₦airaland Forum

sarrki:
Hmmm

Why blaming GMB of truncating democracy in 1983 ?

The route of Nigeria problem was that coup

agbangam:
If only those Igbo soldiers had killed Zik, Okpara, n Ironsi der won't have been any ethnic coloration to d whole matter. They left their own n murdered other tribe. Comm'on man.

pazienza:
1. Because they were already in prison, isn't that already punishment?
I think want you meant to ask was why he didn't hand them over to the The Northern military boys that were demanding for their head.
I'd I would ask you why wasn't Awolowo imprisoned in the North rather than Calabar?
The polity was hot then, you wouldn't expect Ironsi to take harsh decisions.
Why did Gowon refuse to punish( atleast imprison) the Northern military boys that went on over drive killing Igbo soldiers and inspired the killed of many Igbo civilians?

2. Orizu never had any say on that hand over. Ironsi was a military commander with troops at his beck and call, Orizu was a feeble civilian with no power whatsoever. Orizu had no option but to hand over to Ironsi, no sane man stands between a military man with guns and power, even Ogundipe that was next to command when Ironsi died relinquished power and ran away, yet he was a military. But demonic Igbophobic entities expected Orizu to defy Ironsi and hand over to Dipcharima, simply because Orizu was Igbo. Like we haven't seen even siblings kill each other for power.

3. Tell me, how many regions did Nigeria have at IronsI death? What was the post of Ejoor, Ojukwu, Hassan at the time of Ironsi death?


4. Igbos were adjudged the problem of Nigeria by all( excluding non) Nigerian group in 1970, decimating the power the Igbo wielded and handling it to Arewa( political power) and Odua( Economic and government parastatals) was supposed to be the cure of Nigeria malaise.
To this end, Awolowo ensured the Nigerian public and private sector came under full control of the Yorubas after the indigenization policy, the North held the power, Igbos were onlookers, sometimes getting the VP position.
Yet Yorubas through sheer incompetence killed all the foreign companies they inherited through the indigenization policy. The North through docile political orientation and subservience to imperialistic powers, allowed Nigeria to be f***d by imperialists, such that she never amounted to any thing tangible.

You both ruined Nigeria, accept it and move on.
Had you created a first world country, after you inherited Nigeria post civil war, we wouldn't be having this discussion here today.

pazienza:
And what irrefutable evidence have you provided to support your Igbo coup story?

Tell me why your Opinion should count?

Inukwa.

kingzizzy:
What about murtalas coup that killed only Easterners, why doesnt it have ethnic tag?

Dimkas coup was also like that. Why is it only the first coup that has ethnic tag?

agbangam:
Guy stop twisting facts, Muritalas coup was bloodless and he sacked his fellow Northern Man, Dimka killed his own fellow Northerner but our igbo brothers/soldiers wiped out important leaders from another section of d country without touching theirs. I guess u ve a conscience....

pazienza:
Fajuyi story had since been unravelled. See it here :https://www.nairaland.com/3838439/what-igbo-learn-yoruba-fulani/1

Ejoor is a not a brilliant man, his lies are too childish.

Ironsi was not part of Awolowo coup. He was a party pooper.

The North were still angry that Nzeogwu and his boys killed their leader, and were demanding their heads , Ironsi was still looking for how to appease them,
And you expect Fajuyi to start telling Ironsi about Awolowo release, same Awolowo the Northerners are still angry that he had the guts to try to usurp Balewa government? Do you know why Awolowo was imprisoned in the East rather than the North to start with?
Do you take Fajuyi for a fool? Of course he knew they must bid their time.

pazienza:
No one made Ironsi the head of state, Ironsi took power by force, stop twisting historical accounts.

Ironsi was the one who was naively too trusting of Northerners and he surrounded himself with too many of them, against Ojukwu better judgement, making his death at their hands rather too easy.

Well, written records had it that men like Fajuyi were among those pleading with Ironsi to free Nzeogwu and co. They were his boys and Fajuyi did lend them advice during the coup planning stage, moreover there were accounts of Ironsi reaching agreements with Nzeogwu and co to spare their lives in exchange to them handing over peacefully to Ironsi.
Either way, Nzeogwu and co were jailed.
Only Igbophobic entities read tribalism in Ironsi handling of the case, historical accounts from many sources proved otherwise.
I also noticed how you ignored Ademoyega involvement in the coup conveniently.


Ironsi met Nigeria as a country of 4 regions, with four premiers, by the time he died, Nigeria had 4 regions with 4 military governors of which Ojukwu was one of.
So pray tell how Ironsi dissolved Nigeria regional system?
It was Gowon with active support of Awolowo and men like Akenzua and Enahoro that dissolved the Nigerian regions and created dysfunctional entities called states.

No, the bloodshed started in the North in 1945, then 1953 and the SW in 1964.
It was the wild wild west caused by political immaturity and greed of Awolowo and Akintola that created the vacuum and turmoil that resulted to the Jan Nzeogwu coup.
Get your facts right.

