₦airaland Forum

For those that want to watch the entire documentary, here it is:

http://maxsiollun./2010/10/09/law-and-disorder-in-lagos-area-boys/

Ademoyega was put in charge of strategic aspects like disrupting communication lines and taking over the police HQ. He also assisted Major Anuforo in leading Okotie-Eboh into the bush to be killed. Ademoyega and Anuoforo pushedOkotie-Eboh into the bush even though he was pleading and begging for his life. Anuforo then shot him.

http://maxsiollun./2010/09/29/nigerias-50th-independence-anniversary-october-1-2010/


All you Nigerian history buffs out there. This video is unmissable.

This video is a brilliant journey through Nigeria's post-Independence history from 1960 till today.


Al-Jazeera did a wonderful job here of chronicling Nigeria's history in videos and interviews. It also features great feature length interviews with people like Wole Soyinka and Ibrahim Babangida, and video footage of Nigeria’s past leaders like Ironsi, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, General Yakubu Gowon, Phillip Effiong, Olusegin Obasanjo, and footage from the 1966 pogroms and civil war.


*Warning – there are some harrowing scenes of dying/suffering during Biafra.*



Al-Jazeera did a wonderful job here of chronicling Nigeria's history in videos and interviews. It also features great feature length interviews with people like Wole Soyinka and Ibrahim Babangida, and video footage of Nigeria’s past leaders like Ironsi, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, General Yakubu Gowon, Phillip Effiong, Olusegin Obasanjo, and footage from the 1966 pogroms and civil war.



*Warning – there are some harrowing scenes of dying/suffering during Biafra.*



http://maxsiollun./2010/09/29/nigerias-50th-independence-anniversary-october-1-2010/

‘Balewa wan’t shot, I saw his corpse’
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Bisi Oladele 26/09/2010 00:00:00

There has been controversy on how Sir Tafawa Balewa, the first Prime Minister of Nigeria died during the January 15 1965 coup. You were alive at that time and had some experience of how it happened and possibly, you must have read some of the new dimensions to the incident expressed in the media in the last one week.

I was actually taking aback when I started reading Mathew Mbu’s version of Balewa’s death. I won’t contest the fact that Balewa might be having asthma or might be an asthmatic patient. I wouldn’t know that bit. It will be too great coincidence to say that Balewa died of asthma within January 14 and 15 first coup. What I actually know is that he wasn’t shot because there wasn’t any trace of blood on his corpse compared with that of Okotie-Eboh who was lying some metres away from where Balewa was dropped, with his back on a palm tree. It was a palm tree because I actually went and saw him.

You went there and saw the corpse?

Yes; both Balewa and Okotie-Eboh.

What was your observation?

No trace of blood. If we are to take it in terms of killing in this modern time, probably he was electrocuted or strangled but there was no trace of any stain not to even to talk of blood. He wore, not babariga as people called it, praying gown - white gown with small white cap. It shows that it might be during morning prayer or immediately after his morning prayer that he was caught. So he was sitting down, his back to a palm tree and his head bent down. But everybody could see that Okotie-Eboh’s body was shot because his flowing wrapper which was about 10ft long, was all soaked in blood with his special wrist watch on his wrist. But as far as Abubakar was concerned, no sign of any violence except probably he was strangled or electrocuted. No stain - nothing whatsoever. I was privileged to be one of the people who went to see the two bodies as early as 7am because we heard the news first on BBC by 3:00am. It was repeated in the 6 O’clock news. Radio Ghana confirmed that their bodies were dropped half way between Lagos and Abeokuta - that is how it was revealed on radio both BBC and Radio Ghana that - there was a coup and that the bodies of the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance were dumped half way between Lagos and Abeokuta. Ifo then was the half way where I happened to be living. So immediately after that news, by 7am, I took my bicycle along with a cousin, went to the bush where they were dumped. The bush is called Iyana Ilogbo. Owode village is just some feet on the left coming from Abeokuta. I was among the first set of people that went there. People were turned back by security agents as from about 10:00 am.

Now when you saw these dead bodies, what naturally came to your mind as the source of the death

We thought he was strangled or electrocuted

Was the neck dangling?

No. It just bent down as if he was looking on the ground. His back was rested against a palm tree in a sitting position.

Did you read the account of Chief Segun Osoba who was then a reporter?

I didn’t read his original account but the paper yesterday (Sunday) said he was soaked in blood. No! That was where I have total disagreement, no sign of any blood as far as Tafawa Balewa was concerned.

Did you read the account of Mathew Mbu?

I read a little bit of it. What actually annoyed me as far as that is concerned is that he said he died of asthma. Well, it would be too great a coincidence that he died of asthma on that early morning of the coup

Considering the fact that he was the sitting Prime Minister and there was a coup, you want to relate that account with Mbu who said that he died of asthma that morning? I mean relating the location with the alleged asthmatic attack. Do you see the possibility of that account?

As I said earlier, it would just be too great a coincidence. if Mbu had said that he was an asthmatic patient, that would have been a different thing. Even if he said he died through heart-attack or cardiac arrest it would have been more acceptable because when you saw something you didn’t expect it could happen it could lead to shock but definitely not question of asthma. If he actually died of asthma I don’t think the army would have anything to do with his corpse again bringing him down to where the body was found.

What were you doing in Ifo that time sir?

I was a primary school headmaster.

And you said you heard it on BBC?

Then I had a friend at the Telephone Exchange at Ifo who first of all alerted us that there was a coup going on. I could hardly appreciate what coup meant then because it was new. She was on duty that morning. You know they use earphone. Immediately she heard the discussion, she tapped the telephone of the Local Government Council and asked him not to speak but to just listen to the conversation that was going on within the military circle. It was that one that alerted us to BBC and Radio Ghana by 6.00am to hear the information that there was a coup in Nigeria. By 6.00am when Radio Ghana described that the bodies of the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance were dumped at a site half way between Lagos and Abeokuta, Ifo happened to be the half way.

What is the distance between Ifo and Iyana Ilogbo?

It is just about 5 or 6 kilometres and to Sango Ota around again between 4 or 5 kilometres

How did you locate there?

When we got there we saw some villagers around that place they said "Ha, Balewa and Okotie-Eboh are there". So we went there and by the time the news went round in Ifo, people who went later said between 11 and 12noon couldn’t find anything.

‘The late Prime Minister was shot’
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Chris Oji 26/09/2010 00:00:00

How did Abubakar Tafawa Balewa die?

My annoyance is that people who weren’t in the army nor any of their children been in the army are talking about stories the military people who operated did not talk about.

