The Nigerian Civil War/The Biafran War/ The Nigerian-Biafran War

The civil war, lasting from 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970, was fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. 

According to local and foreign war historians, the conflict was a result of political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded the United Kingdom's formal decolonization of Nigeria in 1960. Immediate causes of the war included a military coup, a counter-coup, anti-Igbo pogroms in Northern Nigeria. as well as a struggle for control over the lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta area.


In 1966, a group of military officers, mostly of the Igbo ethnic group, overthrew Nigeria’s first democratic government. Their grievances included alleged corruption among public officials, the government’s failure to ensure equitable distribution of economic resources, and alleged attempts by Northern elites to entrench the political hegemony of the Northern region over the rest of the federation. On 15 January 1966, Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, and other junior Army officers (mostly majors and captains) attempted a coup d'état, assassinating major political leaders, who were predominantly Northerners. 

Shortly after the coup, widespread suspicion of Igbo domination was aroused among Northerners & Westerners, instigating a joint Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani countercoup against the Igbo six months later. This persecution led Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu and other non-Igbo representatives of the area to establish the secessionist Republic of Biafra, comprising several southeastern states on May 30, 1967.

The counter-coup led to the installation of Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon as Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Gowon was chosen as a compromise candidate. He was a Northerner, a Christian, from a minority tribe, and had a good reputation within the army

The Federal Military Government also laid the groundwork for the economic blockade of the Eastern Region which went into full effect in 1967. On 27 May 1967, Gowon proclaimed the division of Nigeria into twelve states. This decree divided the Eastern Region into three parts: South Eastern State, Rivers State, and East Central State. Now the Igbos, concentrated in the East Central State, would lose control over most of the petroleum, located in the other two areas.  The Federal Military Government immediately placed an embargo on all shipping to and from Biafra—but not on oil tankers. Biafra quickly moved to collect oil royalties from oil companies doing business within its borders. When Shell-BP acquiesced to this request at the end of June, the Federal Government extended its blockade to include oil. The blockade, which most foreign actors accepted, played a decisive role in putting Biafra at a disadvantage from the beginning of the war.

Shortly after extending its blockade to include oil, the Nigerian government launched a "police action" to retake the secessionist territory. The war began on 6 July 1967 when Nigerian Federal troops advanced in two columns into Biafra.

Despite the lack of resources and international support, Biafra refused to surrender to the Nigerian military, which was advantaged due to supplies of ammunition from British and Soviet powers. The Nigerian Army however continued to advance and on January 15, 1970, Biafra surrendered when its military commander General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu fled to Côte d’Ivoire.

The war lasted two years, six months, one week and two days. It also saw a displacement and exodus of hundreds of thousands and the death of about one million people.


Cited: 

Recommended reading: 

‘There Was a Country’,  by Chinua Achebe