Recalling the events of that night, July 29, 1966,
Nwankwo noted that they were in Ibadan, "we had a
small detachment of 106 Artillery, Commanded by one
Walbe from Plateau"
The Head of State had the previous day hosted
traditional rulers from all parts of the country in the
Ibadan Government House. "He wasn’t feeling quite
well, he had a knee problem and had to go to bed
early.
"Lieutenant Sanni Bello was the army ADC, and we
were very close. So, we left that night to go and look
out and came back late. Lt. Adamu who was the ADC
to Fajuyi, Sanni Bello, Walbe and myself, we all slept
together in one room that night".
"At about 4a.m the telephone rang, I picked it up and
that was Adeola, the then commissioner of police,
Ibadan he said he wanted to speak with Ironsi, I said I
was the ADC, he said he wanted to speak with him
because there was a coup and he gave me some
names Orok and two others that had been killed in
Abeokuta.
"Immediately, I made a mental picture of it, and I knew
that it was the northerners that were responsible. So, I
handed the phone to Ironsi and they talked. I then
alerted Adamu and Sanni Bello and said look, there is
a coup and the trend is this way.
"Bello assured me that if it is his own people he will
protect me, because, there was tension in the land
such that we knew a coup was imminent. So, we
agreed to protect each other depending on where it will
be coming from. I later discovered that Walbe who was
sleeping with us was part of the coup; he later became
ADC to Gowon.
"Around 5:30 we heard gunfire, then Ironsi had called
Col. Njoku to tell him about the coup. As Njoku was
going out, he was short at, but he escaped with bullet
wounds. It was Njoku, who was the commander of
Lagos Garrison that alerted others outside the
Government House, Ibadan.
"Fajuyi later sent me outside the government House to
find out what was happening. I met Danjuma, who
was then a major and he was my friend. He pretended
he didn’t know what was happening, he was asking
me, and I said I didn’t know. While I was trying to go
back, one sergeant from Benue almost shot me, but
Danjuma stopped him and spoke to him in Hausa.
Danjuma later told me that he would like to see Ironsi,
so that he could tell them what to do.
"It was then that Fajuyi came out to find out what was
holding me, and there inside the Government House
Danjuma ordered for his arrest and mine too. That was
when I saw Walbe. Then Fajuyi asked me to take him
to Ironsi so that they will obey him, that there should
be only one person in charge. So, I took them to Ironsi,
and major Newman, immediately he saw Ironsi, he
seized his crocodile swagger stick, and then they
started asking him about the January coup, he said he
didn’t know about it that he only agreed to be Head of
State so that he can restore confidence and normalcy.
It was immediately they arrested Ironsi that they turned
violent".
The road to the valley of death
They marched us down, Ironsi and myself, to where
Fajuyi was. They used telephone cable to tie my hands
behind and my legs, with a little space to walk. Same
they did to Ironsi, but they removed his shirt, he wore
only trousers, they also tied Fajuyi. Ironsi was in a
Land Rover, Fajuyi in a mini bus and myself in another
bus. They drove us towards Iwo Road, 10 km from
Ibadan, there was a small forest were they stopped,
marched us to the right hand side of the bush, Fajuyi
was leading and as he tried to cross a small stream, he
fell down, the soldiers were unruly, it appeared some of
them had for the first time taken Indian hemp, so when
he fell down some of them started beating him.
My escape
As Fajuyi fell down and they were beating him, Sanni
Bello came to me and tapped me and said, we could
do something now. It was providence, may be I was
not destined to die. I took a few steps from them and
jumped into a nearby ditch, all in a split of a second,
Bello came and stood by the ditch and was shouting
that I had escaped pointing at another direction. So
the soldiers ran around that direction shooting into the
bush, and when they felt they must have killed me,
they shot Fajuyi and then Ironsi there, by the side of
the stream. So Bello made sure that he was the last to
leave the place.
The ADC, who was later elected senator in 1983 stated
that the former Head of State could have escaped if
not that he wanted to make sure that there was no
bloodshed. He said if he sacrificed his life and
prevented bloodshed in Nigeria, it’s better for him.
Even his chaplain urged him to escape but he said No.
Also many of his officers who were contacted instead
of taking action ran away.
The ADC denied the prevailing story that Ironsi was
tied to a Land Rover and dragged along the road. He
maintained that he saw Ironsi and Fajuyi shot dead.
"They shot him on the chest and it was a burst, so he
would have died after the first shot".
The crocodile staff
It was a swagger stick, which he made after his name
Aguiyi (crocodile). It was in the Congo, when he was
commanding the United Nations Forces, the Indian
troops were to land at the Lumumbashi Airport but the
Cameroon gendarmes went and blocked the place with
trucks, so that the Indian soldiers will not land, so, he
used a Land Rover and with the stagger stick waved
as they were shouting, he was eventually able to
convince them to remove the trucks. Many attributed
that feat to extraordinary powers in his swagger stick.
But there was nothing in it, it was just a stick. Ironsi
was not fetish; he was a devoted Catholic and
attended mass every morning, even the day he was killed.

