Godwin Alabi-Isama

Alabi-Isama was born on 24 December 1940, in Ilorin, Kwara State, to a Ukwani (Delta State) father and a Yoruba (Ilorin) mother. He attended Ibadan Boys High School.[5] In 1960, he joined the Army and attended the Mons Officer Cadet School in the United Kingdom and the Senior Tactics School and Staff College in Quella, Pakistan.[6]Alabi-Isama was a tactics instructor at the Nigerian Military School in Zaria, Nigeria and the Nigerian Military Training College (now Nigerian Defence Academy) in Kaduna prior to the civil war.[7]

"Alabi-Isama (second right) briefing Col. Obasanjo (third right), Col. (Rev Father) Pedro Martins on plan of Op Pincer2 during the Nigerian civil war"

Brigadier-General Alabi-Isama served as the commander of the troops stationed at the Niger Bridge in Asaba,[8] He was subsequently transferred by the Army Headquarters to the 3 Marina Commando, 3MCDO, operating on the Calabar front during the war.[9][10]Alabi-Isama led forces against the Biafran Republic, successfully liberating various locations including Odukpani, Ikot-Okpora, Iwuru, Akunakuna, Itigidi, Ediba, Ugep, Obubra, Afikpo, Oban, and Ekang. He also "closed" the international border with Biafra at Nssakpa, as detailed in his book, The Tragedy of Victory.[11]

In April 1968, Alabi-Isama and his 3MCDO men embarked on a mission to recapture Creek Town, Itu, Uyo, Ikot-Ekpene, Oron, Eket, Opobo, Abak, Etinan, Bori-Ogoni, Akwete, Afam, Aletu Ekene, Elelenwo, Okrika, and Port-Harcourt, successfully completing the operation the following month."[12]After the war, Alabi-Isama assumed the role of the Nigerian Army's Principal General Staff Officer. In 1973, he served as the Acting Governor of the Mid-Western Region, where he notably received the first group of National Youth Service Corps members, as recounted in his autobiography. Following his retirement as a Brigadier-General from the Army in 1977, Alabi-Isama relocated to the United States.[13]

Alabi-Isama played a pivotal role in leading the troops that successfully liberated the remaining parts of Cross River State following Colonel Adekunle's amphibious sea landing at Calabar.[14] Furthermore, he commanded the 3 Marine Commando troops that effectively captured the present-day states of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Bayelsa.[15] His strategic planning, specifically the implementation of the Pincer 2 strategy, played a crucial role in bringing an end to the Nigerian Civil War.[16][17]

The Tragedy of Victory: On-the-Spot Account of the Nigeria-Biafra War in the Atlantic Theatre is a sequential narrative of the war that lasted from 6 July 1967 to 15 January 1970 which was published in 2013.[18]