29 years ago today, precisely on Sunday April 22nd 1990- the last military coup in Nigeria's history occurred. It was not only bloody, it was bizarre.

It was the first ever coup publicly acknowledged as being funded by a civilian (Great Ogboru)
Reports had it that the coup was actually planned for a week later, but some police men had intercepted one of the Peugeot J5 vans specially procured for the coup and found weapons.
The ring leaders were Major Gideon Orkar and Lt.Col Nyiam.
The coup would have succeeded if not for shoddy planning and execution which is believed to have occurred as a result of the date change.

Note the following:
1) President Babangida had already fled Dodan Barracks. Rumour is he was already on board a ship bound for the UK when a junior officer advised him to wait, incase the coup failed.
2) Babangida's ADC was killed in action.

What changed things was swift action by the Chief of Defense Staff, General Sanni Abacha. He took control by early afternoon and invaded NTA headquarters on Victoria Island and took it over, making his own broadcast.

For the first time in history, Nigerians stood and watched as coupists fought against government soldiers on the streets of Lagos exchanging gunfire. Lagosians can watch anything!

The gates of Dodan Barracks were flung open for hours.

By 4pm, Abacha had prevailed.

Major Gideon Orkar and Lt.Col Nyiam in my opinion were Patriots, but did it the wrong way.

Is it true that he wanted to carve out the current North East and North West out of Nigeria which gave rise to people of the aforementioned regions to loose the trust they had on middle belt which also caused the hatred NE and NW show MB..?

I Don't Know Why I So Much Like History

oilPUSSY:
Is it true that he wanted to carve out the current North East and North West out of Nigeria which gave rise to people of the aforementioned regions to loose the trust they had on middle belt which also caused the hatred NE and NW show MB..?

Maybe You Should Ask OP

Your are right@op, they are real patriots too in my opinion. it's a pity they did not succeed.

oilPUSSY:
Is it true that he wanted to carve out the current North East and North West out of Nigeria which gave rise to people of the aforementioned regions to loose the trust they had on middle belt which also caused the hatred NE and NW show MB..?

That was one flaw in their broadcast.

What he said was that the Sultan Dasuki was not the real Sultan the people wanted and he should be removed and replaced by the "Peoples Choice " Mohammed Macido.
Until that was done he said, the core North would be removed from Nigeria. He wanted the core North to meet and implement that change.
Since the coup failed, this directive was twisted to say: He hated the North and the North should leave. He did not hate the North; he just wanted justice.
The irony was that Abacha would 5 years later remove Dasuki and replace him with Macido leading to widespread jubilation in the North.
Whereas when Dasuki was appointed in 1998, there was massive violence and rioting in Sokoto as everyone knew he was imposed by Babangida.

These guys were too "openly honest" or maybe they did that thinking Northerners would troop to the streets and jubilate. What they should have done was simply announce the removal of Sultan Dasuki to be replaced immediately by Macido. That may have gotten them a lot of Northern support especially by the poor!

There were accusations that Orkar put that in the speech unilaterally without consulting other planners.

jwillng:


That was one flaw in their broadcast.

What he said was that the Sultan Dasuki was not the real Sultan the people wanted and he should be removed and replaced by the "Peoples Choice " Mohammed Macido.
Until that was done he said, the core North would be removed from Nigeria. He wanted the core North to meet and implement that change.
Since the coup failed, this directive was twisted to say: He hated the North and the North should leave. He did not hate the North; he just wanted justice.
The irony was that Abacha would 5 years later remove Dasuki and replace him with Macido leading to widespread jubilation in the North.
Whereas when Dasuki was appointed in 1998, there was massive violence and rioting in Sokoto as everyone knew he was imposed by Babangida.

These guys were too "openly honest" or maybe they did that thinking Northerners would troop to the streets and jubilate. What they should have done was simply announce the removal of Sultan Dasuki to be replaced immediately by Macido. That may have gotten them a lot of Northern support especially by the poor!

There were accusations that Orkar put that in the speech unilaterally without consulting other planners.

How can I get in contact with you please