This compendium of speeches chronicles statements delivered by notable participants in the Nigerian-Biafran War (1967-1970) in local and global forums. The first volume includes speeches on the civil war from the Biafran and Nigerian Federal perspectives. The intellectual content of these speeches is an irresistible for understanding both the conflict and the politics of modern Africa. The Nigerian Military leader, Major-General Yakubu Gowon, and Biafran leader, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, used speeches to justify their causes in the conflict. Along with the recorded experiences and memories of the war, the speeches of the Biafran and Federal leaders serve as the major component of the war history. Despite all that has been writing on the Nigerian-Biafran War, these speeches better document an understanding and interpretation of the war. The speeches by national actors demonstrated intense global reactions that trailed the Nigerian civil war. They used their speeches in the war to pass a message either on the need to initiate a political solution to the conflict, a call for a global humanitarianism, support for the sovereign independent state and Republic of Biafra or support for the maintenance of the Nigerian unity. This collection endeavors to tell the story of the war through adequate compilation of the speeches from the Biafran and Federal perspectives.
