I personally believe the January, 1966 coup led by Maj. Kaduna Nzeogwu was the greatest blunder we've had as a country. Its aftermath was the altercation of our political structures, needless cold-blooded murder of mostly top Northern leaders, ethnic distrusts that may never heal until Christ's second coming, chain reactions of reprisals, a precedent for successive military coups and the catalyst for the only civil war in Nigerian's history.

Nzeogwu's claim that the aim of the coup was to establish a strong and prosperous nation, free from corruption and internal strife. How so then was Eastern Nigeria exempted from this package of purification?

From the little i know, I loathe the guts of Sir, Ahmadu Bello who was more or less like a god in the North then and his extremism but just like Tafawa Balewa, Akintola, and Okoti-Eboh, these people didn't deserve the kind of fate they were met with. That single event has shattered the potential unity we could possibly have psychologically as a country.

Do you think their generations can ever be pacified?

...until the Ignoramus vacates the high seat,
then can think of pacifying them

While I'm not a supporter of any military coup by any body, it should be noted that Nigeria was already in turmoil before Nzeogwu stepped in. It was not like Nigeria was a peaceful place and Nzeogwu came from nowhere to conduct a coup. There was serious problems and killings arising from the 1964 elections that continued into 1965. Nzeogwu struck in January 1966. I believe that had Nzeogwu done nothing, there still would have still been violence, more killings and a civil war. It should also be noted that Nzeogwu was the only military officer in the history of Nigeria to conduct a coup but did not sieze power for himself. It is unfortunate that people like Akintola,the Saduana, brigadier Maimalari,Ademulegun and Balewa were all killed. Only Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna can tell us why the coup was not bloodless. However, as an Igbo man, I have no sympathy for what happened to these men. They have been avenged with the killing of over Igbo officers in the counter coup and the over 3 million that died in the civil was. Igbos have lost much more the men ever gave. If there is distrust amongst the ethnic nationalities of Nigeria, they don't have to be together. They can shake hands and go their separate ways.After all, we were not together until Lugard landed in West Africa

The mis_amalagamation.

I must say we were not prepared to govern ourselves

@gartamanta
Of course violence and unrests had been in the picture prior to that single event but it was never institutionalized and made norm in our political fabric as a nation until then per se. However, is violence the answer to violence? Has Nzeogwu been justified 50years later? If not, can we all then agree that our past leaders regardless of ethnic divide made significant mistakes that could have changed the course of history and the Nigeria story positively if caution and logic had prevailed?
What was the greatest blunder in your own opinion?

Ofunaofu:
I must say we were not prepared to govern ourselves

Were we not governing ourselves before the slave masters came calling?

The forceful merging of different nations with different ways of living is the root of all our woes.

the almalgamation of sourthern nigeria and barbarians.

Make I carry my chair come with cold Alomo bitter
I wan read history

Ok. Lets implement the recommendations of 2014 national conference so that we can get out of the mess.

Amalgamation!!

Let's not go as far as the amalgamation. Don't forget that the Southern Protectorates was an entity comprising different tribes and ethnic groups too. Even if the amalgamation with the north didn't occur, we would still have problems;maybe minimal from within as a state.

The greatest mistakes is the amalgamation of nigeria in 1914 by selfish lordi luggard.
moreover,after independence, we re suffering from the consequences of lordi luggard greatest mistakes of uniting different tribes/ethnic in nigeria..

the biggest mistake is Ironsi's false Unification Decree No. 34 turning Nigeria into a unitary state. That has truncated development since neither does anyone see himself as a Nigerian, rather you identify with your tribe

Nzeogwu overreacted but something was going to happen anyway. The AG was rigged out and the leaders thrown into jail for treasonable felony. Then there have been massacres in the North since 1945. Something would have happened.

Voting Buhari. The greatest mistake in our history

naijaboy756:
Voting Buhari. The greatest mistake in our history

Voting Buhari was engineered by the CIA to break up Nigeria if that is what you want to hear.

Electing Buhari in 2015.