Grammy-winning director explores his Nigerian grandfather's role in the Biafran war

Grammy-winning director explores his Nigerian grandfather's role in the Biafran war 9 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Tamasin Ford BBC Africa Eye Meji Alabi Meji Alabi, famous for his edgy videos, wanted to explore more of Nigeria's traumatic past beyond his grandfather's war stories Meji Alabi has directed some of the biggest selling music artists on the planet: Beyoncé, Burna Boy, Davido and Stormzy. But nothing prepared the Grammy Award-winning director for his new documentary on Nigeria's civil war. Warning: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing. Surviving Biafra: Voices from the Nigerian Civil War, produced by BBC Africa Eye, includes previously unseen footage taken on the front line of the devastating war that lasted from 1967 until 1970 when ethnic tensions threatened to tear apart the young West African nation. "It was very much an eye opener for me. I just grew up not knowing much about the war at all, or who was fighting who," said the 37-year-old, who was born in London to Nigerian parents before moving to Texas in the US to go to school. A highpoint in his career came five years ago when he won a Grammy for co-directing the music video for Beyoncé's hit Brown Skin Girl. It was not until he teamed up with his uncle Leke Alabi-Isama, who is also a filmmaker and co-founder of their Lagos-based production company PriorGold Pictures, for the history documentary project that they both began to realise the depth of Nigeria's traumatic past. The little they did know was learnt from Leke's father and Meji's grandfather, Godwin Alabi-Isama, a former army commando who fought on the side of the federal army against ethnic Igbo separatists fighting in the south-east of the country for a breakaway state called Biafra. Godwin Alabi-Isama Godwin Alabi-Isama, Leke's father and Meji's grandfather, pictured during the civil war using a two-way radio "I only just saw it from a Nigerian [federal army] perspective," said Leke. "I never knew of the horrors. I never knew of the suffering and the pain of the other side." Throughout the Africa Eye documentary, survivors, now in their 70s and 80s, recount their experiences of living and fighting during a period that shaped the lives of millions and still has relevance today. The conflict, also known as the Biafran war, began after a series of military coups and months of massacres against Igbo people living in the north in Nigeria. Around a million Igbos then returned to their traditional home region in the south-east of the country, where three states broke away to form the independent Republic of Biafra. The Nigerian government declared war - one of the bloodiest and most divisive conflicts ever fought on the continent. It is estimated that between 500,000 and three million people died, many of them children, and it became the world's first televised humanitarian disaster. AFP via Getty Images This photo of female civil defence training was taken in August 1967 in Enug