By Political Animal.
The dilemma of the Nigerian situation should be conceptualized from the perspective of the reason why 1966 coup has remained erroneously called an ‘Igbo Coup’??.
Nobody is ready to consider the unit or course structure and ethnic enlistment in the Nigerian military at the time.You can only take such risks with course mates and those you can trust.
The question Nigerians have failed to ask is this,how many soldiers of other ethnic groups,aside Ibos were within the course group or unit that planned the coup.
Because Nigerians love living a lie,the reason we remain in a deep shit.
Just because majority of them who planned and executed the first coup were not from the core north, Yoruba and Middle Belt?,Yet with Colonel Banjo inclusive, it is still termed an igbo coup.
Between 1970-1999,how many coups has Nigeria witnessed??…which one was given a tribal name? That is the Nigerian hypocrisy that has kept the nation where we are .
A-times I begin to wonder what the “South of Nigeria” want to “gain” by a Southern Presidency ,if not to fulfill all righteousness.
Let just start from Ironsi,who tried and got assassinated.Obasanjo was lucky to smell the presidency by the help of the North twice but was caged to the extent that the road to his home town is the worst developed and an eyesore after two terms in office as the assumed executive President of Nigeria.
Abiola won the freest election and got annulment and death as a reward.
Shonekan was shoved asside in seconds ,
because he was trying to reap where he didn’t sow.
Even though he was on a political chess board that was beyond him to understand.
Good luck Jonathan was just annointed by the power that be in collaboration with an ex-President whose vision of Nigeria is anchored more on his native intelligence.His expressions and regrets today today even though he is not making it public, show that he is now more matured to understand Nigeria.He remains part of the problem and can never be part of the solution.
President Goodluck Jonathan inherited a weak and lopsided structure or platform that suited his weakness.
If we don’t understand the Nigerian history ,we are bound to keep repeating it.
Sorry for the youths.
Going back to the issue of coups.
General Gowon succeeded General Aguiyi Ironsi.General Muritala succeeded General Gowon.
Muritala died in a coup and was succeeded by General Obasanjo who hurriedly handed over power for fear of his life (caged).
You cannot blame him.When the powers that be hurriedly drafted a Lt.Colonel, and made him a General (Yaradua snr.)to be his deputy,he should have been watching his back.Obsanjo hurriedly handed over to President Shehu Shagari.Do I blame him .
Having escaped the coup that killed Murtala Mohammed.
President Shehu Shagari was removed by coup by General Buhari whom the coup plotters deffered to based on possible seniority not that he had anything to offer.
As reflected in our experience in his governments and style so far.
General Buhari was removed by General Ibrahim Babangida.
General Sanni Abacha cleverly shoved Shonekan aside and took over power and died in office.
The point I am making is that,since the first coup of January 1966,can anybody mention any other coup that Southerners spearheaded or played a very visible or major role , except as “backroom staff” possibly?
That tells you the condition of the South in the power equation in Nigeria.It didn’t start today.
Dimka who conspired against Lt Colonel Murtala Muhammed were both rematch coup plotters including from the North.
Major Theophilus Danjuma,Lt.Muhammadu Buhari,Lt Ibrahim Bako,Lt.Ibrahim Babangida,Lt Sani Abacha among others who were all members of the July 1966, rematch coup.All from the North.
They did whatever they could to keep themselves in power like a relay race,whereas the South had been so cowed that ,they were so afraid to even challenge the imbalance.Just contented by leftover powers from the Masters table through delegation as if the country does not belong to all of us , even with guns at their disposal.
Southern leaders have always been caged in the Nigerian system, because the South has never been united ,while the North can take a stand on any issue.
A-times people amuse me when they tell you that the two coups against IBB were-coordinated by Southerners,I wonder what they mean by coordination in coup plotting.
Maybe that is why the January 1966 coup was and is still tagged an Igbo coup till today.
It was assumed that the first coup of 1966 was to produce a Yoruba head of State,
but the key plotters are not alive to give us the true picture and not speculation.
But ,all I knew as a young boy was that in 1966,after the second coup in July 1966, Odumegwu Ojukwu based on his personal grouse with Gowon was insisting that Col.Ogundipe,who was a Yoruba man should take over power instead of Gowon,but unfortunately Ogundipe had fearfully escaped to England .
This news was all over the media at the time ,it was not fake news for us who were old enough to listen to news.
Nobody can doubt any young boy in his teens today talking about COVID-19 in the next twenty years or more.So, I am saying what I heard at the time.
Some people may tell you that Dimka’s coup was against a Northerner.The question is how many Southern coup plotters do we have in the history of this country as at today.
Obasanjo was not part of the coup plotters that brought him to power twice, whether military coup or civillian coup.It had nothing to do with any Southern coup.
As we witnessed, for those who were old enough, during Gideon Orkar coup, which was actually bankrolled by a fishing magnet,who severally contested gubernatorial elections in Delta State without success.
Somebody I know, whom employed my cousin as his chief accountant, who was releasing funds to the coup plotters , and taking records of the amount spent.This was the only time, there was a semblance of people from the South-South playing a visible role in coup plotting.
Murtala Mohammed coup,
the Buhari coup, Abacha coup,
IBB coup,the failed phantom coup by Diya,not a single coup was called a Hausa coup,Fulani coup,Tiv coup coup,let alone Yoruba coup,since there was no coup planned and executed by the Yorubas.
Why then are we still labelling the January 1966 coup an Igbo coup??.
The fact of history remains that Northerners who felt that they were victims during the January 1966 coup became victims to the same people, who planned the Northern rematch coup of July 1966 with terrible bad governance over the years,the whirlwind they are still reaping today .They presently enjoying the fruits of underdevelopment, because the personal wealth of those coup plotters combined make them richer today than the entire Nothern Region.
As much as we want an end to various hegemony in governance in Nigeria,we must not twist history.
I want to make it abundantly clear for all to understand that Southerners may have been part of coup plotters in Nigeria ,but have never spearheaded coup plotting since after January 1966.Except when Chief…. from Delta was the financier.
If Southerners were actually in charge,it could have reflected on “the who”announced the coups , and the leadership structure during such regimes,if not that they have always been used to make up the number in governance when they succeed to balance fake national equation.
This country remains the more you look the less you see.But let us stop twisting history.
Author
Blogger
PublicAffairs Analyst
Activist.
The Political Animal 