In 1967, the SouthEastern Region of Nigeria seceded and formed their own country called Biafra. Nigeria fought a civil war with them to keep the union. The war ended in 1970, Nigeria was the victor and the union was preserved.
Too much has been said about this war and of course many lies, propaganda and distortion of facts. As a young Nigerian I've gone on to do an extensive research on the war and everything that led to it so that I can know the facts for myself. This is an objective look at the whole thing and a summary of the facts.
The Summarized Complete Story of the Nigerian Civil War and the Secessionist State of Biafra
Nigeria gained independence from the British on October 1, 1960.
There was so much corruption, looting, and embezzlement carried out by Nigerian politicians.
Most Nigerians were unhappy about this including soldiers. A couple of soldiers decided to do something about it.
These soldiers were led by some in the rank of Major. They were the COUP PLOTTERS led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu.
Their plan was to kill key politicians so they could take over the government, and kill senior army officers that were above them that they knew would try to stop them.
The COUP PLOTTERS carried out their plans on the 15 of January 1966. They killed Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Akintola, and other key politicians. And some senior army officers.
These COUP PLOTTERS were not completely successful because they could not kill all the senior army officers they went for like Ojukwu and Aguiyi Ironsi.
Ojukwu and Aguiyi Ironsi fought back and defeated these COUP PLOTTERS and arrested them.
Nigerians were very happy about what these COUP PLOTTERS had done and there was jubilation on the streets from North to South, East to West. At last some sort of justice for the corrupt politicians.
After Ironsi and Ojukwu defeated the plotters, Ironsi asked the remaining politicians if they wanted to continue ruling but they said no and consented to the army being in charge for the time being.
Ironsi being the highest ranking soldier was now left in charge of the country and four military governors governed the four regions of Nigeria (North, East, West, Mid-West). Ironsi thought it a good idea to rule the country the same way the army is being ruled and that was by having all the personnel in charge of parts of the country answer to and be controlled by him as the central authority. Thus he promulgated a decree to that effect: DECREE 34, THE UNIFICATION DECREE.
Northerners started thinking the Igbos had just plotted a great successful takeover because FIRSTLY: the COUP PLOTTERS were mainly Igbos and led by an Igbo (Major Nzeogwu) even though they had other ethnic groups amongst them. SECONDLY: the politicians and soldiers who were killed in the COUP were mainly people of other tribes and only a few Igbos were killed. (HOWEVER, NOTE that there is evidence that Ojukwu and Ironsi were also their targets and both men would have been killed if the PLOTTERS were successful) THIRDLY: An Igbo is now in charge of the country and has put the country under his absolute rule.
These three things made the North that was previously happy with the COUP become convinced that the whole thing was an Igbo take over and they became very angry with the Igbos.
On July 28 of the same year, Northern soldiers carried out their own coup. The plan was to kill all the Igbo senior army officers and kill Aguiyi Ironsi and put the country under the rulership of Northerners. They also wanted to secede and make the North a new different country.
People you know who carried this second coup out:
Yakubu Gowon
Lt. Colonel Murtala Muhammed,
Major Theophilus Danjuma,
Lieutenant Muhammadu Buhari,
Lieutenant Ibrahim Babangida,
Lieutenant Buka Suka Dimka, Second Lieutenant Sani Abacha.They were very successful! In fact this was the most successful coup in history. They killed almost all the Igbo army officers that were in the army and away from Eastern Nigeria. Aguiyi Ironsi was filled to capacity with bullets. And if Ojukwu was not in the East as Military Governor of the East this would have been how he met his end.
these killings emboldened the Northern youths and they started killing Igbo civilians in the North and in Lagos too. Northern youths took weapons and walked around killing every Igbo they saw and raping some. By the end of the year (1966) about 80,000 - 100,000 Igbos were killed and about 2 million Igbos fled the North for the East.
Igbos in the East retaliated minimally, few Northerners were killed as most Northerners fled. Yakubu Gowon who had been appointed Head of State made an agreement with Ojukwu who was Governor of the East to send Northern soldiers in the East back to the North and vice versa. The agreement was to send them back with guns and ammunition for protection which would be returned on arrival. Ojukwu protected many northern soldiers due to this agreement and sent them back with arms while Gowon sent some Eastern soldiers back without arms. The Eastern arms were never returned.
The Northerners wanted to make the North a new and separate country, they made a flag and it was mounted in a number of places.
The next year 1967 Due to all the chaos Ojukwu and Gowon were invited to Aburi, Ghana; to discuss and make peace between the North and East. They sat in Aburi on the 4th and 5th of January in the new year. They reached agreements (The Aburi Accord) both parties were happy with, the agreements were: (a) that the structure of the army would be reviewed (b) there would be some constitutional arrangements (c) the millions that ran from North to East would be taken care of. (For example, Salaries were going to be paid to those who were workers for two months only).
When Gowon and Ojukwu came back and had meetings with his people, Gowon rejected all the agreements. Even the millions of displaced people were not taken care of. The salaries were not paid.
Due to the rejection of the agreements by Gowon and how badly Nigeria had treated Igbos, the Elders, and Professionals that formed advisory houses in the East voted for secession on the 26th of May, and on the 30th of May Ojukwu declared the Eastern Region a new independent country by the name Biafra.
The Federal Military Government attacked Biafra on the 6th of July and the war began.
The British government aided Nigeria heavily in the war to defeat Biafra and it is clear it was the British Government or at least members of the British Government that convinced the Northerners not to make their own country back when they created a new flag and decided to. They convinced them to rather stay, dominate, and benefit from the oil wealth of the Eastern region. They also played a part in making Gowon go against the Aburi agreement he signed and force Biafra to war because they were confident they'll crush Biafra.
During this war, under Gowon and British supervision 2-3 million Biafrans died of malnutrition/starvation because Biafra was blockaded and they wouldn't let supplies into Biafra. Even a Red Cross plane bringing supplies to Biafra was shot.
Conclusion
The North carried out all these atrocities because they believed the first coup was an Igbo takeover. It is arguable that they had good reasons to believe this, no doubt, but what they did to the East in retaliation for their suspicions was unquantifiably evil and barbarous!
We should also not forget the part the British government played in all of these. We should see all those who should be held accountable and know that a debt is owed.
The End.
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