Dodan Barracks
Official residence of military head of state in Nigeria during 1966-1979
title: "Dodan Barracks" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["barracks-in-nigeria", "official-residences-in-lagos", "residential-buildings-in-lagos"] description: "Official residence of military head of state in Nigeria during 1966-1979" topic_path: "geography/nigeria" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodan_Barracks" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Official residence of military head of state in Nigeria during 1966-1979 ::
Dodan Barracks is a military barrack located in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria. The barrack was the Supreme Military Headquarters during the Nigerian Civil War and from 1966 to 1979 and 1983 to 1985, Dodan Barracks was the official residence of the military heads of state of the Nigerian military juntas of 1966–79 and 1983–99, and also the Supreme Military Headquarters from 1966 until the move to Abuja in 1991.{{cite book |title=Foreign policy decision-making in Nigeria |author=Ufot Bassey Inamete |publisher=Susquehanna University Press |year=2001 |page=46 |isbn=1-57591-048-9}}
Name
The name "Dodan" originated from the site of a battle fought during the Burma campaign of World War II by the 81st West African Division.{{cite web |url=http://www.dawodu.com/barrack4.htm |title=Barracks: The History Behind Those Names - Part 5 |author=Nowa Omoigui |publisher= Sir john timmzy |accessdate=2009-11-21}}
Military headquarters
Dodan Barracks was one of the bases of a group of Nigerian Army majors who overthrew the First Nigerian Republic in January 1966. The coup was suppressed by the army whose commander, Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, then became head of state.{{cite book |title=The Nigerian military: a sociological analysis of authority and revolt, 1960-1967 |author=Robin Luckham |publisher=CUP Archive |year=1971 |page=21}} In July 1966, Dodan Barracks became the seat of power in Nigeria after a counter-coup in which Ironsi was killed and his chief of staff, General Yakubu Gowon was made head of state, moving into the Federal Guard officer's mess. The Barracks was the location where Gowon received the formal Biafran surrender at the end of the Nigerian Civil War in January 1970. Subsequent rulers kept their base at the barracks for the next quarter of a century.{{cite book |page=124ff |title=Oil, Politics and Violence: Nigeria's Military Coup Culture (1966-1976) |author=Max Siollun |author-link=Max Siollun |publisher=Algora Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-87586-708-3}}
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Jimmy_Carter_and_Lt._Gen.Olusegun_Obasanjo_at_the_welcoming_ceremony_for_President_Carter's_visit_to_Nigeria.-NARA-_178581.tif" caption="[[Jimmy Carter]] and Lt. Gen. [[Olusegun Obasanjo]] at the welcoming ceremony for President Carter's visit to Nigeria: 04/01/1978"] ::
Gowon was overthrown in a July 1975 coup, succeeded by General Murtala Mohammed. In an attempted coup in February 1976, Murtala was killed when his convoy was ambushed. Obasanjo moved into the barracks for security reasons.
In 1977, troops invaded the compound of musician Fela Kuti, called the father of Afrobeat, who was critical of the military regime. They beat up the men, raped the women and threw Fela into detention. His 78-year-old mother died later of injuries from being thrown from a second story window.{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/arts/photoessay/protest/index14.html |title=Rebel Yells: A protest music mixtape |author=Matthew McKinnon |date=August 12, 2005 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |accessdate=2009-11-22}} On his release, he recorded an album titled Coffin For Head of State. Fela and his supporters marched his mother's empty coffin to Dodan Barracks and left it there to shame Obasanjo.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/11/world/lagos-journal-nigeria-echoes-to-the-beat-that-defied-tyrants.html?pagewanted=all |title=Lagos Journal; Nigeria Echoes to the Beat That Defied Tyrants |author=NORIMITSU ONISHI |date=September 11, 2000 |work=The New York Times |accessdate=2009-11-22}}
The Dodan Barracks was the location for a meeting in April 1978 between US President Jimmy Carter and Olusegun Obasanjo.{{cite web |url=http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/diary/1978/d040178t.pdf |title=The Daily Diary of President Jimmy Carter: April 1, 1978 |publisher=Jimmy Carter Library |accessdate=2009-11-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714163916/http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/diary/1978/d040178t.pdf |archivedate=2010-07-14
