1966 Nigerian coup d'état

1966 Nigerian coup d'etat
Date	15–16 January 1966
Location	Nigeria
Result	Coup failed End of the First Nigerian Republic; Assassination of 11 senior politicians; Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi seizes power; Coup conspirators arrested; Beginning of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria (1966–1979); Beginning of the 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom; 1966 Nigerian counter-coup six months later;
Belligerents
Government of Nigeria	Rebel Army Officers
Commanders and leaders
Nnamdi Azikiwe; Nwafor Orizu; Abubakar Balewa †; Ahmadu Bello †; Samuel Akintola †; Festus Okotie-Eboh †; Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi	Kaduna Nzeogwu; Adewale Ademoyega ; Emmanuel Ifeajuna;
Strength
unknown	unknown
Casualties and losses
22 dead	0

A coup d'état began in Nigeria on 15 January 1966, when rebellious soldiers led by Kaduna Nzeogwu and 4 others killed 22 people including the prime minister of Nigeria, many senior politicians, many senior Army officers and their wives, and sentinels on protective duty. The coup plotters attacked the cities of Kaduna, Ibadan, and Lagos while also blockading the Niger and Benue River within a two-day timespan before being subdued. The General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, was compelled to take control of the government of a country in upheaval, inadvertently putting Nigeria's nascent democracy on hold. His ascendancy to power was deemed a conspiracy by the coup plotters, who were majorly Igbo Majors, to pave the way for General Aguiyi-Ironsi to be head of state of Nigeria. Consequently, the retaliatory events by Northern members of the Nigerian Army that led to deaths of many innocent Igbo soldiers and civilians caused the Nigerian Civil War.

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