I am not happy about making reference to the fallen people of January 15,1966, like the way M.T. Mbu talked about Abubakar. Was he with us? Everybody who fell in the January 15 coup was shot. Abubakar was shot. They were abducted and shot. Nzeogwu gave us instruction to shoot any of these people at sight. Who said Abubakar died of heart attack? And what about it? Was he his doctor? Was he there? Why bring the matter up? Just to fan the embers of discord. Provoking certain people. Whether he was shot or died of heart attack, somebody or some people moved in to remove him from office dead or alive and never to see the next day.

Is it true that Ifeajuna after killing Abubakar ran to Enugu where he escaped to Ghana?

You know that January 15 coup was a national action but the Igbos are suffering it now. We carried out the coup to preempt that of the northerners which was to come on 17 or 18 January. It was Major Obienu, Lt Pam and Captain Remawa Mohammed, these three people, one Igbo and two northerners that foiled the coup to be staged in Enugu and Benin. The Hausa people made it impossible for the coup to succeed in Enugu and Benin. These three officers caused it. After, Nzeogwu wanted to match to Lagos to deal with Ironsi as the other four compatriots were afraid of Ironsi. Nzeogwu was dissuaded by them as they assured him that they would handle him. But Ironsi defeated them at Carter bridge when they accosted him. In fact, he hypnotized them, they couldn’t do anything.

It was after this that Ifeajuna ran to Ghana. How could he have escaped to Ghana from Enugu? Enugu and Lagos, which is nearer to Ghana? He escaped not because of Ironsi being in control but because Nzeogwu had declared that Ifeajuna must be killed for not being able to muster troops to crush Ironsi.

The two, Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna, carried their bitterness between them to Biafra. Because Nzeogwu said Ifeajuna must pay for the failure of January 15 coup, Ifeajuna continued to tell Ojukwu that Nzeogwu was planning to overthrow him, that was why Nzeogwu "was shown the way out of Biafran Army"

What really happened and what was your role?

If anybody says that Ifeajuna was rushing to Enugu to execute the coup there, he is talking nonsense. As soon as Ironsi escaped from us, Ifeajuna ran to Ghana to hide from Nzeogwu’s wrath. The man that was moving down to Enugu to execute the operation in Benin and Enugu was Major Christian Anuforo. And this was the man who actually planned and carried out the coup. He planned the coup and not Nzeogwu. Nzeogwu was the last man to come in through Captain Nwobosi. It was the only other four that were planning it. And it was what happened at Makurdi that moved them to plan the coup. It was Major Obienu, Lt. Pam and Captain Remawa Mohammed that foiled it.

How?

You see these people led by Major Anuforo were moving down to Enugu after Ijebu-Ode where they were refuelling their vehicles. Major Anuforo met with the three, Obienu, Pam and Mohammed and beg them to help him carry out the operation in Enugu and Benin. But Pam told the other two, Obienu and Mohammed they should bear in mind that if the coup failed, they would all be court- martialled. And they returned to Abeokuta and cut major Anuforo off from heading to Enugu. Anuforo was then using 404 Peugeot Saloon Car that had no communication gadget. So, he didn’t know what was happening. Another Igbo officer used a ferret car to overtake him and told him what happened. Anuforo then rushed down to Abedeuta before it was dawn. And on getting to Abeokuta, the news of the coup was on air.

Was there any post mortem on the corpse of Abubakar before he was buried?

No. I don’t think so. He was buried the same day his body was picked from the bush. And one thing they have not said was the fact that all of those killed in the January 15 coup were beheaded.

Here's what I don't understand about Osoba's account:

1) The men who recovered his body said it was badly decomposed. These people included police officers, medical officers and people who knew the PM. They saw injuries consistent with bullet wounds. The whole reason they discovered the body was because they smelled the odour of composition.

2) This is another area where Osoba's account has to be critically analysed. Various sources over the years have not always correctly identified the second corpse found near Balewa. Some say it was Okotie-Eboh, and others say it was Largema. Faced with these contradictory accounts, I concluded the second corpse was that of Largema because:

(a) The Special Branch report stated that "When he [Ifeajuna] and Okafor became certain that the PM was dead they left the body in the bush at a point beyond Otta on the Lagos to Abeokuta road. They then opened the boot of the car and dropped the body of Lt. Col. Largema near that of the PM."

This account was provided by the very people who murdered them and who dumped the bodies in the bush.

The people who identified the bodies included an army physician and others who personally knew Largema and worked with him for many years prior to his murder. I have studied and researched this matter in minute forensic detail for years. I left no stone unturned and Osoba's account does not add up.

I am not saying Osoba is lying. Merely questioning the differences in accounts between different eyewitnesses. Balewa's own ADC handled the body at the scene, as did other close kin - they all describe a bad stench and decomposition.

LOL, you seem very pleased about this.

Brimming with life, playful and illustrative, Nigerian Pidgin English lends itself well to creativity, evolving quickly and readily borrowing from current events.

A World Cup blunder by Nigerian player Sani Kaita briefly spawned the word "Kaitalistic" to mean catastrophic and the frequent acts of kidnapping in Nigeria has popularized the term "Colombia people" to describe the perpetrators on Nigeria's first pidgin station Wazobia 95.1 FM.

"American Presido say time don reach to comot im troop for Iraq," announced the newscaster on a recent lunchtime bulletin, after U.S. President Barack Obama announced a formal end to the U.S. military's combat mission in Iraq last month.

Nigerian Afrobeat music pioneer Fela Kuti was a major proponent of Pidgin, further popularizing its use with albums like "Why Black Man Dey Suffer" and "I Go Shout Plenty".

"Good English (could) not convey the message of African music," he was quoted as saying in one of his biographies.

Despite the popularity of Pidgin, the Akademi faces an uphill struggle convincing all Nigerians, many of whom see it as a by-product of the country's falling education standards.

"Pidgin looks like a bastardization of the English language," said Reuben Abati, chairman of the editorial board for Nigeria's Guardian newspapers and a respected columnist.

"The West African elite, who see it as the language of commoners, like to dissociate themselves from Pidgin. They want their children to sound like Upper Class Britons. That attitude is wrong because it has to do with identity. As second users of the language, we must promote varieties of English."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68J2OG20100920?pageNumber=2



Well its about time this happened. Pidgin English has been Nigeria’s lingua franca for decades, but it appears that plans are afoot to turn it into an official language – not just slang.

Nigerian academics have created a “Naija Languej Akademi” to create a Pidgin reference guide including a Pidgin alphabet, dictionary, a standard guide for orthography, and a history of the language.

Pidgin evolved from a contact language developed in the 1400s to trade with the Portuguese and the British in the southern Niger Delta. Pidgin uses borrow words from indigenous Nigerian languages such as Edo, Itsekiri and Yoruba.

