The Repeat of 1966, Drums of war. 🥁 ⚔️ part II

 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 tat was in the city. The Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Minister of Finance Festus Okotieboh, eight senior military officers cutting across the Northern Region, example, Col. Pam of Plateau Province, Col. Maimalari and Col. Largema from Borno Province and two senior military officers of Western Region extraction were all murdered in a drama filled night. The coupists timing for the coup was to stage the carnage when the top military officers who, if not eliminated, may render their coup sterile. Col. Maimalari's wedding party had just ended and he retired to meet his young eighteen year old bride when the soldier in him told him some things are not right. He scaled the wall and disappeared in the night. The senior officers were caught off-guard, relaxed in a party mood on that day. The coupists actually got them off-guard, painfully, particularly the bridegroom who escaped from his home living his young wife only to be 'rescued' on the street between Ikoyi and the Federal Secretariat by his eventual killers after identifications and salute from these majors. They shot the Colonel in cold blood after asking him to say his last prayers.

 The remains of the Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa was not found until few days later. Of all the victims of the coup he was considered the most innocent and corrupt free leader. Many Nigerians specifically mourned the loss of the 'golden voice'. Majority of Lagosians  went about their daily businesses as if nothing happened. That was the picture conjured the first two months after the coup that promised to be controversial and episodic to change Nigeria's positive march to greatness in the future.

Lagos residents started getting the messages of the coup, first from the newspapers, with pictures of the coup executors, victims of the coup, picturesof their bodies displayed, of their houses, family members leaving for homes were daily news items in the papers. The most popular news papers then were the Daily Times, the New Nigeria Newspapers and a private daily paper that went out of production a long time ago, I can't remember the title, probably owned by the business mogul/politician, Moshood Abiola. Many upheavals took places in Lagos but these were restricted to high profile parts of the Lagos then, like the Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Obalande, Lagos Island, Ikeja, Apapa etc where there were top military and political leaders' residences and or offices. The change of government from democratic civilian to military junta were extensively and excitingly covered by the print, radio and television. Newspaper vendors had busy times, starting from 4 am and before mid morning, 9am - 10 am, they have sold out all newspapers. Sometimes newspapers were not available as early as 9 o'clock in the mornings. The dominant contemporary news then were the new military government, the military governors in the regions, the appointments of the Federal and regional governments, the change of leadership from politicians to military and civill servants across the country. Newspapers had full day reporting. Some newspapers resorted to having evening editions of their papers. The readership of papers increased many folds. GSM system was not available in the country then.

Meanwhile, political and social life were dramatically changing in the regions. Five regional governors were appointed; Northern, Eastern, Western, Midwestern and Lagos, the Federal Capital. None of the coup plotters and executors were appointed as military governors. They were all apprehended as mutineers and kept out of participation in the military incursion in governmence. The politicians overthrown by the coupists were also watching the changes in governance from the side lines. With the declaration of the Unitary System of government by the Igbo Head of State, General Agui Ironsi, in March 1966, the equations changed immediately. The sacked politicians went to town justifying their claims that the coup was indeed an Igbo agenda, to get power by other means than democratic. What started simmering gradually metamorphosed into open calls for the Igbos to relocate back to their home in the Eastern Region. A call for the separation of the country into ethnic regions. The call was loudest in the Northern Region of Nigeria. Ironically the Northern Region had the most of the over 250 ethnic and tribal groups in Nigeria. The north also had people in the three dominant religions, Islam Christianiry and paganism. But the North presented the most united front during this period. The Igbos, very dynamic, highly enterprising people, were and are spread to virtually every business space in Nigeria. The Igbos dominate in any endeavor they persue in the business environment. They are, even today, very successful up in the 19 Northern states where they virtually have little or no competition. With the Igbo Head of State promulgating a Unitary System of government, it was interpreted as a complete monopoly of the society by Igbos; in government and economic spheres. The call for Igbos to go back to their region heightened and in some city centres such as Kano, Zaria, Katsina Maiduguri, Sokoto etc, miscreants or the hoodlums capitalized on the tensions generated and started looting and brazen snatching of Igbo properties. In spite of warnings and calls by the Emirs and Chiefs on their subjects to desist and not to take the laws into their hands, the hoodlums had the situation under their controls. Coupled with the facts that the Native Authority Police, hitherto under the control of the emirs and chiefs, been taken away from them and converted to Nigeria Police. The emirs and chiefs were powerless in issuing orders and ensuring compliance. The new Nigeria Police then were yet to be structured to be effective. The Provincial Police Officers, PPOs who were in charge in the provinces then hadn't the full command structures, not until they became Commissioners of Police in the new states created later as the military in government drama continued.

