Lagos Owambe Party Saved Ironsi From Being Eliminated By Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu And His Men In The January 1966 Coup ,There Was Nothing Like Igbo Conspiracy by Chidi Ogudiegwu

Despite popular affirmation that Chief Obafemi Awolowo would have been the major beneficiary of the 15 January 1966 coup if it had succeeded, the perception in the North and other parts of the country was that the coup was an Igbo coup and targeted only officers from the Northern region. Here is the true story of how General Aguiyi Ironsi escaped being assassinated by the young revolutionists.

By 1965, the indigenisation of the army was complete and Major General JT Aguiyi-Ironsi was chosen as the General Officer Commander (GOC) of the federal Republic by the government, ahead of Brigadiers Zakariya Maimalari, Babafemi Ogundipe and Samuel Ademulegun. Aguiyi-Ironsi, nicknamed Iron-side, liked to drink.

Like Don Jazzy who came to prominence more than four decades after, he had a swagger stick. His was rumoured to have spiritual powers because it was shaped like a crocodile. In addition, he had a Jaguar as his staff car. Talk about a true Don Dorobucci, and if you really want to stretch the analogy, JT was built just like the Mavin Records henchman.

In the immortal words of Banky W, “there ain’t no party like a Lagos party”. Friday nights in Lagos have no equal elsewhere across Nigeria. In big houses and secret locations across the city, parties held.
House parties, sex parties, owambes, faajis, naming ceremonies, everything.

The army was not left out. Soldiers would go to rendezvous in different places in the country – Kano, Maiduguri etc. But especially in Lagos, the nation’s capital at the time. So “Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) has always been big business in Lagos

So, on the night of January 14, 1966, an “owambe” held at 11 Thompson Avenue, Ikoyi, just down the road from the current British Council office. It was the official accommodation of Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari, the gallant Kanuri soldier after whom the barracks of the 7 Division in Maiduguri is named.
Maimalari had just taken a new wife after her predecessor died in a bizarre hunting accident, so he threw a party for the new iyawo. As a well-liked officer and commander of the 2 Brigade in Lagos, many of his peers were attending.

Highlife peaked in the 50s and 60s, and as the predominant genre of music then, it is safe to assume that a band must have played some big tunes then for the mandem.

While this was happening in Lagos, Major Kaduna Nzeogwu was terrorizing the city he was named after in the faraway North, from Friday night into Saturday morning. Around this time, Emmanuel Ifeajuna was at the residence of the Prime Minister (Tafawa Balewa) on King George V Road.

Several bigwigs in the ruling Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and in the military were present at the party including General Aguiyi-Ironsi and Lt. Colonels Yakubu Gowon, David Ejoor and Abogo Largema.

Maimalari himself was shot by Ifeajuna on the same Thompson Avenue, while escaping on foot from his house. Even if he had tried to run, the more athletic — and younger — Ifeajuna, a long jump record holder in Commonwealth Games of 1954 would have probably caught up with him.

Ifeajuna had driven to the Maimalari’s house with the abducted Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa in his car. Maimalari recognized Ifeajuna and flagged him. Ifeajuna shot him and he died on the spot.

But when the soldiers came for Aguiyi-Ironsi at his residence on 1 Glover, now known as Flagstaff House and close to where today’s kids buy their Glover Club suya, the big man was absent. This was because he had left Maimalari’s party a little earlier than usual, and as the story goes, had gone straight to Apapa Wharf for another party aboard a ship at the harbour. It was a case of the archetypal Lagos big boy club-hopping to check out another joint to assess firsthand, the “gbedu” factor and degree of flex.

Aguiyi-Ironsi’s partying ensured that he was one of only a few high-profile targets that survived the “Operation Damisa”. Eventually, due to his naivety, he died six months later in the counter-coup of July 1966.

To be continued………..

Chidi Ogudiegwu is an Aba-based journalist and a Public Analyst.