Episode 1

The First Nigerian Coup: Ep #1

Free! Free at last! That was the expression of many a Nigerian on October 1st 1960 when Queen Elizabeth, yes you heard me, Queen Elizabeth signed off an instrument delivered by her cousin Princess Alexandra granting the former British Colony independence. It was pomp, pageantry, dancing and partying for citizens of this brand-new country who had been given a new identity separate from what they had known less than a century earlier.

In the Scramble for Africa, the British Empire had set its teeth deep into the juicy land around the River Niger and south of Sudan from where she could freely bite and extract natural resources and agriculture produce for onward transport to the ports in Liverpool and London.

The British had one big dilemma- how to administratively run this vast territory with diverse cultures and ethnic nuances. That’s when a brilliant idea struck a British journalist sitting in her press room in London at the Times. Flora Shaw said to herself, “Eureka, let’s dump Central Sudan and Royal Niger Company Territories and call this land Nigeria.” Now strike that, it wasn’t just one brilliant idea, there were two. The other idea coming from her soon-to-be husband, Frederick Lugard- hereinafter referred to as Lord Lugard.

In 1914, Lord Lugard said, with a very British accent, “I’m gonna amalgamate this protectorate, that Colony and make them into one whole” Well Lord Lugard should have just used more understandable synonyms like join, fuse, combine, merge, etc and a whole generation of students would not have failed history, government and social studies.

Fast forward back to the night of October 1st 1960, Nigeria’s over 45 million citizens at the time, comprising a real melting pot of diverse tribes, tongues and lifestyles were thrown into a joyful frenzy at this coming-of-age event. But nothing prepared anyone for the hot sibling rivalry that would brew in only a few years to come….

Or maybe there was a hint…

How do you show up the day before staging a coup?

Military fatigue; Check.

Shiny boot; Check.

Unsmiling face… ehh, Check.

You stroll around the barracks, acting as normal as possible so no one gets a sense of the violence you are about to unleash.
“We are loyal sir!”
"Nothing to worry about. Just a normal day with nothing special planned.”

You even attend a cocktail party followed by a clandestine meeting of conspirators at one of the aspiring ‘plotter’s’ house.

Little did everyone know that in just a few hours, your name would go down in history as one of the facilitators of what is set to become the first Military coup d'état in Nigeria.

The morning of January 14th, 1966 started like any other one. Soldiers were barked at and drilled; senior officers had their morning meetings over fresh coffee.
Ehhh, maybe not coffee.
Anyway, no one really suspected that the next day would signal the start of a new regime where justice and peace would reign, for every Nigerian to enjoy for the rest of their days…

At least that was the plan.

But let’s start from the very beginning.

A little after independence, the citizens of Nigeria had become enraged at what the country had become in the hands of the ruling political class, under the leadership of the newly-installed, prime minister of Nigeria, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.

Tafawa Balewa was a sprightly fellow, dark-skinned and a head above his fellows. Born in 1912 in the then, Northern Nigerian Protectorate to Gere and Fulani parents, Tafawa Balewa had settled into politics after a stint in teaching, and was soon winning elections like a pro. He was duly elected for a second time, alongside his political cronmies in the 1964 elections, something everybody attributed to clever politicking.

Midway into Tafawa Balewa's extended reign, the polity as well as the military began to grow weary of the ruling class (nothing personal Balewa, the people just wanted more).

On the streets on their way to work,
In a bus on their way back from work,
And in their homes long after they were back from work, desires continued to burn hot.

The ruling class had somehow been led to believe that the nation's resources was something they could treat like their personal properties; and as a result, they went on what the people perceived to be a 'State-sanctioned' shopping spree.

All the while, the people continued to grumble; slowly and quietly at first but loud and explosively in a short while as heated protests began in response to the corrupt ways of the ruling class.
The people needed an intervention and some uniformed persons were taking notes.

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Speaking of taking notes, here’s a short history lesson to take down:
So, the 1964 and 1965 elections, based on a number of hard-to-prove, political interventions, were perceived by many as a corrupt affair.

While it’s likely that the haters were not completely wrong, this perception of unfairness kicked off a series of civil unrest across Nigeria. This was something the country wasn't particularly equipped to handle.

As a last resort for order, the politicians called in the army.

