By Ayo Opadokun
Might there have been Nigeria with out the invention of the gun? Might there have been Navy insurrections with out the gun? Might there have been an imposition of Navy dictatorship that arrested Nigerians’ manifest hopes and aspirations in addition to stunted its development and improvement with out the gun?
Was the “Nigerian Military” a creation of Nigeria or that of the Imperialist Nice Britain to suppress, intimidate, hound, repress and humiliate Nigerian ethnic {groups} with a purpose to pressure the over 350 totally different {groups} into co-habitation in order to attain the so-called amalgamated Nigeria?
Who had been the Principal Promoters of the First and Revenge coups? Who had been the Principal Advisers of Main Basic Aguiyi-Ironsi in 1966 after supplanting the democratically-elected authorities? Might there have been the Nigerian Civil Struggle with out the ego contest between Col. Ojukwu and Main Basic Gowon? What are the implications of the Civil Struggle on the Igbo ethnic group and Nigeria typically?
Might there have been a reprisal Navy revolt on July 29,1966 with out the gun Moreover, When Main Kaduna Nzeogwu, bluntly declared publicly that the execution of the coup within the South was tribalistic and his view was corroborated by Captain Emmanuel Nwobosi,Chief of operations within the Western Area that the operation in Lagos had been compromised by nepotism,why did Main Basic Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi dither for about six months with out convening the suitable Navy our bodies to determine the fates of the coup plotters?
Why did Basic Aguiyi-Ironsi insist on the promulgation of Decree 34 of twenty fourth Could 1966 regardless of the essential recommendation and ideas to him by Lt.Col.Usman Katsina and others ?
The above posers haven’t been adequately responded to by numerous writers although most of the people is repeatedly asking questions as to:
When and the way did Nigeria begin getting it fallacious?
What are the impacts of the Navy’s dictatorship on the nation’s socio-economic, political, social companies, infrastructure and public establishments, just like the police and the Nigerian Military itself?
Why has Nigeria misplaced her cherished nationwide ethos, values, requirements, guidelines of engagement? And Why has Nigeria turn into a rustic of opposites whereby whereas quite a few these international locations with which we had been comparatively at par at our political Independence in 1960 have turn into “developed” international locations and we stay an “under-developing” nation regardless of our quantitative and qualitative pure and human sources benefits?
What are the levers of different powers who collaborated or acquiesced to maintain Navy dictatorship in Nigeria for thus lengthy and the implications of their actions?
The Gun Hegemony tackles all these posers. As a historic, educative and informative guide, it makes an attempt to supply solutions and responses to the above posers. The guide additionally challenges different observers to write down on the implications of Navy dictatorship on our physique politics and its enduring unfavourable legacies. Nigerians ought to have the ability to recognize why Nigeria stays a rustic reasonably than creating right into a nation after 65 post-independence years.
The place would Nigeria be at this time if the navy didn’t stage the revolt of January 15,1966?