Name the notable civil wars in Nigerian history, casualties and the year/s it lasted.

Kiriji war(1877-1892) led by general Ogedengbe:

It began in the 19th century, a century of revolution in Yorubaland, after the fall of the old Oyo Empire due to political crisis. Ibadan, a new city founded in the 1820s wanted to dominate and rule the rest of the Yorubaland and as result, there were wars among the kingdoms of the Yorubas.In particular the Kiriji war (also known as the sixteen years war) which started in 1877, it involved the struggle for power, influence and survival.The Ibadan on declared ‘a war to end all wars’ on the Egba on Monday, 30th July 1877, the Kiriji war officially begun. The Ijebu joined and it began to spread. In 1878, it spread to the east, the Ekiti and Ijesa countries became united and formed an alliance known as Ekiti-parapo (the combined forces of the Ijesa and Ekiti) which was led by Ogedengbe of Ilesha . The Ife and Ilorin later joined. Ibadan now had a string of foes that were ready to fight for their independence and also to free themselves from Ibadan imperialism.
[img]http://ogedengbe.com/mediac/400_0/media/warrior~pix.JPG[/img]
http://ogedengbe.com/9702/index.html?*session*id*key*=*session*id*val*

Biafran war[1967-1970] Led by Col Odumegwu Ojukwu


Following the secession of Biafra on 30 May (announced by Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu), the Nigerian government initiated a 'police action' with two columns of Federal troops heading into Biafra. The western column first headed towards Nsukka, north of Enugu, and the eastern column heading to Gakem, north east of Ogoja. The first confrontation was on 6 June 1967 when Nigerian Federal forces captured the town of Gakem, the start of three years of conflict which resulted in great human suffering – it is estimated that almost three million people died, mostly of hunger and disease.
The Yoruba political system in the southwest, like that of the Hausa-Fulani, also consisted of a series of monarchs being the Oba. The Yoruba monarchs, however, were less autocratic than those in the North, and the political and social system of the Yoruba accordingly allowed for greater upward mobility based on acquired rather than inherited wealth and title.
The Igbo in the southeast, in contrast to the two other groups, lived in some six hundred autonomous, democratically-organized villages. Although there were monarchs in these villages (whether hereditary or elected), they functioned predominantly as figureheads. Unlike the other two regions, decisions among the Igbo were made by a general assembly in which every man could participate.
The differing political systems among these three peoples produced radically divergent customs and values. The Hausa-Fulani commoners, having contact with the political system only through their village head who was designated by the Emir or one of his subordinates, did not view political leaders as amenable to influence. Political decisions were to be obeyed without question. This highly centralized and authoritarian political system elevated to positions of leadership persons willing to be subservient and loyal to superiors, the same virtues required by Islam for eternal salvation. A chief function of this political system was to maintain Islamic and conservative values, which caused many Hausa-Fulani to view economic and social innovation as subversive or sacrilegious.
In contrast to the Hausa-Fulani, the Igbo often participated directly in the decisions which affected their lives. They had a lively awareness of the political system and regarded it as an instrument for achieving their own personal goals. Status was acquired through the ability to arbitrate disputes that might arise in the village, and through acquiring rather than inheriting wealth. With their emphasis upon achievement, individual choice, and democratic decision-making, the challenges of modernization for the Igbo entailed responding to new opportunities in traditional ways.
These tradition-derived differences were perpetuated and, perhaps, even enhanced by the British system of colonial rule in Nigeria. In the North, the British found it convenient to rule indirectly through the Emirs, thus perpetuating rather than changing the indigenous authoritarian political system. As a concomitant of this system, Christian missionaries were excluded from the North, and the area thus remained virtually closed to Western education and influence, in contrast to the Igbo, the richest of whom sent many of their sons to British universities. During the ensuing years, the Northern Emirs thus were able to maintain traditional political and religious institutions, while limiting social change. As a result, the North, at the time of independence in 1960, was by far the most underdeveloped area in Nigeria, with a literacy rate of 2% as compared to 19.2% in the East (literacy in Arabic script, learned in connection with religious education, was higher). The West enjoyed a much higher literacy level, being the first part of the country to have contact with western education in addition to the free primary education program of the pre-independence Western Regional Government[1] .

Nigeria was formed in 1914 so date your wars from there.

Abeg, i think the first one you stated (kiriji war) was probably just a skirmish and nothing big. If our wars were like those movie scenes in "Gladiator", "300", "kingdom of Heaven", "Arthur" (the one with clive owen and kiera knightly) complete with hundreds of archers and trebuchets then i would be a lot more fascinated jare. If not tell all those juju warriors to go play with there oversized machetes.

They were still huge and relevant in their time. Gladiators and 300 were well documented quite unlike the ones we had in Africa so, you never can tell.

Examples of conflicts in Nigeria in recent time
include

Yoruba-Hausa community in Shagamu, Ogun State;

Eleme-Okrika in Rivers State;

the intermittent clashes in Kano, Kano State;

Zango-Kataf in Kaduna State;

Tiv-Jukun in Wukari, Taraba State;

Ogoni-Adoni in Rivers State;

Chamba-Kuteb in Taraba State;

Itsekiri-Ijaw/Urhobo in Delta State;

Aguleri-Umuleri in Anambra State;

Ijaw-Ilaje conflict in Ondo State;

Basa-Egbura in Nassarawa State;

Hausa/Fulani-Sawaya in Bauchi State;

Fulani-Irigwe and Yelwa-Shendam, both in Plateau State;

Hausa-Yoruba clashes in Idi-Araba in Lagos State

They were still huge and relevant in their time. Gladiators and 300 were well documented quite unlike the ones we had in Africa so, you never can tell.

Good point though, but i can't see any strongholds from back in the day like fortresses and so on: some relic of back in the day showing us how incredibly sophisticated our wars were.

any more conflicts in Yorubaland that alum Emeka wants to educate us about?

@Topic,Umuleri-Aguleri war.lots of casualties.

davidif:


Good point though, but i can't see any strongholds from back in the day like fortresses and so on: some relic of back in the day showing us how incredibly sophisticated our wars were.

There were strongholds my brother. Those wars were marred through the strong invocation of voodoo by the faltering rival.

Aro -Obegu war of 1901 (at least in protectorate of Southern Nigeria)
According to Prof Ijoma, O. The Aro, being nervous of the massive preparation of the British to attack them, had warned areas in their trading network to desist from any action that might further British interest. The Obegu people would appear to have flouted the instructions, and the Aro sacked the town in November 1901 as an object lesson to other communities