Obaba Museum

The story of Nigeria’s Civil war popularly know as the Biafran war, is a sensitive matter which has not really been settled. The remote and final causes of the war are even more pronounced in Nigeria today. It is more baffling that most major narratives/accounts of the Civil war have been written by ‘Biafrans’ themselves. This is a deviation from the usual trend you would expect where the Victors usually write the history of war. Why is it that not much consideration is being given to permanently settle the Biafran question?

Let’s trace some of the issues which eventually led to the outbreak of the war.

The counter coup of July 29 1966, mainly sponsored by Army officers of Northern origin, brought in Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon a man from current day Plateau state. His installation as head of state allegedly brought in some ethnic balance within the army as he did not belong to any of the major ethnic group like the Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo. The coup of January 15, 1966 had been tagged an Igbo Coup due to the fact that many of it’s casualties were of northern origin and most of it’s major perpetrators from the East. In fact, four out of the five Majors who spearheaded it were of Igbo origin. The counter coup therefore launched sprees of vengeful killing against Igbo people resident in the North.

Ironically, the Northerners who had dominated the Post independence politics in Nigeria feared the domination of another ethnic group. In fact a major strong argument of Lt. Col Ojukwu, the military governor of the Eastern region, was that Gowon did not merit the appointment he had taken on as the new head of state. Ojukwu argued that there were more suitable and qualified senior officers in the Army. An example was Brigadier-General Babafemi Ogundipe the Chief of Staff and next in line to Major-General Ironsi. The truth however was that the Northern hegemony in Nigerian politics had already been established underground. In fact there were really no northern officers who were willing to take orders from the Yoruba General.

One of the immediate triggers of the Counter coup was Decree 34 which abolished Federalism and introduced the Unitary system of government. In effect power was being concentrated in the central government and all appointment would be rather on merit than Federal character. Of course the allegiance of citizens would no longer be to their respective states but to the central government. The Decree was promulgated on May 24, 1966 by then Head of State, Major General Ironsi and was called Unification Decree even though some critics (particularly northerners) at that time labelled it the De-unification Decree.

There was widespread demonstration in many parts of Northern Nigeria at that time. On his return to Kaduna on May 27, Col. Hassan Katsina was besieged with demands for an explanation. It was feared that in a unified service, Northerners would be at a disadvantage. It was no consolation that the Decree provided for the delegation of appointments and promotions, except the most senior, to Provincial Civil Service Commissions.

Although General Gowon, the next Head of State, revoked Decree 34 on August 31, 1966 through Decree 9, a huge semblance of the Decree is still effective in Nigerian federalism today, however, the difference is that the Northerners are now more at an advantage than other sections of the country.

Thanks for reading through. In my next article I would show you the effects of the counter coup and how it eventually led to the civil war. We would love to know your view, kindly drop your comments below. Do have a lovely day