Secret American diplomatic dispatches, spread over 21,000 pages, provide previously unknown information about the Nigerian Civil War
Early in the morning of 1 July 1967, Nigeria’s young head of state, Colonel Yakubu Gowon, was feeling uneasy in his office at the Supreme Headquarters, Dodan Barracks in Lagos. The unease was a result of his being ceaselessly pressured to authorize a military invasion of the breakaway Republic of Biafra.
Thirty officers had been recalled from courses abroad. Trains and truck convoys, bearing fuel, supplies and men, were still leaving Kano and Kaduna for the south of River Benue.
Colonel Mohammed Shuwa of the First Area Command had moved his command headquarters southwards and set it up in Makurdi. The 2nd Battalion was already headquartered in Adikpo. Schools and private homes had been commandeered for the use of Major Sule Apollo and his 4th Battalion in Oturkpo. They were itching for action. The same day, Major B.M. Usman “a member of the intimate northern group around Gowon” told the American defense attaché: “I do not know what in hell he is waiting for; the boys are all ready to go. They are only waiting on his word.”
Members of the Supreme Military Council, who had been meeting twice daily, were waiting for his word. The whole nation was waiting. Biafra, which was on high alert, was also waiting.
On 27 June 1967, Cyprian Ekwensi, famous writer and Biafra’s Director of Information Service, through the Voice of Biafra (formerly Enugu Radio), urged Biafrans to be prepared for an invasion on June 29 since “Northerners have often struck on 29th day of the month.” He was alluding to the day northern officers, led by Major T.Y. Danjuma, seized Gowon’s predecessor, Major- General Aguiyi-Ironsi, and killed him in a forest outside Ibadan.
Gowon, then 31, had been running the affairs of 57million Nigerians for 10 months. It had not been easy. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, his 58-year old trusted deputy and adviser, was with Okoi Arikpo and Philip Asiodu, permanent secretaries of the ministries of External Affairs and Trade and Industries respectively.
They were preparing to put the noose on the neck of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell-BP, which had frozen royalty payments due to the Federation Account on 1 June 1967 and had offered to pay the Biafran government £250,000.
Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, Biafran leader, had ordered all oil companies to start paying all royalties to Enugu because they were operating in a new country or risk heavy penalties.
Ojukwu: Sworn in as Head of State of Biafra
Specifically, he demanded a minimum of £2million from Shell-BP. The Federal Government had imposed an economic blockade on Biafra. It entailed barring all merchant vessels and sea tankers from sailing to and from Koko, Warri, Sapele, Escravos, Bonny, Port Harcourt, Calabar ports, which Ojukwu had declared part and parcel of Biafra.
Biafra controlled the land on which the oil installations sat; the Nigerian government controlled the coastal entrance and exit to those lands. Shell-BP was confused as to whose order should be obeyed. Sir David Hunt, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, told his American counterpart after the meeting with the Nigerian delegation: “Awolowo is very firmly in control of Ministry of Finance and he is giving Stanley Gray, Shell’s General Manager and other experts from London a very difficult time for the past three days.” They persuaded Awolowo to accept a deal that would favour the Nigerian government and, at the same time, would predispose oil workers and the £150million investment to danger in the hands of Biafran military forces. Awolowo refused, arguing that anything short of the status quo was recognition of Biafra and concession to the rebels. As for security of investments and personnel, he argued that once royalties were paid, the Nigerian government would have the capacity to fund whatever action it would take on the rebels and Shell-BP’s investments would be safe.
