http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aburi_Accord

Aburi Accord was reached 1967 at a meeting attended by delegates of both the Federal Government of Nigeria (The supreme Military Council) and the Eastern delegates, led by the soon-to-become-rebel leader Colonel Ojukwu. The meeting was billed to be the last chance of preventing out-and-out war[1]. It was held between 4 and 5 January 1967.

Aburi as venue
Aburi, Accra Ghana was chosen as a venue because the eastern delegates led by the Governor of Eastern State Colonel Ojukwu's safety could not be guaranteed anywhere within in the western or northern part of the country[2].

Thanks to Yoruba peep!

Right here, on NL.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-37935.0.html

Check out the handiwork of the traitors of Naija!

Blazay:

Quite correct. . .but the Ijaws would have been to dumb to come up with such a scheme. The Yorubas and the Hausas. . .used the Ijaws to potentiate that strategy as an ace to drive the Igbos to surrender. Who cares anyway? They had to be stopped period. Who wants a group of delusional, war-mongering, pre-historical, savage-looking, men and women of the Igbo dispensation, with fire-branding, maddening sparks/snarling, blood-thirsty, cannibalistic, ever-salivating glands of tribal hound dawgs worse than those of 'Dora Akunyili', running amock just next door unchecked in the name of 'Biafra' for crying out loud?

THIS JACKASS NEVER SEIZES TO AMUSE ME. I TAUGHT DORA WAS A BIAFRAN?  SO THE SOUTH SOUTH IS THE CURSE OF YOUR FAILURE. WONDER WHY YOU WERE NOT ROASTED IN 1967-1970. YOU WERE SPARED AND YOU OPEN YOUR GUTTER MOUTH TO TALK. ADAMU

THIS JACKASS NEVER SEIZES TO AMUSE ME. I TAUGHT DORA WAS A BIAFRAN?  SO THE SOUTH SOUTH IS THE CURSE OF YOUR FAILURE. WONDER WHY YOU WERE NOT ROASTED IN 1967-1970. YOU WERE SPARED AND YOU OPEN YOUR GUTTER MOUTH TO TALK. ADAMU

What is this snarling hound dog frothing out at the mouth and ars*e with rabies for?
How is the South-South the cause of my failure. . . is it "curse"?

Who is this illiterate?
Only from Igboland I tellya.
Nasty things!

Please, take that you smelly, akpu mouth and flaring, Igbotic nostrils and go and snarl somewhere jor.
Stinking Igbo Onitsha market pig!

Blazay:


What is this snarling hound dog frothing out at the mouth and ars*e with rabies for?
How is the South-South the cause of my failure. . . is it "curse"?

Who is this illiterate?
Only from Igboland I tellya.
Nasty things!

Please, take that you smelly, akpu mouth and flaring, Igbotic nostrils and go and snarl somewhere jor.
Stinking Igbo Onitsha market pig!

HA HA HA
BLOODY Arrow. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU. LET'S GET STARTED. WHEN YOU ARE GATHERED WITH YOUR VILLAGE CLAN YOU CAN ALL VOMIT YOUR RABBIES AND INFECT EACH OTHER. ADAMU

excanny:

  If only you could use half of the time you spent on this forum to attend a night school, you'd had known how to spell better.  Were the 'innocent igbo families' the ones who pulled the shenanigans?

A bloody letter "C", and all a sudden this Ibo Gorilla prides himself as Hemmingway!

You that cant compose a proper sentence to save your life!

Dude, read my last twenty posts, then read urs. . . . . which has the most grammatical blunders?!

^^^
You are a bloody slave. And who are you to think you understand the English Language better than I do? Fool.

bk.babe97y:

A bloody letter "C", and all a sudden this Ibo Gorilla prides himself as Hemmingway!

You that cant compose a proper sentence to save your life!

Dude, read my last twenty posts, then read urs. . . . . which has the most grammatical blunders?!

Fool. It's redundant to add an exclamation mark after a question mark. Mumu.

Take my advice, and start a night school! Your case is pathetic.

The tribal warriors are back

This thread is trash. Let me ask this question again. What is the point of this thread?