I look forward to the day when I see Professors of Pidgin, and students getting Masters Degrees in Pidgin!
http://maxsiollun./2010/09/22/pidgin-english-to-become-a-formal-language/

Seems Nigeria's 50th independence anniversary is jogging people's memories,

Jan. 1966 coup
Nzeogwu’s mentor, Col Nwawo, spills the beans
By JOSFYN UBA
Monday, September 20, 2010

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/images/Nwawo.gif

Lt-Col Conrad Nwawo (rtd), 78, was a mentor to the late Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, leader of Nigeria’s first military coup which occurred on January 15, 1966. The Nigerian civil war veteran also taught the young Nzeogwu at the military school. But for Nwawo’s intervention, who was then, Defence Attache at the Nigerian High Commission, London, UK, the 1966 coup would have degenerated into an immediate civil war. He, alone could stop the “unstoppable Nzeogwu.”

During the civil war, his name meant different things to different people, depending on which side of the divide you were. To some, it evoked bravery and courage, while for others, it signaled imminent danger. Recently, at his Onicha Olona, Aniocha North Local Government, Delta State, residence, the former warlord took Daily Sun down memory lane. He spoke on his relationship with Nzeogwu and the previous battles he fought before the Nigerian civil war. Excerpts:

When did you join the military?
I joined the Nigerian Army on December 1, 1950. It was then called the West African Frontier Force. I was commissioned on May 28, 1954, at Ettenhall, UK, as a second Lieutenant. I would later become number 10 in the Nigerian Army. During the crisis of 1966, in the four major regions, there was a shake-up in the Armed Forces.

Where were you during the first coup?
By January 1966, I was the military attaché and Defence aAviser in London. I had to fly back to Nigeria because of the situation then and I had to come from Lagos to Kaduna.

Why did it have to be you that were called back?
I had to be called back because I was a very senior military officer. I was a Lieutenant Colonel and I happened to be from the same region with Major Nzeogwu. Apart from that, I was also Nzeogwu’s teacher in Military School and we had a very good relationship. So, that relationship had to be tapped to get Nzeogwu convinced to follow me to Lagos. No other person could have taken Nzeogwu to Lagos except me because he regarded me so much. He was just like a son to me.

If Nzeogwu had no respect for any other person, he had very high regards for me and respected me so much. On that day in Kaduna, I addressed the officers and told them of my mission which was to go with Nzeogwu to Lagos. The address was cordial and the parade was good. He was more like my own son and so he had no problem as he too, briefly told the officers that he was going to Lagos.

Could you recall what happened between Kaduna and Lagos?
At the time of Ahmadu Bello’s encounter, during the shoot-out, so many things happened. Nzeogwu was injured. He had shrapnels on his hands and was taken to the Military Hospital, Kaduna. He was treated by one young lady, Miss Alice Mordi, who later became Mrs. Alice Onogwu. She is from around my place here. She hails from Ukala in Delta State. She is married to an Ogwashi Uku man.

What kind of person was Major Nzeogwu?
He was a patriot and a nationalist to the core. He wanted the best for Nigeria. He was so much like a son to me. We had a very close relationship

Before the Nigerian civil war, did you fight any other war?
Yes, I was in the Congo. It was in 1963 in the Congo, so Congo experience had come before the Nigeria civil war. Nigerian Army was then known as the Queens Own Regiment. When the queen came to Nigeria in 1956, it had to be changed to Queen’s Own Nigeria Regiment. Until Nigeria became a republic, it was still the Queens Own Nigeria Regiment.

From the Congo operations, the Queen of England gave us an award, the MC which means the Military Cross. The award was given to just the two of us. I and Adekunle Fajuyi were the only Nigerian military officers to be so honoured in the history of the Nigerian Army. We were the only two. It was a professional award given by the queen then. By the time I got the award, the Nigerian Army was still known as Queen’s Own Nigeria Regiment.

What was your relationship with the late Adekunle Fajuyi?
He was a junior officer to me. Adekunle Fajuyi was killed on the same day when they killed Major-General Johnson Thomas Aguyi-Ironsi.

Can you remember one striking experience in the Congo operations?
The Congo United Nations operations were brought about by the fact that they were not organized to do things so the Nigerian Army was left to do that. Other Commonwealth countries were there. And of course, we were very efficient. We knew our job. I was a Major. I was a Company Commander in the Congo. It was not as a result of a company action. It was a lot of individual action.

Could you recall your parents’ reaction when you were going to the military?
My father was not very happy at all. I remember that day. It was on a Saturday. I was ready to go to the NMTC, military school. I was very happy. I had come from Lagos, working my way through the military. It was not an easy matter at all. They had to get to the divisional officer in Benin City to find out about my parentage. That was in those days. I knew that was happening but I couldn’t care less because I knew that nothing would happen. They just wanted to know whether we were from a fighting stock. You know what it means, then.

How old were you when you joined the Army?
I was in my early 20s because I had finished secondary education and gone to the School of Agriculture, Moore plantation, Ibadan. I graduated in December 1946 and started working as a civil servant before I went to the Cameroon.

What happened and how did you move from the Nigerian Army to Biafra Army?
The thing came and swept all of us. It was at the 4th Area Command in Benin City, then. Emeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu was very keen to have me in particular. It was a question of loyalty. One had to be careful about it. I was very loyal to the Nigerian Army. Whatever happened, I couldn’t care less. I was in the Nigerian Army until things started happening.

At that time, though, I had travelled out of the country and had not returned when things began to happen. When I returned, I came from London through Cameroon, Daula to Enugu. I travelled from London to Daula to Enugu.

At Umuahia, where you were said to have been caught off in ambush, although, you still pulled through, what gave you the courage to fight the way you did at that time?
The courage was because I was the Commander and a Commander is a courageous man anytime. I had a strike force at Umuahia and we were caught off. Then, we got there and bulldozed with my group across the federal forces. When we had succeeded in clearing them, and we were coming back across a river, I told my men that I would not step into the river or walk across it.

I told them to lift me over and above the river which they did, of course. The idea was that I wanted to see the picture of that particular portion so about 10 men had to carry me over the river. That was an incident that has remained memorable. It was an experience for about two days in the bush with the federal forces before we cleared them.

Was there any other striking experience?
As the Commander of the 4th Area Command, when we had taken off our defensive positions, which was why I was sent to Onitsha to take over the defensive there, along the River Niger. Having deployed all available men there, I observed that the troops had fought there but they were not quite organized and not very reliable too.

We had to push in some strength by visiting them, redeploying men. At that point, I was moved in there to hold them and to try and organize them because those we met were not so reliable.
Sometimes, when I went through the bridge now, and on the left, I remember things. When I saw the river, I remember Abagana and the incidents leading to it and all of that. I remember Achuzia and Madiebo when we deployed at Abagana.

