How Nzeogwu shot mum
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Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - By Chiagoziem Otuechere Viewed 7982 Times Rating: by 2 users

Solape Ademulegun-Agbi
Thirty-eight years after, the ghost of the January 15, 1966 coup of the “five-majors” is yet to be exorcised.

The daughter of Brigadier-General Samuel Ademulegun, the then GOC Ist Division, Kaduna, has narrated how Nzeogwu made her and her siblings orphans during the ill-fated coup. Today, Mrs. Solape Ademulegun-Agbi, proprietress of Hillcroft Schools, may be a fully-grown woman. But the trauma of having both parents shot in her presence has left an indelible mark. Reacting to a story captioned, Return My Son’s Body, Nzeogwu’s Mother Begs Obasanjo, recently published in Saturday Sun, Ademulegun-Agbi said that Nzeogwu’s mother wanted her son to be treated as a hero, whereas he could actually pass as a villain.

But her sores were made the more painful when she recalls that Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu was a welcome guest who always relished a meal of pounded yam any time he came calling at the Ademuleguns.
She spoke to Daily Sun. Excerpts:
General Ademulegun
My dad is everything you would love in a father. Very caring, hardworking and dedicated. He was in love with horse-riding and he made sure I owned one. I named my horse Santana. I used to ride Santana to school in those days, so when the Volkswagen Santana came into the market, it really brought back memories of those days. As a typical Ondo man, my dad was fond of eating pounded yam with the full complement of cow-leg. Generally, he was a wonderful father who more often than not, hoisted me on his broad shoulders. These are some of the memories that have kept me going all these years.
The 1966 coup
My parents, Brigadier-General Samuel and Hajia Latifat Ademulegun were killed during the 1966 coup. That particular experience was quite traumatic and I have never been able to overcome it. At a point, I had phobia for anything military. My dad was the then General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1st Division, Kaduna and his army number was N3 which makes him the third highest-ranking officer in the Nigerian Army. Major Nzeogwu was a welcome guest in my parents’ home. He will always come to our house for steaming hot meal of pounded yam. Being Ondo State indigenes, pounded yam was a regular meal in my mother’s kitchen. On the day of the coup, Nzeogwu came calling with some other soldiers in the wee hours of the day. I think they were about six soldiers. As an impressionable young girl of six, that was quite a number. There were guns everywhere. I remember vividly that I was down with chicken pox, so I had the opportunity of sleeping in my parents’ room. My immediate younger brother was also sleeping soundly in a cot in the same room. But when Nzeogwu came in, there was little talking. I even called him uncle, but he was the one that shot my mother in the chest. She didn’t die immediately, but she was rolling on the floor, gasping and bleeding. With the last ounce of her breath, she was calling “Kole, Kole” (my immediate elder brother whose room was nearby). But my brother never heard because he hid under his bed when the gunshots were booming. I don’t know who killed my dad because he was dragged out of the bedroom. The batman, who was in the boys quarters polishing my dad’s shoes, and our housemaid, one Gbelle, shepherded us out of the bedroom. These memories are ever so green in my heart. A child remembers bad things more than the good.
Life after the coup
We were really devastated by the events that took place, but the Army rallied round us. Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi’s wife came and took us away from the house. From there we were taken to Lagos. The military catered for our upkeep right to our first degree in the university. Since then, we have not fared badly. My elder brother, Group Captain Frank Ademulegun, now deceased, was the only one who joined the armed forces. My other siblings are doing well both in private and government circles. The military officials and the Ondo State government really tried for us. I also give them a pass mark for immortalising my father’s name. My dad has a street named after him in Abuja and the Ikeja Cantonment. There is also a cenotaph in his honour in Ondo Town. At an auspicious time, we plan to chronicle a biography of our parents.
Nzeogwu and family
I am not supposed to harbour grudges as a Christian. But the fact will always remain that Nzeogwu was instrumental to the death of my parents in the ill-fated coup. Nzeogwu's mother wants to portray her son as a hero, while in some quarters the word villain is actually apt. I don’t know what the hue and cry is all about. The government too buried my parents. I actually commend the government for burying him (Nzeogwu ) since he died in active service, so to say. Now, we are talking of exhuming a body some 30 years after. It is ridiculous. The family should let sleeping dogs be. Nzeogwu’s mother should just relax, hoping for a re-union with her son some day, if such a thing is tenable in the spirit world. I think we should just move on. We have the retrogressive penchant of dwelling too much in the past.
Military rule
A lot of shine has been taken off the military. In the past, the military man was someone to be admired, a gentleman to the core, one to be emulated. But things are no longer the same these days. To me, it doesn’t matter who rules as far as there is safety of lives and property; freedom of speech and movement. Democracy is good, but it comes with its own problems. During the military regime, there was sanity in the land. Things were done right with military precision. But since it is a mark of civilisation to be democratic, then so be it. But to me, it doesn’t really matter who rules as far as the machinery of government is oiled effortlessly to the benefit of all citizens.

