ACF urges FG to declare Jan 15 true democracy day

Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called on the Federal Government to consider January 15 as the true democracy day.

The Northern leader said it was on that day in 1966 that the military ousted and killed the nation’s brilliant political leaders.

According to ACF, the day should be seen by all Nigerians, particularly the Northerners, as a period of national reflection, mourning and prayers for the political leaders, who lost their lives in the hands of the military, through the first military coup d’état in the country.

“ACF hereby calls on all peoples of the North in particular, and the nation at large, to not forget 1966 by yearly observing January 15 as a day of national mourning for democracy, to be used for reflections and prayers for a never again event.”

In a statement, yesterday, in commemoration of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, ACF spokesman, Prof Tukur Muhammed-Baba, said: “For ACF, January 15, 1966, remains most poignantly significant because Northern Nigeria lost its most illustrious sons to the guns of the coup plotters, ending their brilliant political and military careers in the service of the nation”.

“Arguably, the 1966 coup sign-posted the death of Nigeria’s nascent democracy, which still reverberates most negatively in the national political history.”

Besides, the Northern socio-cultural group said January 15, 2024, marked the 58th anniversary of a very dark day in the political history of the country.

“It is beyond a Remembrance Day for members of the armed forces, who paid the supreme price in defence of the nation. It was on January 15, 1966, that the first ever military coup took place in Nigeria, signalled by the cold-blooded assassination of 21 people.

“In itself, the event set Nigeria on a sad trajectory in its political development from which it is yet to recover. The coup was plotted and executed by Majors Chukwuma Nzeogwu, Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Chris Anuforo, Don Okafor and Ademola Ademoyega.”