franchasng:
After Nigeria's independence, Igbos were the majority in Nigerian army, and Igbos make up around 70% of top military officers in Nigerian army then, so it was natural for Igbos to be the dominant tribe in any military coup at that time.

But in their effort to make the rest of gullible Nigerians believe it was an Igbo coup, they intentionally removed names of military officers from Hausa, Tiv, Idoma, Urhobo, Ijaw, Kanuri, etc that also participated in that 1966 Nzeogwu led coup just to make sure the rest of Nigerians saw it as Igbo coup.

They forgot that Igbos don't have time to be gathering to discuss against any tribe or any region as at then, instead Major Nzeogwu and his co aggrieved military officers drawn from all Nigerian tribes made the decision to wipe out the then corrupt, tribalistic politicians at that time, and they knew for them to achieve this, they needed to eliminate some top military officers who would stand against their mission, and the reason they ended up killing not just politicians but some top military officers too.

An Igbo coup, yet Ojukwu never liked or agreed with Nzeogwu, Ifeajuna and co that were the leaders of that coup....the problem Nigeria has always had is that majority of Northern Nigerians don't have sense.....they refuse to be educated, they spend the time they are supposed to use to acquire civil education cramming ancient barbaric religious doctrines of Islam that has never helped any nation of the world to become technologically and economically developed!

It was Tafawa Belewa's religous extremism and tribalism like today Buhari that pushed Nzeogwu and fellow military chaps to carry out the first coup, and if we had brave, courageous military guys in Nigerian army today, the corruption and negligence happening within Nigerian top military brass and the politicians leading to the unwarranted killings of our young military officers by ragtag Boko Haram militants that ought to be defeated by one army barrack, would have led to another bloody coup in Nigeria

how I wished we can have a bloodless coup and move on but coup never helped any country to grow.....

All he has said is what me and many others have explained severally. If the majority Igbo officer truly wanted to rid the country of Corruption, does it mean only the leaders and senior military officers of other regions were the only corrupt ones. So Azikiwe was not corrupt. Why did he overstay his vacation just to avoid the Coup? Why did Ironsi not court marshall the coup plotters according to military laws? This and many more are the questions begging for answers.

franchasng:
After Nigeria's independence, Igbos were the majority in Nigerian army, and Igbos make up around 70% of top military officers in Nigerian army then, so it was natural for Igbos to be the dominant tribe in any military coup at that time.

But in their effort to make the rest of gullible Nigerians believe it was an Igbo coup, they intentionally removed names of military officers from Hausa, Tiv, Idoma, Urhobo, Ijaw, Kanuri, etc that also participated in that 1966 Nzeogwu led coup just to make sure the rest of Nigerians saw it as Igbo coup.

They forgot that Igbos don't have time to be gathering to discuss against any tribe or any region as at then, instead Major Nzeogwu and his co aggrieved military officers drawn from all Nigerian tribes made the decision to wipe out the then corrupt, tribalistic politicians at that time, and they knew for them to achieve this, they needed to eliminate some top military officers who would stand against their mission, and the reason they ended up killing not just politicians but some top military officers too.

An Igbo coup, yet Ojukwu never liked or agreed with Nzeogwu, Ifeajuna and co that were the leaders of that coup....the problem Nigeria has always had is that majority of Northern Nigerians don't have sense.....they refuse to be educated, they spend the time they are supposed to use to acquire civil education cramming ancient barbaric religious doctrines of Islam that has never helped any nation of the world to become technologically and economically developed!

