[Forum Game] Building a Nation: Biafra

[Nax24]

​

Hello everyone! I have decided to run a character role-playing game set in an alternate timeline and in a country that did not exist for long in our time.

The Nigerian Civil War was one of the most brutal and catastrophic civil wars in post-independence Africa. Yet, many people forget that it was a war of secession. The Republic of Biafra, made up of the eastern part of Nigeria, was attempting to split off from Nigeria, and promulgated three years of brutal conflict. In our timeline, Biafra was defeated and reabsorbed into Nigeria, but what if that was not the case? How would an independent Biafra do in our world? Would it become a model for African states to follow, or will it simply fall into the same dark hole of coups, dictators, and stagnation that plagued the majority of African states. The choice will be up to you...

Important Information​

1. To join the IRC channel for Building a Nation, go to https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.theairlock.net/?nick=AirlockWeb|?&theme=cli#theairlock. From there, create a username, and type in "/join #WiR_Main". The IRC channel is for OOC banter, easy communication, etc. Being on IRC is not mandatory but highly encouraged.

2. Due to the nature of the scenario, I wish to state that I will not tolerate under any circumstances material which explicitly goes against the Paradox Forums' rules. I will also not tolerate any actions taken in character for OOC reasons.

3. The game is always open to new players, so feel free to join regardless of where we are at.

Character Sheet​

Name:
Date of Birth:
Biography:

 

[Nax24]

Table of Contents:

Player List:
​

Dadarian - DJ Onyeka Nduka Ogoro Ohafia (b. 1941)

BlackCrown - Okoro Chukwuemeka (b. 1941)

Noco19 - Sunday Ezeudo Dappa (b. 1932)

MastahCheef117 - Obasey Chinwendu (b. 1930)

Maxwell500 - Solomon Lotachukwu Kechere (b. 1914)

sealy300 - Yafeu "Castro" Ojukwu (b. 1942)

 

[Nax24]

Biafra Information (1970):

Capital: Enugu
GDP: 3.55 Billion USD
GDP Per Capita: 120.34 USD
Population: 12.75 million
Military Size: 50,000 soldiers​

 

[Nax24]

History of Biafra (1960-1970)​

In 1960, the former British colony of Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom. Three years later, a constitution would be approved, creating the First Nigerian Republic.

Nigeria though was polarized on a regional bases. The three major regions of Nigeria, the North, the West, and the East, would come to be dominated by distinct ethnic groups and political parties that represented the interests of those ethnic groups. In the North, the Muslim Hausa and Fulani people would flock to the banner of the Nigerian People’s Congress (NPC), led by Nigerian political celebrity Ahmadu Bello. In the West, the Christian Yoruba would join the banner of the Action Group (AG). Finally, in the East, the Christian Igbo people would join together under the banner of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). These parties would form just in time for the 1963 election, the first one held in an independent Nigeria.

(Nigeria's States post-independence)​

The NPC would come out on top, garnering more seats in the Federal Parliament for the North than the West and East combined, solidifying Northern control over Nigeria for years to come. The NPC though would create a coalition government with the NCNC, electing NPC member Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister and NCNC member Nnamdi Azikiwe as President. Yet, though the Igbo had a man in the Presidency, the Northern grip over the country was of great concern to the West and East. Soon, chaos would erupt as the Western and Eastern ethnic groups rebelled against Northern control.

In the Western Region, the Action Group governor was arrested on flimsy charges. Soon afterwards, authority in the West fell apart, and lawlessness reigned. The Nigerian Federal government made many statements saying that it would not intervene in the West, leaving the regional government in charge of restoring order. That being said, rumors began to spread in early 1966 that the military would flip on that decision and use military might to restore stability to the West. Unfortunately, this move would not bode so well with events accelerating to climax.