Zik wanted one Nigeria and went on to diplomatically persuade the North and west to buy his concept, he also conceded power to the North to make prospects of one Nigeria palatable to them.
He wasn't threatening war on any who wanted out of Nigeria.
See the difference between Zik idea of one Nigeria and those of Arewa-Oduanistanis that is all about threats of war and zero diplomacy nor willingness to concede power to make the prospect of One Nigeria palatable to those who want out.

Nzeogwu actually was from present day SS, yes he was Igbo, but Fajuyi and Ademoyega were Yorubas.

Yes, Ironsi did centralize power, as is norm for all military dictators, but the regions were still intact, structurally by the time he died.
It was rather Awolowo and other Hawks like him, who maintained that Gowon should centralize power, encouraged the tampering of the territorial integrity of the regions by creation of states and standing firmly against Ojukwu demand for decentralization of power.

Awolowo and his fellow hawks, helped Gowon create the very failure that Nigeria is today. Accept your responsibility and deal with it. Cos either way, Ndiigbo won't share in this failure called Nigeria with you, Biafra we want, Biafra we will get.

The Nigerian unity Ndiigbo created was a progressive one, built on diplomacy and persuasion of component groups and not on threat of war and forceful union, and shedding of blood.

Nigeria is already reaping the fruits of the seed Awolowo and Gowon planted between 1967-70. The war and blood of Igbo they had to shed to keep the British colonial estate intact will always ensure that Ndiigbo will never ever come to accept unity with you lots, forever making Nigeria an unstable state.
The poor economic policies, Awolowo made immediate post 1970 had truly set Nigeria on a path of failure, and nothing can reverse that.
The Northern USA inherited a fragmented New country after the civil war, with the Southern USA weakened, the North went on to build a great nation that both the South and North are proud of today.
Arewa-Oduanistanis as represented by Gowon-Awolowo inherited a fragmented Nigeria, where the so called national problem( Igbos) had been politically and economically devastated, and still they( Arewa-Oduanistanis) driven by Igbophobia, incompetence and greed created a failed colonial entity that even they themselves are ashamed of today, but rather than accept responsibility for their failures are looking to push it to Igbos.

The earlier Arewa-Oduanistanis take responsiblity for Nigeria failure, the better for them and their failed colonial entity.

GuyfawkesAB:
You are still regurgitating on the same old lies your pained fathers told you.

I believe most of what Ejoor said.

Some quick facts. (I will send you links to the secret CIA amd MI6 files when I collate them)

1. Ojukwu had been planning a coup lobger before Nzeogwu and co struck. Gowon, Ejoor and others had turned him down at different times.

2. Ironsi didn't take power by force. Acting President Nwafor Oruzu was required by law to hand over power to Dipcharima who was forwarded by the ruling party to replace Balewa, instead he invited the army and handed power to Ironsi, knowing that would give the Igbos the power they wanted so much

3. It was evidently an Igbo Coup. Nnamdi was away on a Caribbean Cruise extending his holiday unnecessarily suggested strongly thahe was aware that a putsch was in the works by his people. His personal physician ran out of estacode due to the unusually long extension and returned home. Michael Opera and others were spared.

4. The planners had evidently succeeded in convincing the participants from other tribes ostensibly to remove corrupt leaders amd bring Chief Awolowo to take over. But deep down there was an agenda to overturn the northern leadership and enthroned southerners with the Igbos dominating.

4. Rather than court-martial the coup plotters amd sentence theM to death. Irons kept them in mostly in eastern prisons where it would be easy to let them off when the time came.
Meanwhile, Igbo civilians were already in a happy mood. Going as far as rejoicing in public in the north and Lagos over the death of northern leaders, boasting and beating their chests in pride.

5. It was clearly an Igbo putsch and attempt at domination. Ironsi appointed mostly Igbo officers to head all the military formations sending a strong message that they were taking over.

6. During the war, Biafra started the bombardment of civilian areas in Lagos, even when the Nigerian government was yet to constitute a standing airforce. When it was discovered that the few Igbos left in the west were still rejoicing and chest-beating on the presumed conquest of Lagos by Ojukwu's army, they were rounded up and deported to the east (including those ones that were planning to plant a bomb in the University of Ibadan)......


Thank God for confounding all their evil plans and putting them in derision. Awolowo amd Gowon was able to checkmate them with sound policies like currency change (they had carried out a loot of several Central Bank vaults and we're buying weapons to fight the war)
And we all are wiser now to put then in check.
We are not Igbo phobic, but we have enough common sense not to allow a particular group of persons put us all under their rule by hook and crook.

GuyfawkesAB:
You are still regurgitating on the same old lies your pained fathers told you.

I believe most of what Ejoor said.

Some quick facts. (I will send you links to the secret CIA amd MI6 files when I collate them)

1. Ojukwu had been planning a coup lobger before Nzeogwu and co struck. Gowon, Ejoor and others had turned him down at different times.

