The truth is that there was no coup on 15 January 1966; there was only an attempt. That attempted coup, claimed the lives of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa and Finance Minister Festus Okotie-Eboh. So, the rest of the government at the federal level was intact as were the parliament and judiciary. The government did what was correct by appointing an Acting Prime Minister, Zanna Bukar Dipcharima. However, top military officers met and decided to overthrow the government the next day, 16 January 1966. The coup plotters were General Johnson Aguyi-Ironsi, Lt. Colonels Adekunle Fajuyi, Victor Banjo, Yakubu Gowon, George Kurubo, Hilary Njoku, Major Patrick Anwunah and Commodore Akinwale Wey. Ironsi had led the abortion of the previous day’s coup attempt.
There were lots of non-Igbo officers involved in the coup including Major Adewale Ademoyega, Captains Gibson Jalo, S. Swanton and Ganiyu Adeleke, Lts. John Atom Kpera, Fola Oyewole, O. Olafemiyan, Saleh Dambo and Hope Harris Eghagha. Besides, the roles of Majors Hassan Katsina and Mobolaji Johnson have not been clarified. Also, the preponderance of Igbo military officers or people with Igbo-sounding names in the coup was not unexpected as they dominated the officer corps. As at the January 1966 coup, they numbered 57 of the total 143 military officers. So, the total number of all other Nigerians in the officer corps was 86. The reason for this dominance might be because of the very low level of education in the North which meant apart from non-commissioned officers, it had few qualified entrants in the officer corps while the Yoruba, who could match the Igbo in terms of education, had an anti-military culture. They believed that nobody from a cultured family would join the army.
Also, the clearly stated aims of the 15 January 1966 coup plotters included the release of Chief Obafemi Awolowo (a Yoruba) from prison and then appointing him the Provisional President of the country. Equally, the coup was so popular that there were wild jubilations especially in the North to the extent that some of the leaders fled from approaching pro-coup crowds. For instance, the Emir of Kano Ado Bayero fled to the army barracks in Kano and was given protection by the Commanding Officer, Lt. Colonel Emeka Ojukwu from 16 to 18 January 1966. The popularity of the 15 January 1966 coup attempt might have been responsible for the slow move to try the plotters. Eventually, when the Northern establishment decided to protest the coup and promote anti-Igbo rallies, the ruling Northern Peoples Congress had been so discredited that it did not dare raise its head. The oppressed opposition, led by Mallam Aminu Kano had to be approached to lead the violent protests that led to the pogrom. If this had happened today, the respected Aminu Kano might have been charged by the International Criminal Court with genocide.
There are claims that it was Aguyi-Ironsi, by his promulgation of the Unification Decree No. 34 of 24 May 1966 that abolished the federal system and imposed a unitary system. This is a rather puerile argument; the 16 January 1966 military coup had automatically abolished federalism. The same can be said of the argument that Gowon, by failing to implement the Aburi, Ghana peace accords, precipitated the Nigeria Civil War. But, there was no way as military Head of State he could have implemented the confederal accords, which also structured the armed forces along regional lines dressed as “Area Commands”.
A point about the 29 July 1966 counter coup.
It was both a “revenge” coup and to implement the decision of the then Northern establishment to break away from the country. That was why Gowon, in the first four or so days of that coup, ruled under the Northern flag. That was also when the Northern decision to secede was rescinded. This led a leader of that coup, Murtala Mohammed not only disagreeing, but also going on AWOL (Absent Without Leave). It is a failing of the Nigerian military not to have court marshalled and dismissed Mohammed. Given this fact, indiscipline brewed in the military to the extent that the same Mohammed during the civil war, against basic and simple military advice, tried twice to cross the River Niger with non-amphibious troops. These led to spectacular military disasters.
Equally, 60 years after, Gowon has refused to come out clean on his role in the 16 January 1966 coup and the counter-coup that made him Head of State. Two additional myths to shatter. One, that the 15 January 1966 coup plotters executed Tafawa-Balewa. The journalist Segun Osoba, who found the corpse before the security services got there, reported that there was not a single mark of blood on him. This reinforces claims that he died of an asthmatic attack. The cause of death can still be ascertained if the corpse is subjected to forensic examination.
Second, that Fajuyi, as host Governor of the Western Region, stood up to the counter coup plotters who had come to seize then Head of State, Aguyi-Ironsi. No authenticated record of this claim. It was a coup and the plotters did not have the niceties to treat those they encountered with any courtesy. They simply went to the Western Region State House to maim and to kill. They seized both Ironsi and Fajuyi battered them before execution.
I am safely in my bunker, let the counter missiles fly.
Lakemfa, a former acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, ex-Secretary General of the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity, was pioneer Labour Editor at Vanguard newspapers
