1966 Coup: Prof Pam Uncovers How and Who Abducted, Killed His Father, “My Mother Begged"
- Prof Ishaya Pam recounted how his father was abducted from their Lagos home by his own deputy during the January 15, 1966 coup
- Lt Col James Yakubu Gyang Pam was taken to Federal Guards headquarters and later killed after coup leaders debated sparing his life
- The Pam family fled Lagos for Jos after the killing as their mother raised six children amid unresolved questions over his burial
Sixty years after Nigeria’s first military coup, Professor Ishaya Pam has given a harrowing account of how his father, Lieutenant Colonel James Yakubu Gyang Pam, was abducted from his Lagos home by officers he trusted, before being killed during the January 15, 1966 uprising.
Lt Col Pam, an indigene of Plateau state and the Adjutant-General of the Nigerian Army at the time, was among the senior figures killed in the coup that also claimed the life of the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and several top military officers.
Source: UGC
Speaking in an interview marking the 60th anniversary of the coup, Prof Pam, a former Chief Medical Director of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), said his father was taken away in the early hours of the morning by soldiers led by his own deputy.
“I was one year and nine months old when the coup happened. At about 2:00am, soldiers broke into our house at Ikoyi Crescent, Lagos. The leader of the team was my father’s deputy and close confidant, Major Humphrey Chukwuka," he recalled.
Final words spoken as family pleaded for mercy
According to Prof Pam, his mother pleaded with Major Chukwuka to spare her husband’s life, and was assured that no harm would come to him, Daily Trust reported.
“My mother begged him, and he promised that my father would be brought back safely. But my father had a premonition. He turned to my mother and told her, in Hausa, to take care of the children and that God would be with her," he said.
Lt Col Pam was taken to the Federal Guards headquarters in Lagos, where other coup plotters had gathered with their victims, many of whom were already dead.
Prof Pam said an argument later broke out among the coup leaders over why his father was still alive.
“One Major Christian Anufuru questioned why my father had not been killed. He seized him, drove him into the bush along the Lagos–Abeokuta road, asked him to say his last prayers, and then killed him," he said.
Shallow grave and unanswered questions over burial
The professor disclosed that the bodies of those killed during the coup, including Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and Finance Minister Festus Okotie-Eboh, were buried in shallow graves and later exhumed.
“On January 17, 1966, the bodies were discovered and taken to Yaba Military Hospital for autopsy. But till today, we are still searching for my father’s remains. We were told they were given a mass burial at night without military honours," he said.
Family uprooted as mother bore burden alone
Following the killing, the Pam family fled Lagos for Jos, where they had to rebuild their lives from scratch.
“We were taken to the palace of the Gbong Gwom Jos before moving to our village in Kwang. The army supported our education until 1975, after which my mother single-handedly trained all six of us through university," Prof Pam said
He described his late mother as a highly educated and resilient woman whose strength kept the family together until her death in 2011.
Source: UGC
Prof Pam paid tribute to his father’s military career, describing him as a trailblazer and consummate professional.
“He was the first Nigerian artillery officer and the first military officer from the Middle Belt,” he said. “He trained at Sandhurst, commanded key units, served in UN peacekeeping missions, and re-trained the Tanganyika Army.”
Lt Col Pam was awarded the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) in 1965, but was killed before formally receiving it. The honour was later conferred posthumously.
Coup: Dele Momodu explains how he escaped assassination
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that a former Nigerian presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dele Momodu, has narrated how he escaped the attempted coup in Benin Republic.
Momodu spoke on Monday morning, December 8, in an interview on Channels TV's 'Sunrise Daily', monitored by Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
