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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.7, No.6

Publication Date: June 25, 2020

DOI:10.14738/assrj.76.8134.

Wambu, C. G., & Ecoma, C. S. (2020) Chukwuma Nzeogwu In The Throes Of Contemporary Nigerian History. Advances in Social Sciences

Research Journal, 7(6) 22-31.

Chukwuma Nzeogwu In The Throes Of Contemporary

Nigerian History

Chiemela Godwin Wambu, Ph.D

Department of History and International Relations,

Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria

Chinyere S. Ecoma, Ph.D

Department of History and International Relations,

Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

For the greater part of its existence as a sovereign state, Nigeria has

witnessed more years of military than civilian rule. An excursion into

this very important aspect of our national history must, of necessity,

interrogate the circumstances and dramatis personae that led to the

military’s intervention in national politics. One name that has never

escaped the scrutiny in this effort is that of Major Chukwuma Kaduna

Nzeogwu. Though a posthumous research, the intention of this paper is

to attempt a reappraisal of the often ignored, misinterpreted and

maligned intentions of the principal actors of the January 15, 1966

military coup d’etat, especially the role of Nzeogwu. In order to achieve

this objective, the research made use of both primary and secondary

sources of data. These were subjected to initial qualitative analysis. The

research concludes that part of the reasons for the misinterpretation of

Nzeogwu’s role is the need to justify the failure of the government of the

First Republic to satisfy the basic human and material needs of Nigeria.

In addition, it establishes the fact that subsequent political equations

and configurations in Nigeria have evidently been to the benefit of those

who have been at pains to justify the brutality that attended the January

1966 coup d’etat.

Keywords: Nzeogwu, Civil War, Military, Regime, Nigeria, Army.

INTRODUCTION

The personality of Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu emerged in political limelight after the coup d’etat

of January 15 1966 that terminated the First Republic. The coup received varied interpretations. It

was seen in some quarters as an ethnically-motivated political move by the Igbo to dominate other

Nigerians while for others, it was a response to the ills of the leaders and government of the First

Republic. Central in the various opinions about the coup is the role played by Chukwuma Kaduna

Nzeogwu, one of the five original Majors that conceived the putsch. Chukwuma’s popularity was not

only because he successfully executed his own roles in the coup, but also because he was the only

one among the five Majors that was opportuned to read the aims of the revolution to the populace.

Also, Chukwuma was the only one among the coupists that established a government in the

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol.7, Issue 6, June-2020

northern region until the General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army eventually assumed

control in Lagos. Events that followed subsequently marked the beginning of military intervention

in Nigerian politics and a civil war that altered coexistence and national peace for almost three

years, with consequences and implications for contemporary Nigerian history. The coup and the

war exacerbated ethnic divisions and exclusions among the major ethnic nationalities that make up

the Nigerian State and has lingered on in the throes of contemporary Nigerian history.

NZEOGWU AS AN ENIGMA: HIS BIRTH UP TO ENLISTMENT

Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu was born on 26 February 1937 to the family of James and Elizabeth

Nzeogwu who lived in Argungu Road Kaduna, close to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church where

Chukwuma was baptised as Patrick. His baptismal name was preceded by an informal name‒

“Kaduna”‒ which became the preferred name for neighbours and acquaintances. Peter Okeleke

Nzeogwu is of the view that the name ‘Kaduna’ came as ‘Dan Kaduna’ and was conferred on

Chukwuma during the interregnum between his birth and baptism when neighbours awaited his

christening. He was to be called ‘Dan Kaduna’ (son of Kaduna) until the formal conferment of a

Christian name [1]. Neighbours and friends came to learn that the names “Chukwuma” and “Patrick”

after “Kaduna” had become a common name for infant Chukwuma. One notable adjustment was the

dropping of the prefix “Dan”. Chukwuma Kaduna Patrick Nzeogwu became the name of James

Nzeogwu’s first son. Names come with significance in African societies. Aside the conferment of such

English names as Augustine, Patrick and others which signify the wish by contemporary churches

that new borns behave like the saints who they are named after, other Igbo names are explanatory

and are informative of circumstances, feelings, dispositions and or sentiments. For instance,

“Chukwuma,” meaning “God knows,” signifies the Omni-knowledge of the Supreme Being. It denotes

that God knows and has a purpose for which he embarked upon the creation of the person in view.

The name was an exaltation of a sort by Chukwuma’s parents who believed that his birth was pre- designed for a great purpose, implying therefore that God alone knew the purpose for which

Chukwuma was born. The growing Chukwuma perhaps inadvertently obliterated Patrick from his

name. He rather preferred Chukwuma and Kaduna as most of his official documents and letters bore

Major C. K. Nzeogwu [2].

