Nigerian Civil War

===Biafran offensive===
The Biafrans responded with an offensive of their own. On 9 August, Biafran forces crossed their western border and the Niger river into the Mid{{nbh}}Western state of Nigeria. Passing through the state capital of [[Benin City]], the Biafrans advanced west until 21 August, when they were stopped at Ore in present-day [[Ondo State]], {{convert|130|mi|4=-1|order=flip}} east of the Nigerian capital of Lagos. The Biafran attack was led by Lt. Col. Banjo, Yoruba man, with the Biafran rank of brigadier. The attack met little resistance and the Mid{{nbh}}Western state was easily taken over. This was due to the pre-secession arrangement that all soldiers should return to their regions to stop the spate of killings, in which Igbo soldiers had been major victims.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>''Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria'', by Godfrey Mwakikagile, Nova Publishers, 2001.{{ISBN|1560729678}}</ref> The Nigerian soldiers who were supposed to defend the Mid{{nbh}}Western state were mostly Igbo from that state and, while some were in touch with their Biafran counterparts, others resisted the invasion. General Gowon responded by asking Colonel [[Murtala Mohammed]] (who later became head of state in 1975) to form another division (the 2nd Infantry Division) to expel the Biafrans from the Mid{{nbh}}Western state, to defend the border of the Western state and to attack Biafra. At the same time, Gowon declared "total war" and announced the Federal government would mobilise the entire population of Nigeria for the war effort.{{sfn|Stremlau|2015|p=78}} From the summer of 1967 to the spring of 1969, the Federal Army grew from a force of 7,000 to a force of 200,000 men organised in three divisions.<ref>Barua, Deprave ''The Military Effectiveness of Post-Colonial States'' (2013) pp. 10–11</ref> Biafra began the war with only 230 soldiers at [[Enugu]], which grew to two battalions by August 1967, which soon were expanded into two brigades, the 51st and 52nd which became the core of the Biafran Army.<ref name="Barua, Pradeep 2013 p.11">Barua, Pradeep ''The Military Effectiveness of Post-Colonial States'' (2013) p. 11</ref> By 1969, the Biafrans were to field 90,000 soldiers formed into five undermanned divisions together with a number of independent units.<ref name="Barua, Pradeep 2013 p.11"/>

[[File:Flag of the Republic of Benin.svg|thumb|left|Flag of the [[Republic of Benin (Nigeria)|Republic of Benin]]]]

As Nigerian forces retook the Mid{{nbh}}Western state, the Biafran military administrator declared it to be the [[Republic of Benin (1967)|Republic of Benin]] on 19 September, though it ceased to exist the next day. The present country of [[Benin]], west of Nigeria, was still named [[Republic of Dahomey|Dahomey]] at that time.<ref>{{Cite web|title=WOMEN AND THE NIGERIAN CIVIL CONFLICT|url=https://hyattractions.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/women-and-the-nigerian-civil-conflict/|date=2014-12-02|website=HYATTRACTIONS|language=en|access-date=2020-05-29}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Law, Order, and the Biafran National Imagination |date=2020 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/history-of-the-republic-of-biafra/law-order-and-the-biafran-national-imagination/64C63FCC3FAE3D59FB2FFCA69BCE534A |work=A History of the Republic of Biafra: Law, Crime, and the Nigerian Civil War |pages=35–77 |editor-last=Daly |editor-first=Samuel Fury Childs |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108887748.002 |isbn=978-1-108-74391-4 |s2cid=236791532 |access-date=2022-07-09}}</ref>

Although Benin City was retaken by the Nigerians on 22 September, the Biafrans succeeded in their primary objective by tying down as many Nigerian Federal troops as they could. Gen. Gowon also launched an [[Offensive (military)|offensive]] into Biafra south from the [[Niger Delta]] to the riverine area, using the bulk of the Lagos Garrison command under Colonel [[Benjamin Adekunle]] (called the Black Scorpion) to form the 3rd Infantry Division (which was later renamed as the 3rd Marine Commando). As the war continued, the Nigerian Army recruited amongst a wider area, including the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]], Itshekiri, Urhobo, Edo, Ijaw, etc.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Refworld {{!}} Nigeria: The Ijaw-Itsekiri conflict in Delta State, including time period, causes, whether the authorities intervened, whether the police support the Ijaw or Itsekiri and the current situation |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6abe720.html |access-date=2022-07-07 |website=Refworld |language=en}}</ref>