THE WAR PLANNING STRATEGIES NIGERIA MOBILIZATION

 

In January 1967, the Federal Military Government leaders and police officials of each region met in Aburi, in Ghana, and agreed on a loose confederation of regions. The northerns were at odds with the Aburi Accord. After the Federal and Eastern governments failed to reconcile, Eastern Region voted to secede from Nigeria on May 26,1967. The declaration of secession made war not inevitable but imminent. The following is the statement declaring the secession. "I, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, by virtue of the authority, and pursuant to the principles, recited above, do hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and called Eastern Nigeria together with her continental shelf and territorial waters shall henceforth be an independent sovereign state of the name and title of "The Republic of Biafra".  At the dawn of 6 July 1967, the first bullet was fired signaling the beginning of the gruesome 30 months civil war and carnage, brothers killing brothers. The civilians were trained in civil defense duties. In mobilizing the people of Nigeria, the Federal Government had to make the war look a just cause to stop the disintegration of the country and in doing this a slogan was invented  "To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done.

MILITARY
Delivery of arms and equipment for the Nigerian Army were hastened. Nigerian Army Headquarters operations plan, envisaged a war that will be waged in four phases and that will be over within a month. The four phases were to capture: Nsukka, Ogoja, Abakaliki, and Enugu. Immediately secession was declared, Nigeria sent her war ships to blockade and secures all sea routes into the region. The Nigerian Air Force was tasked to ensure the control of the air space over the entire country. Combined arms mechanized infantry division attack from the north and an amphibious operation by another division from the south with the aim of crushing the Biafran army in between. The offence was to be supported by the Air Force and the Navy. 
DIPLOMATIC
 At the Diplomatic level, the Federal Government mounted a serious campaign to dissuade other countries, particularly the super powers, the USA, USSR, and the United Kingdom from recognizing Biafra as a nation. The war was painted as an adventure by an individual (Ojukwu). The government in Lagos continued to represent the entire country in the international organizations, where a very strong propaganda was mounted to continue to portray the war as one to re-unite the country. This made it possible to win the support of the super powers and to continue to discredit Biafra. This is a false account of what the war was all about.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
 Realizing the importance of the support of the civil populace, Nigeria embarked on an elaborate psychological warfare. "To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done". Leaflets discrediting the Biafran Head of State, encouraging the Biafrans to lay down their arms with a promise of non-persecution, were regularly dropped in the East.

BIAFRA MILITARY 

 Biafran's preparation for the war was consummated as soon as the troops of non - Eastern origin withdrew from Enugu  in August of 1966. Thousands of people signed up for army. Training was embarked upon both for officers and soldiers who were mainly lecturers and university students. Before the outbreak of hostility, the Eastern Region had no sufficient arms since all the soldiers who returned to the region did so without their arms while the soldiers who were withdrawn from the East departed with their weapons. What was left of the Nigerian Army at Enugu barracks amounted to about 240 soldiers, the majority of them technicians and tradesmen. However at the outbreak of the war, the Eastern Region had succeeded in securing arms and ammunition from France, Spain and Portugal. Madiebo remarked, "When more weapons were received in May 1967, a decision was taken to form two new battalions called the 9th and 14th Battalions.

 Many pilots and technicians formerly of the Nigerian Air Force of Eastern origin returned to the region to form the Biafran Air Force. A small Navy was established in Calabar with some patrol boat formerly used by the Nigerian Navy. Biafran Militia, was formed. Biafrans embarked on locally manufactured armor to wage the war against Nigerian. The Militia was to provide a ready source of manpower re-enforcement for the regular army, to assist with military administration, to help educate the population on the reason why Biafra was fighting. Before the declaration of hostility, the small Biafran Army was almost completely administered and maintained by donations from the civil populace. Food Directorate, responsible for the purchase and distribution of all food, drink and cigarettes to the armed forces and the nation was formed. Transport Directorate was established. Petroleum Management Board was established for procurement, management and distribution of POL. The board designed and built a sizeable and efficient fuel refinery which produced petrol, diesel, and engine oil at considerably fast rate.      
 POLITICAL / DIPLOMATIC
The Biafrans knew that the odds against them were immense and that their survival depended on the amount of external support they were able to muster. The Biafrans, through many of their people abroad, mounted a very strong campaign and propaganda for the recognition of Biafra by the international community and for the purchase of arms and equipment. This powerful propaganda paid off by her recognition by countries like, Tanzania, Zambia, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Haiti, covert support by France and double dealing by countries like West Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, Republic of Dahomey, Sierra Leone and secret importation of arms and ammunition into the region.