The Cause

The idea of a democratic Nigeria had proven to be a myth. Vast numbers of people were disenchanted with the results of independence and the widespread corruption among politicians. Elements among the South, the students, the southern intelligentsia, and the army officer corps were particularly disaffected.

The Coup

In January 1966 a number of young army officers—primarily Ibo—attempted to overthrow the Federal Government. In the process they killed Prime Minister Balewa, Northern Premier Sir: Ahmadu Bello (also the Sardauna of Sokoto—Islam’s highest religious leader in Nigeria), and a number of Northern army officers. Rumors had it that Army Commander Maj.-Gen. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi—also as Ibo--was involved in the coup.

The Ironsi Takeover

In any case, a rump Cabinet invited Ironsi to head a provisional military government. Ironsi “accepted” and two days later the leader of the coup, Major Chukwama Nzeogwu pledged his loyalty to Ironsi. provided there would be no reprisals against him and his followers,.

The January coup and the Ironsi take-over were widely supported throughout Nigeria by youth groups, trade unions, businessmen, and even some Northerners. Most young and progressive elements hoped and expected that the new military government would stop corruption and would institute those reforms necessary to unify the country and organize its economy on terms of national rather than regional needs.

Immediately following the coup, the Nigerian student association in the United States met in International House in New York and sent a message of congratulations to the new leaders.

At the outset, General Ironsi faced a major dilemma. Could he and should he punish the instigators of the coup for assassinating the Federal Prime Minister, and the Premiers of the Western and Northern Regions?

He had to bear in mind especially that the latter had been Islam’s revered religious leader and was generally acknowledged to be the power behind the Prime Minister himself.

The Northern rank-and-file of the army were bitterly resentful over these murders, as well as the death of many Northern officers. However if Ironsi punished the young officers who had staged the coup, he would probably alienate the Ibo officers who formed about one-third of his officer corps, plus the whole southern intelligenstia who were fed up with the conservative, Northern-dominated and corrupt Federal Government.

Ironsi chose instead to attempt to heal the rifts in the army and country by instituting badly needed reforms. In May 1966, as part of this program, he abolished the Federal structure of government. But this proved his undoing. Many politicians and bureaucrats with vested interests in a Nigeria divided into regions vigorously opposed this move.

They chose to see it as a bald attempt to consolidate Nigeria under Ibo domination. To support their suspicions, they pointed to the fact that almost all the officers who staged the coup leading to the Ironsi government were Ibos. Further, the politicians and officers killed in the coup were almost all from the North arid West, while Ibo officials were left untouched.

Following the Ironsi take-over, ousted Hausa-Fulani bureaucrats, politicians and religious leaders, began to focus upon Ibos living in the North as responsible for all the problems that were beginning to face the North—from rising prices to the declining power of the Northern Region in the Federal Government. Two days after the Ironsi proclamation of a unified governmental structure, these elements organized riots in several Northern cities resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Ibos and the forced exodus of thousands of others. This massacre fed upon the long-standing resentment of Ibos based upon their rapid accumulation of wealth and education.

The Counter Coup

The idea of an Ibo take-over of the country gradually gained more and more credence and led to further unrest in an already disgruntled army, On July 29, 1966 Northern soldiers staged counter-coup, killing Ironsi, and about 400 Ibo officers. Colonel Yakubu Gowon, announced as new head of the government, immediately restored the federal structure yielding to the demands of the Northern politicians.

Many members of the Ibo elite who had occupied prominent positions coder Ironsi viewed this new coup as a re-establishment of Northern authoritarian control over Nigeria. They and the progressive Yorubas and others who had joined with them had not been able freely to compete for: power under the old regime. Now, their high hopes for reconstruction and modernization after the Ironsi coup were suddenlydashed by a counter-coup scarcely half a year later, These frustrations were transformed into deep hatred and fear by the ruthless slaughter of hundreds of Ibos living in the North and of Ibo officers in the army,
Many Ibos fled to the Eastern Region convinced that only secession would afford them security as well as the opportunity to develop a politically coherent and economically vibrant nation. Half-formed notions about secession were transformed into grim determination after a veritable pogrom erupted in the North in September 1966, resulting in the slaughter of from 5,000 to 30,000 Ibos and other Easterners, depending upon the reports one reads. Nigerians claim that this massacre followed the killing of hundreds of Northerners resident in the East. Biafran supporters argue it was caused by Northern anger over a decision to break up the North into several smaller states, made by a constitutional conference arranged by General Gowon.

In any case, this mass slaughter left a deep scar on the Ibo people. Ibo leaders called for the return of all Ibos to their ancestral homeland and began serious preparations for secession.

A January 1967 conference of leaders from all regions failed to produce lasting agreement on decentralization of the country. At that point, civil servants, teachers, newspaper reporters, university students and military officers—all disillusioned with the results of Independence—further galvanized public opinion for secession.