On January 15, 1966, a group of military officers (primarily of Igbo and Yoruba makeup) led a coup against the government. They stormed into Lagos and killed 22 leading politicians, including the Prime Minister. However, on January 16, 1966, General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, using the coup as his reason, moved in, subdued the plot, and took control of Nigeria. The First Nigerian Republic was effectively dead, and General Ironsi was now the leader of Nigeria. His dictatorship though would only last till July. The coup had targeted Northern politicians, and sparred those of Igbo/Yoruba makeup (the President of Nigeria was one such man sparred, and he was Igbo), leading many in the North to believe that the coup was an attempt to harm the North. As such, northern military officers plotted a counter coup. On July 28, 1966, northern officers stormed the house in Ibadan (a city in northern Nigeria) which was hosting President Ironsi. The President was murdered along with his host. Following this coup, the plotters appointed Yakubu Gowon as the new dictator of Nigeria.

(A picture from the coup)​

Resentment towards the new Nigerian government by the Igbo people had already reached peak heights following the July Counter-Coup. Yet, the relations would only be worsened by pogroms aimed at the Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. From June to October of 1966, 100,000 Igbo citizens living in Northern Nigeria would be slaughtered, half of which would be children. One to two million Igbo would flee to the Eastern Region. Charles Keil would write about this upon visiting Nigeria during the height of the pogrom:
“The pogroms I witnessed in Makurdi, Nigeria (late Sept. 1966) were foreshadowed by months of intensive anti-Ibo and anti-Eastern conversations among Tiv, Idoma, Hausa and other Northerners resident in Makurdi, and, fitting a pattern replicated in city after city, the massacres were led by the Nigerian army. Before, during and after the slaughter, Col. Gowon could be heard over the radio issuing 'guarantees of safety' to all Easterners, all citizens of Nigeria, but the intent of the soldiers, the only power that counts in Nigeria now or then, was painfully clear. After counting the disemboweled bodies along the Makurdi road I was escorted back to the city by soldiers who apologised for the stench and explained politely that they were doing me and the world a great favor by eliminating Igbos.”

Yet, the breaking point for tensions between the Igbo and the Federal Government would be economic in nature. In 1956, oil had been discovered in the Niger Delta. By 1966, the majority of oil operations in Nigeria were based in the Eastern Regions, Igbo territory. As such, on May 27, 1967, President Gowen would issue a decree dividing Nigeria up into twelve states, three of which would be carved out of the old Eastern Region. The Igbo would have lost all rights to the oil in their territory, thus lighting the spark that would eventually result in war. Three days later, on May 30, 1967, the then governor of the Eastern Region, Odumegwu Ojukwu, declared the independence and creation of the Republic of Biafra, named after the Bight of Biafra located in Eastern Nigeria. On July 6, 1967, the Nigerian Army would move against Biafra to restore order to the secessionist regions of their country. Civil war had broken out.

(Odumegwu Ojukwu, the leader of Biafra)​

Nigeria and Biafra would soon receive international aid in their respective quests. Biafra’s biggest supporter at the start of the war was the French Republic, led by the time by Charles de Gaulle. President de Gaulle supported Biafra’s quest publically as being noble, and condemned Nigeria for its genocidal actions towards the people of Biafra. Yet, the true reasoning for French action in the region was to uproot British influence in West Africa, and secure oil deals in Biafra. Biafra also managed to secure aid from South Africa, Rhodesia, Spain, and Portugal, and received recognition from Tanzania, Gabon, the Ivory Coast, and Zambia. Even Israeli Mossad agents supplied arms to Biafra. Soon, Biafra would field an army of over 50,000 soldiers, armed with weapons from its supporters, and a small but effective air force from the French. Nigeria on the other hand would receive support from the Soviet Union, as well as many Arab States. The USSR saw the conflict in Nigeria mimicking that of the Congo Crisis seven years prior, and as such decided to fund Nigeria with arms, cash, and other commodities. The rest of the west though was hesitant to support either side. Due to the threat of losing oil imports from Nigeria, the United States and the UK at first were hesitant to join the fray. That all changed though when word trickled back to the US that the Soviets were backing Nigeria in this conflict.

