Akintunde Akinsehinwa (November 11, 1944 – February 13, 1976) was the aide-de-camp to Murtala Ramat Muhammed, the military ruler (head of state) of Nigeria (1975–1976).
Akintunde Akinsehinwa was born in Ondo City in Ondo State, Nigeria on November 11, 1944. He started his early education in Owo and finished his secondary school education at Edopkolo Secondary School in Benin City, Nigeria where he obtained his Secondary School Leaving Certificate (WASC) in 1963.
At the commencement of the Nigerian Civil War (Nigeria’s Civil War) in 1967, Akintunde Akinsehinwa was recruited by the Nigerian Army and trained as an officer cadet at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry in Jaji, Kaduna State. After six months of training, Akinsehinwa was commissioned by the Army as a second lieutenant and sent to the war front to join the famous 3rd Marine Commando Division (3MCDO) under the stewardship of “The Black Scorpion” – Colonel Benjamin Adekunle, where he participated in military offensive efforts on the Calabar front to quell the secession of the Biafran separatist movement.
On Friday the 13th of February 1976, General Muhammed’s motorcade was ambushed in Lagos by coup plotters and assassins amid an abortive coup d’état.
The coup plotters unleashed a hail of bullets on Muhammed’s black Mercedes Benz limousine (not bulletproof) killing him instantly. Muhammed’s driver and orderly were also killed instantly. However, Akinsehinwa survived the initial barrage of bullets and exited the limousine to return fire. Unfortunately, he was overpowered and eventually succumbed to a hail of bullets (an autopsy revealed six bullet wounds in his back). Akintunde Akinsehinwa at 31 years of age thus became the first aide-de-camp to die in the line of duty while serving a Nigerian head of state.
Credit : Asiri
