60 years after the 1st coup: Why Maimalari was killed – Nephew

Alhaji Baba Sarki, nephew to General Zakariyya Maimalari, one of those killed in the January 1966 coup explains how it happened. Sarki, who is now the District Head of Maimalari village in Yusufari LGA of Yobe State, said the agony of losing Brig-Gen Maimalari, extends far beyond immediate sorrow, leaving inter-generational impact on the family and the Maimalari community.

What can you tell us about Brig-Gen Maimalari?

Let me introduce myself properly, I’m a nephew of the late Brig-Gen Zakariyya Maimalari, a son to his elder brother, Alhaji Barma Hassan.

Though I was not born when he was assassinated, our parents and elders in the society have passed the painful history of how he was killed to us.

Brig-Gen Maimalari was born in this village and he attended his Elementary School in Nguru town, among his classmates were the father of present Emir of Machina, Mai Bukar, he also attended Maiduguri middle school, among his contemporaries were the Liman Chiroma, the elder brother of late Adamu Ciroma.

Thereafter, he proceeded to Barewa collage Zaria, before he was enlisted into the military and his passion and hard work in the profession made him stand out among his colleagues.

At that time, he was among the few Nigerians that attended the royal academy of England. That was where he became friends with the father of king Muhammad of Morocco, and among the first Africans that attended that school.

What oral or written history were you able to know about Maimalari or how he was assassinated?

I learnt that Maimalari was a very courageous person and he loved his family members so much. My father was telling me that, whenever Maimalari was traveling to Maiduguri or Sokoto he used to cross the difficult terrain to this village and chat with his parents, relatives, and spend the night here before proceeding to Maiduguri.

Also, being a prince, the son of the District Head of Maimalari, he made sure that everything about the palace is unique, he brought beautiful things from the UK, Germany and other foreign countries. And what gave him that exposure and privilege was his job at the UN peacekeeping operation. The job had exposed him to the world where he sees those things that he bought to the king.

His first son, Abubakar Sadiq Maimalari was born in Pakistan but the naming ceremony was celebrated in Maimalari. He is so much obsessed with the village and he loved horse racing.

What did your parents tell you about the coup and how he was assassinated?

We thank God that he almost reached the peak of his military career before he died. But, we learnt that even before the coup happened, he told people close to him, including Maitama Sule that, please tell the prime minister, Tafawa Balewa, that these people are planning to topple the government, and the coup will not be possible unless they eliminate me.

Unfortunately, they didn’t take him seriously, he even listed some soldiers that were enemies and had not been talking to each other, but suddenly they became friends, eating and drinking on the same table in the barracks mess.

Our parents told me that he warned the minister, saying it could only happen when they were pursuing a common goal, which is the coup.

Sadly, in January 1966, the same people he warned about stormed his family house in Lagos, shooting and searching for his whereabouts, but he escaped along with his body guard.

Unfortunately, the soldiers he trusted, somebody like Ifejuna betrayed him. He was on his way to the Barrack when he saw them in a military Land Rover jeep, he stopped them thinking he would be safe, but was hunted and killed by the same soldiers he trusted.

What was the community reaction when they learnt that he was killed?

When our parents received that sad news, the whole town was thrown into grief. For over one week, businesses were shut down, and the entire community was mourning. In fact people refused to leave the district head’s palace.

Thank God he left behind a wife and three children, one of the male children, Waziri, later died, leaving behind Colonel Maimalari who was the last military administrator in Jigawa state, and the only female child, Amina Zakariyya currently living in Kaduna.

How did the family survive after he was killed?

They first settled in Nguru after their father was assassinated, but the then Nigerian president, Yakubu Gawon, directed that they should be taken to Kaduna, where they were enrolled in school under the care of Brigadier General Abba Kyari.

As Muslims, we believe in destiny, nobody can contest what God He destined to happen but lost a pillar of this family.

What has changed in the life of people in your community since the time you lost him?

He was immortalized, a barrack was named after him but, what affected us negatively the most was how people withdrew their children from western education because Maimalari was seen as a role model at that time but ended up brutally killed by his own friends and colleagues.

Maimalari was the one encouraging parents to send their children to school at that time. It took our father many years of diplomacy to convince them to return to school.

The bed that the present district head used in the bedroom was an Italian bed bought by Maimalari from Italy.

Has anyone told the reason he was assassinated?

We learnt that he was an instructor working with the United Nations and one of the former military Head of states who visited the family told us that the reason behind his killing was disagreement over sending Nigeria troops to Congo.

Zakariya was a soldier and instructor, who trained soldiers in Nigeria. So, a proposal was brought to him for Nigeria to participate in Congo, he asked his superiors that the majority of the Nigerian soldiers were only trained on war handling not peacekeeping.

He recommended that they should first be trained on peace keeping before moving them to Congo.That was the genesis and the enmity grew stronger, which led to his death.

It was a great loss to the village because his love for the community was unquantifiable.

Can you remember any of his closest friends in the military coming to see his family?

Yes, among those that closely relate with the family are the former presidents, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) and General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd). I want to believe that even in his grave Zakariyya is very pleased with these two people. They are in touch with us and shared a lot of good memories they had with him.

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