The Night Ironsi Fell & His ADC Lived
The Night Nigeria Fractured: How Captain Andrew Nwankwo Escaped the July 1966 Counter-Coup
A Nation on the Edge
BY July 1966, Nigeria’s young military government was standing on a fault line of suspicion, fear and ethnic mistrust. The January coup that brought Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to power had left deep scars within the armed forces. Many northern officers viewed it as an “Igbo coup,” while rumours of an inevitable counter-coup circulated openly across barracks nationwide.
It was within this volatile atmosphere that one of the most dramatic episodes of Nigeria’s military history unfolded — the abduction and killing of the Head of State, and the miraculous escape of his Aide-de-Camp, Captain Andrew Nwankwo.
The Abduction at Ibadan
On the night of 29 July 1966, northern officers led by Major Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma struck at Government House, Ibadan. Major General Aguiyi-Ironsi was seized alongside his host, Lieutenant Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, and his ADC, Captain Nwankwo.
Their hands and legs were bound with telephone cables, loosely enough to allow movement but firmly enough to restrain escape. The captives were separated into different vehicles — a Land Rover for Ironsi, a minibus for Fajuyi, and another bus for Nwankwo — an early sign that their fates might diverge.
A Pact Forged in Suspicion
Captain Nwankwo’s survival did not begin in the forest outside Ibadan; it began months earlier in the tense aftermath of the January coup. Amid mutual accusations and ethnic profiling within the army, Nwankwo had engaged in a heated argument with his close friend, Lieutenant Sanni Bello.
Each accused the other’s ethnic group of plotting the next takeover. Yet from that confrontation emerged a solemn pact: if violence came from one side, the officer belonging to that side would protect the other. It was a promise born of fear, but also of loyalty — and it would prove decisive.
Into the Forest of Death
The convoy drove toward Iwo Road, about ten kilometres from Ibadan, before stopping near a small forest. The prisoners were marched toward a stream. Lieutenant Colonel Fajuyi led the way.
As he attempted to cross the water, he slipped and fell. Accounts describe the soldiers as unruly, some possibly under the influence of drugs. The fall triggered a brutal beating.
In that moment of chaos, Sanni Bello moved swiftly.
The Escape
Bello tapped Nwankwo and whispered, “We could do something now.” In a split second, Nwankwo stepped away and leapt into a nearby ditch. Bello immediately stood over the spot, shouting and pointing in another direction, claiming Nwankwo had fled into the bush.
The soldiers fired repeatedly into the false direction. When they believed Nwankwo had been killed, they turned back and executed Fajuyi and Ironsi beside the stream.
Bello remained behind until he was certain Nwankwo had escaped, becoming the last person to leave the killing site.
Survival and Legacy
Captain Andrew Nwankwo survived not only the counter-coup but also the Nigerian Civil War that followed. In 1983, he transitioned from soldier to politician, winning a Senate seat to represent Izzi/Anakaliki, in what is now Ebonyi State.
His survival stands as one of the most extraordinary personal escapes in Nigeria’s violent political history — a reminder that, even amid betrayal and bloodshed, individual loyalty could still defy the tide.
