CHAPTER TWO

2:1 Introduction:
This chapter will be divided into two parts. The first part will look at instances of
racism, forms of racism that exist within the text, and how the characters are
employed by the author to address the theme of racism in Adichie’s “Americanah”
while the second part will examine how Adichie uses the characters to show that
colonialism, religion and ethnic dis -unity are factors that contributes to the external
and internal racial issues in Nigeria and how these three factors contributes to the
cause of the Nigeria/ Biafra civil war in “Half of a Yellow Sun”

2:2 Racism in “Americanah”

Though a love story. Americanah‘s central theme is racism, identity and culture
diversity. Adichie shows how the major characters whether blacks or whites becomes
victims or promoters of some level of racial attitudes. The text revolves around three
worlds: Nigeria, America and England Adichie shows the reader what it feels like to
be a person of color in a country where the White race is often acknowledged as the
superior race. Adichie describes Racism as an illness which she terms “ Racial
Disorder Syndrome “ . And she said that many people have it without even
acknowledging they do. And just like any type of illness it is either low, mild or
acute. So it is safe to say that the central message in the text is Racism which is
prevalent in white community and among individuals of colors and race. Adichie tries
to show us how the issue of race gradually affect its victims psychological and turns
black immigrants into a shadow of their true selves . Individuals who are willing to do
anything to please the whites just to be accepted . Adichie gives many examples of
racist incidents, like Obinze being mocked for scraping his knee because he’s a “knee-
grow,” people assuming the white Curt couldn’t be dating Ifemelu, or patients
refusing to have Aunty Uju as their doctor. Ifemelu then starts a blog about race, and
Adichie scatters blog posts throughout the novel. Through these posts Adichie is able
to be most outwardly critical of racism in America: Ifemelu describes many micro
aggressions, incidents, and assumptions she has experienced that many whites
wouldn’t always notice or understand, and she is able to do so bluntly and
humorously. Many of these posts as well as Ifemelu’s relationship with Blaine
involve navigating the differing experiences of African-Americans or Africans who
come to live in America and experience racial prejudice for the first time.

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Most of the novel’s discussion of race involves pointing out racism and humanizing it
(both the victims and the perpetrators), but Adichie also gives some examples of
people overcoming racism through close friendship and romantic love. Characters like
Curt, Kimberley , and Nigel achieve this to varying degrees of success in their
relationships with Ifemelu and Obinze. As Shan complains about in describing her
own book, most editors don’t want a novel that focuses on race—the issue must
somehow be made more “complex” or described so beautifully that the reader doesn’t
even notice it. With this Adichie comments on her own work, declaring that race and
racism are big and complicated enough issues on their own, and they deserve a novel
as sprawling and complex as Americanah.

The subject of racism makes both the main characters and the minor
characters to feel alienated. From the first time Ifemelu comes to America, She
becomes a different person, trying to belong, struggling to please, trying to
accept but after many years of living in America, She still find it difficult to
become her true self.
Dike also faces this same difficulty, He is often a suspect in the eyes of the
racist white, At school, He suffers the same fate, His teacher refuses to give him
sunscreen because he is black and the white teacher felt the black my skin does
not need sunscreen , Also when the school computer is hacked, Dike becomes the
suspect because they feel only the blacks people commit crime in the society.
With all this , Dike becomes depressed and even opts to end his life by trying to
commit suicide. Dike would always feel like the odd kid in his school and is never
fully able to grasp who he really is, But as a black person, He will have to wait
for the society to tell him who he is and who he is to become.
Aunty Uju is never left out either, As she also faces the same challenge of
alienation. As a medical doctor, most white patients always feel offended when
they find out she’s the one to take care of them. This often make her feel
alienated in America.

Ifemelu discovers that in America as an African immigrant, She is a person of color ,

not chocolate colored, not half caste but rather BLACK and she soon discovers that
she hates everything that makes her BLACK. This is because she has never known
color discrimination in Africa where she is coming from. She said
“I came from a country where race was not an issue. I did not think of myself as black
and I only became black when I came to America.” (Adichie 290)

The internalized form or type of racism is the type that is already imbedded into
individuals by the society, Most whites are often known to act in a way that can be
termed, Internalized Racial Superiority while the Black will often go with the
Internalized Racism Inferiority. Adichie opines subtly that even when the issue of

