Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu offered Brigadier Babafemi O. Ogundipe the post of head of state in the 1960s, a turbulent time in Nigerian history. But Brigadier Ogundipe politely turned down the offer, preferring peace and allegiance to authority. He left Nigeria for London the very following day.
From January 1966 to August 1966, Babafemi Olatunde Ogundipe served as the first Chief of Staff and de facto second-in-command at Supreme Headquarters, during the military administration of Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. During the military dictatorship of General Yakubu Gowon, he served as the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from September 1966 until August 1970.
On September 6, 1924, he was born to parents from Ago-Iwoye, which is now in the western Nigerian state of Ogun. In 1941, he enlisted in the Royal West African Frontier Force, and from 1942 to 1945, he served in Burma. Following the Second World War, he reenlisted and became a brigadier in May 1964. One year after the civil war, on November 20, 1971, he passed away in London.