Eh, e don start again.

@Mrs. Solape Ademulegun-Agbi
Well said. Now please join the Movement to Balkanize Nigeria (MBN) immediately.

Don't be so foolish as to struggle to remain in the same country as those who killed your mum. Be wise . . .

Please stop adopting the typical Yoruba siddon-dey-look attitude and watch things deteriorate. Do something.

This attitude is a sin of omission.

I think she got it wrong< Nzeogwu never shot her dad and mum, her dad was shot by another officer when he resisted arrest,

Nzeogwu’s co-conspirator in Kaduna, Major Tim Onwuategwu, personally led a detachment of soldier to Brigadier Ademulegun’s house. Onwuategwu made his way up to the Brigadier’s bedroom where he was laying beside his wife. Upon seeing Onwuategwu enter the room, Ademulegun shouted at him “Timothy, what the devil do you think you are doing?” (see Gbulie: “Nigeria’s Five Majors”). Onwuategwu told Ademulegun that he was “under arrest.” According to the Majors’ version of events, Ademulegun reached for a drawer beside his bed, and as he did so, Onwuategwu shot him dead in his bed, along with Ademulegun’s wife who was lying beside him.

The death of Brigadier and Mrs. Ademulegun as described by her daughter could be an harrowing experience for her. We can't expect less commentaries from such angle. May the souls of the departed rest in God's merciful grace.

For us reading to situate the issues within the confines of Mrs. Agbi's story here, we cannot but label Nzeogwu and others as villain rather than heroes. Hence, we must go beyond the sentiments and personal views of Mrs. Agbi on Nzeogwu's act and the Igbo soldiers to understand issues at stake.

The Balewa's Government was tyrannical, corrupt and indecisive in the eye of average enlightened Nigerian of that era. It was a rule that manipulated the State and gave no room for Opposition to strive. It was a Government of compromise and controversies that needed to be changed. The coupists had their targets in ensuring a successful change of Government. That process cant be achieved without the incarceration or elimination of potential ans prominent figures who can stand as threats to the success of the coup, the change of leadership and the good fortunes of the Nigerian State.

No doubt, Brigadier Ademulegun stand within one of the three blocs stated here. He stands either as:

1. A threat to the success of the coup or
2. A member of the clique in the Military that supports the current leadership that must be changed by the military revolutionaries and or
3. One of the obstacles or problems considered as politically and militarily destructive or dangerous to the good fortunes of the Nigerian State in the course of the military revolution

The foregoing roles above therefore demands that he whould either be incarcerated or eliminated in military tactics, though it is a painful step, waste of human life, extra-judicial and unfortunate!

As a Yorubaman, I would say, May God bless his soul. Moreover, my study of various books on the political issues confronting the nation in the path to the coup did not specifically indict Ademulegun as an Officer who should be treated with ignominy and painful death. I didn't read much about him anywhere to show that he was part of the corrupt regime. Yet, fellow soldiers know him much better, than his 6 year old girl!

It is obvious that for Ademulegun or any of soldier colleagues to have been assassinated, it is either they can stand in the way, or they remain loyal to that regime or they can foul the coup or they are have questions to answer, either by way of military discipline, high handedness or personal enmity. Why kill a General, if the General doesn't pose a threat to the Army or his soldiers? That is a question we need to ask, unless the coupists are senseless, wicked and vicious bunch of soldiers. At least the books of Obasanjo, Ademoyega, Ojukwu and Madiebo did not portray Nzeogwu as an ordinary officer. He was a Training Officer in Kaduna and described as a 'very intelligent Officer' whom some described in passing as an intellectual. If Nzeogwu is therefore not worried or demented by his educational philosophies and orientation, he would have taken a right step or an appropriate step, short of executing the revolution. A military revolution in that era is usually undertaken with loss of lives, just as it occurred in most countries, the infamous death of Patrice Lumumba in Congo apart from Egyptian and Libyan Revolution.

We need to also understand that for Ademulegun to have risen to the rank as a General in the Army, he who hub-nub naturally with the sacked Government, whether he is a loyalist, a moderate or indepedent Officer. That is one of the sacrifice of high office which he occupied as a soldier, though painful and sympathethic. If the coup had failed, Ademulegun too could have done same to Nzeogwu as part of cleaning off their mutinous act. At the same time, it is obvious that those who may want to remove that Balewa's Government would doubt his loyalty to them, if left undetained or eliminated, because he is a superior officer.

The death of Mrs. Ademulegun on the other hand is painful. Yet it could have risen either from her reactions or resistance to the husband's arrest and execution or the likelihood of her potential influence or action if left off the hook.

