JUST 25. I mean Aaron Bushnell, a soldier of humanity. Inside his United States Air Force uniform, he wore the conscience of sacrifice for a people he may never have met. He was trained by the most powerful military in the world to obey the last order. But he was not going to obey the order of the US Commander-in-Chief, President Joe Biden, an elderly grandfather making excuses for the continuous massacre of Palestinian babies and children, even in hospitals where they seek medical care. As a principled soldier, the last order Bushnell was willing to obey, was that of his conscience.

He was not going to sit by, watching genocide visited on a people, not by aliens, but by their neighbours whose past knew genocide. He was not going to be part of an establishment which at every turn and corner, blocked the urgent ceasefire, necessary to save tens of thousands of lives. As a soldier, he knew that unless decisive steps are taken, these figures would easily climb to hundreds of thousands sent to avoidable early graves.

What greater love can a human have than to sacrifice his life for others? On Sunday, February 25, 2024, at approximately 12:58pm local time, the Development Operations engineer of the United States Air Force, donned the uniform of his service and walked smartly to the Israeli Embassy. As he did so, he said: “…Aaron Bushnell, I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force. And I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine, in the hands of their colonisers, is not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”

When he got to the embassy gates, he doused himself in inflammable liquid and set himself ablaze, shouting continuously: “Free Palestine! Free Palestine!! Free Palestine!!!”

As a first responder security man tried to put off the flames, rather than help, an obvious secret service agent, merely trained his gun at the burning Bushnell. This prompted the former to shout: “I don’t need guns, I need fire extinguisher!” In this brief moment, we see two species of human beings: a conscientious one, intent on saving life, and a conscienceless secret service agent ready to shoot a dying man engulfed in flames.

The flames that extinguished the life of young Bushnell were in the United States, but they were seen all over the world. They were flames of love for humanity. It was a symbolic act, but worth far more than the combined rhetoric of those sitting in the White House, Downing Street, Elysee Palace, Bellevue Palace or the comfortable chambers of the United Nations.

I will not put it past people who have lost their humanity, to claim that Bushnell was a psychiatric case. Such persons cannot understand how a person could sacrifice his life this way. Their Biblical progenitors would have blamed Jesus Christ for needlessly losing his life for the helpless and defenceless, and standing up against the Israeli establishment.

This explains why US Secret Service Spokesperson, Joe Routh, told the press that the security services responded to what appeared as “an individual that was experiencing a possible medical/mental health emergency”. But it was not Bushnell that was in a mental health emergency, it is the millions of human beings that stand by watching genocide perpetrated before their very eyes.

I had thought that after colonial Germany from 1904 to 1907 wiped out half of the Namibian people; the Turks between 1915 and 1923 exterminated 1.5 Armenians; Hitlerite Germany, exterminated six million Jews; Belgium under Leopold II massacred 15 million Congolese; and the 1994 Rwandan genocide, humanity would never again allow genocide. But with one going on today in the Palestine, I am convinced that a large section of humankind has lost its soul.

Amongst those who remain human, is Netherlands Deputy Ambassador, Angelique Eijpe. She, after 21 years in service, including in Gaza, resigned in protest against the Dutch government’s support for the genocide in the Palestine. She tried to dialogue with government officials under Prime Minister Mark Rutte, but failed. She participated in weekly sit-ins by civil servants of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, expressing dissent against the government’s policies in the Palestine. But little or nothing was achieved. So, Eijpe decided to resign.

She said of her resignation letter: “I wrote about the moral standing we have lost in the Netherlands. For example, the government has refused to define what’s going on as war crimes or potential war crimes. We have abstained twice in the UN General Assembly where it comes to voting for a cease-fire. We are here in The Hague, the capital of peace and justice, and our credibility has really suffered an extreme blow. Some civil servants in the US and Europe are taking a stand against their governments’ support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Several have resigned because they no longer feel able to implement government policies they disagree with.”

One of the most courageous steps taken by a country to stop this genocide was that by South Africa under President Cyril Ramaphosa. Where the Apartheid Zionists in Israel were being protected by the US and some European countries, South Africa dragged a yelling Israel to the International Court of Justice. The international court in January 2024 gave an interim ruling ordering Israel to stop its acts of genocide, including the wilful destruction of hospitals and homes, and allow humanitarian assistance to be provided the civil populace. But like an international outlaw protected by a powerful mafia, Israel has continued to ignore the ruling and common sense.

