Adekunle Fajuyi

Adekunle Fajuyi
Military Governor of Western Nigeria
In office
15 January – 29 July 1966
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byRobert Adeyinka Adebayo
Personal details
Born26 June 1926
Ado Ekiti, Nigeria
Died29 July 1966(1966-07-29) (aged 40)
Ibadan
Political partyNone (Military)

Francis Adekunle Fajuyi MC BEM (26 June 1926 – 29 July 1966) was a Nigerian soldier of Yoruba origin and the first military governor of the former Western Region, Nigeria.[1][2][3]

Originally a teacher and clerk, Fajuyi, a native of Ado Ekiti, joined the army in 1943, and as a sergeant in the Nigeria Signal Squadron, Royal West African Frontier Force, was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1951 for helping to contain a mutiny in his unit over food rations.[4] He was trained at the Eaton Hall Officer Candidate School in the United Kingdom from July 1954 until November 1954, when he was short-service commissioned.[5] In 1961, as the 'C' Company commander with the 4 battalion, Queen's Own Nigeria Regiment under Lt. Col. Price, Major Fajuyi was awarded the Military Cross for actions in North Katanga and extricating his unit from an ambush.[6] On completion of Congo operations, Fajuyi became the first indigenous commander of the 1st battalion in Enugu, a position he held until just before the first coup of January 1966, when he was posted to Abeokuta as garrison commander. When Major General Ironsi emerged as the new C-in-C on 17 January 1966, he appointed Fajuyi the first military governor of the Western Region.[7]

Assassination

Fajuyi was assassinated by the revenge seeking counter-coupists led by Major T. Y. Danjuma on 29 July 1966,[8] at Ibadan, along with General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, the Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who had arrived in Ibadan on 28 July 1966 to address a conference of traditional rulers of Western Nigeria.[9] The bloody overthrow of the civilian regime of Prime Minister Sir Tafawa Balewa's government had taken place six months earlier in which the prime minister and other top government functionaries, especially of northern Nigerian extraction, were killed.[10]

References

  1. ^ Frederick Forsyth (2015). Biafra Story: The Making of an African Legend. Pen and Sword. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-4738-6099-5.
  2. ^ I. A. Akinjogbin (2002). Milestones and concepts in Yoruba history and culture: a key to understanding Yoruba history. Olu-Akin Publishers, 2002. p. 120. ISBN 9789763331392.
  3. ^ Beatrice Akpu Inyang Eleje (July 2012). Roots, My Love, My Destiny. iUniverse, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4759-3467-0.
  4. ^ London Gazette: 1 June 1951 Issue 39243, Page 3087
  5. ^ London Gazette: 21 January 1955, Issue 40389, Page 500
  6. ^ London Gazette 19 December 1961 Issue 42545, Page 9289
  7. ^ "53 years of Counter Coup: How Fajuyi and Ironsi were killed". PM News Nigeria. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  8. ^ "Adekunle Fajuyi: They want us to forget". Vanguard News. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  9. ^ Sally Dyson (1998). Nigeria: the birth of Africa's greatest country : from the pages of Drum magazine. Spectrum Books, 1998. ISBN 978-978-029-014-6.
  10. ^ "When will Fajuyi be immortalised?". The Nation Newspaper. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2022.