Thread by @beegeaglesblog

Quiz: As COAS & later as President, Gen Babangida btween 1984 and 1989 rewarded some of its loyalists with prime military postings.Such background operators never held extraregimental appointments. Name two of such IBB era military backbones at the level of brigade commander ONLY

Answer;

1. Lt Colonel (later Brig Gen) Dantsoho Mohammed

2. Lt Colonel {later Brig Gen) Jimmy Ojokojo

Both of these officers each commanded two of the army's three armoured brigades at various times between 1984 and 1989 i.e Mohammed and Ojokojo each commanded TWO armoured brigades, underlining the huge dose of confidence reposed in them by IBB

if you think about the sheer number of armoured corps officers who had attained the rank of Lt Colonel as of 1989, then you'll know just how special these two background operators were to IBB. Both men are now deceased

The armoured corps was IBB's power base. Fortunately, they were well worth the hpre given their tradition of producing upstanding operational commanders for the NA through the years of military rule. Lt Gen JN Dogonyaro & Brig Gens Olurin, Oyinlola and Khobe come to mind

On 13 Feb 1976,a quartet of armoured corps officers which included Lt Cols IB Babangida, MB Mayaki, Major Chris Ugokwe and Capt Jimmy Ojokojo led the onslaught which ended that day's abortive coup

Though an armoured corps officer, Lt Col MB Mayaki led the infantry charge on the day while his outstanding Biafra returnee coursemate, Major Chris Ugokwe led the armoured offensive. IBB was in overall command while Ojokojo was in the fight

Ojokojo, a Bayelsan and a civil war veteran thus earned the respect of IBB early on

Dantsoho, a very mature officer from Niger State who first joined the army as a boy soldier in the 1950s was already a NCO before IBB was commissioned into the armoured corps. He ultimately earned a commission during the civil war. His experience stood him in good stead