(Nigerian troops during the war)​

When Richard Nixon was elected President in 1968, he saw the need for action in Nigeria. As a supporter of Biafra personally, Nixon could not stand back and watch Biafra fall to a Soviet-backed regime. As the same time, the United Kingdom saw the potential for better oil deals with a fledgling Biafran state, a state that controlled the majority of the oil in Nigeria. As such, both countries began to heavily invest in Biafra, sending arms, cash, and other necessities to the young state. Biafra’s combat effectiveness would soon rise at a pivotal point in the conflict. In 1968, the war had reached a stalemate, with neither side able to breakthrough. In 1969, that changed when Biafra launched a major offensive against Nigeria. It managed to break through the lines and advance deep into occupied territory, recapturing Port Harcourt in April. The Biafran air force (made up of mercenary pilots), scored huge victories against the Nigerian air force by bombing them on the runways. Eventually, by the end of 1969, the Nigerian army was being pushed out of Biafra. At the start of 1970, Nigeria was being pushed back on all sides. A ceasefire was called, and after lengthy negotiations, the Nigerian Civil War ended on January 14, 1970 with the full independence of the Biafran Republic.

The new Republic though faced a plethora of challenges after independence. For starts, the war had cost Biafra huge amounts in terms of both population and economic productivity. The war itself claimed over a million Biafran lives due to starvation and atrocities committed by the Nigerian government. The economy was in shambles, with oil production halved by the conflict. Even though Biafra maintained control over the oil fields on the Niger Delta, it would have to deal with exporting this oil at rather cheap costs to western powers. It also had to deal with a neighboring Nigeria hell-bent on revenge at some point in the future. Yet for now, the big struggle for the young Republic is establishing itself a government. While unofficially a Republic, the conclusion of the war garnered the need for a constitution. Will the abled-body citizens of Biafra be able to jumble together a democratic state, or will they simply fall to the whims of a military strongman?

 

[Nax24]

Character Creation is now open! Game shall fully commence this Saturday, the 25th

 

[Dadarian]

Onyeka in 1968​

Name: DJ Onyeka Nduka Ogoro Ohafia
Date of Birth: 08/08/1941
Biography: Born to the Ohafia Clan in the Abia State, young Onyeka was lucky enough to be born to a family rich enough to fund his immense interest in mechanics and engineering. He graduated Ajayi Crowther University in 1963 with a bachelor's in social science due to the lack of technical education within the nation. His move back to Biafra coincided with the beginning of the anti-Igbo progroms in the Eastern Region. Nevertheless, Onyeka spent his early adult years in various shops rebuilding engines, and hording radio materials as he could. When the Biafran War broke out, he served as an army mechanic where he saw no action but squirreled away numerous electronics to the (unintentional) determent of the war effort. He also served as a man whom had a great taste in music.

With his discharge from the military in 1969, Onyeka turned down an opportunity to serve the nascent Biafran Mechanic's Union to follow his one dream, to be Biafra's first and foremost DJ. Founding ONOO Radio in early 1970, Onyeka is ready to spread the news and the music of the times to all who will listen.

 

[BlackCrown]

Name: Okoro Chukwuemeka
Date of Birth: October 21, 1941
Biography: Born under colonial rule to an Igbo family, Okoro’s early life would be one filled with hardship and poverty. Often times left starving and without help, Okoro developed nationalistic tendencies from a young age, even despising his British rulers. He was not alone in this endeavour, as he would be spurred on by his family, who shared in his ideals.

Though never gaining a formal education, Okoro would also be an active speaker and political activist starting from his youth, joining several pro-independence organizations. At the age of 15, Okoro would organize the formation of a local chapter for the Igbo Federal Union, and would remain an influential politician in regional politics.

Upon the gaining of Nigerian independence in 1960, Okoro was overjoyed, surely the new Republic would allow the formation of a brother nation formed by the Igbo. However, as the years passed, it became clear that the Nigerian experiment in democracy had failed, the Igbo were to be persecuted, and there was no peaceful means of realizing an independent state.

