Nigeria Today in History....

Two major things happened in Nigeria on this day Jan 15.

On Jan 15,1966,the first coup was carried out in Nigeria,This coup led to the loss of life of many,it was carried out by Nigerian Military officers,headed by Major K.C Nzeogwu,Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna was also among the officers that carried out the coup,they killed Prime minister  Alhaji Tafawa Balewa,A northern Nigerian,as well as other high ranking northerners,other notable victims were,the Saraduna of Sokoto,and the finance minister Okote-Eboh.
The second military coup(Which was a counter coup planned by the northerners against the Igbo's as a revenge for killing their brothers in the Jan 15th coup) in July that same year saw Major General Gowon succeed Ironsi,and of course this brought conflict because he was not meant to be the one to succeed Ironsi considering his rank then.
According to facts,it was said that Brigadier Ogundipe was supposed to take over from Ironsi,and the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu saw this as a slight,since He didn't view it appropriate to take orders from Gowon,and this led to a personality clash.
All this and among other things including the rampant killing of the Igbo's by the Northerners led to the secession of the eastern region from Nigeria and the declaration of Biafra as an independent nation on 30th may 1967,this declaration eventually led to the civil war of July 6,1967.
The war lasted 30 months,and there was so much killing and bloodshed in the country,The Igbo's were badly affected because they did not have enough warfare,while The Nigerian troops were assisted by America even though America earlier claimed that it won't interfere since Nigeria was a British area, Biafra had just few supporters from countries like Tanzania,Gabon,Cote d'Ivoire,Zambia and Haita,other foreign countries that lent their both support were France,and Israel while Europe lent it's sympathy,still Biafra still didn't have enough military warfare,and this led to the fall of many Biafran towns,infact the Biafra town of Owerri fell on 9th January and Uli fell on 11 January.
Eventually on January 15th 1970 Biafra's chief of General staff,Major General Effiong signed Biafra's formal surrender and this took place at Dodan Barracks,Lagos,it would be recalled that few days earlier Ojukwu fled into exile by flying by plane to Ivory coast,thereby leaving the details of surrender to Phillip.
Biafra's Director of military intelligence,Bernard Odogwo,speaking on that day said the date was most significant in the sense that "it was the date exactly four years ago when our young 'revolutionaries' triggered' off the civil crisis that culminated in the civil war and the loss of lives".