₦airaland Forum

lol...

Story! Story!!.... Story!!!

We just keep re- opening very old wounds.

Naija I hail o.

oladeebo:
don't call me to this non-sense pls, his farther who was tight to pole at outskirt of enugu and shot at close range is not killed by ojukwu but Gowon who was in Lagos.
Gowon is alive let him go and ask him the where-about of his farther burial ground.

EXACTLY. Gowan dey alive, so she can go and ask him of her father's wherabouts
Banjo was part of 1966 coup, was imprisoned by GOWON
What was he doing in Biafra except planning yet another coup with Ifeajuna after the catastrophe of the first coup

My lady, when you are in the business of coup planning, the stakes are high. You pay with your life, like your Dad and countless other coup plotters. Stop blaming Ojukwu. Lay the blame where it falls.

Ojukwu was a pathetic coward, a traitor and a murderer.He knew he was failing, But he used Ifeajuna and banjo as the fall guys. His high handedness led to the demise of brilliant soldiers. Nsukka subsequently fell, and he lost the war. God rest your soul Victor banjo. Dining with those devils cost you your life. You were a victim of Both nigeria and biafra

cristianisraeli:
Fifty years ago, the late Lt. Col Victor Banjo, the 16th Nigerian to be commissioned into the Nigerian Army, was publicly executed reportedly on the orders of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was then the Military Head of the secessionist Biafra Republic. He was an Ijebu from Ogun State but died fighting on the Biafran side during the Nigerian civil war.
Banjo was before his death, in detention on allegations that he took part in the January 1966 coup, was released by Ojukwu when the war broke out and convinced to lead part of the Liberation Army, which went on the offensive against the Nigerian Army and got as far as Benin, in present day Edo State. Banjo was to declare another republic upon having Benin under his control.
In this interview with Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, his daughter, Mrs. Olayinka Omigbodun, a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Ibadan, recalls how Banjo’s young family was thrown into disarray upon his arrest and detention. She also lamented what she described as the unjust treatment meted out to her father while explaining why she thinks Ojukwu killed his friend, her father.

How does it feel remembering the events that led to the reported execution of your father (Lt. Col. Victor Banjo)?

First and foremost, I must express gratitude to God for keeping us alive and well all these years. Despite the fact that we lost our father while still so young, God has kept us to see this day. We are four children, two boys, two girls. I am the third. We’ve all been able to go through school and acquire degrees. All of us are alive and healthy.

I thank God for the kind of parents he gave me. Our father died 50 years ago and our mum 20 years ago. She was a widow for 30 years before she also went to be with the Lord. I am proud of them. It was 30 years of struggle and difficulty, but with our late mother determined to fulfil her promise to our dad, we made it.

Why do you think he did that to his friend?

He conveniently blamed Banjo and three other men. Lt. Col Ifeajuna, Alele and one other for sabotaging the Biafran efforts. He needed to tell the people who were losing faith in him something new as a reason for the defeats. His fear about the imminent fall of Enugu was also driving him to do something. So, on trumped up charges, my father and three other men were tried by a Kangaroo court and killed by firing squad in 1967.

The trial did not reveal any evidence linking Banjo with any act of treason against Ojukwu or the Biafran government. In fact, it took a second military tribunal to convict Banjo because the first tribunal stated that the evidence presented to it was insufficient to prove Banjo’s guilt in the case. Unsatisfied and not ready to let my father off the hook, Ojukwu constituted another tribunal speedily.

Apparently, it was a clear case of sacrificing someone as a scapegoat because while my father was looking forward to assisting Ojukwu further with the Biafran war in spite of the huge risk and sacrifice involved for him as a person, Ojukwu was looking for a way of implicating him for sabotage so as to retain the control of the region. Ojukwu betrayed my father by killing him.


And you don’t think his not agreeing in the secession was a reason he got into trouble with Ojukwu?

Well, they were friends and friends disagree. They probably must have disagreed on that before then because my father never hid his patriotism. But again, I was told that hours after the execution, Enugu fell. I am a Professor. Human beings are very fickle. We are wont to always look for excuses. For scapegoats; so, my father was simply the sacrifice.