It was Tafawa Belewa's religous extremism and tribalism like today Buhari that pushed Nzeogwu and fellow military chaps to carry out the first coup, and if we had brave, courageous military guys in Nigerian army today, the corruption and negligence happening within Nigerian top military brass and the politicians leading to the unwarranted killings of our young military officers by ragtag Boko Haram militants that ought to be defeated by one army barrack, would have led to another bloody coup in Nigeria

I'm not Igbo. In fact I am Yoruba but all you said is true. The problem is people don't take out time to read and find out facts from themselves. They only just hate the Igbo's for no reason and thus they will look for ant reason even blatant lies to justify genocide.

If the Igbo's have their shortcomings as a tribe, so do other tribes as no one is perfect. Hate and genocide against another tribe for no reason is what I womy support irrespective of party affiliation.

Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma was so aligned with the core north and identified himself as a Hausa/Fulani man. In his statement regarding the genesis of the July 1966 coup, he stated, "The Igbos who killed our senior officers all over the place created the problem; they created the problem. They sowed the wind and reaped the problem; it wasn’t him (the Adjutant). They were reacting; they were avenging what happened in January. The July coup was a revenge coup." Is it not ironic that his people are now being massacred by his own? Karma they say is a bitch! There's more carnage coming onto his peeps! They have not seen nothing yet!!

qwertyboss:
The Igbos are the cause of all the political problems Nigeria is suffering today.

their greed for domination led the Igbo race into chaos and perpetual marginalisation!

today, they have reaped and are still reaping what they sow!

unknown to them that education is the key to domination and they have educated people then,
so the Igbo's just blow up their chance into oblivion!

I no blame you

Danjumo should be arrested and also be killed

My own take here is that the so called democracy sold to us by the whites is no good to us.It's worst than being independent. What democracy does here is bring out the demonic spirit of corruption in our political leaders.
We read that the first coup by the then military was staged against the civilian government because of their massive looting of the national Treasury.
Today the story is worst than then,all of them in politics are terrible fantastic looters.Looting is their prime purpose of wanting to enter the government house and their is no way democracy is our friend,i mean the friend of the common Nigerian. Even if we say the military to take over now,they will be the greatest looters because their eyes have opened.
And i think the best system of government Nigeria need now is the government of our fore-fore-fathers.

qwertyboss:
The Igbos are the cause of all the political problems Nigeria is suffering today.

their greed for domination led the Igbo race into chaos and perpetual marginalisation!

today, they have reaped and are still reaping what they sow!

unknown to them that education is the key to domination and they have educated people then,
so the Igbo's just blow up their chance into oblivion!

Udené

franchasng:
....and Igbos will strike back, you can bookmark this, it may take decades or centuries, but Igbos will strike back....it may happen after Igbos have left Nigeria to form their own super great/powerful nation and then they will strike back as another nation invading another nation just as Germany struck back at the rest of Europe for what they did to them, and when Germany struck back in 1945, Europe lost so much.....French king ran away, Queen Elizabeth was in fear, not until USA and Russia stepped in to help them find peace.

When Igbos will strike, the story of German invasion of France and London will be a joke...the whole north will be in flames. It won't be fought by foot soldiers, it will be fought by sophisticated air weapons that will level what is left of barbaric northern Nigeria. London is on flames will be a childsplay to what will befall Northern Nigeria when the Almighty Eastern Eagle will strike, yes it must happen to also avenge the years of killing and marginalization of our people just as you avenged yours

Danjuma even as your people are paying the huge price of their atrocities against Igbos in 1966, Igbos will strike back nonetheless, but when, I cannot tell, but it must happen because you useless souls have never for one day shown any remorse for the evil you all perpetrated against civilian Igbos....I don't care about what happened between military people and politicians, but involving innocent, unarmed Igbo civilians in your madness of 1966 was your greatest mistake and reason your region will continue to reap the seeds of the evil they sowed

Be calm Bro. This is mere illusion. Nigeria will ever remain one. Damn it! How could you will this nonsense and think you've achieved in life. Thinking you're an up and-coming HERO? I can't just imagine seeing Young women, children, helpless elders, and the youths die. Stop watching movies dear.

