Beyond Moralising History: The Real Structural Antecedents Of 1966 And Modern Governance

By Mohamed Kari
In a recent commentary published in a national newspaper and on some social media platforms on the legal travails surrounding former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Mambilla hydropower arbitration saga, Professor Chidi Odinkalu opens with an engaging contrast. He juxtaposes the multi-million-dollar property forfeiture judgments with the frugal lifestyles of Nigeria’s First Republic founding fathers.
While Odinkalu’s outrage at contemporary administrative graft is entirely justified, his opening premise rests on a flawed historical framing. Casting the January 15, 1966 military coup as an “anti-corruption” intervention, whose execution ...