Why We Struck
A firsthand memoir by Adewale Ademoyega, one of the army majors who took part in Nigeria's first military coup in January 1966. Writing years after the events, he sets out the planning, motives, and aftermath of the coup from an insider's point of view and argues for why the plotters acted as they did. It reads as both a personal narrative and a piece of contested political history, covering the young officers' grievances with the civilian government of the era. Readers interested in postcolonial Nigerian politics will find a participant's account of a pivotal and violent moment.