The attempt by former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) to remove ethnic tag on the first Nigerian military coup ever may not have scaled through as an explanation is given about why the strike has no other tag than to be called an Igbo coup.
This explanation was given in a reaction to his book, “A Journey In Service”, by a former Member of Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) and Minister of Communications under General Sani Abacha regime, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (Rtd).
General Babangida, in Chapter 3 page 39 under the topic, “A young officer and a gentleman”, has tried to exonerate the first coup plotters as coming not from the intention of ethnicity but Olanrewaju, while agreeing with his former boss, pointed out that a coup is tagged what people ascribe to it.
Categorically General Olanrewaju said such tagging occurs because the group base of a coup is usually dominated by a good number of same ethnic stocks.
Corroborating the former military ruler, General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, who was also a former Defence Adviser in Moscow, Russia, presents IBB as one person that “will continue to remain a relevant figure in Nigeria’s national affairs.”
He said, “However, the opinion expressed by IBB is a default by my own assessment, I have a copy of the book, if it was not sectional as the former military President said in his book, but the outcome too was not national as well.
A coup will take its name tag from the chief planner and the final outcomes. The topmost leadership that steers the coup takes the name tag.
“The national media has always played a key role in influencing and identifying the informational contents when a coup has taken place. The media takes the centre stage in information dissemination to achieve their designed purposes. These are usually economic, publicity, and national or sectional interests. Whether a coup is successful or not, it will be identified by its own nomenclature.
“The narratives about the nature, content, style, and aim of Nzeugwu coup cannot but be termed Igbo coup. I concede the fact that General IBB is entitled to reach the conclusion that he did. The issue of a military coup has a universal concern with a sense of appeal and will attract comments from security and defence commentators.
“In the realm of human nature, we can always remember the past, follow the present, and hope for the future. These are all parts of our consciousness. While the present is awareness, the past remains a recollection. The autobiography of General Babangida will remain a relevant book of reference for many historians and a classical study for students and people seeking to find the causes and effects of nigerian evolution from 1966 to date.
“IBB will continue to remain a relevant figure in Nigeria’s national affairs. Without him, like former President Goodluck Jonathan said, history of Nigeria will not be complete.”