Northern-Nigeria Perspective

 THE REPEAT OF 1966, DRUMS OF WAR. PART TWO. THE JOURNEY FROM LAGOS TO GAMBE VILLAGE, DECEMBER 1966. My narrative, the 'The repeat of 1966, drums of war' in my earlier post was the beginning of the scenario that led to the fracticidal, brutal and deadly Nigerian civil war, as a consequence of the crisis which ensued  after the gruesome coup de tat of the  15th January 1966, where some majority Igbo military officers spear headed the controversial coup that eliminated majority political and senior military officers from the Northern and Western Regions of Nigeria without a loss of life of any from the Igbo Eastern Nigeria. Lagos was as ever a bustling city and it remained so in spite of the monumental episode, the military coup that took place less than two months earlier, when I arrived Lagos to resume studies at Federal Science School, FSS Lagos. It appeared people in Lagos were oblivious of the happenings in the country, even though the main theater of action of the coup de t

The fears expressed on the probable return to the 1966 scenario of doom and uncertainties hanging in the atmosphere, the absence of trust and confidence in the next person with you or near you if he happened not to be from your region or your tribe or religious persuasion. In 1966 the atmosphere was charged and people were looking over their shoulders in order not to miss any happenings. First, I was in Gambe Village on the 15th of January when the sudden and unexpected news of the killing of the Sardauna Sokoto, the Premier of the Northern Region was announced over the Radio Kaduna. The news came with mixed reactions from the population who were just coming out of the just concluded general elections 1964, in the country. Many people who belong to the ruling NPC of Sardauna/Tafawa Balewa party were aggrieved on the killing of the Premier of the Northern Region and his colleague, the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and military officers of mostly northern extraction while me