Biafra War Documentaries: Explaining Continual Resurgence of Secessionist Agitations in the South-East, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Fifty years after the Biafra war, its discourse in public sphere remains dominant as though the war just ended. Existing studies attribute this to several factors, including perceived marginalisation and collective victimhood of the Igbo (that is, the people of South-East, Nigeria) and the failure of Nigerian state to pursue the post-Biafra war peace-building initiatives. Although research has used framing perspective to explain why Biafra separatist agitators have remained non-violent despite organised provocations, the impact of Biafra war documentaries on continual resurgence of secessionist agitations is yet to be given adequate attention in literature. Thus, this article provides empirical evidence of how documentaries of Biafra war fuel secessionist agitations among the Igbo by helping the movement gain more converts. Using a mixed-methods approach, the paper argues that constant (re)distribution of Biafra war documentaries in the social and other media draws more supporters to secessionist agitations. The implication is that until Nigerian government counters the narratives contained in these documentaries by visibly implementing the post-Biafra war peace-building initiatives, the secessionist agitations will likely continue to gain momentum.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Radio Biafra is an online radio station that exists in over 70 countries of the world with over 5 million listeners as stated by Nnamdi Kanu on Sahara TV on 25 March 2014.

2. English and Igbo are the two major spoken languages in the South-East, Nigeria.

3. It is important to point out that the major challenge confronted by the researcher during the interview was getting the Biafra separatist agitators convinced on why the identities and contacts of their members should be disclosed to the researcher for the sole purpose of this research.

4. ‘No victor no vanquished’ was a popular slogan adopted by the federal military government immediately after the Biafra war in 1970 to demonstrate its readiness to ensure a united post-war Nigeria.

5. Although these two states were with Biafra during the war, they quickly reunited with Nigeria and pronounced themselves non-Biafra territories immediately the war was lost.

6. Despite that Igbo are third largest ethnic group in Nigeria after Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba, there has not been an Igbo president since the end of the Biafra war, and even the Igbo inclusivists believe that they are still being punished for fighting a secessionist war.

7. Nnamdi Kanu alleged this in one of his Biafra Radio broadcasts in March 2020.

8. This features constantly in Nnamdi Kanu’s broadcast on Radio Biafra. He utilises every event in Nigeria, including how the federal government was handling the Covid-19 as an opportunity to deepen this argument.

9. El-Rufai is the governor of Kaduna state and the former Minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja. As a Minister of FCT, he drew the attention the indigenous population in May 2007 that Igbo own 73% of Abuja land, which was interpreted to mean that the Igbo could displace them from their ancestral land (see Ugwueze 2019).

10. Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister and also one of the two most influential northern politicians at independence; the other being the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello.

11. This is the declaration that provided the philosophy upon which the Biafra war was fought by the Igbo. It was called ‘Ahiara Declaration’ because it was a declaration made on 1 June 1969 in Ahiara village.

12. DoS is the highest decision making body of the IPOB.

13. This is a common argument among scholars and analysts in Nigeria, which has been assuming a worrisome dimension since after the 2019 general elections that left much to be desired.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael I. Ugwueze

Michael I. Ugwueze is a Ph.D holder and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Ugwueze was among the twelve (12) Junior African Scholars sponsored by Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main, Germany and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS), South Africa to attend the 2017 Summer School in Bamako. He has authored many publications in reputable journals, including Journal of Applied Security Research, Africa Insight, Security Journal and Review of African Political Economy. His research interests are in the areas of conflict, peace and security studies, governance and development.