1966 Nigerian counter-coup

1966 Nigerian counter-coup
Date	28 July – 1 August 1966
Location	Nigeria
Result	Coup successful End of the Ironsi regime; Elimination of many Igbo soldiers and officers; Beginning of Northern dominance of the Nigerian Army; Yakubu Gowon appointed Head of State; 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom Intensifies; Rift between the Eastern Region Government and the Federal Military Government;
Belligerents
Supreme Military Council of Nigeria	Northern Army Officers
Commanders and leaders
Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi †; Adekunle Fajuyi †	Murtala Muhammed; Joseph Akahan; Theophilus Danjuma; Martin Adamu
Strength
unknown	unknown
Casualties and losses
300 dead	none

The 1966 Nigerian counter-coup (also known as the "July Rematch") was the second of many military coups in Nigeria. It was masterminded by Lt. Colonel Murtala Muhammed and many northern military officers. The coup began as a mutiny at roughly midnight on 28 July 1966 and was a reaction to the killings of Northern politicians and officers by some soldiers on 15 January 1966 (see 1966 Nigerian coup d'état). The July mutiny/counter coup resulted in the murder of Nigeria's first military Head of State General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and Lt Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi (who was hosting a visiting Aguiyi-Ironsi) in Ibadan by disgruntled northern non-commissioned officers (NCOs). Upon the termination of Ironsi's government, Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon was appointed Head of State by the coup conspirators.

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