Word: biafras
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Dates: during 1967-1967
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...Nigerian government newspaper, the Morning Post, in its "Teachings of Islam" column. Thus, with resignation, federal government forces led by Major General Yakubu Gowon, 32, rolled out of the lush green hills of the Northern region to attack Nigeria's secessionist Eastern region, which now calls itself Biafra. Gowon's aim: "A short, surgical police action" to crush the rebellion led by Lieut. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu...
Told to "fight a clean fight" and avoid atrocities,, Gowon's troops, at least 15,000 strong, launched a four-pronged attack. His small collection of English-made Ferret and Saladin armored vehicles pushed toward the Biafra capital of Enugu and the provincial centers of Nsukka and Ogoja. Large numbers of federal troops, which the government said were "moving cross-country on their flat feet," reportedly overran an Eastern military camp and captured 500 recruits. Determined Biafrans, whose army of about 7,000 is largely composed of Ibo tribesmen, claimed to have thrown Gowon's men back into...
Never a Shot. Gowon's invasion may have been necessitated by the reported decision of foreign companies exploiting rich oil reserves in Biafra's Niger River Delta to pay their taxes and royalties (about $40 million this year) to Ojukwu's treasury instead of Gowon's. Ojukwu's troops had taken up positions at the oil installations, and the companies apparently felt that they had no choice but to pay the de facto government. This gave the Eastern regime a degree of recognition, and may have convinced Gowon that the time had come to demonstrate...
...East closed. Then they fled across the river in canoes. All along the swampy and grassy border areas, Ibo soldiers dug into foxholes. In the Eastern towns, however, the mood was ebullient, and many businessmen took to renaming their establishments after the new republic. In Onitsha, the Lucky Biafra Bar made its debut, while a freshly painted red sign advertised the No More Nigeria Garage...
...Biafra already has selected its own national anthem-modeled after Finlandia -and Ojukwu hopes to write the words himself. Though the international community has so far given no recognition to the new regime, Biafra is potentially a viable economic and political state. It produced $250 million worth of crude oil last year and also exports coal and palm-oil products. Gowon faces no mean task in forcing the rebel regime back into the union, especially since leaders in both his Mid-Western and Western regions, including the influential Chief Obafemi Awolowo, have shown no enthusiasm for military action against...