Retro series: 5 participants in 1966 counter-coup who are still influential (photos)

In this retro series, Naij.com looks at the men who participated in the 1966 counter-coup and are still relevant 50 years later.

The 1966 counter-coup carried out mostly by northern soldiers on July 30. The coup was a vengeance mission by northern soldiers who felt the first coup was an Igbo one that killed mostly Hausa civilian and military persons. The decision by Aguiyi Ironsi not to punish the coup plotters who were also still receiving salaries was the last straw that led to the inevitable second coup.

While the coup was perceived as a vengeance mission, it also strategically gave the actors the opportunity to seize positions and govern the country in later periods. General Murtala Mohammed who later became a head of state was one of the key players in the coup and famously called Ironsi a fool when he was alive.

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50 years after the counter-coup, some of the coup plotters have still continued to dominate Nigeria’s political, administrative and financial scene. While the coup plotters and participants have long retired from the army, their impact is still felt in strategic position in Nigeria as they have successfully swapped the military khaki for the chameleonic civilian suits and agbada.

Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma

General TY Danjuma (rtd) speaking at the event

Born in 1938, General TY Danjuma as he is popularly called was a significant participant in the 1966 counter coup. Still in major in 1966, he served at the Army Headquarters in Lagos as a principal staff officer. He led other mutinous officers to arrest Ironsi and Adekunle Fajuyi, the then military governor of the south west. The duo was later taken to a Land Rover and driven to a bush in Iwo road and shot.

Danjuma became the army chief of staff in 1975 to the then head of state, General olusegun Obaanjo and eventually retired in 1979 after Obasanjo handed over power to a civilian government. In the same year, he founded the Nigeria America Line.

In 1995, Danjuma formed the South Atlantic Petroleum Limited and hit jackpot when the company was awarded the Oil Prospecting License in 1998.

Danjuma also served as Obasanjo’s minister of defence from 1999 to 2003.

According to Forbes, he is the 30^th richest man in Africa with an estimated net worth of $70 million with oil as his principal source of wealth.

John Shagaya

Corporal John Shagaya’s name might not feature in the media anymore but the Plateau-born soldier played a part in the in the 1966 counter coup. He was a non-commissioned officer at the 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron in Abeokuta.

Shagaya ventured into politics and was a founding member of the United Nigeria Peoples Party; and eventually emerged as a senator representing Plateau South in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida

Born in 1941, Babangida was a lieutenant of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron in Kaduna during the 1966 counter-coup. Babangida who later rose to the rank of a general has been credited with being involved in several coups including the removal of Yakubu Gowon in 1976, Shehu Shagari in 1983, Muhammadu Buhari in 1985 and also the execution of coup plotters specifically Mamman Vatsa and Gideon Orkar in 1985 and 1990 respectively.

Babangida became head of state in 1983 and is one of those who participated in the coup and eventually ruled Nigeria including Buhari and Sani Abacha.

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Although not in active politics anymore following his earlier decisions to run for presidency in 2007 and 2011, Babangida has grown to be a force to be reckoned with in the country. Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to him during the 2015 presidential election and Buhari’s subsequent visit too testifies to his enigma. He has been described as one of the silent and untouchable shakers of the country.

Muhammadu Buhari

Buhari was born in 1942 and was a participant in the 1966 coup when he was a lieutenant of the 2 Brigade in Lagos. Buhari would go on to be the head of state in 1983 but was overthrown in 1985 and sent to prison for three years.

Buhari ran unsuccessfully for president in 2003, 2007 and 2011 before defeating incumbent president, Jonathan in 2015.

Buhari’s position as an influential Nigerian is already cemented by his emergence as president and like Babangida, Abacha and Murtala rose to the highest position in the country after their participation in the 1966 counter-coup.

Garba Duba

Garba Duba is a member of the millionaire generals club although little is reported about him in the media as he seems to shy away from the spotlight. However, he was a major participant in 1966 counter coup.

Duba, then a lieutenant took control of the Ibadan coup shortly after it started in Abeokuta. After Ironsi and Fajuyi were captured, he was part of the group that led them to where they were killed.

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Duba became Gowon’s personal bodyguard and became governor of Bauchi during Obasanjo’s period as head of state. He also became the administrator of Sokoto . He rose to the rank of major general and was an important figure during Babangida’s administration.

He retired in 1993 but ventured into private business where he was made chairman of the New Nigerian Development Company, chairman of SGI Nigeria Limited and director of First Bank of Nigeria,

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