The coup was sudden and Ironsi was going for a courtesy visit to Fajuyi back then. Fajuyi said, he won't allow them to take Ironsi because he was his visitor and he'd be held responsible if anything happened to his visitor. He then told them that he would go along with Ironsi as the blame was going to be on him (Fajuyi) that he was the one who staged the coup. The both of them were taken away and that was how they were killed in the coup.
Yakubu Gowon wasn't the most senior officer at that time, it was babafemi Ogundipe but the northern soldiers refused to take order from Babafemi Ogundipe
@@olajidejenyo8835 that is not the issue here. The attitude put us in this mess. Ironsi have time to setenced Isaac adaka boro to death by hanging, and killed Isaac men but there no time to try those coup plotters. Even they were still receiving their salaries. I don't know the history igbos want. Now c Ghanaian, south afruca, Kenya etc are chasing igbos in their land.
Funlola Ogundipe his daughter worked for me, and my wife and self attended her wedding when she became Buraimoh Adeyweyemo. General Ogundipe was stand in president before Yakubu Gowan was appointed. I worked in Nigeria from 1974 and grandparents since 1906 in Calabar and have much love of the friends made and my life in Lagos. Thanks for these interesting videos of Nigeria' s past history and good luck for future national harmony.
he said most senior from nothern nigeria, please listen before you criticize. Everyone knows babafemi was senior to Gowon, but Gowon was the most senior from the north and the coup plotters wanted a northerner to rule
I think Gen Ironsi is a courageous man, he has good intentions for Nigeria. His main problem was inexperience of ruling a diverse country like Nigeria admist political crises coupled with bad advisers.
Simply put. Our problems didn't start from the first coup or the last coup. Our problems are there because when we heard that people were killed in a coup, we asked "what tribes were killed?" And what tribe(s) killed them. Instead of "Why were they killed?" And "Did they deserve to die?" This way it so turns out that if a villain of your tribe was killed by someone of another tribe, that entire tribe becomes the villain to you. If some of us had the sense to view every actor as Nigerian and disregard tribe, you'll see the method to the entire saga. And once you do, you'll understand that the "Counter Coup" was infact a Mutiny.
No, they killed the northern leaders and left the others untouched. If that was done to the southerners, you wouldn't have take time to write all this paragraph. Ethnic and religious motives are clearly behind the first coup, and the problem is also that they were violently tortured before getting killed and trown like animals. At that point, nothing was going to stop the Civil War in nigeria
@@soumi1984Genocide you mean.. Ofo omo, if it was done to southerners, of course they would have starved and murdered almost 10 million Igbos.. Oloriburuku..
The Nigerian Coup has northern to do with Nigeria’s Failures, it was the Failures that led to the Coup and more Coup will come if things continue like this. I see some illiterate talking about Igbo started it, Anyone would have led a Coup. It happened in Ghana, Bokina Faso, Uganda, Congo, Egypt and even Ethiopia. Nigeria’s problem has always been our tribal Division, we are 3 countries in 1
The first coup plotters are major Igbos, the person that took power was Igbo man who failed to try the coup plotters and dealt with them appropriately..... The then prime minister, premiere of the North and premier of the west were all gruesomly killed, new had it that Zik fled the country through Cameroon. If it was not the Igbo coup, the execution portray it was. Lets stop playing the Ostrich here. I think the wound will heal when all the side take their blames.
@@habeebullahiabdulrahman5506 before you call it an igbo coup, 1. Who stopped the coup, what ethnic group were they from. 2. Who were the Coup plotters trying to install as leader, was it not Awolowo??? 3. Today the man Nzeogwu is from the Mid-west, a place where they argue that they are not igbo. On of the men who led the coup and actually killed people is half Tiv, he and Nzeogwu, were born and grew up in Northern Nigeria, with barely any contact to the Igbos in the east. Nzeogwu was so much like a northerner they called him kaduna, he could barely speak any igbo but spoke hausa well and always dressed like them. So why are his crimes credited to the entire Igbo ethnic group?
