My father as part of the cortege accompanying the coffin of the slain military head of state Major General J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi

Enhanced frame from a newsreel produced by Associated Press. My father Lieutenant Emmanuel Makinde is the figure at the top right corner of the image behind the senior police officer. In the foreground carrying the coffin are two of my Father's colleagues in the Nigerian Navy. The first might be Lieutenant Commander Akpayi Joe and behind him is Lieutenant Adekunle Lawal.

It was in January 1967 after the Aburi Conference where Lieutenant General Joseph Ankrah of Ghana sought to broker a peaceful resolution to the crisis between Nigeria's Eastern region and the rest of the Federation.

Part of the agreement provided that both Major General Ironsi and Lieutenant Colonel Francis Fajuyi -victims of the second coup of 1966- be exhumed from their graves at a military cemetery in Ibadan and be given state funerals in their hometown.

One year earlier on Monday, January 17^th, 1966 at the Parliament Building in Lagos, he had stood guard behind Ironsi and Commodore Joseph Wey -the Chief of Naval Staff- at the first press conference of the National Military Government held after the coup carried out two days earlier.

My Father served as Flag Lieutenant and Flag Secretary to Commodore Wey.

The cortege was mounted at Ikeja Airport, Lagos from where Ironsi’s remains were to be flown first to Enugu and then taken to Umuahia for burial.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.