EzeUche:
Better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a lamb.

I am proud of all the Biafrans who died fighting for their freedom. There is no shame in that.

They will always be remembered by their people for their bravery in the face of such odds.

Onlytruth:
To my Igbo brothers,

We don't need to ally with anybody in Nigeria. What we need is a "cultural revolution" in Igboland.

There are too many things wrong with the way we approach life and how we chose to relate with others in the Nigerian dungeon.
We need to make FUNDAMENTAL changes in our mindset, philosophy and worldview; else, we will not survive.  There have been too many wicked acts and conspiracies against us in Nigeria, yet we never return same to the perpetrators.
Some things need to die in Igboland for us to survive, and they are the following:

(1)Lack of understanding of how others see us:  We need to understand that our way of life attract envy from other humans, even non-black groups. I see it every time we organize our parties and cultural events overseas. We are different. Hence we must learn to expect hate.

(2) We are too material conscious: I have come to understand that we are a highly progressive people. However, we are mixing "quest for achievement" with "love of money". They are not the same. We can keep the former while keeping the later under check. If you excel in positive output or work, money will come. Naturally.

(3)We need to learn from our Jewish kins NEVER TO FORGIVE any crime against us: We must learn to pursue those who wronged us FOREVER till they meet their demise.

(4) We must embrace violence with a passion: We must meet our enemies at the gate with the understanding that we must keep our guns FOREVER because the way of man is violent. We should stop expecting peace when we are surrounded by deeply entrenched enemies of our survival. See how the northern coup plotters continued killing us even after they had killed the Head of state and thousands of Igbo and easterner army personnel. They still continued killing CIVILIANS in THOUSANDS. We should really go home and reflect on these.

When we are  done with this cultural revolution, we should emerge different and be like the Israelis - A people who stop their enemies BEFORE the enemy strikes. A people who win ALL their wars even in far away territories.

We can do these even now in Nigeria. If we do it right, stoopid crimes will vanish from Igboland, and we can even wake up one day to announce to the whole world that we want to secede (if that is what we want) and NOBODY would dare try to stop us. 
We can do these. Yes we can.

seanet02:
Thank you.
No ezeuche, Yoruba soldiers were not part of the coup in anyway, so please leave them out of this.
It was so evident that ironsi knew something about the January coup when he refuse to bring the ibo officers to book.
The counter-coup could have been prevented with the appropriate trial of his kinsmen who carried out the January coup but he refused and prepared his own grave doing so.

eduj:

one of the concession the January boys got from ironsi before surrendering was immunity .That was why he was reticent to court martial nzeogwu and co.You can get more info regarding the coup by reading books such as "WHO KILLED NZEOGWU,"

How magnanimous of him

EzeUche:


He could not control his troops. Right or wrong? He was the most senior officer after Ironsi was killed in cold blood. Right or wrong?

Aaronzy:
All i knw is dat the Igbo's started it all....and u knw dat he who laugh last laughs the best

Chyz2:


Have no idea where you are getting that im saying "Nzeogwu isnt Igbo" from. And yes, it matters who pulled the trigger. It also matters that that it wasn't only igbos who were part of the coup too. It was just another coup and that coup happened to be headed by an Igbo. Even the biggest Igbo hater alive, Edwin clark, said himself that the coup was the works of Igbo and Yorubas. So yea, all need to be laid out on the story. If a story is going to be told, it should be the whole story.

eduj:

one of the concession the January boys got from ironsi before surrendering was immunity .That was why he was reticent to court martial nzeogwu and co.You can get more info regarding the coup by reading books such as "WHO KILLED NZEOGWU,"

oyatz:
As someone who has read widely about the first coup and the counter-coup of July, 1966, I am of the opinion that
The Jan 15,1966 coup was complex because it appeared that there were about 3 coups going on simultaneously.
a) Ifeajuna originated the first coup with its objectives kept secret but which later seemed to manifest with obvious ethnic colouration.
b) Nzeogwu was a revolutionary who taught they were carrying out a revolution and recruited his friend, a fellow revolutionary, Ademoyega.
c) Gen Ironsi hijacked the coup to become the biggest beneficiary of the resultant chaos.
This is my own opinion, I may be wrong or right.



.[.quote author=NegroNtns post=8780824]This Vanuatu coup was a plan to eiminate tip politicians for corruption and it was planned to be ethnic-blind. However when the plotters on gound started the killling they reneged on agreements and plan and it became ethnic-visible, selectively killing off Westerners and Northerners and sparing Easterners. The objectve of the coup was not achieved. Instead, a well kept secret of a sinister intent was unleashed. The Igbo plotters betrayed and backstabbed their non-Igbo co plotters.

That was the sowing of the seed. The igbo planted the seed.

The counter coup of July 66 was a harvest. The igbos reaped what they sowed in January.

Igbos must have loved the harvest of July because soon after, their leader Ojukwu soon planted even a wider with field stretching from west of river niger into MidWest.
As can be predicted, yep, a very big bumper harvest followed that vision by Ojukwu to sow his seeds in a wider field.

Strange enough, igbos have stopped sowing any more seeds and as natural can be expected, there has not been a harvest.

oyatz:
Blantant LIE from the pit of hell!
1) There was no such thing. Maj Emmanuel Ifeajuna ran to Enugu to discuss with the Premier of Eastern region, Dr Michael Okpara, few hours after killing Tafawa Balewa, Okotie-Eboh, Brig Maimalari, Col Largema and Others.
2) Ifeajuna thereafter escaped to Ghana. Do you run away as a fugitive if you have immunity?
3) Lastly, Gen Ironsi incarcerated the coupists but refrain from subjecting them to trial by military tribunal or any court for that matter.
Ethnic bigots and later day revisionists, do you still incarcerate and promise trial for somebody who has been granted immunity?