As the army filled the streets to expertly quell internal conflicts, maintain essential services during the 1964 general strike, and police the western region during the crisis of the regional elections of 1965, the men in arms began to daydream.

What would a world led by the military be like?
Would the streets be painted completely in camo? with guns in the hands of every citizen? No more being regulated to eating Barrack food, they would have the entire country at their disposal.

While the military daydreamed, they began to strongly believe, with each quenched unrest, that their arm of service was the most important in sustaining political and societal order.
Even though as the elitist ruling political class continued to receive updates of an orderly country after their call for military intervention, the verdict was in; Nigeria was slowly headed for its first military coup without even realising it. The seed had been sown and was fast growing, waiting for the right time to show up on topsoil.

Just so you know, a military coup is any violent or non-violent overthrow of an existing political regime by the military.

Now that we are clear on that rather disturbing back story, let's move forward.

**********************

It didn't take too long for things to tip over. In August 1965, a group of Army majors finally gained enough courage to cook up plans for a coup.

After, three months and a couple of secret meetings, by November, 1965, the coup circle was complete with the following conspirators: Majors Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Timothy Onwuatuegwu, Chris Anuforo, Don Okafor, Humphrey Chukwuka, Chukwuma Nzeogwu, Adewale Ademoyega and Captain Oji.

Did you notice something rather odd? Yes, that's right. The conspirators all have Eastern-sounding names. That's probably because most of them were Easterners.

That would have been a very suspicious thing, except for the fact that in those times, Igbos commanded four out of five Battalions in the army, and as a result the first coup was inadvertently led by a large majority of Igbo soldiers under the command of two Igbo men, Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna and Chukwuma Nzeogwu. Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna was the Brigade Major over 2 Brigade in Lagos while Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu was the Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna.

As much as the coup plotters tried to keep word about the coup from getting out, it soon spread to the Ministry of Defence that a coup was stewing. But instead of moving swiftly into action and abducting the conspirators and their extended families, the prime minister, Tafawa Balewa, (remember him? Yeah) he played it down.

He, with the help of the General Commanding Officer of the army, Major General Aguiyi-Ironsi, brushed the intelligence report aside, calling it beer parlour gist.
Scary, right? But he had his reasons.

For some time, reports had been making the rounds about crazy plots to forcefully take over power, as well as rumours of planned civil uprisings in the various regions of Nigeria. So, Tafawa Balewa took the report handed him with a pinch of salt, treating it as another one of the crazies trying to get some free press.

So, the coup forged on.

Remember the cocktail party we talked about in the beginning? It was used as an alibi by the coup conspirators to host a clandestine meeting at Major Ifeajuna's house; probably to put finishing touches to the plan to overthrow the existing regime. A plan that was to take effect the very next day.

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The first Military coup or the Major's coup, as it was later tagged, took place on the morning of the 15th of January 1966, bright dark and early.
2 am to be exact.

The action spots had been split amongst the conspirators the night before, as they high fived each other and drank warm beer.

Major Nzeogwu set out before the sun was up to man the front at Kaduna, the capital of the Northern Region while Major Ifeajuna was to co-ordinate the charge in the South around Ibadan and Lagos.

TAKING KADUNA

Major Nzeogwu was a thorough fellow by nature. He had a regimented lifestyle for everything.
He probably jogged every morning at exactly 4:12 am, ate breakfast at 7:27 am sharp and more than likely followed a strict roster where his uniforms were washed, starched and pressed every Wednesday before the cock crow at dawn.

So, planning a time-sensitive coup to the last detail was not a big deal for Nzeogwu.

He quickly recruited some of his trusted Majors, colleagues at the Nigerian Military Training School; Major Onwuatuegwu, Captain Ude, and Captain Gbulie to help him take the North.

Having divided themselves and assigned specific tasks to about 7 squads of reluctant junior officers, they set things in motion that Saturday morning.

At 2 am, there was a rendezvous of the plotters at the 2nd Brigade HQ, Apapa, then the squad set out, quickly seizing the key strategic points.

Heads up, this part of the story should probably be PG-rated. So, if you don't have a stomach for things blood-related..ehh, you should probably skip forward a bit.

The plotters took out the Commander of the 2nd Brigade,
the Chief of Staff,
the Quartermaster General.

