₦airaland Forum

5thElement:
Not Igbo. Either Urhobo or one of the other minority tribes in the South south.

5thElement:
Nice try. But wrong. He was killed for not cooperating with the dissident officers and not because of his ethnicity. Try again.

And maybe while you are it you can tell us why Nnamdi Azikiwe was warned to flee and Michael Okpara, the Eastern region Premier was detained instead of killed like his counterparts in the North and West.

hausadreturn:
I know...
But what difference does it make?
The post said that the part he came from was all part of the South East before it was divided.

I'm just maintaining a simple energy.

diadem10:
Oboh Etie was part of the then Midwest, not eastern.

hausadreturn:
I know that Eboh was from Edo.
But as at 1966, was Edo part of the mid-west?

5thElement:
Nice try. But wrong. He was killed for not cooperating with the dissident officers and not because of his ethnicity. Try again.

And maybe while you are it you can tell us why Nnamdi Azikiwe was warned to flee and Michael Okpara, the Eastern region Premier was detained instead of killed like his counterparts in the North and West.

FortuneDeGreat:
Non of the victims were killed because of their ethnic background, it was purely a military affair, and those who happened to escape the mayhem were merely lucky and by divine providence.

Those young officers were dissatisfied with what was going on in the political corridor and had to unleash the hit.

If it was premeditated and planned to be an Igbo agenda why then didn't Lt Col Unegbu being an Igbo officer failed or refused to comply.

Wisdom is a principal thing, in all your getting acquire wisdom.

Have the mind of yourself and refrain from following erring multitude.

Reasoning is a simple word but has lots of intuitive attachment. My son reason and stop being a fool.

5thElement:
You are the m.oron here. You want to drag this into the gutter, I'd be glad to oblige you.

So for your mind you have gotten wisdom, Mr Fortunedegreat? Whoever sold the wisdom to you scammed you. Better ask for a refund.

So if it was planned or premeditated, an Igbo officer who was loyal to his country couldn't have resisted?

See how much wisdom (or lack of it) you've got.

If you don't have anymore reasonable points to raise I'd advise you move along.

And i don't know who you are referring to as your son. I think you must be high on super glue or something. Iranu.

I'll go to town on you the next time you quote me, "granpa".

FortuneDeGreat:
[s]Your likes are just good for the trash, you've enjoyed the privilege of my attention enough.
It stops henceforth, I've got lots of important stuffs to attend to.
Wasting my time with a dust filled skull won't change the zebra's color.
It's a mere waste of time trying to get an incorrigible buffoon to reason aright.
It's way beyond his nature to reason objectively devoid of biased compromise.


YOUR CASE IS BEYOND ME, CHECK THE PSYCHIATRIC [/s]

FortuneDeGreat:
Non of the victims were killed because of their ethnic background, it was purely a military affair, and those who happened to escape the mayhem were merely lucky and by divine providence.

Those young officers were dissatisfied with what was going on in the political corridor and had to unleash the hit.

If it was premeditated and planned to be an Igbo agenda why then didn't Lt Col Unegbu being an Igbo officer failed or refused to comply.

Wisdom is a principal thing, in all your getting acquire wisdom.

Have the mind of yourself and refrain from following erring multitude.

Reasoning is a simple word but has lots of intuitive attachment. My son reason and stop being a fool.

franchasng:
I am Igbo and I agree with this thread.

Some stupid Igbo soldiers and political elites, especially Nnamdi Azikiwe and Aguiyi Ironsi made some huge mistakes in the 1960s that cost Igbos their precious positions in the Nigerian national politics.

I agree with op on that.


But nevertheless, igbos remain the most formidable and successful single tribe in Nigeria and nobody can challenge that, its from God

T051N:
Where are the moderators of this platform, is nairalands objective to promote tribalistic confrontation? What sort of topic is this?

What rules guided the Military in governing the country after the suspension of the constitution?

Renowned professor of constitutional law, Professor Ben Nwabueze was the man who drafted the constitution that took away powers from regions and handed it to the central government to help Aguiyi-Ironsi consolidate the powers of the regions.

It is surprising today, that Professor is shouting regional and fiscal restructuring, a system of governance that he helped to destroy with the Unitary system he drafted and was promulgated into law in 1966 to aid his kinsman consolidate power.

According to Enahoro, such provision in our constitution would instill in all Nigeria's future leaders the fear of the consequences of mis-governance. At the start of the 1954 London Constitution Conference Chief Obafemi Awolowo tabled a motion to the effect that this secession clause be inserted and over a full day debate, Awolowo drove home his points referencing the Soviet
Union and Western Australia. In responding, Dr Azikiwe made his points using the expression “the indivisibility and perpetuity of the Federation” with references to United States.

At a later date, Awolowo too made a case for secession clause, but Azikiwe again resisted him and instigated the colonial authorities to threaten him and Enahoro with charges of treasonable felony if they did not stop proposing secession clause for the future.

Before independence, Tafawa Balewa too had in a public speech described Nigeria as a British experiment and Nigeria's unity as a British intention which Nigerians themselves don't believe in. But Azikiwe kicked and demonized him too. Had Azikiwe supported the motion with Enahoro, Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa about the spirit of allowing a secession clause to be enshrined in our constitution, perhaps, Nigerian leaders would have known the checks and balances
that ensured fair play for all ethnic groupsin the amalgamation.

Instead, he played into the hands of the British Colonial Masters who took advantage of this difference and supported Azikiwe’s position therefore forever enshrining the clause of “indivisibility and perpetuity of the Federation” in our constitution.

There are no records documenting the disaffection of other South East members, present at parliament and Constitutional conference in which Azikiwe opposed Awolowo's secession clause motion, against Azikiwe’s position.

Claim 3

The South East and Igbos at large are being stopped from seceding because they have a smaller mass of land and population.

