Contrary to popular opinion, Ojukwu did not get up one day and declare Biafra, neither did he start the war. The counter-coup of July 1966 of which the Presind Buhari was a ring leader saw the massacre of mostly easterners all over Nigeria.

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An estimated 30,000 men,women and children were butchered in wave after wave of remorseless violence. There are two things Ojukwu did to show he still believed in Nigeria. After the first wave of killings,Ojukwu asked many of those who fled

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home to the east to return to the north and even encouraged those who were planning to return to stay put. Ojukwu even escorted the returnees to the border between the north and eastern region as they went back,sadly many of them were killed in the next wave of violence.

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The second thing Ojukwu did was that even though he was besieged by his people who asked him to pull the Eastern region out of Nigeria, Ojukwu resisted and went to Aburi,Ghana to negotiate with Gowon on how to keep Nigeria one.

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Ojukwu and Gowon reached an agreement called the Aburi accord which both men signed in front the president of Ghana. Sadly,Gowon returned to Lagos and repudiated the agreement and to make matters worse, Gowon went ahead to create States without the permission of any body.

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With the the failure of Gowon to stop the killings, his abandonment of the Aburi agreement, the eastern Nigerian consultative assembly (a body which comprised of traditional rulers and district heads that adviced Ojukwu on how the east should be run) gave Ojukwu the mandate make.

Eastern Nigeria self Governing. Ojukwu the declared Biafra. Even then,Gowon could have returned to negotiation table.Instead,what he did was to rally troops and attacked,starting the war. If anybody caused the war, it was Gowon. Biafra was a fight for the survival of Easterners.