A secret diplomatic dossier of 21,000 pages released by the United States has brought to light certain issues concerning Nigeria's civil war from 1967 to 1970 that had never been heard before.
On the morning of Monday, July 1, 1967, Nigeria's then-youthful Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, was in a pensive mood in his office at the Defence Headquarters, Dodan Barracks, Lagos. The reason for his pensiveness was the intense pressure he was under regarding whether or not to give the final order to launch an attack on the secessionist Republic of Biafra. At that very time, senior military officers who had been sent abroad for training had all been recalled home. Trains from Kaduna and Kano, laden with troops and equipment, had already crossed the River Benue southward under the command of Colonel Muhammad Shuwa (now late) and had set up camp in Makurdi.
Before Shuwa's troop movement, the 2nd Battalion had already been deployed to Adikpo, while the 4th Battalion, under Major Sule Apollo, had landed at Oturko as part of the war preparation plan. On that same day, Major B.M. Usman, one of General Gowon's close aides, told the U.S. Embassy's military attaché in Nigeria: "I really don't know what (Gowon) is waiting for; the men are ready and eager for battle. They are just waiting for his command." Likewise, the members of the Supreme Military Council, who met twice daily, were also waiting only for Gowon's word. In short, the entire country was poised for war. The secessionist Republic of Biafra was also on high alert, biding its time.
On June 27, 1967, Mr. Cyprian Ekwensi, a renowned literary figure who was then the Director of Information for the Biafran authorities, entered the "Voice of Biafra" radio station (formerly Radio Enugu) and called on the Biafran people to prepare for an invasion by Nigerian troops on the 29th of the month, saying, "Because the North is accustomed to launching attacks on the 29th." This statement was also a reference to Major T.Y. Danjuma, who had led the troops that overthrew General Gowon's predecessor, Major General Aguyi-Ironsi, who was killed in a forest near Ibadan.
At that time, General Gowon was just 31 years old, yet he bore the responsibility of leading a nation of 57 million people for ten months, so the situation weighed heavily on him. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, aged 58, was his trusted commissioner and adviser on external affairs; Mr. Okoi Arikpo and Mr. Philip Asiodu both served in the ministries of commerce and industry, respectively, as commissioners. The three of them had strongly warned the major oil companies, Dutch Oil and Shell-BP, that they intended to withhold their taxes from the federal government and instead pay them to the new Biafran administration—taxes amounting to £250,000 from June 1, 1967. The reason was that Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, the leader of secessionist Biafra, had ordered both companies to redirect their tax payments to his government based in Enugu, threatening them with severe penalties if they refused.
In essence and directly, what this meant was that Ojukwu demanded Shell-BP pay his government £2 million in taxes; this also implied a ban on any commercial or oil tanker vessels docking at the ports of Koko, Warri, Sapele, Escravos, Bonny, Port Harcourt, and Calabar—which Ojukwu declared were sovereign territories of the Republic of Biafra under his full control. Meanwhile, the Nigerian government also imposed stiff sanctions on the companies, prohibiting any economic dealings with the secessionist Biafran administration. In the broader picture, Biafra controlled the landmass where oil wells and drilling equipment were located, while Nigeria held sway over the coastal waters and sea routes through which ships came and went.