The first part of this series was concluded and sent to the SUNDAY Editor on Sunday, August 14, 2016. The next day, Monday, two Nigerian newspapers, GUARDIAN and NATION, carried the same story with the heading ‘New York Imam, Assistant shot dead”. The report was undoubtedly sourced from the wire services or the internet. The NATION’s version is hereby reproduced fully.

I am not in the business of “I told you so “but I told you so. Two weeks ago, in my column titled:” Paralysis by analysis, I wrote about the litany of disasters leading to the Olympics in Rio; how athletes were turning to social media to fund their training and flights, how ill-prepared the Nigerian athletes were, how unsupported and ill-equipped they were, how tightly controlled the allowance for the athletes that were as they were allocated $75 daily and told they would get the other half on their return home!

Last week Saturday, I had the privilege of serving as guest speaker at the installation of the President of the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Airfield where I drew attention to the need for Nigerian politicians to emulate Rotarians while seeking elective office.

Jesus says: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). Many take this to mean there is life in the scriptures. But Jesus says different. He tells the Jews: “You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40).

So, let us try to consider as dispassionately as we can, on the basis of available data, whether the first military coup was indeed an Igbo coup, as alleged by some writers such as Isama Elaigwu, in Gowon: The Biography of a Soldier-Statesman and Karl Maier, in This House has Fallen Nigeria: in Crisis. But before we do that, certain basic points must be highlighted.