Meldrick:

HA HA HA
BLOODY Arrow. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU. LET'S GET STARTED. WHEN YOU ARE GATHERED WITH YOUR VILLAGE CLAN YOU CAN ALL VOMIT YOUR [size=16pt]RABBIES[/size] AND INFECT EACH OTHER. ADAMU

You and who? Waiting for who?
Do I look/sound like one your Alaba-Otigba computer/auto spare-parts dealer with chronic, pubic-itching-balls-adjusting. . .public display of kwashiokor-looking cassava-mound-sized-rough packing syndrome?
Please, go and learn how to spell 'rabies' first, then come back.
You Ekene di li Chukwu, night-bus, otokoto, illiterate graduate!

Until dede answer the following questions, she has gotten no point, its all ranting as usual. Who were the first coupists in the country? Why was the premier of the eastern region not killed while others were murdered? Why was the president given hint of the planned coup since he is part of the inept government the coupists want to send out of power or he could have planned an unexpected trip abroad? Why did ifeajuna went missing ? Why did the new head of state refuse to punish the rebels even after they killed political leaders who are from other tribes and intentionally left their own kinsmen untouched? Why did ojukwu decide to extend his frontiers to lagos even when the people of YORUBA land are not in support of what is happening? Why did eastern leaders colluded with northern leaders to jail AWOLOWO on a trumped up charge? Why did eastern leaders colluded with north to create the midwest even when other regions were left alone? Is dede saying that he knows more than Mc. Ajuluchukwu? Dede please answer this questions first before wasting bandwidth.

Until dede answer the following questions, she has gotten no point, its all ranting as usual. Who were the first coupists in the country? Why was the premier of the eastern region not killed while others were murdered? Why was the president given hint of the planned coup since he is part of the inept government the coupists want to send out of power or he could have planned an unexpected trip abroad? Why did ifeajuna went missing ? Why did the new head of state refuse to punish the rebels even after they killed political leaders who are from other tribes and intentionally left their own kinsmen untouched? Why did ojukwu decide to extend his frontiers to lagos even when the people of YORUBA land are not in support of what is happening? Why did eastern leaders colluded with northern leaders to jail AWOLOWO on a trumped up charge? Why did eastern leaders colluded with north to create the midwest even when other regions were left alone? Is dede saying that he knows more than Mc. Ajuluchukwu? Dede please answer this questions first before wasting bandwidth.

Look no civilians are to blame for the wars. The blame should be but on no one but the governmental body which included Nigerian army and officials(which included biafrans) before the war broke out plus Britain. It is solely their fault. Accept it and leave it alone.

Please, be truthful.
Igbos and Biafra SOLELY set the tone of distrust and acrimony in Nigerian history by preempting the first civil war in Nigerian history.
Subsequently, their oafish arrogance cannot let other Nigerians forget the insult.

Prior to the Nigerian civil war, the Northerners were peaceful creatures till the Igbos reared their greedy, ugly yam-like heads.
Till today, all they go about doing is beating their retarded chests to be this and that.
Useless, cold blooded killers.
Now we have a place like Abia state with Aba as the headquarters of Kidnapping ventures according to your own Igbo sister Dr. Okonjo-Iwaela.
After shedding all that useless Biafra blood as rejected Osu sacrifices on behalf of Nigeria.

They should not blame anyone but themselves for the innocent Igbos that were killed on behalf of their stoopid actions that all started in 1966.

If they were so noble in their intentions, why did they not let the Northerners in, if indeed they wanted to cleanse Nigeria of corruption?

Blazay:

Please, be truthful.
Igbos and Biafra set the tone of distrust and acrimony in Nigerian history by preempting the first civil war in Nigerian history.
Subsequently, their oafish arrogance cannot let other Nigerians forget the insult.

Prior to the Nigerian civil war, the Northerners were peaceful creatures till the Igbos reared their greedy, ugly yam-like heads.

There were riots against both westerners and easterners in the north as far back as the 50s and possibly even before that.Check your history. Anyway, like i said,

"Look no civilians are to blame for the wars. The blame should be but on no one but the governmental body which included Nigerian army and officials(which included biafrans) before the war broke out plus Britain. It is solely their fault. Accept it and leave it alone."

chyz:

There were riots against both westerners and easterners in the north as far back as the 50s and possibly even before that.Check your history. Anyway, like i said,

"Look no civilians are to blame for the wars. The blame should be but on no one but the governmental body which included Nigerian army and officials(which included biafrans) before the war broke out plus Britain. It is solely their fault. Accept it and leave it alone."

