Veteran journalist Chief Tola Adeniji has described the leader of the 1966 coup and military revolutionary, Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, as a friend of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Adeniji made the remark while drawing a parallel between the young military officer who led Nigeria’s first coup and the biblical Jesus Christ.
He noted that Nzeogwu laid down his life in an attempt to redeem Nigeria from corruption and political decay.
Nzeogwu was the principal figure in the 15 January 1966 military coup.
The coup, which he led from the Northern Region, was a response to widespread corruption, ethnic division, and the perceived failure of Nigeria’s First Republic.
It spiralled into chaos, resulting in the assassination of key political leaders such as Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Northern Premier Ahmadu Bello.
Speaking on Edmund Obilo’s podcast State Affair, Adeniji pointed out that Nzeogwu was a friend of Nigeria’s former president, Olusegun Obasanjo.
“Nzeogwu is my hero forever. I named a street after him, Chukwuma Nzeogwu Crescent. In fact, the chairman of the Ibadan Local Government Municipal area, Abbas was afraid, he couldn’t do it.
“They had to get clearance from Dodan Barracks before they could give approval to the Ibadan municipal government to name a street after Nzeogwu.
“They finally gave the approval, maybe, because he was Obasanjo’s friend or because Obasanjo had a soft spot for him.
“They (Nzeogwu and others) felt that those accused of running down the country should be killed, I call him the Jesus of 1966.”
