A NIGHT OF DARKNESS AND THE LAW OF KARMA
Given the fact that we are still commemorating the fifty year
anniversary of the January 15th 1966 coup I have decided to
write a follow-up essay to last week’s column. It is interesting
to note the fact that virtually every single one of those that
actually carried out the killings and pulled the triggers during
the course of that horrendous night of slaughter met a terrible
end themselves.
This is a fulfillment of the scripture that says ‘’he who lives by
the sword shall die by the sword’’ and we must all learn from
it. Shedding innocent blood is an expensive business and
drawing the first blood in any conflict always comes with a
very heavy price. In secular circles this is known as the ‘’law of
karma’’ but in spiritual ones it is called ‘’the law of reaping and
sowing’’.
Nothing reflects this principle better than what happened to
those that actually murdered others (as opposed to those that
simply participated) during the course of Nigeria’s first military
coup on the night of January 15th 1966. The facts are as
follows.
Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, who was the leader of the coup,
went to the home of Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari (who was
the Commanding Officer of the Second Brigade) and
personally shot him. This was despite the fact that he was one
of his most trusted officers and confidantes and despite the
fact that earlier that evening he had attended a cocktail party
in his house.
After killing Maimalari, Ifeajuna went to Ikoyi Hotel, where Lt.
Col. Abogo Largema, who was the Commander of the Fourth
Battalion in Ibadan, was staying and he personally shot and
killed him too.
After that both he and Major Donatus Okafor, another of the
mutineers, abducted Sir Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister,
from his home and took him to the Officers Mess at Dodan
Barracks.
Once it was clear to them that the coup was unraveling they
fled from Dodan Barracks, drove to the Lagos Abeokuta road,
shot the Prime Minister and then dumped his body in a bush.
The Special Branch reports show that both Ifeajuna and Major
Okafor shot Tafawa Balewa at point blank range in the head
and body.
Yet their end was no better. Ifeajuna, after fleeing to Ghana
after the failure of the coup, returned back to Nigeria the
following year to fight for Biafra during the civil war.
He was later accused of plotting a coup to remove Colonel
Emeka Ojukwu as Head of State of Biafra and he was
executed on Ojukwu’s orders after being court martialled.
Major Okafor’s end was even worse. He was locked up in
Abeokuta prison after the coup failed because he was unable
to escape.
Six months later, on July 29th 1966 during the northern
revenge coup, he was dragged out of his cell and buried alive
by northern soldiers.
Major Anufuro, who in my view was the most bloodthirsty and
brutal of all the mutineers, personally shot and killed four
people in Lagos on the night of January 15th 1966. He went to
the homes of Colonel Kur Mohammed, the Chief of Army
Staff, and Lt. Col. Arthur Unegbe, the Army Quarter-Master
General, both of whom lived in Apapa GRA and shot them
both to death in front of their families.
After that he went to Dodan Barracks where some of the other
mutineers, led by Major Humphrey Chukwuka, had forcefully
taken Lt. Col. James Pam, the Adjutant General of the
Nigerian Army, and Chief Festus Okotie- Eboh, the Minister of
Finance.
As the coup started unraveling Anufuro fled Dodan Barracks
and took Lt. Col. Pam and Chief Okotie Eboh with him. As he
drove further into Ikoyi he stopped the convoy of vehicles,
parked his car and told Pam and Okotie-Eboh to step down.
As they did so he shot them both at close range, put their
bodies in the same Bedford truck that the bodies of Col. Kur
Mohammed and Lt. Col. Arthur Unegbe had earlier been
dumped and drove to the meeting point at the Lagos Abeokuta
road.
On arrival at the meeting point Anufuro and his men
proceeded to remove the four bodies from the Bedford truck
and as they did so they discovered that Okotie-Eboh was still
alive though badly wounded.
Anufuro asked the Minister to walk into the bush and as he
did so he shot him in the back of the head. After that the four
bodies were dumped into a shallow grave and the mutineers
fled.
Major Anuforo’s end was as bad as the end of those he
murdered, if not worse. After the failure of the coup he was
captured and locked up in Benin prison.
Six months later, after the northern revenge coup of July 29th
1966, northern soldiers discovered that he was in Benin. They
promptly stormed the prison, found him in his cell, dragged
him out and beheaded him.
Given the fact that Anufuro had been so heartless on the night
of January 15th I am not surprised by the brutality of the
northern officers towards him.
Major Timothy Onwuatuegwu was one of those that led the
Kaduna operation of the mutiny.
He went to the home of Colonel Ralph Shodeinde, the Deputy
Commandant of the Nigerian Military Training College, and he
personally shot him to death. He also wounded his wife.
After that he went to the home of Brigadier Samuel
Ademulegun, the Commandant of the First Brigade, burst into
his bedroom and personally shot him and his eight month
pregnant wife to death with a machine gun.
Onwuatuegwu’s end was no better than that of those that he
murdered on the night of January 15th 1966. He was captured
and locked up after the failure of the coup. During the civil
