Achike Udenwa, a former Governor of Imo State and a frontline officer during the Nigerian-Biafran Civil War, in an interview alleged that the Biafran troops failed to capture Ibadan and Lagos because they were betrayed.
When he was talking during the interview (Between 1:04hr -1:09hr), on Edmund Obilo’s Podcast, Udenwa, who was among the Biafran soldiers who fought against the Nigerian soldiers, alleged that shortly before the end of the civil war, the Biafran soldiers had already captured Benin, and the rest work was left for Victor Banjo, a Colonel in the Nigerian Army, to capture Lagos but he didn’t.
Narrating how Victor Banjo betrayed Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and the Biafran troops when they wanted to capture Ibadan and Lagos, which according to him could have led to the end of the war, Udenwa said, “The Nigerians kept bombarding Onitsha every day. To me I regarded that incident as the turning point of the war. You see, I was there when Ojukwu gave Victor Banjo that command, the night before the crossing in Onitsha—11 Battalion, 12 Battalion, 18 Battalion—these were the three battalions that crossed from the East, and they were joined by friendly troops in the midwest. And we took Benin without a fight. 11 Battalion on the main axis went to Ore (in Ondo State) and they were all stationed in Ore.”
Further talking, he said, “But the plan was to take Ibadan and Lagos the same day, which was very simple. But, when Ojukwu asked Banjo what he was doing in Ore, he said he was trying to reorganize the troops. And people started asking how can you be reorganizing troops who have not even fired a single shot? Banjo was in Ore negotiating with Awolowo and Obasanjo. Obasanjo was the Commander in that axis—from Ibadan to Ore. But we heard Obasanjo didn’t agree with Banjo. When Banjo was in Ore, Soyinka was the middleman between him and Awolowo.”
“If Banjo had taken Ibadan and Lagos the way they planned to do, the war would have ended. There were no fighting troops in Lagos. If Banjo knew, he would not have returned to Biafra…if he knew, he would have been saved.”