Footage of members of Nigeria's Supreme Military Council meeting for the second day running on Friday March 10th 1967 in Benin City, Capital of the Mid-West Region.
The Head of State, Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon had expressly invited Lt. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, the military governor of the Eastern region to attend. The meeting was being held in the Mid-West Region, which borders the Eastern Region, as a gesture towards Ojukwu. Ojukwu however refused to attend despite the assurances given in regard to his safety.
Two months after the meetings in Aburi, Ghana, Nigeria was teetering on disintegration because of a disagreement over the interpretation of the Aburi Accord.
Ojukwu warned that if provisions he insisted were part of the Aburi agreement were not implemented by the end of the month, he would take unilateral action. "Unilateral action" was taken to mean the secession of the Eastern Region from the federation which the Supreme Military Council maintained would be an act of rebellion that would be met by force.
Ojukwu responded by stating that "force would be met with force".
Earlier in the week, the military governor of the Northern region, Lt. Colonel Hassan Katsina had said that the east would be crushed within a matter of hours.
The members of the Supreme Military Council at the meeting were:
1. Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, the Head of State.
2. Commodore Joseph Wey, the Chief of Naval Staff.
3. Lt. Col. David Ejoor, MIlitary Governor of the Mid-West Region.
4. Col. Adeyinka Adebayo, Military Governor of the Western Region.
5. Lt. Col. Hassan Katsina, Military Governor of the Northern Region.
6. Major Mobolaji Johnson, Military Governor of Lagos State.
Source: Reuters News.
