Reflections on Biafra and One Nigeria

As Nigeria journeys through nationhood, it is incumbent to remember that, on this day, May 30, 1967, Lt. Colonel Ojukwu was compelled to succeed from Nigeria and declare the Republic of Biafra.

For a country were most information and historical fact is based on propaganda and urban myths and were history is no longer taught in schools you will find that many Nigerians display a stunning degree of ignorance about the historical background and chain of events leading up to the declaration of Biafra and perceive it as a decision made in a vacuum lacking in reason or without provocation.  

The factors leading up to the war could take you back several decades, but it is instructive that Biafra was declared only six short years after Nigeria gained its independence from Britain in 1960 and the most direct and immediate causes can be condensed to a few interrelated events, including:  

1) The first Nigerian coup machinated by military officers of mostly Igbo origin that targeted and killed politicians and military officers of mostly northern extraction. 

2) The massacre of between 30,000-50,000 Igbo civilians in northern Nigeria starting from May to September 1966 in retaliation for the first coup.  

3) The mass movement of Igbo and other Eastern Nigerians back to the East from all over Nigeria because of those killings who became active supporters of succession not only to protect themselves but also to escape persecution in one Nigeria. 

4) The breakdown of the Aburi Accord in Ghana (The meeting was billed as the last chance of preventing all-out war) brokered for and between the Federal Government and eastern delegating led by Ojukwu in the aftermath of the counter coup and massacres because of differences of interpretation on both sides.  

5) The regional and autonomous structure of Nigeria at the time after independence and during the 1st and 2nd coups and the division of Nigeria into twelve states by Gowon on May 27, 1967 after the break- down of the Aburi Accord. The timing of the division severely undercut Ojukwu's strategic position negotiating for the aggrieved old eastern region and forced his hand into declaring Biafra three days later. That division effectively carved the old Eastern Region into three parts: South Eastern State, Rivers State, and East Central State that caused the Igbos, concentrated in the East Central State to lose control over most of the petroleum, located in the other two states.  

6) The breakdown of discipline and espirit de corps in the army after the first coup and after Gowon’s assumed control of the federal government and military command structure over more senior officers most notably Brigadier Ogundipe and many others after the counter coup. 

It is the duty of every Nigerian to approach the declaration of Biafra as an academic exercise to understand the issues, not ridicule the reasons supporting that declaration and to understand why the nation is presently awash with separatist’s groups with the new Niger Delta Avengers in the Delta, Boko Harem in the North East, Shiite Muslims in the North West, and renewed agitation for Biafra by IPOB in the east seeking to break away from the fledgling republic.  

As nationalist craft policies for a more equitable Nigeria they must do so with the understanding that present day Nigeria is made up of 250 tribes joined together by conquering British colonialists after amalgamating its separate northern and southern protectorates and creating Nigeria in 1914. 

It is also incumbent to remember that one man's rebel is considered another man's freedom fighter and that history may yet vindicate every tribalist fighting for their freedom while condemning them most harshly for seeking to separate from one Nigeria.