Author and cultural critic Dr. M.O. Ene has revealed that the agenda of the January 1966 military coup that truncated Nigeria’s first post-independence government had nothing of benefit for the Igbo people. The professor, affectionately called “Moe,” made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica to mark the 2025 Biafra Remembrance Month.
The January 1966 military coup is believed to have started a chain of events resulting in the Nigerian Civil War of 1967–1970.
Moe argued that the agenda of the trio of Majors Kaduna Nzeogwu, Adewale Ademoyega, and Emmanuel Ifeajuna, who masterminded the military putsch, had nothing of benefit to the Igbo people who bear the brunt of the consequences of that action.
“The planners of the coup – Nzeogwu, Ademoyega, and Ifeajuna had different motives for executing it,” Dr. Ene said. “While Ifeajuna would talk about releasing Awolowo and making him Prime Minister, the others have different issues.
“Nzeogwu does not care about Awolowo or politicians in general. He was socio-culturally an Hausa man. He believes that the Hausa people are being oppressed, and something has to be done about it. So, they all had different agendas, and none had anything to do with the Igbo people because the Igbo people had nothing to gain.”
Speaking further, Dr. Ene revealed how Major Nzeogwu and his conspirators planned to eliminate Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu in the coup, but by an act of providence, he was away from his official residence in Kano when the soldiers came. “Ojukwu could not stay in his official residence because it was noisy for his wife, who was nursing a baby,” Moe explained. “So his friend, Ado Bayero, invited them to come stay in his house.” He said it was during this period that the soldiers came to the house but met no one there.
“That was how Ojukwu survived and eventually quelled the coup in northern Nigeria. Without him, Nzeogwu would have been unstoppable,” he said.
Also speaking of the resurgence of agitation for Biafra by youths in the southeast, Moe called on President Tinubu to give room for dialogue by releasing Nnamdi Kanu from detention. He said it makes no sense to keep the IPOB leader in detention because the Biafra agitation cannot be killed in that way.
“Biafra is a spirit,” declared the author of “The Culture of Kolanut” and his most recent book, “The Fundamentals of Odinani: Igbo Scientific Spirituality.”
“The spirit is moving these guys, and it will move more dangerous people. It doesn’t make any sense keeping the Igbo people in this kind of situation. Telling them you can do whatever you want, and they can’t do anything about it.”
He also called on the Nigerian government to stop trying to extradite Simon Ekpa to the country for trial.