He knew my father was up for one Nigeria. Even before drafting him into the war on his side, he knew my father was a patriot who wanted one united Nigeria. After the war we left Nigeria for Sierra Leone but my mother brought us back because my father, in his letters, had insisted we must be raised as Nigerians. So, his patriotism was never in doubt. Ojukwu merely executed him to cover up his own failures as a leader of the war.

But Gowon later became the Head of State. Why didn’t he release your dad?

After Gowon was installed as Head of State, my father made several overtures to him for his release. But Gen. Gowon refused to release him even though he knew he was not part of the coup. The only concession he gave was that Banjo could be transferred to a prison in Lagos if he so wished. My father rejected the offer.

Even when my father wrote Ironsi from prison in Ikot Ekpene, on June 1, 1966, he was wondering what on earth he did to warrant being imprisoned. He faulted the way he was being treated and asked for justice, fairness and loyalty from Ironsi as a loyal officer. He saw his detention as a grievous crime against him. He pleaded his innocence and asked to be released. There is really no basis for tagging him as a ‘coupist’. I sincerely think setting the records straight is one of the things Nigeria, and the likes of Gen. Gowon, owe us as his family and children.

It is very painful for us not knowing how he ended really. Not knowing where his remains are. Not even the exact date of his death. We only read in the book of a foreign journalist who had witnessed his execution of the date and circumstances. Beyond that, there is little or nothing to prove how he ended. This is very sad.

http://thenationonlineng.net/victor-banjos-daughter-ojukwu-betrayed-father-killing/

but but afonjas said it was igbo coup nah
heheeheehheheehhe
smh for d hydraulic soup clan

Banjo ndoo

Betrayed?

They were both fighting for Biafra na

Mrchippychappy:
Banjo was NEVER interested in the Biafran cause, he was a traitor right from the moment he set foot on Biafran Territory, He planned with the British Government and the Federal Government to topple Biafra, He and Ifeajuna were promised federal pardon and diplomatic roles. I have read all about it, I know people that where DIRECTLY involved in the war and I have heard and read direct accounts of what happened, this one no be super story, Banjo was never willing to help Biafra from the start.

In Chief Zebrudaya's voice Ayuwa.....

please let sleeping dog lie. .you were not there and don't know what transpire. .you were only told I presumed. .please in the midst of current high tempers don't put the east and west. .that's the last thing we need now. .and please stop trying to make your self relevant. .mind your professorship. .

The reverse was the case ma'am. Your dad betrayed his friend Ojukwu who trusted him with his life.

Just like an average Igboman, Ojukwu trusted his friend Banjo more than his brothers who even warned him. He was lucky to survive the betrayal.

Aunty GOOD MORNING .

Na now u wake up frm sleep ?

phreakabit:
Your father though he was smart, he was playing the role of a trojan horse for the Nigerian govt, to the point of sabotaging operations and even plotting a coupe. I'd say Ojukwu killing him was being civil and forgiving.

The truth is out. No one is buying this st.upid propaganda any longer.
Ojukwu was a murderous little tyrant.

Banjo face self looked like a dubious man. Both Ironsi and Gowon refused to release him until Ojukwu released him yet as Afonja he was, he deeqly betrayed Biafrans. So, he got what he deserved from the great Ojukwu.

perez100:
Banjo face self looked like a dubious man. Both Ironsi and Gowon refused to release him until Ojukwu released him yet as Afonja he was, he deeqly betrayed Biafrans. So, he got what he deserved from the great Ojukwu.

What about Ifeajuna? Was he also Afonja who betrayed the Biafrans?
I think Ojukwu was lucky he got away, he probably would have been shot for all his crimes.
I meant shot by the biafrans themselves.

The death of Banjo was the fall of Enugu

Ojukwu shouldn't have killed Banjo, cuz a veteran like Banjo and Ifeajuna would have help him to save Enugu from falling to the Nigeria's Army

Bolustical:
The way Biafrans narrate their stories, one would think Ojukwu never committed atrocities, as if some villages in Edo states were never raided down coz of their anti Biafran stances.

