‘‘Hard as Nzeogwu tried to justify his good intention,cold suspicions emerged and embittered tribalists within the system fanned it vigorously’’.Quoted in Nowinta’s book;2009:Where We Are (page 31)
Recllent authorised publications and comments about the behind the scenes political manoeuvres in 1966 have clearly stated that late General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi,Nigeria’s first military head of state was a victim of circumstance
General Aguiyi-Ironsi never took part in the first military coup on January 15th,1966 that violently terminated the First Republic in Nigeria.
Aguiyi-Ironsi even helped to quell the military mutiny in Lagos, where he was operating as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Nigerian Army.That is to say that the Ibo (Igbo) born late army officer did not allow the coupists to succeed in Lagos then.
As the coup plotters failed miserably in Lagos,late Major Kaduna Nzeogwu,an Ibo man (mastermind of the coup) triumphed in Kaduna beyond his wildest imagination,and went on to declare in the much publicised radio broadcast ‘why we struck’.
Agreed that General Aguiyi-Ironsi and other top military brass succeeded in brow beaten the then Acting President of Nigeria, Dr Okafor Orisu, equally an Ibo man and the tattered Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa civilian government then into submission, to begin the first military regime in Nigeria.
General Ironsi did all he was able to do as Head of State not as a dictator but the then Supreme Military Council took collective decisions that eventually led to his bloody overthrown on July 29th 1967.
When General Yakubu Gowon emerged as Nigeria’s Head of State, those who facilitated his ascension claimed that General Ironsi was acting an ‘Igbo’ script to pocket and dominate the rest tribes in Nigeria,which was not true.
Enter Col Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu,who as Military Administrator of the then Eastern Region under General Ironsi refused to bow to the authority of General Gowon for obvious reasons.
Ojukwu (an Igbo man) went on to prosecute one of the most bloody civil wars (Nigeria Civil War) on the soil of Africa.When the war ended in January 1970,after innocent millions of fellow citizens died on both the Biafran and the Nigerian sides,the genuine reasons that propelled Odumegwu Ojukwu to start the war were never solved,neither have those reasons being tackled today.
Today, one Daniel Kanu is making waves as the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB),after one … Nwazuruike has danced,sang and compromised with plenty of personal fortunes,but without much success with Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in Nigeria.
It is a fact that Nwazuruike’s MASSOB succeeded massively to practicalise the selfish and greedy script of some Igbo politicians while his noise attracted the ears of those holding sway in Aso Rock Presidential Palace
Not unsurprising to me when Daniel Kanu started making waves with his pet project (Radio Biafra), I knew that another set of demented Igbo politicians are at work,to make their presence felt and known
To me the Biafran question has expired and no longer relevant. Biafra or whatever its sponsors call it died in 1970 with the defeat of Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
Daniel Kanu should be made to answer to those Nigerian laws he has broken in the name of Biafran struggle.Who says the Ibos are marginalized in the present scheme of things in our system?
As far as I am concerned the problem with Nigeria is the elite who have succeeded in grabbing for themselves and their cronies about 90% of our resources while the rest of us are gasping to hold only 10%
Thee way out of our present problem is for us to practise true fiscal federalism so that every state can develop on its own pace,not the present unity system or ever centralised approach that has turned every state in the federation into beggars and paupers.
There is no way Biafra can be carved out of the present state of things in Nigeria.The problem is not with the geographical expression but with the crooks who do not want the system to benefit the greatest number of the people of Nigeria
Daniel Kanu and Biafra, my foot!
Nowinta wrote Where We Are- A Call for Democratic Revolution in Nigeria
