POLITICAL UPDATESOlayinka Omigbodun, Victor Banjo’s Daughter: Ojukwu Betrayed My Dad, Killed Him
16th Nigerian to be commissioned into the
Nigerian Army, was publicly executed reportedly
on the orders of the late Ikemba Nnewi,
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was then
the Military Head of the secessionist Biafra
Republic. He was an Ijebu from Ogun State but
died fighting on the Biafran side during the
Nigerian civil war.
Banjo was before his death, in detention on
allegations that he took part in the January 1966
coup, was released by Ojukwu when the war
broke out and convinced to lead part of the
Liberation Army, which went on the offensive
against the Nigerian Army and got as far as
Benin, in present day Edo State. Banjo was to
declare another republic upon having Benin under
his control.
In this interview with Dare Odufowokan, Assistant
Editor, his daughter, Mrs. Olayinka Omigbodun, a
Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at
the University of Ibadan, recalls how Banjo’s
young family was thrown into disarray upon his
arrest and detention. She also lamented what
she described as the unjust treatment meted out
to her father while explaining why she thinks
Ojukwu killed his friend, her father.
How does it feel remembering the events that
led to the reported execution of your father (Lt.
Col. Victor Banjo)?
First and foremost, I must express gratitude to
God for keeping us alive and well all these years.
Despite the fact that we lost our father while still
so young, God has kept us to see this day. We
are four children, two boys, two girls. I am the
third. We’ve all been able to go through school
and acquire degrees. All of us are alive and
healthy.
I thank God for the kind of parents he gave me.
Our father died 50 years ago and our mum 20
years ago. She was a widow for 30 years before
she also went to be with the Lord. I am proud of
them. It was 30 years of struggle and difficulty,
but with our late mother determined to fulfil her
promise to our dad, we made it.
Why do you think he did that to his friend?
He conveniently blamed Banjo and three other
men. Lt. Col Ifeajuna, Alele and one other for
sabotaging the Biafran efforts. He needed to tell
the people who were losing faith in him
something new as a reason for the defeats. His
fear about the imminent fall of Enugu was also
driving him to do something. So, on trumped up
charges, my father and three other men were
tried by a Kangaroo court and killed by firing
squad in 1967.
The trial did not reveal any evidence linking
Banjo with any act of treason against Ojukwu or
the Biafran government. In fact, it took a second
military tribunal to convict Banjo because the
first tribunal stated that the evidence presented
to it was insufficient to prove Banjo’s guilt in the
case. Unsatisfied and not ready to let my father
off the hook, Ojukwu constituted another tribunal
speedily.
Apparently, it was a clear case of sacrificing
someone as a scapegoat because while my
father was looking forward to assisting Ojukwu
further with the Biafran war in spite of the huge
risk and sacrifice involved for him as a person,
Ojukwu was looking for a way of implicating him
for sabotage so as to retain the control of the
region. Ojukwu betrayed my father by killing him.
And you don’t think his not agreeing in the
secession was a reason he got into trouble with
Ojukwu?
Well, they were friends and friends disagree.
They probably must have disagreed on that
before then because my father never hid his
patriotism. But again, I was told that hours after
the execution, Enugu fell. I am a Professor.
Human beings are very fickle. We are wont to
always look for excuses. For scapegoats; so, my
father was simply the sacrifice.
He knew my father was up for one Nigeria. Even
before drafting him into the war on his side, he
knew my father was a patriot who wanted one
united Nigeria. After the war we left Nigeria for
Sierra Leone but my mother brought us back
because my father, in his letters, had insisted we
must be raised as Nigerians. So, his patriotism
was never in doubt. Ojukwu merely executed him
to cover up his own failures as a leader of the
war.
But Gowon later became the Head of State. Why
didn’t he release your dad?
After Gowon was installed as Head of State, my
father made several overtures to him for his
release. But Gen. Gowon refused to release him
even though he knew he was not part of the
coup. The only concession he gave was that
Banjo could be transferred to a prison in Lagos if
he so wished. My father rejected the offer.
Even when my father wrote Ironsi from prison in
Ikot Ekpene, on June 1, 1966, he was wondering
what on earth he did to warrant being
imprisoned. He faulted the way he was being
treated and asked for justice, fairness and loyalty
from Ironsi as a loyal officer. He saw his
detention as a grievous crime against him. He
pleaded his innocence and asked to be released.
There is really no basis for tagging him as a
‘coupist’. I sincerely think setting the records
straight is one of the things Nigeria, and the
likes of Gen. Gowon, owe us as his family and
children.
It is very painful for us not knowing how he
ended really. Not knowing where his remains are.
Not even the exact date of his death. We only
read in the book of a foreign journalist who had
witnessed his execution of the date and
circumstances. Beyond that, there is little or
nothing to prove how he ended. This is very sad.
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