An active player in the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), Brigadier-Gen Benjamin Adekunle (retd.), is dead. The war veteran, better known as Black Scorpion, died today at the age of 78 in Lagos, according to his wife, Folake.
Adekunle, who was compulsorily retried from the Nigerian Army in 1974, was the first to lead the 3rd Marine Commando,that eventually spearheaded the end of the three-year war in January 1970.
Olusegun Obasanjo succeeded Adekunle, who was most conspicuous and controversial figure during the war, in the 3rd Marine Commando .
The Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has commiserated with his family, friends and associates describing the passing away of the civil war hero as a monumental loss to the country.
The governor in a statement issued in Ibadan today by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo said that he was extremely saddened by the news of the death of Adekunle.
“Although he had for some time now been facing some health challenges, his death at this material time when the country is passing through difficult times, in terms of security and national cohesion, is tragic and shocking.”
The governor described the late general as a fine officer-gentleman, a nationalist and patriotic Nigerian who exploited his military expertise to rescue Nigeria from the brink of precipice and ensured that the country remained one indivisible entity.
“Gen. Adekunle served the Nigerian Army with all his might and he was equally celebrated but never compromised on the need to end the agonizing civil war and bring peace back to the country.
“Since death is an inevitable end for all mortals, the late Gen. Adekunle should, therefore, be celebrated for his nationalistic posturing rather than being mourned. That Nigeria still remains one today is a pointer to the fact that Black Scorpion lived a fulfilled life.”
Early years and background
The late Adekunle was born in Kaduna. His father was a native of Ogbomosho, while his mother was a member of the Bachama tribe. He underwent secondary education at the government college, Okene (in present day Kogi State). He enlisted in the Nigerian Army in 1958 shortly after completing his school certificate examinations.
He passed the army selection examinations and thereafter was despatched to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom (UK), the British Army’s initial officer entry academy. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on December 15, 1960. As a platoon commander, he served in Kasai Province of Congo with the 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own Nigeria Regiment during his first ONUC UN peace keeping tour of duty.
In 1962, Lt. Adekunle became Aide-de-Camp to the governor of the eastern region, Sir Akanu Ibiam. The following year, as a Captain, he was posted back to the Congo as Staff Captain (A) to the Nigerian Brigade HQ at Luluabourg – under Brigadier B. Ogundipe. In 1964, Major Adekunle attended the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington, in India.
When he returned he was briefly appointed Adjutant General at the Army Headquarters in May 1965 to replace Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, who was proceeding on a course outside the country. However, he later handed over the position to Lt. Col. James Pam and was posted back to his old Battalion (1st Bn) in Enugu as a Company Commander.
The Nigerian Civil War
Adekunle later assumed command of the Lagos Garrison as a substantive Lt. Col. When the Nigerian Civil War began in July 1967, Adekunle was tasked to lead elements which included two new battalions (7th and 8th) – to conduct the historic sea borne assault on Bonny in the Bight of Benin on 26 July 1968 (carried out by Major Isaac Adaka Boro’s unit).
This happened after the Federal Government gained confidence of most south western ethnic groups as a direct result of Biafran push to mid-west state and probe into Western region. Adekunle was promoted to Colonel after the Bonny landing.
The 6th (under Major Jalo) and 8th (under Major Ochefu) battalions of the Lagos Garrison subsequently took part in operations to liberate the Midwest following the Biafran invasion of August 1967. The 7th (under Major Abubakar) stayed behind to hold Bonny. Because Major Jalo’s Unit was seconded to Lt. Col. Murtala Mohammed’s 2nd Division, Adekunle was left with only the 8th Battalion at Escravos.
He, therefore, protested to Army HQ and got the Lagos garrison upgraded to Brigade status through the creation of the 31 and 32 Battalions (under Majors Aliyu and Hamman, respectively). This formation, combined with elements of the Lagos garrison along the eastern seaboard, was officially designated the 3 Infantry Division.
However, Colonel Adekunle did not think the name “3 Infantry Division” was sensational enough nor did it project the nature of the unique terrain in which his men had to fight. Therefore, without formal approval from Army HQ, he renamed it the “3 Marine Commando (3MCDO).”
The “Black Scorpion” as he came to be known, was easily the most controversial, celebrated and mythologised figure in the war of attrition that laid the foundations for Nigeria’s contemporary crisis; and threw a wedge into the national fabric. Benjamin “Adekunle’s boys in the Midwest seized Escravos, Burutu, Urhonigbe, Owa and Aladima. They captured Bomadi and Patani, Youngtown, Koko, Sapele, Ajagbodudu, Warri, Ughelli, Orerokpe, Umutu and Itagba.”
Role after the civil war
Benjamin Adekunle was promoted to Brigadier in 1972. After the war Adekunle was put in charge of decongesting the Lagos port that was having a chronic problem of clearing imported goods. He held this position until being compulsorily retired on August 20, 1974.
He attributed his problems during and after the war to his rivals in the army. In various interviews, he said there was always a rumor of coup linked to him until the army authority felt the concern to do something about it. He had large followings in both the army and public at large and was the most popular military commander during the war, apart from Obasanjo, who succeeded him and brought the war to an end with the same 3MC.
Adekunle led the Third Marine Commando Division with such great panache and determination that the foreign media, in looking for a human angle on the Biafran war, found him a ready source of news.
War time interview
Adekunle was a key champion of the food blockade to Biafra. In a wartime interview he had with Randolph Baumann of Stern Magazine in Igweocha (published on August 18, 1968), he stated:
ADEKUNLE: In the section of the front that I rule and that is the whole south front from Lagos to the border of Kameru, I do not want to see the Red Cross, Caritas Aid, World Church delegation, Pope, Missionary, or UN delegation.
STERN: Does that mean that the many thousands of tons of food that are stored in Lagos will never get to the refugee camps in your section of the country?
ADEKUNLE: You are a sharp one, my friend. That’s exactly what I am saying.
STERN: But you said yourself that most of the refugees in the part you captured are not Ibos.
ADEKUNLE: But there could be Ibos among them. I want to avoid feeding a single Ibo as long as this whole people have not given up yet.
STERN: Do you sometimes feel sympathy for the Ibos?
ADEKUNLE: I have learned a word from the British, which is “sorry!”That’s how I want to respond to your question. I did not want this war but I want to win this war. Therefore I have to kill the Ibos. Sorry! The End.
Gen. Adekunle’s son wrote an account of his father’s military career in a biography titled The Nigeria-Biafra Letters: A Soldier’s Story.
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