'Hannibal’

Nickname for Biafran Colonel Joe Achuzia, acquired after the Federal Nigerian Army Abagana disaster. Inspired by Carthaginian General Hannibal who defeated Roman troops at Cannae.

Agbari Ojukwu, meaning a the " head of Ojukwu" a big black pot we used for frying a large quantities of meat or fish.

Lord “Haw-Haw”

Federal nickname for Okokon Ndem, a minority easterner who nevertheless, worked as a highly effective Biafran radio propagandist. Biafran radio also used the same nickname for Mr. Ukpabi Asika, a pro-federal Igbo intellectual who was appointed on October 27, 1967 by General Gowon as Administrator of the East-Central State.


The term dates back to the Second World War. ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ was the name British radio fans called William Joyce, an American born British man with an English mother and Irish-American father. He had nazi sympathies and worked for Goebbels as a German weekly radio broadcaster. The British hanged him for treason in 1946.

'Intruder’


Biafran nickname for a specific Federal Nigerian Airforce Ilyushin IL-28 Russian bomber based at the Benin City Forward Air Base in the Midwest. By flying at altitudes above 10,000 feet, usually at night, it avoided Biafran ack-ack and home made ground to air rockets. It was part of the so-called “Genocide Squadron.”

The Intruder was destroyed on the ground in May 1969 during Count Von Rosen’s Operation Biafra Baby

Operation “Kura”

Kura is the Hausa word for Hyena. This was the alleged Igbo operation to eliminate northern traditional rulers at Ibadan on July 28, 1966, as a follow-up to “Damisa.” The existence of such an operation has never been independently confirmed. Nevertheless such propaganda was widely disseminated in certain northern circles and may well have been believed.

"Land Army”

A subgroup of the Biafran “Science Group” dedicated to production of food under economic blockade.

"Mad Mike”

Nickname for Col. Mike Hoare (Biafran mercenary)

"Marshals”

Extra large, home made, Biafran multiple mine throwers.

"Monty of the Midwest”

Drawing inspiration from Britain’s Field Marshall Montgomery of Alamein, this was a nickname for Federal Nigerian Lt. Col. Murtala Mohammed, Commander of the 2nd Infantry Division on account of his successful campaign to contain and evict Biafran forces from that region in 1967.

"Na Cinema”

Nickname for Colonel Benjamin Adekunle, mainly used among his people, the Yoruba.

"Ndidi”

Biafran nickname meaning “patience.” It was given to a captured Federal Nigerian Army Armored Personnel Carrier at Uzuakoli.

Ogbunigwe or Ojukwu Bucket as referred to be the Nigerian Federal forces


Very deadly home made Biafran multipurpose bomb produced by the Weapons and Equipment Workshop subsequently subsumed under the Research and Production (RAP) Organization. Ogbunigwe was based on the physics of the “Monroe” effect. It killed and maimed by wave effect percussion and dispersal of shrapnel. It was shaped either as a cone or cylinder and could be used as a land mine, a ground to ground projectile against troop concentrations or ground to air anti-personnel “air burst” cluster bomb.

Operation ‘Aure’

Aure is the Hausa word for “marriage”. When planning for the northern counter-coup of July 1966, conspirators in southern Nigeria made coded reference to it by talking about “Paiko’s wedding”, Paiko being the nickname for (and hometown in Niger Province of) Lt. Garba Dada, a northern subaltern at the 4th battalion who was to be the spearhead.

Operation Biafra Baby (Babies)


Biafran mercenary Count Von Rosen’s Minicon air raids against Federal Nigerian AirForce aircraft at Port Harcourt, Enugu and Benin airports on May 24 and 25, 1969. Later on, raids were carried out against oil and shipping facilities at Port Harcourt, Sapele, Warri and Forcados.

Operation Do or Die

Biafran offensive in late October 1969 to reopen the route to the Otuocha food producing area between Onitsha and Abagana. This was a direct response to the Federal Operation ‘Finishing Touch’

Operation ‘Finishing Touch’

Federal Nigerian Army HQ offensive launched in October 1969 to break the stalemate of ‘trench warfare’ that characterized the preceding months.

