Balewa’s death: Another side of the story (II)

  Sir Alhaji Tafawa Balewa had no history of asthma. How on earth did he suddenly develop asthma in captivity as claimed by M. T. Mbu, quoting Okigbo, who was in turn quoting Ifeajuna? When Ifeajuna ran away from Lagos on Sunday morning, January 16, 1966, in whose custody did he leave the PM? When […]

 

Sir Alhaji Tafawa Balewa had no history of asthma. How on earth did he suddenly develop asthma in captivity as claimed by M. T. Mbu, quoting Okigbo, who was in turn quoting Ifeajuna? When Ifeajuna ran away from Lagos on Sunday morning, January 16, 1966, in whose custody did he leave the PM? When and how did he know the PM had developed asthma and died? How was the PM being fed and hydrated? This is an idle hearsay, pure and simple.

The Special Branch Report, and other helpful sources relevant to the question of Balewa’s body and evacuation:
The Special Branch report about the January 15 rebellion has been in the public domain for many years. It beggars belief that this vital official document with intimate details about the rebellion, escaped the scrutiny of journalists all these years.
The following excerpt from the report describes what has long been known to the Nigerian security agencies about the assassination of Balewa and Okotie-Eboh along Abeokuta road by two different teams of putsches and the specifics of how civilian and military bodies (earlier killed) were dumped or buried at the two different locations:
The Special Branch Report exerpt:
When Major Ifeajuna and party returned to the Federal Guards Officers’ Mess, he learnt that the GOC was in town and organizing 2nd Battalion NA at Ikeja to attack the rebels. He was then joined by Major Okafor and they drove off together in Major Ifeajuna’s car.
At the Yaba Military Hospital, they dropped Second Lt. Ezedigbo who had been wounded in the encounter with Brigadier Maimalari. The time was about 0400 hrs. Major Ifeajuna drove away on to the Abeokuta road. On the way, they stopped and Ifeajuna asked the PM out of the car whence he shot and killed him. When he and Okafor became certain that the PM was dead, they left the body in the bush at a point beyond Otta on the Lagos-Abeokuta road. They then opened the boot of the car and dropped the body of Lt. Col. Largema near that of the PM.
They then drove on to Abeokuta. On the way after Abeokuta, two other soldiers in the car were dropped and told to find their way back to Lagos whilst Ifeajuna and Okafor proceeded to Enugu. They arrived Enugu at about 1415 hours and proceeded to the Premier’s lodge where they held discussion with Dr. M. I. Okpara, then Premier of Eastern Region, after which they separated and went into hiding. Ifeajuna eventually escaped to Ghana where he was received by the former President Kwame Nkrumah who sent him to Winneba to stay with S. G. Ikoku.
At the Federal Guard Officers’ Mess, the corpses of Brigadier Maimalari, Col. Mohammed, Lt. Col. Pam and Lt. Col. Unegbe were loaded into a three-tonner lorry in which was sitting Chief Okotie-Eboh still alive. The time was then about 0330 hours.
By this time, Majors A. Ademoyega and  C. I. Anuforo were present on the Mess premises. Major Ifeajuna having departed, these two officers took command of his men and vehicles. They entered into Major Anuforo’s Peugeot car accompanied by Second Lt. Igweze. Major Ademoyega entered the landrover.
On the instructions of Major Anuforo, the little convoy moved off with Anuforo leading. They traversed Lagos and went along Abeokuta road. At a given point, unidentifiable by the men interrogated, Major Anuforo stopped the convoy and he, Second Lt. Igweze and Major Ademoyega left their vehicles. They came to the tailboard of the three-ton truck and detailed a number of men to take position in front and the rear of the convoy with instructions to stop and turn back all approaching traffic.
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 F.S. 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 Second Lt Igweze and Sgt. Ndukaife to the spot where the bodies of the four senior officers had been deposited. Arriving there, without hesitation, Major Anuforo killed Okotie-Eboh with a short burst from his SMG.
Major Anuforo then returned to the road followed by the others, but leaving Second Lt. Igweze, Cpl. Egwim, L/Cpl Nwankpa and Cpl. Nweke on guard over the five bodies.
The convoy drove off and returned later, accompanied by three Ferret Scout cars which had been obtained from 2 Reconnaisance Squadron at Abeokuta. Four spades were brought out from the landrover and used to dig graves for the burial of the corpses. The graves were dug by Cpls. C. Egwim, and Z. Chukwu, L/Cpl J. Nwankpa and Private N.A. Evulobi. When this task had been completed, they all boarded their respective vehicles and drove off to Lagos.”
