By Aloy Ejimakor
Even as it is coming so late in the day, I must commend Babangida for revealing (or confirming) the following self-evident truths in his epic Book – ‘A Journey in Service: “First, that the 1966 coup was not an “Igbo coup” but somewhat of a revolution aimed at regime-change and installing Awolowo as the provisional president of Nigeria. In other words, if it could be said that the coup was tactically or covertly geared to foisting ethnic domination, it was going to be a Yoruba domination, not an Igbo domination. Still, whether Igbo domination or Yoruba domination, the counter coup was overtly geared to northern (or far-northern) domination and worse – it midwifed a horrid bloodlust and a total loss of compatriot spirit against the Igbo.
Second, that those who purveyed the destructive lie that it was an Igbo coup were motivated by a satanic desire to trigger an anti-Igbo ethnic tension on a national scale. In other words, a deliberate plot was hatched ahead of time to deploy the coup as a subterfuge to levy a genocide against Ndigbo.
Third, that Nzeogwu, having been borne and raised in Kaduna, not only spoke Hausa very fluently but was more Hausa than Igbo in his mannerisms, values, worldview and attitude. In other words, Nzeogwu was a confirmed ‘Aboki,’ not an ‘Inyamiri.’ No pun or disrespect intended.
Fourth, that the ranks of the coup plotters and henchmen were vastly populated by officers who were not Igbo. This was the most obvious clue that belied the lies but it never mattered anyway because the die was cast for the Igbo to ‘pay.’
Fifth, that an Igbo officer (Anuforo) assassinated another Igbo officer (Unegbe) who rallied against the coup; and another Igbo officer (Obienu) played a key role in halting the coup. But when Obienu was later to be hounded and murdered by northern soldiers, it didn’t matter to them that he put his life on the line to foil the ‘Igbo coup.’ The only thing that mattered was that he was Igbo and therefore must die.
Sixth, that the palpable tension between Ojukwu and Gowon stemmed from Ojukwu’s altruistic insistence that the most senior officer (a Yoruba top brass named Babafemi Ogundipe) should, in accordance with time-honored military traditions, be the next Head of State after Ironsi’s gruesome assassination in the counter coup. So, as a matter of backward logical correlation, if the first coup was an Igbo coup — driven by the ambition for Igbo domination — why would Ojukwu (an alpha male and the ultimate Igbo man) take the great risk of insisting that a Yoruba man should be the next Head of State, following the second coup?
Seventh, that Ojukwu declared Biafra because Gowon proved unwilling to protect the beleaguered and trapped Igbos. In other words, Biafra was not an unlawful rebellion but a bulwark against a horrendous genocide or a last and resort to self preservation.
To conclude, I decided to write this piece for two main reasons: First, I hope it will bring some closure or comfort to all Igbos of my generation who have borne the burden of this destructive and hellish lie for over half a century. It is a burden we bear every day and night in blood and lost opportunities in a nation that was supposed to be equally ours but is not.
Second, I hope the new revelations will help to protect our children and their children from the visceral hate that has vested against the Igbo since this deadly lie of ‘Igbo coup’ was propagandized to a national “truth” that has haunted Ndigbo from generation to generations, such that all Igbo children borne into this country came out wearing the unbreakable yoke of this Igbo coup around their necks. I have such children and I suspect that they often wonder where their parents and ancestors went so wrong that should bring such undeserved ‘generational curse’ of being borne into a country that has seemingly drawn an invincible redline against them.
And this: For what it is worth, Ndigbo deserve a national contrition and political recompense from official Nigeria. This should include ceasing and desisting from the ongoing persecutions (fronted as prosecutions) of any Igbo that has risen or rises against the myriad anti-Igbo injustices that have characterised ‘political’ Nigeria, such as the disparities we have seen in State creations, location of seaports, the national budget, power-sharing, basic infrastructures, such as roads, rails and so on.
In the same vein, and again – for what it is worth, Ndigbo also deserve a deep-felt personal atonement from the prime actors who concocted this lie of Igbo coup and then dubiously turned around to use it as an anchor to launch a genocide (not a civil war) that nearly succeeded in wiping out the Igbo race if Biafra had not been declared. If they are not sure how to atone, they should borrow a leaf from Babaginda.
Hopefully, the contrition, recompense and atonement, if sincere, may just be the magic tonic that could persuade Ndigbo to pedal back from the strong temptation of seeking an alternative to a Nigeria.
Ejimakor is counsel to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
