For me,

Gen. Ironsi in the Congo

Col. Shuwa and his 1st Division in the Nigerian Civil war.

(Adekunle was all flash, and Obasanjo is an engineer for Ch_ _ _t sake.)

Lt. Col. Etuk of 3MCD, who fought valiantly, while under seige.

In more recent times, Brig. Joshua Dogonyaro in the early 90s in Liberia. If he had been allowed to stay longer than the 5 months that he was there for, and provided a few more troops, the Liberian conflict would have ended then and there. That man didn't play around. Only IBB knows why he withdrew him.

The rest of the Ecomog commanders didn't do that much militarily, most like Kupolati, Olurin, Inenienger were more diplomat/soldiers, than anything else.

Astute points Igbanibo. Maj-Gen (as he then was) Dogonyaro made a strategic impact when commanding ECOMOG in Liberia. It was strange that IBB withdrew him so quickly, and the ECOMOG mission never had the same dynamism after that.

Col Shuwa has been commended many times for his textbook command of 1 Div during the civil war. Such a shame that a disciplined and conventional Sandhurst trained officer such as he was not permitted to command the army.

Igbanibo:

For me,

Gen. Ironsi in the Congo

Col. Shuwa and his 1st Division in the Nigerian Civil war.

(Adekunle was all flash, and Obasanjo is an engineer for Ch_ _ _t sake.)

Lt. Col. Etuk of 3MCD, who fought valiantly, while under seige.

In more recent times, Brig. Joshua Dogonyaro in the early 90s in Liberia. If he had been allowed to stay longer than the 5 months that he was there for, and provided a few more troops, the Liberian conflict would have ended then and there. That man didn't play around. Only IBB knows why he withdrew him.

The rest of the Ecomog commanders didn't do that much militarily, most like Kupolati, Olurin, Inenienger were more diplomat/soldiers, than anything else.

It's between Brigadier General Benjamin Adekunle(black scorpion) and General Olusegun Obasanjo.
They guys led the Nigerian side in the civil war against ojukwu-led biafra. Adekunle was a master strategist, a brilliant soldier, while Obasanjo's gallantry during the civil war was also highly commendable.

The Generals of the 1960's thru early 80's are the Generals I respect in Nigeria, not those who never went to war and became Academic General.

Apart from Obasanjo other notable civil war heroes include David Bamgboye,Theophilus Danjuma,Alani Akinrinade,David Jemibewon,David Ejoor,Musa Yar'Adua,Mobolaji Johnson, Hassan Usman Katsina and other Generals of the 1960's-70's!!!

Go and read about the 1967-70 civil war.

@ Jarus, you have a point there. The 3rd Marine Commando Division (now 3rd Armoured Div) then led by Col. Adekunle and later by Obasanjo was the division that pioneered the use of amphibious tactics during the war. These guys really had balls of steel  . However, i'll have to give kudos to Col. Shuwa as his 1st Infantry Division (the current 1st Mechanised Division-the country's most prestigious) were responsible for pushing the biafrans away from the western frontiers. Gen. Murtala Muhammed's 2nd Infantry Division's (now the 2nd Mechanised Div) perforamnace wasn't so great, but it was ok given the fact that it's initial manpower consisted mostly of administrative soldiers (clerks, cooks, etc). But I give him kudos for turning the division into a lethal fighting force.   

That said, i think we should also include the late Nigerian General responsible for the recapture of Freetown after its initial fall in the hands of the RUF during the war in Sierre Leone.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1992/AAA.htm

Nice article.

Generals should be evaluated on the basis of bravery in battle and superior military strategic and tactical thinking in defense of the country against FOREIGN enemies. To evaluate Nigerian Generals on the basis of their performance in the civil war is disingenious to say the least. In fact I would go a step further to say that the Biafran "Generals" are the ones to be so evalutated because they fought to defend Biafra against a foreign enemy -Nigeria. For as long as the Nigerians believed that they were fighting against fellow Nigerians in "Biafra", then how can one evaluate that?
I want to see Nigerian Generals evaluated on their performance against Cameroun in Bakassi. In that assessment, only one General could really be evaluated because he was the only one brave enough to even attempt a war with Cameroun. That General was General SANI ABACHA.

1. Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu
2. The rest of them

Ojukwu carries the vote.

Ojukwu?

Gen. Effiong, not Ojukwu who ran to Ivory Coast

none of our generals is worth my praise in the real sense of the word great. but there was a man, victor banjo, a colonel, who took the rag-tag biafran army from onitsha and over ran the nigerian army in the mid-west all the way to ore. he had nothing and he got that far.

weighed against what he had and what he was up against, he was a great military tactician.