I also remember one very striking incident at Itikwukpo junction when Achuzia had told all the other soldiers to go back to their places as he didn’t want the senior people to be behind him. Just as they were preparing to move after telling them, and in less than 10 minutes, they started bombing. One of the bombs fell just on where we were standing. Madiebo was wounded with some shrapnels. I also had a small one at the back. We were all rushed to Iyienu Hospital. So these are some of experiences that I try to recall.

Did you have a specific position in the Biafran High Command?
Of course, yes. I was the head of the strike command.

What is the name of the strike division that you had?
It was called the 11 Division. That was the command that moved from Onitsha. There was another one, the 13 Division. Then, there was the Commando Group which was the final one. We had people like Emeka Ananaba.

Can you remember any major decision you took that either helped or influenced Ojukwu during those hey days to accomplish what you people had aimed at?
I can’t remember now, I can’t remember. Unless, I have to go through my memoirs, I can’t remember now.

What was your relationship with Ojukwu?
Ojukwu had great respect for me throughout the Biafran war and I knew that. He showed me a great measure of respect. And he was always saying it that he had great hope in my capability. That was quite understandable. He knew that I was there with my whole being. And there was no question about that. He always said it

This issue will not go away, other people are now claiming that Balewa was NOT shot dead, and was actually alive for FIVE DAYS after the coup. Read on:

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/index.html?search_options=YTo2OntzOjEyOiJzZWFyY2hfbGltaXQiO2k6MTA7czoxNDoic2VhcmNoX29wdGlvbnMiO2E6Mzp7czoyMToic2VhcmNoX2NyZWF0ZWRfZmlsdGVyIjtpOjE7czoxOToic2VhcmNoX3N0YXR1c19saW1pdCI7aToxO3M6MTI6InNlYXJjaF9xdWVyeSI7czoxMjoib3NvYmEgYmFsZXdhIjt9czoxNDoic2VhcmNoX3NvcnRfYnkiO3M6OToib3JkZXJfbnVtIjtzOjEyOiJzZWFyY2hfb3JkZXIiO3M6MTA6ImRlc2NlbmRpbmciO3M6Njoib2Zmc2V0IjtpOjA7czoxODoic2VhcmNoX2RvX2FkdmFuY2VkIjtiOjE7fQ

It was a few minutes to 11 pm, on Friday, January 14, 1966, around Onikan, on Lagos Island, opposite the then Race Course, now Tafawa Balewa Square. A handful of Nigerian soldiers, led by Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna abducted the country’s first Prime Minister, Sir. Tafawa Balewa. The Prime Minister’s abduction was a well planned operation that went well without any fatalities.

At about the same time, just about a kilometre away in Ikoyi Island, also in Lagos, another group of soldiers, led by another officer, arrested the country’s Minister of Finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh. That military operation too went well, although eye-witness accounts quoted by the British Broadcasting Corporation then, gave hint of a violent abduction, referring to slaps and beatings the flamboyant Finance Minister was given, even before the soldiers drove away with him.

Another group of soldiers was at that same time being led by a Major Donatus Okafor, to arrest or kill, if necessary, the country’s most senior Army officer, Major General Aguiyi Ironsi. This group failed to get the officer. The General was reportedly not found in his official residence. Neither was he to be found in his office.

The three groups and several others, were working in concert, coordinated by a Major Wale Ademoyega. The groups were communicating with and updating Ademoyega by radio. A few days earlier, Ademoyega himself had sent out a single message.

The Message said " Major Ademoyega will leave Lagos for a forty one days holiday and will arrive in Kaduna after fifty one days." It was a terse radio message, made seemingly so innocuous as to arouse no suspicions.

Indeed it went on the operations signaling radio of the Nigerian Army. Yet it was a call to mutiny by soldiers. It was actually a signal announcing the D-Day of Nigeria’s first military coup.

Major Wale Ademoyega, one of the three leaders of Nigeria’s first coup, sent from Lagos to their leader, Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, incidentally Nigeria’s first trained military intelligence officer announcing the readiness of Lagos for the coup.

Major Nzeogwu was waiting in Kaduna for the signal to begin operations that will take care of the Kaduna end of what the uninitiated were told there and then, was fairly routine "special internal security operation" by the military.

The message in reality, was only saying a firm date has been set for the coup in Lagos. Translated, the message meant "the coup will take off on the night of the 14 and continue until the morning of the 15th." The coupists had, at a prior meeting, all agreed that the coup had to be in the month of January. This and so much more has always been known about the coup on January 15, 1966.

This much that is known for sure, has been more of providence than by design. Only one of the three coup leaders lived long enough to tell the world how they planned the coup over a four-year period. In fact only two of the five Nigerian Army majors who led different aspects of the operations nationwide, on coup day, lived for more than two years after the coup.

The very rare eye witness accounts which told the story of the country’s first coup, has been largely facilitated by the direct accounts of Major Ademoyega, the only survivor of the troika whose coup set off a political tsunami that changed the story of Nigeria for ever.

Indeed Major Ademoyega’s two other compatriots, Majors Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna, lived for barely three years after January 1966 coup. Both died during Nigerian civil war which ensued less than 15 months after the January 1966 coup.

Ademoyega lived for more than 40 years after the event and was able to write probably the most vivid recount of the January 15, 1966 coup in his book "Why we Struck".

But 44 years after the coup attempt, a seemingly small piece of detail that Ademoyega’s true to life account, failed to resolve conclusively is now coming to the fore. It is the issue of how Nigeria’s first Prime Minister Sir. Tafawa Balewa died in the early hours of Saturday January 15, 1966.

An investigation by The Nation now suggests that the late Prime Minister may have indeed been alive up to at least the 20th day of January, 1966.

Nigeria’s first Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa was not killed on coup day, January 15, 1966, contrary to widely-held belief on the country’s first coup.

Also curiously, 44 years after his death, no official reports have conclusively given any answers to the many loopholes in the many stories the world has been told of how Nigeria’s first and last Prime Minister died. A curiosity it has become, considering that newspaper reports at that time, even indicated that the Prime Minister may not have been shot to death on January 15, 1966 by the coupists.

The trigger was pulled three weeks ago. The Nation began investigations of a hint given at a personality interview with Dr. Mathew Mbu, Nigeria’s first High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Nigeria’s first private digital archive, The Nation Databank started going round the country interviewing elder-statesmen and senior citizens for the country’s first-ever multimedia biographical databank.

While responding to a plea to write his memoirs, at the end of a four hour video interview, Dr. Mbu said he was told by the renowned poet, Christopher Okigbo, who was very close to the late Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, that Prime Minister Balewa was not shot to death by the coupists, but died of an asthmatic attack while he was been held by coupists.

