Word: ojukwu
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Taking its name from the Bight of Biafra, a coastal inlet, Eastern Nigeria had finally carried out its threat to secede from Nigeria and become an independent state. Lieut. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, 33, the East's regional governor, announced the step and unfurled the banner of his new republic at a 3 a.m. conference, then threw a morning champagne party...
...opting for secession,' Ojukwu directly challenged a onetime pal, Yakubu Gowon, 32, the military head of the Nigerian government based in Lagos. Gowon, who last week raised his own rank from lieutenant colonel to major general, denounced the secession of the 12 million Easterners as "an act of rebellion which will be crushed," ordered a mobilization of federal forces and sent two army battalions to the eastern border. He also ordered a naval blockade of the Eastern coast to choke off Ojukwu's economy. Though no fighting had broken out by week's end, Ojukwu predicted that...
...Enthusiasm. An Oxford graduate and the son of a millionaire Ibo financier, Lieut. Colonel Ojukwu is more than a match for Gowon, who grew up in the more provincial Middle Belt region and learned most of his lessons in the army. For months, Ojukwu has been gradually removing the last traces of federal influence in the East. Gowon made concessions, but he insisted on the principle of a strong central government. Then last week Gowon forced Ojukwu over the brink by announcing a plan to divide Nigeria's regions into twelve states, three of them to be carved...
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...
Economically, Nigeria needs the East far more than the East needs it. Ojukwu complains that his region contributes 35% of the nation's tax revenues and gets back only 14% in federal outlays. With coal reserves, a palm-oil industry and abundant oil along the coast near Port Harcourt, the East has the potential to go it alone as a viable state. Its population of 12 million (including 9,000,000 Ibos) is larger than that of either Kenya or Ghana...