This one is for you military history/military coup fans. Letters written by Major Chris Anuforo of Jan 66 coup fame.

January 1966 coup: The secret prison letters of Kaduna Nzeogwu’s co-plotter
Lekan Otufodunrin and Emma Mgbeahunke 24/10/2010 08:00:00
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The private letters from Major Christian Anuforo, one of the Majors involved in the January 1966 coup, to his wife, published below, have given new insights into the motives and state of mind of those who planned Nigeria’s first military coup, write Lekan Otufodunrin and Emman Mgbeahunke

Take a look at the picture above, you will be right to guess that the persons in the picture are a group of Africans. Which group they are may be difficult to guess considering that their appearance belies who they really are.
They are not a group of diplomats as they seem to look like. They are indeed a group of African cadets at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, United Kingdom in 1961.

Among the Nigerians in the picture are former Lagos State Military governor, Major General (rtd) Mobolaji Johnson (first left standing, second row), Major General (rtd) Alani Akinrinade (eleventh left standing on the back row), Late Major General I.D. Bisala, (first left sitting on the front row), General I.B.M Haruna, (fourth left sitting, front row), Late Majors Timothy Onwutuegwu and Christian Anuforo (eleventh left and sixth left respectively on the front row), who were among the co-conspirators of the January 1966 coup.

This report is not about the exploits of the Nigerian officers in Sandhurst but an exclusive revelation on the person and thoughts of Major Anuforo who was reported to have recruited spokesperson for the failed coup, Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu into the conspiratorial group of seven Majors.

The former Commander of Recce Squadron Jos, Plateau State to was the executioner of Col Kur Mohammed, Lt. Col A Unegbe, Col. J. Y. Pam and first republic flamboyant Finance Minister, Chief Okotie- Eboh.
Following the failure of the coup, Anufuro who hails from Imo State was initially detained in Lagos, moved to Ilesha, and then Benin. After the counter coup, a unit of troops from the 4th battalion at Ibadan on August 16, 1966, less than one month after General Yakubu Gowon took over as Nigerian Head of State, stormed the Benin Prison, took him away and later shot him along the Benin- Ore road. Before his death, he kept in touch with his wife, Henrietta through series of letters in which he, among other things wrote about, justified his involvement in the coup.

“I want to let you know that I gave full thought to what happened and I hope you do realize that this country was more than rotten. Now I may die any day from now but I do NOT care for that” he wrote in his letter dated 17th January, 1966.
For scholars who have always maintained that Anuforo, Nzeogwu and Ademoyega were genuine nationalists contrary to the tribal impression the failed coup continue to generate, the deceased proved them right.

“I have lived much of my life and I am prepared to suffer and die for our country and our people”, Anuforo stated. He was so concerned for one of his aide, a northerner, Yakubu. He said he was looking forward to retaining him if the authorities had released or pardoned him.
In his 21st February, 1966 letter, Anuforo asked his wife to find out if Yakubu was still being paid. “If not send him some money to travel to where he likes – Kaduna or his home but let him write you regularly”, he instructed.
Insisting that he was proud of what he and his colleagues did, describing it as a national duty, Anuforo asked for prayers for “continued peace in the country”.

Apparently a tough military officer even in the way he handled his family matters as his letters revealed, Anuforo showed greater concern for the fate that would befall his mother, wife and children than the obvious peril that waited for him. He directed his bank to send his wife £60 monthly and gave specific instructions on the education and health of his children.

One of his family members declined to speak on the letters when contacted.
It is important to note that Major Anuforo’s letters were written from prison, routed through the Ministry of Defence, through which his wife was urged to send her reply, indicating a more civil prison atmosphere than the seeming garrison posture of today’s prison authorities, that make postal services between prisoners and their relations almost impossible.

However, Anuforo’s wife died in 1996 without making any public statement on the traumatic period when her husband was incarcerated and later murdered on a highway by soldiers. The secret, dreadful letters Anuforo sent from prison in 1966, gave a clearer insight into the doggedness, the iron-cast will of the masterminds of the first military coup, their lofty dreams and raw love for their fatherland. The letters also revealed at least one of the key actors in the January 1966 coup, as a man whose true love for his wife and children was shattered by bullets from soldiers that were unknown, and may never be known, presenting yet another cloudy chapter in an already dim and complex story surrounding Nigeria’s most tragic political era. Obviously, Anuforo’s letters will not be the last chapter in the unfolding drama, at least for one the fact that while his letters suggested his wife replied, there has been no trace of the letters sent by the late woman to her husband.

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