Victor EzejaVeteran journalist and author, Chuks Iloegbunam, has said some people bent on peddling false narratives about the 15 January 1966 coup led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, will continue to do so even with the latest revelations by former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, that ethnic sentiments did not originally drive the coup.
Babangida’s memoir, “A Journey of Service,” which was presented in Abuja last Thursday, has been generating reactions over his comments on some national issues.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelIn the book, the former military leader had while describing his experience with the January 1966 coup said that contrary to views held in some quarters about the coup, “ethnic sentiments did not drive the original objective of the coup plotters.”
According to him, “Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, was only ‘Igbo’ in name. Born and raised in Kaduna, his immigrant parents were from Okpanam in today’s Delta state, which, in 1966, was in the old mid-western region. Nzeogwu spoke fluent Hausa and was as ‘Hausa’ as any!”
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He said Nzeogwu and his team members who plotted the coup had perhaps naively thought that doing so would lead to a revolution that could turn things around for the better in the country.
In a live Interview with IrokoTV on Sunday, Iloegbunam said those peddling lies about the 1966 coup, claiming that the plotters had an ethnic agenda, are doing so to reinforce their agenda of propagating hatred against Igbo people and further subjecting them to marginalisation.
Mr Iloegbunam said he was not surprised about Babangida’s revelation about the coup. According to him, this is not the first time Babangida has said that.
“I am not surprised because this is not the first time he is saying that. He has said that before,”Iloegbunam stated.
He said Babangida had said it about eight years ago and was documented in his book “Ironsi: Nigeria, the Army, Power & Politics,” an autobiography of Major General Aguiyi Ironsi.
He said the first edition came out 24 years ago but the latest one was published four years ago.
Buttressing the argument that the 1966 coup was not an Igbo coup, Iloegbunam said: “As I have always said, you couldn’t have a coup with the objective of Igbo domination, intending to insert in power, a Yoruba politician. and then the names of non-Igbo participants in the coup are open knowledge.”
He said it was just in the selfish interest of some people to keep telling lies about history.
The veteran journalist further stated that even with Babangida’s revelation, some people would still continue to insist that it was an Igbo coup to “perpetuate the hatred of Ndigbo and concretise their marginalisation.”
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“The coup was not an Igbo coup, there were Igbo victims of the coup. but it was in the best interest of those who wanted to subjugate Ndigbo to continue to deny that fact.”
Talking about false narrative, he said Liutenant-Colonel Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe, a Quarter aster-General, Army Headquarters, Lagos, who was one of the Igbo officers killed during the 1966 coup, was a bosom friend of Gowon but the former head of state did not come out to clear the air about his ethnic origin. According to him, some wrote that Unegbe was from the Mid-West but Gowon, who knew where he hailed from said nothing and allowed the lies to fester.
He said when the coup occurred, there were about 25 Lieutenant Colonel of Igbo ethnic origin but none of them participated.
He said he is neither celebrating nor condemning Babangida’s book, adding that he would read the book thoroughly and review it.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
