Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu

Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, (1937–1967) was born in the Northern Region’s capital of Kaduna to Igbo immigrant parents from the Mid-Western Region-Okpanam Town, near Asaba in the present day Delta State. He was an infantry and intelligence officer of the Nigerian Army. Such was his family’s affinity to the city of Nzeogwu’s birth that they and his military colleagues called him “Kaduna”. Nzeogwu was a devout Roman Catholic and a teetotaler. He attended the military academy at Sandhurst in England, and was a promising, charismatic and rebellious military officer who eventually became the Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna. The forerunner of the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps (NAIC) was the Field Security Section (FSS) of the Royal Nigerian Army, which was established on 1 November 1962 with Captain PG Harrington (BR) as General Staff Officer Grade Two (GSO2 Int). The FSS was essentially a security organization whose functions included vetting of Nigerian Army (NA) personnel, document security and counter intelligence. Major Nzeogwu was the first Nigerian Officer to hold that appointment from November 1962 to 1964.

1966 Coup

In the early hours of January 15, 1966, citing a laundry list of complaints against the political class, Nzeogwu led a group of majors mainly Igbos, but also including a Yoruba major (Ademoyega Adewale) in a military coup against the Nigerian First Republic. The Prime Minister, a federal minister, two...
Read More