So, riots in the North as far back as in the 50's caused the Nigerian civil war?
We still have the riots till today not so?
What has changed?

Of course no civilians were to blame for the war. . .but what did you expect?
The Igbos within the Nigerian army started all that BS.
Why did you not include the Northerners if your intentions were noble huh?

Sorry dude. I don't care about your riots in the North. . .which were purely as a result of the total breakdown of law and order in the overall Nigerian psyche.

What we are talking about here is the treason orchestrated and perpetrated by the Igbos against the integrity of Nigeria on account of their own selfish desires. At least the Northerners carried out their mayhem in their own territories. . . why did you not retaliate on the Northerners in your on Western and Eastern territories? Instead of plunging the whole Nigerian state into confusion with your rettarded haphazard plans?

Blazay:

So, riots in the North as far back as in the 50's caused the Nigerian civil war?
We still have the riots till today not so?
What has changed?

Umm Your quote:

Blazay:

Prior to the Nigerian civil war, the Northerners were peaceful creatures till the Igbos reared their greedy, ugly yam-like heads.

^^^Please start replying with sense when you comment.I would serve you good to stop and think in dept be for rushing to post. Thank you.

chyz:

Umm Your quote:
^^^Please start replying with sense when you comment.I would serve you good to stop and think in dept be for rushing to post. Thank you.

Was it the Northerners that were killing twins in Opobo?
We all had our ethnic specialties right?
Of course they were the most peaceful then, despite the sectarian unrests in their regions. . . just like they still are in present day Nigeria.
Yet you Igbos still live and work there to this day right?
Yes, there are unrests here and there once in a while. . . like you have your armed bandits, kidnappers and ritualists all over the Southern parts of Nigeria.
Why do these same Northerners not cause the same problems in the Southern parts of Nigeria huh?

At least the Northerners did not commit any form of treason on the whole of Nigeria like the Igbos who showed them the way. . . Nigeria has never been the same. Then came coup after coup after coup till now.

seanet02:

Until dede answer the following questions, she has gotten no point, its all ranting as usual. Who were the first coupists in the country? Why was the premier of the eastern region not killed while others were murdered? Why was the president given hint of the planned coup since he is part of the inept government the coupists want to send out of power or he could have planned an unexpected trip abroad? Why did ifeajuna went missing ? Why did the new head of state refuse to punish the rebels even after they killed political leaders who are from other tribes and intentionally left their own kinsmen untouched? Why did ojukwu decide to extend his frontiers to lagos even when the people of YORUBA land are not in support of what is happening? Why did eastern leaders colluded with northern leaders to jail AWOLOWO on a trumped up charge? Why did eastern leaders colluded with north to create the midwest even when other regions were left alone? Is dede saying that he knows more than Mc. Ajuluchukwu? Dede please answer this questions first before wasting bandwidth.

Until seanet02 learns to pose intelligent questions, she will remain an intellectual midget. I do not dwell on issues born out of conjectural silliness spurred by inherent idleness. If I had to be compelled to give answers to those irresponsible questions, I suggest you should be banned from this forum for waste of bandwidth.

Dede why are you wasting your time on the dude called bra.Every body knows that the north is the poorest region in nigeria,too many almajiri,desertification,low literacy level,drought,dandauwa, plagued by diseases,too many beggers,boko haram, terrorists,even after rulling the country for donkey years,the north is still a mess.Despite starting every thing afresh after the civil war ndi igbo have bounced back,every statstics shows that ndi igbo have the lowest poverty rate in nigeria,go to the thread titled nigeria academia in diaspora and see who is leading in education,even jamb agreed,can the north give us a match for okonjo and ezekwezili? not even nigeria can,who owns nollywood? Is there any nigerian player that can match kanu and okocha,who started with 20 pounds and ended up owning 70% of abuja and controls the nigerian economy?Dont cry for me nigeria,i might have lost the war but i didnt lose my lead.

Dede1:


I do not believe in regurgitating of facts. My people say that nobody would request the boiling of water simply because he will fall off palm tree. Biafra was not separate country from Nigeria however unforeseen circumstances spurred once integral part of Nigeria to declare independence. It is, in fact, a display of intellectual dishonesty to accuse Ojukwu of not being prepared for the war.