At the end, the Biafra never materialized.

Their own account of the war is the fact.I know they will twist the story in the future that Ojukwu never ran away and come back to contest for ordinary senator under hausa fulani party.

Mrchippychappy:
Banjo was NEVER interested in the Biafran cause, he was a traitor right from the moment he set foot on Biafran Territory, He planned with the British Government and the Federal Government to topple Biafra, He and Ifeajuna were promised federal pardon and diplomatic roles. I have read all about it, I know people that where DIRECTLY involved in the war and I have heard and read direct accounts of what happened, this one no be super story, Banjo was never willing to help Biafra from the start.

You have said it all. Banjo suffered the fate of all traitors. It's hard to face it, but that's the truth. Ojukwu was the only one of those officers who was DEFINITELY not part of that 1966 coup with Nzeogwu , Ifeajuna, Banjo and the rest.

Guestlander:
The truth is out. No one is buying this st.upid propaganda any longer.
Ojukwu was a murderous little tyrant.

Like your wretched father.
Here's what you need....

christopherozo:
Like your wretched father.
Here's what you need....

Heheheh. ...Ara nta were. You need some hot chocolate like those other terrorists who were made to swim in it.

christopherozo:
You have said it all. Banjo suffered the fate of all traitors. It's hard to face it, but that's the truth. Ojukwu was the only one of those officers who was DEFINITELY not part of that 1966 coup with Nzeogwu , Ifeajuna, Banjo and the rest.

Ojukwu was an insecured little tyrant. He couldn't withstand the clout of people like Banjo and Ifeajuna so he killed them, period.

Sorry lady! I have no pity for your father.
Supporting the treacherous igbos is the worst abomination a yoruba man can commit.

Guestlander:
Ojukwu was an insecure little tyrant. He couldn't withstand the clout of people like Banjo and Ifeajuna so he killed them, period.

what kind of clout does an afonja have in baifra land?

ProWalker:
Sorry lady! I have no pity for your father.
Supporting the treacherous igbos is the worst abomination a yoruba man can commit.

Don't be too harsh brother, that was a different point in Nigerian history. I don't blame those who extended what they thought was a hand of fellowship to others.
The way the Biafrans repaid him is what is alarming.

HIGHESTPOPORI:
what kind of clout does an afonja have in baifra land?

So much clout they have to lead the only meaningful offensive by the Biafrans throughout the war.

Mrchippychappy:
Banjo was NEVER interested in the Biafran cause, he was a traitor right from the moment he set foot on Biafran Territory, He planned with the British Government and the Federal Government to topple Biafra, He and Ifeajuna were promised federal pardon and diplomatic roles. I have read all about it, I know people that where DIRECTLY involved in the war and I have heard and read direct accounts of what happened, this one no be super story, Banjo was never willing to help Biafra from the start.

My dear lady, as a lecturer at University of Ibadan, do yourself a favour and consult the library there to read the accounts of events, even by Yoruba Military officers.
Your father was playing a double game and got caught up in the act

Read ' the five majors', 'why we struck' and even John de st Jorre and Susan Cronjes accounts of the Civil War.
Your father was also guilty of conspiracy and murder, hence Gowon imprisoned him
He betrayed the Nigerian side
He also betrayed the Biafra side
Ask Gowon what became of him. He was no scapegoat, so don't distort the facts
HE WAS A TRAITOR, PURE AND SIMPLE.

cristianisraeli:
Fifty years ago, the late Lt. Col Victor Banjo, the 16th Nigerian to be commissioned into the Nigerian Army, was publicly executed reportedly on the orders of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was then the Military Head of the secessionist Biafra Republic. He was an Ijebu from Ogun State but died fighting on the Biafran side during the Nigerian civil war.
Banjo was before his death, in detention on allegations that he took part in the January 1966 coup, was released by Ojukwu when the war broke out and convinced to lead part of the Liberation Army, which went on the offensive against the Nigerian Army and got as far as Benin, in present day Edo State. Banjo was to declare another republic upon having Benin under his control.
In this interview with Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, his daughter, Mrs. Olayinka Omigbodun, a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Ibadan, recalls how Banjo’s young family was thrown into disarray upon his arrest and detention. She also lamented what she described as the unjust treatment meted out to her father while explaining why she thinks Ojukwu killed his friend, her father.