But revelations now coming from investigations by The Nation have been even more shocking. The indications are that there may have been high level official cover-up and deliberate disinformation in the last 44-years, to the effect that Prime Minister Balewa was brutally killed in the course of the coup.

Indeed, books have been published, some even by foreign authors, suggesting that the late Prime Minister may have been tied to stake and executed by soldiers in the course of the coup. Some other books even suggest that he was driven round Lagos and tortured before he was callously shot at close range. Yet for reasons still unknown, the Nigerian government has never made a comprehensive official disclosure of where, when and how the late Prime Minister died. Even official publications which would have thrown more light on the dark events of January 15, 1966 have been glibly, at the best.

Forty-four years after, none of the newspaper reports on the discovery of the body of the late prime Minister, have ever been controverted. The young journalist author then, who, with many villagers near Ota, on the Abeokuta express road, saw the body of the Prime Minister, around Iyana Ilogbo, before it was retrieved and flown to Bauchi for burial, has never been questioned by security agents, on the account he reported in the Sunday Times of the 23rd of January 1966. No reporter has ever been reprimanded or even questioned simply because there were many other corroborative "eye witnesses" among the villagers near the site of the discovery.

Similar reports were made in The New Nigeria of Tuesday January 25, 1966, suggesting that the late Prime Minister’s body was intact as at January 21, 1966 when it was found in the forest beside a badly decomposed bodies of Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, the then Finance Minister. The reports specifically said the body of the late Prime Minister was in a sitting position, propped by a kolanut tree. The reports said Chief Okotie-Eboh’s body was badly decomposed and bullet riddled. Yet the Prime Minister was supposed to have been killed on the same day, six days earlier. It is inconceivable that a dead body will be in an open forest for six days without decomposing.

More confounding was the first report in the Sunday Times of January 23, 1966, that the Prime Minister’s body was actually fresh instead of been decomposed. The report said the late Prime Minister’s body had a white babanriga which was still "snow white". The report said the body had no marks, while the white toga, had no blood stains. Yet the Prime Minister body was supposed to have been bullet riddled and dumped in the open forest for at least six days prior to the discovery.

The Sunday Times in the front page report on January 23, 1966, carried the official announcement of the discovery of the Prime Minister’s body. But the official announcement was completely silent on the possible manner of the Prime Ministers’ death or time of death. Yet the same front page had an eye-witness report from a young roving reporter, Segun Osoba, which suggested that Prime Minister may have been alive for at least five days after he was supposed to have been killed by his abductors.

The young Sunday Times reporter then, is now Chief Segun Osoba, two-time civilian governor of Ogun state. Last week, in Lagos, the veteran journalist insisted that the body of Tafawa Balewa he saw about 7pm on Friday January 21, 1966 was a fresh body. That was what he reported then and which has never been controverted.

Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode was however vehement in his defence of seeming official position, which flies in the face of logic and newspaper reports of the period. He only agreed that it may be somewhat difficult to see believe the official position that an autopsy done on the body of the late Prime Minister confirmed that he was shot to death.

Last Tuesday, Fani-Kayode agreed with The Nation that it is "really difficult to see how the supposedly badly decomposed body of the late prime Minister could have been evacuated to LUTH, Idi-Araba, some 30 kilometres from the site of discovery and an autopsy conducted on the same dismembered body, the body to be put together and packaged into a coffin and driven to Ikeja airport for the flight to Bauchi all within five hours". That was last week.

At the weekend, Fani-Kayode said he has been reliably informed that the autopsy was indeed carried out, but not at LUTH. He said he has been reliably informed that the autopsy was carried out at the site where the body was found in the forest and at night, by a doctor from LUTH. It was after the autopsy that the body was prepared for a flight and taken under watch of heavily-armed soldiers to the Lagos Airport, for a flight that took off for Bauchi, at 12.30 am Saturday January 22, 1966, with only the pilot and the flight engineer as civilians.

Chief Osoba was however emphatic last Wednesday that he left the Iyana Ilogbo site where he saw the bodies of Balewa and Okotie-Eboh at 8pm, after spending about one hour interviewing people and generally looking around. And that no autopsies could ever have been carried out on the body of the PrimeMinister because the body was on the way to Bauchi by flight four hours later, considering the impossibility of the logistics such would have necessitated.

Investigations are continuing
has for example, confirmed that all newspaper reports on the discovery of the body of the late Prime Minister in January 1966, suggest that Prime Minister was probably alive until at least January 20, 1966.

With apologies for the technical glitch, I have updated the poll page and you can now actually cast your vote at the link below. Make yourself heard!

http://maxsiollun./2010/09/14/who-is-the-greatest-nigerian-of-the-past-50-years/

As Nigeria approaches its 50th Independence anniversary, who is the greatest Nigerian of the post independence era? Cast your vote at the link below.

http://maxsiollun./2010/09/14/who-is-the-greatest-nigerian-of-the-past-50-years/

I cannot believe an educated man and senior political figure can come out publicly with such a dubious story. Asthma?!

1) This account by Mbu is utter distortion. That Balewa was shot dead/murdered is not in doubt.[b] I have accounts by the police officers and others who actually recovered Balewa's corpse. They confirm that his body had several bullet wounds and they even confirmed the location of the bullet wounds. [/b]The bullet wounds were evident even though rigor mortis had set in and Balewa's body was badly decomposed.

2) Balewa's murder is chronicled in detail by Trevor Clark's biography of him entitled "A Right Honourable Gentleman" and in my own book.

3) The Special Branch report into the Jan 66 coup was compiled by several British and Nigerian police officers who investigated the coup and Balewa's murder. It also confirms that Balewa was shot dead.

The News (Lagos)
Nigeria: Idiagbon: His Life, His Times Till he died last week

Ayodele Ojo

29 March 1999

Lagos — As sympathisers left the 4, Aderemi Adeleye residence of General Tunde Idiagbon after his interment last Thursday, many of them were overheard wondering what killed the fiery soldier.

Could he have died from his reported "concern about the state of the nation? Did he die of frustration with the unparalleled corruption, desecration and perversion of the army he joined in 1962 or of the exposure to ridicule, and irreparable damage of the institution he served diligently? Above all, was he poisoned? All these, according to some Ilorin residents who claimed anonymity, will remain conjectures as no autopsy was performed on his remains to determine the cause of death. Born on 14 September 1943 in Ilorin to the late Alhaji Hassan Dogo and Alhaja Ayisatu Iyabeji Hassan Idiagbon he attended United School, Ilorin from 1950-1952 and later Okesuna Senior Primary School in the same town from 1953 to 1957.

