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JOURNAL of HISTORY and MILITARY STUDIES [JHMS] Copyright © the Author(S), 2019 Volume 5(1): ISSN (Print): 2536-6726 ISSN (Online): 2734-388X Page: 92-107

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JOURNAL of HISTORY and MILITARY STUDIES [JHMS] Copyright © the Author(S), 2019 Volume 5(1): ISSN (Print): 2536-6726 ISSN (Online): 2734-388X Page: 92-107 JOURNAL OF HISTORY AND MILITARY STUDIES [JHMS] Copyright © The Author(s), 2019 Volume 5(1): ISSN (Print): 2536-6726 ISSN (Online): 2734-388X Page: 92-107 Reconsidering Issues of Post-Civil War Nigeria *Enemchukwu, Nnaemeka Emmanuel & Chukwudebelu, Michael Ifeanyichukwu** Abstract The thirty-month war between Nigeria and Biafra which wreaked havoc and brought Nigeria on the brink of division and non-existence of itself have been examined in the context of causes, course, major actors, violence, and outcome. Yet, the issue of post-civil war reconcil- iation remains one of the most heated debates about the civil war. The present-day Nigeria political mainstream has not addressed the issues of reintegration of the Igbo into the fabric of the nation, and it does not seem as though they would in the nearest possible future. How- ever, it has been argued that after the war, the Federal Military Government under Gowon did everything to rebuild the already severed relationship between the people of defunct Bi- afra and the rest of Nigeria. On the other side of the argument are scholars who contend that the Gowon’s 3Rs – Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation were mere caricature and were never carried out to the latter. It is in this light of contestations that this paper, using secondary sources, evaluates the post-civil war Nigeria in relation to the feeling of mar- ginalisation among the Igbo. The paper finds that there were concerted efforts by the Gowon’s regime to rebuild the Igbo after the war but varying challenges, especially the ab- sence reintegration efforts, thwarted the move, defeated the aim and laid the foundation for the victimisation of the Igbo in Nigeria. Hence, it advances the argument that the seeds of Gowon’s policy of 3Rs are largely responsible for recent resurgence of agitation-groups in all parts of Nigeria especially in the south-eastern part. Introduction The civil war of 1967–70 between Nigeria and Biafra was fought along ethnic lines. For the Igbo it was a systematic genocide perpetrated by the Federal Military Government of Ni- geria, of which over three million Biafrans were killed.1 The policy of economic blockade and starvation mounted by the government of Nigeria could be said to be an evidence of _______________ Corresponding Author: *&**Department of History and International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. Reconsidering Issues of Post-Civil War Nigeria N.E. Enemchukwu & M.I. Chukwudebele planned genocide. But the Nigerian position was simple – that the secession of Biafra would trigger other secessions within the polity, thus throwing the sub region of West Africa into wanton chaos. After thirty months of war on the basis of irreconcilable differ- ences, in January, 1970, the Republic of Biafra ceased to exist after it was defeated by the Nigerian federal troops. Immediately after that, the question of reconstructing the war- ravaged Igboland became a new quest for the victorious side. According to Obi-Ani, the defeated side in a war is often made to pay dearly through un- dergoing certain penalties like payment of reparations to the victor for undue past trans- gressions. It could be in form of time, effort, money or ceding of territories. This form of treatment is often viewed as a logical way to make the vanquished side pay for their ac- tions. Nevertheless, these harsh penalties rarely discourage and deter aggrieved parties from putting up any form of rebellion in the future. Neither have harsh peace terms de- terred a vanquished side from starting fresh wars in the future.2 This essay analyses how the Igbo survived the post-war measures implemented by the victorious Nigerian govern- ment. There have been suggestions that the Igbo were given the necessary prerequisites to survive the aftermath of the war, but, on the other hand, the Igbo believed that the post-war Nigeria did everything in her capacity to systematically punish them for being rebellious, in other words, they (the Igbo) were subjected to vendetta. Therefore, in the light of this argument, the present study is hinged on unearthing the intricacies surround- ing both arguments. Earliest Ethnic Tension and the Nigerian Civil War The Igbo have suffered resentment even before the achievement of independence in 1960. This is why Chinua Achebe opines that the Igbo have been unanimously resented by the rest of the country. In his view, Nigerians, will always come to a consensus whenever it comes to the common resentment of the Igbo. He believes that the resentment is as old and as complicated as Nigeria itself.3 Citing an article published in Northern Nigeria, Achebe reveals the apprehensions of the northers against the Igbo for dominating in al- most