Pictured from left to right are Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, and General Aguiyi Ironsi at a party he threw in Lagos. Little did they realize, however, that the coup of January 15, 1966, was still going on.
This photo was taken in 1966, and hours later, he and Okotie-Eboh were assassinated.
When Maimalari was celebrating his recent marriage the day before the coup on January 15, 1966, he had no idea that among the guests were rebel leaders who would later come back to haunt him.He fled through the back of his house on the day of the coup as soon as rebel soldiers invaded it. He first fled into a small room inside the complex before emerging onto the main road.
He saw a car on the road and thought it was headed to Ikeja, but it turned out to be a rebel vehicle, and he was taken prisoner and subsequently executed.