At the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War, finally the Igbo had a nation to rally to, and Okoro a cause to back. One of the first volunteers for the Biafran military, he would serve throughout the entirety of the war, first as a regular soldier and later as a respected member of the Biafran Organization of Freedom Fighters, raiding the Nigerian supply lines, before finally as a commanding officer. As the war ended, Okoro would continue to be a highly admired member of the Biafran Army, well known for his loyalty to the Republic’s government and his nationalistic zeal.

Though he fought against the Nigerians in what he dubs, “The Just War of Biafran Secession,” Okoro has stated that he dreams of a day when their two nations may live in cordial friendship. A believer that it was the military dictatorship who forced the Nigerians to war, he serves as an active advocate for Biafran interference in Nigeria, with the goal of establishing a new Nigerian republic. With the Biafran Republic now forming and consolidating its government, rumors have spread that Okoro is seeking a role within the state’s politics.

 

[Noco19]

Sunday Ezeudo Dappa​

Date of Birth: 02/01/1932

Biography: Born in Bonny to the Ibani Clan of the Ijaw peoples of south-east Nigeria, Sunday Dappa was afforded the privilege of attending the King's College in Lagos thanks to his familial ties to Ibani nobility, as well as his personal aptitude for scholarship. It was there that he first met Odumegwu Ojukwu, with the two becoming peers of one another. Dappa would briefly go to the United Kingdom, attending Brasenose College at Oxford, but would return home two years in.

At home, Dappa would work within the civil service, at first serving as a spokesman for the Ibani and thenafter the Ijaw as a whole within the Niger Delta. By the time of the 1966 coup, Dappa had established himself in the Eastern Region. Suspicious of the military regime, Dappa nevertheless backed his old friend Ojukwu, most especially in the view of a confederated Nigeria. Following the counter-coup and the ethnic breakdown of the nation, Dappa felt compelled to support the secession of Biafra.

Over the course of the costly war, Dappa was simultaneously a great help and sharp thorn to the Biafran cause. On one hand, he served as an able administrator, doing his best to alleviate the burdens of war on the Ijaw while also inspiring them to make the due sacrifices to militarily aid Biafran forces. On the other, however, Dappa likewise exacerbated the divide between the Ijaw and other peoples, bluntly prioritizing his own people if need be. Likewise, Dappa was quick to criticize any attempt to better centralize Biafra and Ojukwu specifically.

Now, Dappa is seen as one of the major faces for a decentralized state, advocating confederation based on ethnic lines.

 

[MastahCheef117]

Obasey Chinwendu
born James Edward Chinwendu
7 November 1930 (aged 40)
founder, President, and Supreme Commander of the People's Revolutionary Liberation Movement of Biafra (PRLMB, or PRLM)
​

Chinwendu is a man whose personality seems to shift as frequently as the winds. To some he is impulsive; to others he is simply so smart and wise, even at such a young age, that he is able to predict what his enemies will do, and adjusts his plans accordingly. At times he seems aloof, distant, and even reclusive; at others he seems as charismatic as any totalitarian dictator.

Chinwendu was born into a wealthier black family in Nigeria in Port Harcourt and benefited from receiving formal education in the early years of his life. He was expelled in the seventh grade for insubordination to his schoolmaster and for refusing to do his work. Following this episode, he was disowned by his father, and moved in with his aunt and her family in the city of Awka. Here he began to learn of the struggles of the Nigerian people against their British colonial overlords over the decades. The Second World War came and went, and Chinwendu -- who worked as a dockworker in Lagos, shipping goods and materiel necessary for the Allied war effort off-continent -- became familiar with the works of Marx. A self-taught writer, he joined, in 1949, a group of anti-imperialist Nigerians and Biafrans that published an underground pamphlet titled The Freedom of Africa. He familiarized himself further with the works of Lenin, Mao, and Ho, as well as with other non-communist writers, primarily Georges Sorel, Proudhon, and Carl Schmitt. In this period, while working as a writer for The Freedom of Africa, he worked various odd-jobs in the largest cities in Nigeria. By 1952, enduring an ideological break with the other leaders of the pamphlet, he struck off on his own, creating The Igbo Independent in Enugu. Over the course of the decade, he became the foremost Igbo nationalist -- though still was relatively unknown outside of the region's largest city. In 1956 he changed his name to Obasey, dropping his English first and middle name. On 5 September 1959, he formed, along with seventeen others, the People's Revolutionary Liberation Movement of Biafra -- the first political figure to use the term "Biafra" in a national, rather than geographic, sense. The Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology of the PRLM, coupled with injections of Italian fascism, National Socialism, and other varied ideologies came to be referred to as "Chinwenduism" -- if only by himself and his few followers. He was elected its first President -- its political and organizational leader -- and Supreme Commander -- its ideological and soon-to-be paramilitary head.

