From Benin to History: A Post-War Story of Nigeria’s Civil War Figure, Major (Dr.) Albert Okonkwo - Part One

 From Benin to History: A Post-War Story of Nigeria’s Civil War Figure, Major (Dr.) Albert Okonkwo - Part One

By Emeka Esogbue

In the turbulent months of 1967, the Nigerian Civil War spilled into the Midwest when Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu ordered the invasion of the region. What followed was one of the conflict’s most remarkable yet least-studied episodes: The short-lived Midwest Republic. At the heart of this moment stood Major (Dr.) Albert Okonkwo, a medical doctor turned soldier, who was appointed Military Administrator after Biafran forces crossed the River Niger and occupied Benin City.

For six intense weeks, Okonkwo governed a multi-ethnic region caught between two warring sides, navigating politics, loyalty, and survival.

This work traces his story from the decisions that defined his wartime role to the quieter, often overlooked years that followed. Drawing on historical records and a rare interview with his brother, it sheds light on Okonkwo’s life, legacy, and the personal reflections that history nearly forgot. These insights, his background, his frustrations, and his disillusionment with Ojukwu and the Eastern Region after the war, the detention and reitegration into Anioma society are deeply revealing.

Early Life and Education

Major (later Colonel) Dr. Albert Onweazu Okonkwo was a significant yet relatively under-examined figure of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970). He was born in Jos, present-day Plateau State, to Ibusa parents: Onowu Joseph Nwanze Okonkwo of Umuezeagulu, Ibusa, and Mrs. Matilda Adaoji Okonkwo (née Uwandulu) of Umuezeagwu, Ibusa. Albert was the eldest of four male child on his mother's side because it was a polygamous union - exactly 1 woman and 3 sons while Maria Okwudikakwue Odita nee Okonkwo is the eldest child still on her mother"s side.

His younger brother, Prof Patrick Okonkwo, is an Emeritus Professor of Marketing and Logistics who earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in East Lansing Michigan 1978. Incidentally, Emeritus Prof Okonkwo did all his university schooling in the USA where he still resides today, later teaching in Central Michigan University for 25 years. The middle brother, Richard Ogomegbunem Okonkwo, was a geologist who graduated from Iowa State University in 1964 and later worked for Mobil Oil Company.

Albert Okonkwo began his educational journey at St. Paul's Primary School, Jos, Plateau State before attending Africa College, Onitsha (now

Our Lady's High School), Woliwo, Onitsha, near Chukwurah Street, by Ochanja Market. He worked briefly with the Accounts Department of the Nigerian Railway Corporation. In 1952, he left Nigeria for the United States. Together with his siblings, he attended Morningside College (now Morningside University) in Sioux City, Iowa, a choice that reflected the family's strong commitment to education abroad. 

Albert later gained admission to the University of Kansas School of Medicine (KU Med) in 1956, where he was one of the few Black students at the institution. Albert Okonkwo hails from a family strongly rooted in education and he was proud of it. The well-known Don Ohadike, Professor of History, was his first cousin while his mother was Prof Austin Uwandulu's Aunty. Prof Austin Uwandulu is a former Director with the National Population Commission and also the founder of the Academy for Governance, located in Abuja and Ibusa, his hometown. Prof Peter Esedebe, his cousin was a Nigerian historian, academic and author at the University of Nigeria who is best known for his scholarship in African history particularly, in Pan-Africanism, Nigerian history and the study of civil war. His book, "Pan Africanism: The Idea and Movement, 1776 - 1991 is widely cited in African studies. Dr. Festus Uwandulu was also another cousin of his worth mentioning. Albert Okonkwo is best remembered as brilliant and disciplined, with no visible signs of the radicalism or militarism that would later characterize his wartime life. He returned to Nigeria in 1965 just two years before the outbreak of the civil war.

Military and Administrative Career

Originally a medical doctor, Okonkwo joined the military and quickly rose in responsibility under Ojukwu’s Biafra. After the Biafran invasion of the Midwest in August 1967, Ojukwu appointed him Military Administrator of the newly occupied territory.

Okonkwo’s administration lasted just six weeks. Despite efforts to stabilize Biafran control and appeal for local support, the occupation faced hostility, especially among non-Ibo Midwesterners. On 20 September 1967, federal troops under Col. Murtala Mohammed recaptured Benin City, forcing Okonkwo and the Biafran forces to retreat.

His brief tenure remains significant both as a symbol of Biafra’s attempt to extend influence beyond its Igbo heartland and as an illustration of the ethnic complexities of the conflict. Okonkwo is remembered as the shortest-serving leader of a declared republic during wartime.

Controversies and Critiques

Different participants in the war have offered explanations for the failure of the Midwest invasion. Alexander Madiebo (The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1980, p. 158) partly blamed the defeat on the disruptive influence of Biafran civilians who followed the army, spreading accusations of sabotage that demoralized officers. He also criticized Col. Victor Banjo, accusing him of antagonizing other field commanders.