Igbos initially never wanted to hear anything like secession in Nigeria believing that they had the most educated crop of civil service, teachers, soldiers and professionals and this fuelled the thoughts of their elites hence their initial resistance to the idea of secession as indicated in their quotes:

"From all indications, the god of us Igbos have destined us to rule the whole of
Africa"..... Nnamdi Azikiwe (1945).

"It is getting clearer each day that Igbo domination of Nigeria is just a question of
time"... Oscar Onyeama. (1949)

In 1948, Anthony Enahoro organized an anti-colonization symposium in Lagos for which Dr. Azikiwe was to deliver the keynote address. When the D-day came, Azikiwe failed to show up. Anthony Enahoro then quickly replaced Azikiwe with another person who did the impromptu job perfectly well as he lambasted and lampooned the British Colonial Government.

However, the British soldiers invaded the symposium venue, arrested the speaker and Enahoro and jailed them for treasonable felony. Ironically, the next day Azikiwe came out of hiding and granted a radio interview where he accused Enahoro and the other organizers of suffering from youthful exuberance.

cute9ja:
The Fact 1.2

What rules guided the Military in governing the country after the suspension of the constitution?

Renowned professor of constitutional law, Professor Ben Nwabueze was the man who drafted the constitution that took away powers from regions and handed it to the central government to help Aguiyi-Ironsi consolidate the powers of the regions.

It is surprising today, that Professor is shouting regional and fiscal restructuring, a system of governance that he helped to destroy with the Unitary system he drafted and was promulgated into law in 1966 to aid his kinsman consolidate power.

Claim 2

Igbos Were Made Third Class Citizens in Nigeria by the active collusion of Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba & British Colonial Government since the amalgamation of Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria protectorates into Nigeria in 1914

The Igbo want to blame the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and indeed every other Nigerian tribe and Lord Lugard/Britain other than themselves for their alleged claim of being third class citizens in Nigeria.

In their perpetual attempts to play the victim card, they recount the political events of Nigeria from 1914 to the present with half-truths and in a highly selective manner that cleverly avoids the mention of the roles played by their elite who by all natural laws of judgement were actually responsible for the woes that befell not only the Igbo race but emasculated the entire Nigeria nation.

The Fact

A little while after the 1914 Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates, it became clear to political actors that the country was bound to fail considering that the act of the amalgamation was done with colonial fiat and without the consent and consensus of the over 300 different tribes that were lumped together.

This prompted the political leaders to demand for de-amalgamation so as to forestall the cracks in the
union in the future, a danger which the forced amalgamation portended. To this end, Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, speaking on behalf of the Northern protectorate in 1944, described the amalgamation as "…the mistake of 1914 which if allowed to remain will ultimately lead to unstoppable bloodshed and a failed country."

Chief Obafemi Awolowo, speaking on behalf of the Yorubas and other non-Yoruba South Western ethnicities, described Nigeria as “…a mere geographical expression not qualified to be called a country let alone a nation.” Chief Awolowo added that if the amalgamation could not be reversed, then Nigeria should be structured as a strictly federal state so as to enable each tribe enjoy autonomy this freedom from being dominated by any one single tribe (he had experienced first-hand how Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe attempted to hijack the political leadership of Lagos, Nigeria’s foremost commercial nerve centre and native homeland of the Aworis, a Yoruba tribe that arrived at Lagos in the 14th to 15th century from Isheri in today’s Ogun State)

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, speaking for the Igbos, denounced Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello, terming them ethnic champions. He accused them of nursing a sectional agenda against the unity of Nigeria, and he declared further that the unity of Nigeria was non-negotiable.

After moving the self-rule motion for independence in 1953, Anthony Enahoro proposed that a secession clause should be incorporated into the future constitution of Nigeria so as to give legal backing for any tribe to peacefully exit the forced union should it feels marginalized in future.

According to Enahoro, such provision in our constitution would instill in all Nigeria's future leaders the fear of the consequences of mis-governance. At the start of the 1954 London Constitution Conference Chief Obafemi Awolowo tabled a motion to the effect that this secession clause be inserted and over a full day debate, Awolowo drove home his points referencing the Soviet
Union and Western Australia. In responding, Dr Azikiwe made his points using the expression “the indivisibility and perpetuity of the Federation” with references to United States.

At a later date, Awolowo too made a case for secession clause, but Azikiwe again resisted him and instigated the colonial authorities to threaten him and Enahoro with charges of treasonable felony if they did not stop proposing secession clause for the future.

Before independence, Tafawa Balewa too had in a public speech described Nigeria as a British experiment and Nigeria's unity as a British intention which Nigerians themselves don't believe in. But Azikiwe kicked and demonized him too. Had Azikiwe supported the motion with Enahoro, Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa about the spirit of allowing a secession clause to be enshrined in our constitution, perhaps, Nigerian leaders would have known the checks and balances
that ensured fair play for all ethnic groupsin the amalgamation.

Instead, he played into the hands of the British Colonial Masters who took advantage of this difference and supported Azikiwe’s position therefore forever enshrining the clause of “indivisibility and perpetuity of the Federation” in our constitution.

There are no records documenting the disaffection of other South East members, present at parliament and Constitutional conference in which Azikiwe opposed Awolowo's secession clause motion, against Azikiwe’s position.

Claim 3

The South East and Igbos at large are being stopped from seceding because they have a smaller mass of land and population.

Igbos initially never wanted to hear anything like secession in Nigeria believing that they had the most educated crop of civil service, teachers, soldiers and professionals and this fuelled the thoughts of their elites hence their initial resistance to the idea of secession as indicated in their quotes:

"From all indications, the god of us Igbos have destined us to rule the whole of
Africa"..... Nnamdi Azikiwe (1945).

"It is getting clearer each day that Igbo domination of Nigeria is just a question of
time"... Oscar Onyeama. (1949)


The Fact

As at 1900, the whole of the present Benue State, Kogi East Senatorial District and some southern parts of Taraba State called Munchi District back then, were all part of the Southern Protectorate.

With that situation, the South had a higher population than the North hence always had an upper hand in any democratic bargain.

