A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani Kayode on Monday says nobody should twist twist the words of former Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) regarding the 1966 military coup.
In a post on his Facebook page, Fani-Kayode said there was nowhere in IBB’s autobiography where he claimed that the 1966 was not an Igbo coup.
He wrote: “It was heinously callous for Nzeogwu to have murdered Sir Ahmadu Bello and his wife, Hafsatu, because not only were they eminently adored by many but also because they were said not to have put up a fight. From that moment the putsch was infiltrated by “outsiders” to its supposed original intention and it took on an unmistakable ethnic coloration compounded by the fact that there were no related coup activities in the Eastern Region”- President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, ‘A Journey In Service: An Autobiography’, February 2025.
I hate to burst your bubble but there is NOWHERE in IBB’s book that he said that the coup of January 15th 1966 was NOT an Igbo coup.
In fact he alluded to the contrary when he said the coup had taken on an “unmistakable ethnic coloration”.
That is what he wrote and that is the reality. The coup was an ethnic one and that ethnicity were the Igbo!
Those that have misinterpreted his words and have said that he wrote that the coup was not an Igbo coup are either misguided and misinformed or are being mischievous.
They have a poor understanding of the English language and in the main have not even read the book and instead are relying on erroneous social media qoutes and well crafted disinformation.
I suggest that they procure a copy of the book, read it from cover to cover and stop attempting to revise history by misinterpreting the words of the esteemed author.
IBB, in his characteristic manner, was charitable to the Igbos in his book but that does not give anyone licence to misinterpret his words and conclusions or use them in an attempt to revise history.
The facts are clear and they are as follows. 99% of the officers that planned and executed the Jan. 15th 1966 coup and that were involved in the mutiny were Igbo and 99% of those that were murdered by them were non-Igbo military officers and political leaders in some cases including their wives.
We owe it to the memory of those that were so callously slaughtered not to sugar coat the bitter truth, not to revise history and not to tell lies.
The coup was UNMISTAKEABLY an Igbo one and IBB made this very clear when he wrote about its “ethnic coloration”.
I urge all those that have a poor understanding of the English language and that cannot read more than three lines of any book or essay to stop using his words to establish their revisionist and patently dishonest narrative and their futile attempt to perpetuate an age-old lie.
The truth is that the Jan. 15th 1966 coup WAS an Igbo one and I am glad to say that IBB has confirmed it.
This is a FACT and as our journalist friends will tell you ‘facts are sacred and opinion is cheap”.