2. Ironsi didn't take power by force. Acting President Nwafor Oruzu was required by law to hand over power to Dipcharima who was forwarded by the ruling party to replace Balewa, instead he invited the army and handed power to Ironsi, knowing that would give the Igbos the power they wanted so much

3. It was evidently an Igbo Coup. Nnamdi was away on a Caribbean Cruise extending his holiday unnecessarily suggested strongly thahe was aware that a putsch was in the works by his people. His personal physician ran out of estacode due to the unusually long extension and returned home. Michael Opera and others were spared.

4. The planners had evidently succeeded in convincing the participants from other tribes ostensibly to remove corrupt leaders amd bring Chief Awolowo to take over. But deep down there was an agenda to overturn the northern leadership and enthroned southerners with the Igbos dominating.

4. Rather than court-martial the coup plotters amd sentence theM to death. Irons kept them in mostly in eastern prisons where it would be easy to let them off when the time came.
Meanwhile, Igbo civilians were already in a happy mood. Going as far as rejoicing in public in the north and Lagos over the death of northern leaders, boasting and beating their chests in pride.

5. It was clearly an Igbo putsch and attempt at domination. Ironsi appointed mostly Igbo officers to head all the military formations sending a strong message that they were taking over.

6. During the war, Biafra started the bombardment of civilian areas in Lagos, even when the Nigerian government was yet to constitute a standing airforce. When it was discovered that the few Igbos left in the west were still rejoicing and chest-beating on the presumed conquest of Lagos by Ojukwu's army, they were rounded up and deported to the east (including those ones that were planning to plant a bomb in the University of Ibadan)......


Thank God for confounding all their evil plans and putting them in derision. Awolowo amd Gowon was able to checkmate them with sound policies like currency change (they had carried out a loot of several Central Bank vaults and we're buying weapons to fight the war)
And we all are wiser now to put then in check.
We are not Igbo phobic, but we have enough common sense not to allow a particular group of persons put us all under their rule by hook and crook.

pazienza:
1. If Ojukwu was planning for an Igbo coup, common sense dictates that he wouldn't involve Igbo phobic non Igbos like Ejoor and Gowon, don't you think so?


2. Gowon didn't take power by force, military protocol of seniority required Ogundipe took over from Ironsi, why didn't Ogundipe do that, why did he flee.
If you be sincere, then answer to the above question would explain to you why Orizu handed over to Ironsi.
Already, you fellow Spin doctors and harbingers of Igbophobic propaganda had already spinned one of your many " facts" where Orizu was asked to hand over to Ironsi by a government council, now you have come up with your own "fact", you lots just can't keep record of your lies to avoid conflicting accounts.

3. It was evidently a Yoruba coup, ( Awolowo coup), at least until Ironsi foiled it. Fajuyi groomed Nzeogwu and co for the coup, Awolowo main political opponents all died in the coup, and the coup plotters had plans of enthroning Awolowo.

4. Fajuyi was amongst those who kept pleading on behalf of Nzeogwu and co before Ironsi, to spare them.
They were kept in Eastern prison rather than Northern prison for the same reason Awolowo was kept in Eastern region prison, Eastern region was the most peaceful and stable region in the country in that era.

The entire Nigerian country rejoiced when the news of the coup filtered in firstly, it's demonic from Yoruba press narrowing down the national Euphoria down to just Ndiigbo.
The Ewu Na ebe akwa and bread propaganda demonic SW press had been propagating had all proved to be lies and mere fabrication, you lots should fear God.

5. Igbo officers dominated the military Corp as of the period in discuss, It's only normal that without quota system, they were always going to dominate proceedings, the regional military administors were all indigenous, but however, Ironsi surrounded himself with Northerners to prove his sincerity to them, his ADC, security Chief, etc were all Northerners, wrong move on his part. If Ironsi was a bit Tribalistic, he would have survived, his desire to prove his non detribalized nature played into the hands of his killers.

6. This is a blatant lie, and you have no facts to prove it. Biafra never started hostilities on Nigerian soil until Nigeria invaded Biafra at Gakem border.


Thank God that Awolowo and Gowon had proven their incompetence to the whole world. Igbos are the problem of Nigeria, Yoruba and Arewa tribalists shouted in the 60s, yet when the mantle of political ( the North), and Economic / Bureaucracy ( Yoruba) leadership fell on Arewa and Odua.
Awolowo through his greed Instituted the indigenization policy, handed the private and public sectors to Yorubas, which through sheer incompetence, they ran to the ground, killing the Nigerian economy,as they couldn't nurture any of those companies into world class ones capable of employing Nigerians, Awolowo poor economic models that formed the basis of Gowon economic agenda killed Nigeria.
Gowon and his successive Northern rulers, subservient nature to imperialists that helped them win the war, ensured that Nigeria was crippled by them and wicked exploitative policies from sharks like IMF and co forced down Nigeria throat.

