Punch
Mr Kunle Ademulegun is one of the children of the late Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun, who was killed in the first military coup in 1966. In this interview with PETER DADA, the 65-year-old speaks about the life after the death of his father
When Brigadier Ademulegun died, where were you?
He died in the first military coup of January 15, 1966 in Kaduna. I was in the barracks in Lagos where his children resided.
What do you do for a living?
I was once a freelance journalist and currently, I am into livestock farming.
What was your last encounter with your late father?
When he died, I was just 10 years old then and if I should recall what happened then, there was a military coup, because he was very friendly with the then Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa and Sir Ahmadu Bello, so the junior officers thought he was fraternising with the civilian rulers. There was a misunderstanding in the system on the basis that my father was number three in the army then. The late Aguyi Ironsi, Brigadier Bassey and Brigadier Zakariyah Maimalari were also senior officers then. My father was to succeed the expatriate GOC ( General Officer in Command) in Kaduna 1 Division. So after Aguyi Ironsi came back from Congo, he was promoted to Major General, my father was made to head the Division. As I learnt, when the coup was hatched, my father was penciled in among those to be executed and unfortunately for him, he was in the bedroom with one of his wives. The woman worked in one of the military hospitals. She had a pistol, I think she shot one of the soldiers. So that was how they killed her and my father at the same time.
So how would you describe him?
Bridagier Ademulegun was a detribalised military officer, which Chief Olusegun Obasanjo himself confirmed to me. He was a disciplined soldier when he was alive. He did not care whether you were a Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo or any tribe. If you merited anything, he would do it for you but the unfortunate thing for him was how they killed him.
You said you were 10 years old when your father died, how did you know all the stories about how he was killed?
Before he died, there was this Colonel Olaseinde (retd), he was a Yoruba man. He was the one who sat me down and briefed me on everything that happened. In fact, I wanted to join the Army too, but my mother insisted that I should not go because she knew that I was going there to avenge the death of my father and that time truly that was what I wanted to go into the army for. But my people convinced me to leave everything for God.
How has it been with the family after his death?
After his death, we children were being sponsored by the Nigerian Army all through our education and we are united, we meet and we discuss.
As the nation holds Army Remembrance Day on January 15 of every year to remember the fallen heroes, do you hold such a programme in the family to remember your father?