Gowon paced to the large outdated map of the country by the door to his office. When he asked Awolowo to come and join his government, Awolowo said he would accept only if Gowon did something about the dominance of North over the rest of the nation. A month before, Gowon had broken up the North into six states, but the map by the door still showed the old Nigeria, with an imposing North at the top. He ran his finger around the boundaries of Biafra and asked himself: “How can I authorize an invasion of my own people?” He knew what it meant to be resented. He was not the most senior officer in the army. He was not a Muslim Hausa or Fulani from Kano, Kaduna or Sokoto. He was a Christian from one of the small minorities that dot the North and yet, events had promoted him to the position of the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief–to the chagrin of many northern officers, politicians, and emirs.
He knew the Igbo were resented in the North for succeeding where indigenes had failed. His Igbo lover, Edith Ike, told him her life was threatened twice in Lagos since she returned from the North in March.
According to the secret US document of 1 July 1967, Edith’s parents, having lived in the North for 30 years, where she too was born, had fled back to the East in October 1966 because of that year’s massacre of the Igbo. Not 30,000 but around 7,000 were killed, according to the American documents. Donald Patterson of the Political Section and Tom Smith of the Economic Section travelled from the US Embassy in Lagos to the North after the pogrom. “The Sabon-Garis were ghost towns, deserted, with the detritus of people, who had fled rapidly, left behind. Most Northerners we talked to had no apologies for what had happened to the Ibos, for the pogrom that had killed so many. There were exceptions, but in general, there was no remorse and the feeling was one of good riddance.
“One day, our Hausa gardener attacked and tried to beat up our Ibo cook. We fired the gardener, but not long afterwards, the cook left for the East,” said Patterson.
Earlier that week, Gowon called the West German Ambassador in Lagos. The Germans were eager to be in the good graces of the Gowon administration. A war loomed. And in wars, buildings, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure are destroyed. These would need rebuilding. The contract for the 2nd Mainland Bridge (later called Eko Bridge) was signed two years earlier by the Ambassador, CEO of Julius Berger Tiefbau AG and Shehu Shagari, Federal Commissioner for Works and Survey. That was Julius Berger’s first contract in Nigeria. It was due for completion in less than two years and they wanted more bilateral cooperation. The ambassador assured Gowon over the phone that he had taken care of all the details and guaranteed the safety of Edith, the nation’s “First Girlfriend”.
On the evening of 30 June, just before her departure on a commercial airline, Edith told the American Defense Attaché Standish Brooks, and his wife, Gail, that she actually wanted to go to the UK or USA, but Jack, as she affectionately called Gowon, insisted that she could be exposed to danger in either of the two countries. Germany, he reasoned, would be safer.
To Major B.M. Usman and other northern officers around Gowon, who had attributed his slow response to the secession to the fact that his girlfriend was Igbo and that her parents were resettled in the East, it was such a huge relief that at the Supreme Military Council meeting of 3 July 1967, Gowon authorized the long awaited military campaign.
Edith had safely landed in West Germany. Gowon told the gathering: “Gentlemen, we are going to crush the rebellion, but note that we are going after the rebels, not the Ibos.” The military action, which was to become the Nigerian Civil War or the Biafran War or Operation Unicord, as it was coded in military circles, officially started on 6 July 1967 at 5 a.m.
The North was minded to use the war as a tool to reassert its dominance of national affairs. Mallam Kagu, Damboa, Regional Editor of the Morning Post, told the American consul in Kaduna: “No one should kid himself that this is a fight between the East and the rest of Nigeria. It is a fight between the North and the Ibo.” He added that the rebels would be flushed out of Enugu. . .