General ke- all na coup general.

Na my parade commander for NYSC camp be my star soldier, general or no genersl.

There is no general without troops. All of them na by promotion.

Na general for officers mess dem all be,

Ojukwu could not be said to have been great because, his first tactical mistake was to pit his ill-motivated, poorly equipped men against the largerNigerian Army. he should have used guerilla tactics. Adekunle was the most audacious, brilliant and fearless in war. most of his beach landing are models in US War College. Obasanjo is known for finishing off the Biafrans. he was not as bright or audacious but hard-working,efficient and meticulous andengaged his strength against weakness of the enemy. Banjo was just a two-faced traitor.

When other countries talk about great generals they talk of conflict against foreign armies.
Here you are celebrating brother killing brother. Big disgrace.

americans also celebrate their civil war generals as great. and must we follow everything america does? or can we chart our own course, even in minor issues of who and what we value

SapeleGuy:

When other countries talk about great generals they talk of conflict against foreign armies.
Here you are celebrating brother killing brother. Big disgrace.

these are heroes. they prevented Nigeria from falling apart, they deserve praise. every proud nation has strive for unity.

You guys no mention general Maxwell Kobe,every soldier I know refer to him as the frontline general.

SapeleGuy:

When other countries talk about great generals they talk of conflict against foreign armies.
Here you are celebrating brother killing brother. Big disgrace.

It is very typical of Nigerians to gloat about inconsequential. I could not believe my eyes seeing the names such Adekunle, Obasanjo, Shuwa and Mohammed who were colonels when they commanded a military units during Nigeran-Biafran civil war. A person must have the rank of a General and commanding military units be them either platoon, battalion, brigade, division, corps or army to be mentioned in this breathe. The names mentioned should be classified as the greatest retarded with the military rank of general.

we have none,but
we have looting Generals(abacha,obasanjo,IBB,etc)
weeping Generals(oladipo Diya,etc)
Hiding Generals (obasanjo

Emeka Ojukwu, Philip Effiong

Murtala Mohammed, Yakubu Gowon


Abacha, IBB

Kay 17:

Ojukwu could not be said to have been great because, his first tactical mistake was to pit his ill-motivated, poorly equipped men against the largerNigerian Army. he should have used guerilla tactics. Adekunle was the most audacious, brilliant and fearless in war. most of his beach landing are models in US War College. Obasanjo is known for finishing off the Biafrans. he was not as bright or audacious but hard-working,efficient and meticulous andengaged his strength against weakness of the enemy. Banjo was just a two-faced traitor.

The landing of the Nigerians troops in Escravos, Calaber and Bonny were not the brain thrust of Colonel Adekunle. If not for the capable hands of Lt Commanders Soroh, Aduwo, Abdullahi and Cox of the British navy, the so-called Col Adekunle would have been nobody to write home about. Adekunle’s first operational decision almost ended in disaster as the 15 brigade under Captain Bello was shredded by Biafran elements under Major Ogbugo Kalu. Fortunately for stragglers of 15 brigade, Ogbugo Kalu naively ordered the cessation of hostility against the vandals in Bonny.

Ojukwu aint deserve cuz he flee and abandoned his people.Therefore,i will give it to Adekunle

It has got to be Adekunle. Obasanjo can also be mentioned for splitting the Biafra into two with Operation Tail-wind which brought the war to an end.

No one should mention Murtala, he committed the worst atrocities and lost the most men and resources. To cap it all, he resigned his position during the war because of failures in crossing the Niger.

How can anyone mention Shuwa? Other than capturing Enugu very early in the war, he did nothing else. Despite the fact that the war started with his division, he was asked to support Obasanjo's 3rd Marine commando during the final assualt of the war.

Don't knw enough to comment on who was the greatest nigerian general.I do knw enough tho to knw that ojukwu should not even be nominated.as biggest coward,maybe,but not as the greatest

You are missing the point of this thread. Obviously what Hitler did was terrible, but he was a great field general and tactician.

hitler was a horrible field general and his brash decisions, fighting on two fronts for example, cost germany the war.

but nigeria has never had to defend itself from foreign invaders, neither has it tried to invade other countries in order to expand its territory, so how can it boast of having "great" war generals as it would only be in the above circumstances that you could measure greatness. the only engagements the nigerian army has been involved in are the genocide of the igbos and the subsequent repression of the niger delta indigenes (oh yes and its role as house boy sorry peacekeeper for the west in other parts of Africa) so no nigerian military man has been in a situation where he has had to truly test his military abilities.

