By Tom Chiahemen (ABUJA) –
One-time Field Commander of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), a West African multilateral armed force established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)ECOMOG, General Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro, has passed on at the age of 80.
The retired general died today in Jos, Plateau State in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria, according family sources.
Dogonyaro, who first came to limelight for the role he played in announcing the coup that removed Nigeria’s then military Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari from power in 1985, was also a popular member of what was known in the early ’90s as the ‘Langtang Mafia’.
The palace coup that ousted the military regime of General Buhari (Nigeria’s current President), brought in General Ibrahim Bademosi Babangida (popularly known as IBB) on August 27, 1985. Babangida was to later pronounce himself ‘President’ and remained so throughout the duration of his military junta that ruled country until August 23, 1993.
General Dogonyaro, who was born Vom Missionary Hospital, Vom, Plateau State in 1940, attended Saint Peter CMS Primary School, Bukuru, from where he gained admission into Boys’ Secondary School, Gindiri.
He later moved to Dental Technology School, Broad Street, Lagos, from where he gained admission into the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA), Kaduna shortly after.