Most of Nigeria's older generation didn't fit the bill in terms of exposure t the time. The older generation were the likes of Zik, Bello, Balewa and Awo. At the time of the first coup, our indigenous army was only 7 Years old and the NDA was 4. Most of the officers were young at the time. People like Philip Effiong, Ironsi, Ogundipe, Ojukwu, Unegbe, Maimalari, Gowon, Hassan Katsina, etc were actually among our first 30 Nigerian officers. The likes of Obj, Nzeogwu, Adekunle, Murtala, Banjo, IBB were still upcoming. Abacha and Buhari were boys.
Being in the military was already an advantage. Civilians like awolowo and co were well into their 30s and 40s before even having a say in the country's matter.
"Most senior Northern officer." Else, even Ojukwu was on the same rank as Gowon. However, picking Gowon kinda struck the balance, because he was neither a southerner, nor an Hausa. At that time, the most senior officer still alive was Brig. Ogundipe whom despite his superiority, didn't have a direct command role over the presidential guards brigade which were the soldiers available to him. They were directly answerable to Joe Garba, an officer much inferior in rank to Ogundipe, who happened to be infact a zealous part of the Mutiny.
@Akinmade Emmanuel Because if they teach this history, it will always be contended by the party (or ethnic group) that feels it portrays them in a bad light.
During our time history was thought and it was also thought in government so that is why I laugh at igbos when they say Yoruba betrayed them because that was what they have been told. Ironsi and Zik were the begining of our problem in Nigeria.
The end is not yet, this was beginning and the end is yet to come, all the wrongs that are called rights will yield fruits for all the eat and be satisfied when the end come and the matters settle
Just like ezeogu killed westerners and northerners politicians and saved azikwe and his easterners brothers to pave way for another eastern brother ironsi to be head of state.
Nigeria’s downfall started with the first parliamentary election, which saw the Igbos form an alliance with the North. ZIK thought little of the North as uneducated people that could be easily controlled, but he was in for a shock when he was appointed a Prime Minister only by name with little or no political powers. The igbos had the popular vote, which meant they could easily form a govt with either the North/West as they had the upper hand. The coup of 1966 was a way of handing power back to the East and it started the downward spiral of a once great country called Nigeria. It’s such a shame history is no longer part of our curriculum because the young generation needs to know.
@@MRdarcy743 Never was Awolowo considered for the post. After the counter coup he was made Minister of Finance before power was transferred to Shagari.
@@frankkyfrankky8502 are you talking about the first coup? Led by Nzeogwu? Or have I mixed something up? I thought you were referring to the first coup where Ironsi took power. Their plan, according to Ademoyega, was to release Awolowo who was in jail at the time and fly him from calabar to lagos and place him in power. They were nationalists and believed he was the only true nationalist with a backbone. They didnt rate Zik and considered Ahmadu bello corrupt and power hungry.
@@MRdarcy743 I was referring to the first coup as that started the downward spiral of Nigeria. We all know the coup was a way of correcting the error ZIK made by forming an alliance with the North. To this very day, the North on their own doesn’t have the majority to rule Nigeria. They still need an alliance with either the West or South and it’s a shame that over half a century later, the West and East can’t see past their differences to unite.
@@gentlemanedotv it wasn’t an ethnic cleansing, all people killed in January 1966 coup were informed but they ignored it. SL Akintola boasted , Ahmadu Bello boasted and dissuaded others not to listen to the coup plotters that nothing of that nature would happen. Tawafa Belewa said he’s not going anywhere, that he’s ready to die, in fact he was actually waiting for them to come. While Nnamdi Azikiwe ran amidst the rumors speculation. Similar thing happened in Ghana and no one termed it ethnic cleansing but in Nigeria where ethnic politics is everything, they termed it ethnic cleansing, however the objective of the 9 majors was to kill the key motivators of SW unrest which include Okotie, Tafawa, SL akintola and Bello .rest died as victims of circumstances.
