What to Read, and Why
IPOB and the Self-Determination Movement
- Nnamdi Kanu, Radio Biafra archives (2009-2015) — Primary source. The broadcasts that built IPOB. Partial archives available online.
- Amnesty International, Killing of Pro-Biafra Supporters (2016) — Documentation of Nigerian security force killings of IPOB members and supporters. Available at amnesty.org.
- International Crisis Group, Biafra Again? (2017) — Analysis of IPOB, the sit-at-home, and the security dynamics in the southeast. Available at crisisgroup.org.
- Human Rights Watch, Nigeria: Army Abuses in Southeast (2021) — Documentation of military operations against IPOB and their civilian impact. Available at hrw.org.
Post-War Igbo Politics
- Chinua Achebe, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra (2012) — Essential. Achebe's account of the war and its aftermath, including his indictment of the post-war settlement.
- Chukwuemeka Eze, Biafra Revisited (2006) — Contemporary Igbo perspective on the self-determination question.
- Nowa Omoigui, various papers on Nigerian military history — Available online. Detailed accounts of the 1966 coups and their aftermath from a military history perspective.
The Niger Delta and Environmental Resistance
- Ken Saro-Wiwa, A Month and a Day (1995) — Primary source. Written before his execution.
- Ike Okonta & Oronto Douglas, Where Vultures Feast: Shell, Human Rights, and Oil (2001) — The most comprehensive account of Shell's operations in the Niger Delta and their human rights implications.
- UNEP, Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland (2011) — The UN's own assessment of the environmental damage Shell's operations caused. Available at unep.org.
Cultural Resistance
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958) — The foundational text. Still in print in 57 languages.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) — The Biafra War as lived experience.
- Wole Soyinka, The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972) — Resistance to military power from Nigeria's Nobel laureate.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "The Danger of a Single Story" (TED, 2009) — Available at ted.com. The most watched TED talk on representation and its political stakes.
Contemporary Nigerian Politics
- Max Siollun, Soldiers of Fortune: Nigerian Politics under Buhari and Babangida (2009) — Military era politics and its legacy.
- Festus Ugwu, Peter Obi: The Will to Win (2023) — Biography of the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate.
- SBM Intelligence, southeast security reports (various years) — Available at sbmintel.com. The most reliable analytical source on security dynamics in the Igbo southeast.
Key Texts — Free Downloads
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