By Olayinka Oyegbile, PhD
A lecture presented at the inaugural 10th anniversary of Brig- Gen Benjamin Maja Adekunle at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso Oyo State, on September 18, 2024. The lecture was organized by the Family of the late war hero in his honour.
The man, the myth, and the reality
Gen. Benjamin Maja Adekunle, who died on September 14, 2014, at the age of 78, was different thing to different people. It has been ten years of silence and lack of proper situation of a man who contributed immensely to what Nigeria is today. We are gathered here today not to wring our arms in helplessness but to celebrate an Akogun, an Akinkanju, if ever there was one.
At his death the social and traditional media were awash with tributes, commendations and condemnations of what he stood for. Don’t be troubled by the condemnations. The Yoruba would say, “Olorun mayo oro mi lenu aiye” meaning may the people never stop talking about you. If people stopped talking about you then you have fizzled into the insignificant. There are many who died and the world was silent because they were irrelevant even while alive! General Adekunle was not. He was relevant alive and even at his death the world media remembered him and would continue to for as long as man can read and write.
These controversies, condemnations and praises were not unexpected. He was a controversial man and was like the carcass of a dead elephant amidst a crowd of the blind. The blind who held its trunk called it the leg of a big mammal while the one that held the leg called it another thing. Each of the perceptions of the fallen elephant to each was informed by at what end he stood. Chinua Achebe, one of Nigeria’s immortal writers said, “You cannot watch a masquerade while standing on a spot.” This is a truism; you will not get the true essence of the dance. So was Gen. Adekunle, both in life and in death.
Some called him a “murderer”. To others, he was a “saviour”. He was like the Roman god Janus. One would not have expected anything less of such a great man. He lived and died in a blaze of controversy. He was a man who was mostly misunderstood and his place in history still remains neglected and ignored. But if the truth is to be told, the complete history of the Nigeria Civil War (1967-70) cannot be written without the name General Benjamin Maja Adekunle being written in gold shinning letters. He was to the Nigeria civil War “What General Westmoreland was to America during the Vietnam war.” (Oyelade, 2024)
The late war hero was a typical Ogbomoso, “Unarguably, the Ogbomosos are the most travelled among the Yoruba stock.” (Oyegbile, 2021, p13). General Adekunle was more known outside Ogbomoso that at home because he was urbane and completely sold to the Nigeria Dream, if ever there was any. This was because, like the typical well-travelled Ogbomoso people, he lived almost all his life outside his ancestral home. He was born in Kaduna and his mother hailed from great Bachama stock, Adamawa State. He joined the army in search of life fulfillment. Did he find that fulfillment? It is actually difficult to say because he left the war front where his command, the 3rd Marine Commando, was a very crucial sector in the prosecution of the Civil War! He was recalled to the Army headquarters in a controversial circumstance, which perhaps left him devastated. He was not allowed to savour the victory of his command. This glory was left for the then Col. Olusegun Obasanjo, who later became not only a General but a two-term President. Gen Adekunle’s misfortune (or something akin to that) could be said to be Gen. Obasanjo’s fortune.
Perhaps because of the manner in which he left the war front he was never the same again until he died. He became a recluse; he withdrew from all public and social engagements and never allowed himself to be drawn into any political comments on the country.
He was the Asipa of Ogbomoso land, a traditional title that well-suited his life pattern as a war hero. Asipa is the War Leader. As a man, who played a prominent role in the country’s civil war, this was not unexpected. However, not many people in Ogbomoso, especially among the young ones ever knew him. He was installed as Asipa by Oba Olayode, who was later rebelled against by the citizens and murdered in the aftermath of the Agbekoya riots. (Falola, 2016). His murder devastated the late General and he never perhaps forgave the people for this act, leading to his long absence from the town of his birth.
The late General Adekunle was perhaps too great a man to be linked with one town. He was a Nigerian first and foremost. During the Second Republic, when most of the people from the Southwest belonged to the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, he rather tried to organise students for the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) led by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. This, according to Mr. Dapo Atanda, who was then a student leader at the University of Lagos, showed the kind of world view he held.
