success of the coup in Northern Nigeria. According to a Nigerian Police Special Branch Report, Nzeogwu executed at least 4 army and police security personnel including one of the men on his team (Sergeant Daramola Oyegoke). Nzeogwu also participated in the execution of Col. Raph Shodeinde, his superior officer at the Nigerian Military Training College and is reported to have shot indiscriminately at fleeing women and children. After waiting for an early morning radio announcement from Major Adewale Ademoyega in Lagos which did not take place because of the failure of the coup in Lagos, Major Nzeogwu made an mid-afternoon announcement, declaring martial law in Northern Nigeria. Arrest Following the announcement from Kaduna, and information that Nzeogwu was gathering forces to attack Lagos which was a huge possibility at the time, Commander of the Army, Maj. Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi sent emissaries led by a man Maj. Nzeogwu heavily respected, Lt. Col. Conrad Nwawo, to Kaduna to negotiate peace talks with Maj. Nzeogwu and a possible surrender. Maj. Nzeogwu set conditions which Gen. Ironsi agreed to. Aguyi Ironsi assumed power, and Nzeogwu was later arrested in Lagos on 18 January 1966 contrary to agreements earlier reached between Nzeogwu and Ironsi. He was held in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos before being transferred to Aba Prison in the Eastern Region where he was released in March 1967 by Governor of the Eastern Region and future President of Biafra Chukwuemeka Ojukwu. Civil war and death On 30 May 1967, Biafra declared its independence from Nigeria; this was spurred by the incessant killing of Igbos in Northern Nigeria and the refusal of then military head of state General Yakubu Gowon to mobilize security personnel to stop the killings. On 29 July 1967, Nzeogwu - who had been promoted to the rank of a Biafran Lt. Colonel - was trapped in an ambush near Nsukka while conducting a night reconnaissance operation against federal troops of the 21st battalion under Captain Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi. He was killed in action and his corpse was subsequently identified; however his sister insisted he killed himself to avoid being humiliated by the federal troops. After the defeat of Biafra orders were given by the Nigerian military head of state General Yakubu Gowon, for him to be buried at the military cemetery in Kaduna with full military honours. Legacy Some viewpoints have romanticized Nzeogwu as a revolutionary however his actions