The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War was a war fought to counter the secession of Biafra (then Eastern part of Nigeria consisting mainly of the Igbo people) from Nigeria.
It lasted for 30 months (July 6, 1967 – January 15, 1970) with millions of casualties on both sides. The war did not happen overnight but certain events led to it.
Below are the events that led to the unfortunate war where millions (both military and civilian) lost their lives.


1. AMALGAMATION OF 1914
In 1914, Southern Nigeria was joined with Northern Nigeria Protectorate to form the single colony of Nigeria. This “marriage” was made without the consent of the people, without a referendum but in the interest of the colonialists. A system which would in the long run bring about greed, hate, nepotism and tribalism amongst the people of Nigeria.


2. 1946 RICHARD'S CONSTITUTION
The year 1946 saw the adoption of the Arthur Richard Constitution which defined Nigeria, for the first time, in terms of regions – thus dividing the still colonised country into three main regions: the Northern, Western and Eastern regions.
This is Nigeria’s “funniest” constitution which made a centre weak but granting strength to the regions-in the same country? This would have been the best time of creating three independent countries instead of three dependent ones.


3. 1962 WESTERN REGION STATE OF EMERGENCY AND OBAFEMI AWOLOWO'S INCARCERATION
The blatant support of Akintola’s unpopular government in the West by the Balewa-led Federal Government was a time bomb in the making. Declaring a state of emergency in a whole Region when the imbroglio was only in the House of Assembly was also a political gaffe by Balewa.
Awolowo’s imprisonment made the Federal Government itself hated among the peoples of the Western Region, who they believed was imprisoned on trumped-up charges.


4. THE VIOLENT 1965 WESTERN REGIONAL ELECTIONS
The crisis over the struggle for political power during the Western Regional elections of October 11, 1965 was the last straw that broke the camel’s back which really convinced the January boys of their military putsch on the morning of January 15, 1966.
Balewa’s reluctance to step-in and declare a state of emergency when he should have, spiraled the events of January, 1966. As Emperor Nero watched as Rome burned, the Prime Minister prevaricated as the West descended to an incendiary state. And the rest as they say, is history.
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5. JANUARY 15, 1966 REVOLUTIONARY COUP
Five majors led by Emmanuel Ifeajuna (1934-1967) had concluded their plans for the revolutionary coup as at August, 1965, which was the arrest of top politicians and mass annihilation of senior military officers in the country, due to the loss of control of certain part of the country and widespread corruption.
Whether the coup was Eastern favoured or not, it brought into fore a united Northern Region in the Army, regardless of tribe or religion.
Of the five majors, four were Easterners, while one, Adewale Ademoyega (1933-2007), was a Westerner. The new Head of State having dissolved the civilian government was an Easterner.
To install Awolowo, who was charged with corruption, as Prime Minister and to create fourteen states for the country was a confusion theory by the coup plotters.
Unfortunately for them, Ifeajuna thwarted their original plan and fled to Ghana dressed as a woman. No action was taken in the East and not a single shot was fired.
This convinced the Northern elements that the Igbos were behind the killing of their leaders and officers. Hence, the plan to get even began.


6. JULY 29, 1966 NORTHERN COUNTER-COUP
Decree Number 34 of May 24, 1966 promulgated by Ironsi was the beginning of the end for him. The decree made the centre strong, thereby abolishing the powers granted to the regions. Interestingly, Nzeogwu, in an interview he granted in 1967, affirmed that Ironsi shot himself in the foot with that decree.
Another mistake Ironsi did was the non-trial of the coup plotters of the January 15, 1966 carnage.
These caused a massive unrest in the Northern part of the country as the Northerners had gone against delimiting of regional powers as far back as 1959. In June 1966, Ironsi began a tour of the country (never to return to Lagos) and met with Northern elite, assuring them of a united Nigeria.
Shehu Shagari and Richard Akinjide, surviving cabinet-members of the First Republic, insisted that Aguiyi-Ironsi took over power by force as against them handing over to him. Whichever may be the case, the rise of Aguiyi-Ironsi as Head-of-State raised fears in the hearts of the northerners that the Igbos were all out for the total control of the country. His infamous decree (an unfortunate system we are now in, in the name of federal character) which made an educated Igbo man to be eligible for civil service in the educational-disadvantaged North raised further fears and brought about the federally coup two months later.


