The Biafran Story: Is IPOB holding on to a lost cause?

The Biafran War also popularly referred to as the Nigerian Civil War was a war fought between Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra between 6 July 1967 and 15 January 1970.

The war started as a revolt started by a high-level tension due to ethnoreligious origins in Northern Nigeria where many of Igbo origin were massacred in the north to the point where little or no people of Igbo descent remained afterwards, another factor was control over the oil-rich Niger Delta region which the Biafrans sought to possess. This event has been referred to as genocide in some circles.

The precursor to the battle was the perceived arrogance of the Igbos in the North and majorly the 1966 Nigerian coup d’etat which was led by young Igbo officers who at the time killed a number of politicians and senior army officers of northern descent. A counter-coup was then carried out by Northern Officers on the 29 July of 1966 which left literally no Igbo alive in the North, mostly dead or en route back to the East.

Northerners were also not spared in the Eastern region of the country as many of them were also killed which led to a mass exodus of Northerners from the Eastern Region of the Country.

Within a year of the movement, the Federal Government surrounded the borders of Biafra leading to mass starvation and multiple deaths. Some foreign countries threw support behind the Federal Government and others behind the Biafran region. An embargo was placed on all trade between the Federal Military to and fro Biafra putting them at a major disadvantage.

Britain, the Soviet Union and eventually Israel supported Nigeria during the battle supplying arms while France allegedly offered some assistance to Biafra, while the United States declared neutrality. War broke out in full on the 6th of July 1967 to reclaim the secessionist territory.

After much ado, an extended stalemate and a widespread state of hunger and starvation ravaged the Biafran community with as many as up to three million dead mostly due to starvation and disease as the war progressed, on January 7, 1970 the final Nigerian Offensive tagged ‘Operation Tail Wind’ was launched and as a result the Biafran town of Owerri was conquered, the leader of the Biafran Ojukwu fled into exile and Phillip Effiong eventually surrendered to General Yakubu Gowon on January 13, 1970.

Many years afterwards, a new movement widely known as MASSOB – Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra is seeking the resurrection of Biafra. It was founded in 1999 and led by Ralph Uwazuruike, and inspired by Chinua Achebe’s last book, There was a Country, A Personal History of Biafra. The IPOB emerged in 2014 largely to continue the MASSOB movement and is led by Nnamdi Kanu who seeks to give life to the Biafra which failed to succeed at first attempt.

Unfortunately for the new Biafra protagonists, many have failed to show support for the revived movement including the now deceased Ojukwu, who in a video regretted the actions and claims would do differently in the future, the Niger Delta elders have also dissociated themselves from the movement saying they are not associated with IPOB in any way.

Which begs the question, is the new agitation for Biafra really worth it?