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Farewell, the Field Marshall! Tribute to Chief Ayo Adebanjo
By Chief Chekwas Okorie
The news about the death of the irrepressible champion of true federalism in Nigeria, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, took the public by surprise.
There was no tell-tale hint that the great Nigerian icon was seriously ill, although he died, at the ripe age of 96 years old.
Chief Ayo Adebanjo was a Nigerian statesman and a quintessential nationalist. His kind, who are still alive in Nigeria, can be counted on the fingertips. I have always been enamored by his courage, forthrightness, sincerity, and the power of his convictions. I remember with nostalgia, the epic presidential media chat we had with President Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000 at the Aso Rock presidential villa. Chief Ayo Adebanjo represented the Afenifere on the panel, Dr. Paul Unongo represented the Arewa Consultative Assembly, and l was nominated by the Imeobi to represent the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide. President Olusegun Obasanjo was the host, while Prof Tonnie Osa Iredia anchored the chat.
Top executives of major media organisations were among the audience, including Dr. Eddie Okechukwu Iroh, the Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, and Sen. Ben Bruce. The 2-hour program was extensively promoted by the NTA, which attracted a nationwide audience. It was watched in the manner of a typical World Cup match. That was my first personal encounter with Chief Ayo Adebanjo.
Coincidentally, Chief Adebanjo and I were on the same page on the national issues that came up during the chat. It will be recalled that it was Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu that first promoted the idea of a “Handshake Across The Niger” to encourage Igbo-Yoruba rapprochement. Chief Ayo Adebanjo and other Afenifere leaders keyed into it.
When Chief Solomon Asemota SAN, came up with an expanded version called Nigerian Ethnic Nationalities Forum, it was promptly embraced by the leaders of Igbo, Yoruba, Middlebelt, and South-South. Chief Ayo Adebanjo was a strong pillar of this national initiative to unit all the Ethnic Nationalities in Nigeria in the noble pursuit of true federalism and the self-determination of ethnic nationalities within the context of one Nigeria.
Meetings were held in Lagos most of the time. But in 2004, a historic meeting of the Forum took place at Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s residence, which attracted for the first time in recent history the first-eleven Yoruba leaders to Enugu to meet on matters of National unity.
Yoruba leaders who attended the Enugu meeting included Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Fasoranti, Chief Adefarasin, Chief Ajayi, Senator Femi Okorunmu, and Chief Supo Shonibare. Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu (host), Dr. Offia Nwali and my humble self were also in attendance, including Chief Solomon Asemota and the General Secretary of the Ijaw National Congress who stood in for Prof. Kimse Okoko. Commodore Dan Suleiman rtd, the leader of the Middlebelt Forum, was also in attendance.
Over the years, my respect for Chief Ayo Adebanjo grew to the point that I began to admire him as a role model. This was a man who never held an elective office in Nigeria but remained most prominent and highly respected nationwide for his nationalism, consistency in the pursuit of a restructured Nigeria, equity, justice, and fairness as the panacea for national development and unity.
The Almighty God blessed him with sound mind such that he remained articulate and outspoken till the very end.
The greatest honor we owe Chief Ayo Adebanjo is to sustain the struggle for true federalism, which he fought for until the end and until it is achieved in the interest of present and future generations of Nigerians.
Farewell, the Field Marshall of the struggle for the liberty of Nigerian Ethnic Nationalities.
Chief Dr. Chekwas Okorie, Ojeozi Ndigbo, founder of All Progressives Grand Alliance, wrote in from Enugu
Abdulrahman Bello, must die for the murder, Hafsoh Yetunde Lawal, a final-year student of the Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, the Court of Appeal has insisted, rebuffing the attempt of the self-acclaimed Islamic cleric, to upturn the verdict of an Ilorin High Court.
Affirming the earlier death sentence imposed on cleric for the murder of the female student, said to be his lover, on February 10, 2025, at the Olunlade area of Ilorin, which attracted widespread public outrage across Kwara State and beyond, the appellate court said it found no reason to upturn the earlier verdict of the lower court.
Bello, who was one of the five people arraigned on charges bordering on conspiracy, murder, unlawful removal and possession of human parts and blood, also faced a rape charge, of which he was eventually acquitted by the trial court.
Justice Gabriel Omoniyi Kolawole, who led a three-man panel of the appellate court, while dismissing his appeal, held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that he murdered the victim and was unlawfully in possession of human parts.
The appellate court consequently upheld the judgment of the Kwara State High Court, which sentenced Bello to death by hanging and imposed an additional 10-year jail term over his conviction for unlawful possession of human parts.
