Saturday, January 15, 1966. 7:00am.
Ikoyi Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

“Gbam, gbam, gbam.”

“Who for God’s sakes bangs my door this early morning?” A voice roared from inside the hotel room.

“Oga! Open the door. There is trouble oo,” the man replied.

“What the….” Lieutenant-Colonel David Ejoor stopped in the middle of his words as he noticed it was his driver that had been banging the door. “But I told you to get enough rest. I don’t want you sleeping on the wheels while driving me to Enugu.”

“It is not even about that, sir. The Prime Minister and some senior officers have been kidnapped by some soldiers. I even heard some of these officers have been killed.”

“What? Are you sure of what you are saying? Hope you are not drunk this early morning?” Ejoor asked with a surprised look.

“I’m very sure sir. I slept over at Apapa. There have been troop movements up and down since 3:00am. I later heard that they came here to this hotel. That’s why I came rushing down to check on you.”

“Yes! I now agree that you are drunk,” Ejoor said nodding his head.

“I’m not drunk sir, that’s the truth.”

While Ejoor was still waiving off his driver contending he was drunk, Largema’s driver came rushing in and showed the men bullet casings he found in front of his superior’s hotel room.

The three men then went to Largema’s room upstairs to find traces of blood which had congealed on the corridor and the telephone hook that was still dangling.

Dazed, flustered and fluttered, Ejoor staggered back to his room, changed into his military kit and directed his driver to 8, Ikoyi Crescent, Ikoyi, Lagos, the home of the Adjuntant-General, the officer who handled the death of soldiers in the army, to take some of the blood samples to really determine whether it was Largerma that had been murdered in cold blood.

Ejoor was still skeptical of the events he just found himself in. He wanted answers.

“Who could have had the audacity to murder a commander of a whole battalion?” He thought to himself as his driver approached the residence of Lieutenant-Colonel James Yakubu Pam.

***************************************************************

“Morn’g sir,” Ejoor saluted the GOC on sighting him as he entered the Battalion HQ conference room. Ironsi who had his back to Ejoor, turned and on seeing him quickly drew out his pistol and pointed it at him.

“Ha! David, who sent you to kill me?”

Ejoor was stunned but he subtly replied, “No one sir. Why would I kill you?”

The GOC stared at him for a moment, read his body language and then holstered his weapon.

“I’m sorry I had to react that way. The events of the past few hours have taken toll on me. I don’t know who to trust. In fact, I do not trust any officer right now”

“It’s alright sir. That’s why I’m here. But first of all, I need to know what is really going on? Largema is dead, Pam is unaccounted for and I found the Brigadier’s residence deserted. I then went over to your house but Madame directed me here. Sir, what’s going on?” Ejoor asked with a confused look.

“Largema is dead?” Ironsi asked as he sank into a chair.

“Affirmative sir. He was murdered in front of his room. I saw it myself.”

“How did you know that David?” Ironsi stood up and towered above the young officer who did not flinch at all.

“We lodged in the same hotel sir.”

“How then, did you escape?” Ironsi asked with a suspicious look.

“I didn’t sir. I never encountered the killers. I never knew until this morning when my driver came banging at my door. I changed my hotel room. So they must have missed me if I was their target in the first place,” Ejoor answered boldly.

Ejoor was right. As the Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion in Enugu, he had received a signal in the name of Brigadier Zakariya Mai-Malari on the 9th of January that he was invited to a three-day Brigade Training Conference on the 12th to 14th January, in Apapa, Lagos.

On the 10th of January, Ejoor left for Lagos and was booked into room 17 of the Ikoyi Hotel. However, when he returned from the day’s programme on the 13th of January, the air conditioning system had been left on all day which caused the room to be extremely cold.

He then opened the windows to thaw the coldness of the room after he had changed into his nightwear only to discover his privacy could be easily seen by anyone in the adjacent buildings. He loved his privacy and would not like to encounter prying eyes.

The following morning, he asked for a change of room at the reception. After the conference training of 14th January, he went to Mai-Malari’s residence for the cocktail at 7:30pm and had planned to leave around 9pm because he had to return to Enugu by road the next morning but he left around 11pm. The next morning, he woke up to his driver banging on his door.

Source: A Carnage Before Dawn, A Historical Novel on Nigeria's First Coup détat

You can get the book here.

In his book "My Reminisces" Ejoor stated that he was booked room 17, he remembered this because his Army number is N17. He then went to the party and when he returned, the room was too cold because the Air conditioning had been on all day so he changed rooms.

When the coup plotters came for him at night, they marched room 17, kicked down the door and sprayed bullets all over the room.

But Ejoor was sleeping in another room and survived. A few days later , Ironsi appointed Ejoor Military Governor of the Mid-West