Ademulegun: 60 Years Search for Disclosure for an Unsung Hero

Sixty years after the murder of the Commander of 1st Brigade, Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun, and his pregnant wife, Latifat, the family is unrelenting in their demand for the circumstances surrounding his death and final resting place, Wale Igbintade writes.

Commander of 1st Brigade, Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun, was murdered in cold blood on January 15, 1966, defending his beloved country, Nigeria. Some of the circumstances surrounding his untimely death has been documented by historians and other writers.

What has not been adequately captured however is the fact that 60 long years after this distinguished Nigerian Army one-star General, alongside his eight month pregnant wife, Latifat Feyisitan Ademulegun, were killed by the coup plotters in his bedroom, his surviving children are yet to be told where the remains of their brave father, their beloved mother and their unborn sibling, were buried. 

For the three surviving children, Gbenga, Solape and Adegoke, especially the two youngest ones, who were in the same room with their parents that bloody night, and who, as six and four years old children respectively, witnessed the brutal killing of their loved parents, it has been 60 years of deep agony as they desperately seek to, at least, know where their parents’ graves are.

The Ademulegun family’s search for the burial site of their loved ones did not start today. In fact, it has been a frustrating search that has lasted for 60 years of agony and disappointment.

Commenting on their pains and frustration over the years, and confirming their resolve never to stop remembering their beloved parents now and in the future, one of the surviving children, Solape, who witnessed their killings said: “You know that my parents, “Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun and his wife, Mrs Latifat Feyisitan Ademulegun, were both killed in the January 15th 1966 coup in Kaduna. For 60 years now, we have sought answers to many questions from those in authority. The most saddening being the fact that we do not know where they, our parents, were buried.

“The years have since gone by and three, out of our father’s six children, have passed away. So, there are just three of us left. To this end, we want to honour our parents; we want to celebrate their gallant and heroic lives. Even when there’s still no disclosure and our hearts still bleed”.

The Night of Blood

Brigadier Ademulegun was murdered in his bedroom at his well guarded official residence at No 1, Kashim Ibrahim Road, Kaduna, on January 15, 1966, at about 2.05am, by a team of Nigerian soldiers from Nigerian Army’s Division, Kaduna, which he commanded then, and led by a young officer, Major Timothy Onwuatuegwu, who he knew and called by his first name. It all looked like a bizarre tragic drama in the genre of the absurd.

Time was 2.05 am and Brigadier Ademulegun in his bedroom attires and his eight months pregnant wife, Latifat, had retired to their bedroom. With them in the room then, were two of their six children, Solape, 6, and Adegoke, 4. In another room within the house was Bankole, 13.

Early morning harmattan breeze must have become cold enough to conquer the usual Kaduna burning heat in this time of the year. It was in this relaxed setting that heavily armed soldiers from Brigadier Ademulegun’s own command, invaded his well guarded house in Kaduna.

As we all know, Brigadier Ademulegun was a first class Nigerian soldier and the second most senior military officer after Major General Aguiyi Ironsi. His Army number was N3, being the third commissioned officer in Nigeria, after Bassey and Ironsi.

As an officer of that stature, Brigadier Ademulegun, according to reports, was “the most protected personality in the whole of Northern Nigeria then.

“He was even more protected than the Premier and Governor of the Northern Region then. His guards, drawn from the 3rd Infantry Battalion, guarded not only the inside and outside of his compound but also his main house,” the reports said.

So the idea of invading his house and murdering him in his bedroom sounded rather absurd if not impossible. But during that night of blood, the invading armed soldiers easily took over the heavily guarded house and six of the soldiers gained access to Brigadier Ademulegun’s personal bedroom unchallenged by any of his numerous personal guards.

He was taken unawares and at the odd hour, when he had retired with his family.

Also, it had become apparent that the guards had been compromised and according to reports, led Major Onwuatuegwu and his hit team straight into the Brigadier’s bedroom where he was just in his singlet and short.

So, when the six armed soldiers entered the bedroom and puzzled Brigadier Ademulegun saw their leader, Major Onwuatuegwu, and his men, pointing submachine guns at him in the presence of his family members, he knew it was time for the final battle. But it was a battle he was not given time enough to prepare for, and worst of all, he had to fight the disadvantaged battle in the presence of his beloved family.

Perhaps to gain some time, he said: “Timothy, how did you get in here and what the devil do you think you are doing?”

It was a double-barrelled question that shows both disappointment and firm understanding of the fact that his attackers were insiders, people he knew very well.

