On Romanticization
I’ve always loved history, growing up.
For me, we are more or less, at the end of time.
And we have all this stories from way, way back …. that was never as organized, never as accessible, never as concise as it is today.
My taste across Movies, Comics, Video Games, and Reddit subs, has been categorically shaped by this fascination.
However, I’ve become conscious and critical — critically conscious — of the radical romanticization that comes with it.
Case in point:
Titanic! What a fucking movie, right?
You get so lost in Leonardo DiCaprio spamming all those stunts to win some aristocratic girl’s heart, till his dying breath.
Then, it hits you: they all fucking died!
Except a ‘lucky’ few, of course.
But then again, all you remember is the ungodly romance between Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater.
That’s the downside (or upside?) of consuming History in this age.
We are totally insulated from these events and the people therein.
So we gloss over the best bits and flip the page.
But what happens when it the story is not inconsequential?
How do you process the people whose actions shape your current reality?
For example the stories of: Abacha, Babangida, Carter, Abiola, Lugard, Hitler, Awolowo, Trump, Yaradua, Obama, Thatcher, Oduduwa, Yakubu Aiyegbeni …
I’m afraid, Romanticization did not sink with the Titanic.
We are bound to be fed with propaganda and half-baked narratives…
even if we lived through the said period.
And we will gobble it up with rose-tinted spectacles.
Shock would be an understatement when I saw a post that hailed the deceased General Thomas Aguyi-Ironsi as a visionary Hero (whose murderers ‘are still running our country today’).
A certain part of that statement is true.
But the ‘visionary’ element, thereof, is an aggrandized delusion.
The General’s tale, when reflected on, is seen with the end in mind:
A corpse in the forests of Lalupon.
Did he deserve his fate? No.
Did he have it coming? Absolutely.
Now hear me out:
In 1962, a fated meeting happened between Adewale Ademoyega and Thomas Aguyi-Ironsi in London. They discussed the political climate of the Nigeria & its Armed Forces.
Thomas served as the Defence Attaché to the Nigerian High Commision. Meanwhile, Adewale was on his way back to Nigeria, after training at the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot.
At the time, our country was not yet a Republic and our soldiers served in the Queen’s Own Nigerian Regiment.
Thus, they were trained abroad in the ilk and mould of the British:
All of them had been rigidly schooled in the British military
tradition of total political aloofness and obedience …..
- WHY WE STRUCK, ADEWALE ADEMOYEGA
The Outgoing GOC was a British who had recommended Christopher Welby-Everard, another British, to lead Nigeria’s young Military.
Clearly, the British held the keys. And gayly so.
Adewale was puzzled at the crawling pace of the Military’s Nigerianization.
However, Lt. Col. Aguyi-Ironsi was short of answers for the curious cadet.
It was up to the politicians, he said. He simply did what he was told.
I knew that the Federal civil service was being rapidly Nigerianised and that the rapidity of the process was the achievement of Senior Nigerian
Civil Servants. Why could not the same be done in the Army? To that he replied that the British were very much on top in the Army, and it was they who handled the Nigerianisation process. I prodded him much further to see if he would agree that a lot could be achieved by unting pressure groups on politicians, to give Nigerians such sensitive posts as could be used
to hasten the Nigerianisation process. He did not see this as necessary and did not really want to quarrel with the system or hasten the process of change.
- WHY WE STRUCK, ADEWALE ADEMOYEGA
Four years later, their paths would cross once again.
This time, the Army was fully ‘Nigerian’.
In fact, Ironsi was the GOC.
His years of service had paid off:
- Equerry to the Queen on her tour of Nigeria in 1956.
- Defence Attache in the UK
- First African to command UN Forces
- Decorated by the Austrian Government for valor
- Loyalty to the ruling order
But the Country had gone completely wrong.
And the Army Brass was complicit.
So, they struck.
On that fateful night, the GOC was marked for arrest/assassination.
However, Ironsi was not found at home; he had been attending a series of parties and was still out when the soldiers arrived.
You see, Ironsi was on his last legs.
He was due for retirement, which was to commence after his next Leave.
So he partied hard, and partied some more.
That night, the partying saved his life.
In one bloody sweep, Balewa, Okotie-Eboh, the Sardauna, Akintola, Maimalari, Admeulegun, Shodeinde, Kur Mohammed, Largema, Unegbe, Pam were assassinated. The Government of Nigeria was wiped out.
All but one.
General Ironsi resurfaced at Dodan Barracks to crush the Uprising.
The coup plotters fled the Capital as He rallied the Federal Cabinet.
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Major Adewale’s comrades lost the day.
The Coup had struck hammered a power vacuum into Lagos.
And there was only one man to step up.
“ Ironsi said, you either hand over as gentlemen or you hand over by force”.
- Mr. Richard Akinjide, Minister of Education (First Republic)
In one day, General Ironsi had gone from retiree to Supreme Leader.
But the job was far from done.
