President Muhammadu Buhari says the British monarchy led by late Queen Elizabeth strongly supported Nigeria during Biafra War, lauding the UK for maintaining a close tie with Nigeria.

“We have maintained very close ties with the monarchy. She was a very gracious and elegant queen. For the purposes of remembrance, the fact is that 90 per cent of Nigerians do not know any monarch in the UK other than the queen. We welcome the new king, and we look forward to a strong working relationship with the UK.

“They have been a very strong ally even in the midst of our difficult time during the Biafran war; they stood for the indivisibility of the Nigerian state, supported and ensured that we overcame that problem,” Mr Buhari said. 

The president, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government to the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said this at 

a condolence visit to the British High Commissioner to Nigeria on Saturday.

Mr Buhari had recently recalled how he and his colleagues in the Nigerian army killed “a million citizens” during the civil war to keep the country as one.

During the civil war, Mr Buhari fought on the side of the Nigerian government, accused of weaponising hunger and indiscriminate killing of civilians from southeastern Nigeria.

The war which lasted over 30 months ended in 1970. However, historians still lament the country’s failure to ensure a proper reconciliation and closure 50 years on.

Speaking further, Buhari described the Queen as “the head of the commonwealth to which we belong. Not only that, she was the head of state for three years, from 1960 to 1963, and when we became a republic, she ceased to be. 

“We have had very close ties with the queen. She visited the country twice; first in 1953 when she spent about 20 days visiting different towns, and the second one was in 2003 during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure.”

Queen Elizabeth passed on Friday, leading to the emergence of her son, Prince Charles as the new King of England. Her funeral is scheduled for Monday, September 19.