I do call into question the professional competence of Nigerian newspaper reporters as far as this issue is concerned. I have not relied more or less on anyone. Forensic science is forensic science. I am trained in forensic medicine and I know what I am talking about.

These news reports and layman comments are riddled with holes obvious to any knowledgeable person. Those rumours, among many others, have long since been discredited. I did not start researching the coup yesterday. Why did the news that Balewa’s body had been found (and the precise location between Lagos and Abeokuta) first emanate from Ghana?

Here we are in 2010 throwing wild stories all over the place pretending as if this issue was not the subject of intense investigation by the Nigeria Police Special Branch based on interrogations from January to March 1966 on Moloney street. How many Nigerian journalists have bothered to ask the IGP for a copy? Every line in that report can be cross verified.

Names, Army numbers, vehicle numbers, locations, etc.. Yet Nigerian journalists have never reported it to the Nigerian public in newspaper format – even though the Police report has been secondarily referred to by Ojukwu and Effiong in their written works and known to the world since 1966. Over the years, I have cross-verified it, line by line.

Years ago, I even visited the room where Largema was shot (before that wing of Ikoyi Hotel was brought down.) The phone jack outside his door where he was lured to for the kill was still there then. In the case of Ironsi, I personally tracked down some of those involved. You talk about a “British researcher” as if his report cannot easily be cross verified.

All his sources are stated. They are Nigerian sources. How difficult is it to track down Balewa’s ADC? Alhaji Maitama Sule who accompanied the family? Balewa’s family, including the man who led his funeral? Austen-Peters? Adefope? Relevant Imams who conducted the muslim burial?

How many have taken the trouble to hunt down Balewa’s death certificate to investigate and follow the lead of the pronouncer and certifier? Here we are, armed with all our education, jumping onbandwagon rumours.

Regarding Osoba’s report, how difficult was it to recognize instantly that no chartered aircraft could have taken off from Lagos to Bauchi at midnight on Friday Jan 21, 1966 (or just after midnight on Sat Jan 22, 1966) and landed at an airstrip with no instrument/night landing system?

Even as we speak today, Nigerian newspaper reports reveal examples of errors. You do not have to go back to 1966. I am not saying foreign newspapers do not make mistakes. They certainly do, which is why all reports must be subject to verification – no matter who writes them.

But how reliable is Osoba’s layman ‘Time Since Death’ determination? I am reminded of a well known case in the Forensic literature in which a 4 month old corpse appeared “fresh.” The corpse of Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was nearly perfectly preserved for over 30 years without   being embalmed.

Human decomposition begins within minutes after death, initiated by autolysis or self-digestion (while the corpse still looks fresh). This process begins and progresses more rapidly in tissues that have a high enzyme content (like the liver) and a high water content like the brain, but eventually affects all the cells of the body. Autolysis usually does not become visible to the eye for a few days and may take from several days up to years depending on multiple factors.

Certainly to the naked untrained eye, it is not a precise science. After enough cells have ruptured, nutrient-rich fluids become available and the process of putrefaction begins. Putrefaction (bloating) is the destruction of the soft tissues of the body by the action of micro-organisms.

It results in the conversion of tissue into gases, liquids and simple molecules. Gas production is most apparent in the bowels, but can occur in many parts of the body.

Shortly after the purging of gases, active decay starts, exacerbated by insects (especially flies) and carnivorous animals.Mummification (drying and reversion to dust), which most commonly takes place under conditions of dry heat or very low humidity, then follows.

However, in modern parlance, we prefer to think of it as more simply pre- and post-skeletonization because some of neatly defined stages above (autolysis, putrefaction, and drying) may or may not occur depending on circumstances.Decomposition is a complicated process, primarily driven by temperature and moisture, and the presence of the right environment for bacterial growth.

Buried individuals and those submerged in water have different rates of decomposition. Injuries can affect the rate as well since damage to the skin increases blood loss, insect and bacterial action. However, the soft tissue decomposition process for persons lying on the ground can be estimated by standard formula. A person with less ground contact decomposes more slowly.

Those factors affecting the rate of human decomposition that would have delayed Balewa’s decomposition relative to Largema’s (misidentified as Okotie Eboh by Osoba), are:1.