As the Nigerian government steadily ramped up tensions between Lagos and the Igbo population, Chinwendu increased his efforts at agitation, attempting to mobilize vast portions of the Igbo population to revolt and establish their own utopian independent state. Arming his followers through surely illicit means, by early 1969 the militia wing of the PRLM numbered some two-thousand armed men, all of them loyal to Chinwendu. Their effectiveness in the war has, by outside historians, been debated heavily, due primarily to lack of truly objective documentation on the PRLM's part, yet Chinwendu claimed, in the immediate postwar months, that the PRLM played a truly decisive and critical role in Biafran independence. Now, with that independence finally won, he has spoken across the nation on the need for a popular constitution that addresses the needs of the people -- naturally, of course, through the lens of his strange ideology.

He is fluent in the Waawa dialect of Igbo (his native language), English, and can speak some broken French and Hausa. He is married and has five children.

 

[Maxwell500]

Solomon Lotachukwu Kechere
5 June 1914 (aged 56)
President of the Biafra African National Union (BANU) & Commander-in-Chief of the Biafra African National Liberation Army (BANLA)
​

Kechere hails from the Ohuhu Clan of Umuahia, the fourth son of laborers. Although his family was impoverished he was afforded the opportunity to attend a number of missionary schools, most notably Uzuakoli Methodist College. There he won a scholarship to study Law at the Yaba Higher College, eventually traveling to South Africa in 1936 to continue these studies at the University of Fort Hare.

Returning home in 1941 with degree in hand, Kechere setup a private practice in Umuahia; it was in that year that he would first come into contact with Michael Okpara, a young doctor, who shared a very similar background to him - and who had in fact also studied at both the Uzuakoli Methodist College and the Yaba Higher College.

Drawn into politics by the ever-ambitious Okpara, Kechere would join the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in 1944, and subsequently be elected to the Eastern Nigerian House of Assembly in 1952 on the NCNC platform. Although destined for a role in the cabinet in Eastern Nigeria he was complicit in the revolt against party leadership in 1953 and so found himself shunned, with loyalists like Okpara rising instead. Nonetheless, in spite of their differences Okpara and Kechere remained close and in 1960 when Nnamdi Azikiwe was named Governor-General and left politics and Okpara was voted to succeed him as President of the NCNC, he advocated for Kechere's appointment as Secretary.

As Premier of Eastern Nigeria Okpara also appointed Kechere as Deputy Premier and Minister of Health - the latter was to hold both until the fateful coup of January 1966. Without any means to fight his dismissal, Kechere returned to his private practice, with the belief that his days in politics were over. However as fate would have it Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu would declare the independence of the Eastern Region as the Republic of Biafra on the 30th of May 1967, initiating what most would later call the 'War of Biafran Independence'.

Kechere immediately made contact with Ojukwu and offered his services, and was subsequently appointed Minister of the Interior in Ojukwu's cabinet - although what existed of the government was very roughshod and disorganized. It was quickly made Kechere's task to build up a bureaucracy and gear the nascent government towards supporting the Biafran Army's war effort.

