Republic of Benin (1967) Republic of Benin (1967) The Republic of Benin was a short-lived unrecognized secessionist state in West Africa which existed for one day in 1967. It was established on 19 September 1967 during the Nigerian Civil War as a puppet state of Biafra, following its occupation of Nigeria's Mid-Western Region, and named after its capital, Benin City, with Albert Nwazu Okonkwo as its head of government. The new state was an attempt by Biafra to prevent non-Igbo residents of the neighboring Mid-Western Region from siding with Nigeria following regional ethnic tensions early in the war. The Republic of Benin was officially
Bight of Biafra the new state lost the ensuing Nigerian Civil War. In 1975, by decree, the Nigerian government changed the name of the Bight of Biafra to the Bight of Bonny. Bight of Biafra The Bight of Biafra (also known as the Bight of Bonny) is a bight off the West African coast, in the easternmost part of the Gulf of Guinea. The Bight of Biafra, or Mafra (named after the town Mafra in southern Portugal), between Capes Formosa and Lopez, is the most eastern part of the Gulf of Guinea; it contains the islands Fernando Poo [Equatorial Guinea], Prince’s and St