Can nigerian soldiers square up to the americans,the british, the cubans, the vietnamese, the chinese?

cap28:

but nigeria has never had to defend itself from foreign invaders, neither has it tried to invade other countries in order to expand its territory, so how can it boast of having "great" war generals as it would only be in the above circumstances that you could measure greatness. the only engagements the nigerian army has been involved in are the genocide of the igbos and the subsequent repression of the niger delta indigenes (oh yes and its role as house boy sorry peacekeeper for the west in other parts of Africa) so no nigerian military man has been in a situation where he has had to truly test his military abilities.

Can nigerian soldiers square up to the americans,the british, the cubans, the vietnamese, the chinese?

Thank you for the bolded quote! People are just being silly trying to mention individuals from the civil war. One of the so called "Generals" from the civil war era handed Bakassi to Cameroun without even raising a finger or voice.

As far as I can say, the only Nigerian general who came close to such greatness was [size=14pt]GENERAL SANI ABACHA[/size].

He stationed about 10,000 Nigerian troops in Bakassi and kept the place. He was prepared to defend the territory.

So, I'll give it to Abacha.

I personally think it was the head of state(Gen Abacha) that agreed to go to The Hague that gave away Bakassi and not the president(Obasanjo) who the jugdement was pass during his tenure,or should Nigeria have rejected the judgement of a court it agree to sit in?If we were only going to accept a favourable judgment then we would have not accept to go to the court which is an option.No country has been subpeonad to world court.

Like cap28 said, Nigeria has never really been involved in a major military dispute as to warrant any of these people great. The annexing of Biafara or bombing Udi wouldn't rank as military conquests to many strategists. Regardless in the Biafara situation i'd have to hand it to the ota farmer.

Regarding Liberia i'd be tempted to call names like Dogonyaro, Jemibewon and Agwai but considering the opposition and amount of Nigerians lost i'd be cautious about that too.

cap28:

but nigeria has never had to defend itself from foreign invaders, neither has it tried to invade other countries in order to expand its territory, so how can it boast of having "great" war generals as it would only be in the above circumstances that you could measure greatness. the only engagements the nigerian army has been involved in are the genocide of the igbos and the subsequent repression of the niger delta indigenes (oh yes and its role as house boy sorry peacekeeper for the west in other parts of Africa) so no nigerian military man has been in a situation where he has had to truly test his military abilities.

Can nigerian soldiers square up to the americans,the british, the cubans, the vietnamese, the chinese?

Thats a load of nonsense. Nigeria does not have to engage external enemies before you can assess the capabilities of its warriors. For instance, we know that the Nigerian military is not effective due to its inability to engage militants in the Niger Delta. Do you need a sooth-sayer to tell you that Nigeria would be doomed if it had to engage other African countries such as Egypt, SA, Ghana. I am not even sure Nigeria can engage Cameroun. However, in the 60's Nigeria could have engaged these countries. Nigerian soldiers such as Fajuyi, Ironsi, Ogundipe excelled in the congo and were given citations. Ogundipe also got citations for leading small indigenous troops in the jungles of Burma. Also, the Nigerian civil war was an excellent case for assessing Nigerian generals; that one general was not prepared is proof of his lack of strategic abilities.

Anyone saying Biafra was taken apart by a more equipped and superior opponent should go and read about Ho chi minh, who defeated the French and the Americans from a position of weakness. It is rarely possible for two sides in a conflict to be equally matched. It is the job of the generals to use what they have to their advantage and the job of the general commanding a weaker side to use the weight of the stronger side (Judo strategy) in defeating it.

.

For any soldier to qualify for this lofty status, the soldier must have attended the rank of General or granted such rank and commended an army or any unit of the armed forces during a war. I guess boyscout was correct with his\her list of generals. It is funny to see Nigerians list soldiers who were mere Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Lt Cols and Cols during the war as generals.

maxsiollun:

Ironsi never commanded a unit during a war. He was the commander of the UN peacekeeping force in the Congo, and later became the first indigenous GOC of the Nigerian army.

What army unit did your list of soldiers command during any war? See your list below:

Gen Martin Luther Agwai
Lt-Gen Chikadibia Obiakor
Lt-Gen Victor Malu
Lt-Gen Salihu Ibrahim
Lt-Gen Domkat Bali
Maj-Gen Aguiyi-Ironsi
Maj-Gen Mohammed Shuwa
Brig Ogundipe
Brig Ademulegun
Brig Maimalari
Lt-Col Alex Madiebo
Major John Obienu