Oil, Politics and Violence: Nigeria's Military Coup Culture 1966-1976 [Paperback]

Max Siollun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0875867081 | ISBN-13: 978-0875867083

This is a ground breaking book by historian Max Siollun about the relationship between oil and military rule in Nigeria. 


Modern Nigeria cannot be understood without reference to its era of military rule. Military rule and oil wealth effected cataclysmic changes in Nigeria that nearly tore the country apart on several occasions. 40 years after the end of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, Max Siollun answers the key questions that go to the root of the Nigerian nation:

*Who were the key personalities and events that caused the Nigeria/Biafra civil war?
*What is the root of the Niger Delta oil conflict and the "curse of oil"?
*How has Nigeria managed to endure successive military coups, civil war, ethnic violence and still remain united?
*The role of Babangida, Ojukwu, Abacha, Obasanjo, Yar'Adua and Buhari in previous military coup plots and Nigerian governments.


The book's style is that of a fast paced dramatised narrative that will bring the characters and the story to life in a manner that will engage the casual, journalistic or academic reader. Those who have read the book have described it as the most detailed published analysis of the major events and controversies of Nigeria from independence until the 1976 assassination of its then Head of State General Murtala Muhammed. These include the traumatic January and July coups of 1966, the unprecedented magnanimity of the federal leader General Gowon after Nigeria's civil war, the post war stewardship of Gowon, and an hour by hour reconstruction of the events leading up to the 1976 Dimka coup in which Gowon's successor General Murtala Muhammed was killed.


The book is the definitive reference point for Nigeria's political life between 1960 and 1976. It examines the controversies of that era with the encyclopaedic detail and penetrating analysis that is Max Siollun's trademark. No previous text has exhaustively analysed these events or this period in Nigeria's history. What lessons can be learned from the events and mistakes of this period? How can Nigeria avoid repeating those mistakes? Max Siollun answers these questions and many more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I cannot commend this book too highly...this book is a revelation". - Kaye Whiteman (Business Day)
"The most comprehensive and authentic documentation on the Nigerian coup and counter coup of 1966 and the Biafran War that I have ever seen." - Former Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria

This is a political history of Nigeria covering 1966-1976. The focus is on the outsized role of the Nigerian military in Nigerian politics and the role of oil wealth and the exploitation of ethnic divisions in preserving that role. --©2009 Book News Inc. Portland, OR

About the Author

Max Siollun is a historian and commentator on Nigerian political and governmental issues, specializing in Nigerian history and the Nigerian military's participation in politics. Although born in Nigeria, he was educated in England and is a graduate of the University of London. For the past decade has been a well known columnist for several publications on Nigerian history and contemporary affairs.

His balanced critiques on Nigerian history and the Nigerian military s intervention in politics has given him a reputation as one of the most renowned scholars on Nigeria's posy-independence history, and unprecedented access to documentary and eyewitness sources regarding Nigeria's history.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Algora Publishing (March 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875867081
• ISBN-13: 978-0875867083
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #703,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > History > Africa > Nigeria

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, Impartial, Objective and Incisive August 3, 2009

By O. OKE

Format:Paperback

This book has for once laid to rest the many inconsistencies and to a large degree partial and disjointed accounts presented over the years by so called "eye witness" accounts of the various events over the period from 1966 to 1976.
Devoid of any hints of propagandist material, Mr Siollun has given us an incisive and impartial account of the events of those years with copious cross references to authoritative and classified material which the author relied on through out the book. An added advantage is the fact that the "characters" current location and professional circumstances are dutifully and meticulously presented to the reader well into the present day. For instance, we were able to note that the erstwhile post failed 1976 coup Murtala successor General Obasanjo came back as a Civillian President much later on.
Mr Siollun has the unique advantage of being born in Nigeria but not natively belonging to any of the main tribes in Nigeria hence could not be seen or accused of being "Hausa centric", "igbo centric" or "Yoruba centric" in what has been an objective and well researched book.
The book itself is invariably a culmination of several decades of painstaking researched articles and materials written and published by the author over the years - already available in the public domain. What this book has done is to cleverly weave these together and provide the avid reader/follower of Nigerian History with a comprehensive harness of updated material hitherto unseen until now.
I was born around mid 1967 in the UK but returned with my parents to Nigeria late the same year when the Civil War was already in "full swing". We lived at GRA Ikeja (a few hundred meters to the Military Cantonment in Ikeja). Indeed at a point in time Babangida was our next door neighbour for several years when he was a junior "unknown" officer! I recall my parents (Who were federal civil servants based in Lagos) much later on recounting the dreadful events of that period. Though I did recall vividly the abortive Dimka coup of barely a decade later and the Udoji award and the attendant inflation that occured shortly afterwards. Indeed I recalled going to the Museum at Onikan in Lagos with my parents to view the bullet ridden Mercedes in which General Murtala met his untimely death. I was barely 13 years old then but ever since that visit, I made up my mind to hunt down as much information as possible with regards to the chequered history of our beloved nation.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the author's "first installment" of the 1966 to 1976 period, I cannot wait for the next installment covering the period December 1983 to October 1999. Indeed as fate would have it, My late Dad was the Territorial Manager at the Post and Telecoms(later renamed to NITEL) Ikeja Telephone Exchange which was walking distance from the Ikeja Military barracks. I do recall a very interesting encounter during the 1983 coup when soldiers came knocking on our door in the wee hours of the morning. As was customary in those days, the soldiers would generally take over the radio station and deactivate the local exchange at ikeja which my Dad headed at the time. On getting to the exchange on the fateful night, they ordered the technicians to switch off the power to deactive all local and international line in/out of the Exchange but the techician panicked and was not able to do so especially whilst under pressure from gun totting and fierce looking soldiers from the Ikeja cantonment. The technician was thereafter escorted under armed guard to our residence which was around half a mile down the road. My dad was politely roused from bed at around 2AM and taken to the exchange under armed guard whereupon he dutifully deactivated the relevant equipment; was told to go back home and "we were all sworn to secrecy". Of course we could not sleep a wink and welcomed the new year with martial music on the airwave.
Indeed unbeknown to us at the time, we were unwitting accessories to the commencement of almost two decades of military rule starting with the Buhari/Idiagbon regime and ending with the brutal dictatorial military regimes of Babangida/Abacha. With a number of real and phantom coups also thrown in somewhere in between for "good measures".
Once again Max, we doff out hats to you and really do appreciate your kind efforts at taking the time to provide Nigerians with a well written and incisive account of those years. A benchmark has been set and we fervently hope your next account will be equally as exhilarating.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Untangling The Web - Reviewing Oil and Politics By Max Siollun May 19, 2009