When the war started, the ball game remained a subject of chances and surprises because both sides could not boast of weaponry beyond the era of WWI. In addition, the most easterners did not realize there were many northerners in south of Nigeria masquerading as southerners even though most of their kindred were touched by the murderous and barbaric behavior of northerners’ in1966.

One of the unfortunate circumstances that sealed the faith of Biafra was crude oil. Some of the world powers especially Britain were not prepared to deal with African who was intellectually endowed and sitting on top crude oil reserve such as Ojukwu. The fear of African country such as Biafra was even magnified when the young country started producing magnificent products without any industrial help from the colonialists.

I infact agree with most of your post above. I additionally agree that your statements above were well reasoned, with the exception of the bolded part. If you reread my previous post again, you’ll note that my statement was that ” Ojukwu should have known at the onset of Biafra’s blockage that we were on the verge of a major disaster and should have surrendered immediately - I’d even argue that he should have surrendered way before that time.” I never stated accused Ojukwu of not being prepared for the war as you inferred up there.

I believe you agree with me on this point but you refuse to acknowledge Ojukwu’s error or blunder because it may not be politically correct. No?

Blazay:

Please, be truthful.
Igbos and Biafra SOLELY set the tone of distrust and acrimony in Nigerian history by preempting the first civil war in Nigerian history.
Subsequently, their oafish arrogance cannot let other Nigerians forget the insult.

[b]Prior to the Nigerian civil war, the Northerners were peaceful creatures [/b]till the Igbos reared their greedy, ugly yam-like heads.
Till today, all they go about doing is beating their not-so-smart chests to be this and that.
Useless, cold blooded killers.
Now we have a place like Abia state with Aba as the headquarters of Kidnapping ventures according to your own Igbo sister Dr. Okonjo-Iwaela.
After shedding all that useless Biafra blood as rejected Osu sacrifices on behalf of Nigeria.

They should not blame anyone but themselves for the innocent Igbos that were killed on behalf of their stoopid actions that all started in 1966.

If they were so noble in their intentions, why did they not let the Northerners in, if indeed they wanted to cleanse Nigeria of corruption?

Blazay:

So, riots in the North as far back as in the 50's caused the Nigerian civil war?
We still have the riots till today not so?
What has changed?

Of course no civilians were to blame for the war. . .but what did you expect?
The Igbos within the Nigerian army started all that BS.
Why did you not include the Northerners if your intentions were noble huh?

Sorry dude. I don't care about your riots in the North. . .which were purely as a result of the total breakdown of law and order in the overall Nigerian psyche.

What we are talking about here is the treason orchestrated and perpetrated by the Igbos against the integrity of Nigeria on account of their own selfish desires. At least the Northerners carried out their mayhem in their own territories. . . why did you not retaliate on the Northerners in your on Western and Eastern territories? Instead of plunging the whole Nigerian state into confusion with your rettarded haphazard plans?

It's hilarious how you contradict yourself in a space of 5 minutes.

Your knowledge of history is as warped as that of a fourth grader. Maybe you also need to take the advice I gave earlier to someone in the same boat as you: You need to attend an adult class.

excanny:

It's hilarious how you contradict yourself in a space of 5 minutes.

Your knowledge of history is as warped as that of a fourth grader. Maybe you also need to take the advice I gave earlier to someone in the same boat as you: You need to attend an adult class. 

Here comes another comprehension-challenge test.
Some can really read but cannot understand.
No wonder you all are stuck in the diaspora driving taxis!

I repeat. . .the average Nigerian is unruly.
But when it comes to classification. . .going by Nigerian history. . ,the IGBOS are the worst(Confulsed and selfish!)
The Northerners the most peaceful even with all their religious and sectarian violence.
Did the Northerners cause the breakdown of the Nigerian concept? NO!

The Igbos did.
Full final stop!

Glad you were punished severely. . . .and you paid dearly with a lot of innocent lives.
Where is the contradiction there?
Well, it is excanny of all people.
Should we be surprised?
The whole of NL knows you have a major problem with verbal and written skills.
Where does that leave your comprehension level?
In the pits of course.

Please get one of those literate Igbos. . .that can read and write in the Igbo language in the culture section of NL to interprete for you.
Hopefully, that would not be a challenge.

