Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe (J.T.U) Aguiyi-Ironsi was the first Nigerian military Head of State. He came to power after the first coup of January 15, 1966, during which Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was killed.
Ironsi’s short tenure proved to be turbulent, serving as a gory prelude to the bloodier Civil War in Nigeria. He was killed in the counter-coup of July 29, 1966, in Ibadan, where he was kidnapped by mutineers along with Lt. Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, the first military Governor of the defunct Western Region. His young son, Thomas, was with him on that fateful trip to Ibadan. He was about 14 and had to be smuggled out of the killing field dressed like a girl. His brave mother met him at the Iddo rail station, Lagos.
Since that night of horror, Ironsi’s widow, Lady Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi, has become the head of the family, bringing up her brood of eight children with firmness, courage and maternal wisdom. She had lived long to see her children and grand-children grown up to become successful and confident men and women. The family had been to hell and back and know they have reasons to be grateful to God and are proud to uphold the legacies of their outstanding and trailblazing father who died literarily in the thick of battle.
Aguiyi-Ironsi was the first Nigerian military officer to rise to the rank of Major-General. He was also the first Nigerian to command an international peace-keeping force of the United Nations when he was appointed for the job in the Congo. He helped to quell the coup of January 15, 1966, but then assumed power from the rump of the civilian regime of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa who had been killed by the mutineers along with other leaders, including the Federal Minister for Finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, the Premier of the West, Chief Ladoke Akintola and the Premier of the North, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello.
During the coup also, many top military officers were killed including Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun (along with his pregnant wife), Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari, Colonel Kur Mohammed, Colonel Ralph Sodeinde, Lt Colonel Abogo Lagema, Lt. Col James Pam and Lt. Colonel Arthur Unegbe. All these killings were to cause problem for Ironsi who quickly ordered the arrest of the coup plotters, including its leader, Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, but never put them on trial.
The second coup, during which many military officers, mostly Igbo, were killed, was far bloodier than the first. The coup makers, mostly Northern military officers, installed Ironsi’s Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Colonel Yakubu Jack Gowon, in power as the new military Head of State. He was to rule for nine years.
Today, General Aguiyi-Ironsi is still alive in his descendants who have made spectacular successes of their lives and careers. Mrs. Ironsi now lives in Umuahia where for many years she has been active in the public life of the community and had participated in many aspects of our national life, including serving as a commissioner in the Local Government Service Commission. Thomas, the first son and now the head of the family, served as Nigerian ambassador to Togo. He later served as Minister of Defense under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, becoming the first Igbo person to hold that office since the Civil War. His younger sister, Louisa, was the first editor of the defunct Quality magazine and one of the top editors of Tell magazine where she participated in the struggle to end military rule. She is media consultant, former Special Adviser on media to both Imo and Abia state governors and a member of the National Advisory Board of Gaskia Media Ltd.
– Babarinsa is a respected journalist