It was in June of 1968 - on the occasion of his birthday - that Kechere founded the Biafra African National Union (BANU) in his hometown of Umuahia alongside supporters and confidantes. It quickly became clear that it was Kechere's desire that BANU become Biafra's first political party, and that it was to be his 'vehicle' to aid in the independence of Biafra. This was further cemented when the Biafra African National Liberation Army (BANLA) was founded as the military-wing of BANU and tasked with aiding the Biafran Army in its struggle - at its height in late 1969 it would rise to 3,000 men.

During the war Kechere - as Minister of the Interior - tried his best to continue to stimulate the economy, as well as stop the onset of starvation; however the harsh actions of the Nigerian government, as well as the general chaos of war, prevented any good outcome in this regard. In late 1969, with the Nigerian Army on the retreat from the Republic of Biafra, Kechere was transfered - at his request - to the Ministry of Agriculture and Production and made his grand pledge to 'restore the economy' and 'end the starvation of the Biafran people'.

Although some small inroads have been made in this regard - at least according to Kechere and BANU - efforts have largely turned towards the proper establishment of the Republic of Biafra, including a constitution and elections. Both of which BANU seeks to play a keen hand in, with the aforementioned already campaigning for Kechere's concept of "pragmatic socialism" and his "experienced and steady hand".

---​

Positions Held

Member of the Eastern Region House of Assembly (1952 - 1966)
Deputy Premier of the Eastern Region (1959 - 1966)
Minister of Health of the Eastern Region (1959 - 1966)
Secretary of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (1960 - 1966)
Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Biafra (2 June 1967 - 11 August 1969)
President of the Biafra African National Union (5 June 1968 - Present)
Commander-in-Chief of the Biafra African National Liberation Army (27 October 1968 - Present)
Minister of Agriculture and Production of the Republic of Biafra (11 August 1969 - Present)

 

[sealy300]

Casto Ojukwu speaking to miners back home after the war [1970, colourised]​

Name: Yafeu "Castro" Ojukwu
Date of Birth: 4th May, 1942
Affiliation: Biafran Army
Biography: Born in the capital of traditional Igboland; Enugu, Yafeu spent most of his life in the coal mines of the city, as his father worked there. Him and the other men of his family lived in a world of soot: they worked in soot, they slept in soot and they ate soot. He, in his spare time, taught himself how to read and used his spare wages to purchase books wherever he could find them. He quickly became enamoured with the literary works of Paine, Blake, Orwell, Shelly, and the political works of Marx, Engels, Nyerere and Daniel DeLeon. This political education turned him into a bit of a rabble rouser; and then into an agitator. After reading of the trade union movement in Britain and America, he sort to unionise the coal mines of Enugu in which his family and entire community worked. However, after the 4th day of a strike to recognise the union, shorter work hours ect: the Nigerian Coal Corporation hired mercenaries from the Yoruba ethnic group. The repression his community faced broke the strike and Yafeu took to a more revolutionary standpoint: The people of Biafra must win their freedom through force and organise themselves for the construction of a people's republic.

As such when the war broke out, he was one of the first to volunteer. During this time, he read the works of the Castro brothers and Che on Foco theory. He was granted a command quite quickly into the war due to his organisational skill (he wasn't that adept as a fighter although strong from his experience mining) and the pure fact he was functionally literate (although his writing ability was poor compared to someone who had been formally schooled). He served with decent distinction, with his unit being famous for raiding enemy supply lines (as according to the teachings of Foco theory and Mao): earning it the name "The Black Cheetahs" (for their speed in attacking and their alleged tactic of dressing in all black [or naked, depending on who you ask] during night raids). Ojukwu himself adopted the nom de guerre Castro Ojukwu in reverence to the Cuban revolutionary brothers who had helped his fight and was well known for going around in his military garb with a Black Beret. He returned to find Enugu, the town of his birth, in ruins. The fighting had been harsh and the mines had been shut. The capital of Igboland had lost much, but there too he found a new sense of solidarity in its people, and he hoped that he could build a nation worthy of the victory he had helped, in his small part win.