At worst, it could be part of the hatred harboured for her by the executioners due to her position, tribal origin or attitude which the daughter may know less due to her age at the time. Even it could be as a result of the inability of the plotters to manage their emotions owing to what may be a betrayal of trust in their actions, having been close to the family and yet became their source of mystery.

Nzeogwu and the coupists in an elaborate historic act remains national heroes who arrested that hour of deplorable political misrule and crisis in the nation. Yet history did not exonerate him and his colleagues for executing the coup in a partial manner. In fact, that was a major reason for the coup failure. It was a coup that shielded the Igbos and mulled down the Hausas and Yorubas. Igbos paid dearly for it and it even formed the basis of declaration of Biafra and the civil war.

Nzeogwu was not killed until Ojukwu plot his posting to the war zone, because he was a national hero to many rather than a villain, though he took a bestial act by eliminating Mrs. Ademulegun in 'cold blood' going by her daughter's narration. He who killed by sword also dies by sword.

We need to forget all the misgivings of those era and move forward, if we are not going to plummet the good memories of the past while letting the sleeping dog lies.

So Ironsi's wife came and took you and ur siblings away and housed you lot? Hmmm never knew Igbos are this hospitable!

jbabatola:
Nzeogwu and the coupists in an elaborate historic act remains national heroes who arrested that hour of deplorable political misrule and crisis in the nation. Yet history did not exonerate him and his colleagues for executing the coup in a partial manner. In fact, that was a major reason for the coup failure. It was a coup that shielded the Igbos and mulled down the Hausas and Yorubas. Igbos paid dearly for it and it even formed the basis of declaration of Biafra and the civil war.

So what you're saying is that the coup by Nzeogwu et al indirectly led to the civil war that brought about the death of millions of men, women and children...and triggered off the pattern of army truncation of democracy in Nigeria that has led to our country being a shadow of what it could have been...

...yet you still consider those people 'national heroes'?

I truly hope your idiocy is not hereditary and will not be passed on when you procreate.

I don't think i can trust a military man no matter how close he is to me. They usually don't value life and can take the life of the best friend if need be. I remember how Babangida sacrificed his own friend. Mamma vatsa.

@OP

This is another nonsensical feel-happy and pity-seeking conjecture from a Yoruba. Major Nzeogwu was not even assigned to arrest Brig S. Ademulegun talk less of killing him.

Dede1: @OP

This is another nonsensical feel-happy and pity-seeking conjecture from a Yoruba. Major Nzeogwu was not even assigned to arrest Brig S. Ademulegun talk less of killing him.

So you are disputing her submissions? Why are you this callous? A six year old saw her mum shot by someone she called uncle and you are writing this rubbish here?

Military is military, obey the last order. I am sure her father would have done the same if he was in nzeogwus shoes. That is if she is saying the truth.
Sorry for her loss.

hercules07:

So you are disputing her submissions? Why are you this callous? A six year old saw her mum shot by someone she called uncle and you are writing this rubbish here?

Dede1 is a deluded old f00l never for once take him serious nor indulge him.

It is very good for today's young Nigerians to be educated onthese issues. We don't really know this country we call ours so much. You can just imagine a young military officer of the age range of 30, about 6 years after independence discovered that this country is on its way to doom and decided as a military man to right the wrong. 50 something years after, how far have we gone? We are still faced with the same or worst issues of then. Those we call heroes in Nigeria are not heroes but were self centred individuals ready to turn the country around as they liked to their benefit. Let's stop celebrating the Balewas, Awolowos, Ahmadu Bellos, Tafawa Balewas etc and look into what will lead young people to take such brutal actions.

quid:
@Mrs. Solape Ademulegun-Agbi
Well said. Now please join the Movement to Balkanize Nigeria (MBN) immediately.

Don't be so foolish as to struggle to remain in the same country as those who killed your mum. Be wise . . .

Is major Nzeogwu alive or died? Be a nigerian 4 goodness sake.

KADUNA NZEOGWU did a beautiful job by eliminating the corrupt political fools we had as leaders. Another bloody coup is coming.

Hmmm what a country

oduasolja:
How Nzeogwu shot mum
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Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - By Chiagoziem Otuechere Viewed 7982 Times Rating: by 2 users

Solape Ademulegun-Agbi
Thirty-eight years after, the ghost of the January 15, 1966 coup of the “five-majors” is yet to be exorcised.

The daughter of Brigadier-General Samuel Ademulegun, the then GOC Ist Division, Kaduna, has narrated how Nzeogwu made her and her siblings orphans during the ill-fated coup. Today, Mrs. Solape Ademulegun-Agbi, proprietress of Hillcroft Schools, may be a fully-grown woman. But the trauma of having both parents shot in her presence has left an indelible mark. Reacting to a story captioned, Return My Son’s Body, Nzeogwu’s Mother Begs Obasanjo, recently published in Saturday Sun, Ademulegun-Agbi said that Nzeogwu’s mother wanted her son to be treated as a hero, whereas he could actually pass as a villain.

