The Determined Ibos

Ojukwu thinks I'll be just a titular head and sign the papers for him. I will like hell. --Lieut. Colonel Yakubu Gowon

Gowon is like a toddler trying to sweep out a room with a big broom--amusing and slightly pathetic. --Lieut. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu

Such quarrelsome words usually lead straight to trouble, and that is just what was brewing last week in Africa's most populous nation. For months Nigeria has teetered on the edge of civil war, its fate hinging on relations between two young, untested leaders. Colonel Ojukwu, 33, governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, afraid of a repeat of recent massacres of his fellow Ibo tribesmen, is demanding more legal autonomy from the central military government headed by Colonel Gowon, 32. Ojukwu vows to seize more autonomy whether Gowon approves or not--and last week he took a step in that direction that could produce another bloodbath for Nigeria's 57 million people.

Savvy from Christians. Ojukwu gave Gowon until March 31 to put into effect agreements reached between the two at a conference in Ghana in January. He claimed that Gowon agreed to a loose confederation of states for Nigeria, promised aid for 160 refugees and made other concessions that he later reneged on. Gowon later offered a compromise: he said he would give all state governors, including Ojukwu, virtual veto over his policies, but he refused to relinquish certain powers, including the power to take over states "in emergencies." When the deadline passed with no further concessions, Ojukwu hit where it hurt most: at Nigeria's treasury. He announced that all taxes formerly collected in his state by the central government in Lagos must henceforth be paid to him.

Economically, Nigeria needs the East far more than the East needs it. Ojukwu complains that his region contributes 35% of the nation's tax revenues and gets back only 14% in federal outlays. With coal reserves, a palm-oil industry and abundant oil along the coast near Port Harcourt, the East has the potential to go it alone as a viable state. Its population of 12 million (including 9,000,000 Ibos) is larger than that of either Kenya or Ghana.

Not the least of the region's assets are the Ibos themselves. Early contact with Christian missionaries gave them more savvy in Western techniques than other tribes. Forced by a land shortage in the East to seek a livelihood in other regions, they usually settled in tribal enclaves, invested their earnings and established powerful tribal associations. When Nigeria became independent in 1960, the Ibos controlled most of the black-owned businesses. When the British left, they stepped into top posts in universities, business houses and the civil service. But the Ibos have usually been resented, especially by the Hausa Moslems of the comparatively poorer North. In last year's riots, thousands of Ibos died and more than 50,000 fled into their own Eastern state.

Sealed Off. The East has virtually sealed off its borders, retaining behind them one-third of the nation's railroad stock and other federal property. Faced with a possible economic blockade of its coast by Gowon's few warships, Ojukwu has warned that he will "line the bottom of our creeks with the debris of the Nigerian Navy." Threats have been made by at least one other military commander who says his troops will invade the Ibo capital of Enugu if Gowon gives him the order. But neither the other Nigerian states nor Gowon is eager to take on the East, which has an army of 5,000 to stand up against the federal army of 7,000.

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