I was looking for this book "Why we struck by Adewale Ademoyega" and i eventually got it from www.sunshinenigeria.com

Honestly, Irons deserved to be killed

kettykin:


The problem with people like Jerry Useni is that while they will use every available occasion to tell the world how they struck and fought against Biafra and defeated Biafra , they never mention about anything about the burning issues in their homestead , the City of Jos has been invaded and wanton killings going on in Plateau, southern Kaduna, Benue, Nassarawa , Borno , Bauchi and these jokers keep moping aloof like ostriches while waiting for other people to strike back for them .
of All these loafers (Obasanjo, Danjuma, Gowon,Domkat Bali,Useni, Babangida)Useni seems to be the most stupid and useless of them , he was the most senior Military officer when Abacha died yet the Baton of power passed him and went to Abdulsalami and he could not do anything because of that only to come and brag how they killed Ironsi and took power from igbos . can someone call this Hypocrite to order.

Charity begins at home , save your plateau people first then you can come and brag how you defeated Biafran

a sane man can not say a something like that

I have gone through a lot of the comments on this page before deciding to stop being a guest reader and observer and just contribute.
Firstly, I am a Nigerian, and that is the only thing that matters and should matter. My tribe is not important, especially as though I have lived most of my life in Nigeria, I have actually spent more time outside Nigeria than in my so-called state of origin. I however, for the benefit of those who might want deduce wrongly, state that I am not Hausa, Yoruba, or Igbo.
My second point is that I will appreciate it if no one insulted me because my views may be divergent to his or hers, as this is a place where one expects people to be level headed and civil. I must also state that I am a Lagosian....meaning I was born and live in Lagos, and that I was born in the 80s, and so I have no personal recollections of life before or during the civil war.

I have done a lot of reading....Why we struck by Adewale Ademoyega, and Nzeogwu by Olusegun Obasanjo. Pls note that my not referring to the authors by their titles is not a mark of disrespect, especially as one of them is late and the other is cummulatively the longest serving president of Nigeria. My conclusion is that although the execution of the 1966 January coup was flawed, maybe by ethnic sentiments, maybe not, but in the planning stage it was NOT an Igbo coup. Majors Nzeogwu and Ademoyega were not deceived as they were both involved in the planning of the coup. The execution left much to be desired, but from all indications they had not planned on killing any civilians. In the spur of the moment, mistakes were made, and maybe ethnicity played a part but calling it an Igbo coup is unfair. Remember that Nigeria was a true federation then, unlike now that we have a quasi-federal structure, and the average easterner was content with his lot. There wasn't much reason to rebel. The crisis area in Nigeria was the West, where there were riots, allegations of rigging in the 1964 parliamentary elections, which were probably true, and subversion of the people. Even if one chooses to believe that the 1966 coup was an Igbo coup, only a few civilians died, which was WRONG, but it does not excuse the events of July 1966. It is referred to as a counter coup, because there was no ideological basis for it. It was a revenge coup, pure and simple. The amount of civilians who died in the January coup can be counted on my hand, and they were casualties for the most part. In the July coup, there was a calculated attempt to exterminate an entire ethnic group, and let's not pretend that was not the case. No matter what had triggered the counter coup, to call the pogrom an overreaction is an understatement. The most disgusting part of it is that most of those responsible for it, have either died peacefully or are still alive and are in the corridors of power today. This is why though I would urge people to not just ignore the past, but not dwell on it too much and move on, I understand why some cannot, especially those old enough to remember.

Another point I should make is as regards Emmanuel Ifeajuna. He has been referred to in this thread as being an igbo supremacist, who authored and engineered the first coup, deceiving Nzeogwu and Ademoyega. Let me first state that these three are the nucleus of that coup, everyone else....Anuforo, Onwuategwu, Chukwuka, Okafor, et al were brought in later. It may be true that he had an ethnic bias, but it is also possible that he didn't. Obasanjo wrote of him in his book 'Nzeogwu', that he was impulsive, and that he was also a courageous coward. Right from his secondary school days through university he liked to stir up uprisings, but when shit hits the fan, he was nowhere to be found to bear responsibility. These characteristics in my opinion better explain his actions on the day of the coup than that he was ethnically biased. I want to reiterate here that it is an insult to the memories of Nzeogwu and Ademoyega to suggest that Ifeajuna somehow pulled the wool over their eyes.
Another point I must make here is that it is simplistic to think that exercise Damisa was unknown to the soldiers who accompanied Nzeogwu. Perhaps in the initial stages, but not eventually. It is also silly to suggest that after Nzeogwu told them he forced them to do as he commanded. They were more in number and were also armed, thy participated willingly as far as I am concerned and when things did not turn out well they gave flimsy excuses of not being aware of what was going on. A certain Sani Abacha was part of those soldiers, given all that has transpired in Nigeria since then do you really believe that he was forced totally against his will, especially as he was more or less the most successful coup plotter in Nigeria's history...he was involved in one way or the other in all the subsequent successful coups including the counter coup of July 1966

