January 15, 2020 marked 50 years since the end of the Biafra War that broke out in Nigeria, the African country with the largest population and economy. Although the war is almost forgotten in much of the world, it triggered large-scale famine and is estimated to have claimed up to 3 million lives. It is said to be one of the worst wars since World War II, after the Second Congo War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Nigeria is expected to become the world’s third most populous country by 2050, yet the shadow of the Biafra War still lingers deeply. This article explores the causes of the Biafra War, the current situation of the Igbo people (Igbo) who fought for independence there, and prospects for the future.

People marching to commemorate Nigeria’s independence (Photo: iammatthewmario / Pixabay)

Nigeria’s “stateless nations”

The core of the Biafra War was the struggle for Igbo independence. The Igbo are 1 of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. The largest group is the Hausa-Fulani, who live in the north and are mainly Muslim (about 1/3 of the population), followed by the Yoruba, who live in the southwest and are mainly Christians and practitioners of the Yoruba religion (about 14%), and the Igbo, who live in the southeast and are primarily Christian (about 14%). In addition, Nigeria today has over 500 languages and about 250 smaller ethnic groups.

The reason Nigeria is such a multi-ethnic state is that ethnic groups that originally had their own states were consolidated into 1 by British colonization and made into 1 country. Because borders were drawn based on Britain’s political and economic interests, the political and cultural backgrounds of the people living there were not considered. Among these were groups with many people who, if given the chance, wished to become independent as a separate state; such groups are called “stateless nations” (※1).

Today, there are at least 100 “stateless nations” worldwide. The largest in terms of population are the Kurds distributed across Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, and Nigeria’s Yoruba and Igbo. Each is estimated at about 4,000万人. Some of these groups had their own states in the past. The Yoruba and Igbo also once had independent states but lost sovereignty due to British colonization. In fact, the Oyo Empire established by the Yoruba in the 12th century was the most politically important state in the region from the 15th to the 18th century. The Igbo also established the Kingdom of Nri in the 10th century, which existed until it lost sovereignty in 1911.

British colonial rule and the making of Nigeria

The transatlantic slave trade, which began in the 17th century, forced people living mainly in Central and West Africa to work as slaves on plantations in the Americas. Lagos was one of the ports used to send Africans to the Americas. Lagos was the principal city of the then-independent Kingdom of Lagos and is now Nigeria’s largest city.

A slave workshed in present-day Nigeria (1746) (Photo: Parr, Nathaniel, engraver/Wikimedia [public domain])

Until the 18th century, the main transporter of slaves from Africa was Britain. However, in 1807 Britain banned the slave trade and urged other European countries to end it as well. As part of the anti-slavery movement and for economic reasons, Britain attacked Lagos, deposed its ruler, and installed a new, pro-British, anti-slave-trade leader. At first Britain provided military assistance to Lagos, but 10 years later, in 1861, Britain annexed Lagos as its own territory, as European powers were competing for territory in Africa and British influence in Lagos was under threat.

Indeed, competition among European powers for control of Africa was intense and risked leading to direct conflict among them. To prevent this, at the Berlin Conference held in 1885, European leaders confirmed and agreed on principles for colonizing Africa, which triggered the full-scale partition of Africa by European countries. The territory corresponding to present-day Nigeria then officially became a British colony.

Initially, Nigeria under British rule was divided into two regions, north and south. However, the modes of British control applied in these 2 regions were completely different. In the north, Britain ruled indirectly through existing local chiefs, leaving in place the authoritarian political systems of the people living there; in the south, direct rule was exercised through the British private company, the Royal Niger Company. The Royal Niger Company used its own private army to administer the territory. As a result, people in the north were scarcely influenced by European culture, while people in the south—especially the Igbo—came to be greatly influenced by European culture, adopting Christianity and receiving advanced British-style education.

In 1914, the previously separated south and north were merged to form a single Nigerian colony. In other words, many ethnic groups, centered on the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo, were brought together into 1 country. Their shared desire to oppose British colonial rule evolved into a common Nigerian identity and nationalism.

