Dodan Barracks

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

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 |author-link=Max Siollun

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

The Dodan Barracks was the location for a meeting in April 1978 between US President Jimmy Carter and Olusegun Obasanjo.{{cite web |url-status=dead

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 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20031023185845/http://nigerdeltacongress.com/karticles/lt%20col%20eboma.htm |url-status = dead |archive-date = 2003-10-23

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 |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

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 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-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201155500/http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINLQ21837720090126 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 1, 2013

References

References

1. Max Siollun. "The Trial Of Mamman Vatsa". PointBlank News.
2. "Nigeria: Obasanjo Gives Dodan Barracks to the Police".