Nigeria, 1990 — military coup attempt

Event Summary

On 22 April 1990 a faction of mostly junior and middle ranking officers led by Major Gideon Orkar launched the bloodiest coup attempt in Nigeria's history against the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida. The rebels, drawn largely from Middle Belt and southern minority groups and financed by the businessman Great Ogboru, seized the federal radio station and attacked military targets around Lagos, including the presidential residence at Dodan Barracks. Babangida was present when the barracks were assaulted but escaped by a back route.

In an extraordinary broadcast, Orkar denounced the regime and announced the temporary excision of five northern states from Nigeria, a move that alienated potential allies. The coup collapsed within about ten to eleven hours, decisively defeated when the army chief of staff General Sani Abacha, whose assassination the plotters had failed to achieve, rallied loyalist armored forces. The reprisals were savage: Orkar and dozens of co conspirators were convicted of treason and executed by firing squad, the largest such execution in Nigerian history.

The failed coup also raised Abacha's stature, positioning him to seize power himself in 1993.