GENERAL BENJAMIN ADEKUNLE IS DEAD!!!

NIGERIAN WAR HERO...AND BLACK SCORPION, GENERAL ADEKUNLE IS DEAD.


RIP..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 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.
Nigerian Civil War
Adekunle later assumed command of
the Lagos Garrison as a substantive Lt.
Col. When the Nigerian Civil War
erupted 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.[1] 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
mythologized figure[citation needed] 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".[2]
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.
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:[3]
ADEKUNLE: In the section of the
front that I rule—and that is the
whole south front from Lagos to the
border of Kamerun—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.

• RIP...he struck fear in the opposition during the Civil War in Nigeria.
• A consummate soldier....dey don't come like dis anymore.
• Dis days awa soldiers dey LEG AM when dey see Boko-Haram. (no kidding).
• The SCORPION of the 3rd Marine Commando....BABA!!!