Retired General Benjamin Adekunle, aka ‘Black Scorpion’ on
Saturday morning died in Lagos State, his wife Mrs. Folake Adekunle
announced.
The deceased was born in Kaduna State on June 1936, he served in the Nigerian Army from 1958-1974. He reportedly assumed command of the Lagos Garrison as a substantive Lt. Col after serving in the Congo crisis and the Nigeria civil war.
Adekunle was reportedly tasked to have lead elements which comprised two new battalions (7th and 8th) to conduct the historic sea borne assault on Bonny in the Bight of Benin on 26 July 1968, under by Major Isaac Adaka Boro’s unit). The aforementioned incident occurred after the federal government gained confidence of most south western ethnic groups as a direct result of Biafran push to mid-west state and probe into Western region.
Adekunle, who was promoted to Colonel after the Bonny landing, became the 6th under Major Jalo, and 8th under Major Ochefu battalions of the Lagos Garrison subsequently took part in operations to liberate the Midwest following the Biafran invasion of August 1967.
Later, he was reportedly posted to Army HQ and got the Lagos garrison upgraded to Brigade status through the creation of the 31 and 32 Battalions under Majors Aliyu and Hamman, respectively. Following his doubt over the name “3 Infantry Division”, when considering the nature of the unique terrain in which his men had to fight, he then changed the name to 3 Marine Commandos (3MCDO) with getting approval from Army HQ. He is described as the most easily controversial, celebrated and mythologised figure in the war of attrition that laid the foundations for Nigeria’s contemporary crisis, as well as wedge into the national fabric.
It would be recalled that Nigeria on July 2013 lost one his army generals, who then the National Security Adviser General Owoye Azazi, in a controversial helicopter crash.
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