The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the
Nigerian–Biafran War, 6 July 1967 – 15 January
1970, was a political conflict caused by the
attempted secession of the southeastern
provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed
Republic of Biafra. The conflict was the result
of economic, ethnic, cultural and religious
tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria.
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. The Nigerian army offensive was through
the north of Biafra led by Colonel Shuwa and
the local military units were formed as the 1st
Infantry Division. The division was led mostly by
northern officers. After facing unexpectedly
fierce resistance and high casualties, the right-
hand Nigerian column advanced on the town of
Nsukka which fell on 14 July, while the left-
hand column made for Garkem, which was
captured on 12 July. At this stage of the war,
the other regions of Nigeria (the West and Mid-
West) still considered the war as a
confrontation between the north (mainly
Hausas) against the east (mainly Igbos). But
the Biafrans responded with an offensive of
their own when, on 9 August, the Biafran forces
moved west into the Mid-Western Nigerian
region across the Niger river, passing through
Benin City, until they were stopped at Ore (in
present day Ondo State) just over the state
boundary on 21 August, just 130 miles east of
the Nigerian capital of Lagos. The Biafran
attack was led by Lt. Col. Banjo, a Yoruba, with
the Biafran rank of brigadier. The attack met
little resistance and the Mid-West was easily
taken over. This was due to the pre-secession
arrangement that all soldiers should return to
their regions to stop the spate of killings, in
which Igbo soldiers had been major victims. The
Nigerian soldiers that were supposed to defend
the Mid-West state were mostly Mid-West Igbo
and while some were in touch with their eastern
counterparts, others resisted. General Gowon
responded by asking Colonel Murtala
Mohammed (who later became head of state in
1975) to form another division (the 2nd Infantry
Division) to expel the Biafrans from the Mid-
West, as well as defend the West side and
attack Biafra from the West as well. As Nigerian
forces retook the Mid-West, the Biafran military
administrator declared the Republic of Benin on
19 September, though it ceased to exist the
next day. (The present country of Benin, west of
Nigeria, was still named Dahomey at that time.)
It was Ben Okri, the notable Nigerian writer, who
said that a people are diminished by a
nightmare they do not come to terms with.
Perhaps it is the effort to come to terms with
the awful Nigerian civil war and the agonies it
unleashed that has led to the impressive
spawning of books about the conflict and the
circumstances that led to it. During and since
the war, books have been written about the
fratricidal conflict; books that tell a tale that
seems inexhaustible.This article focuses on a
few of the non-fiction that deals with the war
and the political crisis that ignited it. A future
article will be devoted to the immense and
varied civil war fiction.
‘The Biafran Story’ by Frederick Forsyth: First
published in 1969 by Hutchinson, a leading
publishing outfit in Britain, the book was the
outcome of Forsyth’s years as a journalist
covering the war in Biafra. Forsyth, who
eventually became a globally acclaimed thriller
novelist, was a close friend of Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the Biafran head of state.
The writer does not hide his pro-Biafran
sympathies in the book. In the introduction he
wrote: ‘I may be accused of telling the Biafran
story.’ He portrays Biafra as the underdogs and
oppressed victims of the Nigerian behemoth
who had no option but to quit the country and
fight for their lives.
‘The Biafran Story’ is well written, with the
graphic simplicity and factuality that
foreshadowed Forsyth’s literary career. The
book gives a heart wrenching account of the
1966 coups; the massacres of Eastern
Nigerians; the pulsating operations in the
theatres of war and the kwashiorkor that
brought Biafra to her knees. Forsyth is
unsparing in his searing criticism of his home
(British) government’s support for Nigeria which
he concludes as being rooted in economic
interests, a plain anti-Igbo bias that dates back
to the colonial era and a gross misreading of
the political situation. Although the author’s
sympathies question the objectivity of the
book’s contents, ‘The Biafran Story’ is helpful in
understanding that troubled time for a number
of reasons. First, it was written by an
eyewitness who brought fresh perspectives, not
being a Nigerian or Biafran. Then it was one of
the earliest, if not the first, non-fiction about the
war out of Biafra. Finally, it has served as the
basic introductory text to the war for many
Nigerian writers who went on to write gripping
fiction about the war. Eg. Sefi Atta, in an
interview shortly after the publication of her
novel ‘Everything Good Will Come’, admitted that
it was Forsyth’s book that gave her an insight
into Biafra. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
acknowledged her debt to Forsyth by loosely
basing Richard Churchill, one of the major
characters of her war novel ‘Half of a Yellow
Sun’, on the British journalist.
