Biafra Revisited

It is now forty years since the genocide of the Igbo people began in 1966. During a period of less than three years, some three million Igbo were annihilated. The genocide represented a holocaust of unprecedented proportions in recent African history that has been described by the author of this study as the ‘foundational genocide of post- conquest, European-occupied Africa’.

This text demonstrates that the Biafran War, 1967-1970, was the second phase of the Igbo genocide, following the initial massacre of 100,000 Igbo across the principal towns and cities of northern Nigeria. It shows how the slaughter was sanctioned and organised by the State, with its leading institutions – the military, police, religious, media and academia – implicated therein.

The author contends that Nigeria is a failed State that does not serve the interests of its constituent people. Nor does it provide an enabling environment for urgent reconstruction of society. He argues that the greatest challenge facing the Igbo and other minorities in Nigreia is of how to create new decentralised State forms, that are democratic and safeguard lives, rights, equality and liberty.