The court held that there was no merit in the appeal and consequently affirmed both the conviction and the sentence imposed by the trial court.
According to the appellate court, the trial court properly evaluated the evidence before it and rightly concluded that the prosecution established the offences beyond reasonable doubt.
The appellate court said it believed the position of Ibrahim Sulyman, Kwara State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Issa Zakari, Chief State Counsel, and B.L. Abdulsalam, Assistant Chief State Counsel, who led the prosecution.
Hailing the judgment as another significant milestone in the state’s criminal justice administration, Sulyman, said in a statement: “The judgment underscores the commitment of the Kwara State Ministry of Justice and the judiciary to ensuring that criminal cases are determined strictly in accordance with the law and the evidence presented before the courts.
“It also reaffirms the principle that persons found guilty of grave offences, after a fair trial, will be held accountable under the law. The appellate court’s decision would strengthen public confidence in the justice system.
“The affirmation of the conviction and sentence represents another milestone in the administration of criminal justice and reinforces public confidence in the rule of law and the appellate process. The convict still retains any further rights of appeal available to him under the Constitution and other applicable laws.
Justice Hannah Ajayi of the Kwara State High Court, sitting at Ilorin, hand on July 2025 sentenced Bello to death after finding him guilty of murdering and dismembering Lawal, after describing his act as “the highest degree of human wickedness, and a premeditated and cold-blooded act.”
Dismissing Bello’s claims that he loved the deceased and intended to marry her as merely an afterthought designed to deceive the court, Ajayi, also ruled the convict’s conduct after committing the crime and before his arrest suggested that it might not have been his first involvement in such an act, while a book on money-making charms recovered from his apartment further strengthened the prosecution’s case.
Justice Ajayi further held that the video and written confessional statements obtained by operatives of the Department of State Services and the police were lawfully admitted in evidence, dismissing Bello’s allegation that he was tortured into making the confessions.
While acquitting Bello of the rape charge, the trial court convicted him of murder and unlawful possession of human parts, sentencing him to death by hanging for the murder and imposing a 10-year prison term, with an option of a N100,000 fine, for the human parts offence.
The court also discharged and acquitted the four other defendants in the case — Ahmed Abdulwasiu, Suleiman Muhydeen, Jamiu Uthman and Abdulrahman Jamiu — after holding that the prosecution failed to establish their involvement in the offences.
Reacting to the High Court judgment at the time, the Emir of Ilorin and Chairman of the Kwara State Traditional Rulers Council, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, described the killing as tragic and commended the judiciary for ensuring justice.
“The gruesome murder of Hafsoh Yetunde Lawal was pathetic, unfortunate, regrettable and worrisome,” the monarch said in a statement issued by his Press Secretary, Abdulazeez Arowona.
“The judgment has further brightened the hope and trust of the people in the judiciary and security agencies. May Almighty Allah repose the soul of the late Hafsoh Lawal and comfort her family members.”
The monarch also urged parents and guardians to be vigilant and closely monitor the activities and movements of their children and wards to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.
By the time they discovered that were surrounded, and had no escape route, the terrorists were the ones now begging to be let off, but their pleas were rebuffed due to the determination of the operatives to finish the job once and for all.
This was part of the account of Chinedu Nnebeife, a Major General and the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2 Division, Nigerian Army, who led the rescue operations to free the 44 pupils and teachers, victims of the kidnap incident in Oyo State, last weekend.
Hear him: “We went in with some hunters and local vigilantes, but nothing positive happened that day. By the grace of God, on the 10th of July, we successfully rescued 44 of them. I have always said we will never yield to terrorists’ demands. We will not, and we never will.
“At the last phase of the operation that we had, we were blocking their major logistic. We went to a town called Ashamu to block the place, and it finally put pressure on them, and it was now they were willing to release unconditionally. But we are not giving up on them.
“We said, no, it’s not about releasing. We must see to the end of the terrorists operating in that particular region, and of course, indeed, the whole part of the country, and the glory of God, we have them here.”
Giving some details that led to the successful operation, the GOC described how drones of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), deployed to locate the actual spot the abducted victims were kept, failed because they could not penetrate through the thick canopy of the Old Oyo National Park.
Stating how the failure of aerial surveillance forced troops into a ground assault that claimed the lives of an officer and a soldier, Nnebeife told reporters, on Monday: “Because of the nature of the forest, how thick it is, we had drone teams, we have Nigerian Air Force following up, but in some of those areas, you can’t even see, if you are under that base, you can’t see the rays of sunlight from those places and the Air Force flew, they couldn’t see anything.
