YESTERDAY, July 6, 1967, is very significant in the annals of Nigeria’s chequered political history. That was the day, 55 years ago, that Nigerian troops fired the first bullet at the border town of Gakem near Ogoja in present day Cross River State, signalling the beginning of a fratricidal war that lasted 30 months, ending only in January 1970. Millions of Nigerians, mostly Igbos, lost their lives in that needless war of attrition.