@@onyemauchevalentine2202 i agreed with you to some point, the master mind of that coup, uzogu, planned a coup but igbo accross the bridge planned ethnic cleansing, was eastern region not having premiere? must it be igbo that have to kill others? 6 months were not enough to try the coup ploters and execute them. You want to tell me you dont know how painful it is to kill people noble men. Ahnadu ballo have since be complaining about igbos attitude. The same evil attitude makes you to draw map that end in Edo state and called it biafra.
@@onyemauchevalentine2202 you lie their motive was to kill and give power to their ethnic brother. During ironsi regime the same evil attitude prompt Isaac adaka Boro to declare Niger delta republic and igbo lead government sentenced him death by hanging. Igbo attitude makes us to lark unity in the south. Every thing about igbo ipob is also evil agenda, which is igbo Supremacy over other ethnic nationality.
The narrator didn't get it completely right with d historical antecedents,eg d January 15th1966 coup was led by Maj.kaduna Nzeogu,not maj.lfejuna as he reported,also Gen lronsi was a hard drinking, military officer who doees not quite get to know d enormous responsibility on his shoulders.Also d appointment of lronsi as d chief of staff as d narrator put it,was via d influence of d outgoing British Army chief, wasn't correct,rather inputs by d northern political class to balance national outlook over appointment.So, many not too correct info as presented by d story teller
@@ucol2068 NO HE DID NOT! He himself died 6 months later..Any punishment of the coup plotters was fake. It was obvious at least to the northerners that the coup was to get Aguyi into government.
This first coup was the start of Nigerian down fall, it could not get was than then ..... imagine ....killing other tribe and leaving all Igbo leader live is just not logical , watching how kaduna (Igbo personal )was making joke about killing sir bello Aguiyi-ironsi , left kaduna to rule the north same people he killed the leader WHAT A JOKE !
I'm sorry, but you are grossly misinformed and I do not blame you. I blame the Nigerian governments blatant refusal to teach real history in schools. Whatever we learn through word of mouth is then twisted to look like a tribal thing. There were northerners and westerners involved in that coup. Please read 'Why we struck' by Adewale Ademoyega, one of the major players in that coup, and you will see why they did what they did. You will also see that they intended to make Obafemi Awolowo president of Nigeria. This notion that the first coup was tribalistic is just to discredit it and hide the truth that Ahmadu Bello, Okotie-Eboh, Tafawa Balewa, and Samuel Akintola were nothing but power hungry corrupt thugs. Ahmadu Bello in particular is given unwarranted respect. That man oppressed his own people who still adored him. Still happens in Nigeria today.look at Tinubu in lagos and all the impoverished north who still support Buhari despite all these killings. They would rather die than see a leader from another tribe
@@MRdarcy743 I wish I could like your comment more than once because it is absolutely the truth. It is a pity that History has been systematically removed from school curriculums across the country.
In as much as I don't support the imbalance nature of the coup.Lt col Mark Arthur Unegbe an Igbo was killed by the coupist. According to the coupist,col Pam alerted him and he was able to frustrate the coup in Lagos. While MI Okpara wasn't killed because the presence of a visiting Bishop from Malta
The Man that ruined regional government in Nigeria,he helped put Nigeria in this current state of agitations because of his personal ambition to accrue powers to himself and his tribe,he had hands in the assassination of the other two bridgadiers because he perceived them as threat to him being becoming the head of state.may God forgive him and may his soul and the others rest in peace.
I don't where you read this your version of Ironsi,but from I where I read about the coup of 1966 he was never a part of it if those that plotted a coup exonerated him from being a part of it I wonder how that same person should be linked to that coup. Let's not be sentimental about history
Later accounts of Ironsi's colleagues (Including Yakubu Gowon) describe Ironsi as a firm believer in the none political role of the army. All the coup plotters took the stand to their graves that Ironsi knew nothing about the coup. He was a Major General, and the GOC of the Nigerian army. Every uniform man in the country, dead or alive was inferior in rank to him. Why tf would he then perceive his juniors as a threat? Please let's stop religiously advertising ignorance, this is not nollywood. Go back and read and Get your facts straight!!!
