After I wrote about the January 15, 1966 coup and especially the role played by Major Chris Anuforo, the most bloodthirsty of the January 15, 1966 mutineers, a man who killed so many good men, his daughter, one Mary Ann Ihejieto, sent me an email threatening my life.
What did I do to her and her father? All I did was write about the coup. I did not embellish. I wrote only the truth.
Rather than remorse for her father’s actions, Major Anuforo’s daughter threatened my life. She threatened that there would be another coup in Nigeria, which would be deadlier than the coup her father participated in. Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh was abducted after celebrating his then thirteen-year-old daughter’s birthday and slaughtered in the most gruesome manner by Major Anuforo. His daughter was traumatised for life. Yet, Anuforo’s daughter is angry that I wrote about it.
Then how does she want Chief Okotie-Eboh’s children to feel? Not only did he kill the Minister of Finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, but he also killed Lt. Colonels Kur Mohammed and Arthur Unegbe. Arthur Unegbe was the only Igbo killed during that coup. He was not on the original hit list. But he was in charge of the armoury, and Anufori felt he would not surrender it to the coupists, whereupon Anuforo shot him. When Major Humphrey Chukwuka refused to kill Lt. Colonel Pam, who had been responsible for his rapid rise in the army, Anuforo also got angry and killed Pam.
According to the British intelligence report on the coup, Pam’s last words to Anuforo were, “‘Oh Chris, don’t do this, please.’ Please? Chris?” Yet, Major Chris Anuforo killed him!
How does Mary Ann Ihejieto want his children to feel? And she is threatening another coup? Major Chris Anuforo killed Lt. Colonel Arthur Unegbe, then the Quartermaster General of the Nigerian Army, without provocation, simply because he refused to hand over the keys to the armoury to him. Anuforo shot him right in front of his pregnant wife.
He then returned to his car and ordered Colonel Kur Mohammed out of the vehicle. Kur Mohammed was unique in that he was the only one of Anuforo’s victims who did not beg for his life when told he was to be shot.
He was shot in the back by Anuforo while praying. Colonel Kur Mohammed was the acting Chief of Staff, Army Headquarters beginning from November 1965, because Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo, who later became Governor of the Western Region, was away for a course at Imperial Defence College, London.
How does Mary Ann Ihejieto want the late Colonel Mohammed’s children to feel? And rather than remorse, this woman is threatening my life and vowing that there would be an even deadlier coup in Nigeria. Well, if God permits her and her confederates to kill me, then so be it. But whether today or tomorrow, nothing and nobody can intimidate me and prevent me from writing about Nigeria’s history so we can know how we got to where we are. Next week will mark the fifty eighth anniversary of that coup.
For some people, I am not sure lessons have been learnt. Major Chris Anuforo was a bloodthirsty monster and coward who begged for his life when he was confronted by Nigerian army officers at Ibadan. A man who liked to spill blood did not want his own blood spilt.
Reno Omokri