We are all witness to the failure Arewa-0duanistanis had turned Nigeria into, and we had refused to be part of that failure.

Dumaknesset:
Awolowo Coup, this is the funniest things ever. Okay create a thread for it and let see you go on self destruct on the remainder of your self esteem . Awo coup!, will continue to laff all day.

GuyfawkesAB:
In July 2000, at a public book launching ceremony in Nigeria, Chief Richard Akinjide stated: “Talking on the first coup, when Balewa got missing, we knew Okotie-Eboh had been held, we knew Akintola had been killed. We, the members of the Balewa cabinet started meeting. But how can you have a cabinet meeting without the Prime Minister acting or Prime Minister presiding. So, unanimously, we nominated acting Prime Minister amongst us. Then we continued holding our meetings. Then we got a message that we should all assemble at the Cabinet office. All the Ministers were requested by the G.O.C. of the Nigerian Army, General Ironsi to assemble. What was amazing at that time was that Ironsi was going all over Lagos unarmed. We assembled there. Having nominated Zanna Diphcharima as our acting Prime Minister in the absence of the Prime Minister, whose whereabouts we didn’t know, we approached the acting President, Nwafor Orizu to swear him in because he cannot legitimately act as the Prime Minister except he is sworn- in. Nwafor Orizu refused. He said he needed to contact Zik who was then in West Indies.
Under the law, that is, the Interpretation Act, as acting President, Nwazor Orizu had all the powers of the President. The GOC said he wanted to see all the cabinet ministers. And so we assembled at the cabinet office. Well, I have read in many books saying that we handed over to the military. We did not handover.
Ironsi told us that “you either hand over as gentlemen or you handover by force.” Those were his words. Is that voluntary hand-over? So we did not handover. We wanted an Acting Prime Minister to be in place but Ironsi forced us, and I use the word force advisedly, to handover to him. He was controlling the soldiers. The acting President, Nwafor Orizu, who did not cooperate with us, cooperated with the GOC. Dr. Orizu and the GOC prepared speeches which Nwafor Orizu broadcast handing over the government of the country to the army. I here state again categorically as a member of that cabinet that we did not hand-over voluntarily. It was a coup. ”


