Benjamin-Adekunle-1-Photo-by-Terry-Fincher
Stories abound about the exploits of the late Brigadier General Benjamin Adekunle during the country’s civil war from 1967-1970.
The Black Scorpion as he was popularly called by his colleagues was also described as the ‘Bloodhound of Nigeria’ by the authorities in Lagos, where the central government was based then.
Benjamin Adekunle was the head of the 3rd Marine Commando of the Nigerian Army which liberated the whole of the South from Biafran control.
German journalist Randolf Baumann interviewed Adekunle in Igweocha during the Nigeria-Biafra War for Stern Magazine, and the interview was published on August 18, 1968. When Uzor Maxim Uzoatu put it on social media, it sparked hot debates. The interview is published below by TheNEWS magazine this week for its readers. Read below:
“I have to kill the Ibos—sorry”
Stern reporter Randolph Baumann spoke with the General of the Nigerian front troops.
If you want to get to know the devil of Africa, just ask for Adekunle. He is the man who is responsible for the death of 100,000 Ibo people”. The man who provided this tip to Randolph Baumann, the Stern reporter, was Mister Ikpa, the official representative of the Republic of Biafra in Lisbon. Mister Ikpa knew even more: “Adekunle does not like journalists. He had a man from England who disagreed with him shaved bald, do an hour of push-ups, and write one-thousand times: I am a crappy Englishman and don’t have a say in Nigeria”.
Having been thus forewarned, the Stern reporter flew to Port Harcourt, a big Biafra harbor city in the midst of a swamp and in the oil field of the Niger-delta, and requested an interview from the “devil” Benjamin Adekunle.
Major Adekunle, 28-years old, General of the Nigerian troops on the South front sat enthroned behind the General’s desk of the Shell administration, which he had made …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
