Theophilus Danjuma

Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (born 9 December 1938) is a Nigerian politician and retired lieutenant general who played a key role in post-independence military and political events in Nigeria. Danjuma amassed an enormous fortune through shipping and petroleum.

He was Chief of Army Staff from July 1975 to October 1978. He was also Minister of Defence under President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration.

Early life Danjuma was born in Takum, Northern Region (present-day Taraba State, Nigeria), to Kuru Danjuma and Rufkatu Asibi. Takum was mainly a farming community when Danjuma was young, and yams, rice, cassava, and beniseed were largely cultivated by families and clans. His father was a hard-working peasant whose ancestors were all highly respected members of the community. Kuru Danjuma was a farmer who traded metal parts for farming implements and tools.

Danjuma started his education at St Bartholomew's Primary School in Wusasa and moved on to the Benue Provincial Secondary School in Katsina-Ala, where he was the captain of the school cricket 1st XI team; he received his Higher School Certificate in 1958. In 1959, Danjuma enrolled at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology in Zaria (Ahmadu Bello University) to study history on a Northern Nigeria scholarship. However, by the end of 1960, Danjuma had left the university to enrol in the Nigerian Army.

On 29 July 1966, Danjuma, along with Murtala Mohammed, Buka Suka Dimka, Muhammadu Buhari, Sani Abacha, Musa Usman, Ibrahim Taiwo, Ibrahim Bako, and Ibrahim Babangida, among others, participated in a bloody mutiny called the "July Rematch" in retaliation for the killing of federal officials in Nigeria's first coup. Danjuma picked up Nigeria's first military head of state General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and first military governor of the former Western Region, Lt. Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi (who was hosting Aguiyi-Ironsi at his residence in Ibadan), from the side of the road, as they were escaping an ambush orchestrated by Danjuma, Mohammed, Dimka, Buhari and others. Danjuma held them captive in the back of his car and drove off to an isolated area in Oyo state, where he ordered them to get out and murdered them in cold blood. Although Danjuma has denied claims that he was one of the masterminds of the needless coup d'ètat that saw the ruins of Nigeria and the death of over 3.5 million Eastern Nigerians, multiple evidence including a confession from his former aide-de-camp Sani Bello and A.B. Umaru recall the night of the ordeal in detail during their interview with The Guardian on the transgressions they participated in, remembering vividly sounds of gunshots Danjuma fired that would fatally end the life and reign of General Aguiyi-Ironsi and see the succession of Yakubu Gowon as Head of State of the Republic of Nigeria. In 1967, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel at the start of the civil war campaign towards Enugu, which was captured later that year. In December 1967, he was appointed Commander of the Nigerian Army's 1st Infantry Brigade, a position he held till July 1968. Towards the end of the Nigerian Civil War, Danjuma led a battalion that freed Jaja Wachuku, first Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives and the first Ambassador to the United Nations and first Foreign Affairs Minister, from detention by the Ojukwu government.

In 1970, Danjuma attended the International Court Martial in Trinidad and Tobago as Nigeria's representative, where he was appointed president of the tribunal in a case brought against members of a failed coup attempt in Trinidad and Tobago. Following his promotion to Colonel in 1971, he spent the next two years with responsibility for court-martialing Army officers proven guilty of corruption and indiscipline. In 1975, he was promoted to brigadier and the position of General Officer Commanding (GOC), and in the following year he became the Chief of Army Staff to the Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo. He played a prominent role in supporting the president in resisting the Dimka Coup in 1976. He retired from the Nigerian army in 1979.

COMET Shipping Agencies Nigeria Limited was established in 1984 by Danjuma, primarily to act as an agent for Nigeria American Line (NAL). COMET has grown and by the late nineties, it became one of the largest independent agents operating in Nigeria with experience in handling many types of vessels and cargo. In 2009, Comet handled over 200 vessels at the ports of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri. In 2005, NAL-COMET acquired a roll-in-roll-out port (RORO) in Lagos, which makes it one of the largest independent port operators in Africa.

NatCom Development & Investment Limited

Danjuma was named Board Chairman by the NatCom Development & Investment Limited "NatCom," trading as ntel. The announcement was made in July 2016 following Danjuma's inaugural board meeting. ntel commenced commercial operations of its 4G/LTE-Advanced network on 8 April 2016 in Lagos and Abuja. ntel is an advanced mobile 4G/LTE network providing superfast internet access that enables high-definition voice, data and video services. ntel's network is built on the 900/1800 MHz frequency bands which are the best propagation frequencies for the deployment of 4G/LTE technology. ntel's bouquet of services includes national bandwidth, international voice termination, international bandwidth, mobile and fixed communications services.

The company made its first on-net test data call in Lagos on Monday, 18 January 2016 and followed this with its first on-net Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) call in Lagos on Thursday, 25 February 2016. Commercial operations commenced on Friday, 8 April 2016.

Politics Since 1999, Danjuma has played an active role in Nigerian politics; some of his key appointments have been:

1999 Appointed as Minister of Defence to President Olusegun Obasanjo's cabinet 2003 Appointed as chairperson for the investigative committee on the Warri conflict 2010 Nominated as chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan

While in office, Danjuma sought to curb the politicisation of the military and was a firm supporter of democracy and the rule of law. He also oversaw the renaming of all Nigerian barracks and cantons from those of civilian or living persons. He was also widely known to be an avid opponent of President Obasanjo's attempts in 2006 to engineer a way that would enable himself and state governors to serve more than two consecutive terms.

In 2018, during the Taraba State University convocation ceremony, Danjuma, in an emotional outburst, spoke against the killing of the people of Taraba by marauding armed herdsmen and accused the Nigerian military of complicity, urging Nigerians to defend themselves against the attacks.

Philanthropy In December 2008, the TY Danjuma Foundation was created in Nigeria.

The TY Danjuma Foundation has partnered with over 50 NGOs throughout Nigeria and with the support and cooperation of 36 state governors. One of the many NGOs that is being supported by the foundation is CASVI, working in Takum, Wukari and Donga. CASVI's main area of expertise is the provision of free eye care services, such as the treatment of river blindness in Wukari, Ibi and Donga.