NIGERIA CIVIL WAR: CAUSES, EFFECTS AND WAYS TO PREVENT FURTHER WARS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Early in the morning of 1 July 1967, Nigeria’s young head of state,
Colonel Yakubu Gowon, was feeling uneasy in his office at the Supreme
Headquarters, Dodan Barracks in Lagos. The unease was a result of his
being ceaselessly pressured to authorize a military invasion of the
breakaway Republic of Biafra.
Members of the Supreme Military Council, who had been meeting twice
daily, were waiting for his word. The whole nation was waiting. Biafra,
which was on high alert, was also waiting. On 27 June 1967, Cyprian
Ekwensi, famous writer and Biafra’s Director of Information Service,
through the Voice of Biafra (formerly Enugu Radio), urged Biafrans to be
prepared for an invasion on June 29 since “Northerners have often struck
on 29th day of the month.” He was alluding to the day northern officers,
led by Major T.Y. Danjuma, seized Gowon’s predecessor, Major- General
Aguiyi-Ironsi, and killed him in a forest outside Ibadan.
Gowon, then 31, had been running the affairs of 57million Nigerians for
10 months. It had not been easy.
THE CAUSES OF THE NIGERIA CIVIL WAR
The first year of Nigeria independence were characterizing by severe conflict within and between regions. The three major parties were the: National Congress of Nigeria and Cameroun (NCNC) Northern Progressive Party (NPC) and Action group (AG) of the west were ethnically structure and regional based. Their main focus was the interest and concerns of major ethnic group and how they could control the federal government after independence.
This is consequently led to major crisis in the western region which resulted in arson, looting and massive destruction of property. The western regional election and the aftermath left the region shamble. Belewa generally ignore d the situation, saying he has no constitutional power to intervene against Akitola the premier of the region.
1965 Military Intervention
On 15 January 1966 was the very first time Nigerian experience a coup d’état. The immediate reasons for the first-coup, however, concerned the nationwide disillusionment with the corrupt and selfish politicians, as well as with their inability to maintain law and order and guarantee the safety of lives and property.
Aburi Agreement
Gowon and Ojukwu was invited to Ghana , Aburi in an effort by the Ghanaians did not actually work, because Ojukwu wanted a confederation system but when they arrived home Gowon disagreed, Gowon saw this as an act of indiscipline. It was seen that particular region was trying to break out from Nigeria. Since the Aburi agreement could not be hormone, event started to move in a quick succession.
The reason for northerners trying the invade the Biafra was being that the Biafra also included some oil rich regions in the southern Nigeria which was a rich source of Nigeria revenue.
Despite of these threats, the eastern region was divided into three states. The creation of these three states was viewed seriously by the eastern government as an intention by Lt. Gowon in Lagos to undermine the authority of Ojukwu’s government. However an ordinary Igbo man on the street does not view the creation of more state as a problem, as this does not affect his daily existence in respect to his economic pursuit. But the most painful thing for them was the closure of the Niger Bridge for traffics. The closure brought commercial activities between the east and other region halt.
The massacre of the Igbos in northern part of the country
The renewed massacre of the Igbos in every part of Nigeria made recruitment into army more imperative .The renewed killings resulted in more influx of people into the eastern region.
The soldiers did not have to do all the killings. They were soon joined by thousand of Hausas civilians also rampaged through the city armed with stones, cutlass, matches and home made weapons of metal broken glass, crying ‘heathen’ and ‘Allah;’ the mobs and troops invaded the Sabongari stranger quarters ransacking, looting and burning igo homes and stores and murdering their owners.
(C. Edmund 2007) Declaration of Independent State of Biafra Ojukwu decided on may 30th 1967 to declare the awaiting republic of Biafra. The declaration of the independent state of Biafra brought to fruition the long awaiting freedom and succor from deprivations and depression. As with all life, hardship always precedes enjoyments.
CHAPTER TWO
THE EFFECTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF NIGERIA CIVIL WAR ON THE SOCIETY
War as an acceptable component of intergroup relations is usually
resorted to when every other option may have failed.
Introduction
On 15 January 1966, Nigeria recorded its first military coup d’état,
which also ushered the military into governance. Under the new military
administration, Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, was appointed
Military Governor of the Eastern Region. Later that year, in fact on 29
July, a counter-coup took place, which saw the coming to power of Colonel
Yakubu Gowon as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria’s Armed
Forces.
take instructions from Lagos (then the federal capital). Within a short
time, the country was engulfed in a protracted crisis, which resulted in a
30-month Civil War. The primary causes of the Nigerian Civil War
(1967-1970) otherwise called the Biafran War, have already been discussed
in several works (Forsyth, 1977; Madiebo, 1980; Nwankwo, 1972; Cervenka,
1971; Obasanjo, 1981; St. Jorre, 1992). It is important to note however,
that this war had several consequences on the Igbo economy and in
particular its food production systems.