The kidnappings of the Federal Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the Minister of Finance, Chief Okotie-Eboh was also simultaneously carried out in Lagos.
The Premier of the Western Region, Chief Samuel Akintola was taken out in Ibadan by Major Nwobosi who was said to have taken a detour from his assignment to help a pregnant woman in labour get to the hospital.

What a gentleman.

The coup plotters attacked the cities of Kaduna, Ibadan, and Lagos while also blockading the Niger and Benue River, but their struggle to form a Central Government began to show cracks.

At 3:20 am, Major General Ironsi, having discovered what was afoot, took charge and ordered the troops on guard at the Police HQ in Lagos to return to the barracks and disengage from unlawful operations.

This was a sign that Major Ifeajuna's part of the coup wasn't really going as planned. The Lagos takeover of the south had quickly gone south.

Major Ironsi rallied the 2nd Battalion at Ikeja with the help of Lt. Colonel Njoku, who helped to apprehend one of the conspirators who came to survey the region.

The coup plotters quickly called for a recess and reassembled in Lagos at Dodan Barracks. The rest of the Army was now being mobilized against them by Major General Ironsi and a few of his senior officers who had managed to evade capture or assassination.

Kaduna, on the other hand was a far cry from the botched coup attempt that Lagos had become. A totally different outcome.

Major Nzeogwu, as efficient as always, swiftly took out the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello while Brigadier Ademulegun was taken out by his trustee and co-conspirator, Major Onwuatuegwu.

Meanwhile in Lagos, fragments of the Federal Guard who were under Northern officers began to break loose from their commander who was a co-coup plotter, Major Okafor as they began to rampage against Eastern officers and men in support of the coup.

This wasn't really part of the plan.

Lt Colonel Gowon who had just arrived from a course in the United Kingdom escaped the assassination squads, and also further strengthened the legitimately commanded forces by getting in touch with Ironsi, rallying pockets of troops in Lagos and turning the tide against the coup plotters.

By mid-morning, the GOC Ironsi had regained complete control of Lagos and had obtained assurances of support over the phone from the majority of the Battalions in Enugu, Ibadan and Kano, unknown to the conspirators. The insurgents were eventually forced to abandon Lagos, and on their way, they took out both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance.

Majors Okafor and Ifeajuna proceeded to Enugu and by the time they arrived at the coal city in the afternoon, it was too late to activate the 1st Battalion there or take out the Regional Premier, Dr. Okpara.

By this time, Major Nzeogwu found himself isolated and controlling Kaduna alone. In between a period of dilemma where he threatened to march down to the South to complete the job his associates had left unfinished, he made a disjointed radio broadcast, locked up Northern civil servants and policemen then threatened to kill some of them before he was persuaded to release the civil servants. By this time, the head of the Northern Civil Service, Alhaji Ali Akilu was installed as the head of an interim Administration.

With the coup officially foiled, Major Nzeogwu reached out to Major General Ironsi about a new political status quo led by the military.

Because the President of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe was in London at the time, the Senate President, Nwafor Orizu, became the Acting President during his absence and assumed all the powers of the office. However, when it came to taking actions, such as appointing an acting Prime Minister, Dr. Orizu didn’t have the courage to act. The cabinet also could not decide on whom to appoint Prime Minister. After several meetings with Major General Ironsi and Ministers of the Northern People’s Congress which the Prime Minister belonged, they arrived at a decision which was the abdication of authority by the Ministers and the suspension of the constitution.
Establishing the Supreme Military Council in Lagos and inadvertently putting Nigeria's nascent democracy on hold, Ironsi’s ascendancy to power was deemed a conspiracy by the coup plotters, who were mainly Igbo officers, to pave the way for General Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo man, to be Head of State of Nigeria.

The Northern Officers felt that this action was primarily an effort to purge them from the ranks and allow the Igbos to run Nigeria as over 20 persons were targeted and killed in the first coup with a large majority of the affected being of Northern descent. General Ironsi refuted these allegations and another senior Igbo officer, Lieutenant Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was operating in Kano, Northern Nigeria during the coup also refuted the claim that the coup was an Eastern plot to control the government.

In the aftermath of the coup, majority of the northern troops became reluctant to accept orders. In Lagos, they only did so acting upon persuasion from Lt. Colonel Gowon. After a series of beatings, they handed over their former commander Major Okafor whom they had held prisoner. The Northern Officers were far from being pacified; they wanted revenge and swore by kilishi that they would be ahead of the game next time.