After the counter-coup of 1966, Northerners have been controlling Nigeria like it is their private property. All National policies and decisions have been made with the interest of the North, leading to gradual and continued decline of the country. And Northern Nigeria have stubbornly resisted the idea of decentralization, where each State develops their own natural resources and control 100% of their resource revenue! That is the only way Nigerian economy will diversify, create economic opportunities, and rescue Nigeria from further descent into insecurity and chaos. Decentralizing the economy would mean giving up control, and they don't want that. Northerners have been using Nigeria's resource wealth like it is their private fund. They dominate Nigerian armed forces and National security; they rushed the capital to the North; they built Kainji dam with resource revenue from the South; they blatantly defied the principles of location of industries, and established oil refineries in the North. They don't have oil, but they ran NNPC, and controlled most Oil Blocks. They enjoyed preferential treatment for admission into higher institution
Stupid fool, Kaduna Nzegwu was welcomed in the North and held Kaduna because Northerners supported the coup. Better go and read history and don’t make conclusions on 11minutes video. Stupid idiot
@@derealfrancismore3318 That's a lie. No one in the north would every support the killing of Sardauna and Tafawa Balewa. They even executed Sardauna's wife in cold blood because she refused to leave her husband's side. Please dont try to rewrite history.
@@Assnwomen so what happened before the execution? You don't know that Belewa and Sarduana used federal power to rig and install Akintola against the plans of the western politics? And they even detained Awolowo? Do you know that Sarduana was going about his northern policy and was recklessly saying things that will bring disunity? Why are you all having this half baked history from ? From 1960 after the independence, till 1966 why didn't they kill them? I mean let's be realistic here and call a spade a spade. The whole Nigerians saw the corruption and high handedness from the Elites then and it was a revolutionary mission. Even this guy Ironsi was supposedly among those to be killed as he was perceived weak and being used by the then elites as a general. Let's stop this half baked history please
roxy YoxY well I just believe : 1) Think before you talk. 2)Use reasoning in your argument. 3)peace should be the ultimate goal, in whatever you pursue. And anyway why should I be interested in whatever Ahmadu Bello may have said anywhere? I lived in Northern Nigeria for 19 years of my life. Never did I hear the people hate spewing at any Igbo people. In fact I think they are very generous - every Northern town has a huge Igbo population living with in prosperity. It is always the Igbo people I found to be living in a fantasy where they think they are in some way more superior to other Nigerian. Period.
To be quite honest, Aguiyi Ironsi was a real soldier. A consulate and disciplined military officer. He was thrust into a position and situation that he was not prepared for. To take the reigns of Nigeria at that point required "super powers". His people opened a hornet's nest and handed it to him. I remember well,the plan was to kill him and Okotieh Eboh in the first coup. Person dodge car only to meet tractor trailer. I felt for him because 90 percent of Nigerians at that time were true patriots. Our future was incandescent ly bright and limitless. Sad.
Gowon was not the most senior officer in the Nigerian Army then. Brigadier Ogundipe was the most senior. Please cross check your facts properly and stop misinforming people.
You should have read the comments before making this comment. We said, " The most senior Northern officer in the Nigerian Army." Or was Brigadier Ogundipe a Northerner?
Your documentation is only one sided, with blames on Ironsi and the Igbos, signifying the January 1966 coup as an Igbo coup. Col. Gowon was not chosen, but picked by some secretaries, and he was not the best,or senior persons, but the least qualified, person to be made the head of state.
