Writing from the Collective Memories of Others

Since the publication of Destination Biafra by Buchi Emecheta in 1982, many Nigerian writers have made contributions to Biafran War literature. Thirty years on, Emecheta’s novel continues to stand out for its ambitious and distinctive approach to transforming collective memory into a fictionalized Biafra story.

Written by Ijedike Jeboma

Jul 20, 2023

Photo Illustration by Dami Mojid for THE REPUBLIC.

In 1968, when Nigerian troops attacked the residents of Buchi Emecheta’s hometown, Igbuzor in Delta State (formerly part of the Mid-Western region), Emecheta was living in the UK, in a London council flat, and working at the British Museum. When her niece, named after her, died of starvation in a CMS refugee centre in Biafra, Emecheta likely had no idea; she received no communication from her brother over the course of the Biafran war. By 1974, Emecheta was collecting memories from friends and relatives for her fictional retelling of the Biafra War.

Emecheta was unique among the major Nigerian writers of her generation because of her long-term residence outside the country. When she wrote about Nigerians and Nigeria, she used memory—hers and others’—as a primary source. This process of research and memory farming is most evident in her 1982 novel, Destination Biafra. In the introduction to the book, Emecheta mentions a research trip to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and states that the novel is ‘guided by the memories of living and dead relatives and friends’. Other early Biafran War novels and stories—such as Never Again (1975) by Flora Nwapa, The Last Duty (1976) by Isidore Okpewho, and Girls at War (1972) by Chinua Achebe—drew heavily on the authors’ personal experience of war. Emecheta’s distinctive approach to the Biafra story produced a narrative that is uncommon within the broad tapestry of Biafran war literature.

The first section of Destination Biafra takes on the monumental, didactic project of explaining how and why the Biafran War happened. Emecheta’s roving point-of-view occupies the perspectives of many power players during the ten years preceding the war. The reader hears from fictionalized versions of several figures including Yakubu Gowon, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Chukwuma Nzeogwu, Aguiyi-Ironsi, Aminu Kano, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo. Some of these re-imagined narratives are factually incorrect—for instance, Emecheta writes the fictionalized Aguiyi-Ironsi, Ojukwu, and Gowon into the January 1966 coup planning meeting when no record of their involvement exists—but that does not detract from the broader story.

Emecheta’s central hypothesis is one of British interference and manipulation, and as such, one of the novel’s primary characters is Alan Grey, a British military colonial officer turned post-colonial political string-puller. Destination Biafra discusses the actions, motivations, and opinions of the West far more than typical Biafran War novels. The first scene features British colonial officers discussing their ideal conditions for Nigerian independence (strong economic ties to Britain), and the final scene describes Alan Grey boarding a plane out of Nigeria, satisfied with the completion of his mission to help Nigeria win the war and thereby secure future oil supply to his country. Emecheta centres the conflict within a global context throughout the book with the ease and familiarity of one who during the civil war, spent extensive time discussing the role of world powers in driving the war.

The heroine who often connects the disparate and diverse cast of characters of Destination Biafra is Debbie Ogedemgbe. In her autobiography, Head Above Water, Emecheta describes Debbie as her dream woman—modern, Oxford-educated, born into an elite political family (her father, Samuel Ogedemgbe, the Minister of Finance, is a fictionalized version of Festus Okotie-Eboh); headstrong, feminist, moral, and idealistic beyond belief. Debbie is the linchpin of Emecheta’s attempt to craft an impartial narrative of the Biafran war. Debbie is also the reason why the story begins to fall apart in its second half.

[irp posts=”15134″ name=”Buchi Emecheta’s ‘The Joys Of Motherhood’”]

Debbie is neither Hausa nor Igbo; she is Itsekiri but displays no tendency toward tribal sentiment or ethnic identity, despite the overwhelmingly frequent appearance of that topic in conversations around her. Her father is a corrupt minister, but her moral backbone is so rigid that she acknowledges that he had to die in the January 1966 coup so that a truly independent nation could be born. She bears no ill will toward the plotters. She is committed to this idea of a new Nigeria/Biafra but maintains a romantic relationship with a British man who is actively working toward opposite goals. Debbie is perfect; Debbie is impartial; Debbie is not a victim. Her commitment to a singular independent Nigeria, built on pure idealism, is enough to bind her to a foolhardy quest across warzones that dominated the second part of Destination Biafra.

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