Three of Africa’s most violent coups that should never be forgotten

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Nigeria 1966

The Nigerian counter coup of 1966 is considered the country’s bloodiest coup. It started on January 1966 when  Kaduna Nzeogwu-led soldiers assassinated 11 senior Nigerian politicians and two soldiers and kidnapping three others.

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They had thought the coup would end the ethnic rivalries between the Northern and Eastern tribes, but it only made things worse. Army commander Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo, suppressed the January coup, but took over power himself

In July, a counter-coup was staged, resulting into the death of hundred non-commissioned officers and thousands of innocent civilians mostly of Eastern Nigeria origin. The coup staged Sani Abacha, Major Murtala Muhammed and current President Muhammadu Buhari and others.

The coup resulted in Nigeria’s civil war.