Chukwuma’s birth brought his family to closer ties with severe hardship. Unable to cope with the

very meagre remuneration from his teaching job, Mr James, with the help of Rev. Father McCarthy,

secured another job at the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN), Kaduna where he trained as an

apprentice technician and was fully employed after a short time [3]. Elizabeth, Chukwuma’s mother,

was a native of Ugbolu, a village close to Okpanam, Delta State where his father hailed from. After

marriage rites, James took Elizabeth to Kaduna. In Kaduna, she initially relied wholly on James to

provide all financial needs of the home. This became a source of tension for the young family. James’

inability to provide all that was needed amidst rumours of his benevolence to colleagues and

associates angered his wife. She was always willing to engage her husband in a heated argument

until he provided what she considered manageable for the home. Economic conditions of the times

forced the Nzeogwus into intense frugality. Only the necessary needs of the house were provided.

The family was deeply troubled by the difficulty of managing their meagre resources when

Chukwuma and his siblings began growing into dependent infants. Most necessary needs were not

available in the Nzeogwu home for which reason infant Chukwuma got acquainted to frugality. He

adjusted to managing the little his parents could provide and regarded affluence as an unnecessary

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Wambu, C. G., & Ecoma, C. S. (2020) Chukwuma Nzeogwu In The Throes Of Contemporary Nigerian History. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal,

7(6) 22-31.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.76.8134 24

waste. Chukwuma was a very inquisitive and precocious child. As a young primary school pupil in

St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Kaduna, he often asked his teachers endless questions. He also

often wanted to enquire into things that were unclear and also questioned the status quo.

Frustration over things he could not explain was expressed after school when he will withdraw to

himself, evidently perturbed [3].

Chukwuma was a good pupil who easily got on well with arithmetics and writing. He laid good

preliminary foundations for his post-primary education. It seems that Chukwuma’s inclination

towards becoming a soldier was evident in his years as an infant when, after watching soldiers go

through early morning drills, he would gather handy children for a mock demonstration of all they

saw during the parades. It was perhaps at this stage that he made up his young mind to become a

soldier. In 1950, he sat for the test for entrance into college. He gained admission into St. John’s

College, Kaduna. According to Obasanjo [3]:

Saint John’s College in Kaduna was another possibility but the entrance examination

was very competitive. It was conducted throughout the whole of Northern Nigeria, but

the school hardly admitted more than sixty children at a time, so a child had to be

exceptionally brilliant to get in. Even for children of Catholics, admission was not

automatic.

True to the above testimony by his friend, Chukwuma sat for the interview and gained admission

on merit. St. John’s missionary outlook and features meant a strong emphasis on discipline and

religion. Chukwuma did not find any of these two strange for, right from home, his disciplinary

disposition was enough foundational training. He was severally subjected to corporal punishment

by his father whenever he erred. Similarly, the family’s travails over issues and problems arising

from child mortality subjected Chukwuma’s parents to regular prayers of atonement and other

Christian activities that could attract God’s mercies and intervention. Therefore, religion and

discipline in St. John’s was only a continuation [1], even though Chukwuma only partially

participated in the post-class disciplinary activities because his father could not afford the £33

required for one to live in the dormitory. Chukwuma went to school from an improvised

accommodation. His father could only afford the £11 fee for day students.

Chukwuma lived with a guardian to whom his father gave latitude and freedom to discipline him.

Mr Hyacinth Odigwe, his guardian, had the philosophy that if you spare the rod, you spoil the child.

He meted strict disciplinary measures on Chukwuma who sometimes challenged his

highhandedness and disciplinary disposition. Chukwuma’s attitude tilted towards revolt, especially

towards behaviours he discerned as harsh and incompatible with freedom and liberty. In school, he

often challenged students who derived pleasure in bullying the vulnerable. Similarly, his teachers

attracted his rebellious characteristics when he perceived their actions as oppressive. He did not

waste time to tacitly or overtly express disagreement over acts of, or perceived intimidation and

oppression. He was narrowly able to escape the consequence of his revolutionary attitude until his

final year in school when he was caught up in a web of conflict of authority and quest for liberty and

fairness. First was his disagreement with his school’s training instructor for which he organised a

boycott in protest against his highhandedness. Next was his expulsion from school because he led a

revolt against the school’s authorities. This was the height of the indication that adolescent

Chukwuma Nzeogwu, who was nicknamed “Major” had serious predilection for oppression by

authorities and men in high places. In 1955, St. John’s operated a syllabus on the basis of six years