Nigerian Civil War

===Ethnic division===
This [[civil war]] can be connected to the [[Colonial Nigeria#Amalgamation|colonial amalgamation]] in 1914 of the [[Northern Nigeria Protectorate|Northern Protectorate]], [[Lagos Colony]], and [[Southern Nigeria Protectorate]], which was intended for better administration due to the proximity of these [[protectorate]]s {{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}. However, the change did not take into consideration the differences in the culture and religions of the people in each area. Competition for political and economic power exacerbated tensions.<ref name="Britannica"/>

[[Nigeria]] gained independence from the [[United Kingdom]] on 1 October 1960, with a population of 45.2&nbsp;million made up of more than 300 differing ethnic and cultural groups {{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}. When the colony of Nigeria was created, its three largest ethnic groups were the [[Igbo people|Igbo]], who formed about 60–70% of the population in the southeast;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Igbo {{!}} people |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Igbo |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en |access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> the [[Hausa-Fulani]] of the [[Sokoto Caliphate]], who formed about 67% of the population in the northern part of the territory;<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Orji I. |first=Ema |title=Issues on ethnicity and governance in Nigeria: A universal human Right perspectives. |url=https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1819&context=ilj |journal=Fordham International Law Journal |volume=25 |issue=2 2001 Article 4}}</ref> and the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]], who formed about 75% of the population in the southwest.<ref name=":0"/> Although these groups have their homelands, by the 1960s, the people were dispersed across Nigeria, with all three ethnic groups represented substantially in major cities. When the war broke out in 1967, there were still 5,000 Igbos in [[Lagos]].<ref>Olawoyin, ''Historical Analysis of Nigeria–Biafra Conflict'' (1971), pp. 32–33. "The Ibo like the Hausa and Yoruba, are found in hundreds in all towns and cities throughout the Federation. Even at the period of the Civil War, they numbered more than 5,000 in Lagos alone."</ref>

The semi-[[feudal]] and [[Muslim]] Hausa-Fulani in the north were traditionally ruled by a conservative Islamic hierarchy consisting of [[emir]]s who in turn owed their ultimate allegiance to the [[Sultan of Sokoto]], whom they regarded as the source of all political power and religious authority.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Sokoto Caliphate|url=https://irepos.unijos.edu.ng/jspui/bitstream/123456789/2541/1/20181218113229.pdf}}</ref> Apart from the Hausa-Fulani, the [[Kanuri people|Kanuri]] were another dominant majority Muslim ethnic group that had key figures in the war. They made up about 5% of Nigeria's population and were the dominant ethnic group in the [[North-Eastern State|North-Eastern state]]. They historically successfully resisted the Sokoto Caliphate during the 19th-century through their millennium-long [[Kanem–Bornu Empire|Kanem-Bornu empire]]. The southernmost part of the region known as the [[Middle Belt]] had large populations of Christian and Animist populations. Through missionary activities and the 'Northernisation' policy of the [[Northern Region, Nigeria|Regional Government]], the subregion had a significant western-educated population. Several key figures on the Nigerian side of the war came from this subregion, such as Yakubu Gowon and Theophilus Danjuma, both of whom are Christians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kirk-Greene |first=A. H. M. |date=1967 |title=The Peoples of Nigeria: The Cultural Background to the Crisis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/720702 |journal=African Affairs |volume=66 |issue=262 |pages=3–11 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a095561 |jstor=720702 |issn=0001-9909}}</ref>

The [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] [[political system]] in the southwest, like that of the Hausa-Fulani, also consisted of a series of [[monarch]]s, the [[Oba (ruler)|Oba]]. The Yoruba monarchs, however, were less [[autocratic]] than those in the north.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nwafor-Ejelinma |first=Ndubisi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AXff8YkxVG0C&pg=PA21 |title=Ndi-Igbo of Nigeria: Identity Showcase |date=August 2012 |publisher=Trafford Publishing |isbn=978-1-4669-3892-2 |language=en}}</ref> The political and social system of the Yoruba accordingly allowed for greater [[upward mobility]], based on acquired rather than inherited wealth and title.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The particularity of the problem with Nigeria @ 59|url=https://www.thecable.ng/the-particularity-of-the-problem-with-nigeria-59|date=2019-10-01|website=TheCable|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-24}}</ref>

In contrast to the two other groups, Igbos and the ethnic groups of the [[Niger Delta]] in the southeast lived mostly in autonomous, democratically organised communities, although there were E''ze'' or monarchs in many of the ancient cities, such as the [[Kingdom of Nri]]. At its zenith, the Kingdom controlled most of Igboland, including influence on the [[Anioma people]], [[Arochukwu]] (which controlled [[slavery]] in Igbo), and [[Onitsha]] territory. Unlike the other two regions, decisions within the Igbo communities were made by a general assembly in which men and women participated.<ref>{{Google books |id=Zm7sWUbDWakC |page=25 |title=Ijeaku, Nnamdi }}</ref> Considering this participation by women in this civil war, the study ''Female fighters and the fates of rebellions: How mobilizing women influences conflict duration'' by Reed M. Wood oberved that there was a longer duration of wars between rebel groups and the number of women that participated within the conflict at hand. In discussing the correlation between conflicts of longer duration and a high rate of participation of women, the study suggests that gender norms and the general ways in which "an armed group recruits as well as who it recruits may subsequently influence its behaviors during the conflict and the manner in which the conflict unfolds."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Female fighters and the fates of rebellions: How mobilizing women influences conflict duration |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353791811}}</ref>

