One of my favourite books growing up was Adewale Ademoyega’s “Why We Struck.” This account of the Nigerian Civil War was more insightful to me than the other available accounts because it focused not just on the nuts and bolts of the military campaign (which I found dreadfully boring), but also on the lead up to the January 1966 coup that started it all off.
What made a special impression on me was Ademoyega’s staunch and unapologetic belief that he and his co-conspirators acted in the best interests of Nigeria and that everything was conceived in good faith. The word “patriotic” appeared…
