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BLAMING THE GODS: CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA IN THE NIGERIA–BIAFRA WAR*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

NICHOLAS IBEAWUCHI OMENKA
NICHOLAS IBEAWUCHI OMENKA
Affiliation:
Abia State University, Uturu
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Abstract

The consensus among many analysts of the Nigeria–Biafra War is that the conflict cannot be reduced to a mono-causal explanation. The tragedy that befell the West African country from 1966 to 1970 was a combination of many factors, which were political, ethnic, religious, social, and economic in nature. Yet the conflict was unduly cast as a religious war between Christians and Muslims. Utilizing newly available archival materials from within and outside Nigeria, this article endeavours to unravel the underlying forces in the religious war rhetoric of the mainly Christian breakaway region and its Western sympathizers. Among other things, it demonstrates that, while the religious war proposition was good for the relief efforts of the international humanitarian organizations, it inevitably alienated the Nigerian Christians and made them unsympathetic to the Biafran cause.

Keywords

Nigeriacivil warcolonialismhuman rightsreligion
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , November 2010 , pp. 367 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

1 Barnes, A. E., ‘Religious insults: Christian critiques of Islam and the government in colonial Northern Nigeria’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 34 (2004), 78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Anthony, D., ‘“Resourceful and progressive blackmen”: modernity and race in Biafra, 1967–70’, Journal of African History, 51:1 (2010), 46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 See R. A. Olaniyan (ed.), The Amalgamation and its Enemies: An Interpretative History of Modern Nigeria (Ile-Ife, 2003).

4 The Nation, 9 Oct. 1967.

5 J. C. Heenan, ‘A memorandum on Nigeria’, submitted to Prime Minister H. Wilson, 6 Dec. 1969, quoted in Uche, C., ‘Oil, British interests and the Nigerian civil war’, Journal of African History, 49 (2008), 114CrossRefGoogle Scholar, n. 13.

6 Herald Tribune, 31 Oct. 1967.

7 Quoted in P. A. Anwunah, The Nigeria–Biafra War, 1967–1970 (Ibadan, 2007), 202.

8 Archives of German Caritas, Freiburg in Breslau (AGC), 187.1 biaf-01 A-F, ‘Reflections on the Nigeria–Biafra war’.

9 A. F. Walls, ‘Religion and the press in “the Enclave” in the Nigerian civil war’, in Edward Fashole-Luke, et al. (eds.), Christianity in Independent Africa (Ibadan, 1978), 209.

10 A. Ibiam, ‘A paper presented to the workshop on human rights’, Bonn, 21 Jan. 1968.

11 D. Zeiden, The Resurgence of Religion: A Comparative Study of Selected Themes in Christian and Islamic Fundamentalist Discourses (Leiden, 2003), 166.

12 E. Ojukwu, The Ahiara Declaration: The Principles of the Biafran Revolution (Geneva, 1969), 12–14.

13 AGC, 187.1 biaf-01 L-R (my translation from German original).

14 West Africa, 4 June 1966, 639.

15 Quoted in W. Hoffmann, ‘Kirche im heutigen Nigeria (The Church in today's Nigeria)’, typescript, n.d.

16 West Africa, 8 Oct. 1966, 1140.

17 Ibid.

18 An article in the Nigerian Spokesman described it as ‘God-sent’ (25 Apr. 1966).

19 A. H. M. Kirk-Greene, Research Report No. 27 (Uppsala, 1975), 5.

20 West Africa, 5 Feb. 1966, 155.

21 Quoted in M. H. Kukah, Religion, Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria (Ibadan, 1993), 38.

22 Most of those who took part in the pogroms believed that the killing of non-Muslims was a duty to Allah: see the London Daily Express, 6 Oct. 1966; see also F. Bonneville, The Death of Biafra, trans. I. Orjinta (Enugu, 2000; original French edition Paris, 1968), 84.

23 AGC, 187.1 biaf-02/1, 30 Oct. 1967. German Caritas ultimately became a major player in the Biafran airlift. After a brief and discredited practice of buying loading space in Biafra's gun-running planes, the two German relief organizations, Deutsche Caritas (Catholic) and Diakonisches Werk (Protestant) purchased four relief planes of their own for the exclusive use of the airlift to Biafra. Out of this pioneer venture emerged the ‘Joint Church Aid’ for Biafra (JCA), the greatest ecumenical venture of the twentieth century, involving some 33 Christian and Jewish humanitarian organizations. The press centre of this consortium was based in Geneva, and from there large collections of primary sources on the Nigeria–Biafra War were sent to German Caritas, as well as to the other members of JCA. These include minutes of meetings of JCA executives, press releases, weekly reports from Sao Thomé, news bulletins and guidelines from Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican coordinator of all Catholic charities around the world, etc. Furthermore, the investment of German Caritas in the civil war went beyond its huge commitment to JCA to include independent projects within and outside the breakaway region. Among these were a modern paediatrics hospital and extensive agar projects inside Biafra. Outside the enclave, it provided large quantities of relief materials to the liberated areas through the Nigerian Red Cross and the Catholic Secretariat in Lagos. Together with Diakonisches Werk, it established a children's village in Libreville, the Gabonese capital, for evacuated Biafran children. These activities greatly enhanced the diversity and the international make-up of the archives of German Caritas in Freiburg and explain the preponderance of German sources in this article.