But by the early fifties when the regions were being created, common sense dictated clearly that these areas should fall in the future Eastern Region.[b]But against common sense, the colonial masters decided to gerrymander them into the Northern Region. While they did that, Azikiwe who was supposed to be in Enugu fighting against it as the leader of the East, was far away in Ibadan struggling with Awolowo to rule the Western Region and also playing the spoiler role against Awolowo's attempts to have Kwara and present Kogi Yorubas (the Igbiras) carved into the Western Region from the North which was already too large by landmass.

While Azikiwe abandoned his burning house and was far away in Ibadan struggling against Awolowo for his own (Awolowo's) region, Igbos saw absolutely nothing wrong with that. Rather they applauded him as a nationalist. A nationalist whose house was burning yet busy chasing rats in a faraway land.

When opinions of anti-colonial governance became unanimous that the British Colonial government must be forced out of Nigeria and indeed the whole of Africa, it was still the Igbos that frustrated the attempts as chronicled below.

In 1948, Anthony Enahoro organized an anti-colonization symposium in Lagos for which Dr. Azikiwe was to deliver the keynote address.

When the D-day came, Azikiwe failed to show up. Anthony Enahoro then quickly replaced Azikiwe with another person who did the impromptu job perfectly well as he lambasted and lampooned the British Colonial Government.

However, the British soldiers invaded the symposium venue, arrested the speaker and Enahoro and jailed them for treasonable felony.

Ironically, the next day Azikiwe came out of hiding and granted a radio interview on which he accused Enahoro and the other organizers of suffering from youthful exuberance.

On regaining his freedom few weeks later and being told of Azikiwe's radio interview, Enahoro resigned from his post as Deputy editor of Azikiwe's newspaper - The West African Pilot. Subsequently he wrote a book titled "Nnamdi Azikiwe: Sinner of Saint". After launching the book, Enahoro left Azikiwe's party - the NCNC, and moved over to Awolowo's Action Group.

SOURCE - http://www.nigerianeye.com/2019/03/the-igbo-elite-and-professionals-and.html

FP: lalasticlala Mynd44 OAM4J Seun

cute9ja:
Claim 4
Every Other Tribe but Igbos Are Betrayers – Ijaws, Yorubas and others

The first military coup in Nigeria was carried out by majority of Igbo army officers.

That was the coup that truncated democracy just six years post-Independence and led to a
succession of coups which put the country on the reverse gear for the next thirty three-(33) years.

The Fact

Through the first coup, those Igbo army officers who accused the politicians and government of the day of monumental corruption, killed the political leaders of the Northern, Western and Midwestern Regions but allowed all Igbo political figures to escape by tipping them off prior to the D-day. In addition to the killing of political figures, they also killed a total of 27 innocent high ranking military officers from every region except the South Eastern Region.

As the coup appeared unsuccessful, J.T. Aguiyi Ironsi, who was supposed to have been killed alongside other military officers, ended up becoming the new military ruler of Nigeria. Rather than immediately arrest and punish the coup plotters, he kept them in detention where they were treated as heroes. This and subsequent actions sowed the seed for the eventual Biafra War
.
On the 23rd of February 1966 (i.e. a month and 8 days after the first coup popularly but wrongly known as Nzeogwu coup), an Ijaw born Army officer called Isaac Adaka Boro who hailed from Kaima town of present Bayelsa State, declared the secession of the Niger Delta Republic in an attempt to free his Ijaw people from the monumental marginalization they had been suffering under Igbos in the old Eastern Region......Aguiyi Ironsi immediately ordered Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu to arrest him and hand him over to the military high command under him in Lagos. Ojukwu went all out against Isaac Adaka Boro with federal military might and within 12 fighting days killed 150 Isaac Boro's soldiers, arrested him, stripped him naked, and had him driven to Lagos and handed to Ironsi who immediately charged him to court and within two months secured against him a conviction of treasonable felony for which he was sentenced to death by hanging fixed for December 1966 by the Supreme Court.

His 'crime' was that he declared secession of The Niger Delta Republic from Nigeria – sounds familiar?

Meanwhile the Igbo coupists who shed innocent blood of other tribes and even sprayed bullets into the bellies of the pregnant wives of Ahmadu Bello and Brigadier Ralph Shodeinde were not charged to court or arraigned before any military tribunal six months after the coup had taken place. Their dates kept being moved, Aguiyi-Ironsi kept dilly dallying. This formed the reason for subsequent destructive actions that played out.

Isaac Adaka Boro was in detention waiting for December to come for him to join his ancestors. However, a revenge coup was executed on July 29 led by Northern soldiers and Ironsi was killed. Major Yakubu Gowon took over, released Isaac Adaka Boro unconditionally and re-instated him into the Nigeria Army with his previous rank. By this time, dark and ominous clouds had stared to gather over the North as reprisal killings against South Easterners were unleashed by Northerners.

As a result of the large mass of people of South Eastern extraction being maimed and slaughtered by Northerners, on May 30, 1967, Major Odimegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu declared secession of South Eastern from Nigeria and without consulting or apologising to Isaac Boro, declared Biafra Republic and drew a map of Biafra which included the very areas that made up Isaac Adaka Boro's earlier declared Niger Delta Republic for which he fought against him and killed his soldiers.

Seeing such level of arrogance in Ojukwu, Isaac Boro asked Gowon to provide arms for him to crush Biafra by fighting on the Nigerian side in vengeance for Ojukwu's frustration of his own secession declaration 15 months earlier. Isaac Boro, as an Ijaw man conversant with the waterways, led the Nigeria Army through the coastal areas into Igboland to finish off thousands of Ojukwu's soldiers thus leading to the crushing defeat of Biafra.

But today, Igbos accuse Ijaws of betraying them in the war. Who betrayed who?

Claim 5
Ojukwu Declared Biafra because other Nigerian tribes did not like the Igbos and failed to honour the Aburi Accord.