I have come to the conclusion that Nigeria missed it when Azikiwe decided to team up with the North against the all-South alliance proposal by Awolowo. Had Azikiwe accepted that all-South alliance Nigeria would have developed rapidly and known so much peace that the January 1966 coup would not have been necessary and we would have been spared of all its ripple effects of mutual suspicion, political and military gangsterism, etc that have since then held us down till today.
I have heard the excuse that it was Awolowo's "treachery" that pushed Zik into such a counterproductive decision of teaming up with the North. The proponents of this Awolowo's treachery theory have given two different accounts, namely; the simultaneous sending of Akintola to negotiate with Sarduana for alliance while he himself was reaching out to Zik for same; and the alleged 1954 cross-carpeting saga in the Western Region.
However, that excuse, with these two instances given to substantiate it, does not make sense to me for the following reasons given under each heading:

THE WESTERN REGION CROSS-CARPETING AS A BASIS FOR ZIK TO SEEK VENGEANCE LATER ON IN 1959 IN THE FORM OF TEAMING WITH THE NORTH.

1. The details of the Western Region Cross-carpeting saga show clearly that what happened was then in Ibadan was not really cross-carpeting (i.e. Inter-party defection) but a reallignment of parties.

2. The fact that Arthur Prest, an Urhobo man was the first to pitch tents with Awolowo's AG on the floor that day punctures the claim that Awolowo used tribalistic innuendoes to convince those who moved over to his side. An Urhobo person would be the last to be moved in support of a clearly and openly Yoruba-interest-based clarion call.

3. Azikiwe really had no business in seeking premiership of the Western Region as his own people back at home in the Eastern Region needed more whatever he thought he had in stall to offer the Western Region. Charity still begins from home. I wonder how tolerable the Easterners would have found it if any of Awolowo, Akintola, Ahmadu Bello, Okotie-Eboh, etc had suddenly moved over to the Eastern Region to scramble for premiership with the indegenes likes of Okpara, Ita Eyo, etc who had more stake and claim to premiership of that region than themselves. Even if Zik so believed in his own "one-Nigeria" slogan he should have rather gone back to the North where he was born and brought up to seek premiership against Ahmadu Bello.

4. Even if we concede, but without totally agreeing that Awolowo wronged Zik and therefore deserved Zik's vengeance, it is on record that even before Zik decided to give power over to the North in 1959 through the NPC-NCNC alliance, Ahmadu Bello had as far back as 1952 already claiming that the North was born to rule over and subdue the South totally. Why then did Zik ignore Ahmadu Bello's threat against the whole South and avenged Awo's personal "sin" against him by taking an action which he clearly knew and saw would subject and enslave every future Southerner to the leadership of Ahmadu Bello and his co-Northerners domination as we have till today? Innocent southerners who were not even born back then and were therefore never part of the Zik vs Awo rivalry have come to suffer the consequences of Zik's decision. Awolowo alone "offended" Zik, but rather than patiently look for an opportunity of vengeance that would affect Awolowo and Awolowo alone, Zik chose to sacrifice the future and freedom of innocent southerners.. Yorubas, Igbos, southern minorities.... and their unborn children just to get back at Awolowo. How wise was it for a man who called himself a leader to sacrifice the future and liberty of a whole people under his supposed care all in his pursuit of a personal vendetta? Was it the fault of all Southerners and innocent future Southern generations that Awolowo prevented him from clinching a premiership which he really did not deserve in principle? That was poor sense of judgment which definitely is not a quality of a good leader.

5. In the Western Region back then there were other non-Yoruba tribes like Akoko-Edos, Etsakos, Owans, Esans, Binis, Igbankes, Aniomas, Urhobos, Itsekiris, Isokos, Ijaws, etc. In a situation whereby the premiership would have to shift from Yorubas, common sense dictated that it should have fallen on one of these other non-Yoruba tribes in the Western Region who had more stake to their own Region's premiership than an Igbo man from an entirely different region however popular he might have been. So why did Zik believe these other tribes would not "cross-carpet" to get him, an intruder, out of their legitimate way. Who told Zik that they too were not interested and already battling with Yorubas for premiership for the purpose of using the position to develop their own localities like the Yorubas were doing?