24 C. Ikeazor, Nigeria 1966: The Turning Point (London, 1997), 193.

25 P. Riley, ‘Refugee problem in Eastern Nigeria’, NC News Service (of the US Catholic Conference), 24 May 1967.

26 AGC, 187.1 biaf-11/2, ‘Background note on the Nigerian situation’.

27 Archives of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu (CDE), John MacCarthy to Bishop Okoye, Kaduna, 8 June 1966.

28 CDE, ‘Minutes of the annual meeting of the Administrative Board of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria 17th–18th Jan. 1979’.

29 Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Lagos, ‘Report of the Press Department to the Administrative Board of the Catholic Secretariat for the year 1966’.

30 CDE, communiqué from the Consultation of Christian Laity, 14 Aug. 1966.

31 CDE, ‘The Churches Front: a brief’.

32 Ibid.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 CDE, ‘Minutes of Bishops’ Meeting held at the Mission House Ugiri, Umuahia, on Friday, 18 July, 1969'.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid. (emphasis added).

38 G. D. Chryssides, Exploring New Religions (London, 1999), 4.

39 Quoted in K. Longworth, James Moynagh, 1903–1985: First Bishop of Calabar, n.d.

40 Quoted in Biafra Sun, 18 Dec. 1967.

41 Quoted in Kwenu, special edition (Bloomfield, 1997), 12.

42 Christian Council of Nigeria, Christian Concern in the Nigerian Civil War: A Collection of Articles which have appeared in Issues of the Nigerian Christian from April 1967 to 1969 (Ibadan, 1969), 111.

43 M. Davis, Interpreters for Nigeria: The Third World and International Public Relations (Urbana, IL, 1977), 135.

44 Ibid. 125.

45 Personal interview with Ojukwu, Enugu, 21 Nov. 1998.

46 Morning Post, 3 Jan. 1969. The word ‘Biafra’ was derogatorily written in lower case in most Nigerian newspapers.

47 For an account of these massacres, see New York Times, 21 July 1967; J. A. Daly and A. G. Saville, ‘The history of Jointchurchaid’, vol. 1 (unpublished ‘White Paper’), 50.

48 Davis, Interpreters, 125.

49 See J. E. Thompson, American Policy and African Famine: The Nigeria–Biafra War, 1966–1970 (New York, 1990), 108; see also International Herald Tribune, 1 Jan. 1969.

50 New Nigerian, 6 and 8 June 1968; Daily Times, 21 June 1968.

51 Prisma der Welt, 28 May 1968.

52 AGC, 187.1 biaf-11/2.

53 Nigerian Tribune, 1 Aug. 1968.

54 Daily Sketch, 23 July 1968. The reference to reforms was to the Second Vatican Council, which ended in 1965.

55 Daily Times, 31 July 1968.

56 New Nigerian, 14 June 1968.

57 Ibid.

58 New Nigerian, 22 June 1968.

59 New Nigerian, 2 June 1968.

60 AGC, 187.1 biaf-01 A-F, Francis Arinze, ‘Reflections on the Nigeria–Biafra War’.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid.

63 West Africa, 9 March 1968.

64 AGC, 187.1 biaf-11/2, ‘Weekly progress report, 8–14 Sept. 1969’.

65 AGC, 187.1 biaf-11/2, ‘Weekly progress report, 29 Sept.–5 Oct. 1969’.

66 National Archives, Ibadan (NAI), RCM BD1/168.

67 Ibid.

68 T. Byrne, Airlift to Biafra: Breaching the Blockade (Dublin, 1997), 193.

69 See Daly and Saville, ‘History’, 50.

70 Thompson, American Policy, 59; see also L'Osservatore Romano, 29 June 1968; Washington Post, 18 Nov. 1968.

71 Morning Post, 26 July 1969.

72 AGC, 187.1 nige-02/1, ‘Goodwill message by His Excellency Major-General Gowon to the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference of Nigeria, 30 September, 1969’.