Bushnnel’s sacrifice reminds me of that by John Brown who on Sunday October 16, 1859, decided to strike a blow for enslaved Black peoples who were regarded as no higher than mules. Brown lost his two sons in that battle while he himself was captured.

The seriously injured Brown was brought to court in a stretcher and sentenced within one week. But he scored a moral victory over the lynch mob that tried him and the establishment that put them in place. On being sentenced to death, he told the court: “I see a book kissed here which is the Bible, and which teaches me all things; that I would have men do unto me, so must I do unto them. I endeavoured to act up to that instruction. I fought for the poor; and I say I was right.” History proved the saintly John Brown right. That same history, will prove Aaron Bushnnel right. 

May his soul rest in power.

Nigerian authorities are reportedly seeking $10 billion in penalties from the global cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance, alleging the country has incurred massive losses due to the platform’s activities.

The Nigerian government detained two Binance Holdings Ltd. executives, days after the central bank governor said that the nation is losing out on taxes from unregistered crypto exchanges.

The two were intercepted by national security officers after arriving in the country on the grounds that Binance operates illegally in Nigeria.

Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, made the penalty known Friday morning in an interview with the BBC.

Binance profited substantially from its “illegal transactions” in Nigeria while the nation suffered huge losses, Mr Onanuga said during the interview, which was monitored in Lagos.

Sources confirmed that Binance is being interrogated on issues bordering on money laundering (worth billions of dollars), currency speculation, tax evasion, operating in Nigeria without a licence and after being banned, terrorism financing and organised crimes, The source ends by saying, “it’s very bad.”

Terrorism and organised crime financing are the crux of the matter, which is why the Office of the Security Adviser requested the data of all users and their transactions.

“They are showing good faith and cooperating with relevant agencies( ONSA, NFIU, EFCC, DSS). They are ready to right their wrongs.

“They already admitted and linked the huge “passed-through funds” to terrorism and organised crime financing, “ the source disclosed.

The federal government has said that the distribution of 42,000 metric tons of grains to vulnerable Nigerians will be flagged off by next week in Niger State.

Niger State Governor, Umar Bago, who disclosed this after a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security ahead of the commissioning of the mechanisation program by the President in the state, said the distribution of the grains will be flagged off in the state as the state will be used as pilot state in the North Central so that the distribution can commence in earnest.

The Governor further disclosed that as part of their support to the people, the state has further acquired 120,000 trucks of grains including rice, beans, millet, sorghum, soybeans among others to be distributed freely.

“We have vouched to march there dollar to dollar, if the federal government is giving us N100million, we will also give a 100million. We will continue to farm and we are doing lots of sensitization for our farmers to go back to agriculture including aquaculture, livestock among others.”

On his part, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari said that 42,000mt Sorghum, millet, maize and gaari will be distributed across the country.

He further disclosed that the second phase of the dry season farming would also be flagged off next week in Niger state, before extending the commencement to other states.

To ensure transparency, the minister assured that the operation will be very robust as the media, CSOs, religious groups, workers union will all oversee the distribution.

“I can assure you that it is going to be very transparent. When the template is concluded, we are going to declare to everybody where, what and how the distribution will go. Those issues will be addressed. I know a lot of people are worried about what has happened in the past. But we will set up a template for everyone to see,” he stated.

The Commander General of Kano Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, has resigned from his appointment.

The head of the Kano Shari’a police tendered his resignation in a short clip posted on his official Facebook page on Friday.

Daurawa’s resignation came less than 24 hours after Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf faulted the new method of operations being deployed by Hisbah against acts of immorality in the state.

While addressing Ulama at the Government House on Thursday, Gov. Yusuf, especially kicked against the mode of invading public places in the name of arresting prostitutes, an act he considered uncivilized.

Governor Yusuf also frowned at Hisbah’s methods of arresting suspects, insisting the board must review its present operations to correct the wrongs in society.

While reacting to Governor Yusuf’s comment, the Daurawa explained that the Hisbah board under his stewardship has embarked on a series of activities to correct the immorality being perpetrated in the society, especially by social media influencers.

