₦airaland Forum

Former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB, has dismissed claims that the 1966 military takeover was an “Igbo coup”.

Babangida said the leader of the 1966 coup, Kaduna Nzeogwu, spoke Hausa fluently.

In his just launched book, ‘A Journey in Service’, the former military Head of State said Nzeogwu was only Igbo by name but was more of Hausa.

The former military ruler said it was heinously callous for Nzeogwu to have murdered Sir Ahmadu Bello and his wife, Hafsatu, because they were adored by many.

He wrote: “For instance, the head of the plotters, Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, was only Igbo in name. Born and raised in Kaduna, his immigrant parents were from Okpanam in today’s Delta State, which, in 1966, was in the old mid-western region.

“Nzeogwu spoke fluent Hausa and was as ‘Hausa’ as any! He and his original team probably thought, even if naively, that they could turn things around for the better in the country.

“That said, it was heinously callous for Nzeogwu to have murdered Sir Ahmadu Bello and his wife, Hafsatu, because not only were they eminently adored by many but also because they were said not to have put up a fight.

“From that moment, the putsch was infiltrated by ‘outsiders’ to its supposed original intention, and it took on an unmistakably ethnic colouration, compounded by the fact that there were no related coup activities in the Eastern region.

“It should, however, be borne in mind that some senior officers of Igbo extraction were also victims of the January coup. For instance, my erstwhile Commander at the Reconnaissance Squadron in Kaduna, Lt-Col. Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe, was brutally gunned down by his own ‘brother’, Major Chris Anuforo, in the presence of his pregnant wife, at his 7 Point Road residence in Apapa, for merely being a threat to the revolution As a disciplined and strict officer who, as the Quartermaster-General of the Army, was also in charge of ammunition, weapons, equipment, vehicles, and other vital items for the Army, the coup plotters feared that he might not cooperate with them.

“It should also be remembered that some non-Igbo officers, like Major Adewale Ademoyega, Captain Ganiyu Adeleke, Lts Pola Oyewole and Olafimihan, took part in the failed coup. Another officer of Igbo extraction, Major John Obienu, crushed the coup.

“Those who argue that the original intention of the coup plotters was anything but ethnic refer to the fact that the initial purpose of the plotters was to release Chief Obafemi Awolowo from prison immediately after the coup and make him the executive provisional president of Nigeria.

“The fact that these Igbo officers would do this to a man not known to be a great ‘lover’ of the Igbos may have given the coup a different ethnic colouration. But, again, I may be wrong here since this view is speculative. I admit that my position here may be the naive insights of an unsuspecting young officer who viewed events from a distance.”

FuglyGurl:
https://dailypost.ng/2025/02/21/1966-not-igbo-coup-kaduna-nzeogwu-more-of-hausa-ibb/

Thewrath:
The iragbiji bandits and now calling IBB names because he said the truth.
They believed him when he said abiola won June 12 election but don’t want to believe that the “igbo coupe” was a lie

Softmirror:
Lol 😂 😂 😂 😂

Ask yourself why IBB's narrative of Kaduna Nzwegu being more Hausa than Igbo couldn't rally a single Hausa Fulani Solider as a fellow coup plotters?!

The picture you are not seeing is the BETRAYAL if truey the North, the Hausas actually accepted him as one of theirs but he still went ahead to shed the blood of their most beloved ones they hold in highest esteem in cold blood without being able to convince a single ORIGINAL Hausa/Fulani Solider to join him in the Coup to murder his own kinsmen while sparing Igbo elders.

If it wasn't an Igbo coup the counter coup would have had Igbos as participants and not mainly a Northern extraction.

It is because it was a Igbo coup that didn't go well at the end that is the reason why we had an aftermath called BIAFRAN WAR. It is simple Logic and very straightforward.

IBB and manipulation. Why do you think he is called MARADONA?!

drugBaronTINUBU:
Did u read the post?
How is a mid west person an igbo
Why are Yoruba so useless
Nor worry, dem go soon share the country make u rest

Softmirror:
Lol you mean the same way you have accepted North trusted him as not being Igbo but one of them 'HAUSA'?!!! So is he 'HAUSA'?!

Softmirror:
Lol 😂 😂 😂 😂

Ask yourself why IBB's narrative of Kaduna Nzwegu being more Hausa than Igbo couldn't rally a single Hausa Fulani Solider as a fellow coup plotters?!

The picture you are not seeing is the BETRAYAL if truey the North, the Hausas actually accepted him as one of theirs but he still went ahead to shed the blood of their most beloved ones they hold in highest esteem in cold blood without being able to convince a single ORIGINAL Hausa/Fulani Solider to join him in the Coup to murder his own kinsmen while sparing Igbo elders.

If it wasn't an Igbo coup the counter coup would have had Igbos as participants and not mainly a Northern extraction.

