African Independence Leaders & Post-Colonial Figures Codexery

Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi

First military head of state of Nigeria, assassinated in a counter-coup.

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Aguiyi-Ironsi was born on 3 March 1924 in Ibeku, Umuahia, to Igbo Catholic parents, and took the surname of his brother-in-law as his first name in admiration of Mr. Johnson.[1][2] He received a regular commission on 16 May 1953 and served as equerry for Queen Elizabeth II during her 1956 visit to Nigeria, for which he was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order.[3][4][2] In 1960, as a lieutenant colonel, he commanded the 5th Battalion in Kano and led the Nigerian contingent in the United Nations Operation in the Congo.[5][6][2] He served as military attaché to the Nigeria High Commission in London from 1961 to 1962 and was promoted to major general in 1965, becoming the first indigenous officer to head the entire Nigerian Army.[7][8][2]

He promulgated Decree No. 34, which abolished Nigeria's federal structure and replaced it with a unitary system.[9][10][11] In 1942, Aguiyi-Ironsi enlisted as a private in the seventh battalion of the Nigerian Regiment, and in 1946 he was selected for officer training at Staff College, Camberley, England.[12][3][2]

What the cited sources add

According to the countrystudies.us account, the January 1966 coup was seen by many northerners as an Igbo attempt to dominate the federation, because the pattern of killings gave it a partisan appearance.[11] The same source states that Ironsi promulgated Decree Number 34 against all advice, arguing the military could only govern under a unitary system.[11] The Glimpse Nigeria account notes that the Gallantry Medal was awarded by the Austrian government to Aguiyi-Ironsi and others for freeing the Austrian ambulance unit in the Congo.[2][13] The "1966: Ironsi" source asserts that Ironsi never participated in a coup but actually frustrated and stopped the very first soup in Nigeria in January 1966.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi: did the General deserve to die?", History Ville, 4 April 2022; Nation, "Aguiyi-Ironsi: Echoes of January 1966 coup", The Nation, 2016-07-26; Obialo, "Major General JTU Aguiyi-Ironsi Biography", Nigerian Infopedia, 27 March 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. smile, "JOHNSON THOMAS UMUNNAKWE AGUIYI-IRONSI", Glimpse Nigeria, 30 June 2020. facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dennison, "What history tells us about the Royals and race", The Telegraph, 13 March 2021; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cyril, "General AguiyiIronsi: Life and times", The Sun, 29 July 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Schmidl 1997, p. 29 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Supreme Commander, General Johnson Umunnakwe Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi 1", www.umuahiaibeku.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "General Ironsi's Address May 1966." (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "General Ironsi's Address May 1966.". facts only, no text reused. dawodu.com
  11. "Nigeria - The 1966 Coups, Civil War, and Gowon's Government", countrystudies.us. facts only, no text reused. countrystudies.us
  12. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The rise and fall of Major general Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi: He was a brilliant soldier and a dictator - Opera News Official", news-af.feednews.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: smile, "JOHNSON THOMAS UMUNNAKWE AGUIYI-IRONSI", Glimpse Nigeria, 30 June 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  14. "1966: Ironsi". facts only, no text reused. biafraland.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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