73 Ibid.

74 Quoted in New Nigerian, 8 May 1968 (emphasis added).

75 International Fides Service (a news agency sponsored by the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith), no. 2150, 11 Dec. 1968.

76 Bola Ige, People, Politics, and Politicians of Nigeria, 1940–1979 (Ibadan, 1995), 342.

77 AGC, nige-02/1, ‘Aggey opposes Church independent of Vatican’.

78 The Biafran delegation to the conference, Archbishop Arinze and Bishop Godfrey Okoye, were officially invited to the gathering, but were regarded as observers and were not allowed to speak to the meeting: CDE, ‘Minutes of Bishops’ meeting held at the mission house, Ugiri, Umuahia, 17 Sept. 1969.

79 Morning Post, 19 June 1969.

80 Ibid. 26 July 1969.

81 ‘Aggey opposes’.

82 West Africa, 9 Aug. 1969, 941.

83 AGC, ‘Minutes of a Meeting of the Joint Church Aid’, Paris, 10 March 1969.

84 New Nigerian, 10 June 1968.

85 AGC, 187.1 biaf-01 A-F. ‘The Nigerian Union of Students, Germany, to His Holiness, Pope Paul IV’, Bonn, 24 Feb. 1969.

86 Ibid.

87 Daily Times, 31 May 1968.

88 New Nigerian, 31 May 1968.

89 The delegation consisted of Rev. Father Sanusi (Catholic), Chief Ojo (Methodist), and Mr Onosode (Baptist); Archbishop Aboyade-Cole of the African Church missed the flight in Lagos and could not attend (AGC, 187.1 biaf-11/2).

90 AGC, 187.1 biaf-11/2, ‘A statement by the Christian Church in Nigeria on the current Nigerian situation’.

91 They suggested, for instance, that the July coup was to counter ‘a further coup to eliminate officers in the army of Northern and Western origins who had escaped the January coup’ (AGC, 187.1 biaf-11/2, ‘Background notes on the Nigerian situation’).

92 Father Sanusi visited Rome in person and submitted a brief statement on behalf of the delegation. In it he said: ‘The Church is heartened by the knowledge that the world now acknowledges the fact that the war in Nigeria is not a religious one’. However, he considered it necessary to add that the Church ‘deprecates the use of virulent publicity and the dissemination of half-truths calculated to inflame feelings rather than facilitate peaceful settlement and reconciliation’ (AGC, 187.1 biaf-11/2).

93 AGC, 187.1 biaf-11/2 (my translation from German original).

94 Daily Times, 15 June 1968.

95 William A. Ajibola, Foreign Policy and Public Opinion: A Case Study of British Foreign Policy over the Nigerian Civil War (Ibadan, 1978), 140.

96 Quoted in ibid. 140; see also the London Observer, 7 Dec. 1969.

97 Quoted in the London Spectator, 27 Dec. 1968.

98 JCA Press Release no. 120, ‘Statement made at the 5th JCA Plenary Session, Sandefjord, Norway’, 8 Dec. 1969; see also The Times, 2 Feb. 1970.

99 Daily Sketch, 23 Apr. 1970.

100 See Afrika Presse Dienst (Africa Press Service, a newssheet circulated in German speaking countries), 2.68.

101 Katholische Nachrichten Agentur, a German version of ‘Catholic News Agency’, No. 15, 19 Dec. 1968.

102 NAI, RCM BD 1/168, ‘Caritas Internationalis denies the charges formulated in the Press Release No. F.30001 of 26 November 1968 issued by the Federal Ministry of Information Lagos’.

103 NAI, RCM BD 4/168. The joint statement issued by the bishops on arrival at Ikeja airport was in fact a resumé of a script submitted to them sua sponte (without being solicited) by Msgr. Dominic Conway, one of the papal envoys who had visited Nigeria and Biafra in Dec. 1967 and Feb. 1968 respectively. The Catholic hierarchy does not tolerate dissent among its ranks, as their lordships found out in Rome.

104 Morning Post, 3 Jan. 1969.

105 NAI, RCM BD 1/168, ‘Memorandum on the Nigerian conflict’.

106 AGC, 187.1 biaf-01 A-F, ‘Cicognani to Arinze’, Vatican City, 9 Jan. 1969.

107 CDE, ‘Meeting of the Bishops of Biafra at the mission house, Amichi, Onitsha, on Wednesday, the 26th February, 1969’.

108 Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 61 (1969), 182.

109 CDE, ‘Unity of the hierarchy: bishops’ statement from Rome', Feb. 1969.

110 Interview with Ojukwu.

111 Ibid.

112 Walls, ‘Religion’, 212.

113 West Africa, 9 Aug. 1969, 941.