The Fact

After Ironsi and Ojukwu successfully crushed Isaac Boro's Niger Delta Republic declaration, Ironsi immediately proceeded to promulgate the Anti-Secession decree (Decree no 34 of 1966) aka the Unification decree which made the mere mention of secession from Nigeria punishable with death by hanging.

Ojukwu openly supported and endorsed the decree despite disapproval of it by the general public. So when Ojukwu later declared Biafra secession, he was reminded of the Anti-secession Decree made by him and his brother Ironsi.

Igbos frequently reference Aburi Accord to create the impression that the rest of the Nigerian tribes don't honour agreements. This is a very dishonest narrative from Igbo considering that Aburi Accord was organized by soldiers and un-elected civil servants who should not participate in political exercises like making laws due to the civil service anonymity principle

Secondly, those civil servants and military men in attendance were not elected representatives of federal constituencies to the Aburi summit. In the philosophy of democracy the only universally acceptable way of making laws is through duly elected representatives of the people.

But in going to Aburi, the peoples' representatives duly elected in the 1965 elections were all side lined for politically naïve soldiers to hijack the process in January 1966 under the guise of getting Nigeria rid of rotten and corrupt politicians.

By principle, it is unheard of that soldiers make laws for the people rather, the elected civilian populace makes laws that guide the military. Aburi Accord therefore had no seal of the people's sovereignty hence it was an illegality which shouldn't have been allowed to stand.

Thirdly, in 1957, Nigerians from all federal constituencies democratically elected representatives whom they sponsored to London, paid their flight tickets and hotel accommodation for the Independence constitutional conference.

Those representatives all resolved and agreed on federalism marked by regional autonomy and resource control in the Independence Constitution which they brought back home and majority accepted it.

In that constitution, Nigerians agreed that on no account shall the military take over power (Azikiwe, as President, twice invited the Military to take over in 1964) while also clearly stating that amendments to the constitution could be done by only democratically elected representatives.

That constitution was the first ever agreement between all Nigerians.

On the day of his inauguration as the Army GOC, Aguiyi Ironsi stood before the whole world and with his own mouth swore to protect and defend that sovereign Independence constitution regardless of the circumstances that may later arise.

But just six years after he manufactured an excuse to clinch power against the clear provisions of that constitution agreed to, unilaterally began to amend its provisions with his very offensive decrees, and ended up dismantling the federalism and resource..control therein, and ultimately subverted that constitution we all painstakingly sacrificed to draft.

That was the height of Irresponsibility and the dis-honouring of sacred agreement. The primary actors who breached the first agreement that all Nigerians, ever all mutually consented to, happened to be of Igbo extraction, thus laying the foundation for violation of future agreements.

SOURCE - http://www.nigerianeye.com/2019/03/the-igbo-elite-and-professionals-and.html

Chinablack:
professor nwabueze of yesterday that was made popular through nadeco activism drafted the so-called ironsi decree? this Kuku na real coco his mumu no get part two

Deadlytruth:
Nwabueze had been very prominent in the scheme of things far before June 12 era came. He headed Ironsi's constiution review committee which advised him to centralize power on the excuse that regionalism/federalism was promoting ethnoregional loyalty above nationalism.

gidgiddy:
Ironsi will be remembered for the following:

He kept resource control:- Ironsi maintained the revenue sharing formulae of 50% that gave the Regions the larger share of their resources. Today, states can only get 13%.

He kept the boundaries of the Regions and did not create states:- Unlike other military Rulers who came and started creating states, Ironsi was the only one who kept the 4 Regions he inherited. Gowon created 12 states, Murtala took it to 19, OBJ took to 21, IBB too it to 30 while Abacha raised it to 36. Ironsi was the only military leader who did not sub- divide

He kept autonomy:- Despite decree 34, Ironsi allowed a high degree of autonomy amongst the 4 Regions such resource control, fiscal responsibility and international relations. Some people do not realise that during Ironsis time, all 4 Regions had their own ambassadors to Britain.


The people who are today agitating for the restructuring of Nigeria can only dream of Regions, Resource control, Fiscal responsibility, Autonomy and International relations that all existed during Ironsi's regime. When people talk about Ironsi's decree 34 of 1966, I laugh. Ironsi was the only military leader who tried to preserve the independence constitution as much as possible.

All other military leaders who came after Ironsi were a hundred times worse, they shredded that constitution

Deadlytruth:
Responses:

1. Ironsi destroyed resource control by centralizing the Public Service hence stripping the regional Governments the only constiutionally recognised Institution through which they generated their revenues from resources found within their domains. If Buhari were to centralize the Public service today, a governor like Obiano of Anambra will become redundant as the civil servants working under him will become loyal to and generate revenues for only the FG.
Put in other words; as long as the Public Service is the only means by which subnational units control their resources, whoever centralized the Public Service automatically dismantles resource control. After May 24 1966, the day Ironsi unified the Public Service with his Unification Decree through his national broadcast, no Region had the power to generate revenue anymore let alone hold onto 50% while remitting the other 50% to the center. Everything began to go to the center untill Gowon took over and reversed Ironsi's Unification Decree with his own Decree 56.

2. Ironsi did not really maintain the four regions he met. He took over through the backdoor on January 17, 1966 and appointed military administrators over the regions as a tentative measure pending when he would eventually dissolve them as he had planned against May 24. On May 24 he actually dismantled the regions and broke them down into 35 provinces over which he appointed military administrators whom he commanded to be reporting to him at the center thus stripping them of their autonomy. In his national broadcast on that day, he argued that regionalism was promoting tribal loyalty above nationalism hence it had to give way to a more tightly bound system which would engendere "national unity".
Also, he declared in that broadcast that Nigeria had ceased to be what is referred to as a federation, and changed the country's official name from "Federal Republic of Nigeria" to just "Republic of Nigeria"... meaning that he no longer recognized the previous federating units which were the regions.
3. The argument that Ironsi left the regions intact despite having promulgated Decree 34 presents him as a dullard who didn't know the meaning and implications of a Decree he promulgated or that as a Supreme Commander of the armed forces, he was actually a puppet in the hands of some political figures hence was a weakling who was therefore unfit to handle the situation for which he forced power out of the hands of civilians.

