According to Oldnaija, On January 21, 1966, Major Ibrahim Babankowa, a Nigerian Army officer, found the decomposing body of Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, along the Lagos-Abeokuta Road. This discovery came during a very troubled time in Nigeria’s history.
Just a few days earlier, on January 15, 1966, a group of young army officers led a violent coup, which was a sudden and illegal takeover of the government. They were unhappy with the way the country was being run and wanted to change the leadership. During the night of the coup, these soldiers kidnapped several high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa.
After the coup, Nigeria was in chaos. People did not know where their leaders were, and there was a lot of fear and confusion. The new military rulers wanted to find the missing Prime Minister to know what had happened to him. They assigned this difficult task to Major Ibrahim Babankowa.
Major Babankowa and his team started searching different places where they thought they might find clues. They looked everywhere, but it was not easy. Days passed without any news. Then, on January 21, during their search along the Lagos-Abeokuta Road, Babankowa came across a disturbing scene. In a secluded, quiet area away from the main road, they found the body of Tafawa Balewa. It was clear that he had been dead for several days because the body was already decomposing, which means it was starting to break down.
This discovery was very sad and shocking for everyone. Balewa had been a respected leader, and his violent death marked a very dark moment for Nigeria. It showed just how deep the country’s problems were and how far some people were willing to go to bring about change.
Finding Balewa’s body brought some answers but also raised many questions about Nigeria’s future. The coup had shown that the country was very unstable, and it set the stage for more conflicts and military takeovers in the years that followed….Fínd Out Móre
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