Mr. Atanda, who is now a prominent lawyer based in Ogbomoso, said:
“He called me then and said I should mobilise students to form a student wing of the NPP. We tried to do this but he was such a busy man and anytime we go to him, either we never saw him or he was too busy. He was clearly a misunderstood man; he was different things to different people. But one thing that can never be taken away from him is that he loved Nigeria, he fought to keep it one.” (Atanda, 2014)
Another prominent Ogbomoso son who is also a retired military General and a former Governor of both Oyo and Ogun states, Gen. Oladayo Popoola, once told me that the role Gen. Adekunle played in uniting the country cannot be diminished.
According to him:
“Gen. Adekunle was a hero of the civil war. His contributions made the war to end in time. It was because his Command opened the axis towards the coast that the war ended at the time it did. He coordinated the Armed Forces very well.” (Popoola, 2014).
In situating his assessment of the late war hero’s role and people’s criticism of his style during the war, Gen. Popoola said: “Nobody is perfect. There is no way some people will not be against a war General. He did his best for his country.”
The late war hero who in swashbuckling manner and with his hand stick with was popular with him during the war when faced with such caustic criticism during his lifetime, simply said he had a war to win!
The late General was as such a man that aroused different emotions from diverse people. No two people would perhaps agree with each other on his life. That was his life. To some, according to Bernard Odogwu, who was Director of Biafra’s Directorate of Military Intelligence in his book, No Place to Hide – Crises and Conflict Inside Biafra, the late General Adekunle at the announcement of his appointment was “dismissed just as “the officer who spent all his time as Dr. Akanu Ibiam’s Aide-de-Camp and had lost touch with the military.” He concluded: “And yet when the time came, Adekunle had so terrorised them to the extent that only very few dared to oppose him in combat.” (Odogwu, 1985, p160)
Celebrated British author Frederick Forsyth, in his book, The Making of an African Legend: The Biafran Story, called him “Colonel ‘Shoot anything that moves.’ He was really the Black Scorpion, a thorn in the flesh of the rebels. Forsyth despite being a friend to Ojukwu agreed that because of his war efforts Gen Adekunle “Could obviously twist Gowon round his finger when he wanted anything.” (p135)
A saviour and liberator
One man’s hero is another’s villain.Whereas some Igbo according to Forsyth view him as “Shoot anything that moves”, a ruthless and wicked soldier, to some others in the South-South, he was a saviour and a liberator of their people from the pains of war, the cruelties and domination of minorities by Biafra. (Akpan, 2022).
The late frontline environmentalist and Ogoni rights activist, the late Ken Sawo-Wiwa, was one of those who would forever be grateful to the late General Adekunle. If there is ever a meeting of the dead in heaven or wherever dead people go, the General and the environmentalist would today be looking down on us all as we are gathered today, clinking glasses and celebrating with us the life of this great General.
In my mind’s eye, I can clearly see Saro-Wiwa with his ubiquitous smoking pipe balanced delicately between his lips reading from the chapter which he devoted to the heroic exploits of Gen. Adekunle. In the memoir titled On a Darkling Plain, the late environmentalist wrote:
“It seems appropriate here to say a few words about the brilliant officer (Adekunle) who scored such tremendous success in the civil war. Born in 1938 (actually 1936) to a Yoruba father and a Bachama mother (a minority ethnic group), he trained at Sandhurst and came to prominence when he was entrusted with the command of the troops sent to Bonny. The rebel entry into the Mid-West meant that he was diverted for a time from Bonny and the Southeast of the country to the South-west.
“I met him for the first time in November 1967, after my appointment as Administrator, when I was introduced to him by Chief Harold Biriye, to whose sister he was married. Slight of frame, of medium height and by no means handsome, his exploits at Bonny and the Mid-West had already made him famous. I must confess that I had expected a different type of officer.
