₦airaland Forum

lawani:
War broke out because Colonel Ojukwu did not agree with General Gowon's breakup of the East for Eastern minorities. He insisted on the Aburi accord. What kind of revisionist history is IBB propagating?. Since he has agreed to what he did to MKO, MKO's family should take him to court for damages. It is very necessary if nothing else is done as a fallout of the publication of his book.

You're angry the truths are coming out.
You have always lived a lie.
The truth will continue to come out and shame will be the portion for those who lived and killed for lies.

lawani:
War broke out because Colonel Ojukwu did not agree with General Gowon's breakup of the East for Eastern minorities. He insisted on the Aburi accord. What kind of revisionist history is IBB propagating?. Since he has agreed to what he did to MKO, MKO's family should take him to court for damages. It is very necessary if nothing else is done as a fallout of the publication of his book.

All u life u belived a lie and now it is difficult for u to believe the truth

aswani:
Ogundipe could see the handwriting on the wall, why should he ascend a throne when bloodthirsty Ndi North officers were looking to kpai non-Northerners? Would Ojukwu had fed his family, look at how Obidients are minimising Fajuyi's sacrifice for Aguyi-Ironsi.

Also, people should remember that despite being the most senior person in the army, an ordinary sergeant of northern extraction had refused orders from him and blatantly told him he was only accepting orders from Northern officers. This was just about the start of the return match and the Army were trying to understand how to respond.

Immediately after things settled, he ran off to become a military Attache to the high commission in the UK and I believe refused to return to the country repeatedly.

Please Obidients, leave Ogundipe out of it.

What hand writing on the wall , we are talking about the military and not some secular or ministerial appointments . This is a very big flaw

kettykin:
What hand writing on the wall , we are talking about the military and not some secular or ministerial appointments . This is a very big flaw

You didn't read where a sergeant told him point blank he wasn't accepting orders from non-Northerners àbi?

OK go and rewrite history.

December 26, 1999


Netters:

Based again on several questions asked in connection with earlier postings
re-Aburi, some further clarifications from the history books need to be
made:

1. HIERARCHY OF THE NIGERIAN ARMY AS OF JANUARY 1, 1966

I really cannot tell for a fact the ENTIRE hierarchy of the Nigerian
Military as of January 1, 1966, but from various sources, as far as I
could gather, these are the names and their order of seniority:


**Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, GOC, Nigerian Army
*Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari, Commander, Second Brigade
*Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun, Commander, First Brigade
Brigadier Babatunde Ogundipe, Chief of Staff, Supreme HQ
*Colonel Kur Mohammed, Army Chief of Staff
Colonel Bassey
Colonel Robert Adeyinka Adebayo
Colonel Ralph Shodeinde, Commandant, NMTC
*Lt.-Col. Abogo Largema, Commanding, 4th Battalion (Ibadan)
*Lt.-Col. Yakubu Pam, the Adjutant-General
*Lt.-Col. Arthur Unegbe, QuarterMaster-General
Lt.-Col. Imo
Lt.-Col. Hillary Njoku, Commanding Officer, 2nd Battalion (Ikeja)
**Lt.-Col. Adekunle Fajuyi
Lt.-Col. David Ejoor
Lt.-Col. Yakubu Gowon
Lt.-Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, Commanding Officer (Kano)
Lt.-Col. Kurubo
Major Hassan Katsina

* Killed during January 15 Coup
* Killed during July 1966 Coup

These may not have been ALL the officers; one or two orders might be out of sequence, but essentially I might be 80-95% right.


