During the period immediately after the coup that brought General Yakubu Gowon to power in July 1966, many thousands of Igbos were slaughtered throughout the North, including civilians and army personnel.
The former military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon (who had been overthrown by General Mohammed in July 1975) was implicated in the abortive coup but escaped justice as he was living in exile in London.
In July 1975, Lt. Colonel Abdullahi was Air Provost Marshall and assisted in the coup that removed General Yakubu Gowon from power, replacing him with General Murtala Mohammed.
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.
Dimka then visited Le Quesne and asked him to relay a message to General Gowon in London.
The counter-coup led to the installation of Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon as Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces, despite the intransigence of Muhammed who wanted the role of Supreme Commander for himself.
Yakubu Gowon | Gowon | Yakubu |
After Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon became Nigeria's Head of State, Remilekun Fani-Kayode left Nigeria with his whole family and moved to the seaside resort town of Brighton in south eastern England.