1966: When the rain began to beat us (I)

There is an Igbo adage that says: “A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body.” In effect, you’ve got to know where your problem started before you navigate toward the solution. This proverb became well-known because Chinua Achebe, one of the leading Nigerian […]

There is an Igbo adage that says: “A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body.” In effect, you’ve got to know where your problem started before you navigate toward the solution. This proverb became well-known because Chinua Achebe, one of the leading Nigerian writers, popularised it in many of his novels and even in his non-fiction writings.

1966 was the year when the rain began to beat us. Exactly 60 years ago this month, a faction of the military decided to violently revolt against the civilian administration of the era. The putsch that was orchestrated by Major Kaduna Nzegwu, leading a few other officers of the Nigerian Army, including Majors Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Chris Anuforo, Donatus Okafor, Humphrey Chukwuka, Timothy Onwuatuegwu and Ademola Ademoyega, among others. Nigeria’s foremost politicians and army officers were murdered in the night.

Those killed that night include the Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Premier of the Northern Region, Sardauna Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the Western Region, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Federal Finance Minister, Festus Okotie Eboh, along with the cream of officers of the Nigerian Army, Brigadiers Zakariya Maimalari and Samuel Ademulegun, Colonels Kur Mohammed and Ralph Shodeinde, Lt Cols Abogo Largema, James Yakubu Pam, and Arthur Unegbe. There was also widespread collateral damage that included some of the wives of those who were assassinated and staff who happened to be working with them.

In a few days after the wanton killings, the motives of the coupists became clear. It was a well-laid plan to decapitate the leadership of the north, its associates in the west, and the top military officers who hailed from the regions. The putschists succeeded in their murderous pursuits and planted the seeds that germinated in all the problems that came after. The 1966 coup and the night murders associated with it were the original sin. It was a Pandora’s box that, when opened, released all the strife that afflicted this nation.

Evidently, there was widespread anger and bitterness over the killings. Then I was still a lad growing up in Maiduguri, getting into my teens, and completing primary school that year. I had never met the Sardauna, Tafawa Balewa or any of the army officers who were killed, but I recall being equally filled with rage over their undeserved fate. The nearest I ever got to seeing the Sardauna was on the occasions he visited Maiduguri. We, as primary school kids, lined up along the route from the airport, waving flags to welcome him as his motorcade flashed by. Tafawa Balewa visited Maiduguri in 1964 to declare open the Railway Terminus. I was in class five but missed out on joining my mates who were selected to attend the ceremony. I was too small.

The fury over the killing of the Sardauna and Tafawa Balewa was palpable throughout the Northern Region, for they were loved as leading political leaders. People were aghast at the insensitivity of the killers going on the air, proclaiming their evil deeds. Those who knew the relationship between the Sardauna and Major Nzegwu, his killer, were surprised at the turn of events. They said that the Sardauna treated Nzegwu like a favoured son and always gave him access. He was raised in Kaduna, spoke Hausa with some fluency, and always came to the Premier’s residence to converse with him. As fate would have it, it was Nzegwu who led soldiers to the Premier’s residence, put fire to it and personally pulled the trigger that snuffed the lives of both the Sardauna and his wife, Hafsat.

The relationship between the Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa and Major Okafor was even more complex. He was the Commander of the Federal Guards Brigade, whose primary role was to protect the Prime Minister, yet he was one of the principal conspirators who actively participated in the coup. He was said to be very close to the Prime Minister and was even taken to be part of the household. Yet he gave away all the intimate details of the Prime Minister’s residence to his co-conspirator, Major Ifeajuna, to abduct Tafawa Balewa and kill him.

What happened within the military high command during the coup was even more treacherous. All the military officers eliminated were killed by officers known to them, with whom they had shared many intimate moments in the office, in the fields and wherever. Brigadier Maimalari, Commander of the 2 Brigade Apapa, was murdered by his Brigade Major, Ifeajuna, who also killed Lt Col Largema. Lt Col Yakubu Pam, the Adjutant General of the Nigerian Army, was abducted and caused to be killed by his 2nd in command, Major Chukwuka.

In Kaduna, both Brigadier Ademulegun, the Commander of the 1st Brigade and his wife Latifat Feyisitan, along with Col Shodeinde, were murdered by Major Tim Onwatuegwu, a staff officer in their command. Col Kur Mohammed, Ag. Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army was eliminated by Major Anuforo, a staff officer in the Army Headquarters, who also participated in the killings of Lt Col Pam, Lt Col Unegbe and the Finance Minister Okotie Eboh.

Indeed, that was when the rain began to beat us. How did it end for the conspirators and the nation? We continue the discussion next week.