13 Facts About Babafemi Ogundipe

Babafemi Olatunde Ogundipe was the de facto second-in-command and first Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters from January 1966 to August 1966 during Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi's military regime.

Babafemi Ogundipe was Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from September 1966 to August 1970 during General Yakubu Gowon's military regime.

Babafemi Ogundipe was born on 6 September 1924 to Yoruba parents from Ago-Iwoye, in present-day Ogun State in western Nigeria.

Babafemi Ogundipe joined the Royal West African Frontier Force in 1941, serving in Burma between 1942 and 1945.

Babafemi Ogundipe re-enlisted in the West Africa Forces and received a short service commission as a second lieutenant in August 1953.

Babafemi Ogundipe was appointed Captain, with seniority from January 1955, in December 1956.

Babafemi Ogundipe rose to the rank of Brigadier in the Nigerian Army in May 1964.

Babafemi Ogundipe served a number of tours during the Congo Crisis, as part of the Nigerian Army's contingent to the United Nations peace keeping force - ONUC - between 1960 and 1963, including as the Commander ONUC, Kasai and Kbngolo Sector and Commander of the Nigerian Contingent, and as ONUC Chief of Staff.

Babafemi Ogundipe was criticized in some quarters for his refusal to seize the mantle of office of his supreme commander, who had been murdered in the August 1966 coup, and that this aggravated the pogroms that eventually followed.

Babafemi Ogundipe was the most senior military officer after the death of Aguiyi-Ironsi, and the thinking was that he ought to have taken power himself.

Babafemi Ogundipe had no troops, and he was unable to rely on the few individuals available to him, many of whom were northern and were unwilling to take orders from a Christian southerner.

Babafemi Ogundipe understood that the preservation of Nigeria as one country meant that a southern Christian would be unable to hold the country together, and he took himself out of the power equation by accepting Yakubu Gowon as the head of the new military government.

Babafemi Ogundipe died from a heart attack in London on 20 November 1971.