Corroborating Akinjide’s account, according to Shehu Shagari, in his Book “Beckoned to Serve,” said “…At about 7.00 am, I returned to Dipcharima’s residence to meet with some NPC ministers who had gathered there. Dipcharima was then the most senior NPC minister available. We received the latest reports on the situation, first from Alhaji Maitama Sule, Minister of Mines and Power, who had visited the PM’s residence by bicycle! We then heard from Alhaji Ibrahim Tako Galadima, the acting Minister of Defence, who had brought along with him Chief Fani-Kayode.
“Chief Fani-Kayode said he had been fetched from Ibadan early that morning by rebels and locked up at the Federal Guard Officers Mess in Dodan Barracks, where the mutineers initially made their headquarters. Disguised in army uniform, loyal troops handed him over to Alhaji Galadima, who had called in at the barracks, which was a stone’s throw of his residence…The acting Minister of Defense assured us that Major-General Ironsi was doing his best to arrest the situation.
“Maitama Sule and I were separately detailed to explore with our absent NPC and NCNC colleagues the possibility of naming someone to stand in for the PM. I was consulting with NCNC ministers at Dr. Mbadiwe’s residence when we heard that the Northern and Western premiers, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Akintola respectively, had been assassinated. Hence I rushed back to Dipcharima’s residence, where I found my colleagues in a state of shock and desperation.
“However, we decided to recognize Dipcharima, a Kanuri from Bornu, as our interim leader; and to ask the acting President, Dr. Orizu (President Azikiwe was away on leave), to appoint Dipcharima acting Prime Minister. We also summoned Major General Ironsi and gave him full authority to use every force at his disposal to suppress the rebellion. He moved his headquarters temporarily to the police headquarters at Moloney Street to facilitate easy communication with army units in the regions.
“While at Dipcharima’s residence, we contacted the British High Commission and requested for military assistance in the event that our loyal troops should require any. The response was positive, but the British insisted that the request must be written by the PM; or, in his absence, by a properly appointed deputy. We, therefore, drove to the residence of Dr. Orizu, and requested him to appoint Dipcharima acting prime minister. Dr. Orizu requested to see our NCNC colleagues to confirm whether they supported our proposition, and they joined us soon afterwards. They had apparently been caucusing at Dr. Mbadiwe’s residence. He (Mbadiwe) was their choice of acting Prime Minister. This was naturally unacceptable to us since the NPC was the major governing party.
“While we were at Orizu’s residence, Major-General Ironsi, who had seemingly secured Lagos, came in with some armed escorts. He requested for a tete-a-tete with Orizu. The two had a 40 minutes discussion in another room, while we waited anxiously in the sitting room, with the armed soldiers standing and staring at us. When Major-General Ironsi finally emerged, he talked to Dipcharima sotto voce; and then drove off with his troops. Dr. Orizu then joined us, regretted his inability in the circumstances to oblige our request. He suggested we all return to our homes and wait until we were required. All efforts to get any clarification failed, and we left in utter desperation.
“I was about to break the Ramadan fast on Sunday January 16, when all ministers were asked to report to the Cabinet Office at 6.30 pm. The whole premises was surrounded by soldiers in battle order that some of us initially hesitated to enter. In the Cabinet chamber were Major General Ironsi, Bukar Dipcharima and Ibrahim Tako Galadima. There were no officials present.
“Major General Ironsi admitted to us that he had been unable to suppress the rebellion, which he said was getting out of hand. He stated that the mutineers were in control of Kaduna, Kano and Ibadan, and had killed two regional premiers, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Akintola. They had also murdered a number of his best officers, including Brigadiers Maimalari and Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun, the Commander 1st Brigade Headquarters in Kaduna. Ironsi was full of emotion and even shed some tears. When we asked him about the whereabouts of Sir Abubakar and Chief Okotie-Eboh, he said he still did not know but averred efforts were being made to locate them. At this stage Mbadiwe broke down and kept crying: ‘Please where is the Prime Minister?’
“When we reminded Major-General Ironsi if he needed to avail himself of the British pledge of assistance, he replied it was too late as the army was pressing him to assume power. Indeed, he confessed his personal reluctance to take over because of his ignorance of government; but insisted the boys were adamant and anxiously waiting outside. He advised it would be in our interest, and that of the country, to temporarily cede power to him to avert disaster. Accordingly, we acceded to his request since we had no better alternative. Ironsi then insisted that the understanding be written.
“Surprisingly, there was no stationery to write the agreement; and all the offices were locked while no official was around. Alhaji AGF Abdulrazaq the Minister of State for the Railways (former NPC legal adviser), managed to secure a scrap paper on which he drafted a statement, which we endorsed. That was the so-called voluntary handover of power by the Balewa Government to Major General Ironsi! It was agreed that the statement would be typed and Dipcharima would sign it on our behalf. We were then advised to return home and await further instructions. I only got to break my Ramadan fast around 9:30 pm.
“Later at 11.50 pm, Dr. Orizu made a terse nationwide broadcast, announcing the cabinet’s voluntary decision to transfer power to the armed forces. Major General Ironsi then made his own broadcast, accepting the ‘invitation’. He suspended certain parts of the constitution; set up a national military government, with the office of military governors in each region; and briefly outlined the policy intentions of his regime. Nigeria’s first democratic experiment was effectively over. And although the mutiny had by then practically collapsed, military rule had arrived. It was a fact.
“The following morning, January 17, Alhaji Kam Salem, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (then also doubling for the Inspector-General, Mr. Louis Orok Edet, while on vacation), called at my residence to confide that both the PM and Chief Okotie-Eboh had been confirmed killed. He then hinted that Major General Ironsi was still negotiating with the rebels in Kaduna, led by Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu.”
Then Lt. Col. (later General) Gowon, who was not physically present when the rump cabinet was handing over, says he was later told by Ironsi and other officers (who were outside the cabinet office chambers, and thus did not themselves witness the event) that it was voluntary. He recalls asking three separate times to be certain, but now says that had he known it was not, he would have acted differently on that day as the Commander of the 2nd Battalion at Ikeja which supported Ironsi in putting down the Ifeajuna-Nzeogwu revolt.
The substantive President, Nnamdi Azikiwe, also of eastern origin, had left the country in late 1965 first for Europe, then on a health cruise to the Caribbean, after allegedly being tipped off by his cousin, Major Ifeajuna, one of the masterminds of the coup and, some say, overall leader. Interestingly, (assuming reports that he had foreknowledge are true) Azikiwe did not notify his alliance partner, the Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, with whom he had clashed over control of the armed forces during the Constitutional crisis of January 1965, following the controversial December 1964 federal elections.
In fact President Azikiwe’s personal physician, Dr. Humphrey Idemudia Idehen, abandoned him abroad when he got tired of the “health trip”, having run out of his personal estacode allowance, unaware that there may have been a good reason why Azikiwe did not want to return to Nigeria, after their original planned return date in December 1965 passed. Not even the Commonwealth Leaders’ Conference hosted for the first time by the country in early January was incentive enough for the President to return, for obvious reasons of protocol. However, after the coup, in a statement to the Press in England on January 16, among other things, Azikiwe did not condemn the coup per se, but said: “Violence has never been an instrument used by us, as founding fathers of the Nigerian Republic, to solve political problems…I consider it most unfortunate that our ‘Young Turks’ decided to introduce the element of violent revolution into Nigerian politics. No matter how they and our general public might have been provoked by obstinate and perhaps grasping politicians, it is an unwise policy…As far as I am concerned; I regard the killings of our political and military leaders as a national calamity….”

seanet01:
May your days be long and prosperous.
God Almighty will bless you.
Please can I get some of the CIA files you talked about?

pazienza:
And how exactly is the above piece of trash supposed to be a rebuttal to the issues I raised?