Nigeria’s independence ceremony (1960) (Photo: Lord777/Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0])

In 1960, Nigeria gained independence. However, this removed the justification for Nigeria-wide nationalism based on escaping colonial rule. As a result, ethnic nationalism—especially among groups that had had their own states in the past, particularly the Igbo—re-emerged.

Background to the outbreak of the Biafra War

After independence, Igbo elites expanded their influence in Nigeria’s political, economic, and military leadership. Although the Igbo originally lived in the southeast, many—especially traders and literati—actively moved to other parts of Nigeria, including the north.

However, the Igbo—who were generally wealthier and more highly educated—gradually became targets of resentment, especially in the north. Visible electoral and political imbalances and corruption ultimately led to a series of coups.

The turning point was the 1966 coup. The then prime minister, originally from the north, was assassinated by an Igbo general. The official reason for the coup was that the prime minister and others were living lavishly at the expense of citizens mired in severe poverty and embezzling public funds; however, in the north the coup was perceived as an Igbo attempt to seize political control of Nigeria. As a result, many Igbo were massacred in the north, and as many as 100万人 of them were forced to move back to their original homeland in the southeast. In reaction, another coup occurred, and as a result General Yakubu Gowon from the north became the new head of state.

In this tense situation, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Odumegwu Ojukwu), the military governor from the Igbo, demanded that Gowon ease centralization. Gowon refused and, instead, to prevent regional secession, subdivided the Igbo area into smaller regions. In response, in 1967, Ojukwu declared that the Igbo region would become independent as the Republic of Biafra. This would later lead to one of the worst wars since World War II—the Biafra War.

The struggle over Biafran independence

An important motive behind Biafra’s declaration of independence was dissatisfaction that oil reserves were concentrated in southeastern Nigeria and that the Igbo could enjoy relatively fewer benefits compared to other regions. Ojukwu, Biafra’s leader, expected oil companies to side with Biafra in the war by offering more favorable contracts. However, those companies supported the Nigerian government led by Gowon. Unsurprisingly, the government did not recognize Biafra’s independence, as it feared that if Biafra succeeded, other groups (particularly the Yoruba) would also seek independence.

Most Western countries, including Britain and the Soviet Union, which were supplying arms to Nigeria, recognized Gowon’s regime as the government of all Nigeria. Meanwhile, several African countries—including Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Tanzania, and Zambia—recognized Biafra as an independent state. Some countries, notably France, secretly supported Biafra in exchange for oil, but because Biafran forces were not in a strong position and had fewer soldiers, they could not maintain the new borders. As a result, a year after the declaration of independence, in 1968, Biafra lost its seaports to the government and became landlocked.

The Nigerian government blockaded Biafra’s remaining territory, and mass famine broke out due to food shortages. Many countries sent food and medicine in response to Biafra’s plight, but violence and other factors allowed famine and disease to spread, resulting in up to 3 million deaths. In 1970, Biafra was defeated.

According to recent research, even after 50 years, this Biafra War—one of the worst in African history—continues to have a major impact: people living in the war-affected regions still tend to be shorter, more prone to obesity, and less likely to have received sufficient education.

The Igbo today

After Biafra’s defeat, Igbo ethnic nationalism gradually declined, and some people moved away from an Igbo identity. Many people in southeastern Nigeria changed personal and place names to ones not in Igbo. Because the Igbo faced discrimination and often could not find jobs in Nigeria, many of them emigrated abroad in the early 1970s, primarily to the UK and the United States.

People calling for Biafran independence, Sweden (Photo: Sigfrid Lundberg/Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0] )

However, as the oil industry around the Niger Delta in the Niger River’s delta region expanded, the Igbo area also revived, and eventually many Igbo entered politics. The nationalism of the Igbo, which still existed in their hearts, began to reignite. This feeling was particularly strong among those who, after the failed bid for independence, had faced discrimination and left Nigeria.

