Benjamin Adekunle, the Butcher who vowed to Kill all Igbos

Benjamin Adekunle, the Butcher who vowed to Kill all Igbos

Benjamin Adekunle was born in Kaduna, Nigeria, on June 26, 1936, into a devoted Christian family. His father Thomas Adekunle, was from Ogbomoso in present-day Oyo State, and his mother, Amina Theodora, was from the Bachama tribe in Adamawa State in Northern Nigeria.

Adekunle having lived in several parts of the country could communicate in the three major Nigerian languages: As a Yoruba man, he was fluent in Yoruba. As a Kaduna brought up, he was also fluent in Hausa. In 1962, as Second Lt, he became Aide-de-Camp to the governor of the eastern region, Sir Akanu Ibiam which also gave him opportunity to be fluent in Igbo.

During the war, he was saddled with the leadership of the Nigerian Army’s Third Infantry Division which he unilaterally renamed 3rd Marine Commando Division (3MCDO) without permission from his superiors. His was charged to recapture the riverine and creek
Areas that comprises Mid-Western and Rivers state from the Biafran troops. It was during the operation that he displayed his beastly nature. He was among the forefront of people that made systematic attempts to ex**terminate easterners, including women and children.

His troops deliberately targeted Biafran civilians during the war. His troop also participated in Asaba Ma**ssacre and atrocities that followed. According to Ogunkeye “soldiers kidnapped young women for a week before returning them to their parents. After the incident, a man could not recognise his daughter any longer, his daughter was a different girl…. she couldnot talk to anyone, she was weeping,, and getting married was impossible because rapping is a taboo in our culture”

When his troops took over Calabar in 1968, the 3MCDOed by Benjamin Adekunle, was accused of killing one to two thousand Igbos, majority of whom were civilians. According to the Times of London, “the Nigerian forces opened f*ire and murdered fourteen nurses and patients in the wards”

When the atrocities of troops were presented to him by a Dutch journalist in 1968, to prove that he authorised the indiscriminate killing, he made the following comments to the journalist;

“I would rather not see the Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no Pope, no missionaries, or a United Nation representative. I need to forestall even Ibo having even one piece to eat before their capitulation. We take shots at all that moves and when our soldiers walk into the centre of the Ibo territory, we shot at all that in any event, even including non-moving objects.”

He became known as the heartless “hunting dog of Nigeria Federal Government”. His command was later handed over to Olusegun Obasanjo. After the war, Benjamin Adekunle was elevated to Brigadier-General in 1972. His name came up in UK during the trial of Iyabo Olorunkoya for global h*emp trafficking which led to his suspension and compulsory retirement from the Nigerian armed forces on August 20, 1974.

Benjamin Adekunle died on September 13, 2014 without fulfilling his dream of killing all Igbos.