Choke on the truth :
By the way, the 1966 coup was an Awolowo( Yoruba) masterminded coup and here is why:

1. Fajuyi, a Yoruba, was a mentor to the likes of Nzeogwu and not only supported their coup, but also made inputs on how they should go about it. This was why he was marked for death by the counter coup northern junta. To conceal this and sell their Igbo coup propaganda, the Yoruba print media launched the falsehood of Fajuyi begging for IronsI life being the reason for his death, but we know better.

2. Up until 1967, Awolowo was the only Nigerian who had once plotted to usurp a seating government, ala civilian coup, he had antecedents. He would also attempt a second civilian coup later against IBB which culminated to his death.

3. The coup plotters listed Awolowo as the man they had in mind to install as the president should the coup have been successful.

4. The coup plotters carefully eliminated Awolowo main rival, Akintola, who had already emasculated Awolowo and rendered him powerless in Yorubaland, alongside his accomplices in Saraduna and Balewa. This was needed to create a vacancy that Awolowo could fill right after the coup.

It's as simple as it is, without the coup plotters striking and eliminating Akintola, Balewa and Saraduna, Awo would have rot in prison and if he managed to come out, would have seen Akintola completely consolidate on his powers in Yorubaland with active help of Balewa and Saraduna.
The rate Akintola was spreading his wings in SW, with active connivance of Balewa and Saraduna, Awo knew that he had to get out of prison as fast as possible or slip into political oblivion forever.
The Biggest winner from the coup was Awolowo, co incidence?
I don't think so.

GuyfawkesAB:
I don't need to answer to concocted hypothesis and assumptions that your people keep peddling around.

The only fact I wanted you to know is that all the events pre and post independence up to the Civil war has strong evidences of an attempt by Igbos to grab power and dominate by all means. They could have formed an alliance with AG at the Parliament to forestall northern domination,
but they must have thought that it will be easy to usurp the Hausa/Fulani partners rather than the politically sagacious SW (alluding to Ejoor's citing that they had been planning a coup from Independence day).

Orizu clearly played into the plan. Ironsi took the opportunity. Ojukwu was also scheming. Azikiwe feigned ignorance... all this while the SW and North (though initially rejoicing that corrupt leaders were taken out) came into a realization that they were the ones who have been shortchanged.

It was this same desire that materialized in different coup attempt by Igbo Officers (Ojukwu, Ifeajuna, Okafor, Nzeogwu, Onwuamatuegwu) and their corrupted Yoruba and Tiv collaborators.

I won't be surprised if it was global agreement by all Igbo politicians and military officers to seek for any way possible to grab power. The active participation of the officers, knowledge of the coup by Azikiwe and a host of others whose lives were spared, and the teeming civil leaders who seemed happy that their people were now in power (until the Hausa/Fulani Tiger came roaring)

I hope Igbos will realize that ruling Nigeria again would only be possible when they have accepted to respect other tribes and not regard others as lesser to themselves-
The Northerners- illiterates and dirty beggars,
The Yorubas, local, dirty and betrayers,
Niger Deltans, Lazy and purposeless
Osus, Slaves and not worth relating with
Ebonyis, lesser Igbos...


I'm done with you bro

pazienza:
See, we are not one people, we can't agree on basic things as politics and history.

Your hero( Awolowo) is my villain who starved millions of my people.
Your nationalists, are
1, Gowon, a man who sanctioned bombing of market places full of women in Biafra, that my mother barely escaped, at a time your own mother was probably in school in Yorubaland enjoying life, mine was running around the Bush and shrubs of Idemili, trying to escape being bombed by Gowon Egyptian mercenaries that were air rading my homeland.

2. Mutala Muhammad, a man who massacred thousands of my people in Asaba, but yet the gateway to Nigeria is named after him, and I see him on naira currency everyday, he is revered by Nigerians, an indirect way of praising him for his acts in murdering my people. Yes, you justify his act by hiding behind Nzeogwu actions.

Surely, you don't expect my outlook towards Nigeria and yours to be same.

We are entirely different people. Nothing will ever change about that. This union will never work.

Dumaknesset:
Awolowo Coup, this is the funniest things ever. Okay create a thread for it and let see you go on self destruct on the remainder of your self esteem . Awo coup!, will continue to laff all day.

rosebowl01:
Wanna compare the ethnicity of the officers and politicians that were killed, and the ones that "miraculously" escaped?
Can you tell us the ethnicity of the people that executed these non-ibo officers?

