Heroes

by Festus Iyayi

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Halimah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a book that gives a different side to the answer of the question regarding the catalysts of the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970). If you think about it long and hard enough, or just by reading this book, you'd find that the true heroes are not those who we see writing their accounts on the war as Generals or Brigadiers. No. The Heroes are the soldiers that have blood on their hands and dirt up to their knees. Their families are in their hearts but they trod on to fight a war against the wrong enemies. They've been led to believe that their enemies are the rebels, those who seek to divide the country. But if they had looked at the whole war with scrutiny, the context of it, as Osime had done, they would have seen that they were doing nothing more than executing the will of the ruling class hungry for power. And what's more? Those at the top motivate soldiers to kill, destroy, rape and loot in the name of war because they themselves have nothing to lose. The bishops, traditional rulers, businessmen, generals, brigadiers, they all send their families abroad and guarantee their personal safety whilst urging the middle class to risk their lives to fight a war that has no essence.

They don't belong to Nigeria so they use words like "The Country" while the true citizens, that have built from scratch their fortune, that know their neighbours by their faces not just names, that have nurtured their children on the same soil they were nurtured, that see the ibo man and himself as equals- these are the ones that call Nigeria theirs- "Our country".

So you see, the real heroes of the war aren't those that were driven to safety when an attack commences. The real heroes are those who identified their real enemies, and even if they were unable to defeat them because of their size, they were able to see that the other side are humans just as they are. They are Nigerians just as they are.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.maryokekereviews.blogspot....

[Oluwatosin Adeola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazing book fot school project.