Ciao!

Dede1:


I do not believe in regurgitating of facts. My people say that nobody would request the boiling of water simply because he will fall off palm tree. Biafra was not separate country from Nigeria however unforeseen circumstances spurred once integral part of Nigeria to declare independence. It is, in fact, a display of intellectual dishonesty to accuse Ojukwu of not being prepared for the war.

When the war started, the ball game remained a subject of chances and surprises because both sides could not boast of weaponry beyond the era of WWI. In addition, the most easterners did not realize there were many northerners in south of Nigeria masquerading as southerners even though most of their kindred were touched by the murderous and barbaric behavior of northerners’ in1966.

One of the unfortunate circumstances that sealed the faith of Biafra was crude oil. Some of the world powers especially Britain were not prepared to deal with African who was intellectually endowed and sitting on top crude oil reserve such as Ojukwu. The fear of African country such as Biafra was even magnified when the young country started producing magnificent products without any industrial help from the colonialists.     

ndu_chucks:

I infact agree with most of your post above. I additionally agree that your statements above were well reasoned, with the exception of the bolded part. If you reread my previous post again, you’ll note that my statement was that ” Ojukwu should have known at the onset of Biafra’s blockage that we were on the verge of a major disaster and should have surrendered immediately - I’d even argue that he should have surrendered way before that time.”  I never stated accused Ojukwu of not being prepared for the war as you inferred up there.

I believe you agree with me on this point but you refuse to acknowledge Ojukwu’s error or blunder because it may not be politically correct. No?

Despite his initial good intentions, Ojukwu was not prepared for war. Dede is unlikely to agree with this since he thinks the only error Ojukwu made was in appointing Banjo to lead the BEF. This is just my opinion.

Strategic errors
1. Not realising that Biafra did not have the resources to engage the Nigerian side. A very gifted General will use the weight and/or size of its enemy against it (Judo strategy). Biafra was outnumbered and outgunned but it did nothing extra-ordinary to shift the balance of the war. Please read about how Ho Chi Minh defeated first, the French and then the Americans despite being seriously out-gunned.
2. Not forming alliances before declaring Biafra. It didn't reach alliances with the West or the Camerouns to its East. Due to antecedents in Nigeria's history, Biafra did not have the complete support of the groups geographically beneath it. This was particularly telling as it became blockaded for most periods of the war.
3. Not anticipating that super powers would support Nigeria (this is called short-sightedness). Blaming it on the discovery of crude oil is flippant.
4. Using Enugu as the capital with it so close to the Northern front. Enugu was captured after only 3 months of fighting (Oct 4th). The fall of Enugu meant that Biafra was always on the backfoot.
5. Not realising that without a capable Navy, Biafra would be blockaded
6. Declaring Biafra too soon; Biafra was declared on May 29th, Nigeria launched its offensive on the 6th of July. Biafra did not have the time to source for weapons. Hence its locally made weapons were not sufficient to prosecute a full scale war.
7. Biafra did not have the means to feed its citizens with the war on its soil; this was exacerbated by not having a single ally on any of its borders.

Blazay:

Please, be truthful.
Igbos and Biafra SOLELY set the tone of distrust and acrimony in Nigerian history by preempting the first civil war in Nigerian history.
Subsequently, their oafish arrogance cannot let other Nigerians forget the insult.

Prior to the Nigerian civil war, the Northerners were peaceful creatures till the Igbos reared their greedy, ugly yam-like heads.
Till today, all they go about doing is beating their not-so-smart chests to be this and that.
Useless, cold blooded killers.
Now we have a place like Abia state with Aba as the headquarters of Kidnapping ventures according to your own Igbo sister Dr. Okonjo-Iwaela.
After shedding all that useless Biafra blood as rejected Osu sacrifices on behalf of Nigeria.

They should not blame anyone but themselves for the innocent Igbos that were killed on behalf of their stoopid actions that all started in 1966.

If they were so noble in their intentions, why did they not let the Northerners in, if indeed they wanted to cleanse Nigeria of corruption?

Blazay - can you answer a few of the following questions for me -

If the January coup was an "igbo coup" why did the likes of major ademoyega, lieutenant fola oyewole - all yoruba officers
and  the following n northerners - atom kpera, husa kanga, musa manga, lekoja gidan jibrin, bako lamundo, joseph goji, lagwin goshit, yakubu kaje and many other non commissioned northern soldiers participate in this coup?