‘Why we struck’ by Adewale Ademoyega: The
book was published in 1981 by Evans Publishers,
Ibadan. What strikes one about the book from
an esthetic point of view are the lucid prose;
the gripping presentation of facts and the
connotations behind expressed accounts. This is
not surprising given the background of the
author. Apart from being an officer of the
Nigerian army, Ademoyega was a graduate of
History from the University of London. Thus he
was blessed with the true historian’s flair for
presenting facts in unblemished prose.
‘Why We Struck’ is the account of an
eyewitness. Ademoyega was an active plotter
and participant in the January 15 1966 coup
which many students of that troubled times
believe was a major factor that led to the war.
Although a Yoruba, Ademoyega fought for Biafra
and was a key operator in the brief but highly
controversial Biafran invasion of the Midwest.
He was detained by the Ojukwu regime till the
end of the war when, after a short spell of
freedom, he commenced another spell of
detention till 1974.
The book is significant because it is the first
account of Nigeria’s first coup by a participant.
It dispels many myths about that putsch and
provides insights into developments that would
eventually pitch brother against brother in July
1967. But though the book answers many
questions, it leaves one hanging on many
points. For instance, did Ademoyega really know
the genesis of the January coup despite his
claims that he and Majors Nzeogwu and
Ifeajuna initiated it? The book does not give us
a deep insight into the Biafran military and
administrative machinery. Till his death in 2007,
Ademoyega justified the January 15 ‘revolution’
and argued trenchantly that it was the
mishandling of its objectives by the soldiers
who aborted the coup that laid the foundation
for the subsequent crisis that led to Nigeria’s
civil war.
‘The Brothers’ War’ by John de St. Jorre (1972):
At first glance, the size of the book might be
intimidating to some readers. But if you
summon the courage, you might get lost in
pages that are as spicy as any Tom Clancy
novel. The writer, like Forsyth, is a British
journalist but unlike his contemporary, he tried
to be even-handed. Die-hard supporters of either
side might have reservations about this
approach but younger readers seeking the truth
need such objective accounts, if at all
objectivity can be attained in such highly
combustible historical drama.
St. Jorre traced the origin of the war. He
reconstructed the crises from 1966-1970 and
delved into the personalities who shaped
Nigerian and Biafran policies. His revelations
about the internal politics of each entity are
illuminating.eg. the struggle for supremacy
between the ‘hawks’ and ‘doves’ in the Biafran
government. One outstanding point about St.
Jorre is his ability to paint personal portraits
away from the power figures of both sides; the
war commanders and the politicians. For
example he portrays Biafrans still trying to live a
normal life despite the screams of bullets and
bombs; going to church, playing football. The
photographs scattered in the book are eloquent
testimonies to an era many Nigerian youngsters
may consign to the period of moonlight tales
unless there is visual proof. St. Jorre writes
with empathy for both sides and at times he
finds it difficult to morally justify his country’s
wartime policies though he understands the
cold-blooded interests that define British
diplomacy. Through this book the reader gains a
‘feel’ for the nationalistic fervour of the young
intellectuals of that period such as Chinua
Achebe and how the war torpedoed their pan-
Nigerian idealism.
‘The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran Civil
War’: Written by Alexander Madiebo, the
commander of the Biafran army and published
in 1980 by Fourth Dimension Publishers, Enugu,
the book is a gripping account of what
transpired in Nigeria between 1966-1970.
