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Nigeria’s conspiracy against Ironsi
BY ORI MARTINS
Thursday, September 01, 2011

Let’s start by paying tribute to one of the most uncelebrated heroes of Nigeria’s shaky federation. He is the late Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, the former Military Administrator of Western Nigeria.  The patriotic leaning of Fajuyi on the  night of July 29, 1966 is one that really proved that he was  a reputable soldier, a complete detribalised Nigerian and a noted national hero.

His refusal to give his Supreme Commander , the then Head of State, Gen Aguiyi-Ironsi, who was on official visit,  to the invading mutineers at the Western Government House, Ibadan was a noble and heroic action that marked  him out as a man of honour and integrity.  The failure of Nigerian state to immortalise Fajuyi  is part of the reason we do not have  discipline  and order  in the polity  today.

So, what  is July 29, 1966 all about? The story goes like this. The January 15, 1966 coup d’état was  a partial success, the then National Assembly under the leadership of Senate President Nwafor Orizu, agreed to hand over power to the military. As at that time, Major General Aguiyi–Ironsi was the highest ranking Nigerian in the army, thus, he was invited by the National Assembly  to assume duties as the Head of State pending the return of normalcy. This  was where the second lap of the problem started.

Naturally, the North ought to feel bad as it lost its men, both civilian and military, in the January 1966 coup which had the colouration of Igbo affair. Based on this assumption, it was wrongly concluded that Ironsi was privy and actively participated in the conspiracy  that overthrew the First Republic  in January 1966. Based on this erroneous assumption, Nigeria, led and inspired by the largely controlled oligarchy, conspired to  discredit Ironsi.

As it is today, Ironsi  is the most wronged Nigerian head of government,  at least among the departed ones. For instance, one of the enduring legacies  of the country’s founding fathers as inherited  from the colonial masters, is the Race Course,  in Lagos, is re-named after Tafawa Balewa, that is, Tafawa Balewa Square. Administratively, Ironsi took over from Balewa   and the former has  been honoured.  Murtala Mohammed has been graciously honoured as the international airport in Lagos goes by his name. The  N20 note, at a time the highest  currency denomination in the country, has Murtala’s  bust. So, why can’t Ironsi be so much immortalised.

Part of the conspiracy  has been to always link Ironsi to the January  1966 coup. So, was Ironsi a part of the plot and plan that overthrew the First Republic ? The answer is an emphatic no! Historical evidences and documented facts have proved that Ironsi  was never a part of the  January 1966 coup. As a matter of fact, he did everything he could to stop it. It was his activities that early morning that helped to quench  the  coup. Ironsi would not have been a party to the coup because it was meant to install Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

The planners and executors of the coup confirmed this fact in documented forms. According to Ben Gbulie’s  Nigeria’s  Five Majors: Coup D’Etat of 15th January 1966 ‘ Then, the coup d’ etat  having been successfully brought about, each zonal leader was to  join Chief Obafemi Awolowo and a number of specifically chosen military men  in establishing an interim administration which was to be  a diarchy’.

Major Adewale Ademoyega made it clear that Ironsi was innocent of the January 1966 coup which he is being despised even in death. In his book, Why We Struck: The Story of the First Nigerian Coup,  he said: ‘ Having briefed  Captain Udeaja generally and got his consent , we gave him his task. He was to fly a special plane provided for the purpose to Calabar on the morning of the D-Day, to effect the release of Chief Awolowo and bring him to Lagos on the plane.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/2011/sept/01/opinion-01-09-2011-002.html