2. WHY OGUNDIPE DID NOT BECOME SUPREME COMMANDER

About Ogundipe, Ojukwu, and Gowon, let me give you two accounts, one from
the biography of Obasanjo which I have just checked on, and the other from
Kole Omotoso's "Just Before Dawn":


2.A "Olusegun Obasanjo: In the Eyes of Time - A Biography of the African
Statesman" - by Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo

page 101 ff


QUOTE
With Ironsi dead, Brig. Baba Ogundipe, the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, was the next most senior officer in the country. But he
realized that the Northern officers had not risked their lives to install him in power as General Ironsi's successor. Perhaps fearing that the coup
plotters might eliminate him as well, he escaped from the country and re-emerged later in London where he was appointed Nigeria's High
Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

For three days - July 29 to August 1, 1966 - the nation's blood-smeared presidency remained vacant. It was an interregnum. While Nigeria waited
in anguish for a leader, Northern officers led by Gowon and [MURTALA] Muhammed were at the Ikeya Cantonment debating whether or not to lead
their nation out of the union. The intervention of some federal permanent secretaries, the British High Commission, and the American Embassy in
Lagos, as well as the presence of a few saner and reasonable officers among them, persuaded the group to allow the North remain within a united
Nigeria. Having grudgingly agreed to a united Nigeria, the officers chose and installed Gowon, the most senior officer from the North, who had not
participated in the coup, as Nigeria's second military Head of State on August 1, 1966.

The coup planners (the list included Martin Adamu, Shehu
Musa Yar'Adua, Muhammadu Buhari, Pam Nwatkom, Ibrahim Babangida, John
Longham, Garba Duba, Jerry Useni, Ibrahim Bako, Musa Usman and Shittu
Alao) wanted Major Muhammed to be the Head of State.

But Muhammed said Gowon, an affable, good-looking man, should lead it because he was the
most senior - not that he was the most effective or capable, or the most
intellectually-equipped, or the most dynamic or the most knowledgeable -
officer from the North......."

Page 106

...The times were still troubling. The wobbling Nigerian nation could
hardly amuse herself. Nigeria was dying, in bits. Since the coups of January and July, things had not been the same again. The ship of state
cleaved disastrously on January 15. The crack widened on July 29. The crack became a frightening gulf. Each new day, the gulf deepened. When
Governor Ojukwu of the Eastern Region heard of Gowon's appointment as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in Nigeria, he said it was abnormal. His argument was that in the absence of Ironsi, whose death
had not then been officially announced, the next most senior army officers, Brig. Ogundipe and Col. Bassey, should assume command. Ojukwu,
therefore, refused to recognize Gowon's appointment.

Ojukwu's argument, though logical, did not seem to have reflected the
absurd reality of a military coup. Coup plotters decide the helmsmen.
Once a coup is successful, army hierarchy and discipline are worthless as
the bullets expended in the exercise or the constitution of the land which
had been tossed aside. Ojukwu's protest was only logical in an ideal
situation, which a coup is not.....

UNQUOTE


So, in fact, from this account (which I just checked into), Ojukwu was
arguing for either Ogundipe or Bassey.

2.B Let me provide another account concerning Ogundipe, this time from
Kole Omotosho's "fact-ional" book, "Just Before Dawn" (Spectrum Books,
1988):

Page 255 ff

QUOTE

Brigadier Ogundipe was the most senior army officer after the eliminations of January 1966. When he learnt on the morning of July 29th that there
had been trouble in Ibadan, he tried to bring the situation under control.
He sent Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon who was just resuming duty that morning as the commander of 2nd Nigerian Army based at Ikeja [REPLACING LT.COL. HILLARY NJOKU] to go to the barracks at Ikeya and deal with the rebels since that was where they were operating from. Gowon went.


"Can someone find me Joseph Garba?", bellowed Brigadier Ogundipe. "I think I'm still supposed to be the chief of staff Supreme Headquarters.
What is going on in this place?"

Some senior officers who were coming and going, trying to find out what
was happening, heard the voice of Brigadier Ogundipe and came to his
office. They were Commodore Akinwale Wey, Alhaji Kam Salem, Lieutenant-Colonel Anwunah and Major Mobolaji Johnson. They were there when Captain Joseph Garba came into the office of the chief of staff, Supreme Headquarters.

"Can you explain what it means when one of your soldiers says he would not
obey me unless you say so? What is going on here? Who is running things
here? Me or you?"

