On
May 30, 1967, the then Military Governor of former Eastern
Nigeria, Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, declared the
sovereign state of Biafra in consonance with the mandate of
the Eastern Nigeria Consultative Assembly. This declaration
on that fateful evening marked the point of no return for
the embattled citizens of former Eastern Region who felt betrayed
by fellow Nigerians for the past one year. With the preemptive
move by Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon, who had earlier decreed
the dissolution of former regions and the division of Nigeria
into 12 new states, the East was practically left with no
other option than to secede from Nigeria.
The
proclamation of Biafra was marked by wild ecstasy amongst
the generality of Easterners who, for the first time
in the past 12 months, felt that they have found something
concrete to hang their future hopes on. Overall morale
was sky high and the new nation was predicted to become
the showcase of Black African ingenuity in all aspects
of human endeavour.
There
were spontaneous demonstrations in many population centers of
the East during which hundreds of thousands of youths pledged
to rise up to defend their newfound freedom if called upon to
do so. This feeling of exhilaration was, however, short-lived
because the Nigerian military junta in Lagos soon declared a national
state of emergency and began amassing troops to invade the newborn
Republic of Biafra.
