Babafemi Ogundipe

Babafemi Ogundipe
General; Babafemi Ogundipe
Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
	In office; 1966–1970
Head of State	Yakubu Gowon
1st Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters
	In office; January 16, 1966 – July 29, 1966
Head of State	Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Joseph Edet Akinwale Wey
Personal details
Born	September 6, 1924; Ago-Iwoye, Western Region, British Nigeria; (now Ago-Iwoye, Ogun, Nigeria)
Died	November 20, 1971 (aged 47); London, United Kingdom
Nationality	Nigerian
Political party	None (military)
Military service
Allegiance	British Empire; Nigeria
Branch/service	Nigerian Army
Years of service	1942 – 1966
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles/wars	World War II; • Burma campaign; Congo Crisis

General Babafemi Ogundipe (6 September 1924 – 20 November 1971) was the de facto second-in-command and first Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters from January 1966 to August 1966 during General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi's military regime. And later Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from September 1966 to August 1970 during General Yakubu Gowon's military regime.

Early life

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

Military career

He joined the Royal West African Frontier Force in 1941, serving in Burma between 1942 and 1945. He re-enlisted in the West Africa Forces and received a short service commission as a second lieutenant in August 1953[1]. In December 1956, he was commissioned into the regular army as a lieutenant, with seniority from January 21 1952[2]. He was appointed Captain, with seniority from January 1955, in December 1956[3]. On October 1 1960, along with the majority of Nigerian officers in the Royal Nigerian Military Forces, he relinquished his commission upon being appointed to a commission in the Royal Nigeria Army[4]. He rose to the rank of Brigadier in the Nigerian Army (which had ceased to be known as the Royal Nigerian Army upon Nigeria becoming a republic on October 1 1963) in May 1964.

He 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. At the end of his service in the Congo, he returned to Nigeria as the commander of the second brigade of the Nigerian Army in Lagos, where he remained until September 1964, when he left to attend the Imperial Defence College (now the Royal College of Defence Studies) in London. At the end of his course at the IDC, he remained in London as the Military Attaché at the Nigerian High Commission, where he was posted at the time of the January coup d'état in Nigeria.[5]

Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters

Following the coup, he returned to Nigeria, to serve as the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Nigerian Defence Forces (de facto Vice President) between January 1966 and August 1966. After the bloody coup which overthrew Aguiyi-Ironsi, he left the country for the United Kingdom.[6] He 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. He was the most senior military officer after the death of Aguiyi-Ironsi, and the thinking was that he ought to have taken power himself.[7]

The fact is that this was not a viable thing for him to have done. He 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. Furthermore, he was basically a soldier and had no personal political ambitions. He 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 (several years his junior) as the head of the new military government.[8]

High Commissioner in London

Following an agreement with the new military government led by General Yakubu Gowon, he left the country for the United Kingdom, where he attended the 1966 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting as Nigeria's representative in September.

Thereafter he took up appointment in London as Nigeria's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, a post he held for four years where he played an instrumental role in securing British materiel support for the Nigerian Civil War.[9] He left public service in August 1970.

Death

He died in London on November 20 1971.

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