A federation under strain
Nigeria became independent from Britain in 1960 as a federation of three large regions: North, West and East, with a fourth, Mid-West, added in 1963. The regions were strongly tied to major ethnic groups: Hausa-Fulani in the north, Yoruba in the west and Igbo in the east, though each region also contained many minorities. Competition for power and revenue was a constant feature of national politics.
The system broke down in 1966. In January, a group of mostly Igbo army officers killed senior politicians and military figures, including the prime minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and the premier of the Northern Region. The coup did not hold. Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo, took control of the government, but he was killed in a counter-coup in July. Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon, a northerner from a minority group, became head of the federal military government.
The massacres of 1966
In the months after the January coup, Igbo people living in northern cities were attacked in several waves of violence. The worst episode is generally dated to September 1966. Estimates of the number killed vary widely and are hard to verify, though it is often placed in the thousands. Very large numbers of survivors fled to the Eastern Region.
This shaped the east’s view of the federation. Many easterners concluded that they could not be safe in a Nigeria under northern-dominated military rule. The Eastern military governor, Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, took the position that the region could not accept the federal government’s authority while the killings went unpunished.
Aburi and the failed compromise
In early January 1967, the military leaders met at Aburi in Ghana, with the Ghanaian head of state, Joseph Ankrah, hosting. They reached an agreement that appeared to loosen the central government’s hold and give regions more autonomy. Almost immediately, the two sides disagreed about what had been agreed. Ojukwu argued that federal officials were failing to carry out the Aburi terms. The federal side argued that the east was reading the agreement too broadly.
The disputes accumulated through the spring. The east began to keep revenue that it would normally have sent to the centre, and federal measures such as economic restrictions deepened the quarrel.
The declaration of 30 May
On 27 May 1967, Gowon announced a plan to divide Nigeria into twelve states. The reorganisation split the Eastern Region into three states and separated the Igbo heartland from the area containing most of the oil. For many easterners this looked like an effort to isolate the Igbo and deprive them of oil revenue. Minority peoples in the east had also long wanted states of their own, which complicates any simple picture.
Three days later, on 30 May, Ojukwu announced that the Eastern Region would become the independent Republic of Biafra. The name came from the Bight of Biafra. The Biafra secession was backed by a consultative assembly in the east, though the extent of support among the region’s minorities was disputed then and later.
The war begins
Gowon described the federal response as a “police action” to restore the unity of the country, and it began in early July 1967. The federal army first advanced from the north. Its early progress was slower than expected, partly because the federal forces were short of equipment and experience.
Biafra took the initiative in August, when its forces crossed the Niger River into the Mid-West Region and captured Benin City. The advance was a surprise, but it stretched Biafran supply lines. Federal forces regrouped and pushed the Biafrans back. In October 1967, they captured Enugu, the Biafran capital, and the government moved to other towns. The war was no longer likely to be a short one.
Outside powers
The Nigerian war soon attracted outside interest. The British government supported the federal side and supplied arms, and the Soviet Union also became a significant arms supplier to Lagos. Biafra obtained weapons through other channels, and France was generally seen as sympathetic to it, though French policy was cautious. Several African states recognised Biafra in 1968, including Tanzania, Gabon, the Ivory Coast and Zambia. Most African governments, and the Organisation of African Unity, were reluctant to accept a precedent of secession, since many states faced similar internal divisions.
What happened next
The war lasted until January 1970, when Biafran resistance ended. Federal forces gradually cut Biafra off from the sea, and food shortages and famine followed in 1968 and 1969. Images of malnourished children drew international attention and led to relief flights, notably those organised by church groups and the Red Cross. The total number of deaths is uncertain, with estimates ranging from several hundred thousand to over a million, most of them civilians who died from hunger and disease.
After the war, the federal government adopted a policy of reconciliation and said there were no victors or vanquished. Questions about how the east was treated, and about the control of oil revenue, remained part of Nigerian politics for decades.