According to Sheikh Daurawa, Hisbah has done what he believes was right and under the tenets of Islam. He, however, noted that he would resign his appointment and wished the governor and his administration well.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has warned Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, not to take action against bandits terrorising the people of the South West without the involvement of the military forces and other security agencies.

Recall that Igboho had on Monday told his supporters not to wait for the government’s intervention before taking steps to fight the Fulani herders who are denying local farmers from accessing their farmland in the Southwest region.

Igboho claimed that the people of Southwest should unite to create a regional security force that protects them from incessant Fulani herders’ attacks on their farmland.

The Yoruba activist stated that he was willing to engage with the federal government to discuss lawful ways to pursue his course.

In an interview with reporters on Thursday, the spokesman for Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba said any action taken by Igboho without the involvement of the security agencies would be considered unconstitutional.

Buba said the military is ready to work with Igboho to flush out killer herdsmen and bandits terrorising farmers and people on the highways in the South West.

He also praised the activist for his boldness and assured him that the military would be willing to work with him if he intended to improve the security situation of the country.

“I have not seen the video where he made that statement, but one thing I must say is that people and communities are always welcome. If what he said is to make the situation better, he is welcomed, but if what he is saying is that we should disregard the armed forces of Nigeria, definitely, he is out of line because that is against Nigeria’s constitution,” he said.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has addressed recent criticisms directed at its Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, urging detractors to engage more constructively.

In an exclusive interview with TheCable, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, emphasized the need for critics to familiarize themselves with the electoral laws and the commission’s processes before levying accusations.

The response comes in the wake of the first anniversary of the 2023 presidential election on February 25, a date that saw a surge in social media activity, with some Nigerians expressing their displeasure towards Yakubu.

The aggrieved parties accused him of manipulating the election results in favour of the incumbent President, Bola Tinubu.

Oyekanmi, however, defended the integrity of the 2023 elections, describing them as “a huge success and the most painstakingly planned” in the history of Nigeria’s electoral process.

He challenged the notion of electoral fraud and highlighted the commission’s commitment to transparency and fairness throughout the election cycle.

He said, “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) believes that the 2023 general election was a huge success, despite some challenges that the commission had to grapple with.

“It was the most painstakingly planned election and for the most part, our plans were successfully executed.

“Just last Friday, we released the official report of the election, which consisted of 526 pages, organised into 14 chapters and fortified with 60 tables, 14 boxes and 10 graphs. There is a lot to chew in the report.

“And for the first time ever in Nigeria’s electoral history, the 2023 elections unveiled unprecedented political diversity, with four political parties capturing gubernatorial seats, effectively breaking the duopoly that has long dominated the political scene.

“Besides, seven parties won senatorial seats, eight secured federal constituencies and nine were successful in state legislatures.

“While the report emphasises the significant impact of technological advancements on the integrity of the electoral process, especially the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which reduced electoral fraud and bolstered the credibility of elections, the document also explained the challenges encountered with the INEC result viewing (IReV) portal during the presidential election.

“With the report now in the public domain, we expect stakeholders to interrogate it and offer useful advice on how we can further improve the electoral system.

“As for those persons who embarked on what they described as ‘a day of curses’, my advice is that they should pay adequate attention to substantive issues, make more productive use of their time, and cure themselves of their visible ignorance of the laws governing the electoral system and the commission’s processes and procedures.”

In a historic medical feat, a team of Saudi medical professionals has accomplished the separation surgery of Nigerian conjoined twins, Hassana and Husaina, at the King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in Riyadh.

The directive for this landmark achievement came from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

The intricate procedure, which commenced on Thursday morning, was the result of meticulous planning and execution by a dedicated team of 38 medical experts, including consultants, specialists, technicians, and nursing staff. Lasting approximately 14 hours, the surgery unfolded in nine carefully planned stages, addressing shared areas in the lower abdomen, pelvis, lower spine, and lower spinal nerves of the twins.

The Advisor at the Royal Court, Supervisor General of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), and head of the medical team, Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, expressed confidence in the success of the procedure, citing a 70% success rate.

“This is a momentous occasion that showcases the Kingdom’s commitment to advancing medical science and providing compassionate healthcare globally,” he said.

The successful separation of Hassana and Husaina marks the 60th operation undertaken by the Saudi program for separating conjoined twins, a program that has provided care for 135 conjoined twins from 25 countries over the past 34 years.