But her sores were made the more painful when she recalls that Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu was a welcome guest who always relished a meal of pounded yam any time he came calling at the Ademuleguns.
She spoke to Daily Sun. Excerpts:
General Ademulegun
My dad is everything you would love in a father. Very caring, hardworking and dedicated. He was in love with horse-riding and he made sure I owned one. I named my horse Santana. I used to ride Santana to school in those days, so when the Volkswagen Santana came into the market, it really brought back memories of those days. As a typical Ondo man, my dad was fond of eating pounded yam with the full complement of cow-leg. Generally, he was a wonderful father who more often than not, hoisted me on his broad shoulders. These are some of the memories that have kept me going all these years.
The 1966 coup
My parents, Brigadier-General Samuel and Hajia Latifat Ademulegun were killed during the 1966 coup. That particular experience was quite traumatic and I have never been able to overcome it. At a point, I had phobia for anything military. My dad was the then General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1st Division, Kaduna and his army number was N3 which makes him the third highest-ranking officer in the Nigerian Army. Major Nzeogwu was a welcome guest in my parents’ home. He will always come to our house for steaming hot meal of pounded yam. Being Ondo State indigenes, pounded yam was a regular meal in my mother’s kitchen. On the day of the coup, Nzeogwu came calling with some other soldiers in the wee hours of the day. I think they were about six soldiers. As an impressionable young girl of six, that was quite a number. There were guns everywhere. I remember vividly that I was down with chicken pox, so I had the opportunity of sleeping in my parents’ room. My immediate younger brother was also sleeping soundly in a cot in the same room. But when Nzeogwu came in, there was little talking. I even called him uncle, but he was the one that shot my mother in the chest. She didn’t die immediately, but she was rolling on the floor, gasping and bleeding. With the last ounce of her breath, she was calling “Kole, Kole” (my immediate elder brother whose room was nearby). But my brother never heard because he hid under his bed when the gunshots were booming. I don’t know who killed my dad because he was dragged out of the bedroom. The batman, who was in the boys quarters polishing my dad’s shoes, and our housemaid, one Gbelle, shepherded us out of the bedroom. These memories are ever so green in my heart. A child remembers bad things more than the good.
Life after the coup
We were really devastated by the events that took place, but the Army rallied round us. Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi’s wife came and took us away from the house. From there we were taken to Lagos. The military catered for our upkeep right to our first degree in the university. Since then, we have not fared badly. My elder brother, Group Captain Frank Ademulegun, now deceased, was the only one who joined the armed forces. My other siblings are doing well both in private and government circles. The military officials and the Ondo State government really tried for us. I also give them a pass mark for immortalising my father’s name. My dad has a street named after him in Abuja and the Ikeja Cantonment. There is also a cenotaph in his honour in Ondo Town. At an auspicious time, we plan to chronicle a biography of our parents.
Nzeogwu and family
I am not supposed to harbour grudges as a Christian. But the fact will always remain that Nzeogwu was instrumental to the death of my parents in the ill-fated coup. Nzeogwu's mother wants to portray her son as a hero, while in some quarters the word villain is actually apt. I don’t know what the hue and cry is all about. The government too buried my parents. I actually commend the government for burying him (Nzeogwu ) since he died in active service, so to say. Now, we are talking of exhuming a body some 30 years after. It is ridiculous. The family should let sleeping dogs be. Nzeogwu’s mother should just relax, hoping for a re-union with her son some day, if such a thing is tenable in the spirit world. I think we should just move on. We have the retrogressive penchant of dwelling too much in the past.
Military rule
A lot of shine has been taken off the military. In the past, the military man was someone to be admired, a gentleman to the core, one to be emulated. But things are no longer the same these days. To me, it doesn’t matter who rules as far as there is safety of lives and property; freedom of speech and movement. Democracy is good, but it comes with its own problems. During the military regime, there was sanity in the land. Things were done right with military precision. But since it is a mark of civilisation to be democratic, then so be it. But to me, it doesn’t really matter who rules as far as the machinery of government is oiled effortlessly to the benefit of all citizens.

This is arrant nonsense and laughable at best. Samuel Ademulegun was not a Brigadier-General but a Brigadier. During the period in discourse, Nigerians military formation did not have "Division" therefore it is dumbass fallacy to talk about GOC 1st Division, Kaduna. Major Nzeogwu was not among the unit detailed to arrest or eliminate Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun. The above is simply a conjectural crap and born out of idiocy.

Sorry for your loss. He later got what he and his cohorts deserved. I wished those coupists were buried alive though. Especially Ifeajuna