Thoughts on Biafra
on November 15, 2007
Category: African History, Nigeria, Niger Delta
Some rare footage from the Biafran war 1967-1970 in seven parts. For some reason embedding Part 1 has been disabled. This footage is from Part 3.
There are more knowledgeable people than myself on this period of “Nigeria’s” history. I say “Nigeria” because the nation was constructed not by those who now live within it’s boundaries, but by a foreign colonial power whose interests were served by these borders. Like most civil wars the events leading to the secession followed by what the Federal government termed a “police action” but which was in fact a war, are complex. Nonetheless I believe one of the major mistakes made by the Biafran leadership was to assume that the non-Igbo people that fell within Biafra would automatically and willingly support the notion of Biafra. Whereas in fact those minorities were divided between those who supported Biafra and those who supported the Federal government or a “one Nigeria”. Often villages and towns were divided down the middle. There are historic reasons for this as for example the relationship between the Kalabari and Bonny people with the Igbo is that of cousins.
From what I have read and what I have been told by my own family, I do not believe the Biafran leadership made any serious attempt at inclusiveness or to win the hearts and minds of the Delta peoples. In her novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, alludes to this fact in one scene where non-Igbo women were accused of being traitors and not to be trusted. Another much overlooked dynamic in the war was of course oil. Biafra was only really viable as a nation if it had access to the Delta and to oil. Likewise by 1967, Nigeria was at the beginning of the oil boom and the accompanying corruption of leadership with $billions going into the personal pockets of leaders across the nation. Would they have bothered to fight if there was no oil. Would Biafra have seceded if there was no access to the Delta oil?
However it has to be said that there are many people in the Delta regions who may not have supported the secession in 1967, but who would today, take the opposite point of view and who in fact believe they made an error in not supporting the Biafran cause. 40 years has passed and it is only recently that Nigerians, writers, journalists are now beginning to talk about the events leading up to the war, the war itself and the terrible loss of lives and suffering that took place. I believe there has been a deliberate decision as a nation, not to discuss Biafra which has led to the failure to acknowledge the horror of the 3 years of war as well as the years it took to recover, for the people of Biafra.
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11 Comments so far
1. JohnofScribblesheet
November 16th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Its such a sad story. Ive read quite a bit about the war and the failure to win non-igbo hearts and minds was a major cause of the Biafran failure.
Yet I feel the Biafran grievances were legitimate.
2. Pammy
November 16th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Well Said!!
3. Brian
November 17th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Good piece
4. Ababoy
November 17th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Very nice and well written piece. If Biafra had been premeditated, I am in no doubt that they would have attended to most of the failing they had. Biafra, I think was on the whole a reaction to horrid events, and like most reactions, a lot of things were not done as they should be.
Still…
5. ScribbleSheet Blog
November 18th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
[…] below which profiles embedded journalism in the Biafran War (Nigerian Civil War 1967-70) Thanks to Black Looks for the […]
6. anengiyefa
November 19th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Sokari I agree that there has been a deliberate decision in Nigeria not to discuss Biafra. Admittedly, this could be seen as a failure to acknowledge the suffering of millions of Nigerian citizens during the period of the war, and for several years thereafter. But the decision to remain largely silent about Biafra, can also be seen as reaffirming the collective desire of the majority of Nigerians to put firmly behind them a very tragic episode in their nation’s history.
I am an indegene of oil rich Bayelsa State in the Delta region, and if I was old enough at the time of the Biafra conflict to have an opinion on the matter, I am certain that my view concerning secession would have been a definite NO, as it is even today. I am not convinced that the condition of the people of the Delta would be different in any significant manner under Biafra rulership, from what it is under Nigeria.
7. Sokari
November 19th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
I don’t believe that remaining silent is a reaffirmation of a collective desire to put Biafra behind them. You cannot put history behind you and forget or pretend it did not happen. For those who lived Biafra the wounds are still there and need to be healed and we all need know what happened if only for it not to happen again. There are rumblings throughout the country - Biafra is a reminder of what could happen.
8. Herbert
November 20th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
It is regretable that my piece on Biafra was not posted here.
I have the feeling that candid and strong opinions are not welcomed here.
Then,where do go from here?.
Best regards.
9. Bosse Hammarström
November 20th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
I have almost finished reading Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I am now 67 years old, in 1967 I was 27, and I had just graduated as a Registred Nurse. The two month long stint with the International Red Cross in Agbor, the then Mid-West region, was my first Third World assignment. I get so many flash-backs from the reading. One is that at the time I was convinced Biafra could not be defeated and I returned and tried to lobby for support for Biafra in Sweden. I had studied Social Anthropology and read Achebes Things fall apart before going to Nigeria. After I have spent some 15 years in different African countries - Tanzania, Zambia, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Namibia and Mozambique.
It is not easy to try to be an Afro optimist.
10. Sokari
November 21st, 2007 at 10:17 am
Herbert. I do not understand. I have not received any comment from you other than the one here. I take serious issue that comments are not allowed on this site and that “candid opinions are not welcome” - This is absolutely untrue. I have never disallowed any of your comments on Black Looks and I do not know what happened to your piece on Biafra but it was never sent to me or posted here.
11. dapo
January 11th, 2008 at 5:54 am
I lived in Nigeria from the age of four until I was sixteen (1967-80), in all those years I never knew about the Biafran war until I moved to America. I think it`s wrong to bury our past especialy when it`s horrid. How are we expected to learn from it so as not to make the same mistake. I wish the people and government will talk openly and find a just solution to the same old problem of ethnic division that brought about the war.