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race is not generally spoken about and is often avoided ,it does not mean that it is no
longer there or that certain individuals are no longer affected by it.Once a child is
born in a country of different race like America, He or She will grow to easily
understand their place in the society based on the color of their skin . Ifemelu is often
reminded to be grateful for the privilege of being accepted into the American society
as a black immigrant. A good instance is when the white cleaner comes to Kimberly
house and at first thinks the house is owned by Ifemelu and decides to simply speak to
her rudely, only for him to calm down as soon as he discovers she is just a help like
him. Once again , the social radder of the American society has been maintained and
no disruption in the way things are supposed to be. Because it has been internalized in
him that only the whites are expected to have the privilege of having such beautiful
homes and not a Black woman. That in the ranking of social status it is always going
to be the poor whites and the blacks (Because it is believed that all blacks should be
poor).

Ifemelu goes on to discover that your skin color is all that America’s society needs to
place any individuals on any level of social class .

“She looked at him, a taunt in her eyes, prolonging a moment loaded with
assumptions: he thought she was a homeowner , and she was not what he had
expected to see in this grand stone house with the white pillars .

”Yes” she said finally, suddenly tired.”Mrs Turner told me you were coming.”

It was like a conjuror’s trick, the swift disappearance of his hostility. His face sank
into a grin. She, too, was a help. The universe was once again arranged as it should
be.” (Adichie 177)

When Ifemelu meets Cristina Tomas, She at first thinks the young lady has some
sort of illness that makes her speak slowly and at first pities her because she thought
how it would really be difficult for her to communicate with people, only for her to
discover few minutes later that Cristina only chose to speak to Ifemelu like that
because she feels as a black immigrant, She is not supposed to understand English
language. This is an Interpersonal Racism being displayed here, though subtle but
true. Kimberley also tries to talk to Ifemelu in a way that seems she is trying hard not
to annoy her and Ifemelu finds it frustrating.

There is also a need to tell stories of any racist encounter as a black person without
truly showing one’s personal emotions. As any display of emotions s can be seen as a
threat , Because that is how the whites expect you to react without showing any
emotions of anger because as black you don’t have such privilege And this is also a
form of Interpersonal Racism. Emenike as the victim of this type of racism in
England, tells of his experience without showing how the encounter had truly affected
him.

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“But now, sipping the last of his red wine, flowers floating in front of him, he spoke
in a tone cleansed of anger, thick only with superior amusement, while Georgina
injected to clarify: Can you believe that?.”(Adichie 298)

There are so many forms of Institutional Racism that exist within the text. This shows
marginalization in areas such as Housing, Religion, Education and even Occupation.
They are too many times these form of racism are shown in the book.

Institutionalized racism is experienced by Ifemelu during the school career fair where
she hopes to be recruited for a job. The contrary happens and her explanation for this
is that the recruiters upon realization that she is non-American but African end up
being non- committal. According g to her their main fear is that if they hired her they
would have to “descend into the dark tunnel of immigration” (Adichie 201). This is a
clear indication that the female African immigrant is placed in a precarious situation if
processing her documents is viewed as a complicated process not worth undertaking.
In this case such bureaucracy systematically ensures blacks are cut off from receiving
certain benefits.

In addition to this, through her blog posts Ifemelu tackles the delicate issue of
institutionalized racism. One of her posts reads:

“...but racism is about power of a group and in America it’s the white folks who have
the power. How? Well white folks don’t get treated like shit in upper-class African-
American communities and white folks don’t get denied bank loans and mortgages
precisely because they are white and black juries don’t give white criminals worse
sentences than black criminals for the same crime and black police officers don’t stop
white folk for driving while white and black companies don’t choose not to hire
somebody because their name sounds white and black teachers don’t tell white kids
that they are not smart enough to be doctors...”( Adichie 217)

From this excerpt it is clear that government organs are portrayed as totally biased in
favour of whites. The judiciary and police force if headed by a black person will
regard a white person as untouchable because of the power they wield. Top
institutions like the banking sector are prejudiced towards blacks since they give loans
and mortgages to white people only, ensuring blacks remain at the bottom of the
hierarchy. The bottom of the hierarchy is reserved for lowly jobs as described in
another blog post that reads, “Lots of folk today don’t mind a black nanny or a black
limo driver. But they sure as hell mind a black boss” (Adichie,35).