CodeTemplar:
This danjuma man is not smart at all. In his story he claimed that he arrested Ironsi, the commander within a few hours of some officers shooting some Igbo officers in Abeokuta. Who empowered him to arrest his superior? Just admit your part in the coup and stop telling shaft lies.

No sensible person takes malevolent Danjuma seriously....

He has lived to see the consequences of his murderous past...

Imagine one of the architects of systemic and institutionalized graft and corruption in Nigeria branding Aguiyi Ironsi, a distinguished soldier of global acclaim, a useless desk-officer Head of State...

Where was Danjuma and his fellow low lives when Ironsi emerge as the first African to command UN forces?

A landmark Ironsi achieved during the Congo Crises in the early 60s...

I see someone trying to vindicate himself.

matrixx:
you be idiot

that's what you are good at!

jrusky:
Thank God these truth finally coming out. All Danjuma said were nothing but the truth infact he has no reason to lie he is a billionaire and a retired Lt General.

I came from a high raking millitary background pls I have secretly Read Things In Millitary Achives That Shocked Me. My own people from the East has done lot of horrible things during the younger days of Nigeria as a nation.

The killings of all non igbo senior army officer then by Igbo officers was 100% correct it happened pls let's stop pretending and be crying foul it happened no lie here I read it all.

More so the North that are the still angry with Igbos are well alive but the Igbos leave them and started waxing their anger on Yoruba who are absolutely innocent in all these mess. Moreso the way Ironsi ADC who is of Igbo extraction lied to look hero or to convince the hate filled igbo to think he is a superstar not known he is coward liar same way Ojukwu that suppose to apologise to the Igbo nation took a lie lane and placed the Yoruba people on his hate campaign to cover his failure.

Pls truth is bitter but it will set you free for a life time. These secret revealed to me make me not believing in any tribal hate because I knew those who created tribal hate from Igboland are liars.

I read things I can not say publicly it's so shocking and unbelievable. These are facts compiled so many years back with confirmation and I'm sure they will insult Danjuma because naturally my people have strong allergy to truth.

They don't like me and I don't give a
f u c k but the truth is I can not be deceiving myself ir supporting lies hate people who has not done any wrong ne No I won't.

will you just shut up
you read

that's why someone shouldn't start what he didn't know the end!
the sectional nature of the killings during the coup clearly plunge the north to retaliate and even seek dominance

Bridget95:
The 1966 coup wasn't the last,many others happened but they keep hitting on this and roping igbo as though all Igbos held a meeting for it to happen. These guys were military men doing their game of thrones.They are accusing igbos because they know that in their heart of heart they are cheating and marginalizing them.Right now what we have is a religious group marginalizing the other.unfortunately one religious group used Theophilous Danjuma and Gowon from the middle belt who are both Christians to assend to prominence.

Danjuma is still telling lies to make himself look innocent. Anyway fulanis are almost wiping out his middle belt people. so he can continue with his lies. I expected a man that will be repentant about the killings and the lootings he and his ilks embarked upon that threw the nation into this present darkness. but what I see is an unrepentant criminal.

wirinet:
This is the summary of what lead to the counter coup, the pogrom and subsequently, the civil war.


God questions. If the coup plotters killed politicians because they were corrupt, why then did they kill senior military officers, especially those from non Igbo areas?

Ostensibly, a strategic move to prevent these senior officers from stopping the coup. Rememebr that the coupists were just majors.

A country built on blood

Oga Danju.
it doesn't end here ooo,
so take note

oh

Ok...So the man that participated in killing the igbo officers then is crying foul now that the fulanis he collaborated with to kill ndi igbo turn around and started killing his own people,karmar is indeed a bitch!!


for that mod that keep banning me when ever i reply insult directed to my tribe,i just want to tell you to continue,since you are'nt able to ban my life and means of lively hood then you are a failure!!

franchasng:
....and Igbos will strike back, you can bookmark this, it may take decades or centuries, but Igbos will strike back....it may happen after Igbos have left Nigeria to form their own super great/powerful nation and then they will strike back as another nation invading another nation just as Germany struck back at the rest of Europe for what they did to them, and when Germany struck back in 1945, Europe lost so much.....French king ran away, Queen Elizabeth was in fear, not until USA and Russia stepped in to help them find peace.

