They went to appeal directly to Nigeria’s Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, seeking clemency for their friend and colleague, Mamman Vatsa, a Major-General in the Nigerian Army.
Vatsa, who was also a poet and a long-time associate of Babangida, had been accused of involvement in a coup plot against the military government. Despite the intervention of the three writers — representing the moral voice of Nigeria’s intellectual community — the appeal was unsuccessful.

Major-General Mamman Vatsa was executed later that same day, marking one of the most controversial episodes of Nigeria’s military era. The event highlighted the limits of intellectual influence under military rule and remains a powerful symbol of the tension between power, friendship, and conscience in Nigeria’s history.

Source: History Ville

After his tor*ture and exe*cut*ion by soldiers led by Major Theophilus Danjuma, Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, Nigeria’s first military Head of State, was buried in a shallow grave by his executors, who abandoned his remains in an unmarked grave.

With the whereabouts of the Head of State unknown, the Military Governor of the Eastern Region, Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, called on the most senior surviving officer, General Babafemi Ogundipe, to assume control and stabilize the situation. However, General Ogundipe fled the country. Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon was declared Head of State.

Ojukwu, refused to recognize Gowon’s authority or attend any meeting with him until the fate of General Aguiyi-Ironsi was formally clarified.

Eventually, Gowon confirmed that Aguiyi-Ironsi had been murd*er*ed. Following this confirmation, his remains were exhumed from the shallow grave and reburied in a cemetery in Ibadan, marking his second burial.

Lieutenant Colonel Ojukwu rejected this burial as humiliating and unacceptable. He insisted that, as a former Head of State and a Major General of the Nigerian Army, Aguiyi-Ironsi deserved a full state burial with military honours, and that, as an Igbo man, he should be laid to rest among his ancestors. The Federal Government refused this demand, but Ojukwu insisted on it.

This impasse formed part of the tensions preceding the Aburi meeting in Ghana between Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon and Lieutenant Colonel Ojukwu. Following the meeting, the remains of General Aguiyi-Ironsi were released to Ojukwu in his capacity as Military Governor of the Eastern Region.

Consequently, on 27 January 1967, General Aguiyi-Ironsi was accorded a dignified state funeral with full military honours in his hometown of Ibeku-Umuahia, where he was laid to rest for the third and final time.

Brigadier Babafemi Olatunde Ogundipe occupies a pivotal yet often overlooked place in Nigeria’s military and political history. Hailing from Ago-Iwoye in present-day Ogun State, Ogundipe was Nigeria’s first Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, a position that placed him at the heart of the country’s command structure during a turbulent era.

Early Military Career and Global Service

Ogundipe’s military career predated Nigeria’s independence and reflected the global reach of colonial-era soldiering. During the Second World War, he served with distinction in Burma and India, theatres that demanded discipline, adaptability, and courage. After the war, his experience was further broadened through international service as a United Nations peacekeeper in the Congo, where Nigerian troops played a stabilising role during one of Africa’s most volatile post-colonial crises.
These assignments marked Ogundipe as a seasoned professional soldier with exposure to multinational command environments—experience that would later prove crucial at home.

The Crisis of July 1966

Nigeria’s political fault lines widened dramatically after the July 29, 1966 counter-coup, which claimed the lives of Head of State Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and Western Region military governor Adekunle Fajuyi. In the immediate aftermath, Brigadier Ogundipe—by seniority—was constitutionally positioned to assume national leadership.
However, the reality on ground was stark. Ogundipe had no loyal troops directly under his command. Determined to restore order, he hastily organised a detachment led by Captain Ephraim Opara. The unit was ambushed around Ikeja, further weakening his authority. Attempts to assert command were openly rebuffed, even by lower-ranking soldiers—an extraordinary breach of military discipline that underscored the depth of the crisis.

Marginalisation and Exit

As events unfolded, it became clear that the political winds favoured a northern officer as Head of State. With Yoruba officers sidelined and command authority fractured, Ogundipe faced a bleak choice. Rather than preside over further bloodshed or serve as a figurehead without control, he left Nigeria, relocating to the United Kingdom.
Ironically, his junior in rank, Yakubu Gowon, soon emerged as Head of State. In a gesture that acknowledged Ogundipe’s seniority and service, Gowon appointed him Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom—a diplomatic role that kept him connected to national service, albeit away from the barracks.

Death and Legacy

Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe died in London in November 1971. Over time, public memory has often reduced his story to what he did not become, rather than what he was: a pioneering Chief of Staff, a veteran of global conflicts, and a soldier who attempted—under near-impossible circumstances—to uphold order during one of Nigeria’s darkest hours.

Today, his contributions in India, Burma, the Congo, and Nigeria’s formative military years deserve renewed recognition. Far from weakness, Ogundipe’s restraint and decisions reflected a sober assessment of reality at a moment when reckless ambition could have plunged the nation deeper into chaos.

Source:

Nigeria: Guide to the National Military Government, 1966 (photo and historical reference)