He started his military career in 1958 when he enlisted at the Nigerian Military School, Zaria (1958-1962). From there he proceeded to the Pakistani Military Academy, Kakul (1962-65) and later attended a junior commander course at the Nigerian Military Training College, Kaduna.

In 1966, he attended a young officers' course at the Nigerian Military Training College, Kaduna and also a junior staff course in the Nigerian Army Brigade. He was at the Command and Staff College, Pakistan in 1976 and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru near Jos in 1981. In 1982, he attended an International Defence Management, Naval Post Graduate School, US (1982). He held a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the Pakistani Military Academy. An associate member of the Nigerian Institute of Management, Idiagbon is a holder of the Senior International Defence Management Diploma. In 1962, he enlisted as officer cadet and was commissioned as second lieutenant in April 1965.

He was promoted lieutenant in 1966 and captain in 1968. At the end of the civil war, Idiagbon became a major and Lt.-Colonel in 1974; Colonel in July 1978 and Brigadier in May 1980. In the course of a distinguished military career, he held various military posts.

He served as company commander, 4 Battalion, from August 1965 to February 1966; intelligence officer 4 Battalion and later GS0 3 Intelligence, 1 sector; commanding officer, 20 Battalion from October 1967 to February 1968 and 125 Battalion from 1968 to 1970. He was brigade major and deputy- commander, 33 Brigade from March 1970 to March 1971 and commander, 29 Brigade from March 1971 to December 1972.

Appointed general staff officer, grade 1 and later principal staff officer, supreme headquarters from January 1973 to August 1975, Idiagbon was the Brigade Commander, 31 and 15 Brigades respectively from August 1975 to August 1978. While he was serving as Commander, 15 Brigade, he was at the same time a member of the Governing Council of the University of Jos. General Idiagbon's political appointment began in August 1978 when he was made the military governor of Borno State.

He was in this capacity till 1 October 1979. Simultaneously, he was the Commander, 33 Brigade and member of the National Council of State. He served as director of manpower and planning, Army Headquarters from October 1979 to February 1981 and military secretary (army) 1981-1983 from where he was appointed chief of staff, supreme headquarters when the military overthrew the civilians on 31 December 1983. A lover of jazz music of Miles David and Herbie Hankock, Gen. Idiagbon was reportedly tender with his five children, products of Mrs. Biodun Idiagbon whom he married in August 1970. Because he loves his children, Ronke, an MBA student in Cardiff, Wales enjoyed a N1 million pocket money per annum.

Kunle, one of his sons is said to be a business man who's had juicy deals at the PTF. The author of a book titled 'Strategies for Liberating Southern Africa,' he was toppled together with his boss in a palace coup on 27 August 1985 while on a pilgrimage to Mecca with his 14-year-old son. Despite threats to his life, Idiagbon returned to the country a few days after the coup and was detained alongside Buhari for 40 months. After he was released, Idiagbon was a recluse throughout the Babangida years. And despite the disenchantment with his constituency, Idiagbon refused to undertake any risky venture during the Abacha years obviously for fear of arrest or extermination.

"Now he has died like a chicken, killed by a stomach upset," an analyst said. While in government, various programmes were introduced. Among them are the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) which he oversaw and the National Environmental Sanitation which is still in force. But the Buhari-Idiagbon war against drug trafficking, their war against the press and the repression of ousted politicians were the anti-climax of the regime.

The regime's incarceration of many politicians was condemned as barbaric. In fact, many of the jailed governors -Professor Ambrose Ali, Aper Aku, Tatari Ali, Zabo Barkin Zuwo and Alhaji Busari Adelakun died in detention.

Also, the death of Chief Bisi Onabanjo was not unconnected with his prison experience. To deal with politicians who fled Nigeria for Britain, Idiagbon ordered the abduction of one of Nigerian's most wanted fugitives then, Alhaji Umaru Dikko who fled to London and launched from his base plans to return Nigeria to democratic rule without delay. The failed attempt to fly Dikko home in a diplomatic crate sparked off a diplomatic row between London and Lagos. Idiagbon was quoted to have said that: "Normalisation of ties between Nigeria and Britain, if any, must come from Britain because Nigeria did not create the present situation." This was in obvious reference to the request of the British government that the Nigerian High Commissioner to Britain, Major- General Hananniya be recalled for consultation over the Dikko affair. A story in the Sunday Telegraph of 5 August 1984, written by Andrew Phillips entitled "Nigeria's Reign of Terror" ridiculed the regime in apparent reference to the botched kidnap attempt in London.

While the conservative British newspaper castigated the junta abroad, the Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos, on Monday 13 August 1984, issued a communique after its meeting in Lagos expressing concern that decrees that were being churned out of then Supreme Military Council threatened the jurisdiction of courts. Idiagbon was dreaded throughout his sojourn in power. He was the only signatory to the Detention of Persons Decree Number 2 of 1984. But his death, last week, has closed a chapter in Nigeria's history.

Additional reports by Idowu Akinrosoye and Horace Ekpe

Publication Date: April 5, 1999

Copyright © 1999 The News. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

A coup almost occurred in 2010! It was very dicey, and was caused by the controversy over Yar'Adua's absence.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=5009

Katsumoto, as one earlier poster said, virtually everyone who saw Fajuyi and Ironsi being killed is dead. The only ones still alive are one or two of the northern soldiers who did the deed or were involved in disposing of the bodies. I know that one or two of them (not Danjuma) became Generals and are still alive. They have never spoken about what transpired. You may also want to read Maj-Gen James Oluleye's analysis of the Danjuma/NCOs encounter in his book "Military Leadership in Nigeria".

Walbe was very open in admitting his own involvement but strangely never mentioned the role of Danjuma.

Katsumoto:
In my honest opinion, having read accounts from maxsiollun, Nowa, Gen Haruna, etc, I believe that the differences in the accounts are as a result of concerted efforts to protect Danjuma. Danjuma was a fearless soldier; the manner of his crushing of the Dimka coup, his civil war exploits, and other actions allude to that. What I can't accept is that Danjuma was powerless against NCOs and Lt Walbe. Danjuma was going to be involved in the set-up of the Army and Nigerian governance for a long time; if the Army officially held Danjuma responsible for the murders of Ironsi and Fajuyi, then his career and possibly his life, may have been cut short. The senior officers during the July coup refused to accept responsibility for the murders of innocent officers and civilians; blaming it on NCOs and junior officers whom they were always going to protect and not prosecute.

Lets not forget that Ojukwu did not go into details at Aburi when he asked Gowon about the whereabouts of Ironsi even though he had heard Nwankwo's account. That was Army speak. Just in the same way, no one in the Army stated that Danjuma was the 'unknown soldier' mentioned in Fela's song.