By July 1966, there were two waves of the onslaughts on the Igbos. The first one, immediately after the announcement of the decree of the Unitary System of Government, about March 1966. The miscreants termed the call on the Igbos to go back to the Eastern Region 'Araba', a Hausa word meaning to separate, to divide or to share. The first wave of the Araba wasn't intense and not characterised with a lot of killing of the Igbos as during the second wave when the miscreants were emboldened by the prevailing rhetorics and reactions of Igbo military Governor of the East Central State, Col Odumegwu Ojukwu, who maintained pressure on Igbos in other parts of Nigeria to return home. Unlike the first wave of Araba, the second wave was wide spread to outlaying emirates and cities like Adamawa, Gombe, Azare, Ilorin, Minna, Damaturu Potiskum, Birnin Kebbi etc where there were no killings of Igbos during the first Araba. The Emirs and Chiefs of all the Northern Region came out with full force in order to douche the excesses of the hoodlums even though they had little authorities to exert. Many Emirs at the risk of their lives. I was in a train going from Kaduna to Lagos when the Emir of Minna came out and stood on the railway line with his arms stretched wide in an effort to stop our train, headed south. The Emir had hundreds of Igbos assembled that morning at the railway station, who earlier took refuge in his palace during rampage the previous day, for them to be evacuated by rail to safety. The train stopped and many Igbos were hurriedly brought on board, some of them with wounds and cuts on their bodies. The train had to take any Igbo present. People were sitting in any available space in the coaches. Indeed many were so seriously wounded and we recorded a death in my coach before we reached Sagamu where all the Igbos disembarked to find their way to the east. It would be noted that in all the cities and towns where Igbos were forced out, there hasn't been any authorities or leaders permitting such  forceful rejection of the Igbos. In many instances neighbors catered for Igbos until a transport to the Eastern Nigeria is arranged. With the threats to their lives by the gangs of hoodlums roaming around the streets, Igbos on their own decisions, with the help and cooperations of their neighbors, arranged to return to the East. Igbo properties were well documented and handed over to neighbors before leaving to the east. The atrocities were sustained by the hoodlums who moved in gangs and virtually were 'hunting' Igbos, looting, killing and maiming their victims unabaited. Some Emirs, in some out-of-control cases, assumed their former powers and arrested  known hoodlums, vandals, like in Jimeta Yola, where notorious Baba Audu Dantaro was arrested by the authority of the Lamido, Aliyu Musdafa and incarcerated in prison without trial for years, long after the crisis before gaining freedom.

What was happening in the Northern Region of Nigeria was virtually replicated in the Western Region of Nigeria and Lagos. In Lagos and the Western Nigeria, Igbos were departing mainly because of the call to return home and to leave Nigeria by Military Government in the Eastern Region. In Lagos miscreants were not left out of atrocities but the greatest fears were the excesses of military men in uniform. The Northern soldiers who were the majority infantry, were every where in Lagos manning strategic places such as the Carter Bridge, the banks, offices, special houses including houses of slain politicians and top military officers etc. The soldiers maintained fierce looking appearances in fatigue uniform holding complicated rifles and guns. Some people fell victims and were killed if they stepped wrongly or failed to identify themselves quickly and correctly. The atmosphere in the whole country was charged and many feared for their lives and so travelled back to their homes in the Provinces. The situation worsened after the northern soldiers killed the Igbo Head of State who was on tour of the Western Region, July 1966. The Northern soldiers wanted to kill the head of State in the north when he earlier went on tour of the region. They were persuaded not to do so in the North. Col Odumegwu Ojukwu the Military Governor of the East Central State, an Igbo, came out and insist, vehemently that the Igbos were not wanted in Nigeria and that he would not take orders from Col Yakubu Gowon, a northern soldier who was sworn in as the new Head of the Military Government and Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Arms Forces. Ojukwu's declarations further plunged the plight of the Igbos outside the East Central State into serious predicaments. 

