The movement of Nigerian history earned a deserved reshaping recently with the public presentation of General Ibrahim Babangida?s book: ?A Journey In Service?, at the NICON Hilton, Abuja with the grand presence of all living Nigerian Presidents, past and present, but Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

What came out of the gathering was the long awaited hidden truth about the January 15, 1966 military coup.

Babangida boldly revealed to the world that the first military intervention had nothing to do with the collective will of the Igbo nation.

While it is safe to say that five of the six ringleaders of the plot were Igbo, the truth is that they acted on their own and were not in any way advancing any known Igbo interest. All five majors were inclined to the freedom of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, from prison.

Wale Ademoyega, Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Chukwuma Nzeogwu, Christopher Anuforo, Humphrey Chukwuka and Donatus Okafor had mingled with other major groups outside Igbo land before joining the Army and did what they thought, quite erroneously, was in the best interest of their countrymen.

Ademoyega was Remo Yoruba, like Awo but felt so free with Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna. It was from Fiditi Grammar School in the Western Region that Ifeajuna joined the Army in 1960 as a teacher.

Like President Nnamdi Azikiwe, he hailed from Onitsha. Nzeogwu was born in Kaduna and like Anuforo, attended St. John?s (Rimi) College, Kaduna. Both spoke fluent Hausa and Nzeogwu?s more popular name was ?Kaduna?. Anuforo, because of his complexion, was sometimes mistaken for a Fulani.

Donatus Okafor lived most of his life in the North and was born to an Igbo father and a mother from the Northern Region. Chukwuka was into forestry and found the remote villages across the Benue quite interesting. They were all bound together more by youthful exuberance than wisdom.

From the time they embarked on that bloody journey on January 15, 1966, the course of Nigerian history changed, to polished lies. Partly because they were so much in a hurry to do things their own way, they forgot the dynamics of action and reaction.

Babangida should be praised for his courage saying the truth before going to meet his creator which could take anything from today to the next three decades.

At the end, Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa was killed in Lagos. The Premier of the Western Region, Ladoke Akintola, was assassinated in Ibadan. His Northern Region counterpart, Sir Ahmadu Bello, was murdered, with his wife and others, in Kaduna. No politician of Igbo extraction died. All senior Northern officers above the rank of Colonel were shot dead.

The West lost Brig. Samuel Ademulegun and his wife. Col. Raphael Shodeinde was killed and his wife abandoned with a bullet wound. The only Igbo casualty, Lt Col Arthur Unegbe, was shot before his pregnant wife. Babangida was a Lieutenant in the Reconnaissance Regiment, Kaduna commanded by Maj. Hassan Katsina.

He lived on Kanta Road, Kaduna and was in deep slumber when his friend, Lt. Chris Ugokwe, woke him up in the wee hours of January 15.

That was how he got to know about the coup. Ugokwe was Igbo and both men jumped into a Land Rover to their Recce headquarters at Ribadu Cantonment. Babangida?s friend, Lt. Gado Nasko was aroused from sleep by his Artillery Commander, Lt. Col Alex Madiebo, an Igbo officer.

Babangida knew the truth about the coup because it was foiled in the North by Igbo officers. Madiebo ordered Nasko to get ready to defend the Kalapanzi Barracks against any mad man, referring to Nzeogwu that dared attack.

Lt. Col Emeka OdumegwuOjukwu was in charge of 5th Battalion Kano and turned his back against Nzeogwu. He even went as far as detaining Capt. Chris Udeh, Nzeogwu?s emissary.

It was Madiebo that tranquilised Nzeogwu with words before Col. Conrad Nwawo was flown from London to complete the job. In Lagos, Gen. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi neutralised the mutiny. In another part of the Western Region, Maj. John Obienu, went after the plotters. Those were Igbo officers and the coup failed because they all worked against it, for the sake of Nigeria.

Babangida should be praised for his courage in saying the truth before going to meet his creator which could take anything from today to the next three decades.

This gesture may just be the beginning of true reconciliation. The Igbo faced pogrom and genocide because of the wicked lie that they organised the January 1966 coup.

Beyond Babangida?s bold statement, time has come for the Federal Government to truly compensate the Igbo for the loss of over six million lives, organised pathetic neglect and crown of infamy on their necks by official lies, fanned from within and embellished by colonial Britain. (New Telegraph Editorial)

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