Major-General Aguiyi-Ironsi visiting Ibadan the day before his assassination | July 28th 1966

Film of Major-General J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi, the Nigerian Head of State and the Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces, giving a speech as part of his nationwide tour aimed at consulting traditional leaders over the political situation in the country.

On July 29 1966, was kidnapped from Government House, Ibadan where he had been a guest of Lieutenant-Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, the military governor of the Western Region. The kidnappers, renegade troops of Northern Nigerian origin, later murdered him and his host at a location on the outskirts of Ibadan.

Alongside Fajuyi in the back of a vintage open-top Rolls Royce, he is seen arriving at the Western Region House of Assembly, Ibadan. Fajuyi and Ironsi's aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Sani Bello, are seen in the background as Ironsi gives his speech.

The last reels of the film capture the panic among civilians as news of the rebellion, involving the killings of soldiers of Igbo-origin, began to spread.

Source: Reuters News.

Notes:

"Operation Araba" (2016): http://adeyinkamakinde.blogspot.com/2...

"Lieutenant-Colonel Fajuyi: Death and Legacy" (2019): http://adeyinkamakinde.blogspot.com/2...