When Igbos will strike, the story of German invasion of France and London will be a joke...the whole north will be in flames. It won't be fought by foot soldiers, it will be fought by sophisticated air weapons that will level what is left of barbaric northern Nigeria. London is on flames will be a childsplay to what will befall Northern Nigeria when the Almighty Eastern Eagle will strike, yes it must happen to also avenge the years of killing and marginalization of our people just as you avenged yours

Danjuma even as your people are paying the huge price of their atrocities against Igbos in 1966, Igbos will strike back nonetheless, but when, I cannot tell, but it must happen because you useless souls have never for one day shown any remorse for the evil you all perpetrated against civilian Igbos....I don't care about what happened between military people and politicians, but involving innocent, unarmed Igbo civilians in your madness of 1966 was your greatest mistake and reason your region will continue to reap the seeds of the evil they sowed

Mumu-mugu

No be only strike back. When Nzeogwu and his ibo henchmen were killing pregnant wives and children of their Hausa-Fulani superiors in the military, they did not know that the northerners would strike back too, abi?

franchasng:
....and Igbos will strike back, you can bookmark this, it may take decades or centuries, but Igbos will strike back....it may happen after Igbos have left Nigeria to form their own super great/powerful nation and then they will strike back as another nation invading another nation just as Germany struck back at the rest of Europe for what they did to them, and when Germany struck back in 1945, Europe lost so much.....French king ran away, Queen Elizabeth was in fear, not until USA and Russia stepped in to help them find peace.

When Igbos will strike, the story of German invasion of France and London will be a joke...the whole north will be in flames. It won't be fought by foot soldiers, it will be fought by sophisticated air weapons that will level what is left of barbaric northern Nigeria. London is on flames will be a childsplay to what will befall Northern Nigeria when the Almighty Eastern Eagle will strike, yes it must happen to also avenge the years of killing and marginalization of our people just as you avenged yours

Danjuma even as your people are paying the huge price of their atrocities against Igbos in 1966, Igbos will strike back nonetheless, but when, I cannot tell, but it must happen because you useless souls have never for one day shown any remorse for the evil you all perpetrated against civilian Igbos....I don't care about what happened between military people and politicians, but involving innocent, unarmed Igbo civilians in your madness of 1966 was your greatest mistake and reason your region will continue to reap the seeds of the evil they sowed

What's even funny about the whole thing accusation of "Igbo coup" is that the so called "Igbo coup" had several Northern participants. Hell, Ifejuana even had plans to execute Ojukwu in his coup plotting. Even after he was released from prison, he returned back to plotting the death of Ojukwu till he was rearrested again.

What I find funny is Dimka lying through his teeth in this interview. Dimka was very much in tune with what occurred in the anti-igbo coup. NOTHING, NOT ONE SINGLE occurred without him knowing. Hell he and his crew attacked and non-igbo that opposed his so called "revenge for our boys". They keep forgetting this is not the era of propaganda. This is era were everyone has access to everything. Internet has destroyed the era of propaganda

Wikipedia once had the list of the 1966 Nigerian coup plotter and executors. Just went there today to screenshot the list, Ironically, the entire Wikipedia page and the list was modified by an unknown personal according to their revision timeline. You can quote me on this, I bet the unknown personal is a Niggeria. What they keep neglecting to recall this is the era of technology. The pathetic attempt to hide the truth does not fall in this era. There's more than several places to obtain what's hidden.

1. The list of the northern participants of the 1966 coup. The so called "Igbo coup".

2. The list of "punished soliders" for 1966 coup.
3. Continued list of the soliders accused and punished.

4. What I spoke of. "Igbo coup" with plans to kill a prominent igbo.

At least they finally reporting an igbo was murdered during the war. At least they've agreed to stop lying on that one. Ironically the Igbo that was killed was murdered by an Igbo solider but hey, it was an "Igbo biased coup".

qwertyboss:
The Igbos are the cause of all the political problems Nigeria is suffering today.

their greed for domination led the Igbo race into chaos and perpetual marginalisation!

today, they have reaped and are still reaping what they sow!

unknown to them that education is the key to domination and they have educated people then,idoit igbo don't deal with chamelon in disguise
so the Igbo's just blow up their chance into oblivion!

igbo don't deal with chamelon tribe in disguise.

