Nigeria, July 13 -- Tuesday, 29 July will be the 50th anniversary of the overthrow of General Yakubu Gowon (GCFR). He was overthrown in a bloodless military coup on the same Tuesday, 29 July, 1975. Most of us remember where we were at 6.00 a.m. on that day when the Commander of the Brigade of Guards made the following announcement.

"Fellow countrymen and women, I, Colonel Joseph Nanven Garba, in consultation with my colleagues, do hereby declare that in view of what has been happening in our country in the past few months, the Nigerian Armed Forces decided to effect a change of the leadership of the Federal Military Government.

As from now, General Yakubu Gowon ceases to be head of the Federal Military Government and Commander-in-Chief ...