Operation ‘Kinshasha Special’


Alleged coup attempt uncovered on September 21, 1967 against Biafran leader Emeka Ojukwu by Colonel [Brigadier] Banjo, [Major] Alale, Major [Lt. Col.] Ifeajuna and [Major] Sam Agbamuche. All four men were executed within four days after a court-martial.

Ojukwu claimed in his diary that Ifeajuna was seen coming out the premises of the British High Commissioner and that Banjo had thousands of pounds given to him by the British, and that British-paid saboteurs were indoctrinating Biafran troops in the trenches. He later accused Banjo of deliberately withdrawing from Benin in the wake of Lt. Col. Mohammed’s 2DIV offensive.

Operation Leopard

Federal Nigerian Army 1st Infantry Division military offensive to take Umuahia in March and April 1969. Umuahia was then the capital of Biafra.

Operation Mabel

French Secret Service airlift operation directed by Jacques Foccart to supply Biafra with weapons (It began in September 1968, after an earlier public declaration on August 1st that France was in support of Biafran “self determination”)

Operation OAU


Federal Nigerian Army Offensive of September 1968 launched by 3MCDO Commander, Colonel Benjamin Adekunle. Originally announced by Adekunle on July 30 at an international press conference. It was aimed at the near simultaneous capture of Owerri, Aba and Umuahia by Independence day October 1st 1968. Intended as a “present” for Nigeria’s Head of State, it ended in disaster.

Operation Tailwind


Final Federal Nigerian Offensive of the war, launched in December 1969 by 3 Marine Commando Division under Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo.

Operation Tallman


“Final” Federal Nigerian AHQ Offensive of August 1968

Operation Tiger-Claw

Federal Nigerian 3MCDO Offensive led by Colonel Adekunle to take Calabar in October 1967.

Operation Torch


Biafran invasion of the Midwest, August 9, 1967. Colonel Victor Banjo led the 101 Division.

The same code-name appears to have been used for the unsuccessful Biafran offensive in September 1967 to retake Nsukka.

"Paddy”


Nickname for an Irish mercenary fighting for Biafra

"Quisling”


Another Biafran radio nickname for Ukpabi Asika. [Derived from the name of the Norwegian Minister who served the Nazis during the Second World War].

RAP


Acronym for Biafran “Research and Production” Organization. This organization brought together and coordinated the efforts of different science groups focusing on Airports and roads, chemicals and materials, Heavy equipment and industrial materials, weapons production, biological processes, fuel refining, rocketry, explosives, electronics and essential foods.

"Red Devil”


Biafran home made Armored vehicle adapted from tractors and other earth moving equipment or captured or old vehicles. Produced by the Heavy Equipment and Industrial Materials Group.

"ROB”


Biafran pneumonic for “Republic of Benin”, the republic declared in the Midwest State on September 20, 1967 by Major Albert Okonkwo, acting on behalf of Ojukwu. It was a last ditch effort to win support from the minority ethnic groups in that State by purporting to change its “status” as Biafran “Occupied Territory” to one of an independent nation. Less than 24 hours later the “ROB” collapsed when federal troops took Benin City, its capital.

The 101 Division, which originally invaded the State under Colonel Banjo on August 9, 1967, was later renamed the “ROB” Division. Under Colonel Achuzia, it carried out numerous raids into the Midwest in 1968 and 1969 from across the River Niger

"Sabo”


Nickname for “saboteur”, a common Biafran tendency, encouraged by the Ojukwu regime, to refer to any Biafran commander who lost a battle to federal forces irrespective of the odds. Virtually all senior Biafran commanders (except General Odumegwu Ojukwu) were branded saboteurs at one point or another. The custom began after the disastrous withdrawal of the Biafran 101 Division from its ill-fated Midwest campaign of 1967.

"S” Brigade


“S” stood for “Special”. It was a Brigade originally conceived as a personal protection force for Biafran leader Ojukwu, with direct reporting relationship to him, outside Biafran Army control.

This created a lot of envy and operational problems.

"Shettima”


Nigerian nickname for the Spanish CETME automatic rifle – a variant of the Gewehr 3

(G3) German rifle. [Shettima is a real northern name, particularly in the northeast among the Kanuri. It appears its phonologic similarity to CETME led to its adoption as the local name of that rifle].