Chukwuemeka Ojukwu held discussions with fellow army officers to resolve the political face-off between Nnamdi Azikiwe and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa “in favour Azikiwe” in 1964, Yakubu Gowon, former head of state, has revealed in his memoir.
The book, ‘My Life of Duty and Allegiance’, published
by the Havilah Group, was launched in Abuja on Tuesday.
BACKGROUND
Azikiwe, who was the ceremonial president of Nigeria from
1963 to 1966, had fallen out with Tafawa Balewa, the prime minister and head of
government.
The tension between both men heightened ahead of the 1964
general election which was boycotted in parts of the country by Azikiwe’s
party, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), and its allies over
allegations of malpractices by the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), Balewa’s
ruling party.
Azikiwe initially refused to officially invite Balewa to
form government after the disputed elections, causing a constitutional crisis
as Nigeria did not have a head of government for 24 hours.
Azikiwe, as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, tried to use the military to keep Balewa in check, but the British head of the army, Christopher Welby-Everard, a major general, received legal advice in favour of the prime minister.
Balewa then ordered the security agencies to place Azikiwe
under house arrest.
But Azikiwe swiftly made the consequential call on Balewa to
form government and then swore him in for a second term as prime minister.
OJUKWU’S SECRET MEETINGS
In his memoir, Gowon recounted the crisis, which happened
when he was the adjunct general of the army while Ojukwu was the quartermaster
general. Both of them were lieutenant-colonels.
Zik (right) finally swore in Balewa as prime minister in 1964 after a protracted face-off
He wrote: “I strayed into (Ojukwu’s) office while looking
for Lt-Colonel David Ejoor the General Staff Officer 1 (GSO 1) on some urgent
professional matters. Ejoor was not in his office or anywhere else that I could
easily have found him. By chance, I went to check for him in the office of the
Quartermaster General. Ejoor was there, as were Ojukwu who sat behind his desk
and Colonel (Victor) Banjo. From their countenance and the way they sat, it was
obvious they had been engaged in serious discussions before I walked into the
office. Ojukwu first saw me and before I could say what brought me to his
office – looking for the GO 1 – he said cheerily: ‘Oh, Jack, we’ve been looking
for you, where have you been?’
“The way he said ‘we’ confirmed my guess that they had been
discussing something topical. I told him I had been looking all around for
Ejoor but could not find him until I chanced upon him in his (Ojukwu’s) office.
He offered me a seat, but I chose to remain standing. I asked why he and the
others needed to see me. Without beating about the bush, he said they had been
reviewing the conflict between Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the President and Alhaji
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister and de facto head
of government. This was no news to me or to anyone who had been following
political developments in Nigeria at the time. It was common knowledge that the
just concluded general elections of December 1964 had been deadlocked and
neither Azikiwe nor Balewa was willing to yield an inch to the other in their
political contest. The “Zik sacks Balewa” and “Balewa sacks Zik” scenario that
ensued dominated the occasion.
“These two had a long history that was rooted in the race
for the control of Nigeria by any of the three Regions in the country.
Political historians have copiously documented the cause and course of how Zik
and Balewa, who represented the East and the North respectively, could not make
the alliance between their respective parties work. It did not matter much that
their arch-rival, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987) of the Western Region, was
in prison in Calabar and, notionally, had severely limited political influence.
But it is safe to say that the discussions, which I later gathered started
between Ojukwu and Banjo, centred on seeking ways to intervene to break the
logjam. This fact alone indicated the extent to which the relationship between
Zik and Balewa had deteriorated. The two military officers (Ojukwu and Banjo)
reasoned that if the military did not intervene, one way or the other,
particularly in favouring Zik in the unfolding political drama, we might
eventually be blamed for whatever happened to the young Nigeria.
“I paid a bit more attention to the argument Ojukwu
marshalled. I had always known him to be politically savvy. The same, too,
could be said of Banjo, whose high-level political sophistication coloured his
perspectives, ruined his military career and eventually cost him his life in
the hands of his compatriot, Ojukwu. Both men appeared too eager to join the
political fray. Ejoor’s position was the one I could not situate in the
political context, as it seemed that he had only been invited by the duo. This
was when it struck me that something ominous was in the air. On a deeper
reflection, it occurred to me that the basis of the invitation that Ojukwu had
cheerfully extended to me was premised on the need to create the picture of a
broad-based, ‘national’ military action that was supported by elements from the
nation’s four Regions: Ojukwu from the East, Banjo from the West, Ejoor from
the Mid-West and I from the North. The concurrence of a Northerner was needed
to close the loop. To them, I represented the missing link of the jigsaw
puzzle, hence the welcoming invitation to me to join in.
“From all indications, they had reviewed the issues at stake
and had concluded that their interests, whatever these were, would be best
served by military intervention on the side of the President so that Zik could
take effective control of government. I did not feel comfortable with the
subject of their discussion and strongly disagreed with their conclusion for
the simple reason that both ran contrary to known military traditions,
particularly in respect of the role of the military in society. I questioned
their loyalty and military discipline. We were all trained to be officers in a
disciplined Army that was loyal and supportive of the political leadership,
that is, the government of the day irrespective of the political party in
control. Certainly, we were not trained to be ambitious enough to try to
supplant the will of the people.”
He said he believed the military needed to be loyal to the
prime minister “who was the substantive Head of Government in the Parliamentary
system that we operated. For me, therefore, any intervention on behalf of Zik,
who we all respected but knew was a ceremonial President, was questionable
because it would have amounted to a military-aided civilian take-over of
government. Was this their intention or was it a camouflage for a military
coup?”
Gowon said he told the three of them in Ojukwu’s office:
“God helps anyone that starts any trouble.”
JANUARY 1966 COUP
The crisis from the elections, which culminated in deadly
riots in the Western region, weakened the country’s democracy and some young
officers eventually staged an unsuccessful coup in January 1966, killing
Balewa; Ahmadu Bello, premier of the Northern region; Ladoke Akintola, premier
of the Western region who was their political ally; and Festus Okotie-Eboh,
minister of finance.
Zakariya Maimalari, a brigadier and the most senior military
officer from the north, was also killed alongside many other northerners in the
military.
The coup failed and Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, a major general
and the new army chief, became the head of state.
His failure to prosecute the plotters, among whom were
Kaduna Nzeogwu and Emmanuel Ifeajuna, was blamed for the counter coup of July
1966 and the killing of Igbos in northern Nigeria in retaliation for the
January 1966 killings.
Gowon became head of state in July 1966 and Ojukwu
eventually declared that the secession of the Republic of Biafra, with Banjo,
Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna all on his side.
This led to a 30-month civil war that ended in 1970 when
Biafra surrendered.
Gowon said in his book that northern officers believed
Ojukwu was complicit in the January 1966 coup.
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