Biafra, Nigeria, the West and the World: Annotated Site Materials & Bibliography

This resource was developed in 2004 as part of “Biafra, Nigeria, the West and the World” by David Trask.

 

Primary Sources Used for this Unit

Organized According to their Order of Appearance within Each Major Section of the Project

Introduction

Read by all students in class

• Joseph Okpaku, “The Myth of Western Objectivity, Expertise, and Scholarship” in Joseph Okpaku, (ed.), Nigeria: Dilemma of Nationhood An African Analysis of the Biafran Conflict (Westport, Connecticut, 1972). Excerpt.
  • This reading, on the line between primary and secondary source, expresses scorn at outsiders who, though they possessed little knowledge of the region or the issues, were regarded as experts during the Nigerian Civil War. It is a warning to students that their first impressions are often wrong and that others have a stake in these events.
• Internet connections to news stories from Spring, 2000, in northern Nigeria over the efforts to institute Sharia laws in some Moslem dominated provinces; the effort resulted in a series of riots both in the north and the east of the nation.
  • References in the stories suggest there is some fear that this will become a reply of the Biafra episode.

The Republic of Biafra

Materials for all students in class on the continuing echoes of Biafra

• *Data on percentage of Nigerian governmental budget from petroleum sales, 1958-1990
  • Shows increasing government dependence on oil revenues for the national budget; oil resources located in Biafra
• Statistics on linguistic diversity in Nigeria (late 1990s)
  • Shows the ethnic diversity through a print source.
• Images on Biafran currency.
  • Image makes Biafran effort more real.
• Biafran National Anthem.
  • Words only. To make Biafra seem like a real moment in the past. 
• Recent speech by Col. Ojukwu on Biafra (for a BBC series on war).
  • Ojukwu reflects on his efforts 
• Maps
  • Contemporary cities, *location of ethnic groups, *four regions (1965), *thirty-six regions (1996).
  • Latter maps shows a couple of the stages of the reorganization of Nigeria into a larger and larger number of states to accommodate ethnic diversity. 
• Four letter-editorials, USAfrica The Newspaper, 1999
  • “Igbos do not need any more apologies”
  • “Why we demand apology for killing of Biafrans”
  • “Apology is vital but trust is the issue”
  • “Is Biafra war too sensitive to discuss?”

[* Indicates materials modified from Eghosa E. Osaghae, Crippled Giant Nigeria Since Independence (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.)]

Readings divided up among team members

Biafran Goals

• The Biafran Declaration of Independence (May 27, 1967)
  • For students to learn causes of secession as seen by participants.

Nigerian Goals

• General Gowon’s victory message to Nigeria, (1/15/70), “The Dawn of National Reconciliation”
  • Revolves around his analysis of the war and promises for the future.

Global Concerns
Public Statements

1. Charles DeGaulle, September 9, 1968 (press conference statement)
2. Margery Perham, a European researcher regarded as a friend of Nigeria, September 7, 1968 (radio broadcast to General Ojukwu, leader of Biafra)
3. The Church of England on arms supplies, August 18, 1967 (official statement)
4. Joint statement of the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church, March 20, 1968
5. “Thirty-Nine Accusations” a propaganda pamphlet issued in 1968 from Enugu, Biafra

First four are international statements similar to those issued in response to other crisises; #5 is a Biafran reaction and a sample of the propaganda used in international crises.

Statement of Causes

• Chinua Achebe, “The African Writer and the Biafran Cause,” 1968 (speech)
  • Statement ties events to past interventions from imperial powers.

The Formation and Operation of the First Nigerian Republic

Readings divided up among team members

African Aspirations for Independence

1. “Manifesto for Presentation to the United Nations Conference, San Francisco, April, 1945” [from Langley, Pan-Africanism and Nationalism in West Africa, 1973]
2. U. S. Declaration of Independence.

Parallel statements that show aspirations for independence and the use of natural rights language and assumptions.

Creating Identity in a Colonial World—The Role of Literature

• Ogali E. Ogali, “Veronica Makes Up Her Mind” excerpt from a play to exemplify Igbo Market Literature) [from Emmanuel Obeichina, Onitsha Market Literature, 1972]
  • Drama revolves around the traditional father and the “modern” children who want to make decisions against his will. This is also an attempt by Nigerian writers to create a national literature using a second language.

