Conflicts between political, religious, and ethnic groups have been sparked by a number of factors in Nigeria. In Nigeria, religious, political, and ethnic nationalism have caused riots and conflicts over power, the dissolution of the state, unequal resource distribution, economic decline, and ethnoreligious clashes.
While some of these conflicts might have been avoided, others were unavoidable. Whichever way they turn out, Nigeria’s glorious history will always bear the scars of these riots.
5. The 1918 Adubi War.
Adubi War of 1918.
Between June and August of 1918, the Adubi war, also known as the Egba Uprising, broke out due to the taxation system set up by the British colonial government in Abeokuta, the current capital of Ogun State in Nigeria.
OldNaija learned that more than 30,000 Egba individuals engaged in armed conflict with colonial authorities in Abeokuta, resulting in the destruction of numerous telegraph and railway lines in the southern region of the country.
The Adubi War was primarily brought on by the imposition of the direct taxation system on the Egba people in 1918, along with the revocation of Abeokuta’s independence. Details about the Adubi War are available here.
4. The 1929 Aba Women’s Riot.
Riots and Wars in Nigeria’s Past: Aba Women’s Riots of 1929.
In British colonial history, the November and December 1929 riots or war in the southeastern Nigerian provinces of Calabar and Owerri is referred to as the “Aba Women’s Riots of 1929” and as the “Women’s War” in Igbo history.
The first colonial governor of Nigeria, Lord Lugard, implemented an indirect rule system in Southern Nigeria on January 1, 1914, which served as the catalyst for the riots. Under this system, “warrant chiefs,” who were essentially Igbo people chosen by the governor, were used by British administrators to rule locally.
The appointed warrant chiefs soon started to exert more and more control over their subjects. Colonial officials’ announcement that they would impose special taxes on the Igbo market women added to the locals’ sense of injustice.
The Aba women’s riots forced colonial authorities to abandon their plans to tax market women and limit the power of the warrant chiefs. For more information, read this article about the Aba women’s riot.
3. Western Region Riots of 1962: Operation Wetie.
The Wetie operation.
Operation Wetie ranks third on our list of notable riots and wars in Nigeria. This was the label given to the string of riots that marked the civil and political life of Nigeria’s now-defunct Western Region in the 1960s. Operation wetie refers to the practice of dousing politicians, their supporters, and their properties in gasoline and setting them ablaze during times of crisis.
Conflicts within the Action Group between Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the group’s leader, and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, his deputy, led to the outbreak of the bloody riots. Everything started when Chief Obafemi Awolowo resigned from his position as the Premier of the Western Region in order to run for Prime Minister, but he lost, and he eventually settled as the head of the opposition in the federal parliament.
Awolowo continued to serve as the Action Group’s leader even though Akintola now held the premiership mantle. There were conflicts of interest and allegiance in the Action Group as a result of Samuel Akintola’s failure to anticipate Awolowo’s decision to continue serving as the party’s leader. While Samuel Akintola was backed by one faction of the Action Group, Awolowo was backed by another.
This led to significant uproar and unrest in the Western Region, which later led to a chain of violent incidents. Many people were killed, and in a matter of days, millions of dollars’ worth of property was destroyed. The Western Region was put under a state of emergency shortly after that.
It was the first time in Nigerian history that a state of emergency had been used to quell violence. Political adversaries’ homes and families, as well as their own, were set on fire. Details about Operation Wetie can be found here.
2. The 1953 Kano Riot.
Historical riots and wars in Nigeria: Nigerian Civil War.
The riot in Kano in 1953 is another event on this list of historical riots and wars in Nigeria. Chief Anthony Enahoro, a representative from the Action Group (AG), proposed a resolution in March 1953 asking for Nigeria to be granted self-government in 1956.
Sir Ahmadu Bello, the president of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), proposed a countermotion. Self-government should be granted “as soon as practicable,” he suggested as an amendment. As a result, there were arguments over the motion and tensions between the leaders of the North and the South.
According to reports, the House meeting was adjourned, and before the NPC members left Lagos for the North, they were booed and called all kinds of derogatory names. After the self-government motion was adjourned on March 31, 1953, Northern leaders in Kano took retaliatory action to exact revenge for the humiliation they had suffered in Lagos.
A riot that later became known as the Kano riot of 1953 occurred while Akintola and his group were in Kano. The riot resulted in numerous fatalities and numerous injuries. Here you can read in-depth information about the Kano riot of 1953.
1. Biafran War/Nigerian Civil War.
During the Biafran War, Nigerian Federal Troops took control of Port Harcourt on May 19, 1968, after routing Biafran forces.
During the Biafran War, Nigerian Federal Troops took control of Port Harcourt after routing Biafran forces. Getty Pictures.
Between July 6, 1967, and January 15, 1970, there was a civil war in Nigeria known as the Biafran War. The attempted secession of Nigeria’s southeastern provinces under the name of the self-declared Republic of Biafra resulted in this bloody conflict.
Nigeria, a colonial creation of the British, was split into a predominantly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian and animist south. The Hausa and Fulani (north), Yoruba (south-west), and Igbo (south-east) provinces were created after the country gained independence in 1960 along tribal lines.
After a military takeover in 1966 that saw the Igbo General Aguiyi-Ironsi become the Head-of-State, tribal tensions grew. A few months later, a countercoup led by people from the north happened after this. After Aguiyi-Ironsi was killed, the Igbo were subjected to extensive retaliation.
African Civil War.
The Igbo-majority province, which feared marginalization within the state, proclaimed its independence as the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967. After a year of fighting, a standoff developed after its forces initially drove the Nigerian army back.
The Republic of Biafra lost its oil fields, which were its main source of income, and without the money to import food, an estimated one million Biafrans perished from severe malnutrition.
One of the final Biafran strongholds, Owerri, the provincial capital, was taken over by Nigerian forces on January 11, 1 970, forcing Ojukwu to flee to the Ivory Coast. Biafra surrendered to Nigeria four days later. Learn more about the Biafran War and the Nigerian Civil War here.
Bonus: the 2000 riots in Kaduna.
Riots/Wars in Nigeria Throughout History | Kaduna Riots of 2000.
The Kaduna riots of 2000 were clashes of religions between Christians and Muslims over the imposition of sharia law in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria. Between 200 and 1000 people were killed during the riots that started on February 21st, 2000.
Some of the Christian protesting youth broke windows of moving vehicles and slowed down traffic in the Kaduna metropolis. In retaliation, Muslim rioters looted and vandalized numerous homes, banks, shops, and businesses, most of which belonged to Igbo traders from eastern Nigeria.
Trouble started in Aba when Aba locals’ bodies were shipped from Kaduna. Furious over the deaths, Aba residents attacked the city’s Muslim Hausa residents and set fire to the mosque. There have also been reports of violence in the nearby towns of Owerri and Umuaha.
The government dispatched elite troops to Aba in response to President Olugusen Obasanjo’s call for Christians and Muslims to “desist from violence.”. Ahmad Maikarfi, the governor of Kaduna state, imposed a dawn to dusk curfew and put the military and police on high alert.
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