You are very correct. I am convinced beyond doubt that all the gang up against south east is for the fear of what would happen if ever an IGBO man is in charge. Right from all federal force apparatai, they ensure that Igbo's are not allowed to be the head no matter their qualification and experience. But definitely, this is the worst they can do. One day the Igbo will rise and they won't be given a second chance. It will be total recolonization. One day their fear will certainly be before them and there will be no escape route.

manmade:
From what I just read in Danjuma's account , it would take a divine intervention for us to have a Nigerian president of Igbo origin during the life time of all this retired Generals, their fear is not for the future of Nigeria state but it's coming from their past misdeeds against the tribe.

eagleu:
While we wait for Gowon and Danjuma's official account of the coup, it's sad to see persistent distortion of history and abuse of common sense in this reasoning.

Labeling it Igbo coup was a long formulated Fulani plan to use people like Danjuma, even the adjunctant officer did not take control of events all by himself, he was following a plan, long designed by unseen hands determined to foist Fulani hegemony on Nigeria.

Of course the Igbos made their own mistakes, because they were never really organized as portrayed by unseen Fulani masterminds. If they were organized, why would some Igbo officers like Ojukwu be fighting the coupists, his own people?

If you had 67% of Nigerian army officer's cader as Igbos at that time, simple statistics would tell you that you couldn't have a coup without having majority of them identified as Igbos.

Nevertheless, there were Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Tiv, Ijaw, Idoma, and Nupe officers involved in that coup, but it was easier to label it Igbo coup, especially after it failed in some parts of the country.

While history would forgive Gowon and Danjuma for retaliating against Igbo officers, God in heaven would never forgive these inept and mediocre officers for the massacre of helpless children, women, and old people simply because they were Igbos.

Whoever supported the genocide against Igbos, because of the coup allegedly planned by Igbo officers in 1966, should also support a genocide against Fulanis, because Fulani herdsmen have been actually terrorizing fellow Nigerians without any provocation today.

How come you say unseen hands were determined to foist Fulani hegemony on Nigeria and at the same time 67% of Nigerian army officer's cader were Igbos. How would that have been possible?

If 67% of Nigerian army officer's cader were Igbos at that time, why weren't 67% of officers killed during the January coup Igbos?

Gowon, Danjuma and other northern soldiers retaliated only against Igbo officers, it was the northern masses that killed innocent Igbo civilians. Although you could accuse Gowon of not doing enough to stop the killings.

ericuzor:
Pls if you know any orphan in any public university who is at the verge of dropping out because of financial difficulties, tell such person to send his or her mail to: inspirationafrica@yahoo.com.
Do spread this message to other groups so that others may benefit

All those scammers that wee be claiming school fees wee not see this one

madmadu:
Article is too long, sorry... It even carried part 2 sef!

Lazy youths. This is 8 minutes reading but you can chat for hours.

PeaceNexus:
You are very correct. I am convinced beyond doubt that all the gang up against south east is for the fear of what would happen if ever an IGBO man is in charge. Right from all federal force apparatai, they ensure that Igbo's are not allowed to be the head no matter their qualification and experience. But definitely, this is the worst they can do. One day the Igbo will rise and they won't be given a second chance. It will be total recolonization. One day their fear will certainly be before them and there will be no escape route.

metaphysical,afamed,mrchineke,deomelo and pythonamaka after seeing this post
Cc immhotep rekhina

We knew Yoruba& housa killed Aguiyi ironsi.But in next generation igbo can't share things in common with animal senses

PeaceNexus:
You are very correct. I am convinced beyond doubt that all the gang up against south east is for the fear of what would happen if ever an IGBO man is in charge. Right from all federal force apparatai, they ensure that Igbo's are not allowed to be the head no matter their qualification and experience. But definitely, this is the worst they can do. One day the Igbo will rise and they won't be given a second chance. It will be total recolonization. One day their fear will certainly be before them and there will be no escape route.

Is this an admission that the first chance was simply because of the ambition to colonise?

You are simply reinforcing the fear of other Nigerians, even the south south tribes.
Why will the Igbos want to colonise other tribes?