On his verified X handle, the former Minister of Aviation in Nigeria, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has revealed how a Nigerian soldier was shot dead after he refused to follow the order of his superior who instructed him to kill Sir Ahmadu Bello and others.
When he was talking, he said, “History records that amongst the greatest heroes and most selfless men that Nigeria ever had was a young Yoruba non-commissioned officer by the name of Sergeant Daramola Oyegoke.
“On the morning of January 15th 1966 during the course of the first military coup in our nation’s history, this young officer refused to shoot the Saurdana of Sokoto and Premier of the old Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, when he was ordered to do so by his commanding officer Major Chukwuemeka Kaduna Nzeogwu.”
He said that Oyegoke refused to obey the order to kill and was immediately shot. According to him, Nzeogwu then personally killed the Northern leader, his wife, his bodyguard, and others present. He stressed that Nzeogwu acted directly and did not use subordinates.
He further claimed that Nzeogwu later spoke openly about these killings in media interviews and took public photographs that were seen as boastful. In his view, these actions angered people in the North and contributed to the violence that followed months later, including the July 1966 counter-coup, the killings of Igbo civilians, and eventually the civil war.
He described Oyegoke’s refusal to kill an unarmed man, despite knowing it would cost him his life, as a rare act of courage. He concluded that, in a time marked by cruelty, Oyegoke’s restraint and sense of honor stood out.
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