As such Corporal Yafeu Castro Ojukwu remained in the army and saw that as a platform to form the nation in his vision: a Republic for the Biafran People. How he would do this, he had no clue whatsoever.

 

[Adamgerd]

Achime Adeniji
Former Name: James Williamson
4 March 1916 (aged 54)
Officer of the Biafra Army, Minister of Defense of Biafra and Member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC)
​

Adeniji was born a British-Igbo citizen in Nigeria to a British Father and a Igbo Mother at the apex of World War 1 and lived through both wars. However, pressure of the school led to him, dropping out of school at the age of 17 and leaving home in search of excitement and while there, he searched for a job. World War 2 arrived and as a British colony, Nigeria was at war with Germany. For many it was a disaster, but for James Williamson, it was an opportunity of employment. Still enthusiastic for the British Empire, he volunteered to serve in Burma for the British Empire with great enthusiasm. In south east Asia, he fought well against the advancing Japanese, rapidly advancing through the ranks, even to Lieutenant, despite his young age. He also secured the loyalty of his Nigerian-dominated Battalion in the war. Following the end of the war, the Battalion was dismantled, and James Williamson was again out of a job. While finding a job and trying to make ends meet. When he tried to re-enlist in the army, the army offers disbelieved his previous claims and mocked him and later, he saw the British Army massacring a peaceful protestors. Angry and disillusioned, he disowned his British citizenship, becoming a Nigerian Citizen and took an Igbo name. At the age of 30, he joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons and became a member of the NCNC. He advocated Nigerian independence and Igbo Autonomy, being glad when the British forces finally left the country and gave it indepdencwe. He hoped it would be a new beginning for the young nation, but soon left and founded a more radical Igbo Group (The Biafran Independence Party) after an ideological break with the NCNC, which refused to include the right to secession, starting a local underground newspaper for Biafran independence before the party and the newspaper were shut down in the late 50's. However tensions still grew between the Igbo south and the Nigerian North and following the declaration of Secession from Nigeria for the Igbo, he rejoined the party as a member and immediately enlisted in the Biafran army to help defeat the Nigerians and secure Biafran indepedence. With the vast experience gained from his experience in Burma, he soon became a competent leader, being promoted quickly and rising rapidly up the ranks and becoming a key commander and figure within the Biafra military, eventually becoming an ranking officer in the army and although he does not have lots of political support, he has the support of the Biafra Military.

Nigerian Platoon in the British Army, Commanded by James Williamson in Burma and South East Asia

Achime Adeniji does have great ambition and aspires for a political position, believing a republican system to be a failure and corrupt after the experience with Nigeria and believes that a Military Junta is the most effective form of government, being decisive. He is decisive and impulsive, which allowed him to quickly rise up the ranks, but also makes him unpredictable and he is not without many enemies. He publicly speaks out for a more centralized and stronger government with a stronger military to defend Biafra against Nigeria and is currently a candidate for a ministry as a gift for his loyalty to the nation. He is fluent in English, Igbo and can speak some French due to his mother being Igbo, his father English and his service in south east Asia.

Titles and Accomplishments
Lieutenant of the Nigerian Asian Expeditionary Force of the British Army (1941 - 1945)
Chairman of the Biaferan Independence Party (1951 - 1959)
Writer of a Biaferan Independence Newspaper (1952 - 1959)
Officer of the Biafra African National Liberation Army (1969 -)
Member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (1946 - 1951, 1966 -)

OOC: ((If there's something I should change please let me know))

 

[Shynka]

​

Name: Karim Joseph Uaenge (born Joseph Lenin-Prosperity)
Born: Sometime between 1928 and 1932
Titles (Only top three included):

Secretary of the Armed Protection Battalions of the People’s Revolutionary Liberation Movement of Biafra
Deputy Secretary of the Party Political Policing Commission
Permanent Member of the Higher Expanded Central Advisory Committee to the Great Leader and Beholder of the Peoples Way Obasey Chinwendu​

Biography:
Joseph was born to one of the mistresses to one of the Socialist revolutionaries of Nigeria. With no clue as to who the boys father might be, his similarly Socialist mother gave him the surname of Lenin-Prosperity, before sending him off to be raised with her aunt in the city of Aba.

