Aguiyi Ironsi was murdered while trying to safeguard the nonsensical Nigerian Unity

Aguiyi Ironsi: The Igbo Martyr who died to safeguard the nonsensical Nigerian Unity

A moment before he was shot, on July 29, 1966, Nigeria’s first military head of state Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi reportedly told his assailants, “Shoot me and you shoot Nigeria.” The goons did not budge. They emptied magazines of Stein guns into his body and that of Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, military governor of Western Region.

Aguiyi Ironsi: The Igbo Martyr who died to safeguard the nonsensical Nigerian Unity

Aguiyi Ironsi: The Igbo Martyr who died to safeguard the nonsensical Nigerian Unity

A moment before he was shot, on July 29, 1966, Nigeria’s first military head of state Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi reportedly told his assailants, “Shoot me and you shoot Nigeria.” The goons did not budge. They emptied magazines of Stein guns into his body and that of Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, military governor of Western Region.