Thread by @MrAyeDee

53 years ago, officers who had been speaking openly about 'Paiko's Aure (Aure = Marriage) ' were about to embark on 'Operation Aure'... Led by Lt. Col. Murtala Muhammed (Inspector of Signals) 1/ #July291966

Major TY Danjuma (General Staff Officer II, SHQ) and Captain Martin Adamu (2nd Battalion, Ikeja), other main plotters were Captain JN Garba, Lts. William Walbe, Paul Tarfa (Federal Guards), Muhammadu Buhari, John Longboem (2nd battalion), 2/ #July291966

Pam Nwatkon (Abeokuta garrison, Recce), Jerry Useni, Ibrahim Bako, Garba Dada (4th battalion, Ibadan) & Shehu Musa Yar'Adua (Adjutant, 1st battalion, Enugu). 3/ #July291966

The coup was organized along the Lagos-Ikeja-Abeokuta-Ibadan axis in the South-West, Enugu in the East and Kaduna in the North 4/ #July291966

One of the plotters, Joe Garba stated that the coup had a few objectives:
1) To get Decree No. 34 (Decree on Unification) abrogated.
2) To bring January 15 putschists to trial
3) To honor those killed on January 15th, including Tafawa Balewa
5/ #July291966

He also stated that there was NO plan to murder Igbo officers, though that's exactly what happened to quite a few.
6/ #July291966

A few options for the successful execution of the coup were considered:
1) Seizing State House Marina and placing Ironsi under arrest.
2) Switching 1st battalion at Enugu with 4th Batallion in Ibadan, and using that as a pretext to strike.
7/ #July29th1966

3) Abduct Ironsi as he was visiting the North during a nationwide tour.
4) Abduct Ironsi as he was visiting Ibadan on the Night of July 29th, 1966, during same nationwide tour.
8/ #July29th1966

5) Abduct Ironsi while he was visiting the East in early August, this option was still in formative stages when events on July 28th at the Abeokuta Garrison happened.

9/ #July29th1966

11pm, July 28th, 1966, Lt. Col. Patrick Anwunah, General Staff Officer for Intelligence at Army HQ told Lt. Col. Gabriel Okonweze, Commander of the Abeokuta Garrison that the long-anticipated Northern counter-coup was about to commence (it wasn't). 10/ #July29th1966

Anwunah had just returned from Lagos where he and Murtala Muhammed had gotten into a physical altercation when the former accused the latter of being the leader of an imminent coup d'etat.
11/ #July29th1966

Upon being notified, Lt. Col. Okonweze immediately summoned all available officers at the Abeokuta Garrison to a meeting. He then gave the following speech:
12/ #July29th1966

Officers present included Major John Obienu (Recce Commander), Lts. Gabriel Idoko, DS Abubakar, IS Umar, AB Mamman
13/ #July29th1966

An Igbo NCO was tasked with rousing and mustering ALL troops to issue them with weapons, he went around the barracks while excitedly proclaiming "Come out, come out, there is trouble; go to the armory and collect your armor."

14/ #July29th1966

Sergeant Sabo Kole, a Bachama from what is now Adamawa State, heard this call to arms and thought the Igbos were about to finish what they started against Northerners in January, so he swung into action.
15/ #July29th1966

He quickly mobilized his fellow Bachama, a Corporal named Maisamari Maje, the armorer of the Unit, and instructed him not to allow any non-northerners to get arms and ammo.

16/ #July29th1966

He also got Corporal Inua Sara to lead a detachment of Northern soldiers to provide cover to Maje in the event of resistance.

17/ #July29th1966

Armory secured, and Northern troops armed. Lt. Pam Mwadkon, younger brother to Lt. Col James Pam, who was executed by Major Christian Anuforo on January 15th, led Maje and other NCOs including Corporal John Shagaya, to the Officers' Mess.
18/ #July29th1966

Once at the Mess, all the Officers present were instructed to raise their hands in surrender, when the Commanding Officer, Lt. Col Okonweze protested, he was summarily executed.