In 1999, an organization campaigning for the “Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra” (MASSOB) (※2) was founded by Ralph Uwazurike (Ralph Uwazurike) with the goal of creating an independent Igbo nation. The organization has two branches: a Biafra Shadow Government based in Nigeria and a Biafra Government-in-Exile composed of Igbo nationalists abroad. MASSOB declares that it is a peaceful group that will achieve its goals peacefully and condemns the Nigerian government for belittling the people of Biafra. Since its establishment, numerous protests have occurred in southeastern Nigeria. Although peaceful, it is difficult to gauge the severity due to limited data and reporting, but protesters appear to be routinely attacked by the Nigerian government and military, with many people killed or arrested.

In 2009, in response to strong demands from Biafran supporters, MASSOB issued an unrecognized “Biafra International Passport” and launched “Radio Biafra” (Radio Biafra) in the UK. Broadcasting from the UK via the internet and shortwave, Radio Biafra promotes Biafran ideals—the “freedom of the people of Biafra”—to southeastern Nigeria.

Nnamdi Kanu (Photo: Adachineke/Wikimedia [CC BY-SA 4.0])

The role of IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu

In 2012, Nnamdi Kanu (Nnamdi Kanu), a British and Biafran citizen who became well known through Radio Biafra broadcasts, founded the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) (※3) composed of prominent Igbo figures. After Nigeria’s 2015 elections, IPOB criticized government corruption via Radio Biafra and spoke about establishing an independent Biafran state. Unsurprisingly, the Nigerian government opposed this, and Kanu was arrested by Nigerian security forces on October 19, 2015, on charges of “disturbing the peace, ethnic incitement, and treason.” He was granted bail in 2017 for health reasons.

The Nigerian government also cracked down on Radio Biafra and sent several radio staff to prison. According to a report by the international human rights NGO Amnesty International covering August 2015 to August 2016, at least 150 Biafran activists were killed by Nigerian security forces. Of those, 60 people were shot dead during a two-day Biafra commemoration event alone.

Google’s trend analysis of search patterns showed that interest in the term “Biafra” increased following these events. However, Kanu’s sudden disappearance in September 2017 and the Nigerian government’s designation of IPOB as a terrorist organization led to the wave of interest subsiding by the end of 2017.

Prospects for Biafran independence

Despite the fact that Kanu—who played a central role in the Biafran independence movement—had gone into hiding, new protests by Igbo activists began to emerge in 2018. In May 2018, dozens of Biafran protesters in southeastern Nigeria were arrested for displaying the illegal Biafran flag.

Most recently, in April 2020, Kanu—who had been reported dead—broke his silence and appeared on Facebook to prove he was alive. With Kanu’s return to the political stage, what are the prospects for Biafra, which ultimately seeks independence from Nigeria? It is difficult to say definitively, but 50 years after the Biafra War and as Nigeria undergoes generational change, the situation is evolving.

According to a public opinion survey on identity in Nigeria by Afrobarometer (Afrobarometer) (※4), the proportion of people who felt more strongly attached to their ethnic group than to the nation decreased from 25% (2011–2013) to under 15% (2014–2015). As the situation changes rapidly, as long as peace is maintained, Nigeria’s so-called “stateless nations” may continue to be simply “peoples” existing within the “state” of Nigeria.

However, the reality is not so simple. The strength of identity among people of all ethnic groups, including the Igbo, varies and can change. By recalling the history of the Biafra War and learning from it, we can hope that the dreams of the world’s “stateless nations” will one day be achieved peacefully, without repeating the same tragedy.

※1 The term “stateless nation” carries contradictions and various interpretations, so it is not necessarily an appropriate term. The Igbo hold Nigerian nationality and are part of that state. Also, since “single-ethnic-nation states” in practice do not exist in the world, current states are, with almost no exception, “multi-ethnic states.” However, when many people share a common identity, reject the state to which they currently belong, and strongly desire to become independent as a separate state, the term “stateless nation” is used.

※2　Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)

※3　Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)

※4 Afrobarometer is an organization that conducts public opinion surveys on various fields across Africa.

Writer: Yani Karavasilev

Translation: Wakana Kishimoto

Graphics: Saki Takeuchi , Yow Shuning