4. Ironsi remains the worst of all present and past Nigeria rulers as it was he alone who tampered with the only genuinely we-the-people constiution we ever had, and dethroned a genuinely democratically elected government. Among all the military rulers we have had, he alone took over power in violation of the oath of office he took on his inauguration day to defend and preserve the constiution. No other military ruler took such oath only to renege on it. He therefore remains the most irresponsible, dubious, unprincipled, fraudulent and deceitful ruler Nigeria ever had. He introduced the abberation called military rule into a perfectly working democracy. He remains the only military ruler who never allowed himself to be guided by Public opinion hence ran the most illegitimate government in the country's history.
The constiution he met in place recommend that in an event of death or incapacitation of the Prime Minister, a member of the parliament thrown up by the parliament should be sworn in as replacement, but Ironsi recklessly violated that provision and swore in himself despite the constiution didn't make any provision for him or any other military man. How on earth could such a person be said to have scored the highest in preservation of the constiution?

Deadlytruth:
Responses:

1. Ironsi destroyed resource control by centralizing the Public Service hence stripping the regional Governments the only constiutionally recognised Institution through which they generated their revenues from resources found within their domains. If Buhari were to centralize the Public service today, a governor like Obiano of Anambra will become redundant as the civil servants working under him will become loyal to and generate revenues for only the FG.
Put in other words; as long as the Public Service is the only means by which subnational units control their resources, whoever centralized the Public Service automatically dismantles resource control. After May 24 1966, the day Ironsi unified the Public Service with his Unification Decree through his national broadcast, no Region had the power to generate revenue anymore let alone hold onto 50% while remitting the other 50% to the center. Everything began to go to the center untill Gowon took over and reversed Ironsi's Unification Decree with his own Decree 56.

2. Ironsi did not really maintain the four regions he met. He took over through the backdoor on January 17, 1966 and appointed military administrators over the regions as a tentative measure pending when he would eventually dissolve them as he had planned against May 24. On May 24 he actually dismantled the regions and broke them down into 35 provinces over which he appointed military administrators whom he commanded to be reporting to him at the center thus stripping them of their autonomy. In his national broadcast on that day, he argued that regionalism was promoting tribal loyalty above nationalism hence it had to give way to a more tightly bound system which would engendere "national unity".
Also, he declared in that broadcast that Nigeria had ceased to be what is referred to as a federation, and changed the country's official name from "Federal Republic of Nigeria" to just "Republic of Nigeria"... meaning that he no longer recognized the previous federating units which were the regions.

3. The argument that Ironsi left the regions intact despite having promulgated Decree 34 presents him as a dullard who didn't know the meaning and implications of a Decree he promulgated or that as a Supreme Commander of the armed forces, he was actually a puppet in the hands of some political figures hence was a weakling who was therefore unfit to handle the situation for which he forced power out of the hands of civilians.

4. Ironsi remains the worst of all present and past Nigeria rulers as it was he alone who tampered with the only genuinely we-the-people constiution we ever had, and dethroned a genuinely democratically elected government. Among all the military rulers we have had, he alone took over power in violation of the oath of office he took on his inauguration day to defend and preserve the constiution. No other military ruler took such oath only to renege on it. He therefore remains the most irresponsible, dubious, unprincipled, fraudulent and deceitful ruler Nigeria ever had. He introduced the abberation called military rule into a perfectly working democracy. He remains the only military ruler who never allowed himself to be guided by Public opinion hence ran the most illegitimate government in the country's history.
The constiution he met in place recommend that in an event of death or incapacitation of the Prime Minister, a member of the parliament thrown up by the parliament should be sworn in as replacement, but Ironsi recklessly violated that provision and swore in himself despite the constiution didn't make any provision for him or any other military man. How on earth could such a person be said to have scored the highest in preservation of the constiution?

cute9ja:
A very insightful and interesting read, what do you guys think? Please let's comment objectively without ethnic sentiments

gidgiddy:
Are you talking for the sake of talking? What do you think resource control is? It is when you control the larger share of the proceeds of wealth coming out of your area. So what has civil servants got to do with resource control? It is the private sector that generates wealth, not the public sector. So whether Ironsi centralised the public sector has nothing to do with it. The bottom line is that at independence, it was agreed that every Region would keep 50%, pay the federal government 25% and the rest 25% would go to a general sharing pot. Ironsi maintained that formular throughout the time he was in power. Today, states only keep 13% and the Federal government takes the rest and decides monthly what the sharing pot will be. Which one was better? The 50% of Ironsi's time or the 13% of today?

gidgiddy:
You should go and learn Nigerian history before coming to discuss politics. Ironsi dissolved the 4 Regions and created 35 provinces? Are you for real? Can you tell us the name of one of these "35 provinces" Ironsi created?

gidgiddy:
The 4 Regions that existed before Ironsi came to power were still existing almost a year after Ironsi was killed so I'm very interested in knowing about these "35 provinces" you claim Ironsi created.

gidgiddy:
Nobody is saying that decree 34 did not centralize government or take some powers from the 4 Regions of the time. What I'm saying is that compared to what others who came after Ironsi did, Ironsi was a saint. He kept the four Regions, he kept resource control, he kept fiscal responsibility and autonomy. Resource control is the most important part of being a federation. Ironsi kept it, Gowon came and took it away when he abolished the 4 Regions and created 12 states.

gidgiddy:
As I said before, you should go and learn Nigerian history before talking politics. Ironsi never conducted any coup, infact, he was the one who frustrated Nzeogwus coup. The current president, Buhari, overthrew the democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari in 1983. That same Buhari is president again today. Which Military rule is guided by public opinion? Which military rule is legitimate? There is no military rule that is guided by public opinion and none is legitimate.

gidgiddy:
The reason Ironsi is better than all the military leaders that came after him is he is the only one who kept Nigeria closest to the independence constitution as possible, such as:

gidgiddy:
(1) Ironsi met 4 Regions, he left 4 Region. Gowon met four Regions, he left 12 states. Murtala met 12 states, he left 19 states, OBJ met 19 states, he added 2 more to make 21. IBB met 21 states, he left 30 states. Abacha met 30, he left 36.

