The head of the late Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja’s family, Pa Tajudeen Lagbaja, has expressed regret obtaining Nigerian Defence Academic (NDA) form for the deceased.
Pa Tajudeen, the younger brother of the late COAS’s father, stated that he would not have bought the form had he known it would lead to his death.
Some family members also alleged that General Lagbaja may have been killed through diabolical means due to a land dispute in his hometown.
According to The Nation, in 2023, a dispute arose in Ilobu, the headquarters of Irepodun Local Government Area in Osun State, when representatives of the Nigerian Army planned to establish a hospital in the community.
Pa Tajudeen told The Nation that he initially obtained the NDA form for the late Lieutenant General.
“Everyone who is born must die. We give glory to God. The year that I obtained NDA form for him, if I had known that he would die before me, I would not have done so. I regret obtaining the form for him. But it is destiny.
“The death that killed Taoreed Lagbaja ought to take me. I took him as one of my children. We are greatly bereaved, we are sad. He constructed a borehole in his father’s compound and other places in the community.
“We can never forget him. His death is so shocking to us. I have accepted the fate. All the promises he made to me have hit a brick wall. He always gave us hope in the family. Despite the sorrow, I give thanks to God,” the family head said.