The name “OGBUNIGWE” literally means an “instrument that kills in multitudes” in the Igbo language.
“OGBUNIGWE” also called “OJUKWU BUCKET” Bucket” was a series of weapons systems including command detonation mines, improvised explosive devices and rocket propelled missiles, mass-produced by the Republic of Biafra and used in defence against Nigeria between 1967 and 1970 in the Biafran War.
At the outbreak of hostilities, the Biafran armed forces were poorly equipped as compared to the Nigerian army with arms and ammunition being in short supply. This imbalance in power was intensified in the course of the war. Biafran scientists, prominently from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (then University of Biafra), formed the Research and Production (RAP) Organisation of Biafra which included a Weapons Research and Production Group. It was the aim and purpose of this group to develop an indigenous arms industry and they soon started with the production of ammunition, grenades and armoured cars.
Their most effective and infamous product was the “Ogbunigwe” of which there were different types in various sizes. The term “Ogbunigwe” later came to include grenades and landmines but initially referred to non guided rocket propelled surface-to-air missiles (specifically called flying Ogbunigwe) which were later converted to surface-to-surface missiles. The engineers Gordian Ezekwe, Benjamin Nwosu, Willy Achukwu and others were instrumental in the design and production of the weapons.
The first type of “Ogbunigwe” to be produced and tested in combat was the rocket propelled surface to surface missile. It was originally designed as a surface to air missile to be used in defence against Nigerian MiG-15 fighters marauding the Enugu airport.
Before the missile could be used successfully at its actual purpose as an anti aircraft missile, Nigerian troops captured Enugu where the missiles were being produced in October 1967.
According to Biafran government claims at the time, the flying Ogbunigwe was the first rocket to be wholly designed, developed, mass-produced and launched in Africa. It was used in combat in 1967, over one year before the launching of the first indigenous South African rocket in December 1968.
At the height of production, about 500 units were being produced per day in Biafra.
The Ogbunigwe mines and warheads generally had a killing range of between 180 and 800 metres, an effective shrapnel radius of a 90° arc and could easily wipe out a company of enemy troops. The self-propelled rocket versions had a missile range of 8 kilometres. The weapons were annihilating for enemy infantry and armoured vehicles. Frederick Forsyth describes the use of the flying Ogbunigwe against an attack by the Nigerian army 1st division in 1969 as follows:
“It spread death and destruction over a large area, and as usual the first division (…) were advancing in solid phalanxes of packed soldiery. An American who examined the scene afterwards estimated that, out of 6000 men who took part in the attack, 4000 failed to return”.
Ogbunigwe’s were used to spectacular and devastating effect in the Abagana ambush which wiped out almost the entire Nigerian 2nd Division in 1968.
They were also used effectively in knocking out Nigerian Army Saladin and Ferret armoured cars. The surface-to-air models were used against mercenary flown Nigerian Air Force Mig 17 jet fighters in the defence of Uli airport. The lack of a guidance system made the missiles notoriously inaccurate against fast flying jet aircraft. The design was based on an air burst principle intended to destabilise the plane by shock wave effect, as well as throw shrapnel and debris in its path to clog up the engines.
The Biafran Air Force B-25 and B-26 bombers were also fitted with self made Ogbunigwe rockets and bombs.
Ogbunigwe was the most effective Biafran weapon during the war and the Nigerian forces were not able to find an efficient defence against it. Well placed mines or rocket salvos coordinated by few determined soldiers were often enough to stop an entire Nigerian advance. The Ogbunigwe in its various forms was able to influence the outcome of many battles.
According to Chinua Achebe and Vincent Chukwemeka,
“Ogbunigwe bombs struck great terror in the hearts of many a Nigerian soldier and were used to great effect by the Biafran Army throughout the conflict…when the history of this war comes to be written, the Ogbunigwe and the shore batteries will receive special mention as Biafras greatest saviours. We have been able to defend ourselves more stoutly with Ogbunigwe than with any imported weapon”.
In October 1967, the federal troops, having captured and secured Enugu, the capital of Biafra, were on their way to Awka and Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of Biafra, through the old Enugu-Awka-Onitsha road. The well armed, heavily equipped federal troops, with their superior fire power, encountered a battalion of poorly equipped, out-gunned and virtually exhausted Biafran troops at the Ugwuoba Bridge, few kilometers into Awka.
However, the Biafran troops had on hand some of their air defence dust mines. Unable to withstand the superior firepower of the federal troops, they began to run for their dear lives carrying along with them their air defence ‘mines’. Their commander, bold and stalwart, ordered them back and commanded them to fire the mines on the approaching federal troops.
The command was promptly carried out. Indeed, the federal troops could not understand what hit them. The effect of the detonation was very devastating leading to loss of many federal troops, as well loss of large quantities of arms and ammunitions some of which got completely burnt.
The Nigerian troops were so mortally afraid of the Ogbunigwe that each advancing battalion was preceded by a herd of cattle. Many cows lost their lives.
March 25, 1968 probably remains one of the most memorable events of the war. It was the day the Nigerian side suffered the heaviest single loss in the war.
Known as the Abagana Ambush, the Second Division of the Nigerian Army led by Colonel Murtala Mohammed had finally crossed the Niger Bridge after failing in the first attempt (having been repelled by the Colonel Joe ‘Hannibal’ Achuzia’s guerrilla army and suffering heavy casualties). Having crossed into Biafra, the plan was to link up with the First Division led by Colonel Mohammed Shuwa penetrating the Igbo heartland through the north from Nsukka.
With a 700-man team, led by Major Jonathan Uchendu, a counter-attack plan was hatched that essentially sealed up the Abagana Road while the troops laid in ambush in a nearby bush waiting patiently for the advancing Nigerians and their reinforcements.
Major Uchendu’s strategy proved highly successful as his troops destroyed Muhammed’s entire convoy within one and half hours with about 500 casualties on the Nigerian side. There was minimal loss on the Biafran side. It was probably the most resounding battle ever won by the Biafrans in the entire war.
The Ogbunigwe was the most effective Biafran weapon during the war and the Nigerian forces were not able to find an efficient defense against it. Well placed mines or rocket salvos coordinated by few determined soldiers were often enough to stop an entire Nigerian advance. The Ogbunigwe in its various forms was able to influence the outcome of many battles. It was indeed a weapon of mass destruction.
As recently as 2010 unexploded ordnance left over from the war recovered and destroyed by Nigerian clearing operations included 646 pieces of live Ogbunigwe bombs and 426 other improvised explosive devices in areas that were formerly Biafra.
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