Omekenyi Theresa Muotune

The vigilante who was part of the militia.

War Biography
Name: Theresa Omekenyi Muotune
Occupation before the war: Student (secondary school) / After the war: Trader and Legislator / Present: Active in politics
Age when war started: 17 / Present: 50
Marital Status: Married / Present: Widow
Number of Children: None / Present: 3
Place of Residence: Port Harcourt / Present: Onitsha
Reason of Relocation: War

War Movements
Before the war, she was in Port Harcourt. In April 1968, she went to Oguta in Imo state. From Oguta, in late October of 1969, she went to Ihiala until the war ended in January 1970.

Conversation Venue
Venue of Conversation: I spoke to her during her visit to Victoria Garden City, Lagos.

Her Story
Theresa Muotune was a secondary school student during the war. She was about seventeen years old when the Nigerian Civil War started. She was also married. She resided in Port Harcourt but like most people, relocated because of the war. During the war, she did "Afia attack." This is the most dangerous business during the war. It involved trading across the enemy lines, which meant going to the Nigerian front to buy goods that would be sold in the local market. This was very dangerous because there was no safety and one cannot guarantee a safe return. Mrs. Omekenyi could have been killed by stray bullets, raped, tortured, or even murdered. But neither of these fears stopped her. She was determined to provide for her parents and to make life easy for them since they are both old. It was a treacherous trade and only women did it. With her experience in "afia attack," she went into trading after the war and also became a legislator. Her career is multifaceted because she did not remain with one occupation but rather applied her skills elsewhere. Presently, Omekenyi is fifty-years old. She is a widow and active in politics. She has three children and lives in Onitsha.

Omekenyi is a lively storyteller and narrator. In our conversation, she described her experiences in the war, in the militia and how she was honored by the Biafran Army for capturing a Hausa soldier who came to survey Port Harcourt for a future attack. Omekenyi took her job seriously to protect the lives of her countrymen, women, and children.

Before Port Harcourt Fell (Excerpt from our conversation)

In 1968 Port Harcourt fell. The bomb started falling in the early morning. It kept on falling, and falling, and falling and when I woke up, fear has taken a hold of everybody. My father came back from work around 9pm and told us that we had to move because the country is falling. Soldiers we knew came to our house and told us to leave Port Harcourt. Within some hours to come, we left Port Harcourt and went straight to my hometown Oguta. We trekked miles and miles, until we came to Ungbudi. When we reached Ungbudi, it was nearer for us. Then we used canoes to cross the river to Oguta. When we reached Oguta, the town was quiet. There was no sign of war at all. Things were going normal.

When Ojukwu came to Oguta (Excerpt from our conversation)

We were there when Ojukwu came with his soldiers. Ojukwu addressed his soldiers and told them that if Oguta was not rescued, that it is finished and the vandals (the Nigerians) would have won the war. In Oguta, it is do or die. Many of the Oguta citizens were crying because they are homeless and fearful of the war. I stayed near the tower because I wanted to see how they were going to fight. I was there when Ojukwu ordered the shooting. Nigerian troops that were on the sea on the Oguta lake was shelling and shelling the town. So, Ojukwu climbed on top of the tank with his officers and began shelling Oguta, even shelling inside the water. The Biafran soldiers were shelling. I was there until the next morning. The Oguta lake completely sunk the ship that the Nigerian soldier came with.

At that time, Ojukwu and his soldiers has shelled Oguta, killing the foreigners and the Nigerian soldiers that were aboard the ship. At dawn, I was among the people that went to the waters because it was my town and I did not know where else to go. I went down to the lake. When I got there, I saw corpses of white people, of these white mercenaries. Their corpses were like sand. I also saw Nigerian soldiers that drowned in the Oguta lake and those that died in the ships.

But those white people that came out of the ship looked like they were trying to swim but was drowned because the waters of Oguta is a great deity. We don't joke with the lake. The water is a big deity. The towns of Oguta do not use the water to joke. The lake killed the white mercenaries. Each one that tried to swim drowned and their corpse lay there. The lake pushed the corpse to the shore because it does not carry any corpse. When the lake killed someone, it will push the person out. It does not touch it. So, the lake killed all the white people.

When you come in, and you look around, you will see a bags of rice, everything, beans, cornbeef were filled inside the ship. So, some of the Oguta boys went inside and were bring out cornbeef, taking out bags of rice, bringing out beans. Whatever they were able to get, they took back to their homes. Whatever they were able to get, they took back to their homes. But those that entered the ship were mostly men. The men were not afraid to enter the ship. You know that with men, fear did not stop them from entering the ship. The women were afraid to go because there were corpse lying in there.

Audio Files

Muotune's Story 1 | Muotune's Story 2 | Muotune's Story 3

Back to the top | Home | W.A.R

Project | About Me | Poems | Pictures | My Journey

Nigeria | Resources | Contribute | Acknowledgments | Credits