Nigerian Civil War in the context of "Decolonization of Africa"

Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of 923,769 square kilometres (356,669 sq mi). With a population of more than 236 million, it is the most populous country in Africa, and the world's sixth-most populous country. Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Nigeria is a federal republic comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where its capital, Abuja, is located. The largest city in Nigeria by population is Lagos, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and the largest in Africa.

Nigeria has been home to several indigenous material cultures, pre-colonial states and kingdoms since the second millennium BC. The Nok culture, c. 1500 BC, marks one of the earliest known civilisations in the region. The Hausa Kingdoms inhabited the north, with the Edo Kingdom of Benin in the south, Igbo Kingdom of Nri in the southeast and in the southwest, the Oyo Empire. The present day territory of Nigeria was home to a vast array of city-states. In the early 19th century the Fula jihads culminated in the Sokoto Caliphate. The modern state originated with British colonialization in the 19th century, taking its present territorial shape with the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and the Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914. The British set up administrative and legal structures and incorporated traditional monarchs as a form of indirect rule. Nigeria became a formally independent federation on 1 October 1960. It experienced a civil war from 1967 to 1970, followed by a succession of military dictatorships and democratically elected civilian governments until achieving a stable government in the 1999 Nigerian presidential election.

The decolonisation of Africa was a series of political developments in Africa that spanned from the mid-1950s to 1975, during the Cold War. Colonial governments formed during the Scramble for Africa gave way to sovereign states in a process often marred by violence, political turmoil, widespread unrest, and organised revolts. Major events in the decolonisation of Africa included the Mau Mau rebellion, the Algerian War, the Congo Crisis, the Angolan War of Independence, the Zanzibar Revolution, and the events leading to the Nigerian Civil War.

Orlu Listen (Igbo: Ọ̀lụ́) is the second-largest city in Imo State, South East, Nigeria, with a population of 420,600. It has a long history as the headquarters for the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and humanitarian relief agencies during the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War. The city houses the Nigerian headquarters of the British Cheshire Home. It is the second most developed city in Imo state after Owerri.

Biafra (/biˈæfrə/ bee-AF-rə; from Igbo: Bìá fá rá), officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 to 1970. Its territory consisted of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria, predominantly inhabited by the Igbo ethnic group. Biafra was established on 30 May 1967 by Igbo military officer and Eastern Region governor Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu under his presidency, following a series of ethnic tensions and military coups after Nigerian independence in 1960 that culminated in the 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom.

The Nigerian military attempted to reclaim the territory of Biafra, resulting in the beginning of the Nigerian Civil War. Biafra was officially recognized as a sovereign and independent country by Gabon, Haiti, Côte d'Ivoire, Tanzania, and Zambia while receiving de facto recognition and covert military support from France, Portugal, Israel, South Africa, and Rhodesia. After nearly three years of war, during which around two million Biafran civilians died, president Ojukwu fled into exile in the Ivory Coast as the Nigerian military approached the capital of Biafra. Philip Effiong became the second president of Biafra, overseeing the surrender of Biafran forces to Nigeria.

Yakubu Dan-Yumma "Jack" GowonListen GCFR (born 19 October 1934) is a Nigerian general and statesman who served as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975.

Gowon was Nigeria's leader during the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafra War where he delivered the famous "no victor, no vanquished" speech at the war's end to promote healing and reconciliation. The Nigerian Civil War is listed as one of the deadliest in modern history, with some accusing Gowon of crimes against humanity and genocide. Gowon has maintained that he committed no wrongdoing during the war and that his leadership saved the country.

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwulisten (4 November 1933 – 26 November 2011) was a Nigerian military officer and political figure who served as President of Biafra from 1967 to 1970. As the military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, which he declared as the independent state of Biafra, Ojukwu led the Biafran forces during the Nigerian Civil War against the Nigerian government forces.

Born in Zungeru, British Nigeria to Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, a wealthy Igbo businessman, Ojukwu was educated at King's College, Lagos and Epsom College in Surrey, England. He proceeded to Lincoln College, Oxford University where he obtained a master's degree in Modern History in 1955. He returned to Nigeria to serve as an administrative officer and would later join the Nigerian army. Following the independence of Nigeria in 1960, a group of military officers overthrew Nigeria's civilian government in the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état and Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi became the head of state. Ironsi appointed Ojukwu as military governor of the Eastern Region mostly dominated by the Igbo tribe.

The 1966 anti-Igbo pogroms were a series of widespread massacres and pogroms committed against Igbo people–and other people of southern Nigerian origin–living in northern Nigeria, starting in May 1966 and reaching its peak after 29 September 1966. Between 8,000 and 30,000 Igbos and easterners have been estimated to have been killed. A further 1 million Igbos fled the Northern Region into the East. In response to the killings, some northerners were massacred in Port Harcourt and other cities in eastern Nigeria. These events led to the secession of the eastern Nigerian region and the declaration of Biafra, which ultimately led to the Nigerian Civil War.