January 15, 1966 was not an Igbo coup

January 15, 1966 was not an Igbo coup (2)

The object of this second half of my article is to challenge Nigeria and Nigerians: Please
make an honest effort at determining the truth of Nigerias contemporary history! It is the
sure way of exorcising the demons needlessly thwarting every chance of Nigeria attaining
nationhood. If Nigeria refuses to confront the truth of its history, it will continue to tug at
centrifugal forces guaranteed to eternally forestall any contingency of mastering the
contradictions that dog every centimetre of the countrys path.
The 50th anniversary of the January 1966 coup detat afforded the country a golden
opportunity to turn its back permanently against historical lies, especially lies of the
variety that inflame passions and further entrench the existing divisions between the
disparate peoples forged into one country by the sleight of British colonialism.
Unfortunately, revisionists seized the public space, retold falsehoods previously dis-
credited and, thus, blew the opportunity.
Reuben Abati is one such revisionist. In the first half of this article, we exposed his lies in
an article he entitled Armed Forces Day: January 15, Remembering Where We Came
From. Abati had claimed in that article that An Igbo man, Nwafor Orizu, the acting
President, handed over power to another Igbo man, General Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi. We
proved that this was blatantly untrue. He had also downplayed Aguiyi-Ironsis central
role in putting down the coup, for which we pointed out that he was being disingenuous.
There are two other distortions in Abatis article that must be discredited. He wrote that
(1) Aguiyi-Ironsi treated the January coup plotters with kid gloves, and (2) Aguiyi-Ironsi
imposed Igbo hegemony on Nigeria. Whether in scholarship or in journalism, whoever
made claims such as these, would be expected to deploy empirical evidence in support of
his assertions. But not Abati. We must dismantle his fabrications, of course. Before doing
that, however, some background information is imperative. Fifteen years ago, Abati wrote
a two-part article entitled Obasanjo, secession and the secessionists (The Guardian on
Sunday, December 16 and 23, 2001).
That article contained all the lies that he regurgitated in his latest piece. It elicited a lot of
reaction from observers of the Nigerian condition who believed that Abati should know
better, and should wield his pen with some circumspection. We will return to this. Lets
first reexamine the facts. Abati said that Nzeogwu and his cohorts were treated with kid
gloves? In Nzeogwu: An intimate portrait of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu
(Spectrum Books, Ibadan 1987) Olusegun Obasanjo reproduced copies of handwritten
letters from his friend, Nzeogwu, which detailed the ill-treatment they suffered in
detention. But far more important is the fact that Aguiyi-Ironsis Supreme Military
Council (SMC) took a decision to subject the coup plotters to public trial.
In his biography, Reminiscence, (Malthouse, Lagos, 1989), General David Ejoor states
that Aguiyi-Ironsis Supreme SMC, of which Ejoor was a member, decided on the trial of
the January coup makers (p39). Also, in The Barrel of a Gun: The Politics of Coups
dEtat in Africa, (Allen Lane The Penguin Press, London, 1970), Professor Ruth First
attributes the following to Hassan Usman Katsina. By July (1966), the minutes of the
SMC recorded that the young majors were to be court-martialed not later than October.
The proceedings were to be in public. (p307). General Hassan, also a member of Ironsis
SMC, lived for over 25 years after Firsts book was published but never denied the
statements credited to him. Aguiyi-Ironsi was assassinated two months before the court-
martials were to begin. So where is Abatis kid and where are his gloves? I must state in
parenthesis that Yakubu Gowon was Head of State for nine years, without court-
martialing a single participant in the January and July coups. Yet no one ever blamed him.
It is a horrendous amputation of Nigerian history for Abati to state that Aguiyi-Ironsis re-
gime was a promotion of Igbo hegemony. Of Aguiyi-Ironsis nine-member SMC, the
highest decision-making body in the country, only two were Igbo Ironsi (by virtue of
being Head of State) and Ojukwu (because he was a Military Governor). The SMC had
three Yoruba members Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe (Chief of Staff, Armed Forces),
Commodore Akinwale Wey (Head of Navy) and Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi (Military
Governor, West). The North had two members: Colonel Yakubu Gowon (Chief of Army
Staff and Colonel Hassan Usman Katsina (Military Governor, North). Other members
were Colonel George Kurobo (Izon) (Chief of Air Force ), Colonel David Ejoor (Urhobo
(Military Governor, Midwest).
The Federal Executive Council had the same membership as the SMC, plus Attorney
General Gabriel Onyiuke (Igbo), and Police Inspector General Kam Selem (Borno).
Aguiyi-Ironsi appointed 21 Federal Permanent Secretaries. Of these, only three were Igbo
P. C. Asiodu (Industries), T. C. M. Eneli (Establishments) and B. N. Okagbue (Health).
Four were from the West, five from the North and eight If Asiodu is included from the
Midwest. Aguiyi-Ironsi also appointed Alhaji Sule Katagun the chairman of the Public
Service Commission. He appointed Mr. Howson-Wright the chairman of the Nigerian
Railway Corporation (NRC). He appointed Mr. A. I. Obiyan the chairman of the Nigerian
Ports Authority (NPA). He appointed Mr. H. O. Omenai the chairman of the Nigeria
Airways. None of the four came from the East; none was Igbo. No Northerner was
superseded in military promotions. No officer was promoted under Aguiyi-Ironsi that was
not due for promotion, except Major Hassan Usman Katsina who was pitchforked over
about 15 Igbo officers to become a Lieutenant Colonel!
If Aguiyi-Ironsis appointments are compared to those of President Muhammadu Buhari,
for instance, it will readily be determined who the hegemonic cap fits.
To return to Abatis 2001 article! It provoked numerous indignant responses. Obi
Nwakanma took him to the cleaners in Abatis Revisionisms and Distortions of Nigerias
history
(http://www.usafricaonline.com/obinwaka.igbohater.abati.html)
Samuel Bayo Arowolaju made a mincemeat of him in The fallacy of Reuben Abati: Igbo
and secession (http://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/arowolaju/011402.html). I
engaged him in Reuben Abati and other anti-Igbo bigots in Nigeria
(http://www.usafricaonline.com/chuksilo.igbohater.abati.html). I have provided these web
links for people to read and confirm that our subject is an incorrigible artist in perfidy.
Although I count Abati as a friend, I had tagged him a conceited ignoramus in my 2011
piece. Today, the temptation is overpowering to dub him a recalcitrant recidivist. But, I
will resist it and, instead, introduce specificity in my challenge to Nigeria and Nigerians.
The original copy, and exemplifications, of the Magna Carta, the charter of liberty and
political rights that rebellious barons obtained from King John of England in 1215,
survive to this day and are available for public scrutiny. That is the way of serious
countries desirous of learning the appropriate lessons of history. In Nigeria, priceless
historical documents are either doctored or destroyed or dumped in private vaults, a
lamentable practice that encourages Abatis ilk to go sowing the seeds of discord. Nigeria
should place the transcripts of the meetings of Aguiyi-Ironsis SMC in the public domain.
This will, among other things, confirm that the body had decided to court-martial the
January 1966 coup plotters.
Also, 50 years after the event, the document by which parliamentarians handed over
power to the military remains in private hands of Alhaji Abdul Rasak (SAN). He should
be persuaded to relinquish it to the Nigerian state.