In fact, Okonkwo’s kinsman, Col. Henry Igboba, was arrested by Banjo during the occupation and later executed by federal troops after the fall of Benin when retreating Biafrans abandoned him in a prison.

Brig. Gen. Godwin Alabi-Isama (The Tragedy of Victory: On-the-Spot Account of the Nigeria-Biafra War in the Atlantic Theatre, Spectrum Books, 2013, p. 59) was far more scathing. He dismissed the participation of Midwestern Ibos in the Biafran cause as misguided, asking why they would fight for a breakaway republic while their families remained vulnerable in the Midwest. He described the Midwest invasion as a “worthless and strategic blunder,” famously writing:

“What I did not understand as an Army officer was how on earth Biafran troops got to Sapele and Warri! What would they have been looking for there? What tactics or strategy was that? Biafran’s entry into the Midwest was, to my mind, a military blunder. There were better objectives than Benin and Lagos. What about Benue?”

This view finds support in Opeyeoluwa Rotimi Olajide (“Revisiting the Midwest Invasion Strategy During the Nigerian Civil War,” Àgídìgbo: ABUAD Journal of the Humanities, Vol. 3, 2021), who argued that while the campaign was intended to open a route to Lagos, it became a “mis-step, a reversal of initiative, and a source of demoralization for both army and civilians.” Reports of looting, arson, curfews, and propaganda worsened Biafra’s image locally and internationally.

Although not every historian agrees that the invasion was a blunder, its consequences were devastating. The fall of Benin provoked retribution against Anioma communities, culminating in the massacres in Asaba, Ogwashi-Uku, and Isheagu — one of the darkest chapters of the war.

The term “Asaba Massacre” can be misleading: The killings were not confined to Asaba but extended across the Asaba Division the administrative district that included today’s Aniocha and Oshimili communities with headquarters in Ogwashi-Uku. For instance, Isheagu and Ogwashi-Uku also experienced the enormous massacres. Once the Biafran invasion was interpreted by many as a conspiracy of the Midwestern Ibos, Murtala Mohammed’s 2nd Division embarked on deliberate, systematic killings.

Murtala’s Leadership and the Onitsha Campaign

Murtala’s wartime leadership remains one of the most debated aspects of the early conflict. Although well-trained, he was inexperienced in divisional-level command. A former Signals Officer, he was promoted too quickly to command the newly created 2nd Division, a responsibility that tested and exposed his limits too early in the war.

Impatient for a dramatic victory, Murtala favored frontal assaults over careful reconnaissance. At Onitsha, he launched repeated river crossings that were decisively repelled by Col. Joe Achuzia and his men, who had fortified the riverbank with machine guns, artillery, and mortars. These operations led to massive federal casualties and the drowning of many soldiers, a humiliating defeat that ultimately forced his reassignment.

While he later became more cautious, relying on flanking operations, the damage was done. His early failures cost the federal side dearly and left a legacy of resentment among Anioma civilians who bore the brunt of his division’s reprisals.

The Bridge Demolitions and Anioma Tragedy

The destruction of key bridges across Anioma territory further sealed the fate of civilians. Madiebo reports that as federal forces advanced rapidly from Warri through Abraka to Umutu, Biafrans blew up the Umutu Bridge, fought delaying actions, and eventually retreated through Ogwashi-Uku and Asaba. The River Oboshi Bridge destruction by Biafran forces was not left out in the episodes. When federal troops entered Asaba on 8 October 1967, Biafran forces fell back to Onitsha and demolished the Niger Bridge.

This was a militarily defensible decision slowing the federal advance and allowing Biafra to fortify Onitsha but its humanitarian consequences were catastrophic. Thousands of Anioma civilians were left stranded west of the river, unable to flee, and became targets for revenge killings.

Bird & Ottanelli (The Asaba Massacre: Trauma, Memory, and the Nigerian Civil War, Cambridge University Press, 2017) note that the bridge’s destruction effectively cut Anioma off from the East, while local accounts describe it as a betrayal:

“Even though Anioma was never part of Eastern Nigeria … blowing up the bridge looked like abandonment, a betrayal.” (AnaedoOnline, 2021).

The federal troop took advantage of the action to inflict the pogrom on the people. It is difficult to leave out the prominent roles of Anioma officers, such as Col Conrad Nwawo, Col Sylvanus Ben Amaechi Nwajei and Major (Dr.) Albert Onweazu Okonkwo who also fled to the Eastern Region while their parents suffered the implications of the war. They became quite unable to defend the Anioma territory.

Part Two of this article will discuss the post-war life, personal life and legacy of Major (Dr.) Albert Okonkwo.

...to be continued