Major Achuzia was an unsung hero. The Biafran 4th Commando Brigade carried out Operation Hiroshima as a military operation to retake Onitsha from the Nigerian 2nd Division. Joseph “Hannibal” Achuzia was a Nigerian aeronautical engineer with British training who was a major in the Biafran Army. He was born in Asaba in 1929 and passed away there on February 26, 2018.
Before enlisting in the Biafran Army in May 1967, Achuzia worked as an engineer for the Portharcourt-based Shell Petroleum firm. He was one of the leaders and founders of the Portharcourt citizen militia, and after it was dissolved, he became a colonel in the Biafran army. By January 1970, when the civil war ended, he had a son and a British wife, but left for the southeast due of concern for anti-Igbo feeling among his comrades. Achuzia rose to the rank of Major and assumed command of the Biafran 11th Battalion, which was tasked with protecting the region between Atani and Ndoni from an impending Nigerian onslaught, following the forced withdrawal of Biafran soldiers into Onitsha on September 20,1967, due to the River Niger Bridge. Following eight days of brutal house-to-house warfare that led the Biafran 18th Battalion under Colonel Assam Nsudoh to flee From Onitsha, the 11th Battalion under Major Achuzie connected with the18th Battalion east of the city and prepared a counteroffensive.
In a concerted pincer operation, the 11th Battalion, led by Maj. Achuzie, swung north along the New Market Road, and the 18th Battalion swung south along the Old Market Road. Achuzia’s forces killed or captured most of the 5,000-man Nigerian 2nd Division army that was stationed at Onitsha. In the days after the Biafran assault, the Nigerian 2nd Division launched two different counterattacks, but both were repulsed by the 11th and 18th Battalions based in Onitsha.
On January 19, 1968, President Ojukwu gave Achuzia complete command over the Biafran 11th Division after Murtala Mohammed’s Nigerian 2nd Division arrived in Awka, providing Nigerians with a straight path to Onitsha.
After holding off the Nigerians for two months under Maj. Achuzie’s command, the 11th Division would ultimately lose the fight in less than twenty-four hours after the Nigerians began an onslaught on March 20 and broke through the Biafran defensive lines encircling the city. Despite suffering significant casualties, the Nigerians were able to seize Onitsha and drive the Biafran 11th Division to retire to Nnewi.
Achuzia was moved to Port Harcourt on May 19, 1968, and appointed commander of all Biafran soldiers stationed there. Biafran troops aggressively resisted as Port Harcourt was heavily bombarded by Nigerian artillery. The army barracks and Port Harcourt’s airport changed hands multiple times during the course of five days of intense battle, but by May 24 majority of the Biafran troops had been driven into the outlying districts and out of the city. Despite being nearly run over by an armored car, Maj. Achuzia persisted in fighting the Nigerians until he narrowly avoided death. At that point, he gave up and withdrew to Iguruta.
Maj. Achuzia participated in an effort on September 22, 1968, to retake the Obiangwu Airstrip from the Nigerian 22nd and 44th Battalions, but he was ultimately compelled to withdraw.
Major Timothy Onwuatuegwu of the Biafran S Division launched a frontal attack on the 16th Brigade on March 15, 1969, but was forced to withdraw due to significant casualties. Maj. Onwuatuegwu managed to come within one kilometer of the city by placing half of his forces under Maj. Achuzia’s command. When Onwuatuegwu rebuffed Major Achuzie’s desire for complete command of the S Division, the two men nearly exchanged gunfire. Major Achuzie was given command of the S Division by President Ojukwu for a week, thereby allowing the frontal attack on Owerri to continue. Achuzia eventually withdrew after suffering numerous fatalities when his strategy failed, and Ojukwu promptly reinstatedOnwuatuegwu as commander.
On January 9, 1970, General Odumegwu Ojukwu, acting as president, formally appointed Maj. Achuzia to command the remaining Biafran forces and bestowed the title of President onto his vice president, Philip Effiong. In order to communicate their ultimate surrender to General Olusegun Obasanjo, Effiong, Achuzie, and other Biafran officers traveled to Amichi and then Owerri on January 12, three days later.
Following his release from incarceration in 1970, Achuzia relocated to his hometown of Asaba and formally resigned from the military. He was ninety years old when he passed away on February 26, 2018, due to natural causes. He was a long-lived and unsung hero in the Biafran Army.