How does it feel remembering the events that led to the reported execution of your father (Lt. Col. Victor Banjo)?

First and foremost, I must express gratitude to God for keeping us alive and well all these years. Despite the fact that we lost our father while still so young, God has kept us to see this day. We are four children, two boys, two girls. I am the third. We’ve all been able to go through school and acquire degrees. All of us are alive and healthy.

I thank God for the kind of parents he gave me. Our father died 50 years ago and our mum 20 years ago. She was a widow for 30 years before she also went to be with the Lord. I am proud of them. It was 30 years of struggle and difficulty, but with our late mother determined to fulfil her promise to our dad, we made it.

Why do you think he did that to his friend?

He conveniently blamed Banjo and three other men. Lt. Col Ifeajuna, Alele and one other for sabotaging the Biafran efforts. He needed to tell the people who were losing faith in him something new as a reason for the defeats. His fear about the imminent fall of Enugu was also driving him to do something. So, on trumped up charges, my father and three other men were tried by a Kangaroo court and killed by firing squad in 1967.

The trial did not reveal any evidence linking Banjo with any act of treason against Ojukwu or the Biafran government. In fact, it took a second military tribunal to convict Banjo because the first tribunal stated that the evidence presented to it was insufficient to prove Banjo’s guilt in the case. Unsatisfied and not ready to let my father off the hook, Ojukwu constituted another tribunal speedily.

Apparently, it was a clear case of sacrificing someone as a scapegoat because while my father was looking forward to assisting Ojukwu further with the Biafran war in spite of the huge risk and sacrifice involved for him as a person, Ojukwu was looking for a way of implicating him for sabotage so as to retain the control of the region. Ojukwu betrayed my father by killing him.


And you don’t think his not agreeing in the secession was a reason he got into trouble with Ojukwu?

Well, they were friends and friends disagree. They probably must have disagreed on that before then because my father never hid his patriotism. But again, I was told that hours after the execution, Enugu fell. I am a Professor. Human beings are very fickle. We are wont to always look for excuses. For scapegoats; so, my father was simply the sacrifice.

He knew my father was up for one Nigeria. Even before drafting him into the war on his side, he knew my father was a patriot who wanted one united Nigeria. After the war we left Nigeria for Sierra Leone but my mother brought us back because my father, in his letters, had insisted we must be raised as Nigerians. So, his patriotism was never in doubt. Ojukwu merely executed him to cover up his own failures as a leader of the war.

But Gowon later became the Head of State. Why didn’t he release your dad?

After Gowon was installed as Head of State, my father made several overtures to him for his release. But Gen. Gowon refused to release him even though he knew he was not part of the coup. The only concession he gave was that Banjo could be transferred to a prison in Lagos if he so wished. My father rejected the offer.

Even when my father wrote Ironsi from prison in Ikot Ekpene, on June 1, 1966, he was wondering what on earth he did to warrant being imprisoned. He faulted the way he was being treated and asked for justice, fairness and loyalty from Ironsi as a loyal officer. He saw his detention as a grievous crime against him. He pleaded his innocence and asked to be released. There is really no basis for tagging him as a ‘coupist’. I sincerely think setting the records straight is one of the things Nigeria, and the likes of Gen. Gowon, owe us as his family and children.

It is very painful for us not knowing how he ended really. Not knowing where his remains are. Not even the exact date of his death. We only read in the book of a foreign journalist who had witnessed his execution of the date and circumstances. Beyond that, there is little or nothing to prove how he ended. This is very sad.

http://thenationonlineng.net/victor-banjos-daughter-ojukwu-betrayed-father-killing/

It is the same set of people that will be shouting betrayal upandan.

so this woman is victor banjo daughter.she taught me psychiatry at Ibadan medical school.she is a professor of psychiatry.