₦airaland Forum

Bola Ige

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Dr Michael Okpara

Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams (Attorney General of the Western Region)

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Dr (Sir) Akanu Ibiam

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The Awolowos

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Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his "jewel of inestimable value" Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo.

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Ishilove: What a monster

Usually, people sacrificed goats, sheep, etc to the ancestors when they wanted the ancestors to do something for them. Eromosele felt that this method of communication was too slow. He felt that it was better and much faster to sacrifice the medicine man.

Otunba T.O.S. Benson (Minister of information)

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Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev with Nigerian ministers T.O.S. Benson and Waziri Ibrahim

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Sir Ahmadu Bello & Louis Armstrong in 1960

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Samuel Ladoke Akintola

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It is known that by that time S.L. Akintola had been informed by the
wife of R.A. Fani-Kayode of what had happened by telephone. Akintola had
returned from Kaduna only a short time before the arrival of Nwobosi and his
men. He had been to the North to greet the Sardauna when the latter arrived
from Mecca. Akintola must have been further alerted by the commotion caused by the overpowering of the police guard and the killing of the generator attendant.

112. All dispositions having been taken, Capt. Nwobosi stood in the middle
of the courtyard and shouted "Akintola come down - you are for lawful arrest
by the army on orders from HQ 2 Brigade. A voice from upstairs, presumably
that of Akintola, replied "Yes, I am coming" Nothing further happened. Capt.
Nwobosi repeated his summons a number of times without reaction from
Akintola. He then fired from his SLR one round at the building. When this
produced no result, the Captain ordered the following to accompany him into
the lodge…

113. To gain entrance, Captain Nwobosi was compelled to force the main door to the lodge. They all entered and mounted the stairs. On the first floor
they searched a number of rooms without encountering anyone, until they came to S.L. Akintola's bedroom which was locked. When Nwobosi was about to force this door, Akintola opened fire from inside the room with an SMG, shooting through the closed door. This first burst of fire immediately wounded Gnr. S. Adefi in the hand, 2/Lt. Egbikor in the head and Capt. Nwobosi on the
left cheek. None of the injuries were sufficiently serious to impede them.
Nwobosi and his men immediately returned the fire whilst retreating down the
stairs. They then left the house in a hurry and sought cover amongst the
flowerbeds facing the back building.

114. Two of the men, L/Bdr. Uloh and, Gnr. Ajao remained upstairs and sought refuge in one of the other rooms. Akintola came to the room covering the entrance porch and continued to fire at his assailants with his SMG without, however, hitting anyone. Capt. Nwobosi ordered his men to return the fire which they did, massively. Akintola continued firing until he ran out of
ammunition.

115. Around this time R.A. Fani-Kayode was heard shouting from the landrover to Akintola urging him to surrender. Akintola, now defenceless, decided to surrender and was next seen coming out of the front room, by Gnr. Ajao. When Akintola saw Ajao and Uloh he raised his hand in surrender and went downstairs. Capt. Nwobosi in the meantime, was heard shouting repeatedly "bring him out, bring him out".

116. Capt. Nwobosi then ordered 2/Lt. Egbikor and BQMS A. Chukwu to shoot the Premier. These two opened fire on Akintola with their SLRs, joined,
shortly afterwards, by Nwobosi himself. S.L. Akintola fell down dead or
dying with several bullets in his body.

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Prime Minister, Nigeria), Otunba T.O.S Benson (Minister of Information, Nigeria) & Nikita Kruschev (Premier of the Soviet Union).

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Sir Ahmadu Bello (Premier of the Northern Region) and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Prime Minister of Nigeria) during Balewa's tour of Northern Nigeria.

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Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh(previously known as Sam Edah) and his wife during the Queen’s visit to Nigeria in 1956

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He was a flamboyant character, attending the 1960 independence celebrations, for example, in flowing garments with a chain a yard long. He spent his money lavishly in support of political causes and at the time of the 1959 election was ferociously attacked by Action Group leader, Chief Awolowo, and accused of corruption. Africa being a continent where socialism in one form or another is a common political theme, Okotie-Eboh was the target of bitter criticisms, he certainly was very rich. He was a man of influence and power, with considerable financial strength and know-how. He retained the important Finance portfolio until the fall of Nigeria’s first civilian administration, which brought his own career and life to an end. He was kidnapped and killed by soldiers on January 15th 1966 in the military coup d’ etat.

Nevertheless Chief Okotie-Eboh still remained the popular “Omimi Ejo” – the Water Spirit – to many Itsekiris, particularly in the Benin River villages. His respect for the elders was spoken of and particularly his generosity. He himself boasted that he had spent over £3,000 in paying other peoples’ fines, usually imposed for non-payment of taxes or a breach of customary law. It was said that he had paid for a new corrugated-iron roof for the chapel of the Cherubim and Seraphim sect in one village and that he was paying for the rebuilding of the Diare family shrine, although he was only remotely connected with the family.

