X-Nico

unusual facts about Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi


Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi

On the 14 January 1966, Soldiers of mostly Igbo extraction led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, an Igbo from Okpanam near Asaba, present day Delta state, eradicated the uppermost echelon of politicians from the Northern and Western provinces.This and other factors effectively led to the Fall of the Republican Government.


Joseph Akahan

In the January 1966 coup that brought Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to power, the mainly northern Ibadan-based 4th battalion lost its commanding officer who was replaced by an Igbo, Major Nzefili.

Akahan was one of the leaders of the July 1966 counter-coup in which Aguiyi-Ironsi was killed and replaced General Yakubu Gowon, and in which there was a mass slaughter of Igbo officers at 4th Battalion in Ibadan under Akahan's command.

Remi Fani-Kayode

Interestingly 40 years after his murder Aguiyi-Ironsi's son, Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, was to become Nigeria's Minister of Defence and ironically he took over that position from General Theophilus Danjuma, the man that had killed his father 40 years earlier.

William Walbe

Walbe gained notoriety as a conspirator in the July 1966 countercoup which resulted in the murder of the second Nigerian Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi and the Military Governor of the Western Region, Lt Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi.


see also