Odumegwu Ojukwu, once the leader of Biafra, died during the last few days of November. He received respectable obituaries in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Both Robert D. McFadden and T. Rees Shapiro got all the facts right and understood the causes and the horrors of the Nigerian Civil War well. But, befitting a man who was only a minor figure in African history, the notices were relatively small, and there was no room to portray his audacity, his operatic flair, his demeaning wit, and his contempt for the many less gifted than he. I interviewed Colonel Ojukwu for the first time in June 1967 a day or two after he had seceded from Nigeria and proclaimed the independent republic of Biafra...

On July 7, 1967, when the Nigerian civil war began, the censors of the federal military government stamped out all use of the phrase “civil war” in news dispatches going overseas. The Nigerians insisted their invasion of Biafra was a “police action.” Major General Yakubu Gowon, the federal military commander, told diplomats the job would be done in six weeks. His army would march into Biafra, string up Colonel C. Odumegwu Ojukwu “and his rebel gang,” and end secession. “Our orders are to get Ojukwu,” a government spokesman said at a news conference the day after the war began. “If we get him today, that’s it.” Now, more than two years later, the Nigerian government has neither captured Ojukwu nor ended secession. More than one million people, mostly Biafrans of the Ibo tribe, have died in the horror. There is no talk of police action now. The Nigerians have dropped pretense. They look on the Ibos of Biafra as a hated enemy people whose secession must be destroyed militarily even if it means destroying them. The specter of millions of starving children fails to dissuade the Nigerians. “All is fair in war,” Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the vice chairman of Nigeria’s federal executive council, told newsmen recently, “and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat, only to fight us harder...”

Images play as important a roIe as guns in the Nigerian civil war. The Biafran secessionists, among Africa’s most sophisticated peoples, have known from the beginning that their chances for success depended as much on evoking world sympathy as on holding back the federal army. Now, after twenty months of war, it is clear that the Biafrans have been far more adept at propaganda than soldiering. If they survive in some sovereign form, they will owe it to their skill with images. Part of the Biafran success in public relations stems from the federal Nigerian Government’s failure at it. At the beginning, the Nigerians made absolutely no intelligent effort to get their point of view across. In fact, the government’s publicists often hurt the Nigerian case as much as they helped it. Many officials of the Ministry of Information were new at their job. Before the troubles, the top information officers had been Ibos, but they fled to their tribal home in eastern Nigeria soon after thousands of Ibos were massacred in northern Nigeria in September, 1966. When the eastern region seceded and called itself Biafra in May, 1967, these civil servants remained there. Besides lacking experience, the new Nigerian information officers also had the disadvantage of working for a military government...

Two simple posters explain the civil war in Nigeria. The first, a thin strip, was glued to the walls and windows of most public buildings in Enugu, the capital of Eastern Nigeria, a few weeks before the region seceded on May 30 to become the Republic of Biafra. The poster shows four men. Three look alike, obviously Ibos, the dominant tribe of the east. The fourth man is a Hausa from Northern Nigeria. “This Is Your Region,” the poster says, “Report Any Strange Face to the Police.” The second poster, a little larger and more colorful, was slapped all over Lagos, the federal capital of Nigeria, a few weeks before federal troops invaded Biafra on July 6, the beginning of the civil war. This poster shows a monstrous drawing of the severed head of Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the ruler of Biafra, lying under the heavy combat boot of a Nigerian soldier. “Crush Rebellion,” the poster says. The first poster reflects the intense tribal feeling of the Ibos of Eastern Nigeria. They are enraged and bitter over the massacre of thousands of Ibos in Northern Nigeria last year. They believe the other tribes of Nigeria would wipe them out if they could. For this reason, the Ibos feel they are fighting for their survival. But in Lagos, just 270 miles from Iboland, the federal military rulers and their civil servants, now mostly from the north, refuse to acknowledge that this emotionalism exists. In their view, as the second poster shows, a gangster named Ojukwu is stirring up the Ibos. Crush them, and all the problems of Nigeria go away...

Americans were evacuated from the battle zones of Biafra Saturday as two tiny African armies fought in the rain in the Nigerian civil war. Unconfirmed reports indicated that federal troops had continued their advance into the secessionist state of Biafra, which had been the old Eastern Region of Nigeria before it seceded six weeks ago. The reports said that Ogaja, a key town in the northeastern corner of Biafra, had been captured and that the big university town of Nsukka in the northwest had been surrounded. Nsukka, by road, is 41 miles from Enugu, the capital of Biafra. The obvious federal plan is to capture Enugu and bring down its ruler, Lt. Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu. "Our orders are to get Ojukwu," a federal military spokesman said Saturday. "If we get him today, that's it..."

