Aloy Ejimakor, the lead counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Sunday said former military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB, has confirmed that the 1966 military coup was not an “Igbo coup” but a sort of revolution aimed at bringing Obafemi Awolowo to power.
Ejimakor said those responsible were motivated by a satanic desire to trigger anti-Igbo ethnic tension on a national scale.
He said IBB, in his just-launched book A Journey in Service, showed that the main coup plotter, Kaduna Nzeogwu, was more “Aboki” than an Igbo man.
In the book, Babangida dismissed claims that the 1966 military takeover was an “Igbo coup.”
He said the head of the 1966 coup, Kaduna Nzeogwu, spoke Hausa fluently and was more northern than Igbo.
Reacting, Ejimakor pointed out that Igbo officers were also killed during the coup carried out by Nzeogwu.
In a statement he issued, Ejimakor said:
“Even as it is coming so late in the day, I must commend Babangida for revealing (or confirming) the following self-evident truths in his epic book—A Journey in Service:
First: That the 1966 coup was not an “Igbo coup” but somewhat of a revolution aimed at regime change and installing Awolowo as the provisional president of Nigeria. In other words, if it could be said that the coup was tactically or covertly geared towards foisting ethnic domination, it was going to be Yoruba domination, not Igbo domination. Still, whether Igbo domination or Yoruba domination, the counter-coup was overtly geared towards northern (or far-northern) domination—and worse, it midwifed a horrid bloodlust and a total loss of compatriot spirit against the Igbo.
Second: That those who purveyed the destructive lie that it was an Igbo coup were motivated by a satanic desire to trigger anti-Igbo ethnic tension on a national scale. In other words, a deliberate plot was hatched ahead of time to deploy the coup as a subterfuge to levy genocide against Ndigbo.
Third: That Nzeogwu, having been born and raised in Kaduna, not only spoke Hausa fluently but was more Hausa than Igbo in his mannerisms, values, worldview, and attitude. In other words, Nzeogwu was a confirmed ‘Aboki,’ not an ‘Inyamiri.’ No pun or disrespect intended.
Fourth: That the ranks of the coup plotters and henchmen were vastly populated by officers who were not Igbo. This was the most obvious clue that belied the lies, but it never mattered anyway because the die was cast for the Igbo to ‘pay.’
Fifth: That an Igbo officer (Anuforo) assassinated another Igbo officer (Unegbe) who rallied against the coup; and another Igbo officer (Obienu) played a key role in halting the coup. But when Obienu was later hounded and murdered by northern soldiers, it didn’t matter to them that he had put his life on the line to foil the ‘Igbo coup.’ The only thing that mattered was that he was Igbo and, therefore, must die.
Sixth: That the palpable tension between Ojukwu and Gowon stemmed from Ojukwu’s altruistic insistence that the most senior officer (a Yoruba top brass named Babafemi Ogundipe) should, in accordance with time-honored military traditions, be the next Head of State after Ironsi’s gruesome assassination in the counter-coup. So, as a matter of backward logical correlation, if the first coup was an Igbo coup—driven by the ambition for Igbo domination—why would Ojukwu (an alpha male and the ultimate Igbo man) take the great risk of insisting that a Yoruba man should be the next Head of State following the second coup?
Seventh: That Ojukwu declared Biafra because Gowon proved unwilling to protect the beleaguered and trapped Igbos. In other words, Biafra was not an unlawful rebellion but a bulwark against horrendous genocide or a last resort for self-preservation.
“To conclude, I decided to write this piece for two main reasons: First, I hope it will bring some closure or comfort to all Igbos of my generation who have borne the burden of this destructive and hellish lie for over half a century. It is a burden we bear every day and night in blood and lost opportunities in a nation that was supposed to be equally ours but is not.
“Second, I hope the new revelations will help protect our children and their children from the visceral hate that has vested against the Igbo since this deadly lie of an ‘Igbo coup’ was propagandized into a national “truth” that has haunted Ndigbo from generation to generation, such that all Igbo children born into this country came out wearing the unbreakable yoke of this Igbo coup around their necks. I have such children, and I suspect that they often wonder where their parents and ancestors went so wrong to bring such an undeserved ‘generational curse’ of being born into a country that has seemingly drawn an invincible red line against them.
“And this: For what it is worth, Ndigbo deserve national contrition and political recompense from official Nigeria. This should include ceasing and desisting from the ongoing persecutions (fronted as prosecutions) of any Igbo that has risen or rises against the myriad anti-Igbo injustices that have characterized ‘political’ Nigeria, such as the disparities we have seen in state creation, location of seaports, the national budget, power-sharing, and basic infrastructure such as roads, rails, and so on.
“In the same vein—and again, for what it is worth—Ndigbo also deserve deep-felt personal atonement from the prime actors who concocted this lie of an Igbo coup and then dubiously turned around to use it as an anchor to launch a genocide (not a civil war) that nearly succeeded in wiping out the Igbo race if Biafra had not been declared. If they are not sure how to atone, they should borrow a leaf from Babangida.
“Hopefully, the contrition, recompense, and atonement—if sincere—may just be the magic tunic that could persuade Ndigbo to pedal back from the strong temptation of seeking an alternative to Nigeria.”
