Bajowa saved me from being killed by Dimka in 1976 coup ― Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed how General Olu Bajowa (Rtd) saved him from being killed by Lt Colonel Buka Dimka in the February 13, 1976, military coup d’etat. Obasanjo spoke at the celebration of the 80th birthday of General Bajowa in Igbotako, Okitipupa council area of Ondo state.

He said; “I want to say something about Olu either he knew it or he didn’t know. When Dimka coup came, if Olu had not been what and what he is, I would have gone with the coup. “Let me tell you the story. Olu is very respectful. He is very conscious of our culture.

He had a child, a boy, and wanted to name the child after me. He had to call me early in the morning, that morning that Dimka struck. “And because Olu said he was coming, I had to wait a little bit. I waited beyond the time I would have gone out. “Olu then came, he made the request and I granted the request. So, I was a little bit late in going on the route that I normally took to work. “And Reinumuje went ahead of me and they thought it was me and they shot his car.

They shot his car, Murtala was shot. “Indirectly, that is how Olu Bajowa saved my life,” he said Obasanjo who described Bajowa as a performing soldier noted that he “performed very well when he(Obasanjo) drafted him to go and lead 11 Battalion during the nation’s civil war. Speaking as the chairman of the occasion, Obasanjo said that “any job that Bajowa could not do, no one else could do. Vanguard