Denunciation of European Imperialism

• Nnamdi Azikiwe, excerpts of speeches.[from Azikiwe, Zik, 1964]
  • Considered the central figure in Nigerian efforts for independence.

Anticipation of Independence

• Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, speech in Nigeria’s colonial parliament, September, 1957 [from Balewa, Mr. :Prime Minister, 1964]

The Colonial and Pre-Colonial Eras in Nigeria

Background readings for all students

• The London Manifesto, August 29, 1921
  • [Langley, Pan-Africanism and Nationalism in West Africa, 1900-1945, 1973]
  • Shows connections between African conditions and the concerns of Africans living elsewhere in the world. Also shows assumption that African independence movements would be led by Africans who have acquired western values
• Indirect Rule in West Africa
  • Lord Malcolm Hailey, Native Administration and Political Development in British West Africa (London, 1943). Excerpt
  • Robert Delavignette, Freedom and Authority in French West Africa (London, 1940). Excerpt for comparison.

Readings show the approaches used by imperial countries for administering colonies.

Readings divided up among team members

Riot or Rebellion: The Women’s Market Rebellion of 1929

• [from Margery Perham, Native Administration in Nigeria (London, 1937). Excerpt.
  • Insight into Nigerian and British understandings of one another in a report of a riot/rebellion from the region that will later try to become Biafra.

The Corrupting Influences of the West

• [from Orizu, (title missing in my notes), 1944]
  • Assumption that Africans with western educations will lead independence movement

Early Impressions of Igbo and European

• Herman Koler, German doctor, observations of Igbo life, 1840 (excerpt)
• E. N. Okechukwu, Igbo Village Democracy, (1973) (oral history excerpt)
• Nkwonto Nwuduaku, Memories of Slave Trade, 1974 (oral history excerpt)
• Uwaga Okeanya, View of Europeans, 1972 (oral history excerpt)
  [all from Isichei, ed., Igobo Worlds, 1978]

Oral histories and a print report all dating back to 19th or very early 20th century experiences of life before direct European contact.

The White Man’s Burden

• [from The White Man in Africa; full citation missing and to be added]
  • A reading about early colonial conditions and British expectations fro Northern Nigeria, the region that will dominate Nigerian government after independence and against which the Biafrans will rebel.

Slavery—The European Impact

• Excerpts from the writings of Equiano Olaudah. Internet source.
  • Famous memoir of his slave experiences from Africa to the new world. An Igbo living in the 1700s.
• West Africa Review Internet Journal
  • Collection of essays discussing the impact of slavery on Africa (secondary source for era)

Echoes of the Biafran Era in Nigeria Today

• Ken Saro-Wiwa. Internet
  • Connection to biographical information about the noted Nigerian writer executed by the Abacha regime in the mid-1990s.

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Primary Sources Used for this Unit

Organized According to their Order of Appearance within Each Major Section of the Project

I. Introduction

Read by all students in class

• Joseph Okpaku, “The Myth of Western Objectivity, Expertise, and Scholarship” in Joseph Okpaku, (ed.), Nigeria: Dilemma of Nationhood An African Analysis of the Biafran Conflict (Westport, Connecticut, 1972). Excerpt.
  • This reading, on the line between primary and secondary source, expresses scorn at outsiders who, though they possessed little knowledge of the region or the issues, were regarded as experts during the Nigerian Civil War. It is a warning to students that their first impressions are often wrong and that others have a stake in these events.

The Republic of Biafra

Readings for all students in class on the continuing echoes of Biafra

• Four letter-editorials, USAfrica The Newspaper, 1999
  • “Igbos do not need any more apologies”
  • “Why we demand apology for killing of Biafrans”
  • “Apology is vital but trust is the issue”
  • “Is Biafra war too sensitive to discuss?”