war, which started one year later, he fought on the Biafran
side.
A few days after the end of the war he was lured into a hotel
room in the east by a group of men and women for a meeting
where he was murdered in the most gruesome manner.
I will not give details of how he was killed here because they
are far too gruesome for publication. Little did Onwuatuegwu
know that the men and women that had invited him into the
hotel room were working for the Nigerian secret service and
that they were in the company of Federal troops.
What an irony it is that he had killed others in the presence of
their wives whilst he himself was killed in the presence of
strange women.
Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, the leader of the mutiny in the
northern part of the country, stormed the home of Sir Ahmadu
Bello, the Saurdana of Sokoto and the Premier of the North, in
Kaduna on the night of the coup.
He personally shot the Saurdana, his wife (whose name was
Habsetu) and his traditional bodyguard (whose name was
Zarumi) and who had fought back with a sword. After the
coup failed Nzeogwu was captured and locked up.
He fought on the side of Biafra during the civil war but he was
badly wounded and eventually killed in the Nsukka sector
whilst he was on a reconnaissance night mission by Federal
troops.
Captain Emmanuel Nwobosi led the Ibadan axis of the mutiny
that took place on the night of January 15th 1966. He led his
soldiers to our house and he took my father, Chief Remilekun
Fani-Kayode, the Balogun of Ife and the Deputy Premier of the
West, away.
I witnessed the whole affair and the abduction and, as I wrote
in this column last week, it was frightful and horrific. After
leaving our house Nwobosi led his soldiers to the home of my
uncle, Chief S.L. Akintola, the Aare Kakanfo of the Yoruba and
the Premier of the West.
When they got there Chief Akintola resisted arrest and there
was a one hour long gun battle. After his ammunition ran out
Akintola stepped out of his house and he was shot by virtually
every single one of the soldiers as he did so.
This was because two of them had been badly wounded by
Akintola and his policemen during the course of the gunfight.
The first was a soldier by the name of James, who had his
fingers blown off, and the second was a soldier whose name
was not recorded but who screamed very loudly after his ear
was blown off.
Interestingly of all the officers that personally shot anyone that
night it is only Nwobosi that remains alive. He fought for Biafra
during the civil war and after the war he was given a very key
position in the Guyanese army.
After serving for a number of years there he left Guyana and
went to live in Canada for many years. He has since returned
to Nigeria and he now lives in Onitsha.
His end has not yet come but I have little doubt that he is still
haunted by the innocent blood that he shed that night even if
he finds it difficult to admit it.
I wholeheartedly condemn his actions that night and I still
mourn my dear uncle S.L. Akintola and all the other innocent
souls that were killed that night yet I do not judge him or any
of the other mutineers.
It is God alone that can judge us for our actions and inactions
and I harbor no hate, bitterness or malice for those that
abducted and murdered our fathers, leaders and heroes on the
night of January 15th 1966. I simply leave them to God.
I will say though that I find it instructive that every single one
of those that actually pulled the trigger and killed their victims
during the course of the operation and that participated in the
heartless orgy of violence and slaughter that took place that
night, with the exception of Nwobosi, ended in a terrible way.
Of the eight majors and one captain (Captain Ogbo Oji) that
were the ringleaders of the coup it is interesting to note that
only Major Chukwuka and Major Ademoyega never killed
anyone during the course of the operation.
They participated fully in the mutiny, they terrorized and
abducted people from their homes but history records that
they didn’t actually kill anyone or pull the trigger themselves at
any time. The two fought on the Biafran side during the civil
war, under Lt. Col. Victor Banjo, and they not only survived the
war but they also lived for many years thereafter.
Ademoyega died in 2005 whilst Chukwuka is still alive and
lives in the east. I have little doubt that they would both have
shared the same miserable fate of their co-conspirators and
fellow mutineers and they would both been also cut short if
they had personally shed innocent blood on the night of
January 15th 1966 as well.
The Lord is merciful to those that show mercy: He visits His
judgement upon those that delight in spilling blood and in
taking the life of their prey.

source: https://mobile.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153847928952210&id=62188827209&refid=28&_ft_=qid.6244269485023411151%3Amf_story_key.6812699951991481070&__tn__=%2As

cc: lalasticlala

The jan 15 coup remains the most senseless coup ever.

I believe strongly that these misguided men were naive of their actions and were spurred on by British support.

This is how Dimka 10yrs later will seek the British ambassador after murdering murtala.

The ambassador will later lose his job after it was found that he failed to report that Dimka had been received by him on the grounds of his residence.

FFK the history teacher.

I admit he makes more sense when he talks history than politics

Really a night of darkness.