"Excuse me, sir..."

"That is why I called you because I wanted your excuse."

"The fact is...."

"The fact that I know right now, is that if a soldier in this army says he will not obey me unless his captain told him so then we are finished.
There is no army any more. I should simply throw away this uniform.
Where is the pride of being a soldier, of being an officer if a soldier would not obey an officer? What have we turned the Nigerian Army into?"

There was no way Joseph Garba could make any explanation under the
circumstances. Brigadier Ogundipe had been traumatized by that one
experience. Captain Garba stood there watching his superior officer,
saying nothing. Finally the brigadier sat down and waved Garba away. He
noticed that the salute he got was for form's sake......

(At a later encounter with Garba, Ogundipe said)

"Go back and ask them the minimum condition they (THE NORTHERN MUTINEERS)
are prepared to give to stay in Nigeria." Once more, Joseph Garba got into his Land-rover and drove to Ikeja. As he was leaving, a call came in from Onitsha. It was Lieutenant-Colonel Ojukwu, military governor of the
Eastern Region. Ogundipe took the telephone.

"Hello? What's happening? Where is the Supreme Commander (IRONSI)?"

"Nobody knows where the supreme commander has been taken to. He and Lieutenant-Colonel Fajuyi were arrested in Ibadan yesterday. The northern troops have staged a counter-coup. They have sent their families back to the North and they want to break up the country."

"Is it not possible for you to become the supreme commander? You are the
next most senior officer in the army. I will...."

"Forget it! An ordinary soldier would not obey me."

"I will announce my support for you within thirty minutes of your
announcing your take over."

"Listen Ojukwu, forget that. We are at present negotiating with the
coup-makers to find out what they want. Keep in touch."

"Come on!", shouted Ojukwu into the telephone. Brigadier Ogunidpe held
the receiver away from his face. "Take a risk. Shout at them. Go on the
air and say something...."

There was silence from Ogundipe's side. He wast thinking to himself: 'It
is my life on the line not yours.'

(OJUKWU CONTINUED) "....Tell the country you are the next most senior
officer, you do not know where the supreme commander is, but you are
trying to control the situation....Are you still there?"

After a long pause, "Yes, I am here...I will do that."

Brigadier Ogundipe did broadcast throughout the country declaring a state
of emergency for Lagos, Abeokuta and Ibadan, and saying that things would
soon return to normal.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ojukwu got back to Brigadier Ogundipe as soon as he had listened to the broadcast at 2:30 pm.

"That is not what I meant! I meant something strong. Say you are stepping into Ironsi's shoes and that's it!"

Brigadier Ogundipe just listened. Not getting satisfaction, Ojukwu
dropped the telephone. Later that evening, Brigadier Ogundipe recorded
another message to the nation calming everyone and saying there was now no
cause for alarm since everything was under control.........

Lieutenant-Colonel David Ejoor telephoned from Benin wanting to know what
was going on. The chief of staff [OGUNDIPE] told him what he had told
Lieutenant-Colonel Ojukwu.

"Why haven't you taken over them?"

The chief of staff explained the situation.

"But I am sure the rest of the members of the Supreme Military Council
would support you."

"Thank you David but it is no use. We'll keep you informed or you'll find out what we work out with the coup makers."

When the phone call was over, Brigadier Ogundipe took a piece of paper and
wrote a letter of resignation from the army and sent it to the Ministry of
Defence. He then drove to his house......

[AT A LATER DATE...]

......The telephone rang. Murtala Muhammed picked it up, then turned to Yakubu Gowon.

"It's Ojukwu. He wants to speak to you." Murtala covered the mouthpiece,
looked at Gowon directly and said:

"Now, I want to know every word he says to you before you reply."

