1966 Nigerian coup d'état

1966 Nigerian coup d'état
A coup d'état began in Nigeria on 15 January 1966, when rebellious soldiers led by Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and Adewale Ademoyega killed 22 people including the prime minister of Nigeria, many senior politicians, many senior Army officers and their wives, and sentinels on protective duty. The coup plotters attacked the cities of Kaduna, Ibadan, and Lagos while also blockading the Niger and Benue River within a two-day timespan before being subdued. The General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, was compelled to take control of the government of a country in upheaval, inadvertently putting Nigeria's nascent democracy on hold. His ascendancy to power was deemed a conspiracy by the coup plotters, who were majorly Igbo Majors, to pave the way for General Aguiyi-Ironsi to be head of state of Nigeria. Consequently, the retaliatory events by Northern members of the Nigerian Army that led to deaths of many innocent Igbo soldiers and civilians caused the Nigerian Civil War.
Background
In August 1965, a group of Army majors (Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Timothy Onwuatuegwu, Chris Anuforo, Don Okafor, Humphrey Chukwuka, and Adewale Ademoyega) began plotting a coup d'état against incumbent Prime Minister Abubakar Balewa. The coup was planned because according to the majors, the men at the helm of affairs were running Nigeria aground with their corrupt ways. Ministers under them were living flamboyant lifestyles and looting public funds at the expense of ordinary citizens.
Furthermore, Captain Ben Gbulie (Writer of Nigeria's Five Major) and Colonel Emmanuel Nwobosi who partake in the Coup, later revealed that another reason for the Jan 15 coup was to counter a "Jihad" that was planned to happen by Jan 17.
The president of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe left the country in late 1965, first for Europe, then on a cruise to the Caribbean. Under the law, the Senate president, Nwafor Orizu, became acting president during his absence and assumed all the powers of the office.
Coup
In the morning of 15 January 1966, at a meeting with some local journalists in Kaduna seeking to find out what was going on, it was brought to Major Nzeogwu's attention that the only information about the events then was what was being broadcast by the BBC. Nzeogwu was surprised because he had expected a radio broadcast of the rebels from Lagos. He is said to have "gone wild" when he learnt that Emmanuel Ifeajuna in Lagos had not made any plans whatsoever to neutralize Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi who was the Commander of the Army. Therefore, Nzeogwu hurriedly drafted a speech which was broadcast on Radio Kaduna sometime around 12 a.m. and in which he declared martial law over the Northern Provinces of Nigeria.
Aftermath
Acting President Nwafor Orizu made a nationwide broadcast, after he had briefed President Nnamdi Azikiwe on the phone about the decision of the cabinet, announcing the cabinet's "voluntary" decision to transfer power to the armed forces. Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi then made his own broadcast, accepting the "invitation".
On 17 January, Major General Ironsi established the Supreme Military Council in Lagos and effectively suspended the constitution.
This unfortunate events was later tagged an "igbo coup" by other ethnic groups in the country based on some chains of coincidences fuelling the misinterpretation;
i. The Killing patterns - only one of the 22 casualties is of Igbo origin, while notable Igbo politicians like the Premier of Eastern region and military personnel like Ironsi were unharmed.
ii. The handing over of the government to Ironsi by Orizu (the acting president and the senate president who could have called for the formation of another civilian government) made it look like it was planned out all along.
iii. The unification decree of May 1966 promulgated by Ironsi, leading to the abolition of regional system of government - Historically speaking, the West and North have always believed in the regional system of government as the best form of government for a multiethnic like Nigeria, however this was taken away by Ironsi, leading to a massive outrage and pogrom in the North.
iv. The coup plotters, though kept in jail but were not sentenced.
However, some other participants of the coup like Captain Ben Gbulie, Colonel Nwobosi and others later came out decades after to refute the idea that it was an "Igbo agenda"
Casualties
Regarding the casualties, the coup conspirators claimed their purge post-coup targeted members or supporters of the anterior regime and had been targeted for purely political reasons instead of being a racial purge focused on certain ethnic groups or clans; furthermore, they also claimed the list of people targeted was small and composed of only 8 people, half of them foreigners who were to be arrested not killed, and that the casualties had occurred as collateral damage of the coup. These claims were clarified by a member of the trio that formed the coup, Adewale Ademoyega, who published them in Nigeria in 1981 in a book titled Why We Struck outlining their reasons and motivations in which he mentioned:
Below is a comprehensive list of casualties from the coup.
Civilians
Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
Premier Ahmadu Bello
Premier Samuel Ladoke Akintola
Finance Minister Festus Okotie-Eboh
Ahmed Ben Musa (Bello's Senior Assistant Secretary for Security)
Hafsatu Bello
Mrs Latifat Ademulegun
Zarumi Sardauna
Ahmed Pategi (Bello's driver)
Military and police
Brig. Samuel Ademulegun
Brig. Zakariya Maimalari
Col. Ralph Shodeinde
Col. Kur Mohammed
Lt. Col. Abogo Largema
Lt. Col. James Pam
Lt. Col. Arthur Unegbe
Sergeant Daramola Oyegoke (assisted Nzeogwu in the attack on the Sardauna's lodge and according to the police report was murdered by Nzeogwu)
PC Yohana Garkawa
Lance Corporal Musa Nimzo
PC Akpan Anduka
PC Hagai Lai
Philip Lewande
References
I
Military coups in Nigeria
1966 in Nigeria
Nigerian Civil War
1960s coups d'état and coup attempts
History of Nigeria
January 1966 events in Africa
Conflicts in 1966