Nigeria, Feb. 10 -- The second Nigerian coup on July 29, 1966 was quite brutal. That is the brutal truth. To avoid what may be brutal, I do not set out to write the truth, but what is historical. There are two main strands protruding from that coup like a buried corpse with two visible hands. The first is that it was "a revenge coup" allegedly to avenge the killings of non-Igbo leaders in the January 1966 coup. The second is that it was a coup to enable the North secede from Nigeria.

However, with the success of the coup, the British advised the plotters to drop their secession plan and take over the entire country rather than confine themselves to the North.

The two main leaders of the second coup were the genial Chief of Staff, Army,...