To consolidate his power, the General had to neutralize Major Nzeowgu, who held the North.
For this delicate venture, the Old Soldier chose Subterfuge over Force.
He deployed the oldest trick in the book — kinsmaship.
With the aid of Major Madiebo & Lt. Col. Nwawo, Nzeogwu was persuaded to hand over power to the Ironsi Regime.
The Major compromised, on these conditions:
- A guarantee of safety for himself, his officers and all men who took part in the January 15 revolution.
- A guarantee for them of freedom from legal prosecution then, or at any later time.
- Compensation to be paid to the families of all officers and men who lost their lives during the coup.
- The release of all officers and men who were detained in the South.
- The assurance that the people whom were removed would not be returned to Office.
After the handover parade in Kaduna, Nzeogwu flew down to Lagos to partake in the new Military government — as agreed.
In Lagos, however, the Major was treated to a rebel’s welcome.
A 84mm Carl Gustav anti-tank rifle led Nzeogwu, in cuffs, to Kirikiri.
Thus, by the times the remainder of us (except Ifeajuna) were brought in, there were twenty-nine officers in detention. These included Majors Nzeogwu,Anuforo, Chukwuka, Onwuatuegwu, Okafor and myself; Captains Nwobosi, Gbulie, Oji,Adeleke, Ude and Udeaja; Lieutenants Oyewole, Ezedigbo, Okafor, Okocha, Anyafulu, Okaka and Amuchenwa, Second Lieutenants J.C. Ojukwu, Ngwuluka, Olafimihan, Nweke, Ejiofor, Egbikor, Igweze, Onyefuru, Nwokocha and Azubuogur. Our detention was for taking part in the revolution. Also in detention were Lieutenant-Colonel Banjo and Major Aghanya, both of whom had not taken part in the revolution. Over a hundred other soldiers were detained with us. Practically all of them had taken part in the revolution, but no one of Northern origin who took part in the revolution was arrested or detained.
- WHY WE STRUCK, ADEWALE ADEMOYEGA
The General left no stones unturned.
He was no newbie to politicking and pandering.
The NPC Ministers detained, by the Coup, in the North were promptly released. However, politicians, from the East, West, and Midwest, remained in detention.
Brigadier Ogundipe was appointed Deputy. Northerners like Hassan Katsina, Muhammadu Shuwa, Hamza Ahmadu, Kam Selem, Murtala Mohammed found favor in the new world order.
The Genera appropriated the bond of Kinsmanship to his advantage.
Over a dozen Ibo officers were promoted from Major to Lieutenant Colonels, into sensitive positions in the Army and Air Force.
In doing so, he blundered on placating Northerners out of Guilt and alienating Yoruba Officers out of Ignorance.
Then came Decree № 34:
THE FEDERAL MILITARY GOVERNMENT hereby decrees as follows:
Subject to the provisions of this Decree, Nigeria shall on 24th May 1966 (in this decree referred to as ‘the appointed day’) cease to be a Federation and shall accordingly as from that day be a Republic, by the name of the Republic of Nigeria, consisting of the whole of the territory which immediately before that day was comprised in the Federation ……………
Remember those Politicians still in detention?
To the commoner, this was clearly the rise of an Igbo hegemony.
Or so they were made to believe ….
The out-of-job NPC Oligarchy, which was spared from detention by the benevolent Dictator took every delight in undermining the General.
May 29, 1966:
Tensions boiled over and erupted in violence.
Northern Nigeria lashed out in full vengeance against the ‘foreigners’: Igbos, Yorubas, Efiks, Anangs, Ijaws, and so on …
In any case, it was the duty of his man in the North, to restore order.
But he didn’t lift a finger.
When a unit commander bothered to intervene, Lt. Col. Hassan reprimanded the officer and withdrew troops — which emboldened the bloodthirsty mobs.
General Ironsi had lost the North to the chaos; his own kinsmen were being killed and he could do nothing.
The West & Mid-West had little love for him as well.
Did he do wrong by sorrounding himself with his own people?
And inclining to their political doctrine?
In a bid to mend the shitstorm, the General summoned all traditional rulers to a conference in Ibadan. At the conference, he explained to them that the Decree was only a temporary measure.
He proclaimed his intentions to involve them in the governing process via constant consultation. As the sly old foxes made toasts to the DireWolf’s ego in this ceremony, something was amiss.
The barracks were heating up ….
Ironsi’s Conference lasted a day — July 28, 1966.
What looked like a masterstroke was only the beginning of the end.
Few hours after midnight, northern soldiers wiped out an estimated 200 to 300 Igbo/Southern Officers in Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ikeja, and Kaduna.
And the rest as they say ….. is a long tragic history.
The question lingers:
Was Ironsi a true ‘visionary’?
Sources
- Unification Decree — https://dawodu.com/decree34.htm
- WHY WE STRUCK, by ADEWALE ADEMOYEGA
- Yes, Ironsi toppled Young Majors — Emeka Obasi, Vanguard (25/08/18)
