Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, (1937–1967) was born in the
Northern RegionThe Northern Region was one of Nigeria's federal divisions. It was created before independence in 1960, with its capital at Kaduna. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the British Northern Cameroons, who had voted to become part of Nigeria....
’s capital of
KadunaKaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census...
to
IgboIgbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...
immigrant parents from the Mid-Western Region-Okpanam Town, near Asaba in the present day
Delta StateDelta State may refer to:*Delta State, a state in southern Nigeria.*Delta State , a Canadian animated television series.*Delta State University, a public university located in the U.S. state of Mississippi....
.
Background
Major Nzeogwu was an
infantryInfantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
and
intelligenceIntelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
officer of the Nigerian
ArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
. Such was his family’s affinity to the
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
of Nzeogwu’s birth that they and his
militaryA military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
colleagues called him “Kaduna”. Nzeogwu was a devout Roman Catholic and a teetotaler. He attended the military
academyAn academy is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership.The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and skill, north of Athens, Greece. In the western world academia is the...
at
SandhurstThe Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and was a promising,
charismaThe term charisma has two senses: 1) compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, 2) a divinely conferred power or talent. For some theological usages the term is rendered charism, with a meaning the same as sense 2...
tic and rebellious military officer who eventually became the Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna. The forerunner of the Nigerian
ArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
Intelligence
CorpsA corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
(NAIC) was the Field Security Section (FSS) of the Royal Nigerian Army, which was established on 1 November 1962 with Captain PG Harrington (BR) as General Staff Officer Grade Two (GSO2 Int). The FSS was essentially a security
organizationAn organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
whose functions included vetting of Nigerian Army (NA) personnel, document security and counter intelligence.
MajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Nzeogwu was the first Nigerian Officer to hold that appointment from November 1962 to 1964.
1966 Coup
In the early hours of January 15, 1966, citing a laundry list of complaints against the political class, Nzeogwu led a group of majors mainly Igbos, but also including a Yoruba major (Ademoyega Adewale) in a
militaryA military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
coup against the
Nigerian First RepublicThe First Republic was the republican government of Nigeria between 1963 and 1966 governed by the first republican constitution.-Founding :...
. The
Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, a federal minister, two regional premiers, along with top Army officers from the north and western regions of the nation were brutally murdered. The coup failed and he was arrested after arriving in
Lagos Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
on January 18, 1966 in the company of Lt. Col. Conrad Nwawo. The brutal murder of Brigadier Ademulegun's pregnant wife by Chukwuma Nzeogwu and his cadre of Igbo officers led to the suspicion among
YorubaThe Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
and
HausaThe Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...
that the coupist were common criminals rather than Nationalistic patriots. Brigadier Ademulegun was a Yoruba officer. The story many Nigerian historians fail to tell is that the coupists intended to release
Obafemi AwolowoJeremiah Obafemi Awolowo was a Nigerian politician, trade unionist, author and statesman. A Yoruba and native of Ikenne in Ogun State of Nigeria, he started his career as a regional political leader like most of his pre-independence contemporaries and was responsible for much of the progressive...
and his sidekick
Anthony EnahoroChief Anthony Enahoro, was Nigeria’s foremost anti-colonial and pro-democracy activists. He was born the eldest of twelve children in Uromi in the present Edo State of Nigeria. His Esan parents were Anastasius Okotako Enahoro and Fidelia Inibokun née Ogbidi Okojie...
from prison and install Awolowo as the Prime Minister . Additionally, the same historians decline to mention that the Jan 1966 coup was suppressed by the most senior officer in the army, the GOC, Major General Aguiyi Ironsi who was Igbo. Furthermore, a senior Igbo officer, Lt Col Arthur Unegbe was also murdered during the mutiny, a feat that renders the story of the coup being an Igbo coup one less plausible.
The dissatisfaction of northern officers with Ironsi's reluctance to courts-martial the coup plotters led to the counter-coup of July 29, 1966 which was led mainly by a group of junior Hausa-Fulani officers. Initially detained at Kirikiri maximum security
prisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
but then transferred to the East, Nzeogwu and other January 15
mutinyMutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
detainees in the East were released from
jailA jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
by Lt. Col. Emeka Ojukwu at the end of the first quarter of 1967, following demonstrations by students of the
University of NigeriaThe University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. Founded in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has four campuses – Nsukka, Enugu and Ituku-Ozalla – located in Enugu State and one in Aba, Abia...
,
NsukkaNsukka is a town and Local Government Area in South-East Nigeria in Enugu State. Other towns that share common border with Nsukka, such as Enugu Ezike, Orba and Obollo-Afor , Ede-Oballa, Uzo Uwani and Mkpologwu, now also claim the name Nsukka, hence they all collectively fall into the political...
.
Nigerian Civil war and death
After Ojukwu's May 30, 1967
BiafraBiafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...
secession declaration, Nzeogwu was released from close observation, and finding himself bored, asked to go into
battleGenerally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
, albeit without the appropriate level of support for an
officerAn officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
of his calibre and rank. On July 29, 1967, Nzeogwu - who had been promoted to the rank of Biafran Lt. Colonel - was trapped in an
ambushAn ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
near Nsukka while conducting a night
reconnaissanceReconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
operation against federal troops of the 21st
battalionA battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
under Captain Mohammed Inua Wushishi. He was killed in action and his corpse was subsequently identified. In order to speed up the national reconciliation effort, orders were given by Major General
Yakubu GowonGeneral Yakubu "Jack" Dan-Yumma Gowon was the head of state of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975. He took power after one military coup d'etat and was overthrown in another...
for him to be buried with full military honours at the military
cemeteryA cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in Kaduna. However, by the time the corpse arrived in Kaduna, it had been mutilated by unknown persons and his eyes gouged out. A
photographA photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
of Nzeogwu's corpse is available at the National Archives in Kaduna.
See also
- Nigerian First Republic
The First Republic was the republican government of Nigeria between 1963 and 1966 governed by the first republican constitution.-Founding :...