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History records that amongst the greatest heroes and most selfless men that Nigeria ever had was a young Yoruba non-commissioned officer by the name of Sergeant Daramola Oyegoke. On the morning of January 15th 1966 during the course of the first military coup in our nation's history, this young officer refused to shoot the Saurdana of Sokoto and Premier of the old Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, when he was ordered to do so by his commanding officer Major Chukwuemeka Kaduna Nzeogwu. For refusing to follow his orders Oyegoke was instantly shot in the head and murdered by Nzeogwu himself after which he shot and killed Sardauna, his traditional bodyguard Zurumi and his young and dear wife Hafsatu. Please stop for a moment and let this sink in: I repeat, Nzeogwu shot all FOUR of these innocent souls HIMSELF! He actually pulled the trigger on them all. Worse of all is the fact that after he killed all four of them Nzeogwu boasted about it to the BBC and took a picture of his booted foot triumphantly over Sardauna's dead body and on top of his head which was later published by Drum magazine. This was a cruel, callous and insensitive thing to do and it inflammed the passions and anger of the people of the North and led directly to the horrific and deplorable pogroms of the Igbo that took place six months later after the Northern officers 'revenge coup' on July 29th 1966 in which 30,000 Igbo civilians were killed. The pogroms then led to the civil war. Sergeant Oyegoke's single act of humanity and his refusal to shoot and kill an innocent and defenceless man regrdless of the fact that it would cost him his life was utterly remarkable. Amongst all the callousness, carnage and butchery of those terrible months and years only one thing stood out as a shining example of decency and humanity and that was Oyegoke's restraint, compassion and profound sense of honor. We shall never forget him. (FFK)
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