Stephen Akar; PhD, MPH (Epid.), BMLS, FELTP Fellow
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@StephenAkar
Infectious disease epidemiologist; NPHI experience; Ph.D. Fellow, FETP Graduate, JICA Scholar.
JANUARY 15 1966 IGBO COUP - SEVEN UNANSWERED QUESTIONS By May 1966, the air was thick with unease. Lt-Colonel Katsina, returning from an SMC meeting in Lagos, cryptically told the press, “Tell the nation that an egg will be broken tomorrow.” Days later, Ironsi issued the infamous Unification Decree, perhaps the most polarizing decree in Nigeria’s history. Buried queries from January’s bloody dawn resurfaced like long-forgotten ghosts, their whispers growing louder. The Northerners asked pointed questions and maybe still do? 1. Why was it that so many prominent politicians fell during the coup, yet not one was Igbo? They pointed to President Nnamdi Azikiwe, conveniently abroad at the time, under the guise of medical leave. Yet, instead of recuperating, he was rumored to have been seen on a Caribbean cruise and paying a curious visit to Haiti’s dictator, Papa Doc Duvalier. His hasty return to Nigeria after the coup only deepened their skepticism. 2. Of the top military officers slain, why was only one Igbo? And even then, whispers suggested his death was because he refused to align with the coup’s plotters. 3. How was it that Aguiyi Ironsi, the most senior officer and natural target, emerged unscathed, not even a hair on his head harmed? 4. Why were the coup’s leaders predominantly Igbo, and why did the key beneficiary - Ironsi - also hail from the same region? 5. Why were the Northern Region’s two most prominent politicians and four highest-ranking soldiers singled out for elimination? 6. What was Ironsi’s true motive when he announced plans to rotate military governors across the country? 7. Most ominously, rumors swirled of a second Igbo-led coup in the works, aimed at eradicating all remaining Northern soldiers. As the elders say, "When the tortoise is too clever, even its shell raises suspicion." To even the most neutral observers, the chain of events seemed less like coincidence and more like the blueprint of a grand strategy for Igbo domination. The promulgation of the unification decree only added fuel to these already blazing speculations. Some posed rhetorical questions: 1. What if the situation were reversed? What if Northern soldiers had executed the two most prominent Igbo politicians, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara? 2. What if they had eliminated the four most senior Igbo military officers - Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi, Lt-Colonels Emeka Ojukwu, Hilary Njoku, and Ime Imo? 3. And what if, after such a coup, a Northerner rose as Head of State and issued a unification decree? These questions, though hypothetical, reverberated like the echo of a talking drum, not just in the North but across various quarters of the nation. Even some coupists themselves admitted to suspicions. Captain Nwobosi revealed: "I have, and most of us had, the firm belief that Ifeajuna tipped Zik off that these things were happening… I cannot tell you for sure that I know, but we had the suspicion all through that Ifeajuna tipped Zik." On the 28th of July 1966, barely six moons after the new government of Ironsi took its first breath, Lt. Col. Murtala Muhammad decided it was time to shake the calabash. Like a cunning fox plotting against the eagle, he masterminded one of the bloodiest coups ever witnessed, leaving history drenched in its wake. This audacious act, where the drums of war drowned the songs of unity, would come to be known as THE JULY REMATCH - proof that when the chick challenges the hawk, it must be ready to fly or fall. Only that this time, the North - unlike the Igbos - did not deny ownership of the coup. It was owned, named, and executed without pretence: a NORTHERN REVENGE COUP. Swift in conception. Brutal in execution. Bloody in consequence. Good Afternoon Severally...
