More details have been revealed 52 years after the death of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, one of the master planners of Nigeria’s first military coup.
There have been different versions of how the gallant soldier died in 1967, but his younger sister who reluctantly revealed the never told story of how Nzeogwu died said her brother injected himself when it was clear that Federal troops during the Civil War were going to capture and humiliate him.
In an interview published by The Sun, Susan Uwechie, Nzeogwu’s younger sister said her brother was not killed by the Nigerian forces as widely speculated by those who do not have an idea of how his brother died.
According to Mrs Uwechie, Federal forces killed any captured Biafran soldiers in the most gruesome act, which her brother tried to avoid.
Until today, no one could specifically say how he died, writer of his Wikipedia page says, “died in a mysterious circumstance on 29 July 1967 in Nsuka sector during the Nigeria Civil War”.
Mrs Uwechie who was in the North when the war broke said members of her family later revealed how the young Major died, “You see, during the war, he knew that all the soldiers that they caught died a gruesome death”.
According to her, captured Biafran soldiers were tied with a rope to a vehicle and drove along with their heads hitting the road until they died.
“My brother said no, I won’t die like that. They won’t kill me like that. Before they kill me, I will do something.
She said Nzeogwu knew that his own death would be more terrible if he allowed the Federal troops to capture him, “he felt that if they got hold of him, his own death will be the worst ever”.
Mrs Uwechie who was reluctant in revealing how her brave brother died said Major Nzeogwu injected himself and threw a grenade thereafter when he realised he’d been surrounded by his captors.
“He injected himself. After injecting himself, he threw a grenade. By then, the Nigerian soldiers were around,” The Sun quoted her as saying.
Government troops on an armoured car during the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, Okitipupa, Nigeria, circa 1969. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Government troops on an armoured car during the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, Okitipupa, Nigeria, circa 1969. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
She said one of the planners of the first military coup Emmanuel Ifeajuna was a trusted friend of her brother, but Ifeajuna later betrayed Nzeogwu.
According to her, “He was together with Emmanuel Ifeajuna, his colleague. He betrayed him and sold him to the Nigerian soldiers. He slipped away and told them that ‘that person that is holding the war, I just left him there.
“Go there, and you will meet him’ and really they saw him, and he knew it was time to go. Immediately they came near, he did that thing.
“He injected himself and released a grenade. All those soldiers died with him. He died a great soldier,” she revealed.
She also alluded former Nigeria’s president Chief Olusegun, who was Nzeogwu’s friend, for the financial and moral support he has been giving the family since the death of his friend.
During the Civil War which lasted for three years, thousands of people were killed most of who were Biafran soldiers while more than a million children were estimated to have died of malnutrition.
SOURCE: Daily Advent/Sun