Maxsiollun,
Thank you for your books, they have been very educational and enlightening. You have provided a balanced view in your books but I fear some of those bear official Army transcripts.

Katsumoto, GREAT points. You have clearly read the different accounts very closely. Great to see someone who contributes from a position of research and knowledge after reviewing the different accounts. There are MINOR discrepancies from the accounts by the eyewitnesses. Some of the accounts have been distorted by NON-eyewitnesses - to confuse the situation (e.g. alleging that Ironsi and Fajuyi were tied to, and dragged along on the back of an army Land Rover). As for Nwankwo's escape, I have written about the whole affair in minute detail. I devoted an entire chapter to Ironsi and Fajuyi's murder and the aftermath.

Katsumoto:
But how is it that there are conflicting accounts of Ironsi and Fajuyi's death. Some accounts place Danjuma in the same place as where they died while another account states that Danjuma walked back to the Barracks. While Ironsi and Fajuyi were being taken away by junior NCOs, Danjuma, the most senior officer and a member of Ironsi's security detail decides to walk back to the Barracks?

Also, how did Nwankwo manage to escape? Especially after pulling a gun on Danjuma when the Northern officers went into the government house to arrest Ironsi. There are two many details that do not had up. For instance, how did Fajuyi end up getting killed when there was no intention to arrest him? When Gowon called the Guest house after Njoku escaped, Danjuma said he was there to arrest Ironsi. When Danjuma and co approached the government house, Fajuyi came out to talk to him. He said he was there to arrest Ironsi. He had a conversation with Fajuyi in which he promised Fajuyi that no harm would come to Ironsi. After getting into the house, Fajuyi also acted as peacemaker when Danjuma accused Ironsi of being part of the January coup. At this point, all accounts are not divergent. Accounts then become conflicting after Ironsi and Fajuyi are kidnapped and taken to Mile 8 on Iwo Road.

Do you know where the first account of Fajuyi and Ironsi's murder emerged from? Capt Andrew Nwankwo! - Ironsi's ADC. He gave his account to Ojukwu (soon after the murders) nearly 20 (yes TWENTY!) full years before Danjuma, Walbe etc began giving their own accounts. The remarkable aspect is that there is little disagreement between Nwankwo, Danjuma and Walbe. The Eastern Region published an account of Fajuyi's last moments based on Nwankwo's testimony as an eyewitness.

PrinceEmek:
The earliest accounts, which came more than six months after the murder of the Colonel and the General, were by the perpetrators, and were not challenged at the time.  A lot of your sources came into existence years, if not decades, after the war.  By this time, the incentives for such publication have become pecuniary and the journals, edited for maximum impact.  Not much of it is historical and so, little attention was spent on facts or accuracy.

1) You are right. But the difference here is that people on BOTH sides of the coup agree. We have Igbo officers and northern soldiers agreeing on what happened.

2) As for Fajuyi being buried with full military honours. How does that relate to the motives for his murder? You claim that coup plotters are not normally buried with full military honours, so let me give you a list of known coup plotters that have similarly been buried with full military honours:

Nzeogwu
Murtala Muhammed
Ibrahim Taiwo
Ibrahim Bako

3) PrinceEmek, I gave you accounts from people who were physically present when Fajuyi and Ironsi were killed and saw what happened. You were not there but claim to know better than those who were. Pretty soon, you'll tell us that Goodluck Jonathan is not the President even though many people witnessed him being sworn in. If you don't believe the accounts I gave you - fine. This board is about disagreement and conflicting opinions. However do not simply tell me you don't agree/believe without citing any evidence or sources. If these witnesses are wrong: show us something better. Provide better sources and evidence that rebuts them. Give us other eyewitnesses that have better opinions.

A member of the Jan 15, 1966 coup categorically stated that Fajuyi was one of them. Others have corroborated it, yet you still don't believe it.

Aigbofa:
Why should we be believe any account given by a bunch of coup planners, they are not exactly a paragon of honesty. Are they?

In any case, why was Fajuyi reburied with full millitary honors, which other coup planner in the history of Nigeria was ever given a state burial?

PrinceEmek.

1) Fajuyi was indeed an excellent officer. He was awarded a medal for gallantry during the UN mission in the Congo.

2)I have several EYEWITNESS accounts from those who were present when he and Ironsi were murdered. It is simply not true that "Fajuyi was not arrested". In fact Fajuyi was arrested before Ironsi. Why would the men who murdered him lie about disliking him? Why would they kill him unless they had a grudge against him? Have you rad Major Ademoyega's account of the Jan 1966 coup? [b] Ademoyega explicitly states that Fajuyi was an accomplice to the coup. [/b]The northern soldiers suspected this and wanted Fajuyi dead as a result. [b]BOTH Fajuyi and Ironsi were taken away, tortured and murdered. [/b]Even Capt Andrew Nwankwo witnessed the whole thing and has corroborated this story.

PrinceEmek:
@ Maxsiollum, you may not wanna believe everything you read.  Your citation that Fajuyi was hated by the plotters and had him marked was erroneous.  Common sense questions may help put things in the right perspective.  It may be noteworthy that Fajuyi was not arrested, but Aguiyi-Ironsi was, why?  If both were inclusive in their plans, both would have suffered the same fate.  Aguiyi was still alive when he was taken away.  He was tortured and beaten and later killed, while his host was murdered instantly only for trying to provide cover for the General’s escape.  The condition of Aguiyi-Ironsi’s body, when recovered, told the story.

My goodness. A well intentioned thread about important Nigerian history has descended into crude name calling. I wish I had not posted on this thread. The incredible aspect is that 90% of the book is NOT even about the "Igbo coup" issue being debated here.

No self promotion here, but another review of the book was very kindly written by Kaye Whiteman, whom many of you will recognise as the former Editor of the esteemed magazine ‘West Africa’. He is one of the leading writers on West Africa and has also written for the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

Unpacking the Past

As we approach the great stock-taking of the fiftieth anniversary of Nigerian independence (which is going to be continuing all year), there is going to be a growing consideration of the history of these past fifty years. This is bound to include a re-examination of the coups and civil war of the 1960s. If this decade brought to a head the post-independence trauma of national identity, as a shakedown of the British-engineered independence settlement, it made a profound mark on subsequent decades.

There are so many aspects of Nigeria’s recent history that cannot be studied without reference to the 1960s – for example, the onset and collapse of the idea of military rule; or the effect on society, economy and political culture of the ‘curse of oil’, a central factor in the war for Nigerian unity. There was the phenomenon of the creation of states, initiated with the first twelve states of May 1967, mainstay of fiscal federalism, and the campaign for local resource control. Behind lay the scourge of corruption, and the electoral fraud whose worst manifestation in the Western Region led to the January 15 coup of 1966.

