| Chapter : | Introduction |
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but at the same time to ensure that a new generation of Biafrans does not rise up to perpetuate their race. He commanded us to kill every Biafran we meet.25
The testimonies of Biafran returnees from northern Nigeria towns and cities paint a picture of systematic and calculated genocide planned by northern emirs, district heads, former politicians, top civil servants, university students, British nationals, and law enforcement officers. Enoch Ejikeme, an Igbo businessman who had lived in Katsina since 1951, recalled what happened during the pogrom of May–June 1966. He told the Atrocities Tribunal:
It was about 2 a.m.–4 a.m. in the early morning of 29/5/66 when a large number of Hausas started collecting in the Emir’s palace. Round about 6 a.m. that all burst out from the palace carrying sticks, matchets, daggers, axes, etc. and all other dangerous weapons, spread themselves all over the town, looting and burning houses and shops. Some of the N. A. Police took active parts, while others made no attempts to bring the situation under control. This attack was directed against people of Southern Nigeria origin with the exclusion of Yorubas.… While the attack continued the Emir of Katsina, Usman Nagogo; the former Northern Minister (of Education) Isa Kaita; Musa Tafida Yar 'Adua, former federal Minister of Lagos Affairs; and Magajin Gari, Emir’s son, were parading the town up and down cheering them up.26
Julius Abisi, a prison warden who lived in Kaduna from 1958 to 1966, testified about the massive attack on easterners in the city of Kaduna following a meeting of top Hausa civil servants at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium on Saturday, May 29, 1966. He recalled that “from the meeting they spread to the town attacking every Easterner they met; looting, arson and killing law-abiding Easterners featured prominently.” Echoing reports of events in Nazi Germany, Abisi’s report to the tribunal continued: “After the general attack they started going from house to house hunting Easterners to kill … They boasted that after their operation nothing like east will remain on the map of Nigeria.”27 Testimonies collected by the Atrocities