The others [IN THE ROOM IN ADDITION TO GOWON AND MURTALA MUHAMMED:
JUSTICE MOHAMMED BELLO, SHITTU ALAO OF THE AIR FORCE, BUBA USMAN OF MILITARY INTELLIGENCE] nodded in agreement. Gowon could be kind, he was not the kind of ruthless person who should deal with these people, thought Murtala Muhammed. The only way to ensure that he did not make any commitment which they could not accept was to monitor every word that he had to say. The telephone conversation was therefore very slow. Ojukwu was recording the conversation.

"What is going on?", Ojukwu asked.

Gowon narrated the incidents of the last few days as innocently as
possible, using the passive tense to maintain ambiguity.

"The other ranks mutinied and deaths have occurred. The supreme commander
and the military governor of the West were arrested and nothing is known of their whereabouts."

"So what is being done? The most senior officer is Brigadier Ogundipe let him step in and restore order until we find out what has happened to the
supreme commander."

"That is out of the question."

"Why?"

"The boys who organized the revolt insist that they want the North to go
separate."

"Well?"

"That I should step in as head of state and supreme commander of the armed
forces."

"You can take over Lagos but definitely not in the East."

"I have already been in contact with all the other members of the Supreme
Military Council and they agree that I should take over."

"That is impossible! There are other senior officers in the army, in the
armed forces."

Including the armed forces, the line of succession would have been something like this:
Commodore Wey, head of the Nigerian Navy; Brigadier Ogundipe who had already resigned from the army; Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo who would have been as unacceptable as Ogundipe;
Lieutenant-Colonel Bassey, Lieutenant-Colonel Imo, Lieutenant-Colonel Njoku who would be anathema to the mutineers. Then came in alphabetical
order, Lieutenant-Colonel David Ejoor, Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon and Lieutenant-Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu. Both Gowon and Ojukwu had been promoted to the level of Lieutenant-Colonel on the same date of 1 April, 1964.

"Listen, " Ojukwu continued, "if you want to take over simply as chief of staff of the army and only as such in Lagos, so that you can bring the situation under control, I shall cooperate with you so that Ogundipe or whoever is next in seniority can assume power."

"As I said earlier, " Gowon replied, "the other governors have agreed to
my take over."

"But there is no governor in the West," answered Ojukwu.

"All the same, I have talked to someone who can answer for the West and he
agrees with my taking over."

"I do not recognize you as supreme commander," insisted Ojukwu.

"I am making a statement to the nation later tonight anyway." Ojukwu dropped the telephone and switched off the tape recorder. He got up and
lit a cigarette. There was no way he would recognize Gowon as head of state and supreme commander. That would make nonsense of military
discipline. Moreover, if he withheld his recognition of Gowon as head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces, he may win concessions for himself and his own people. But it was so difficult to accept Gowon
as head of state. Whatever happend he would ensure that he was in charge as far as the East was concerned and thuse preserve a power base. Gowon could do what he liked in Lagos.

UNQUOTE


3. CONCLUDING COMMENTS

The above accounts show that Ogundipe was not as passive as always
depicted, but recognized rather wisely that the odds against him in the
face of implacable (and overwhelming number of) coup-makers from the
North, in the face of an implied threat of bolting the country, was
insurmountable despite Ojukwu's far-away (and Ejoor's weak "me-too"
assurances. Ringing in Ogundipe's head must have been the a re-collection
that Ironsi who was not part of the January 1966 coup and yet became Head
of State had most probably been eliminated. He did not want to be a second
casualty of the same story-line: coup non-participant, coup beneficiary,
counter-coup victim. Furthermore, he must have remembered two Yoruba
idioms, which say that:

(i) "he whose head is used to crack open a coco-nut is most unlikely
to ever drink of its sweet juice or eat the fruit."
(ii) "if you die fighting to claim a lost item (not yours) that you
merely found, what then do you expect the real owner of the item
to do?"

Some would call those Abiola-ic "proverbs of cowardice."

On the other hand, Ojukwu seemed to harbor a pathological mental-block
against Gowon's ascension to supreme commander; his principled and
logical position appeared too idealistically rigid in the face of the
unusual situation on the ground.