ONLY IRONSI LEFT WHAT HE MET

gidgiddy:
2) Ironsi maintained resource control where Regions got 50% of whatever came out of their land. It was taken away by Gowon and has grown to only 13% today.
3)Ironsi left a high degree of autonomy to the extent that the Regions had their own Ambassadors in other countries like Britain.

gidgiddy:
Of all the military rulers, Ironsi was by far the best

superlightning:
Wow, your post is a beautiful piece of lengthy trash.

Ironsi "destroyed" the we-the-people constitution right? who were the we-the-people that promulgated the constitution? secondly, what stopped Generals Gowon, Muritala, Obj, Buhari, IBB, Abacha and Abdulsalam from convening a true sovereign national conference that will promulgate a truly we-the-people constitution?

stop regurgitating the lies we all know masquerade as truth.

Ironsi was 10 times better than all the generals after him. Igbos are angry with him because he didnt play the partisan politics other generals after him played. Igbo are angry because he naively surrounded himself with his enemies.

I'm ready to expose your regurgitated lies today.

there were provinces/divisions under the 4 REGIONS, that was expected just as there were provinces before military rule came in. that's why there were ONLY 4 REGIONAL GOVERNORS - hassan katsina (north), temi ejoor (Midwest), ojukwu (east), fajuyi (west)


stop being dubious kid.

gidgiddy:
Are you talking for the sake of talking? What do you think resource control is? It is when you control the larger share of the proceeds of wealth coming out of your area. So what has civil servants got to do with resource control? It is the private sector that generates wealth, not the public sector. So whether Ironsi centralised the public sector has nothing to do with it. The bottom line is that at independence, it was agreed that every Region would keep 50%, pay the federal government 25% and the rest 25% would go to a general sharing pot. Ironsi maintained that formular throughout the time he was in power. Today, states only keep 13% and the Federal government takes the rest and decides monthly what the sharing pot will be. Which one was better? The 50% of Ironsi's time or the 13% of today?



You should go and learn Nigerian history before coming to discuss politics. Ironsi dissolved the 4 Regions and created 35 provinces? Are you for real? Can you tell us the name of one of these "35 provinces" Ironsi created?

The 4 Regions that existed before Ironsi came to power were still existing almost a year after Ironsi was killed so I'm very interested in knowing about these "35 provinces" you claim Ironsi created.





Nobody is saying that decree 34 did not centralize government or take some powers from the 4 Regions of the time. What I'm saying is that compared to what others who came after Ironsi did, Ironsi was a saint. He kept the four Regions, he kept resource control, he kept fiscal responsibility and autonomy. Resource control is the most important part of being a federation. Ironsi kept it, Gowon came and took it away when he abolished the 4 Regions and created 12 states.



As I said before, you should go and learn Nigerian history before talking politics. Ironsi never conducted any coup, infact, he was the one who frustrated Nzeogwus coup. The current president, Buhari, overthrew the democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari in 1983. That same Buhari is president again today. Which Military rule is guided by public opinion? Which military rule is legitimate? There is no military rule that is guided by public opinion and none is legitimate.

The reason Ironsi is better than all the military leaders that came after him is he is the only one who kept Nigeria closest to the independence constitution as possible, such as:

(1) Ironsi met 4 Regions, he left 4 Region. Gowon met four Regions, he left 12 states. Murtala met 12 states, he left 19 states, OBJ met 19 states, he added 2 more to make 21. IBB met 21 states, he left 30 states. Abacha met 30, he left 36.

ONLY IRONSI LEFT WHAT HE MET

2) Ironsi maintained resource control where Regions got 50% of whatever came out of their land. It was taken away by Gowon and has grown to only 13% today.

3)Ironsi left a high degree of autonomy to the extent that the Regions had their own Ambassadors in other countries like Britain.


Of all the military rulers, Ironsi was by far the best

Deadlytruth:
Now that you have kept on dubiously claiming that Ironsi didn't dismantle the independence constitution, didn't abolish the regions, didn't create provinces and didn't strip the federating units of autonomy; could you kindly tell us what exactly Ironsi meant with the following bolded lines in his May 24 1966 national broadcast as presented below:


Fellow Nigerians:
During the past two weeks I presided over meetings of the Supreme
Military council and the Central Executive Council at which many
important state matters were considered. . .
It is now three months since the Government of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria was handed over to the Armed Forces. Now that peace has
been restored in the troubled areas it is time that the Military
Government indicates clearly what it proposes to accomplish before
relinquishing power. The removal of one of the obstacles on the way
is provided for in the Constitution (Suspension and Modification)
Decree (No. 5) 1966 which was promulgated by me today and comes into
effect at once.
The provisions of the Decree are intended to remove the last
vestiges of the intense regionalism of the recent past, and to
produce that cohesion in the governmental structure which is so
necessary in achieving, and maintaining the paramount objective of
the National Military government, and indeed of every true Nigerian,
namely, national unity.
The highlights of this Decree are as follows:
The former regions are abolished, and Nigeria grouped into a number
of territorial areas called provinces. . . .
Nigeria ceases to be what has been described as a federation. It
now becomes simply the Republic of Nigeria..........
The former Federal Military government and the Central Executive
Council become respectively the National Military Government and the
executive Council. All the Military Governors are members of the
Executive Council.
A Military Governor is assigned to a group of provinces over which
and subject to the direction and control of the Head of the National
Military Government, he shall exercise executive power. In order to
avoid any major dislocation of the present administrative machinery,
the grouping of the provinces has been made to coincide with the
former regional boundaries. This is entirely a transitional measure
and must be understood as such. The present grouping of the
provinces is without prejudice to the Constitutional and
Administrative arrangements to be embodied in the New Constitution in
accordance with the wishes of the people of Nigeria.
The National Military Government assumes the exercise of all
legislative powers throughout the Republic subject to such
delegations to Military Governors as are considered necessary for
purposes of efficient administration.
The public services of the former federation and regions become
unified into one national public service under a National Public
Service Commission. There is a provincial Service Commission for
each group of provinces to which is delegated functions in respect of
public officers below a given rank. This rather drastic change will
probably involve a reconstitution of the existing commissions, and
the National Military Government reserves the right to do so in the
manner stipulated in the Decree. Until this is done, the present
Commissioners continue to act in their posts. Every civil servant is
now called upon to see his function in any part of Nigeria in which
he is serving in the context of the whole country. The orientation
should now be towards national unity and progress. I expect all
civil servants to co-operate and to consult at all levels, vertically
and horizontally, between groups of Provinces and between Provinces
and the Centre.
People are aware that Study Groups.......


