Moses Iloh in Memorian!

When I heard last weekend about the death of Rev Moses Iloh, I felt both a deep sense of loss and regret. I had encountered the old man in January 2013 for what was to be the beginning of several interview sessions but after the first engagement, I had to shelve the idea. Iloh, who headed the Red Cross in Biafra, was a witness to all the tragic drama during the Nigerian civil war and he recounted his experience to me in a piece that also underlined the fact that even in the short-lived Biafra, there were intra-elite frictions as well as issues of corruption.

The late Iloh’s revelations, however, opened a Pandora Box of sort because it provoked responses, including from the former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Mr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, whose father Iloh accused of humiliating him after the war. But what forced my hand was that I received far too many calls and private mails from several people who felt uncomfortable with the narrative, not because they doubted Iloh’s account but rather that it was opening old wounds. Not to be dragged into a Biafran controversy, I held no further interview session with Iloh and suspended the series after two columns.

However, as a tribute to Iloh’s memory, I am recalling the 24th January 2103 column, ‘Memories of Biafran Nightmares’ and the 31st January 2013 follow-up, ‘Still on the Biafran Nightmares’ on olusegunadeniyi. com. I am also adding four other special picks from my 2012 columns, including what happened on perhaps the most dramatic day in modern football when Manchester City snatched from Manchester United the English Premiership title in the last seconds of the season. They are all on olusegunadeniyi.com for the enjoyment of readers.