There seems no end to revelations coming from events that preceded the May 30, 1967 declaration of the Republic of Biafra by Lt-Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Less than a year before the birth of Biafra, Nigeria had recorded its first military coup d’état staged by the infamous “Five Majors”. The bloody coup, among others, cut short the lives of Nigeria’s first prime minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Premiers of Northern and Western Region, and the minister of finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh. The failure of the coup plotters to kill the premier of the Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, was part of the reasons the January 15, 1966 coup was regarded an Igbo coup. It was for the same reason, in the main, that the Igbos living elsewhere in Nigeria, especially the northern parts, experienced the ugliest pogrom in world history. The real story has never been told of how the premier of the Eastern Region, Dr. M. I Okpara, escaped the barrels of the coup plotters.

In this exclusive interview with Orient Daily’s Joe Akwarandu, 82-year-old ex-police officer, now a royal father, His Royal Majesty, Eze Anyiam George Utughutu Ohaeri, says Okpara’s survival was not because the coup plotters wanted to spare him. He tells Orient Daily the story of how he saved the life of the premier. Excerpts:

Please, can we get to know you, Sir?

I am His Royal Majesty, Eze Anyiam George Utughutu Ohaeri, Awa-Ukwu 1 of Umuawa Alaocha Autonomous Community, in Ohuhu Umuahia, Abia state. I am a Justice of Peace (JP), and Commander of Ohuhu Clan (GOC). I am 82 years old.

Recently, Nigeria celebrated her 18 years of uninterrupted democracy. How do you assess the Nigeria of today and that of yesteryears?

Things have never been the same for Nigeria since the January 1966 coup d’état. I have always said that the military themselves are responsible for the state we are in now, because during their regimes, they were only busy packing and siphoning the money of this country for their personal use.

The military plunged the country into its present predicament. In the time of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Michael Okpara, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and all the leaders of the first republic, there was even development in all the regions of the country. Today, what we see are moribund industries that the leaders of yesteryears built, unemployment, and restiveness.

I cannot really speak for other regions, but in the then Eastern Region here, the politicians, I mean the Premier, Dr. M. I. Okpara, did well. In the short period he was premier, he built more industries than in the 9 years or so that the Mr. Ukpabi Asika held way in the eastern region. Okpara built industries, palm plantations, cocoa, rubber plantations and oil mills all over the eastern region including Calabar, Ogoja, Obubra, Ohaji, Umuahia etc. You can’t compare the present regimes with the ones of yester-years.

Your Majesty Sir, what, in your opinion, really prompted the forceful take-over of the government in January 1966?

The boys in the military complained of corruption, tribalism, rigging of the elections and so many other things, but the mistake they made was that they never gave the civilian leaders enough time to rule. I think they were led more by the coup fad which was gaining momentum at the time i many African states. Six years into civil rule was still a short time for that bloody intervention. Unfortunately, the boys who struck and made promises of correcting the anomalies created by the politicians, ended up not getting power at the center.

What was your federal service status when the 1966 crises started?

At the time of the coup in 1966, I was in the Nigeria Police Force. I had risen to the rank of an Inspector of Police and was stationed at Owerri Headquarters. I served in the Police for 35 years and retired as an Assistant Commissioner of Police before becoming a traditional ruler.

It is said that there were issues with the police officers on the side of Biafra during the war. Do you recall any significant incident?


I vividly recall the incident that led to the rescue of the Premier, Dr. M. I. Okpara. During the time, I was an Inspector of Police and we were given instructions from the command in Lagos, to arrest some politicians from Owerri zone and Dr. M. I. Okpara was among them. I was aware Dr. Okpara had no controversy surrounding his governance. He was upright and also, hailed from the same area with me. I knew I had to do something about it.

I also got information that the politicians who resisted arrest were shot by the coup plotters. I quickly drove to Umuegwu Okpuala in Ohuhu, the home of Dr. Okpara, in my car to warn him of the events unfolding across the country and also advise him that whenever the military boys come, he should willingly surrender himself and not resist arrest. He exactly did that hence he was saved from the assassin’s bullets.

