Crisis: War against Biafrans and the Muslims

A War Begins, Biafrans Goes After Muslims!

The Biafrans  have totally set a ball of war rolling by calling the Igbo Muslims absolute fraudsters It came as a shock and huge surprise when a post was made in the Biafran fan page calling Muslims fraudsters because they had no business been Muslims since according to them Islam is a religion that propagates threats and violence , the Biafrans who have made this claim can’t say they are not guilty of the same sins they are accusing others for. Or do we now decide people are volatile based simply on their religion.

Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in West Africa which existed from 30 May 1967 to January 1970; it was made up of the states in the Eastern Region of Nigeria.

Biafra’s attempt to leave Nigeria resulted in the Nigerian Civil War. The state was formally recognised by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Zambia. Other nations, which did not give official recognition but provided support and assistance to Biafra, included Israel, France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Rhodesia, South Africa and the Vatican City. Biafra also received aid from non-state actors, including Joint Church Aid, Holy Ghost Fathers of Ireland, and under their direction Caritas International,MarkPress and U.S. Catholic Relief Services.

Its inhabitants were mostly Igbo, who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria. Other ethnic groups that were present were the Efik, Ibibio, Annang, Ejagham, Eket, Ibeno and the Ijaw among others.

After two-and-a-half years of war, during which almost two million Biafran civilians died from starvation caused by the total blockade of the region by the Nigerian government and the migration of Biafra’s Igbo people into increasingly shrinking territory, Biafran forces under the motto of “No-victor, No-vanquished” surrendered to the Nigerian Federal Military Government (FMG), and Biafra was reintegrated into Nigeria. The surrender was facilitated by the Biafran Vice President and Chief of General Staff, Major General Philip Effiong who assumed leadership of the defunct Republic after the original President, Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu fled to Ivory Coast.

In 1960, Nigeria became independent of the United Kingdom. As with many other new African states, the borders of the country did not reflect earlier ethnic, cultural or religious boundaries. Thus, the northern region of the country has a Muslim majority, while the southern population is predominantly Christian. Following independence, Nigeria was divided primarily along ethnic lines with a Hausa and Fulani majority in the north, and Yoruba and Igbo majorities in the south-west and south-east respectively.

In January 1966, a military coup occurred during which a group of predominantly Igbo junior army officers assassinated 30 political leaders including Nigeria’s Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and the Northern premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello. The four most senior officers of Northern origin were also killed. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the President, of Igbo extraction, and the premier of the southeastern part of the country were not killed and the commander of the army, General Aguiyi Ironsi seized power to maintain order.

In July 1966 northern officers and army units staged a counter-coup. Muslim officers named a General from a small ethnic group (the Angas) in central Nigeria, General Yakubu “Jack” Gowon, as the head of the Federal Military Government (FMG). The two coups deepened Nigeria’s ethnic tensions. In September 1966, approximately 30,000 Igbo were killed in the north, and some Northerners were killed in backlashes in eastern cities.