Brigadier Ademulegun’s disappointment, expressed in that last phrase, also draws from the realization that even his most intimate family guards, reportedly commanded by Lance Corporal Lawrence Akuma and three sappers of the Nigerian Army Engineers, are evidently part of the grand conspiracy. To analysts, that explains why the armed soldiers gained unchallenged access to the bedroom of the Brigadier in his most vulnerable hour.

This possible realization notwithstanding, Ademulegun, a brave soldier, refused to yield to the demands of his attackers like a coward.

Major Onwuatuegwu had answered the Brigadier’s question, as to how they gained access and why they invaded his privacy? He had said simply: “Get dressed and come with us sir. Those are my instructions; to bring you to the headquarters.”

Of course, Brigadier Ademulegun, was not fooled by this response. He knew that a bloody war has been brought against him, right inside his bedroom. He knew also that an insurrection was ongoing and so the battle could be that of life and death.

Major Onwuatuegwu’s explanation for the invasion made no sense to him. So also the claim that the invading soldiers were under an instruction to bring him to the Army headquarters. Ademulegun probably considered that report as nonsense because, as the commander of that headquarters since 1964, he was the only one who could give such an order and he certainly did not give such an order against himself. So, he resolved to fight, though clearly disadvantaged.

Accounts, including eyewitness reports of his daughter, vividly captures the horrible drama of sacrifice, bravery and blood.

Part of the accounts read: “But all the while, his wife, Latifah, eight months pregnant, planted herself fearlessly between her husband and the pointed guns.

“In the top bedside drawer was a service pistol. As a Brigadier, Ademulegun knew a pistol was no contest for six soldiers armed with submachine guns. But he would rather fight and die gallantly than degrade the honour of his office by surrendering to subordinates. As he made a quick dash for the drawer, Onwuatuegwu and his men opened fire on the Brigadier, his wife and the unborn child.”

After the killings, the soldiers strolled out unchallenged by the guards to the home of Colonel Ralph Shodeinde, the Deputy Commandant of Nigerian Defence Academy, whom Ademulegun usually hand over the Brigade to when he was not around. He was also killed in cold blood and his wife shot in the hands and legs,” the report said.

Need to Honour the Fallen Hero

It is 60 cold years since Brigadier Ademulegun was murdered during the first coup d’etat in Nigeria. His family’s desire today is that any tangible honour for their late father must begin by disclosing the site where his body and that of his eight months pregnant wife were buried.

As Pa Josiah Oladele, an elder and community leader in Ondo State said: “Though there is a cenotaph erected for him here in Ondo, we all know he was never buried there. So, I agree with his children that the least Nigerian authorities should do now to truly honour that courageous military General that served the country with so much passion, is to disclose to his children where he was buried so that we can give him proper burial,” Pa Oladele said.

Comrade Adesina Ahmed, a human rights advocate, in his reaction also said: “The story of Nigerian Government’s treatment of the burial details of the remains of the late Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun is sad, to say the least.

“It is a classical example of Nigerian authority’s insensitivity. Why would Nigerian Government or even the Military who he served so diligently, refuse to or fail to disclose where the remains of Brigadier Ademulegun was buried? Why? Is it that no one knows or that the government and the military are hiding something?

“Is it not enough that the military failed it’s N3 and his family, as it betrayed him when it mattered most, Oladele asked, stating, “it is most unfair to also deny him a befitting burial.”

He added: “Even the true burial sites of convicted coup plotters in Nigeria are known. Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun was not a coup plotter. He was instead, a brutal victim of the 1966 coup plot.

“It is therefore surprising why various governments in Nigeria have refused to comfort the family of Brigadier Ademulegun over the years,” he concluded, pleading that President Bola Tinubu should use his good offices to grant the children of the late Brigadier Ademulegun, their request.

According to Pa Oladele, Nigerian Government and its military should not only disclose the burial site of the late Brigadier Ademulegun but should also give him the national honour he deserves.”

Many other Nigerians who spoke about the desires of the Ademuleguns said “this and only this will grant peace to the soul of the murdered General and help appease his children and family.

Oladele, for example, said: “Now, by 15th day of 2026, it would be 60 years since he and his pregnant wife were murdered by Nigerian soldiers in the presence of his little children.

“He died, resisting insurrection in his fatherland. Anyone can imagine the pains the family of this national hero must have suffered in the last 60 years, as they search for the burial site(s) of their beloved parents.”