Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, the military governor of the Western Region, and Major General Aguiyi Ironsi (Iron Side for style) were meeting with traditional rulers in Ibadan on July 29, which marked precisely 53 years since their overthrow and deaths. The person who went in to arrest the Supreme Commander and his host was General Theophilus Danjuma, who had previously been in the Nigerian leader’s entourage from Lagos.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
A soldier requested that his crocodile rod be confiscated as Danjuma was escorting Ironsi out of the Government House building because it was thought to possess magical abilities. The Hebrews and Egyptians regarded Moses’ staff, which had the power to split the Red Sea, transform the Nile into blood, and swallow Paraoh’s snakes, with the same wonder!
Ironsi carried a crocodile staff in place of the swagger stick that military brass caps use to go with their attire. Ironsi would vanish, the soldier said, and their goal would be abandoned. The king’s scimitar was (and is) thought to possess mystical power that might captivate attackers in Africa. Many others at the time, including the Nigerian military’s rank and file, held the same misconception. As a result, even among the “bloody civilians,” the Ironsi mystique became more apparent.
What caused Danjuma, who was in charge when the rebellion began, to lose command as a result of this? He ejected in this way:
Indeed, I was making arrests. Fajuyi begged me not to go up with armed men, saying that if I assured him of his safety, he would go up and call Ironsi. “I guarantee your safety,” I responded, offering him my assurance. He went there but did not descend. I made the decision to ascend. Armed soldiers trailed me as I ascended the steps. I was holding a grenade. I was without an arm. I arrived to see Lronsi seated with Fajuyi at his side. “You are under arrest,” I said. And I told him to get to his feet. Ironsi rose reluctantly to his feet. He had a staff crocodile in his possession.
It was in his hand. They both descended. Fajuyi continued to question me about ensuring security. I vowed to keep him safe. So we exited the building and headed down to the car.
“Yes, the soldier is correct,” he said. His Zasa is this creature (Ironsi’s crocodile); juju will cause him to vanish.
He said, ‘Yes, the soldier is right. This thing here (Ironsi’s crocodile) is his Zasa; it’s juju that will make him disappear.’
According to one of the troops, there is juju, so we shouldn’t let him carry his crocodile (stick). No, I replied; it contains nothing. If we let him carry it, he threatened to vanish. When he began to halt, I told him to stop talking. That’s when I went out of control. The soldier took command, batoned me, and shoved me aside. I was shocked to learn that the Adjutant, who was, you know, his troops, was there to step in. I was a stranger, and they were obeying me because they liked everything I did. However, they rejected me the moment I told them not to do something they didn’t like. He most likely provoked them.
They grabbed the item from him, shoved me out of the way, loaded him and Fajuyi into a car, and sped off. The time was six in the morning. People without shoes, who had come to prepare to go, were strewn across the front of the Government House. They took off their shoes and instructed each person to sit on the floor. Even Chief P. Odumosu, the Head of Service at the time, sat. I descended. The soldiers took off in their cars. They all sat there because no one was around to tell them to leave. “What are you people still doing here?” I asked. They quietly came to the realization that they could leave.
Danjuma disclosed the reason he led the troops to go and apprehend Ironsi: “Northern soldiers! Recall that the January 1966 killings were committed by Igbos. They murdered top Army officers who were not Igbo. The Igbo eliminated nearly all of the senior non-Igbo officers, while only one Igbo officer was slain. Because we all assisted Ironsi in putting an end to the January coup, we apprehended everyone responsible for the murders. They were apprehended and taken to the jail, where they received their entire salary.
Despite being in custody, they had everything they needed, including a television, and no one was discussing court marshalling them. Rather, the Daily Times and other newspapers reported that the boys in custody were national heroes. National heroes because they killed corrupt politicians! He didn’t say anything about Army officers…” they killed corrupt politicians and replaced them with lronsi whom we would call Iron-side”. Very insulting and, in my own opinion, provocative! They were saying that those boys should be freed. Tension started building. Riots broke out in the North and it was because of the riots that broke out in the North that Ironsi started going round to talk to traditional rulers and the Army leaders. I was in his convoy. We got
After a meeting with traditional leaders and intellectuals, we were all asked to sing the national anthem, which we all did. We had dinner that evening and returned to the barracks to stay with the adjutant after dropping Ironsi off at Government House.
Then, at one in the morning, I heard gbam, gbam, gbam on my door. I asked him what had happened, and he (the adjutant) explained that there had been some trouble in Abeokuta. He said that the duty officer, who was on duty, had noticed that the Commanding Officer was holding meetings in the officers’ mess, and that all of the officers who attended were Igbo, leaving out non-Igbo officers. The duty officer called one or two soldiers, who cocked their guns, went there, and rounded up everyone, believing it was a joke.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