This adversarial position between Gowon and Ojukwu in July/August 1966,
among other reasons, prepared the way for Aburi six months later - and
secession and war five-seven months after Aburi.

Facts are stubborn.


Bolaji Aluko

ChiefJusticeFuc:
Utter nonesense.

The Yoruba General had since said he wanted nothing to do with the army after barely escaping being assassinated by Ifeanjuna and co.

.
Did the General ask Ojukwu to fight for him?
.ojukwu wanted heirachy so that he and not Gowon will replace Ironsi.

If Ojukwu was next in line to replace Ironsi after the Yoruba General refused to take his rightful position, are you of the opinion that the military heirachy shouldn't be followed or what? What's your fuss about?

Nonexisting1:
If Ojukwu was next in line to replace Ironsi after the Yoruba General refused to take his rightful position, are you of the opinion that the military heirachy shouldn't be followed or what? What's your fuss about?

If the coward Ojukwu was anywhere outside the East , do you think he would have done any different ?

A scenario were the majority NCOs who are northerners had began a mutiny that snowballed to the arrest and summary execution of Ironsi and same NCOs only recognising the superiority and authority of northern officers only is what you expected a professional soldier like Ogundipe to foist himself over?

Talk is cheap
.
If Ojukwu was in Ogundipe's shoes he would have since fled from Lagos.

aswani:
You didn't read where a sergeant told him point blank he wasn't accepting orders from non-Northerners àbi?

OK go and rewrite history.

Interesting

aswani:
You didn't read where a sergeant told him point blank he wasn't accepting orders from non-Northerners àbi?

OK go and rewrite history.

If a sergeant dares to defy a general and refuses to take orders, the problem isn’t with the sergeant—it’s with the general. The Nigerian military is not the first in the world, yet it grapples with deep-seated structural flaws.

Take Brigadier Ogundipe, for example. When tested, he crumbled—hiding under a bed in Ikeja, later pleading to be sent out of Nigeria. Years later, in 1996, history repeated itself with General Oladipo Diya. He, too, broke under pressure, reduced to a weeping man on his knees, begging a junior officer for mercy.

This isn’t about the Nigerian military as an institution. It’s about weak, unworthy men wearing stars on their shoulders—Generals by federal quota, not by merit.

kettykin:
If a sergeant dares to defy a general and refuses to take orders, the problem isn’t with the sergeant—it’s with the general. The Nigerian military is not the first in the world, yet it grapples with deep-seated structural flaws.

Take Brigadier Ogundipe, for example. When tested, he crumbled—hiding under a bed in Ikeja, later pleading to be sent out of Nigeria. Years later, in 1996, history repeated itself with General Oladipo Diya. He, too, broke under pressure, reduced to a weeping man on his knees, begging a junior officer for mercy.

This isn’t about the Nigerian military as an institution. It’s about weak, unworthy men wearing stars on their shoulders—Generals by federal quota, not by merit.

Like Murtala couldn't show in the war, the sign of a good military man is knowing when you are not in a good place (even if due to no fault of yours) and not being foolhardy.

You need to read a bit more about the return match. In Abeokuta barracks a few military officer's wẹre holding a meeting at the mess, because they were mostly if not all Ndigbo, the NCO Northerners assumed this was coup 2.0 and they went to raid the armoury.

The walked into the Officers Mess, an Ndigbo officer ordered them to put their gun down and they were all shot dead, I think one might have escaped with bullet wounds. See we don't even remember their names again sef.

As an officer, as with a human being, you must know when to see the signs of an unfavourable situation, an adjust.

Ogundipe did and good on him.

You are here blowing grammar on Nairaland about deep rooted structural flaws in an Army that was only that in name and was badly fractured at that point in time for various reasons.

As for Diya, he is a different kettle of fish entirely.

ChiefJusticeFuc:
If the coward Ojukwu was anywhere outside the East , do you think he would have done any different ?

