Between Ademulegun and Gowon, by Emeka Obasi

General Yakubu Gowon’s attempt at writing seems to be taking sleep away from the 92 – year old soldier turned Political Scientist who led Nigeria through genocide between 1967 and 1970. His book, ‘My Life Of Duty And Allegiance’ continues to trend.

The autobiography is injurious to many and questions are being asked. Gowon ended up painting himself as the lone saint among sinners. No words were spared in diminishing senior colleagues, friends, foes and even  subordinates.

Mrs Solape Ademulegun – Agbi, daughter of Brig. Samuel Ademulegun, is still in shock. As a six – year – old, she watched the killing of her father and eight months pregnant mother, in Kaduna during the January 15, 1966 coup. Gowon has reopened old wounds.

Solape said : “I want to understand what he meant by everyone knew that Nzeogwu was hostile to Ademulegun, they never agreed on several issues. One being that Ademulegun romanced with the Northern political leaders. Was he supposed to be the enemy of the political leaders?”

Gowon went ahead to describe Ademulegun as temperamental. “He Gowon didn’t recommend Ademulegun as GOC because Ademulegun’s temperamental disposition knocked him off. He needs to explain that because all other reports by other officers, dead and alive, point to the opposite. A disciplined officer, is the common term used to describe my father,”  Solape added.

More painful to the Ademulegun children is that Gowon as Head of State, could neither account for the bodies of their parents nor give him a befitting burial. However, Chukwuma Nzeogwu, the man who led Northern operations during the first coup, was given full military honours in death.

Strangely, Gowon eulogised Nzeogwu in his book and clapped for himself for asking that his body be flown from Biafra to Nigeria for burial in Kaduna in 1967. Ademulegun, Commanding Officer of 1 Brigade, Nigeria Army Kaduna is unaccounted for as his remains remain missing. Gowon could be living in two worlds. Following the January 1966 coup, Gowon who found safety in General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi’s office in Lagos, persuaded his Sandhurst course mate, Lt.Col Alex Madiebo, to destroy Nzeogwu, in Kaduna.

At that time, Nzeogwu had taken over Ademulegun’s office and was dishing out orders to his superiors all over Northern Nigeria. Madiebo neutralised the major psychologically while Lt. Col Emeka Ojukwu controlled Kano as Commanding Officer of 5 Battalion.

I think age is telling on Gowon. He confused his readers the more with poor logic. It is incorrect to say that Victor Banjo joined the Army as a graduate, thus denying General Emeka Ojukwu the honour of the first University graduate to join  the Nigeria Army.

Ojukwu enlisted in 1957, with a Masters degree. Banjo was awarded a scholarship by the Colonial government in 1958 to study Mechanical Engineering at the University of London. He graduated in 1961, several years after joining the Army as a Non Commissioned Officer in 1953. The junior rank later attended Sandhurst from March 1955, with David Ejoor.

Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe was not spared in any way. Gowon said the lack of capacity to control explained why the senior officer was not recommended by him to succeed Maj. Gen. Christopher Welby – Everard, the last British GOC of the Nigeria Army.

Gowon got it mixed up here. As a Lt.Col, his opinion would not have mattered in the selection of a new GOC. Welby – Everard had recommended Ogundipe as his successor but the  Tafawa Balewa government settled for Ironsi.

Ironsi had commanded United Nations troops in Congo and had an edge over Ademulegun because of that experience. Both men were commissioned same day, on June 12, 1949 and were qualified to head the Army. It was Brigadier Zakari Maimalari that asked Balewa to pick Ironsi ahead of Ademulegun and Ogundipe.

Gowon was not in any position to influence that appointment. There were senior Sandhurst trained Northern officers like Col. Kuru Mohammed, Lt Col Abogo Largema and Yakubu Pam, if at all input from officers below the rank of Brigadier was vital. If Gowon really believes that Ademulegun was dining with politicians, there could be something underneath.The 1 Brigade Commander, was said to be polished and brooked no under achievers. Gowon was promoted from Captain to Major, without passing the requisite exam.

The import was that Gowon himself relied on politicians to advance his career. This was evident when he became a Lt. Col while some of his Sandhurst mates like Madiebo, Patrick Anwunah and Michael Okwechime, were still captains.

Ademulegun believed in merit. Gowon unfortunately, skipped merit. As Head of State, he overlooked the next senior officer, Hassan Usman Katsina and made Joe Akahan, Chief of Army Staff. Katsina was at Sandhurst, from January 1957 and was commissioned as N/36.

Akahan arrived Sandhurst, in September 1958 and had N/98 as his service number. When he died in a chopper crash, during the war, Gowon chose Iliya Bisalla, a Sandhurst September 1959 Intake as the next Army Chief. Again, Katsina was sidelined. Then voices echoed and Katsina got the job.

Solape Ademulegun – Agbi has been in pains for sixty long years. Orphaned at six years, sequestered from her senior siblings after that tragedy, she found herself in inner city Oshodi, Lagos, from high brow Kashim Ibrahim Road, Kaduna. Unable to locate the burial site of her parents, the best Gowon has offered is a bucketful of agony.

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