Read more on
https://www.dawodu.com/irons2.htm

Deadlytruth:
You are obviously sick of ignorance. Go to YouTube and watch the video of the 1957 Constiutional Conference held in London and through which the Independence constiution was produced. In the video you will see delegates freely elected from every constiutionency to represent them in the conference. There were no military figures in attendance let alone making any input.

The question you should first answer is whether it was right in principle for Abacha and the rest to have convened an SNC to give us a genuinely we-the-people constiution when Ironsi and Igbos had not been able to explain why they destroyed the first of such that we produced at independence, and also had not appologised and promised not to tamper again with any new one to be made in correction of their first blunder?

For introducing military rule at all thus paving the way for all other military opportunists like himself... to warrant our current comparison, Ironsi remains the worst ruler in Nigeria's history. If he hadn't introduced military rule, would we have been trying to compare which military rule was better than which by now?
Which regurgitated lies? Before I take you up further on your phantom bolded claim above, please explain exactly what Ironsi meant with the bolded sentences in his May 24 1966 national broadcast as follows:

Fellow Nigerians:
During the past two weeks I presided over meetings of the Supreme
Military council and the Central Executive Council at which many
important state matters were considered. . .
It is now three months since the Government of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria was handed over to the Armed Forces. Now that peace has
been restored in the troubled areas it is time that the Military
Government indicates clearly what it proposes to accomplish before
relinquishing power. The removal of one of the obstacles on the way
is provided for in the Constitution (Suspension and Modification)
Decree (No. 5) 1966 which was promulgated by me today and comes into
effect at once.
The provisions of the Decree are intended to remove the last
vestiges of the intense regionalism of the recent past, and to
produce that cohesion in the governmental structure which is so
necessary in achieving, and maintaining the paramount objective of
the National Military government, and indeed of every true Nigerian,
namely, national unity.
The highlights of this Decree are as follows:
The former regions are abolished, and Nigeria grouped into a number
of territorial areas called provinces. . . .
Nigeria ceases to be what has been described as a federation. It
now becomes simply the Republic of Nigeria..........
The former Federal Military government and the Central Executive
Council become respectively the National Military Government and the
executive Council. All the Military Governors are members of the
Executive Council.
A Military Governor is assigned to a group of provinces over which
and subject to the direction and control of the Head of the National
Military Government, he shall exercise executive power. In order to
avoid any major dislocation of the present administrative machinery,
the grouping of the provinces has been made to coincide with the
former regional boundaries. This is entirely a transitional measure
and must be understood as such. The present grouping of the
provinces is without prejudice to the Constitutional and
Administrative arrangements to be embodied in the New Constitution in
accordance with the wishes of the people of Nigeria.
The National Military Government assumes the exercise of all
legislative powers throughout the Republic subject to such
delegations to Military Governors as are considered necessary for
purposes of efficient administration.
The public services of the former federation and regions become
unified into one national public service under a National Public
Service Commission. There is a provincial Service Commission for
each group of provinces to which is delegated functions in respect of
public officers below a given rank. This rather drastic change will
probably involve a reconstitution of the existing commissions, and
the National Military Government reserves the right to do so in the
manner stipulated in the Decree. Until this is done, the present
Commissioners continue to act in their posts. Every civil servant is
now called upon to see his function in any part of Nigeria in which
he is serving in the context of the whole country. The orientation
should now be towards national unity and progress. I expect all
civil servants to co-operate and to consult at all levels, vertically
and horizontally, between groups of Provinces and between Provinces
and the Centre.
People are aware that Study Groups

https://www.dawodu.com/irons2.htm

gidgiddy:
This is stupid talk. It is like saying that Adam and Eve should be blamed for sin because sin started with them. It's l8ke saying that the write brothers should be blamed for all airplane crashes because the invented the first Airplane.

If those who took over from Igbos turned around to do far worse than Igbos, then Igbos should not be the focus. In the last 52 years, these same people have wrecked Nigeria to the extent that Nigeria's best times was when Igbos were in charge.

Igbos wanted their freedom, and thats why they fought. Nigeria once wanted their own freedom from Britain, they still celebrate that freedom every 1st October. The only reason Nigeria didn't fight a war for its freedom is because the British are civilised people who know It is wrong to hold people against their will. The only reason Igbos had to fight a war is that Nigerians are not civilised like the British to realise it is wrong to hold people.

The Yorubas and their Northern cronies have been ruling Nigeria for 52 years. Nigeria has not moved foward, we are more backwards, more tribalised, more ethnic biased and more divided. Yet someone is still talking about what Igbos did or didn't do over 50 years ago? Very laughable

Deadlytruth:
You are rather the one talking for the sake of talking. How could resource control, a feature of a decentralized government, have remained after Ironsi had centralized government? You appologetics aimed at absolving Ironsi of laying the foundation of our problems are at best laughable. If you don't know how the Public Service is responsible for resource control, why not go and revise the topic "Public Service" in your SS 2 Government textbook? If it is the private sector that does resource control, then why are we now contending that there is no resource control despite private companies currently flourishing in the country? How could Ironsi have been able to continue paying the salaries of the centralized Public Service if he still allowed the Regions to be keeping 50% of the revenues generated? Or don't you know that it was from that 50% the civil servants were being paid their salaries by the regional governments before Ironsi removed them from regional control to the center's? Are we talking of which is better or who pioneered our deviation from the constiution we all mutually ever consented to?






