The Anti-Igbo Pogroms Of 1966: The Massacre Of Over 100,000 Ndi Igbo By Northern Nigeria Mob And Military In 1966

The Anti-Igbo Pogroms Of 1966, Ani Igbo: Umu nnem, no matter how harsh or bitter a part of our history is, we must tell it. We do this for ourselves and for our children unborn, so that we may know where the rain started to beat our noble people, and where we must return to for our rainmakers to call the rain to order. Read with light hearts…!!!

Nigeria seems to be in a cold war against the Igbo. Fifty years after the horrific events of 1967-70, one would assume that the war had ended but it never did. The Igbo are still being killed, physically, economically, and psychologically by the Nigerian government. When online intellectuals go on internet-tribal war with their hot takes on social media, it is almost ridiculous at this point to tackle them with facts that refute their disgusting lies.

The Igbo people of Nigeria have, since the needless amalgamation of the Southerners with the Northerners, suffered countless genocide at the hands of the Nigerian government spearheaded by the Northerners. While the Pogrom of 1966 stands out as the most gruesome of all the massacres, there have been other records of mass Igbo killings before and after then; all carefully deleted from Nigeria’s history. It is shameful and barbaric that these evils against humanity are reported only by the affected.

For posterity, this article will discuss the elaborate facts about the 1966 Pogrom and the Killings of Igbo people in the North. We shall also recount the circumstances culminating in the occasions of 1966 and later. 

A Brief Overview of Nigeria’s Creation

Nigeria officially became a country on October 1st, 1960, and a republic in 1963. But before the Nigerian Independence, the marriage of the northern and southern protectorates has been in existence since 1914. The consolidation of both protectorates was signed into a bill on January 1, 1914, by Lord Fredrick Lugard of Britain.

It is important to note that the amalgamation was born out of economic reasons rather than political – the northern protectorate suffered a budget deficit, and the colonial administration opted to use the budget surpluses in the Southern protectorate to offset this deficit. 

Since the amalgamation, Nigeria has been reeling from one problem to another. The marriage of the North and South is a union that never should have happened in the first place because the equation lacks balance. But out of greed for power and a grandiose thirst for fame, the self-acclaimed Nigerian nationals, especially the Southern protectorate bought the story of the British colonists and even welcomed it with both hands. The aftermath we suffer till today.

Earlier Anti-Igbo Pogroms Before 1966

The first incidence of Igbo pogrom was witnessed in the capital city of Plateau state, Jos on 22nd June 1945. Hundreds of Igbos were murdered in cold blood by the Hausa-Fulani during the Pogrom, and tens of thousands of pounds sterling worth of Igbo properties were either looted or destroyed. As expected, no single person was arrested or charged by the British regime, nor was an official order declared to investigate the actual cause of this gruesome act. There’s an Igbo adage that says, “when evil is prevalent it becomes a norm.” The silence of the Nigerian government in the face of injustice against the Igbos confirms the claims that they are in acquiescence to all the wanton killings of the Igbo race. 

Again in 1953, the second mass killing of the Igbos occurred in the North, with thousands of their properties looted; and of course, nobody was arrested, nor prosecuted.

The Atrocious Anti-Igbo Pogrom of 1966: A Political Background

The aftermath of the union of 1914 amalgamation is the root cause of all of Nigeria’s problems. Tribalism is the offspring of the union called Nigeria. Since independence, Nigeria has managed to survive on only one foot, promising to break free anytime, hence the unpopular “One Nigeria” mantra. It is foolery to continue to force unity campaign down the throat of Nigerians, especially the southerners (the Igbos), because in reality, Nigeria still suffers a great deal of ethnic bigotry. The first republic was plagued by animosity spurred by the differences among the major ethnicities because the constitution created strong political divisions that made compromises difficult.

The year 1966 launched the most tragic genocide in the history of Nigeria. After Nigeria gained its independence in 1960, the country was divided into the major ethnic regions – the North occupied by the Hausa-Fulani, the West occupied by the Yoruba, and the Igbos in the Southeast. This formation was to solve the ethnic differences in the country, but the occasions following the independence opposed the forceful make-believe harmony that never existed. 

Whenever there is violence in Nigeria, the Igbos always become the usual scapegoat and punching bag for the blood-starved northerners. The eve of January 15, 1966, recorded the first Nigerian coup d’etat led by Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu and some radical military officers of the Nigerian armed forces. 

Contrary to the popular belief that the Igbos plotted and carried out the coup, it was undertaken by soldiers from various parts of Nigeria (although led by an Igbo man), to put a stop to the growing corruption in the country. The coup led to the death of 15 prominent Nigerians, including Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the prime minister of the Federal Republic, and Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria – both from northern Nigeria. 

Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu and his fellow coup plotters were forced to stop their plans to consolidate power throughout the country, by The General Officer Commanding the Nigerian army, Aguiyi Ironsi (an Igbo man), who immediately assumed command of the government after foiling the coup in Lagos, while Odumegwu Ojukwu (another Igbo man) halted the coup in Kano. 

