His is a rare story. It is a story of survival even when it appeared impossible. It goes to prove that, as the Igbo say, anyone not killed by his God nothing will happen to him. Michael Onuka Mba, an ex-Biafran soldier, survived a walk through the valley of the shadow of death and his name was changed to Nwakerendu, which means in Igbo, a child destined to live. Indeed, not many can remember his original name any more. The name he is known by in his community, Amaekpu Ohafia, Abia State and beyond is Nwakerendu.
He was rechristened by a medical doctor who had pronounced him dead following gun shots that shattered his belly and forced out the contents while fighting on the side of Biafra during the civil war. According to the doctor, Michael went to the land of the dead and came back to life. That necessitated the name change.
At the out break of the civil war, the village town crier went round calling for eligible men to be recruited into the Biafran army. According to Nwakerendu, who was in his early 20s, he was fired by patriotic zeal and to contribute to the realization of the Biafran dream. While others evaded the call, he voluntarily went to the police parade ground at Ohafia, where the enlistment took place. At the initial stage of the war, people volunteered to fight but when things got tougher people forced to join the army. The Biafran authority was even combing villages for men that would be conscripted and by so doing some able bodied men that went into hiding were smoked out and conscripted.
He said: “We were over 5000 able bodied and willing men waiting to be recruited. Even though I was one of the youngest, my height was an advantage as I was one of the few to be selected. At the time I was recruited, except for my height, I would have been rejected. It was when the war got tougher that people of my age were conscripted and not much training was given to them unlike us the first batch that volunteered.
“Those of us that were successful at the recruitment exercise were taken to Umuahia, Abia State capital where we were first trained as militia. Thereafter, we were taken to Ukehe, Nsukka, the village of the prominent Nwodo family. Our brief, among other things, was to secure the compound of one of the Nwodos.”
According to Nwakerendu, by then Federal troops were advancing into the Biafran territory and had taken over few areas in Nsukka, so they were there not only to stop them but ward them off.
He continued: “We were taking orders and instructions from Nzegwu. There were two Nzeogwus – one was Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, who was involved in the 1966 coup. This time, there was another Nzegwu of the air force. We were also loyal to one Major Onwuatuegwu.We were pulled out from Nsukka to Enugu and camped at the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus, where we started real military training and instructions. Thereafter we transmuted to full combatant soldiers and posted to 29 Battalion, 54 Brigade, under a commander I can’t remember his name. We were moved to Ogidi, Nkpor and Onitsha axis in Anambra State where there was a raging battle.
“When we went there and started operation, we were making huge success and the tempo should have been sustained for victory to come. The heat was much on the federal troops forcing them to retreat. We had overwhelmed them, drove them away and took over their trenches, eating their food and wearing their cloths.”
Their joy over the spoils of war, which they were enjoying for subduing the federal troops, was temporary as the federal troops reorganised and came back. That was the last Nwakerendu could remember of his battalion’s exploits during the 30 months civil war, Thereafter, events took another twist as he became a patient writhing in pains at different hospitals. September 13, 1968 was a day never to be forgotten by Nwakerendu. It was a day he died and resurrected after he tasted the fury of the federal might that was leashed on him.
He recalled: “On September 13, 1968, I got the bullets that led to my death. My stomach was opened and my intestines both small and large all popped out. I was rushed to Umuorji Hospital. Doctors had deserted the hospital because of sporadic air raids. From there, I was taken to Our Lady of Lords, Mount Carmel ward, Ihiala, Anambra State and was attended by one Dr. Nwaozo.
“When I was brought to the hospital, the doctor after hearing what happened and examining me was baffled that I was still alive and had almost refused admitting me. His reason for having almost rejected me in the hospital was that it would be an exercise in futility to do anything medically as there was no hope of my surviving. According to him, anything done was going to be a sheer waste of efforts and resources.
“When the bullets hit my belly and the intestines came out, one Captain Michael Kalu Agwu was the first person to rescue me. He is from the same community with me. His encouraged me, saying: ‘Ogbo (name sake), be strong, nothing would happen to you’. Those words were reechoing in my mind till I became unconscious or went into coma. He removed my dress and tied it round my belly to hold the intestines from dragging on the ground and lifted me on his shoulder.
“Without the steel helmet I was putting on, the bullets would have shattered my head and probably the story would have been different. I was in the hospital for over four months before I was discharged. There were experienced doctors and nurses then not what we have today. It was a very agonizing period. When I was discharged, one Augustine arranged for me to return home and be going for treatment in General Hospital, Abiriba, which is near to my home. As I returned home, one Major Nwafor, who was popularly called Major for Boys was so liberal and he introduced me to what they called Formula 2, a Biafra parlance.”
He volunteered that since that close shave with death, the pains remain unbearable, recurring now and again. And cost of medical care is digging holes in his pockets.
Nwakerendu explained that “after the war, in October 1975 to be precise, when I was working in Aba Textile mill, this problem started again. I went to do another major surgery at Nzeribe Hospital, Aba. The surgery was performed by one Dr. Achalonu. Thereafter, I realized that the job at the textile mill was not good for my health. So, I resigned. The war experience was traumatic. Some people didn’t have such deadly encounter yet didn’t survive the war. You see some people with one leg, one hand and one eye caused by the civil war”.
Explaining how he came about the new name, he said: “Nwakerendu was given to me by Dr. Nwaozo after he emphatically said that I would not survive but was proved wrong. On the day I was discharged, he had said: ‘Whatever be your name, from today, I have changed it to Nwakerendu (child destined to live). It took over my name. At that time, many soldiers and had gun shot wounds and very few survived but none was as grave as mine. That was what baffled my colleagues at the war fronts and others because people with minor gun shot wounds didn’t survive. But I, whose stomach and intestines gushed out, survived. It was a miracle.”
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