Administration. These issues combined to make food production relatively
difficult. Hence, the desire to look for alternative means of survival,
which in some cases included experimenting with new crops.
Civil Wars Civil Wars and conflicts generally have indeed attracted
considerable comments from scholars particularly in recent times given the
frequent occurrence as well as the associated consequences in several
countries of the world. However, the terrible consequences of these wars
have indeed driven conflict scholars to a better understanding of their
causes, duration, severity and outcomes (Thyne, 2006: 937-961). On the
numerous causes of Civil Wars, Fearon and Laitan suggest that the
prevalence of Civil Wars especially in the 1990s for instance was not due
to the end of the Cold War and associated changes in the international
system. It rather resulted from a steady, gradual accumulation of civil
conflicts that began immediately after the Second World War (Fearon &
Laitin, 2003: 75-90). Sambanis however insists that not all civil wars are
the same. Conventional
wisdom, he argues, suggests that each war is as different as the society
that produced it (Sambanis, 2001: 259-282). In any case, ethnicity could
be said to be at the centre of politics in divided societies, given that
the most important tensions in the world could be found among others, in
Lebanon, Israel, Algeria, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, India, and Yugoslavia
during the 1990s (Reynal-Querol, 2002: 29-54). The same could be said
about religion. In fact, religiously divided societies are more prone to
intense conflict than countries where people have conflicting claims to
resources based on interest groups or language divisions. This is because
religious identity is fixed and non-negotiable. Hence, disputes among
identity groups based on their religious nature are particularly difficult
to negotiate, thereby raising the odds of violence (Reynal-Querol, 2002:
29-54).
According to them, that civil wars kill and maim people is hardly
surprising. They in fact, continue to kill people indirectly, well after
the shooting stops. These new deaths (and disabilities) are overwhelmingly
concentrated in the civilian population (Ghobarah et al, 2003: 189-202).
On a wider scale, civil wars could also drive away foreign direct
investments, an important source of savings, as foreign investors redirect
their funds to less risky and more politically stable countries.
It is evident based on the foregoing that considerable literature exists
on the nature, causes and consequences of civil wars. The Nigerian Civil
War also manifests evidence from the numerous scholarly opinions.
The Nigeria Civil War and Disruption of Food Production Processes The
beginning of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967 also brought with it a lot of
confusion in governance especially in the Igbo territories.
There were equally problems associated with the conscription of
able-bodied men and women into the Biafra force after an initial
unsuccessful attempt to encourage voluntary enlistment.
That young man who sneaked about the village, avoiding service in his
country’s armed forces was unpatriotic; that young and able-bodied school
teacher who preferred to distribute relief when he should be fighting his
country’s war, was not only unpatriotic but was doing a woman’s work,
while those who helped these loafers to dodge their civic duties should
henceforth re-examine themselves (Kirk-Green, 1971: 357).
which were already over stretched. But the pressure on the Igbo food
economy following the mass return from different parts of the country had
other implications. According to the Administrator of East Central
State,
Mr. Ukpabi Asika, the return of these immigrants, cut off a substantial
source of income transfer, which they used to send back to their
communities and which provided a significant proportion of the gross
income of these communities.
Of course, the burden of reintegration and resettlement was shouldered by
the different families that had to accommodate their returnee relations.
The influx of the returnees, thus, put pressure on food supplies and in
fact threatened the food security of the area. Incidentally, Eastern
Nigeria even before this period had the highest population densities of
about 420 persons per sq. kilometer as against 337 in the West, 170 in the
Mid-West and 106 in the North (Ikpe, 1994: 96). Furthermore, given that
the influx of population to the East took place mainly in September 1966,
which coincided with the beginning of the yam harvest season and when the
cassava planting season had just ended, there were bound to be
difficulties in food supply (Ikpe, 1994: 96). Martin has observed that the
population of the Ngwa and in fact, other parts of Igboland had already
increased before the war with the return of Igbo from the other regions,
and with each city that fell into federal hands, more refugees fled into
rural Biafra thus increasing the pressure on local land resources and
further worsening the deplorable food situation (Martin, 1988: 133).
The man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny (as well as
evil and injustice), says Wole Soyinka. Following the recent death of Dim
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, I have heard comments in the media, internet
and at discussions that Ojukwu caused the Nigerian Civil War. I believe
that such comments are made either in ignorance or out of mischief,
bigotry or hatred. Ojukwu DID NOT cause the civil war.
REFERENCES
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