1966 — The Counter-Coup

On July 29, 1966, Nigeria's second military coup came like a thunderclap. Northern soldiers struck back against General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, the head of state who had taken power in January's coup. Ironsi and his host, Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, were seized in Ibadan and executed by their captors.

The northern officers installed General Yakubu Gowon as the new head of state, the youngest leader Nigeria had ever seen. But the killing of Igbo officers triggered pogroms in the north, and tens of thousands fled to the southeast. Within a year, Nigeria would plunge into the Biafran War, one of the bloodiest conflicts in African history.