A scenario were the majority NCOs who are northerners had began a mutiny that snowballed to the arrest and summary execution of Ironsi and same NCOs only recognising the superiority and authority of northern officers only is what you expected a professional soldier like Ogundipe to foist himself over?

Talk is cheap
.
If Ojukwu was in Ogundipe's shoes he would have since fled from Lagos.

Now you have left the topic and my question. I thought you were ready to argue like a normal human but you're just another ediotic tribalist parading the internet. Have a good night biko.

Nonexisting1:
Now you have left the topic and my question. I thought you were ready to argue like a normal human but you're just another ediotic tribalist parading the internet. Have a good night biko.

Your attempt at projecting your crass tribalistic traits on me doesn't work on me.


The tribalism trope used by your zip Marxists is no different than the antisemitic trope used by your Jewish masters.

masterfactor:
IBB SHOULD GO AND REST, YOU CAN'T CHANGE HISTORY

You can't change the truth either.

lawani:
War broke out because Colonel Ojukwu did not agree with General Gowon's breakup of the East for Eastern minorities. He insisted on the Aburi accord. What kind of revisionist history is IBB propagating?. Since he has agreed to what he did to MKO, MKO's family should take him to court for damages. It is very necessary if nothing else is done as a fallout of the publication of his book.

my question is did gowon sign the documents and later renegade to the terms of the agreements in aburi?

ChiefJusticeFuc:
After it was an open secret that the Yoruba General who had emerged as the most senior officer following the execution of Ironsi had made it clear that he did not want to be HoS.

Ojukwu was simply challenging Gowon's emergence as HoS on the premise that he was not the most senior officer next in line.

Guess who Ojukwu wanted to replace Ironsi - himself.

In the absence of ogundipe ojukwu had recommended based on seniority, who is next line to take o er leadership ? Was it gowon ? Between gowon and ojukwu who is senior in the millitary as at then ?

ChiefJusticeFuc:
Ojukwu and ifeanjuna had no business being in the army in the first place.

Both of these men joined the army as graduates who were known to be actively engaged in Marxist çircles during their days in the university. Ojukwu was a card carrying member of the British Communist party in their Oxford branch. Ifeanjuna was a radical Marxist aligned to the Zikist movement at the university of Ibadan.

Both of these men chose a career path in the military to advance their Marxist takeover of the polity.

[b]Even Ironsi decried at one time that he 'asked for soldiers but they gave him graduate[/b]s".

Have you asked why the likes of ojukwu was still allowed to remain in the army and even converted to the officer cadre?

Who had the powers to ensure radical Zikists like. ifeanjuna became commissioned officers ?

The only person to have such sway over military recruitment was Azikiwe as President and HoS of the country.

David Ejoor spoke about these irregularities and came to the conclusion that the ibos led by Zik had planned from independence to take over the polity.

Yet another shameless lie to suit your stupid narrative.
Ironsi said 'i asked for soldiers, they gave me politicians' . He never mentioned graduates.

You ronu miscreants are bunch of hatefilled disgusting creatures

ChiefJusticeFuc:
Utter nonesense.

The Yoruba General had since said he wanted nothing to do with the army after barely escaping being assassinated by Ifeanjuna and co.

.
Did the General ask Ojukwu to fight for him?
.ojukwu wanted heirachy so that he and not Gowon will replace Ironsi.

So On what basis or criteria should gowon be head of state ahead of ojukwu ? Tell me you dirty ewedu munching ronu ? How can you be filled with soo much bitterness still after all these revelation? Is IBB suddenly an ipob ?

OMBIIGA:
In this context Ojukwu is wrong. You can dedict to those that came out victorious in a military putsch on who to lead them. In fact the putschist may choose to choose a Sergeant to lead them!!

Well, you can't call that a successful millitary putsch, if you didn't successfully capture Eastern Region. If they did, then ojukwu should have been locked up in the prison not opposing the putschist.

ChiefJusticeFuc:
Ogundipe should remain in an undisciplined army that had witnessed 2 coups in less than a year ?