Chief Festus Samuel Okotie-Eboh (the 1966 coup leaders cited this kind of flamboyance as one of the reasons for staging their coup)

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On arrival at the Onikan roundabout, at approximately 0230 hrs on 15 Jan 66, Major Ifeajuna divided his force into three groups as shown in para 34
of this report. Major Ifeajuna and his group proceeded towards the PM's
residence and 2/Lt Ezedigbo took his men to the compound of the Finance
Minister. When they arrived at the front gate, they found this locked and
were compelled to gain access by jumping over the wall. Inside they found a
number of civilian guards, about 5, who were armed with bows and arrows.
These offered no resistance and were disarmed and placed under guard. At
least one policeman was encountered in the compound. He too was disarmed and escorted to the 3-Ton truck by RSM J. Ogbu.

2/Lt Ezedigbo then attempted to open the front door but found this also
to be locked. He broke one of the panes of glass in the door with his SMG
but even failed to open the door which he finally broke down by kicking it
with his boot. He then entered accompanied by the following other ranks…

…Before entering 2/Lt Ezedigbo ordered his men to walk quietly and to make no noise, a rather superfluous caution considering the noise which must have
been made when the door was broken open. They mounted the stairs to the
first floor. Having arrived there, the 2/Lt posted one man on the balcony
and 3 on the landing.

40. The officer then shouted twice "Okotie-Eboh", come out". When this met
with no response he entered a bedroom where he found the Minister dressed
only in a loin cloth. He ordered the Minister to precede him down the
stairs, and the Minister was escorted to the 3-Ton lorry. Rumors that the
Minister was beaten and otherwise ill-treated on the way to the vehicle have
been stoutly denied by all who took part in the operation.

41. Whilst the Finance Minister was being loaded into the 3-Tonner, the PM
was escorted from his house and placed into Major Ifeajuna's car.

Major Anuforo then ordered the four corpses to be unloaded onto the
road. The bodies were then carried into the bush on the left hand side of
the road. Major Anuforo then observed FS Okotie-Eboh still seated in the
truck and asked the question: "Who is that man"?, which leads to the belief
that, until then, Anuforo was unaware of the presence of Okotie-Eboh in the
truck. The Finance Minister replied "I am Okotie-Eboh". Major Anuforo then
ordered the Minister to step down. The latter complied, whereupon Major
Anuforo informed him that he was going to be shot. The Minister commenced
to plead for his life. This met with little or no response from Anuforo who
is reported as having confined himself to stating that he was acting under
orders. The Minister was then forced to go into the bush, pushed along by
Major Anuforo and Major Ademoyega and followed by 2/Lt Igweze and Sgt.
Ndukaife to the spot where the bodies of the 4 senior officers had been
deposited. Arriving there, without hesitation, Major Anuforo killed
Okotie-Eboh with a short burst from his SMG. (source: police report into 1966 coup)

Midway, I halted Anuforo because of the cargo of corpses in the 3-tonner. It would be inexpedient to carry that to town. It was already 5 a.m. Hence, some young officers and men were deployed so as to prevent vehicles from either direction reaching our location. Then I ordered the corpses brought down and taken into the bush. The arrested finance minister was still in the truck and it was no longer expedient to carry him around with us. As such, he was taken into the bush and shot. Since there were no digging implements, a few soldiers were detailed to remain there on guard till digging implements were brought to bury the bodies. ("Why We Struck. The story of the first Nigerian coup" by Major Adewale Ademoyega)

Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh (Finance Minister) & Alhaji (Sir) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Prime Minister), during Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Nigeria in 1956.


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Minister of Finance Chief FS Okotie- Eboh responded to charges of accumulation of wealth by government officers by quoting from the Bible, “To those that have, more shall be given. From those that do not have, shall be taken even the little they have.”

Sir Ahmadu Bello & others welcoming Nnamdi Azikiwe back from the US.

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Flora Azikiwe welcomes President Nnamdi Azikiwe back from the US.

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^^^
My friend drew my attention to the fact that the president is carrying his own bag (rather than a bodyguard or official carrying it for him).

Raymond Njoku welcoming President Nnamdi Azikiwe

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I'm sorry for the delay. Events conspired to prevent me from updating the thread.

First break of the day.

Mustay: Nice collections. Some of us need to go back to the past so we know where we are coming from. May they read and learn before writing carelessly.

Thanks very much.

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(L-R) Otunba T.O.S Benson (Information minister), President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (President of the US), Alhaji (Sir) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Prime Minister of Nigeria), Dr Moses Majekodunmi (Minister of Health) & Alhaji Shehu Shagari (Minister of Internal Affairs).

Phone conversation between Prime Minister (Sir) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and President John F. Kennedy.

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Sir Ahmadu Bello

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Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa

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Justice (Sir) Adetokunboh Ademola (Chief Justice of Nigeria), with his father, Oba (Sir) Ladapo Samuel Ademola (Alake of Egba Land)

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Chief Obafemi Awolowo

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Chief Obafemi Awolowo

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President Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe

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Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe sworn in as first President of Nigeria on October 1st 1963 at the Race Course in Lagos.


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Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Kids

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Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa took his only annual leave in 1963, which he decided to spend in his village. A British photojournalist came down to Lagos to interview the Prime Minister, but was told that the P.M was on vacation. He asked to which country, but was shocked to hear that the P.M was in his village. On getting to the village, there was no evidence or paraphernalia to show that a “big man” was there; everyone was busy with their chores. He met a farmer with his donkey, carrying bales of sugarcane for the P.M’s home and he was utterly speechless when the farmer said, “I just left him. You will see him sitting on the floor with his kids, eating the sugarcane that I just gave them”. He met them like that and took this picture.