It is because it was a Igbo coup that didn't go well at the end that is the reason why we had an aftermath called BIAFRAN WAR. It is simple Logic and very straightforward.

IBB and manipulation. Why do you think he is called MARADONA?!

givedemwotowoto:
The major coup plotters:

- Kaduna Nzeogwu - Delta
- Adewale Ademoyega - Yoruba
- Capt. G. Adeleke - Yoruba
- Lt. Fola Oyewole - Yoruba
- Emmanuel Ifeajuna - Igbo
- Lt. Tijani Katsina - Hausa
- Capt. Gibson Jalo - Niger Delta
- Lt. O. Olafemiyan - Yoruba

drugBaronTINUBU:
Who get time to follow u do back and forth
The book clearly stated his mid western parents migrated to the North and he was born and brought up there. So he is more of a northern

If i am born, brought up and live most part of my life in Yoruba land, i can as well say i am Yoruba by birth.

Try get sense cause if u reply again like who never enter class room b4, i will curse your generation
Yorubastard

givedemwotowoto:
The major coup plotters:

- Kaduna Nzeogwu - Delta
- Adewale Ademoyega - Yoruba
- Capt. G. Adeleke - Yoruba
- Lt. Fola Oyewole - Yoruba
- Emmanuel Ifeajuna - Igbo
- Lt. Tijani Katsina - Hausa
- Capt. Gibson Jalo - Niger Delta
- Lt. O. Olafemiyan - Yoruba

The initial plan of the coup was to release Obafemi Awolowo

Softmirror:
The chief Coupist demonstrated that he is not Hausa by murdering Hausas while leaving his own kinsmen.

Don't deceive yourself.

Thrasher2024:
Watch how this piece won't make front page. Because we know the ethnic group responsible for media lies. They would not allow the truth come up

drugBaronTINUBU:
And who are his kinsmen he left?
Can u name 2 persons from mid west region he left( his parents region)?
Or
2 people from the north (his place of birth) he left?
I have told u, if u argue or reply me like who never enter classroom before, i will curse your generation.
This is the last time i will warn you.
The only igbo man in that coup Anufuro murderd his own blood brother during the coup.
The plan was to release the rat poison drinker awolowo from prison.
Get sense
U are warned

Softmirror:
O you want to dispute the fact that even IBB said he carried an Igbo name or you are trying to dispute the fact about the controversies surrounding the 'Igbos' of the mid West today Delta State. You can't twist History just because a certain IBB who annulled as an election but shifted the blame on a dead Abacha is talking rubbish.

drugBaronTINUBU:
Okay
Delta is now igbo because it suits ur agenda?
2morow u will come and say delta are not igbos
There are alot of SS people from Edo to rivers to bayelsa etc that bear igbo names
U can as well say SS is igbo then.
The person that crushed the coup is an igbo man
U think if its igbo coup according to ur lies, another igbo man will crush it?
Again
Talk like who dem born with brain abeg.
There are more Yorubas in that coup as well as other regions that participated.
The rat poison drinker awolowo that they wanted ro relaese still turn and betrayed them.
Typical Yorubastard behaviour

Softmirror:
Why?! The question as to the bolded. And if true why was same Awolowo entrusted with responsibilities by the counter Coupist.

Softmirror:
So you also accept the controversies lol. IBB is not only a controversial person. He is not only called MARADONA but also an EVIL GENIUS.

He wrote TRASH is that book of his. Nothing but MANIPULATION!!!

givedemwotowoto:
Well this is politics. Deals are made. Reno worked for Atiku now he's working for Tinubu. Gowon needed political support to stabilize the country which he couldn't get from the East after overthrowing Ironsi. It's the same way Tinubu ended up working with the same military elite and people that exiled him orchestrated or benefitted from Abiola's downfall.

drugBaronTINUBU:
Buhari, Obj, gowon etc are still alive and they were young officers as IBB was then.
Ademoyega a Yoruba man and one of the key plotters of that coup wrote a book on it "why we struck"
He was alive till 2007
He repeatedly narrated why they embark on the coup but you that was born yesterday is arguing ignorantly based on the lies that were passed to u.
Yorubastard and hatred for the igbos sha

Softmirror:
Infact even Ojukwu contested to becoming President of Nigeria and his wife currently running errands for Tinubu. It's all politics.

Softmirror:
The chief Coupist demonstrated that he is not Hausa by murdering Hausas while leaving his own kinsmen.

Don't deceive yourself.

givedemwotowoto:
She’s working for Tinubu, that’s true.

Babangida did well to officially end the decades of lies peddled by Agbadorians. I wonder what Agbadorians will now do to survive, because their entire existence is built around hate, envy and lies against Igbos. Do you know?

OkCornel:
Which of his kinsmen was a high ranking official resident in the North at the time of the coup?

Give us names please