7. JANUARY 1967 ABURI CONFERENCE
With the counter-coup of July 29, 1966, the political development of Nigeria’s federal structure took a different turn. It was heightened even more by the fact that the Eastern Regional Government in Enugu immediately threatened secession if certain grievances and demands were not met. The immediate concern of the Federal Government, therefore, was for it to find ways to appease the East so long as such concessions were within the framework of one Nigeria.
But the Eastern Military Governor, Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (1933-2011), refused to leave the East for any meeting anywhere in Nigeria because, he claimed, he was not safe outside the East. The Federal Government too argued that the Nigerian leader should also not go to the East for a meeting. His life, they also claimed, was not safe there either. Tension mounted and Lieutenant-General Joseph Arthur Ankrah (1915-1992) of Ghana offered a neutral meeting place. The venue was Aburi, Ghana.
The Aburi meeting started on January 4, 1967 and lasted for two days. Those who attended the meeting included Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, the then Head of the Federal Military Government and the Military Governors of the four regions: Lt. Col. Hassan Usman Katsina (1933-1995) (North), Lt. Col. Robert Adeyinka Adebayo (1928—2017) (West), Lt. Col. David Akpode Ejoor (b. 1932) (Mid-West) and Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Ojukwu (East).
Aburi was significant for several reasons. First, that the leaders met at all was an achievement in itself. But even more tangible was the fact that the leaders agreed that force would not be used to settle the “brothers’ palaver”. There was also the question of the disposition of Nigerian troops and the reorganization of the Army after the second coup on July 29, 1966 and the subsequent pogrom that followed in May and September.
Ojukwu claimed that Nigeria did not have a central government since the country as a result of the second coup and its aftermath resolved itself into three separate sovereign areas; the Lagos-West-North Area, the Mid- West Area and the East Area. But Gowon insisted that Nigeria was still one nation, an entity composed of four regions and a central government in Lagos.
Ojukwu out-witted Gowon in this meeting and insisted some certain parts of the events not to be recorded. Gowon acceded to most of Ojukwu’s demand. When he (Gowon) got home and the Permanent Secretaries highlighted the grave consequences of the agreement to him, he reneged and Ojukwu seceded.


8. MAY 1967 CREATION OF TWELVE STATES
When, on May 27, 1967, General Gowon announced that Nigeria would be divided into more states, twelve in all, Nigerians were jubilant as the minorities felt secured and out of domination by the majority peoples within the former regions.
The Northern Region was broken into six states (North-Western, North-Central, North-Eastern, Benue-Plateau, Kano and Kwara), thereby cracking its monolithic posture. The East was broken into three, with the Ibo people having their own state (East-Central) and the non-Ibo “minority” peoples in the East two of their own states (Rivers and South-East).
The Mid-West remained as it was. Some part of the Western Region was carved out and merged with the Federal Territory of Lagos to form Lagos State. What remained of the Western Region became Western State.
The creation of more states in the country pushed the, East-Central State, the Ibo heartland, into an interior pocket, cut off from the coastal oil reserves and its two seaports of Port-Harcourt and Calabar. Thus, the lack of seaports for the East-Central State was not unique.
For the secessionists, the creation of more states was a bombshell, a political reality which they refused to accept or even believe. They began to speed up the secession of the Eastern Region which would include according to them, the two new states of Rivers and South-East.
On May 30, 1967, Ojukwu proclaimed that “the territory and Region known as Eastern Nigeria, together with her continental shelves and territorial waters, shall henceforth be an independent sovereign state of the name and title The Republic of Biafra”.
Biafran national symbols must have taken months to prepare, which implied that Ojukwu was perhaps committed to secession long before. Hence, he rejected one peace move after another. Though the Federal Government had her own share of the blames especially its tardiness after Aburi, she did everything possible to prevent the Nigerian balloon from bursting and to appease the East to the extent that many Nigerians were doubting whether the Federal Government was a sick dog that could neither bark nor bite. Though, the secessionists were defeated (after Ojukwu had fled) and Biafra unconditionally surrendered and the secession ended, it led to a senseless war for thirty months that has scarred and marred the history of the nation. It has been forty-seven years the war ended, it still created a gulf between the Igbos and the rest of the country as seen in the recent agitation for Biafra.....

Credit: HistoryVille

Op space am nah

Ah ah copy copy no good

You can see how Nairaland and the hypocrites that fill this platform that claim to love Nigeria will not flood here with threads of the over $26 billion scan within one year in NNPC.
I love Nigeria but hate hypocrites

Space this writeup now op!

if we intricately study these historic events, none of us would want these old cargoes to rule/lead us again.

So this was what the Nigeria Govt was denying us,

History can never be erased

SoFT

Space booked.... awaiting fp

Homeboiy:
Op space am nah

Ah ah copy copy no good

at least I stated where I got it from , Thank you away

Factual, objective write up