IBB names David Mark, Chris Garuba, Fidelis Ochefu among brightest military men that shaped Nigeria

Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has named David Mark, Chris Abutu Garuba, and Fidelis Ochefu among the brightest military officers who played a pivotal role in shaping Nigeria.

In his autobiography, A Journey in Service, Babangida reflected on the exceptional Third Regular Combatant Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in 1967, describing it as a class that produced some of the nation’s finest military minds, many of whom later held key leadership positions in the armed forces and government.

He wrote, “As I stated in the previous chapter of this volume, the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) has come a long way since its establishment in 1964 as a reformation of the British-run Royal Military Forces Training College (RMFTC), which was later renamed the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) at independence.

In 1985, the Academy began offering undergraduate training programs to military officers. Today, it provides postgraduate studies, including MSc and Ph.D. programs.

“When I went to teach there in 1970, it was a modest institution, both in scope and size. Major-General David Ejoor, the first Nigerian Commandant of the Academy, was still in charge, and the now-famous class of the Third Regular Combatant Course was in the last six months of its three-and-a-half-year course duration. Meeting with that class when I arrived in September 1970 was a pleasure.

“Made up of some of the brightest young men I ever had the privilege of working with, members of the Third Regular Combatant Course, all forty-five, were admitted to the NDA on September 3, 1967, barely weeks after the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in July.

“That outstanding class included names like Chris Abutu Garuba, Alwali Jauji Kazir, Samuel Victor Leonard Malu, David Alechenu Mark, Fidelis Ogiri Ochefu, Isaac Areola, George Ugah, Mufu Balogun, Jonathan Babatunde Ogbeha, Anthony Ojomo, Adetunji Idowu Olurin, Raji Alagbe Rasaki, Bara’u Suleiman Said, Festus Bikepere Porbeni, Timothy Mai Shelpidi, and Okhai Michael Akhigbe.”