The broadcast on Biafra by Al-Jazeera must have hit home. I know this for
\nsure with the rush by apologists of the Military-North Complex to indulge
\nin their favourite revisionism. The first Nigeria coup is always their
\ntakeoff point.<\/p>\n
However, we Ndi Igbo will never stop telling our story. The first coup
\nthat they keep labeling the Igbo\u00a0 coup because some of its leaders were
\nIgbo, was never an Igbo coup. If the Military-North Complex that ruled and
\nruined Nigeria is willing to defend their assertions, let the Federal
\ngovernment of Nigeria muster the will to set up a Commission that will
\ninterrogate the first and second coups, since they always claim ALL our
\nproblems started then. This may help to bring a final closure to the
\nclaims and counter claims!<\/p>\n
Indeed Major Kaduna Nzeogwu was reputed to have led the coup. The
\nrevisionists never fail to recollect how he invaded the home of Sir Ahmadu
\nBello and murdered him. They however always fail to mention that Nzeogwu
\ndidn’t act alone. Nzeogwu shot his way into Sir Bello’s home, with Lt Atom
\nKpela, a Tiv man, amongst others shooting with him.<\/p>\n
Nzeogwu was murdered by northern troops at Nsukka sector, and his eyes
\nplucked out before burial, during the war. What of Atom Kpela? He ended up
\nas Military Governor of East Central state I.e Igbo land!\u00a0 And you will
\nnever hear members of the Military-North Complex mention Atom Kpela when
\nthey describe the horrors of that fateful night in Sir Ahmadu Bello’s
\nhome.<\/p>\n
The Military-North Complex will always breeze through the fact that Lt Col
\nUnegbe contributed most immensely in the failure of the coup in Lagos. Not
\nonly because he paid with his life, the ultimate sacrifice by an Igbo man
\nagainst an “Igbo coup”. His refusal to grant any access to the ammunition
\nstore, for which he was in charge, as the Quarter-Master General,
\nsingularly ruined the coup in Nigeria’s capital
\nthen.<\/p>\n
We acknowledge the horrors of that first coup. It is also on record that the
\nfatalities of that coup was 15 persons. A very sad outcome! However you
\nwill never hear the revisionists mention that the counter-coup had
\nfatalities of 214 persons, mainly Igbo officers. About 17 times the
\nfatalities of the first coup. A clear case of Crime against Humanity,
\nunder current UN charter! No other coup in Nigeria has ever had up to 20%
\nof that level of fatality. Even the violent attempted Orkar coup.<\/p>\n
The revisionists will never mention that the coup failed in the north
\nbecause the coup failed woefully in Kano. The failure of the coup in Kano
\nwas because Lt.Col Ojukwu refused to mobilise the 5th battalion to join
\nthe coup. Gen Olusegun Obasanjo in his book “NZEOGWU” wrote that a Lt Ude
\nwas sent by the coup plotters to kill Ojukwu. Luckily he was arrested.<\/p>\n
The Kano Airport which the coup plotters had hoped to secure was secured
\nfor Nigeria by Lt Ike Nwachukwu, whom Ojukwu detailed to do that duty.
\nAll these players that played pivotal and patriotic roles in debilitating
\nthe coup were Igbos.<\/p>\n
You will also hear them saying that M.I. Okpala, the Premier of Eastern
\nRegion was not murdered because the Igbo coup executors in Enugu refused
\nto touch him. However in the biography of Shehu Musa Yaradua, Yaradua
\nnarrated the events of that night. Yaradua was a Lieutenant and he stated
\nthat he was practically in charge of the Enugu battalion that night. He
\nnarrated that his commanding officer, Lt.Col Fajuyi was in Lagos. The 2nd
\nin command, who was Major Akonobi, was according to Yaradua’floundering’.
\nHe, Yaradua, was the one that received the signal from the Brigade
\ncommand in Lagos. And he REFUSED to obey it. He said he refused to obey
\nbecause he wanted to hear from the Brigade Commander directly, but they
\ncould not put him on.<\/p>\n
He also narrated that it was him that secured the Archbishop of Cyprus and
\nhis entourage, as well as the Premier of Eastern Region. Otherwise the
\nPremier would have been murdered. So much for the conspiracy theories that
\nIgbo officers & men refused to murder M.I. Okpala because they are same
\ntribe. Or is distinguished Major Gen. Shehu Musa Yaradua, of blessed
\nmemory a liar?<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the coup failed not only in Enugu, but also Kano and Benin. Of
\ncourse Kano and Benin are Igbo land.<\/p>\n
You will never hear members of the Military-North Complex that ruined
\nNigeria mention the IFEAJUNA MANUSCRIPT, which detailed their true plans
\nand intentions. The document detailed clearly their intention to hand over
\npower to Chief Obafaemi Awolowo.\u00a0 No less a person than Odia Ofeimun,
\nChief Awolowo’s private secretary for a long time, and renowned poet
\nrevealed this. Obasanjo had also referred to this document, most likely in
\na Freudian slip.<\/p>\n
All other coups in Nigeria, led by different tribal elements, non bears a
\ntribal moniker. Only the first coup. An institutional attempt to justify
\nall the genocides and official discriminations against Ndi Igbo. All these
\ncontinue to fuel the burning quest for Ndi Igbo to leave this vindictive
\nunion.<\/p>\n
It’s time Nigeria officially stops the revisionism. If the Military-North
\nComplex thinks their version is the right one, let them have the courage
\nto open an official truth inquest, into the events of that cold January
\nnight.<\/p>\n
Let us see if it can help us get an acceptable closure to that painful and
\nfatal epoch.<\/p>\n
Olisa Akukwe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The broadcast on Biafra by Al-Jazeera must have hit home. I know this for sure with the rush by apologists of the Military-North Complex to indulge in their favourite revisionism.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n