₦airaland Forum

itsme01:





Ibos should stop this nonsense and move forward...

should a yoruba make a post in retaliation to this then guess how angry Ibos would be yet they keep poking the lions den looking for trouble


I hope you guys throwing tribalistic attacks on other ethnic group would be proud enough to tell your children why Nigerians continue to marginalise you and keep you out of national governance




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Gandollaar:
Baba your foolishness is growing day by day. Truly age is not wisdom..

itsme01:
you have resorted to throwing insult up and down, i guess you are having menstraul cramps and taking it out on everybody... but truly we miss those days you still had chikeni sense and contribute to arguements without childish tantrums and insluts...

Afamed:
Ignore the wailing bandits. They are confused elements, they want to re write the history to suit their selfish future political gains

itsme01:
you have resorted to throwing insult up and down, i guess you are having menstraul cramps and taking it out on everybody... but truly we miss those days you still had chikeni sense and contribute to arguements without childish tantrums and insluts...

itsme01:
you have resorted to throwing insult up and down, i guess you are having menstraul cramps and taking it out on everybody... but truly we miss those days you still had chikeni sense and contribute to arguements without childish tantrums and insluts...

helinues:
Broda, you better ignore that thing.. She has been creating nuisances on NL these days..

Gandollaar:


Where are the cancellers when you need them

itsme01:
since you started showing up on threads with Rhekina i have being deeply worried about you.. i have you in my prayers so that your chikeni brain can be re activated back in Jesus(PBUH) name

Gandollaar:
Hahahahahaahahahaa.. OMG!!

HahahahababHah..lwkmd!

Since I started following Rhekina you have been deeply worried...

Hahahaha

Lawd! I'm still cracking! Hahahaha

Are you worried I would soon start eating poop in Dubai?

HahahahababHah

Hey God! My Belle o!

Mad o!

Well I like her that's why I made her acquaintance. She comes accros as very humorous and lively despite all efforts to bully her to submission.

itsme01:


you can laugh all you want, but what is the importance of a sai babarian like me without a wailer like you to troll, fight and taunt all day long

for a second i thought we lost a good wailer when you started rolling with Cancelator and Rkhena (SAW)

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itsme01:


i thought i was the only one that noticed

itsme01:
since you started showing up on threads with Rhekina i have being deeply worried about you.. i have you in my prayers so that your chikeni brain can be re activated back in Jesus(PBUH) name

itsme01:


you can laugh all you want, but what is the importance of a sai babarian like me without a wailer like you to troll, fight and taunt all day long

for a second i thought we lost a good wailer when you started rolling with Cancelator and Rkhena (SAW)

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Okoroawusa:
Wow... Very interesting piece of history. I know some people won't read this to the end before commenting n it will be quite a shame. I need to warn you that the headline has nothing to do with the body. It's just a ploy by the Op to attract traffic to the write up n possibly draw attention to the book it was called from.


Mynd44 could you do something about the headline?.... Thank you.

tomakint:
During the discussions, I got up to go to the gents. On my way through the long corridors, I came across Adebayo in a side room, hunched over a telephone on a low stool. He was whispering into the handset and I caught snippets of the conversation.

“I shall be loyal to you Sir. Yes I suggest I go and takeover at Ibadan, until we know what has happened to Fajuyi.”

More whisperings and then I caught the words “through Badagry to Ibadan, to evade any ambush.”

He concluded the conversation by saying, “Yes Sir, I will do so tomorrow morning.” I froze in my steps. “Ah ah! Bob! Who are you talking to? I hope it was not the junior officer you had mentioned earlier you were saying ‘yes Sir’ to?”

Adebayo tried to make light of the situation by saying “He was saying ‘Yes Sir’ to me too from the other end.”

I was very disappointed that a matter we were treating confidentially should be blown open. We had all been warned by the elders to keep the findings secret so that government’s arrangement were not derailed.

I was very upset, and I expressed my disappointment in no uncertain terms. I called Adebayo’s cousin’s attention to what, to my mind, was an irresponsible action.

I however did not mention it to Ogundipe who I know would have taken an extremely dim view of Adebayo’s action.

That was the last I saw of Adebayo, until we heard he had been appointed Governor of the Western Region.

The meeting with Ironsi he had come back home for never took place, but Adebayo had got himself a new position of power all the same.

The following afternoon, I was in the sitting room, going through the newspapers, and trying to glean whatever information I could from the various reports, when an army jeep roared into our compound.

I looked up from my paper to see an army officer standing before me. His epaulets indicated he was a Captain.

Fingering the revolver in his belt, he respectfully asked for Ogundipe. “I have been sent to deliver a message to Brigadier Ogundipe who we understand is staying here.” I was astounded.

No one, apart from Adebayo knew Ogundipe was here. I tried as much as possible to look unruffled. “Oh yes, he is here alright, but only left five minutes ago for Lagos.” When he asked when I expected him back, I said I didn’t know. “It may be late as we had only finished our lunch before he left.”

