They played prominent roles in truncating democracy through the barrel of the gun and bore the same first name. Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna of Nigeria and Ghana’s Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka.
Ifeajuna was a major and served in the Second Brigade of Nigeria Army, Lagos prior to the January 15, 1966 coup in Nigeria which was code-named ‘Operation Damissa.’
Col. Kotoka was Commander of the Second Brigade of Ghana Army based in Kumasi at the time of the Febraury 24, 1966 coup in Ghana under the code-name, ’Operation Cold Chop.’ The first Nigerian coup was not as successful as the one young majors planned, but it ended the First Republic of President Nnamdi Azikiwe. A general, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, emerged as Head of State. In Ghana, Kotoka was helped by Maj. Akwasi Afrifa who was Brigade Major, Second Brigade. Remember it was Ifeajuna’s position in Lagos. They invited a general, Joseph Arthur Ankrah, to take over as Head of State.
Ifeajuna killed his Brigade Commander, Zakari Maimalari, who was the highest ranking officer from Northern Nigeria at the time. The Brigadier, the first Nigerian to go through Sandhurst, had some hours earlier, celebrated his new wife. Kotoka murdered his Army Commander, Gen. Charles Mohammed Bawa, the first trained officer from the North. Sandhurst cadet. The general was shot before his wife and children. The year 1954 meant so much to Ifeajuna.
He became the first black African to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal. It was also the year Kotoka was commissioned Lieutenant. Before Ifeajuna joined the Army, he worked as a school teacher. Kotoka was also a school master prior to taking to the military. The Owelle was away from Nigeria, cruising in the West Indies when he was toppled. The Osagyefo lost his position while he toured Hanoi in the far East.
Ifeajuna escaped to Ghana after Aguiyi-Ironsi assumed office, and was well received by Nkrumah who sent him to Winneba to join Sam Ikoku, another fugitive and Arthur Nzeribe, the President’s friend. Arthur Ankrah sent Ifeajuna back to Nigeria after the Kotoka coup. On arrival, he was detained in the Eastern Region and would later be accused of plotting another coup in Biafra. What a strange coincidence that Ifeajuna and Kotoka died in the same year,1967, in a coup related circumstances. The former died in September[22,1967], the latter was born in September[26, 1926]. Kotoka was assassinated by Lt. Moses Yeboah, in Ghana’s second coup of April 17, 1967. He was gunned down very close to the airport which today is named after him as Kotoka International Airport.
The coup came with the code name, ‘Operation Guitar Boy.’ Led by Lt. Samuel Arthur, with Second Lieutenant Ebenezer Osei-Poku in toe, the plotters also killed Captains C.Y. Borkloe, A.K. Avevor[what coincidence that Biafran troops nicknamed the AK-47 rifle Guitar Boy] and Kotoka’s orderly, Sergeant Osei Gunshie. Ifeajuna was executed by Col. Emeka Ojukwu, allegedly, for planning to dethrone the Biafran leader. He died with the trio of Brig. Victor Banjo, Maj. Philip Alale and Sam Agbam. Guitar Boy had a Nigerian connection. It was a track by music maestro, Victor Efosa Uwaifo. The song was so popular in Ghana during Yuletide, 1965. Lt. Arthur and his buddies used it as their plot’s secret code. Uwaifo became the first African to win the Gold disc, thanks to his hit, ‘Joromi’, at about the same time. Gen. Ankrah banned Guitar Boy in Ghana following Kotoka’s death.
That did not stop Uwaifo from moving on. His guitar spoke volumes and as if blessed by the Lagos Lagoon, ‘Mami Water’[ Sea goddess], he rose to become not only a commissioner in Edo State but a professor of Arts at the University of Benin. Uwaifo was only six years old in 1947, when Mikhail Kalashkinov manufactured the Avtomat Kalashnikova [Kalashnikov’s automatic rifle] widely known today as AK-47. When the musician made his first guitar as a boy, using plywood and bicycle spoke, he did not know the name Guitar Boy would follow. It came at the Lagos Bar Beach. Lt. Arthur and his Guitar Boy were shot at the Labadi Beach Accra. Before Ifeajuna and Kotoka died, Nigeria was boiling. Biafra was coming. Gen Arthur Ankrah brought Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who attended cadet school in Teshie, Ghana and Gen. Ojukwu who taught Murtala Mohammed in the same institution, together. They went to a place called Aburi, in January 1967. Venue of the Peace Meeting was Peduase Lodge.
Agreements were reached. Ojukwu and Biafra sang: ‘On Aburi we stand.’ Gowon switched off the song and war came. Ifeajuna fought for Biafra as a Lt.Col. Kotoka died five months before him, killed by Samuel Arthur. Nigeria’s Arthur Nzeribe still lived in Accra and became Gen. Arthur Ankrah’s pal. It became a tale of three Arthurs. Nzeribe and Ifeajuna were Igbo who met in Ghana. Nzeribe left the Air Force as a cadet and delved into Public Relations in London. There he was introduced to Nkrumah. Francis Arthur Nzeribe made good money in Ghana. Some said he was a gun runner who sold arms to both Biafra and Nigeria. He also understood politics and eventually ended up in Nigeria as a Senator. Nzeribe and Ankrah became friends following the execution of Lt. Arthur and the rise of Afrifa.
Ankrah was a good footballer just like Ifeajuna was a High jumper. He tried to dribble Ghanaians. The general commissioned Nzeribe to test future political relevance. An Opinion poll was conducted and the verdict sold Ankrah as the most popular man in Ghana. What Ankrah failed to realize was that some of those in his government were following his every move. A Commission to probe Nzeribe’s image laundering deal was set up. On April 2, 1969, the Head of State resigned. Kotoka and Afrifa planned Operation Cold Chop while they worked together in Kumasi. Ankrah was only called from retirement to come and ‘chop’ as head of state. He was the first Ghanaian to be commissioned officer, in 1947. Ifeajuna was going to ask Ojukwu to resign when his group suspected there were no weapons to prosecute the war. The plot failed.
By Emeka Obasi
Source: vanguardngr.com