A definite step was taken in March when the Government of the Eastern Region announced that all revenues collected on behalf of the Federal Government would be paid to the Treasury of the Eastern Region.

The Federal Government, it was alleged, had refused to pay the salaries of refugee civil servants forced to flee their areas of employment, and the East now had some 2 million refugees whose displacement from other parts of Nigeria was “irreversible.” Moreover, the Federal Government, it was alleged had refused to pay the East its statutory share of revenues for months.

Faced with virtual secession, Colonel Gowon finally attempted to deal with grievances about Northern domination and also to appeal to minorities throughout Nigeria. He proposed that the Northern Region be broken up into six states, the East into three, and the West into two. The new states would coincide, to a large extent, with natural ethnic divisions. Notably, the East would be divided in such a way that the oil reserves would be located in states without an Ibo majority.

Lalasticlala

Here we go again. Always playing victims. If you're trying to gain sympathy then forget it. You're the cause of your own problems. Why start a war you knew you could never win. You lost the war and from what I know, it was you guys who started that war.

Its going to get down later

Actually, what Nigerians resent the igbos ?I don't resent anyone, my father never did even though his father was a millionaire by any standard on earth and they lost all of it because of the Biafra war. I know lots of Igbo, Yuroba and housa people in addition to other tribes in Warri no one hated anyone based on tribe. Nothing sinister, just Lazy stereotypes and lighthearted jibs that everyone held about everyone else. And like everywhere else in the world, land issues take on political dimensions and people call to tribe because of primordial Tribal ownership. The average Nigerian wants to be rich full-stop, what does he care about tribe in his everyday life. When i returned from the UK and schooled in one of Nigeria's top colleges, people hardly knew where people came from including the foreigners. I was, incidentally very interested in Black Civil-rights History, and anthropological issues and wanted to find out such things but all the Nigerian students knew virtually nothing about the origin of other students who were not their bosom-buddies. Only years later, after I'd left Nigeria and lived a little, did i realize, when i looked up the names of people i knew cursorily, that -Oh my, so that guy was from Cameroon, Ghana, etec let alone Nigeria.

This tribal thing, outside of political arena, is only now becoming salient facilitated by the World Wide Web with its content hungry blogs and sites like this pedaling half-truths and outright lies in order to perpetuate self fulling prophecy. We need to be very careful, please. Don't help the politicians. Dont help the politicians lazy bid for constituency become the Nations reality.


In fact, everyday people in the country never even saw the war as Nigeria v Biafra. The just saw it as a war to stop the division of the nation.

N.B

I just wish people in positions of power would... in fact the relevant people.... should stop making such declarations in my Name. I am Nigerian, please anyone who reads this should leave me out, I as a Nigerian loves all Nigerian tribes. Next guy who wants to start a thread about Nigerian hating Igbo please, if you're a gentle man or gracious lady, make this modification: Nigerians (except Litmus) does X,Y or whatever against the Igbos

spanishkid:
Here we go again. Always playing victims. If you're trying to gain sympathy then forget it. You're the cause of your own problems. Why start a war you knew you could never win. You lost the war and from what I know, it was you guys who started that war.

don't you ever get tired?

Igbo's tenacity to overcome life challenges were acutely an affront to both the Sardauna of Sokoto and the British occupation in Nigeria. The North organised a pogroms against Igbo's in Jos and Kano respectively. Hundreds of Igbo were murdered during the pogroms and tens of thousands of pounds sterling worth of their property were looted and destroyed at the time. Each pogrom was carried out because of the Igbo role in the restoration-of-independence movement to free Nigeria from the British conquest and occupation. North Nigeria's sociopolitical leaderships, effectively British regional clients, were opposed to the restoration of African freedom. They, indeed, were disposed to the continuing British occupation of Nigeria.
As a result, the regime did not apprehend or prosecute anyone for either the 1945 or 1953 pogroms and the outrages became the "dress rehearsals" for the 29 May 1966-12 January 1970 Igbo genocide when the Nigeria state (as a whole) with full Britain involvement, and others, murdered over 3.5 million Igbo or one-quarter of this nation's population. Britain, nor indeed any of the other pan-European conquerors of Africa (France, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Germany), did not create a Nigeria, or whatever names these "Berlin states" in Africa are called, as precursor for African emancipation. On the contrary, the Nigeria's of Africa are more of replicas of the enslaved plantations of the Americas (in the previous epoch of nearly 300 years) to perpetuate European control and exploitation of Africa and Africans in perpetuity.

In addition, It's because of the Igbo's the North has not conquered the rest of Nigeria with their Jihadist-Sharia conquest. The fact is, Igbo's are revolutionaries and we stand for justice and equity. Someday, the great Igbo nation will emerge.