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In his autobiography, "Promised Land," Obama shares his experiences of
racial profiling, and indeed outright racism, he experienced in college:

"The multiple occasions when I'd been asked for my student ID

while walking to the library on (Columbia University's) campus,
something that never seemed to happen to my white
classmates." (Obama, 89)

The above extract is very much true in Americanah, Dike is often marginalized both
in schools and even in church. His mother will often want him to dress neatly so as
not to be seen as a suspect, Even in at the church which is a religious environment, He
also faces racism Political exclusion is the way in which racism is practiced;
economic exclusion is the way in which it is enforced. Living in the U.K. illegally,
Obinze’s prospects are severely constrained. In order to work and earn a living, he has
to borrow a National Insurance card from another slightly better established
immigrant. To do so, he has to part with a percentage of his salary or lose everything
altogether. Be- cause he is undocumented, he cannot travel out of Britain for fear of
being apprehended by immigration authorities. Because he is designated as “illegal”
he is consigned to only the lowest paying jobs where the surveillance technologies of
the state are permissively applied. His life is one of imperiled involuntary immobility.

ADICHIE also shows that sometimes Racism is really beyond skin color or race,
it can be a religious thing or even a cultural thing . You can be branded bad
simply because of your choice of religion, take for example the Jewish guy in her
class finds himself in this category. And Ifemelu goes on to narrate how even she
herself often find the issue of Racism confusing. Many renowned schools in
America will never simply accept a Jew not even when the Jew is white. And
Ifemelu wonders how a mere religion can makes a person dangerous. Cultural
here simply means when they think you hate certain things not based on
individual choices but on cultural grounds. Like when Ifemelu confronts Elena
over her dog eating her bacon, And Elena didn’t not hesitate to ask her if her
dislike for dog was a “cultural thing” (Adichie 35)

Emenike is also another character that Adichie uses to show us that sometimes even
our fellow blacks can be racist. Once some have attained certain levels of comfort
they even tend to look down on their fellow people of same color. Obinze narrates to
Ifemelu how he was mocked by Emenike in a very subtle manner. Emenike always
starts sounding somehow in the presence of the white folks like a dog who is trying so
hard to please its master.

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The black man that Ifemelu meets at the farmer’s market also shows that even blacks
can be racist, dictators to their fellow blacks. The man is not proud of Ifemelu’s hair
and does not try to hide his disgust. He is the typical examples of blacks who would
do anything to switch places with the whites. The Black as can be seen in the text,
would try so many times to work hard just to prove to the whites that they are not bad
as most of them think they are The first time Ifemelu sees America She felt this is not
the America she had always seen on the “Cosby show” neither is it was she has
always dreamt of while in Nigeria. Another thing she notices is how different Aunty
Uju has become, how different she now looks and how she seems like the shadow of
herself. How conscious Aunty Uju becomes in the presence of the white. How she
tries so hard to twist her accents to suite America’s accents.

During her relationship with Blaine, though different in many ways from her
experience dating Curt, Ifemelu still finds herself being forced to put on an
inauthentic role tailored to her by her audience, which includes visitors to her blog
and Blaine’s friends.His friends are intellectual to the point of elitism, which impacts
the way she presents herself to them; his sister Shan also intimidates Ifemelu and
makes her feel that her authentic self is inadequate. At the surprise birthday party
thrown for Blaine’s friend, Ifemelu acts entirely different than she does in spaces such
as the salon where she gets her hair braided, a behavioral shift driven largely by the
fact that there are fewer Black people present. The guest list of the party includes
people like Stirling, a white man who hails from old money, and Paula, a white
woman who used to date Blaine. In short, it is a more intimidating space for Ifemelu
to be in, and we can see the effect of the environment on how she chooses her word
and conducts herself. At the hair salon, in contrast, she tailors her speaking style and
presentation of self to mirror that of the ladies working there, who are Black. This
variance shows her ability, whether conscious or not, to code-switch in order to fit
into her environment. For example, Ifemelu comments on the heat in the hair salon,
thinking that

“At least, these women would not say to her ‘You’re hot? But you’re from Africa!’”
(Adichie 13).

This thought reveals the extent to which Ifemelu is aware of her environment and the
different reactions that her comments might elicit in each. In both settings, she is
performing for an audience and recognizes the importance of tailoring her
performance to that particular audience.

