BALEWA SEIZED BY ARMY MUTINEERS IN NIGERIAN COUP

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30960, 17 January 1966, Page 11

BALEWA SEIZED BY ARMY MUTINEERS IN NIGERIAN COUP

Two Regional P.M.s Reported Killed (N.Z.P.A. Reuter —Copyright) LAGOS, January 16. Nigeria’s Federal Prime Minister is a prisoner in rebel hands today and two regional prime ministers are dead after Army mutineers seized part of the country in a coup d’etat. Early today—24 hours after the dawn rising by a section of the Army—the two Northern Region cities of Kano and Kaduna, the regional capital, were reported under rebel control.

Other reliable reports said that the Western and Eastern regions of the large Nigerian federation were loyal to the Central Government, headed by the missing Prime Minister, Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.

Lagos, the Federal capital, was quiet, but loyal troops guarded all strategic points, including Parliament, and sealed all roads.

Nigeria Radio reported, however, that the mass of the Array was still loyal. The broadcast pledged that order would soon be restored.

Reports reaching Lagos said the missing Prime Minister was being taken by the rebels to Calabar, in Eastern Nigeria, together with the Federal Finance Minister, Mr Okotie Eboh, who is also a prisoner. House Razed

The two assassinated leaders—Chief Samuel Akintola, the Prime Minister of the Western Region, and Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, the Northern Region Prime Minister were killed in their own capitals.

Chief Akintola was shot down in Ibadan, about 150 miles north of Lagos.

The Sardauna of Sokoto and his wife died together in their home at Kaduna—killed by rebel soldiers. Their house was burned down. Another victim of the rising was Brigadier Sam Admulagun, officer commanding the Nigerian No. 1 Brigade. He and his wife were shot in their beds. Kano and Kaduna are now believed to be under the di-

rection of a revolutionary council, according to Lagos sources. A broadcast from the council said that on the authority of its leader that the captured Ministers would be charged with corruption. Rebel Leader

The council leader was identified as Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzegwu. Loyal troops led by the army commander, Major-Gen-eral Agui Ironsi, are searching for the captured Federal Prime Minister. The rising in the former British colony marked a new chapter in the story of violence and political unrest that has beset its history since it won independence in 1960. There were reports of killing and arson last week in the Western Region—an echo of the political rivalries of last October’s elections, which returned Chief Akintola to power. His opponents had charged him with rigging the ballot. Loyalists Clash Fighting was reported yesterday in the Western capital of Ibadan, where loyalist troops clashed with mutineers. Reports in Lagos said

the loyalists overpowered the rebels. Far to the East in Calabar, where the kidnapped Federal Prime Minister was reported to have been taken, another former Western Region Prime Minister, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, lies in gaol. He was sentenced ip 1963 to 10 years for plotting to overthrow the Federal Government.

It was thought in Lagos that there might be a plan afoot to force the captured Ministers to negotiate under duress with Chief Awolowo. The rebellion broke out only two days after Nigeria had been the host to the Commonwealth conference on another African trouble spot —Rhodesia. The conference was sponsored by Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who had presided over the two-day meeting, at which 20 Commonwealth countries were represented.