By Jude Atupulazi
Following the admission of former Military Head of State, Gen Ibrahim Babangida (Rtd), that the 1966 Coup was not orchestrated by the Igbos, but by a mixture of army officers from across the country, the Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Victor Umeh, has called on Babangida’s counterpart and also former Military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, to apologize to the Igbo people and provide a detailed account of his role in the Nigerian Civil War and the events leading up to it.
The widespread belief that the January 1966 Coup was an Igbo Coup because several Northern Nigerian leaders were killed in it had led to the systematic killing of hundreds of Igbo people in various parts of the North in what has since been known as pogroms, with Gowon as Head of State, doing nothing to stem the killings.
After what was left of the Igbos in the North fled home, and the Federal Republic of Biafra was declared, the then Federal Government of Nigeria led by Gen Yakubu Gowon, waged war on Biafra that spanned nearly three years, costing an estimated three million lives.
Following the end of that war, the people of the Southeast, despite assurances that there was neither victor nor vanquished, had been denied equal opportunities with the rest of Nigerians, leading to cries of marginalization.
Despite many books on that war written by some of the actors in both the coup and the war, Igbos have continued to feel not being a part of Nigeria. But on the basis of Babangida’s book which some regard as a confession, an increasing number of Igbos have been calling for not just apologies to them but for reparations as well.
Sequel to this, Umeh spoke on ARISE NEWS, Wednesday, where he told Gowon that he had a duty to write his own account of the war, particularly in the light of revelations from Babangida, who recently reaffirmed that the 1966 Coup was not an Igbo Coup but a revolutionary movement by young officers.
The Senator said, ‘I think Gowon owes Nigerians a duty to write his own account of that war and the things that led to the war and the way the war was carried out and the way the war ended. Because when the war ended, he promised the Nigerian people Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation, particularly to the Igbo side of the nation.
‘That he did not implement until he was overthrown in 1975. And these accounts that have come out, particularly from General Babangida, because these things are already available everywhere, preponderant stories being told, written by the actual participants in the coup, counter coup, and the civil war, all these things are available.
‘So, he himself should stop playing the ostrich. Just like Babangida came out as an elder statesman at 80 now, he decided to speak the truth, including on matters of June 12.
“People should not retain certain things until death. Gowon was a principal person in the whole episode.
‘He was the one that destroyed the regional arrangement in Nigeria and created the 12-state structure from where we had all these things.
‘So, he needs to come out and put his statements clearly, and because of the way he handled the war and the way he treated the Igbos, including the massacre of the Igbo people, he owes the Igbo people an apology.
‘Incidentally, he could not join these issues when people like Ojukwu were alive, but still his conscience requires that he must tell the truth.
‘He must speak the truth before he leaves the stage. Yes, at 90, he cannot keep quiet and pretend over these things.
‘A lot of books have been written – what he did and what he failed to do, to ensure that that war was avoided.
‘He was accused of so many breaches of agreement, both Aburi Accord and the rest of it. If he had kept his own side of the Aburi Accord, I believe Nigeria wouldn’t have plunged into a civil war.
So he needs to write a book and tell his story and apologize,’ Umeh said.
He then praised former military leader Ibrahim Babangida’s recent book for clearing the air about the 1966 Coup, acknowledging it as an important step toward reconciliation.
Umeh said, ‘It was quite relieving that former President Babangida’s book has one more time confirmed what we have always known to be the State of Affairs with that coup.
‘I have read so many books on that subject matter from the 1980s, you know, and there were so many books on the matter already, even those written by the major participants in the coup.’
He further added, ‘There was no way we would have felt better than this coming from Babangida who was later Military Head of State. He was an officer in the Nigerian Army, though as a young officer, but having become Head of State under military dispensation, it will be clear that he had access to classified information.
‘So he was not just writing as a young military officer when the coup took place. He wrote from the point of deep knowledge, from classified information in the military.
‘So, that his statement was very emphatic, and truly speaking, the coup was not an Igbo Coup. It was a coup, like he posited, by young military revolutionaries who thought that they would make things better for Nigeria by removing the government at the time.
‘The objective was to release Obafemi Awolowo who was in prison in Calabar. Even though they did not get to the point of releasing Awolowo from prison, events later showed that it was Ojukwu who released Awolowo from Calabar Prison. So the coup itself was also not supported by Ojukwu himself.
‘Having come to this realization that should be incontrovertible at this time, what do we make of it? In terms of reparation and so on and so forth, my own is that we should take advantage of this revelation and the clear statement made by General Babangida to begin the process of reconciliation and healing.
‘The Igbos of Nigeria have been held in so much contempt with successive administrations in Nigeria, starting from Gowon, and we were put on a very dark spot in the affairs of this country that we organised a coup that killed some important people in Nigeria. But truthfully and reassuringly, this book has exposed that the Igbos themselves crushed the coup.’
Addressing Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s call for compensation to the tune of N10 Trillion from the Federal Government to make up for what happened to Igbo’s in the war, Umeh said that now it had become clear that Igbos did not organise any coup to kill anybody for selfish reasons, all the things Igbos had been denied in Nigeria by successive governments, starting from Gowon, down to the present day, Igbos should be allowed to live fully as Nigerians and enjoy all privileges enjoyed by others.
‘The discrimination handed down to the Igbos because of this should now abate. It should end. Let everybody come to the table with equal rights,’ Umeh insisted.
‘I do not want to begin to talk about figures for reparation in terms of monetary compensation. I think what is important is that at this stage where we are, let’s put behind those dark days in our history and go forward.
‘They know what they denied the Igbos. A change in attitude of the present government towards reintegrating the Igbos fully into the Nigerian project, and casting away that suspicion that Igbos organised the coup which made them to be removed from the scheme of things in Nigeria.
‘If we put a stop to it, it begins the healing process. It’s not something that you use money to quantify in terms of compensation. What we need is a change in attitude. Today is still morning time in the life of Nigeria. Let them begin to build the infrastructure in Igbo land,’ he added.
