AFTER the end of the Nigerian Civil War in 1970, the change of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day (AFRD) from 11th November to 15th January, subsumed the remembrance of the high-profile civilian casualties of 1966 under an overarching military trajectory, impliedly demoting them from a great national pedestal to the footnotes of Nigerian military history.
15th January 1966 was as much a blot to the national escutcheon, as 15th January 2026 was to a lesser extent a dark spot on the Northern soul. Six decades after the former, the nation is yet to fully recover from its aftermaths, as the latter underscores a painful reality: the momentum of the memorial anniversary in honour of the slain leaders is slowed down by those whose historical destiny is to sustain its tempo.
Unlike Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Mallam Aminu Kano or Dr Nmandi Azikwe, whose ideological dispositions were well-known, the Northern Nigerian government’s public distributive principle unveiled Sir Ahmadu Bello’s underlying welfarist ideological trajectory. He administered the vast multi-ethnic and religious sub-polity with the underlying distributive principle, from each according to their northerness, to each according to their needs, not far off from the Marxian distributive formula: from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.
The North, West and the Mid-West disproportionately bore the civilian brunt of 15th January 1966. The North lost both the nation’s Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and its Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello and wife (Hafsat Bello); the West lost Premier Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and wife (Lateefat Ademulegun); and the Mid-West lost Festus Ekotie-Eboh, the Finance Minister.
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Since military etiquette wouldn’t allow the conflation of the remembrance of fallen soldiers with that of non-military personnel, irrespective of their political stature, there are imperatives for 15th January to serve as an official dual Remembrance Day for the armed forces personnel, and the civilian casualties of military violence.
There is a moral burden on the surviving Gamji brought-ups and the generations after them across the Northern fault lines – principal beneficiaries of the developmental initiatives of the Northern Nigerian government to rededicate 15th January to a grand day for the projection of the resilient Northern spirit – despite being bruised; the Balewa and Gamji governance models, to deflate the labyrinths of falsehoods woven around the fallen leaders by the murderous coupists that they were corrupt.
The socialisation of some youths into a civil war and political victimhood subculture, reinforced with a pull-down the Nigerian project psychological conditioning, requires a national platform – 15th January – to continually alert the nation to the threats and dangers of disintegrative politics, and help recalibrate the country to a functional cohesive trajectory.
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15th January is a historical window into the glorious days of Northern Nigeria, a region propelled by inclusive impatient modernisers driven by an ambitious development pacesetting agenda, vastly different from the economic, political and security wasteland it has been reduced to by self-interested political elites and a pedestal for reviewing the North’s multi-sided challenges, and articulating an economic and political roadmap out of them.
Military parades, march pasts, Airforce displays and naval acrobatics are insufficient to honour the memory of the fallen political giants. They should be complemented by civilian acrobatics and demands for good governance, national cohesion, unity and vigilance against military and democratic dictatorships. And outpourings of grief and prayers for the demised leaders and the nation.
Not long ago, Northern elites converged in Kaduna, for the Arewa Consultative Forum’s 25th anniversary; and shortly thereafter, prominent APC members convened to pass a vote of confidence on the Tinubu administration. But if not for the armed forces acrobatics, Kaduna was silent on 15th January 2026.
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One would expect that on that day, the representatives of the Northern Governors Forum, and the cream of the Northern elites academic, bureaucratic, economic, labour, non-governmental, traditional, etc., would assemble in Kaduna to honour the memory of the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Sir Ahmadu Bello aka Gamji of blessed memory.
Finally, the huge disconnect between the region’s political leadership and the people, is responsible for nostalgic yearnings for the Balewa and Gamji governance models. The political values, principles and governance models of the late leaders, might be considered analogue by today’s digital political elites, but they are more relevant to the needs of a nation and region at critical crossroads.
The nonchalant disposition of the Northern elites to 15th January 2026 could justifiably be construed as the abandonment of the slain leaders by the region in whose selfless service and the nation they lost their lives.
The duo were not known to have ever sacrificed public interests for personal political gains; to have aligned themselves with any party whose policies were subversive of national and Northern interests, and weren’t known to have refused to decisively confront the governance challenges of their times. Or, to have regarded politics as lucrative business. Neither the Balewa NPC/NCNC-led central government, nor the Bello-led NPC Northern government was hijacked by exclusive ethnic or select kitchen cabinets.
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Unlike Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Mallam Aminu Kano or Dr Nmandi Azikwe, whose ideological dispositions were well-known, the Northern Nigerian government’s public distributive principle unveiled Sir Ahmadu Bello’s underlying welfarist ideological trajectory. He administered the vast multi-ethnic and religious sub-polity with the underlying distributive principle, from each according to their northerness, to each according to their needs, not far off from the Marxian distributive formula: from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.
The Gamji era was the North’s golden age of free education, health services and zero unemployment for the educated; of maximum security of lives and properties. And of giant developmental initiatives and life more abundant policies. Sir Ahmadu Bello was as much feared and loved alike, as he is feared and loved long after his demise.
Gamjiphobia is a function of the apprehensions of the political elites to answer some unsettling questions such as: isn’t there a correlation between the sorry state of the North and their leadership model? What is the impact of degrading politics from a public service undertaking to a lucrative business on the plight of the North? Despite the significance of multiparty democracy, why are they torrentially defecting to the ruling party to transform Nigeria into a single party dictatorship?
Finally, the huge disconnect between the region’s political leadership and the people, is responsible for nostalgic yearnings for the Balewa and Gamji governance models. The political values, principles and governance models of the late leaders, might be considered analogue by today’s digital political elites, but they are more relevant to the needs of a nation and region at critical crossroads.
Jahun, a public affairs analyst, writes from Dutse, Jigawa State.