You are the one Ignorant of history. When people debate they base their positions on evidences and official records. Ironsi's national broadcast of May 24 1966 clearly stated that Nigeria had stopped being what is referred to as federation....but broken down into 35 provinces which would report to the centre henceforth. In fact throughout that broadcast Ironsi kept on describing the regions as "the former regions". Are you now suggesting that Ironsi didn't know what the adjective "former" means? You once asked me on another thread for the name of the provinces created by Ironsi, and I told you only for you to try to change the topic.

The 4 Regions that existed before Ironsi came to power were still existing almost a year after Ironsi was killed so I'm very interested in knowing about these "35 provinces" you claim Ironsi created.
The provinces are all there in his May 24 broadcast. Stop being clever by half.
If those four regions were still existing after Ironsi was killed, then why did Gowon find it necessary to promulgate his own Decree which returned the country to status quo ante?





Nobody is saying that decree 34 did not centralize government or take some powers from the 4 Regions of the time. What I'm saying is that compared to what others who came after Ironsi did, Ironsi was a saint. He kept the four Regions, he kept resource control, he kept fiscal responsibility and autonomy. Resource control is the most important part of being a federation. Ironsi kept it, Gowon came and took it away when he abolished the 4 Regions and created 12 states.
We've been down this road several times. I don't know why you keep bringing it up without ever addressing the poser I always confront you with in response. Nobody was against Ironsi's creation of the 35 provinces....afterall there was just no way the minorities would have agreed to perpetually remain at the mercy of the three big tribes in the form of Eastern, Northern and Western Regions. In fact the creation of Midwest was already an evidence that the three regions were going to end up split into nunerous states or mini regions on the long run. What people blame Ironsi for is the fact that he didn't allow the autonomy of their parent regions trickle down to them. If he had created one million provinces, no one would have begrudged him as long as he let them enjoy the same level of autonomy which the previous regions enjoyed. So the creation of states by Gowon was not a bad thing as you seem to paint it. Rather it was the wish of the minorities which actually constitute the overwhelming majority when combined and compared with the WAZOBIANS whom we assume are the majority. Both Northern and Southern non-Wazobia tribes welcomed it as a form of emancipation from the strangehold of Wazobians on them. So cut this crap of demonizing Gowon for creating states. Had Ironsi been a Yoruba or Hausafulani, would you have kept on rationalizing his blunders the way you are doing now?



As I said before, you should go and learn Nigerian history before talking politics. Ironsi never conducted any coup, infact, he was the one who frustrated Nzeogwus coup. The current president, Buhari, overthrew the democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari in 1983. That same Buhari is president again today. Which Military rule is guided by public opinion? Which military rule is legitimate? There is no military rule that is guided by public opinion and none is legitimate.
The problem I have with you is that despite your obvious lack of use for the meanings of words, you assume you are infallible and all-knowing on Nigeria's political history. Ifeajuna coup was aimed at introducing military rule. Ironsi crushed it and took over power thereby imposing the same military rule which Ifeajuna and co wanted to introduce. So of what use was Ironsi's stoppage of Ifeajuna coup when his own action was aimed at exactly the same outcome as Ifeajuna's? It is likeThief A robs you of your money, and on his way Thief B robs Thief A of the same money and then ran away, then you'll start clapping for theif B for stopping Thief A despite Thief B didn't return the money to you the real owner. Does that make sense? In fact it would have even been better if Ironsi had not stopped Ifeajuna's coup since, going by Nzeogwu's interview to Ejindu, he and Ifeajuna didn't intend to centralize power on successfully taking over.
Buhari did not sack a democratically elected government put in place though a genuinely we-the-people constiution. The 1979 constiution which brought Shagari in was stage-managed by the military establishment overseen by Obasanjo similarly to the 1999 constiution which we currently correctly view as a military document hence not really genuinely the people's constiution.


The reason Ironsi is better than all the military leaders that came after him is he is the only one who kept Nigeria closest to the independence constitution as possible, such as:

First and foremost, you should be ashamed that in a country which started as a world class model democratic system of government you are now talking of which military regime was better than which. Whenever you look at a chat of Nigeria's rulers, does it give you joy seeing most of them in military khaki and caps? Was that the Nigeria of the dreams of the likes of Enahoro, Awolowo, Zik, Okpara, etc while they were fighting for independence? If Ironsi had not introduced military rule, would the likes of Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Obasanjo, Buhari, IBB, Abacha, Shonekan and other mediocres like Ironsi himself have ever come close to power let alone clinch it to now warrant us comparing which evil was lesser regarding military rulers? Do you even think deeply at all?


(1) Ironsi met 4 Regions, he left 4 Region. Gowon met four Regions, he left 12 states. Murtala met 12 states, he left 19 states, OBJ met 19 states, he added 2 more to make 21. IBB met 21 states, he left 30 states. Abacha met 30, he left 36.

ONLY IRONSI LEFT WHAT HE MET

False. Ironsi broke down the regions into 35 very weak provinces reporting to the center hence dead autonomy wise. Stop being dishonest.


2) Ironsi maintained resource control where Regions got 50% of whatever came out of their land. It was taken away by Gowon and has grown to only 13% today.
3)Ironsi left a high degree of autonomy to the extent that the Regions had their own Ambassadors in other countries like Britain.
Go and read up your SS 2 Government and see the dependence of resource control on the Public Service of federating units.



Of all the military rulers, Ironsi was by far the best

Of all Nigeria's rulers, military or civilian, Ironsi is the worst for introducing military rule in the first instance and being the first to break the only agreement we ever all mutually consented to.