The event that remains etched in my memory,
however, is the ‘Major Kaduna Nzeogwu
Day’ we organised. We invited the retired
Major ’Wale Ademoyega to deliver a lecture to mark the event. I was his compere so I had the responsibility
for organising his accommodation and transport arrangements and thanks to Mrs.
Kuku the Chief Catering Officer and wife of Mr. Femi Kuku a former President of
the Student Union he received first class treatment. The Vice-Chancellor was scheduled to meet
with the Major but at the last minute he pulled out pleading prior engagements.
The Major who had been
part of the original five majors who took part in Nigeria’s first coup was a dark,
tall, brooding and a contemplative character.
He did not speak much and it was obvious that the events leading to the
assassination of the Prime Minister Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the Finance
Minister Okotie Eboh still haunted him.
When we settled into his suite at the University guesthouse with some
reluctance he described to me in stark and gruesome terms the last moments
before they were killed. Whilst the
Prime Minister only requested to say his last prayers before he was shot, the
Finance Minister was pleading and promising all manner of cash gifts if he was
spared. I was with him through the
duration of his stay in the guesthouse and accompanied him in the University official
car, a Peugeot 504 to return him to his home in Lagos after the event. This was an encounter with a slice of history
and brought home to me the opportunities we have wasted, opportunities to
transform our lot as a country. Read more by buying
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