Anti-Igbo sentiment

Anti-Igbo sentiment refers to the discrimination and hostility in Nigeria that exists towards Igbo people or their culture.

Pre-Civil War sentiments

During the beginning years of Nigeria's colonial independence, the Igbo people increasingly were perceived as a disproportionately-favored ethnic group with affluence and multi-regionalistic opportunity because the Igbo had been employed within the colonial Nigeria by the colonial authorities and in the public sector in regions throughout the country. This aroused the ire of others toward the Igbo.[1]

This was emphasized by the short-lived government of General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, whose military junta consisted mostly of Igbo and who abolished the federated regions; this led to his assassination in a counter-coup led primarily by Hausa/Fulani participant. It was followed by the massacre of thousands of Igbo in pogroms in the aforementioned region, which drove millions of Igbos to their homeland in Eastern Region; ethnic relations deteriorated rapidly, and a separate republic of Biafra was declared in 1967, leading to the Biafran War.[1]

Anti-Igbo Pogrom

Main article: 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom

The 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom was a series of massacres directed at Igbo and other people of southern Nigerian origin living in northern Nigeria starting in May 1966 and reaching a peak after 29 September 1966.[2] During this period 30,000-50,000 Igbo civilians were murdered throughout northern Nigeria by Hausa–Fulani soldiers and civilians who sought revenge for the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état, carried out by six Majors and three Captains, and resulted in the deaths of 11 Nigerian politicians and army officers.[3] These events led to the secession of the eastern Nigerian region and the declaration of the Republic of Biafra, which ultimately led to the Nigeria-Biafra war.[2] The 1966 massacres of southern Nigerians have been described as a holocaust by some authors[4] and have variously been described as riots, pogroms or genocide.[5]

Nigerian Civil War

Main article: Nigerian Civil War

The Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to January 1970. It took its name from the Bight of Biafra, the Atlantic bay to its south. The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria. Other ethnic groups that constituted the republic were the Efik, Ibibio, Annang, Ejagham, Eket, Ibeno and the Ijaw among others.

See also

• Radio Nigeria Kaduna

References

1. "Remembering Biafra". BBC. Archived from the original on September 16, 2008.
2. Abbott, Charles; Anthony, Douglas A. (2003). "Poison and Medicine: Ethnicity, Power, and Violence in a Nigerian City, 1966-86". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 36 (1): 133–136. doi:10.2307/3559324. JSTOR 3559324.
3. http://www.pambazuka.net/en/category.php/features/80138
4. Kirk-Greene, A. H. M. (January 1975). "The Struggle for Secession 1966-70: A Personal Account of the Nigerian Civil War by N. U. Akpan; Sunset in Biafra: A Civil War Diary by Elechi Amadi; The Nigerian Civil War 1967-70: An Annotated Bibliography by C. C. Aguolu Review by: A. H. M. Kirk-Greene". The Royal African Society. 74 (294): 100–102. JSTOR 720916.
5. Van Den Bersselaar, Dmitri (3 March 2011). "Douglas A. Anthony Poison and Medicine: ethnicity, power, and violence in a Nigerian city, 1966 to 1986. Oxford: James Currey 2002 265pp". Africa. 74 (4): 711–713. doi:10.2307/3556867. JSTOR 3556867.(hard covers £45.00, ISBN 0 85255 959 3; paperback £17.95, ISBN 0 85255 954 2) Portsmouth NH: Heinemann (hard covers US$67.95, ISBN 0 32507 052 0; paperback US$24.95, ISBN 0 32507 051 2).