The short-lived Republic of Benin, in Nigeria's coastal
Bight of Benin, was named after its capital Benin City. Previously Nigeria's
Mid-Western region, it was controlled by Biafran forces during the early stages
of the Nigerian Civil War. The state was declared on 20 September 1967, even as
Federal Nigeria was completing its reconquest of the region.
In the lead-up to the Civil War, Mid-Western attempted to
take a neutral position; shortly before Biafra announced its secession from
Nigeria, Mid-Western leaders sponsored a peace conference near Benin
City, and state officials refused to permit federal troops to invade
Biafra through Mid-Western. In August 1967, Biafran forces took control
of Mid-Western, and American-educated doctor Albert Okonkwo was made the new
head of government.Initially, the Igbo population welcomed Biafran control,
while non-Igbos generally were unhappy but decided to wait for a restoration of
federal control; initial relations between the administration and non-Igbos
were peaceful but uneasy. In order to improve relations with the non-Igbo
segments of the population, Governor Okonkwo's administration saturated homes
and streets with news from the Biafran position, and the mass media began to
fill the state with news about the oppression of the Igbo in Federal Nigeria.
As the days passed, the state's ethnic divide quickly became evident: the
endless public relations campaign succeeded in changing non-Igbos' minds, but
instead of converting them from pro-Biafran sympathy to outright support, it
destroyed their sympathy for the secessionist cause. As relations
continued to deteriorate, President C. Odumegwu Ojukwu visited Mid-Western to
raise support and met with leaders of the previously banned National Convention
of Nigerian Citizens. Although the visit prompted increased support among
former NCNC partisans, their former intra-party discord reawakened. At the same
time, NCNC partisans began to clash with supporters of other parties, and
non-Igbos' rejection of the invasion solidified.
As Okonkwo's administration continued to lose the support of
the populace, they became desperate, and the Republic of Benin was proclaimed
as a last-ditch effort: even if it could not win non-Igbo support, the
proclamation might at least divide them from the federal forces. Citing
the deaths of MidWesterners in the northern riots and the region's antebellum
support for a confederal government, Okonkwo declared that the new state would
support Biafra in all causes and would participate in organisations such as the
Commonwealth of Nations and the Organisation of African Unity. However,
Okonkwo knew that the new state could not last: he and other officials had
discussed an independence declaration on 5 September without coming to
agreement, and the announcement was recorded in a short lull as he and his
military forces retreated in the face of a federal military advance.
Later in the same day, federal forces reached Benin City, and the British High
Commissioner reported crowds lining the streets to celebrate the reconquest.Meanwhile, President Ojukwu offered no comment on the declaration, concentrating
instead on Biafran soldiers' failure to stop the enemy. His attention to
Okonkwo's military failures and lack of comment on the independence declaration
suggests that Biafran officials may have been planning for the declaration of
the Republic and that their objections referred to its timing, rather than its
occurrence. Biafra won outside recognition from some foreign states, but all
gains were unrelated to the proclamation of Benin, and the Biafran occupation
of the region failed to achieve its objectives while goading the federal government
into full-fledged war.
No comments:
Post a Comment