sentences:  He had no troops, and he was unable to rely on the few individuals available to him, many of whom were northern and were unwilling to take orders from a Christian southerner.Furthermore, he was basically a soldier and had no personal political ambitions.He understood that the preservation of Nigeria as one country meant that a southern Christian would be unable to hold the country together, and he took himself out of the power equation by accepting Yakubu Gowon (several years his junior) as the head of the new military government.