60 years after the 1st coup: How my father was abducted by his deputy – Prof. Pam

Lt. Col. James Yakubu Gyang Pam, from Plateau State, was one of the military officers killed in the 1966 military coup, alongside with the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmad Bello and others. In this interview, his son, Prof. Ishaya Pam, one time Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), tells Weekend Trust how the incident happened and how the family has fared thereafter.

Can you recall how you lost your father in the January 15, 1966 coup?

I was one year and nine months old when the coup happened, that was on January 15, 1966. We are six siblings and I am a twin. My father was killed on 15th January 1966, during the events of the military coup, and he was the Adjutant-General at the Army headquarters in Lagos. We lived at Number 8 Ikoyi Crescent in Lagos, and at about 2:00 a.m. on the fateful day, our house was attacked by soldiers who were among the coup plotters. They broke into the house, slashed his car tyres and accosted him. Before then he tried to make some phone calls while they were breaking in. After they accosted him, he asked them what they wanted. Surprisingly, the leader of the team was his deputy and a close confidant, Major Humphrey Chukwuka. The second leader of the team was 2nd Lieutenant Godwin Onyefuru; and they had other ranks with them who surrounded the house. They then abducted him. My mother pleaded with Chukwuka to spare my father’s life, and Chukwuka reassured her that they would not harm him, and promised to bring him back safely.

Before taking him away, Major Chukwuka assured my mother that no harm would happen to my father, and that he would bring him back safely. Chukwuka then informed my father of their intention to take him away. But my father had a premonition that he might never return again. He then turned to my mother and uttered his final words in Hausa, saying she should take care of the children, and that God would be with her.

The coup plotters then took him to the federal guards in Lagos, which was their rendezvous, and the other coup plotters were coming in with their victims who were mostly dead already. One Major Christian Anufuru arrived there with the dead body of Major Kur Mohammed and that of Lieutenant Colonel Onigbe. An argument ensued between Major Christian and Major Chukwuka as to why my father was still alive. So, Major Christian seized my father from Major Chukwuka and drove him away in a Range Rover into a bush, opened the door for my father to drop from the car, told him to say his last prayers, and after my father said his last prayer he then killed him.

Was your father’s corpse ever found?

From our research of how the whole thing happened, we found that the bodies of those killed by the coup plotters were buried a shallow grave along the bush of Lagos-Abeokuta road, with the corpses of the then Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, and the Minister of Finance, Okotie-Eboh. On the January 17 1966, the bodies were discovered and taken to Yaba Military Hospital in Lagos for autopsy, and all the wounds and causes of death were identified. And from there they were taken for burial. Till date we are still searching for his body, as we learn that they were given mass burial in the dead of the night without military honours. Though we have gradually closed-in on the search as we already have a fair knowledge of where they were buried.

What happened after the family realised your father was killed?

After my father was killed we had to leave Lagos immediately to Jos. The six of us and my mother, as well as the other relations living with us all left Lagos, and our few properties were evacuated in a truck back to Jos where we were taken to the palace of the then Gbong Gwom Jos. From there they traced our village to Kwang in Du District of Jos, where they later brought his personal effects to.

When we got to Jos, we had to start another new phase of life. However the army took care of our education from that time until 1975 after General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown, and the military assistance stopped. From thereon my mother had to fully shoulder our responsibility, including our schooling through the university.

Could you briefly let us in on who your father was?

My father, Lt Col James Yakubu Pam was born on 23 November 1933. He attended Central School, Pankshin in Plateau State and St Paul’s Primary School, Jos. On completing his primary education, he was admitted into Barewa College, Zaria for his secondary education. He did very well and received an “Exemption from the London Matriculation”, an honour reserved in those days for students who excelled

He was thereafter enlisted in the Army and attended the Regular Officers Special School in Teshie, Ghana for 6 months before proceeding to Eaton Hall, in England for further military training. He was admitted to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, England for his full officers Training and received the Queen’s Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1955. He was the first Nigerian Artillery Officer and the first Military Officer from the Middle Belt. He returned to Nigeria as a full-fledged Officer under the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) as a 2nd Lieutenant J. Y. Pam No. WAFF45, (which later became N/34 when the Army was nationalized.

Also, he attended several courses overseas during his military career and served in several military units including, the Gunner Battery, 5 Battalion NA Kaduna and 2 Brigade, Apapa Lagos. He became the first African to command the Battalion Nigerian Army in Kawo Kaduna, and later became the Adjutant-General of the Nigerian Army, the position he held until 15th January 1966 when he was killed in active service-during the first military coup d’etat in Nigeria.