It is important to note that it was the BBC who first called the coup an Igbo coup, despite the known fact that the officers involved came from the North, West, East, and other parts of Nigeria. Following the uprising of January 15, 1966’s eve, the northerners believed the attack was an Igbo coup against the northerners to rule Nigeria and however, planned for revenge. 

Six months later, Aguiyi Ironsi and Lt. Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi were brutally murdered in a counter-coup led by Lt. Colonel Murtala Muhammed and a group of northern Nigerian soldiers. The mutiny happened on July 28, 1966, and was retaliation for the killings of Northern political top guns in the previous coup. Upon the forceful termination of Ironsi’s government, Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon emerged as the unlawful Head of State, on the appointment of his northern brothers, who led the counter-coup – against his senior in the military, Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe – including Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, who was his equal in the military. The unlawful emergence of Gowon as the new head of state in place of his seniors didn’t seat well with Ojukwu, and Ogundipe too, who could not claim their rightful position because the soldiers who were supposed to ensure that normalcy was re-established in the state were the enforcers of the ongoing anarchy. The situation spiraled into a deadlock between Ojukwu and Gowon, contributing to the series of events that resulted in the Biafra war.

An anti-Igbo pogrom was declared, to wipe out all the Igbos, especially older men and budding men. 

How The Igbo Were Massacred On Three Different Occasions In 1966 

The 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom in Northern Nigeria has been given different connotations and accounts from various quarters. Many have blamed the Igbo for the events and absolved the North of any wrongdoing. But for history’s sake, we must present the Igbo narrative of the genocide that began in 1966.

The truth is that there has been envy and distrust of the Igbo by all regions of Nigeria in the years before Independence (1960), especially the North. The Igbo were not wanted in the North because after the British colonialist, the Igbo were the next most advanced and prosperous in civil service, business, and practically every aspect of Nigeria’s economy. This drove the North and the West to be envious and wary of the Igbo. 

Against this backdrop, the Igbo had been massacred a couple of times in the North. The first was the Jos 1945 riot, the 1953 invasion of Sabon gari in Kano, and the killing of Ndi Igbo. So, it is safe to agree that the 1966 pogrom was only a continuation of the Northern disposition to kill Ndi Igbo, only that this time they had more excuses. 

Their excuses were that the January 1966 coup was led by 4 young Majors, out of the 5 Majors that planned the coup; forgetting that 99.9% of the officers who surrounded and worked with Chukwuma Nzeogwu were all of Hausa-Fulani (Northern origin), while others from other parts of Nigeria played crucial roles in the Coup. The participation and allegiance of his Northern accomplices to the coup were so firm that even an Igbo officer, Alexander A. Madiebo could not simply walk into Chukwumma Nzeogwu’s office, without being faced with Northern guns and treated as a threat to the revolution. 

Ademulegun and the other coup plotter who were not Igbo never admitted that the coup was an Igbo coup. At the time there were more Igbo officers in the Nigerian army, so by demographics, it was only fair that there would be more Igbo officers among the coup plotters. The January 15 coup plotters were not successful in killing the Premier of the East, Dr. Michael Okpara because he was with a European visitor in his house, in the person of Archbishop Macarious, the president of Cyprus. And the soldiers most probably didn’t want to steer international conflict with Cyprus.

Another excuse the North had for the pogrom was that General Aguiyi Ironsi who foiled the coup in Lagos, and who was the most senior military officer in Nigeria, was then the leader of Nigeria. The third was that most northern politicians and senior army officers were killed in the Coup, which included Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Ahmadu Bello the Sardauna of Sokoto. In effect, they blamed the entire Igbo population for the actions of military officers who were drawn from all parts of Nigeria but had a majority of Igbo leadership.

The foundations for the attack and mass killing of the Igbo in Northern Nigeria were laid in the same January 1966 after the coup. It first started with a broadcast by the BBC calling the coup an Igbo coup. Then another careless report by the diplomatic correspondence of the Financial Times, J.D.F Jones, predicted that the Northerners might “already have begun to take revenge for the death of their leader the Sardauna of Sokoto on a large number of Igbo who lives in the North”. This was two days after the night of the coup, and nothing of that nature was going on. These two reports when coupled with the facts that the North lost two prominent politicians made the Northern elites believe that the international community required them to retaliate for the death of their leaders. And since everyone was pointing at the Igbo, it was fair to absolve every other military officer involved in the January 15th Coup of any wrongdoing and channel their anger to the already despised Igbo.

The first blood of the pogroms was drawn on May 29th, 1966, 5 days after General Aguiyi Ironsi abolished the Federating units of Nigeria and issued a unitary degree. This was perceived as a plot by the Igbo to dominate the North. The Northern local governments and elites had been organizing the massacre of the Easterners, and the unitary decree by Aguiyi Ironsi was the perfect excuse for their plots to be hatched. In this phase of the 1966 anti-Igbo pogroms, thousands of Igbo were killed in the North. 

