Coup of 1966: Truth finally revealed, by Emeka Nwosu

Last week, the former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida formally presented his long -awaited autobiography, Journey in service, to the general public. The event that was held at the Congress of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Congress, Abuja attracted political leaders present and spent in Nigeria, including President Bola Tinubu, Olusta Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan and many others.

In the autobiography, the content of which has become viral, Babangida would seem prevalent mainly to highlight his role in the outrageous cancellation of the presidential elections of 12 June 1993 and has put the direct registers on the incorrect January of January.
The book has attracted many reactions from all over the earth due to what has been perceived by many as a false report on the saga of 12 June, and on another hand, the splendid revelations of the 1966 coup and the subsequent civil war in which Babangida presented as a great actor. At the presentation of the book, the retired general took responsibility for the cancellation of the elections of 12 June won by the deceased Capo Mko Abiola, but he blamed the former military dictator, General Sani Abacha for stopping the elections.

The Nigerians, regardless of their political and religious affiliations, are amazed by the strange statements of Babangida. How can abachaha blame for cancellation when he, Babangida, was the sovereign and final authority in the earth? That negation represented Babangida as a coward that was not responsible for his administration. The crisis of June 12, however, is not at the center of this piece. Rather, our concern here is mainly on the revelation of Babangida in the coup of January 1966 in which some best political and military leaders from the sections of the country have lost their lives.

Babangida in the book categorically eliminated the idea that the coup d’état was the coup d’état of Igbo. He said that the intention of the leaders of the coup d’état that included officers from different parts of Nigeria was to install the former premier of the western region, the head of Obafhemi Awolowo as prime minister because they believed they had what he serves to repair the country that was just by pilling at that moment.
The leaders of the coup d’état included Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, that Babangida said that it was basically a Hausa officer who was born raised and lived his whole life in the North, and was only Igbo named. Others were Emmanuel Ifeajuna (IGBO), Wale Admiega (Yoruba) and Atom Kpera (Northerner) among others who were taken from other parts of the Federation.

These officers told by Babangida acted with the best intentions even if they were idealists in their disposal. Their plan corroborated by Babangida was to release Awolowo from Calabar prison and make him the Prime Minister in the belief that their patriotic decision would stop the drift in the country that was accentuated by the orgy of murders in western Nigeria.

The coup d’état failed and was doubly tagged igbo by anti-unimated elements in the army and their civil supporters to achieve a predetermined end: sweeping away Igbo from the north and west and their influence in Nigeria.
Ironically, the coup d’état tagged a coup d’état of Igbo has been stopped by the military Igbo officers. As revealed in a current video that circulates online, the deceased Biafran leader, Emeka Ojukwu, revealed that, as commander of the 5th Battalion of the Nigerian army in Kano, he stopped the coup d’état to the north while General Aguiyi Irononi, the Goc of the Nigerian army has abbiled the coup d’état in Lagos and West. Despite these evident facts, the media propaganda that has been helped and favored by some western powers led by Great Britain has continued to strengthen false narratives.

It is a question of regret that, on the basis of these absolute falsehoods that had been supported over the years, millions of innocent Igbo, including women and children, had insensibly massacred in the pogrom and follow the civil war that lasted for almost three years. The Igbos were displaced by all of Nigeria, bombarded and bombarded with submission. At the end of the fratricidal war, the Igbo properties were confiscated, including their bank savings. Only 20 pounds were given regardless of any sum of money in their bank accounts. This was an evil policy that was attractively attracted to reducing the Igbos to a state of shortage and beggar.

The Igbo opponents who planned the Coup Coup of July 1966 who swept away the Igbo officers in the leaders of Nigeria also continued to pass the falsehood that war was caused by the declaration of secession by Ojukwu. They forgot comfortably that it was the inability of General Gowon to protect Igbos and Oriental in the North from the gaming Mob Killer in the northern cities that forced Ojukwu to declare Biafra.
Babangida in his book claimed Ojukwu. He categorically declared: “Gen. The inability of Yakubu Gowon to protect and protect the lives and properties of the Igbos in the north forced column Emeka Ojukwu to declare the secession of the eastern region from Nigeria in May 1967, leading to the fratricidal Nigerian-Biafran civil war “.

Once again, every true student of history knew what happened in Aburi, Ghana, when a last effort was made by the then leader of Ghana, General Ankrah, to prevent Nigeria from sliding in war. Gowon renounced all the agreements achieved in ABURE which included the decentralization of the army command structure and the rehabilitation of the Igbos and the displaced orieths to the north. The inability of Gowon and his regime to maintain the ABuri agreement was the last drop that broke the camel back, making the civil war inevitable.

Now that all the truth has been revealed by a man who was a participant in those tragic events, time is now appropriate for the wrongs to be corrected. The ethnic nationality of Igbo in Nigeria and the people of the old Eastern region deserve unqualified apologies by the government and the people of Nigeria for historical wrongs and injustices perpetrated against them, to be followed by the return.
All the innocent people who have been brutally killed in the pogrom and in the civil war based on the lungs national falsehood subsistence cannot return to life again. The government should, however, establish a program in their name for national healing and true reconciliation.

Ndigbo should request the realignment of the geographical boundaries that have been mischievously adequate by the Mamman Nasir border commission to make the territory of Igbo a region without outfit on the sea.
The additional state for the South-East, which was reached through national consent both at the National Conference on 2005 political reforms and at the 2014 National Conference, a question of maximum priority should be created to bring the south-east area on par with the other geo-political areas.

These are the right steps to take to end this bad chapter of our national history.

● Dr. Nwosu, a public policy analyst, wrote by Abuja.
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