“At that first meeting, he was gentle, solicitous and cheerful, although he appeared fairly worn out, having just returned from a meeting. It is possible that being introduced by a famous and older brother-in-law, to whom he was just “Benjy”, made a lot of difference. But in my interaction with him over the next year or two, I found him approachable, generous and open, with a great sense of humour. It is true that when he had to deal with his subordinates in the force, he was firm and seemed to terrorise them. But I thought and still think that I detected there a posturing, a mask which he wore because he so perfectly understands the mentality of the Nigerian. For it must be remembered that he was not the Commander of a highly trained disciplined corps. The bulk of his men were illiterate, inexperienced and raw. Most of them had never heard the sound of gunfire. Some believed that charms could save them from bullets. Again, apart from the very top echelon, he could not attest to the quality of training of his officers. In short, it was an unusual corps, in an unusual war. In such a situation, the African mentality fears the masquerade. The man in the masquerade is vulnerable, but the masquerade is beyond reach, a myth. Adekunle tried to be that myth. And it worked.” (Saro-Wiwa, 1989, p203)
During the civil war, so many myths were woven around his personality. Most of this had to do with his ancestry. It was believed and widely circulated that his Bachama mother had “soaked him” in her people’s juju and coupled with his Yoruba (Ogbomoso) origin, he had been “soaked” and well “cooked”. Remember that “Ogun ojaja koko Ogbomoso”. The anthem that Ogbomoso had never been conquered by any force of war. It was the bulwark against the Fulani jihad of Ilorin.
All these perhaps made him more mystical and a folk hero and war leader who reportedly died several times from rebel bullets. In fact, there was a common one that when he was shot and killed, the rebels cut him into pieces and poured a portion of his severed flesh in River Niger and the other in River Benue. According to the myth, when his mother heard, she made “consultations” and his charred flesh which were swept down the two rivers met at the confluence of the River in Lokoja, where they merged again and he walked back to the war front to the admiration of his troops! So much for a man of controversy and the myth narrated here by Saro-Wiwa.
To properly situate him, it is apt to return to the painting of the kind of a man he was. We return to Saro-Wiwa to lead us in this direction. According to the respected author and producer of the immensely popular TV comedy of the eighties and nineties, Basi and Company:
“He drove himself and his men hard. He built a creditable organisation from nothing and the pressures on him as Commander were many, not least the way the men at the rear were often blissfully unaware of the tremendous pressure of the battle front…
“As I have pointed out, he was not lacking in compassion. He took great care of Ibo lives and property, ensuring that “refugees” were well treated and cared for, he decreed harsh punishments for looters. I may be wrong, but I would certainly vote him one of the most Nigerian top military bras that I have met.
“If his career suffered a setback towards the end of the war, it was possibly because he did not know how to handle his great success, his stardom. But this is not unusual. Publicity, which he courted, is normally a double-edged sword. It can be easily turned against those for whom it roots. What Adekunle needed, above all else, was a public relations man.” (p203-204).
However, under his watch and command, the fall of Owerri by the federal troops led to the change of guards and Col. Adekunle, along with Cols Ibrahim Mohammed Haruna and Mohammed Shuwa of first and second divisions, were all replaced. According to Saro-Wiwa:
“The loss of his Command was very painful to Colonel Adekunle. The send-off party given him by his officers was a very emotional affair- on the part of the “Black Scorpion”. He wept openly. He had built the Division from the scratch, had won significant military successes, had become a national hero and had obtained international attention. The reality that he was about to give up all, or most of that, did not sit down well with him. He had had power which he enjoyed exercising and would definitely flow therefrom. That was not to be. There is an Ogoni proverb which says “He who roasts the yam does not eat it.” Colonel Adekunle had roasted the yam, I should say he ate some of it, the honour of eating all of it fell on Colonel Obasanjo.” (p213).
What an apt observation. The then Col. Obasanjo who replaced the then Col. Adekunle as commander of the division and had the honour of receiving the instruments of surrender from the rebel forces was later to write his war memoir, My Command, which was published in a hail of controversy. In that book he had this to say about his predecessor:
“Col Adekunle, at this juncture, saw the war not only in terms of crushing a rebellion, but also as a means of building himself up for any political position or responsibility which he might seek. I knew people of Western State origin who had felt politically victimised and who saw Col Adekunle a saviour and told him so, and he believed them.” (Obasanjo, 1980, p51-52)
Today, it is clear who saw in the war and got from it “a means of building himself up for any political position or responsibility.”
General M. Chris Alli, who had the honour of serving as a Governor of Plateau State (my state of birth), and a highly decorated military chief who at various times held positions both at infantry and brigade levels and was Nigeria’s defence attaché to Zimbabwe, Director of Military Intelligence, General Officer Commanding 1 Mechanised Division also had positive words to say about General Adekunle.
