The family of first military head of state, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, has demanded a formal apology and compensation from the federal government nearly six decades after his death in the 1966 counter-coup.
Imo Aguiyi-Ironsi, the family head, made the call in an interview with Arise News on Thursday. “I think the family needs apology. The family needs to be compensated. We need sincere apology. We need sincere reconciliation,” he said.
He described his uncle as a visionary and detribalised leader who was punished for a coup in which he played no part. “He was a man of vision. He was a detribalized Nigerian. He was a good leader,” Imo Aguiyi-Ironsi said.
Aguiyi-Ironsi served as head of state for only six months, from January 16 to July 29, 1966, after the January coup that toppled the civilian government. He survived that mutiny and helped suppress it, but was later killed alongside his host, Lieutenant Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, in a northern officers’ revolt known as the July counter-coup.
“He occupied the seat of head of state for only six months, and he was taken away from us. Not because of a sin he committed, because he wasn’t part of the January 1966 coup,” the family head said. “Everybody knows that.”
He added that Aguiyi-Ironsi’s fate stemmed solely from his seniority. “Only because of his position as the most senior military officer, he was told to take charge. And then that cost him his life.”
Imo Aguiyi-Ironsi expressed hope that those in authority would act on the appeal. “Well, I hope there are people who are in positions to make this happen that are listening to you tonight,” he said.
Aguiyi-Ironsi’s brief rule included the controversial Decree 34, which sought to centralise power, and a decision not to prosecute the January coup plotters — moves that fuelled northern resentment and contributed to the counter-coup.