Dr. Al Rabeeah extended heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the Saudi leadership for their unwavering support of the program.

He said, “The successful separation of Hassana and Husaina exemplifies the Kingdom’s dedication to humanitarian causes and its role as a leader in global healthcare.”

On his part, the Press Attaché at the Saudi embassy in Abuja, Mohammed Alsahabi, commented on the achievement, stating, “This remarkable feat highlights the close collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Nigeria in the field of healthcare. We are proud to have played a part in improving the lives of these twins and their family.”

The separation of Hassana and Husaina signifies not only a medical triumph but also a symbol of hope for countless others facing similar challenges worldwide.

I remember, with nostalgia, our secondary school days when the James Hardley Chase novels were such a delightful companion. Even though it was not a recommended text, it was difficult to find a peer or cohort unfamiliar with the thrillers. In the ‘Tiger by the Tail’ Chase told the story of Kenway Holland, ‘a respectable, married bank official who jeopardises his happiness and his future by one night ofmidsummer madness. The sudden temptation to kick over the traces while his wife is away lands Holland up to his ears in a vortex of political intrigue and murder. Set against a background of gangster politicians, blackmailers, gunmen and hard-boiled characters, the action of this explosive thriller takes place over a period of only thirty hours!’

‘Tiger by the Tail’ is also a metaphor commonly used to describe a situation where someone puts himself in a dangerous or difficult situation, often unwillingly or without fully understanding the consequences’. The applicability of the ‘Tiger by the Tail’ narrative to contemporary Nigeria is that when Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu became president, he was confronted with two options. Both of which are fraught with danger with equal potential to bring him down. One is to go down doing the right thing or go down doing the wrong thing. Realising he was handing over a lemon, could this be the reason why former President Muhammadu Buhari suddenly chickened out on his open secret scheme of imposing Ahmed Lawan as successor?

Three years ago, I sought the counsel of my economist friend on what to do with a hypothetical small fortune. Without a whiff of hesitation, he said the best store of value was dollars and that I should make a habit of it. My friend was doing no more than prescribing the most rational option in the circumstances and counselled me not to bet on Nigeria and the naira. At the macro level, it is this lack of belief in Nigeria that is fueling the run on the Naira and the runaway from Nigeria syndrome. Never really a nation, Nigerians are getting increasingly alienated from Nigeria, made worse by the fact that at all potential turns for good or bad, it has become habitual for the country to embrace the latter option. 

This lapse is boldly written all over the budget statement put out by the President a few months ago. It is what is at play in the audacity and callousness of national legislators awarding themselves with top of the range brand new Toyota landcruisers. It is responsible for the prioritisation of a sixty billion naira mansion for the Vice President and five billion naira renovation of the state house annexe in Lagos. To what mentality do we attribute the reappointment of Mele Kyari as the Group Managing Director, GMD, the man at the centre of the oil subsidy scandal?. 

In similar character, the so-called Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, recently announced it spent nearly four hundred billion naira on the last general elections. This was when the naira was about six hundred naira to the dollar. The calculation in dollars run upwards of three hundred and fifty million dollars. Yet, at the end of the day, the electoral body delivered the worst general elections in the history of Nigeria. The double tragedy was not merely the certification of the rogue results but the determination of the judiciary to declare winners regardless of the outcome of the election. The major significance of this electoral cycle is that it is the judiciary not the voters who decide the winners and losers in Nigerian elections. 

The pregnant yesterday that gave birth to the monstrous baby of today is to be found in the craven rent seeking hysteria of the Nigerian ruling elite, (particularly the Northern faction). In an impossible claim of patrimony and gluttonous obsession with the Niger Delta oil, the late Dr Bala Usman came up with the cuckoo theory that ‘the sediments with which, and in which, this petroleum deposits are found, did not drop from the sky…These sediments are made up of soil containing vegetable, and other organic materials, including human, and animal, faeces and remains, which were washed away from farmland, pasture and forests all over Nigeria and outside and carried by the Niger to form its delta and all the minerals in it”.

In a similar display of Northern hegemony masturbation Dr Usman Bugaje followed up with a made to measure rant “There are no oil producing states…. the only oil producing state is the Nigerian state itself…  Whatever mileage you get in the sea, according to the United Nations Law of the sea, is a measure of the landmass that gives that long 200 nautical miles or more into the ocean, is because of that 72 per cent of the land mass of this country, which is the North. What they claim is the off shore oil is actually the oil of the North.”. 