If Ogundipe had assumed power , Ojukwu would have still go ahead to plot a coup against him.

If he had that intention, he wouldn't have asked ogundipe to declare himself the head of state. He would have been praying that ogundipe would quitely resign

ChiefJusticeFuc:
Ojukwu was lucky he wasnt in the north or western Nigeria of else he would've been one of the first to be eliminated.


From the day Gowon assumed power , Ojukwu's leg never stepped foot outside his yeast other than guaranteed safe visits to Abure , Ghana.

Clown, how many times did gowon visit Eastern region after ojukwu opposed him ?
Let's talk about ogundipe who ran away like a rabbit, when no one was chasing him. If ogundipe acted like a soldier and declared himself the head of state, against the declaration of young Northern soldiers, murtala and his boys would have faced a daunting task, trying to defeat Eastern Region, mid West and western region. All ojukwu was fighting for was for other regions to declare there state, in other to weaken the resolve of young northern soldiers. But he ran away like a rabbit. Awolowo also did something similar, instead of declaring the oduduwa republic when he left prison.
Today, you all are crying for regional govt. Even awolowo regretted fighting igbos to keep nigeria.
Hope you are proud of the Nigeria your forefathers fought for.

aswani:
Ogundipe could see the handwriting on the wall, why should he ascend a throne when bloodthirsty Ndi North officers were looking to kpai non-Northerners? Would Ojukwu had fed his family, look at how Obidients are minimising Fajuyi's sacrifice for Aguyi-Ironsi.

Also, people should remember that despite being the most senior person in the army, an ordinary sergeant of northern extraction had refused orders from him and blatantly told him he was only accepting orders from Northern officers. This was just about the start of the return match and the Army were trying to understand how to respond.

Immediately after things settled, he ran off to become a military Attache to the high commission in the UK and I believe refused to return to the country repeatedly.

Please Obidients, leave Ogundipe out of it.

The goal was to weaken the resolve of the young Northern soldiers. They cannot disobey your orders in your stronghold, which is your region. The least thing ogundipe could have done was to declare oduduwa republic, just like ojukwu did, if not for anything, but for the sake of his own people.
No sensible person would entrust the life of his people in the hands of blood thirsty, power hungry young Northern soldiers.
Just declare oduduwa, while ojukwu does the same. This move will weaken the resolve of the Northern soldiers. They would have abandoned the war and declared there own country

kettykin:
If a sergeant dares to defy a general and refuses to take orders, the problem isn’t with the sergeant—it’s with the general. The Nigerian military is not the first in the world, yet it grapples with deep-seated structural flaws.

Take Brigadier Ogundipe, for example. When tested, he crumbled—hiding under a bed in Ikeja, later pleading to be sent out of Nigeria. Years later, in 1996, history repeated itself with General Oladipo Diya. He, too, broke under pressure, reduced to a weeping man on his knees, begging a junior officer for mercy.

This isn’t about the Nigerian military as an institution. It’s about weak, unworthy men wearing stars on their shoulders—Generals by federal quota, not by merit.

Diya was a disgrace to Nigeria Army forces, I never failed to watch NTA 9 PM news just to see that man crying like a baby with that Army long sleeve sweater, I was living in ile -ife back then 😆🤣😃

Jlow2:
my question is did gowon sign the documents and later renegade to the terms of the agreements in aburi?

He knew the Eastern minorities wanted the states and that he could use that to weaken Colonel Ojukwu. He signed the agreement but when he returned home, the politicians advised him to renege on the agreement and he did which led to the war. In my opinion, Colonel Ojukwu should have accepted the state creation for peace to reign

Great0ne1:
So On what basis or criteria should gowon be head of state ahead of ojukwu ? Tell me you dirty ewedu munching ronu ? How can you be filled with soo much bitterness still after all these revelation? Is IBB suddenly an ipob ?

All hierarchy , discipline and adherence to constitutional and military hierarchy ended the day the pig Ironsi decided to assume power that he had no constitutional rights to.


