Benjamin Adekunle

Benjamin Adekunle was born in Kaduna on 26 June 1936. His father was a native of Ogbomosho, while his mother was of the Bachama ethnicity. He attended the government college, Okene, where he completed his school certificate examinations. He enlisted in the Nigerian Army in 1958 and was sent to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK, where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1960. He served as a platoon commander in the Congo with the 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Nigeria Regiment during his first UN peacekeeping tour of duty. He later became the Aide-de-Camp to the governor of the eastern region, Sir Akanu Ibiam, in 1962. He also served as a staff captain to the Nigerian Brigade HQ in the Congo under Brigadier B. Babafemi Ogundipe. He attended the Defence Services Staff College in India in 1964 and was briefly appointed as the Adjutant General at the Army Headquarters in 1965. He then returned to his old battalion in Enugu as a company commander. When the Nigerian Civil War broke out in 1967, Adekunle was tasked to lead the 3rd Marine Commando Division, which was responsible for the liberation of the Midwest and the capture of several strategic locations in the south-east, such as Bonny, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Uyo. He was known for his bravery, charisma and unconventional tactics, which earned him the nickname "The Black Scorpion". He was also controversial for his alleged atrocities and indiscipline, which led to his eventual removal from command in 1969. He was replaced by Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo, who later accepted the Biafran surrender in 1970. Adekunle retired from the army in 1974 and became a businessman and a vocal critic of the Nigerian government. He was married twice and had four children. He died of lung cancer in Lagos on 13 September 2014. He was widely regarded as a war hero and a legend by many Nigerians.