all sectors of the country. However, he argues that the article failed to acknowledge that the Igbo were qualified for the positions they occupied due to their educational ex- cellence and their receptivity to British education in general. He further argues that in the article, attention was mainly drawn to the manpower distribution in the public service, in which the 45 per cent of the managers within the service were of Igbo origin and was already skyrocketing to 60 per cent by 1968. However, the North’s future contribution in the public service would amount to only 10 per cent of the total workforce in the public service.4 93 Journal of History and Military Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, Dec. 2019 To corroborate the above claim, it was on record that in colonial Nigeria, the Igbo ethnic group was stocked than most in the federal civil service, corporation, universities, and other sectors of private and public chain of labour, much to the chagrin of other ethnic groups in Nigeria.5 Nevertheless, it has been indicated that the British Colonial Administra- tion systematically played a policy of divide-and-rule that saw the Igbo groping behind in the political sector.6 The Igbo renowned statesman of the era, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe argued that the British played a role in the national resentment of the Igbo in Nigeria. In his book, Selected Speeches, Azikiwe observes that the British systematically disenfranchised four million Igbos and carried out economic policies that did not benefit the Eastern Region, of which most inhabitants were Igbo. He argues further, that the roads in the East were de- plorable compared to other regions, and the social amenities of telegraph, telephone and wireless service were totally lacking. Pipe-borne water and electricity supplies were epi- leptic when compared to other areas in the country. Hence, he concludes that despite be- ing a tax-paying region, the Igbo ethnic group was a victim of studied official victimiza- tion.7 Despite this political setback, the Igbo developed themselves with bootstraps. Her culture of egalitarianism and her attitude of individualism gave her an edge over other ethnic groups of Nigeria. Unfortunately for the Igbo group, they were assaulted for being per- ceived as domineering and wanting to hijack all the affairs of the nation. The 1966 publica- tion, “The Nigerian Situation”, no doubt heated the polity. At the slightest national prov- ocation, the Igbo found themselves paying dearly as they suffered xenophobia and all manners of assaults in territories outside Igboland. They became soft targets for intimida- tion and injury. For instance, in 1953, there was a massacre of the Igbo people residing in Kano. Shortly after this, in 1966, a deadlier attack occurred again in several towns and cit- ies in Northern Nigeria in response to the January 15, 1966 coup. Later, another wave of attacks occurred in a counter-coup carried out in July of the same year, 1966. These killings have been dubbed as the Igbo Pogrom. The first wave of killings in 1966 was facilitated by the peaceful protest held in May at the Ahmadu Bello University against the Unification Decree enacted by General Aguiyi Ironsi, who was Nigeria’s Military Head of State at that time. Since General Ironsi was of Igbo extraction, the peaceful protest escalated into a violent action against the easterners. At the end of the exercise, over 3,000 easterners were reportedly killed, injured or maimed.8 Two months after the May Killings, another killing spree began, this led to the deaths of 27 Igbo officers, 12 non-Igbo officers, 154 men of other ranks from Eastern Nigeria and 17 others from both Western and Mid-Western regions with many others injured.9 According to Abraham Nabhon Thomas, these killings carried out by the Northerners against the Southerners, especially against the Igbo ethnic group was responsible for triggering the civil war. This is because, during these killings, the military leader at the period, General 94 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) Reconsidering Issues of Post-Civil War Nigeria N.E. Enemchukwu & M.I. Chukwudebele Aguiyi Ironsi, an Igbo, was also murdered alongside other top military officers in the sec- ond coup of July 1966. However, despite these killings which saw to the deaths of many Igbo civilians and military officers up to the July of 1966, the killings still continued up to September, and the new Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon failed to bring the killings to an abrupt end.10 According to Gordon Wainman, who worked as a volunteer for the Canadian University at Kurra Falls in Northern Nigeria, over 30,000 Igbo were massacred in Northern Nigeria.11 The unabated killing of the Igbo saw the Igbo fleeing to their homelands in millions. Then, the Nigeria-Biafra War started on July 6, 1967 after the former Eastern Region of Nigeria seceded from Nigeria and declared its independence on May 30, 1967.12 There is a plethora of literature on civil wars which have studied how wars are likely to reoccur.
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