OPERATION DAMISA: THE ASSASSINATION OF SIR AHMADU BELLO, THE SARDAUNA OF SOKOTO, JANUARY 15, 1966
''Ina Sardauna? Where is the Sardauna?” Nzeogwu shouted, pointing his gun at him but the man kept shaking his head asserting no knowledge of the Sardauna’s location.
“If you won’t tell me where your master is, I’ll kill you,” Nzeogwu screamed at him in Hausa.
“Okay, okay,” the man replied fearfully and led Nzeogwu to the annex of the building. Three other soldiers followed Nzeogwu while Waribor and the rest returned to the staging area...
As Nzeogwu approached the adjoining rooms the man was leading them to, he heard screams and cries of women and children.
“Where’s the Sardauna?” Nzeogwu shouted. But the women would not allow Bello to move. Even the children were clinging to their mothers.
At last, the Premier managed to wriggle himself free from his wives but the eldest, Hafsatu, held on to him as he spoke.
“I am Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and the Premi…” With those words, Nzeogwu shot thrice at him; a bullet hitting his jaw, his wife, Hafsatu, and ...babaringa which penetrated his lower abdomen and lodged in his spinal cord.
The Sardauna and his wife fell with a loud thud to the screams of the women and children at the loudest decibels. It was music to Nzeogwu’s ears. The mission had been accomplished.
He had satisfied his blood lust and his enraged eyes were returning to their former calm state. He blew the whistle to signal the end of the mission. Operation Damisa had finally come to an end.
As he approached the gate, he met Waribor and his men of the Charlie Company.
“Did you get the man?” Waribor asked.
“Yes, I got him,” Nzeogwu answered assuredly. He turned to the rest of the soldiers after he had got out of the gate and spoke triumphantly, “I have been successful, he’s dead.”
They then packed their remnants and proceeded to their next mission unchallenged leaving the Sardauna’s residence in the glory of its former self. It was 2:45 a.m. and the harshness of the harmattan had just begun.
Source: A Carnage Before Dawn: A Historical Novel On Nigeria's First Coup D'etat.
