60 Years Anniversary of Biafra: 1967-2027

60 Years Anniversary of Biafra: 1967-2027 

The Republic of Biafra was a partially recognised state in West Africa that declared independence from the Federal Republic of Nigeria and existed from 1967 to 1970.

Its territory consisted of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria, predominantly inhabited by the Igbo ethnic group, but with sizable chunks of the region belonging to the Ijaw, Efik, Ibibio and other minorities.

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.

General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu , 4 November 1933 – 26 November 2011).

Major-General Philip Efiong (also spelled Effiong, 18 November 1925 – 6 November 2003) .

 

Motto: "Peace, Unity, and Freedom"

Anthem: "Land of the Rising Sun"

Government
Unitary presidential republic

1967–1970
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

• 1970
Philip Effiong
Vice President
 
• 1967–1970
Philip Effiong
• 1970
Office Vacant

• Upper house
Council of Chiefs
• Lower house
Consultative Assembly
Historical era
Cold War
• Independence declared
30 May 1967
• Rejoins Federal Nigeria
15 January 1970.

Area
1967
77,306[3] km2 (29,848 sq mi)

Population
• 1967
13,500,000

GDP (PPP)
estimate
• Total
$40.750 million
Currency
Biafran pound

General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was buried with full military honours, including a 21-gun salute from the Nigerian Army, and thousands of people attended his funeral. 

View BIAFRA: The Photo Documentary on https://nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com/2013/11/biafra-untold-story-in-pictures.html

Read the book 

https://amzn.to/3PU9hwj

Memories of a Refugee Child

Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima Speaks on his memories of Biafra

After the blood and thunder of one of the most terrible civil wars in Africa, about a million corpses were left scattered all over the ruins of Biafra, by the roadside, bushes and shallow graves and millions of refugees harrowing in refugee camps besieged by the invading Nigerian army whilst the defeated Biafran soldiers fled. The nightmares still haunted one of the survivors, a refugee child who nearly died of kwashiorkor. And I have to tell you my eyewitness account, because I cannot erase the scars of the trauma of every refugee child. This is our untold story from the haunting memories of the horrors of refugee children in Biafra. 

INSIDE BIAFRA: The Documentary Film

Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated Eastern Region of Nigeria. Biafra was established on 30 May 1967 by Igbo military officer and Eastern Region governor C. Odumegwu Ojukwu under his presidency, following a series of ethnic tensions and military coups after Nigerian independence in 1960 that culminated in the 1966 massacres of Igbo people and other ethnic groups living in northern Nigeria. The military of Nigeria proceeded to invade Biafra shortly after its secession, resulting in the start of the Nigerian Civil War.

From "Biafran Child" :

It was not long after the first gunshot was fired by the Federal Forces of Nigeria in 1967 that Nsukka fell and many of the students of the University of Nsukka were the first casualties as they were the vanguard of those who called for secession after the pogrom of the Ibos in the Northern regions of Nigeria.  The first gunshot marked the beginning of the internecine civil war. 

If you like, go up
If you like, go down.
Go up or down,
Jehovah knows those who are his.

The Biafran recruits and soldiers sang in Igbo, our mother tongue as they marched in rows through the village of Obolo-ugiri early in the morning.

The young recruits were clean-shaven and wearing white vests, white short knickers, and white snickers, whilst the soldiers wore their green Biafran Army camouflage uniform; all adorned with the badges of the rising sun in bright yellow colour.  There were badges on the face-caps and jackets.

The recruits carried wooden guns whilst the soldiers carried the real guns, which were rifles.

Instead of the Hausas to rule us
Let the world scatter to pieces.