The South East Youths Stakeholders Forum, SEYSF, has demanded for national apology from the Nigerian government and some of its leaders, who deceitfully tagged the January 15 1966 coup d’etat as an Igbo orchestrated putsch and used that to cause hatred against Ndigbo, exclusion from mainstream politics and mass murder of the people of the ethnic nationality.
SEYSF’s demand is coming following General Ibrahim Babangida’s recent revelation that the first military coup in Nigeria was not solely organized by soldiers of Igbo extraction but by soldiers from across Nigerian divide who were disgruntled with the state of Nigeria’s polity at that time.
SEYSF chairman, Mazi Ezenwa Onyirimba, in a statement he made available, yesterday, said that the Forum insists that the tag was a false narrative that led to decades of hatred, persecution, killings, and marginalization of Ndi Igbo in Nigeria.
The group stated that for over half a century, the Igbo people endured untold hardship due to the deliberate and misleading branding of the 1966 coup as an ethnic conspiracy.
“This distortion of history triggered a wave of retaliatory massacres against Ndigbo, leading to the deaths of thousands and culminating in the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970). Even after the war, the scars of political, economic, and social exclusion have continued to haunt the Igbo people.
“However, the new historical evidence that has emerged through the ‘Journey to Serve’ by Babangida has vindicated Ndigbo, proving that the coup was not an ethnic agenda but a military intervention with participants from different regions.
“Despite this, the false narrative remains deeply ingrained in Nigeria’s history, fueling continued discrimination against the Igbo people in national politics, governance, and security appointments.
“We demand that the Nigerian Army and the Federal Government must issue an official apology for falsely accusing the Igbo of plotting the 1966 coup for tribal domination.” acknowledgment of the innocent Ndigbo killed in the pogroms of 1966 and beyond, as well as proper recognition of their sacrifices.
“End to Marginalization, the continued exclusion of the Igbo in national leadership, security agencies, and economic opportunities must be addressed to promote national cohesion.”
