It is unimaginable that 57 years later, anyone or a Yoruba man, for that matter, will be making dangerous allegations about a military coup & killing that can only help to further divide & disunite the country. That cannot be, especially after several books have been written by those who were there & even participated in both the ’66 coup and the inevitable, but avoidable civil war that followed it.
To think that such false rumour & allegations could come from Doyin Okupe, whose former boss, President Obasanjo, had written many books, not only on the ’66 coup, but about one of the principal actors, Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, is very unfortunate. It portrays him, Doyin Okupe, as someone with no sense of history & total disregard to the accounts of the coup, killings & consequences by people who were there & even participated. He could be singled out as an enemy of progress, propagandist & a protagonist of continued ethnic divide & disunity in Nigeria.
Okupe is an overly ambitious man who feels he could say anything to justify his ambition of becoming a president. What a big joker he is indeed! In his desperation, he double speaks by saying one thing today & forgetting what he said last to say a different one tomorrow. How much he believes in Nigeria as united, though divisible entity & the platform to achieve his ambition, the way he’s going, leaves so much to be desired.
It is on record that none of the said many books written about the ’66 coup, alleged or referred to it as an lgbo coup. The list of those who were involved in the said coup, included Northern, Western, Middle Beltan, Minority & Igbo military officers, have been of public knowledge from the accounts of of those who took part. They were all assigned duties or responsibilities & targets to take out, as part of executing & achieving the said coup. It may be right to say that the late Major Nzeogwu, a Deltan lgbo, was one of the officers who had the most difficult role with very hard targets & had the required courage & ability to take them out. It was so unfortunate, but that was a military coup & not a tribal war or consipiracy by the people of a particular section of the country to kill anyone or take over power, as people like Doyin Okupe, who was, probably, neither there nor is a student of history, ‘ll want Nigerians to believe.
The facts remain that the coup and killing which took place in 1966, about 57 long years ago, happened when many lgbos held prominent important & key positions in the central government of the time. They include the President & Commander-in-Chief, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was also a marked target for assassination by the coupists, the regional Premier, Dr M. I. Okpara, the Army Chief, Gen lronsi, the Senate President, Dr Nwafor Orizu & so many others. Regional conspiracy would not ‘ve been possible, made any sense or necessarily been imagined by the lgbos, as a people, to plan & execute a coup against a government they were deeply & importantly involved in or kill anyone for that matter.
We should not continue to make dangerous references to that ugly chapter in our country’s history, which happened 57 years ago, when over 90% of our present day politicians, were either not born or too young to ‘ve played any role. How can the present generation of lgbos or politicians be alleged by people like Doyin Okupe to still be held responsible, denied, deprived & marginalized for what happened 57 years ago? How can he be a good Nigerian who desires lto lead this country if he thinks that way & continues to ignorantly, make stupid, unfounded & baseless allegations against a section of the country?
How many military coups have taken place in Nigeria ever since, including the one that killed Gen Murtala Mohammed by Col. Dimpka and how many of them were alleged or were blamed on the section of the country perpetrators held from? Instead, they were referred to or described as; Dimpka coup, Orka coup, Buhari, Babangida, Abacha coups etc, after the names of perceived leaders. They were all military planned & executed coups & no section of this country, has ever been singled out or held responsible & punished for any of those coups. Why should that of Nzeogwu ever be referred to or called an lgbo coup in this country? Igbos, as a people had no role in it & totally reject it being ascribed to them by some evil forces.
Has Okupe ever read some accounts of the said coup of ’66, which alleged that the coupists had intended to hoist or impose Chief Awolowo, his kinsman, as the Prime Minister of this country, if they had succeeded? Or told equally that the political crises in the Western region, incited or was blamed as being responsible for the coup of ’66? Probably not because Okupe was neither there nor cared to read or know the history of this country.
Igbos had since forgotten & forgiven those in the counter coup that killed Gen. Ironsi & other lgbo senior military officers, the pogrom or massacre of millions of innocent lgbos in the North, the execution of over 1000 innocent boys & men at Asaba, Delta state, after the war had ended, the over 3 million lgbos that died in the war itself & the fact that most of them died of hunger because, as Finance Minister & Deputy to Gowon, Awolowo used that as a weapon of war to decimate the lgbo population, the devastation caused by the war & the fact that the same Awolowo caused that every lgbo family was given 20 pounds only, to start a new life, after the war, despite the many millions most of them had in the banks. Igbos have even fogotten & forgiven the Western conspiracy & the fact that Yoruba officers led the onslaught against their region & people in the civil war.
If lgbos do not seek apologies from those who are known to ‘ve been physically, mentally or psychologically responsible, those who commanded & directed, why should anyone or Doyin Okupe, for that matter, suggest, allege & request that lgbos, as a people, send their leaders to apologise for a coup or killing they neither knew anything about nor were part of?
Igbos have moved on with their lives & have no problems or ill feelings against the north with whom they had formed important political alliances, mergers & pacts, since Nigerian independence, to overcome constitutional obstacles to form governments that moved this country forward. Such alliances or pacts lgbos ‘ve had with the north, are never done with enemies contrary to the views & insinuations by Doyin Okupe. Dr Azikiwe was there for the north, with different political parties, in both 1960 & 1979 respectively, when no party got majority to form governments to run the country. The west, at both times, were in oppositions that would ‘ve made the country ungovernable, if the same lgbos had not believed in one Nigeria & came to the rescue. Such pacts, l repeat, are not done with enemies.
The same lgbos Igbos, as a people, who had accepted, co-operated, worked with & supported the North through important & difficult times to form governments to lead this country, cannot be accused or alleged to be an enemy of the North, by Doyin Okupe, because he wants to be President.
lgbos, which Okupe considers as his only threat, have contributed more than any other region or section, in the development, unity & progress of this country & deserves a shot at the Presidency with the support of the same north they ‘ve been there for, thick & thin.
