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The former military Nigerian president, Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) has debunked, dispelled and crushed the long held propaganda by the enemies of Ndi-Igbo and Nigeria that the 1966 coup was an ‘Igbo coup’. Writing in his new book titled – A Journey In Service, he made it known that the bloody 1966 coup was not driven by ethnic motivations and was NOT an ‘Igbo coup’.
Excerpts from the book, reads: “It was a terrible time for the Nigerian military. As I have said elsewhere, as a young officer who saw all of this from a distance, probably, ethnic sentiments did not drive the original objective of the coup plotters.
“For instance, the head of the plotters, Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, was only ‘Igbo’ in name. Born and raised in Kaduna, his immigrant parents were from Okpanam in today’s Delta State, which, in 1966, was in the old mid-western region. Nzeogwu spoke fluent Hausa and was as ‘Hausa’ as any! He and his original team probably thought, even if naively, that they could turn things around for the better in the country.
“That said, it was heinously callous for Nzeogwu to have murdered Sir Ahmadu Bello and his wife, Hafsatu, because not only were they eminently adored by many but also because they were said not to
have put up a fight. From that moment, the putsch was infiltrated by ‘outsiders’ to its supposed original intention, and it took on an unmistakably ethnic colouration, compounded by the fact that there were no related coup activities in the Eastern region.“It should, however, be borne in mind that some senior officers of Igbo extraction were also victims of the January coup. For instance, my erstwhile Commander at the Reconnaissance Squadron in Kaduna, Lt-Col. Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe, was brutally gunned down by his own ‘brother,’ Major Chris Anuforo, in the presence of his pregnant wife, at his 7 Point Road residence in Apapa, for merely being ‘a threat to the revolution’. As a disciplined and strict officer who, as the Quartermaster-General of the Army, was also in charge of ammunition, weapons, equipment, vehicles, and other vital items for the Army, the coup plotters feared that he might not cooperate with them.
“It should also be remembered that some non-Igbo officers, like Major Adewale Ademoyega, Captain Ganiyu Adeleke, Lts Fola Oyewole, and Olafimihan, took part in the failed coup. Another officer of Igbo extraction, Major John Obienu, crushed the coup.” A military base was named after Major John Obienu, the Igbo officer that crushed the coup. (see picture below)
Excerpts from the book below
“Out of 14 of them, ONLY 2 were Igbo; but BBC, t Nigerian media, Igbo haters & Igbophobic falsifiers of history tagged it “IGBO COUP”.
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