These thoughts arise from a book titled Oil Politics and Violence: Nigeria’s Military Coup Culture (1966-76) by Max Siollun (published in New York this year by Algora publishing). For those interested in a detailed and objective study of these particularly sensitive moments, I cannot commend this book too highly.

For an old-timer like myself, who was partly around at the time, [b]this book is a revelation. [/b]For this is a period which, for understandable reasons, has all too often been buried. After the books written by journalists at the time, and Professor Tamuno’s official history published in the 1980s, it has not been a subject that has been much written about, other than in a series of memoirs, or lately in novels such as Half of a Yellow Sun. This shows that the interest is there in unpacking the hidden legacy.

Siollun’s is not a full history of the crisis and the war, however. He restricts himself very much to the military, and although you cannot escape the politics, his self-imposed framework is sometimes a limitation. July 29 has to be seen in the context of the massacres in the North which lasted from May to October. Again, the important neutrality of Major General Welby-Everard in the 1964 federal elections (who now recalls that there was still a Brit commanding the Nigerian army at that time?) perhaps benefits from being seen in a more fully described political setting.

The author’s military priority does permit him, however, to go into his subject matter with a great depth of detail. He is also able to mobilise a spectacular range of sources, some of which your columnist was not aware of, and would love to have in his own collection of Nigeriana. There are tables of which officer was where and when, and many potted biographies, although only of members of the armed forces. Space does not permit exploring further subjects such as the “classmate syndrome” or the theory that January 15 was an “UPGA coup”, and there are odd little details from exceptional sources, like Welby-Everard’s eulogistic commendation of Brigadier Ogundipe.

In such an amazing mastery of detail, it is not surprising that there are the occasional minor errors – for example he says there was but one Igbo among the civil servants that took part in the July 29-31 negotiations in Ikeja barracks, but from his own list there are three. It may be that those that participated personally in these events will find more to quibble with – just as he already pinpoints some of the controversies that have been raised in the memoirs of the period that have emerged.

There are also mysteries that not surprisingly he is unable to solve, and myths that he cannot penetrate, although I would have liked him to have examined more thoroughly the legend that it was Captain Dickson (who does get a brief reference) who led the Middle Belt rank-and-file objection to Murtala as leader of the coup, and ended up as the self-styled airport commandant, carrying on for months before his final removal. Was it Dickson who indicated that power must go to Gowon, or else…? This is tantalising, because the author does describe the absolutely historic moment when Murtala abandoned his ambitions and suddenly says to Gowon “you are the senior, go ahead”, and is most instructive on the extent of secessionist sentiment among the far-northerners (although the raising of the flag of the north at Ikeja was Biafran myth-making).

Temitope Adenugba jailed over false rape claim made so she could get more time to do her homework. UK DAILY MAIL

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1292055/Student-jailed-rape-claim-invented-extension-course-work.html#ixzz0soJQU1eT

Student jailed over false rape claim made so she could get more time to do her homework

By Claire Ellicott
Last updated at 4:38 AM on 6th July 2010

* Comments (111)
* Add to My Stories

Jailed: Temitope Adenugba will spend 18 months behind bars for falsely accusing a cleaner of raping her in an effort to get an extension on her course work

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/05/article-1292055-0A536C7E000005DC-489_233x224.jpg

A student falsely claimed a cleaner raped her - so she could get an extension on her university coursework.

Temitope Adenugba, 24, was struggling to meet a deadline while studying at Oxford Brookes University last year.

She phoned police to tell them she had been abused as a child, before complaining she had also been subjected to a serious sexual assault as she slept in her college digs.

When officers went to see her at her halls of residence to take a statement, Adenugba pointed at cleaner Kunle Ogunmola and said: 'Can't talk here, that's the man who raped me.'

Mr Ogunmola was arrested, before a subsequent police investigation exposed Adenugba's catalogue of lies.

Last night, her victim said she had put him through a 'year of hell'. Mr Ogunmola said she had destroyed 'my reputation, my confidence and my life'.

Adenugba concoted the story in an attempt to get an extension on her end-of-term coursework, the court heard.


Sentencing her to 18 months in jail at Oxford Crown Court, Recorder Rabinder Singh QC attacked Adenugba's 'malicious allegations'. He added: ' It's extremely easy to make an allegation of rape when there's no foundation whatsoever. It's likely to have the perverse impact of guilty men walking free.'

The court heard that police attended Clive Booth Halls of residence, Oxford on May 21 last year after Adenugba reported historic abuse against her as a child.

Officers interviewed her but were stunned when she told them Mr Ogunmola had used a key to get into her room on April 13 and raped her.

A full police investigation was launched and the cleaner was quizzed and later arrested.

Detectives, however, found any keys taken by Mr Ogunmola had been returned by April 12 and he would not have had access to her room at any time.


Adenugba was a student at Oxford Brookes University when she made the false allegations

Adenugba also claimed her victim had been harassing her with phone calls, but analysis of mobile phones showed this was a lie.

Mr Walsh added that Adenugba, who admitted perverting the course of justice, had made a fictitious rape complaint against a previous partner in October 2006.

Walter Scott, mitigating, said his client had made the claim against Mr Ogunmola after an earlier false allegation of harassment against the same man 'didn't have the desired effect of extending her time to do her coursework'.

He added: 'She was not seeking to directly attack the victim, he was chosen rather arbitrarily.'

Last night Mr Ogunmola, 47, said he had only met the student twice before she made her accusations.

He said on the first occasion she had pleaded with him to lend her some money as she desperately needed to get home to see her family in London. The devout Christian lent her £20 - all the money he had.

He said: 'I was absolutely devastated when I was told she had accused me of being a rapist. I decided to help her because she reminded me of my daughter, who is the same age and is also at university.

'But in return she destroyed my reputation, my confidence and my life. I'm still trying to convince my wife that I'm innocent and I don't know if I can ever repair the damage she has done.'

He added he had only met the student twice and did not even know her name before the police told him.

'I felt freedom for the first time when she was convicted. I hope it will teach her a lesson and stop other people like her doing what she did. She is a very devious girl, but I am a Christian and I forgive her for what she did.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1292055/Student-jailed-rape-claim-invented-extension-course-work.html#ixzz0tNEwKALf

I watched the South Africa -v- France game with South Africans. Brilliant stuff. It was a near spiritual experience:

http://maxsiollun./2010/06/26/2010-fifa-world-cup-south-africa-v-france-a-nation-awakes/

I was at the Durban stadium for the Korea game. My experiences and photos from the stadium:

http://maxsiollun./2010/06/25/994/