Attempts by representatives of all regions to come to an agreement were unsuccessful. On May 30, 1967, the head of the Eastern Region, Lieutenant Colonel (later General) Odumegwu Ojukwu, with the authorization of a consultative assembly, declared the region a sovereign and independent republic under the name of Biafra. General Yakubu Gowon, the leader of the federal government, refused to recognize Biafra’s secession. In the hostilities that broke out the following July, Biafran troops were at first successful, but soon the numerically superior federal forces began to press Biafra’s boundaries inward from the south, west, and north. Biafra shrank to one-tenth its original area in the course of the war. By 1968 it had lost its seaports and become landlocked; supplies could be brought in only by air. Starvation and disease followed; estimates of mortality during the war generally range from 500,000 to 3,000,000.

The Organization of African Unity, the papacy, and others tried to reconcile the combatants. Most countries continued to recognize Gowon’s regime as the government of all Nigeria, and the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union supplied it with arms. On the other hand, international sympathy for the plight of starving Biafran children brought airlifts of food and medicine from many countries. Côte d’Ivoire,Gabon, Tanzania, and Zambia recognized Biafra as an independent state, and France sent Biafra weapons.

Biafran forces were finally routed in a series of engagements in late December 1969 and early January 1970. Ojukwu fled to Côte d’Ivoire, and the remaining Biafran officers surrendered to the federal government on January 15, 1970. Biafra, on the point of total collapse, thereupon ceased to exist.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has warned his country will “not tolerate” another independent Biafra. The leader, who took office in May 2015, told Al Jazeera while on an official visit to Qatar his administration will not engage in a dialogue with pro-Biafran activists.

Pro-Biafrans call for the independence of the Biafran territories forcibly annexed to Nigeria during the British colonisation, which ended in 1960. They hold regular marches across the country’s south-east calling for a breakaway and the release of their leader Nnamdi Kanu, head of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob).

Pro-Biafran activists in southeastern Nigeria have been urged to create a Biafra United Front to continue their struggle for independence and defend themselves against Nigeria’s alleged violence. The Washington-based Organisation of Emerging African States (Oeas), which fights to achieve “true freedom” in Africa, is now calling on all pro-Biafran groups to put aside their internal differences and come together to achieve independence.

This to me is the beginning of a possible US involvement in an internal Nigerian problem…..why?

US troops have been deployed to Nigeria’s neighbor Niger in an attempt to counter the rise and the raids by Boko Haram……

…….around 100 US troops have been deployed in the West African nation of Niger in what officials said was the establishment of a new drone base there to spy on Islamist fighters in the Sahara and support French forces in the region.

“This deployment will provide support for intelligence collection and will also facilitate intelligence sharing with French forces conducting operations in Mali, and with other partners in the region,” Obama said in a letter to Congress published on the White House website.

US troops have been used in the past to help a “friendly” government….and with the US expanded presence in the world and especially in West Africa….it is a situation that needs to be watched and analyzed…..it is only a matter of time before this explodes yet again and the US may well be drawn into yet another insurrection that could mean more violence directed at Americans…..