Nigeria War (Neo-British Imperium)

Overview
This article describes the timeline for the first phase (2051-2052) of the Nigeria War. Other sources should be consulted for the period 2053-2061 of the War, which saw additional troop surges, followed by the withdrawal of American forces after widespread1 protest.

The bombing on October 5, 2050, of the Miami Sports Super-Dome, causing a partial collapse of the super-structure and ultimately leading to 83 deaths and over 700 injuries, ignited widespread shock and outrage of the American people. An unusually quick CIA investigation, concluding by the end of November, connected the incident to the regime of Jaja Achebe in Nigeria. The special interest group Americans for Patriotism (AFP), an arm of the Patriot Industries Alliance (a coalition of powerful military corporations), lobbied Congress to invade Nigeria and disband Achebe's regime before it could cause additional attacks.

Military experts questioned why Achebe would suddenly provoke the United States. Jaja Achebe was a radical Igbo revolutionary who, in the 2020s, led an uprising in the South-East of the nation and overthrew the Islamist-controlled government. His administration was extremely nationalist, and oppressed all ethnic groups other than the Igbo tribe. His government revived African traditional religion and national pride for the Igbo tribe, and was antagonistic to the Western world, regarded as imperialistic. Jaja was extremely popular among the Igbo people, who regarded him as a great leader, but was viewed as a brutal dictator in other regions of Nigeria and around the world. The Yoruba people of South-Western Nigeria, as well as the Islamic Northerners, rose up to oppose Jaja’s regime, leading to the formation of the Yoruba Resistance Front, as well as the Islamic State of Nigeria.

On February 10, 2052, the United States, led by President Timothy Baker, invaded Nigeria. Much of Jaja's forces were concentrated along the Southern coast of the country. Following a naval battle at Lagos, American forces pushed through the southern coast of the nation, ultimately capturing the capital Port Harcourt and subsequently causing Achebe's military to surrender. An insurgency soon built up to oppose the American occupation, followed by widespread tribal warfare.

In December of 2052, a series of internal documents from the Defense Department revealed that the war was a conspiracy to produce a profit for military corporations. Willis Troop Security (producing weaponry and defense for individual soldiers, including machine guns, armor, rifles, and troop gear), Freedom Infrastructure (constructing roads, water pipes, electrical wires, and troop transport machinery for warfare), and Gamma Defense (producing large-scale military equipment including battle robots, drones, missiles, and the characteristic antimatter warheads widely used during the war {see Technology of the Nigeria War}) were large paramilitary corporations which banded together to form the Patriot Industries Alliance. These companies staged the bombings in Miami and bribed key government officials to initiate warfare.

2051

February
February 10- Invasion of Nigeria commences with missile strikes on key strategic targets and high-level officials

February 13- Lagos captured

February 20- Benin City captured

February 25- First Battle for Aba

March
March 1- Port Harcourt falls

March 5- Uyo captured

March 10- Nigerian Royal Army retreats and dissolves; Timothy Baker claims major military operations over

March 20- American Occupation Authority established; Jaja Achebe's government dissolved

April
April 1- Jaja Achebe found and killed by American SEAL team

April 5- Riots in Port Harcourt kill eighty US soldiers, hundreds of civilians

April 10- Improvised Explosives kill four American soldiers in a caravan outside Uyo. This was the first attack in a campaign of IEDs deployed by Igbo nationalists.

May
May 1- Battle of Jaja Street: in Port Harcourt, US soldiers fight thousands of loyalist Igbo insurgents. 170 US troops, unknown number of insurgents killed.

May 7- General Patrick Murphy warns that "the insurgency in southeastern Nigeria is multiplying. Soldiers from Achebe's army are re-organizing, forming Igbo Nationalist terrorist groups. We must increase troop deployment in the area."

May 8- By this point, the military reports that 361 troops have been killed by improvised explosives deployed by Igbo Nationalist insurgents. Many former members of Achebe's military, as well as civilians, join the insurgency.

May 12- Skirmishes in Lagos between US troops and the Yoruba Resistance Front kill 12 American soldiers, several hundred insurgents. The YRF releases a statement, saying that "we bow to no Imperial power, neither Jaja Achebe nor the United States. We will continue our fight for freedom until our power is recognized over all Nigeria"

June
June 1- Igbo Nationalists bomb a market in Lagos, killing over five hundred civilians. This sparks riots among the nation's Yoruba population, ultimately killing two hundred US troops.

