By Jude Obuseh
The name GeneralJohnson Aguiyi–Ironsi evokes different memories for different people:The Army General who became Nigeria’s first Military Head of State following the bloody January151966 putsch that sacked the First Republic; a patriot who took over the reins of governance at a very criticaljuncture of the country’s history; a villain who replaced the country’s federal system of administration with a unitary setup.
Sadly, of all the tags attached to Ironsi’s name, his promulgation ofthe “UnificationDecree No 34”on May 24, 1966,which replaced Nigeria’s federal system of administration with a unitary arrangement,followingthesuspension of the 1963 Republican Constitution,has tended to stand him out in negative light; like an ugly sore,it enshrouds the sparkling image of arguably Nigeria’s finest officer and gentleman.
Despiteservinghis fatherland with his heart and might, a cause for which he paid the ultimate price, some bigoted, misinformed and mischievous raconteurs of the country’s history have tended to consign him to the dustbins of history.Some ofIronsi’s chief antagonistsbelong to Nigeria’sinfamouspolitical establishment,and they includesome of hisformercontemporaries in the military anda sectionoftherulingpoliticalclass. These individualshave formed the penchant of habituallyattributingtheirinability to steady the country’s troubled ship of state toIronsi’sdecisions andactionsin 1966. They are masterbuck passers adept at seekingoutscapegoats to explain away theirpersonal incapacitations.
Ironsi could beaptly described asalargelymisunderstood messiah– my opinion –who saved the country from imminentcollapseconsequent to the sacking of the First Republic bysomedisgruntledhotheads in themilitary. He actually rallied the troops to end the coup by routing the mutineers, reestablishing law and order, with the aim ofcommencinga transition to civil rule. He, however, did not live long enough to fulfill his objectives as he was gruesomely liquidated by disgruntled officers of northern extraction, on the false assumption that he was fulfilling a supposed Igbo ethnic agenda to dominate the rest of Nigeria. The northern wing of the military, who were uneasy with the administrative changes proposed by Ironsi to reinvent a failing nation, held him responsible for theso-called“Igbo coup” of January 15th, and accused his government of hedging on trying the arrowheads of the coup, surrounding himself with Igbo officials, coupled with their fear of a looming second wave of the coup, targeted atobliteratingthe remaining northern officers.
Ironsi was prone to mistakes, just like all mortals, his hasty, ill-timed promulgation of the unification decree, being one of sucherrors. But the decisions he took in those critical times could be excused on the grounds that they were made on the spur of the moment, and in response to the uncertainties enshrouding the country during that dark period of its early history, and not forgetting the fact that he was a military mannaturallyoriented towards a centralized approach togovernance.It must, however,benotedthatwithout his intervention, there would probably have beenno country called Nigeria in its subsisting form, as the mutual suspiciongeneratedamong the country’s principal ethnic groupsby the coupcould have culminated in theprematurebifurcation of the infant republic.
For those blaming Ironsi for birthing the country’s much-vilifiedunitary form offederalism, the questionbegging for answersis whathassuccessive military regimes/ civilian governments, since his demise, done to redress this supposed anomaly? Why blame a manwho was in power for barely sixmonths for the country’s contemporary woes, when the country has had Presidents and Heads of State who occupied the same office for several years without improving on the supposed incongruous system they met on ground? If the country’s administrative structures are absurd, why haven’t they been restructuredby Ironsi’ssanctimonioussuccessors?
It would not be out of order to posit that the successive governments that havebeen privileged topilot the country’s affairs in the post-Ironsi years have simply exploited the country’s administrative flaws to achieve their sinister objectives. This explains why,since July 28, 1966,successiveadministrations– though reaffirming their commitment to federal principles, including its defining indices of equal sharing of powers and resources between the center and the relatively autonomous constituentunits –have tended to be unitary in their operation.
Rather than harangue Ironsi,Nigerians should be asking whysuccessiverulers, after him,have proceeded to formalize thecountry’sdistorted pattern of federalismby creating more states (Yakubu Gowon – 12 states in 1967; General Murtala Mohammed – 7 states in 1976; General Ibrahim Babangida – 11 states between 1987 and 1991; and General Sani Abacha – 6 states in 1996),rather than reverting to the country’sdefunctConfederal/Regionalsystem of administration, which gave autonomy to the constituent units to manage their affairs.
Another critical question begging for answers is,who isthe architect of theunjust structural catastrophein which out of the36 constituent states, 19 are located in the north, while the remaining 17 are in the south? Who has ensured that, out of the country’s 774 Local Government Areas, the 19 northern states have 419, while the 17 southern states have 357? Who is responsible for the arrangement that ensures that in the area of national political representation, the north enjoys an overwhelming dominance, as it accounts for 191 members in the country’s 360-member House of Representatives, while the whole of the south has 169 members? Why does the north account for 57 members in the 109-member Senate, while the south has 51? Who engineeredthediscrepancies thatputs thenorthat an advantagein the sharing of the national cakeand decision-makingprocesses? Is Ironsialsoto blame for thesegross anomalies?
This writer is of the view that the country’scentralized system of administration has survivedtill datebecause itprotects and projectsthe debauchedinterestsof the country’snarcissisticpolitical elite, who haveformed cartels to commandeer the country’sresourcesto satisfy their unbridled lust for thefleetingappurtenances of lifeusing all– legal and illegal –means available, which explains why the distribution of national resources haveremainedcentralized,especially since the discovery of petroleumwealth.Thisalso explains why certain individuals are averse to the idea of restructuring the country’s moribund administrative system.
AssumingIronsi’sactions in 1966 inadvertentlycreated a Cyclops,his successorscould be said tohaveintentionallytransformed his creation into a hideousMedusa; an ugly, menacingGorgon that has sapped Nigeria ofitsstrength,deemeditsvision andpushed it to the precipice of balkanization.The inherent flaws in the country’s administrative system are fallouts of decades of gross misrule by a succession of decadent, inchoate, narcissistic demagogues, not six months ofIronsi’saccidental military rule.
Inall,rather than blameIronsi for the country’ssubsistingadministrativechallenges,sincereeffortsmust bemadeto interrogate the country’s colonialpast,as well as theunpatrioticdispositions of itsavariciouspolitical elite.Whenwe do that, we discover thatthe brazenconcoctionandimposition ofaconflict pronesystem of federalismon thecountryby its colonial overlords,sequelto the amalgamation fiascoof 1914,alongside several years of civil-military misrule arelargelyresponsible forthecountry’s contemporary administrative woes.We must stop blaming phantoms for our self-inflictedproblems.
Without sounding immodest,JohnsonAguiyi–Ironsi,compared to thepervertedkleptomaniacsNigeriahas churned out over the years, qualifies as a saint, not a villain, primordial sentiments apart.In saner climes, a colossus likehimwould be glowingly reveredand fittingly addressedas the:First military leader of the Federal Republicof Nigeria;Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces;Force Commander of the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission in the Congo (The first African or Black Commander of any UnitedNations Peace keeping mission);First Indigenous General Officer Commanding of the Nigerian army;Nigerian Soldier extraordinaire and quintessential Statesman;and ultimately as,theardentpatriotwho RESCUED Nigeria from the brink ofself-immolation.
May the gentle soul of thislargelymisunderstoodsoldier-hero, this uncompromising patriot andzealousapostle of One Nigeriacontinue to rest in perfect peace!Adieu!