Genesis And Consequence Of Nigerian Civil War

In 1965, the Western Region parliamentary elections were held and it was conspicuously rigged. It, however, triggered crisis in the region. There was widespread violence in the whole region. There was hate, rancour, suspicion and acrimony everywhere. There was breakdown of law and order. There was operation “wetie”, a Yoruba corruption of the English word “wet”. People were doused (wet) with petrol and burnt to death. It was a horrible scene. Lives and property were destroyed. The rate with which the rampage quickly spread to all parts of the Western Region made people to nicknamed the region as ‘Wild, Wild West’.
The politicians at the federal level took sides and were incapable of handling the situation. Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the then Premier of the Western Region and arch rival of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the leader of opposition, ran to the North. Chief Akintola and his group took refuge and allied themselves with the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) led by the Premier of the Northern Region and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, and Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister of Nigeria. Chief Awolowo were arrested and jailed for treasonable felony and sent to Calabar Prison.
The crisis continued unabated. There was no sign of resolution. The strait was spreading like harmattan fire, more and more people were killed and property destroyed. It was this exigency and non-challant attitude of the politicians that climaxed to 30 months gruesome civil war. Sequel to that, it becomes a common saying in Nigeria, “that the political fire that started in the West caused a macabre devastation in the East”.
On January 15, 1966, convinced that the Nigerian politicians had failed to handle the crisis, coupled with corruption, and if left at that, Nigeria would crumble and disintegrate, Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, a non-sense and courageous soldier staged and led a coup that uprooted and dismantled the troubled and corrupt First Republic. Major Nzeogwu, a valiant officer was from Delta State, but was born and brought up in Kaduna State. A disciplined and intelligent soldier, he neither womanized, drank nor smoked. He spoke Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba fluently. A jolly good fellow, he had a network of friends within and outside the military. Others with him were Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, one of the first university graduates in the Nigerian Military and Olympic gold medalist; Major Ademoyega, among others.
The coup was a national Coup and it was hailed by Nigerians. Students, labour, civil servants, even politicians all welcomed the change of government. There was jubilation and feeling of relief all over the country.
However, the coup failed in the East. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the president of Nigeria; Dr. Michael Okpara, premier of the Eastern Region; and other Ibo leaders were not killed. It was said that the group of soldiers assigned to the East for the operation were not courageous enough to carry out their assignment. In the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the premier of the Northern region and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the prime minister of Nigeria, were killed. In the Western and Mid-Western Regions, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola was premier of the Western Region and Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, a Mid-Westerner and Minister of Finance were among others killed. Few military officers from the Northern and Western Regions were also killed.
The Northerners and their military officers felt betrayed, as they read meanings to it. They said it was an Ibo coup aimed at eliminating the political leaders of the North, coupled with the introduction of unitary government by the new regime which was vehemently opposed by the North. They retreated, planned and staged what they called “retaliatory or counter coup” through which Major General J. T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi, the Head of State and the Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces and his host, Lt. Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi, the military governor of the Western Region were killed. Aguiyi-Ironsi was on official visit to the Western Region at that time. Fajuyi was killed for his insistence that his leader and visitor cannot be arrested in his domain. He was a patriotic Nigerian, a gallant soldier. His death with his visitor, the Head of State, saved the Yoruba from being accused of conspiracy with the Northern soldiers to kill General Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Ibo man and Head of State in their land.
The counter coups were led by Major T. Y Danjuma, Major Murtala Mohammed and Major Martin Adamu. That sad event led to killing of many military officers of the Eastern Region origin in the Northern and Western Regions, including my cousin, the late Lieutenant Fredrick Ewule Ogbuehi. My cousin was arrested in Abeokuta Army Barrack where he lived and worked as an Army Secretary. Three of his junior brothers namely; Godspower Ogbuehi, George Ogbuehi and Innocent Ogbuehi who joined him in Abeokuta when they lost their mother were smuggled into an Eastern-bound train back home with nothing, through the help of his good Samaritan army friend.