19/ #July29th1966

Major John Obienu, Commander of the Recce Squadron, who happened to be next to Lt. Col Okonweze was also summarily executed. Lt. Orok who had just driven into the Mess accosted the Mutineers verbally, he was summarily executed for his efforts.

20/ #July29th1966

The mutineers then went round the Garrison, rounded up all the Igbo Officers they could find and summarily executed them. Gabriel Idoko, a non Igbo was initially shot because he was wearing western-style mufti and was mistaken for Igbo, he survived.

21/ #July29th1966

Captain Ogbonna escaped and notified 2nd Batt Lagos, 4th Batt. Ibadan and 1st Batt. Enugu. Simultaneously, Lt. Pam called Lt. Garba Dada (Paiko), the Adjutant of 4th Battalion, Ibadan and told him they had 'liberated' their unit, and it was Ibadan's turn.
22/ #July29th1966

At this time, Captain Remawa and Bali got to the Mess and saw corpses everywhere, Remawa then called Army HQ in Lagos and spoke to Yakubu Gowon. Gowon ordered him to move the corpses and secure the garrison.
23/ #July29th1966

Upon hearing this, junior Northern Troops decided they would fight to the finish to ensure the removal of the Ironsi regime, for if Ironsi was allowed to remain in office, they reasoned they would be arrested and prosecuted for the officers they had murdered.

24/ #July29th1966

Gowon immediately reached out to Brigadier Ogundipe , Chief of Staff, SHQ, Ogundipe ordered him to mobilize the Army in Lagos. Ogundipe and Gowon tried to reach Ironsi in Ibadan but to no avail.
Gowon reached Ironsi's scribe, TY Danjuma.

25/ #July29th1966

Ogundipe then reached out to the Police Hierarchy in Ibadan, and got through to the Police Commissioner, who he dispatched to Govt House, the ComPol was however turned back by Lt. Dada, the Battalion Adjutant.

26/ #July29th1966

By 1am, Ironsi had been notified by Joseph Adeola (Later ComPol Eastern Region) of what had transpired in Ibadan a few hours back. Ironsi immediately swung into action, trying to get a Police Helicopter sent from Lagos, and attempting to mobilize Loyal units.

27/ #July29th1966

Meanwhile in Lagos, Ogbonna's call to 2nd Battalion, Ikeja was intercepted by Lts Nuhu Nathan and Malami Nassarawa, who immediately notified Murtala Muhammed. Muhammed then ordered Northern troops at the 2nd Battalion to be armed and deployed.

28/ #July29th1966

Once armed, Northern soldiers at the 2nd Battalion went on a rampage, rounding up Igbo soldiers and summarily executing them, at times laughing over the corpses while proclaiming it was merely an 'accidental discharge'.

29/ #July29th1966

Muhammed went round Lagos rounding up loyalist troops, he then went to the Ikeja cantonment in the company of Captain JN Garba and Lt. Paul Tarfa. There they met Captain Martin Adamu, Lts. Nathan, Nassarawa and a few others.
30/ #July29th1966

Northern troops were now in full control. Igbo soldiers had been executed, including Major Nnamani, the most senior Igbo officer captured. Lt. Col Henry Igboba, the battalion commander had managed to escape despite a cordon around his official residence.

31/ #July29th1966

Murtala Muhammed immediately ordered the Northern troops to stand down from wanton murder and instead focus on securing the cantonment. Martin Adamu was put in charge of intelligence at Army HQ, where he was to coordinate communications.

32/ #July29th1966

Muhammed reached out to Abeokuta Garrisson and ordered them to deploy assault troops and armored vehicles to Lagos and Ibadan for what he presumed was an imminent confrontation with loyal troops led by Ogundipe, Gowon, Anwunah and Mobolaji Johnson at SHQ.

33/ #July29th1966

Muhammed also ordered Sergent Paul Dickson, an Idoma, to take control Ikeja Airport. Dickson led a detachment of troops and turned Ikeja Airport into a gruesome murder scene.