The differing [[political system]]s and structures reflected and produced divergent customs and values. The Hausa-Fulani commoners, having contact with the political system only through a village head designated by the emir or one of his subordinates, did not view political leaders as amenable to influence. Political decisions were to be submitted to. As with many other [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] religious and political systems, leadership positions were given to persons willing to be subservient and loyal to superiors. A chief function of this political system in this context was to maintain conservative values, which caused many Hausa-Fulani to view economic and social innovation as subversive or sacrilegious.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abutu|first=Dan|title=THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR|url=https://www.academia.edu/26022821|language=en}}</ref>

In contrast to the Hausa-Fulani, the Igbos and other Biafrans often participated directly in the decisions which affected their lives. They had a lively awareness of the political system and regarded it as an instrument for achieving their personal goals. Status was acquired through the ability to [[Arbitration|arbitrate]] disputes that might arise in the village, and through acquiring rather than inheriting wealth.<ref>Olawoyin, ''Historical Analysis of Nigeria–Biafra Conflict'' (1971), pp. 34–35. "In principle, authority in the local community was formerly exercised by a body of elders which met in council presided over by the head of the senior lineage and included heads of other lineage and sub-lineage. Councils were concerned mainly with offenses, religion, and public issues likely to break up the solidarity of the group, village or town. Men of influence, particularly men of wealth, who held titles, and were members of local Ozo and Eze lodges, frequently dominated the lineage heads, but there was no formal concentration of authority in a single individual. Among the Ibo, even where there was no title taking, a man of wealth could attain considerable political power, apart from any authority derived from his place in a kinship system.{{nbsp}}... New laws which affected the community required the consent of the community concerned as expressed at a public meeting."</ref> The Igbo had been substantially victimised in the [[Atlantic slave trade]]; in the year 1790, it was reported that of 20,000 people sold each year from [[Kingdom of Bonny|Bonny]], 16,000 were Igbo.<ref>Olawoyin, ''Historical Analysis of Nigeria–Biafra Conflict'' (1971), p. 30. "Bonny, which became one of the principal slave markets on the coast, was largely peopled by Ibo. In 1790, according to Adams, 16,000 out of the 20,000 slaves sold there annually were Ibos. The last British slaver sailed from Bonny in 1808, though the trade continued until 1841."</ref> With their emphasis upon social achievement and political participation, the Igbo adapted to and challenged colonial rule in innovative ways.<ref name="Britannica"/>

These tradition-derived differences were perpetuated and perhaps enhanced by the [[Colonial Nigeria|colonial government in Nigeria]]. In the north, the colonial government found it convenient to [[indirect rule|rule indirectly]] through the emirs, thus perpetuating rather than changing the [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] authoritarian political system. Christian [[missionaries]] were excluded from the north, and the area thus remained virtually closed to European cultural influence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=6: Christian Missionary Activities in West Africa – History Textbook |url=https://wasscehistorytextbook.com/6-christian-missionary-activities-in-west-africa/ |access-date=2022-07-07 |language=en-GB}}</ref> By contrast, the richest of the Igbo often sent their sons to British universities, with the intention of preparing them to work with the British. During the ensuing years, the northern emirs maintained their traditional political and religious institutions, while reinforcing their [[social structure]]. At the time of independence in 1960, the north was by far the most underdeveloped area in Nigeria. It had an English literacy rate of 2%, as compared to 19.2% in the east (literacy in [[Ajami script|Ajami]], local languages in Arabic script, learned in connection with religious education, was much higher). The west also enjoyed a much higher literacy level, as it was the first part of the country to have contact with western education and established a free primary education program under the pre-independence Western Regional Government.<ref name="ReferenceA">'' Biafra Story'', Frederick Forsyth, Leo Cooper, 2001 {{ISBN|0-85052-854-2}}</ref><ref>Pierri, ''A New Entry into the World Oil Market'' (2013), p. 108. "The North had developed very differently from the rest of the country, for it lagged far behind the South in terms of European-educated population. Hence, Northerners feared that incorporation into an independent and unitary Nigerian State molded according to European standards would cause their cultural and political submission to the South."</ref>

In the west, the missionaries rapidly introduced Western forms of education. Consequently, the Yoruba were the first group in Nigeria to adopt Western bureaucratic social norms. They made up the first classes of African civil servants, doctors, lawyers, and other technicians and professionals.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Causes, and Consequences of Rapid Erosion of Cultural Values in a Traditional African Society |last1=Wahab |first1=E. O. |last2=Odunsi |first2=S. O. |date=2012 |journal=Journal of Anthropology |language=en |last3=Ajiboye |first3=O. E. |volume=2012 |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1155/2012/327061 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Missionary|Missionaries]] were introduced at a later date in eastern areas because the British experienced [[Anglo-Aro War|difficulty establishing firm control]] over the highly autonomous communities there.<ref>Audrey Chapman, "Civil War in Nigeria," ''Midstream'', Feb 1968</ref> However, the Igbo and other Biafran people actively embraced Western education, and they overwhelmingly came to adopt Christianity. Population pressure in the Igbo homeland, combined with aspirations for monetary wages, drove thousands of Igbos to other parts of Nigeria in search of work. By the 1960s, Igbo political culture was more unified and the region relatively prosperous, with tradesmen and literate elites active not just in the traditionally Igbo east, but throughout Nigeria.<ref>Oliver, Roland and Atmore, Anthony. ''Africa Since 1800''. 1994, p. 270</ref> By 1966, the traditional ethnic and religious differences between northerners and the Igbo were exacerbated by new differences in education and economic class.<ref name="Jeyifo2013"/><ref name=":1" />