The Captain looked around the room suspiciously, and his gaze returned to fix on me. “Please Sir, let him know that his presence is required at a meeting holding in the Lion Building in Lagos.

It is crucial that he attend.” I nodded, before returning to scan the papers before me, as the Captain went out to his waiting jeep.

All the time I was talking, Ogundipe was in our guest room next door. As soon as the Captain left, he emerged very agitated. “Olu, you have killed me. You let them know that I am here! How could you do that?”

“If they were not aware you were here, why did they send the Captain all this way to deliver a message to you? Someone must have leaked it. If I said you weren’t here, they would have been suspicious. The three other armed soldiers waiting in the jeep would have searched the whole premises.

If they found you hiding, that would have been a more dangerous situation.”

He became calmer when he heard my reasoning. It was however clear that his life was in danger. We decided he needed to form an escape plan. He went back in the room and emerged minutes later in his disguise. He told me he was leaving, and would get in touch as soon as possible.

He didn’t say where he was going so as not to endanger me.
Four hours passed before I heard from him. He rang me and gave me an Ikeja area telephone number where I could get him in an emergency. A few minutes after he gave me the number, I tried to call him, to test the authenticity of the number. After the number rang for about 30 seconds the call was answered by a male voice who asked me to identify myself.

On telling him my name, he said Ogundipe would ring back immediately. It took twenty minutes before Ogundipe finally called back. The phone link to him was about five people long. He told me not to worry. He was fine. He would get in touch with me soon. And before he dropped the phone, I asked if he had got in touch with the people in Lion Building as requested but he said he would do so in due course.

We lived through another eighteen hours with no broadcast forthcoming from the new Head of State and no news of the previous Head of State. At about six o’clock the next evening, as I was getting ready to go back to the office to clear my tray, as was my usual habit, Ogundipe arrived in a taxi.

“Olu, I need a favour, I need you to give me a lift into Lagos.” I was at first reluctant. Here was a wanted man. I began to fear for my own life as well. If he was found with me, I would not be safe either. But I did not have a choice. This was a friend in need, someone I loved, pleading with me.

We got in together, and drove through Apongbon towards Marina and the General Post Office, where my office was. The State House was a stone’s throw away from my office but I already said I would not be willing to drive that far, as it woud be under heavy guard.

It was already getting dark and as we drove towards the old Secretariat, he asked me to slow down.

He motioned to a green light moving up and down in sequence. “Can you see that flashing light? Drop me there.” I could just about make out the Navy Jetty.

We pulled in, and even before the car came to complete stop, Ogundipe had already opened the door.

Shadows appeared at the side of the car and I saw two Naval Officers saluting swiftly as they helped Ogundipe out of the car. “Olu,” he said, “Thank you. You are a good friend. I will get in touch as soon as we reach our destination.”

Further along, sitting on the rocks by the jetty, I could make out Mrs. Ogundipe and two of their young children. The fear made their greetings come out in whispers. I wished them all the best of luck and promised that I would remember them in my prayers. It was a real sad parting.

The following morning, the long-awaited announcement to the nation by Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon was broadcast. He requested everyone to get on their work peacefully, as everything was under control.

I got a telephone call from Brigadier Ogundipe about ten days after he left the shores of Nigeria. He was speaking from Las Palmas. They had been taken to board the M.V. Aureol the night I dropped them off and the ship set sail the following day at noon.

It was only when they were safely out of the way that the Head of State could make his announcement.

Ogundipe told me they were having a two week holiday in Las Palmas, after which he had been asked to assume duty as the Nigerian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom.

Imagine the shock of other fellow travellers from Nigeria, when Brigadier Ogundipe, the most senior army officer in Nigeria finally emerged from his cabin in Las Palmas.

Many had thought he had been murdered along with Aguyi Ironsi and Fajuyi.
Ogundipe told me that he had been asked to attend the meeting at Lion Building so that he would voluntarily relinquish power to Gowon who was junior to him. As long as Ogundipe was around. Gowon could not assume leadership.

All along, we never knew that this was what was causing the delay in the proclamation of the Head of State.

The 72 hour delay was essential for all key participants to be reconciled, before peace could be restored. My life had taken many strange twists and turns, but never had I imagined that I would be giving shelter to someone who was Head-of-State in waiting!

Months later, I was a guest at the Nigerian High Commission in London, and thereafter, I would visit the Ogundipes whenever I had the opportunity, on my trips to the UK

There were often other interesting visitors, and I remember this is where I first met and became friends with Chief Olopade, who was to marry a cousin of mine, Yewande Daniel. We would spend many hours discussing the political situation in Nigeria, with all the fascinating twists and turns.’


Theophilus Oluwole Akindele, ‘Memoir of Mixed Blessings’, The Book Company Limited, 2009, pp.129-140

Dedetwo:
Bros, I thank you very much for this revelation via a yari.ba peep too. When I wrote long time ago on this forum that Ogundipe managed to run aboard NNS Nigeria commended by Nelson Soroh and boarded a ship to London without his feet touching ground again, the ill-informed Yari.ba peeps hauled insults at me.