For a man who held the elite post of Chief of Army Staff in his memoir The Federal Republic of Nigerian Army: The Siege of Nation, hehad this to say about General Adekunle with whom he had the honour to prosecute the civil war. According to General Alli:
“He remains one of the most indefatigable, physically and mentally versatile warrior the nation and the Army has produced – Nigeria’s Napoleon or Shaka the Zulu without a personal empire. That may account for his misplacement in the nation’s history. At critical times of national anxiety, during the civil war, he repeatedly gave the nation hope and certainty by his predictions and victories on the battlefront. He proved that the art of war is one of superior intellect, continuous and fluid motion, precision, physical and moral courage. Today, the powers that be pretend that the Black Scorpion can be denied his monumental contributions and place in history. However, the history of the civil war will be written, and by whatsoever, Brigadier General Benjamin Maja Adekunle will live in the hearts of all Nigerians as the tiny great soldier who, amongst others, won the war to keep Nigeria one. Generals like him, and they are very few, must be stunned by our lack of professionalism today. He concretely paved the way to Biafran surrender. He falls into the category of Nigerians who gave everything, but, denied their glory, are powerless to command justice and fair play. He remains the most revered and internationally acclaimed warrior-commander of the civil war, nothing can change that” (Alli, 2001, P59)
Note that he was compared to Napoleon Bonaparte, the French military officer and statesman.
Another General who fought along with him in the trenches was Brigadier General Godwin Alabi-Isama who in his massive and definitive memoir, The Tragedy of History, described him as “a very brilliant and fearless soldier.” He deconstructed so many myths about the power and invincibility of some self-declared war heroes. Now the question to ask is: with all these accolades, was General Adekunle a perfect man? No. That is impossible. No human being created by God is infallible. He was a war hero and a brilliant military commander and tactician. However, as human he was not perfect.
On some of his shortcomings, Alabi-Isama wrote:
“Trips to Lagos did many things to this great leader. For example, it was when he came back from Lagos after 51 days of absence, (during which period we captured Port Harcourt), that he threw the bombshell that there were too many Yoruba in his command and with that he destroyed the powerful institution that he had built. He regretted it, and that was the beginning of the end of his military career. As soon as he dispersed his officers, his wings were clipped, he was never able to fly again. His adversaries were pleased. With what he did for Nigeria during the civil war of 1967-1970, he was forgotten. He was never invited to any of the country’s independence celebrations or for the Biafra surrender, or for an award.” (Alabi-Isama, 2013, p474)
So, like all humans, General Adekunle had his own Achilles heels, while describing him as “the best fighting machine of the Nigeria-Biafra war” (p647), Alabi-Isama regretted that, “Adekunle’s fall came about because he broke the institutions, he built himself, because he started to think he was the institution” (p592). He, however, concluded on this ominous note, ”Col. Adekunle, the protagonist, did not reap the reward of his labour. He won many battles, not the war. It was the tragedy of victory. Adekunle missed the grand strategy.” (p485).
Ogbomoso Ilu Akinkanju (The land of valours)
I would like to go back in history. Before Gen Adekunle, Ogbomoso has produced many illustrious personalities who have at one time or the other played very significant roles in the affairs of our nation. However, their roles have either been diminished by the happenstance of history or some political misfortune leading to the neglect of their contributions.
Let me crave your indulgence to list a few of these illustrious Ogbomoso Akinkanjus: They include but are not restricted to the military or uniformed forces. As they were in the military so were they in the academia. We had the head of the Nigerian Navy during the Civil War (1967-70) Rear Admiral Akinwale Wey, he was from Ogbomoso. There was also Colonel Adegboyega Adeniran who first fought as a combatant during the United Nations Peace keeping mission in the Republic of Congo in the early 60s before the civil war in 1967, in which he served as a Sector commander and his conquest immortalized by the Fuji music creator Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister in his record Oke Agba.
How can we forget Col Ibrahim Taiwo, who served as the Military Governor of Kwara State and was killed in the attempted Dimka coup of 1976? I have earlier mentioned Maj. Gen. Oladayo Popoola (a two-term military governor), Brig. Gen. Brimmoh Yussuf, Brig. Gen. Kofo Oke, Brig. Gen. E.A Olawoyin, Col. Daniel Akintonde (former Military Governor of Ogun State), Col. J.A.P Oladipo, Brig. Gen. S.G Oladipo, Maj. Gen. Dapo Oyelade and a host of others.
