- Tenure
- January — July 1966
- Era
- Civil War & First Military Era (1966 — 1979)
- Mode of entry
- Inherited power after the failed 15 January 1966 coup
- Mode of exit
- Killed in the 29 July 1966 counter-coup at Ibadan
- Spouse
- Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi · 1966
Promulgated Decree 34 abolishing the federation and unifying the regions. Killed in the counter-coup of 29 July 1966 that brought Yakubu Gowon to power.
Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi (1924–1966) was the General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army and the surviving senior officer in Lagos after the failed January 1966 coup. The cabinet handed him executive power on 16 January 1966.
His Decree 34 of 24 May 1966 abolished the regional federation and substituted a unitary state with a single federal civil service. Combined with the perception that the January coup had been an Igbo coup whose victims were predominantly Northern leaders, Decree 34 triggered the May–July 1966 anti-Igbo riots across the North. On 29 July, a counter-coup of mostly Northern junior officers killed Aguiyi-Ironsi and his host Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi at Government House Ibadan.
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged
Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.