I was in primary 4 at the Command Children School nestled in the Military Cantonment in Ikeja when a top military officer rushed into the classroom that morning
His service pistol was out and his eyes were red and he wanted his children immediately.
He announced that they have just killed the head of state and he wants his children
That was my first experience with a military coup.
By the time, we were out, military armoured tanks were everywhere and Nigeria was in mourning
The beloved Head of State, who in less than six months of his ascension had carried out major reforms that popularised him and pushed him to immortality had been killed.
Nigeria rewarded him. The International Airport was named after him, a Naira note was designed for him and so many other monuments where named after him in recognition of all that he did
He was so angelic that when the Buhari /Idiagbon regime came, they quickly claimed to be an offshoot of his regime
Then the car he was killed in was taken to the National Museum in Onikan and Nigerians would be rushing there to view it and cry
As a child, I made my parents take me there every holiday and I would count the bullet holes and put my fingers through the holes
He was also my hero based on what I was told and what I had read about him
But tarry, the impression started slowly changing when I did the Play FAJUYI
Research threw up stuff that didn’t sit well with me.
The role he was alleged to have played during that episode left a bitter taste in my mouth
That research still didn’t really make me look at him differently from the saintly, hero who was martyred on the slab of good governance
Then I started work on my play on the Asaba Massacre and started feeling nauseated.
This person was said to have not been able to cross the Onitsha bridge during the civil war and in the process lost a record number of combatants
He was not an infantry soldier but a signals man who was said to have been rewarded by Gowon with an elite infantry position as a reward for his role in securing the revenge coup which brought Gowon to power
By the time, I finished my research on the Asaba Massacre, my earlier impressions had been totally wiped out
Now the question is why the cowardice. If what is being said in darkened rooms and in whispers from the gutters in Asaba straught up to the throne of Asaba cannot be said in public and very boldly then we will remain a nation of cowards
Today and at exactly around this time. He ran into a hail of bullets fired by cowards led by Buka Suka Dimka who then ran into a brothel to hide.
Today must be another day for national realignment
Today we must look very succinctly at corruption as the root cause of our national folly
We must see how corruption led to the first coup, the revenge coup, the civil war and most importantly at this time the Asaba Massacre which led to the killing of 1,000 people in one day after they rushed out in their fineries to welcome supposed heroic soldiers
For me, the Asaba people are showing a second round of cowardice in their approach to seeking reparations whatever that means, for the tragedy
The facts are very clear and they never throw up the names of perpetrators but instead will be calling out the Federal Government and rightly so
Yes, the bulk stops on the federal government’s table but can you call the German government on the genocide that took 6 million Jews without calling out Adolf Hitler
I met with the Asagba of Asaba and he spoke very glowingly and flowery I must say of the incident but stopped short of really hitting the nail on the head
Why whisper the perpetrators and why secretly gloating that they got revenge in 1976 – cowardly.
On a visit to the site, of the massacre, I saw a descrepit and shameful apparition littered with dirt and overflowed with grass
The 1,000 people killed that day continues to be killed on the slab of neglect.
Why shoot a documentary and launch abroad why do a stupid stage play and show in Lagos, why use their blood to seek relevance and political positioning while the simplest of it all – their mass grave is overflogged with weed and dirt
Fear and cowardice remain our lot. History is telling us the truth and we remove our eyes like dirty eunuchs and turn our backs but seek to celebrate a day that should just quietly go
Today and in my estimation is one of the dark days of a sleeping giant in search of its identity loosing another of its sons in a long drawn blood-splattered pavement that included all of those coups and the civil war as it sought its place amongst the committee of Nations
Nothing to mourn here but another opportunity for deep reflection as we continue to show a strong stubbornness of not learning from our history as we move towards 2027
We remain a Nation of blockheaded and stubborn people.
Thanks
Come and beat me
Duke of Shomolu
Last modified: February 14, 2026
