22/11/2025
This is the late Lt. Colonel Victor Banjo. After the January 15, 1966 coup, he and Lt. Colonel Gowon saved the life of Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, the Deputy Premier of the Western Region, who Captain Nwobosi had arrested.
He was arrested by Major General Johnson Ironsi, accused of attempting to kill him. Banjo was jailed in Enugu.
After Biafra was declared on May 30, 1967, he was released by Lt. Colonel Ojukwu and ordered to invade Nigeria.
Lt. Colonel Banjo captured Benin City in less than a day and advanced within 300 kilometres of Lagos before federal troops defeated him in one of the bloodiest military battles in Nigeria's history at Ore.
That is the origin of the proverb 'Oleku Ija Ore'.
When he returned to Biafra defeated, Ojukwu accused him of treason, specifically that he plotted to overthrow Ojukwu as Head of State, and he was tried within hours and then executed by firing squad on 22 September 1967. After which, there was wild jubilation in Biafra, especially in Enugu, which was later recaptured from Biafra by federal troops on October 4, 1967.
His wife was rendered a widow and his four children were left fatherless.
The point of this historical account is to show Nigerians that in the past, people, like Isaac Boro, and Victor Banjo, who did less than Nnamdi Kanu was accused of, and who were not given a fair trial, were sentenced to death for treason.
Boro was fortunate. Before his sentence was carried out, Ironsi was overthrown.
This is not the first time a person has been convicted of treason in Nigeria, and Peter Obi is wrong to state that the trial and sentencing of Nnamdi Kanu by a court of competent jurisdiction is unjust.
Reno Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. . Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year, 2022. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.About Person in Africa, 2024.