This is true, too, when she meets Blaine and adjusts her demeanor to please him and
his friends. Cooley would attribute this to the “looking-glass self”: Ifemelu is acutely
aware of how others perceive and respond to her. In turn, she internalizes these
perceptions. She comments, “When you are black in America and fall in love with a

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white person, race doesn’t matter when you’re alone together because it’s just you and
your love. But the minute you step outside, race matters […] But we don’t say any of
this stuff. We let it pile up inside our heads and when we come to nice liberal dinners
like this, we say that race doesn’t matter because that’s what we’re supposed to say, to
keep our nice liberal friends comfortable” (Adichie 359). Ifemelu’s observations here
reflect the role of power in shaping the dramaturgical performance of self. When the
audience is in a position of power over the performer, as Ifemelu’s white liberal
friends are over her, this further limits the performer’s abilities; we can see this borne
out both quantitatively, in the statistics introduced earlier, and qualitatively. Ifemelu is
also recognizing that while there are fleeting moments when she feels that she can be
herself — when she is alone with Blaine — anytime that she is in public, she has to
play a role and be someone she is not. Paradoxically, however, the social capital that
comes along with dating these men — especially Curt — is what empowers Ifemelu
to slowly reclaim facets of her identity that she had previously hidden. Once she is
entrenched in her relationship with Curt, a wealthy white man Ifemelu finally
embraces her natural hair, beginning to wear it unbraided and unrelaxed. Even still,
these changes are not permanent, and Ifemelu never feels fully unencumbered by
social norms or expectations; when she changes her hairstyle, she worries constantly
about what others think and still feels the pressure to perform weighing on her. The
stigma of being in an interracial relationship moreover, never fully subsides — and it
is Ifemelu, not Curt, who shoulders the burden of people’s judgments. It is not until
Ifemelu returns to Nigeria and reunites with Obinze, her long-lost lover, that she can
cease performing for others.

Apart from her relationships, Ifemelu’s experience as an immigrant further forces her
to assume a persona that deviates from her true self, making the true Ifemelu invisible
to the rest of society. Prompted by Aunty Uju, she uses another person’s Social
Security card so that she can work legally, but this makes her feel disconnected from
her own name and identity. The extent of this alienation is made clear when Ifemelu
expresses joy at receiving a piece of junk mail addressed to her real name: she has
been so overlooked and unrecognized by society that even the smallest
acknowledgment feels like a godsend. In many ways, this is the experience of the
classic Simmelian “Stranger,” an outsider attempting to ingratiate themselves within a
new group. For a stranger, their

“Position in this group is determined, essentially, by the fact that he has not belonged
to it from the beginning, that he imports qualities into it, which do not and cannot
stem from the group itself” (Simmel 1950).

Ifemelu is reminded every day that she has not belonged to the “group” of people
living in America “from the beginning”; being situated as an outsider heightens the
pressure for her to perform her role as an American flawlessly so as to lessen the
stigma of being the “Stranger.” The Stranger, however, does have unique insight into
the society they enter — by joining the group as a neutral, unbiased observer, they can

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see the group’s workings and operations in a way that in-group members cannot. This
is part of what ultimately makes Ifemelu’s blog so engaging and captivating: she
looks at race relations in America through fresh lenses, allowing her a more unfiltered
perspective, and the ever-increasing number of immigrants from Africa to America
suggests that this may be a growing trend. Even still, the psychological toll of being
the “Stranger” — and of never fully escaping this role despite many years in the
United States — makes it an unfavorable position for Ifemelu to find herself in.
Similarly, Ifemelu’s cousin Dike is treated as Black despite his mother’s insistence
that he is not — his experience shows that in American society, it matters very little
how you personally identify, what matters most is how you’re perceived by society at
large. It is also an interesting quirk of American society that racism functions under
the “one-drop rule,” which posits that if a person has even a single “drop” of Black
blood, they are constructed as Black, an identity which takes precedence over their
other racial identities. Ifemelu addresses this subject blog, writing,

“Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you
become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I’m Jamaican or I’m Ghanaian. America
doesn’t care. So what if you weren’t “black” in your country? You’re in America
now” (Adichie, 273).
Before life in America, she has never considered herself to be black and it is not
until many events start to play out where Ifemelu begins to understand the role that
race is going to play on her experiences in the United States. This novel not only
examines how race plays major roles in identity, but also recognizes the many
injustices that follow in areas such as relationships. For example, after some time in
the United States, Ifemelu runs out of money and is desperate to make ends meet. She
takes a job to help a tennis coach “relax” and Ifemelu is filled with guilt. She ignores
any contact with Obinze. She eventually gets a job babysitting for a very wealthy
family and begins to date the prosperous cousin, Curt, who provides Ifemelu with a
job, a green card, and takes her on extravagant vacations. In this interracial
relationship, she starts to see many examples of her race taking a toll on their
relationship. Many individuals question Curt’s likelihood that he is dating a black
woman.

