Former Chief Of Defence Staff, General Joshua Dogonyaro Is Dead

Lieutenant General Joshua Dogonyaro, a former Chief of Defence Staff during the regime of the late General Sani Abacha, has died at the age of 80.

It was gathered that General Dogonyaro died in the early hour of Thursday at Jos University Teaching Hospital where he was admitted after a brief illness.

One of the former officers of the deceased, Major Gabriel Adofiku (retd), who confirmed the death to Tribune Online, said he died on Thursday around 3:30 a.m.

The remains of General Dogonyaro, who was also a former field commander of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), has been deposited at Airforce Hospital in Jos, Plateau State.

General Dogonyaro will be remembered for announcing the coup that removed General Muhammadu Buhari and the ushering in of General Ibrahim Babangida on August 27, 1985.

Born in 1940 at Vom Missionary Hospital, Vom, Plateau State, Dogonyaro 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, gaining admission into the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA), Kaduna, in 1964.

Commissioned Second-Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps in 1967, he proceeded to the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji, and attended the Armour Officers Course in the USA.

The retired general was an alumnus of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos. He served in several capacities before his retirement from the military in 1993.