General Philip Effiong, c. 1960s, speaks about the Anti-Igbo Pogroms that occurred across the Northern and Western Regions, and Lagos the capital of Nigeria over several months in 1966. Effiong himself narrowly escaped being killed in Lagos. People perceived to be Igbo or from the Eastern Region were targeted, hunted down and killed. Reported casualties ranged from 30,000 to 700,000 persons.

The pogroms and the Nigerian government’s “inability” to guarantee the safety of the Igbos and Eastern minority ethnic groups would lead to the secession of the Eastern Region from Nigeria, the short-lived State of Biafra and the Biafra-Nigeria war.

No one was ever held accountable for the 1966 pogroms by the Nigerian Government or the international community.

Philip Effiong, of the Ibibio ethnic group, was a senior military officer in the Nigerian Army in the 1960s. He escaped the 1966 pogroms in Lagos to the Eastern Region. After the State of Biafra was declared in 1967, he became the 2nd in command in the short-lived country. He was the last Head of State of Biafra and
Biafra-Nigeria war.

No one was ever held accountable for the 1966 pogroms by the Nigerian Government or the international community.

Philip Effiong, of the Ibibio ethnic group, was a senior military officer in the Nigerian Army in the 1960s. He escaped the 1966 pogroms in Lagos to the Eastern Region. After the State of Biafra was declared in 1967, he became the 2nd in command in the short-lived country. He was the last Head of State of Biafra and oversaw its surrender to Nigeria. Effiong passed away in 2003.