

Even with a staff of just three, sometimes just two, Austine SO Okwu still had several enviable achievements for Biafra.

Paraphrasing from his book

“At the risk of sounding arrogant, I will say for the record that I worked harder than anyone else to get Tanzania to recognize Biafra on May 8, 1968 and Zambia on May 20, 1968.”

reflections of the author

Amidst all the other parallel diplomatic overtures, bombs and mortars, fighter jets and bazookas, ogbungwe continued to wreak havoc on both federal troops and the Biafran army and civilians throughout 1967, 1968 and late 1969. It was not until January 1970, after three million Igbo had died, including hundreds of thousands of Igbo children who starving, and with many families heartbroken at the loss of sons, daughters, and fathers, that Biafra surrendered, still a proud and unstoppable race.

a reference book

Details of Austine SO Okwu’s diplomatic services for Nigeria and for Biafra are found in his book, Truly for Justice and Honor: Memoirs of a Nigerian and Biafra Ambassador. It is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants a first-hand account of the events leading up to and during the Nigerian Civil War: 1967-1970.