Why did the NCNC led by Orizu demand for Ironsi to take over power when there was an existing line of anccendency to power with the deputy majority leader in the Federal House?


The most senior NPC member of Parliament was supposed to have been sworn in as the new PM but your Ibo MPs led by Orizu -without due consultation with their senior partners in the NPC that produced the PM- came out to demand Ironsi seize power.


The Jan 15 coup was an Ibo coup with Ibo politicians led by Zik orchestrating the whole events.

slowly and steadily, History is repeating itself.

Great0ne1:
The goal was to weaken the resolve of the young Northern soldiers. They cannot disobey your orders in your stronghold, which is your region. The least thing ogundipe could have done was to declare oduduwa republic, just like ojukwu did, if not for anything, but for the sake of his own people.
No sensible person would entrust the life of his people in the hands of blood thirsty, power hungry young Northern soldiers.
Just declare oduduwa, while ojukwu does the same. This move will weaken the resolve of the Northern soldiers. They would have abandoned the war and declared there own country

You should read up on Nigerian history. Awolowo said this when told similar, Western region was effectively under occupation.

Western Region was full of Northern soldiers (I believe from wetie) and they were armed to the teeth having been in control of the various armouries and killed Eastern soldiers en-masse.

How exactly can Ogundipe start declaring Odùduwà, something he hasn't discussed with anybody, Yoruba police, fellow Yoruba soldiers, Yoruba Traditional rulers or Yoruba politicians?

He would have been shot dead immediately without even a second thought and life would have carried on.

Ojukwu was lucky he had a good chunk of Eastern region soldiers in aligbo who were armed too.

Ogundipe did the right thing, he negotiated the day and I believe handed in his resignation straight after.

lawani:
He knew the Eastern minorities wanted the states and that he could use that to weaken Colonel Ojukwu. He signed the agreement but when he returned home, the politicians advised him to renege on the agreement and he did which led to the war. In my opinion, Colonel Ojukwu should have accepted the state creation for peace to reign

now do you agree with me that this singular act caused the war, and who told you the minorities wanted there state, just like the lies that the coup of 1966 was an Igbo coup, were was ojukwus second in command from, and could could he be on Biafra side and be second in command when there tribes were clamoring for states?

Jlow2:
now do you agree with me that this singular act caused the war, and who told you the minorities wanted there state, just like the lies that the coup of 1966 was an Igbo coup, were was ojukwus second in command from, and could could he be on Biafra side and be second in command when there tribes were clamoring for states?

Gowon had no right to agree on behalf of anybody really neither did Ojukwu and the Northern politicians directed Gowon to renege. Eastern minorities wanted states, maybe not all but some did. There was even a several days long insurrection led by Adaka Boro which was put down by Ironsi and Ojukwu

lawani:
Gowon had no right to agree on behalf of anybody really neither did Ojukwu and the Northern politicians directed Gowon to renege. Eastern minorities wanted states, maybe not all but some did. There was even a several days long insurrection led by Adaka Boro which was put down by Ironsi and Ojukwu

now let me tell you gowon and his aids only went for military trainings abroad andwere semi illiterates whom never had full understanding of what :confederation’. Meant , ojukwu a graduate of prestigious Oxford was armed with a few jotted notes on his hands at aburi , while gowon came with entourage of secretaries and aids without knowledge and signed on getting back to Nigeria a federal commissioner a Benin prince whom later became Oba read the documents and explained to gowon what the documents meant , i , the regions will control there resources and pay tax to the centre, and no decision can be taken by the centre which affect any region without full representation from the governor of that region. In the commissioner words Phuket have gotten what he wants, and turned to gown and sir these documents you signed at aburi will make the centre weak and at that point gowon turned his back on the aburi accord , created more sates from the eastern region , ojukwu in turn declared Biafra and the war became inevitable, no wonder gowon had to go back to school in London, after he was used and dumped by the core northern oligarchy’s and disgraced out of office when he was at the meeting of African Union at Uganda .