Nigeria's First Coup: The midnight massacre that altered the nation’s history

Nigeria’s independence from British colonial rule on October 1, 1960, ushered in the First Republic, a parliamentary democracy modelled after the British system.

The young nation was structured around three main regions, Northern, Western, and Eastern, each dominated by a major ethnic group: the Hausa-Fulani in the North, Yoruba in the West, and Igbo in the East.

Political power was distributed among regionally based parties: the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), the Action Group (AG), and the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). However, Nigeria’s political environment was far from harmonious.

By the mid-1960s, ethnic tensions, uneven economic development, and accusations of widespread corruption had eroded public trust. Allegations of election rigging in the Western Region in 1965 sparked widespread unrest.

Political rivalries turned violent, and the federal system appeared increasingly incapable of managing the tensions

The coup was spearheaded by a group of young military officers, most notably Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, an officer in the Nigerian Army's military intelligence unit stationed in Kaduna.

Alongside him were Majors Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Chris Anuforo, Don Okafor, and Adewale Ademoyega.

Many of them were university-educated and shared frustrations over the nation’s political mismanagement. They cited corruption, tribalism, and the collapse of law and order as their motivations.

Disillusioned by the political elite's handling of national affairs, these officers saw military intervention as a necessary corrective.

The military, still relatively young and idealistic, had previously been involved in internal security duties, including suppressing the Tiv riots in the Middle Belt during the early 1960s

In the early hours of January 15, 1966, the coup was launched almost simultaneously in Lagos, Kaduna, and Ibadan. The operation was swift and brutal.

In Lagos, Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was abducted and later found dead.

In the Northern Region, Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the Northern Region, and his wife were killed.

In the Western Region, Premier Samuel Akintola was assassinated in Ibadan. In total, 11 top political figures were murdered, including two federal ministers.

Only two soldiers were killed in the process, while three high-ranking officials were kidnapped. The plotters targeted key government installations and attempted to take over the national broadcasting service and military garrisons

Despite its initial shock effect, the coup did not succeed nationwide. In Lagos, loyalist forces quickly regrouped and repelled the mutineers.

The lack of unified command and coordination among the coup plotters proved fatal. The southern officers had not fully gained control of military garrisons in the North, and their plan to seize central authority faltered.

By January 16, 1966, Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, then the most senior Nigerian military officer, took charge.

He declared martial law and assumed the role of Nigeria’s first military Head of State, effectively ending the First Republic.

The coup’s immediate outcome was the dissolution of Nigeria’s civilian government. Ironsi suspended the constitution, banned political parties, and introduced military decrees to govern the country.

The military was now firmly in charge of Nigeria’s future. However, the coup deepened ethnic mistrust. It was perceived by many in the North as an Igbo-led plot against northern leadership, since most of the killed leaders were from the North and the perpetrators were predominantly Igbo. This perception intensified hostilities, especially within the military and the northern civilian population

The January 1966 coup set a dangerous precedent, the military as an arbiter in Nigeria’s political crises. It created a template for future coups, six of which followed over the next three decades.

The military’s grip on power would become the norm rather than the exception, ruling Nigeria for almost 30 out of its first 40 years of independence.

Crucially, the coup laid the groundwork for deeper ethnic rifts. Just six months later, a counter-coup orchestrated by northern officers led to the assassination of General Ironsi and installed Yakubu Gowon as Head of State.

This chain of events directly fed into the eruption of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), also known as the Biafran War, as the Eastern Region, dominated by the Igbo, attempted to secede from Nigeria.

The legacy of ethnic division and distrust seeded by the 1966 coup still lingers in Nigerian politics today.

The events of January 15, 1966, remain a watershed moment in Nigeria’s history. What began as a bid to correct democratic failures instead ushered in decades of authoritarianism, bloodshed, and ethnic rivalry.

Though the coup failed in execution, it succeeded in altering Nigeria’s political landscape irreversibly, exposing deep-seated fractures and initiating a cycle of military intervention that shaped the nation’s destiny.