BBC’s Surviving Biafra Documentary Premieres at UNILAG, Draws Tears and Calls for Unity

By Luke Matthias

The Surviving Biafra documentary, produced by the BBC World Service, has had its world premiere at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. In an emotionally charged event attended by prominent Nigerians, former military chiefs, and the photographer who documented the civil war through pictures and footage for the historical record, according to reports from the event.

Award-winning filmmaker and director Meji Alabi, who co-directed the documentary alongside Leke Alabi, said the choice of the University of Lagos as the premiere venue was deliberate. “The youth need to see and hear about the civil war,” he said. His motivation is to bring to a new generation the knowledge and information about the three-year Nigerian Civil War which is widely known as the Biafran War; at a time of rising insecurity, hate speech, and ethnic bigotry, particularly on social media, “where youth reference the war as if it was a riot.”

Meji and Leke Alabi Isama were inspired by their grand father and father respectively, who saw the war first hand and preserved a collection of photographs from that era, as well as by the book The Tragedy of Victory.

Among the eyewitnesses present  was retired military officer, author, and statesman Gen. Godwin Alabi-Isama, who served as Chief of Staff to Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle of the 3 Marine Commando during the conflict. According to him,  the war was a tragedy that should never have happened; one that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Nigerians, more than half of them children.

Meji Alabi noted that of the thousands of pictures in the war archives, not a single person above the age of 50 was visible in any footage from the frontlines. “It is the youth who fight wars,” he said. Many of the eyewitnesses believe that the elders who create chaos out of selfish political interests do not go to war, it is the innocent who suffer most, especially women and children. They called on the younger generation to embrace unity and give peace a chance, a sentiment that was echoed by most speakers at the event.

Leke Alabi reinforced this message with a pointed reminder of just how young the key figures of that war were, noting that Gen. Alabi-Isama commanded the 3 Marine Commando at just 27 years of age, that Pa Sasa Nwoke fought as a teenager of 16, and that Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the head of state who prosecuted the war, was in his early thirties.

The premiere was a deeply emotional occasion, with many in the audience were moved to tears by eyewitness accounts delivered both within the documentary and live at the event. Other eyewitnesses featured in the film include Cornelia Ginikanwa, Rose Hogan Bassey, Sasa Nwoke, and Michael Aaronson, a former Red Cross relief worker.

The belief that an honest, apolitical account of the war; told by those who lived it;  is precisely what today’s Nigeria needs;  ran as the unifying thread throughout the entire event.