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Victor Banjo 1957.
Victor Adebukunola Banjo was born on 1st April 1930. Joining the Army, he was sent to Sandhurst and was the ninth Nigerian to attend the Academy as Britain sought to prepare the country for independence. Specialising in Mechanical engineering, he became, upon independence in 1960, the first director of the Nigerian Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.
In January 1966, a military coup led by Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi overthrew the civilian head of state. Banjo was called to his office and accused of plotting to kill the general, a charge he vehemently denied. He was, nevertheless, thrown in jail. During his incarceration until May 1967, he wrote hundreds of letters to his wife, playing the role of husband and father by correspondence. An immensely cultured man, he wrote both in his native tribal language, Yoruba, as well as English and French. However, Ironsi’s reign was short-lived, and he was overthrown and killed in another military coup just six months later.
As a jailed opponent of the late president, Banjo was immediately released but, during the bloodletting that followed, he tried to protect another Yarubu officer from a mob and was, again, imprisoned, accused of plotting against Yakubu Gowon, the new military ruler. Although proclaiming his innocence, Banjo was refused a trial and held in an Eastern Nigerian jail. However, on 30th May 1967, the breakaway state of Biafra was created and its leader, Odumegwu Ojukwu, released Banjo and offered him a senior command.
The Biafran offensive into Mid-Western Nigeria, led by the now Brigadier Banjo, was initially successful, and the strategic city of Benin was captured. Turning south, the Biafrans, many without uniforms and with Banjo commanding from a Peugeot estate car, raced through the country until only 300 kilometres from the capital, Lagos. Britain supported Nigeria with arms and ammunition, seeking to maintain the integrity of the country it had created and to safeguard its substantial oil supplies. However, the Biafrans had scant international support except from France, which
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