How Muhammadu Buhari Killed His Colleagues

In January 1966, some bunch of over-zealous, albeit naive officers of the Nigeria army took it upon themselves to cleanse Nigeria from corrupt politician. They plotted, and executed an unsuccessful military coup. Stories, and books have been written about them, I shall not attempt to revisit such especially since these folks are late (at least most of them.)

I am interested in the role a certain Mohammadu Buhari played in the July counter-coup. According to Nowa Omoruwa's account:



Planning:

"... practically all northern officers serving in Lagos, Abeokuta, Ikeja and Ibadan eventually became involved, three officers formed the innermost circle of the plot to overthrow Major General AguiyiIronsi. They were T/Lt. Col.Murtala Muhammed (Inspector of Signals), T/Major TY Danjuma (General Staff Officer II, SHQ) and Captain Martin Adamu (2nd Battalion, Ikeja).The coup leader was T/Lt. Col.Murtala Muhammed.

According to late Major General Garba (rtd), others involved in planning in the South include Captain JN Garba, Lt. William Walbe and Lt. Paul Tarfa (Federal Guards), Lts. Muhammadu Buhari and John Longboem (2nd battalion), Lts. Pam Nwatkon (Abeokuta garrison, Recce), Lts Jerry Useni,Ibrahim Bako and Garba Dada(4th battalion, Ibadan), and Lt. Shehu Musa Yar'Adua (Adjutant, 1st battalion, Enugu).

Execution:

By the time (Murtala) Muhammed got to Ikeja, Captain Martin Adamu, Lts. Nathan, Nassarawa, Muhammadu Buhari , Alfred Gom, Longboem and a bunch of NCOs were already in control of the battalion, having executed several Igbo soldiers and officers (including Major B Nnamani, one of the company commanders) and arrested many others by cordoning off the quartermaster section of the barracks or grabbing soldiers as they came out for morning PT.The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Henry Igboba, narrowly escaped a dragnet deployed around his house by Lt. Longboem and got away.

(Murtala) Muhammed reportedly gave orders to stop the killing

 Source: http://www.waado.org/nigerdelta/nigeria_facts/MilitaryRule/Omoigui/NorthCounterCoup.htm

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