UpNorthBlog

    Bauchi, Nigeria is not usually plagued by violence but it's not rare to hear news of robbery or theft once in a while, it is odd though to hear news of robbery in the early hours of Christmas. By 3am most people in Yelwa metropolis probably just went to sleep after hectic preparations on the Eve of Christmas, but it wasn't going to be a memorable early hours for some residents of the metropolis. We spoke to one the victims who recounted her experience.   "Around 3:00am in the morning I was sleeping when I heard my mom screaming, I woke my sister up and told her we had to check what's happening, she hid her android phone under the bed before we went out. The first thing I saw after stepping out was extremely bright touches and four boys holding machetes, they immediately demanded our phones, my sister gave them her small phone but they asked her for the big one, I realized then that they were from our area and they knew us. They also collected my mom

     Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu "In the name of the Supreme Council of the revolution of the Nigerian armed forces, I declare martial law over the northern provinces of Nigeria". Those were the words that open the speech of major Chukwuma Nzeogwu in which he announced the 15 January 1966 coup.   The three major leaders of the 1966 coup are; Major Adewale Ademoyega, Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna and Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu. Ademoyega in his book "Why We Struck" talks about building a great friendship with Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna when he enlisted into the army in 1961. The three politically conscious young men believed in a military revolution to "shake up" the new Nigerian State. Over the years that followed the trio's aspirations solidified into a plot, and as politicians misgovernance worsened, the officers got more recruits into their fold.   The plotters plan to strike at the federal capital Lagos, and all four regional capitals namely Kaduna,

Nigeria's First Republic lasted for less than three years until it fell on January 15th, 1966, after the country's first Military coup. This article highlights some of the major events that led to the fall of Nigeria's First Republic; the coup which signalled it's end and of course the counter coup has been famously described as "Africa's bloodiest".   The previous article has highlighted some of the major political circumstances that led to the intervention of the military in Nigerian democratic process. However, the military intervention did not directly put an end to the large scale political crisis. This was largely because of the ethnic nature of the Coup. It would be recalled that major C.K Nzeogwu the arrowhead and the other planners of the coup were Igbo. On the other hand those who lost their lives included the two top most religious and political leaders of Northern Nigeria Sir Ahmadu Bello and Alhaji Tafawa Balewa.   Furthermore, of

          Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola 1960 Independence was a proud moment for Nigerians, but the political events that followed will not be remembered with so much joy. 1964-1965 would go down the annals of Nigerian history as the most turbulent and politically explosive years in the history of the country. The Federal elections of 1964, was an electoral battle between the Nigerian National Alliance and the United Progressive Grand Alliance.  The 1964 federal election was the third held in Nigeria, coming after those of 1954 and 1959. At the conclusion of the two elections the NPC and NCNC had formed a coalition government however the alliance between the two parties was mainly based on political needs rather than mutual ideology. For instance the NPC and NCNC held contrasting views on pan-africanism, while the former was opposed to the creation of a Supranational continental government and wanted a policy of alignment with Western capitalist. The latter wanted the creati