Also if the igbo officers involved were doing so in order to take over, why did they plan on releasing Awo from jail once the coup succeeded?

You say igbos set the tone of distrust and acrimony in nigeria - if that was indeed the case why were the yorubas rioting over the appointment of Akintola as premier of the western region in 1962 which led Balewa to declare a state of emergency?

You have described igbos as being bloodthirsty but there were in total 9 civilian casualties of the January 66 coup and 12 soldiers, of the 9 civilian casualties 5 were corrupt politicians, lets contrast that with the casualties of the July 66 coup -  FORTY FIVE OFFICERS were killed and of those 45,  THIRTY SEVEN were igbo, in addition approximately 300 igbo NCO's were killed by northern soldiers - some of whom were their class mates.

I have not even included the thousands of innocent igbos that were massacred in the north, therefore can you explain to me how you have come to the conclusion that the igbos are bloodthirsty murderers while northerners are peaceful people.

@Katsumoto

The tactic deployed by sending Banjo to Lagos to capture Gowon could have changed the tide of the war, but he screwed up by invading the Midwest, and spending unnecessary time arguing back and forth with Ojukwu. Finally, when he decided to continued, he got to Ore and started negotiating cowardly with Obasanjo.

He also lost 40 miles of territory without a fight. Banjo was part of the problem why the Nigerian side gained an early upper hand over Biafra.

excanny:

@Katsumoto

The tactic deployed by sending Banjo to Lagos to capture Gowon could have changed the tide of the war, but he screwed up by invading the Midwest, and spending unnecessary time arguing back and forth with Ojukwu. Finally, when he decided to continued, he got to Ore and started negotiating cowardly with Obasanjo.

He also lost 40 miles of territory without a fight. Banjo was part of the problem why the Nigerian side gained an early upper hand over Biafra.

Everybody agrees that Banjo was the worst strategic mistake by Biafra, and it happened too early in the war.

excanny:

@Katsumoto

The tactic deployed by sending Banjo to Lagos to capture Gowon could have changed the tide of the war, but he screwed up by invading the Midwest, and spending unnecessary time arguing back and forth with Ojukwu. Finally, when he decided to continued, he got to Ore and started negotiating cowardly with Obasanjo.

He also lost 40 miles of territory without a fight. Banjo was part of the problem why the Nigerian side gained an early upper hand over Biafra.

A lot of importance is attached to the success/failure of the BEF's objective of capturing Lagos. For arguements sake, lets say the Biafrans captured Lagos, it certainly would not have been the end of the war. Gowon and ArmyHQ would have simply relocated elsewhere. Afterall, thats what the Biafrans did after the fall of Enugu. Secondly, victory in one or two battles alone does not guarantee success in winning a war. If it were so, the USSR would not have overcome its initial monumental setbacks in WW2 against Germany before capturing Berlin. I would go further to argue that the BEF would have been trapped in Lagos had it gotten there. Murtala's 2nd division would have been sent after it; just like it was that Division that pursued the Biafrans to the Niger.

You are wrong about Banjo negotiating with Obasanjo. Obasanjo was not actively involved in that war until May 1969 after Adekunle was relieved of his position. Banjo became confused after Western leaders sent word to him not to bring the war to the West. He had been under the impression that his force would be welcomed in the West following the brief he got from Ojukwu. The Nigerian side gained the upperhand after the fall of Enugu; that had nothing to do with Banjo. Neither did the fall of several towns in the South-South to Adekunle's 3rd Marine Commando Division.

Katsumoto:

Despite his initial good intentions, Ojukwu was not prepared for war. Dede is unlikely to agree with this since he thinks the only error Ojukwu made was in appointing Banjo to lead the BEF. This is just my opinion.

