WHY THE BIAFRA WAR WAS FOUGHT AND WHY ANOTHER ONE IS ALWAYS LOOMING

It was not the failure in the implementation of the Aburi Accord, nor Ojukwu's desire for power, nor the January 15th Coup, nor the Oil in Niger Delta that led to what many have come to describe as the Biafran Genocide.

Indeed, all these, including the Kano Riots that took place a decade earlier, the Western Nigeria Crises, etc contributed to the final outbreak of the Biafran War which wrecked Eastern Nigeria.

However, I have spent years reading and rereading the accounts of the war, from historians, eye witnesses, the Nigerian soldiers and Biafran soldiers, the bystanders, international observers and of course, tales from our parents, and juxtaposed them with the current realities and I found out a point so glaring in all the accounts that led to the war, yet none has really named it. It is because of this very point that we are in perpetual danger of repeating history and fighting another war. It is why since 1970, cases of averting an impending war has remained a constant, including the recent case of unknown gunmen and IPOB sit at home.

The war was fought because of the very nature of the Igbo nation.

The Igbo nation is a totally different kind of people that you will not find anywhere on earth. They have been likened to the Jews but the Igbos are nothing like the Jews. Apart from one or two cultural similarities, Igbos have absolutely nothing in common with the Jews.
Let me describe the Igbo people a bit;

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Igbos were cut off from modern civilisation. At the time the Western Nigeria, the Northern and what is now known as the South South were having interractions with White men, getting western education, western religion and getting acclamatised with the new world, the Igbos were in their hamlets, living the pure traditional life. The time the West had a number of Newspapers and printing press, few Igbos could read.
By the time the Northern and Southern protectorates were created, Igbos were not partakers. At the first Nigerian Council, there was hardly any Igbo man there.

Fast forward to 1950, after the second World War. Igbos were dominating virtually everything. Academically, Politically, Religiously, Business wise, sports and what have you? Igbos did not just dominate these sectors, Igbos dominated people in their own communities.

The Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, describing Igbos has this to say;

"Well, the Igbos are mainly the type of people whose desire is to dominate everybody. If they go to the village or town, they want to monopolise everything in that area. If you put them in a labour camp as a labourer, within a year, they will try to emerge as the headman of that camp...and so on..."

The only falsehood in Ahmadu Bello's statement is the first sentence. Igbos do not have any slightest desire to dominate anyone. Igbos simply want to progress. Igbos are obsessed with success and moving from stage to stage is a constant for the Igbo man and he has the zeal to always achieve it.

When you look at the truthfulness of what Bello said and how it had materialised in recent times you will understand the Igbo nation.

In 1970, every Igbo man was reduced to a pauper. Those who had billions and millions in the bank were given only 20 pounds. All their wealth was confiscated and shared amongst non-Igbos. Their houses and properties that were outside Igbo land, including the ones in South South were taken away from them and given to Non-Igbos as ABANDONED PROPERTIES.
On top of that, there was the indiginisation policy that ensured no Igbo man could have any shares in all the companies in Nigeria because 20 pounds was not enough to feed for a day, not to talk of buying shares. They were also serially dismissed from the Civil service, military and paramilitary agencies.

50 years later, the same people who had just 20 pounds before are dominating in business, owning buildings and schools across the country, dominating in education, and gradually taking over top offices and the Civil Service like they once did.

This is the Igbo nation. Now, as this might sound good to the ears of every Igbo man reading this, it breeds resentment in any non-Igbo anywhere. No one will be happy to see a stranger come into his land and start doing better than everyone in the community. Then the stranger's brothers will flood the community, being extremely wealthy more than all the members of the community, taking over everything the community members desired.

Igbos do it in South South, Western Nigeria, Northern Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Benin, Niger, Philippines, Brazil, Malaysia and even in Europe.

Igbos are extremely cosmopolitan and they go any and everywhere in search of wealth and progress. And when they succeed, their brothers will flood the place and before you know it, they will be the first class citizens of the community and their hosts will now be the second class citizens.

This is why the war was fought. The collective resentment against the Igbo nation by all tribes around them. Chinua Achebe put it rightly when he said that Nigerians have never agreed on anything except their common resentment against the Igbo man.

Long before the war, the resentment against Igbos was brewing, not because they hate Igbos, but because no one wants to be dominated and Igbos do that effortlessly even when they don't intend to.

It's for this same reason that there are xenophobic attacks in South Africa. It's the same reason that they don't want an Igbo President. It's the same reason that we risk repeating the Biafra war. It's the same reason that Igbos are always, always the victim of any violent uprising in Nigeria whether it concerns them or not.
There's always a boiling resentment in the hearts of non-Igbos awaiting the day something will happen for it to be unleashed on them.