By Sam Omatseye
In a thriller of an interview that spanned over one and half hours on Arise Television, Reuben Abati and Laila Johnson-Salami took on Peter Pan, one of the best ever to write a column or call himself a journalist on mother earth. At 85, Peter Enahoro, who never had a university degree but graduated from Government College Ughelli, spoke lucidly about the Nigerian press, the Nigerian crisis, restructuring, his family and the sham of a pardon for his elder brother Anthony, also about Obj, Sam Amuka – The Vanguard owner and fellow Ughelli old boy – Chief Segun Osoba who he called young man, and of course the mighty poet J.P. Clark, also Ughelli old boy. Enahoro granted the interview lying on a bed because of injuries from an accident in 1961.
What struck me was intervention on the 1966 coup, and the note he obtained about Ifeajuna’s impressions of his role. According to Enahoro, Ifeajuna seems to present himself as the leader. Many believe Chukwuma Nzeogwu merits that accolade, if accolade is the word and if the word merit should ever go into that blood-nosed narrative.
Ifeajuna said he wanted to hand over power to Ironsi, then chief of the army. But Nzeogwu said Awo was their target to take over the mantle. That remains a speculative aspect of our history. In his book, There was A Country, Achebe testifies to Nzeogwu’s indignation at Ifeajuna’s claim. Ifeajuna ran away, tails and all, to Ghana like an athlete in a counterfeit jump. Nzeogwu stayed put. Ifeajuna did not perform his part of the task successfully in Lagos by leaving Ironsi untouched. Ifeajuna’s act complicated the definition of the purpose of the coup as an Igbo affair. Again, Ifeajuna, as Enahoro noted in the interview, did not make the announcement in the morning. When he didn’t Nzeogwu took up the role in the afternoon. Nzeogwu, in my mind, was the leader. If he did not lead going into the coup, he did coming out of it.
The Nation