Brimming with Southern Nigeria irredentism, Professor Itse Sagay responded in kind “You will observe that because of the long stay of the North in power at the centre, they manipulated the process and cornered all these oil blocks to the disadvantage of the South; today, you have all the juicy oil blocks in the hands of the North. Now that Jonathan is the president, he should ensure that he corrects this imbalance by allocating more oil blocks to people in the South to make up for the inequity in the sector.”

The worldview and ideological position of these fellow travellers is significantly antithetical to the ethic of socioeconomic development and subversive of federalism. It is a raw display of the culture of prioritising consumption over productivity at its most insidious. It bespeaks a mentality that negates the potential of Nigeria for national cohesion and socio-economic development. 

In his contribution to the food security policy, the poster boy of the prevailing Nigeria’s gangster politics, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, lived to his billing once again. He alleged that the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, had credited the bank accounts of the state governments with thirty billion naira apiece. He said he got the rumour from “unverified reports. Well, according to the Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde,’FIRS cannot give money to any state. It is not possible. All revenues accruing to the country goes into the federation account and it is distributed to all tiers of government. There is nothing like N30 billion being given to states for food security’

Noteworthy is that just about all the tragedies that had visited Nigeria have a direct or indirect causation in the Oil curse. Regardless of the prima facie case of Odumegwu Ojukwu, many observers share the belief that the recalcitrance of both sides to compromise was fed by the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta (moreso the Nigerian state). 

If oil played a role in fostering the civil war, it became the essence of the Nigerian political economy after the war. Following upon the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel contrived surge in the price of oil in 1973, the Nigerian military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon famously gave voice to the full blown descent of Nigeria into a rentier economy when he wondered out loud that the problem of Nigeria was not money but how to spend it. 

My visits to the Niger Delta region had been intermittent and confined to the urban metropolis of Benin, Warri, Port Harcourt and Yenagoa. For the first time, I sighted the interior islands a few years ago and it was a disheartening and harrowing spectre to behold. The unique topography made it extremely difficult and exorbitant to extend pipe borne water facility to their habitation. Provision of the infrastructure will require multiples of the cost of laying similar facilities elsewhere in the country.

Yet I was not prepared for the horror of the spectacle I was about to witness. The people were defecating and taking their bath in the same creek water they scooped to drink and cook! Lest I forget, the same water was polluted with oil sleek from the operations of the illegal oil refineries that dotted the banks of the crisscrossing creeks. I did not see anybody casting fishing nets into the river. Maybe it was futile to do so. My friend and escort directed my attention to the skies above; it was eerily quiescent and overcast but more importantly it was bereft of the chirping and flapping of flying birds-proof positive of toxic air pollution. 

It is not only in the Niger Delta creeks that crude oil stood in the way of income yielding utilisation of the land and waters for agriculture, it also did in the rest of Nigeria. The difference is that while the reality was shoved down the throat of the Niger Deltans, other Nigerians made the choice of opting not to till the ground on account of the disincentive to work fostered by the avalanche of petrol dollars. Parallel to the pathetic situation in the region was the inadvertent mocking refrain of General Theophilus Danjuma. 

Whatever his good intentions are (echoing the peculiar Gowon refrain five decades before), Danjuma struck at the heart of the resource curse syndrome when he complained that he has so much money he doesn’t know what to do with it. And where did he get this troubling riches that do not require the ethic of productivity? His oil bloc in the swamps of the Niger Delta. Given the squalid living conditions of the same Delta region inhabitants, should he have any difficulty identifying potential beneficiaries of his largesse?

Once again, Nigeria is squirming in the throes of an existential crisis. Dangling like the sword of damocles over the country are the harrowing exactions of the twin vicissitudes of the deregulation of the pump price of premier motor spirits (PMS) aka the removal of oil subsidy and the floatation of the naira.

