Army Takes Over In Nigeria

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30961, 18 January 1966, Page 11

Army Takes Over In Nigeria

(N.Z PA. Reuter—Copyright) LAGOS, January 17. The Army moved in today as supreme ruler of The offices of President and Federal Prime Minister, as veil as all Regional Governments, were suspended, and the ■Chief of the Army, Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi, aged 41, emerged as the new strongman.

General Ironsi took | ■ power as his troops { ■ moved to quell the ris- j ling by rebel Army I units. I The rebels appeared today ■ Io have secured parts of the [ Northern Region of Nigeria. end to have made the' Regional capital, Kaduna, j their headquarters. f General Ironsi, announcing his take-over in a radio broadcast last night, said the Army I kvas determined to suppress I rt he disorders which broke out rtwo days ago. He said that Regional and [ Native Authority police forces ; would be responsible to the [ Inspector-General of the Federal Police instead of owing! loyalty to the Regional Gov-| ernment as previously. The Army will guarantee j the safety of all members of the Council of Ministers, and also would maintain law and order in the Federation until a constitution could be drawn up in accordance with the j wishes of the people. Unanimous Action The general said he had j agreed to head a provisional military government at the' invitation of the Nigerian | Council of Ministers. Broadcasting just before I General Ironsi, the Acting President, Mr Nwafor Orizu, I said the Council of Ministers | had called on the Army unanimously and voluntarily to form a military government. As well as suspending the officers of Federal Prime Minister and President, the new leader announced the suspension of Governors, Premiers and Legislatur s in Nigeria’s four regions. Military Governors have been appointed instead for) the regions, with the former' Governors as advisers to the' new military commanders. I Leaderless Nigeria had been virtually leaderless until General j Ironsi announced he was as-j suming power. The rebels, who kidnapped the Federal Prime Minister, Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. still hold him prisoner. The President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe—who. according to the new military leadership.

is President no longer—is in I Britain. He announced there last night that he planned to fly back to Nigeria as soon as he could to try to restore i peace to the nation. The rebels meanwhile ap-, peared to be consolidating their positions in Kaduna. Their success appeared to be largely confined to the predominantly Moslerh Northern Region—largest and most highly-populated of the Federation. In Rebel Hands Six Northern Regional Ministers were reported in rebel hands in Kaduna, where the Northern Premier and his I wife were killed. Reports in Lagos last night said the rebel commander, Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzugwu, had proclaimed martial law and suspended the Government and Legislature. Major Nzugwu, calling himself “Commander of the Supreme Revolutionary Council," said in a broadcast from Kaduna yesterday that his ris- j ing was aimed at creating “aj strong united and prosperous! Nigeria, free f -n corruption | and internal strife.” Federal Government sources reported earlier that the! ,Major had been killed. But! [according to usually reliable i sources he escaped in a shooting incident with only an injured hand. In other parts of the country—in the Eastern, Western and Mid-Western regions—loyalists appeared in control. Search For P.M. According to reports reaching Lagos, an Army detachment has left Enugu, the Eastern capital, to investigate rumours that the missing 'Federal Prime Minister is being held captive in the East[ern city of Calabar. [ Lagos, the Federal capital [of 400,000 people, is quiet. [ Many people think that the [move was long overdue in [the country, whose history since it achieved independence from British rule more than five years ago has been studded by political violence and unrest. But political leaders, both on the Opposition and Government sides, refused to talk about the shift in power.