34/ #July29th1966

Dickson turned the guardroom at the Airport into a sacrificial chamber, ordering captured Igbo Officers to be taken to the 'House of Chiefs'.

35/ #July29th1966

One victim was Captain Okoye from Nnewi, based in Abalti barracks Yaba, he had come to the airport en route to the US for a course. He was captured, tied to a cross, savagely beaten, flogged and left to die.

36/ #July29th1966

Northern NCOs visited Abeokuta Prison where Major Donatus Okafor, former Commanding Officer of the Federal Guards, Lagos and the man who killed Tafawa Balewa was being held. He was dragged out into the courtyard, tortured and then buried alive.

#37 #July29th1966

Dodan Barracks was secured that morning, all Igbo troops were rounded up and placed in protective custody, but not without a hitch.

#38 #July29th1966

Adamu Lamurde, an NCO from Adamawa, threatened to kill Garba and Tarfa if they did not allow him to murder the Igbo soldiers as revenge for the death of Brigadier Maimalari in January. The situation was thankfully diffused.

#39 #July29th1966

The Army hierarchy decided to establish a Command and Control center at Police HQ on Moloney Street (Later known as Kam Salem House).

40/ #July29th1966

Brigadier Ogundipe was joined by acting IG Kam Salem, Commodore Wey of the Navy, Lt Col. Gowon of the Army, Lt. Col Anwunah, General Staff Officer & Head of Military Intelligence and Major Mobolaji Johnson.

41/ #July29th1966

Mobolaji Johnson was at the time the 2-i-C of the mutinous 4th Battalion, Ibadan, though he was obviously not in control of his troops.

42/ #July29th1966

By the morning of the 29th, Murtala Muhammed had secured Lagos, Ogundipe assessed the situation and realized a head-on confrontation was the only way forward. He mobilized a squadron to bring the Ikeja Cantonment as well as the Airport under control.

43/ #July29th1966

Led by Captain Ephraim Opara of the Lagos Garrison Organization (LGO), most of the troops in this group were non-combatants, and had little experience handling weapons, they were ambushed along Ikorodu road and about 30 were killed in the ensuing firefight.

44/ #July29th1966

The actions of the LGO troops angered Murtala Muhammed, who sent Lt. DS Abubakar to Abalti Barracks, LGO's base to put down the loyalist troops. They got there and executed the Igbo soldiers they could find.

45/ #July29th1966

At this point, SHQ got word that General Ironsi and Colonel Fajuyi had been taken by mutinous troops. Ogundipe then dispatched Lt. Col Gowon to Ikeja barracks in an attempt to find a way to resolve the situation.

46/ #July29th1966

Gowon arrived at Ikeja Cantonment to see Igbo soldiers facing imminent execution, he pleaded with Northern troops not to shoot anyone else, the soldiers stopped shooting but continued murdering, resorting to non gunfire related methods.
47/ #July29th1966

At the Ikeja cantonment, Gowon discovered the majority of the mutineer high command present, including Lt. Col Murtala Muhammed and Captains Martin Adamu, Shittu Alao and Joe Garba.

48/ #July29th1966

Gowon was given the conditions necessary for a cessation of hostilities:
1) Northerners and Southerners must go back to their Regions.
2) The cessation of the Northern Region from the rest of Nigeria.

49/ #July29th1966

While this was happening, Sgt Dickson commandeered a London Bound aircraft at the Ikeja airport and ordered the Captain to load families of Northern Soldiers and fly them to Kano. 96 family members of Northern troops were thus evacuated.

50/ #July29th1966

ALL Northern civilians were also instructed to leave Lagos within 48 hours as all vestiges of what used to be the Central Government would be destroyed at that point. Ilorin was designated as the muster point to receive returning northern troops and civilians.

51/ #July29th1966

Head of the mutineers, Murtala Muhammed was focused on carrying out his agenda of having northern troops destroy Lagos before pulling out and the North seceding.

