In his recently launched autobiography, A Journey in Service, former military president General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) has refuted the long-standing narrative that the January 15, 1966, coup was an ethnic-driven plot orchestrated by Igbo officers.
In a fresh perspective, Babangida describes this portrayal as a deliberate distortion that fueled division and mistrust among Nigeria’s ethnic groups.
For decades, the coup has been labeled by some as an “Igbo Coup,” suggesting that it was a calculated move by Igbo military officers to seize power. However, Babangida challenges this assertion, arguing that the events of 1966 were a result of widespread dissatisfaction within the military and political class, rather than an ethnic agenda.
He emphasizes that the coup’s branding was weaponized to justify retaliatory actions, deepening ethnic tensions and contributing to Nigeria’s instability. According to him, such narratives ignored the broader context of political corruption, economic challenges, and military grievances that led to the coup.
Babangida’s comments have reignited discussions about Nigeria’s history, with some welcoming his perspective as a step toward national reconciliation, while others argue that more revelations are needed to fully understand the motivations and consequences of the 1966 coup.
IBB wrote: “For instance, the head of the plotters, Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, was only Igbo in name. Born and raised in Kaduna, his immigrant parents were from Okpanam in today’s Delta State, which, in 1966, was in the old mid-western region.
“Nzeogwu spoke fluent Hausa and was as ‘Hausa’ as any! He and his original team probably thought, even if naively, that they could turn things around for the better in the country.
“That said, it was heinously callous for Nzeogwu to have murdered Sir Ahmadu Bello and his wife, Hafsatu, because not only were they eminently adored by many but also because they were said not to have put up a fight.
“From that moment, the putsch was infiltrated by ‘outsiders’ to its supposed original intention, and it took on an unmistakably ethnic colouration, compounded by the fact that there were no related coup activities in the Eastern region.
“It should, however, be borne in mind that some senior officers of Igbo extraction were also victims of the January coup. For instance, my erstwhile Commander at the Reconnaissance Squadron in Kaduna, Lt-Col. Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe, was brutally gunned down by his own ‘brother’, Major Chris Anuforo, in the presence of his pregnant wife, at his 7 Point Road residence in Apapa, for merely being a threat to the revolution As a disciplined and strict officer who, as the Quartermaster-General of the Army, was also in charge of ammunition, weapons, equipment, vehicles, and other vital items for the Army, the coup plotters feared that he might not cooperate with them.
“It should also be remembered that some non-Igbo officers, like Major Adewale Ademoyega, Captain Ganiyu Adeleke, Lts Pola Oyewole and Olafimihan, took part in the failed coup. Another officer of Igbo extraction, Major John Obienu, crushed the coup.
“Those who argue that the original intention of the coup plotters was anything but ethnic refer to the fact that the initial purpose of the plotters was to release Chief Obafemi Awolowo from prison immediately after the coup and make him the executive provisional president of Nigeria.
“The fact that these Igbo officers would do this to a man not known to be a great ‘lover’ of the Igbos may have given the coup a different ethnic colouration. But, again, I may be wrong here since this view is speculative. I admit that my position here may be the naive insights of an unsuspecting young officer who viewed events from a distance.”
His remarks add to the ongoing efforts to reassess Nigeria’s past with greater objectivity, fostering a more nuanced understanding of events that shaped the country’s political trajectory.