In the successful December 1983 coup, when General Muhammadu Buhari seized power from President Shehu Shagari, the troops in the barracks initially resisted, only to yield the day after.{{cite web |url = http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/karticles/lt%20col%20eboma.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20031023185845/http://nigerdeltacongress.com/karticles/lt%20col%20eboma.htm |url-status = dead |archive-date = 2003-10-23 |title = Lt. Col Eboma and the Shagari coup |author = NOWAMAGBE OMOIGUI |publisher = NigerDeltaCongress |accessdate = 2009-11-21
Dodan Barracks was one of the key locations seized in the April 1990 coup attempt by Major Gideon Orkar against General Ibrahim Babangida. Babangida was resident when the barracks were attacked, but escaped by a back route.{{cite web |url=http://www.dawodu.com/omoigui8.htm |title=The Orkar Coup of April 22, 1990 |author=Nowa Omoigui, MD |publisher=Segun Toyin Dawodu |accessdate=2009-11-21}} The guards thwarted the coup attempt, losing five members in defence of Dodan Barracks.{{cite web |url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-9461.html |title=Nigeria - Army |publisher=Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress |accessdate=2009-11-21}} Babangida's wife, Maryam, who was also present with her children at the time of the coup attempt, recalled that when she moved into the barracks in 1985 she had to arrange for considerable renovations to make the rooms more suitable for formal receptions.{{cite web |url=http://elombah.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2206:maryam-babangida-in-her-own-words&catid=36:omoba&Itemid=59 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710145452/http://elombah.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2206:maryam-babangida-in-her-own-words&catid=36:omoba&Itemid=59 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 10, 2012 |title=ORKAR COUP: How we survived |publisher=Sun News |date=1 November 2009 |accessdate=2009-11-21
Civilian rule
After the move of army headquarters to Abuja in 1991, and the resumption of civilian power in 1999, funding for maintenance of the barracks was greatly reduced. By late 2003 the grounds were dirty and unkempt, sewage was leaking from broken pipes, the walls of some buildings were cracked and most were abandoned.{{cite web |url=http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2003/11/22/20031122plu01.html |title=Suffering and Smiling Inside Army Barracks |author=Justice Ilevbare |publisher=ThisDay |date=2003-11-22 |accessdate=2009-11-21 In 2004 the then civilian President Olusegun Obasanjo - as a gesture of a departure from past military dictatorship finally ordered Dodan Barracks and all other military barracks not in use across the country be handed over to the country's Police Force.
In August 2006, the Lagos Environment and Sanitation Network identified a heavily polluted drainage channel in the Obalende mammy market, behind the State House and Dodan Barracks. An August 2007 analysis found the water was heavily contaminated with faecal material. People living and working in the market, Dodan Barracks and the State House were at risk from diseases such as typhoid fever, diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera.{{cite web |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200906250504.html |title=Blocked Drainage - Lagos CSOs Decry Health Hazards |author=Abimbola Akosile |date=24 June 2009 |publisher=ThisDay |accessdate=2009-11-21}} In January 2009, it was reported that President Umaru Yar'Adua would spend part of his vacation at the barracks.{{cite web |url=http://www.groundreport.com/Media_and_Tech/Uncertainty-Trails-YarAduas-Arrival-To-Dodan-Barra_1/2883190 |title=Uncertainty Trails Yar'Adua's Arrival To Dodan Barracks, Obudu |author=Hanson Okoh |date=January 31, 2009 |publisher=GroundReport |accessdate=2009-11-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721174251/http://www.groundreport.com/Media_and_Tech/Uncertainty-Trails-YarAduas-Arrival-To-Dodan-Barra_1/2883190 |archivedate=2011-07-21 |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINLQ21837720090126 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201155500/http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINLQ21837720090126 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 1, 2013 |title=Nigerian president to remain in country during leave |date=Jan 26, 2009 |publisher=Reuters |accessdate=2009-11-22
References
References
- Max Siollun. "The Trial Of Mamman Vatsa". PointBlank News.
- "Nigeria: Obasanjo Gives Dodan Barracks to the Police".
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