Why 1966 coup still defines politics in fragile Nigeria

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari delivers a speech at the COP 21 United Nations conference on climate change, on November 30, 2015 at Le Bourget, on the outskirts of the French capital Paris. Buhari was among the officers who staged the counter-coup against Igbo majors in 1966. PHOTO | JACQUES DEMARTHON | AFP

What you need to know:

  • The coup leaders described it as a brief and temporary revolution to end corruption and ethnic rivalry. It made them worse.
  • Six months later, northern soldiers staged an even bloodier counter-coup against their Igbo colleagues. Northern mobs killed around 30,000 Igbos, and Igbos fled south.

ABUJA

On January 15, 1966, a group of idealistic, UK-trained army majors overthrew Nigeria’s democratic government.

The coup leaders described it as a brief and temporary revolution to end corruption and ethnic rivalry. It made them worse.

A succession of increasingly repressive military governments ruled Nigeria for 29 of the next 33 years, until the restoration of democracy in 1999.

Nigeria — Africa’s most populous state and leading oil producer — is still affected by the 1966 events.

Protesters in south-east Nigeria have recently demanded the formation of a new country called Biafra.

The Biafra movement’s origins can be traced to the 1966 coup.

The officers who staged the coup were mostly Christian southerners from the Igbo ethnic group, and they killed several northerners, including the four highest-ranking northern army officers, PM Tafawa Balewa and Northern Region Premier Ahmadu Bello.

Maj-Gen Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo, suppressed the coup, but seized power himself.

Six months later, northern soldiers staged an even bloodier counter-coup against their Igbo colleagues.

Northern mobs killed around 30,000 Igbos, and Igbos fled south.

In the following year, they sought to form a new breakaway country called Biafra. Northerners living in Igbo areas were killed.

Although the army suppressed the attempt at secession after a brutal three-year civil war, bitterness remains.

Unaddressed grievances from 1966 lie at the heart of the Biafra movement’s resurgence.

Many Igbos feel that Nigeria regards them as a fifth column and is still punishing them.

One of the coup leaders Maj Nzeogwu said: “We wanted to get rid of rotten and corrupt ministers.”

POLITICAL CLOUT

The coup unwittingly entrenched the presence of “rotten and corrupt ministers”.

His best friend was a young western army officer Maj Olusegun Obasanjo.

Ten years later, he found himself at the helm of a different military government.

The January 1966 coup propelled a group of young military officers onto the national stage.

Now wealthy septuagenarian grandfathers, they still wield enormous influence in politics.

Gen Obasanjo is one of the retired military kingmakers.

His withdrawal of support for then-President Goodluck Jonathan was one factor in his presidential election defeat last year, and the victory of Muhammadu Buhari.

Buhari was among the officers who staged the counter-coup against Igbo majors in 1966.

The influence of retired military officers is so pervasive that Jonathan is the only president in Nigeria’s history who had no personal or family involvement in the 1966 crisis.

The elaborate power-sharing arrangements in Nigeria’s constitution, and the unwritten rule requiring rotation of political power between the north and south are legacies of the mistrust engendered in 1966.

Nigeria has matured. So have its former military leaders.