For decades, Nigerians have been deliberately miseducated. Many genuinely believe that anti-Igbo hostility began in 1966.
That is false. Extremely false. Historically dangerous.
The truth, hidden, buried, and whitewashed, is that the slaughter of Easterners began long before independence, long before the coups, and long before Biafra.
Let us pull back the curtain.
1. THE FIRST POGROM: JOS, 1945
Yes, 1945. Twenty-one years before 1966.
Easterners, overwhelmingly Igbo traders, artisans, and workers, were attacked, killed, and dispossessed in Jos.
Shops were looted.
Homes burned.
Bodies left on the streets.
Survivors fled in lorries back east.
This was the first organised, ethnically targeted massacre of Easterners in Nigeria.
But they won’t teach you that in school.
2. THE SECOND POGROM: KANO, 1953
Triggered by a political disagreement over “self-government in 1956,” Northern politicians were booed in Lagos. Their followers retaliated, not against the politicians, but against Eastern civilians living in Kano.
And again, the victims were mostly Igbos.
Dozens killed.
Markets razed.
Families hunted.
Bodies loaded into trucks.
This was 13 years before 1966.
3. THE 1950s: THE SEEDS OF HATRED WERE DELIBERATELY PLANTED
British colonial files recorded rising anti-Igbo rhetoric:
“They are dominating us.”
“They are too ambitious.”
“They are taking over everywhere.”
“They must be cut down.”
This propaganda fermented for years, waiting for a spark.
4. JANUARY 1966, THE MISCHARACTERISED COUP USED AS EXCUSE
The January Coup was not an Igbo coup.
It involved officers from different regions who believed Nigeria needed rescuing from corruption and chaos.
But politicians turned it into an ethnic weapon.
“IGBO COUP!” they shouted, even though Nzeogwu spoke Hausa better than Igbo and was culturally more Northern than Eastern.
This lie became the fuel for the horror that followed.
5. THE FIRST WAVE OF 1966 MASSACRES (May–July)
After deliberate propaganda was spread, Easterners began to be slaughtered across the North.
Soldiers.
Civil servants.
Traders.
Families.
Children.
This was just the beginning.
6. THE SEPTEMBER 1966 POGROM, THE DEADLIEST MASSACRE OF EASTERNERS IN NIGERIAN HISTORY
Nothing in Nigerian history compares to what happened in September 1966.
This was not a riot.
Not a clash.
Not a misunderstanding.
It was a full-blown pogrom, coordinated, widespread, systematic.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Easterners pulled out of trains and killed
Pregnant women disembowelled
Babies smashed on walls
Igbo soldiers shot in their barracks
Homes burned with families inside
Corpses piled in heaps
Streets littered with severed heads
Thousands murdered in cold blood
Estimates range from 30,000 to 50,000 killed in weeks.
International observers wrote:
– “It bordered on genocide.”
This is what pushed Eastern Nigeria to the final conclusion:
“We are no longer safe in this country.”
That is how Biafra was born.
Not from ambition.
Not from arrogance.
Not from domination.
But from survival.
7. DURING THE CIVIL WAR (1967–1970)
Even during the war, Eastern civilians caught in the North continued to face:
harassment
abductions
killings
property confiscation
The hostility did not stop.
It simply changed form.
WHY THIS HISTORY MATTERS TODAY
Because Nigeria pretends these things never happened.
Because young Nigerians are growing up with historical amnesia.
Because truth is being suppressed for political convenience.
Because the wounds of the East were never acknowledged, much less healed.
You cannot build a nation on denial.
You cannot preach unity on unburied corpses.
If Nigeria wants unity, it must first confront its truth.
SUMMARY TIMELINE (SHAREABLE)
1945, Jos Pogrom
1953, Kano Pogrom
1950s, Rising anti-Igbo rhetoric
1966 (May–July), First wave killings
1966 (Sept), Full pogrom: 30,000–50,000 killed
1967–1970, Continued violence during civil war
None of this was taught in your school.
None of this features in our national curriculum.
But it is the truth.
And truth doesn’t die, it waits.
ULTIMATELY
Before anyone talks about “1966,”
let them talk about 1945.
Let them talk about 1953.
Let them talk about the British reports.
Let them talk about the political propaganda.
Let them talk about the mass graves.
Let them talk about the real history.
Easterners didn’t wake up one day and choose separation.
They were pushed by repeated, unprovoked, unpunished massacres spanning decades.
This is not emotion.
This is history.
And history speaks.
Nigeria cannot heal until it stops lying to itself.
By Chima Nnadi-Oforgu
Ndukaku III of Ihiagwa
Duruebube Uzii na Abosi
OBLONG MEDIA UNLIMITED 
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