Young Captain Nweke, the child soldier who was promoted to the rank of a captain in the Biafran Army

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"He was my team, brave and disciplined. He was courageous in leading his men who are far older than him. He know the course of war, and know the rules and how to man weapons. He was a soldier from birth, and indeed a soldier per excellent." Sergeant Nwosu, an ex- Biafran sergeant reviewed.

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The story of kid soldiers during wars is not a back stage story, right from almost all the wars in history, there have been clear records of children taking up responsibility to protect what they felt was right, while others join the army as a result of brainwashing and ideological propaganda. The undeniable fact is that, there have been the presence of child soldiers' participation in most wars. View pictures in App save up to 80% data.

Wars in Africa is somehow synonymous to involvement of child soldiers who are simply ushered into the war by the circumstances they found themselves. This was the case of the:

Apartheid regime in South Africa, Civil wars of Liberia, Congo, Angola, Uganda, Rwanda and the Biafran Wars, among others

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Young Capt. Nweke story was that of a boy whom circumstances and the environment he and his friends found themselves led them to forming child soldiers which was later recognized by the Biafran Army as a branch of it's military. View pictures in App save up to 80% data.

"The child soldiers were disciplined as well ready to follow their captain who was very young, about 14- 17 year old, brave and handle his riffle like a well trained Nazi soldier of the Second World war." A US Journalist reviewed.

A white Journalist and a Biafran child soldier View pictures in App save up to 80% data. View pictures in App save up to 80% data.

What was said about this young captain that formed his own group of soldiers that got almost the size of a platoon was from an ex- child soldier Sergeant Nwosu who trained by captain Nweke. View pictures in App save up to 80% data. View pictures in App save up to 80% data.

According to him, "the main aim was to defend ourselves against whatever force that would take action against us; be it the federal soldiers or the Biafran soldiers as well. Our captain, Dike Nweke was our leader, and he was a brave young soldier controlling those who were older than him in age, but not with experience, knowledge and tactics of war. We got our weapons from hand making, as well from the fallen soldiers. We were however, capture by the Biafran soldiers in Ikom and therefore taking back to Umuahia where we were reoriented and trained to fight for the cause of Biafra. This was out of our wish as children. We were only fighting to survive that generation." View pictures in App save up to 80% data.

They were mainly on their own, and their major aim was surviving. However, unlike other untold or dying stories of the Civil war of 1967-70, the story of young captain Nweke and that of other stories of child soldiers and their roles during the Biafran war is yet to be giving attention by writers, researchers and historians. View pictures in App save up to 80% data.

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Young Captain Nweke, the child soldier who was promoted to the rank of a captain in the Biafran Army