2:3 “Racism in Half of a Yellow Sun”

Adichie argues that there would have never been any racial discrimination in Nigeria
but because of white superiority and the merging of three major races together with
colliding religious beliefs ,The Nigerian/Biafran civil war happens to be
inevitable.The racism that is portrayed in “Half of a Yellow Sun” is not only the
traditional type of white domination and superiority but also that of ethnic and racial
division and religious hostility. And there is no way to explain this racism without
first looking at the history of Nigeria and the reason many intellectuals and historians
are of the opinion that the merging of the Southern and Northern protectorate is not to

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favor Nigerians but rather for the colonizers to maintain the British grip on their
former colony . Also the fact that the Muslim Hausas/ Fulani will always be in
disagreement with the Igbos is also shown in the text . The fact that this merging has
always favored the majority north to the displeasure of the eastern part as the
easterners believe that the British government always wanted to favor the northern
protectorate by leaving power in their hands without fully stating how the power is to
be shared by the different regions. Ever since the amalgamation of the southern and
northern protectorates in 1914 which now make up what now exist as the present day
Nigeria by the then British Empire the country has always been in the struggle of
living in harmony and peace with each other, And though Nigeria is recognized as an
independent nation it is yet to be absolutely free from the fangs of her colonial
masters as can be deduced from the text when Madu complains to Kainene that the
cause of the massacre of the Igbo soldiers was because their GOC their “ British
GOC” who does not understand the unique nature of Nigerian ethnic groups and the
fact that it is not just ethnicity issue that the country is facing but also the issue of
religion goes on promoting Northerners whom Madu describes as unqualified thereby
causing polarization of the Nigerian Army which is part of what makes the Igbos to
have few say in the country .
It also worthy to note that the importance of the characters in the text as the main and
minor characters are made to be symbolic in the sense that most of them represent
different ethnic groups in Nigeria and to show how this groups tussle for power and
control. The characters of Odenigbo represent the Igbo tribe and he is a very radical
character representing the Igbo tribe and he is the character always arguing against
the idea of having Nigeria in the first place,while Miss Adebayo represent the
minority Yorubas and she the character that is always sitting on the fence on any issue
that has to do with the Hausas and Igbos , She is always in constant disagreement with
Odenigbo on any issue that concerns ethnic groups and this is how it is in real life
because the yorubas has never been at the center of the Hausa and Igbo conflicts.
rather they often chose to side the Hausas as they themselves also see the Igbos as
threat too, Ugwu also represent the silent observers and mediators for the peace of the
major ethnic group by writing about the stories of the civil war and the thoughts of the
western world in the book “The World Was Silent When We Died “on the issues of
ethnic conflicts in Nigeria shows his intellectual strength to foster peace in the midst
of war .Richard and Count Von
Rosen represent the unconventional whites and the characters Adichie uses to show
the reader that not all whites are racist while Susan and the two American journalists
represent the racist whites, Mohammed and Ibrahim represent the kind Muslim
Hausas who would never allow religion make them racist while his Mohammed’s
mother and Abdulmalik represent the tribalistic and religious Muslims , Professor
Ezeka also represent the hypocrites who will never stand with any ethnic group of it
does not favor themMuch of the conflict in Nigerian politics and between the
characters of the novel has to do with race and culture. The root cause of this is the

