In this edition we bring to you the speech made by Major Gen. Philip Effiong, to Gen. Yakubu Gowon on the day Philip Effiong handed over the surrender documents to Gowon to officially mark the end of the Nigeria – Biafra Civil War. Philip Effiong was a colonel in the Nigerian Army but in Biafra he rose to the rank of Major General and was the Chief of Army Staff in the defunct Republic of Biafra and when Ojukwu concluded arrangements to fly out of Biafra and take refuge in Ivory Coast, Ojukjwu handed over the Republic of Biafra to Philip Effiong.

Two days after Ojukwu’s departure, Philip Effiong in consultation with the remaining leadership of Biafra, went to Radio Biafra and announced the surrender of Biafra. He cited the near endless suffering of the people and the lack of weapons to sustain the war as his reasons for the surrender. He followed the radio announcement with the signing of the surrender papers at the field with then Col. Olusegun Obasanjo representing the federal government. When this was done, he then moved to Lagos in the company of the Chief Justice of Biafra – Justice Louis Mbanefo and others. They were received by Gen. Yakubu Gowon who was Nigeria’s Military Head of State at the time. You don't want to miss this story.

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