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General News of Friday, 26 May 2023

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Fajuyi: The man who died protecting his precious guest

Late Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi Late Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi

The day was May 29, 1967, thus, the event about to be reported was 56 years on May 19, 2023.

The five Majors had struck on he morning of Saturday, January 25, 1966 killing many politicians and military personnel of mainly Northern and Western extractions.

For reasons beyond luck, politicians and military personnel from the East were spared.

After some days, Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi Ironsi became Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

General Aguiyi Ironsi did three major things in his short time in office.

He hurriedly abolished the Federal System opting for a Unitary one with centralised authority and promoted 21 army officers, with a majority from the East.

He also appointed Military Administrators for the South West, Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, North, Lt. Col. Hassan Katsina, East, Lt. Col. Emeka Ojukwu and Midwest Region, Lt. Col. David Ejoor.

Distrust was rife even among the Northern officer Corps and the majority of the men.

On the morning of July 29, 1966, the Northern officers led by Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Murtala Ramat Mohammed led a counter coup.

By the time, the coup d'etat was on, the Head of State, Aguiyi Ironsi was a guest of Lt. Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi, the much loved military Administrator of the South West region in Ibadan, the capital of the region.

Major Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma was detailed to arrest Ironsi in Ibadan and bring him to Lagos for interrogation but along the line, things went out of hand and both Ironsi and his host, Fajuyi were both arrested, taken to a remote part of town and shot.

He was reported to have contended with the attesting party on why his boss would be arrested in his house and when his argument was defeated, he insisted that Ironsi was his guest as such he had the right to protect him as a Yoruba man but that act of valour on his part made him a target too and he paid the supreme price for friendship.

For many days, the fate of both men could not be ascertained as nobody knew what had befallen them.

Several stories were flying about until the Federal Military Government finally confirmed that both military leaders; Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi Ironsi and Lieutenant Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi were killed on July 29, 1966 by mutinous soldiers of the Nigerian army during the counter coup, or what is known as the “July Rematch” Coup of July 1966.

Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, a Congo War veteran and UN medal awardee with citations was buried in Ado-Ekiti his home town with full military honours on May 19, 1967.



Today, the Fajuyi Memorial Park in Ado-Ekiti with a statue of the late soldier can be seen inside the park.

Also, the Fajuyi Hall of Residence for students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and Fajuyi area in Ife town is named after him as a mark of honour.




FI