“The drone team also flew, we didn’t get anything from those things and that was how we insisted on ground operation. It has to be ground, we have to go deep into the forest, and it’s during one of these operations that we lost the officer and the soldier, that particular day, and some other ones who were wounded. One of them is actually serious because he has a broken arm due to gunshot wound.
“The operation continued and we had to like involve a lot of agents, and I had to take over the whole operation completely from the garrison commander because we had to now bring in troops and forces from different places, providing intelligence, and I had to coordinate all these teams together.”
The ordeal of the victims who spent 56 days in captivity after gunmen stormed three schools in the Ahoro-Esiele, Yawota and Alawusa communities on May 15 and took them away, raised a lot of dust within Nigeria and across the globe.
Speaking further on the ugly situation, the military top brass listed the units that took part in the operation to include the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), the National Counter-Terrorism Unit tactical team, and the Defence Headquarters Special Forces team made up of personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Department of State Services (DSS), National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the National Intelligence Agency (NDA).
Stating how the Nigerian Police also deployed separately from the special forces, alongside a DSS team from Oyo State and an Air Force Tactical Operations Group unit drawn from Kainji with fighter aircraft support, while troops from Operation Savannah Shield in Gwara formed a blocking force on the northern flank of the state, he said the first attempt to reach the victims, carried out with hunters and local vigilantes soon after the abduction, also failed.
Words and acts of consolations, seem quite inadequate so far to assuage the deep sorrow of the family of Kingsley and Mercy Edu, a major victim in the torrential rain that caused havoc within Ikot Awatin community, Calabar municipality, Cross River State and environs at the weekend.
Four children from the family identified as Bright, 18; Godswill, 12; Daniel, 11; and Richard, 10, were reportedly buried alive alongside another identified, simply as Mr. Udo, a tanker driver attached to a fuel depot, in a mudslide that accompanied the rain.
The tragic incident occurred just three days after floodwaters claimed the life of a one-year-old child and destroyed property worth millions of naira along Mayne Avenue by Atu Street in Calabar South Local Government Area.
Attempts to save the victims, were said to have failed, as community youths, working through the night with bare hands and shovels, were too late by the time they finished digging through the rubble, as all five victims were recovered dead.
The mother of the children, popularly known within the community as Mama Uwana, was said to have taken her children to church for evening service, only for them to leave the service for home as the rain worsened, to beat the storm, while their father, a security officer, was away on official duty.
Unaware of the fate awaiting them, the children were said to have changed into dry clothes, and lay down to rest, unaware that the saturated earth above their home was already giving way, only for the soil to give way, trapping them beneath the caved earth.
Wailing uncontrollably, the distraught mother, said to be a waterleaf farmer who lost not just her children but everything she owned, could barely find words for her loss, loudly bewailed her fate.
Hear her: “Everything was buried in the landslide, taking my children and leaving us hopeless and homeless. Why me? Four out of seven are gone in one day. My husband never buys anything for himself because he wants his children to go to school, three boys and a girl, all gone.”
For her husband, his still silence, which contrasted sharply from his wife, betrayed his own deep emotions, as he stood at the scene speechless, while sympathisers and neighbours gathered around in almost futile attempts at consolation.
The four children were buried shortly after their bodies were recovered, while the remains of Mr. Udo were deposited in a morgue, with his family left to grapple with the sudden loss of a breadwinner who had simply been doing his job on a stormy night.
Residents and sympathisers who trooped to the scene were shocked by the scale of the devastation, calling on the Cross River State Government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the Edu family, who in a single night lost four children and the roof over their heads.
Efa Nyong, Director General of the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (CR-SEMA), led other agencies including Disaster Management Unit of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, conducted a three-hour, on-the-spot assessment of the site on Saturday.
The team, which included the Red Cross’s Disaster Management Officer, Agbor Okim, and CR-SEMA’s Head of Relief and Rehabilitation, Preye Obo, walked through the wreckage, spoke with grieving family members, and documented the extent of the destruction.
Nyong described the loss of the children as heartbreaking and conveyed the sympathy of the state government to the bereaved families, assuring residents that the government would work with relevant stakeholders to provide support.
Explaining that the assessment was designed to guide the government’s response, from immediate humanitarian intervention to longer-term measures aimed at reducing the risk of future disasters, he urged residents in landslide and erosion-prone communities to remain vigilant, to promptly report signs of soil movement or land cracks, and to cooperate with authorities when evacuation becomes necessary.
Bassey Patrick, who spoke on behalf of the deceased family, thanked the assessment team for responding promptly despite the difficult circumstances and called for more emergency assistance for survivors who, in his words, had lost loved ones and struggling to cope with the aftermath of the disaster.
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