Moments of challenges and difficulties are often replete with opportunities to advance with a giant step forward. Nigeria has for long being victimised by an unworkable constitution. At my last outing, I posed the option before Nigeria as that between ‘Rawlings’ and Restructuring.The former is a Rawlings style revolutionary cleansing and the other is a voluntary and conscious constitutional restoration of federalism. The jury is out. Let us seize the moment 

Certain events cannot be erased from memory and, indeed from consciousness. After nearly six decades, controversy still rages over the calamitous events of 1966. In two years, it will be 60 years since the first coup which overthrew the Balewa Administration and down the line, the governments in the Regions as well, took place. If the principal actors were to be alive today, they would be close to knocking 90 years. But the last of them, Major Adewale Ademoyega, left in 2007. Come to think of it, General Yakubu Gowon, the rallying point for a united Nigeria, will be 90 later this year. He was a Lt.-Col while the putchists were Majors in the Nigerian Army. Because of the horror and the dramatic impact of the era both on the country, and its peoples and the concomitant trust deficit it has generated among the different nationalities, it has been difficult to live down the era in our hearts. Indeed, it is firmly imprinted in the souls where some of the events so filed away come alive from time to time. In the Beyond, the intensification will even be more. It is from there that those who preoccupy themselves with the event draw, albeit, unconsciously. What can tame and erase it and progress will ensue is love, love, and more love.

As I stated last week, “The history of the earthly past, recent or contemporary, can be re-written and it is often re-written or amended to suit whims and caprices, to satisfy fancy, or to provide the correct rendition of accounts…Often the objective is to whitewash. Through the re-writing many publications thought infallible in later years are often found to have suffered from distortion as a result of limitation or deficiency of memories. You may just have to read writings about events of the last 70 years in Nigeria by different authors and you will get my drift.” People pay special attention to contentious issues spoken or written. Some of those affected by the 15 January 1966 coup and its aftermaths, directly or indirectly, are around, and more, the succeeding generation who may have been fed with different kinds of narratives. In the handling, such issues should be put in context, for better enlightenment so as not to prolong the agonies of victims or their loved ones and their succeeding generation.

This brings me to a video now in circulation in which the renowned lawyer and activist, Prof. Mike Ozekhome featured or was, perhaps, credited to him—credited because you never can say in the times we are. The video does not state the occasion the learned SAN was speaking and what the subject was. What you find is a vehement pronouncement to correct what he called “one historical profanity” that comes “from the pit of hell.” What he sought to correct was the widespread and decades-old notion that the January 15 coup was an Igbo coup. For such a sensitive subject that if mishandled is capable of opening a new chasm and triggering a season of hate, his presentation could have been less didactic and abrasive. The timing of an intervention from an eminent scholar like Mike Ozekhome is key, indeed, very important. The diatribe over the elections whipping up emotions is yet to abate. A great many, grey-haired and bald-headed today, were not just readers of history but witnesses to some of the unhappy events that occurred in our land in the not-too-distant past. There has been enough literature to help clarify issues.

Ozekhome is correct: The 15 January 1966 coup was not an Igbo coup. I had had my conviction that it was not an Igbo coup nor was it an Igbo agenda from the word go. My conviction was bolstered by books authored in particular by principal planners of the coup. In the Western Region riled by events that could self-evidently be said were the catalysts for the coup there was wild jubilation, heaving sighs of relief. It was throughout the Region. In fact, thanksgiving worship took place in churches and mosques. The distortions to what was seen as a high-minded mission of the planners by officers who backed out at the 11th hour did not alter convictions; they were only seen as black sheep.

There were unfortunate coincidences that made people and commentators go away with the impression that a regional agenda by officers from the eastern part of the country underpinned it. That the event was going to provide an opportunity for Chief Awolowo, their icon, to be released from prison was all that mattered to the people of Western Region. What characterization was anyone going to give to the putsch that an Ekiti man or woman, an Ondo man or woman or an Owo man or an Ijesha, was going to accept if by the event Awolowo was going to get out of the jailhouse? I have not mentioned Oyo, Ibarapa, Jonathan Odebiyi’s Egbado, Adegbenro’s Egbaland, and Ibadan where the Awolowo factor was a given. The coup was seen as an end to arrogance of power on display: “Whether you vote for us or not we will win! A ti t’oje bo Oloosa lowo, o ku baba eni ti yio bo! Roughly translated as ‘the sceptre of power is in the hands of the King, we will see who will seize it from our hands!’ Opposition Leader Adegbenro replied that the hand bearing the sceptre would be cut! Bi ko ba se e bo a se e ge. A o ge e ni. We will cut it, Adegbenro, said. Such was the situation in the Western Region. Major Adewale Ademoyega, one of the masterminds, alluded to this much in his book, Why We Struck: “Thereupon, the people of Western Region did not appeal to the deaf gods typified by the regional Governor, the law courts and the police. They simply recalled the days of their ancestors when unpopular rulers were removed by concerted efforts of the people.” In other words, the people of the Western Region were not just poised for a show-down; they were already engaged in the fierce battle to remove their rulers by all means. So, when the coup took place, those behind it were hailed as heroes.