The next phase of the pogroms started on 29 July 1966 when Northern officers carried out a coup and killed 240 Eastern officers, of which the Igbo were about 90%. They also massacred thousands of Igbo people in the North. At the top of the list of Igbo officers was Aguiyi Ironsi, the Supreme commander. This led to the mass exodus of the Easterners from the North. But the majority of them were hunted down and killed in cold blood. The dead bodies arriving in Igbo land caused the people of the East to retaliate and kill Northerners too, while many of the Northerners fled back to the North. 

The July massacre continued in the North, and Yakubu Gowon assumed command of the nation. He was assuring the Igbo of their safety if they returned to the North, but all the Northern soldiers and populace wanted was to carry out the planned genocide against the Easterners. 

Ethnic tensions continued to rise between the Northerners and the Easterners. To further provoke and fan the flames which they had ignited in the North, the Northern elite fabricated news stories of exaggerated attacks on Northerners in the Eastern region. They submitted and aired these reports on Radio Cotonou, and repeated them on BBC’s Hausa Service. This led to the third wave of massacres of the remaining Igbo in Northern Nigeria. This phase started on 29 September 1966, and it is recorded that over 30,000 easterners (the majority being Ndi Igbo) were killed in the September pogroms, but these are conservative estimates. It is safe to say that at least 100,000 Igbo were killed in the various massacres that happened in the North. 

The anthem and war chant that was played uninterruptedly in Hausa on Kaduna Radio and also on Television throughout this period were clear of the planned genocide of the Igbo. It sang: 

‘Mu je mu kashe nyamiri

Mu kashe maza su da yan maza su

Mu chi mata su da yan mata su

Mu kwashe kaya su.’

(English translation: ‘Let’s go kill the damned Igbo/Kill off their men and boys/Rape their wives and daughters/Cart off their property)

With this anthem at the back of the minds of the Northern populace and military, they were able to massacre tens of thousands of Ndi Igbo and their cousins from the Old Eastern Region of Nigeria. This was the final stroke that broke the camel’s back – the point where the Igbo understood that Nigeria didn’t want them anymore, so they decided to return home with torn limbs, dead family, broken spirits, and lost resources, to start afresh in a country where their lives (in tens of thousands) would not be used to settle political rifts. Over a million Ndi Igbo returned to the East from all parts of Nigeria, and this culminated in the peace talks at Aburi, the betrayal by the Nigerian side led by Yakubu Gowon, and the declaration of Biafra by Odumegwu Ojukwu. 

The Aftermath Of The Anti-Igbo Pogroms

As was already a norm for the biased international bodies, they neither interfered nor uttered any word to end the genocide. They are only concerned when there is something to lose – unfortunately, the Igbo lives did not matter – still do not matter – plus they had nothing to lose but rather more to gain. The Nigerian government watched and did nothing. The British government did nothing. The OAU did nothing. The UN did nothing. The Pan-Africanists did nothing. 

On January 4 and 5, 1967, Ojukwu, Gowon, and delegates from both the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Eastern region met in Aburi, Ghana, and agreed on what is known as the Aburi Accord. However, on May 27, 1967, four months after the meeting, Gowon reneged on the Aburi agreement and decreed the creation of 12 states to destabilize the looming Eastern secession and replace the four regions with states.

Meanwhile, Ojukwu had earlier convened on May 26, 1967, with the East Consultative Assembly consisting of 300 delegates from all provinces in the east, following the state of affairs in the country, where he, Ojukwu, was urged to declare Eastern Nigeria as a free, sovereign state by the name Republic of Biafra, should situations call for it.

Responding to the emergency and wanton killings of the Igbos in Nigeria, Ojukwu declared the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967, enforcing an immediate secession of the Eastern Nigerian region from Nigeria. 

At this point, Nigeria’s unity had been torpedoed. On July 6, 1967, Gowon declared war against the Biafrans, after six days of enjoying their freedom. The war lasted for 30 months until Major-General Phillip Effiong ordered the surrender of all the Biafran armed forces on January 12, 1970. About 3 million Biafrans were estimated to have been killed in the war, mostly children who died of kwashiorkor as a result of mass starvation orchestrated by the Nigerian side. 

In a resolution, the Biafrans surrendered unconditionally and pledged their allegiance to Nigeria and the civil war officially ended on January 15, 1970, after Ojukwu had been exiled to Cote d’Ivoire and his vice, Phillip Effiong declared an end to the Republic of Biafra.

THIS PIECE IS BUT A BRIEF ACCOUNT. WE WILL UPDATE THE FACTS IN THE NEAREST FUTURE, TO COVER MORE ANGLES OF THIS VITAL HISTORY.

This Brief Account Was Written By Chidera Oti and Chuka Nduneseokwu.

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