The coup was planned by officers from different tribes in Nigeria, though their leader is from Igbo part of Delta state. Their aim was to killed all the corrupt politicians in Nigeria during that time.

They killed the Prime minister of the country; they killed the premier of the West; they killed the premier of the North. They were about to kill the premier of the East but what saved Dr Michael Okpara was that Archbishop Macarious, the president of Cyprus, was his guest that night and probably they wouldn’t want war between Cyprus and Nigeria.

On the other hand they could not kill Chief Dennis Osadebey because there was no Army in Benin at the time of the coup and so Osadebey managed to escape. They also killed Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, the Federal Minister of Finance.

They also killed some members of their own group. For example, Brigadier Maimalari was innocently killed. Colonel Arthur Unegbe was also killed. He was in charge of the Armoury and because he was reluctant to release the Armoury to them, they shot and killed him in his house. Since then, Nigeria has never been the same and Nigeria has never attained anything near the dreams of the founding fathers and nationalists and fought for independence of the nation.

President Nnamdi Azikiwe, was abroad on medical trip.the coup plotters had announced that Dr Nwafor Orizu, the acting president had been removed because the president, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, was abroad on medical trip.

Remi Fani-Kayode, father of ex-Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode was not killed during the first coup in 1966.
because he was imprisoned in Lagos and in Enugu but was released by Lt Col Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Then the quarrel between two Lieutenant Colonels – Ojukwu and Yakubu Gowon – eventually led the country to a civil war. Ojukwu said he was senior to Gowon and that Gowon cannot be the head of state when he (Ojukwu) was a governor.

Gowon said if you want to be head of state, come to Lagos so that soldiers could take order from you. The argument continued until it led to the killing of Igbos in the north and killing of Igbo soldiers all over the country, with one of them buried alive in Ibadan.

The young man had insisted on not doing what they wanted and they threatened to kill him. He said he was prepared to die; after all it was only one bullet that could kill him. So they told him they were not going to waste a bullet on him and buried him alive after forcing him to dig his grave. He was a major in the Army. A lot of atrocities were committed then.

Lolo Ijeoma Njoku Obinwannem News Writer/ Oct 16, 2022