#duetplays

Nigeria still deals with the after effects of the Biafran War. The huge number of Biafrans killed left a huge scar without closure in the nation-state.

Former Minister of Aviation and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has told former Military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, that the various prayer sessions he is conducting would be wasted if he (Gowon) does not apologise to the Igbos over the genocide against them during the 1966 Civil War.

In so far as it would be a northerners' war, one of its main objects would be revenge against the easterners for having dared to challenge federal, which is primarily northern, authority. One party in the north, at any rate, appears to want to teach the Ibo a lesson without any corresponding desire to keep them as federal partners.

What I can really remember during the war, something I can never forget, was when I was in Enugu. I was a conductor and [Nigerian] soldiers caught us. They forced us to deliver arms and ammunition.

After the Great Scramble for Africa created the nation-state of Nigeria and after 70 years of British colonial rule, Nigeria finally achieved independence in 1960. Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa became head of state and ruled over a seemingly peaceful six-year period known as the First Republic of Nigeria. Eventually, preexisting tensions between the Hausa-dominated North and Southeastern Igbo began to boil over. Differences in culture and religions exacerbated conflicts leading to the assassination of Balewa in a coup lead by Igbo General Johnson Aguyi-Ironsi in 1966.

Six months later, a counter-coup took place and installed Northern General Yakubu Gowon as head of state. All Igbos in the region were stripped of their positions and anti-Igbo pogroms began, massacring thousands of Igbos and causing many to flee. In 1967, the Southeastern region of Nigeria, led by Igbo Col. Ojukwu, seceded to become Biafra, citing the federal government’s failure to stop the pogroms. General Gowon refused to accept Biafra’s sovereignty due to its abundance in resources, including oil. Gowon enforced military power to take back the land and Biafra fought back.

Throughout the three year Civil War, Nigeria’s federal forces grew in manpower and weaponry. Biafra’s ports were overtaken to limit resources into Biafra, causing massive famine that left between 500,000 - 2 million dead from starvation. Though Igbos were the main focus of the Northerner’s violence, many other Southern Nigerian groups—including Ibibios—found themselves caught in the powerful strife. Biafran troops soon surrendered to Nigeria in 1970. Col. Ojukwu fled for asylum and the war ended. General Gowon was hopeful in reconstructing the nation and placing the government back in civilian rule, but he was overthrown and military leadership continued for 30 years.

(New York Theatre Workshop)