In 1966, out of all officers in the Nigerian Army, over 60% were from the East. Not because they were favored. Because they qualified. They could read the map. They could speak the English. They could pass the maths.
Then came the conspiracy. And it broke their heart.
The Coup was tagged an Igbo Coup. Then the counter-coup of July 1966, where Aguiyi-Ironsi was murdered, and over 200 Eastern officers and men were systematically hunted and killed in the barracks. Not in battle. In their beds. In their offices. Their brothers in arms killed them.
The pogrom and the war. 3 million dead. The boys who survived the war were told: you can never rise again. Dismissed. Retired. Their properties seized as "abandoned property". Their rank taken. Their right to join the army turned into suspicion.
After the war, Nigeria changed the rule. Merit was killed. Quota was born. Federal Character was introduced. So the son of the man who built the army was now told to bring a letter from a chief to join the same army. The people who built the army on brains were now told to join on numbers.
The uniform changed in their eyes. From 1970 till today, every time there is unrest in the South-East, the army is sent. Orlu. Aba. Afia. The same uniform their fathers wore with pride now comes to their village in an armored tank.
That is why Abia can only produce 100 boys today.
“As Commander here, during the last recruitment, Abia produced only about 100 recruits. I was worried because I felt I had failed my boss.”
— Brigadier General Dikko A.M., Commander of the Ohafia Division, expresses disappointment over the low turnout of Igbo youths joining the Nigerian Army.