Strategic errors
1. Not realising that Biafra did not have the resources to engage the Nigerian side. A very gifted General will use the weight and/or size of its enemy against it (Judo strategy). Biafra was outnumbered and outgunned but it did nothing extra-ordinary to shift the balance of the war. Please read about how Ho Chi Minh defeated first, the French and then the Americans despite being seriously out-gunned.
2. Not forming alliances before declaring Biafra. It didn't reach alliances with the West or the Camerouns to its East. Due to antecedents in Nigeria's history, Biafra did not have the complete support of the groups geographically beneath it. This was particularly telling as it became blockaded for most periods of the war.
3. Not anticipating that super powers would support Nigeria (this is called short-sightedness). Blaming it on the discovery of crude oil is flippant.
4. Using Enugu as the capital with it so close to the Northern front. Enugu was captured after only 3 months of fighting (Oct 4th). The fall of Enugu meant that Biafra was always on the backfoot.
5. Not realising that without a capable Navy, Biafra would be blockaded
6. Declaring Biafra too soon; Biafra was declared on May 29th, Nigeria launched its offensive on the 6th of July. Biafra did not have the time to source for weapons. Hence its locally made weapons were not sufficient to prosecute a full scale war.
7. Biafra did not have the means to feed its citizens with the war on its soil; this was exacerbated by not having a single ally on any of its borders.

There are elements of truth in all the bolded words. Biafra or Eastern Nigeria could have negotiated a form of passage with Cameroon since France was sympathetic to Biafra. Allying with western Nigerians would be useless.

Biafra did not have a navy, and in my view, this is one of the biggest mistakes, if not THE BIGGEST MISTAKE of the war. We could even do without a formal standing army per se, but we could never have won without a functioning and MEAN Navy.

Those two things would have won us superpower support, because we could win even without their support. Those guys don't support a losing side in wars.

^^
So, summary:

(1) Cameroonian support;

and/or

(2) A good Navy

would have given us victory.

cap28:

Blazay - can you answer a few of the following questions for me -

If the January coup was an "igbo coup" why did the likes of major ademoyega, lieutenant fola oyewole - all yoruba officers
and  the following n northerners - atom kpera, husa kanga, musa manga, lekoja gidan jibrin, bako lamundo, joseph goji, lagwin goshit, yakubu kaje and many other non commissioned northern soldiers participate in this coup?

Also if the igbo officers involved were doing so in order to take over, why did they plan on releasing Awo from jail once the coup succeeded?

You say igbos set the tone of distrust and acrimony in nigeria - if that was indeed the case why were the yorubas rioting over the appointment of Akintola as premier of the western region in 1962 which led Balewa to declare a state of emergency?

You have described igbos as being bloodthirsty but there were in total 9 civilian casualties of the January 66 coup and 12 soldiers, of the 9 civilian casualties 5 were corrupt politicians, lets contrast that with the casualties of the July 66 coup -  FORTY FIVE OFFICERS were killed and of those 45,  THIRTY SEVEN were igbo, in addition approximately 300 igbo NCO's were killed by northern soldiers - some of whom were their class mates.

I have not even included the thousands of innocent igbos that were massacred in the north, therefore can you explain to me how you have come to the conclusion that the igbos are bloodthirsty murderers while northerners are peaceful people.

Only one answer to all of the above.

The Igbos started the whole mess and when others joined, little did they know that there were saboteurs in their midst. What ever happened after that ill-conceived coup was not in anyone's control. Never mind what came after that. Why a few non-commissioned Hausas?

If the Igbos did not start that so-called anti corruption mayhem within the Nigerian army, others would not have had the reason to over-react.

So, the civilians were corrupt, the best thing to do was to go on a killing rampage?

You guys never fail to amaze me. I will not even get into the details of the coup that subsequently led to the civil war(the result of the Nzeogwu-Ojukwu rivalry)

Nzeogwu started the coup and Ojukwu started the Biafra war. . . see where we are now.

Thanks to the Igbos.

@katsumoto.I think one of the reasons awo gave to ojukwu why the west will not be able to seccede or help the east is that the west was been held captive by the nigerian army and any attempt by the west to seccede will be catastrophic,had ojukwu been able to capture lagos and free the west from the north,the dynamics of the war would have swung in favour of biafra,as the west would have been an ally to the east and the north would stand no chance,biafra failed when it failed to capture lagos. But something tells me that awo never intended to secced,the prospect of replacing the igbo in the scheme of things and becoming nigerian president is too juicy an offer to reject,he knew why ojukwu was trying to capture lagos but sabotaged it through banjo,it must be painful when he realised that the north have deceived him,and that they were never going to allow him be the president he felt he deserved.