The Nigerian Civil War and Its Legacies

This chapter refers to the end of the Nigerian Civil War on January 15, 1970, which concluded with Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s Federal Military Government (FMG) head, embracing Philip Efiong, Biafra’s second president. It reviews the civil war’s literature, which is replete with amplifications of the most extreme views and promotions of unfounded and irresponsible ideas regarding the war's genesis, ending, and enduring legacies. It also discusses how Biafran prospects as a viable nation-state never materialized and how the war on 1970 with the country’s reabsorption into Nigeria. The chapter cites Gowon’s 1970 proclamation about the conflict having no victors nor vanquished, which restricted debate to tropes that did not openly challenge the concept of Nigerian unity. It talks about how serious discourse about the civil war was harshly suppressed until the latest transition to civilian rule in 1999.

CITES · Government (linguistics) · Political economy · Political science · Proclamation · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · State (computer science) · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · Philosophy

• ‘It is their creation, let them face it’

  Olasupo Thompson, John Daniel et al.•Small Wars and Insurgencies•2026

  Incluir item

• Warfare in African History

  Open Access•Richard J Reid•Warfare in African History•2012

  Incluir item

• The Crippled Giant

  Eghosa E Osaghae, Eghosa Osaghae•Crippled giant•1998

  Incluir item

• Introducing the New Lens of African Military History

  Roy Doron, Charles Thomas et al.•Journal of African Military History•2019

  Incluir item

• The Chittagong Hill Tracts

  Mark Levene•Third World Quarterly•1999

  Incluir item

• The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War 1967–1970

  S K Panter‐Brick, S K Panter-Brick•International Affairs•1978

  Incluir item

• The Asaba Massacre

  Open Access•S Elizabeth Bird, Fraser M Ottanelli•Asaba Massacre•2017

  Incluir item

• Imagined communities

  Benedict Anderson•Imagined communities•1991

  Incluir item

• Can there be genocide without the intent to commit genocide

  Guenter Lewy•Journal of Genocide Research•2007

  Incluir item

• Marketing genocide

  Roy Doron•Journal of Genocide Research•2014

  Incluir item

• Ours is a war of survival

  Douglas Anthony•Journal of Genocide Research•2014

  Incluir item

• Biafra of the mind

  Ike Okonta•Journal of Genocide Research•2014

  Incluir item

• From "pirates" to "militants

  Ukoha Ukiwo•African Affairs•2007

  Incluir item

• My Command, An Account of the Nigerian Civil War

  Anthony Clayton•African Affairs•1981

  Incluir item

• The Struggle for Secession, 1966-1970

  Henry L Bretton, N U Akpan•The International Journal of…•1973

  Incluir item

• Reflections on the Nigerian Civil War

  Douglas G Anglin, Raph Uwechue•The International Journal of…•1973

  Incluir item

• Biafra and the discourse on the Igbo Genocide

  Open Access•Chima J Korieh•Journal of Asian and African…•2013

  Incluir item

• The barbarism of civilization

  Open Access•R Van Krieken•British Journal of Sociology•1999

  Incluir item