ABSTRACT
The Nigerian Civil War literature is based on the armed conflict from 1967 to 1970 between the Nigerian Federal troops and secessionist Biafra’s army. Most times when this war experience is reconstructed through imaginative literature and literary criticism, the predominant impression is that only these two sides were actively involved and probably also adversely affected. The complex connections and involvements of minority groups that were caught in the cross-fire between the major fighters appear to be forgotten, ignored or glossed over. Specifically, control over the Niger Delta region’s oil wealth was one of the major reasons for some of the intrigues that dragged the region into the war. In addition, places like Port-Harcourt, Benin and Asaba, because of their strategic locations, became war zones buffeted by combatants involved in the chaos of conquest and occupation. This chapter examines the Niger Delta experience of the civil war as presented through the novels of writers from this region. Elechi Amadi’s Sunset in Biafra, Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty, Buchi Emecheta’s Destination Biafra and Festus Iyayi’s Heroes vividly underscore their perspectives on the war based on affinities such as political and ideological influences.
