 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling.(August 2024) |
Events in the year 1966 in Nigeria .
| This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling.(August 2024) |
Events in the year 1966 in Nigeria .
On January 15, 1966, Nigeria was jolted awake to the first Military Coup d'état, all over the top politicians were assassinated by young ambitious officers including the Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Festus Okotie Eboh and Ladoke Akintola. The coup was masterminded by young majors as a result the coup often referred to as ""Coup of the five majors" spearheaded by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu. The mutineers overthrew several cities but were overpowered and imprisoned after two days.
A new government was formed and Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi became Head of State but six months later a counter coup took place where he and his host Francis Adekunle Fajuyi were assassinated. Yakubu Gowon was his successor.
An attack against those from Eastern Region ensued particularly those of Igbo descent as violence was unleashed on them. Chinua Achebe gave an excellent personal account of this happenings in his book "There was a Country". [1] He described soldiers looking for him at an old address and then his office, apparently because they believed his book A Man Of The People had something to do with the coup.
The Federal Public Service Commission relieved non Eastern Nigeria Workers of their duties giving them an ultimatum to return to work or forfeit their jobs permanently they were 40 of them in number, The men fled for because they feared for their safety in places where they working in other parts of the country during the disturbances. This was to be effective October 31, 1966.[ citation needed ]
The Kano pyramids thrived and business boomed. Nigeria had a mostly agrarian economy until the oil boom came. They were found mainly in Northern Nigeria and consisted of thousands of bags of groundnut. The Groundnut Pyramids brought quite a windfall of cash to the farmers and groundnut were exported.
Commonwealth Games, November 1966 - Nigerian athlete Samuel Igun wins gold in the sophisticated hop setting a new games record and putting Africa on the pedestal of the world. The medal had been won in Kingston, Jamaica. "Joromi", the first Gold Record in Africa won by Sir Victor Uwaifo was presented to him by Mr. Jan Lewen the Managing director Philips Records West Africa in 1966.
| Years in Nigeria: | 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 |
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s |
| Years: | 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 |
Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu was a Nigerian military officer and politician who served as President of the Republic of Biafra from 1967 to 1970 during the Nigerian Civil War. He previously served as military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, which he declared as the independent state of Biafra.
Yakubu Dan-Yumma "Jack" Gowon is a Nigerian former Head of State and statesman who led the Federal military government war efforts during the Nigerian Civil War.
Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi was a Nigerian general who was the first military head of state of Nigeria. He was appointed to head the country after the 15 January 1966 military coup.
Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Chukwuma "Kaduna" Nzeogwu was a Nigerian military officer who played a leading role in the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état, which overthrew the First Nigerian Republic.
Francis Adekunle Fajuyi was a Nigerian soldier of Yoruba origin and the first military governor of the former Western Region, Nigeria.
The military dictatorship in Nigeria was a period when members of the Nigerian Armed Forces held power in Nigeria from 1966 to 1999 with an interregnum from 1979 to 1983. The military was able to rise to power often with the tacit support of the elite through coup d'états. Since the country became a republic in 1963, there had been a series of military coups.
The First Republic was the republican government of Nigeria between 1963 and 1966 governed by the first republican constitution. The country's government was based on a federal form of the Westminster system. The period between 1 October 1960, when the country gained its independence and 15 January 1966, when the first military coup d’état took place, is also generally referred to as the First Republic. The first Republic of Nigeria was ruled by different leaders representing their regions as premiers in a federation during this period.
Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh was a Nigerian politician who was the finance minister of Nigeria from 1957 to 1966 during the administration of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
Babafemi Olatunde Ogundipe was the de facto second-in-command and first Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters from January 1966 to August 1966 during Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi's military regime. He was Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from September 1966 to August 1970 during General Yakubu Gowon's military regime.
David Akpode Ejoor RCDS, PSC, was a Nigerian military officer who served as Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
The 1966 Nigerian Counter-coup was the second of many military coups in Nigeria. It was masterminded by Lt. Colonel Murtala Muhammed and many other northern military officers. The coup began as a mutiny at roughly midnight of 28 July 1966 and was a reaction to the killings of Northern politicians and officers by some soldiers on 15 January 1966. The coup resulted in the murder of Nigeria's first military Head of State General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and Lt Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi in Ibadan by disgruntled northern non-commissioned officers (NCOs). Upon the termination of Ironsi's government, Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon was appointed Head of State by the coup conspirators.
Chief Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, Q.C., SAN, CON was a leading Nigerian politician, aristocrat, nationalist, statesman and lawyer. He was elected deputy premier of the Western Region of Nigeria in 1963 and played a major role in Nigeria's legal history and politics from the late 1940s until his death in 1995.
Since Nigeria became independent in 1960, there have been five military coup d'états in Nigeria. Between 1966 and 1999, Nigeria was ruled by a military government without interruption, apart from a short-lived return to democracy under the Second Nigerian Republic of 1979 to 1983. However, the most recent coup occurred in 1993, and there have been no significant further attempts under the Fourth Nigerian Republic, which restored multi-party democracy in 1999.
William Walbe, was a colonel in the Nigerian Army who served as the military aide-de-camp (ADC) to General Yakubu Gowon, the third Nigerian Head of State.
Victor Adebukunola Banjo was a colonel in the Nigerian Army. He fought in the Biafran Army during the Nigerian Civil War. Banjo was accused of being a coup plotter against Nigerian Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa by the government of Aguyi Ironsi. He was alleged to have staged a coup plot against Biafran President Odumegwu Ojukwu and was executed as a result. Ojukwu's first military judge stated that was not enough evidence to convict him of coup charges, but he was found guilty by a second military tribunal.
On 15 January 1966, rebellious soldiers carrying out a military putsch led by Kaduna Nzeogwu and 4 others, killed 22 people including the prime minister of Nigeria, many senior politicians, senior Army officers and their wives, and sentinels on protective duty. The coup plotters attacked the cities of Kaduna, Ibadan, and Lagos while also blockading the Niger and Benue River within a two-day timespan, before being subdued. The General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, was falsely accused of having been compelled to take control of the government of a country in upheaval, inadvertently putting Nigeria's nascent democracy on hold His ascendancy to power was deemed a conspiracy by the coup plotters, who were partly Igbo and Majors from Yoruba and Hausa sub regions, to pave the way for General Aguiyi-Ironsi to be head of state of Nigeria. Consequently, the retaliatory events by Northern members of the Nigerian Army that led to deaths of many Igbo soldiers and civilians put the nation on a path that eventually led to a civil war.
Victoria Nwanyiocha Aguyi-Ironsi was the second First Lady of Nigeria from 16 January 1966 to 29 July 1966.