Up to the age of eight Joseph lived a simple life with his cousins; he only saw his mother at the ages of 4 and 7, and hardly remembered her or felt a connection. At age 8 he received a letter from a man claiming to be his father, but could not fulfil the letters multiple requests for money. Shortly after this letter he ran away from his aunt’s home, undergoing a journey through Nigeria and ending up as a servant to a British family in Calabar.

At age fourteen he ditched this unsatisfying position and went back to his aunts house, only to find that she died and his cousins moved. For three years he lived as a vagrant, before eventually reconnecting with his mother, who was at the time the first revolutionary wife of a man known as Commander Engels. Commander Engels accepted Joseph into his camp, but gave him the name of his deceased brother, Karim. Karim Joseph learned the craft of war first hand from his rebellious stepfather.

By 1951 he became the de-facto leader of the group, after Commander Engels had his legs and hands blown off by an improvised explosive. In 1959 he aligned the group, then called the Revolutionary Pan-African Independent Anti-Colonial Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Kruschevist Brotherhood of the Free Comrades of Muhammad and Christ, with the newly formed Biafra independence move. He also changed his last name to Uaenge, and begun to use his first name less and less. Following the birth of Chinwenduism, he lead a purge in the ranks of his movement, sentencing both his mother and invalid stepfather to hard labour and expelling them from the organisation. By 1964 the group shrunk radically in size, effectively becoming Chinwendu’s bodyguard force.

Karim Uaenge continues to serve Chinwendu in various formal positions, but remains his effective head of security and extortion.

 

[Nax24]

IC is now open. The Date is January 20, 1970. I will post minis according to the situation as we progress. For now, begin thinking of plans for a constitution/form of government you want Biafra to adopt...

 

[Nax24]

The Biafran Constitutional Convention​

Following the ceasing of hostilities between Biafra and Nigeria, Acting President Odumegwu Ojukwu called forth a meeting of the notable military and political leaders of the Biafran community to hammer out a constitution that would establish for Biafra a proper government. As such, these notables would meet in the capital city of Enugu to engage in debate over the future of the small country.

President Ojukwu himself was a noted democrat. Opposing the hostile actions taken towards the Igbo people during the pogroms that preceded the civil war, Ojukwu was seen as somewhat of a national hero by the people at the time. Yet, for all intents and purposes, political ideologies had begun to form within the young Republic. Some of these ideologies were somewhat normal in their behavior, while others boarded on the perplexing side of the spectrum.

Three major political factions were already being developed within Biafra. The first of which was the NCNC, which led the charge forward for Igbo sovereignty. The NCNC still was the party of the Igbo, which was now a majority within the Republic of Biafra. Two other political groups though would form to compete with the NCNC, the People's Liberation Movement of Biafra and the Biafra African National Union.

The PLMB was the party of Obasey Chinwendu, an Igbo nationalist who created his own paramilitary force to fight back against Nigeria. The PLMB had a rather strange ideology, taking a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology and combining it with National Socialism, called "Chinwenduism" by those who support Chinwendu. The PLMB supported the idea of a constitutional convention, though small as it was.

The BANU was the party of Solomon Lotachukwu Kechere, a minister in the provisional government ran by Ojukwu. The BANU was one of the first political parties established in Biafra, and it supported independence from Nigeria, aiding the independence effort in its quest to win independence. Kechere himself described the party as one of "pragmatic socialism", and would support the convention in earnest.

Other factions though also came to Enugu. There were factions of the military, soldiers and officers both, that arrived in Enugu. Various democratic and socialist attendees would arrive to spread their ideology within the confines of this convention. Attendees from other ethnic groups would arrive to ensure that the new government would not heavily favor just the Igbo. The time is now for action and debate as the creation of a proper Biafran state would come underway...

 

[Nax24]

Orders Due next Wednesday at 7:00PM EST. Everyone gets one order.