His seating position and the fact that he was fully clothed (including a head gear), which reduced contact with the ground and with microorganism scavengers. Largema (not Okotie Eboh as is wrongly identified), on the other hand, was practically naked, exposed to the elements.

2, His body size and weight – Balewa was lighter and had a smaller lean body mass.

3. Type of food inside his digestive tract – Balewa was fasting and, devout as he was, certainly did not partake in pork products. [It was the Ramadan fast]. Largema on the other hand attended a military officers’ party at Maimalari’s house then retired to the hotel just before his arrest.

His state of fasting, and degree of devoutness are unclear but he certainly spent his last nutritional hours very differently from the way Balewa spent his.4. Largema had a severe head wound (with exposed Brain which decomposes faster than other organs.).

Balewa did not have a head wound.Factors that had equal effect on them both as far as decomposition was concerned, were temperature, availability of oxygen, lack of prior embalming, cause of death (gunshot wound), non-burial, trauma, including wounds and crushing blows (although Balewa had a chest but not a head wound), humidity, and rainfall.B).

The alleged absence of bullet wounds in either corpse according to Osoba, although Largema’s head (wrongly identified as Okotie-Eboh’s head) was “battered”.Balewa and the others were shot using Stirling Submachine guns firing 9mm parabellum rounds.

Entry wounds are typically smaller in diameter than the caliber of the round for any ammunition but the parabellum round may manifest an extra suction effect. And the parabellum round has certain ballistic characteristics which make it more destructive internally that might be apparent on a casual look externally further, the early swelling of autolysis will obscure entry flesh wounds (already shrunken from premorbid elasticity of the human body), and this would have been compunded by the fact that Osoba got to the scene of the crime – at 7pm – as he says, after sunset, in the harmattan season in thick forest.

But we were also being told by newspapers that “People were turned back by security agents as from about 10:00 am.” which suggests that although the crime scene had been breached all day by laypersons those laypersons could not have laid their hands on the corpses for a detailed close examination such as would be required to make the kind of declarative conclusions they are being quoted as claiming.

Testimony from members of the Military Hospital Team on the scene (which included a Medical Officer, Police officers and soldiers) reveals the fact that their examination of the corpse took place using Kerosene lamps. Osoba does not claim to have removed Balewa’s clothes nor did he describe a detailed assessment of both entry and exit wounds beyond a casual laymans view.
Was he wearing gloves? The team from the Military Hospital identified an entry chest wound and an exit back wound which blew out the Prime Minister’s spine. The extent of other penetrating or perforating wounds are unknown but immaterial to the cause of death.

He was medically certified dead from gun shot wounds to the chest. The medical officers of the Military hospital of that era (Austen-Peters, Adefope, etc) can be reached, although you may have to deal with the question of confidentiality.

They can also shed light on the movement of the other military corpses (Maimalari, KurMohammed, Pam, Unegbe); along with Okotie-Eboh who was buried with them, to area hospitals. That PM Balewa’s body required the use of disinfectants illustrates the degree of decomposition that was already apparent, perhaps after his body was inspected under the clothes, even while Osoba held the view that the body was “fresh.”

Another line of verification could potentially involve obtaining testimony from his erswhile Police ADC, family members, and those intimately involved in his funeral.C).

The frivolous notion that Balewa died of asthma.Sir Alhaji Tafawa Balewa had no history of asthma.

This can be cross-referenced from his physician, Dr. Majekodunmi). How on earth did he suddenly develop asthma in captivity as claimed by MT Mbu, quoting Okigbo, who was in turn quoting Ifeajuna? When Ifeajuna ran away from Lagos on Sunday morning, January 16, 1966, in whose custody did he leave the PM?

When and how did he know the PM had developed asthma and died? Who made the diagnosis? How was the PM being fed and hydrated? This is idle hearsay, pure and simple.(D). The Special Branch Report, and other helpful sources relevant to the question of Balewa’s body and evacuation.

The leaked Special Branch report about the January 15 rebellion, has been in the public domain for many years. It beggars belief that this vital official document with intimate details about the rebellion, escaped the scrutiny of Nigerian journalists all these years (since 1966).