THE MAN WHO GAVE NIGERIA THE NAME “BIAFRA” — AND HE WASN’T IGBO
Many people don’t know this part of our history:
The name “Biafra” was not coined by Ojukwu… and it didn’t even come from an Igbo person.
It was suggested in 1967 by Frank Opigo, an Ijaw man from present-day Bayelsa State.
Opigo proposed the name during the meeting of the Eastern Consultative Assembly when the Eastern Region decided to secede from Nigeria.
Back then, there were no states — only Eastern, Western, Northern, and Mid-Western Regions.
Ijaw people, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and the entire present South-East were all part of the Eastern Region.
Opigo recommended the name based on the already existing geographical term “Bight of Biafra” — also known as the Bight of Bonny — the curved coastline at the eastern end of the Gulf of Guinea.
The Assembly debated it… and accepted it.
That is how the name “Biafra” entered the political history of Nigeria.
So yes — Biafra is not an Igbo word, neither is it of Igbo origin.
An Ijaw man gave the name that would later define one of the most significant chapters in Nigeria’s history.
Credit: Afriverse Diaries
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