IMPACT OF NIGERIA CIVIL WAR ON THE COUNTRY’S FOREIGN POLICY, 1967-1975

Whenever political differences within a society or a state takes on a territorial and organizational character, that is, inspire the consolidation of territories with organizational structures, with the addition of a triggering condition, conflict is inevitable.1 What the history of conflict, whether civil or international, will show is that there was a stage in which differences took on a territorial character, which is, it became possible to recognize the territories of the contending and already mobilized groups. The history of Nigeria since 1914 is deeply rooted in major political issues which are violently contested along the lines of ethnic, religious, and regional boundaries in the country. It can be noted that Nigeria inherited a constitution, from the British which gave absolute majority to one region, thereby promoting regional politics and political division in the country.3 For Nigeria, the civil war that raged between mid 1967 and early 1970, has been described as inevitable