May 30, 2016
On this day (May 30, 1967): Declaration of the Republic of Biafra
On this day 49 years ago, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the South Eastern Region's military governor, announced the Republic of Biafra, citing the Easterners killed in the post-coup violence.
The secessionist state enjoyed its freedom for a very short time (a month and three days), before the civil war began on July 6, 1967 to counter the withdrawal of Biafra from Nigeria. It will go on to be the bloodiest war in the history of Nigeria.
After two-and-a-half years of war, during which over three million Biafran civilians died in fighting and from starvation occasioned by the total blockade of the region.