Besides, he also participated in several military operations which included operations in the Southern Cameroons, the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in the Congo, the Tiv riots, and the suppression of mutiny in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). He also successfully re-trained the Tanganyika Army in 1964.

On his return from the successful mission in Tanzania in 1965, he was awarded the National Honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) in recognition of his meritorious service. Unfortunately, he died before formally receiving the decoration as a result of the coup in 1966. Nevertheless, the medals were subsequently awarded to him posthumously.

Tell tell us a bit about your mother.

My mother is originally a Ghanaian, but her mother was a Fulani from Jigawa State, but brought up in Kano State. My maternal grandfather (Ghanaian) died

when my mother was barely four years old, and so she was bred and brought up by her Fulani grandmother. Though because of my father, my mother love to speak Berom, and she could actually speak Berom. So, Berom, Hausa and English were the spoken languages in our house.

Again, my mother was well educated; she went to the same primary school with the Late Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero and the Late Prof. Beki. She also went to secondary school, and then institute of administration in Zaria.

Is she still alive?

No, she passed on in May 2011 at the age of 75.

How was your mother able to train all of you through your education after your father was killed?

What helped us was that most of our admissions were through merit. Whenever we sit for examinations for admissions or common entrance we we were usually given because we pass the examinations with flying colours. And at the university we were top of our classes.

Was there any point that you came together with the families members of those also killed during the 1966 military coup?

Definitely we kept in touch after being brought together by one circumstance. Some of the family members we even met at the same schools with my other siblings. These are families of people like Maimalari, Kur Mohammed, and others. Indeed few years ago Barewa College honoured our fathers, that is those killed by the 1966 military coup. That is because most of them from the northern extraction actually went to Barewa College which was the prime college in the North then. And we had reunion at that time.

How are your other siblings today and how are they currently situated 60 years after your father’s death?

Well as I earlier mentioned, we are six in number and my other five siblings are currently situated as follows: Mrs Kaneng Daze -Proprietress of NNPCL mega station; Hon. Justice Jummai H.C Sankey – Justice of the Supreme Court ;Jonathan Yusufu Gyang Pam – Former Attorney-General of Plateau State; Dr. Ishaku Chollom Pam (my twin brother) – FRCP (Lond), FRSM (Clinical Director of Medicine, Noble’s Hospital, Isle of Man, United Kingdom) and Ibrahim James Pam Esq -Chairman, World Bank Inspection panel Washington DC

Have you held a memorial in honour of your father?

Yes, we have been holding memorial for him, particularly from the past 10 years downwards. And even on this 60th anniversary of his death, we are planning a series of activities to mark it already. The purpose of marking this memorial is for the truth to come out and for reconciliation. This will ensure that the wounds that haven’t been healed as the result of the coup can be healed finally, and let the country move forward because the coup tore Nigeria apart along ethnic lines.

So it is paramount that we forgive each other and move forward, and get rid of the burden of history. And then we should be able to correct those underlying causes that led to the coup. Our politicians should take their call seriously and run the country in a transparent an accountable manner so that it won’t give any excuse to any adventurer planning things like coup. And sadly now the situation of the country is not the ethnic division only again, it has now had a religious division as well. So that is why I said a coup now will be more complicated and disastrous. Even the North that was previously homogeneous and known to be ‘One North’ is already divided along religious lines; and this is likely due to politics and economic space. So we need to properly orient our people to let them know that politicians are holding on to cleavages like religion to win election. Let us just focus on development and merits, and not be given positions or vote for based on religious considerations. That is why we end up with the wrong people in positions, and what they get there they drag the country backwards.

As someone who has had a bitter experience with military coup, what will be your advice to the nation, not also forgetting the recent speculation about and the attempted coup of which some officers are still believed to be detained?

For me, I don’t think a military coup can solve our problem as a nation. And right now, Nigeria is a very complicated country and any attempt of coup now will be disastrous. Look at what happened in 1966 coup; it was followed by a counter coup and which eventually led to the civil war which we are yet to recover from fully. The time that we would have spent to develop, within utilize it and other countries have left us behind and and gone ahead of us. There is over dependence on oil, and corruption also grew during that time, including skewed political constitution, and all of that. Also, the military ruled for about 40 years and they did a lot of things that were not right, and we are yet to also recover from their effects. So, I think we should be allowed to develop an evolve through a proper process without interruption because if the process is interrupted we will take ourselves backwards. So, I don’t think that a coup should be encouraged at this point in time, because we are victims of it and we know what we went through.

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