THE MISTAKES OF 15TH JANUARY....

By Asikason Jonathan

APOLOGIES to
Friedrich Nietzche, the actions of the select few of Nigerian military in the wee hours of  January 15, 1966, was  done for love and thus go beyond good and evil.Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu who hatched the putsch was blunt on the motivation: “We seized power to stamp out tribalism, nepotism and  regionalism.”  He went on to say: There were five of us in the inner circle and we planned the details. On Saturday morning, the officers and men thought they were going out only for a night exercise. It was not until they were out in the bush that they were told the full details of the plan. They had bullets, they had been issued with their weapons but I was unarmed. If they disagreed, they could have shot.”

The khaki guys were not oblivious of the fact that their country was tethering on the knife edge. And Nzeogwu, the legendary Chief instructor of Nigerian Military Training College, NMTC, they knew, cannot venture into riffraff adventurism. So guided by the spirit of Nigerianism,” these men set out to save their country. But Murphy was standby waving his law: if things will go wrong they will.

On paper, the mutineers couldn’t have plotted a better coup. Nzeogwu and Onwuatuegwu were in charge of the Northern Region while Ifeajuan,a, Ademoyega and Anuforo were the principal actors in the South. These officers were not only well trained but command enormous respect in the Nigerian military.

But the implementation was done in bad faith. Some disgruntled elements among the five used the opportunity the coup afforded them to settle old scores. The death of Brigadier Zakari Maimalari who was not in the black-list was a pay back from Major Emmanuel Ifeajuana. That GOC Ironsi intimidated Ifeajuana boys and dismantled the roadblock that supposed to net him in Lagos was the first major blow to the coup. And the fact that the coup failed completely in the East was the end of it all.  Little wonder the conceptualisation of “Igbo coup.

Was it really an Igbo coup? Many narratives from the North had it that it was a well hatched ploy by Igbo people to hijack the government of Nigeria. That this logic still hold water in many quarters is so appalling. Come to think of it, the government that was toppled was led by NPC-NCNC coalition. Nnamdi Azikiwe was the titular head. So why will Igbo people overthrow their own government?

Arthur Nwankwo in his masterpiece “Igbo Leadership and Future of Nigeria” expatiated the societal strata Igbo people occupied before the khaki guys struck.  It was an epical fall from grace.

“They [Igbo People] were prominent in the government, the media, the professions, the civil service, and the armed forces in the post independent Nigeria. Their influence was felt in all aspect of our national life. On 15th January 1966, one  young  idealistic Igbo Major in the Nigerian Army struck a blow that changed our national history and unknowingly set in motion a tragic chain of events that left his people desolate and disillusioned(Nwankwo:1985).

Thankfully, Nzeogwu (1967), Ademoyega (1976) Madiebo (1980), Gbulie (1981) offered an expert and / or participant accounts of what transpired on that fateful day.

In his interview with Nigerian Tribune of July 2, 1967, Nzeogwu posist:

“Neither myself nor any of the other lads was in the least interested in governing the country. We were soldiers and not politicians. We had earmarked from the list known to every soldier in this operation who would be what. Chief Obafemi  Awolowo was , for example , to be released from jail immediately and to be made the executive provisional President of Nigeria. We were going to make civilians of proven honesty and efficiency who would be thoroughly handpicked to do all the governing.”

This view was later butressed by Major Ademoyega, in his book Why We Struck:7

“Contrary to the loads of wicked propaganda that had since been heaped upon us, there was no decision at our meeting to single out any particular ethnic group for elimination or destruction. Our intentions were honourable, our views were national and our goals were idealistic.”

Even the Personal Secretary to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Odia Ofeimun, was privy to the plot. In his interview with Guardian as published on May 6, 2007, he observed:

“People were told that it was an Igbo coup but that it is not correct. It is a very interesting part of the Nigerian story. In the first place, there have been many serious lies that have been told by our leaders. Our leaders have not been bold enough to tell us the truth. But the point is that the average Yoruba man could never really believe that some Igbo would plan a coup and hand over to Awolowo because that is not the way Nigerian is seen”.

Judging from the forgoing, any bias-free analytical rendition of the coup will describe it as Nzeogwu rightly did — a true Nigerian gathering. When Sir Kashim Ibrahim was held prisoner in the Brigade Headquarters Kaduna, It took Majors Nzeogwu and Onwuatuegwu days to convince the Northern soldiers, who surrendered the office where he was locked and were bent on killing him, that the former governor was not corrupt like other politicians of his days.

When the council of state led by Akweke Nwafor Orizu surrendered the governmental powers to GOC Ironsi, Nzeogwu refused to cave in and the Northerners were strongly with him.  Both his cook and doctor were northerners. In West, normalcy was restored as the coup ultimately doused Action Group Crisis.

Major Nzegowu struggled to bring his plan to fruition. He refused to surrender to Ironsi. He remained the defacto sovereign of Northern Nigeria for awhile before the duo of Madiebo and Ojukwu convinced him relinquish the region to Ironsi.

The failure of the 15th January 1966 coup is what Igbo people are suffering for in Nigeria today. It all started in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where Northern intellectuals did a comparative analysis of the participants and the toll of the coup. Judgment was summarily passed against the Igbo people.

The blood of Arthur Unegbe (who was killed for fighting the murder of his friend — Maimalari) could not placate them. The counter coup of 29th July 1966 that clinched the heads of over thirty thousand Easterners, including their senior military officers, couldn’t quench blood thirsty Kaduna Mafia. Civil war was fought and genocide arguably committed against the Igbo people but Northerners were not moved. This explains why marginalisation of Igbo people continues unabated. When will Northerners forgive Igbo people for the mistake of 15th January?

Truth be told, Northerners should not be blamed for the conceptualisation of Igbo Coup. They were enraged that personalities like Sarduana and Balewa were killed and nothing happened in the East. To add insult to an injury Ironsi led military government was too reluctant to court-martial the coup plotters. But the very fact that the vengeance of 29th July trumped their loss should have lay ghost their nebulous conviction.

For Nigeria to work, we need to go back to the drawing board for many things are wrong in this country. While January 15th coup exacerbated inter-ethnic rivalries and animosities that are eating up the country today, it did not originated it.

Since its creation, this country has been at war unto and against itself. For us to live up to the appellation: giant of Africa, we need to learn from our ugly past.