Talk:Biafra/Archives/2017/April

Commentary

Biafra, officially the peoples republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in eastern Nigeria mostly made up the igbos and some other little minority tribal groups who are agitating for a state of their own away from the cruelty of the Nigeria government and their laws that is not viable and potent enough to protect them, so rather for them to believe in a one Nigeria that can not secure their interest and protect their rights, so they decide to leave such a country and create theirs where there can be equal opportunity for all. Slogan:Peace,"Unity and Freedom."

The Biafra Secession.

In 1960, Nigeria gain her independent from the great Britian, as many as all other African states and her neighboring west Africa states has gain their independent,their was series of nationalist and patriotic involvement contributions, conferences and seminars heed by major Nigeria and other pan African nationalist in their contributions and paper articles to speed up the attainment of the Nigerian independence. all these they did under one umbrella not minding their religious, cultural, traditional and tribal differences. 1960, Nigeria gain her independence replacing the normal union jack with her green and white symbolical flag. following her independence, Nigeria was divided into region, the North mostly dominated by the hausa/fulani, Yoruba in the south-wast,igbo and ijaw in the south-east and south-south with some other scattered minority groups. Between 1962 and 1963, the newly independent nation was experiencing series of off and on political upheaval, that which mostly pose a major threat to her existence and stability was the census crisis, that polirise the country by creating fears in the minds of the minority groups and even the majority groups about a possible political and economical domination by a region, series of corruption charges, electoral manipulations, the western region crisis and all and it possible escalation leading to loss if lives and properties in that region and leading the first state of emergency in the region since the country became independent. In January 1966, a military coup occured which saw the brutal killings of some of the political leaders including Nigerias first ever Prime Minister,Sir, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and the Northern premier, Sir.Ahmedu Bello were killed. what some called a revolutionary coup,because of the major casualties especially the political casualties where mostly the major political elite from the North, the north called it an igbo coup because no political elite from the south was killed such as the then President, Nnamdi Azikiwe and the premier of eastern region, Sir.Dennis Osadebey. and the coup was majorly masterminded and lead by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu who was percieve to be an igbo soldier and he lead the coup. In July 1966 northern officers and army units staged a counter-coup. Muslim officers named a General from a small ethnic group (the Angas) in central Nigeria, General Yakubu "Jack" Gowon, as the head of the Federal Military Government (FMG). The two coups deepened Nigeria's ethnic tensions. In September 1966, approximately over 30,000 Igbo were killed in the north, and some Northerners were killed in backlashes in eastern cities. In response to the tribal tension in every part of the country this two generals,Odumegwu Ojokwu and Yakubu Gowon who will later become the major actors combating against each other in the unforeseen war to come, in pursuit of understanding and peaceful coexistence in January 1967 the military leaders and senior police officials of each region met in Aburi, Ghana and agreed on a loose confederation of regions. The Northerners were at odds with the Aburi Accord; Obafemi Awolowo, the leader of the Western Region warned that if the Eastern Region seceded, the Western Region would also, which persuaded the northerners to breach their agreement. After the federal and eastern governments failed to reconcile and come to terms, on 26 May the Eastern region voted to secede from Nigeria. On 30 May, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the South Eastern Region's military governor, announced the Republic of Biafra,citing the Easterners killed in the post-coup violence, and calling on all the Easterns in every parts of the country to come back home. The large amount of oil in the region created conflict, as oil is a major component of the Nigerian economy. The Eastern region was very ill-equipped for war, out-manned and out-gunned by the military of the remainder of Nigeria. Their advantages included fighting in their homeland and support of most South Easterners. The War The FMG launched "police measures" to annex the Eastern Region on 6 July 1967. The FMG's initial efforts were unsuccessful; the Biafrans successfully launched their own offensive, occupying areas in the mid-Western Region in August 1967. By October 1967, the FMG had regained the land after intense fighting.In September 1968, the federal army planned what Gowon described as the "final offensive". Initially the final offensive was neutralised by Biafran troops. In the latter stages, a Southern FMG offensive managed to break through the fierce resistance.[9]

During the war there were great shortages of food and medicine throughout Biafra, due largely to the Nigerian government's blockade of the region as suggested in a number of arguments by leaders of the Nigerian Government.

Anthony Enahoro, stated that "there are various ways of fighting a war. You might starve your enemy into submission, or you might kill him on the battlefield." Obafemi Awolowo said, "All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war and I don't see why we should feed our enemies in order for them to fight harder."

Many volunteer bodies organised the Biafran airlift which provided blockade-breaking relief flights into Biafra, carrying food and medicines in, and later provided means of evacuation for refugee children. On 30 June 1969, the Nigerian government banned all Red Cross aid to Biafra; two weeks later it allowed medical supplies through the front lines, but restricted food supplies.[14] Later in October 1969, Ojukwu appealed to the United Nations to mediate a cease-fire.

The federal government called for Biafra's surrender. In December, the FMG managed to cut Biafra in half, primarily by the efforts of 3 Marine Commando Division of the Nigerian Army, led by then-Colonel Benjamin Adekunle, popularly called "The Black Scorpion", and later by Olusegun Obasanjo. Ojukwu fled to Ivory Coast, leaving his chief of staff, Philip Effiong, to act as the "officer administering the government". Effiong called for a ceasefire on 12 January and submitted to the FMG.[9] By then, more than one million people had died in battle or from starvation. Biafra was reabsorbed into Nigeria on 15 January. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Peleson (talk • contribs) 09:57, 26 July 2016 (UTC)

Omission of the 1966 coup and counter-coup in the lead

For some reason the (cited) information I added to the lead, which listed the 1966 coup, the subsequent counter-coup, and the installation of the Nigerian military government as one of the primary causes for the Biafran secession keeps getting removed. I used this sentence to replace the horribly vague (not to mention unreferenced) clause that the secession was instead caused by ethnic and religious tension among the various peoples of Nigeria.

Ethnic and religious tension already existed well beforehand, but it was this succession of events which triggered the actual secession attempt in Biafra, according to the sources I have consulted.

BlueGreenWhite has repeatedly reverted this edit, insisting it omits "vital information", presumably the vague and uncited clause I mention above.

I respectfully disagree with his opinion, but would like to seek a general consensus here as to the lead's wording.

Thanks, --Katangais (talk) 19:54, 22 March 2017 (UTC)

The introduction is like a summary. Only the most vital information, which can be expanded upon in the subsequent sections, should be included there. The 1966 coup and counter-coup were not isolated events that summarily led to Biafra's secession. They were parts of a series of events that eventually culminated in the decision of the defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria to secede and establish the Republic of Biafra. Singling them out as the sole causes of the secession is erroneous.

Katangais, that is why I keep reverting the page to the previous version.

BlueGreenWhite (talk) 12:17, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

You misunderstand my intention here. I'm not arguing that the coup and counter-coup were the only factors influencing Biafran secession, rather that they served as the immediate catalyst for it, according to the source which I also posted. In that, they are certainly vital to any lead in to the article. Furthermore, removing cited information and replacing it with uncited information is not the general rule of thumb on Wikipedia; if you believe the current lead is adequate at least find some sources to back up the statement that it was the culmination of ethnic and religious tensions among the peoples of Nigeria. --Katangais (talk) 14:41, 23 March 2017 (UTC)