From 15th January 1966 to July 1967, a period of one and a half years, seemed like decades in Nigeria in Nigerian history. It was action packed, a lot of suspense like in a movie. For the newly independent African experiment in democratic rule, out from colonial subjugation that replaced the feudal system inherited through conquest of tribes and territories, the episodes were too many and too fast to comprehend. My narrative is still within the first six months after the January 15th 1966 episode. The counter coup of July 1966 marked another of the impending scenario, precausor to the Nigerian civil war. The Igbo leadership did not take the killing of the Igbo Head of State lightly. Igbos immediate reaction was to declare secession from Nigeria. No room for dialogue or any form of negotiations. Odumegwu Ojukwu condemed the killings and he called on his kinsmen to return to the East of Nigeria to start a new nation called Biafra. The killing exerbated the suspesion between the Igbos and other Nigerians, from the military, the police and other para military formations' barracks on to communities and the streets. The hitherto camaraderie spirits amongst military men disappeared and mutual suspesion sets in. Cases of ugly fights among the soldiers of different regions were reported and death resulted from such fights. It was worst experiences on the streets and highways of the country. Military checkpoints were mounted and many deaths were recorded at checkpoints all over the country. It was not safe to travel during those eery dark days. Many precious Nigerian lives were lost at checkpoints. Col Ahmadu Gombi, a classmate of Abubakar Barde, first civilian Governor of Gongola State was shot dead at a road checkpoint at Jebba by soldiers stationed there. To venture out in the city of Lagos was difficult and a dangerous venture not many could attempt. Not even the uniform men could venture out in the nights. Imagine Lagosians with their love for night life in those days. At a point it was frightening to move around in Lagos during the day time. Many people never made it back home. Carter Bridge was manned by fierce soldiers and many dead bodies daily littered the pedestrian paths on the bridge linking Lagos Island and the main land.

It was this period of mutual suspecion among Nigerians from different tribes and regions that the Christmas break of December 1966 came and five of us students from the former Adamawa Provincial Secondary School Yola who were then in FSS Lagos wanted to return home in Adamawa Province. Now (retired Col) Ahmadu Yero Gurin, late Ahijo Isa Girei, late Raymond Danpurki Dilli, Baba Usman and the writer, Sa'adu Abubakar Gambe were all living in the same hostel, on Strachan Lane (?) on Lagos Island. We could not venture to travel to the north for fear of the unknown. The distance was much, the road was not safe, road blocks manned by the soldiers were even more dangerous. So we remembered, then Col Paul Chabri Tarfa, former Wakilawa House prefect at PSS Yola, who was the commander of the Brigade of Guards Obalande, the special elite unit for security and safety of the Head of State, then, General Yakubu Gowon. Thank God, we have been under taking alumni visits to his office right in the Obalande barracks. We decided to seek help from him, a senior military officer. When we intimated him with our situation, he quickly arranged a military truck to take us to Iddo, Nigeria Railway Terminal Station where we were given boarding passes to Jos Terminal Station. By this gesture we escaped the hazards on the Carter bridge and checkpoints on the highways. A gesture those of us alive will never forget. General Tarfa later played significant roles in the military government in Nigeria before he retired. We boarded the train from Iddo Station and travelled through the night and arrived Jos city without any incidents. The difference between Lagos and Jos was clear: tall buildings, heavy traffic, wide roads in Lagos in contrast to the scenes in Jos. We quickly went to the motor park and boarded a vehicle to Yola. Yola scene compared to Jos was a repeat of that of Jos and Lagos. When I got to Jada from Yola, I had already gotten used to dramatic changes. There was no vehicle to Tola from Jada because it was not Tola market day, Thursday. So I started trekking with my bag on my head. First, I called at my uncles village, Faren Rai, then I proceeded to Tola where I put up with my cousin, Yerima Misa Gangchamba, of blessed memory. It was already in the evening. The next morning I started on the last stretch of my journey to Gambe. Soon I was at Koleni, then Gangfada, Sabon Gari and Pola Kanoki, six miles from Gambe. About 2 pm I was with my dad, Malam Bakari (Abubakar), my mother Zainabu and her other co-wives, Fanta and Asumau, all of them of blessed memory. It is important to note that the parents were apprehensive of traveling from Lagos to Gambe. Probably the most hazardous, longest and most difficult journey any Nigerian student had ever undertaken at a most risky time in the history of Nigeria. Starting on a train and ending by trekking on foot for almost two days. Till date there is no motorable all-season roads to Gambe. I could have spent the Christmas holidays in Lagos just like I did for December 1965. The drums of war were so loud we could not afford to remain in Lagos, in spite of all the lure. Remember, I  have only narrated the first one year after the January 1966 coup. I have not delved into Ojukwu ultimatum to the Igbos on returning home, the Aburi show, the final declaration of Independent Biafra and face-off before the Police Action in July 1967 which finally landed Nigeria into the unfortunate civil war.

Sa'adu Abubakar Gambe

Retired Deputy Director Education Former Principal FGC Sokoto. 24/6/2021.