not my fault, the post too long e no fit enter here, make una beg the ogas make dem add more space.
u can view all posts here

The dominance is getting worse. They have vowed never to allow the Igbos dominate again.

agabaI23:
The dominance os getting worst. They have vowed never to allow the Igbos dominate again.

na them sabi

myn44, lalasticlala

The SOUTH,EAST,MIDDLE BELT must be free!I pray peacefully,but if the enemies of PROGRESS and FREEDOM oppose peace then let it come through any means necessary.
It's bin Tens of years since after the civil war and some enemies of progress up north are still holding millions of able enlightened men down! Friends of progress the time is now or never..all we want is REAALLL CHANGE!Abeg if na juju my own don clear.

So this is how the south west sell their birth right, all because of hatred!...It is ok. Now the ball is in the court of the slaves & his master.. we are watching.

Freedom must come whether in Peace or pieces whichever way.

God bless the land of rising sun.

ok

Afonjas, demons

hucienda:
A neutral view. Thanks for the link OP.

Anytime

SIRmanjar:
The SOUTH,EAST,MIDDLE BELT must be free!I pray peacefully,but if the enemies of PROGRESS and FREEDOM oppose peace then let it come through any means necessary.
It's bin Tens of years since after the civil war and some enemies of progress up north are holding millions of able enlightened men down! Friends of progress the time is now or never all we want is REAALLL CHANGE!Abeg if na juju my own don clear.

my own don clear too oo

quote:

At night on 19 September, Banjo was arrested in Agbor. He was court martialed in Enugu three days later. Okonkwo participated in the court-martial and Ojukwu was present too. Banjo was found guilty, together with Emmanuel Ifeajuna (“the man from Ilaah who shot Abubakar” –the Prime Minister), Phillip Alale and Sam Agbam.

quote:

Bob Barnard, American consul in Enugu, said Ojukwu told him that he ordered the killing of Banjo, Ifeajuna, Alale and Agbam because they had planned to oust him from office, oust Gowon as well and install Awolowo as Prime Minister. The American military attaché, Arthur Halligan and Brooks, the Defense Attaché who had some prior intimation of the coup cabled the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington 3 August 1967 that “in the long run, Njoku will unseat Ojukwu.”

any igbo that want to open up old wounds and believe ipob is a moronn....

Informative.

We will be free

quote:

Hastily marshalled Midwestern militias had been dealing fires to the Biafran occupiers. It was reported that Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri swimmers were diving underwater and organising surprising attacks on Biafran units and formations along the Ethiope River. In Benin too they reminded themselves they were the city of Ovonramwen Nogbaisi and these Biafran forces were the latest version of the British expedition forces of the 19th century. And so rapidly, young men were organising themselves as into deadly underground resistance groups, old people who could not fight were contributing money and their dane guns; young women like Moremi were reported to be offering their bodies to get close to these Biafran forces and poison their food. The Midwest must be made inhospitable for Biafran agenda.

bantudark1:
any igbo that want to open up old wounds and believe ipob is a moronn....

Any person who will try to sweep history under the carpet is a bigger mor0n

quote:

The cold-blooded massacres in Midwest were not monopolised by the federal troops only. In a confidential report of 15 October 1967 recorded that, “as the Biafrans retreated from Benin to Agbor, they killed all the men, women and children they could find who were not Igbos. The town of Abudu, one of the larger places between Agbor and Benin lost virtually of its population with the exception of a small proportion that fled into the bush.” The British expatriate teacher, Anthony Charles Stephens was killed there when he refused to surrender his car to the retreating Biafran forces. Father Coleman an Irish SSMA priest said before Biafran troops left Agbor “without a fight” they killed off most of “non-Ibo men, women and children.”

bantudark1:
any igbo that want to open up old wounds and believe ipob is a moronn....

The wounds are not old because they scars on the palm. Only a domesticated dingbat will bring element of belief and ipob into the issues of Nigeria/Biafra war.

melodyogonna:
Any person who will try to sweep history under the carpet is a bigger mor0n

the americans are just telling you what they know and abserved...

what do i know if the long report is true or not....i dont trust anything western nations anyway....

but its still interesting to read...

Dedetwo:


The wounds are not old because they scars on the palm. Only a domesticated dingbat will bring element of belief and ipob into the issues of Nigeria/Biafra war.

isnt it ipob that brought this nearly forgoting history back up??....

how many of us today realy know anything about biafran war??....not many....buharis generation is dying out....

its up to us now to do better or continue the bad legacy.....

bantudark1:
quote:

Hastily marshalled Midwestern militias had been dealing fires to the Biafran occupiers. It was reported that Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri swimmers were diving underwater and organising surprising attacks on Biafran units and formations along the Ethiope River. In Benin too they reminded themselves they were the city of Ovonramwen Nogbaisi and these Biafran forces were the latest version of the British expedition forces of the 19th century. And so rapidly, young men were organising themselves as into deadly underground resistance groups, old people who could not fight were contributing money and their dane guns; young women like Moremi were reported to be offering their bodies to get close to these Biafran forces and poison their food. The Midwest must be made inhospitable for Biafran agenda.