By Iwedi Ojinmah

Format:Paperback

Once in while there comes a book that makes us either sit up straight or reflect on our lives... past and present. It is even more appreciated and of importance when such a book is a serious one and about a subject matter, that even 4 decades after it engulfed Nigeria in arguably Africa's most vicious war pitching suspicious cousin against each other , it is still rife with so much controvesy and emotional debate that one can seriously question if true National reconcilation has not remained deferred.

Max Siollun, has produced such a wonder in Oil Politics and Violence: Nigeria's Military Coup Culture (1966-1976)

Right out the gates the English born Nigerian but US based Professor, separates himself from the rest of the pack of historians that have feebly tackled early Nigerian Politics with his pronounced objectivity and absolutely impeccable research. In a detailed chronological sequence of events he locks the door on many a propagated myth and exposes among others how for instance the Igbo's became political scapegoats not by choice but by default. He also amazingly shows how for the better part of 3 decades it was pretty much "old wine in new bottles" as the same vagabonds in power continued -just like some morbid spoke of a wheel- to keep in place Nigeria's wobbly and corrupt coup culture.

Each of the 268 pages is saturated with such intricate fact that you often have to pinch yourself back into reality to realize again that all this stuff really did occur, and is not the draft of an up till now unknown Shakespearean tragedy. The man really names names and one has to virtually munch on a mint to supress the subsequent but delicious bite.

However while his book will serve hopefully as salve on the deep festering wound inflicted on Nigeria, it does not address the more dangerous and ever present infection that lingers on still robbing her of her full potential; because it summates just ten years out of almost 45 years. Since there is an undeniable thread linking the past to the present and vice versa ; we salivate at the possibility......NO I take that back ....." we implore" the absolute need of a part 2 that will continue to explore the murky dysfunctional rot that is Nigerian Politics. The story after 1976 must also be examined with as equal objectivity and openness and till then we will remain hungry at the table like guests denied of a spectacular entrée after being treaded to array of amazing hors d'oeuvres.....pounding our forks and just like Twist - asking for more.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Oil Politics & Violence: Up close and personal history January 14, 2013

By Ebele

Format:Paperback

'Oil Politics and Violence' will be a key reference and resource book on Nigerian history for many years to come. It is both an 'up close and personal' yet cool, measured and detached account of military history in the first decade and a half after independence. It is incredibly detailed - telling what, whom, when and why - but all the detail is handled dexterously and creates a very compelling human picture.

Perhaps the title of the book should be 'politics, violence and regionalism' in the military ( the oil only becomes a serious factor later).Much of what drives the politics of Military rule is the need to control executive power, the use of violence and region( and tribe).

Unlike many more recent accounts Mr Siolluns account of the collapse of the First Republic and crisis does not seem to have any discernible axe to grind or hurt to nurse, which helps to make this account more readable, authoritative and 'balanced'. It overturns a few myths and offers what feels like a final and credible last word on a few controversies. lt is interested in people and follows a few careers from one crisis to the next, and beyond, describing the character and possible motives of key individuals.

It is both an exhilarating and sad read; 'all the best lack conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity' as Yeats would say. Good guys hardly ever win in Nigerian history and often their actions make matters worse.

I cannot wait to read the sequel.

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