Leadnaija
On April 19, 1964, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of the Northern Region of Nigeria and the de facto leader of Nigeria, who had singlehandedly appointed his lieutenant, Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa, Prime Minister of Nigeria, gave an interview to a British journalist with the BBC. Prodded by the reporter, he outlined the reason why Northerners of that era were wary of the Igbo ethnic nationality.
According to him, Igbos were a dominant tribe with a propensity to migrate to other regions while closing their area to outside influences and internal migration from other Nigerians.
He complained that whereas the Northern Nigeria Civil Service employed many Igbos, the Eastern Region had not reciprocated the gesture.
He further accused the Igbos of wanting to dominate others and monopolise opportunities to the disadvantage of their host communities.
He rounded up the interview by saying that he would end that and Northernise the Northern Nigeria Civil Service, and if he had to employ Igbos, it would have to be on contract.
That interview caused a stir among Igbo officers in the Nigerian Army, and one of them in particular, Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, an Igbo man from Western Nigeria (later Midwest after 1965), took his displeasure further while he served as the chief instructor at the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna (now known as the Nigerian Defence Academy).
In 1965, the New Nigerian Newspaper had published a criticism of Premier Ahmadu Bello, and in stark disregard of his military oath not to interfere in politics, Major Nzeogwu had driven to the offices of the New Nigerian Newspaper to shake the hand of the writer of the editorial, who as it turned out was an expatriate.
Many people think that Nzeogwu was a tribalistic Igbo. The truth is that he was not. Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, who tricked him into taking part in the coup (it was not Nzeogwu who planned the coup), was a stark, raving Igbo irredentist. But Nzeogwu was not.
It was Nzeogwu who was a friend to Major Adewale Ademoyega, the only non-Igbo plotter amongst the putschists, although Ademoyega did not kill.
Nzeogwu was fluent in English, Igbo, Hausa and Gwari. He was that intelligent. Nevertheless, he was a homicidal fellow lacking empathy. Today, we now know that such individuals are psychopaths.
The issues with Igbo officers, like Major Nzeogwu, and their hatred for Sir Ahmadu Bello were that it was one-sided and based on that interview. They did not balance it with the fact that Bello himself was triggered by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who in 1953 threatened the North with war if they tried to break away from Nigeria, which the North was contemplating, then.
At a speech in Lagos, on May 12, 1953, Azikiwe said:
“It (secession of Northern Nigeria) may lead to economic nationalism in the Eastern Region, which can pursue a policy of blockade of the North, by refusing it access to the sea, over and under the River Niger, except upon payment of tolls. It may lead to economic warfare…
if civil war should become inevitable at this stage of our progress as a nation, then security considerations must be borne in mind by those who are charged with the responsibility of government of the North.”
But Northern military officers did not kill Azikiwe for threatening them.
However, the Sardauna Sakkwato was not fortunate enough to escape the wrath of Southern officers. Twenty months after he gave that interview, they had their ungodly revenge by killing him and his first wife and soulmate, Hafsatu Bello.Tap Here To Read Full Details
May God forgive their sins and grant them al-Jannah Firdaus.
Source: Reno Omokri
