Tony Nnadi

22 June 2023

Originally published elsewhere under the title: General Ironsi’s Decree 34 Of 1966 Did Not Tamper With The Four-Region Structure Of Nigeria. It Was Gowon’s Decree 14 Of May 27, 1967 That Altered The Structure Of Nigeria By Breaking Up The Four Regions Of The Time Into 12 States – on 04 October 2020

Whatever the Dishonest Revisionists of the crumbling house of Nigeria would want to project, the truth is well-known and well documented. 

The False Narrative pinning responsibility (and therefore blame) for the Unitary Structure Nigeria is currently saddled with on General Aguiyi Ironsi’s Decree No.34 of 1966 (and by extension the Igbo) is simply a part of the Grand Orchestration against the Igbo by the Dark Forces operating the toxic and unworkable Unitary Nigeria. 

The many lies concocted to create these kinds of False Narratives were to justify the atrocities of the time. 

Just to restate the facts for the benefit of those who may be genuinely ignorant or misinformed, with the January 15, 1966 decapitation of the civilian Federal Government and two Regional Governments by the botched coup staged by young, middle-rank Military Officers, (mostly Majors) the task of arresting the Nigerian situation fell on the Military High Command which happened to have Major-General Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi as its Head. The burden of leading that stabilization task therefore fell on Gen Ironsi.

The first challenge was that of setting up some emergency Governance Arrangements to be manned by the Military. 

Accordingly, Decree 34 of 1966 (so-called Unification Decree) by Maj-Gen Aguiyi Ironsi merely set up a Federal Military Government to be presided over by a Supreme Military Council, while Military Governors were appointed for the Four Regions, namely Lt-Col Adekunle Fajuyi, (Western Region); Lt.Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (Eastern Region); Lt-Col David Ejoor (Midwestern Region) and Lt-Col Hassan Usman Katsina (Northern Region). 

The Supreme Military Council was made up of the Head of State, these Four Military Governors and the Heads of the Armed Services of the time. 

The Four Regions remained intact with their ASSETS, with their Constitutions, (save for the parts that relate to the defunct Civilian Administrations) and the whole purpose of Decree No.34 was to establish order and restablize a badly shaken country. 

The first time the Four-Region Structure of the Federation of Nigeria was Fractured was on the 27th of May in 1967 when Lt-Col Yakubu Gowon who had emerged as Head of State from the counter coup of July 29, 1966, broke the Four Regions of Nigeria into Twelve States via Decree No.14 of 1967, almost a year after the killing of Gen Ironsi in July 1966. 

[Photo of Gowon’s Decree 14, dated well after Gen Ironsi had been assassinated.]

Those who committed the atrocities of the time, most of whom are still alive and doing evil, were the ones who crafted the Falsehoods being circulated now to obfuscate the facts and so justify their actions. They are the same ones who abolished History as a subject on the School Curriculum during their reign as Military Government in 70s and 80s to blindfold the younger generation which was fed with the lies concocted to justify the unjustifiable killings that were carried out at the time. 

The Federation of Nigeria died from the deadly consequences of these heinous lies that had Fraudulently attained the status of “Truth” over time, but progressively, as the Authentic Truth re-emerged, the Rogue Nigeria erected on Falsehood since mid-1966 began to march to its grave. We are now at the point of its Interment.

A majority in the Union of Death now wants out and there is really nothing the arrogant, murderous minority can do to stop that majority especially since the Title Deed Over the Estate (1999 Constitution) has been defeated as a Forgery.

Tony Nnadi.

Lower Niger Congress (LNC)

October 4, 2020