₦airaland Forum

APOSTLECHUMA:
Didn't I read well ? l didn't see Sierra Leone in the list. I was in Freetown when Nkrumah's coup took place and Abacha ordered him to leave and he refused, forcing Abacha to send Nigerian ttroops.When they started attacking Nigerians for Abacha's intervention, grace of God we were able to leave Freetown via helicopter taxis that operate in all big hotels in Freetown.

naptu2:
NNS Ambe

This is not what I wanted, but I'll make do.

This was the only period during Ecomog operations that resembled what Boko Haram is doing today. I'll try and remember details from BBC World Service reports at the time.


It seemed like Ecomog was about to completely win the war in Sierra Leone. Fodhay Sankor had been arrested in Abuja and the RUF was in a difficult position. However, some Sierra Leonean Army soldiers who were unhappy, teamed up with RUF rebels to stage a coup.

A Nigerian general told the BBC that he had previously warned the troops about the refugees that were streaming into the city from a particular location. He said that they could be militants in disguise, but nothing had been done about his warning. Indeed, some RUF fighters disguised as refugees and got into the city and teemed up with the disgruntled Sierra Leonean soldiers. Ecomog was surrounded on Lungi Island.

Sierra Leone's main airport is on Lungi Island and the island was also the location of Ecomog's headquarters. Some of the Nigerian officers on Lungi Island had actually trained some of the Sierra Leonean troops that had staged the coup. Nigeria had a training agreement with Sierra Leonian long before the war broke out.

Ecomog had gotten President Tejan Kabbah out of Freetown as the coup was taking place.

The coupists were led by a young officer called Johnny Paul Koroma. They initially boasted that the Nigerians would find it difficult to take back Freetown, but they said that they were open to peace talks. Privately, some of the senior coupists admitted that they would not be able to resist sustained force from the Nigerians. Junior officers and other ranks from the coupist side went on a looting spree in Freetown and they committed a lot of atrocities.

As you can see in this video, the coupists were spooked when they saw a Nigerian warship offshore. That warship was NNS Ambe. But they probably didn't realise that NNS Ambe was an LST (it was not NNS Aradu, which had bombarded rebels in Liberia and Sierra Leone). The Nigerians probably had Ambe ready either in case they had to make an amphibious landing or in case they needed to be evacuated. Neither of those things were necessary because this was the time that General Khobe's brilliance and bravery came to the fore.

Just like E.A. Etuk had done with the Owerri Breakout in the 1960s, General Maxwell Khobe led his troops from the front to carry out the famous Freetown Breakout and to drive the rebels and coupists from Freetown. Johnny Paul Korom was arrested.


(The Sierra Leonean being interviewed is Brigadier Samuel Koroma, Johnny Paul Koroma's brother).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssLMOsHLN4Y

This video is a hoax, the so-called Beninese captain Delcoz Kindjanhounde is actually an "actor" who posts these skits on Facebook, he posted a similar video on December 1st, much before the attempted coup.

Police officer Landry Bignon Delcoz Kindjanhoundé was arrested this Tuesday, December 9, after the publication of a video on social networks in which he called for the mobilization of the Beninese.