TY DANJUMA- THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MIDDLEBELTER (ACCORDING TO THE COMMENTS OF MAJORITY OF FORUMITES) TY Danjuma was regarded the most influential middlebelter according to the comments on this forum on a previous post on who the most influential middllebelter was. General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma GCON FSS psc (Rtd) (born 9 December 1938) is aNigerian Jukun soldier, politician andmulti-millionaire businessman. He was Nigerian Army Chief of Army Staff from July 1975 to October 1979. He was also Minister of Defenceunder Olusegun Obasanjo.[1]Danjuma is chairman of South Atlantic Petroleum(SAPETRO). Early life Danjuma was born inTakum,Taraba State(formally Gongola),Nigeriato Kuru Danjuma and Rufkatu Asibi. Takum was mainly a farming community when Danjuma was young, the crops grown there such as yams, rice, cassava and beniseed were cultivated largely by families and clans. His father was a hardworking peasant whose ancestors were all highly respected members of the community. Kuru Danjuma was a farmer who also traded in metal parts for farming implements and tools.Theophilus Danjuma started his education at St Bartholomew’s Primary School in Wusasa and moved onto the Benue Provincial Secondary School inKatsina-Alawhere 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 university in order to enrol with theNigerian Army. Danjuma was one time chairman of the Middlebelt forum. Military career Danjuma was commissioned into theNigerian Armyas second lieutenant and platoon commander in theCongoand in 1963 joined a UN Peace-keeping force in Sante, Kataga Province in Congo when he was promoted to captain three years later. In 1966 CaptainDanjuma was involved in a counter-coup with the 4th Battalion in Mokola,Ibadan. On July 29, 1966,Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi spent the night at the Government House Ibadan as part of a nation-wide tour. His host, Lieutenant Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, Military Governor of Western Nigeria, alerted him to a possible mutiny within the army. Aguiyi-Ironsi desperately tried to contact his Army Chief of Staff, Yakubu Gowon, but he was unreachable (Perhaps deliberately).In the early hours of the morning, the Government House Ibadan was surrounded by soldiers led by Theophilus Danjuma. Danjuma arrested Aguiyi-Ironsi and questioned him about his alleged complicity in the coup which saw the demise of the Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello. Although some have argued that Fajuyi was not a target in this counter-coup, Danjuma, Walbe and others have gone on record to say that they probably wanted him for questioning as much as they did his boss, Aguiyi-Ironsi. Fajuyi was seen as a so-called progressive, who had supported the Nzeogwu coup in January of that year. The bullet-riddled bodies of Aguiyi-Ironsi and Fajuyi were later found in a nearby forest, and Yakubu Gowon became the new military head of state.A year later, in 1967, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel at the start of the civil war campaign towards Enugu, which was captured later in that year. Towards the end of the Nigerian Civil War, Danjuma led abattalion that freedJaja Wachuku from detention by the Ojukwu government. Danjuma and his soldiers were dismayed that, Wachuku, their globally respected first Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, first Ambassador to the United Nations and first Foreign Affairs Ministerwas in detention for exercising his freedom of speechand fundamental human rights, in terms of speaking-out against the recruitment of child soldiersby the Ojukwu led Biafran government. In 1970 Danjuma attended the International Court Martial inTrinidad and Tobagoas Nigerias representative, when he was appointed president of the tribunal in a case brought against members of a failed coup attempt in Trinidad and Tobago. Followinghis promotion to Colonel in 1971 he spent next two years with responsibility for court-martialling Army officers proven guilty of corruption and indiscipline. In1975 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 StateOlusegun Obasanjo. He played a prominent role in supporting the president in resistingthe Dimka Coup in 1976. He retired from the Nigerian army in 1979 Business career Nigeria America Line (NAL)Formed in 1979 by GeneralTY Danjuma (Rtd), Nigeria American Line (NAL) began business and initially leased a ship called Hannatu which traded between Lagos and Santos in Brazil when Nigerias bilateral trade agreement had opened the sea routes to economies in the South American markets. NAL went on to win patronage from Nigerias National Supply Company (NNSC) to bring in government goods from. NALs list of growing clients included DICON Salt (Nigeria) and project cargoes for Iwopin Paper Mill, ANNAMCO and Volkswagen Nigeria. NAL became a member of AWAFC (American West African Freight Conference), Brazil-Nigeria Freight Conference and the Mediterranean Line (MEWAC). With the formation of theNational Maritime Authority(NMA) IN 1987/88, the profile of NAL increased as NMA encouraged indigenous operators to claim their share of internationally traded cargo involving Nigeria.NAL began with a core indigenous staff of about 12 in 1979. In 2009 staff in NAL-COMET is closer to 250 including approximately 12 expatriate staff members. From the Lagos office the NAL-COMET Group has opened branch offices in Port Harcourt which serves Onne, Warri and Calabar seaports. COMET Shipping Agencies Nigeria LtdCOMET 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 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 theports of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri. In 2005 NAL-COMET acquired a roll-in-roll-out port (RORO) in Lagos which makes it the largest independent port operators in Africa.South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO)South Atlantic Petroleum(SAPETRO) is a Nigerian oil exploration and production company that was createdin 1995 by General T. Y. Danjuma. The ministry of Petroleum Resources inNigeria awarded the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 246 to SAPETRO in February 1998. The block covers a total area of 2,590km2 (1,000 sq. miles). SAPETRO partnered with Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd (TUPNI) and Brasoil Oil Services Company Nigeria Ltd (Petrobras) to start prospecting on OPL246. Akpo, a condensate field was discovered in April 2000 with the drilling of the first exploration well (Akpo 1) on the block. Other discoveries made on OPL 246 include the Egina Main, Egina South, Preowei and Kuro (Kuro was suspended as a dry gas/minor oil discovery). In 2004, SAPETRO’ssubsidiary inBeninwon through a competitive tender process an oil exploration contract covering 550 square kilometres offshore from the Republic of Benin. In February 2005, SAPETRO was granted Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130 and thereafter the Federal government backed in through theNigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC). In June 2006, SAPETRO divested part of its contractor rights and obligations toChina National Offshore Oil Corporation(CNOOC). SAPETRO produced its first oil (condensate) on the 4th March 2009. In December 2009 SAPETRO donated a new state of the art medicalcentre to the Nasarawa State University. The medical centre, to be known as South Atlantic Petroleum Medical Centre would be available to serve the University, the local and neighbouring communities. 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 PresidentOlusegun Obasanjos Cabinet*. 2003 Appointed as Chairperson for investigative committee on theWarriconflict*. 2010 Nominate
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 20:15:47 +0000