THE ACCUSATION THAT AWOLOWO DID A DISHONEST DOUBLE BARGAIN WITH BOTH NPC AND NCNC.
1. Awolowo could not have been the one who sent Akintola to Ahmadu Bello because even before 1959 Akintola was already a minister in the quasi- independence government set up by the colonial masters and headed by Balewa. Akintola was therefore already used to being in power and the enjoyment of the goodies and ego therein, and so he most likely went on his own to negotiate for himself so as to forestall a sudden change of his fortunes and status....... a doom which Awolowo's revulsion for the North would spell for him (Akintola) as the North, with its 132 MP seats seemed, to him, most likely to be in power eventually whether as North-East alliance or North-West alliance.

2. If Ahmadu Bello had suspected Awolowo's hand behind Akintola's visit for such a bargain, he was bold and blunt enough to have dialled Awolowo straight to confirm from him since it would have been strange to him to have Awolowo his arch rival behind such an offer. The fact that the blunt and no nonsense Ahmadu Bello did not contact Awolowo and never later publicly criticized Awolowo for making a surreptitious move to him can only mean that Akintola made it clear to him that he came on that visit entirely on his own accord.

3. If it was for the fear of Awo's treachery that Zik decided to dump him and go with Ahmadu Bello, then why did Zik allow his NCNC later in 1963/64 to merge with the same Awolowo's AG giving rise to the UPGA now aimed at dislodging the same Ahmadu Bello? Was it not still the same "treacherous" Awolowo that was still controlling the AG with which Zik sought the UPGA merger? Well, the fact that Awolowo instructed his disciples to join Zik in UPGA meant he forgave Zik right from inside prison while still serving the jail term Zik put him into in collusion with the North. Could such a forgiveness be in the character of a treacherous person?

With all these I believe that Zik was just an individual who was blinded by his quest for some fabulous "one Nigeria" which led him into several mistakes that ruined the entire South today. The Awolowo treachery theory is not as important as Zik's incurable obsession with "one Nigeria" in explaining why he sold the South into perpetual Northern domination.

Afam4eva:
This man is really bold to come out and say all these things he said. Did he think we would not get the English Transcript or not?

I never knew Fajuyi's death was collateral damage.

It wasn't collateral damage. Fajuyi's case and record is one of unflinching loyalty that is missing in Nigeria.

He insisted that if they will have to kill him to get through to Ironsi.

Oseite:
I have gone through a lot of the comments on this page before deciding to stop being a guest reader and observer and just contribute.
Firstly, I am a Nigerian, and that is the only thing that matters and should matter. My tribe is not important, especially as though I have lived most of my life in Nigeria, I have actually spent more time outside Nigeria than in my so-called state of origin. I however, for the benefit of those who might want deduce wrongly, state that I am not Hausa, Yoruba, or Igbo.
My second point is that I will appreciate it if no one insulted me because my views may be divergent to his or hers, as this is a place where one expects people to be level headed and civil. I must also state that I am a Lagosian....meaning I was born and live in Lagos, and that I was born in the 80s, and so I have no personal recollections of life before or during the civil war.

I have done a lot of reading....Why we struck by Adewale Ademoyega, and Nzeogwu by Olusegun Obasanjo. Pls note that my not referring to the authors by their titles is not a mark of disrespect, especially as one of them is late and the other is cummulatively the longest serving president of Nigeria. My conclusion is that although the execution of the 1966 January coup was flawed, maybe by ethnic sentiments, maybe not, but in the planning stage it was NOT an Igbo coup. Majors Nzeogwu and Ademoyega were not deceived as they were both involved in the planning of the coup. The execution left much to be desired, but from all indications they had not planned on killing any civilians. In the spur of the moment, mistakes were made, and maybe ethnicity played a part but calling it an Igbo coup is unfair. Remember that Nigeria was a true federation then, unlike now that we have a quasi-federal structure, and the average easterner was content with his lot. There wasn't much reason to rebel. The crisis area in Nigeria was the West, where there were riots, allegations of rigging in the 1964 parliamentary elections, which were probably true, and subversion of the people. Even if one chooses to believe that the 1966 coup was an Igbo coup, only a few civilians died, which was WRONG, but it does not excuse the events of July 1966. It is referred to as a counter coup, because there was no ideological basis for it. It was a revenge coup, pure and simple. The amount of civilians who died in the January coup can be counted on my hand, and they were casualties for the most part. In the July coup, there was a calculated attempt to exterminate an entire ethnic group, and let's not pretend that was not the case. No matter what had triggered the counter coup, to call the pogrom an overreaction is an understatement. The most disgusting part of it is that most of those responsible for it, have either died peacefully or are still alive and are in the corridors of power today. This is why though I would urge people to not just ignore the past, but not dwell on it too much and move on, I understand why some cannot, especially those old enough to remember.

You truly have no knowledge of what you write. I will advice you shut up at such situations next time.

Revenge belongs to God