52/ #July29th1966

Justice Mohammed Bello, then DPP, Northern Nigeria prevailed on Murtala to rethink his cessation agenda because troops needed to be paid, and money was in the vaults of the Central Bank in Lagos. Murtala immediately ordered the CBN to be cordoned off.
53/ #July29th1966

Brigadier Ogundipe was struggling to assert his authority. At Police HQ he had given orders to a Northern NCO from the Federal Guards Company, the soldier refused to comply, stating he would only take orders if they were approved by Captain Garba, a Northerner.

54/ #July29th1966

With this dynamic and the continued lack of information on Ironsi's whereabouts, at 2:30pm, on July 29th, 1966, Brigadier Ogundipe addressed the nation. This broadcast was repeated every 30 minutes until 8:30 pm.

55/ #July29th1966

That afternoon, Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon crossed over to the mutineers, he informed Lt. Col Ojukwu, then Governor of the Eastern Region that he was no longer a 'free agent'. Though Ojukwu fled Enugu to Onitsha he encouraged Ogundipe to continue the fight.

56/ #July29th1966T

The Night before, Ironsi & his host, Western Region Governor, Lt. Col Francis Adekunle Fajuyi had completed the Conference of Traditional Rulers. Everyone was tense because of an alleged 'Plan 15', a supposed Igbo plot to finish off the remaining Northerners.

56/ #July29th1966

Northern troops openly showed their agitation against Ironsi's lack of action against the January 15 plotters. At the regimental parade held on the 28th by the 4th Battalion, Ibadan, for General Ironsi, Northern Troops refused to sing Nigeria's National Anthem.

57/ #July29th1966

https://twitter.com/MrAyeDee/status/1155612635079069701?s=20

Upon receiving the call mentioned above, Lt. Dada woke up other Northern Officers present in Ibadan, including Major TY Danjuma, who had accompanied Ironsi from Lagos as his scribe.

58/ #July29th1966

Dada allegedly told Danjuma they need to get Ironsi from Government House.
Lts Ibrahim Bako and Abdullai Shalleng were summoned and Murtala was called in Lagos to seek further instructions, seeing as he had asked everyone to stand down.

https://twitter.com/MrAyeDee/status/1155609896840257537?s=20

59/ #July29th1966

Murtala urged them to hold off as he was unsure if his confrontation with Anwunah earlier that day had placed Igbo officers on alert, as Anwunah had told him he's going to notify authorities.

https://twitter.com/MrAyeDee/status/1155610214063902722?s=20

60/ #July29th1966

Fearing for the safety of Northern officers in Abeokuta if Ironsi remained in office, the officers present in Ibadan decided to go against Murtala's counsel and proceed with the original plan to abduct the Supreme Commander, Ironsi.

61/ #July29th1966

Danjuma had no battle fatigues, just his staff uniform, so he asked Lt. James Onoja, who had just returned from a course in the US to use his. Onoja complied, and Danjuma put them on over his pajamas.

62/ #July29th1966

Knowing the mission could not fail, Danjuma took a hand grenade, which he was going to detonate killing himself and anyone who stood in his way if he was surrounded.

63/ #July29th1966

Lt. Shelleng was dispatched to cordon off the Lagos and Abeokuta roads in case pro govt troops were dispatched to save Ironsi. Accompanied by Danjuma, Onoja mustered 24 soldiers including Lt. Jerry Useni to go execute Ironsi and Fajuyi.

64/ #July29th1966

As the most senior officer present, TY Danjuma had to get past the 4th Battalion and the National Guard. To do this he asked Lt. Dada, the 4th Batallion Adjutant to play along by having the duty officer, Onoja disarm all the soldiers present for an inspection.

65/ #July29th1966

All the troops were disarmed by the duty sergeant, then the Northerners were given back their weapons, and were joined by the 24 men brought by Onoja, while the disarmed Southerners were made to take off their shoes and sit in isolation.

