Yoru-Byte: Ogbomosho is a town in oyo state
in the southwest of Nigeria. The town has produced some of the greatest
warriors in Yoruba land. In fact, the largest contingent of the holders of the
coveted, yet dreaded “Aare Ona kakanfo” title, hail from Ogbomosho. Some of
them include Toyeje, Ojo Abunimaku, Ladoke Akintola, Ajala Agbe, omo jalodo.
For those who do not know, the Aare Ona Kakanfo title is the highest warrior
title in Yoruba land, the war generalissimo. It is a title that is similar to
the Samurai title of Japan as it is on record that all holders of the title die
fighting. Even the last multi-millionaire Aare Ona Kakanfo, MKO Abiola died
fighting.
For those who know the bachama tribe in
Adamawa, North eastern Nigeria, they would attest that the bachamas are one of
the fiercest battle warriors in the north. So fierce in war that the fulanis
had to leave them be during the conquest of the north.
It is therefore no surprise that it is from
such warrior backgrounds that the best soldier ever produced in Nigeria comes
from.
The man, Benjamin Adesanya Maja Adekunle,
BAM, popularly called the black scorpion can be said to be the complete
Nigerian. Born of a an Ogbomosho father, a Bachama mother and married to a
Rivers wife, Benjamin Adekunle was one of the few detribalized Nigerians
without any religious bigotry. A fine soldier to the core. Ironically, his
middle name Maja was the antonym of his personality as Maja means DO NOT FIGHT.
But he had to fight a great fight. The Nigeria-Biafra civil war.
BAM was born on the 26th of June 1936, the
fifth in a line of six children born by Amina Theodora to a polygamous husband,
Thomas Adekunle.
Sometimes around 1970, after the end of the
civil war, one journalist described Brig-Gen. Adekunle thus:
“Standing only 5ft 7in tall, weighing under
10 stone, he is a ruthless professional soldier, faultlessly dressed whether in
uniform or in civvies. He eats little, is a chain-smoker, who drinks little and
can get by with four hours' sleep a night. Explosive and impulsive, with a
mercurial temperament, during the war he was nicknamed "the Black
Scorpion”. The wartime stories told about him are legion. Behind the showy
extrovert lies a quick, agile mind of a man of action who can grasp essential
problems and make immediate decisions”.
When the then president Gowon said “To keep
Nigeria one is a task that must be done”, the task would have failed if not for
Benjamin Adekunle. Murtala Muhammed lost over 1,000 soldiers to the resilient
Biafran army and the Biafrans made their way all the way to ore in ondo state
before Benjamin Adekunle stepped in and completely reversed the trend. Benjamin
Adekunle it was, who kept Nigeria one as demanded by his commander-in-chief,
Gowon.
In the words of the forthright Man of God,
Arch Bishop Okogie (first president of Christian Association of Nigeria) – “I
served under Benjamin Adekunle in the Army, He was a very good man with a kind
heart, even at war”.
Benjy retired after the war as a Brigadier
General having spent 16 years in the Nigerian Army, and as usual with Nigeria
for those who serve without stealing, Adekunle who fought for Nigeria with his
life was abandoned by the nation to die suffering and in a bitter state on 13th
September 2014.
No matter what anyone says about Benjy, he
was indeed an African hero. He was the one that ensured that Nigeria remained
as one to celebrate our 54th Independence.
RIP Benjamin Adesanya Maja Adekunle aka
Black Scorpion.
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Till Next week Thursday