Not until months later when jubilation died down that analysts began to paint the picture of the possibility of the operation as being one-sided. The perception was spread following reports from the North. While there was jubilation in the West the North was cold. The situation was getting tense by the day as reports of the killing of their beloved Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and his senior wife spread. Peter Pan (Peter Enahoro), the celebrated columnist and Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Times travelled round the country and wrote about how unimpressed the Northerners were about the coup and the change of their government. Anxiety then began to mount when the checklist of actors and casualties started to come out in trickles and controversies ensued. What was the objective of the coup and how was it compromised, what was the nature of the compromise, and to what end?

By merely running one’s eyes through the table of contents of Major Adewale Ademoyega’s book, “Why We Struck,” one can have some ideas. After the Foreword, Preface, you have Chapter One—Political Prelude. He wrote on the ideology that underpinned their objective, What happened on the night of the coup, its execution, and what he has described as Ironsi’s Misadventure. Ademoyega was not just a participant; he was one of the principal planners, in the forefront. Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu may have been the leader, but Ademoyega was the coordinator of the operation throughout the country. He carried the idea of a revolution firmly ingrained in his head from his university days at the University of London. They started as three—himself, Nzeogwu, and Emmanuel Ifeajuna. They drew in two more as they were progressing. The number grew to seven, six of whom were Igbo and one Yoruba. Two more were drawn in to make altogether nine. The list was later expanded to involve some Captains. The planners were Majors, addressed by writers as The Five Majors. The addition consisted of the following: Captain Emmanuel Nwobosi, who insistently preferred Awolowo to Dr. Azikiwe as President of Nigeria in the planning if the coup succeeded; and Capt. Ogbu Oji. Those listed by Prof. Ozekhome were mostly Lts. that is 1st Lts. And 2nd Lts. Captains were three, namely Captain Gani Adeleke, Capt. Gibson Jalo and Capt. Gibson. The 2nd Lts. were Saleh Dambo and John Atom Kpera (Tiv). They were not part of the planners. They were brought in only close to the hour of action. Fola Oyewole, author of the book The Reluctant Rebel also on the coup said this much in an interview with The News Magazine of 09 January 2016. He said:

“I was not one of the master planners of the coup. It will interest you to know that by half past eleven on the night of January 14th, 1966, I had no clue about the coup. No clue whatsoever,”

The Magazine then asked: Why did they link you?

Oyewole: “Precisely, I was friendly with Emmanuel Ifeajuna who was the Brigade General and then after they had planned and done everything possible as the saying goes, some of the people who agreed to what they had agreed decided not to take part; it was a matter of getting anybody who could help and by virtue of my position, I had a telephone in my house, which was the same thing that happened to most people there. The original people started telephoning: ‘Where are you…? I want to see you.’ It was an emergency period. I was second in command to the Transport Brigade in Apapa and we were on 24 hour alert (So, like they will say something like this… something is happening in Ogbomoso blah, blah, blah, can you help? We did get instruction 24 hours. It did not come as a surprise, so that is what happened. They drove to my house at about 25 minutes to 12 and asked me to come to Ifeajuna’s house. I got there and I saw a lot of officers sitting down and they had even finished….I was not the only one. There were some other people who didn’t know until that day. For instance on the night people were briefed, a colleague was at the briefing and he told them, Look I have to consult my family. They looked at him and said, O.K. go and consult your family your family”. Just by the corridor, somebody was told to follow him thinking he might not come back, “Follow him, maybe he will be the first casualty of the coup…” He revealed that the gentleman was Capt. Gani Adeleke. He was a reluctant rebel because he was drafted from the prison in Enugu by Ojukwu to fight on the side of Biafra. He wrote the book in prison between 1971 and 1972. It was published in 1975. He revealed how he distilled and produced petrol, to move vehicles on Biafran’s side, diesel oil, and kerosene for the ordinary people.

