The civil war emerged from the unstable political settlement that followed Nigerian independence. Violent opposition to the 1965 Western Region elections, the breakdown of law and order, and the January 1966 military takeover deepened fears that one region or ethnic group might permanently dominate the federation. In parts of the Northern Region, the new military government was interpreted as an “Igbo plot,” a perception that contributed to the later murder of Igbo people and to the escalation that culminated in war.

The conflict was not simply a war between Igbo and Hausa. Much of the federal infantry came from non-Muslim areas of the former Northern Region, while Yoruba political actors played a leading role in General Gowon’s military government. Gowon, himself a Christian from a non-Hausa northern ethnic group, presented the federal position as a defence of Nigeria’s unity. On the Eastern side, Colonel Ojukwu calculated that internationalising the dispute with Lagos could secure virtual autonomy, but this strategy required secession.

The international dimension produced outcomes that contradicted the rebels’ expectations. Guinea and Algeria were among the strongest supporters of the federal cause, while states supporting the rebellion included Tanzania, Zambia, Ivory Coast, and Gabon. Ojukwu and his advisers, who had no sympathy with communism, could not anticipate that Soviet arms paid for by the federal government would play a significant role in their defeat. Federal victory increased the self-confidence of civil servants and military commanders and strengthened national consciousness, although the human sacrifices on both sides were remembered as highly unequal.