View source for Biafra

=== Under independent Nigeria ===
In 1960, [[Nigeria]] became independent from the [[United Kingdom]]. As with many other new African states, the country's borders did not reflect earlier ethnic, cultural, religious, or political boundaries. Consequently, the northern region of the country has a [[Islam in Nigeria|Muslim]] majority, primarily encompassing the territory of the indigenous [[Sokoto Caliphate]]. The southern population is predominantly [[Christianity in Nigeria|Christian]], mainly encompassing the territory of the indigenous [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] and Igbo states in the west and east, respectively. Following independence, Nigeria was demarcated primarily along ethnic lines: a [[Hausa people|Hausa]] and [[Fula people|Fulani]] majority in the north, a [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] majority in the West, and an [[Igbo people|Igbo]] majority in the East.<ref name="BBC1">{{cite news |first=Barnaby |last=Philips |date=13 January 2000 |title=Biafra: Thirty years on |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/596712.stm |access-date=1 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930041007/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/596712.stm |archive-date=30 September 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ethnic tension had simmered in Nigeria during discussions of independence, but in the mid-twentieth century, ethnic and religious riots began to occur. In 1945, an [[1945 Jos riots|ethnic riot]]<ref name=Plotnicov1971>{{cite journal |last=Plotnicov |first=Leonard |date=August 1971 |title=An Early Nigerian Civil Disturbance: The 1945 Hausa-Ibo riot in Jos |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=297–305 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X00024976 |issn=1469-7777 |jstor=159448 |s2cid=154565379  |postscript=;}} ''also cited as'' {{issn|0022-278X}}</ref> flared up in [[Jos]], in which Hausa-Fulani people targeted Igbo people and left at least two dead and wounded. Police and army units from Kaduna had to be brought in to restore order. 

In 1953, a [[1953 Kano riot|similar riot]] occurred in [[Kano (city)|Kano]]. A decade later, in 1964 and during the Western political crisis,<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Crisis and Conflict in the Western Region, 1962–63 |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-08080-9_4 |title=Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria |year=1988 |last1=Diamond |first1=Larry |pages=93–130 |isbn=978-1-349-08082-3 }}{{full citation needed|date=August 2020}}</ref> the Western Region was divided as [[Ladoke Akintola]] clashed with [[Obafemi Awolowo]]. Widespread reports of fraud tarnished [[1964 Nigerian general election|the election's]] legitimacy. Westerners especially resented the political domination of the [[Northern People's Congress]], many of whose candidates ran unopposed in the election. Violence spread throughout the country, and some began to flee the North and West, some to [[Republic of Dahomey|Dahomey]]. 

The apparent domination of the political system by the North and the chaos breaking out across the country motivated elements within the military to consider decisive action. The federal government, dominated by Northern Nigeria, allowed the crisis to unfold with the intention of declaring a state of emergency and placing the Western Region under martial law. This administration of the Nigerian federal government was widely perceived to be corrupt.<ref>{{cite book |last=Njoku |first=Hilary M. |year=1987 |title=A Tragedy without Heroes: The Nigeria-Biafra war |publisher=Fourth Dimension |isbn=978-978-156-238-9 |language=en |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R1wuAQAAIAAJ}}</ref> 

In January 1966, the situation reached a breaking point. A [[1966 Nigerian coup d'état|military coup occurred]] during which a mixed but predominantly Igbo group of army officers assassinated 30 political leaders, including Nigeria's Prime Minister, Sir [[Abubakar Tafawa Balewa]], and the Northern premier, Sir [[Ahmadu Bello]]. The four most senior officers of Northern origin were also killed. [[Nnamdi Azikiwe]], the President of Igbo extraction, and the favoured Western Region politician [[Obafemi Awolowo]] were not killed. The commander of the army, [[Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi|General Aguiyi Ironsi]], seized power to maintain order.<ref name="Omoigui2">{{cite web |first=Nowa |last=Omoigui |title=Operation 'Aure': The northern military counter-rebellion of July&nbsp;1966 |website=Nigeria/Africa Masterweb |url=http://www.africamasterweb.com/CounterCoup.html |access-date=15 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723181411/http://www.africamasterweb.com/CounterCoup.html |archive-date=23 July 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Bozimo">{{cite web |first=Willy |last=Bozimo |title=Festus Samuel Okotie Eboh (1912–1966) |website=Niger Delta Congress |url=http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/farticles/festus_samuel_okotie_eboh.htm |access-date=17 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516163553/http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/farticles/festus_samuel_okotie_eboh.htm |archive-date=16 May 2008}}</ref><ref name="onlinenigeria">{{cite news |title=The last of the plotters dies |series=1966 Coup |date=20 March 2007 |website=OnlineNigeria.com |url=http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=9670&z=17 |access-date=18 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211013857/http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=9670&z=17 |archive-date=11 December 2008 }}</ref>

In July 1966, northern officers and army units staged a countercoup, killing Ironsi and several southern officers. The predominantly Muslim officers named a general from a small ethnic group (the Angas) in central Nigeria, General [[Yakubu Gowon|Yakubu "Jack" Gowon]], as the head of the Federal Military Government (FMG). The two coups deepened Nigeria's ethnic tensions. In September 1966, [[1966 anti-Igbo pogrom|approximately 30,000 Igbo civilians were killed]] and hundreds of thousands more maimed, had their properties confiscated, and fled the north, and some Northerners were expelled in backlashes in eastern cities.<ref name="onwar">{{cite web |title=Nigeria 1967–1970 |series=Biafran Secession |date=16 December 2000 |website=onwar.com |department=Armed Conflict Events Database |url=http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/biafra1967.htm |access-date=15 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905090002/http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/biafra1967.htm |archive-date=5 September 2008 }}</ref>

In January 1967, Gowon and [[Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu]], as well as senior police officials from each region met in [[Aburi|Aburi, Ghana]], and agreed on a less centralised union of regions. The Northerners were at odds with this agreement, known as the [[Aburi Accord]]s. [[Obafemi Awolowo]], the leader of the Western Region, warned that if the Eastern Region seceded, the Western Region would also, which persuaded the Northerners.<ref name="onwar" />
{{Quote box|quote=Now, therefore, I, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, by virtue of the authority, and pursuant to the principles, recited above, do hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and called Eastern Nigeria together with her continental shelf and territorial waters shall henceforth be an independent sovereign state of the name and title of "The Republic of Biafra".|source=[[Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu]]<ref>{{cite web |author-link=Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu |first=C.O. |last=Ojukwu |title=Ojukwu's ''Declaration of Biafra'' speech |website=Citizens for Nigeria |url=http://www.citizensfornigeria.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=63 |access-date=15 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211171325/http://www.citizensfornigeria.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=63 |archive-date=11 December 2008 }}</ref>|width=420px}} After returning to Nigeria, the federal government reneged on the agreement and unilaterally declared the creation of several new states, including some that [[Gerrymandering|gerrymandered]] the Igbos in Biafra.