Justcash:
I wish that coup was actually carried out to make Igbos politically superior. There is nothing like fairness. Take your advantage when you have it. To hell with brotherhood. As the slaughtering of  Igbos was going on, the same should have been carried out in Enugu against Northern soldiers.
I wish the North had seceded. The West would have probably followed, and the East would have been way better than today.

Well, everything happens for a reason. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Nzeogwu/Ifeajuna failed the Igbo nation. We will get another chance to break this stoopid poo called Nigeria. Hopefully, it will happen in my time, and no Boko haram in heaven, on earth or in hell will stop it

nduchucks:


Err,  Mallam Max,  the consequences of that counter coup are still with us. More importantly, the consequences of the "Igbo" coup of January 1966 are still with us as well and are the root of all of our problems in this country.  There would have been no counter coup if the Igbo coup had not taken place. You people should never forget that - revisionism will be challenged vigorously in this forum.



Nna, the atrocities highlighted above were essentially an act of war, the Northerners in the Army had to react appropriately. By many standards, their reaction was actually too mild. If you start a war and your enemy responds accordingly, then s.uck it up and stop crying over spilled milk.



The author is beginning to make people like me think he is a closet biafran seccession. The fact that the author has written good articles in the past does not mean one must take everything written by the author as the gospel truth.  The author is yet to convince me that the account above is accurate. Note that most of the sources sited are Southern ‘authors’. Where is the balance here.

jbbalarabe:
God bless you a one sided story is no story it has to be balanced let be sincere with our self its a counter coup what do you expect?

kettykin:
The igbos should lick their wounds and move on . Argument with pathological liars and chronic cowards will not change any thing.

They claim igbos invasion of the sw in ore was why they joined the war but fail to realise awo became VP before then. Also the same idiotic reasoning cannot explain why they failed to fight the invaders of kwara till today.

I also heard some people claiming that igbos killed their leaders and that was why they fought igbos.

The questions remain .when the north killed Fajuyi was he not leader and you didn't do any thing . Abacha alone killed MKO . And imprisoned all the south west generals even the ones that go around boasting of some unverified civil war heroism and the yorubas couldn't come up with action . Even though America Canada Germany Russia was ready to back them .

It is to come to the nairaland to defend their cowardice. I often told people if oussarra of ivory coast was a yoruba he would probably have been in jail.

eduj:

bro i don't have time to engage disparaging characters, your girlfriend or wife would be better suited for that task. Its obvious you dont know that the coup was an unmitigated success in the north, you also didn't know that ifeajuna failed in the south west because ironsi mobilised to lagos when the coup plotter sent to off him (in the east) reneged on the plan,ifeajuna was subsequently smuggled by an igbo business man to ghana (because ironsi then was in charge in lagos) .
After the coup of 1966,nzeogwu was in control of the north while gowon was in charge of the south. ojukwu (who was against the coup, hence his reticence to release nzeogwu even after declaring Biafra) arrested the guy sent to collect cash for the coup soldiers which resulted in a near mutiny at nzeogwus camp. nzeogwu bargained for immunity after which he relinquished command.
Nzeogwus coup is just a superficial excuse to justify what Nigerians did to the igbo.
1) after the counter coup,why didnt gowon and co ,court martial the feb boys?
2) why wasn't persecution of the said coup plotters a topic during the aburi accord?
3) why was nzeogwu afforded a state burial (gowon even attended) even as his ethnic group where being made to pay for the supposed "igbo coup"?
ifeajuna and colonel banjo where shot dead because of their double dealings with the nigerian army command-that goes to show you that the last thing on the mind of those coup plotters was igbo domination.
Many of you peeps are quick to accuse the igbo ethnic group of a sinister plan to land grab the ikwerre, etche and anioma tribes(who they claim aren't igbo) , but are quick to claim the coup of 1966 which was carried out mainly by the anioma as an igbo coup -that my bro is "ethnic bigotry and later day revisionism".

blues20:

A counter coup that saw millions of innocent civilian dead is justified by you. Why not end the carnage at the take over of government? Why extend the war to the civilian population? Do you think God will ever look down on this nation with smile over the millions of blood shed and the continuance till date? Have you ever asked yourself why nothing works in Nigeria? Not trying to sound superstitious, Nigeria is coursed because of her evil minded population, especially the ones displayed on this forum.

oyatz:
Blantant LIE from the pit of hell!
1) There was no such thing. Maj Emmanuel Ifeajuna ran to Enugu to discuss with the Premier of Eastern region, Dr Michael Okpara, few hours after killing Tafawa Balewa, Okotie-Eboh, Brig Maimalari, Col Largema and Others.
2) Ifeajuna thereafter escaped to Ghana. Do you run away as a fugitive if you have immunity?
3) Lastly, Gen Ironsi incarcerated the coupists but refrain from subjecting them to trial by military tribunal or any court for that matter.
Ethnic bigots and later day revisionists, do you still incarcerate and promise trial for somebody who has been granted immunity?

EzeUche:


The counter-coup could have been prevented. Ironsi surrounded himself with Northerners to appear that he did not have any ethnic biases. He should of surrounded himself with trusted Igbo and Yoruba soldiers.

This nation would have been divided if Western diplomats did not play a role in keeping this nation one.

seanet02:
No, he was not weak, there was possibly nothing he could do, the troops were 90 hausas who have been brainwashed that they could only take orders from their kinsmen.
He tried his best but the odds were definitely against him ezeuche.

eduj:

one of the concession the January boys got from ironsi before surrendering was immunity .That was why he was reticent to court martial nzeogwu and co.You can get more info regarding the coup by reading books such as "WHO KILLED NZEOGWU,"

T9ksy:



How magnanimous of him