My Third Cycle

5. The coups

Nigerian politics was clearly divided by ethnic lines and as a result of the number of seats held by the North in parliament, major parliamentary decisions could not be taken if opposed by the North. For the south it was clear that the only way they could take power was either through constitutional amendment --which was highly unlikely-- or through violence.

In August 9, 1963, The mid-western states were created. It highlighted the issue of the homogenous make up of the South. The Mid-West was home to the Edos, Urhobos, and other tribes.

The grouping of Nigeria into three major regions largely ignored the mid-western tribes and other tribes considered minority tribes in Nigeria, and the creation of a new state had the positive effect of adding a new voice to national politics.

However, the negative impact was that it made the North even stronger. In 1962, ACC, the political party made up of majorly westerners, split over a rift between Balowo and Adetola, the minister of the Western region. Madunkin was made the acting Minister of the West and he placed all the political heads in the West on
house arrest pending an investigation. Balowo was soon accused of using public money to finance ACC. The court also found evidence of conspiracy in his government.

Balowo was charged with treason, his associate were also charged with similar offences and they were sentenced to ten years imprisonment. With all these dynamic politicians in prison, the public began to doubt civilian governance.

Soon, violence erupted in the western region and almost two thousand people were killed in the fight for power. Due to increased violence ,the Nigerian army  were deployed to police the elections, they watched as people stuffed ballot boxes and common Nigerians begged them to intervene. All these caused the younger officers to take an unorthodoxed action. The first Nigerian coup.

Before the coup, I was abducted from my home, blind folded and taken to a military base, kept in a dark room for hours. Finally, a man walked in. Once he spoke, I could tell from his accent that he was an easterner, just like I was.

I tried to plead in Igbo but he cut me off ; “Listen, we know you are a good man. We require your service after this coup".

"Coup?!" I whisper yelled, startled at the mentionof a coup, as I hadn't been privy to such plans yet.

“Yes,” he said firmly, “Coup. The present civilian government will be overthrown and we need you to do your job and address the world and our nation. The world must believe the military is doing what is best for the nation."

Rightly sensing there were more people in the room other than the man briefing me, I listened hard, trying to see if I could make anything out of their whispers and it struck me! I knew the identity of some of these men.

The Igbos have always had a very strong sense of ethnical socialization, forming communities wherever they are. At that time, these communities had secret societies in them. They were meant for the elite, as a way to help watch each other’s backs while away from their home in the East, and as a politician from the East I was a part of this.

A major problem the community faced was the seeming inability of the officers and the politicians to agree on anything. Order and secrecy were maintained by a system the Europeans invented, Hierarchy.
As in the military, there was a chain of command. The higher you grew in rank, the more information you got access to.

The officers in the room and I belonged to the same secret society. Perhaps, that was why I was not hurt or killed. Some of the top officers in our community were my friends and I could hear some of them in there.
Sitting there in that dark room, I came up with the theory that the Igbo officers had gone behind the community, going against the politicians and seizing power from
the government.