Admiral Aikhomu’s last moments, by son

Posted by admin Latest Politics Thursday, August 18th, 2011

Family members of the late Admiral Augustus Aikhomu yesterday relieved the last moments of the former military Vice President. According to Ehime Aikhomu, first son of the Admiral, the former Chief of General Staff died peacefully with his children and grandchildren around him.

He spoke to Daily Sun at the Aikhomu’s residence in Apapa, explaining that the former naval chief battled prostate cancer for nine years before he died on Wednesday evening.

Ehime said the family also battled to keep the Admiral alive for that period, even till the evening of Wednesday, August 17, 2011, especially as he has just returned two weeks ago from treatment abroad.

He said that the former naval top shot, even in his sick bed, worried about any member of the family that is slightly sick, saying that, “he worried about the person that has just ordinary cold, imaging himself to be in that situation. I will miss him. He was a friend, a mentor, and after God, he was the next giant in my life.

“My father lived with this ailment for almost nine years, the care and attention we gave to him kept him going until he got to the point when his Heavenly father called him to come and carry on with the good work in His Kingdom. He had been in and out of the country and he only came back about two weeks ago from a treatment abroad.”
The revelation by his son came just as former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Jubril Ayinla (retd), recalled his last interaction with the former CGS shortly before he was taken abroad for medical attention.

Ayinla, who was one of the early callers at the residence of the Aikhomus, said: “I was here with him before he travelled abroad for treatment and we reminiscenced a lot on those good old days as young officers; how we used to trek from Apapa here to Ajegunle and I remembered when he acquired the Volkswagen K70 car.
“After all these talks with him, he looked back and said ‘I think we had a good life and that if death comes now, he was ready’. But I said ‘Oga, don’t talk like that’ not knowing that death was around the corner.”

Admiral Ayinla said Aikhomu should be remembered for his decision that military has no business in politics. “He believed that, we, in the military must stay away from politics and the military should be left alone to continue with their professional roles. A stickler for discipline and that philosophy he carried on to see that there was a transition from military to civilian government.

“He was the pillar behind the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, being his senior in age, he guided the President towards a handover to a civilian government. “He told us that hard work doesn’t kill and he insisted on it. He insisted also that we keep young officers out of political appointment and he moderated a lot of things that went on in government.”

Also, Vice Admiral Akin Aduwo, who led other former Chiefs of Naval Staff, including Vice Admirals Micheal Adelanwa, Patrick Koshoni, Allison Madueke and Ayinla, to commiserate with the family, told Daily Sun that the story of modern Nigeria would not be complete without mentioning the late Aikhomu.

He said: “He was a loyal and dedicated principal staff officer to the very end. He was first my Chief of Personnel when I was Chief of Naval Staff in April 1980. So, after that he became Chief of Operations and that was his appointment until they overthrew President Shehu Shagari’s government. When the new government came, to my joy, he was chosen by the Major General Mohammadu Buhari’s regime to succeed me.”

He stated that if he was allowed a normal retirement from service and was given the opportunity to choose a successor, he would have chosen the late Admiral Aikhomu

-Sunwp_posts