Ogbomoso is truly the land of valours: Ilu Akinkanju. Remember the town produced the first Chief of Air Staff during the Nigerian civil war in the person of Col. Shittu Alao, who died in a plane crash during the turbulent period. Ogbomoso has also produced other Akinkanjus in the Navy among whom are Air Commodore Layi Atanda, who during the civil war had just arrived from an advanced course in Germany and was immediately deplored to fight in support of his fatherland. Like a typical Ogbomoso son, he excelled.
Also on this list is Air Vice Marshal Jacob Bolaji Adigun, my fellow “Jos Boy” who I am proud to state was my classmate, choirmate in Jos and is today Chief Akinrogun of Ogbomosoland! There is Air Vice Marshal Lasisi Alao (the son of Col. Shittu Alao), Air Commodore Sola Oluokun, Air Commodore Ajani Aileru, Air Commodore Gabriel Oyekale, Air Commodore Iyiola Alao (one of the best pilots NAF ever produced who is still being engaged years after retirement).
Ogbomoso is not left out in the Nigerian Navy too. We have Rear Admiral Jacob Ajani, Rear Admiral David Adeniran, Rear Admiral Sunday Oyegade, Navy Commodore Sunday Olanrewaju Olawuyi, Navy Commodore Gabriel Adebayo, Navy Commodore Oriola Onireti, and Commodore Abiodun Alade.
Of course, our land of Akinkanjus is not left out in the Nigeria Police force. We have produced a former Inspector General of Police Chief Sunday Adewusi, Assistant Inspector General Shehu Babalola, Deputy Inspector General (Mrs) Bisi Ugowe (who hold the record of being the first female DIG in Nigeria). There is also Assistant Inspector General Olasupo Ajani, Commissioner of Police Oladejo Oyelowo, Commissioner of Police Samuel Adekunle, Commissioner of Police Ajala Ayoola, Commissioner of Police Moses Onireti, Commissioner of Police Samson Ogunlowo, (Oyelade, 2024) and of course not to forget Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, who rose to become deputy and later Governor of Oyo State.
Akintola, Adekunle: Two of a kind
At this juncture, before I conclude this lecture, we need to think about Ogbomosoland and refocus our strategy for growth and record of our valiant efforts. Our town has been at the receiving end of too much ill-luck or what Saro-Wiwa calls the fate of “He who roasts the yam and does not eat it.”
We must find a way to redress this anomaly. This is the time for us as sons and daughters of Ogbomoso gathered here today to come together and rouse up the Ogbomoso Parapo spirit of old where our parents’ came together and to promote and protect the ideals of omoluabi and the development of Ogbomoso.
Great men are always controversial even in death. This is the lot of Gen. Benjamin Maja Adekunle, a real war hero.
Dr Oyegbile is a Lagos-based journalist, writer and media scholar.
REFERENCES
Akpan, Uwem, New York My Village, Parresia Publishers, Lagos, 2022.
Alabi-Isama, Godwin, The Tragedy of Victory: On-the-Spot Account of the Nigeria-Biafra War in the Atlantic Theatre, Spectrum Books Limited, Ibadan, 2013.
Alli, M. Chris, The Federal Republic of Nigerian Army: The Siege of a Nation, Malthouse Press Limited, Ibadan, 2001.
Atanda, Dapo (Lawyer), in an interview with the author in 2014.
Falola, Toyin, Counting the Tiger’s Teeth: An African Teenager’s Story, University of Michigan Press, 2016.
Forsyth, Frederick, The Making of an African Legend: The Biafran Story, Penguin Books, London, 1979
Obasanjo, Olusegun, My Command, Heinemann Educational Books, Ibadan, 1980
Odogwu, Bernard, No Place to Hide (Crises and Conflicts Inside Biafra), Fourth Dimension Publishers, Enugu, 1985
Oyegbile, Olayinka, Home Away from Home…History of Ogbomoso People in Jos, Target Response Associates, Lagos, 2021.
Oyelade, Dotun, Oyo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, speech delivered at the Ogbomoso sons and daughters North America Convention 2024, at Atlanta, USA, July 27, 2024.
Popoola, Dayo (Gen), in an interview with the author in 2014.
Saro-Wiwa, Ken, On a Darkling Plain, Saros International Publishers, Port Harcourt, 1989.