June 23- The South African Embassy in Port Harcourt is bombed by the YRF, killing sixty civilians and sparking riots in the city. Random acts of violence between Igbo and Yoruba citizens increases.

August
August 12- Second Battle for Aba: US military sends in one hundred thousand troops to reclaim the city of Aba from Igbo insurgents. Some 900 US troops, and over 10,000 Igbo nationalists, are killed over the course of the fighting.

September
September 15- US military initiates plan to occupy the lawless Northern part of Nigeria, controlled by Islamist insurgents. 300,000 troops are deployed to the North, causing violence to surge in the South.

September 20- Battle for Abuja causes Americans to occupy the city. 654 US deaths occur.

October
October 5- Battle for Kano involving 100,000 US troops overwhelm the Americans, killing some 2,000 soldiers. During the occupation, riots lead to widespread disorder, and insurgents continue to attack.

December
December 25- On Christmas Day, the Military Statistics Department reports that some 8839 US troops were killed over the occupation, approximately fifty-five percent from IEDs, thirty-two percent from major battles and thirteen percent from minor skirmishes, riots, and small-scale street fighting.

2052

January
January 1- President Timothy Baker announces plan to vastly increase troop deployment in Nigeria. Military draft is established. DOD plans to obtain troop levels of 2.1 million by the end of the year.

January 16- Bombing in a Port Harcourt market, deployed by the Yoruba Resistance Front, kills two thousand civilians and ignites another wave of tribal violence across Southern Nigeria.

February
February 12- Battle for Cameroon Street in Kano a major confrontation between US troops and Islamist insurgents. Ninety troops and hundreds of insurgents killed.

February 23- Battle for Gusau results in Americans reclaiming the city from Islamist insurgents. 850 US soldiers killed, nearly 100,000 involved.

March
March 5- Bombing in Kano kills 850 civilians. The bombing was determined to be caused by Igbo nationalists. This sparks a spike in tribal violence in Kano and Northern Nigeria, which has a roughly twenty percent Igbo population.

April
April 7- President Timothy Baker visits Lagos, imploring the local population to "accept the American people as liberators". By this point, nearly every Nigerian ethnic group rejected the occupation, and only twelve percent of the local population supported the United States in polls.

May
May 3- A peak in riot violence occurs across Nigeria. Tribal conflict and anti-American revolutionary insurgency reach a climax. Five hundred US troops killed today. Battles occur in the streets of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Abuja.

May 17- US Congressman Peter Felts warns that "civil war may not be far away. Already well-organized insurgent groups, including the YRF, Igbo Nationalist Army, and Islamist State of Nigeria are engaging in extensive tribal violence. The nation may already have crossed the brink of collapse."

June
June 8- Los Angeles Draft Riots kill 106 and injure over 4,000. Martial law is declared in Southern California.

June 19- Bombing in Lagos, deployed by the Igbo Nationalist Army, causes the collapse of a major residential development, killing four thousand Yoruba civilians. Widespread riots follow across South-Western Nigeria.

September
September 3- Troop levels reach 2.1 million within Nigeria, completing the First Troop Surge. President Baker claims that "victory is on the way".

September 14- Battle for Ibadan kills 2,450 US troops, involves over 300,000. The city is reclaimed from Yoruba insurgents by the American occupation.

December
December 12- Second Battle for Uyo results in Americans reclaiming the city from Igbo nationalist control. 900 US troops killed during the fighting.

December 15- Senator William Terry uncovers the PIA conspiracy, causing widespread outrage and bewilderment. Internal documents reveal that the war effort was a plot to create a profit for the Patriot Industries Alliance, a coalition of military corporations. The PIA bribed nearly a hundred Congressmen as well as the Vice President, Secretary of Defense, and key military officials, to start the conflict. Additionally, the Miami Superdome Bombings were performed by the PIA corporations themselves, and intelligence indicating the Nigerian government in the attacks was purposely manipulated by the Department of Defense.

December 18- Timothy Baker claims in a speech that he himself was not aware of the PIA conspiracy, and that "we as the United States must stay the course in our mission in Nigeria, regardless of possible mistakes in the past."