Madiebo was major dramatis personae in the
play: he actively scuttled the first coup by, in
his own words, putting ‘a quick and tidy end to
Nzeogwu’s revolution’; he was an active player
in Ironsi’s government and nearly lost his head
to the July 29 coup plotters. In Biafra he
participated fully in major military operations
and tasted the bitter pills of intrigue and
‘sabotage’ politics. The book, unlike the ones
mentioned earlier, is a first-class manual for
anyone who wants to understand the Biafran
military machine and why it eventually collapsed
to the Nigerian onslaught. Madiebo writes in a
manner that will make reading easy for a non-
military man. But what stands out about the
book is the author’s critical perspectives about
the conflict. Contrary to expectations he doers
not lionize his commander-in-chief; he analyzes
the power plays in Biafra and how Ojukwu
covered his unpreparedness for the war with
subtle and overt manipulations of the Biafran
war hysteria. At times one begins to wonder if
the personal relations between the commander-
in-chief and the army commander were
fractured and how it affected the war effort.
Madiebo has good words for some top Nigerian
officials and strives not to malign their humanity
where appropriate. E.g. He portrays General
Gowon’s laudable efforts to save him from the
rampaging coup plotters and acknowledges
Colonel Shuwa’s efforts to protect the Igbo in
his domain despite official censure. The
impression one gets from the book is that
Madiebo was a dedicated Biafran but no
fanatic. Interestingly, Adichie also draws on the
book and its author to develop the character,
Colonel Madu, in ‘Half of a Yellow Sun.’
‘Sunset in Biafra ’, published in 1975, is an
evocative and highly personalized account
written by Elechi Amadi. Unlike other books
mentioned above ‘Sunset in Biafra’ is not a
history, a journalistic account, a war diary nor
political propaganda. But it does not avoid the
heated polemics of the period.
Amadi was a Nigerian army officer. An Ikwerre
man from Rivers State, he fought on the
Nigerian side as a Captain with the fearsome
Third Commandos under the command of the
‘Black Scorpion,’ Colonel Benjamin Adekunle and
his successor, Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo.
Amadi portrays himself as a convinced believer
in One Nigeria and an advocate of the rights of
the minority groups who had to contend with
the dominant Igbo of Eastern Nigeria, later
Biafra. At first glance one would expect an
outright anti- Biafran stance. But while Amadi
does not believe in secessionist Biafra he clearly
has a humane disposition towards the average
Biafran who bore the brunt of the conflict. The
book is not a justification of the excesses of
the Nigerian side.
‘Sunset in Biafra’ is important because unlike
most non-fiction on the war, it does not flow
from ‘top down’ i.e. from principal actors/
witnesses in the war. The writer’s personal
insight into some of the personalities who
shaped the events of the period is interesting.
Eg. Ifeajuna, the author’s contemporary at the
University of Ibadan and co-tennis player, is
described as ‘charming’ and ‘dignified.’ The
book is one of the early pacesetters for civil war
non-fiction by non-principal actors in the crisis.
The 1990s and 2000s have also witnessed
continued publications on the civil war by
surviving eyewitnesses and their descendants
and supporters who have access to inside
information. E.g. ‘A Gift of Sequins’ by late
Colonel Victor Banjo’s daughter and Max
Silloun’s historical writings. Although points of
view cannot be ignored, it is obvious that these
latter-day works have elements of revisionism,
probably because of the writers’ access to new
information and the passage of time which
might have mellowed tempers and given fresh
insights.
But with the avalanche of histories, biographies,
autobiographies, diaries, memoirs, political
accounts, journalese, etc, one question remains
unanswered: when will Generals Gowon and
Ojukwu release their own accounts? Both men
are well into their seventies and Ojukwu’s
recent health condition screams of approaching
mortality. The closest he came to releasing
such an account was in 1989 when he published
‘Because I am involved’, a book which leaves
more questions than answers. In a 1997
interview with ‘The Source’ magazine the Eze
gburu-gburu indicated that he was writing an
account of the war but due to its volatile
contents it might be published posthumously. So
far Gowon has been silent on the subject.
Though much has been written and published by
their close confidants about their war-time
activities, these authorized accounts are not the
definitive accounts Nigerians and non-Nigerians
yearn for. But it just might be that these
statesmen, having been tempered by those dark
days and age, have gazed into the crystal ball
and decided to let their secrets remain
exclusively theirs for the sake of national
stability.