You would never think, to read OBJs self-congratulatory MY Command, that it was Adekunle, who he consistently disparages, who recommended him for command of the 3MCDO after all the heavy lifting had been done. Or that OBJ was initially lukewarm to the idea for reasons of personal safety..... Akinrinade suggested that we sent our wives to book appointment with Obasanjo in Ibadan for 10.00hrs the next day. We arrived his doorstep at 0924 hrs, and were ushered in. We told him our mission, and gave him a comprehensive briefing of the war front situation, and why the change of Adekunle was necessary. By that time, we had been speaking for over three hours without food or drink. The man simply listened as we did the talking. And when he spoke, he asked, “How do you know that Uli-Ihiala is the Centre of Gravity of Biafra?” That question put me off completely, and I had to ask Akinrinade if he would like to repeat the explanations. He was at it again until 2pm when Obasanjo then told us that he was an engineer, and that he was not going to the war front!!! I was livid. We had been with this man for four hours without food or water as he offered us none; and in spite of all we said, here was this officer saying he won’t come to the war front! I told Akinrinade that we had to get out of Obasanjo’s house fast; but not before I had given him a dressing down. I reminded him of a similar behaviour he had shown when the Biafrans entered the Midwest, and we asked the Army in Ibadan to blow up the Ore Bridge to further delay the Biafran advance to Lagos. Obasanjo’s corps of engineers was nowhere to be found. But for the courage of one Mr. Akande, a civilian from the Public Works Department, who blew up the bridge with the assistance of his men from the Ministry of Works, even without the supervision of the military; the advancing Biafran troops would have probably marched on to Lagos, though they too were poorly led and lily livered. I was so annoyed that I went on pouring venom on this officer, asking what engineering University he attended anyway; we were out there in the war front carrying our dead and wounded comrades daily, and he just sat there in Ibadan talking of being an engineer – so what!! In anger, I reminded him also that we had engineers like Bayo Onadeko, Oladejobi, Duke who were university graduates, and Capt Olajire at the war front who were building roads, bridges and pontoons to facilitate our advance; and at that point Akinrinade and I stormed out of his house. - See more at: vanguardngr/2013/09/book-serial-adekunle-out-of-3mcdo-obasanjo-takes-over/2/#sthash.tlhyd990.dpuf
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 11:31:11 +0000
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