Documentary Unveils Hidden Layers of Nigeria's Civil War

Documentary Unveils Hidden Layers of Nigeria's Civil War

Meji Alabi has directed some of the biggest selling music artists on the planet: Beyoncé, Burna Boy, Davido and Stormzy. But nothing prepared the Grammy Award-winning director for his new documentary on Nigeria's civil war. Surviving Biafra: Voices from the Nigerian Civil War, produced by BBC Africa Eye, includes previously unseen footage taken on the front line of the devastating war that lasted from 1967 until 1970 when ethnic tensions threatened to tear apart the young West African nation.

Breaking Longstanding Silence on a Painful Past

It was very much an eye opener for me. I just grew up not knowing much about the war at all, or who was fighting who, said the 37-year-old, who was born in London to Nigerian parents before moving to Texas in the US to go to school. It's a topic that, you know, is whispered, said Meji. It hasn't been attacked head on and, you know, presented from an inquisitive younger generation like this before.

Power of Family Stories Across Generations

Most Nigerians learn about this chapter of their history through stories handed down through generations. Leke and his 23 siblings grew up hearing war stories from their dad, Godwin Alabi-Isama, who served as chief of staff to Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle of the 3 Marine Commando during the conflict. It just felt like my dad was known for helping liberate this town and these villages. I saw him as a war hero, he said.

Shifting Perspectives Through Personal Discovery

I only just saw it from a Nigerian [federal army] perspective, said Leke. I never knew of the horrors. I never knew of the suffering and the pain of the other side. The first time I saw those clips of people, children starved… it was horrific. And I think that was a moment of truth for me, Leke said. That was the moment for me where the horrors of the war then became facts. Like, OK, something really terrible happened and my dad was on the other side of it. When you find out that, you know, your truth is not the only truth, it was a humbling moment.

Confronting History in African Societies Today

Throughout the Africa Eye documentary, survivors, now in their 70s and 80s, recount their experiences of living and fighting during a period that shaped the lives of millions and still has relevance today. Leke and Meji said they could not understand why there were not many films about the civil war made by Nigerians, describing how difficult it was to find a truthful account of what happened. This is one of the many reasons the duo, who usually work with international music stars, wanted to make this documentary.

Education Gaps and National Memory

For 44-year-old Leke, who was born and grew up in Abeokuta, Ogun state in south-western Nigeria, it was a line or two lines in a book. It's still not fully covered, you know, the extent of the suffering. And I think, for me, Nigeria is just scared to confront its own truth, he said.

Younger Voices Seeking Truthful Accounts

A highpoint in his career came five years ago when he won a Grammy for co-directing the music video for Beyoncé's hit Brown Skin Girl. It was not until he teamed up with his uncle Leke Alabi-Isama, who is also a filmmaker and co-founder of their Lagos-based production company PriorGold Pictures, for the history documentary project that they both began to realise the depth of Nigeria's traumatic past. The little they did know was learnt from Leke's father and Meji's grandfather, Godwin Alabi-Isama, a former army commando who fought on the side of the federal army against ethnic Igbo separatists fighting in the south-east of the country for a breakaway state called Biafra.