He outlived coups.
He sat in judgment over the powerful.
He held some of the darkest secrets in Nigeria’s military archives.
But on June 19, 1994, along the Gbagada–Oworonshoki expressway in Lagos, Vice Admiral Muftau Adegoke Babatunde Elegbede met a brutal end. Not from disease. Not in combat. But under a barrage of over 70 bullets—fired by unknown gunmen.
This was no random attack.
This was no ordinary assassination.
This was a silencing.
Born August 13, 1939, Elegbede climbed the ranks of the Nigerian Navy with integrity and quiet precision. He wasn’t a flamboyant figure—but a builder of institutions, like the Maritime Academy in Oron, and a man known for order and loyalty.
As Military Governor of Cross River State in the late 1970s, and later as Chairman of the Kaduna Tribunal that prosecuted corrupt civilian officials after the 1983 coup, Elegbede became a key figure in Nigeria’s military courtroom dramas.
But it was his role as Director of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) that put him at the heart of Nigeria’s inner sanctum—where whispers of coups, foreign dealings, betrayal, and control were stored like classified files.
And perhaps, that’s what sealed his fate.
On that quiet June morning in 1994, as he drove through Lagos, death lay in ambush.
Over 70 bullets pierced the Admiral’s car.
What kind of killers fire that many rounds unless they want to erase a man—completely?
Theories swirled:
“Armed robbery,” they said.
But thieves don’t shoot like that.
To others, it was a calculated purge. A military clean-up. A man who knew too much—eliminated to protect those who couldn’t afford his memories.
He had served under General Babangida. He had been the memory-keeper of the regime.
What secrets did he carry?
Source: historylovers
Via Historical Nigeria Yoruba