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racist, oppressive colonization of Nigeria by the British Empire. Through the
discussion at Odenigbo’s place , the reader will come to discover that the racial hold
of white superiority which the white men has during the colonial era is still very
strong during the post colonial era.
The refusal of the Hausa to accept the Igbo children into their schools also depict the
issue of racism in Nigeria. Mohammed’s mother sudden acceptance of Olanna as
friend after the former decides to leave Mohammed for Odenigbo points at the fact
that each tribe will simply prefer to stick to their own kind as inter marriage between
the Muslims and the Igbo or Yoruba (whether christians or traditional worshippers) is
really frowned at. Arize is also afraid to fall in love with an Hausa man because her
father will not allow such thing to happen. Therefore, there is disunity in Education
and also in marriages.
Susan, Richard, Count Von Rosen and the two American journalists are the whites
characters in the book. Susan and the two American journalists who both answers
Charles are the racist whites who does not repress their dislike for the disunity in
Nigeria without acknowledging that the fault is from their fore fathers . Susan treats
her servant , Okon as a lesser human being and is not even shy to warn Richard when
she finds him in the study with Okon that as a white man he must always know that
there is difference between the white and the blacks. The jokes that the ex colonial
administrators makes about Africa also point out their racist attitudes “They chuckled
about how tribal Nigerian politics was, and perhaps these chaos were not quite so
ready to rule themselves after all” (Adichie 72) . This extract shows that the white will
never acknowledge that the issue of Nigeria is their own fault. When the war breaks
out , Susan does not worry about the outcome of the war or the lives that would be
lost but rather is quick to criticize Nigerians as people that cannot fight “sensible
wars”. Even when the two American journalists comes to Biafra it is not because the
Great Britain is interested in helping give solution to the issue they created but rather
because one white man has been reported killed. This attitude worries Richard who
wonders why his fellow whites are not showing any interest in the millions of Igbo
lives lost during the war or the hunger that killed so many children.. Richard is one
character that portrays inner human goodness and Adichie uses him and Count Von
Rosen to show that not all whites are racist.
The book which Ugwu writes in the text , “The World Was Silent When We Died”,
is also an avenue through which Adichie helps the reader to understand how white
imperialism is the catalyst for all the conflicts in Nigeria. Ugwu in the book writes
how the British silence and support for Nigerians against Biafra is the number one
trigger that promotes the geneocide that killed millions of Igbo. Ugwu writes
“He writes about the world that remained silent while Biafrans died . He argues that
Britain inspired this silence. The arms and advice that Britain gave Nigeria shaped
other countries.” (Adichie 316)

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Indeed the Britains supported the killings as they guess that the secession of the
Eastern region will disrupt their own gain from their former colonies.
Just like Adichie, Achebe is also one of the prominent Nigerian writers who decides
not to shy away from the issue of ethnic crises and tribal racism that is prevalent in
Nigeria. In his work ,“There was a Country”, He speaks on the fact that the ethnic
tension in Nigeria has always existed before time immemorial he says:
“I have written in my small book entitled The Trouble with Nigeria that Nigerians
will probably achieve consensus on no other matter than their common resentment of
the Igbo. The origin of the national resentment of the Igbo is as old as Nigeria and
quite as complicated. But it can be summarized thus: The Igbo culture, being
receptive to change, individualistic, and highly competitive, gave the Igbo man an
unquestioned advantage over his compatriots in securing credentials for advancement
in Nigerian colonial society. Unlike the Hausa/Fulani he was unhindered by a wary
religion, and unlike the Yoruba he was unhampered by traditional hierarchies. This
kind of creature, fearing no god or man, was custom-made to grasp the opportunities,
such as they were, of the white man’s dispensations. And the Igbo did so with both
hands. Although the Yoruba had a huge historical and geographical head start, the
Igbo wiped out their handicap in one fantastic burst of energy in the twenty years
between 1930 and 1950.” (Achebe 84). Achebe clearly faults the British government
and other nations of the world for being silent when an inhuman treatment was
unleashed on the Igbo.
“In October 1969, when Ojukwu reached out desperately to the United Nations to
“mediate a cease-fire as a prelude to peace negotiations,” his pleas were met with a
deafening silence. U Thant turned to the Nigerians for direction. Gowon insisted on
Biafra’s surrender, and he observed that “rebel leaders had made it clear that this is a
fight to the finish and that no concession will ever satisfy them.”
This was a calculated strategy from the Nigerians, who now had the international
cloak of the United Nations under which to commit a series of human rights
violations. Failing to end the protracted Biafran guerrilla offensive, the Nigerian army
openly attacked civilians in an ill-advised, cruel, and desperate attempt to incite
internal opposition to the war and build momentum toward a quick surrender.4
The vacuum in moral and humanitarian leadership from the United Nations meant that
the Nigerian federal government could operate with reckless abandon, without
appropriate monitoring from international agencies. There would be precious little
proof of the wartime atrocities had it not been for private

nongovernmental agencies and individuals. In February 1969 alone nearly eight

hundred civilians were massacred by targeted Nigerian air force strikes on open
markets near Owerri—Umuohiagu and Ozu-abam. The Nigerian air force pilots were
particularly noteworthy for not respecting Geneva Convention resolutions describing

11
civilian safe havens, such as hospitals, refugee and food distribution camps, and
centers of religious worship. (Achebe 194-195).
Therefore, the war would have never even happened in the first place if the whites
did not create the confusion that now exist in Nigeria.

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