Adebayo Told Gowon On The Phone “I Will Be Loyal To You, I Will Go And Hold Fort In Ibadan- Kehinde

According to a video posted on Edmund Obilo Podcast on Monday November 9, 2026, Femi Kehinde said Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo told Yakubu Gowon on the phone that he would be loyal to him.

He said Adebayo offered to go to Ibadan and hold the fort as governor. Kehinde is the author of A Supple Dance Around History.

He drew the account from the memoir of Theophilus Akindele, who was director of communications in 1966. Kehinde said this followed the killing of Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi in Ibadan on 29 July 1966. He said officers then met again after Brigadier Ogundipe could not be found.

In his words, Femi Kehinde said, “Theophilus was going to the toilet when he saw Adebayo holding the phone, secretly talking to Gowon and was saying yes sir to him. Yes sir, I will be loyal to you. I will be loyal to you. You can send me to Ibadan. I will go and hold fort in Ibadan to be governor.

“That was how Adebayo became governor of the Western region. Unprepared,” he said.

Kehinde said Ogundipe could not be found because he feared he might also be killed. He said younger officers from the north refused to salute Ogundipe. Earlier, Adebayo had said that the man being named, Jack or Jacob, must be their junior colleague, Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon.

The host noted that this was Ibadan in the 1960s. He asked whether Adebayo would have raised the flat rate tax in 1968 if he had been better prepared. Kehinde said he had been governor from 1966 to 1971.

Kehinde said that by 1968 the war with Biafra was on and federal allocations were not robust. Adebayo wanted to raise revenue. He raised the flat rate from one pound 10 shillings to eight pounds.

Watch headline quotes from (00:34:41–00:34:58):

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