1967-1970 BIAFRA-NIGERIA CIVIL WAR: The Biggest Losers pt. 4

This is an interesting article writte By El-Ngugar  Agav. Please read;

Who remembers (knows) a certain Lt. Col. Joseph Akaahan in Nigerian history? 

Barely a few, I guess. 

Many Benue indigenes and or Residents (particularly in Makurdi and Gboko towns) should be conversant with the name- Joe Akaahan way (starting from High-Level roundabout to Police Headquarters) in Makurdi; and Joe Akaahan way (from Makir Zakpe road through Main Market to JS Tarka) in Gboko. The Army Barrack of 72 Battalion, Makurdi too is named after him, though very few call it thus. In brief, the man Joseph Akaahan (1937-1968) was Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff between 1967-1968 when he was KILLED (maybe “assassinated” would sound better) in a Helicopter crash during the war. Let’s consider his profile a little bit before we proceed to the crux of this part of the series. Joseph Akaahan schooled at the Government College Keffi (take to heart that this school is Alma Mater to a large percentage of Nigerian Leaders/Rulers) before joining the Army. He trained as an Officer Cadet at RWAFF Training School Teshi, Ghana between 1957 and 1958, and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, United Kingdom from 1958 to 1960 (take to heart also the place of this Sandhurst Military Academy to Nigeria’s leadership hiSTORY). He participated integrally in the UN Peacekeeping mission in the Congo. In the advent of the 1966 coup that ushered in Maj. Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi as the Head of State, another IGBO man, Major Nzefili was given command of the 4th Battalion, but the predominantly northern populated battalion denied obedience to Nzefili. He had to be replaced by none other than Lt. Col. Joseph Akaahan. In the coup that followed which saw the deaths of Aguiyi-Ironsi and so many officers of Igbo origin, Akaahan was a major player; and he it was that came up to announce to the nation and the world that there shall no more be killings by Northern officers “since events had now balanced out”. Balanced out? At least, that was what then 29 year old Joe Akaahan thought. But he was wrong as the killing of Igbo people had only began, only that it had gone beyond officers. The wanton killing of Igbo people living in the Northern part of the country and Gen. Yakubu Gowon’s perceived passiveness was one of the major onuses of the Secession declaration by Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, to which non-consent kicked off the 1967-1970 war. When Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon ascended to become the Head of State, Lt. Col. Joseph Akaahan became the Chief of Army Staff of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in May of 1967, days before the outbreak of the war. During the war, he masterminded so many strategies that brought victories to the Federal troops, the concept of the Sea-Borne operations that captured Bonny in 1967 (although led by Lt. Col. B. Adekunle) said to be among his brainchild. Lt. Col. Joseph Akaahan was a Tiv man from the present Benue state.


In the month of May, 1968, about a year into the war, and of course, a year serving as the COAS and leader of the Federal Troops, Lt. Col. Joseph Akaahan got killed in a Helicopter crash between Gboko and Makurdi. The Biafran fighters were not responsible for the downing of the Helicopter Akaahan was aboard, considering the fact that they did not have any base deep in the heart of Tivland. The big question the crash raised was what the Cause could have been- hence, if the Biafran soldiers did not shoot down the Helicopter, WHO or WHAT caused the helicopter carrying the COAS of the Federal Troops to crash? Take to heart that his flight took off from Gboko- Gboko being his hometown (he had dashed home from Bida to have a talk with his People. It was unofficial!). Mind also that when he had landed in Gboko, he had his helicopter scrutinized, one of the two pilots took the helicopter to Makurdi and back, before later carrying Lt. Col. Joe Akaahan on his flight to the beyond…
In the late Lt. Col. Joseph Akaahan, the Tiv nation lost a more-than-ordinary son- one of the best soldiers this country has ever produced. But beyond losing a son, the Tiv nation lost the chance to produce a Head of State, while the country lost the chance of cutting short the duration of the war, where millions of lives wouldn’t have been so lost. How? We shall look into this in the next part of this series.



El-Ngugar Agav writes from Gboko, Nigeria Benue State