{"id":152400,"date":"2025-02-23T08:59:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T07:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name"},"modified":"2025-02-26T23:19:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T22:19:01","slug":"military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name","title":{"rendered":"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has disclosed why some military officers thought he was Yoruba in his early days as an officer.<\/p>\n<p>Babangida said most military officers confused his name, \u201cBadamasi,\u201d for the Yoruba name \u201cGbadamosi.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This, the former military Head of State said, led him to adopt his father\u2019s name, Babangida, to clarify his identity.<\/p>\n<p>Babangida hails from Minna in Niger State.<\/p>\n<p>Disclosing this in his book, A Journey in Service, Babangida wrote:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI RETURNED TO Nigeria from India in January 1964 as 2nd Lt. Ibrahim Badamasi, with personal Army number N\/438. I was promptly deployed to the reconnaissance squadron (the \u2018Turaki\u2019 Squadron), First Brigade, Kaduna.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough the overall Commander of the First Brigade was Brigadier Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun, young officers hardly had contact with him. I had Major Chris Anuforo, Major Hassan Katsina, and Major Okpo Isong as my immediate commanders. These senior officers were very kind to me in their different ways.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, before I settled down to work at the First Brigade, a particular incident led me to add \u2018Babangida\u2019 to my name. During official engagements that led to my deployment to Kaduna, officers who confused the Yoruba name \u2018Gbadamosi\u2019 with my last name, \u2018Badamasi,\u2019 repeatedly asked me whether I was Yoruba.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat question had also come up a few years before, during my enlistment interview for the military. Since that question persisted (and since I knew I wasn\u2019t Yoruba!), I decided to take on my father\u2019s other name as my last name. And I remember joking about it then and saying: \u2018Regardless of the name change, I am still my father\u2019s son!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs happens with new and young entrants into the profession, especially those on overseas courses, I was put on probation for months after returning from India. Somewhere along the line, a final report arrived saying that I was okay and ready for work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has disclosed why some military officers thought he was Yoruba in his early days as an officer. Babangida said most military officers confused his name, \u201cBadamasi,\u201d for the Yoruba name \u201cGbadamosi.\u201d This, the former military Head of State said, led him to adopt [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":152399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[1543,254,665],"class_list":["post-152400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-babangida","tag-nigeria","tag-yoruba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has disclosed why some military officers thought he was ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has disclosed why some military officers thought he was ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-23T07:59:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-26T22:19:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-23T07:59:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-26T22:19:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name\"},\"wordCount\":341,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Babangida\",\"Nigeria\",\"Yoruba\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name\",\"name\":\"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-23T07:59:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-26T22:19:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has disclosed why some military officers thought he was ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name - Nigeria","description":"Former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has disclosed why some military officers thought he was ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name","og_description":"Former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has disclosed why some military officers thought he was ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-02-23T07:59:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-26T22:19:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name","datePublished":"2025-02-23T07:59:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-26T22:19:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name"},"wordCount":341,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg","keywords":["Babangida","Nigeria","Yoruba"],"articleSection":["all news","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name","name":"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-23T07:59:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-26T22:19:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has disclosed why some military officers thought he was ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740288811.222829.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/military-officers-thought-i-was-yoruba-babangida-opens-up-on-his-name#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Military officers thought I was Yoruba \u2013 Babangida opens up on his name"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}