On this day, May 30 in 1967, the Republic of Biafra was established by Igbo military officer and Eastern Region governor C. Odumegwu Ojukwu.
This came up following a series of ethnic tensions and military coups after Nigerian independence in 1960 that culminated in the 1966 massacres of Eastern-Nigerians.
There were several diplomatic efforts to reunite the country and avert war between Nigeria and Biafra which failed. The war eventually broke out in July 1967. Ojukwu’s forces made some initial advances, but Nigeria’s superior military strength gradually reduced Biafran territory.
The state lost its oil fields–its main source of revenue–and without the funds to import food, an estimated one million of its civilians died as a result of severe malnutrition.
On January 11, 1970, Nigerian forces captured the provincial capital of Owerri, one of the last Biafran strongholds, and Ojukwu was forced to flee to the Ivory Coast. Four days later, Biafra surrendered to Nigeria.