66/ #july29th1966

Lt. William Walbe the commander of the National Guard, guarding Govt House with arms including a 106mm Recoiless Rifle, was a conspirator, so his participation was not an issue.

67/ #July29th1966

Fearing that Ironsi had a magic crocodile which allowed him to disappear at will, junior officers sought permission to level the building. TY Danjuma refused to give the order.

68/ #July29th1966

At some point, Lt. Col Hilary Njoku, who commanded the 2nd Brigade, Lagos emerged from the building, he had come from Lagos to warn Ironsi about the impending coup, and was heading out to mobilize loyal units. A firefight ensued, but though injured, he escaped.

69/ #July29th1966

Sensing Njoku might thwart their coup attempt and fearing for his own safety, Lt. Onoja jumped in a Land Rover and escaped.

70/ #July29th1966

As Danjuma was conducting one last inspection of the exterior before going in, a phone rang, he asked the soldier next to him to break a window so he could answer it, Danjuma said it was Gowon and the conversation went like this:

71/ #July29th1966

As Danjuma was conducting one last inspection of the exterior before going in, a phone rang, he asked the soldier next to him to break a window so he could answer it, Danjuma said it was Gowon and the conversation went like this:

71/ #July29th1966

With Onoja gone, and none of the troops present knowing who Danjuma was, some confusion ensued. Especially since he was light in complexion with an Igbo type of physique, was wearing an American uniform over Pajamas and refused to destroy the building.

#72 #July29th1966

At this point, Abdullai Shelleng returned from the chekpoint and reassured the NCOs that TY Danjuma was a northerner and was to be obeyed.

#73 #July29th1966

Other Northern officers started arriving, including Garba Dada, the adjutant, northern officers appealed to him to blow up the house, but he refused to go against TY Danjuma's instructions.
Danjuma chose to keep the siege going till Ironsi came out.

74/ #July29th1966

At about 6:30 AM, Ironsi's Army ADC, Lt. Sani Bello emerged, he confronted Danjuma, was disarmed and detained, as others in the delegation started coming out, between 6:30 am and 7:30 am they too were detained.

75/ #July29th1966

Lt. Col Fajuyi came out at 7:30 AM, TY Danjuma says the conversation they had went like this, and resulted in Fajuyi taking him upstairs to meet General Ironsi.

76/ #July29th1966

Lt. Andrew Nwankwo, Ironsi's Air Force ADC confronted Danjuma, drawing his pistol in the process, Danjuma then pulled the pin of the grenade, and the 5 soldiers who came with him also pointed their SMGs at Nwankwo who stood down.

77/ #July29th1966

Ironsi and Fajuyi were ordered to go downstairs, and Lt. Dada was ordered to take them to the Mokwa Cattle Ranch guest house. Lt. Dada informed Dajunma that he is not the one who guaranteed Ironsi's safety, with tempers flaring, the other troops backed him.

78/ #July29th1966

Danjuma was tapped on the shoulder with a rifle by one of the soldiers and was told the following in Hausa:

79/ #July29th1966

The troops then assaulted Ironsi and Fajuyi, and placed both in the front of a Land Rover, while Ironsi's ADCs, Bello and Nwakwno were placed behind them.

The Land Rover, accompanied by another full of soldiers sped off, TY Danjuma was left behind.

80/ #July29th1966

They captives were taken to Mile 8 on Iwo Road, removed from the vehicle and taken to the bush, both men were stripped and beaten. Ironsi refused to be intimidated, denying any role in the January 15th Coup, till Sergeant Tijjani finally shot him.

81/ #July29th1966

Believing Fajuyi to be part of the January 15th Coup, Fajuyi was treated more cruelly by the troops than Ironsi before he too was shot.

82/ #July29th1966

Bloodshed and uncertainty continued till August 1st, 1966 when Yakubu Gowon was quietly sworn in as the new Head of State.

This is just a summary, plenty of sources, some written, some oral, led to this body work.
Thank you for reading.

83/End #July29th1966