The Nigerian civil war

The Nigeria civil war also known to be the Biafra war which kick started on the 6th of July 1967 and ended on the 15th of January 1970, was a war fought by Nigeria against the Biafra to resist the breach of the Biafra from the republic of Nigeria. This was as a result of the igbos who felt they could no longer relate with the northerners dominating them at the level of the federal government and saw secession as the only key to survive and to avoid being eliminated.

The causes of the Nigerian civil war:

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The first military coup: it started on the Jan,15 1966 and was led by major Kaduna nzeogwu. The coup was viewed as an Igbo coup which resulted in the killing of northern leaders which included prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa,Ahmadu Bello etc. Later general Aguyi irosi was installed as the head of state. This made the northerners very tensed and angry and immediately sensed a form of domination among the igbos.

The second coup: it started on July 29, 1966 which was as a result made General yakubu Gowon took power. After then, another northern led counter coup was staged in which Aguyi irosi was killed.

The brutal killing of the igbos who lived in the northern part of Nigeria.
After the first and second coup,the tension began to show face in northern nigeria where the blaze of ethnic discrimination against the igbos began to glow very hard . it was as a result of this discrimination that the killing of the igbos started.

As a means of making the country united Following the later result, the country was splited into twelve states from the former four regions by the millitary goverent in may 1967. This made the former eastern region under lieutenant colonel ojukwu to see the act of creating twelve states as a decree, and then on the 30th of may 1967 chukwu Emeka ojukwu called for the declaration of the independence of Biafra.

The federal military government gave an order to retake the eastern part back and on the 6th of July 1967 the Nigerian troops were grouped into two divisions : the first division was led by col. shuwa who operated from the north of Biafra and the second of division was from Nsuka but was defeated on july14. The Biafra's were just so angry and decided to retaliate by marching into the Midwestern region of Nigeria. They arrived at ore on August 31 .
The Midwestern part was captured easily because the soldiers guarding the area repulsed just a little. This made Gowon very angry and tensed and then he ordered col. Muhammad muritala to make another division to drive the Biafras away . and on the 20th of September the mid west region was recaptured.

Soon, the federal military government secured the city of porth harcourt and other oil facilities which were captured. The federal government then figured out a way to stop the Biafras . the government then blocked all the way in which food could be transported to the Biafras, this made the Biafras starve and millions of them died as a result of the attackBy the government which was through air, land and sea.

Ojukwu then aware of the situation and noticed the Biafras were not in any way going to win, fled with his family on the 10th of January 1970. The war then ended on the 15th of January,1970.

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Images source:oldnaija.com

Reference https://oldnaija.com/2015/07/26/the-nigerian-civil-war/