Joseph Akahan

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Joseph Akahan

| honorific_prefix = Lieutenant Colonel

| image =

| width = 150px

| office1 = Chief of Army Staff

| term_start1 = August 1966

| term_end1 = May 1968

| predecessor1 = Yakubu Gowon

| successor1 = Hassan Katsina

| birth_date = 12 April 1937

| birth_place = Gboko LGA, British Nigeria

| death_date = {{Death-date and age |May 1968 |12 April 1937}}

| party =

| education =

| allegiance = {{flag|Nigeria}}

| branch = {{Army|Nigeria}}

| rank = 20px Lieutenant Colonel

| battles = * Congo Crisis

Nigerian Civil War

}}

Joseph Akahan (12 April 1937 – May 1968) born Joseph Akaahan Agbo, was a Nigerian military officer and Chief of Army Staff (Nigeria) from May 1967 until May 1968, when he was killed in a helicopter crash during the Nigerian Civil War.{{cite web

|url=http://www.nigerian-army.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=44

|title=Chronicle of Command

|publisher=The Nigerian Army

|accessdate=2010-06-01}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.dawodu.com/barrack6.htm

|title=BARRACKS: THE HISTORY BEHIND THOSE NAMES (PART 7 - EPILOGUE Section 1)

|author=Dr. Nowa Omoigui

|work=Dawodu

|accessdate=2010-06-01}}

Birth and education

Akahan was born on 12 April 1937 in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State.

He attended Government College Keffi where he obtained his Cambridge School Certificate (1952–1956).

He trained as an officer cadet at the RWAFF Training School Teshi, Ghana (1957–1958) and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, United Kingdom (1958–1960). He was commissed on 23 July 1960.{{cite web

|url=http://www.nigerian-army.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=0

|title=LATE COL. JRI AKAHAN (N/98) OFR FSS

|publisher=Nigerian Army

|accessdate=2010-06-01}}

Military career

Akahan served with the Nigerian Contingent during the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in Congo.

In the January 1966 coup that brought Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to power, the mainly northern Ibadan-based 4th battalion lost its commanding officer who was replaced by an Igbo, Major Nzefili. The northern officers refused to obey him, and Aguiyi-Ironsi was forced to replace him with Major Joe Akahan, a northern Tiv officer.{{cite web

|url=http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/362/1/The-Northern-Counter-Coup-Of-1966-The-Full-Story/Page1.html

|title=The Northern Counter-Coup Of 1966: The Full Story

|author=Max Siollun

|author-link=Max Siollun

|date=2003-11-11

|work=Nigerians in America

|accessdate=2010-06-01}}

Akahan was one of the leaders of the Nigerian counter-coup of 1966 in which Aguiyi-Ironsi was killed and replaced General Yakubu Gowon, and in which there was a mass slaughter of Igbo officers at 4th Battalion in Ibadan under Akahan's command.{{cite web

|url=http://magazine.biafranigeriaworld.com/aehirim/2002sep06.html

|title=IGBOS, IGBO CHARTER, ETC., AND THE IGBO NATION

|work=BiafraNigeriaWorld Magazine

|author=Ambrose Ehirim

|accessdate=2010-06-01}}

Following the coup he said there would be no more killing by Northern soldiers "since events had now balanced out".{{cite web

|url=http://news.biafranigeriaworld.com/archive/2003/mar/17/0199.html

|work=THE TRIUMPH

|date=May 17, 2003

|title=The roller coaster life of Murtala Muhammed (I)

|author=Max Siollun

|accessdate=2010-06-01}}