You are correct, it's not ibo coup, it is marijuana coup.

agbangam:
Guy stop twisting facts, Muritalas coup was bloodless and he sacked his fellow Northern Man, Dimka killed his own fellow Northerner but our igbo brothers/soldiers wiped out important leaders from another section of d country without touching theirs. I guess u ve a conscience....

laudate:
Oh, you find that one funny? There are far more funnier things I have read on this thread. They say Fajuyi groomed Nzeogwu and his boys for the first military coup, and supported them by making inputs into their plan. Shey, you can see these tales by moonlight! People just weave strange stories without substance, or proof. If Fajuyi made inputs into the 1st coup plan, why didn't he expect that he would be killed by the northern coupists during the 2nd coup? And most importantly, why did he wait to be killed? Why was he hanging around after Nzeogwu and co had been arrested & debriefed? When he is supposed to have had adequate information about it, and could have plotted an escape before d-day, just like Zik did prior to the 1st coup?


Take yah time, o! Una wan take laugh kill person for here?

pazienza:
Jellyfish'
So Igbos want to plot an Igob coup to dominate the rest of Nigeria ie the North and the West.
And their prime targets to help plot this coup happened to be 1, Gowon( A northerner) 2. Ejoor( An Igbophobic non Igbo) 3. Ademoyega( A Yoruba man).

Does the above make sense to you?

Can't you see how retarded Ejoor sounds. Goddamit! Where is your brain?

pazienza:
No one made Ironsi the head of state, Ironsi took power by force, stop twisting historical accounts.

Ironsi was the one who was naively too trusting of Northerners and he surrounded himself with too many of them, against Ojukwu better judgement, making his death at their hands rather too easy.

Well, written records had it that men like Fajuyi were among those pleading with Ironsi to free Nzeogwu and co. They were his boys and Fajuyi did lend them advice during the coup planning stage, moreover there were accounts of Ironsi reaching agreements with Nzeogwu and co to spare their lives in exchange to them handing over peacefully to Ironsi.
Either way, Nzeogwu and co were jailed.
Only Igbophobic entities read tribalism in Ironsi handling of the case, historical accounts from many sources proved otherwise.
I also noticed how you ignored Ademoyega involvement in the coup conveniently.


Ironsi met Nigeria as a country of 4 regions, with four premiers, by the time he died, Nigeria had 4 regions with 4 military governors of which Ojukwu was one of.
So pray tell how Ironsi dissolved Nigeria regional system?
It was Gowon with active support of Awolowo and men like Akenzua and Enahoro that dissolved the Nigerian regions and created dysfunctional entities called states.

No, the bloodshed started in the North in 1945, then 1953 and the SW in 1964.
It was the wild wild west caused by political immaturity and greed of Awolowo and Akintola that created the vacuum and turmoil that resulted to the Jan Nzeogwu coup.
Get your facts right.

Zik wanted one Nigeria and went on to diplomatically persuade the North and west to buy his concept, he also conceded power to the North to make prospects of one Nigeria palatable to them.
He wasn't threatening war on any who wanted out of Nigeria.
See the difference between Zik idea of one Nigeria and those of Arewa-Oduanistanis that is all about threats of war and zero diplomacy nor willingness to concede power to make the prospect of One Nigeria palatable to those who want out.

Nzeogwu actually was from present day SS, yes he was Igbo, but Fajuyi and Ademoyega were Yorubas.

Yes, Ironsi did centralize power, as is norm for all military dictators, but the regions were still intact, structurally by the time he died.
It was rather Awolowo and other Hawks like him, who maintained that Gowon should centralize power, encouraged the tampering of the territorial integrity of the regions by creation of states and standing firmly against Ojukwu demand for decentralization of power.

Awolowo and his fellow hawks, helped Gowon create the very failure that Nigeria is today. Accept your responsibility and deal with it. Cos either way, Ndiigbo won't share in this failure called Nigeria with you, Biafra we want, Biafra we will get.

The Nigerian unity Ndiigbo created was a progressive one, built on diplomacy and persuasion of component groups and not on threat of war and forceful union, and shedding of blood.

Nigeria is already reaping the fruits of the seed Awolowo and Gowon planted between 1967-70. The war and blood of Igbo they had to shed to keep the British colonial estate intact will always ensure that Ndiigbo will never ever come to accept unity with you lots, forever making Nigeria an unstable state.
The poor economic policies, Awolowo made immediate post 1970 had truly set Nigeria on a path of failure, and nothing can reverse that.
The Northern USA inherited a fragmented New country after the civil war, with the Southern USA weakened, the North went on to build a great nation that both the South and North are proud of today.
Arewa-Oduanistanis as represented by Gowon-Awolowo inherited a fragmented Nigeria, where the so called national problem( Igbos) had been politically and economically devastated, and still they( Arewa-Oduanistanis) driven by Igbophobia, incompetence and greed created a failed colonial entity that even they themselves are ashamed of today, but rather than accept responsibility for their failures are looking to push it to Igbos.

The earlier Arewa-Oduanistanis take responsiblity for Nigeria failure, the better for them and their failed colonial entity.

Diademk07:
Lmao..

Don't divert this with your manipulation, the people who were killed were Ahmadu Bello, Balewa, Akintola and one Urhobo leader while none of ibo leaders were killed. In fact, Zik was out of the country at the time. These are facts, not the stupid fiction you often imagine.

