Victor Banjo died on September
22, 1967. He was a colonel in the Nigerian army who ended up in the Biafran
army during the struggles between Nigeria and Biafra.
Victor Banjo was mistaken for a
coup plotter against the Nigerian prime minister Tafawa Balewa, by the
government of Aguyi Ironsi and was imprisoned. He was later freed by Ojukwu.
However, he was again alleged to
have staged a coup plot against Biafran president, Odumegwu Ojukwu, and was
executed as a result.
There has been no third party
verification of Victor Banjo's involvement in the Nigerian coup nor Biafran
coup and many believe he was wrongly accused.
In an interview with The Nation,
his daughter, Olayinka Omigbodun, a professor of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry at the University of Ibadan, spoke on her father and why she feels
he was betrayed by Ojukwu.
She said: "........ I still
feel that pain that 50 years after my dad’s death, we do not have any official
notification about his death from his employers.
"I also feel pained that my
father has been treated very unjustly by the people who arrested him, people
who kept him in prison, who took his things and had not returned those things
even up till now.
"And by those who treated
his immediate family so unjustly by denying us so much while keeping our father
unjustly in prison.
"But I still believe in this
nation. I had the choice of staying elsewhere than coming to live and work in
Nigeria. I spent years in the United States and the United Kingdom training and
schooling.
"I have had the opportunity to lead
international organizations abroad. I’ve been severally offered opportunities
to apply for international jobs. But I am a firm believer in Nigeria.
"And people close to me will
tell you that I am passionate about this country. I am actively involved in
nation building irrespective of what the country did to my father."
When she was asked about the circumstances
surrounding Col. Banjo's death, she said: "I never had the opportunity to
meet one on one with Ojukwu before he died. But from my father’s letters which
he wrote to us from prison and from what my mum told us, Ojukwu was my father’s
friend.
"They were one of the very
few graduates in the Nigerian army at the time, so they were close. I really
don’t know why he decided to kill his friend.
"But from what I gathered
like I said from my dad’s letters and the many things I read about the
incident, my father was a patriot who meant well for this country.
"He also meant well for the Igbo. In
fact, from some of his letters to my mother back then, he spoke out clearly
against the massacre of the Igbo back then.
"His letter of November 14, 1966, which
is on page 128 of the book I published for him, he lamented the killings going
on in the east.
"He said he would not change
the principles he lived for. He said justice and fairness to all should be the
basis on which the country should be based on. He said he cannot fail to
condemn what he described as the vindictive and vengeful killings of
easterners.
"He warned that unless the
killing stops, the bloodshed will be prolonged for a longer time. He warned the
Yoruba of the West not to keep quiet on the killings saying they must not think
that they are temporarily safe.
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ReplyDeleteAm not sure she knows much as bout her father or she's stalking to sell the book she wrote about him.
ReplyDelete