What Ironsi Told Bamigboye

 By Emeka Obasi

General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi was firm when he ordered Captain David Laisi Bamigboye to stick to Beatrice Chinyere Asagwara forever, after their wedding at St. George’s Garrison Church, Point Road Apapa on Saturday February 6, 1965.

*Ironsi

Ironsi who was the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Nigeria Army, chaired the wedding reception which held at Headquarters, Nigeria Army Officers Mess, Child Avenue, Apapa. Among officers present were Bamigboye’s Nigeria Army Training College (NMTC) Course One mates, Alani Julius Akinrinade, who served as Bestman and Ignatius Ngwu Obeya who coordinated the wedding.

Ironsi’s order came through a letter, on March 10 1965. The GOC wrote: “My dear David, I thank you and Betty very much for the very nice photographs you have so kindly sent to me. It was a pleasure to be asked to be chairman at your wedding. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.”

In an emphatic advice, Ironsi’s concluding words were: “Again thank you very much and I wish you a connubial bliss and may you never do it again.” And as a truly obedient officer, Bamigboye did not fail his boss. He died in 2018. Chief (Mrs) Beatrice Chinyere Aduke Bamigboye departed on Sunday June 8, 2025. She will be buried on August 1, after funeral service at St. Paul’s Cathedral (Anglican Communion), Omu–Aran. Both got married in Lagos and also died in Lagos.

That love for the Igbo by the Bamigboyes is communicable. Theophilus Oladapo Bamigboye, joined the Army, like his brother and two  brothers-in-law, Major Boniface Asagwara and Lt Col Lawrence Asagwara. The younger Bamigboye was also a military governor but served in two states, Bauchi and Osun, respectively.

As a Captain, the younger Bamigboye was posted to 32 Field Artillery Brigade, Obinze near Owerri. His brother’s wife hailed from Uzoagba, near Owerri. One source told me that the subaltern so loved Owerri and Imo State that “when promotion and posting came, he was reluctant to go and even when movement was inevitable, the family stayed back for a long while. It must have been the Uzoagba connection.”

Someone informed me that the woman who bore the Bamigboyes, remained a Muslim until she passed on. She was fondly called Alhaja. I guess, the man who succeeded governor Bamigboye in Kwara, Ibrahim Taiwo, a Muslim from Ogbomosho, had a Christian father.

The last time I wrote about the Bamigboyes, there was an error. Instead of Femi as the first son, the Printer’s devil could have been at work. Kola the fourth and last son was referred to as the first.

Kola and I were in trouble. Many thoughts occupied my mind.  I tinkered with the idea of borrowing a Gulfstream jet from Canaan Land to Igbomina to plead with  the Olomu of Omu-Aran, Oba Abdul Raheem Oladele Adeoti Akolade Agboluaje.

At least, Kabiyesi could pacify Femi, on my behalf. A friend said I should appease the spirit of Prince Olomu Aperan, the Ile Ife born Founder of Omu Aran. And I was actually planning to do that at Orugbo Festival when I remembered that one Prince Olomu played for Enyimba in the past.

It then occurred to me that Ironsi was foresighted. If the Bamigboye family was polygamous, Femi would never forgive that error. Now we can deal with it truly as a mistake. The devil is a liar. And I have handed Lucifer over to a worthy Omu-Aran son, Bishop David Oyedepo. Two prominent Davids from that town, Bamigboye and Oyedepo.

Bamigboye loved sports, this I got to know through Kayode Abdulwahab-Omotose, one of the youngest Alhajis in 1973. After primary education, he represented Kwara State in the Junior football event of the Lagos 1973 First National Sports Festival.

The Sports Council could not secure his size 4 boots in Ilorin. This caused the wife of Chief Moses Olanrewaju, first Republic politician and Minister, an Omu Aran heavyweight, to buy canvas for the boy

However, team coach, Usman Adenuga insisted that he had to wear cleats which would be bought in Lagos. When eventually they arrived, the second half of the match with Mid-Western State was underway. Young Alhaji had played the first stanza, wearing nothing. The second saw him in boots.

“After we got back home, Gov. Bamigboye was so impressed that he directed the Sports Council to give me all my kits as Memento,” Kayode said.

In the present Fourth Republic, Col. Theophilus Bamigboye had eyes on Government House, Ilorin. It did not work out. In 2009, Dr. Bukola Saraki, as governor of Kwara State, chose Femi as one of his Special Aides.

None of the Bamigboye children knew Ironsi who became Head of State, eleven months after that Apapa, Lagos matrimony. He was killed in Ibadan, on July 29, 1966.

Bamigboye worked with Ironsi as a United Nations Peace Keeper in the Congo. The huge man was the First African to command UN troops.

Ironsi’s wife was Victoria. Bamigboye named one of his sons, Victor. The general would be proud to see the couple together in the land of the dead. They remained together until death separated them. Now they will unite again.

One more thing. The Kwara State government must  have a role to play in the burial of the First First Lady of the State. Her husband was not honoured by the government in death. This is time to correct that.

*Obasi is a commentator on public issues