GuyfawkesAB:
I don't need to answer to concocted hypothesis and assumptions that your people keep peddling around.

The only fact I wanted you to know is that all the events pre and post independence up to the Civil war has strong evidences of an attempt by Igbos to grab power and dominate by all means. They could have formed an alliance with AG at the Parliament to forestall northern domination,
but they must have thought that it will be easy to usurp the Hausa/Fulani partners rather than the politically sagacious SW (alluding to Ejoor's citing that they had been planning a coup from Independence day).

Orizu clearly played into the plan. Ironsi took the opportunity. Ojukwu was also scheming. Azikiwe feigned ignorance... all this while the SW and North (though initially rejoicing that corrupt leaders were taken out) came into a realization that they were the ones who have been shortchanged.

It was this same desire that materialized in different coup attempt by Igbo Officers (Ojukwu, Ifeajuna, Okafor, Nzeogwu, Onwuamatuegwu) and their corrupted Yoruba and Tiv collaborators.

I won't be surprised if it was global agreement by all Igbo politicians and military officers to seek for any way possible to grab power. The active participation of the officers, knowledge of the coup by Azikiwe and a host of others whose lives were spared, and the teeming civil leaders who seemed happy that their people were now in power (until the Hausa/Fulani Tiger came roaring)

I hope Igbos will realize that ruling Nigeria again would only be possible when they have accepted to respect other tribes and not regard others as lesser to themselves-
The Northerners- illiterates and dirty beggars,
The Yorubas, local, dirty and betrayers,
Niger Deltans, Lazy and purposeless
Osus, Slaves and not worth relating with
Ebonyis, lesser Igbos...

I'm done with you bro

Diademk07:
Lmao! Just look at the manipulation being displayed again.

What's ibo stupid business if the southwest was having unrest in the 40/50's? How is their business? Oops, it's the SW and North region leaders that needed to be flushed out for a "regionalised" Nigeria to become better while the Eastern counterpart can do no wrong, right?

The fact that Ironsi immediately truncated our regionalsim already laid credence to the claims of him being part of the coup plotters who chose the convenience of killing leaders of regions that has no business with their regions! Not to mention the fact that the greedy Zik has always dreamt of ruling over a united Nigeria. Do have to remind you that Zik travelled abroad during the coup plot, yet ibos wants us to believe he didn't know about the coup nor was informed? Even his doctor was surprised as to why he had to travel for treatment because he was sound and healthy, the doctor eventually had to return while Zik continued to stay abroad!

What else can explain the action of Ironsi truncating our true federalism if not for Zik's idea, considering the fact that his men (Ifeaajuna and Nzeogwu) already interfered in the affairs of region that aint theirs in the first place? The fact is the beautiful harlot, Zik and Ironsi wanted to rule over a united Nigeria and were part of the coup which was an Ibo coup! That's the truth.

That said, I can also see the manipulation at play once again with your lies about the Northerner not having to hand down to Ironsi but that Ironsi deserved to take over. It's in the genes after all, I mean the self entitled attitude of the ibos who would then cry foul and play the victim when things don't go their way has always been in the gene from time memorial and you're displaying it once again. Hence, let me ask why your lots cried foul when the same North chose to oust that same Ironsi whom your lots think got the power without the North help? Or are you saying the same North who chose not to fight and turn Nigeria into a mess, considering their leaders had just died but chose to hand over to Ironsi while you manipulative beings confused their charity to mean nothing but a title Ironsi already deserved, suddenly realised their foolery and decided to behead Ironsi and turned Nigeria into a mess? LOL!

Let me remind you that these were things they could have done at the beginning, rather they chose to hand over the power to Ironsi with the belief that Ironsi will bring the coup plotters to justice but the selfish man of the east did otherwise but instead he enabled his stupid Ibo men in the North to keep mocking the North who were still mourning the death of their leaders killed by the Ibos!.

I will keep saying it that until Ibo come up with the whole truth, they will keep meeting their waterloo, it's not a curse but a karma because God isn't a sentimental nor emotional being but a true just God who's all about the truth!

FirstCounsel:
Ejoors account is very weird and different from all other accounts and memoir's I have read.

SonofDevil:
who need narrative here when it is obvious igbos pull the triggers first on others

Kaduna nzeogwu killed ahmadu bello

Ifeajuna Killed Tafa balewa

Nwaobosi killed. SL akintola

You igbos murdered prime minister ,northern and western leaders because of your greed and quest to rule ,igbos will continue to pay for their sins till Jesus come back

intruxive:
What we see been exhibited today is not a new igbo trend, it has always been in their genes and character to try and dominate others by hook or crook.
Now this is a life testimony of one of the major characters in the coup and he tells it exactly as it is from the points he was in.
Same deceptive characters, try to force others to give them what they hv not achieved, like kanu like ironsi, like ojukwu, like azikiwe.
Trust them at ur own peril