Balewa’s evacuaton and funeral
The next excerpt is taken from the book, A Right Honourable Gentleman. The Life and Times of Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, by Trevor Clark:
“Abubakar’s body found, taken home, and buried.”
“Ón Thursday, 20 January 1966, the prime minister’s lifelong friend the Madaki (for Madawaki) of Bauchi, who had been worrying every officer who would listen to him with the prophecy that if the disappearance was not accounted for and the public reassured, “A Congo situation” was unavoidable in the north, learnt from the missing man’s household that a Ghana radio bulletin had reported the finding of the body.
“Still wishing to believe the rumors that Abubakar was held alive as a hostage in an unknown place, be that in a Lagos white cap chief’s house or at Calabar in confrontation with or exchange for the imprisoned Awolowo, he looked for and for a while received comfort from the Lagos Commissioner of Police, the northerner, Hamman Maiduguri.
“But next morning, the Madaki and ADC Inspector Kaftan Topolomiyo from Nangasu were called without explanation to the Army HQ at Dodan Barracks. They were allowed to leave to attend Friday mosque but although fasting, were summoned back twice more until late at night when they were at last driven to the military hospital.
“There after equivocal exchange with an Igbo attendant, they were given ‘enough cloth for an important man’s burial.’ There was no explanation. Their conclusions were their own to draw. They were joined by an Army medical officer and one or two police officers. A large military convoy, all the men appearing to be Igbos, took kerosene lamps and torches and drove them 43 kilometers up the Abeokuta road near Otta.
“They halted and went some way through rain-sodden undergrowth and thorns into the bush, where they first saw a naked bloated corpse with a damaged head, probably Largema’s.
“Nearby, a glimmer of white led to a second body, against the bole of a tree. It was the white gown that allowed them to identify the putrid remains with a wound over the heart and a hole in the back where the bullets had blown out the backbone, as those of Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. His cap was at his feet. If there had been other lesser injuries, it was too late for the Medical Officer (MO) or laymen to detect them.
“It has been suggested that Dr. Elias’s warning letter about a revolution, from Dr. Busia exiled in the Hague, was still in the pocket of the gown.
“The soldiers offered to dig the grave there and then, having brought tarpaulins and coffins. The Medical Officer (MO) saw to the application of disinfectant and Kaftan to the enshrouding of the clothed remains, just as they were, and closing of the coffin lid. The Madaki recovered sufficiently from the grief which had overwhelmed him to insist that the prime minister must be returned to Bauchi for proper burial.
“The coffin was taken to Ikeja Airport well before sunrise on the Saturday morning, and Hamman Maiduguri arranged for a charter flight . He told Kaftan to gather Abubakar’s whole family together to accompany them, which Kaftan did, not telling them till the last minute that he now knew the fate of their husband and father. Commissioner Hamman, Kam Salem, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, and the minister, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, escorted the wives, Laraba and Jummai, the grieving Madaki Alhaji Abubakar Garba and the household with the coffin directly to Bauchi, where they arrived on the eve of the great sallah day, which marked the end of the Ramadan fast. Alhaji Sir Kashim Ibrahim and the Grand Kadi joined them there.
“Abubakar’s pupil and ward Alhaji Adamu Tafawa Balewa, now the Ajiya and shyly used to being called ‘Baba’ by his sometime master was at the airstrip, and as head of the extended family and the followers assumed responsibility for the burial. The body might not be touched nor washed, but water was sprinkled on it in the final cleansing rite, the lid replaced, and prayer offered. There were thousands in the numb congregation. Then the body was laid to rest in the earth below the town house, where for generations, people of the Ajiya’s family and household had been buried.”
Excerpted from pages 806 – 807 in A Right Honourable Gentleman. The Life and Times of Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, by Trevor Clark. HudaHuda Publishing Company, Zaria 1991.
Source: www.omoigui.com