Readings divided up among team members:

Biafran Goals

• The Biafran Declaration of Independence (May 27, 1967)

Nigerian Goals

• General Gowon’s victory message to Nigeria, (1/15/70), “The Dawn of National Reconciliation”

Global Concerns [Public Statements]:

• Charles DeGaulle, September 9, 1968 (press conference statement)
• Margery Perham, a European researcher who regards herself as a friend of Nigeria [Radio broadcast to General Ojukwu, leader of Biafra, September 7, 1968]
• The Church of England on arms supplies, August 18, 1967 (official statement)
• Joint Statement of the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church, March 20, 1968
• “Thirty-Nine Accusations” a propaganda pamphlet issued in 1968 from Enugu, Biafra

Statement of Causes

• Chinua Achebe, “The African Writer and the Biafran Cause,” 1968 (speech)

The Formation and Operation of the First Nigerian Republic

Readings for all students in class on general African aspirations for independence

• “Manifesto for Presentation to the United Nations Conference, San Francisco, April, 1945”
• U. S. Declaration of Independence

Readings divided up among team members

Creating Identity in a Colonial World: The Role of Literature

• Ogali E. Ogali, “Veronica Makes Up Her Mind” excerpt from a play to exemplify Igbo market literature

Anticipation of Independence

• Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, speech in Nigeria’s colonial parliament, September, 1957

Denouncing Europe’s Role in Africa

• Speeches in England by Nnamdi Azikwe, 1947, 1948, 1949

Criticisms of the Role of Northern Nigeria in the Creation of Nigeria

• Arthur Nwankwo and Samuel Ifejik, Biafra: The Making of a Nation, 1969 (excerpts)

The Colonial Era in Nigeria

Readings for all students in class on general African aspirations for independence

• G. T. Basden, Among the Ibos of Nigeria, 1921 (excerpts from a travel account)

Indirect Rule in West Africa

Readings divided up among team members

• Lord Malcolm Hailey, Native Administration and Political Development in British West Africa (London, 1943). Excerpt.
• Robert Delavignette, Freedom and Authority in French West Africa (London, 1940).

Early Political Organization

• Obafemi Awolowo on the organization of the Nigerian Youth Movement from Awo: The Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1960). Excerpt

Riot or Rebellion: The Women’s Market Rebellion of 1929

• Margery Perham, Native Administration in Nigeria (London, 1937). Excerpt

Early Impressions of Igbo and European

• Herman Koler, German doctor, observations of Igbo life, 1840 (excerpt)
• E. N. Okechukwu, Igbo Village Democracy, (oral history excerpt)
• Nkwonto Nwuduaku, Memories of Slave Trade, 1974 (oral history excerpt)
• Uwaga Okeanya, View of Europeans, 1972 (oral history excerpt)

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Background Readings

This is not a comprehensive bibliography of sources for Nigerian history and the civil war. Rather this is a list of the sources I found useful in working through the issues in this project.

Major sources

• A. H. M. Kirk-Greene, Crisis and Conflict in Nigeria A Documentary Sourcebook 1966-1968 (Oxford University Press, 1971)
• John J. Stremlau, The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War 1967-1970 (Princeton, 1977)
• John C. Hawley, Biafra as Heritage and Symbol: Adichie, Mbachu, and Iweala (2008)
• Lasse Heerten and A. Dirk Moses, The Nigeria-Biafra War, in Postcolonial Conflict and the Question of Genocide (2017)
• Toyin Falola, Ogechukwu Ezekwem, Writing the Nigeria-Biafra War (2016)
• Chudi Offodile, The Politics of Biafra: And the Future of Nigeria (2016)

Overviews

• Eghosa E. Osaghae, Crippled Giant Nigeria Since Independence (University of Indiana Press, 1998)
• Dan Jacobs, The Brutality of Nations (Knopf, 1987)

Participants

• Ntieyong U. Akpan, The Struggle for Secession, 1966-1970 A Personal Account of the Nigerian Civil War (Frank Cass, 1972)
• Arthur Agwuncha Nwankwo and Samuel Odochukwu Ifegik, Biafra The Making of a Nation (New York, 1970)

Politics

• Larry Diamond, Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria The Failure of the First Republic (Syracuse University Press, 1988)

Colonial Era Issues

• John Kent, The Internationalization of Colonialism Britain, France and Black Africa, 1939-1956 (Oxford, 1992)

African Responses: Manifestos

• J. Ayodele Langley, Pan-Africanism and Nationalism in West Africa 1900-1945 (Oxford, 1973)

Imperialism

• Robert W. July, The Origins of Modern African Thought Its Development in West Africa during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (London, 1968)

Igbo on Eve of European Arrival

• Elizabeth Isichei, The Igbo People and the Europeans The Genesis of a Relationship to 1906 (New York, 1973)