Nigeria stripped secessionist leader Lt. Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu of all titles, then kicked him out of the federal army, Saturday, crushing hope of a quick settlement between the federal government and the breakaway state of Biafra. "Rapprochement with Ojukwu is not possible," a government spokesman said. The latest action changed the actual state of affairs in Nigeria very little, for all reports from Biafra indicate that Ojukwu is in firm control of the region, with a federal title or without. The move impressed outsiders, however, as another sign of the mounting tension in Nigeria. The country has seemed close to civil war since the old Eastern Region seceded to become the independent republic of Biafra in May. Oil companies caught in this warlike tugging remained silent...

Ojukwu Tells Secessionist Nation Attack by Federal Troops Will Mean 'Total War' - Lt. Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, military governor of secessionist Eastern Nigeria, told his people Friday night, "We have come to zero hour" and are about to be attacked by troops of the federal government of Nigeria. In a voice that seemed to quaver in anger, he warned that any federal invasion into the East will provoke him into "total war against Nigeria." Ojukwu's emotional words, broadcast from the Eastern capital of Enugu and monitored here, came exactly one month after the East seceded from the federation of Nigeria and proclaimed itself the independent republic of Biafra. Ojukwu told Biafrans he has conclusive proof that Maj. Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the federal military ruler, "and his northern bandits have now finalized their plans to attack us in our home..."

Makes Fools of Federal Military Ruler, Other Opponents in Nigerian Crisis - Lt. Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu is a roughly bearded young man with soft eyes and gentle tones and an unconcealed contempt for the men who oppose him in the present Nigerian crisis. There is a feeling in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, that all these Nigerian troubles with the secessionist state of Biafra would go away if only its leader, Ojukwu, would also go away. The feeling is false. But it is worth recording because it reveals one of the problems in the crisis - the federal rulers know in their bones that Ojukwu has contempt for them. Ojukwu never tries to conceal it. For example, in a recent news conference for three British newspapers and the Los Angeles Times, Ojukwu belittled Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon (he has since promoted himself to major general), the federal military ruler, as a man lacking intelligence, ability and control. The Ojukwu style of gentle but barbed contempt came through as he talked about Gowon...

War Infatuation Breeds Casual Cruelty in Secessionist Eastern Area of Nigeria - The mood in the new secessionist state of Biafra is an odd blend of ugliness and boyish playfulness. The leaders of Biafra, once the Eastern region of Nigeria, feel their backs are up against the wall but, as their leader, Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, put it in a recent interview, they are ready to defend themselves to the last man. These attitudes encourage a single-minded infatuation with war, an atmosphere ready to crackle with brutality and unreality. The mood of Biafra now reflects all this. I felt and saw the mood of Biafra the moment I stepped across the Niger River bridge from Asaba in Federal Nigeria to Onitsha in Biafra. A young, handsome Ibo wearing what looked like a prep school jacket and carrying a suitcase and a handbag, walked across the bridge at the same time...

Nigeria, the largest country in Africa, split apart at dawn Tuesday when the Eastern region seceded and proclaimed itself the independent and sovereign Republic of Biafra. The act may mean civil war. Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, the head of the federal military government, denounced the secession "as an act of rebellion which will be crushed." He immediately ordered a general mobilization of troops and warned that Nigerians now face "considerable hardship and possible loss of life." There were unconfirmed reports that two battalions of federal troops have already moved toward the East. Gowon also ordered all foreign ships to stop calling at ports in the Eastern region. "Appropriate measures will be taken by the Nigerian navy," he added, thus hinting that he meant to blockade the East. According to reports from Enugu, the capital of the East, there was jubilation in the city as Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the military governor of the East, proclaimed the secession...

Maintaining "the grip around our throat is almost complete," the military governor of eastern Nigeria warned that his region is very close to secession from the Federation of Nigeria. The governor, Lt. Col. C.O. Ojukwu, spoke in soft and measured tones that rang now and then with sarcasm as he told newsmen he is pessimistic about any chances for a peaceful settlement of the Nigerian crisis. He said the federal government has rejected his suggestion for a mediation conference before four African heads of state - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, President William Tubman of Liberia, Lt. Gen. J.A. Ankrah of Ghana and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. He said such a conference was the last hope for a settlement. "If it is impossible," Col. Ojukwu said, "Then I think my worst fears will be realized. I believe it has the only chance of getting us together. If that chance is lost, then the whole business is finished, and a split is inevitable..."