He was the Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the late Nigerian military ruler, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed. Born in Ondo, southwestern Nigeria, he was with the Nigerian Army Signal Corps as an officer and served under Murtala before he became head of state in 1975. When Murtala took over, Akinsehinwa was made the Aide-de-Camp. The Commander-in-Chief had chosen him specifically for his virtues of hardwork and intelligence. Then he was just 30, and the youngest ever presidential ADC in the nation's history.

But on that dark 13th of February of 1976, he was with his boss when their motorcade was attacked by coup plotters. They were in a simple, black Mercedes Benz which had no bulletproof exterior. The head of state was killed in a shower of bullets immediately. Same with the driver of the car, Sergeant Adamu Michika and the Orderly Staff Sergeant Michael Otuwe was seriously injured but later recovered. Akinsehinwa survived the first bullets, came out of the Benz limousine and returned fire at the attackers. But, he was overwhelmed and cut down in a fiery hail of gunshots. A postmortem examination showed six bullet wounds in his back. He was the very first ADC to die in duty while protecting a Nigerian head of state and the first of its kind in the world. He was 31.

A foundation that caters for people living with HIV/AIDS, Akintunde Akinsehinwa Foundation has been established in his memory and honour. While alive, he had no car of his own, he was married to Princess Bola. One of Nigeria's greats, may the labours of our heroes past never be in vain. In 1983, the government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari gave him posthumously, the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) even though as at February 2012, his wife was yet to be given the awards. And by the way, why do we treat our heroes so badly?

Iyaniwura salutes you, gallant Lieutenant.

Thanks for your time.

Iyaniwura.
Get more: http://iyaniwura.com/%E2%9C%A6%E2%9C%A6%E2%9C%A6a-nigerian-hero-lieutenant-akintunde-akinsehinwa/

Thanks for this. We should celebrate our heroes more

iyaniwurablog: The head of state was killed in a shower of bullets immediately

good, very good.....he got the same medicine he gave so many innocents in his short, violent and ill-mannered life

6 bullets in his back ?
If he returned fire, shouldn't he be shot in the chest? or at least be shot more times in the chest and not the back?

Something isn't right here!!
I think he was running away from the scene and wasn't doing any protecting!

@Iyaniwura
Do you have more account of the 1976 coup, there are claims that many were wrongly convicted and executed just because of their ethnic affiliation.