The so-called Midwestern militias of Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri had already joined the fight against Biafra before Biafra inversion of Mid-western region on August 8, 1967. Midwestern militias of Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri were among the 3MCDO that captured Bonny on July 6, 1967.

quote:

In general, the American confidential report stated, non-Igbo Midwesterners were very anti-Biafran throughout the occupation. Many of them hid Northerners in their houses for weeks away from the Biafran troops who set out to kill them. The document continued: “Nearly all rejoiced when federal troops came in. The only town that was an exception was Ehor where even after the federal troops arrived, the local populace was protecting the Igbo soldiers and tried to confuse the federal troops.” However in Benin, there was no intention to confuse at all; “the civilians were busy pointing out the Ibos.” So the federal troops set up “two big camps to serve as safe havens in a school for the Ibos. The women and children were taken there,” the report said. But the men? Sam Idah, the director of the Benin Cemetery on Ifon Road told the American diplomats that day (21/09/67), 24 hours after the federal troops arrived 1,258 bodies have been buried there. “Trucks from the ministry of work and transport and from Benin development council were used to haul the corpses to the open pits.” Rev Rooney a Catholic Missionary with Benin Public Service said “a total of 989 civilians had been killed that day in the city.”

Dedetwo:


The so-called Midwestern militias of Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri had already joined the fight against Biafra before Biafra inversion of Mid-western region on August 8, 1967. Midwestern militias of Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri were among the 3MCDO that captured Bonny on July 6, 1967.

last i checked the ijaws were attacking igbo traders.....in 2017....

igbos should forget the rants of radio biafra and think for themselves...dont let others think for you even if they call themselves igbos...

bantudark1:



the americans are just telling you what they know and abserved...

what do i know if the long report is true or not....i dont trust anything western nations anyway....

but its still interesting to read...

guess we have to ask gowon, ibb, adekunle benjamin if the report is true

bantudark1:


isnt it ipob that brought this nearly forgoting history back up??....

how many of us today realy know anything about biafran war??.... not many....buharis generation is dying out....

its up to us now to do better or continue the bad legacy.....

Please speak for your dumbass self. It is not a vogue to flaunt your ignorance in the public arena. No historic fact can be termed forgotten.

Hahaha.......see comments...neutral view indeed....see them hailing Americans. But if the article was not in their favour.....them go unleach their true color.

Anyways.......An Afonja was here ;

melodyogonna:
Any person who will try to sweep history under the carpet is a bigger mor0n

Don't mind some human beings. They hide under the cloak of "forgiveness" and commit wickedness, hoping to still be forgiven.

History is what it is: history. If we throw it away we won't be able make right the wrongs of the past.

I love Awolowo

The Ijaw n Niger deltan would have been gropping under the pain of the Biagran people now.

but now they have identity. they are part of the recognize ethnic citizen of Nigeria.

From my what I read the people of the Midwest comprising the Benin, Ijaws,Itshekiri and Urhobo did not consent to Ojukwu declaring a separate state and so some of them pointed out the igbos when the federal troops took over the Midwest.

There was a part I read where Biafran soldiers were killing non-igbo civilians Men, women and children on their way retreating back to Agbor the only town yet to be captured by the federal troops.

They also went about killing Hausa's hiding in homes of the minorities.

This is why I tell some Igbos on Nairaland who are too emotional saying Nigeria carried out Genocide against them, biafrans soldiers also killed innocent Men, Women and Children of the minority tribes and Hausas.

In War there will always be civilian casualties.