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Fun Facts
NDIGBO LIABLE FOR WRONGFUL DEATH OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF NIGERIA LEADERS
Next Friday will mark the 50th anniversary, when some Igbo dissident officers of the Nigerian Army staged a mutiny and assassinated the first generation of Nigeria’s leaders in a bloody unprecedented coup in Nigeria’s history.
Major Chukuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and his lieutenants in the Nigerian Army assassinated Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister; Sir Ahmadu Bello ,the Premier of the Northern Region; Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the Premier of the Western Region; Chief Festus Okotie Eboh, the Finance Minister and top ranking military officers from a section of the country.
Among those assassinated were also Brigadier Zakari Maimalari, Colonel Kur Muhammad, Colonel Raphle Adetunji Sodeinde , Brigadier Sam Adesujo Ademulegun , Colonel Yakubu Pam and a host of others.
The assassinations left many people wondering about the lop-sidedness from a particular section of the country and why political leaders from one side of the country, the North and the West, were targeted for assassinations.
The assassins were all Igbos with the exception of Adewale Ademoyegun from the west. They were the architects of the first coup. Major Chukuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and Emmanual Ifeajuna kidnapped and assassinated the Prime Minister as well as Major Okafor and Major Chukuka.
What crime had these people committed when they were assassinated by the soldiers during the ripe age of Nigeria’s democracy that was suppose to mature and its dividends harvested by the Nigerian electorate?
The self acclaimed revolutionaries accused the first generation leaders of corruption and tribalism, and in the execution of the coup, they killed people from only two regions of the country.
The seed of discord were further sown when the Easterners were spared from the killings or had the fore knowledge of the mutiny and decided to leave the country at that material time.
The likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Michael Okpara and other Igbo officers had a breath of fresh air as the mutineers did not descend on them.
Was the crime of Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola just that he opted out of the Action Group and formed the Nigerian National Democratic Party which later fused with the Northern Peoples Congress and metamorphosed into Nigerian National Alliance?
Some Analysts opined that the 50 year old Chukuma Kaduna Nzeogwu’s coup were sympathetic to United Progressive Grand Alliance( UPGA),which lost the 1964 general elections and which was a party of the East, as the coup targeted the members of the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) a marriage of Northern Peoples Congress and Nigerian National Democratic Party.
The officers accused the first republic of corruption, nepotism and sectionalism and promised to fix Nigeria’s problem.
But after the bloody coup, instead of fixing the country’s problem and minimizing corruption, the coup turned to be one of the greatest blunders the country had to contend with.
It also set the foundation for Nigeria’s 30-month civil war as coups and counter coups later followed.
Political instability is also another bad precedence for the January 1966 coup as it paved the way for myriads of military interventions in the Nigerian history and badly battered the country’s unity and politicised the army.
The coming of Major General Aguiyi Ironsi, a great beneficiary of the coup, to the helm of affairs is another blunder when the division was consolidated by his regime alleged to favour his kinsmen above everybody in the country.
The devastating and unfortunate civil war was also a product of the January coup which left many innocent Igbo homeless and millions killed.
While the first generation of Nigeria’s leaders in that republic were sent to their early graves, it connotes that the national question is difficult to address till the time of composing this piece.
The national question, as far as the 1966 coup is concerned, is yet to be addressed, considering the political, ethno religious and sectarian crisis ravaging the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is worthy to note that if the coup was not staged, Nigeria would not have been lagging behind as it is doing today in the committee of nations.
The corruption they were accused of turned out to be a mirage or a hoax as many of them did not leave mighty bank accounts and big mansions compared to what is obtained today when billions of naira is siphoned.
(Culled from an article by Abbas Yushau Yusuf)
Next Friday will mark the 50th anniversary, when some Igbo dissident officers of the Nigerian Army staged a mutiny and assassinated the first generation of Nigeria’s leaders in a bloody unprecedented coup in Nigeria’s history.
Major Chukuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and his lieutenants in the Nigerian Army assassinated Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister; Sir Ahmadu Bello ,the Premier of the Northern Region; Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the Premier of the Western Region; Chief Festus Okotie Eboh, the Finance Minister and top ranking military officers from a section of the country.
Among those assassinated were also Brigadier Zakari Maimalari, Colonel Kur Muhammad, Colonel Raphle Adetunji Sodeinde , Brigadier Sam Adesujo Ademulegun , Colonel Yakubu Pam and a host of others.
The assassinations left many people wondering about the lop-sidedness from a particular section of the country and why political leaders from one side of the country, the North and the West, were targeted for assassinations.
The assassins were all Igbos with the exception of Adewale Ademoyegun from the west. They were the architects of the first coup. Major Chukuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and Emmanual Ifeajuna kidnapped and assassinated the Prime Minister as well as Major Okafor and Major Chukuka.
What crime had these people committed when they were assassinated by the soldiers during the ripe age of Nigeria’s democracy that was suppose to mature and its dividends harvested by the Nigerian electorate?
The self acclaimed revolutionaries accused the first generation leaders of corruption and tribalism, and in the execution of the coup, they killed people from only two regions of the country.
The seed of discord were further sown when the Easterners were spared from the killings or had the fore knowledge of the mutiny and decided to leave the country at that material time.
The likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Michael Okpara and other Igbo officers had a breath of fresh air as the mutineers did not descend on them.
Was the crime of Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola just that he opted out of the Action Group and formed the Nigerian National Democratic Party which later fused with the Northern Peoples Congress and metamorphosed into Nigerian National Alliance?
Some Analysts opined that the 50 year old Chukuma Kaduna Nzeogwu’s coup were sympathetic to United Progressive Grand Alliance( UPGA),which lost the 1964 general elections and which was a party of the East, as the coup targeted the members of the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) a marriage of Northern Peoples Congress and Nigerian National Democratic Party.
The officers accused the first republic of corruption, nepotism and sectionalism and promised to fix Nigeria’s problem.
But after the bloody coup, instead of fixing the country’s problem and minimizing corruption, the coup turned to be one of the greatest blunders the country had to contend with.
It also set the foundation for Nigeria’s 30-month civil war as coups and counter coups later followed.
Political instability is also another bad precedence for the January 1966 coup as it paved the way for myriads of military interventions in the Nigerian history and badly battered the country’s unity and politicised the army.
The coming of Major General Aguiyi Ironsi, a great beneficiary of the coup, to the helm of affairs is another blunder when the division was consolidated by his regime alleged to favour his kinsmen above everybody in the country.
The devastating and unfortunate civil war was also a product of the January coup which left many innocent Igbo homeless and millions killed.
While the first generation of Nigeria’s leaders in that republic were sent to their early graves, it connotes that the national question is difficult to address till the time of composing this piece.
The national question, as far as the 1966 coup is concerned, is yet to be addressed, considering the political, ethno religious and sectarian crisis ravaging the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is worthy to note that if the coup was not staged, Nigeria would not have been lagging behind as it is doing today in the committee of nations.
The corruption they were accused of turned out to be a mirage or a hoax as many of them did not leave mighty bank accounts and big mansions compared to what is obtained today when billions of naira is siphoned.
(Culled from an article by Abbas Yushau Yusuf)
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