Nigeria witnessed its first military coup d’état on January 15, 1966, during which prominent politicians were killed. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister, was among those killed.
During the coup, which was led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, he was taken hostage and taken to an unknown location. The Prime Minister was not located, despite a nationwide search. The decomposing body of Tafawa Balewa was not discovered until January 21, 1966, six days after the coup, alongside other bodies in a village along the Lagos-Abeokuta road, one of which belonged to Finance Minister Festus Okotie Eboh.
However, the circumstances surrounding Tafawa Balewa’s death remain contentious to this day, with various accounts describing a variety of ways he died. He was said to have been shot to death in one account, while another said there was no bullet wound on his body, so he couldn’t have been shot.
He was killed and disposed of at the location where his body was discovered, regardless of whether he was shot. The sitting body of Tafawa Balewa was discovered by the side of a kola nut tree. We learned that he wore a white toga with part of it over his head. The body of Okotie Eboh lay face down with “maggots crowding around it.” His right leg still had a small strip of striped pajamas.
The body of Tafawa Balewa was removed from the scene and flown in a chartered plane to Bauchi, his hometown, to be buried there. His death was felt across the nation, and for 72 hours, half-staff flags were waved.
The police officer who discovered Tafawa Balewa’s body, Ahmad Ibrahim Babankowa, described how he followed the decomposing body and found it where it was dumped.
