•Says Ironsi, Ojukwu foiled it; laments military robbed Nigeria growth
•Some generals are making money from terrorism
By Demola Akinyemi
Brigadier General Godwin Alabi-Isama (retired), one of the top players in the military during the Nigerian Civil War, also known as Biafra War, says military coups robbed Nigeria of growth.
Speaking in an interview to mark 60 years after the first military coup in the country which took place on January 15, 1966, Alabi-Isama said the coup and those that followed it destroyed the nation’s federalism while replacing it with the unitary structure of governance.
The retired military officer, who is also an author, turned 85 in December 2025. He served as chief of staff to Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle, Commanding Officer of the 3 Marine Commando, during the Civil War.
Alabi-Isama is also credited with leading forces against Biafra, successfully liberating various locations including Odukpani, Ikot-Okpora, Iwuru, Akunakuna, Itigidi, Ediba, Ugep, Obubra, Afikpo, Oban, and Ekang.
Nigeria has had several military coups since the January 1966 episode which claimed the lives of then Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Western Region Premier S. L. Akintola, some ministers and several senior military officers.
“Nigeria would have been much better than what it is now because we had federalism”, Alabi-Isama said. “The West started television and said ‘First in Africa’, East started something else and said ‘Second to none’ and the North also had their own. “Then Awolowo came up with free education, the East and the North couldn’t do it. Awolowo built a stadium for the youths, empowered them, he was like de facto President.
“What happened was that there was competition and it was competition that brought growth. I will give you an example. If you ran 100 meters’ race with me and I came first, and you want to beat me next time, you will train more and I will train more so that you don’t beat me. So, the more we both train, the better for the situation which means both of us will break records, that’s exactly what it was.
“Federalism was what we needed and what we had always needed because of the ethnic and linguistic groupings in the country. We need federalism where there would be competition, at that time the country was galloping.
“And now we broke into 36 states which used to be four regions, and look at the number of ministers and commissioners, that’s a lot of money which we needed for development. The development now is not as fast as it was then because there was competition.
“While Zik in the East would construct thousands of roads, the North would also build thousands of roads and the West would not want to be left behind. So, there was competition and it’s only competition that would bring the growth we are all looking for. So, Nigeria would have been a developed country by now. Can you imagine that the whole of Nigeria is using DSTV today owned by South Africa and South Africa had no television by the time we ended the civil war in 1970?”
Asked if there were justifications for successive coups after the January 1966 episode, he answered: “First of all, I will say that there was no justification for any coup but these were Nigerians and they could not be indifferent to what happened around them but because they had ammunitions, so they used that as leverage over the people. But which of the coups had been successful? None. Even the army shot itself in the foot and had to run away. They didn’t have a glorious exit.
“The second coup (July 1966) was an Hausa coup and when I use the word Hausa, that’s from Offa to Sokoto and Katsina, Maiduguri, it was a revenge coup. There were lots of killings. Now what caused the coup (January 1966) at that time was because of our political system, feudal system, which saw people sharing money and till today we are still sharing money.
“At the time we went to (civil) war, we said we didn’t want a unitary system, we wanted federalism; the war ended and we ended up with the unitary system. So why did people die? That’s why I call all of them idiots”.
On the claim in some quarters that the January 1966 coup was a tribal one, Alabi-Isama stated: “The coup to me was not a tribal one because even those people that foiled the coup were Ibos. Ojukwu (then a Lt. col. in the army) and Ironsi (head of the army) foiled the coup but they cannot deny the fact that they knew about it. That part of it; from reading books to now that I’m older, the coup was not an Ibo coup though there was no doubt in my mind that Ibo people knew about the coup.
“People like Azikiwe (ceremonial president of Nigeria), Ironsi and Ojukwu, they knew about the coup but somehow they were the ones who foiled the coup because I read a book written by COL Njoku recently which claimed that Ironsi said “these boys, but they told me they were not going to kill anybody?” So, for me, it wasn’t an Igbo coup but, definitely, the Igbos knew about it”.
General Isama also said it was erroneous to say Igbo surrendered to Nigeria during the civil war because not all of them were Biafra and that there were even Yoruba and Hausa who believed in the cause of Biafra. “The Igbo did not surrender to Nigeria, it was Biafra that surrendered to Nigeria. It was wrong to classify everyone of them as Biafra because there were some who didn’t want the war. So, the Igbo were not defeated, we defeated Biafra so that they would not secede”, he said.
On insecurity, General Isama blamed the inability of the government to put an end to terrorism in Nigeria on some people who have turned it into business and were making money out of it. He lamented that for fifteen years, the Nigerian army could not capture Sambisa forest that was the enclave of the terrorists and recalled how in the 80s, he was able to wipe out the Maitatsine sect in Kano within one week and handed over the sect members to the police.
His words: “Maitatsine’s real name was Marua who came from Cameroon to teach Nigerians what was called Wahhabism after accusing Nigerian Muslims of practicing adulterated Islam. He killed a lot of people in Kano and Sokoto for four years and was advancing towards Maiduguri when I was transferred to the Army headquarters in 1976 after Murtala’s coup. So, I asked if I could go there to liberate the place and when I was given the go ahead, it took me one week to round them up and I handed over everybody to the police.
“So, some people are interested in the insecurity in the country because they are making money from it, if not we won’t be in this situation. When the late President Muhammadu Buhari went to London and was asked by the CNN why, as an ex general he could not tackle kidnapping and banditry in Nigeria, his response was that he gave money to the generals to buy weapons and deal with the terrorists but they shared the money as if they were having dinner. He then removed the generals and made them ambassadors. So, somebody is interested in the insecurity and that is why a lot of people are dying”.
•IN THE FULL INTERVIEW TO BE PUBLISHED TOMORROW IN SUNDAY VANGUARD, ALABI-ISIAMA SPEAKS ON WHY PEOPLE PASS MORE INFORMATION TO BOKO HARAM THAN TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND HOW NIGERIA WON CIVIL WAR BUT DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO WIN PEACE, AMONG OTHER ISSUES IN THE POLITY.
The post 60 Years After: Jan 1966 incursion was not Igbo coup, but Zik, Ironsi, Ojukwu knew about it —Gen Alabi-Isama(rtd) appeared first on Vanguard News.