In Owerri zone, I arrested Dr. Aaron Ogbonna from Mbaise and one Ucheonu who was a leader of NCNC. I could recall that when I drove down to Dr. Okpara’s residence at Umuegwu Okpuala, some sycophants wanted to prevent me from seeing the premier by telling me that he was not in the house. I was dressed in mufti as a CID of police. It was when I accosted them that Dr. Okpara, who also happened to be my schoolmate heard my voice, came out and ushered me into the house where I told him my mission.

I embarked on the journey to Umuegwu because I knew Dr. Okpara used to be very stubborn and would want to resist any arrest. I politely told him not to resist any form of arrest as others like Abubakar, Ahmadu Bello and Akintola whose bodyguards confronted the coup plotters had all been killed in the melee. That was why he was saved.

How come you asked him to wait for the boys from Lagos when it was possible to kill him on the spot if they sighted him? Wouldn’t it have been better to advise him to escape?

There was no NADECO route, as you would have today, at that time. There were not many vehicles. There were no common phone lines. He had left Enugu at that time, ostensibly after escaping from the coup plotters sent to get him. But from the opportunity of being a senior intelligence officer, I knew his counterparts in other regions had been felled, mostly because their body guards resisted the arrest of their VIPs. Meanwhile, the instruction was to arrest them and bring them to Lagos. So, I needed to give Okpara that information. That was what saved him.

Sir, in Nigeria presently, there are several agitations for the restructuring of the country. Do you think splitting Nigeria is the best option?

Nigeria is not a poor nation. I have always said that we are not patriotic. Most of us don’t love their country. I don’t believe that what Nigeria needs today is separation. What the country needs is federalism; regional federalism as practiced in the United States of America whom we copied their presidential system of government. We are yet to practice it well.

Corruption is the sickness that has eaten deep into Nigeria. The problem we are facing today is bad leadership and bad followership. We should not blame President Muhammadu Buhari. After all, it is one thing to give orders and another thing to obey the order. To me, those angling for the splitting of this country are doing so because of sustained marginalisation of the South Easterners (Ndi Igbo). I do not blame the agitators even though I don’t think splitting the country is the solution.

Are you satisfied with the role the traditional rulers in the South East, and what is your opinion about the proliferation of autonomous communities in the region?


Indeed, where we found ourselves is worrisome. And the situation in which we are today is clearly counterproductive. To me, as in many parts of Nigeria, royalty should be a respected institution. My father was a traditional ruler - a warrant chief recognized by the colonial masters. I brought Umuawa Alaocha to an autonomous community status, and was crowned as Eze (paramount ruler) by my people after receiving a staff of office from the state government.

Today, the one autonomous community with less a million people has been split into five autonomous communities with five royal fathers. The entire Ohuhu Clan presently has more than 22 autonomous communities and traditional rulers. How does anyone explain that? Kingship in this part of the country has been bastardised, and it has lost all forms of respect. It is not so in other parts of the country like the North and the West. In those places, traditional rulers like the Emirs and the Obas are in firm control of their people and advise their governments.

What other comments or advice do you have for the people of South East, and Abia state in particular?


My advice is that they should eschew corruption, and be patriotic. They should support their leaders, especially the governors. If God did not want them as governors, he would not have allowed them to emerge. Whether you voted for a particular governor or not, whether you like him or not, go ahead and support him and pray for him. He takes decisions that impact on you and your family, so pray for God’s guidance and wisdom for him. If you don’t, and the devil takes over, you become a casualty.

In Abia state, particularly, I join millions of Abians to congratulate the governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu on his final victory at the supreme court in Abuja. I praise his steadfastness in steering the ship of progress in the state despite all the challenges and distractions. I also praise him for waving the olive branch to his opponents to bury their hatchet and come and join him in developing God’s own state, Abia state.

source
https://orientdailynews.com/january-1966-coup-arrests-i-warned-dr-m-i-okpara-kinsman-police-officer/