NIGERIA FORMAL FIRST LADY IS DEAD

Former Nigeria's First Lady and wife of Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe (J.T.U.) Aguiyi-Ironsi, Nigeria’s first military head of state, Chief Mrs. Victoria Nwanyiocha Aguiyi-Ironsi, is dead.

She reportedly died in the early hours of Monday, aged 97.

Born on November 21, 1923, she was the second First Lady of Nigeria from January 16, 1966, to July 29, 1996, when her husband was assassinated in a counter military coup carried out by Nigerian military officers of Northern extraction.

Aguiyi-Ironsi was killed in Ibadan in the countercoup led by Murtala Muhammed and which led to the installation of then Colonel Yakubu Gowon as head of state.

Reflecting on her life after the gruesome murder of her husband in an interview with The Guardian newspaper on June 3, 2016, she said.

“The truth is that 29th of July this year will be 50 years since my husband was killed. By then, I had eight children.

I have seen hell and at the same time, I have seen heaven.”

Last year, Mrs Victoria Ironsi had fired back at Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, over his harsh comments on the late Aguiyi-Ironsi.

Danjuma, speaking to the Guardian, the former Minister for Defence described the late Aguiyi as ‘useless’, desk-clerk’ head of state.

His comments, which did not go down well with Mrs. Victoria Ironsi the widow, returned fire accusing Danjuma of the death of her late husband.

She also described Danjuma as useless and hopeless and invoked the wrath of God on him cursing him that vultures will feed on his corpse.

For Calling My Husband Who You Killed “Useless” And “Desk-clerk” Head Of State. Vulture Will Eat Your Corpse. Danjuma Is A Mad Man. He’s A Useless Man. This Shows How Hopeless And Wicked He Is.

After killing a man the way he did, and 40 years later, he will still not allow my husband to rest in his grave. He is using such a wicked and senseless language on my late husband.

That means he (Danjuma) is a hopeless man. He is a shameless coward. Danjuma has got no virtue in him other than that wickedness. That is why he can describe Johnny like that even 40 years after he had killed him in such a brutal manner.

But as long as there is God in heaven, and I know there is God in heaven, that is how vulture will describe him too

During an interview before death, the former first lady described how she received the killing of her husband by fellow soldiers. 

"Shocking, it was a terrible thing. But usually when a soldier marries a woman, he always tries to bring her up to his standard, that is to be brave and courageous. Time without number, they go out and they don’t return. They tell us as wives, ‘as a soldier, I can die any day.’ They don’t hesitate to tell us something like that. And when they tell us things like that, we always think they are just talking, but they are teaching us something serious, really. In my case, when I got worried, he would advise me not to be worried. He would tell me, ‘don’t be worried, I am a soldier, I can die any day.’

So on this fateful day, it happened. Where did he go to, a meeting in Ibadan; Adekunle Fajuyi was hosting him at the State House, Ibadan. From a meeting you don’t see your husband again; he was not sick, nothing. What you do, nothing, you wouldn’t even know what to do, you are just empty. It is only God that can console you, that time you need God most. That was what happened to me, it was shocking. You don’t even know the true situation of things. Nobody told me whether he was dead or alive. For so many months, no information on whether he was killed. People just kept trooping in [to the State House], saying this and saying that, then you are dumb, you can’t even talk. I just kept looking at thousands of people that came to see me. Who were you going to talk to?

Some people said they saw him in Umuahia, his home town, some said they saw him in other places, I was just looking at people talking, I did not know what to contribute. I was just confused, looking at them."

thevoiceofthevoiceles