Timeline

October 1

Nigeria gains its independence from the United Kingdom. Its first government was a coalition of conservative parties that came into power on the platform of colonial independence.

January 15

Coup d’état led by Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna and other junior Army officers, including the murder of numerous Northern political leaders. It is often referred to as “The Coup of the Five Majors”

January 16

Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, head of the Nigerian Army, who aided in coup suppression efforts in the South, is declared head of state

January 17

Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu becomes Military Governor of the Eastern Region. At the time, only 15 of Nigeria’s 250 military officers were Nigerian. 

July 29

Mutiny by northern soldiers at the Abeokuta barracks leads to a counter-coup in which many Northern and Western leaders were killed. Ultimately, Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon was appointed as Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces

September 29

Considered to be the deadliest days during a series of pogroms against Igbo people in the North. In response, hundreds of thousands of persecuted Igbo flee to the Eastern region

May 30

Three days after Yakubu Gowon announces the creation of 12 states, Ojukwu declares independence for the Republic of Biafra from Nigeria

July 6

War begins when Nigerian Federal troops advanced two columns into Biafra and began to attack Biafran soldiers

December

Irish Catholics sum up a sense of devastation regarding the failure of the Biafran state and establish a campaign that sought to send money and support to Biafra

January 26

War reaches a stalemate, and neither side is able to make significant gains

January 29

First introduction of Biafran currency. When the new currency was announced, there were frantic efforts from many Biafrans to exchange their holdings

March 27

First airlift into city of Port Harcourt, organized by Father Anthony Byrne, who also managed the Catholic relief operations in Biafra

April

British photojournalist Don McCullin arrives in Biafra. One of his most famous photographs entitled “Albino Boy” was taken the following year in 1969

May 4

Photographs from Biafra/Nigeria taken by French photojournalist Gilles Caron appear in Paris Match

June 26

The government of the Republic of Biafra releases a “Charge to Humanity” statement outlining the deteriorating situation in Biafra

July

Founding of the American Committee to Keep Biafra Alive, an organization with a mission to inform and educate Americans about the Nigeria-Biafra War

July 20

World Council of Churches (WCC) meets in Sweden and discusses relief actions taken since outbreak of Nigeria-Biafra War and what to do going forward

July 12

Photographs of Biafran children appear on the cover of Life Magazine with headline “Starving Children of Biafra War”

August 7

The announcement of the formation of the American Jewish Emergency Effort for Biafran Relief

August 14

OAU opens Nigeria Biafra Peace Conference in Addis Ababa.

September 8

The New York Times publishes “The ‘Point of No Return’ For the Biafrans,” an article written by Lloyd Garrison

September 8

Republican Candidate Richard Nixon issues Call for American Action on Biafra

September 13

The National Council of Churches in the United States of America meets in Houston, Texas, and condemns the mass starvation occurring in Biafra, calling it a “human tragedy” and appealing for increased humanitarian relief

November

Joint Church Aid (JCA) forms and consists of churches from 33 countries that worked together to increase the flow of aid to Biafra

February 22

Nixon appoints Dr. Clarence Clyde Ferguson Jr. as the U.S. Special Coordinator on Relief to the Civilian Victims of the Nigeria Civil War

May

Biafrans commence land offensive reinforced by foreign mercenary pilots, attacking military airfields in Enugu, Port Harcourt, Ughelli, and Benin City

May 9

A squad of Biafran commandoes attack an oil facility belonging to an Italian oil company on the west bank of the River Niger

May 27

Gowon declares the division of Nigeria in 12 states, which includes splitting the Eastern Region into three parts

June 5

Red Cross ceases air deliveries to aid Biafra after a plane with relief supplies is shot down by the Nigerian airforce

June 30

Nigeria bans International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aid to Biafra. Meanwhile, the American Jewish Emergency Effort for Biafran Relief has raised a total of $185,000

January 7

Nigerian forces launch their offensive called “Operations Tail Wind,” which succesfully conquers towns of Owerri and Uli within 5 days

January 15

Official surrender papers signed by Biafran General Philip Effiong, deputy to Ojukwu who had fled to the Ivory Coast a few days prior

September 12

Nigerian author Chimamada Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, a novel about the Nigeria-Biafra War, is published

September 27

Publication of Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s memoir, “There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra,” written about coming of age during the Nigeria-Biafra War