As if that was not enough, the military men of the North and civilians went further killing and looting the property of innocent civilians from Eastern Region resident in the North who knew nothing about the military coup. Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, then the Military Governor of the Eastern Region saw this and did everything he could to stop the killing or pogroms as he called it, but all to no avail. Ojukwu reached out to Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, the Head of State, to halt the killings and safeguard the lives and property of Ibos and other Easterners in the North, but Gowon did nothing. Ojukwu then headed to Aburi, a small town in Ghana, for peace and the resolution of the crisis. At the meeting, Gowon and his delegates agreed and signed the agreement reached only for them to return to Nigeria and change their minds.
Ojukwu called Gowon several times to implement the accord reached at the Ghana peace meeting, all to no avail. That resulted to a popular slogan “On Aburi we stand”. Ojukwu said okay since they had reneged the agreement reached and were still killing our people in the North; it means they do not want us and peace. Ojukwu pulled the East out of Nigeria and declared the Republic of Biafra. Gowon declared war on Biafra and pursued Ojukwu and his people from Lagos to the remotest village in Ibo land. Blocked borders and sea ports, millions of Biafrans died of hunger and sicknesses. A lot of children God sent here to be part of us died of “Kwashiorkor”.
Now, the questions are, had the Northern military officers been satisfied with the retaliatory killing of Major General Ironsi and other military officers of the East, without extending to the innocent civilians of the East resident in the North, would there have been a civil war? Had the Federal Government abided by the Aburi Accord which they agreed and signed, would Ojukwu have declared the Republic of Biafra? Had the Federal Government allowed Biafra to be, would millions of Nigerians have died and property worth billions of Naira destroyed?
Today, each time I remember my cousin, Lt. Ogbuehi, and the challenges the family is facing, I wonder if he was alive and perhaps a General in the Nigerian Army, whether the story would not have been different. However, we bore the great loss with equanimity and resignation in the belief that God will not allow those who spilled the blood of their fellow human beings to go unpunished.
Meanwhile, the three brothers are now domiciled in the village with indelible memory and pains on how their elder brother was arrested and whisked away in their presence on that fateful early morning. The bang of the military boots on the door and thunderous voice of the commander that woke them up from sleep that early morning is still fresh and echoing in their minds. Again, the family will not join calls to prosecute all those that were involved in that senseless and avoidable war. Rather, we have left the matter for God to adjudicate.
The Nigerian Civil War claimed millions of lives of innocent Nigerians, especially the Ibos and the destruction of property worth billions of naira was a result of the rigging of the Western region Parliamentary elections in 1965. Its consequence was perpetual deep pains and sorrow it dug in our hearts and in our memories. Today, there is no genuine love and unity in the country. We live under mistrust, hate and suspicion of each other. Also, I recall vividly that in 1983, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) outsmarted other political parties and rigged them out even in their domains. In Anambra State, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and his NPP were rigged out and dislodged. In Kano and Kaduna States, Mallam Aminu Kano and his PRP were rigged out and dislodged and in Oyo and Ondo States, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his UPN were rigged out and dislodged all by NPN in their infamous landslide victory. However, the rigging in Ondo State back-fired and triggered crisis which led to the overthrow of Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s government by the military on December 31, 1983.
In view of the fact that the civil war that claimed many innocent souls and the overthrow of Shehu Shagari’s government by the then Major General Muhammadu Buhari were as a result of elections rigging, it took five years to battle with the military to retrieve the government from them. Many people laid down their lives in the process. Now, the question is, have Nigerians, particularly the politicians, learnt any lesson in terms of elections rigging? Yet, we saw and witnessed the massive rigging of governorship elections in Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Kwara, Kogi States etc. Will Nigerian politicians ever learn any lesson? This year marks the 50 years of the end of the silly Nigerian Civil War. May God have mercy on those who caused that illogical war.
Ogbuehi, a freelance journalist, resides in Eagle Island, Port Harcourt.

Ike Ogbuehi