Adewale Ademoyega says in his book: “I came to the Army with a heart pointed towards finding a solution to Nigeria’s political problems. But before I was commissioned, I had met and established a solid relationship with two young officers of the Army, Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna whose hearts pointed in the same direction as mine. It seemed as if the three of us were destined to play the big and decisive role together.”

The plan of the three of them was to put down the upheaval, the seemingly intractable upheaval in the West, and pre-empt what they saw as Balewa’s Federal Government plan to clamp down on the opposition, notable personalities such as Dr. Tai Solarin and the intellectuals from the University of Ibadan and from the University of Ife in particular regarded as the hotbed of opposition against Premier Akintola’s government which was battling for its life. Sardauna’s absence from the country on Lesser Hajj, from their observation, was what held up the Federal Government crackdown in the West as was done in the Middle Belt, using troops to suppress dissent and agitation led by Joseph Tarka in Tivland. The plan of the core three planners was to overthrow the Federal Government and the four Regional Governments of the era and end arson, looting, and brigandage and restore order and normal life in the troubled Western Region in particular. They were going to release all leading political leaders in jail such as Chief Awolowo, Lateef Jakande, Onitiri, Omisade, Josiah S. Olawoyin, Ayo Akinsanya, and Okorie-Yesin. An Air Force plane was to be on standby to go and fetch Chief Awolowo on the morning of the coup from Calabar and fly him into Lagos.

Says Ademoyega in his book: “It was in mid-November 1965 that we held the one and only formal meeting that preceded the coup. The meeting was held in Lagos, in the military quarters of Major Ifeajuna. Nzeogwu was there from Kaduna and I from Abeokuta. Major Chude Sokei was there from Enugu. Others were from Lagos, i.e. Okafor of the Federal Guards Company; Anuforo, Chuwuka from the Army Headquarters. The meeting was short. There was a consensus amongst us that something had to be done quickly to save Nigeria from anarchy and disintegration and to restore peace and unity to the nation. It was agreed that only the use of force could bring immediate end to the violence being perpetrated in many parts of the country. It was, however, agreed that the use of force should be minimal.” Their targeted leaders were only to be arrested but where arrest was resisted it was to be met with force. “Otherwise, no one was to be killed.”

It was in the execution of the coup that critical officers were less than faithful to the cause. They did not report at their duty posts on the night of the operation. Those to supply weapons and communication equipment were nowhere to be found. When you consider the failings in execution and those who disappointed their colleagues, it is easy to have it tagged an Igbo coup. They were Okafor, Ifeajuna, Obienu, and Oguchi. Ademoyega had to be asking in exasperation: “Where now was Ifeajuna? Major Obienu had defaulted altogether…Had we now lost Lagos? Had our own men deserted us? Okafor had lost the Federal Guards. Has Ifeajuna also lost the 2nd Brigade Headquarters? Obienu who was to send reinforcement from Abeokuta to Ikeja, in the account of Ademoyega “was not around; he had not returned to the station since the previous day and left no orders for troop deployment… Now we have lost Lagos and Ironsi. What a terrible situation!”

Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi the GOC, upon escaping the approaching dragnet, mobilized counter-forces against those he termed “unfriendly forces.” He gave orders that they be arrested. He thus foiled the coup in Lagos. The orders went to different formations throughout the country, but more urgently South-West and Lagos. Before Ironsi’s orders could reach Ibadan and Kaduna, the deed had been done. What happened in Enugu and Benin? How come the political leaders of Eastern extraction escaped being killed like their counterparts elsewhere? (This will be treated in Part 2.) The killings where they took place were horrifying. The coup led to war and the horrors of war. Wise counsel, therefore, ought to have dictated caution and respect for sensibilities. My intervention is to correct misrepresentations to calm nerves in the event of an incipient rise in body temperature.

General Emmanuel Abisoye says in the Foreword to Ademoyega’s book: “At last, the missing link in our contemporary history is being supplied by Adewale Ademoyega, a former Major in the Combat Arm of the Nigerian Army. He is one of the historical trio who planned and executed the first Nigerian coup d’etat of January 15, 1966. Hitherto we had been treated to half-truths and sometimes imaginary stories by those who claimed to know the real motives behind the said coup.”