Major Kaduna Nzeogwu was a criminal and should not have been accorded full military honours after his death. The Igbos are the ones who started the division in Nigeria
I would say that the western colonial powers are responsible for the problems in Nigeria . In creating Nigeria they tried to fuse three distinct cultures together for their own benefit. With predictable results . Also the Igbos were being treated like the Jews in pre ww2 Germany by the northern africans - as second class citizens . The Igbos who had migrated north after Nigeria had been created tended to be more wealthy and entrepreneurial than their northern counterparts which caused resentment and backlash not only from the northern population but the newly formed Nigerian government as well . They were , for instance, unable by law to hold top positions in the government or the military . They were made unwelcome by the ethnic majority and had every right to rebel imho .
The “igbos started the division in Nigeria” but there mass killings of yoruba and Igbo in 1953 in the then Northern region. Also mass killings of igbos in the 40’s. (There was a story of a train filled with hundreds bodies arriving at enugu from the north). You also missed the interview of the Sarduana comparing Igbos to rats and how they are a problem, along with the introduction of his “northerners first" policies. But yeah Igbos started the problem. Nzeowgu was born and raised in the North and was so much like a Northerner they called him Kaduna. He is from Anioma delta (people who now tell you they are not igbo). He committed crimes for the sake of his people around him who were suffering, bit you attribute his crimes to his entire ethnic group.
@@chineduchinakwe7854 kaduna Nzeogwo was 26years when he committed that crime. Bcos he grew up from that does not give him the liberty to take the life of another. I think him and the coupist were lunatic. See the position were are today, no unity, no peace, no love etc
@@peter-pz2cy my point was that in no way did his crimes represent the stance of the igbo people who Nigerians constantly blame. Its been decades and several leaders later(regimes we had no input in and mostly struggled through), where is Nigeria today?? Nigeria and the north in particlular murdered tens of thousands of innocent people for the crimes of naive individuals but everyone will brush it off and give stupid excuses to justify it
Juat wandering if General Gowan was innocent in this coup ☆☆ though always looking innocent == the holy scripts always remind all of us == live with the sword die by the sword == ☆ General murutala gave him a cup of his own wine to test ☆ although heaven has kept him long enough to reflect -:for a reason maybe. because of his other good sides ※※ ** ※※
One day, Ironsi will be regenerated from his bones via CRISPR genetics by Korean scientists, as they are doing with the sabre-toothed tiger (ED: Correction, the Cave Lion), and will catch up on things and overwhelm everyone. Then, he will reinstate himself.
He destroyed the structure we are now fighting to restructure now it’s not the Hausa Fulani who destroyed it now see the history for yourself first coup first military head of state first to destroy the region first to try to breakaway Na wow 😲
Even in his reign igbo were busy killing kings in today's river state, akuaibom state and bayarsa state, that is why Isaac adaka Boro decided to declare Niger delta republic and igbo lead government jailed him. Igbos believe in igbo ethnic Supremacy and that is what ipob is doin today.
@@gentlemanedotv you must really hate igbos, you also forget to tell them that Niger delta republic was for only Ijaw people. And the Nigerian army still killed him even after he helped them. And please share with us how Igbos were killing people around the south south back then. Oh yes Nzeogwu was an Anioma man from Midwest Nigeria who you people now claim are not igbo
Contrally to general perceived reason that adekule fajuyi who was the host of ironsi refused to allow the norther soldiers to take ironsi alone, it has been debunked by dunkat balley late general and middle belt officer for he said that it was fajuyi that commanded the operation damsa in the north where they had a rehearsal with nzuogwu on how to break up any barrier leading to amadu bello house am 70yrs and have read up to 40 books about the course of the first coup and more this generation don't read all you dweal on is tribal sentiment especially ignorant Yourbas the real first coup leaders were Emmanuel ifejuna and adewale ademuyga who wrote why we struck he also fought on biafran side with six other youruba officers locked up in calabar prison in the east adeleke who wrote reluctant rebel was among them l advice you young folks read more history before exposing your ignorance